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iron-stripmine · 3 years ago

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:readmore:

I posted 704 times in 2021

65 posts created (9%)

639 posts reblogged (91%)

For every post I created, I reblogged 9.8 posts.

I added 182 tags in 2021

#mcyt - 44 posts

#empires smp - 31 posts

#last life smp - 24 posts

#my art - 20 posts

#smallishbeans - 17 posts

#last life spoilers - 14 posts

#ldshadowlady - 10 posts

#joel smallishbeans - 8 posts

#trafficblr - 8 posts

#3rd life s2 - 6 posts

Longest Tag: 109 characters

#i try and to design the citizens of the empires clothes to be somewhat practical and inspired by the emperors

My Top Posts in 2021

Concept, seabilings AU where neither Jimmy nor Lizzie know they're siblings. Jimmy, because he's a a reincarnation, and Lizzie because she lived for so long she decided to erase her own memories to deal with the grief and general tiredness.

So Lizzie, from her point of view, just sorta woke up in her throne, and she assumes she's the daughter of the previous Ocean Queen. None of her subjects confirm or deny it, but it makes sense, right? What does it matter if, in her travels to map all of the kingdoms, she's repeatedly hit with an unnerving sense deja vu she can't really place anywhere, when weirder things have happened? What if she's identical to the previous queen, is Joel not a clone himself? What if she has a fondness of Jimmy she can't explain, what if she likes spending time with him and wants to protect him, is he not her ally?

And Jimmy– Jimmy. Poor, unlucky Jimmy, who used to cry every time he saw water, who almost drowned too many times because he'd try and to reach it. Poor, unlucky Jimmy, who grew fins and fish eating sharp teeth despite being born in a fully human family in Mythland, who got abandoned in the wilderness like many other "unnerving" kids, who thrived and created a kingdom of misfits and youths and misfit youths? Who knows exactly what the Ocean Queen likes despite rarely meeting with her, who knows when her birthday is even if she didn't, who can speak with fish too and who trusts her even when she freaks him out.

They don't know why, but they fit together. They care for each other, beyond what an alliance needs, they trust each other in all serious matters but none of the silly ones, and they refuse to mention anything in fear of losing this

239 notes • Posted 2021-10-07 19:47:58 GMT

Imagine you, an elf king, invite your sibling to go to a wedding as your plus one so you can introduce him to your friends, they refuse, you go to the wedding and you find out theyre both A. a demon now, so that's cool and B. The plus one of a furry. Would that be fucked up or what

(Click For Better Resolution/Reblogs Appreciated!)

265 notes • Posted 2021-08-18 15:45:43 GMT

Thinking about making a last life post canon empires smp crossover au. Especially for those who, like, aren't Rulers, and thus could be in the bg reasonably well

I don't have much worked out yet, but I think Scar would be from the Crystal Cliffs (Or as much from it as someone can be, with their odd traditions, and at the very least born on the Smallholding). He's theoretically supposed to be a trader, but he made a stop on the Grimlands' college, and no one's really sure if he's a student here or if he just sells convenient things. Either way, he has the biggest cold feet regarding a journey to the Mezalean Kingdom, and when King Joel of Mezalea showed up to present his diss track to Count Fwhip, he did hide himself inside his caravan, but his window was wide open.

Mumbo's the Grimlands' pride and joy. He's supposed to still be a student, but every single grim citizien and their mother knows he's probably going to be the best redstone engineer they'll produce this generation, maybe this century if they're lucky. Everybody knows he's mildly haunted, a lot jumpy, and though they would deny it, it's fairly obvious it's not all from whatever he sees, being Count Fwhip's research assistant.

Grian– Grian's definitely not supposed to be anywhere near wherever he is. It can be either the Grimlands, with Scar and Mumbo, or he' s at the Crystal Cliffs with Gem, working out the finer points of magic as a runaway (as all those under the Cliff are). Regardless of which, though, he's hunted fiercely by the lost empire, and by the way they call him pureblood, by the way his wings are those of a parrot, most people think he's a traitor. He doesn't confirm or deny it, but most times he looks like he wants to.

Ren's a rare sight: a land dwellling knight of the Ocean Empire. Nobody knows how, but one day the Ocean Queen just brought the man they all were fairly certain was a simple fisherman, and handed him a sword and a title. He more than well earns them, by constantly moving through the land in the name of the Queen. He's relentless in following her will, and though distant, his loyalty to the queen in the opposite of her domain: unwavering.

Martyn hunts him down. No one is quite sure where he came from. There's a harsh glint to his eyes that could as easily have belonged to either pixandrians or mythland, a similarity that horrifies them both. He doesn't sit down and burn candles, though. Rather, he burns netherwart on the road, by wrapping it against a burning blaze rod, and following the fumes to where Ren has been. As far as anyone can say, he always seems at least a second too late, and mildly mournful.

Tango's the proud owner of Rivendell's sole casino and thus, most rumours about him cannot possibly be true, right? There's no way he bets lives with kings and queens over finely brewed healing potions. Or that he bet blood against the Demon, and won, and that's the origin of his strikingly corruption red eyes. Surely these are only rumours from scandalised old elves.

And well, sure. They are all a bit weird, and alarmingly well connected, but these days, they look so... Carefree. Amused, even, regardless of the state of the world.

Almost as if they've seen worse.

291 notes • Posted 2021-09-29 23:39:41 GMT

My good sir Joel Smallishbeans, please go wild this season 💚💚💚💚

[reblogs appreciated, click for better quality]

313 notes • Posted 2021-09-23 11:50:54 GMT

What use is a life without purpose?

466 notes • Posted 2021-09-28 19:16:56 GMT

Get your Tumblr 2021 Year in Review →

#my 2021 tumblr year in review #your tumblr year in review

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adambstingus · 6 years ago

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Macaulay Culkin: ‘No, I was not pounding six grand of heroin a month’

The Home Alone star talks about the drug rumours, dodging paparazzi and his cheese-flavoured Velvet Underground tribute act

Of all modern myths, it is the fall of the child star that most compels us. Whether theyre embarking on 55-hour marriages, throwing bongs out of windows or abandoning monkeys at customs, we cant seem to get enough. Theres something pathological in our need to tear down our icons of innocence, which might explain the overprotective nature of Macaulay Culkins US publicist, who wants to see all my questions upfront. I refuse. I thought we could just … have a chat? The interview, Culkins biggest in 10 years, is supposed to focus on his comeback. Im instructed to avoid anything negative. I ask if I can ask if he has any regrets. Regrets sounds too negative, is the response.

When we meet, in the lobby of a hotel in Spain, Im still trying to figure out what exactly this comeback consists of. Culkins filming an advert for Compare the Market, which is obviously not a passion project. It was fun, and we hammered that sucker out pretty quickly. The biggest scene was me sitting on a bench eating ice-cream.

Is he doing this to fund an exciting new venture? No, not necessarily. Hes dressed grungily, long hair man-bunned back, boots open-laced, blazer badge-studded. He doesnt project the focused careerism of most actors. People feel they have to be in perpetual motion, or drown. Ive never had a problem saying Ive got nothing lined up. Maybe Ill take the next year off. It sounds as if hes not particularly drawn to acting at all. Im not much active, he concedes. If I knew what I wanted to do, Id be writing it myself.

