#I have an equation that determines how many levels one is by how many seasons they've drove

[where-is-my-sanity-daaaave]

I really need to finish making F1 Drivers into D&D Characters before one of them gets yeeted from the grid.

[pavspatch]

Stability Not the Spectacular at Celtic

LOOK after the pennies and the pounds will look after themselves. Give that old saying a football twist, and it pretty much sums up the philosophy of Stalybridge Celtic's new co-majority shareholders Nigel Jones and Paul Bowden.

There are no grandiose statements to win the attention and approval of supporters, no plans to win Football League status within ten or 15 years, and no huge infrastructure projects. Instead, there's plenty of talk of incremental progress starting with winning promotion from the Pitching In first division west back up to the premier division.

Mr Jones equates it all with what would be called the discovery phase in business — finding out what works, what doesn't work, and what could be done better.

"It’s a journey of continual improvement. You don’t get everything right at once but if you keep steadily improving things will follow from there. It’s all about improving the squad, governance, the matchday experience and the relationship fans. That’s how we’ll drive things forward," he explained.

"First of all we need to get the right squad in place and time is against us. We have to hit the ground running and although we've been co-owners less than a week we've already made some moves such as a fans' forum on Monday, June 5. The rest will come over the next few weeks and months.

"Paul and I believe the fans are ready for a change. It's been a difficult few years culminating in last season' relegation. Rob Gorski was at the club a long time and we need to show that the change people are demanding is taking place. They need to see we’re not just following the status quo.

"We’ve started the process by appointing a new manager. That’s no reflection on Chris Willcock’s abilities – I don’t actually know him at all – but Stalybridge Celtic needs a fresh start. We also need to maximise revenues. By doing that we’ll have more money for players. We need to have the best team we can.

"First and foremost we’ll look at the more straightforward things like sponsorship and increasing matchday revenues. Let's take things one step at a time, focus on the little things first and gradually build up."

After going through seven managers in ten years (eight including the Paul Phillips's partner Steve Halford), plus many other comings and goings, the new owners also believe the club craves and indeed requires a period of stability.

In James Kinsey, who was with Mr Jones at Wythenshawe Town, they believe they have a manager who can provide it. Their intention is to have him in charge for a lengthy period.

"We need stability 100 per cent. I know James well and have worked with him. We're looking for him to be with us for many years and that's something I think is very important at this level," said Mr Jones.

"He'll be given a budget and he’ll have full control of that. James can consult us if he feels he needs to but we’re more than happy to let him get on with it.

"James is young and he has that energy and drive that goes with youth. That energy he brings is fantastic and it will make a big difference, especially if we can get the fans with us."

One of the charges often levelled at Rob Gorski was that he treated Stalybridge Celtic as a hobby rather than a business. It was an accusation he utterly refuted, and Jones and Bowden insist it's the same with them.

Although Mr Jones willingly talks about fun and getting a buzz, he adds that he and his co-majority shareholder are determined to change the club's fortunes and turn it into a success.

He said: "We’re deadly serious. We accept it’s going to be very tough to take Celtic into profit but we want to win. I run a business that employs 500 people and that’s a challenge. There are good times and there are bad times.

"While Paul lives in Bristol, I live in Sale and represent the local face of our partnership. I’m planning to be at Bower Fold every week and we're going to put some good governance in place. We really want to do this properly.

"Stalybridge Celtic has a good name in the North West and that's why we were interested in buying it. There are also some good people at the club who put a lot of time in for no financial reward – just for the love of it."

And what of the much talked-about state-of-the-art 3G pitch and new social club Celtic have chased for so long? Mr Jones added: "Every non-league club will have researched 3G pitches and know the money they can bring in from things like midweek five-a-side leagues.

"There may be grants available from bodies such as from the Football Foundation, but these things take time and are a big commitment.

"We’re not going to promise A, B and C or say we'll suddenly transform Bower Fold. We’re going to start by concentrating on what happens on the pitch. Hopefully, we should be able to achieve promotion quite quickly – maybe even in the first season. We'll move on from there."

[twh-news]

Exclusive Interview – VFX Supervisor Wayne England on Marvel’s Loki | Flickering Myth

In a twenty year career, Fuse FX’s VFX Supervisor Wayne England has worked on everything from American Horror Story to the Kissing Booth films. With Marvel’s Loki, which completed its first season recently, he was faced with some fresh and unique challenges. He recently sat down with Martin Carr to go into more detail, delving deep into this new world of the TVA.

FuseFX’s specific efforts on Lamentis were centered upon all VFX that factored inside the tent in which Loki and Sylvie landed (via the time door) and inside the cabin in which they took refuge from the meteors. This also included fashioning all that we saw of Lamentis through the windows of both environments, which involved building a 3D set extension of the surrounding quarried cliffs. Their lighting and implied atmospherics also combined with periodic incoming meteors that we saw impacting and exploding.

What proved to be the most challenging elements of creating Lamentis-1?

The most challenging aspect was arriving at the exact level of precision associated with two sets of particle dynamics simulations that we created for action within the cabin. The meteor that penetrated the cabin, streaking down between Loki and Sylvie was one, and from close up we also saw impacting and exploding sand and rocks. The other simulations were for the 3D atmospheric, interactive dust effects within the cabin, released from a nearby large meteor impact. Loki walks through one of the dust plumes just as he is about to leave the cabin, so we accounted for his fluid dynamics trailing wake in the air to affect the dust. Although nuanced and subtle, it is essential to the story being told with the desired quality and fidelity.

To what extent do you think Loki benefited from VFX in telling its story?

Hugely, in fact I can’t conceive of the show without the apparent realism of the TVA technology and how fundamentally, visual effects helped to create the show’s “world” in so many unseen and wondrous ways. VFX advancements have for some time now transformed the playing field insofar as the nature of content being made. With the new possibilities ushered in by VFX, the creators of features and episodics are emboldened to realise new kinds of extraordinary narrative, while confident that the visual ideals of the stories being told can be realized in truly remarkable ways.

Given the infinite possibilities regarding VFX that The Void opened up, can you explain the significance of that ship?

What a fantastic inclusion to have the USS Eldrige drop into the Void! It’s homage to the famed, fanciful lore of the “Philadelphia Experiment” in which the ship, as the story goes, became invisible or even teleported. So it being teleported into the Void is a brilliant inclusion of past “questions of wonder” at the fringes of reality into the unfolding story. This can be compared with the way Close Encounters of the Third Kind incorporated the return of the lost pilots (transported through time) from the famed planes gone missing in the Bermuda triangle.

How collaborative was the director Kate Herron when it came to VFX in Loki?

We did not have direct exchanges with Kate on the show. Within the post-VFX process, exchanges were with the VFX supervisors, led by Marvel’s Endgame and Infinity War VFX supervisor Dan DeLeeuw.

From a VFX perspective, what do you say to those people who believe technology will one day make actors superfluous?

I think it’s a question of fidelity, and an interesting question about relative advancements in AI technology. That is, how it will usher in a new age of what we consider, or do not consider to be “simulation”. Like the Turing Test determining what is and is not human.

Which is to say that AI will only ever simulate the appearance of sentient intelligence because it’s powered by an AC plug, and ultimately the shuffling of ones and zeros in complex patterned formation. Does consciousness emerge from those shuffled ones and zeros? The answer is a rather definitive “no”. The fact is consciousness itself is the deepest uncharted mystery and as we move toward The Singularity (best consensus estimates 2043) and beyond, humanity is going to be faced with deep questions in relation to consciousness. Questions upon the themes of: what is it that distinguishes what is human (on every level), from what is AI. AKA start meditating.

As motion capture is now so commonplace, where do you stand on the debate surrounding cinematic resurrection for contemporary films?

I think virtual careers are likely to have some amazing futures, given the resurrected  have good agents that is! This returns to the themes of what is being made possible through VFX. The expanding ability to realize the highest visual ideals of storytelling is one part of the equation. The other: what is the story and its depth and power to move and inspire?

If you had to walk away from VFX tomorrow and pick another profession, what would it be and why?

A director or music composer. I have experience with both and love them both dearly.  I can also see a merging of the two, but that’s a question for another time.

Having worked for both DC in 2011 on Green Lantern and now Marvel ten years later, which franchise do you prefer and why?

Though I really enjoyed Man of Steel, there is no question that for me personally, Marvel has the upper hand. How they’ve evolved their franchise with such quality and embedded such deeply rooted interconnected storylines also implies the journey of the expanding Marvel Cinematic Universe is only just beginning. Clearly, it’s headed into more profound and wonder-filled realms of inspired, storied adventure.

[kfireforall]

Kundalini Awakening Diet and Lifestyle

- For those who have it flowing in themselves already -

by Chrism

Yes organic foods as much as is possible. No caffeine. No high fructose corn syrups. No really hot spices. No cigarettes. Alcohol is also best to surrender. If you can grow some of your food even better. Coconut milk and or water is helpful for the vitamin combination and well as the electrolytes. As is watermelon. It is individual for everyone as well. Follow what your Kundalini guides you to have. If you are to eat meat try to get wild game if you can or at least organic meats. Eat the meat even if you have been vegetarian for many years. Kundalini uses it to transform the body. Do not resist this. Same with the plants if you mainly eat meat. Always thank the plants and animals that give of themselves for your benefit. Lifestyle is to become all of the noble qualities as much of your conscious time as you can become. Loving, forgiving, tolerant, gracious, patient, trustful and trustworthy, diligent, joyful, compassionate, disciplined, considerate and kind, strong and courageous, fearless, discerning, intelligent, non egotistical, honest and truthful among others. This relates to why a person is even given the gift of grace. Become that healer, that saint in the populations. Give of your love and your care for others especially strangers. Let yourself feel the Kundalini as it brings itself to and through you every second of your life as it is the Kundalini that is taking you into the next levels of the human divine. Nothing else can really matter but your bond with God in this sense. This is what I do as well. Become that person that is the new expression of humanity on this planet. Let the Kundalini come into you in stronger and stronger waves of grace. Go out of your way to encourage its greater presence within you "as much as you can." Take the Shaktipat. Come to a seminar. Meet other awakened people and begin, in a greater way, to merge into the divine channel that is opening itself within you. - blessings and grace to you all!

--------------------------------------------

RAW FOOD AND KUNDALINI / FRUIT Pre Kundalini go with what you feel is best for you in this regard. Teach your ego consciousness to feel and discern that which your higher consciousness is communicating via the intuitive processes. When Kundalini comes your surrender to her in this way will be complete and that which is given to you from the Kundalini will dictate what is and what isnt consumed. In regards to preparing the way through nutrition. Balance is best and with respect to how others view the Kundalini, I feel it is best to have balance in what is consumed. Root vegetables and yes melon for the kidneys and adrenals but not just any melon "Watermelon" is the one that I will recommend. Meats are not forbidden in my offerings of Kundalini preparation. Meat is always an option and the Kundalini itself will give this option to some and then retract it the very next week or in a similar time period. Vegetarianism is also given and this must also be adhered to or avoided as is determined by the actual Kundalini within a person. Before hand it is also a good and viable preparatory choice. Follow the personal intuition. Celibacy is a personal choice. Kundalini in the activated or awakened state once again will take control of these expressions. But for the inculcation of an awakening or activation sexual conduct is not prohibited. The love of a person for another must be part of the equation. - blessings -chrism 

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Are You Eating Enough Alkaline Foods to Maintain Vital Health?

This chart provides information that shows the contribution of various food

substances to the acidifying of body fluids, and ultimately, to the urine,

saliva, and blood. In general, it is important to eat a diet that contains foods

from both sides of the chart.

Allergic reactions and other forms of stress tend to produce acids in the body.

The presence of high acidity indicates that more of your foods should be

selected from the alkalizing group.

You may find it useful to check your pH using our Personal pH Test Kit in order

to find out if your selection is providing the desired balance.

People vary, but for most, the ideal diet is 75 percent alkalizing and 25 percent acidifying foods by volume.

