#turns out the internet is just full of americans (and canadians)

[undergoing-mitosis]

OH MY THANK GOD I THOUGHT I WAS GOING MAD

everyone has been talking about daylight savings and i was just like huh--??? i haven't moved my clocks at all???? and the time is still right??????

TURNS OUT IT'S ON THE 26TH MARCH IN THE UK BCHCTIDYODHDL THIS IS WHY YOU NEVER TRUST THE INTERNET

[redgoldsparks]

I wrote a 12 page epilogue to my 2019 comic "Harry Potter and The Problematic Author" because I found, in 2023, that I had more to say. You can also find this comic on my website, and I have PDF copies available on etsy. I may sell print copies at some point in the future.

instagram / patreon / portfolio / etsy / my book / redbubble

Full transcript below the cut.

PAGE 1

Part one: Ruddy Owls!

I was in fourth grade when the first Harry Potter Book was released in the US.

Panel 1: Sometimes our teacher would read it aloud in class. “Mr and Mrs Dursley of number 4 Privat Drive were proud to say they were perfectly normal, thank you very much…”

Panel 2: I was 11 years old when Harry Potter finally broke through my dyslexia and turned me into a reader.

Panel 3: Every night in the summer before sixth grade I waited for the owl carrying my Hogwarts Letter. I cried when it didn’t come. “I have to go to Muggle school!”

PAGE 2

Part Two: Hats

I dedicated myself to being a fan.

Panel 1: I began collecting Harry Potter News article.

Panel 2: I asked my relatives to mail me ones from their local papers. I filled a thick binder with clippings.

Panel 3: I wrote my own trivia quiz

Panel 4: and participated in the one held annually at the county fair. “Next contestant!”

Panel 5: I usually got into one of. the top five spots. I won boxes of candy, posters, stationary, and once a baseball cap. (Hat reads: I survived the battle of Hogwarts).

Panel 6: In high school I sewed a black velvet cape and knitted many stripped scarves.

PAGE 3

Part Three: Double Trouble

Watching the last film in 2011 felt like the final note of my childhood. 

Panel 1: I remember driving home from the midnight showing thinking about the end of 13 years of waiting; wondering what would define the next chapter of my life. 

Panel 2: That same month I heard of something called Pottermore. “Okay, so there’s a sorting quiz… I already know my house! Patronus assignment? Mine’s a barn owl. Duh!" 

Panel 3: You can read the books again but with GIFs? Why? 

Panel 4: I lived in a place with very slow and limited internet at the time. Pottermore sounded inaccessible, but also boring. I never joined. 

Panel 5: "I’ll just read the actual books again, thanks." 

PAGE 4

Part Four: Sweets

In 2016, a series of short stories titled "History of Magic in North America” were released on Pottermore to pave the way for the first Fantastic Beasts Film. These stories display an extreme ignorance of American history, culture, and geography, but the worst parts are the casual misuse of indigenous beliefs and stories. Fans and critics immediately spoke up against this appropriation. Some of the most quoted voices included Nambe Pueblo scholar Dr. Debbie Reese who runs the site “American Indians In Children’s Literature”; Navajo writer Brian Young; Johnnie Jae (Otoe-Missouria and Choctaw), founder of A Tribe Called Geek; Dr Adrienne Keene (Cherokee Nation), a Professor at Brown University who runs the blog “Native Appropriations”, and writers N.K. Jemison and Paula Young Lee.

PAGE 5

Rowling is famous for responding to fans directly on twitter, yet she did not respond to anyone calling out the damaging aspects of “Magic in North America.” Her representatives refused to comment for March 9 2016 article in the Guardian. She has never apologized. All of this, plus the casting of Johnny Depp and the specific declarations of support by JKR, Warner Brothers, and director David Yates left a sour taste in my mouth.

For further thoughts on the new films read The Crimes of Grindelwald is a Mess by Alanna Bennett for Buzzfeed News, November 16, 2018.

PAGE 6

Excerpt from Colonialism in Wizarding American: JK Rowling’s History of Magic in North America Through an Indigenous Lens by Allison Mills, MFA, MAS/MLIS (Cree and Settler French Canadian)

Although Rowling is certainly not the first white author to misstep in her treatment of Indigenous cultures, she has an unprecedented level of visibility and fame, […] One of the most glaring problems with Rowling’s story is her treatment of the many Indigenous nations in North America as one monolithic group. […It] flattens out the diversity of languages, belief systems, and cultures that exist in Indigenous communities, allowing stereotyping to persist. […] It continues a long history of colonial texts which ignore that Indigenous peoples still exist. […] In the Wizarding world, as in the real world, Indigenous histories have been over-written and our cultures erased.

from The Looking Glass: New Perspectives in Children’s Literature Volumn 19, Issue 1

PAGE 7

Part 5: Music

Panel 1: Also in 2016 I discovered two podcasts which radically altered my experience of being an HP fan. The first was Witch Please created by two Canadian feminist literary scholars Hannah McGregor and Marcelle Kosman.

Panel 2: “If it’s not in the text it doesn’t count!” “Close reading ONLY!”

Panel 3: They talk about Harry Potter at the level you’d expect in a college class with particular focus on gender, race, class, and the troubling fatphobia, fear of othered and queer coded bodies, violence against women, white feminism, gaslighting and failed pedagogy in the books. They bring up these issues not because they hate the series, but because they LOVE it.

PAGE 8

These passionate, joyful conversations went off like fireworks in my mind. I had never taken a feminist class before. I gained a whole new vocabulary to talk about the books- and the world.

PAGE 9

Panel 1: The second podcast I started that year was Harry Potter and the Sacred Text, created by two graduates of the Harvard Divinity School, Vanessa Zoltan and Casper Ter Kuile.

Panel 2: They read one chapter per episode through a theme such as love, control, curiosity, shame, responsibility, hospitality, destruction, or mystery. Like Witch Please, they are interested only in the information on the page, not thoughts from the author. The delights and failures of the text are examined in the context of the present day, and new meanings constantly arise.

PAGE 10

What does it mean to treat a text as sacred?

Trusting that the more time we give to it, the more blessings it has to give us.

Reading the text repeatedly with concentrated attention. Our effort is part of what makes it sacred. The text is not in and of itself sacred, but is made so by rigorously engaging in the ritual of reading.

Experiencing it in community.

“To me, the goal of treating the text as sacred is that we learn to treat each other as sacred.” -Vanessa Zoltan

PAGE 11

Part 6: Tooth and Claw

In October 2017, Rowling liked a tweet linking to an article arguing that trans women should be kept out of women’s bathrooms because of cisgender women’s fears. In March 2018, she liked a tweet about the problem of misogyny in the UK Labour Party which included the line “Men in dresses get brosocialist solidarity I never had.” The author of the tweet had previously posted many blatantly anti-trans statements.

Rowlings publicist claimed she had liked the posted by accident in a “clumsy and middle-aged moment.” Yet, in September 2018 she liked a link posted by Janice Turner to her column in the Times UK titled “Trans Rapists Are A Danger In Women’s Jails.”

Screencaps of these tweets can be found in the article “The Mysterious Case of JK Rowling and her Transphobic Twitter History”, January 10 2019 by Gwendolyn Smith (a trans journalist), LGBTQNation.com

PAGE 12

Excerpt from: Is JK Rowling Transphobic? A Trans Woman Investigates by Katelyn Burns

Ultimately, the answer is yes, she is transphobic […] I think it’s fair that she receives criticism from trans people, especially given her advocacy on behalf of queer people in general, but also because she has a huge platform. Many people look up to her for creating a singular piece of popular culture that holds deep meaning for fans from different walks of life, and she has a responsibility to handle that platform wisely. (Published on them.us March 28, 2018)

PAGE 13

Part 7: Home

At age 30, I’m still not over Harry Potter.

Panel 1: I’ve recently found a local bar that does HP trivia nights. “Poppy or Pomona?” “Poppy!”

Panel 2: I currently own an annual pass to Universal Studios so I can visit Hogsmeade.

Panel 3: I love talking to kids who are reading the books for the first time. “Who’s your favorite character?” “Ginny!”

Panel 4: And I’m planning a relisten to the audio books to next year to help me get through the election cycle. “Jim Dale, I’m going to need you more than ever…”

Spoiler from 2023: I did not do this. By mid-2020 JKR had posted her transphobic essay; we were in covid; I never visited Universal Studios again.

PAGE 14

But I do want to learn from her mistakes. I never want to repeat “Magic in North America.” As I write, I will do my research. I will consult experts and compensate them. If a reader from a different culture/background than me speaks up about my work, I will listen and apologize. I KNOW I WILL MAKE MISTAKES. But I will own up to them and I will do better.

PAGE 15

Excerpt from Diversity Is Not Enough: Race, Power and Publishing by Daniel José Older

We can love a thing and still critique it. In fact, that’s the only way to really love a thing. Let’s be critical lovers and loving critics and open ourselves to the truth about where we are and where we’ve been. Instead of holding tight to the same old, failed patriarchies, let’s walk a new road, speak new languages. Today, let’s imagine a literature, a literary world, that carries this struggle for equity in its very essence, so that tomorrow it can cease to be necessary, and disappear. (Buzzfeed, April 14, 2017) 

PAGE 16

Harry Potter is flawed, & JK Rowling is problematic. But the books helped me learn a lot: 

*One of the greatest dangers facing the modern world is the rise of fascism 

*The government cannot be trusted 

*Read and think critically

*Question the news: who paid the journalist? Who owns the paper? 

*Trust and support your friends through good times and bad

*Organize for resistance

*Educate and share resources with peers

*The revolution must be diverse and intersectional

* We are only as strong as we are united

*The weapon we have is love 

MK 2019

PAGE 17

PART 8: EPILOGUE

In 2021 I removed a Harry Potter patch I sewed to my book bag over a decade ago. I took 15 pieces of Harry Potter fanart off my walls. I got rid of my paperback book set, 2 board games, and 8 t-shirt. [images: a Hogwarts a patch with loose threads, a pair of scissors and a seam ripper]

Panel 1: Maia holding up a shirt with the Deathly Hallows logo on it. Maia thinks: “Damn, this really used to be my entire personality.”

Panel 2: The t-shirt gets thrown into the Goodwill box.

PAGE 18

I wrote my zine wrestling with JKR’s legacy in 2019, after her dismissive and racist reaction to indigenous fans and critics of “Magic in North America” and after she had liked a couple transphobic tweets. Since then, she has gotten so much worse.

A Brief Timeline (mostly from this Vox article)

June 2020- JKR posts a 3600 word essay making her anti-trans position clear

August 2020- The Robert F Kennedy Human Rights Org issues a statement about her transphobia, JKR doubles down on her position and returns an award they gave her

December 2020- JKR claims 90% of HP fans secretly agree with her anti-trans views

December 2021- JKR mocks Scottish Police for recognizing transgender identities

March 2022- JKR criticizes gender-inclusive language and legislation

December 2022- JKR retweets trans youtuber Jessie Earl’s critical review of Hogwarts Legacy, starting an onslaught of transphobic harassment towards Earl

December 2022- JKR removes her support from an Edinburgh center for survivors of sexual violence with a trans-inclusive policy and funds her own center which explicitly excludes trans sexual assault survivors

January 2023- JKR tweets “Deeply amused by those telling me I’ve lost their admiration due to disrespect I show violent, duplicitous rapists.” It got nearly 300K likes

March 2023- One the podcast “The Witch Trials of JK Rowling”, hosted by a former Westboro Baptist Church Member, JKR compares the trans rights movement to Death Eaters.

PAGE 19

What are The Witch Trials of JK Rowling?

Panel 1: Maia speaking. “It’s a 7 episode documentary style podcast hosted by Megan Phelps-Roper. Nearly every episode contains interviews with JKR as well as critics, journalists, historians, protestors and fans.

Panel 2: Maia speaking. “In episode 1, JKR speaks more candidly than she has previously about being in an abusive marriage. Her ex-husband hit her, stalked her, broke into her house overlapping with the time she was writing the first three HP books.”

Panel 3: Maia speaking. “What she went through genuinely sounds horrific. I have a lot of sympathy for the kind of life-long traumas those experiences leave.”

PAGE 20

HOWEVER.

It is clear from reading the June 2020 essay on her blog and listening to the podcast, that JKR still to this day feels unsafe. Despite her wealth and privilege she moves through the world with the mindset of a victim. And the group of people she finds most threatening are trans women.

Or rather, she is afraid that allowing trans women in women’s spaces invites the possibility of male predators entering those spaces.

Here’s a direct quote: The problem is male violence. All a predator wants is access and to open the doors of changing rooms, rape centers, domestic violence centers [...] to any male who says “I’m a woman and I have a right to be here” will constitute a risk to women and girls. - from The Witch Trials episode 4 as transcribed by therowlinglibrary.com, March 2023

Image: A stem of Belladonna with flowers and berries.

PAGE 21

Let me introduce here the term: TRANSMISOGYNY. The intersection of transphobia and misogyny, this term was coined by Julia Serano in 2007. Scout Tran, on tiktok as Queersneverdie said: “Transmisogyny occurs in people who have been previously hurt by traditional misogyny. Who have been driven to hate men or at the very least to be scared of men. They will sometimes take out that rage on trans women. (March 2023)

JKR claims to care for trans women and understand they are extremely vulnerable to assault and violence. In her 2020 Essay she wrote: “I want trans women to be safe. At the same time, I do not want to make natal girls and women less safe.”

So she cares about trans women… just less than cis women, and she’s willing to throw all trans women under the bus because of her unfounded, prejudice fears.

PAGE 22

Panel 1: Maia speaking. “JKR claims to have seen data that proves trans women have presented physical threats to other women in intimate spaces, but never cites sources. She also uses “producer of the large gametes” as a definition of “woman”.

What about transmen and nonbinary folks?

Panel 2: Maia leaning on a stack of all seven HP books, the first four Cormorant Strike books and The Casual Vacancy, gesturing to a series of quotes with a tired and disgusted expression.

I’m concerned about the huge explosion of young women wishing to transition and also about the increasing numbers who seem to be detransitioning. * [...] If I’d been born 30 years later, I too might have tried to transition. The allure of escaping womanhood would have been huge. -June 10 2020 essay

I don’t believe a 14 year old can truly understand what the loss of their fertility is.