The trajectory of Culkins life feels like fallout from an atomic blast. By the age of 12, Uncle Buck, two Home Alone films, My Girl and (to a lesser extent) Richie Rich had made him the most successful child actor of all time. At 14, he became legally emancipated from his parents; both had been trying to gain control of his $17m fortune in their divorce. Culkin married at 17, and separated two years later. Sleepovers with Michael Jackson became public knowledge when he was called as a defence witness at the singers molestation trial. Im ghoulishly fascinated by this alien childhood. Id like to ask about Michael Jackson.

In Home Alone (1990). Photograph: Alamy Stock Photo

I think its best you dont, interjects his manager. She is one of three people sitting with us. Its not that its a painful topic … begins Culkin. His manager insists we move on, the PR next to her agrees. Culkin clearly wants to say something, but six eyes are telling him not to.

I suspect were both wondering why were here; 35-year-old Culkin doesnt do this sort of thing any more, having turned his back on the spotlight. I dont just turn my back, I actively dont want it. The paps go after me because I dont whore myself out. He has spent a decade turning down interviews, and mostly lives in France, where the aloof Parisians leave him alone. (Its also where Kevin McCallisters family were headed when they left him Home Alone, but we cant talk about that.) I get the impression hes as eager to talk about a price comparison website as I am to ask about one. Instead, I ask why people are still fascinated by him.

I have no idea. I was thinking about this the other day Id crossed the wrong street, picked up a tail, suddenly theres a crush of 20 paparazzi. Then people with cameraphones get involved. I dont think Im worthy of that.

With Michael Jackson in 2001. Photograph: Kevin Kane/WireImage

Has it got better with time?

Its been like that my whole adult life. You take on a prey-like attitude, always scanning the horizon. Its strange on dates, as it looks like youre not paying attention. But Ive stopped trying to think of myself in the third person, because thats just gonna drive me nuts.

You had to think about yourself in the third person?

Exactly. Macaulay Culkin is out there, and Im Mac. You guys can play with the first one.

Hes not averse to a bit of playing himself, for Culkin is the celebritys meta-celebrity. You may remember the meme-meltdown a few years back when Ryan Gosling was pictured wearing a T-shirt of Kevin McCallister. Culkin responded by creating a T-shirt that pictured Gosling wearing the shirt, before Gosling responded in kind, being photographed wearing a T-shirt of Culkin wearing a T-shirt of Gosling wearing a T-shirt of Culkin. They may still be at it for all we know.

Culkins previous ads, for the likes of Orange (and, in a Partridge move, the rebranding of Norwich Union), trade in close-to-the-bone self-analysis. For Compare the Market, he plays a hitchhiker picked up by the lovable meerkats, who see him as a child, buying him ice-cream and making him ride merry-go-rounds hes too big for.

In 2006, Culkin wrote an experimental novel, Junior, from the perspective of a certifiable child star with father issues. In web comedy :DRYVRS, hes a blood-spattered sadist, unhinged by the childhood trauma of parental abandonment, and defending himself against home invaders. Is all this self-quoting what hes drawn to, or just what he gets offered? A bit of both. It suits my personality and sense of humour. But I would be game for something non-self-referential.

Given this dilemma constantly returning to a past he wants distance from where does his sense of self come from? From me. I try to figure out what makes me happy and not in a superficial way. I keep my soul fit. Is he spiritual? I know enough to know I dont know. I was raised Catholic, so theres a lot of guilt. Were born with original sin. He veers off into a joke. Since I was told that, Ive been trying to come up with even more original sins, thatll really blow my priest away at confession. Like, heres one you havent heard it involves a pitching wedge, a donkey and a bucket of ice. And two meerkats? Yeah! You might wanna record this one!

With his brother, Kieran Culkin, c 1990. Photograph: Dave Benett/Getty Images

He reflects. Actually, Im very much at peace lately. I can debate with people, and my heart rate never changes. And Culkin is witty and affable. Funny, but distant. He offers confrontational figures of speech amiably. If you want to get into an argument with an artist, ask them what art is, he says. If you want to make an actor feel uncomfortable, ask them what theyre doing next. (I hastily scribble out one of the few questions Ive written down.)

Are his debates political? I have leanings, but Im the definition of a disenfranchised voter I think the system is ugly. This whole Trump thing is amazing. (Trump cameos in Home Alone 2, showing our hero the way to the Plaza Hotel lobby, although we cant talk about it.) Culkin doesnt want to be drawn further. Discussing politics is the quickest way to alienate people, so I dont wanna go into it. And Trump has enough column inches? Exactly! Hes like the Candyman, we have to stop saying his name.

Culkin was acting at four, an age at which no one knows what they want beyond watching cartoons and eating oversugared cereal. Having described himself as effectively retired, he works occasionally (voices for Seth Greens Robot Chicken, cameoing as himself in Zoolander 2), but: Im much more proactive with visual arts and writing, my notebook and little projects. Of the projects that reach the public, most could charitably be classed as divisive. There are paintings: one of the cast of Seinfeld on the set of Wheel of Fortune, being painted, nude, by He-Man. Theres The Wrong Ferrari, a Dadaist knockabout written on ketamine with Adam Green of the Moldy Peaches, shot entirely on iPhones. Most notorious is the Pizza Underground, his Velvet Underground tribute act that replaces the original lyrics with pizza puns (Im Waiting for Delivery Man, Take a Bite of the Wild Slice). At Nottingham Rock City, the band were pelted with beer and booed off stage as he played a kazoo solo. They cancelled their European dates, citing a cheesemergency. My question about all this is: what the hell?

Its one of those good ideas you have when youre drunk, and you wake up and forget about it. But were taking it to the end of the joke. We have an album coming out, a vinyl pressing with a childrens choir, a symphony orchestra. Were giving it away, our gift to the world. Does he still find it funny? Of course I find it funny! We rhyme mushrooms with mushrooms, come on. Its the same joke, relentlessly. Like, theyre really doing this?

Culkin enjoys the absurdity his fame bestows. But scrutiny has its downside. In New York, he takes walks at 4am to avoid harassment. On YouTube, one can find clips of him being harassed by wannabe-paps with smartphones. In 2012, photographs of him looking gaunt, almost transparent, set tabloids aflame with stories he was addicted to heroin and oxycodone, following the breakdown of his relationship with Mila Kunis. Given his friendship with Adam Green and Pete Doherty as well as a previous arrest for possession of marijuana, Xanax and clonazepam it seemed plausible.

Performing as Pizza Underground with Deenah Vollmer. Photograph: Sam Santos/WireImage

Were people right to be worried? Not necessarily. Of course, when silly stuff is going on but no, I was not pounding six grand of heroin every month or whatever. The thing that bugged me was tabloids wrapping it all in this weird guise of concern. No, youre trying to shift papers. Is there a story there he might want to tell one day, on his own terms? Perhaps.