ALKALIZING FOODS VEGETABLES

Garlic

Asparagus

Fermented Veggies

Watercress

Beets

Broccoli

Brussel sprouts

Cabbage

Carrot

Cauliflower

Celery

Chard

Chlorella

Collard Greens

Cucumber

Eggplant

Kale

Kohlrabi

Lettuce

Mushrooms

Mustard Greens

Dulce

Dandelions

Edible Flowers

Onions

Parsnips (high glycemic)

Peas

Peppers

Pumpkin

Rutabaga

Sea Veggies

Spirulina

Sprouts

Squashes

Alfalfa

Barley Grass

Wheat Grass

Wild Greens

Nightshade Veggies

FRUITS

Apple

Apricot

Avocado

Banana (high glycemic)

Cantaloupe

Cherries

Currants

Dates/Figs

Grapes

Grapefruit

Lime

Honeydew Melon

Nectarine

Orange

Lemon

Peach

Pear

Pineapple

All Berries

Tangerine

Tomato

Tropical Fruits

Watermelon

PROTEIN

Eggs

Whey Protein Powder

Cottage Cheese

Chicken Breast

Yogurt

Almonds

Chestnuts

Tofu (fermented)

Flax Seeds

Pumpkin Seeds

Tempeh (fermented)

Squash Seeds

Sunflower Seeds

Millet

Sprouted Seeds

Nuts

OTHER

Apple Cider Vinegar

Bee Pollen

Lecithin Granules

Probiotic Cultures

Green Juices

Veggies Juices

Fresh Fruit Juice

Organic Milk

(unpasteurized)

Mineral Water

Alkaline Antioxidant Water

Green Tea

Herbal Tea

Dandelion Tea

Ginseng Tea

Banchi Tea

Kombucha

SWEETENERS

Stevia

SPICES/SEASONINGS

Cinnamon

Curry

Ginger

Mustard

Chili Pepper

Sea Salt

Miso

Tamari

All Herbs

ORIENTAL VEGETABLES

Maitake

Daikon

Dandelion Root

Shitake

Kombu

Reishi

Nori

Umeboshi

Wakame

Sea Veggies

ACIDIFYING FOODS FATS & OILS

Avocado Oil

Canola Oil

Corn Oil

Hemp Seed Oil

Flax Oil

Lard

Olive Oil

Safflower Oil

Sesame Oil

Sunflower Oil

FRUITS

Cranberries

GRAINS

Rice Cakes

Wheat Cakes

Amaranth

Barley

Buckwheat

Corn

Oats (rolled)

Quinoa

Rice (all)

Rye

Spelt

Kamut

Wheat

Hemp Seed Flour

DAIRY

Cheese, Cow

Cheese, Goat

Cheese, Processed

Cheese, Sheep

Milk

Butter

NUTS & BUTTERS

Cashews

Brazil Nuts

Peanuts

Peanut Butter

Pecans

Tahini

Walnuts

ANIMAL PROTEIN

Beef

Carp

Clams

Fish

Lamb

Lobster

Mussels

Oyster

Pork

Rabbit

Salmon

Shrimp

Scallops

Tuna

Turkey

Venison

PASTA (WHITE)

Noodles

Macaroni

Spaghetti

OTHER

Distilled Vinegar

Wheat Germ

Potatoes

DRUGS & CHEMICALS

Chemicals

Drugs, Medicinal

Drugs, Psychedelic

Pesticides

Herbicides

ALCOHOL

Beer

Spirits

Hard Liquor

Wine

BEANS & LEGUMES

Black Beans

Chick Peas

Green Peas

Kidney Beans

Lentils

Lima Beans

Pinto Beans

Red Beans

Soy Beans

Soy Milk

White Beans

Rice Milk

Almond Milk

-chrism

Facebook: facebook.com/groups Visit: kundalinisafeties.com kundaliniawakeningsystems1.com

[a-crimson-lion]

A Look At Bakudeku’s Development (Based On That One Instagram Post): A Photo-Narrative Analysis

Word Count: 4,287 (Yikes…)

[This got long. Like, REALLY long. Don't expect too many colors. There's a lot to get through...]

For those out of the loop, I recently came across this Instagram post during unhealthy hours in the morning. The purpose of this post, I’d assume, was to debunk any negativity aimed at the Bakudeku dynamic/ship, claiming it was indeed not abusive and that the antis in question are ignoring canon in favor of playing Bakugo’s suicide instigation on repeat. Before addressing the post in question, I would like to state two things:

I am not stuck on Chapter/Episode 1 in the series. I have been caught up proper with every story arc up to the JT Training Arc and am roughly familiar with everything past that point. I don’t just take Katsuki’s now essentially forgotten suicide instigation into account; I’m taking every part of his actions well beyond that moment and how they reflect on him, internally justified or otherwise.

While I’m among the people who believe that Bakudeku as of the latest incarnation of the manga (up to Ch. 280) is indeed abusive, I am open to discussions on why it is not. In any case, however, I cannot ignore the fact that the dynamic/ship is incredibly problematic besides the skeletons in both Izuku and Katsuki’s closets.

So, in order to address this issue to the best of my half-awake brain’s abilities, I will review the screenshots within said post and break down how they factor into the Bakudeku dynamic and the overall development. Be aware that there are some manga and movie spoilers, and this is just MY OPINION. I could be wrong, and I’m okay with that. If you wanna talk without patronizing me, the comments are open. I also apologize in advance if I myself come of as patronizing. All the screenshots I’ll be discussing can be found in the video link above (or here).

Well then, no point in beating around the bush...

1) Izuku Taking Katsuki Out Of The Final Exam Gate (Anime Screenshot)

The first piece of “evidence” used to show the merit of Bakudeku comes from the Final Exam arc, shortly after Katsuki succumbs to All Might’s assault, only for Izuku to come in and deck the #1 Hero in order to grab Katsuki and carry him to safety, allowing them both to pass.

However, this photo marks a recurring trend throughout some of the other photos: they speak more about IZUKU as a character than Izuku AND Katsuki.

Izuku getting to save Katsuki is a major development… for Izuku. One that we’ve seen before. Think about it. The first time Izuku saves Katsuki towards the beginning of the exam, he has to punch Katsuki in the face because he was considering throwing the match just for working with Izuku. And after he’s been saved, Katsuki blows up (figuratively and literally) before aggressively kabedoning him. In this scene though? Katsuki got knocked the f*** out, so he really has no room to protest if Izuku comes in to save him a second time.

Plus, this isn’t really anything NEW with Izuku. We know that he’s aware in an abstract sense that what Katsuki did to him was “wrong,” but he doesn’t hold a grudge or any animosity to him towards that. He’s one of Katsuki’s biggest defenders and supporters, assuming Katsuki allows it. So really, him saving Katsuki isn’t really surprising or a major step forward, ‘cause he was always willing to do it from the get go. And again, Katsuki isn’t conscious during his second rescue, so we don’t really know if he would have let Izuku save him again or if he would have protested.

There’s nothing new here, and nothing balanced to the overall dynamic. Just Izuku being Izuku.

2) All Might Acknowledges The New Bakudeku Rivalry (Anime Screenshot)

Deku vs Kacchan 2 was a big moment for the Bakudeku dynamic. I’m not saying it’s a positive moment, nor am I saying it was necessary, but it was big. And in the aftermath of that fight, where Izuku and Katsuki are having a back and forth, All Might thinks to himself that the two have become true rivals now, or something along those lines. And it’s nice that he’s willing to spell this out for the audience and all, but uh…

Stop me if you’ve heard this one before: show, don’t tell.

All Might is essentially telling us that Izuku and Katsuki are rivals now. What does the story have to show for it? A brief conversation during their house arrest, followed by a massive stall due to the Shie Hassaikai Arc and Cultural Festival Arc (albeit with one more instance we’ll cover later), and then what essentially equates to Katsuki yelling at Izuku a lot during the Joint Training Arc.

...that’s ...not much.

And yeah, you could expect me to be a good bean to the author and wait until the later arcs, but even then, the execution… just falls kinda flat, at least for me. Going back to that particular moment with All Might’s thought process, it kind of reminds me of Eraserhead essentially acting as a mouthpiece for the Ochako vs Katsuki fight during the Sports Festival, but that’s a can of worms I won’t be indulging today.

What I’m getting at is this: All Might letting the audience know that Bakudeku have reached rival status is great! Now if only the series could deliver more on that...

3) Standing With Two One For Alls (Heroes Rising)

Okay, seriously, if you haven’t seen Heroes Rising yet, I implore you, GO. WATCH IT. It is an incredible film and I would recommend it with warm words. And I’ll admit, it gives us a better incarnation of Bakudeku compared to the rest of the series.

Yes, I said “better,” not “great.”

Look, I’m all for Izuku and Katsuki working past their differences and the clusterf*** that was their childhood, and maybe Horikoshi not being as integrally involved with the film’s writing as people think he is has something to do with it, but uh… you do not say “put myself as low as to working with Deku” or something like that and expect to be casually tossed aside, at least if you’re me. And while I’m glad there was some genuine emotional tension as Izuku gave Katsuki OFA, some part about it feels… off. Like, nothing was really truly resolved. Katsuki wasn’t given OFA as a sign of forgiveness, as an acknowledgement. Katsuki was given OFA because there was an AFO level villain about to wreck the place and kill some peeps and oh look, the narrative made it so that Katsuki was the only convenient holder around! It kinda stings when you look at it that way.

Not that it matters, because a big thing most people forget is that at the end of this movie, THE ENTIRE THING IS ESSENTIALLY SWIPED ACROSS THE DESK AND ON THE FLOOR. Even if it was going to have some level of effort towards the development of the dynamic, that effort is essentially GONE because Katsuki doesn’t remember SQUAT, and what happens to OFA after the fight is NEVER DISCUSSED. It’s just a hard reset, BOOM, back to normal. *Sigh*

Really, the whole double OFA thing was for convenience, less so for any emotional leveling up that could have been done. And even then, Izuku is still somehow the one putting more emotional input into the entire thing than Katsuki.

4) “I Thought You Were Gonna Get Ahead Of Me!” (Anime Screenshot)

Katsuki’s methods of motivation are… admittedly not for everyone. They seem to work fine for Izuku, as seen sometime after the Cultural Festival Arc, but again, that’s just Izuku. We know how he takes Katsuki’s words and turns it into motivation, but why does Katsuki bother at all?

Well, maybe this comes with desperately trying to find reasons to like a character but progressively despising him and his narrative placement more and more as time progresses, but here’s my angle on it: Katsuki just doesn’t want Izuku dragging his weight for nothing.

Keep in mind, we’re talking about the same Katsuki who held a grudge against Shoto for holding back during the Sports Festival. The same Katsuki who wanted the #1 Hero to go all out and would continuously press to fight him. The same Katsuki who wanted to fight a deadly villain even after being instructed to get back to camp for his own safety. The same Katsuki who challenged Izuku to a fight to finally determine where the gap was, and who was frustrated when he won because the power Izuku possessed was All Might’s, so clearly he shouldn’t have lost.

In short, Katsuki doesn’t like it when people don’t give it their all. And I believe it’s been stated once or twice that once Izuku makes One For All his own, there’s a good chance they’re gonna fight again. So it’s in Katsuki’s best interest to make sure Izuku isn’t half-assing anything, because he wants to prove he can beat Izuku at his best, thus proving that KATSUKI is the best.

So it’s less so for Izuku’s benefit as it is for Katsuki’s own.

5) One Giant Leap (Heroes Rising)

Arguably one of the best moments of the entire Heroes Rising film amongst the fandom is the big handhold scene between Katsuki and Izuku as they make a last gambit effort to take down Nine with two One for Alls. Admittedly this is one of the best if not the best moment throughout the entire progression of the Bakudeku dynamic thus far. I’ll give it that much.

...which makes it all the more frustrating because again: MIND. WIPE. The audience knows it happened, but in canon we never know if Izuku discusses it with Katsuki or if anyone else was aware of the moment in greater specificity. IT ESSENTIALLY NEVER HAPPENED, and I’m starting to legitimately wonder whether or not it was for the best...

6) Datte Atashi No Hero (Anime Screenshot)

First off: how? Second off: huh?

Believe me, the second ending of Season 3 is an absolute bop, don’t get me wrong, but uh… again, it provides NOTHING balanced for Bakudeku, once again relying on Izuku’s perspective on the entire matter. I once read an interesting meta about this ending and how it could be interpreted (take this with a grain of salt), but the biggest contender is that this is in fact Izuku’s fantasy. Think about it:

Izuku is a humble traveling warrior, with nothing to distinguish himself in his own opinion.

Ochako is a magician because she’s alien to Izuku, an unheard of phenomenon.

Tenya being a knight, Shoto being a prince, and Momo being a warrior princess all correlates to their high standings in society, heroic or otherwise.

The reason Katsuki is a barbarian king is because he’s familiar to Izuku in an ancient sense; he’s known him for a long time. The list goes on, but you get the jist.

With this in mind, it’s not difficult to understand that even Katsuki willing to work with Izuku would be another aspect of Izuku’s fantasy: to be able to stand beside his childhood friend once more. And remember the ending of that scene, when Izuku does that big sword slash? That’s him having fully mastered OFA. Both are things that could happen given the manga’s recent direction, but still have yet to happen because this is, again, a fantasy.

And apparently Datte Atatshi No Hero is a reflection on Izuku’s feelings towards Katsuki. Take that as you will, but again, this does not speak for Bakudeku as a whole. Just Izuku’s feelings on the matter.

7) Win to Save, Save to Win (Manga Screenshot)

Since I’ve already penned myself into a short story at this point, might as well take the time to look at this famous phrase from the story.

Personally, I consider it bulls***. It harms both characters overall; yes, I said both. It excuses Katsuki’s need to be a blunt powerhouse that only targets villains, and it redundantly demands Izuku do more of what he was already doing, albeit with less sympathy. I know it sounds corny to say saving is more important than winning, but in the heat of the moment, what gets to the civilians in danger more often? Seeing a guy in a cape deck the latest disaster right in front of them or from a distance? Or said cape guy risking life and limb making sure that this person gets to see life another day?

There’s no perfect answer to it, but that’s my stance.

And this quote, “Win to save, save to win,” justifies the one thing that keeps Katsuki from truly outgrowing his past: his need to be the best. If winning is on the same level then saving, and Izuku has an innate capacity to save, then that means it’s okay for Katsuki to have to win all the time, right?

No. It’s not. And that’s not speaking for all the “Gary Stu” crap, either.

Because being pressured into being the best is what caused Katsuki to hate any kindness offered to him by Izuku. The desire to be the best had him bully Izuku for a decade to ensure that Izuku remained the loser and Katsuki remained the winner. That desire characterizes arguably the worst aspects of Katsuki’s character, and those aspects aren’t gonna fly in the Pro Hero world. Because if Nana Shimura, Shota Aizawa, the Pussycats, Mirio, Sir Nighteye, and a handful of other incidents have taught us anything, it’s that even at their best efforts, heroes don’t win all the time.