-Witch Trials episode 4

I haven’t yet found a study that hasn’t found that the majority of young people experiencing gender dysphoria grow out of it*. -Witch Trials episode 7

*No sources cited

PAGE 23

It’s hard to over emphasize how fixated JKR has become on these topics. As of the date I’m writing this, 14 out of her 20 most recent tweets (70%) are in some way anti-trans. She tweets against Mermaids (a UK based trans youth charity), against trans athletes, against gender neutral bathrooms, and in support of LBG Alliance- a UK org that denies trans rights while upholding gay rights. Here are some gems from her archive:

“People who menstruate.” I’m sure there used to be a word for those people. Someone help me out. Wumben? Wimpund? Woomud? -June 2020

War is Peace. Freedom is Slavery. Ignorance is Strength. The Penised Individual Who Raped You Is a Woman. - December 2021

And in response to someone asking “How do you sleep at night knowing you lost a whole audience?”

I read my most recent royalty cheques and find the pain goes away pretty quickly. -October 2022

PAGE 24

Hashtag Ruthless Productions a queer nerd podcast company created a great guide on ethical engagement with HP. Image: the two hosts of Hashtag Ruthless productions, Jessie (They/she) and Lark (he/him).

Stop buying all official HP Products: books, movies, games, toys, etc, Universal Studios tickets, food, merch.* Boycott any new TV series or movies. Instead: buy the books and DVDs used. If you still want to wear HP merch, buy fan-made. Engage only with fan content: fic, podcasts, fanart, wizard rock, etc. Show transphobia is bad for business. None of this will change JKR’s mind. But the Fantastic Beast series was canceled and after record Pottermore sales in 2020, they fell in 2022 by 40%.

*She gets a portion of ALL tickets. In 2019, this was her largest income source. Read the full guide: hashtagruthless.com/resourceguide

PAGE 25

As late as 2019, I was still reading JKR’s murder mystery series. But by the fourth book my experience began to sour.

Panel 1: Maia holding a copy of Lethal White. “The only gay character in this book is a government official who gropes his staff?”

Panel 2: “The only genderqueer character is misgendered and portrayed as a whiny faker?”

Panel 3: “The only Muslim character is disowned by his family over gay rumors?”

Panel 4: “Even the women aren’t portrayed very well…”

Panel 5: “Why is the main female character defined by the rape in her past?”

Panel 6: “Wait, what happens in the rest of this series…?” Maia scrolls on eir phone.

Panel 7: “Is the series heading towards an employee/boss relationship?”

Panel 8: “And has a man wearing women’s clothes to commit assault?”

Panel 9: “Yeah, I’m done. I’m never reading a new JKR book ever again.”

PAGE 26

And as for JKR herself?

As tempting as it might be to tweet your frustrations at her, I don’t recommend it. In 2021, she tweeted, “Hundreds of trans activists have threatened to beat, rape, assassinate and bomb me.” Getting hate online feeds her sense of victimhood and she waves it as proof of her moral high ground. Instead I suggest you block her on twitter, then delete twitter, go to the library and try to find a new book that feels magical.

Stack of books: In Other Lands by Sarah Rees Brennan, The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater, Gifts by Ursula K Le Guin, Deep Wizardry by Diane Duane, A Deadly Education by Naomi Novik and Gideon the Ninth by Tamsin Muir.

PAGE 27

In “Emergent Strategy” adrienne maree brown writes: You do not have the right to traumatize abusive people, to attack them, personally or publicly, or to sabotage anyone else’s health. The behaviors of abuse are also survival-based, learned behaviors rooted in pain. If you can look through the lens of compassion, you will find hurt and trauma there. If you are the abused party, healing that hurt is not your responsibility and exacerbating that pain is not your justified right.

PAGE 28

Seeing anyone over age 12 wearing HP merch now makes me uncomfortable. Are they ignorant or actively a TERF? I hate wondering how much money JKR has probably poured into anti-trans legislation… This zine is a culmination of my slow breakup with a story that once brought me joy. Now it just makes me angry, tired and sad.

Image: Candle in a fancy holder burned down to less than an inch.

Maia Kobabe, 2023

[seat-safety-switch]

Bonjour! Heh heh, just a little French there. You know, I’m part French-Canadian. My great uncle was too, of course, although the reason why he was and my grandmother wasn’t is a matter of family history that I’m not about to delve into. What’s important to know here is that, by this law that I just read about on a truck’s bumper sticker at the junkyard, I have a hereditary claim to many of France’s fine automobiles.

I’d always felt weird driving around in American cars, and now I know why. In retrospect, I gravitated to cars with French names: Volare, Parisienne, Trans Am Turbo. Genes don’t lie, and I was destined for greater things. Smooching at the Louvre. Smoking in Laval. Cretons spread in Quebec City on an old Eggo I found at the bottom of the freezer basket. And Twingos. It turns out that I’m so French that you should probably be reading these words on a Minitel.

Sure, a hater (and there are many of those out there, due to France’s dominance of culture) would claim that they made lots of bad things too. Those things, however, are actually good things. Witness the Citroen SM, an early attempt to fix Italian cars by marrying them with fine engineering. I can’t afford a working one, but I can sure as hell get a rusted hulk, pull out that glass toy of a Fascist engine, chuck a loose Cavalier 2.2L into it, and drive to the wine-by-the-litre store. Is “Cavalier” a French word? Pretty sure it’s a kind of dog over there.

Things are hard for people like myself. As you might be aware, Canada is a divided country, full of Anglo supremacists who shit on proud Francophones like myself. Well, I’m not really a Francophone – I failed Grade 4 French after I wouldn’t stop hyperfixating on the parts of the Tintin book where he is clearly cranking the engine on a 2CV in the wrong direction – but the point stands. The oppressors in Ottawa are keeping me from getting my rightful shitboxes, a proud front lawn full of Citroen BXes, LeCars, and the aforementioned Twingos.

Hold on, it’s my mom on the phone. Hi Mom, I was just telling the internet about my ne – great-grandpa fucked what? Who? When? Okay, I’ll come over this weekend and help you put the new 7M in. Yeah, I know Dad fucked up the torque sequence on the head bolts. He can’t read a service manual, you know that. Okay, love you.

Well, turns out I’m also part Italian. I’d like to take back everything I just said about the Citroen SM’s Maserati engine. Well, maybe not everything. A vee-six is still against everything I believe in. At least until I start asking more questions at the retirement home.

[lastsonlost]

Africans in southern China’s largest city say they have become targets of suspicion and subjected to forced evictions, arbitrary quarantines and mass coronavirus testing as Beijing steps up its fight against imported infections, drawing US accusations of xenophobia.

China says it has largely curbed its COVID-19 outbreak but a recent cluster of cases linked to the Nigerian community in Guangzhou sparked the alleged discrimination by locals and virus prevention officials.

Local authorities in the industrial centre of 15 million said at least eight people diagnosed with the illness had spent time in the city’s Yuexiu district, known as “Little Africa”.

Five were Nigerian nationals who faced widespread anger after reports surfaced that they had broken a mandatory quarantine and been to eight restaurants and other public places instead of staying home.

As a result, nearly 2,000 people they came into contact with had to be tested for COVID-19 or undergo quarantine, state media said.

Guangzhou had confirmed 114 imported coronavirus cases as of Thursday — 16 of which were Africans. The rest were returning Chinese nationals. 

The tense situation has made Africans targets of suspicion, distrust and racism in China — and brought a stinging rebuke Saturday from Washington.

Several Africans told AFP they had been forcibly evicted from their homes and turned away by hotels. 

“I’ve been sleeping under the bridge for four days with no food to eat… I cannot buy food anywhere, no shops or restaurants will serve me,” said Tony Mathias, an exchange student from Uganda who was forced from his apartment on Monday.

“We’re like beggars on the street,” the 24-year-old said.

Mathias added that police had given him no information about testing or quarantine but instead told him “to go to another city”.

Police in Guangzhou declined to comment when contacted by AFP.

A Nigerian businessman said he was evicted from his apartment this week.

“Everywhere the police see us, they will come and pursue us and tell us to go home. But where can we go?” he said.

Growing tensions

Other Africans said the community had been subject to mass COVID-19 testing even though many had not left China recently, and people had been placed under arbitrary quarantine at home or in hotels. 

China has banned foreign nationals from entering the country, and many travellers are being sent into 14-day quarantines either in their own accommodation or at centralised facilities.

Thiam, an exchange student from Guinea, said police ordered him to stay home on Tuesday even after he tested negative for COVID-19 and told officers he had not left China in almost four years.

He believes the measures are specifically and unfairly targeting Africans. 

“All the people I’ve seen tested are Africans. Chinese are walking around freely but if you’re black you can’t go out,” he said.

The US State Department has issued an alert advising African Americans, or those with potential contact with African nationals, to avoid Guangzhou.

Then on Saturday the department issued a sharp criticism of China over how it treats Africans.

“It’s unfortunate but not surprising to see this kind of xenophobia towards Africans by Chinese authorities,” a State Department spokesperson said.

The US in recent weeks has denounced what it calls Beijing’s lack of transparency at the start of the coronavirus epidemic, which was first detected in late 2019 in the Chinese city of Wuhan. American officials say the delay resulted in thousands of deaths around the world.

Despite a recent truce in the US-Chinese war of words, skirmishes have continued between the two world powers, already locked in a long-term strategic confrontation.

Crazy fear’

The infections in Guangzhou have also sparked a torrent of abuse online, with many Chinese internet users posting racist comments and calling for all Africans to be deported.

Last week a controversial cartoon depicting foreigners as different types of trash to be sorted through went viral on social media. 

“There’s just this crazy fear that anybody who’s African might have been in contact with somebody who was sick,” said David, a Canadian living in Guangzhou who did not want to give his full name.

China’s foreign ministry acknowledged this week that there had been some “misunderstandings” with the African community.

“I want to emphasise that the Chinese government treats all foreigners in China equally,” said spokesman Zhao Lijian on Thursday, urging local officials to “improve their working mechanisms”.

The complaints in Guangzhou contrast with a welcome reception to Chinese efforts in battling the coronavirus across the African continent, where Beijing this week donated medical supplies to 18 countries.

So does anyone else remember when folks were apologizing and kowtowing to China over the Hong Kong protest?

Yeah. Remember when China "was/still is" fucking over their own people human rights and everybody was sucking that Winnie the Pooh dick?

I wonder if y'all going to speak up now.

"Then they came for me.. And there was no one left To speak out for me."

[tellthemeerkatsitsfine]

I’ve never been a big St. Patrick’s Day person. As a Canadian who was raised on Celtic music, I always feel a little indignation when people who make fun of me for my music most of the year suddenly decide it’s cool (but only particular versions of it that palpable to popular culture, and only for one night). And obviously I realize if I feel vaguely annoyed about people appropriating my culture as a person who likes Celtic music, it’s probably much more annoying for Irish people who have their actual culture appropriated. Also, celebrating it generally involves people gathering in large groups and drinking more than they usually do, and that often has results that are irritating at best.

So I don’t usually participate in St. Patrick’s Day celebrations. But in 2020, the world (my corner of it, anyway) shut down right before that holiday. I know exactly when it happened because I remember the day they announced school closures and similar huge changes was Friday, March 13th. On an unrelated note, I once lost my job on Friday the 13th (August 2010). I’m not a superstitious person, but I might start staying in bed when the 13th falls on a Friday just in case.

Four days after the world ended, St. Patrick’s Day occurred. The internet was full of people trying to adjust to our new reality, and talking about how they would adapt parts of life to staying home. One big announcement I saw was that the Dropkick Murphys would perform their annual St. Patrick’s Day concert with no audience and stream it live.

To be honest, I’d never been a huge Dropkick Murphys fan. I don’t love I’m Shipping Up to Boston, and because I find that song annoying and overplayed, I’d never looked past it in their catalogue. But I knew they were quite a famous Celtic/rock Irish-American band. They tour the whole world, but every year for 25 years, on March 17, they’ve played a big concert in their hometown of Boston. 2020 would be the first time in many years that people in Boston couldn’t go see that band live in person on St. Patricks’ Day. But it would also be the first time that people outside Boson could see them that night.

So I decided that was as good a way as any to spend my March 17th. I didn’t expect to love the music, but I figured it would be fun to watch a big Celtic band play a St. Patrick’s Day concert. And I could experience that cool energy without having to brave the horrors of downtown bars on St. Patrick’s Day. I could sit by myself, open a beer, and watch it on my computer.

That’s what I did, and it was a great night. One thing I learned is that I like the Dropkick Murphys much, much better than I’d originally thought. I still don’t love I’m Shipping Up to Boston, but I loved almost every other song they played that night. And, in a fairly corny way, I enjoyed the atmosphere. This was very early in the pandemic, when the world had this sense that we were all going into a dark time (that was true) and we would pull together and all do our part to see each other through it (that turned out to be… hit and miss). The Dropkick Murphys shouted into the mostly empty venue (only as many crew members as were needed to run the show) about how everyone watching the livestream from home, everyone spending St. Patrick’s Day on their own couch instead of out mingling in person, was going to save the world. That message actually got to me a bit. It’s a scary time, but we’re in this together, me and all the people all over the world who are also watching this from home but being brought together by this. Something like that.

In the year that’s passed since then, I have gotten to know the Dropkick Murphys catalogue fairly well; I listen to them a lot now. I have checked, and I am pleased to say that in 2021, the Dropkick Murphys will again be doing a concert for no audience, but livestreaming it for the world. The concert starts at 7 PM EST and will stream for free on YouTube, if anyone else wants to watch it.

So this should have been a perfect story of me going back one year later and watching this same band perform their second socially distanced St. Patrick’s Day concert in a row. I spent most of fall/winter 2020/2021 at my parents’ place, but just yesterday, I moved back to my own place. So I’m back in my own bedroom now for the first time in months, and enjoying this concert seems like a fun way to throw myself a one-person welcome home party. And a “reflect on this fucked up year” party. It’s downright poetic.

Unfortunately, I have a work commitment this Wednesday night. I was quite disappointed when I learned this unavoidable online meeting would take place in the evening on March 17.

However! I have a plan. Last year the concert streamed live on YouTube, but the full video of the concert stayed up after the stream was over. So this year, for me, St. Patrick’s Day will be on March 18. Here is the itinerary:

5 PM (my time, EST): The new Taskmaster episode will finish airing (that’s one advantage of being five hours behind the UK) and will hopefully go up on YouTube right away.

5-5:45 PM - Watch Taskmaster. Lee Fucking Mack, let’s fucking go!!

5:45-6:45 PM - Listen to the Taskmaster podcast about the new episode. Probably hear Richard Herring be just as cool and gracious as last time he was on the podcast; feel guilty for how hard I cheered against him in season 10.