Whatever his recreational habits, Im surprised by how unscrewed-up Macaulay Culkin is. Plans for the summer mainly involve roadying for Har Mar Superstar and Green (with whom he has another lo-fi film out, Aladdin). Home is where my boots are. Im a big fan of jumping on peoples tourbuses, making myself useful, doing load-ins and outs. I do everything except the merch table. I tried that, but … we didnt sell anything.

He has directionless days. He sleeps in, stays up late, indulges immature humour, bounces around with bad-influence friends. In short, hes enjoying the adolescence that celebrity stole from him. Ironically, his personal problems and turbulent relationship with the media have also given him a pretty grown-up perspective. Not a bad epilogue for a child star.

Its allowed me to become the person I am, and I like me, so I wouldnt change a thing. Not having to do anything for my dinner, financially, lets me treat every gig like its the last. He laughs, and this time addresses himself in the second person. If it is, Id think: Culkin, you had a good run.

from All Of Beer http://allofbeer.com/macaulay-culkin-no-i-was-not-pounding-six-grand-of-heroin-a-month/ from All of Beer https://allofbeercom.tumblr.com/post/181995008877

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samanthasroberts · 6 years ago

Text

Macaulay Culkin: ‘No, I was not pounding six grand of heroin a month’

The Home Alone star talks about the drug rumours, dodging paparazzi and his cheese-flavoured Velvet Underground tribute act

In Home Alone (1990). Photograph: Alamy Stock Photo

With Michael Jackson in 2001. Photograph: Kevin Kane/WireImage

Has it got better with time?

You had to think about yourself in the third person?

Exactly. Macaulay Culkin is out there, and Im Mac. You guys can play with the first one.

With his brother, Kieran Culkin, c 1990. Photograph: Dave Benett/Getty Images

Performing as Pizza Underground with Deenah Vollmer. Photograph: Sam Santos/WireImage

Source: http://allofbeer.com/macaulay-culkin-no-i-was-not-pounding-six-grand-of-heroin-a-month/

from All of Beer https://allofbeer.wordpress.com/2019/01/14/macaulay-culkin-no-i-was-not-pounding-six-grand-of-heroin-a-month/

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allofbeercom · 6 years ago

Text

Macaulay Culkin: ‘No, I was not pounding six grand of heroin a month’

The Home Alone star talks about the drug rumours, dodging paparazzi and his cheese-flavoured Velvet Underground tribute act

In Home Alone (1990). Photograph: Alamy Stock Photo

With Michael Jackson in 2001. Photograph: Kevin Kane/WireImage

Has it got better with time?

You had to think about yourself in the third person?

Exactly. Macaulay Culkin is out there, and Im Mac. You guys can play with the first one.

With his brother, Kieran Culkin, c 1990. Photograph: Dave Benett/Getty Images

Performing as Pizza Underground with Deenah Vollmer. Photograph: Sam Santos/WireImage

from All Of Beer http://allofbeer.com/macaulay-culkin-no-i-was-not-pounding-six-grand-of-heroin-a-month/

0 notes

themoneybuff-blog · 6 years ago

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Worried About the Stock Market and Your Retirement Savings? Read This.