Katsuki needs to learn this, or it will crush him in the long term. But he hasn’t. The narrative has kept letting him rack up wins, and his current actions in the manga were spurred on by the fact that he still has yet to truly take a loss.

Say what you will, but I don’t like this line. For what it says about Izuku or Katsuki.

8) The Only One Who Can Accept His Feelings… (Anime Screenshot)

Me @ #7: Wanna see me go off?

Me @ #8: Wanna see me do it again?

Izuku’s perspective on the entire Bakudeku situation is a major reason why most fans condone it. “Izuku doesn’t appear obviously bothered by Katsuki, so that clearly means it’s not abusive/problematic, so just shut up!” or something like that. Well, I’m no psychologist, so I won’t go into a spiel about people ignoring their pain for the sake of others or people trying to excuse others in order to place fault on themselves whether or not it be accurate.

Really, all I can say is that NONE OF THIS should be Izuku’s responsibility.

I’m not blaming this on Izuku because he hasn’t had actual friends or a healthy support system in a long while, but the fact that he decides to take on and enable Katsuki in his element just… doesn’t sit well with me. The logical conclusion would be talking, not throwing hands. I don’t care if they’re “distressed teenagers,” neither of them should be doing this, and Katsuki was fully aware that the teachers would stop them in the first place; that’s not simply adults meddling in what isn’t their business. Katsuki should have really figured out by now that maybe the best course of action is to actually vent to someone without blowing their face off, and I get that he’s absolute s*** at feelings, but really, that’s more of a red flag that he needs to actually get help. And if you think a little too hard on Izuku’s feelings of the matter, well…

Imagine being ostracized for so long that you lose all sense of self worth.

Imagine being told time and again that your worthless, which checks out for you because clearly if your worthless, the guy that enabled that mindset is obviously better than you, and he’s entitled to use you for his own ends.

That’s what I get from this scene.

And again, this is all from IZUKU at this point; virtually NOTHING from Katsuki.

9) Double Detroit Smash (Heroes Rising)

I’ve already said my piece about the film. At this point, it’s beating a dead horse with a stick. Moving on.

10) Word of God (Miscellaneous)

Here’s the thing about Word of God in fandom: the general consensus is that it’s nice to get confirmation from a credible source, but unless it is portrayed in canon, it’s just more words which may or may not be true.

In this case, Kohei Horikoshi, the mangaka for BNHA, is saying that eventually, Katsuki will have to apologize to Izuku. Eventually.

As in, it still hasn’t happened yet.

As in, Katsuki still has yet to decide that what he did in the past was wrong and he should try to fix it.

As in, it currently shows no bearing towards Katsuki’s current character nor the overall Bakudeku dynamic.

Sure, it MIGHT happen, but in another interview (or mayhaps it’s the same one), Horikoshi stated that Katsuki originally wasn’t intended to get as much screen time as he did. Both of these situations are different of course, but with the recent turbulence of the War Arc shaking up the manga, is it really so hard to believe that an apology might slip away from Katsuki’s thought process?

On the bright side, an apology could happen. But until it’s canon, then it’s only a possibility, and therefore can’t be used fully for the intended argument.

11) X-Catapult Handhold (Heroes Rising)

I bet some people working on the movie and some fans on the movie felt spoiled when they included not one, but two handholding scenes for Izuku and Katsuki.

And while the first handhold is certainly a marvel of battle tactics, again, there isn’t much else going on with it. Is it nice to see Katsuki working with Izuku again? Yes, but contrary to popular belief, it doesn’t go past that. Katsuki’s just willing to work with Izuku, full stop. He’d probably be willing to work with anyone because Nine is f***ing tank. And sure, getting a handhold tease is nice, but it’s only to facilitate Katsuki’s subsequent yeeting of Izuku at Nine in an attempt to do damage. Nothing more pressing about the circumstances of their past or anything like that.

12) A Bit of Advice (Anime Screenshot)

Look, this is one of the tamer, better looks at Izuku and Katsuki’s relationship. He’s willing to put his pride aside and give Izuku some advice. But remember what I said earlier in #4?

It’s not just to make sure Izuku gets better, but so Katsuki can feel like it’s a complete win when he beats his ass.

And if we take the line “It pisses me off” into account, we can look at that flaw from the same angle. Remember, Izuku has All Might’s power, the #1 Hero’s power. To Katsuki, that means he shouldn’t have the luxury of making mistakes. But Izuku does. He makes mistakes, and Katsuki sees them and he doesn’t get to exploit them. He still wins, but not because of those mistakes. And part of that pisses Katsuki off. Izuku shouldn’t get to slack. So, Katsuki gives him some advice. Advice that will no doubt help Izuku in the long run, for his (and Katuki’s) sakes. It’s a good outcome from a not very good reason...

13) Have You Made That Borrowed Power Your Own? (Manga Screenshot)

Yeah, no.

I don’t care if Izuku is used to this treatment, it still isn’t reinforcing an overall positive tone.

I don’t care if Katsuki acknowledges at some level that Izuku’s power is becoming his own, he still has the gall to say it was no wonder he passed BECAUSE of his power. Which may be true, but it’s not like Izuku was relying on it 100%, and lowkey comes off as Quirkist.

All it tells me is that Katsuki is starting to acknowledge Izuku, in the ��gadfly I can’t get off my back” sort of way. Is this the “best development” y’all are rooting for? Basic acknowledgement of another human being?

14) Outta My Way Punk! (Manga Screenshot)

Katsuki reflexively tells Izuku to get out of his way.

Izuku is used to it, again, that does not excuse it.

Once again, Katsuki reverts back to his usual behavior instead of showing a more subtle approach to show the audience that maybe he’s changing beyond what a chorus of other characters saying “he’s changed!” has to offer.

...even if it’s not abusive, you can’t really say that’s a “good” relationship, either.

15) Blackwhip Training (Manga Screenshot)

Katsuki willing to train with Izuku to help him master his Quirk(s) is nice.

Still blatantly in his element with lots of needless yelling and dominance assertion, but still nice.

And keep in mind, right after it’s clear they aren’t getting anywhere and Izuku tries to rationalize it, Katsuki decides to dip seeing as it’s not worth his time anymore. And even before that, at least in my translation, Katsuki seems to be more interested in beating out Blackwhip instead of having Izuku get a handle on.

Again, maybe not abusive, but not exactly supportive, either.

16) ??? (Anime Screenshot)

I personally have no idea what they were going for with this screenshot, but if I had to guess, that’s after Katsuki gives Izuku an escape window whilst he faces off against All Might alone during their Final Exams.

While I understand that this is early on in their dynamic’s development, the fact still stands that Katsuki still wants to fight for fighting’s sake. He may have been willing to at least give Izuku a chance, but he still sees Izuku’s retreat as cowardly, even though it’s a perfectly valid way to pass the exam. He still just wants to fight.

There’s no mutuality in that sense.

17) Quote from Justin Briner (Miscellaneous)

I don’t have much of an opinion for Izuku’s English VA, but for what it’s worth, I think overall he’s a really cool dude. The same, however, cannot be said for his quote.

I can buy into Izuku wanting to get stronger because of Katsuki, since that is a major plot point. I can’t do the same for Katsuki seeing the good in people because we don’t ever see it, really? In fact, it’s more like people latch on to Katsuki and he just tolerates them until they’ve completely wormed their way into his life. There’s no scene where Katsuki considers someone a good person because of something Izuku did, or anything even vaguely along those lines, at least to my knowledge.

As for their relationship, there have been more downs than ups, and it isn’t relatable to me in the slightest. Maybe that’s just ‘cause I don’t get the overall appeal, but their friendship never really strikes me as a… well, friendship. You could argue that’s the point and that’s what makes them different and interesting, but I would much rather we see more concrete proof of their relationship being at more understandable highs and lows while actually demonstrating it was mutual.

But again. That’s just me.

18) Joint Training Pep Talk (Manga Screenshot)

I’m basically repeating myself at this point. Katsuki might be keeping tabs on Izuku, but again, it’s not entirely for Izuku’s benefit. He just wants to make sure his new “rival” (successor to the #1 Hero, I might add) isn’t dragging his feet through the mud and actually getting s*** done so their eventual third clash will actually be worth his time.

...this relationship is so one-sided in two entirely different ways, I swear.

19) Speaking With Kacchan So Naturally (Manga Screenshot)

Why are we congratulating Katsuki for adding one more person to his already (surprisingly) sizable tolerance pile?

Why are we congratulating Izuku for bridging a gap other people managed to cross with little to no effort even though he didn’t do anything wrong?

Izuku is essentially saying “Good job on me for finally getting the same treatment as everyone else from that one person after over ten years.” Good on him, but uh… that’s not exactly a landmark worth framing the way the fandom does...

The relationship might not be outright abusive, but HOO BOY the bar has never been set lower...

20) “You’ve got a good friend in him” (Manga Screenshot)

And finally, the pièce de résistance. Which is really more narrative mouthpiece-ing.

Even before that, Katsuki yet again can’t take a compliment from Izuku for whatever reason. Yet again, Izuku just shrugs off all of Katsuki’s discouragement, intentional or otherwise. And I love me some Dadmight as much as the next guy, but really, does he have a good grasp on relationships? His only friends in his life were David and Naomasa, and he’s been shown time and time again to not be the infallible man many think he is due to being the Symbol of Peace? But suddenly he goes “Bakudeku rights” and y’all jump on that with no room for argument?

Katsuki has yet to prove what All Might has been saying. Again, telling rather than showing, therefore removing the meaning from the entire thing. Unless Katsuki proves otherwise, I call bulls***.

-------------------------------------------------------

So, my final verdict? Bakudeku is fine. It’s just not as great as the rest of you are making it out to be. I’m not gonna dictate whatever you ship or what you enjoy, that’s not my place, but at least keep these perspectives in mind. You don’t have to believe them, but just… stay aware, y’know?

Alrighty, I’ve wasted enough of your time. If you’ve read it until the very end, then… thanks. Carry on.

-Crimson Lion (10 August 2020)

[warrioreowynofrohan]

The Silmarillion as a TV/Netflix Show (Part 5)

Season 5 centres on Túrin, Tuor, and Dior - and, later, Elwing and Eärendil. The last two seasons have looked hopeful for a while but ended on tragic notes (the Bragollach and the Nirnaeth); this season is going to flip things by being almost unremittingly tragic but ending on a hopeful note.

There are a few key things to do here:

1) Draw out parallels and common threads between our main characters. At first I wanted to shift the timeline a little and have key events in Túrin and Tuor’s lives happening at the same time: Túrin as outlaw, Tuor as thrall and then outlaw; Túrin in Nargothrond, Tuor in Gondolin; Túrin and Finduilas, Tuor and Idril. But it felt like there were too many big events happening simultaneously, and it was hard to fit them all in. Still, the parallels between the cousins are present.

Dior needs more characterization in order to be able to hold his own, narratively speaking; we have very little on him in canon.

2) The Fëanorians will be very important in the last few episodes of the season, so they need to be worked into the storyline of at least some of the earlier episodes to keep them in view. I’m going to go with them being based on Amon Ereb for this period; it fits some of Tolkien’s versions, and having them in Ossiriand at the same time as Beren and Lúthien and Dior would feel like a massive Chekhov’s Gun that is never fired.

So, with that in mind:

Episode 1: Túrin is going to take centre stage here, with the episode covering everything from his departure from Hithlum up to the death of Saeros and Túrin’s departure from Doriath. (And the episode will start with the Words of Húrin and Morgoth.) There will also be a few scenes from Tuor’s and Dior’s childhoods, which were comparatively more stable. Since Beren and Lúthien had such a large part in the last season it will be nice to see their experiences of parenthood. Lúthien, never having met mortal children, will be shocked at how fast Dior grows up. (He definitely ages on a Mannish scale - he’s married at 22, a king at 27, and dead at 30.)

Near the beginning, the episode will also include a scene where the Fëanorians attempt to invade Doriath and are turned back by the Girdle of Melian. It doesn’t function as a direct, physical barrier; it causes confusion and disorientation and strange visions and a loss of sense of direction, and you look around and find you’ve ended up outside Doriath again. This eerie, hallucinatory quality fits Melian’s background as a Maia of Lórien, Master of Dreams. (And hey, if you can work some subtle prophetic/ominous foreshadowing into the visions, all the better!) The purpose of the scene is to show that the Fëanorian’s aren’t idle; they do want pursue the Silmaril, but for the moment it is beyond their reach. The brothers will have varying levels of enthusiasm about the plan, with Celegorm and Curufin being the ringleaders.

Episode 2: Heavily focuses on Túrin’s time as an outlaw, from his first meeting with the bandits through to Dor-Cúarthol, the fall of Amon Rudh, and the death of Beleg. This is a lot of material - joining the bandits, becoming their leader, the first meeting with Beleg, finding Mîm and Amon Rudh, Dór-Cuarthol, and the fall of Amon Rudh and the death of Beleg. There may be a need to streamline it, with Beleg only finding the outlaws once they are at Amon Rudh, and staying with them then.

There’s a lot of good characters here, and a lot of good personality confllicts - it’s practically a short movie in itself. Particular care needs to be taken with Mîm, who cannot be allowed to become a caricature.