6:45-7 PM - Apologize to Richard Herring, either to no one in my empty room or possibly in a semi-eloquent Tumblr post. Explain that normally in any competitive situation I do believe in supporting the person who deserves it most/cares the most/worked the hardest for it, and of course that would be Richard, but unfortunately I lost the will to stick to that principle as soon as Daisy May Cooper beat an Oxford graduate at a word-based task by swearing a lot.

7 PM - Get out beer and whiskey and pull up the day-old stream of the 2021 Dropkick Murphys concert.

That is the plan. I will probably be posting on Tumblr while I execute this plan, so get ready for that. You know a party is going to be good when its itinerary contains the line “apologize to Richard Herring”.

[therucrap]

RPDR 13 Episode 1 RuCrap

Hello dear internet! I just started a new page for my first ever RPDR RuCrap so please share and follow and I’ll continue if they catch on! Hope you enjoy!

The lucky 13th season of RuPaul’s Trauma Spectacular launches with the promise of “all new surprises” and a brand new twist that will leave you wondering how you ever sat through a boring old premiere with a coherent intro, climax, and conclusion when you could be enduring a dizzying hour and a half of WOW presents Happy Death Day 3: Covid Edition!

We open up on the trusty trauma center - I mean Werk Room - and the first to enter is NYC’s “Dominican Doll” and human drag lingo See ‘N Say Kandy Muse in an elaborate bejeweled patchwork jean mini dress and MATCHING DENIM BOOMBOX and she immediately informs us that we may know her from the now former Haus of Aja which was recently deconstructed like the pair of Wranglers that Kandy is wearing as fingerless gloves. Kandy is no longer alone in VIP because the befeathered Joey Jay arrives and half-heartedly delivers her intro line. “Filler queen!” We discover that Kandy is likely going to provide our Greek chorus confessional this season and all in a soft smoky eye when she informs us uncultured swine that Joey is wearing the cheapest variety of feather - chicken. Kandy didn’t construct an entire outfit from the remnants section of a Joanne Fabrics and not learn a thing or two about quality, sweetie! Joey is determined to beat viewers to the punchline and immediately clucks around branding herself as “basic” and “filler.” Joey is from the city of Phoenix (and possibly the online University as well) but she’s here to rise like a chicken!

Thunder mysteriously rumbles as RuPaul appears on the digitally enhanced Werk room TV but what could this be?! For all you newbies this is one of the several instances in every season where Ru mixes things up and gives us what we really want: a twist that is equal parts confusing, fucks up the natural order of the competition, and is ultimately unfulfilling! Come on season 13, let’s put a bunch of queer people through even more turmoil in a pandemic! Ru has a surprise but they’ll have to head to the mainstage to get the full story that they’ll be recounting to a mental health professional later!

We’re merely four minutes in and here comes Ru down the runway dressed like a glitterdot jellyfish! Our tour guide on Trauma Island introduces us to the main panel of judges for the season - Disco Morticia Addams and the two human Trapper Keepers who are now separated by glass because for the first time in Drag Race herstory we’re in the middle of a international health crisis, mawma!

Now let’s get down to trauma! Ru explains that the queens will be pairing off to lipsync unexpectedly as they enter! What could possibly go wrong? Well if you’re hoping that someone comes in wearing blades on their feet well just stick around because I have quite the treat for you! Our Dungaree Diva and the Chicken Feather Filler hit the Mainstage looking as confused as Shangela researching CDC protocol on her way to Puerto Vallarta last week. The judges interview our test subjects and immediately bring up the Haus of Aja and Kandy clarifies that she’s now an esteemed member of The Doll Haus along with last season’s ever-gorgeous Dahlia Sinn. I personally prefer not to say that Dahlia was eliminated first but instead that she was season 12’s brocco-leading lady! (Writer’s note: if you’re thinking “there’s a drag show called The Doll Haus in my hometown... is it THAT Doll Haus?!” No, there’s a drag show called The Doll Haus in almost every city in America but now, like with the former Sharon Needles, Kim Chis, and Penny Trations of the world, this one’s been on TV and alas, the others must now rename themselves)! Joey also charms the judges with her plucky demeanor and it’s already time to lipsync feather they like it or not!

Gay anthem Call Me Maybe by Canadian legend Carley Rae Jepson begins and Kandy immediately pushes a fake button on her DENIM BOOMBOX to start the party. Honestly... crown her right there on the spot. We will ALWAYS give points for prop work and the Carrot Top of the Bronx does not disappoint. Both are energetic but it’s The Dutchess of Denim who wins by infusing humor and our feathered friend is given “the Porkchop” but before we can even wrap our head around what this means for the state of the competition we snap back to the Werk Room to meet our next unsuspecting victims!

Now dear reader, this is the part where I’m just going to cut the shit. The set-up they’re selling us is that the losers of these premiere lipsyncs will be eliminated from the show but they are obviously not about to Porkchop half of the cast on day one so just stick with me while we suspend disbelief and go on RuPaul’s Totally Twisted Trauma Adventure as she convinces 6 gay people who just spent upwards of $10,000 on clothing, jewelry, and hair and then meticulously packed it into regulation suitcases to travel here during a pandemic after probably not making any money for the last four months (this was filmed in July) that they are going home on day one! This herstory-making twist, like so many before it, exemplifies the show’s worst qualities: a lack of empathy for its contestants, an underestimation of viewer intelligence and ability to decode heavy-handed editing witchery, and its love for completely dismantling its own format every year for the sake of drama. Whatever keeps the Emmy’s coming, baby! When you’re on the other side of one of these twists you usually feel like you just finished your morning coffee only to find out that the barista gave you decaf. Your mind will be blown when it’s happening but the payoff is usually at the expense of the show’s own legitimacy. With that said... this is the punishment we come to gleefully endure every year and we’re not here to complain, we’re here to watch gay people break down, dammit!

It’s deja Ru all over again as we snap back to the Werk Room where Chicago’s Denali walks in on ice skates and immediately ruins any chance of a deposit return for the bumpy, rented roll-out vinyl floors and declares “Let me break the ice!” She’s wearing the expensive feathers that Joey Jay didn’t spring for. Denali might not be the first ice skater on Drag Race but she’s the one I didn’t watch shit on a dick on Twitter last week so let’s give credit where it’s due. Ugh I wish Trinity the Tuck could block THAT from my memory! Next up is Atlanta’s Lala Ri whose white blazer, body suit, and unteased hair is immediately called basic by an icy Denali in confessional. Denali is confident but we know something that she doesn’t and Lala is wearing a sensible dancing ankle boot not two blades on her feet so let’s see how this turns out!

The lipsync song is “When I Grow Up” by Nicole Scherzinger and her assistants who were accidentally given microphones a few times! Denali struggles to conceal her wayward nipples during some ambitious dance moves and all while in skates but Lala gives us a good old fashioned drag performance and a big finale split unbothered by an elaborate costume and ultimately ices Denali who signs off with “Feeling icy, feeling spicy!” Asking these queens to lipsync upon entering is one thing but asking them to improvise their exit lines 10 minutes in is just cruel!

Denali heads backstage devastated where SURPRISE... Joey Jay is sitting alone in a sad room made of plywood walls featuring a bunch of pictures of first eliminated queens, an ominous “Porkchop Loading Dock” sign, and some cocktail tables with no cocktails (how dreadful).

Before we get the full picture and God for bid our bearings on Mr Charles’ Wild Ride let’s leave this plywood hellscape and jump back into the familiar comfort of the Werk Room’s pixelated neon pink faux brick walls where LA’s modelesque Symone stomps in wearing a dress made of tiny Polaroids of herself. She’s stylish, her energy is fresh, and she’s clearly one to watch. Then dear reader life as we know it changes. A breeze comes through the room and God herself blesses us when living legend and matriarch of the Iman dynasty Tamisha Iman from Atlanta arrives in a pointy-shouldered red power suit and proclaims to us simple townsfolk “Holler at me, I know you know me. Holler at me, I know you know me. Tamisha is here!” The sea parts, the crops are replenished, and all war stops on Earth. On stage Tamisha reveals that she’s been doing drag for 30 years (which seems like a long time to us mere mortals) and that she was originally cast last season but was diagnosed with colon cancer two days later and had to stay home for chemo. The lipsync gods wisely choose The Pleasure Principle by Janet Jackson and Tamisha gives us exact Janet arm choreo while Simone is sultry yet commanding as she shakes her Polaroids. The judges determine that Simone was picture perfect and American hero Tamisha Iman is sent to Porkchop’s Shipping Crate of Horrors to join the nest with the fancy feather option and the chicken feather option.

We begrudgingly crawl back onto RuPaul’s ever-circling carousel of doom and plop back into the workroom where accomplished LA celebrity makeup artist GottMik stomps in wearing a wacky toile dress and a full face of white makeup declaring that it’s “Time to crash the system!” GottMik is Drag Race’s first trans man contestant (and first knowingly cast trans contestant at all) for which we cheer excitedly and then immediately look at our watches because that took too long. Next up Minneapolis’s towering Utica wriggles in with a sneeze and declares “She’s sickening!” which is just the pandemic humor I came here for! Contaminate me, mom! This gay scarecrow is wearing a series of crazy patterns and a big strawberry on her head and the two of them appear to be from the same traveling circus. These two Big Comfy Couch characters slink over to the main stage where Utica explains that her cranial statement fruit symbolizes tackling obstacles because she used to be allergic to strawberries as a kid but she grew out of it. In RuPaul’s heavy universe of heart wrenching struggles that contain chronic illness and societal rejection, Utica’s animated world that suffers only of outgrown childhood strawberry problems is a welcome one. These two lanky rag dolls will be lipsyncing to Rumors by her majesty Lady Lohan of Mykonos and the vibe is instantly wacky. I wouldn’t say that either of them are the next Kennedy Davenport but they did complement each other well on the invisible obstacle course they were both miming through. Utica’s hair flops over her eye, there’s galloping and floor humping, GottMik does a split, there’s elbows and knees aplenty, and all that’s missing is dancing poodles. The judges are tickled by the kookiness of both of these human windsocks but Gotmikk snatches the win. Neither of these two are going to win So You Think You Can Dance but luckily this is RuPaul’s So You Think You Can Trauma so we’re in luck!

Our homosexual Groundhog Day continues back in the Werk Room where we meet NYC’s Rosé who gets the Brita treatment where she’s presented as a legendary New York queen and then the editors quickly get to work making her look delusional. She’s accomplished, confident, and Drag Race’s favorite personality type to dismantle and then trick into returning to All-Stars for a redemption only to dismantle again. Rosé’s fresh-faced foil Olivia Lux enters and lights up the place right away in a velvet pink and yellow gown. She’s a humble NYC newby who has competed in shows hosted by the established Rosé and we already know what’s about to happen here. The lipsync is Exes and Oh’s by Elle King which which was a choice. Olivia strips off her gown to reveal a bodysuit so she can really articulate and Rosé does the world’s least exciting split that looked like me trying unsuccessfully separate wooden chopsticks. Olivia triumphs and Rosé fizzles as she heads to the It Didn’t Werk Room aka Porkchop’s sparsely decorated storage closet to be with the other Have Nots.

We’re almost to the finish line and we limp, slightly disoriented, back to the Werk Room where we meet Tina Burner, another NYC theater kid with the confidence of a thousand Patti LuPones who is dressed like a Ronald McDonald firefighter. What she lacks in nuance she makes up for in nonstop fire puns. Next Chicago’s glamorous Kahmora Hall saunters in glowing and is clearly unimpressed with Tina’s constant Joan Rivers impression but maintains a full pageant smile. No choice but to stan. Our final queen is the refreshingly optimistic Elliott with 2 T’s who busts in wearing a bolero jacket, some red pants from the store, and a short pink wig that screams “Sorry I’m late! Here’s my flash drive! I can go on whenever!” Elliott dances in sing-talking her entrance line like the TGIFriday’s server she is: “I’m the queen you want to see. Elliot with two T’s. Okay! Uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh! Okay!” Elliot is a dancer from Las Vegas and has the unhinged camp counselor energy of someone with snacks in her purse at all times.

On the Mainstage Tina cycles through the last of her introductory fire puns and tells the judges she was in a boy band which honestly tracks. Tina and Rosé share a similar NYC gotta-get-a-gimmick energy but for some reason production has decided to give Rosé the womp womp edit and Tina the superstar edit. The song is Lady Marmalade because we haven’t been though enough and Kahmora serves subdued sexy glamour, Elliott does the splits, and Tina bobs and weaves between the two with full play-to-the-back-row comedy queen energy. Tina extinguishes the dreams of the other two and RuPaul sends the final two losers to the chokey.

The worst is over (we think) and our frazzled cast of hopefuls finally gets to know eachother in their two very different groups. The winning queens in the Werk Room are celebrating and as blissfully unaware of the doom around them as Miss Vanjie and Silky Ganache at a Puerto Vallarta circuit party during a pandemic. Over in Porkchop’s Junk Drawer the camera looms unnecessarily close to the crestfallen losers’ now disheveled wigs and sweat drenched makeup. Ru’s voice bellows over the speaker to tell this motley crew to get out and then as the last bit of light leaves their weary eyes she checks back in to tell them that she wasn’t serious! Oh good! Finally a moment of mercy for these once hopeful queens on their first day of RuPaul’s Wipeout! She then reveals that the full twist is that she is only going to send one home but they have to vote amongst the group of losers to decide who it is! Yes, that’s correct! This group of broken queens who just met and mostly have never seen eachother perform will now be expected to turn on eachother and give up their last bit of dignity to either grovel or just straight up fight with eachother! This must be what the Donner Party’s last night looked like. The queens look around broken and wounded but still hungry, their eyes barely open, their lacefronts only partially attached to their heads, and start deciding which of their own is about to get consumed. Her highness Tamisha Iman reminds them "Well, I'm the only black girl so don't vote me off” and just like that we are TO BE CONTINUED!

Thus concludes our first headspinning episode that despite being reliably frustrating has once again sucked us in and against our better judgement entertained us to the fullest! As for our 13 queens- you can use code HERSTORY on Talkspace while relaying tonite’s events to a sickening liscensed therapist!

[americaengine]

Yelp

mid America engine The IPO raised $sixteen billion, the third-largest in U.S. history, after Visa Inc. in 2008 and AT&T Wireless in 2000. Based on its 2012 income of $5 billion, Facebook joined the Fortune 500 listing for the first time in May 2013, ranked 462. The IPO was controversial given the immediate price declines that adopted, and was the topic of lawsuits, whereas SEC and FINRA both launched investigations.