In the last few days, a number of readers have written to The Simple Dollar regarding the recent downturn in the stock market. Here are a few of those notes, starting with one from Dave: 45 years old, aiming to retire at 62. I have been in the aggressive portfolio in my 401(k) since signing on back in 1998 and contributed regularly. I didnt pay attention to it during 2000-2002 or in 2008 but now I pay attention and these recent drops are killing me. How bad am I hurt if I move things to a less crazy investment? and one from Charlie: 61, was thinking about retiring next year but stock market is ripping my retirement apart! Help! and one from Ally: Im started to freak out about the stock market as I see my investments in my Vanguard index funds plummeting every day. I know I need to wait it out as Im only 34 but its really starting to panic me. Intellectually, I know to stay put and watch the gains as the market recovers but I worry that I may actually need some of that money before it goes back up and start operating from a perspective of scarcity vs. abundance (even though I have lived by the rule of thumb that if I think Ill need it in 10 years, put in high interest savings instead). All of a sudden I start imagining scenarios where Ill need it sooner and put my finances in jeopardy.Please help talk me off the ledge! Were all seeing the same thing. Depending on what numbers youre using, over the last two and a half months, the stock market has lost between 10% and 15% of its value. That means, of course, that if you have a large portion of your retirement savings invested in the stock market, youve seen a similar drop in the value of your retirement savings. Part of what has made this dip so stark is that it comes at the end of a very long positive run for the stock market, dating back almost ten years. Ten years of almost constant growth in the value of the stock market is a historical run, one likely only possible because of the enormous dip of 2008 which gave the stock market a very low point to start from. As you can see, those factors have caused a lot of people to panic and consider changing their retirement investments. My advice? Well in honest truth, I have not looked at my old 403(b) or my Roth IRA in the last three months. At all. Even if I did look, I wouldnt change a thing. Heres how my thinking works on all of this. We Look at the Short Term When We Should Look at the Long Term and Thats a Mistake The stock market is an awful short-term investment. It can lose a significant percentage of its value in just a few days, often seemingly without warning to the average investor. Even over the course of a year or two, you might have individual years where it goes up 20% and other years where it goes down 40%. Its really hard to plan around that. If you are going to need your money back in less than 10 years, you probably shouldnt be invested in the stock market. The thing is, most of us are more than 10 years from retirement. Were invested in stocks as a long term investment. Even people in retirement should have some portion of their retirement savings in the stock market because theres a good chance that theyre going to be around more than 10 more years and they should be investing for that timeframe. At that point a timeline of more than a decade you have to start looking at long-term returns and averages rather than individual years, because individual years arent really all that meaningful when youre looking at time periods beyond 10 years. I like to think of the stock market as a simple gambling game. Its a model that helps me make sense of it. Imagine that theres a game where there are nine red balls and one black ball that randomly come out of a tumbler, like drawing lottery numbers. If the black ball comes out, you lose 40% of your bet. If any of the nine red balls come out, you win 10% of your bet. However, you have to bet your whole retirement savings. What do you do? Well, for me, it depends on how many times I can bet. If I can only bet once, then its probably not a worthwhile risk. I could lose 40% of my bet right away! Not good! However, if I can just stand there and keep betting more than 10 times, Im going to do it and just keep letting my bet ride over and over again. Nine times out of 10, I win 10% of my bet, which far more than makes up for the 40% I lose one time out of 10. If I think about nothing but that first ball, Im probably not going to bet and Im going to want to take my money off of the table. Its only when I think about the fact that Im going to be around for 30 or so balls to come out of the tumbler that I begin to feel good about it. (In fact, I probably dont even pay much attention at all to the individual balls coming out of the tumbler, because it really doesnt matter to me.) The thing is, its pretty scary when the black ball comes out of the tumbler. Suddenly, a large chunk of our money is gone, and its really tempting to take your bet and run away. Thats silly, though. Its like quitting a game of basketball because you missed your first shot. If you were only going to care about your first shot or your most recent shot you wouldnt bother to play that game at all. If a basketball player quit when they miss a few shots in a row, no one would ever play basketball. At the same time, no one would bet their entire life savings on one single shot of the basketball. For most people, the stock market is a very long term investment more than 10 years and making decisions on that investment based on the last month or two is a grave mistake. Its like firing Michael Jordan because he missed 10 shots in the game last night and his team lost. Instead, look at the last 10 years of stock market returns when making your decision, because thats the kind of time frame you care about. Dont look at this chart when making financial decisions; look at this one instead. In other words, look at the long term, not the short term, because if youre investing for more than 10 years down the road, the short term is meaningless. We Listen Too Much to Current News and Media and Thats a Mistake The United States currently has three different major 24 hour news channels available on most cable providers, two devoted financial television channels available on many cable providers, and countless journalists and prognosticators trying to make a name for themselves on the internet, particularly on social media. All of that has to be filled with some kind of content, and its usually whatever content that they can find that will attract eyeballs. What attracts eyeballs? Fear. Its why disasters get breathless coverage. Its why the efforts of Washington are constantly painted to be doom and gloom and disastrous and even evil. That kind of coverage is constant, too its around the clock on news networks and social media. The same exact thing is true with the stock market. A 10% drop in the stock market really isnt anything unusual it happens every few years at least but to hear the news networks and social media and the prognosticators and the talking heads tell it, its apocalypse out there. The sky is literally falling, everyone is going broke, people are jumping out of buildings on Wall Street. Its being reported as something unique and something disastrous because thats what attracts eyeballs, and eyeballs are what makes the news networks and the reporters on social media lots of money. Theres so much time to kill and space to fill that the same things get reported on over and over and over again until the urgency of the supposed disaster seems almost overwhelming, driving people to emotional extremes. My belief is that social media and cable news are not very useful for understanding the world. They present current events from the singular angle that makes them the most money and thats through pushing emotional buttons, mostly fear. That emotional button drives people to poor decisions, and its abundantly clear when it comes to finances. In other words, social media and other news sources tend to encourage people to react emotionally to things rather than rationally. Investing is a rational game rather than an emotional one; if you make emotion-driven investment decisions, youre going to lose out. Thus, at least in terms of investment decisions on the scale of the individual investor saving for retirement, you should pay no attention to the 24 hour news cycle. It nudges you toward emotional decisions rather than rational ones. We Put Our Faith in Salespeople and Thats a Mistake Another problem is that many of the people out there talking about the stock market are effectively salespeople. They want people to buy some product theyre selling, whether its an account with their brokerage, their services as an investment manager, or an investment sold by their company. In general, brokerages make money when you do something with your investments, whether its buying shares or selling shares or something like that. They want you to take action regarding your investments. So, if the stock market is doing something, they have a financial interest in making it sound like a great reason to make a move. If you tune into CNBC or Fox Business lately, all of the chatter is about moving your investment money around to avoid getting hit hard by the stock market slide. Most of that talk is coming from guests who work for brokerages, who make money when you move your investments around. Always ask yourself where your investment suggestions are coming from and why theyre being given. Yes, that includes me. I write because I believe in what Im saying, and I make money by having more readers, not by convincing anyone to take any action. The more readers I have, the more advertisement views the site gets, and the more money everyone involved makes. Thus, it is in my best interest to do my best to give realistic advice and thoughts. With the talking heads on financial television, the goal of the host is to keep you watching, while the goal of the guest is to entertain you and, along the way, try to nudge you to their point of view because the guest makes money by being entertaining (from the network) and makes money by having more customers buying and selling investments (from their own business). In other words, take the words of investment advisors on financial networks with a grain of salt. Most investment advisors will do right by you in a one-on-one situation, but thats not their goal when theyre on television. On television, theyre there to entertain, to get the name of their brokerage out there, and to nudge people to take action on their investments whether its in their best interest or not. Practical Approaches Together, these three issues along with natural human risk aversion cause people to get extremely jittery when the stock market grumbles. Every time a 10% drop happens, I get emails and messages from readers with sentiments like those expressed by Dave and Charles and Ally. While I cant offer a perfect solution for everyone, here are five practical steps you can take to help quell the desire to make abrupt retirement moves when the stock market drops. For starters, just stop paying any attention to the day to day financial news. Dont watch CNBC. Dont watch Fox Business. Dont read financial news. Leave that to people who do this for a living and might change their investments every 15 minutes to try to score a short-term buck. Thats not the situation youre in and thus most of the day to day financial news is irrelevant. It provides you with information that isnt relevant to your decisions and emotional twists designed to nudge you to make a mistake. Just stop watching its not providing value to you. While youre at it, stop paying much attention to the 24 hour news cycle. Almost all of it is driven to trigger emotions and garner eyeballs, not to actually inform you in any meaningful way. Learn from well-researched books and well-referenced articles, not from hot takes and high pressure combative guest appearances. If youre taking financial advice from someone, know who that person is, where theyre coming from, and whether theyre trying to sell you something. Who is this person who is encouraging me to sell? Why are they saying this? What do they have to gain from it? If you can clearly see how they gain from your moves, take their advice with a grain of salt. Dont look at your account balance except on a regular infrequent pattern just to make sure everythings working fine. Looking at your balance frequently makes you start to overinflate the importance of day to day changes compared to long term changes, and its the long-term changes you care about. We often buy into the idea that we should be worried if our investments have gone down the last few times weve looked at them. Know what your plan is for saving for retirement and stick to it regardless of the news. A good plan is based on principles, and for retirement, that means staying put through thick and thin and only making changes in specific situations that you considered outside of the news cycle. Stick to that plan and dont let short-term changes and emotional responses change that plan. In short, stick to the plan and stop listening to people who are just adding noise to the mix. Good luck! Related: https://www.thesimpledollar.com/worried-about-the-stock-market-and-your-retirement-savings-read-this/

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topsolarpanels · 7 years ago

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‘ Call me a racist, but don’t say I’m a Buddhist ‘: America’s alt right

They present themselves as modern intellectuals of extremism. But the US far right, detects Sanjiv Bhattacharya, have the same white supremacist obsessions

Every few weeks, William Johnson, the chairman of the white patriot American Freedom Party( AFP ), holds a lunch for members, the goal being to stimulate America a white ethnostate, a project that begins with electing Donald Trump. This week, its at a grand old French eatery called Taix, in Echo Park, Los Angeles an odd choice on the face of it. Echo Park is a trendy hood. Its hipster and heavily Hispanic. In fact, given the predominance of Latino kitchen staff in this city, it may be wise to hold off on the Trump talk until the food arrives.

About three months ago, Johnson begins, I was talking to Richard Spencer about how we need to plan for a Trump victory. Spencer is another prominent white patriot he heads the generic-sounding National Policy Institute. I said: I want Jared Taylor[ of American Renaissance] as UN Ambassador, and Kevin MacDonald[ an evolutionary psychologist] as secretary of health and Ann Coulter as homeland security! And Spencer said: Oh Johnson, thats a pipe dream! But today, hed no longer say that, because if Trump wins, all the establishment Republican, theyre run They detest him! So whos left? If we can foyer, we can set our people in there.

Around the table five young men, roughly half Johnsons age( hes 61 ), nod and tilt in. They all wear suits and ties, relating to the waiter as sir and identify as the alt right, the much-discussed nouvelle vague of racism. Are you guys familiar with the Plum Book ? Johnson asks. Its plum because of the colour, but also because of the plum positions there are 20,000 jobs in that volume that are open to a new administration.