This episode introduces Anglachel, so it would be good to have a short Gondolin scene with Maeglin (bearer of Anguirel) to establish the symmetry. And also to keep Gondolin in the viewers’ minds. A short scene in Nargothrond showing their reaction to Dór-Cúarthol (positive: it is or was their realm, and he’s doing more to defend it that they are) will set up later events,

Episode 3: The focus splits between Túrin in Nargothrond - particularly his relationships with Gwindor and Finduilas, and his growing prominence, with him becoming de-facto in charge at the end of the episode - and Tuor as a thrall and later outlaw. Tuor’s personality really comes to the fore here: he’s patient, and steady, and kind. He puts up with considerable abuse an a thrall, escapes when there’s an opportune moment, and can’t be effectively pursued because he’s made friends with all of his captor’s hounds. (I especially like that last fact.) The episode ends with him leaving Dor-lómin by the Gate of the Noldor.

This is also a good time to build up the romance between Dior and Nimloth. Nimloth must be Laiquendi, as those are the only other people Beren and Lúthien would meet in Ossiriand; I rather like the idea of them being childhood friends, to offset some of the more love-at-first-sight romances. Dior is now in his late teens and - this is important - very, very good-looking, even by elf standards. He’s also very interested in his Doriathrin heritage, and asking his parents a lot of questions about his grandparents; that sets up his determination to be Eluchíl later on.

Episode 4: Tuor’s meeting with Ulmo and his coming to Gondolin, the Fall of Nargothond, and Túrin in Dórlomin. The fall of Nargothrond and deaths of Gwindor and Finduilas form a nice counterpoint/contrast with Tuor’s meetings with Voronwë and Idril and his arrival at Gondolin. Túrin’s impulsive actions in Dor-lómin contrast with Tuor’s approach in the prior episode as well.

Episode 5: Focus is on Túrin’s story. Journey of Morwen and Nienor to Nargothrond and its consequences, and Túrin in Brethil, through to his slaying of Glaurung and his and Nienor’s deaths.

For extra bonus irony points, parallel the wedding of Túrin and Níniel with the weddings of Idril and Tuor and of Dior and Nimloth.

Episode 6: Wanderings of Húrin through to the Sack of Doriath and Beren and Dior’s fight with the dwarf-army. (Dior isn’t mentioned as being part of this fight in the Silm, but it’s an excellent moment to include him here.) The Fëanorians reenter the scene, attempting to intercept the dwarf army carrying the Silmaril, but arriving too late. This is the best chance they’ve had st recovering a Silmaril yet - they’re not going to ignore it.

The line “while Lúthien held the Silmaril no elf would dare assail her” is typically read as it just being something no one would consider on a moral level - and that’s a valid reading - but I like the idea that the Fëanorians aren’t going after her because they’re freaking terrified of her. This is the woman who defeated Morgoth single-handedly! Holding one of the most powerful artifacts ever created! Who knows what she could do! (The Fëanorians absolutely make concessions to practicality when it comes to the Oath - otherwise they would have attacked Angband sometime in the 400 years of the Siege, or after the Nirnaeth as a way to die pursuing their oath in a decent way rather than slaughtering kin. It’s only the final attack by Maedhros and Maglor after the War of Wrath that they attempt in the face of impossibility, and by that time I think suicide-by-Valarin-army makes up a solid portion of their motivation.)

Episode 7: The refounding of Doriath, the Second Kinslaying, and the capture and treachery of Maeglin. Broad theme of the episode being Bad Elvish Behaviour all round, with elves doing Morgoth’s work either directly (Maeglin) or on their own initiative (the Fëanorians).

My idea on the refounding of Doriath, and on Dior’s title of Eluchíl (Thingol’s Heir) is that this quickly and breifly becomes the core of Elvendom in Beleriand. Dior, as Lúthuen’s son and Melian’s grandson, likely has some degree of ‘magical’ power beyond what is usual for elves. Not enough to reestablish the Girdle of Melian, but enough to provide some general deterrance against evil forces. Doriath is also, for the first time, open to all the other free peoples of Beleriand, and is the only true realm remaining aside from secret and mysterious Gondolin. Not only do the Doriathrin Sindar and some of the Laiquendi and the northern grey-elves unite around Doriath, various Noldor, remants of lost realms and destroyed armies, join them. Dior is becoming in truth what Thingol claimed to be: King of Beleriand. All the more so when the Silmaril comes to him and Doriath blossoms like a memory of Valinor in the Ages of the Trees.

And this would fit with why the Fëanorians would regard Dior as ‘proud’, this would offend them more than anything, because what he’s achieving is exactly Fëanor once boasted that he would achieve, long ago in Tirion. This would fit with the sheer visciousness of the Second Kinslaying, with the abandonment of Dior’s young sons in the forest. Celegorm’s people aren’t even thinking in terms of hostages; they just want to destroy Dior’s entire family line, because his existence, his kingship, what he’s achieved are such an affront.

But Elwing escapes, and the Silmaril is still out of their hands.

(The attack is at Yule, whuch sets up a strong and deliberate parallel - Morgoth’s earlier attacks on the Lamps and the Trees were also at times of festival/celebration, so the Fëanorians’ actions are being deliberately equated with his.)

Episode 8: The Fall of Gondolin. This is your absolutely epic big battle scene. Balrogs! Dragons! Eagles! Maeglin acting like a cackling B-movie villain! (I have not read The Fall of Gondolin, but I’ve hear that Idril swordfights Maeglin in it, and this absolutely needs to happen.) Ecthelion kills a Gothmog! Glorfindel kills a balrog! It’s tragic, but it’s also extremely exciting television (unlike the kinslaying the previous week, which was mostly just really depressing and horrific.)

The episode ends with the survivors of Gondolin making their way to Sirion, where the survivors of Doriath have already settled. I think that the survivors of Nargothrond should also be there, to keep things simple and allow for some extra drama.

Episode 9: This one starts with a timeskip, so we can have adult Eärendil and Elwing. The episode is a quieter one, mainky setup for later events: the departure of Tuor and Idril, the marriage of Eärendil and Elwing, the birth of the twins, and Eärendil’s departure to seek the aid of the Valar. The voyage of Eärendil is dramatic and can take up some of the episode.

Episode 10: The Third Kinslaying, the destruction of the Fëanorian base on Amon Ereb, the voyage of Eärendil and Elwing to Valinor, and the Valar’s decision to go to war. The nain reason I wanted the Nargothrondim in Sirion is so that we can get Celebrimbor fighting against the Fëanorian forces here, because that just increases the level of emotional drama. The whole thing’s a traumatic mess. Fëanoruan solidiers throwing down their swords and surrendering. Fëanorian soldiers switching sides to defend the people of Sirion. It’s hard to overstate how teagic this is - here is almost the last remnant of elves in Beleriand, and they are being destroyed not by Morgoth (from whom they would be protected by Ulmo’s waters), but by their own people.

But at the end of the episode, Valinor is marshalling for war, and things are finally. finally, looking like they could get better.

[ljones41]

“What Went Wrong With ‘CHARMED’?”

"WHAT WENT WRONG WITH 'CHARMED'?" What happened with the original "CHARMED" (1998-2006) series? How did a show that for a brief period, used to be one of my top ten favorites ended up as something for me to be derisive about? Well, below are what I believe are the three major traits that contributed to the show’s decline (at least for me) - morality, portrayal of men and magical powers.