Twitter's annual growth rate decreased from 7.eight percent in 2015 to three.four percent in 2017. An April 2017 a statista.com blog entry ranked Twitter because the tenth most used social community based mostly on their count of 319 million month-to-month visitors. 

On June 1, 2011, Twitter announced its personal integrated photo-sharing service that allows users to addContent a photo and connect it to a Tweet right from Twitter.com.

In 2004, MapQuest, uLocate, Research in Motion and Nextel launched MapQuest Find Me, a buddy-finder service that labored on GPS-enabled mobile phones. MapQuest Find Me let users automatically discover their location, entry maps and instructions and find nearby points of interest, together with airports, motels, restaurants, banks and ATMs. 

Users additionally had the ability to set up alerts to be notified when community members arrive at or depart from a chosen area. In 2005 the service grew to become obtainable on Sprint, and in 2006, Boost Mobile.

The prevalence of African American Twitter utilization and in many in style hashtags has been the topic of analysis research. According to a research by Sysomos in June 2009, women make up a slightly bigger Twitter demographic than men—fifty-three % over forty-seven %. It also said that five % of users accounted for seventy-five % of all activity and that New York City has extra Twitter customers than other cities. 

The capacity to export this type of tweet archive, which by no means existed on the new format, has been removed entirely in August 2019[when exactly? Even when accessing the legacy Twitter desktop web site structure using the user-agent of an older browser version, the choice has disappeared from the account settings.

The company traded its first shares on May 19, 2011, under the NYSE image "LNKD", at $forty five per share. Shares of LinkedIn rose as a lot as 171% on their first day of trade on the New York Stock Exchange and closed at $ninety four.25, greater than 109% above IPO worth. Shortly after the IPO, the location's underlying infrastructure was revised to permit accelerated revision-launch cycles. 

In 2011, LinkedIn earned $154.6 million in advertising income alone, surpassing Twitter, which earned $139.5 million. LinkedIn's fourth-quarter 2011 earnings soared due to the company's enhance in success in the social media world. By this level, LinkedIn had about 2,a hundred full-time employees in comparison with the 500 that it had in 2010.

In May 2019, Tel Aviv-based mostly personal intelligence company Archimedes Group was banned from Facebook for “coordinated inauthentic habits” after Facebook discovered fake users in countries in sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America and Southeast Asia. Facebook investigations revealed that Archimedes had spent some $1.1 million on fake ads, paid for in Brazilian reais, Israeli shekels and US dollars. 

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The new layout was revised in 2011 with a concentrate on continuity with the net and cellular variations, introducing "Connect" and "Discover" tabs, an updated profile design, and shifting all content material to the right pane . In March 2012, Twitter turned out there in Arabic, Farsi, Hebrew and Urdu, the first proper-to-left language variations of the location. In August 2012, beta help for Basque, Czech and Greek was added, making the positioning out there in 33 totally different languages. 

The service's utility programming interface allows other internet companies and applications to combine with Twitter. Maria Zakharova for the Russian overseas ministry stated the ban was a "gross violation" by the US of free speech. The firm generated US$forty five million in annual income in 2010, after beginning sales midway through that yr; the company operated at a loss through most of 2010.

BBB accreditation, or membership, is totally optionally available for a business to just accept and take part in via the payment of dues. Past complaints allege that the BBB compiles scores primarily based upon their capability to collect their money from companies, and never totally upon business performance.

In August 2010, one of North Korea's official authorities web sites and the nation's official news agency, Uriminzokkiri, joined Facebook. Studies have associated social networks with optimistic and negative impacts on emotional well being.  mid America engine

Despite the vote, the BBB web site nonetheless states that factors are taken away if accreditation is misplaced. A business is eligible for BBB accreditation if it meets, within the opinion of the BBB, the "BBB Standards for Trust". The 112 BBBs are independently ruled by their very own boards of administrators and should meet international BBB requirements, which are monitored by the IABBB.

In 2011, a New York Times columnist described a criticism from a shopper that the Austin chapter of the Better Business Bureau refused to resolve complaints against corporations if clients don't pay a $70 mediation fee. In Canada, CBC News reported in 2010 that Canadian BBBs have been downgrading the rankings scores of companies who stopped paying their dues. 

For example, a shifting business who had an A ranking and had been a BBB member for 20 years, dropped to a D‑minus ranking after they allegedly not wanted to pay dues. In response, the president of the International Association of Better Business Bureaus has stated the BBB ratings system will stop awarding points to companies for being BBB members. 

The national BBB's government committee voted to address the public's notion of the ratings system. It voted that the BBB rankings system would now not give further factors to businesses as a result of they are accredited. It voted to implement a system to deal with complaints about BBB sales practices.

[nobelmemories]

                 More Nobel Memories

                 Along The Nobel Road

                                   Part XI

           Some time has passed since I last contributed any stories or memories for your enjoyment. Recent articles I have read have encouraged me to do so. It must be remembered that my memories are mine and although they might not be totally accurate they are as I remember and perceive them.

           I always have to laugh when I think of my mother’s stories. One thing I always believed was that my mother would not lie. However? She lived to be a month short of 95 years and chose to leave on her terms. In her mind, people had started living forever, and she didn’t like it.  She did not retire from nursing until she was 69 yrs. In her later years she did a lot of travelling. She travelled to England where she was born and visited Buckingham Palace and seen the changing of the guard. She also went to Rome and visited the Vatican square and seen the Pope address his flock from his balcony. She travelled to many other countries as well. I remember one day, after retiring she told me she would really like to travel but did not want to spend her money. My reply to her was: No don’t travel, save your money because when you pass Deane and I are going to have a ball. For some reason she started travelling shortly afterwards. The stories kind of changed in the last year or so of her life. She had particular stories that would be triggered by the time of day of some other daily event. The story about visiting Buckingham Palace became when I met the Queen. The trip to Rome involved an audience with the Pope. Now I have long realized that this is normal and happens as we age and when we change the story slightly this is just normal. It is real and true in this storyteller’s mind. So be forewarned. I will be 85 years in just a few months.

                                    Champlain’s Cup

            Both Nobel and Parry Sound lie within McDougall Township. There are so many historical things that have happened here that we are all part of. One story that my dad first told me about involved the Little family who had a farm in McDougall Township off the Hurdville Road. There are many of their descendants living in McDougall and Mckellar and Carling Townships to this day. The old Little farm was located on Trout Lake. It was part of the old Portage Trails the Natives travelled to and from the Georgian Bay and up the Seguin River System. The story as first told to me by my father was that the Little’s had been clearing land when they discovered a cup in the roots of an upturned tree. He referred to the cup as Champlain’s Cup. In years since then I have been told that Nathaniel Little found the cup in 1870, 23 years before my dad was born. It was in the roots of an up-turned tree. It actually was a bronze French apothecary’s mortar weighing 16 Kg. It bore the date 1636. It would appear that the Mortar was left by some travellers, however I think we can pretty easily rule out Samuel Champlain as he lived between August 17,1567 and December 25, 1635.

            It has never been established for sure, just where this Mortar came from, however the following theories have been suggested. The old explorers were known to leave a marker when they discovered a new place or country. The idea was that they could say they were there and could prove it by telling what they had left and where to find it. Such was the case when the astronauts landed on the moon and left the American Flag. As most people realize a mortar and pestle are used to make medicine. There is a mineral in the area that the natives use to grind up and make an ointment to treat skin disease. They passed on many of their secrets to the missionaries. The Missionaries from the Midland area were known to travel up and down the Georgian Bay exploring. One of these persons was a donne’ (a support person to the missionaries), he was a medical doctor from France. His name was Francois Gendron.

The theory was that he either took the mortar with him when he was exploring or retreating from the Iroquois and placed it where it was found.  It is also a known that Father Bre’beuf travelled this area in 1645 and visited an area called Tangouaen, which means “In site of the falls or rapids. The place where the mortar was found was on a portage around a waterfalls.  NOTE: The forgoing theory was copied from the Internet.

            It is said that the Mortar was subsequently purchased from Nathaniel  Little by William Beatty who kept it in their company vault. The Beatty family subsequently placed the mortar in the Canadian Museum of Civilization, across the river from Ottawa. This is a little bit of local history that kind of affects all of us. If you are not a Little and have been in the area any length of time you at least know a Little.

                                          The Lumsden’s

            James Lumsden was one of the original homesteaders to the Township of McDougall. If one looks at the Guide Book & Atlas of Muskoka and Parry Sound Districts dated 1879 and the maps produced by J. Rogers. You will see that most township maps are laid out having an approximate ¼ mile width, in the Township of McDougall. Those along the shore of Georgian Bay have a broken frontage and are laid out having the length in an East West direction. What became the Lumsden Farm consisted of Lots 3,4,5,6 Concession A. Lot No. 3 bears the name D.L.Corbiere, Lot 4 J. Lumsden, Lot 5 D.E. Corbiere, Lot 6 Jas. Lumsden. The abutting lots to the east run with the length to the north and south. Lots 28 & 29 Concession IX bears the name George Hunt.  When I was a very young boy Lots 3 to 6 Concession A were mostly owned by Dave Lumsden, James’s son. While lots 28 & 29 were mostly owned by Arthur Wright. There were some small parcels that were sold to people to build their homes on.

           There is a small cemetery located off Nobel Road just to the south side of the Esso property. It is referred to as the Lumsden Cemetery. To get an idea how these Lumsden lots ownership eventually evolved you have to view these markers. One marker was for James Lumsden died February 15,1875 age 63 years Husband of Elizabeth Corbiere. One marker was for Elizabeth Corbiere died September 24,1897 62 years. One marker was James Lumsden son of Elizabeth and James Lumsden died 18 July 1875 age 17 years. There was one marker for Mary E. Wright wife of J.D. Lumsden born 1861 died 1948. There was no marker for J.D. Lumsden however I remember both J.D. (Dave) Lumsden and his wife Elizabeth. Dave was another son of James Lumsden and Elizabeth Corbiere. Just going by my memory, I believe Dave died around the late forties. I think he also is buried in this cemetery. I remember Elizabeth as a small frail lady who had a very kind heart.

            I was told that Elizabeth was a sister to Art Wright who owned the farm at the edge of Portage Lake. Art’s house and farm buildings were located to the east of the side road that ran behind the Esso and Tim Horton’s. This was the original road as shown on the old township of McDougall map. Art’s house was approximately where Gary Barager’s house is now. I have faint memories of Art Wright, as being a small wiry man. I don’t remember his wife, although I know my parents talked kindly about her. Art Wright had three fields that he worked. One was between Nobel Road and the old side road where the Esso and Tim Horton’s and the Motel were later situated. One was to the east of the original side road that ran behind the Municipal buildings and Pineridge Drive. It was parallel to the road on the east side down His third field was behind where Gary Barager’s house was a short road towards the water.

           In about 1932 my Dad, Sid Crawford purchased five acres from Dave Lumsden. This parcel of land was bound by the old Nobel Road, which lies behind the Municipal buildings on the east, Pineridge Drive on the north, the extension road that lined up with Hammel Ave on the west and the present road going into the Township Office. Highway 69 now Nobel Road cut across this property at an angle on the front corner. Dad built the house that is presently occupied by Lemore Johnston in 1932. There was a summer kitchen on the back of our house. (A shed that was used to cook in when we had warm summer weather.) The kitchen stove was wood heated and had one of those warming closets on top and a tank you filled with water on the right side, It was a Findlay.

           I remember the stove well due to a life lesson. One time we were having supper in the dining room. We were served blue berry pie for desert. I think I got it in my head that my brother Deane got a bigger piece of pie than I. At any rate I left the table in anger, stormed out of the house and slammed the door. It was obviously too hard, because the 2’x 2’ glass that was in the upper part of the door kept on going and fell in many pieces all over the kitchen floor.

           Now my mother was the disciplinarian in our house. I think I can count on one hand the number of times my father ever laid a hand on me. This time it was a little different. I heard a loud bellow. GARRY GET BACK IN HERE. I walked back into the house, probably a little sheepishly. I had a smirk on my face. I walked right up to Dad and I guess it was a little too much for him. He hit me on the side of the head with an open hand. I did a flip in the air and ended up on the floor in front of the stove. I was a little shook-up, I looked up and all I could see was FINDLAY, which was stamped below the oven.  (I have attached a photo so you can remember this lesson whenever you see an old wood-burning kitchen stove.) It was about that time I got my wits about me and decided I had better leave for a time. I write this with tongue in cheek and take full responsibility. I have nothing but love for my dad.

           There were two items in that summer kitchen that I remember. One was a coal oil or kerosene stove range. It looked just like the picture I have attached, accept the oil container was clear glass in ours. You would fill the container with oil then turn it upside down into the holder. As you can see there was a little door in the front of the blue chimneys, you would open this door and see a circular wick similar to a lamp wick that you would light. There was a control below the chimney that allowed you to control the wick and thus the heat. I have attached a picture of a stove similar to mothers.

           The second thing I remember being in the summer kitchen was an old galvanized rocker washing machine. Mother would usually put the wood stove on to heat the water for washing. She would take the warm water from the copper boiler on the stove and the boiler in the stove for the washing machine. She used Naptha soap, anything that was particularly stained; she would first give a little scrubbing on the washboard. Then put it in the rocker washer. She had a square of bluing that she quite often put in with the white clothes and sometimes boiled them in the copper boiler. Coloured clothes were done separate to whites. Then the handle was rocked until she felt the clothes were well washed. We had an old hand pump in the kitchen from which mother would get the water, pumping it in from the well in our field. She had a stand, which she would put beside the rocker washer and put a large round galvanized tub on. This would be filled with cold water. Once the washing in the rocker washing machine was complete, she would put the clothes through a wooden wringer that attached to the side of the rocker and dropped the clothes into the tub of cold water. They were then rinsed, put back through the wringer again and were ready to be hung on the line. The clothes line was out behind our woodshed and had a 4’ stand she would climb up on. She still liked to use that in the summer time when she was in her 80’s. In the early years she had clothespins that were made out of a single piece of wood, but she eventually had the modern clothespins with a spring in them. I have attached a picture of a rocker washing machine similar to mothers.