So we need to identify our top people! says Eric, one of “the mens” at the table.

Just anyone with a college degree! Johnson says.

Right. Eric is practically ricochetting in his seat with exhilaration. We need to get the word out. We are the new GOP!

A whiter future: pro- and anti-Trump advocates clash outside Trump Towers in New York. Photograph: Alamy Stock Photo

Its not every day that a brown journalist gets to sit in on a white-nationalist strategy meeting. But these are strange days. Racism is trending. Like Brexit, Trump has normalised views that were once beyond the pale, and groups like the AFP have grown bold. Their mans stubby orange fingers are within reach of actual power, so perhaps its time to emerge from the darkness at last.

I first gratified Johnson in May after he signed up as a Trump delegate before being swiftly struck off by the campaign when the press found out. Hes a surprising figure. An avid environmentalist, fluent in Japanese and, in person , not the bitter old racist Id expected but instead a jolly Mormon grandfather, bright eyed and chuckle, a Wind in the Willows character. Eric is even more unexpected. Tall and impassioned, “hes come to” racism via hypnotherapy, of all things. He sells solar panels for a life and practises yoga. Together with his friends Matt and Nathan, who are also here at lunch, he operates an alt-right frat in Manhattan Beach a brew and barbecues thing. Theyre called the Beach Goys. Were starting a parody band, he beams. Weve discovered a drummer!

Between them they represent two poles of a racist spectrum, young and old. And judging from this lunch, its the millennials who are the more extreme. Johnson wants white patriots to appear less mean and he discovers the JQ, the Jewish Question, archaic. But Eric loves the meanness of the alt right. Were the troll army! he says. Were here to win. Were savage! And antisemitism is non-negotiable. In fact, hed like to clear up a misnomer about the alt right, propagated by the Breitbart columnist Milo Yiannopoulos, who is often described, mistakenly, as the movements leader. Milo casts the alt right as principally a trolling enterprise, dedicated to assaulting liberal shibboleths for the lulz theres precious little actual intolerance. But Eric insists otherwise. Yes, they like to gag, they have memes, theyre just as funny as liberals have I heard of their satirical news podcasts, the Daily Shoah and Fash the Nation ? But build no mistake, the racism is real. Eric especially enjoys The Daily Stormer , a resulting alt-right news site, which is unashamedly pro-Hitler.

What unites Johnson and Eric is what they describe as the systematic browbeating of the white male namely all this talk of privilege, the Confederate flag, Black Lives Matter and mansplaining. But beyond that, its the looming extinction of the white race. This is the language they use. Also: Diversity equals white genocide. The alt right loves to provoke genocide while harbouring Holocaust deniers. Their point is that white people are melting away like the icecaps, and they have a primal drive to stop it. In 2044 , non-Hispanic whites will drop below 50% of the US population. The generation of the white minority has already been born, Eric says. Look at South Africa and Rhodesia. Thats where were headed. Total disenfranchisement.

Mexican activists on the campaign trail. Photograph: Alamy Stock Photo

I want to reassure him that his Brown Rulers is likely to be gentle and that bondage isnt even worse when you get used to it. But its not me they want to hear from, its white people. This is the white patriots burden the very people theyre trying to save are the ones who most ferociously oppose them. The only group I cannot get along with is white people, says Johnson. Because white people detest white people who like white people.

A couple of days later, Johnson is at his cluttered desk in downtown LA, nattering blithely in Japanese to a woman in Tokyo. He gets lots of media requests these days, but especially from Japan. Theres an uncanny connection between Japan and white patriotism in America. Jared Taylor, white patriotisms foremost intellectual, is another fluent speaker. Its an ethnostate and its deep nationalist, he says. And they have resisted the pressure to admit refugees. I say: God bless them!

For his part, Johnsons racism was shaped in Japan. He grew up in Eugene, Oregon, a nation founded as a white utopia, in a modest Mormon home, back before the LDS church dedicated black people the priesthood in 1978. But it was his two-year mission to Tohoku, Japan, that turned him. As “hes been gone” from doorway to door, locals would opine on the greatness of white America. They had an inferiority complex after the war, so we were treated like celebrities, he says. Oh, it was just the funnest hour! A few years later, while working in Japan as an attorney, he wrote a book advocating the repatriation of all non-whites with appropriate reparations, because I thought America was going to breakdown unless I did something. When he returned to LA, he sent a transcript to every congressman. He was 32.

Clearly things didnt work up as schemed. His forays into politics floundered and then his offices were bombed. So he retreated from activism for nearly 15 years, merely returning in 2009 to form the AFP merely in time for the rise of the alt right.

We head to his 67 -acre ranch near Pasadena, a hilly lot backing on to a national forest. I asked to meet his family, but his wife refused, so we tour the farm instead his persimmon orchard, his ponies and ducks. And there on his pick-up truck is a stencil of Jimi Hendrix. My daughter likes to paint, he says proudly. None of his five children are white patriots, though they have promised to marry within the race.

Youre a white supremacist with a black artist painted on your truck, I tell him. And he flinches. Thats the meanest, most hurtful swearword there is. Just because I say different races have differing strengths doesnt entail I believe Im superior. He doesnt like racist either. Its a pejorative. I prefer race realist.

But its not my reality, Bill. Im sticking with racist.

Well, OK. But people who espouse racist are mad at everybody. I get along with people. You cannot function in Los Angeles without encountering other races, so I look for areas of similarity and arrangement. Its important to treat everyone with the highest respect on a micro level.

I believed America was going to breakdown unless I did something: William Johnson, chairman of the American Freedom Party, at home on his ranch near Pasadena. Photograph: Barry J Holmes for the Observer

On a macro level, however, darkness falls multiculturalism is doomed, the different races will never get along, and our only hope is Balkanisation: separate territories for separate tribes. And whatever accelerates that transition is greeting, even racial strife. I dont suppose friction is a good thing, he says, but it would help facilitate the divide that is necessary.

We stop to feed his alpacas. Theres a brown one, a black one and a white one, standing peacefully together against the chicken wire fence.

See Bill, theyre get along.

He laughs. I wish people were like alpacas.

Im with Eric at a Mexican restaurant in Manhattan Beach where he lives, an upscale, white neighbourhood in the South Bay. He clears space on the table and smiles. OK, you ready? Your first tarot card reading with the Hitler Youth!

Its been an odd afternoon. We walked along the beach and I asked about his gmail address which includes the number 1488, a potent number for white supremacists. The 14 stands for the 14 terms coined by the late David Lane of the group The Order: We must procure the existence of our people and a future for white children. And the 88 refers to HH( H being eighth in the alphabet) or Heil Hitler. Eric sighed. OK, but this stuffs hard to talk about, he said. It depends how red-pilled you are.

Alt-righters love talking about the red pill. Its a reference to The Matrix blue-pilled people bumble through a life of illusion, while the red-pilled have watched the truth and theres no going back. Like all conspiracy theorists they ensure the hidden hand that guides all things, but for the alt right that hand is Jewish. The red pill is classic antisemitism, rebooted for a younger generation. As we walked, he laid it out the banking, the media, the globalism. We passed games of beach volleyball and family barbecues, while he explained why the Holocaust was exaggerated and Hitler got a bad rap.