Morality: For me, this was a major problem with the series. The audience was led to believe that the Halliwell sisters aka the Charmed Ones were the epitome of goodness, yet the writers have allowed them to get away with some very despicable acts. I am not one of those who demand that protagonists of a fictional story - whether in print, movies, plays or television - be flawless or ideal. I realize this is impossible, due to human nature. But I believe that when a work of fiction allows its protagonist to make a mistake or crime, I believe the writers should allow that character to face the consequences of his or her actions. Unfortunately, this rarely happened on "CHARMED" - especially in regard to the Charmed Ones and their whitelighter, Leo Wyatt. On the other hand, the Charmed Ones, Leo and the series' show runners and writers made certain that others - like Cole Turner - pay the price for their actions. Whether they deserved it or not. Piper Halliwell's Purchase of Illegal Fruit - In the Season Two episode, (2.12) "Awakened", a greedy Piper had purchased illegal fruit from South America that had not been inspected by U.S. Customs for a cheap price. She had plans to serve the fruit to her customers at her P3 bar. After sampling the fruit, Piper became afflicted with a deadly disease called "Oroyo Fever". First, her sisters Prue and Phoebe used a spell to save her life by directing the disease from her body to an ninja action figure toy owned by another patient. This act led to other patients in the hospital being afflicted by the disease. Eventually, Prue and Phoebe reversed the spell and Piper became afflicted again. In the end, Leo used his whitelighter ability to cure Piper. Since Leo had used magic for personal gain, he lost his whitelighter wings . . . temporarily. The Charmed Ones, on the other hand, did not pay any price whatsoever for their actions in this episode. Piper managed to survive and did not face any illegal prosecution for breaking Federal law. Also, Prue and Phoebe did not pay any price for using magic for personal gain and threatening the lives of innocents in the process. On the other hand, Piper's miraculous recovery attracted the attention of physician, Dr. Curtis Williamson. His determination to learn how she had recovered so quickly led to him temporarily possessing the Charmed Ones powers and his death in a later episode, (2.20) "Astral Monkey". While Piper had lamented over not answering one of his earlier requests for a medical examination, neither she or her sisters felt any guilt over how their actions in "Awakened" led to Dr. Williamson's death in "Astral Monkey". The 48-Hour Window of Opportunity Rule - According to the Season Four premiere, (4.01-4.02) "Charmed Again", the Whitelighters ("good") and the demons ("evil") had made a compromise regarding the moral compass of witches. This compromise created a period of forty-eight hours for a witch to decide his or her alliance or moral path. Frankly, I thought this was a dumb idea ever created by Brad Kern or one of his writers. The idea that the Elders' Council and the Source's Council had the authority to give a new witch a specific time period of free will to choose between good and evil is ludicrous. That witch or any other individual should constantly have some semblance of free will to choose any particular path . . . should have been regarded as a natural right. What made this rule even more ludicrous is once a witch makes up his or her mind, he/she will remain either good or evil until death. What on earth? This whole "Window of Opportunity" rule smacks of a fairy tale for children and not for a series about adult women. What Kern had failed to remember that life is uncertain, which means there are no real absolutes upon which one can depend. In other words, if Paige had chosen evil, her decision could never be regarded as absolute. In the real world . . . or in a well-written story, there would be no real absolute. Not only was this rule a prime example of how the series' black-and-white morality stagnated the series' writing development, it also appeared in the "CHARMED" reboot series. Pity. Darryl Morris' Soul - In Season Six's (6.01-6.02) "Valhalley of the Dolls", two of the Charmed Ones, Phoebe and half-sister Paige Matthews had committed a despicable act with the psychic rape of their close friend, Inspector Detective Darryl Morris. The pair used a spell to strip Darryl of his soul without his consent. They had committed this despicable act in order to free Leo from Valhalla (Norse/Viking version of heaven) and have him remove a spell he had cast on Piper. Phoebe and Paige’s act should have had major consequences for them. Instead, the writers treated this act of psychic rape as a joke and dismissed the whole matter with Darryl lamely and quickly forgiving them. I was disgusted by this episode. Rick Gittridge's Murder - Phoebe and Paige had committed another despicable act in the Season Six episode, (6.17) "Hyde School Reunion". Nervous over facing former classmates at a high school reunion, Phoebe had cast a spell on herself, regressing her personality to her seventeen year-old self. While under this spell, she used magic to help a former high school classmate named Rick Gittridge escape from prison. Eventually, Phoebe recovered from her spell and realized she had a convict who knew she was a witch on her hands. When Rick held her and Paige at gunpoint and demanded that they change his face so that he could avoid the police, Paige obliged, at Phoebe's urging, by giving him the face of their nephew and Piper and Leo's younger son, Chris Halliwell. What Rick did not know and the sisters did was Chris was on the run from a group of Scabber demons that he had angered. So . . . instead of teleporting the gun from Rick's hand and sending him back to prison with his memories wiped, Paige transformed his face to resemble Chris'. The Scabber demons saw Rick with Chris' face and promptly killed him before disappearing. And both Phoebe and Paige - to my utter disgust - declared their action had been necessary. In other words, Phoebe and Paige got away with cold-blooded murder thanks to Brad Kern's misplaced sense of justice. Alliance with the Avatars - Another major crime that the Halliwells had committed was helping the Avatars (an ancient group of extremely powerful magical beings) change the world by removing any dark thoughts from the human race and committing genocide against demons … all so that they can selfishly lead happy lives and not hunt demons. This little act, which had occurred in (7.12) "Extreme Makeover: World Edition", resulted in the psychic rape of the world’s population and the deaths of those few who were not affected by the spell. And what happened after the following episode, (7.13) "Charmeggedon"? Leo paid the price for his part in the spell with the loss of his whitelighter wings and position as an Elder. Yet the sisters - especially Piper - avoided any consequences for their actions. Again. Instead, they blamed the Avatars for not telling them everything and the Elders for driving Leo into becoming an Avatar. This was so cowardly on so many levels. At this point, my opinion of the Charmed Ones had sunk to a new low. Their unwillingness to learn any lesson from their own mistake and blame others disgusted me to my core. Cole Turner aka Belthazor's First Death and the Source - Sometime in early Season Four, Phoebe's lover and former assassin - the demon/hybrid Cole Turner aka Belthazor - lost his magical powers due to an old potion made by the Charmed Ones back in Season Three, because a woman wanted revenge for his past killing of her fiance. When the sisters were threatened with death at the hands of the demonic leader known as the Source, Cole used a magical object to strip the villain of his magical powers and use them to save Phoebe and her sisters. Unfortunately for Cole, he ended up being possessed against his will by the Source's spirit. Episodes like (4.14) "The Three Faces of Phoebe" and (4.16) "The Fifth Halliwell" had made it very clear that the Source had taken possession of Cole's body. Instead of having the Charmed Ones discover this, Brad Kern and his writers had allowed them to succumb to their worst fears and prejudices regarding Cole's past and kill him. To make matters worst, the sisters never found out in the following season that he had been an innocent victim of the Source. Instead, Kern and the writers dump some "Cole turns insane" story line in early Season Five on viewers in order to set in motion the character's departure from the series in the shitty episode (5.12) "Centennial Charmed". In doing this, show runner Brad Kern and staff writers had failed to allow the sisters a chance to discover their own potential for bigotry and evil and thus, kill any chance of them developing as characters. Only Prue had been given this chance in Season Three episodes like (3.15) "Just Harried" and (3.16) "Death Takes a Halliwell". Other Magical Beings - The series' "black-vs-white" morality had became a prime example of how people judge others on a purely superficial basis. Which the Halliwells had been guilty of. Look at Cole for example. The only reason Phoebe and her sisters had originally believed he possessed the potential for good was due to his human ancestry on his father's side. For Phoebe and her sisters, Cole’s human half equated to good, and his demon half equated to evil. When Cole had lost his powers for the second time in Season Five (5.07) "Sympathy For the Demon", the sisters' whitelighter Leo Wyatt automatically judged him good, because he no longer had his "demonic" powers. This all stemmed from the the series' never ending habit of labeling certain powers as good ("witches, fairies, whitelighters, etc.") or evil ("demons, darklighters, warlocks"), based on what kind of beings possessed them. I never understood why the series had continued to portray magical abilities in this infantile manner - especially for a show that was about adult women. "CHARMED" also made a big deal about witches not using their powers for personal gain. Yet, from what I have read about the Wiccan Rede (please correct me if I am wrong), personal gain is not even considered forbidden. Wiccans seemed to be more concerned with intent - using one’s powers to deliberately hurt another, forcing someone to do something against his or her will, or using magic on others without their consent, which the Halliwells were extremely guilty of in "Vahalley of the Dolls", (6.17) "Hyde School Reunion" and "Extreme Makeover: World Edition". And by the way, the Charmed Ones never paid any consequences for their transgressions. Phoebe, her sisters and Leo seemed incapable of accepting the possibility that ALL BEINGS, no matter who or what they are - have the potential for both good and evil within them. The show has refused to accept the possibility that demons have the potential for good and humans have the potential for great evil (with the exception of a few). To the series' writers (and characters), a sentient being's morality is mainly based upon WHAT he or she is, and not on the individual's emotional state . . . OR CHOICES. The reason I brought these issues is that Kern and the series' writers had allowed the sisters to get away with major crimes. The sisters had paid the price for using their powers for minor acts - like Prue using her telekinesis to force an annoying neighbor, who had been allowing his dog to poop against their front steps, to step in said dog poop; and Phoebe using her premonition power to find the future father of her future child - but never for major acts that I had listed above. Also, I really wish that "CHARMED" had been more ambiguous and complex in its portrayal of morality. Everything was so simple-minded and childish. Demons/warlocks are all evil; humans are all good (unless there are no demons around). What exactly was wrong in portraying demons and other supernatural beings as morally ambiguous? What was wrong in the sisters learning that morality was not as simple and easy to label, as they have assumed for so many years? Portrayal of Men: Another problem I had with "CHARMED" was its portrayal of many male characters. I understand that the series had wanted to portray women in a positive light - strong and intelligent. There was nothing wrong with that. By why did the series' portrayal of men had to be basically negative? "CHARMED" was supposed to be about feminism. However, my idea of feminism was not male bashing or emasculation. Unfortunately, the series was guilty of both. During most of Seasons One and Two, the sisters had a tendency to make many unnecessary quips at the expense of the male gender. And there was the (2.05) "She’s a Man, Baby! She’s a Man!" episode that I would dearly love to forget. And what happened to male witches? I can only recall seeing one so-called male witch on the show - Max Franklin from (1.14) "Secrets and Guys" - and at age thirteen, he was too young to be practicing witchcraft. Regular Male Characters - Another problem is that most of the strong male characters on the show are either stripped of their power or dies. this happened to characters like Cole Turner, Andy Trudeau, Leo Wyatt, Chris Halliwell and Kyle Brody. The powerful half-demon Belthazor aka Cole ended up having his powers stripped in (4.08) "Black As Cole" and was "deemed safe" to marry Phoebe. And when he became more powerful than ever in Season Five, he was judged "evil and insane" and targeted for death by Kern and his writers in "Centennial Charmed". Andy Trudeau, a strong-willed San Francisco cop who also happened to be Prue's true love, ended up dead not long after he discovered that the sisters were witches at the end of Season One. Although Piper and Leo's older son Wyatt became a very powerful witch, he was too young for the writers to do anything about it. Leo became a whitelighter Elder at the end of Season Five and later, an Avatar in early Season Seven. Thus the writers felt that they had to break him away from Piper. And they did not reunite the couple until Leo permanently became a mortal (aka "safe"). Both Chris (Piper and Leo’s younger son) and FBI Special Agent Kyle Brody (Paige's love interest in Season Seven) were strong personalities who ended up dead - along with ex-demon named Drake who had decided to become a human. And how did the series end? With a powerless Leo, a non-magical husband for Paige, and a "Cupid" (magical being associated with love) for Phoebe to marry. Darryl Morris - One would notice that I did not mention Darryl Morris, the detective inspector from the San Francisco Police Department, who had known the Halliwells since the beginning. Darryl had began the series as Andy Trudeau's partner. Following Andy’s death, Darryl became the sisters’ main non-magical contact between Seasons Two and Seven. The writers' treatment of Darryl really annoyed me over the years. After Season Two, I got tired of him freaking out whenever faced with the sisters' magic. Also, the sisters had badly mistreated him during Season Six . His soul was stripped from his body against his will in "Valhalley of the Dolls" by Phoebe and Paige. And he was was framed for murder by magical beings known as the Cleaners, who used him to cover up the Halliwells' careless use of magic. When he had decided that he wanted nothing to do with the Charmed Ones (and I did not blame him) in late Season Six, the writers had treated as the bad guy for failing to forgive them for what happened to him. And when Darryl finally reconciled with them in Season Seven, he returned to being one of the sisters’ lap dogs. Leo became the other one.After years of watching the show, I found myself wondering if both Constance Burge and Brad Kern had become leery of the idea of the Halliwells being associated on a permanent basis with strong male characters. And I found that sad. Magical Powers: How can I put this? One of the more confusing aspects of "CHARMED" has always been its portrayal of magic. The series' portrayal of magical beings and various abilities have struck me as contradicting. Another problem with the series was that the show runners and the writers had allowed its black-and-white mentally to label what kind of abilities that its characters can practice. Fire Ability - For example, according to the series, any ability to do with fire can only be possessed by evil magic practitioners like demons and warlocks. Why? Fire is an element, not something evil. The series had featured a witch in its premiere episode, (1.01) "Something Wicca Comes This Way" as a pyrokinetic. Later, a young foster child named Tyler Michaels in Season Four's (4.12) "Lost and Bound" also had the ability to create fire. These were two rare cases in which "CHARMED" featured pyrokinetics who were not evil. However, the series eventually ret-conned Tyler as a Archai, an elemental being who could not only create fire, but use fire to create portals. Was Brad Kern uneasy over the idea of a minor protagonist being a mere fire starter? It certainly felt like it. Was the series’ portrayal of fire as something evil stemmed from religion? Again . . . it felt like it, but I cannot say for certain. The Nexus - Another aspect of magic that I found ridiculous on "CHARMED" was the whole "Nexus Theory" from the episode (1.15) "Is There a Woogy in the House?". An earthquake had revealed a magical entity called "the Woogeyman" that resided in the Charmed Ones’ basement. The sisters had learned that their home was located on top of a spiritual nexus - a location that was equidistant from the five spiritual elements. And because Phoebe had been born inside their home, her moral compass could easily swing from good to evil, in compare to her sisters. This was all bullshit, of course, since anyone can swing from good to evil or back, considering the circumstances. But what made this "Nexus Theory" even more laughable was that the five elements that played a role in it - earth, fire, water, wood and metal - are associated with Chinese philosophy, not Wiccan beliefs. The elements associated with Wicca are - earth, fire, water, air and spirit. Prue had claimed that the first list of elements were Wiccan, when they were actually associated with Chinese philosophy. Sigh! Paige Matthews’ Ability - Season Four had introduced a new member of the Halliwell family - half-sister, Paige Matthews. Paige was the creation of an affair between the sisters’ mother, Patricia "Patty" Halliwell and her whitelighter, Sam Wilder. With Prue no longer a member of the Charmed Ones, Paige had replaced her. Naturally, Brad Kern and his writers believed they had to create an ability for Paige that was similar to Prue’s telekinesis. And what was it? Well, the sisters dubbed it telekinetic orbing. Sigh! In a nutshell, when Paige wanted to move something or someone, her object would disappear in one spot and reappear in another. Does this sound familiar? Well it should. This ability is usually regarded as teleporting. But the objective is the same as telekinesis - moving someone or something from one spot to another. Because Paige’s father was a whitelighter and her ability manifested in white or blue orbs, her ability was labeled as telekinetic orbing. It would have been a lot easier for the writers to use the correct phrase for Paige’s ability - teleporting - and easier on the mouth for the actors. But alas . . . The above are simply examples of the series’ rather odd and occasional erroneous portrayal of magic. If I truly wanted to delve into this subject, it would have required me to write another essay - a long one at that. So, I will end it right here. I have written other articles about "CHARMED" in which I had discussed issues I found problematic. But when it came to morality, male characters and magic abilities, I feel that the series had made its most obvious mistakes.

[apenitentialprayer]

Humanity’s Last Hope

Attack on Titan and the Messianic Hero

(x) tl;dr the charismatic leader of a fascist movement is often identified with the movement itself. This grants the leader an extreme amount of power, bordering on a physical god in terms of influence. Affirming the inherent worth of each human being, which must be detached from their practical usefulness, is probably the best antidote to this way of thinking I feel like the past two rants have been about subjects that people might readily associate with fascism; they’re outside the mainstream just enough that people can feel like they don’t need to worry about them; unless you’re part of a group that espouses a mystical connection among the in-group, or believe that your group is perpetually in some sort of tension with the world at large, you don’t really have to worry about changing your behaviors to prevent a fascist tendency in them. This one is different, though; almost everyone can agree that heroism is good. We like heroes. We need heroes. But how do fascists deploy the concept of the hero in ways that further their cause? There is no question that Eren Yeager’s powers make him an important advantage for the humans residing in the Walls; with his ability to transform into a Titan and direct his powers against the enemy that has kept them trapped within the Walls for a century, Yeager’s discovery becomes a determinative moment in the history of his civilization. He will either be declared an Enemy of Mankind, too dangerous to be kept alive, or an asset that the military builds their entire hope around. And, because Eren is so essential to the plans that the military has staked its hopes on, they must ensure that Eren remains alive at all costs. This reaches the point where entire squads of soldiers boldly race to their deaths in order to buy time for Eren not even to escape, but to put a larger distance between himself and his pursuer, the Female Titan. Eren is distraught by this; these are his comrades. But, ultimately, they’re making a noble choice; they know that the plan cannot succeed without Eren, and so they are choosing to give up their lives in order to make sure that the mission can succeed. They transcend the self, identifying with a broader good, and decide that their life is something they’re willing to exchange for this broader good. In that regard, they fit the concept of the Islamic shahīd (sometimes, and I would say inaccurately, translated as “martyr”), the man who gives up his life in the pursuit of a righteous cause. We love this archetype; Rogue One is built around this concept; the 54th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment is immortalized by the film Glory for the way that they fit this concept; we sing songs about going "to fight for the right, without question or pause / To be willing to march into hell for a heavenly cause." In its most sublime form, this sacrifice is the recognition that there are things in this world bigger than ourselves, things worth fighting and dying for. But, in Attack on Titan, it isn’t that simple. We know the logic at play here from the speech the leader of Squad Rico gives Eren during the Trost operation; her wording there is key. In the above, you’ll notice that in the three examples I gave, people are sacrificing their lives for causes. When the squad leader tells Eren that people are going to die during the Trost operation, she tells him that they’re dying for him. What’s more, it is now Eren’s responsibility to ensure that those deaths have meaning by achieving his goal. And both of those statements need to be unpacked. First, I’m going to suggest that there is something noble about dying for a cause greater than yourself, and that there is something noble about dying to ensure the safety of someone else. Both of those things are moments of tragedy, surely, but they also have the potential to become a moment of sublime beauty, a moment of transcendental love: the firefighter who dies rescuing a little girl, the soldier who jumps on a grenade to save his squad, a parent going hungry to make sure their kids have enough to eat. These are tragedies, but they are mixed with something greater. I’m going to argue, however, that when these two acts of self-sacrifice are mixed, we have something potentially much uglier. When a particular person becomes equated with the cause, to the point that you can use that person and the cause interchangeably, we’re talking about an ideological Frankenstein that can create very unfortunate implications. When someone sacrifices themselves for another, we have someone trading their life for another. When someone sacrifices themselves for a cause, we have someone giving up their life for a greater good. When that person is the cause, well, does that make the person a greater good than the person being sacrificed? I hope I am articulating this clearly; when a broader cause is seen as objectively good, and we are identifying a single person as that cause, we are assigning extra value to that life as if that life is objectively more important than the lives of the people who support him. The Kim Il Sung, the Hitler, the Eren Yeager.... they become an aggregate, the receptacle of the hopes and dreams and inspirations of the people who follow them, charismatic leaders that act as living figures of devotion, invaluable icons whose loss would be tantamount to the destruction of the movement itself. To invest a human being with this level of power is dangerous. I want to make a distinction between the act of embodying and the state of embodiment for a second; to work to embody one’s ideals can a worthy goal. It requires you to assess yourself, to be critical of yourself, and to work to align yourself more with your ideals. You must decrease so that your ideal (which, hopefully, is a good one) may  increase. There is an inherent transcendence of the self in trying to embody an ideal. On the other hand, when you are the embodiment of an ideal, things are very different. To simply be is very powerful. To be an embodiment is to identify your needs with the cause’s needs, your desires with its desires, your hopes and aspirations with its hopes and aspirations. Someone who is embodying an ideal can be replaced; someone who embodies an ideal is irreplaceable. You get what I’m saying? Second, and this is very closely related to the above, is this idea that the sacrifice of the soldiers finds meaning in Eren’s success; we’ve spoken about the transcendental quality of race in certain forms of fascist thought in one of the previous posts I linked above. Here, however, the fascist is strictly materialist. These actions in and of themselves don’t have meaning. The heroism of the 54th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment is irrelevant to the fascist; they failed to capture the fort, and so any sacrifice there was ultimately for naught. A shahīd is only a shahīd if that sacrifice contributes to a pragmatic end. A firefighter who died saving a girl, only for that girl to die from burn injuries two weeks later, is a firefighter who wasted his life. The fascist doesn’t see the valor of the act itself. That being said, the fascist also understands that most people will see sacrifice as heroic, and will assign such sacrifices a pragmatic result, even if the connection isn’t quite clear. The soldiers who died on the eastern front did die meaningfully, because somehow the disaster on the eastern front was actually just a distraction that allowed our victory on the western front. The point is, sacrifice is only valuable when it directly helps the cause/leader in a practical way, and when sacrifice is valued even when it doesn’t seem to have had a pragmatic effect, the fascist will coopt it in order to save face. What I’m hoping you’ll take away from all this is simple; do not worship the leaders of movements. Every member of a movement is valuable, and the face of any given movement is not more valuable than anyone else. The President of the United States is not the United States. The Pope of the Catholic Church is not the Catholic Church. They are people, just like you and me, and your inherent worth is not connected to whether or not you push their agendas further in a visible way. While I’m on this topic, I’m actually going to leave off with a MAJOR SPOILER for Season 3, a spoiler that gives me hope that the fascist themes of Attack on Titan may not actually have the last word in the narrative. Towards the end of the season, Armin sacrifices himself, suffering massive third degree burns all over his body, and there is enough medicine to save only one person, either Armin or the leader of the Survey Corps. And at first a practical argument is made; Armin is clever, he has come up with many of the plans that have aided humanity so far. In other words, Armin is worth just as much as the leader because he contributes to the cause. But that’s not the argument that convinces Levi to give Armin the medicine; in a rare instant of self reflection on his hatred, Eren says that Armin deserves the medicine because he has not been consumed by hatred. Since his mother has died, he wants nothing more than to kill all the Titans he can. “But... [Armin]’s not like that. Armin cares about more than just fighting. He has dreams.” It might be true that Armin is smart, and talented, and dedicated to the cause. But that’s not why Eren wants to save him, and it’s ultimately not why Levi chooses to save him. No, Armin is saved because they see a fifteen year old boy who dreams of one day being able to see the sea. With one season left, and the manga apparently winding down as well, I think Armin is going to be the key that determines whether or not the fascistic tones of this narrative actually have the last say in the story.