           Around 1946 father and mother decided to put an addition on the back of the house to replace the summer kitchen. Dad had been a teamster prior to his marriage. He had started working in the logging camps when he was 14 and had made at least ten seasonal trips out west on the Harvest Train. He loved horses and was a friend of Dave Lumsden who had a couple of teams of horses. Dad would quite often look after these animals. He borrowed one of Dave Lumsden’s teams and a scraper. I have a very clear memory of his digging out a hole for the basement of that addition. I have found a picture of a horse drawn scraper that was similar to the one Dad used and have attached it. The one in the picture is missing the handles, which would be in the round tubes you can see in the picture. The teamster would have the reins to the horses crossed behind his neck, one hand controlling each of the handles. He would have the horses move forward with audio messages. Gidup, ( I don’t remember ever hearing get up.) haw or gee, being left or right. He would lift on the handles causing the scraper to dig in and fill the scrapper. He would then push back down on the handles as they moved forward stopping the scrapper from digging in. The horses would move forward or out of the hole where the teamster would give a lift upwards on the handles causing the scrapper to dig in, flip and dump the load of earth. The teamster would then drive the team around in a circle and take the next load of earth out. Dad eventually completed pouring the basement walls and floor. He was raised on a farm in Hurdville and was a rough carpenter. Dad then proceeded to build a story and a half addition that matched the front part of the house. I remember I was around ten that year. I was helping Dad put the shingles on the roof. The second story had a hip type roof at the ceiling line of the first floor, then a vertical wall and the main roof about four feet above that. I was laying shingles on the top roof and Dad was finishing up the hip about a 4’ drop below me. I suddenly started to slide, fell off the upper roof down to the roof that Dad was working on. I just had a pair of pants on but no shirt. As I slid past Dad and went over the edge, he reached out quickly and locked his fingers into the soft flesh of my lower side. I continued off the roof and he held on. I remember hanging there squealing like a pig, for a second or so before he lifted me back up to the level he was at. Dad calmed me down and we continued laying the shingles. Dad proceeded to finish the house then built a complete set of kitchen cupboards without any power tools. In later years when I thought back I was always so proud of him, you see he only had grade three education. His father passed when he was very young and he had six siblings. He assumed the father figure and was the last to marry. He was able to earn his third class Stationary Engineer’s papers and obtained a job in the Power House at CIL, where he worked for 24 years.  The biggest regret I have to this day is that I never really expressed to him how very proud I was of what he accomplished in his life. He passed in 1967.

           I have attached a picture of my mother and father’s house as it sits today. I am afraid I got a little carried away on my story and will have to continue my memories of the Lumsden’s in my next submission Part XII.

           Anyone wishing to read my previous submissions can find them at the following URL:  <https://nobelmemories.tumblr.com>

>

[newstfionline]

Saturday, January 9, 2021

Canada's Ontario says 'more extreme measures' on the table as COVID-19 cases rise (Reuters) Ontario is considering “more extreme measures” on top of the widespread lockdowns in place, the premier said on Friday, after the Canadian province reported a second straight day of record-breaking COVID-19 cases. “I’ve never stressed this so much, all the way going back to March, as I am now: We are in a crisis,” Premier Doug Ford told reporters, begging people to wear masks, wash their hands and stop gathering in groups. The warning from Canada’s most populous province comes as Quebec, the worst affected province from the pandemic, is set to start a nightly curfew on Saturday. Ford said if people did not better follow public health guidelines “we will have to look at more extreme measures. … Everything is on the table right now.”

Capitol Attack Leads Democrats to Demand That Trump Leave Office (NYT) President Trump’s administration plunged deeper into crisis on Thursday as more officials resigned in protest, prominent Republicans broke with him and Democratic congressional leaders threatened to impeach him for encouraging a mob that stormed the Capitol a day earlier. What was already shaping up as a volatile final stretch to the Trump presidency took on an air of national emergency as the White House emptied out and some Republicans joined Speaker Nancy Pelosi and a cascade of Democrats calling for Mr. Trump to be removed from office without waiting the 13 days until the inauguration of President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr. The prospect of actually short-circuiting Mr. Trump’s tenure in its last days appeared remote. But the highly charged debate about Mr. Trump’s capacity to govern even for less than two weeks underscored the depth of anger and anxiety after the invasion of the Capitol that forced lawmakers to evacuate, halted the counting of the Electoral College votes for several hours and left people dead, including a Capitol Hill police officer who died Thursday night.

With Democrats in Control, Biden Moves to Advance Agenda (NYT) With his victory recognized by Congress and his party set to control both the House and Senate, President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr. moved on Thursday to fill out his cabinet, while his aides and allies drafted plans for an ambitious legislative agenda headlined by $2,000 stimulus checks to individual Americans. The president-elect’s ability to push through key parts of his agenda and win confirmation of his cabinet selections received a significant lift this week, as Democrats picked up two Senate seats in Georgia, resulting in a 50-50 split. Vice President-elect Kamala Harris has the power to cast the tiebreaking vote, which would give Democrats control of the chamber. As part of what he has pledged will be a next round of economic assistance, Mr. Biden is expected to move quickly to gain passage of $2,000 stimulus checks—which were a big focus in the Georgia elections—along with expanded unemployment benefits, aid to state and local governments and additional relief for small businesses.

Police Failures Spur Resignations and Complaints (NYT) Six days before a raucous rally of President Trump’s supporters in Washington, Representative Maxine Waters anxiously grilled the chief of the Capitol Police about his preparations for various scenarios. Ms. Waters, a California Democrat, said each of her concerns was met with a similar response from Chief Steven Sund during their hourlong call: “He assured me that they have everything under control, that they were on top of everything.” They weren’t. Instead an angry mob of pro-Trump extremists swarmed the barricades around the Capitol on Wednesday, spraying chemical irritants and wielding lead pipes, injuring more than 50 officers. They battered doors, broke windows and scaled the walls, rampaging through the building as congressional leaders made desperate calls for help. The Capitol Police seemed to offer little resistance and arrested only 14 people. Chief Sund handed in his resignation on Thursday after pressure from congressional leaders.      Policing experts noted the absence of crowd-control tools such as mounted officers, police dogs or a heavily manned perimeter. Pentagon officials said Thursday that the Capitol Police had turned down an offer for additional National Guard troops before Wednesday’s storming of the Capitol, and two law enforcement officials said they had initially rebuffed help from the F.B.I. as the mob descended. But others in law enforcement insisted that the president’s encouragement of the mob could not have been anticipated. “No one expected the president to say, ‘Hey guys, let’s all go down to the Capitol and show them who’s boss,’” said Jose Cervino, who worked for the department for 14 years and helped plan security for large events and protests. Mr. Cervino defended the hesitancy to use weapons, saying the department’s primary mandate was to protect the lawmakers, not the building. “We have the members and we have the leadership secured. Is it correct to start shooting people?” Mr. Cervino asked. “I can’t imagine that I would be happier today if we found out we kept the crowd out, but wound up shooting 40 people.”

Capitol siege raises security concerns for Biden inaugural (AP) The violent insurrection at the U.S. Capitol is intensifying scrutiny over security at an inauguration ceremony for President-elect Joe Biden already reshaped by a pandemic and the prospect that his predecessor may not attend. Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris will take the oath of office from the Capitol’s West Front, one of the very locations where a violent mob overpowered police and stormed the building. They also scaled and occupied the scaffolding and bleachers in place for the ceremonies. The congressional leaders responsible for coordinating the inauguration insisted Thursday night that events will move forward. Security forces have already begun taking extra precautions in the wake of Wednesday’s mayhem. Roughly 6,200 members of the National Guard from six states—Virginia, Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, Delaware and Maryland—will help support the Capitol Police and other law enforcement in Washington for the next 30 days. Crews also erected on the Capitol grounds tall, black metal fences designed to be impossible to climb. Those who have worked on previous inaugurations said that while this year’s events will look different, the tradition of passing power from one administration to another will continue. President Trump, however, has confirmed that he will not attend the inauguration.

Some U.S. Capitol rioters fired after internet detectives identify them (Reuters) Some of the rioters who stormed the U.S. Capitol were fired from their jobs on Thursday after internet sleuths publicized their identities. The District of Columbia police department released photos of people in Wednesday's melee and potential charges against them. Some 68 people were arrested after angry protesters stormed the building, breaking windows, damaging fixtures and stealing furnishings. The FBI also asked the public to help it identify rioters, a call that drew ribbing on social media in light of the prolific coverage of the event. This included selfies posted by participants and videos of President Donald Trump's supporters at area hotels before the attack. Some individuals who had previously been photographed at Trump rallies and supporters of the QAnon conspiracy-theory movement were quickly identified. Online detectives focused their efforts on others. "Let's name and shame them!," read one Twitter thread here devoted to outing participants.

Vaccine rollout hits snag as health workers balk at shots (AP) The desperately awaited vaccination drive against the coronavirus in the U.S. is running into resistance from an unlikely quarter: Surprising numbers of health care workers who have seen firsthand the death and misery inflicted by COVID-19 are refusing shots. It is happening in nursing homes and, to a lesser degree, in hospitals, with employees expressing fears of side effects from vaccines that were developed at record speed. More than three weeks into the campaign, some places are seeing as much as 80% of the staff holding back. “I don’t think anyone wants to be a guinea pig,” said Dr. Stephen Noble, a 42-year-old cardiothoracic surgeon in Portland, Oregon, who is postponing getting vaccinated. “At the end of the day, as a man of science, I just want to see what the data show. And give me the full data.” Stormy Tatom, 30, a hospital ICU nurse in Beaumont, Texas, said she decided against getting vaccinated for now “because of the unknown long-term side effects.” “I would say at least half of my coworkers feel the same way,” Tatom said.

Freezing Madrid braces for heaviest snowfall in decades (Reuters) Spain’s capital Madrid and much of the neighbouring region of Castilla-La Mancha were on high alert on Friday for what meteorologists expect to be the heaviest snowfall in decades, brought by the Storm Filomena. Such events are rare in the region and tend to be disruptive to daily life and mobility, coming at a time when people are returning home after Christmas and New Year holidays. This year, however, there is less traffic than usual due to restrictions to curb the coronavirus pandemic. With up to 20 cm (nearly 8 inches) of snow forecast in 24 hours and temperatures expected to hover around zero centigrade for much of the day, the south of the Madrid region, including the capital, is on its highest level of alert for the first time since the system was created in 2007.

The Pandemic Helped Reverse Italy’s Brain Drain. (NYT) When Elena Parisi, an engineer, left Italy at age 22 to pursue a career in London five years ago, she joined the vast ranks of talented Italians escaping a sluggish job market and lack of opportunities at home to find work abroad. But in the past year, as the coronavirus pandemic forced employees around the world to work from home, Ms. Parisi, like many of her compatriots, seized on the opportunity to really go home, to Italy. In between Zoom meetings and her other work for a recycling company in London, she took long strolls on the beach near her family’s home in Palermo, Sicily, and talked recipes at dawn with vendors in the local market. “The quality of life is a thousand, thousand times better here,” said Ms. Parisi, who is now in Rome. As with so many things, the virus has upended a familiar phenomenon—this time Italy’s longstanding brain drain. Italy, along with Romania and Poland, is among the European countries that send the most workers abroad, according to figures from the European Commission. Taking into account the money the country spends on their education, Italy’s brain drain costs the country an estimated 14 billion euro (about $17 billion) every year. The Italian government has welcomed the return of some of the country’s best and brightest as a silver lining to what has been a brutal pandemic for Italy, calling the shift a “great opportunity.”

Kyrgyzstan votes (Foreign Policy) Voters in Kyrgyzstan go to the polls on Sunday to vote for a new president and decide a referendum on constitutional reforms. Acting Prime Minister Sadyr Japarov has been touted as the likely winner, if he can pass the 50 percent threshold necessary to avoid a runoff. Victory would cap an unlikely rise for Japarov after he was sprung from jail in October during unrest over disputed legislative elections. Japarov had been serving an 11-year sentence for kidnapping.

Gold in India (Rest of World) India is one of the largest global consumers of gold, buying 700 tons annually, with an estimated 25,000 tons of gold stockpiled by Indian citizens, a value three times the reserves of gold held by the U.S. government. Gold is frequently given to female babies as a gift and included later as part of their dowries, but it’s also an incredibly useful asset in terms of gaining access to credit by using it as collateral. Manappuram Finance, a large lender, offers gold-backed loans, and customers such as independent business owners and farmers on average borrow $612 several times per year, with under 1 percent defaulting. The two largest gold lenders in India hold 248 tons of it, which is more than Australia has in reserve.

China city offers cash for tip on test evaders (AP) A city in northern China is offering rewards of 500 yuan ($77) for anyone who reports on a resident who has not taken a recent coronavirus test. The offer from the government of Nangong comes as millions in the city and its surrounding province of Hebei are being tested as part of efforts to control China’s most serious recent outbreak of COVID-19. The offering of cash or other rewards for information on political or social nonconformists has a long history in China, but the pandemic is putting a new face on the practice. Those found noncompliant will be forced to undergo testing and a two-week quarantine at their own expense.

Can’t go to ski resort? South Koreans rush to buy sledges, enjoy sledding near home (Reuters) With South Korea’s ski resorts closed in recent weeks to help combat COVID-19, heavy snowfalls have led to a surge in sales of sledges as winter sports lovers look for family friendly snow slopes close to home. Major retailers have run out of stocks of plastic sledges, with E-Mart, the country’s biggest supermarket chain, selling nearly 2,200 sledges in six days, more than three times its total 2020 sales. After heavy snowfalls earlier in the week, children played outdoors even as the temperature in Seoul plummeted to -18.6 Celsius (-1.5 Fahrenheit) on Friday, the coldest in 35 years.

Almost 2.3 million people need aid in Ethiopia’s Tigray: U.N. report (Reuters) Fighting is still going on in several parts of Ethiopia’s northern Tigray region and almost 2.3 million people, or nearly half of the population, need aid, a U.N. report said. The report, the most comprehensive public assessment of the humanitarian situation in Tigray since conflict erupted there on Nov. 4, was posted online late on Thursday. It said food supplies were very limited, looting was widespread and insecurity remained high.

Uganda’s election shapes up as a contest of young vs. old (Washington Post) Uganda is an overwhelmingly young country, led by a 76-year-old seeking a sixth term as president. Two-thirds of registered voters are under the age of 30, which means Yoweri Museveni has led Uganda for their whole lives. His main challenger in next week’s election is a 38-year-old musician who was a toddler when Museveni took power as leader of an armed rebellion. And so the contest between the grandfatherly incumbent and the spindly singer-turned-politician, Bobi Wine, has come to embody the most essential of democratic divides: change vs. stability, idealism vs. wisdom, the frustrated young vs. the fearful old. Who wins may come down to how many young people buy into Museveni’s warnings that a vote against him is a vote for destabilization. But the outcome also hinges on whether Wine and his supporters can withstand the repressive tactics Museveni’s security forces have unleashed in recent months that may escalate as election day nears. Since announcing his candidacy, Wine has been arrested three times, as have at least 600 attendees of his rallies. Police say they violated pandemic protocols against large gatherings. His bodyguard was killed, his lawyer arrested, reporters who cover his campaign have had their accreditation revoked, and after Wine’s second arrest, protests were met with bullets and at least 54 were killed.