A nation without colour: William Johnson speaking at an AFP conference in 2013.

Have you noticed that kombucha isnt as fizzy as it used to be? he asks, along the way, because Eric isnt your average Nazi. He trained as a spiritualist. He has taught meditation. He brought his tarot cards in case I wanted a reading.

Dont tell me its the Jews, I tell him. He chuckles. You said it , not me!

In the late 70 s, the Klansman David Duke swapped his hood and robes for a suit and affiliation, and took white dominance out of the cross-burning fields and into the boardroom. Mark Potok of the Southern Poverty Law Center describes the alt right in similar terms, as Racism 2.0, a rebranding for the digital generation. Its a trendy reboot alt right builds white domination sound like an art collective. And Eric, the kombucha Nazi, just takes it a step further into the aisles of Whole Foods. Hes a locally sourced, wild-caught bigot high in omega-3s and antisemitism. It attains him more sinister in some manner, and more harmless in others. As Nazis go.

Hmm, Nazi. Like Johnson, hes squeamish about terms. Warriors against political correctness can be awfully sensitive. Its such a slur, he says. But come along hes a Hitler apologist. OK, penalty, he says. Just dont say Im a Buddhist, because Im actually more into Norse and Celtic mysticism now.

Itll come as no surprise that someone whod instead be called a Nazi than a Buddhist has a strange story to tell. Originally from a well-off white suburb of Chicago, he moved to Las Vegas to pursue music. Then one day, in the gym of his condo house, he met a guru figure well call Frank. A spiritualist and businessman, Frank introduced Eric to New Age mysticism and Japanese Buddhism. And it was under Franks guidance that Eric moved to LA to study hypnotherapy and began a career giving reads and tarot demonstrates at a psychic bookshop. Frank, he says, was his mentor and best friend. But then Eric took a turning. He radicalised himself. He left the New Age life, detecting it too feminine, and spiralled down a sinkhole of conspiracy hypothesi. He and Frank have been estranged ever since. Frank is black.

By the book: author Ann Coulter. Photograph: Aaron Davidson/ Getty Images

Today, Eric still meditates and practises yoga. His weeks are spent like David Brent, as a travelling salesman, driving around gratifying his solar energy clients. His weekends, however, are all about the Beach Goys, which now has 15 members. Last week, they went on a hike to the Murphy Ranch in the Pacific Palisades, a decrepit old property that was originally constructed as a refuge for Hitler after the war. Next week is their first band rehearsal. Erics going to play guitar and sing. And this is the future he wants not a plum job with the Trump administration. I dont find myself as a bureaucrat, he says. I want to take the Beach Goys national. I want to inspire people.

It could happen. Trump has unleashed something in America. Johnson wont uncover the AFPs membership numbers Perhaps we want to appear bigger than we are? but Eric insists the alt right is on the procession. Were growing with every hashtag, every BLM protest, every city that becomes a Detroit, or a London, he says. Were everywhere! Were the guy next to you at yoga, the barista at Starbucks … Its like Fight Club for supremacists, a profoundly unsettling thought( which is why Eric loves it ).

But his delight in being a secret Nazi detracts from the seriousness of it all, the white genocide stuff. Hes having too much fun. And I wonder, as we finish our brews, if it will pass for Eric, this Nazi phase. He simply doesnt seem that threatening. Then he starts up about a race war, that old white-supremacist chestnut. Because behind the trolling veneer, the alt right is more traditional than alt. What Eric believes is vintage racism, the same old wine in a new ironic cask. And Tony Benns terms ring as true as ever: Every generation must fight the same combats again and again.

Our civilisation is at war and we need to secure our people, Eric says. We must seize power and take control. And the idea that we can do this peacefully is probably not realistic.

We get along well enough, Eric and I, but he has the same micro/ macro discrepancy as Johnson. And at a macro level, there is only desperation and division. I do not advocate violence, but I will give my life for my blood and for the honour of my ancestors.

He thrums the tarot cards in his hands, his voice becoming ever more animated. We accept the game thats being played. We accept that the lion and the gazelle are competitor. But they dont “re going to have to” dislike one another. Thats just how we view it.

He shrugs. Its scary. The world is scary. This is not a game for children.

Read more: www.theguardian.com

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attendantdesign-blog · 8 years ago

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New Post has been published on Attendantdesign

New Post has been published on http://attendantdesign.com/sushi-donuts-are-here-and-theyre-blowing-the-internets-mind/

Sushi donuts are here and they're blowing the Internet's mind

Circulate over sushi burritos, the sushi donut is here.

A sushi roll formed like a donut may be the latest craze in relation to sushi creations that cross past the conventional sushi roll IN internet.

Will Bates, a sushi chef at Octopi, a sushi restaurant in South Carolina, lately took on the challenge of creating a sushi-formed donut after seeing a video of a comparable creation online.

Bates said he used rice to create two parties that gave the look of hamburger patties and spread an avocado puree and spicy crab in the center. He molded the patties right into a donut form, reduce an entire in the middle and layered fish on top of the introduction.

“The variety is endless, you can position something you want on it,” he said. “It’s just like a roll within the shape of a circle, however, you will need a knife and fork or chopsticks to eat it.”

Bates, whose made sushi burritos and sushi corndog’s inside the beyond, stated human beings love to hop on bizarre sushi creations.

“people soar on it because it’s colorful, a laugh and unique,” he stated.

And as you could consider, human beings are dropping their minds over the sushi donuts on social media.

And as some distance as the subsequent weird sushi introduction?

“I suppose human beings will maintain coming up with new thoughts,” he stated. “There are so many YouTube motion pictures and people upping the game. Cooks war, so you see something on Instagram and you have to and make something new.”

Is Sushi Healthful?

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Dunkin Donuts – Franchise Overview

Dunkin Donuts is referred to as a donut and espresso save first introduced as an American organization. however, now it has an international label. It became establish in Quincy, Massachusetts in 1950 by way of Mr. William Rosenberg. Its headquarters is in Canton, Massachusetts.

It focuses on donut and different bakery merchandise, however, curiously, over the half of in their profit comes from coffee. It seems they’re a bigger competitor to Starbucks than to Krispy Kreme and Tim Hortons as traditional contestants.

It’s miles stated through Dunkin’ Donuts that they may be the world’s largest coffee and baked goods chain, serving almost 2.7 million clients day by day, with a few 8,800 shops situated in 31 international locations. Including, greater or much less 6,400 Dunkin’ Donuts shops across us. Particularly missing while in comparison with the 15,011 shops of Starbucks, who’s baked goods are normally organized out of the shop.

Most of the Dunkin’ Donuts shops are franchises. almost 75 franchisees now exist. they’re situated generally west of the Mississippi River, Nevada, Texas, and Arizona. inner their home base in New England, Dunkin’ Donuts is dominant and you can locate their shops effortlessly in many supermarkets, gasoline stations, mall and airport food courts and almost everywhere you cross.

within the 1950s Dunkin Donut Munchkin became invented with the aid of Mr. Larry DelVerne. In Valley Circulation, The big apple he commenced his first Dunkin Donut Franchise. It turned into situated via the side of the Sunrise Dual carriageway. Larry is from a family of eleven brothers and sisters. His more youthful brother named Albert DelVerne.