[darkstar6782]

2.22: All Hell Breaks Loose, Part 2 - My Rewatch Review

There are so many amazing elements of this season finale that I hardly know where to start. Overall, it definitely feels like a companion piece to the previous episode. Where 2.21 set up Sam’s part in the story of the oncoming apocalypse, as well as his character and motivations going into it, this episode sets up Dean’s role, along with his character and motivations. They are not necessarily new characteristics or motivations, because the show has done a great job over the last two seasons of showing us just who these boys are, both as individuals and in their dynamic as brothers, but given that this episode also wraps up the story arc of these first two seasons—the yellow-eyed demon is dead, and their dad is finally at peace—it only makes sense that the boys’ motivations are shown and refined in order to reflect this closing of the book on one chapter of their lives and the opening of another.

And as a character study for Dean, this episode is a gold mine. The early scenes in the cabin with Sam’s body are some of the most heartbreaking of the entire series; Dean’s speech to Sam’s body especially. The agonizing quirk of a smile on his face when he starts reminiscing about Sam as a little kid—you just know he’s seeing that version of his brother in his memory as he talks, and remembering with fondness just how annoying his little brother’s questions always were. And then there’s the way that he equates his family members dying with him letting them down, which is probably the most painful of Dean’s character traits. Because his dad’s death absolutely isn’t his fault—John may have sold his soul to save Dean from dying, but it was the demon and the accident that caused Dean to be injured badly enough to need saving—and neither was Sam’s—because, once again, it was the circumstances engineered by the demon that led to Sam’s death, and there was nothing Dean could have done to stop it—but if you set him down in a room, you could talk yourself blue in the face and never get any closer to convincing him that he is not responsible for ether his father or for Sam, because that’s just who he is. And as painful as it is sometimes to watch him constantly sacrifice himself and take on this unnecessarily heavy burden of responsibility for things and people that he doesn’t have any real control over, it is also a character trait that makes perfect sense for him to have, and it is what makes him both sympathetic and relatable.

This episode also marks an important turning point in the way Dean and Sam relate to one another, for better or for worse, but I think it was a necessary shift in their dynamic that allows for stronger characterization for both of them down the road. Because after Sam’s resurrection, even before the yellow-eyed demon says anything, Dean definitely knows that there is something different about Sam. He knows Sam is not telling him the whole truth about what happened in Cold Oak, but he doesn’t press it because he is also lying to his brother about something, and he can see and is a bit disturbed by Sam’s determination to keep going after the demon after it almost (actually) killed him. And the yellow-eyed demon is a true master of psychological manipulation when he plants the idea in Dean’s head that Sam may have come back ‘wrong’, because we as the audience know exactly why Sam is behaving as he is. We didn’t get a chance to see him process the knowledge that his powers come from being infected with demon blood, but he is obviously trying to come to terms with it now, and when you consider the fact that the demon will only get what he wants out of Sam if he convinces both Sam and Dean that Sam is evil and beyond redemption... well, he’s off to a really good start. Especially because now that Sam knows what his compassion and desire to not give in to the demon’s plans for him cost him—his life, initially, and now not just his brother’s life, but Dean’s soul too—it is going to be that much harder for him to react with that same level of humanity in the future, which Dean will definitely interpret as there being something wrong with his brother, because he doesn’t know the full reason behind the circumstances of this change in Sam. And this is why, for as little as we ever saw him on-screen directly, Azazal remains one of the most terrifying villains of the series, and his influence will remain with the brothers long after his (very satisfying, to be honest) death in this episode.

[the-nerd-witch]

Rewriting Routines Determined By Amounts Of Reading Through Comprehension

Crafting instruction can arise prolifically when a reading passage is utilised as a catalyst. Just before college students in a producing class can start assimilating Tips for an structured penned variety, looking through renders a significant part. At this time, the learners are anticipated to build up added language comprehension such as vocabularies that are to be used when they’re activity to assimilate garnered understanding. The process of attaining equally language and information by made actions may possibly happen right before examining, through reading through or following studying centering on the decided on passage. In these diversified routines, comprehension inquiries are formulated to synthesize comprehension of the textual content.

This product concentrates over the formulation of looking at comprehension inquiries such as literal, interpretative and evaluative which are likely to aid learners’ crafting inputs from an recognized textual content. The questions formulated beneath these three kinds of knowledge are going to be applied as guides in rewriting paragraphs which can be named as summarizing authentic Concepts, interpretative producing, and passage evaluation creating.

The literal comprehension thoughts crank out solutions which have been evidently expressed inside the passage which likewise take a look at the aptitude of The scholars to grasp key vocabularies which can be Employed in a supplied passage. This type of questions can in the same way examination The scholars regarding how to dissect the primary strategy, cite, classify, list, or indicate factual details; sequence how specifics come about while in the passage, explain similarities and discrepancies, and define ideas, among the other capabilities while in the literal stage.

Also, interpretative comprehension thoughts develop solutions as effects of extensive reading and scrutinizing points to ascertain the associations of implicit aspects. This sort of thoughts will allow the students some techniques including to determine summary Strategies represented by text, phrases and even sentences; produce conclusions, define rationale and final result connections, figure out interior major Suggestions, and detect the central that means integrated inside the textual content.

The 3rd is important amount comprehension queries that direct readers To judge or critic facts intensified from the information acquired from literal and interpretative concentrations. Essential thoughts will job readers to weigh and contemplate In the event the Concepts are information or views, express arrangement or disagreement, establish the purpose and magnificence of the writer, examine paragraph development and in many cases techniques which can be used during the passage together with other competencies that indicate important qualities.

To have the ability to apply this perceived strategy, Below are a few recommended realistic stages.

Stage I. Pick a passage that may be possible in catering intermediate, bigger intermediate and Highly developed students’ knowing.

Phase II. Formulate and interweave queries within the a few levels of comprehension As outlined by how they come about within the textual content. Interweaving operationally implies reply of one dilemma triggers the event of A further concern in sequence information. Team related level of comprehension issues Based on paragraphs.

Phase III. Method pupils” responses from comprehension degree queries to ascertain logical sequencing in the passage’s contents. Offer very clear responses to these concerns.

Stage IV. Examine the original paragraphs, thoughts and solutions from the kinds of comprehensions to have the ability to recognize language focuses which are going to be manipulated throughout the three kinds of crafting. Learners need to be conscious in the language’s points to be noticed in all types of composition. In in this article, summary crafting in conjunction with interpretative composing handles, the current tense kinds of verbs to generally be, infinitive phrases, conjunctions, issue verb arrangement, adjective noun purchase, correct prepositions, past tense varieties of verbs which incorporate both being and actions. For passage evaluation creating, it focuses extra on topic verb agreement, the past and current forms of verbs together with to get.

Phase V. Assign the type of creating in accordance with the levels of comprehension concerns where by rewriting unique Suggestions, interpretative creating, and passage analysis composing are going to be aided by literal, interpretative and evaluative inquiries, respectively. Emphasize that these guideline thoughts and solutions make particulars for rational sequencing.

Stage VI. Unlock vocabularies by diversified techniques including realia, term Affiliation or romantic relationship, contextual clues, hyponyms, translations, illustrations, visuals or explanations. Vocabulary enrichment discounts by using a term, collocations or phrases.

Stage VII. Assign the crafting activity that most closely fits the amounts of your learners. The paragraphs’ figures should be centered from the original range of the paragraphs. Embedded particulars will likely be based totally from the queries.

Phase VIII. Use the levels. To further illustrate This method for outputs, the passage underneath will activate the process.

The passage

Autumn

1. Autumn has become the four seasons that includes spring, summer season and Winter season. Lots of people get in touch with autumn, “fall,” which refers back to the leaves slipping off the trees through this period. The falling on the leaves commences once the leaves change colours and go from currently being green, to burning red, golden yellow and vivid orange. Then as autumn continues, the leaves start to rain with the tree branches signifying the end from the harvest time. Many people in Canada, the United States, Japan, China and Korea vacation around their property countries through autumn just to watch the leaves change colours and slide from the trees as it is this kind of a good looking web page of mother nature. In actual fact the tourist year of leaf looking at is a popular time to go climbing, camping and having fun with currently being outside the house with character since the temperatures are moderate, as the warmth of summertime has previous plus the chill of Wintertime has nevertheless to return.

2. Autumn comes following summer months but prior to Winter season, from the main day of September to the final day of November. However the months of autumn rely upon what Section of the planet it’s in relation into the equator. While it truly is autumn in September via November in America, Europe, along with all another nations around the world from the Northern Hemisphere. The Southern Hemisphere where Australia, New Zealand, and aspects of Africa and Asia lie, autumn comes from March to May well. Right now of year, the days start to get shorter as evenings increase more time, giving men and women a lot less daylight to love.

three. The record of autumn began Using the time of harvest for people who labored and trusted farming to survive. Autumn was even identified as “harvest” from the 1500s due to the fact this was when fruits and vegetables were wanting to be picked and saved to the Winter season. Individuals needed to retail outlet foods so they’d not starve if the Wintertime arrived, given that the chilly weather conditions would get rid of greater part of plants. So, the time of autumn was an incredibly critical time of year. As Modern society created, people today moved off the farms and into cities to operate in factories, the time period “harvest” was changed with autumn, or drop.