Books (Publishers Weekly) Sales of print books were up 8.2 percent in 2020 year-over-year, according to NPD BookScan, with 750.9 million books sold. That’s up from 693.7 million in 2019, and is a solid performance, especially given the tumultuous spring market. Books for children and young adults saw sales explode: in nonfiction—a staple of attempting to learn from a place that is not a school—juvenile sales were up 23.1 percent and young adult nonfiction was up 38.3 percent, and on the fiction side, the juvenile segment was up 11 percent and YA was up 21.4 percent. Adults bought more books too—nonfiction was up 4.8 percent and fiction was up 6 percent.

[redgoldsparks]

Harry Potter and the Problematic Author, a fanzine by Maia Kobabe. You can find a print version of this zine in my etsy shop. 50% of print proceeds are donated to the Native American Rights Fund. This zine was made possible by my wonderful patreon backers. 

instagram / patreon / portfolio

Full transcript below the cut: 

Part one: Ruddy Owls!

I was in fourth grade when the first Harry Potter Book was released in the US.

Panel 1: Sometimes our teacher would read it aloud in class. "Mr and Mrs Dursley of number 4 Privat Drive were proud to say they were perfectly normal, thank you very much..."

Panel 2: I was 11 years old when Harry Potter finally broke through my dyslexia and turned me into a reader.

Panel 3: Every night in the summer before sixth grade I waited for the owl carrying my Hogwarts Letter. I cried when it didn't come. "I have to go to Muggle school!"

Part Two: Hats

I dedicated myself to being a fan.

Panel 1: I began collecting Harry Potter News article.

Panel 2: I asked my relatives to mail me ones from their local papers. I filled a thick binder with clippings.

Panel 3: I wrote my own trivia quiz

Panel 4: and participated in the one held annually at the county fair. "Next contestant!"

Panel 5: I usually got into one of. the top five spots. I won boxes of candy, posters, stationary, and once a baseball cap. (Hat reads: I survived the battle of Hogwarts).

Panel 6: In high school I sewed a black velvet cape and knitted many stripped scarves.

Part Three: Double Trouble

Watching the last film in 2011 felt like the final note of my childhood. 

Panel 1: I remember driving home from the midnight showing thinking about the end of 13 years of waiting; wondering what would define the next chapter of my life. 

Panel 2: That same month I heard of something called Pottermore. "Okay, so there's a sorting quiz... I already know my house! Patronus assignment? Mine's a barn owl. Duh!" 

Panel 3: You can read the books again but with GIFs? Why? 

Panel 4: I lived in a place with very slow and limited internet at the time. Pottermore sounded inaccessible, but also boring. I never joined. 

Panel 5: "I'll just read the actual books again, thanks." 

Part Four: Sweets

In 2016, a series of short stories titled "History of Magic in North America" were released on Pottermore to pave the way for the first Fantastic Beasts Film. These stories display an extreme ignorance of American history, culture, and geography, but the worst parts are the casual misuse of indigenous beliefs and stories. Fans and critics immediately spoke up against this appropriation. Some of the most quoted voices included Nambe Pueblo scholar Dr. Debbie Reese who runs the site "American Indians In Children's Literature"; Navajo writer Brian Young; Johnnie Jae (Otoe-Missouria and Choctaw), founder of A Tribe Called Geek; Dr Adrienne Keene (Cherokee Nation), a Professor at Brown University who runs the blog "Native Appropriations", and writers N.K. Jemison and Paula Young Lee.

Rowling is famous for responding to fans directly on twitter, yet she did not respond to anyone calling out the damaging aspects of "Magic in North America." Her representatives refused to comment for March 9 2016 article in the Guardian. She has never apologized. All of this, plus the casting of Johnny Depp and the specific declarations of support by JKR, Warner Brothers, and director David Yates left a sour taste in my mouth.

For further thoughts on the new films read The Crimes of Grindelwald is a Mess by Alanna Bennett for Buzzfeed News, November 16, 2018.

Excerpt from Colonialism in Wizarding American: JK Rowling's History of Magic in North America Through an Indigenous Lens by Allison Mills, MFA, MAS/MLIS (Cree and Settler French Canadian)

Although Rowling is certainly not the first white author to misstep in her treatment of Indigenous cultures, she has an unprecedented level of visibility and fame, [...] One of the most glaring problems with Rowling’s story is her treatment of the many Indigenous nations in North America as one monolithic group. [...It] flattens out the diversity of languages, belief systems, and cultures that exist in Indigenous communities, allowing stereotyping to persist. [...] It continues a long history of colonial texts which ignore that Indigenous peoples still exist. [...] In the Wizarding world, as in the real world, Indigenous histories have been over-written and our cultures erased.

from The Looking Glass: New Perspectives in Children's Literature Volumn 19, Issue 1

Part 5: Music

Panel 1: Also in 2016 I discovered two podcasts which radically altered my experience of being an HP fan. The first was Witch Please created by two Canadian feminist literary scholars Hannah McGregor and Marcelle Kosman.

Panel 2: "If it's not in the text it doesn't count!" "Close reading ONLY!"

Panel 3: They talk about Harry Potter at the level you'd expect in a college class with particular focus on gender, race, class, and the troubling fatphobia, fear of othered and queer coded bodies, violence against women, white feminism, gaslighting and failed pedagogy in the books. They bring up these issues not because they hate the series, but because they LOVE it.

These passionate, joyful conversations went off like fireworks in my mind. I had never taken a feminist class before. I gained a whole new vocabulary to talk about the books- and the world.

Panel 1: The second podcast I started that year was Harry Potter and the Sacred Text, created by two graduates of the Harvard Divinity School, Vanessa Zoltan and Casper Ter Kuile.

Panel 2: They read one chapter per episode through a theme such as love, control, curiosity, shame, responsibility, hospitality, destruction, or mystery. Like Witch Please, they are interested only in the information on the page, not thoughts from the author. The delights and failures of the text are examined in the context of the present day, and new meanings constantly arise.

What does it mean to treat a text as sacred?

Trusting that the more time we give to it, the more blessings it has to give us.

Reading the text repeatedly with concentrated attention. Our effort is part of what makes it sacred. The text is not in and of itself sacred, but is made so by rigorously engaging in the ritual of reading.

Experiencing it in community.

"To me, the goal of treating the text as sacred is that we learn to treat each other as sacred." -Vanessa Zoltan

Part 6: Tooth and Claw

In October 2017, Rowling liked a tweet linking to an article arguing that trans women should be kept out of women's bathrooms because of cisgender women's fears. In March 2018, she liked a tweet about the problem of misogyny in the UK Labour Party which included the line "Men in dresses get brosocialist solidarity I never had." The author of the tweet had previously posted many blatantly anti-trans statements.

Rowlings publicist claimed she had liked the posted by accident in a "clumsy and middle-aged moment." Yet, in September 2018 she liked a link posted by Janice Turner to her column in the Times UK titled "Trans Rapists Are A Danger In Women's Jails."

Screencaps of these tweets can be found in the article "The Mysterious Case of JK Rowling and her Transphobic Twitter History", January 10 2019 by Gwendolyn Smith (a trans journalist), LGBTQNation.com

Excerpt from: Is JK Rowling Transphobic? A Trans Woman Investigates by Katelyn Burns

Ultimately, the answer is yes, she is transphobic [...] I think it’s fair that she receives criticism from trans people, especially given her advocacy on behalf of queer people in general, but also because she has a huge platform. Many people look up to her for creating a singular piece of popular culture that holds deep meaning for fans from different walks of life, and she has a responsibility to handle that platform wisely. (Published on them.us March 28, 2018)

Part 7: Home

At age 30, I'm still not over Harry Potter.

Panel 1: I've recently found a local bar that does HP trivia nights. "Poppy or Pomona?" "Poppy!"

Panel 2: I currently own an annual pass to Universal Studios so I can visit Hogsmeade regularly.

Panel 3: I love talking to kids who are reading the books for the first time. "Who's your favorite character?" "Ginny!"

Panel 4: And I'm planning a relisten to the audio books to next year to help me get through the election cycle. "Jim Dale, I'm going to need you more than ever..."

Despite what I know about JK Rowling, I don't want to give up something that brings me so much joy.

But I do want to learn from her mistakes. I never want to repeat "Magic in North America." As I write, I will do my research. I will consult experts and compensate them. If a reader from a different culture/background than me speaks up about my work, I will listen and apologize. I KNOW I WILL MAKE MISTAKES. But I will own up to them and I will do better.

Excerpt from Diversity Is Not Enough: Race, Power and Publishing by Daniel José Older

We can love a thing and still critique it. In fact, that's the only way to really love a thing. Let's be critical lovers and loving critics and open ourselves to the truth about where we are and where we've been. Instead of holding tight to the same old, failed patriarchies, let's walk a new road, speak new languages. Today, let's imagine a literature, a literary world, that carries this struggle for equity in its very essence, so that tomorrow it can cease to be necessary, and disappear. (Buzzfeed, April 14, 2017) 

Harry Potter is flawed, & JK Rowling is problematic. But the books helped me learn a lot: 

*One of the greatest dangers facing the modern world is the rise of fascism 

*The government cannot be trusted 

*Read and think critically

*Question the news: who paid the journalist? Who owns the paper? 

*Trust and support your friends through good times and bad

*Organize for resistance

*Educate and share resources with peers

*The revolution must be diverse and intersectional

* We are only as strong as we are united

*The weapon we have is love 

MK 2019

[skepticraven]

Dear Trump Fans,

I keep hearing you say that Trump has done so much for America but you never elaborate on that, even when I ask you to. So, I’m asking again & my question is simple. What has he done that you think is so great? Aside from insulting people you don’t like, I just don’t see any achievements. This is what I do see:

-Trump didn't end the overseas wars like he promised. Instead, he got us involved in Syria. And he has nearly started a couple new wars with Iran & North Korea

- It seems you don't have your giant, waste-of-money wall. You have a small amount of fencing that anyone could cross should they want to. And Mexico won't EVER pay for it. Now, I’m fine with no wall but you shouldn’t be. 

- Trump is trying to cut the CDC budget by almost 20% amidst a pandemic. 

- Trump fired the pandemic response team last year.

- Trump is already saying he wants everyone back to work by Easter & all of the churches full on Easter- except every doctor & all his medically educated advisors are advising Trump against that. The cases of coronavirus are still increasing rapidly. Sending people back into such close proximity to one another will only inflame the problem, increasing the number of infected & dead tenfold.

-Trump has violated the emoluments clause of the constitution by failing to put his assets in a blind trust & thus is charging foreign leaders & American politicians inflated prices to stay at his hotels to win his favor & get private access to the president since he goes there all the time

- Trump is guilty of blatant nepotism. For example, he appointed Jared Kushner to negotiate peace in the middle east, handle diplomacy with China & Mexico, address the opioid epidemic, manage the wall construction process, etc. Jared isn't qualified for any of that, he only has that job because he bones Trump's daughter. Jared wouldn’t be qualified to manage a Pizza Hut. He was born rich and has done nothing but lose billions when he landed in his father job because his father went to prison for tax evasion, witness tampering, & illegal campaign contributions.

- Trump, who claims to be tough on terrorism, signed a multi-billion dollar weapons deal with Saudi Arabia RIGHT AFTER they murdered & dismembered an American journalist. Not to mention the genocide they were waging in Yemen. There is a reason that 80% of the 9/11 terrorist were from Saudi Arabia.

- Trump has eliminated funding for programs that work to de-radicalize people in extremist groups/organizations & help them escape that life.

- Trump cut his own taxes & that of his rich buddies & corporations BY 40%. Due to all the tax loopholes & shady financial dealings (like equity swapping or offshore tax havens) which the wealthiest Americans & corporations do, they already historically weren't paying anywhere near the marginal tax rate they should be on paper. Trump cut the corporate marginal tax rate from 35% to 21%. So after the loopholes & their shady bullshit, they're very likely paying a lower effective tax rate than you are. Thanks to Trump, many paid no income taxes at all in 2018 like Amazon, Netflix, Chevron, IBM, Delta Airlines, General Motors, Whirlpool, Goodyear Tires, etc.

-Trump promised to reduce the deficit but he has actually raised it by a lot. When you decrease the amount of taxes coming in that drastically & you increase government spending that much, the deficit is going to increase. The Caronavirus situation has only exacerbated that problem but the problem was already there.

-Trump pulled out of the Iran deal, solely because Obama did it. And Mr. Art of the Deal did not even try to negotiate a new deal. 

- This great healthcare Trump promised hasn't happened. Less people have insurance now than when Trump first took office. Drug prices have only gone up. There have be cuts to Medicaid as well.

-Trump appointed a judge who clearly lied to congress & whom likely sexually assaulted someone. Why Trump did not pick a different conservative judge to nominate, I will never understand.

- Trump cut all the social safety net programs that help the poor & disabled: SSI Disability, Food Stamps, Medicaid, HUD, etc.

- Like it or not, Trump was technically impeached. He just wasn’t removed from office by the Senate because there are a bunch of scared Republicans who are too scared to do or say anything against Trump. Tribalism saved him. That’s it. Because he admitted on national television that he talked about Biden & his son on that phone call- you can even see the exact moment when he realizes he shouldn’t have said that. So, he did do what he was accused of.

-His administration is a revolving door of hiring & firing/quitting. Trump said he knew the best people so why would he need to fire so many of them? Think about how many people have come & gone. These are just some of the big names who left the administration but there are WAY MORE than I am listing: Rex Tillerson, Mike Pompeo, Scott Pruitt, Steve Bannon, John Bolton, Jeff Sessions, John Kelly, Anthony Scaramucci, Reince Priebus, Sean Spicer,  Sarah Sanders, James Mattis, Rick Perry, Nikki Haley, Dan Coats, Alexander Acosta, Scott Gottlieb, Bill Shine, Tom Price,  H.R. McMaster, Ryan Zinke, Mick Mulvaney, James Comey,  Sebastian Gorka, Omarosa Newman, Gary Cohn, Don McGahn, Rod Rosenstein, Michael Flynn, Sally Yates, Tom Homan, Ty Cobb, Tom Bossert, K.T. McFarland, Rob Porter, Dina Powell, Rick Dearborn, Matthew Whittaker, Ezra Cohen-Watnick, Hope Hicks, Brenda Firtzgerald, Rob Snyder, Michael Dubke, Sean Doocey, etc.