Dunkin’ Brands Inc (formerly as Allied Domecq Short Provider Restaurants, At the same time as it becomes a part of Allied Domecq) is the owner of Dunkin’ Donuts. A French beverage organization named Pernod Ricard S.A. become the owner of Dunkin’ Brands after it purchased the Allied Domecq. In December 2005 they signed a settlement to sell the emblem to a collection of three non-public equity corporations. they’re referred to as the Carlyle Group Bain, Capital Companions, and Thomas H. Lee Companions.

Dunkin’ Donuts have almost 1000 donut sorts frequently with other merchandise. Their products: baked goods, Fritters, crullers, bismarcks, donuts, bagels, scones, desserts, danish pastry, cookies, cinnamon twists, tarts, breakfast sandwiches, flatbread sandwiches, hash parts. in addition, they have coffee drinks, iced espresso, bulk espresso, coffee, lattes and cappuccino, iced lattes, faster, overdue lite espresso, other hot liquids, tea, chocolate, vanilla, dunk Accion, bloodless beverages, smoothies, iced teas. they also have special food regimen menu so nobody has to miss out on the famous Dunkin donut.

Franchise fees variety from $forty,000.00 to $80,000.00 with a total funding between $255,seven hundred.00 and $1.1mil. Net worth requirement is 1.5mil with $750,000.00 in liquid belongings. The Royalty Rate is five.nine%.

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Most of the people are not aware that 80% of ALL franchise endeavors fail within the first to five years leaving massive money owed looming for years thereafter.

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topsolarpanels · 7 years ago

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‘ Call me a racist, but don’t tell I’m a Buddhist ‘: America’s alt right

They present themselves as modern thinkers of extremism. But the US far right, detects Sanjiv Bhattacharya, have the same white supremacist obsessions

Every few weeks, William Johnson, the chairman of the white nationalist American Freedom Party( AFP ), holds a lunch for members, the goal being to stimulate America a white ethnostate, a project that begins with electing Donald Trump. This week, its at a grand old French restaurant called Taix, in Echo Park, Los Angeles an odd option on the face of it. Echo Park is a trendy hood. Its hipster and heavily Hispanic. In fact, given the predominance of Latino kitchen staff in this city, it may be wise to hold off on the Trump talk until the food arrives.

Around the table five young men, roughly half Johnsons age( hes 61 ), nod and tilt in. They all wear suits and ties, relating to the waiter as sir and identify as the alt right, the much-discussed nouvelle vague of racism. Are you guys familiar with the Plum Book ? Johnson asks. Its plum because of the colouring, but also because of the plum stances there are 20,000 jobs in that volume that are open to a new administration.

So we need to identify our top people! says Eric, one of “the mens” at the table.

Just anyone with a college degree! Johnson says.

Right. Eric is practically ricochetting in his seat with excitement. We need to get the word out. We are the new GOP!

A whiter future: pro- and anti-Trump supporters clash outside Trump Towers in New York. Photograph: Alamy Stock Photo

Its not every day that a brown journalist gets to sit in on a white-nationalist strategy meeting. But these are strange periods. Racism is trending. Like Brexit, Trump has normalised views that were once beyond the pale, and groups like the AFP have grown bold. Their humen stubby orange thumbs are within reach of actual power, so perhaps its time to emerge from the darkness at last.

I first satisfied Johnson in May after he signed up as a Trump delegate before being swiftly struck off by the campaign when the press found out. Hes a surprising figure. An avid environmentalist, fluent in Japanese and, in person , not the bitter old racist Id expected but rather a jolly Mormon grandfather, bright eyed and chortle, a Wind in the Willows character. Eric is even more unexpected. Tall and impassioned, “hes come to” racism via hypnotherapy, of all things. He sells solar panel for a living and practises yoga. Together with his friends Matt and Nathan, who are also here at lunch, he runs an alt-right fraternity in Manhattan Beach a beer and barbecues thing. Theyre called the Beach Goys. Were starting a parody band, he beams. Weve determined a drummer!

Between them they represent two poles of a racist spectrum, young and old. And judging from this lunch, its the millennials who are the more extreme. Johnson wants white nationalists to seem less mean and he discovers the JQ, the Jewish Question, archaic. But Eric loves the meanness of the alt right. Were the troll army! he says. Were here to win. Were savage! And antisemitism is non-negotiable. In fact, hed like to clear up a misnomer about the alt right, propagated by the Breitbart columnist Milo Yiannopoulos, who is often described, erroneously, as the movements leader. Milo casts the alt right as principally a trolling enterprise, dedicated to attacking liberal shibboleths for the lulz theres precious little actual intolerance. But Eric insists otherwise. Yes, they like to joke, they have memes, theyre just as funny as liberals have I heard of their satirical news podcasts, the Daily Shoah and Fash the Nation ? But attain no mistake, the racism is real. Eric especially enjoys The Daily Stormer , a resulting alt-right news site, which is unashamedly pro-Hitler.

What unites Johnson and Eric is what they describe as the systematic browbeat of the white male namely all this talk of privilege, the Confederate flag, Black Lives Matter and mansplaining. But beyond that, its the looming extinction of the white race. This is the language they use. Also: Diversity equals white genocide. The alt right loves to evoke genocide while harbouring Holocaust deniers. Their phase is that white people are melting away like the icecaps, and they have a primal drive to stop it. In 2044 , non-Hispanic whites will drop below 50% of the US population. The generation of the white minority has already been born, Eric says. Look at South Africa and Rhodesia. Thats where were headed. Total disenfranchisement.

Mexican activists on the campaign trail. Photograph: Alamy Stock Photo

I want to reassure him that his Brown Rulers is likely to be gentle and that bondage isnt so bad when you get used to it. But its not me they want to hear from, its white people. This is the white patriots burden the very people theyre trying to save are the ones who most ferociously oppose them. The only group I cannot get along with is white people, tells Johnson. Because white people hate white people who like white people.

A couple of days later, Johnson is at his cluttered desk in downtown LA, nattering merrily in Japanese to a woman in Tokyo. He get lots of media requests these days, but especially from Japan. Theres an uncanny connection between Japan and white patriotism in America. Jared Taylor, white nationalisms foremost intellectual, is another fluent speaker. Its an ethnostate and its deeply nationalist, he says. And they have resisted the pressure to admit refugees. I say: God blesses them!

For his part, Johnsons racism was shaped in Japan. He grew up in Eugene, Oregon, a country founded as a white utopia, in a modest Mormon home, back before the LDS church gave black people the priesthood in 1978. But it was his two-year mission to Tohoku, Japan, that turned him. As he went from door to door, locals would opine on the greatness of white America. They had an inferiority complex after the war, so we were treated like celebrities, he tells. Oh, it was just the funnest day! A few years later, while working in Japan as an attorney, he wrote a volume advocating the repatriation of all non-whites with appropriate reparations, because I believed America was going to breakdown unless I did something. When he returned to LA, he sent a copy to every congressman. He was 32.