The unlocked vocabularies

Paragraph 1 autumn (fall), fall off (dropping, descending) modify (rework) starts (starts off, commences) temperate (pleasurable, average, gentle) time ( time period, time of your yr) check out (see) signifying (indicating, telling) harvest time (accumulating time) vacation ( move, transfer, migrate) exterior (outdoor) preferred (typical and becoming liked) temperatures ( incredibly hot, delicate, cold), chill (chilly) Paragraph 2 depend (depend) equator (divides the earth into Northern Hemisphere and Southern Hemisphere) Northern Hemisphere (polar location) Southern Hemisphere (arctic) daylight (daytime) Paragraph 3 history (previous Tale), 1500s (16th century), endure (Dwell), harvest (gather), saved ( stocked food stuff provides) starve, (go hungry) incredibly (enormously) society (tradition and other people) formulated ( industrialized, modernized) moved off ( head to other spots)

The formulated thoughts by levels of comprehension and sample outputs

1. Literal comprehension questions for summary composing

Paragraph 1

What exactly is 1 One of the 4 seasons? Exactly what are the a few other seasons? What takes place to trees’ leaves all through Winter season? When does slipping off the leaves from trees commence? Exactly what does slipping off the leaves signify? Who’re the individuals that vacation all around their property international locations throughout this year? Why do they vacation? In addition to leaf looking at, what are some common outdoors routines through this period? Why are they well known?

Answers In accordance with sequenced literal comprehension thoughts.

autumn; spring, summer season and winter; leaves from trees tumble off, when the leaves adjust shades and go from getting environmentally friendly, to burning crimson, golden yellow and vivid orange; close from the harvest time; people today of Canada, the United States, Japan, China and Korea; to observe leaves change colours and slide from the trees; mountaineering, tenting and experiencing currently being exterior with mother nature; the temperatures are moderate, as the heat of summer months has previous along with the chill of Wintertime has nonetheless to come back

Paragraph 2

What arrives after summer? What thirty day period on the 12 months does autumn appear? Exactly what does the month s of autumn rely on? Exactly what are the sites within the Northern Hemisphere that have autumn? What are these months? What exactly are the places in the Southern Hemisphere that have this period? What months are these? What occurs for the duration of this time of yr? What do these alterations do to folks?

Answers according to sequenced literal comprehension queries.

Autumn, September to the final working day of November, the equator, the United States and Europe in addition to other international locations in the northern hemisphere; Australia, New Zealand and a few areas of Africa and Asia; March to May well, the days begins to get shorter and nights develop lengthier, give folks much less daylight to delight in

Paragraph 3

When did the history of autumn start out? What was autumn called during the 1500s? Why was it known as harvest? Following harvest, what did people do? Why did they may have to shop foods? How vital is autumn? What occurred to society? The place did people today shift? Why did they transfer into cities? What transpired to your phrase, “harvest”?

Solutions according to sequenced literal comprehension inquiries.

time of harvest, harvest, due to the fact fruits and vegetables are able to be picked and saved for winter, people saved foods, in order that they won’t starve if the Winter season came, exceptionally crucial, formulated, people go to cities, to work in factories, slide or autumn.

A. Summary crafting for literal volume of comprehension.

Instructions: Overview the talked about vocabularies then paraphrase them to point out Strategies located in the passage. Stick to the sequenced solutions in the literal comprehension issues to have the ability to summarize.

Sample output

one. The four seasons are spring summer, autumn and Wintertime. It can be in autumn when leaves from trees slide off. The slipping from the leaves starts whenever they renovate shades. It further more tells the tip of plant gathering. Canadians, Individuals, Japanese, Chinese and Koreans go close to in their own individual international locations to determine leaves transform into attractive hues because they descend. Leaf watching adds climbing and camping to get pleasure from outdoors with mother nature. These happenings are common since autumn is generally temperate.

2. Autumn emerges at the conclusion of summer time. Autumn depend upon the equator or earth’s division. The equator has two divisions. The main is definitely the Northern Hemisphere that features sites that have autumn from September toward the top of November. These are generally The usa and Europe along with other international locations. The next division is Southern Hemisphere which composes places such as Australia, New Zealand and a few parts of some Africa and Asia that have autumn from March to May possibly. In autumn, days are shorter and nights develop into for a longer time which lessen daytime enjoyment.

three. The Tale of autumn started off with time of foods collecting. Inside the 16th century, autumn was referred to as harvest since fruits and greens are harvested. They inventory foodstuff supplies to own plenty of meals all through Wintertime. Autumn was considerably significant but when areas were industrialized, folks transferred for the cities to search out livelihood in factories which adjusted the word, harvest into tumble or autumn.

two. Interpretative comprehension inquiries for Interpretative Composing

Paragraph 1

Why is autumn known as slide? How can it happen? What do men and women in Canada, the United states of america, Japan China and Korea have in popular concerning leisure and also the appreciation of lifetime’s miracles? Throughout this period from the year, what positive contribution will it do to tourism and why? How can men and women reap the benefits of the alter in temperature?

Responses In accordance with sequenced interpretative comprehension thoughts.

leaves drop off from their branches and twigs, inexperienced leaves modified into diverse hues then fall gradually, to travel all around and find out how leaves descend superbly to the ground, autumn appeals to Lots of individuals inside the nations and from other nations who haven’t got these organic function bringing them to various outdoor activities such as leaf observing, hiking, and tenting; permitting them to love outdoor fun under a temperate problem

Paragraph 2

Inside of a consecutive sequence from the four year, where does autumn tumble? Within the Northern Hemisphere, what Component of the 12 months does Winter season occur? (not the months). While in the Southern Hemisphere? What Component of the yr does winter take place? (not the months ) How can the variations of your time have an affect on persons for the duration of this period?

Responses Based on sequenced interpretative comprehension questions.

3rd year of the year, commences towards the top on the calendar 12 months, first quarter in the calendar year, shortening daylight routines

Paragraph three

What’s the link in between autumn and harvest on the lives of farmers? If majority of crops wither in winter, how does autumn Perform a relevant part while in the lives of folks? Is migration a factor for “harvest” to become fall or autumn? Why is migration an element for this phrase to have been adjusted until right now?

Solutions Based on sequenced interpretative comprehension queries.

over the olden occasions, autumn is the time when farmers who relied on farming to get a residing harvested and saved their food stuff, in Wintertime, plants as sources of foodstuff wither and autumn is the greatest time for them to reap and hold provides; Certainly, migration, since men and women moved to urban parts to be able to get the job done, the prevalent follow of harvesting food stuff in planning for the coming season has disappeared

B. Interpretative creating for interpretative standard of comprehension

Sample output

Guidelines: Assessment the talked about vocabularies then interpret the passage by next the sequenced responses of the interpretative comprehension concerns to put in writing your composition.

1. Autumn is referred to as, fall due to the fact leaves slide off from their branches and twigs. It’s going to take area in the event the green leaves modified into distinctive colours then slide slowly. It really is common amongst individuals in Canada, the United states of america, Japan, China and Korea to travel all over and find out how leaves descend beautifully to the bottom. In tourism, autumn appeals to Lots of individuals inside the countries and from other nations who don’t have these organic occasion bringing them to diverse out of doors functions for instance leaf seeing, hiking, and tenting. The transform in temperature gain men and women by letting them to appreciate out of doors pleasurable less than a temperate condition.

two. Autumn is definitely the 3rd season with the year whenever we get started sequencing from spring. Autumn during the Northern Hemisphere begins in the direction of the tip from the calendar calendar year while from the Southern Hemisphere, it commences during the initially quarter with the calendar year. The modifications of your time have an effect on individuals by shortening daylight functions.

3. The relationship of autumn in harvest is usually that throughout the olden moments, autumn was some time when farmers who relied on farming for just a residing harvested and stored their food for the next period. In Winter season, vegetation as resources of food stuff wither and autumn was the best time for them to harvest and retain provides. Migration was the factor that caused phrase harvest for being changed into tumble or autumn mainly because men and women moved to city locations as a way to get the job done. The prevalent apply of harvesting foodstuff in planning for the approaching year disappeared.

3. Evaluative comprehension thoughts for passage analysis creating.

Paragraph 1

Did the author use definition strategy to speak about what autumn is? Confirm your response.

Did The author present a vivid look at of what takes place in autumn? What had been these statements?

Did the writer use an exemplification by illustrations to explain Tips? What were being these? Were there statements of benefits for folks talked about during the time in the calendar year? Justify your remedy.

Answers according to sequenced evaluative comprehension inquiries.

The definition procedure to take a look at autumn of which he stated that autumn is among the four temperate seasons that features spring, summer months and winter, exemplified by stating that autumn is also known as tumble referring to leaves drop off the trees, offered a transparent check out of what comes about in autumn by natural occasions that takes position, the idea was exemplified by case in point, pointed out pros when this time takes place for instance leaf watching, climbing and tenting as outdoor routines less than a temperate issue.

Paragraph 2

How did the writer start out the paragraph? How did the writer describe that autumn months happen depending on what A part of the whole world it really is in relation to equator? At the conclusion of the paragraph, the writer described autumn’s results to time, was it explicitly expressed? Confirm your answer.

Solutions In accordance with sequenced evaluative comprehension issues.

by explicitly stating the sequence of autumn among the 4 seasons, the author made use of the Northern and also the Southern Hemisphere to classify after which by enumerating locations where autumn happens and indicating some time from the 12 months when this happens, explicitly expressed by providing a comparison from the length of day and evening

Paragraph 3

How was this closing paragraph produced with regard to contents? Was The complete passage prepared in challenging terminologies? Qualify your response? Is this passage’s facts a simple fact or belief?

Does one observe the prevalence of this to the present day? Justify your answer.

Responses according to sequenced evaluative comprehension thoughts.

this final paragraph was developed by the introduction of its history, connected with harvesting and storing, the necessity of autumn to individuals that rely on farming, changed into slide or autumn, composed in a means that audience can understand generally, mixture of vocabularies with various amounts of complications catering to intermediate and Sophisticated amounts; passage contents tells viewers specifics

C. Passage Analysis Producing for Evaluative/crucial volume of comprehension

Sample output

Directions: Evaluate the discussed vocabularies then evaluate the passage by pursuing the sequenced responses of the evaluative/essential comprehension thoughts to put in writing your composition.

1. On this paragraph 1, the author used definition strategy to look at autumn whereby he stated that autumn is amongst the four seasons that come with spring, summertime and winter. In addition, he exemplified by stating that autumn is also called drop referring “to leaves slide off the trees.” The writer Moreover introduced a transparent perspective of what happens in autumn via the natural events that happen. To quotation, “the slipping in the leaves starts if the leaves adjust shades and go from becoming green, to burning pink, golden yellow and vivid orange.” “Then as autumn continues, the leaves start to rain from the tree branches signifying the top of your harvest time.” To incorporate, The concept was exemplified by instance by citing people from Canada, The us, Japan, China and Korea who enjoy to look at the excellent operate of nature. At the end of this Original paragraph, he outlined benefits when this period happens including the leaf observing, mountaineering and tenting as out of doors routines underneath a selected time’s temperate condition.

two. The author started this paragraph by explicitly stating the sequence of autumn Among the many 4 seasons. The author described that autumn months happen by supplying two divisions performed by earth’s equator. In order to describe this, the writer articulated around the Northern as well as Southern Hemisphere to international locations with autumn. In addition it enumerated places the place autumn happen in addition indicating the time of your 12 months when this transpires. At the conclusion of the paragraph, autumn ‘s result to time was explicitly expressed via the provision of the comparison involving the size of working day and night.

3. This final paragraph was designed with the introduction of its heritage affiliated to farmers And just how it is crucial to harvesting and storing foods in preparing for winter. It finished by mentioning that its title modified into slide or autumn as a result of people’s motion to discover Employment in industrialized sites which replace the usual rural tactics during this time with the year. This passage was published in a method that readers can understand typically. It is really produced out combined vocabularies with diverse levels of issues catering to intermediate and State of the art learners. The entire passage’s contents reveal audience of specifics. From the start, it mentions this organic phenomenon is amongst the whole seasons occurring in a few elements of the Northern and Southern Hemispheres. Similar to the 3 seasons, tumble is just one Among the many majestic functions of character which captures the eyes of any human being who appreciates what without a doubt is superb.

When making use of these various levels in your concentrate on learners, the comprehension concerns play important roles within the instruction. The a few amounts of comprehension specifically: literal, interpretative and evaluative/essential are integrated in reading which support novices in being familiar with totally the Thoughts from the passage together with aid their Corporation of creating activities. There will be an increase of comprehension because of The reality that issues are especially grouped appropriately to levels of problem. Furthermore, using the different stages categorizes the difficulty of creating whereby crafting the actions in a few sorts are to become created depending on the levels of the students. For example, a slow learner may perhaps target literal, the intermediate tackles on interpretative although the Superior learners contend with the evaluative and demanding inquiries. Incorporation of this design and style may additionally understand the relevance of educating producing wherever understanding gathered are assimilated through the utilization of ideal language to arrive at properly structured prepared outputs.

[wisdomrays]

TAFAKKUR: Part 157

The Revolving Universe

What is velocity, one of the major concepts we learn in physics? What place does it occupy in our lives? Where is mankind in the universe in terms of velocity? Why is it important to understand velocity?

In order to find answers to these questions, let's consider ourselves sitting at home after a long, tiring day. Are we aware that we are moving very fast even at a moment when we seem to be resting? When we travel by bus, we are motionless from the standpoint of a sitting passenger, yet have a velocity compared to an outsider standing on the sidewalk. The trees lining the road seem to be going backwards, but they are fixed to the ground with no speed. Therefore, velocity is relative and we in fact move at different speeds while sitting at home depending on the objects of reference. We have a zero velocity relative to our guests sitting with us on the couch, but have various speeds compared to the center of Earth, the moon, the sun and the center of the Milky Way galaxy. Not only us, but all existence in the universe has a movement, or oscillation. This movement is usually in the form of a revolution for objects of important mass and as a vibration for particles with smaller masses.