-This is kind of a minor point but it does illustrate Trump’s hypocrisy.  Trump criticized Obama for golfing so much & then Trump turns around & plays 2.6 times more golf than Obama in his first 2 years and 91 days & has cost the tax payer an estimated $74 million more than Obama. 

- Does it ever embarrass you how little Trump knows about anything? Ever notice how he never goes in depth talking about anything? Its all vague because he doesn’t know enough about healthcare or the Iran Deal or climate change to address it in any kind of depth. You still see that idiocy spill out regardles. During an interview for SiriusXM’s P.O.T.U.S. channel, Trump said that former President Andrew Jackson was angry about the Civil War. The only problem is, Jackson couldn’t have been angry about the war. He died in 1845. The Civil War was in 1861. Another example would be during a call with Canada’s prime minister, Justin Trudeau, Trump claimed Canada burned down the White House during the War of 1812. Canada didn’t exist as a country until 1867. That was the British... Trump also claimed General John J. Pershing dealt with Muslim terrorists by shooting them with bullets dipped in pig’s blood. That did not happen. The story began circulating the internet around the September 11 terrorist attacks. Apparently Trump believed it was factual, talking about it during his 2016 presidential campaign & again after a terror attack in Barcelona. Then, speaking to the conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt, Trump confused the Quds Force, a unit of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard, with the Kurds, the minority group battling ISIS in northern Iraq (who he would later abandoned). Maybe that confusion could be forgiven for an average Joe but if you’ president, you need to know stuff like that (especially given the region these two groups are in). Hence why most presidents study political science, law, or economics in college or at least, they bother to read up on this stuff. But Trump doesn’t really read. The only book he claims to have read was a biography about Andrew Jackson whom, he thought was mad about a war that happened 16 years after his death & he also seems to have missed the whole Trail of Tears thing.

-  By pulling out of the Iran Nuclear Deal & the Paris Climate Accord, Trump has isolated us from our allies. Our word means nothing anymore. And who can blame them for being pissed? Whether Iran has a nuclear weapon effect more than just us. Given the size of our nation, our refusal to take the looming threat of climate change seriously is a detriment to the entire world that can & likely will have devastating consequences for everyone. Furthermore, Trump trash talks our closest allies & has placed tariffs on nearly all of them. For example:

AUSTRALIA: Shortly after taking office, Trump reportedly berated then-Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull over an agreement between the U.S. and Australia involving refugee resettlement. 

CANADA: Trump also attacked Canadian President Justin Trudeau as “meek, mild, dishonest, & weak” during a conversation on trade at the G7 summit in 2018. He also threatened to withhold the U.S.’s signature from a joint communique from the meeting over the feud. Trudeau he also found it “insulting” that tariffs were placed on Canada under a rarely invoked law that allows levies to be placed on a country in the interest of national security. Since when is Canada a national security threat? 

DENMARK: Trump also went after Denmark’s Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen after she refused to sell him Greenland. She called the idea “absurd,” & Trump referred to her as “nasty & inappropriate.” The people that live there don’t want to become American. You can’t just buy a country on whim. Greenland belongs to Denmark but its semi-autonomous. 

FRANCE: Trump threatened to slap tariffs on French wine & called French President Emmanuel Macron “foolish” after he signed a digital services tax on tech companies making at least 750 MILLION EUROS annually, a figure which meant U.S.-based tech giants like Apple, Google, Facebook & Amazon would be included. 

GERMANY: Trump has had a particularly tumultuous relationship with German Chancellor Angela Merkel. The president has repeatedly threatened Germany with auto tariffs, saying if companies like BMW and Mercedes wanted to sell cars in the U.S., they should build them in the country. German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Friday criticized President Donald Trump's tweets about four Democratic congresswomen of color telling them to go back to where they came from. She said that the president's tweets contradict "the strength of America." "I distance myself firmly from this & feel solidarity with the women who were attacked," Merkel said. (Canada’s prime minister, Justin Trudeau also criticized Trump for the same thing).

JAPAN: Trump has lamented the U.S.’s responsibility to defend Japan if attacked, saying the alliance between Washington & Tokyo is uneven. Trump has also threatened Japan with auto tariffs, though it announced in May it was delaying any levies for six months. 

MEXICO: President Trump has repeatedly torn into Mexico, slamming it on trade but focusing much of his ire on the country over immigration. Trump has threatened America’s southern neighbor with tariffs over its alleged inaction in working to stem the flow of undocumented migrants in the U.S. And let’s face it, he doesn’t exactly talk about the Mexican people in the nicest way and stroked racial tensions.

SWEDEN: President Trump feuded with Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Löfven after American rapper A$AP Rocky was detained in Sweden & charged with assault following a June incident in Stockholm. Apparently Kanye West told Trump about it. 🙄 The rapper was ultimately released in & returned to the U.S AFTER he was convicted & had to pay a fine (plus time served).

UNITED KINGDOM: While Trump has bashed the United Kingdom over trade practices, threatening tariffs on one of the U.S.’s closest allies to rectify what he sees as an imbalance, he has directed much of his criticism toward the country’s handling of Brexit. He also attacked the UK's National Health Service, claiming it is "going broke & not working." That’s not true but its not really his business either way. Trump is so disliked in the UK that at one point, 75,000 protestors gathered in central London’s Trafalgar Square to protest U.S. President Trump’s visit to the U.K

SOUTH KOREA: The Trump administration is reportedly demanding South Korea pay 400% more for U.S. troops in the region- despite the fact that having a base in South Korea is essential as much for us as it is for them. We need a base near North Korea should we ever have to attack. Maybe raising it some is reasonable but raising anything 400% overnight is a little absurd.

I see failure & corruption in Trump. I see a danger to America. Feel free to try to change my mind.

[tubedo1]

Learning English Is Crucial to Your Success

Learning the English language is genuinely a need for everybody right now age. The Internet has truly made an interconnected worldwide network, and its general language is English. It isn't phenomenal for US, Canadian, Australian and UK organizations to have staff, accomplices and clients everywhere throughout the world. The movement business, universal legislative issues, Internet and media are transcendently English now and so as to keep up in this day and age, individuals are finding that they have to communicate in English to an ever increasing extent. Regardless of where you live or what you do, familiarity with English is turning into a need to work in the present society.

As one of the most broadly communicated in dialects, English is known as the universal language. Indeed, even in nations where it isn't the official language, it is turning out to be all the more generally spoken each day. With the current worldwide media impact, English is the most well-known second language on the planet. In excess of 400 million individuals communicate in English as their native language, and more than 700 million have learned it as a subsequent language.

We presently live in the "Data Age," and looking at this logically, most of that data is in English. Most sites, magazines, books, recordings and research materials are in English. In the event that you utilize the Internet at all in your business or individual issues, I'm certain you have started to understand this. Truth be told, most of programming available today is in English too, so in any event, utilizing your PC is getting more enthusiastically on the off chance that you don't communicate in English. The across the board utilization of the Internet and web-based social networking on the web has made English capability increasingly more looked for after.

In the event that you are hoping to work together internationally, or even just in the US showcase, a strong handle of the English language will be vital for you to succeed. The open doors for business development or even beneficial work are a lot more prominent for English-talking individuals. In the event that you right now work together in a non-English talking nation, you can anticipate that your benefits should soar once you extend all around. The US has the most noteworthy grouping of customers on the planet and controls the greater part of the piece of the pie in numerous areas around the world. Breaking into that market can be incredibly worthwhile for abroad organizations that can do as such, and normally, you will have considerably more achievement on the off chance that you are familiar with English.

Vocation open doors for individuals who are familiar with English are considerably more bottomless than for the individuals who are most certainly not. Individuals who live in less fortunate regions of the world can without much of a stretch land extremely lucrative positions in the American market. Teleworking and working on the web is getting ordinary in the business world today. American organizations are re-appropriating work to individuals in the Philippines, China, India and different nations oftentimes now. The huge distinction in the paces of pay and average cost for basic items in these nations make it extremely worthwhile for both the business and the representative. A representative in the Philippines working for an American organization, for instance,learn special english can without much of a stretch acquire a day's compensation in 60 minutes! Including "Magnificent composed and communicated in English" to your resume or CV will put you miles in front of the other activity candidates and will permit you to procure a more significant pay. On the off chance that you are thinking about moving to an English-talking nation, you should demonstrate that you have a decent order of English. The greater part of these nations have language prerequisites that must be met so as to pick up residency status.

The individuals who work together online will be intrigued to realize that more than 565 million of Internet clients are English. Most of the sites are English too. Obviously, in the event that you need to contend in the worldwide market, English is a necessity, and by having your site accessible in English, you will expand your compass and readership significantly. Extending your business abroad is a lot simpler nowadays in our interconnected world, and having the option to serve your customer base in a typical language will permit you to do that.

Regardless of whether you are not keen on working together universally, you may have the chance to travel globally sooner or later. While it is difficult to get familiar with each language of each nation you need to visit, simply realizing how to communicate in English will make your excursion considerably more charming. Representatives everywhere throughout the world are expanding their English-talking staff. This implies in the event that you can communicate in English, you will have a simpler time requesting at eateries, booking inns, posing inquiries and getting headings, shopping and by and large making the most of your outing to a remote nation. In the event that you can't speak with individuals in the nation you are visiting, odds are you won't have a generally excellent excursion.

The vast majority of the first class colleges on the planet are in English-talking nations - the US, UK, Australia and Canada. On the off chance that you are thinking about concentrating abroad, you should be conversant in English not exclusively to concentrate in these organizations, yet in addition to pick up section and get an investigation license in that nation. Books from everywhere throughout the world are frequently converted into English, more regularly than some other language. Concentrating any subject will be a lot simpler with access to the billions of books accessible in English. With a solid order of the English language you will be opening ways to such huge numbers of best in class instructive offices and consequently permitting you to open your maximum capacity with no etymological obstructions.

Similarly, English is a lot simpler to learn than numerous different dialects. The letter set is basic, with just 26 characters and no accents; sentence structure rules are less complex than numerous different dialects; action word tenses, pluralization and possessive pronouns are very simple to learn. Contingent upon what your local language is, you will in all probability see English as very direct and simple to fathom. The exertion engaged with learning is definitely justified even despite the large number of advantages. In the event that you put in the energy and exertion to learn English, you will really be opening open doors in your expert and individual life that will prompt a more full and additionally fulfilling future.

Obviously, it's not important to turn out to be totally familiar immediately. You can undoubtedly figure out how to communicate in English all around ok to find an incredible employment or convey adequately without culminating each part of English language. There are various online English Language preparing devices that are extremely successful. These apparatuses are the ideal method to figure out how to communicate in English rapidly.

[sciencespies]

Kepler’s decision to build its own cubesats surprises manufacturers

https://sciencespies.com/space/keplers-decision-to-build-its-own-cubesats-surprises-manufacturers/

Kepler’s decision to build its own cubesats surprises manufacturers

Planet felt like it didn’t have a choice. When the Earth-observation startup began launching cameras into orbit in 2013 and 2014, manufacturing lines weren’t churning out cubesats by the dozens.

That’s no longer the case. Blue Canyon Technologies, AAC Clyde Space, GomSpace, NanoAvionics, Tyvak and several others are ready and willing to build cubesats en masse. So it came as a surprise to many cubesat manufacturers when Kepler Communications announced plans in January to manufacture its constellation of 140 Internet of Things satellites in-house.

Kepler is poised to become one of the world’s largest cubesat operators once its constellation is fully in orbit, a target set for the end of 2022. Only Planet currently operates a fleet that large.

Instead of formally soliciting bids from a wide range of cubesat builders, though, Toronto-based Kepler turned to the University of Toronto Institute for Aerospace Space Flight Laboratory (SFL) for help setting up its own manufacturing line. Kepler also received 1 million Canadian dollars ($760,000) from the Canadian Space Agency to mature its bus design and production techniques, leading some observers to conclude national pride could play a role. Through Kepler, Canada is establishing a robust cubesat manufacturing capability.

Exhibit A

As startups announced plans for cubesat constellations in recent years, companies expanded manufacturing lines to meet the demand. Denmark’s GomSpace scaled up manufacturing to fulfill a large order from Sky and Space Global that was suspended last year when the Australian Internet of Things startup struggled to raise enough money for a 200-cubesat constellation.

Blue Canyon Technologies is preparing to open a manufacturing plant this spring capable of producing multiple cubesats per week, according to CEO George Stafford.

Cubesat builders, such as Blue Canyon Technologies, say they are ready for bulk orders — if they ever materialize. Credit: Blue Canyon Technologies

Stafford and GomSpace CEO Niels Buus said both their companies have the capacity to build a Kepler-sized constellation. Even manufacturers that lack the means to build 140 or more satellites today could quickly scale up to churn out batches of identical satellites if given the chance, said Arnoldas Pečiukevičius, a systems engineer at NanoAvionics of Lithuania.

In spite of all that capacity, manufacturers aren’t getting the chance to bid on large orders of identical cubesats. Companies continue to order cubesats in ones and twos, said Craig Clark, AAC Clyde Space founder and chief strategy officer. If someone said to a cubesat builder, “can you build 100 satellites like the one you just did, they would bite their hand off to do it,” Clark said at the SmallSat Symposium in Mountain View, California, earlier this month. “But they’re not being given a chance to do it.”

Clark wasn’t talking specifically about the Kepler order but the market in general. Nevertheless, Kepler’s decision can be viewed as Exhibit A. AAC Clyde looked like the obvious choice for Kepler’s constellation because the firm, based in Glasgow, built three prototypes for Kepler’s. When it came time to bid on the full constellation, though, AAC Clyde couldn’t offer the right mix of “price, schedule and technology” for the constellation, said CEO Luis Gomes.

Manufacturers worry cubesat constellation operators have unrealistic price targets.

“Cost is only one variable,” Stafford said. “We encourage the idea that affordability, speed to market and on-orbit performance must all work together to achieve success.”

Due in part to the lack of volume orders, cubesat prices are closer to those of $400,000 performance cars than of $1,000 smartphones, Clark said. Even at those prices, manufacturer net profits tend to fall in the range of 5-10%, he said.