Clearly things didnt work out as schemed. His forays into politics floundered and then his offices were bombed. So he retreated from activism for nearly 15 years, only returning in 2009 to form the AFP just in time for the rise of the alt right.

We head to his 67 -acre ranch near Pasadena, a hilly lot backing on to a national forest. I asked to meet his family, but his wife rejected, so we tour the farm instead his persimmon orchard, his ponies and ducks. And there on his pick-up truck is a stencil of Jimi Hendrix. My daughter said that she wished to paint, he says proudly. None of his five children are white patriots, though they have promised to marry within the race.

Youre a white supremacist with a black artist painted on your truck, I tell him. And he flinches. Thats the meanest, most hurtful swearword there is. Just because I tell different races have different strengths doesnt entail I think Im superior. He doesnt like racist either. Its a pejorative. I prefer race realist.

But its not my reality, Bill. Im sticking with racist.

Well, OK. But people who embrace racist are mad at everybody. I get along with people. You cannot function in Los Angeles without encountering other races, so I look for areas of similarity and agreement. Its important to treat everyone with the highest respect on a micro level.

I thought America was going to collapse unless I did something: William Johnson, chairman of the American Freedom Party, at home on his ranch near Pasadena. Photo: Barry J Holmes for the Observer

On a macro level, however, darkness autumns multiculturalism is doomed, the different races will never get along, and our only hope is Balkanisation: separate provinces for separate tribes. And whatever accelerates that transition is greet, even racial discord. I dont suppose friction is a good thing, he says, but it would help facilitate the divide that is necessary.

We stop to feed his alpacas. Theres a brown one, a black one and a white one, standing peacefully together against the chicken wire fence.

See Bill, theyre getting along.

He giggles. I wish people were like alpacas.

Im with Eric at a Mexican restaurant in Manhattan Beach where he lives, an upscale, white neighbourhood in the South Bay. He clears space on the table and grinnings. OK, you ready? Your first tarot card reading with the Hitler Youth!

Its been an odd afternoon. We strolled along the beach and I asked about his gmail address which includes the number 1488, a potent number for white supremacists. The 14 stands for the 14 terms coined by the late David Lane of different groups The Order: We must secure the existence of our people and a future for white children. And the 88 refers to HH( H being eighth in the alphabet) or Heil Hitler. Eric sighed. OK, but this stuffs hard to talk about, he told. It depends how red-pilled you are.

Alt-righters love talking about the red pill. Its a reference to The Matrix blue-pilled people bumble through a life of illusion, while the red-pilled have find the truth and theres no turning back. Like all conspiracy theorists they insure the hidden hand that guides all things, but for the alt right that hand is Jewish. The red pill is classic antisemitism, rebooted for a younger generation. As we walked, he laid it out the banking, the media, the globalism. We passed games of beach volleyball and family barbecues, while he explained why the Holocaust was exaggerated and Hitler got a bad rap.

A nation without colouring: William Johnson speaking at an AFP conference in 2013.

Have you noticed that kombucha isnt as fizzy as it used to be? he asks, along the way, because Eric isnt your median Nazi. He developed as a spiritualist. He has taught meditation. He brought his tarot cards in case I wanted a reading.

Dont tell me its the Jews, I tell him. He giggles. You said it , not me!

In the late 70 s, the Klansman David Duke swapped his hood and robes for a suit and tie-in, and took white domination out of the cross-burning fields and into the boardroom. Mark Potok of the Southern Poverty Law Center describes the alt right in similar terms, as Racism 2.0, a rebranding for the digital generation. Its a trendy reboot alt right makes white dominance sound like an art collective. And Eric, the kombucha Nazi, just takes it a step further into the aisles of Whole Foods. Hes a locally sourced, wild-caught bigot high in omega-3s and antisemitism. It constructs him more sinister in some ways, and more harmless in others. As Nazis go.

Hmm, Nazi. Like Johnson, hes squeamish about words. Warriors against political correctness can be awfully sensitive. Its such a slur, he tells. But come near hes a Hitler apologist. OK, fine, he says. Just dont tell Im a Buddhist, because Im actually more into Norse and Celtic mysticism now.

Itll come as no surprise that someone whod rather be called a Nazi than a Buddhist has a strange story to tell. Originally from a well-off white suburb of Chicago, he moved to Las Vegas to pursue music. Then one day, in the gym of his condo building, he met a guru figure well call Frank. A spiritualist and tycoon, Frank introduced Eric to New Age mysticism and Japanese Buddhism. And it was under Franks guidance that Eric moved to LA to study hypnotherapy and began a career devoting reads and tarot reveals at a psychic bookshop. Frank, he says, was his mentor and best friend. But then Eric took a turning. He radicalised himself. He left the New Age life, detecting it too feminine, and spiralled down a sinkhole of conspiracy hypothesi. He and Frank have been estranged ever since. Frank is black.

By the book: writer Ann Coulter. Photograph: Aaron Davidson/ Getty Images

Today, Eric still meditates and practises yoga. His weeks are spent like David Brent, as a travelling salesman, driving around satisfying his solar energy clients. His weekends, however, are all about the Beach Goys, which now has 15 members. Last week, they went on a hike to the Murphy Ranch in the Pacific Palisades, a decrepit old property that was originally constructed as a refuge for Hitler after the war. Next week is their first band rehearsal. Erics going to play guitar and sing. And this is the future he wants not a plum job with the Trump administration. I dont see myself as a bureaucrat, he tells. I want to take the Beach Goys national. I want to inspire people.

It could happen. Trump has unleashed something in America. Johnson wont uncover the AFPs membership numbers Maybe we want to appear bigger than we are? but Eric insists the alt right is on the procession. Were growing with every hashtag, every BLM protest, every city that becomes a Detroit, or a London, he says. Were everywhere! Were the guy next to you at yoga, the barista at Starbucks … Its like Fight Club for supremacists, a profoundly unsettling thought( which is why Eric loves it ).

But his delight in being a secret Nazi detracts from the seriousness of it all, the white genocide stuff. Hes having too much fun. And I wonder, as we finish our beers, if it will pass for Eric, this Nazi phase. He simply doesnt seem that threatening. Then he starts up about a race war, that old white-supremacist chestnut. Because behind the trolling veneer, the alt right is more traditional than alt. What Eric believes is vintage racism, the same old wine in a new ironic cask. And Tony Benns terms ring as true as ever: Every generation must fight the same battles again and again.

Our civilisation is at war and we need to secure our people, Eric tells. We must confiscate power and take control. And the idea that we can do this peacefully is likely not realistic.

We get along with well enough, Eric and I, but he has the same micro/ macro discrepancy as Johnson. And at a macro level, there is only hopelessnes and division. I do not advocate violence, but I will give my life for my blood and for the honour of my ancestors.

He thrums the tarot cards in his hands, his voice becoming ever more animated. We accept the game thats being played. We accept that the lion and the gazelle are rivalry. But they dont have to detest one another. Thats just how we view it.

He shrugs. Its scary. The world is scary. This is not a game for children.