In the long run, some constellation operators may spend more to produce their own cubesats than to buy them from a dedicated manufacturer, said GomSpace’s Buus, since dedicated manufacturers can achieve higher volume production. “If you need 100 satellites a year, it will always be less expensive to build 1,000 satellites a year,” he added.

Pumpkin President Andrew Kalman said his company is not the right fit for cubesat buyers looking for the cheapest components.

“The industry is in a period of substantial influx of capital, looking for investment vehicles, and NewSpace companies are making convincing pitches to secure big money,” he said. “Because of the frenetic pace, I suspect objective assessment of quality, real lead times, design flexibility and design headroom, and a variety of other design, manufacturing and production metrics are sometimes lost in the excitement of dreaming about building the next big thing.”

NewSpace ethos

Kepler CEO Mina Mitry is confident, though, that vertical integration is the right approach for the firm’s Internet of Things constellation. Manufacturers aren’t ready to build Kepler’s constellation of 10-kilogram cubesats quickly, affordably and reliably enough, Mitry said.

Kepler evaluated around 10 potential manufacturers through a process that involved bids, on-site visits and technology reviews before deciding to build its cubesats in-house, Mitry said. “The evaluation criteria was price, performance and volume,” he said. “Finding that combination was quite challenging.”

Cubesat manufacturers who have invested in manufacturing facilities haven’t necessarily been handsomely rewarded, Mitry said. Without volume orders, they’ve stuck to their historical business models centering “around one-off contracting, subsystems manufacturing and that type of bespoke nature of development,” he added. “That hasn’t really allowed them to mature.”

Astrocast is building 100 satellites in-house (like the five shown here) to keep a closer check on cost, development cycles, testing, and other aspects of manufacturing, according to CEO Fabien Jordan. Credit: Astrocast

Mitry declined to name the manufacturers Kepler considered. GomSpace, Blue Canyon Technologies, Pumpkin and NanoAvionics said they were never contacted to bid on Kepler’s constellation.

SFL Director Robert Zee said Kepler’s approach is “typical of a NewSpace company,” which he defines as firms that provide services and manufacture their own satellites to keep costs low. SFL is designing and building the first cubesat in Kepler’s operational constellation and helping Kepler set up a facility to mass produce its remaining satellites. “The dimension that we bring is the experience, the heritage, the technology, [and] the high-performance satellites at low cost,” Zee said.

Kepler also is getting help from Canadian component supplier Sinclair Interplanetary, which granted Kepler a license to mass produce reaction wheels for its constellation.

To vertically integrate or not

Kepler’s case notwithstanding, some cubesat operators say they’ve struggled to find manufacturers to meet their needs.

Swiss startup Astrocast is building its 100-cubesat constellation in-house using 50 meters of lab space and five of its 40 employees, CEO Jordan Fabien said.

“Fully integrating our satellite production is the only solution we found to keep our development cycles as short as possible and make rapid and continuous design improvements,” he said.

In March, Astrocast will move into a new 350-square-meter facility to build as many as 30 satellites a year, he said.

Planet, with about 140 satellites in orbit, remains unconvinced dedicated manufacturers would serve it well.

“I’ve always said that if there are people who could build our satellites faster and cheaper than we could, we would absolutely prefer to buy those satellites from them and put our focus elsewhere,” Chester Gillmore, Planet vice president of spacecraft development and manufacturing, said in 2019 at an Aerospace Corp. event in Florida.

While Planet frequently updates its cubesats, it would prefer to outsource if a vendor could build its satellites without sacrificing Planet’s cost targets, service level or spacecraft quality.

“The industry would really have to advance to a high degree of maturity before that really becomes viable, but we would love that,” he said. “There is so much about what we’re doing that I would love not to have to do.”

In contrast, radio-frequency-mapping company HawkEye 360 and Internet of Things startup Kinéis chose to outsource their constellations, but not without difficulty.

“The bottleneck isn’t launch right now, frankly, it’s the manufacturing capacity here in the United States,” John Serafini, chief executive of HawkEye 360, said at a U.S. Chamber of Commerce event in December. “American manufacturers of microsatellite buses [are] relatively paltry. Most of them are [research and development] type facilities. There aren’t many set up at scale.”

SFL is currently building HawkEye 360’s next 15 radio-frequency-mapping cubesats, which the Herndon, Virginia, firm expects to launch by the end of 2021.

Kinéis, which is based near Toulouse, France, chose bus supplier Hemeria and payload provider Thales Alenia Space to build 25 cubesats partly because of their local proximity. “They are about a 20-minutes drive from our headquarters,” CEO Alexandre Tisserant said. Plus, Hemeria and Thales Alenia Space have built earlier Argos location and data-collection hardware that is the basis for Kinéis’ constellation. Kinéis employees also have more experience with designing applications than building satellites, Tisserant said.

“Maybe on paper it would be economically more viable to do it by ourselves, but with the state of the knowledge and the people we can find and we have in the area of [Toulouse] France, I think this is definitely the best choice.” he added.

There is a healthy ecosystem for the new actors building one or two cubesats, said Chris Boshuizen, a Planet co-founder who now works as an operating partner for Data Collective, a San Francisco venture capital firm. “Multiple vendors have similar products with varying price levels and features,” he added. For new companies, “buying stuff is absolutely the right idea” because “it will get you started quickly.”

The calculation is different, though, for large constellation operators. They have to look at the cost of every component from radios and reaction wheels to thrusters and processors. If the constellation operator has the in-house expertise to build satellites with more capability at a lower cost than what it can buy, it makes sense to vertically integrate, Boshuizen said.

For now, cubesat manufacturing is “a healthy boutique market, not a thriving large-scale manufacturing industry,” Boshuizen said.

The question is how will it become a large-scale manufacturing industry unless companies place large orders.

This article originally appeared in the Feb. 24, 2020 issue of SpaceNews magazine.

#Space

[dreamofawonderfullife]

Virtue and Moir's post-Olympic party still going strong

Eight years ago, Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir's first Olympic gold medal was celebrated with a parade through Ilderton.

This time, the ice dance stars are flipping the script.

“It’s our turn to say thank you to everyone,” Virtue said this week from Halifax, where the cross-Canada Stars on Ice tour launches Friday.

The skaters are going to throw a bash for fans. The early target is the August long weekend in Ilderton, by the arena, right near the Moir clan’s backyard.

“Alma and Joe’s house, it’s a pretty good green room for a party,” Scott said, referring to his parents’ place. “I want to get some good people in there, some bands, and we want to give back and raise some money for charity. We’ve been so blessed. The London and Ilderton community has always given us such great support.”

They have been in demand these past two months since their PyeongChang return. Their winning appeal — and the fascination over their relationship status — landed them on Ellen’s talk show, giving the Canadians some well-earned publicity in the massive, yet hard-to-crack, American market.

“It was a lot of fun. There was so much energy, and we can always frame that in the context of what it means to the sport,” the 29-year-old Virtue said. “It’s good for ice dance and figure skating any time we have the chance to broaden that audience. We’re thrilled to do that. By no means was that ever a goal of ours. We just wanted to win the Olympics. The added benefits of whatever happened afterward, that’s just icing on the cake.”

Lately, the questions naturally have turned toward their future. What’s next?

Virtue is becoming a budding businessperson. She is the face of Nivea’s skin care line in Canada and has a keen eye for endorsement opportunities. When she’s not taking over TV networks for a day, she’s on the cover of another magazine.

She works hard to build strong relationships with companies and media partners.

Moir, who comes from a highly-regarded family of figure skating coaches, is helping out at the Ilderton club. It wouldn’t be surprising to see him eventually reach Brian Orser-like status, overseeing some of the best skaters in the world.

“I think the neat thing about our partnership is we’re so connected in what we do and the majority of our career has been intertwined,” Virtue said. “That’s been so incredibly special and we’ve talked at length about what that means to us. We’re also such different people pursuing such different things off the ice and it’s been nice to dive into various business opportunities while watching Scott passionately delve into the sport and setting up a competitive school. I’m so proud of him, much the same way I get support from him.”

“We still have that touchstone together always with skating. That will and always be the No. 1 priority.”

The tour — which arrives in London Sunday, May 6 — is booming. Ticket sale are “pretty insane”, according to Moir, and they’re preparing to perform in front of packed houses.

The skater, who famously skipped mandatory practice for the Olympic closing gala, couldn’t wait to start working on their show programs (which include Michael Jackson’s You Rock My World and, of course, the full four-minute Moulin Rouge free dance that clinched gold in South Korea).

“I was excited to come on tour. I never felt that way my whole career, and I love to skate,” the 30-year-old  Moir said. “It usually kicks in a couple of days later, once you get rolling, but something stirred with us. It’s the cast we have here. There’s a great energy, and we’re seeing the impact of what the Canadian team accomplished in February. Back home, the numbers at the club are good. We have six dance teams and I’m proud to say we have eight boys skating at Ilderton.”

“I want to help them. I miss home when I’m gone. I miss being a contributing member of my family. That’s important to me. I do have a ton of projects, but I want to be involved in the lives of my nieces and nephews. I need to get back to that a little bit.”

He plans to visit schools, inspire young people and become a mentor, on and off the ice.

“I’ll focus on that the next couple of years, while I can, before people forget my name,” he said. “We’ve been lucky to be successful and have a bit of a platform. I think it’s my job and our duty to make sure we’re good role models, talk to kids and help them shape their lives through sport and extracurricular activities.”

“To me, that’s what being Canadian is all about.”

It’s not about the Internet meme that followed Moir since Games end of him standing up at the women’s gold medal hockey game, beer in hand and complaining to the referees.

“If there’s one athlete that doesn’t want that viral attention, it’s Scott,” Virtue said with a laugh.

Moir remembered talking to Olympic skeleton champ Jon Montgomery, still famous for chugging from a pitcher of beer on the streets of Whistler after his victory in 2010.

“He couldn’t shake that,” Moir said. “His corporate relationships, they just saw him as a beer-drinking party animal when that’s not really Jon at all. He’s a great athlete and person. I like to have a beer, but I also have to be mindful of what 13-year-olds see when they watch the Olympics. I want them to see sport moments. I try to stay away from that other stuff and I have Molson Canadian sending me fridges.”

“I don’t need to be on TV reacting to every single event. After that game, I did kind of shut it down. At the curling game, I was sitting between my parents being very well-behaved.”

Virtue and Moir were an important part of Canada’s Olympic viewing experience. It felt like they were on TV continuously, from the CBC documentary and commercials they did as lead-in, to carrying the flag at the opening ceremonies, through their performances and right until the end.

“Starting the Games by carrying the flag, that was an Olympic moment by itself right on par with competing,” Virtue said. “And then you go right through to the exhibition gala on the closing day.”

“We got a lot of Olympic time, which is awesome.”

They don’t get enough credit for their leadership in bringing together the Canadian figure skating team to deliver that first team gold — the one that made Patrick Chan an Olympic champ.

“I didn’t necessarily take that lead in Sochi (2014) and I regretted it,” Moir said. “After that Olympics, I talked with Meagan (Duhamel) and Eric (Radford, the pairs skaters who retired from competition Wednesday) and they were in the same boat. We felt we weren’t aggressive enough in our approach to the team event.”

“This time, we were. We talked about it a lot, sent emails. I’m pretty outspoken and maybe the guy branded as the captain because of it, but it was a complete team effort. Meagan drove the gold-or-nothing train. Because of Stars on Ice, we’ve travelled and lived together, grew up together and that was a special team feeling no other country had.”

“We relied on building each other up instead of cutting each other down, and we never let up.”

It turned into an old-fashioned blowout. By the time Virtue and Moir got on the bus to go perform their free dance, they found out the Canadians already had clinched gold.

“That was a different feeling,” Moir said. “Here you are, nervous and getting ready, and you look at your phone and find out you’re Olympic champion.”

But there was still extra motivation.

“For me, with all the Russian doping allegations, I wanted to crush them,” Moir said. “I didn’t want the Russian team to be able to say, ‘Well, oh, one of our pairs teams wasn’t here, so we lost (a nail-biter)’. We wanted to say back to them, ‘Yeah, are they going to skate seven times, because we beat you by eight points.’

“That whole event reminded us of how great Canada is. We do sport for the right reason. That win-at-all-cost mentality really brings us down. It was a tough year for amateur sport that way and we needed that at those Games.”

“I’m very passionate about that because that’s something we have to protect, clean sport.”

When controversy overtakes the Games, it ruins the stories the athletes want to tell. Virtue and Moir were able to make theirs shine through on their biggest stage.

“Tessa was really mindful of that,” Moir said. “She had that vision. It didn’t feel forced. Maybe when you’re younger, you’re playing the Olympian card, trying to prove yourself and it feels like you have four minutes on the ice to prove it.”

“We didn’t feel like we had to do that this time. We just knew that here it is, this is Tessa and Scott, we love what we do, we love each other and it’s a really authentic story.”

“People grabbed onto it and that has been fun for us.”

The partnership — and party planning — rolls on.

RYAN PYETTE

[tamilrockersproxy-blog]

Prime Finest 350 Proxy Sites

Superficially it acts as a wall between the top consumer and the internet. 3: It lets you open blocked websites. 4: Net proxies are usually used to cache net pages from an online server. 5: Proxy servers are used to extend safety and efficiency. So, below you'll find finest free proxy server list by Dreamy Tips which is updated daily. Can tamilrockers proxy use Proxy Sites/Servers for Unlawful work? Merely a giant No. You can not use these proxy sites or free proxy sites for any sort of unlawful functions. You should utilize this listing of free proxy sites just for unblocking websites that are blocked by ISP. Don’t use this list of free proxy sites for any type of mistaken purposes. How this Best Proxy Server Checklist can help me? Here, We Dreamy Tricks has shared plenty of working proxy sites list, which is hand picked by Dreamy Methods and exclusively out there on Dreamy Tips only. It provides you free access to YouTube and different video-based websites. 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Other than these Kickass Mirrors or Kickass Proxy Sites, you can too check out Kickass Alternate options. It's also possible to use IDM to download Torrent if you happen to don’t need to use a torrent consumer. In the event you When you wouldn't like to visit any clones or any of the Kickass Proxy Sites mentioned above or mirrors to obtain torrents and instead a real, authentic site then you may be concerned with Kickass Torrents Alternatives. There are plenty of other websites that host a large number of torrents from totally different classes equivalent to video games, music, motion pictures and so forth. The Pirate Bay: The Pirate Bay is a number one torrents supplier and it has a large database of content material starting from movies to softwares. It's utilized by plenty of customers worldwide and considered the very best alternative to Kickass Torrents. 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