The shining celestial bodies of the cosmos rotate around themselves like whirling dervishes. They revolve around other heavenly bodies or around their common center of gravities, such as pilgrims revolving around Ka'ba in Mecca. The gravitational force set in the universe pulls all objects towards each other. This gravitational force indeed pulls all masses together; however, it is counterbalanced by the motion of revolution given to grand heavenly bodies. As a matter of fact, everything is moving: a solar system with its planets, moons, and comets; the Milky Way galaxy, along with billions of stars, nebulas, galaxies, interstellar dust, gas clouds, and other celestial objects… all are moving in a giant rotating motion like a carousel. In this article, you are going to find some of the scientific findings of our revolving planet, the sun, and the universe, and how some verses in the Qur'an sound miraculously relevant to them.

The Earth's motion

First of all, we have a velocity stemming from the Earth's rotation. People living on the equator travel approximately a thousand miles per hour in reference to the center of the globe due to this rotation. While people on the poles never gain any distance over 24 hours, people on the equator travel nearly 23,800 miles! Inside a plane, because we move at the same rate as the plane, we cannot feel its speed. In a similar way, since we move at the same rate as Earth, we cannot feel the globe's movement.

There are many benefits associated with the Earth's rotation. The delineation of day and night, atmospheric jet streams, oceanic currents, and similar events rise from the rotation of Earth around its axis. For instance, it causes the warm water currents of the Gulf Stream to reach England, generating a warm and rainy climate.

There are verses in the Qur'an that point to the globular shape of the Earth and its rotation around its axis and revolution around the sun:

"He has created the heavens and the Earth with truth. He wraps the night around the day, and He wraps the day around the night. And He has made the sun and the moon subservient (to His command), each running its course for a term appointed (by Him). Be aware! He is the All-Glorious with irresistible might, the All-Forgiving." (Az-Zumar 5)

Yet another verse furthers this point:

"It is He Who has created the night and the day and the sun and the moon. Every one (of such celestial bodies) floats in its orbit." (Al-Anbiya 33)

The verb "wrap" is usually used for round objects, and the perpetual arrival of day and night are only possible with a circular planet. The Earth's rotation leads to different days, on the micro level, and different seasons, on the macro level. The Qur'an concisely summarizes all these physical events with the simple phrase, "wrap the night around the day."

The Earth's primary motion is around the sun. We are roughly 93 million miles away from the sun and we make this orbit, which is nearly 584 million miles, every 365 days. According to the center of the sun, our average velocity on this orbit is approximately 66 thousand miles per hour.

In addition, other planets travel around the sun via different orbits and speeds, each moving on a separate plane. For a moment, it is significant to visualize the sun, which is more than a million times larger than Earth, with its planets and other viscera revolving around it via no visible bond between them.

The movement of the sun

As stated earlier, when we travel on a bus, we observe the trees and buildings near the road going backwards even though we are the ones moving. In a similar way, we see the sun as revolving around us, though in fact the Earth is the one moving. In the Qur'an, the chapter of Al-Anbiya, the verse reading, "each running its course," is about the creation of the sun and moon, clearly pointing to their movements. Unfortunately, the verse that reads, "A(nother) clear sign for them; And the sun runs the course appointed for it for a term to its resting-place, for the stability of it(s system)…" (Ya Sin 38) was misunderstood as the sun revolving around the Earth. However, we know today that our sun is one of a couple hundred billion stars in the Milky Way galaxy. As such, it both rotates around itself and revolves around the center of the Milky Way galaxy, and confirms the miraculous declaration of the truth in the verse.

In addition, the sun also has a secondary movement inside the local star cluster towards a certain direction. We can explain this with an example: the atmosphere is in motion along with the Earth. Each particle and particle set that makes up the atmosphere not only moves right and left, but also has a total revolution around the Earth. The sun behaves in a similar way within the star cluster and around the center of the Milky Way.

How are we going to define the velocity of the sun? We can determine the sun's speed by referencing a constant point depending on the average velocity of stars in the section of the galaxy that we inhabit. The sun, according to a local constant point, travels towards the shiny Vega star in the Lyra constellation with an average speed of 43 thousand miles per hour.

Apart from their individual movements, the stars in our galaxy also revolve around the galactic center. The velocity of this movement depends on the star's mass and its distance to the galaxy's center. The sun completes one loop inside the Milky Way galaxy every 225 million years. It has completed a total of 20 tours around the galaxy's center since the Earth's creation. Our Earth, which moves along with the Sun, travels around the galaxy's center at nearly 492 thousand miles per hour.

The motion of the Milky Way galaxy

Our galaxy is one of the billions of galaxies in known space. Galaxies are the biggest known structures. The universe expands and galaxies move away from each other, conforming to the meaning of the verse, "And the heaven, We have constructed it mightily; and it is surely We Who have vast power, and keep expanding it" (Adh-Dhariyat 47). Our galaxy, along with nearby galaxies, is pulled towards the Leo and Virgo constellations. The cause of this attraction is not understood yet.

Since all galaxies are moving, how can we determine the velocity of the Milky Way galaxy? As is known, the entire universe is filled with cosmic radiation as a remnant of the Big Bang. When this radiation is taken as a reference, the Milky Way travels at around 1.3 million miles per hour.

At the moment, when we think we are sitting in place, we are actually moving around the center of the Earth, sun, our local star cluster, the center of the Milky Way galaxy, and also moving away from other galaxies. We have velocity in relation to all of these movements. The revolution of the universe is also a fact verified by the Divine word: "I swear by the heaven ever-revolving" (At-Tariq 11).

[anneapocalypse]

A Chorus World Map

Note: This is not a definitive map! With the exception of two locations, this is not canon. This is just a working model I came up with based on environmental and contextual clues, to have a reference for writing fic.

If you're curious how I came up with this, keep reading!

Map description: A world map of Chorus built on the blue map base shown at the Temple of Arms. The Purge Temple is located on an island left of center, set between the three main continents but closes to the top left continent. Radio Jammer 1C is on a smaller island north and slightly east of the Purge. The rest of the locations are place on the planet's largest continent, taking up most of the right half of the map. Federal Army Outpost 37 is placed at the tip of a long peninsula extending from the northern side of the continent. Crash Site Alpha is on the coast at the northwest corner of the continent, with Crash Site Bravo to the southwest. The Temple of Trials is on the west coast about midway down. The Temple of Arms and Charon Research Complex C-2 are at the southern tip of the continent. Armonia is inland, north and a little east of the Temple of Arms. New Republic Headquarters is just west of the center of the continent, with the Abandoned Fueling station immediately to the northeast. Federal Army Outpost 22 is a ways north and east of New Republic HQ, a little east of the base of the peninsula. The Temple of the Key is inland on the eastern side of the continent. The Temple of Communications is to the south of the Temple of the Key.

Adventures in Cartography

I began by overlaying the two temple maps we're given in season 13. The first (blue) shows the coordinates Tucker is given at the Temple of Arms. These coordinates are where the True Warrior test takes place. I call it the Temple of Trials. (That's not canon, it's just easier to say and it sounds cool.)

The second (red) shows the coordinates given by Santa at the Temple of Trials. Based on his dialogue, it is slightly confusing whether he's talking about the location of the Purge or the Key:

Santa: (to Tucker) As its bearer, the Great Key will remain bonded to you and you alone, until the time of your death. If you believe the inhabitants of this planet are not ready for my creators' gifts, activating the Purge will cleanse them.

Carolina: And by "cleanse" you mean...?

Santa: All sentient life on Chorus will be exterminated.

Tucker: Dude. Buzzkill.

Epsilon: And... where exactly is this thing?

Santa: Here. (a red holographic map lights up with a dot pointing at the Purge's location, east of the Jungle Temple) I will also update all previously sent maps with temple locations.

I believe that map marker is the Key, because that is where everyone goes next. In particular, it's the map marker the mercs see at one of the other temples, right before they head for the Temple of the Key. It fits Carolina's description of "the mountains east of our location."

So these are our touchstones: the Temple of Trials and the Temple of the Key.

Biomes

The next thing I did was attempt to sort the Chorus locations into climate groups based on their environments.

Jungle/yellow sky

Crash Site Alpha

Crash Site Bravo (canyon)

Temple of Trials (on the water)

Temple of Gravity (near Crash Site Alpha and the Purge)

Remote Research Facility (established to study wildlife)

Tropical?

Radio Jammer Station 1C (island off the coast, sky half blue half stormy)

Desert

Abandoned Fueling Station

New Republic HQ (right on the edge of the jungle)

Temple of Communication (debatable, but rocky and not a lot of foliage)

Snowy/Mountainous

Federal Army Outpost 22 (on the edge of the mountains, not snowy)

Federal Army Outpost 37 (on the water, amid mountains but at sea level)

Temple of the Key (high in the mountains)

Grassy/Deciduous

Temple of Arms & Charon Excavation site (on the water, visible from Complex C-2)

Charon Research Complex C-2 (near the Temple of Arms, within visibility)

Unsettled Territory

Who Fucking Knows

Armonia (but it seems warm)

The Purge (red crystal hell)

Directionality

Armonia -> unsettled territory -> Temple of Trials

Armonia -> Fueling Station -> Crash Site Alpha

The Temple of Trials is a shorter trip from Armonia than Crash Site Alpha, thought probably not by more than an hour or so.

New Republic HQ -> Fueling Station -> Federal Army Outpost 37

Crash Site Alpha is relatively close to the Temple of the Purge.

The Communication Temple is to the east of Crash Site Bravo. It seem to be night at the Comm Temple while it is still daylight at Crash Site Alpha.

Why I put almost everything on one continent

The two canon locations are both on that continent, and while characters sometimes have access to air vehicles and teleportation grenades, in both seasons 12 and 13 there is a lot of ground travel happening. (Also, all the grenades detonate early in season 13 and all travel from there on has to be done the long way.) In particular:

Felix leads the Reds and Blues from Crash Site Bravo to New Republic Headquarters by ground, via caves.

Tucker, Grif, Simmons, and Caboose travel from New Republic Headquarters to Federal Army Outpost 37 by Warthog, stopping at the gas station in between.

Carolina and her away team travel from Armonia to the Temple of Trials by ground, passing through unsettled territory.

Kimball leads the troops from Armonia to Crash Site Alpha by ground, also through unsettled territory.

While many of the locations are located by water, we don't have any instances of characters crossing a large body of water.

We're already kind of handwaving how quickly characters can move across the continent in land vehicles, without adding intercontinental travel to the mix.

Doyle claims in season 12 that the rebels were given opportunity to move to a different part of the planet and build their own society. This suggests that a fair amount of Chorus still remains unsettled.

While we don't know the population of Chorus at the time of canon events, if we take a bit of Sarge's dialogue, he refers to "thousands." Even if we estimate generously and say this could be hundreds of thousands, we're still looking a severely contracted population. For comparison, 100,000 to 300,000 people is considered a medium-sized city in the US. With the population so depleted and the war still raging, it makes sense that the populated area of Chorus would have shrunk considerably even if it was once larger.

Keep in mind that this doesn't mean there is nothing of interest on the other continents. There might be more alien towers, settlements, other cities. For this map I’m only working with locations relevant to the Chorus Trilogy storyline, not the entire world.

Other Considerations

As this is a flattened map of a globe, it is not to scale and landmasses distort more the further they are toward the corners. It is probably best, therefore, not to get too hung up on distances. For visibility's sake the map markers are misleadingly large, and appear a lot closer to one another than they actually would be on the ground.

For my purposes I consider any Chorus canon post-season 13 to be entirely optional, but for what it's worth, the brief view we get of Chorus from space during the blockade lines up pretty well with this map, with that main continent being the one most clearly in view—and also the one at which the fleet have pointed their cannons. It is also worth nothing from this image that the bifurcated continent in the upper left corner of the map actually appears to come quite close to the central continent where it wraps around the globe. For that reason, while I'm thinking of this central continent in terms of north and south, it's probably a bit misleading to look at the whole map that way.

We can see where the sun strikes the planet in that image, but without knowing the planet's axial tilt or where the poles are, it's impossible to determine exactly where the equator is, so again, not getting hung up on it. I'm also taking the appearance of the land itself as a very general suggestion, as the area where the Temple of the Key would be doesn't show any snow. Nevertheless, we can see that central continent divided into three distinct regions: green, tan, and a darker brown. Or: jungle (with some grassy and deciduous area to the south), desert, and mountains.

It makes sense to me that the Temple of the Purge would be located somewhere remote and difficult to access, so I played it off the mainland, on an island.

It's hard to tell in the show, but the Halo map representing the radio jammer is an island, and I thought that made sense as somewhere Charon would place one. They wouldn't put the jammers too close to populated areas, in case the Chorusans got the bright idea to try to shoot them down.

Federal Outpost 37 (the outpost where Wash, Sarge, Donut, and Lopez are taken and where they meet Doyle) is snowy and cold, but it's also right on the water, at sea level, so the cold can't be due to elevation. It made sense to put it further north. According to the Fan Guide, this outpost became the Feds' primary base of ops after they pulled out of Armonia, and while highly defensible due to an "enormous frozen wall," it's also a difficult position from which to mount an offensive. For all these reasons it made sense to me to put it at the end of the northern peninsula.

I probably debated the most where to place Armonia, as it could go pretty much anywhere warm. The scene where Carolina goes out to the city limits is probably the most indicative of Armonia's climate, and I think it would most likely sit right on the edge between desert and the deciduous area south of the jungle, and that's where I've placed it. (I entertained the idea of putting it on that big south central island, but the channel separating it from the mainland would be a lot bigger than it looks on the map, and in the end it just didn't really fit.)

Though I didn't include it on this map, I like to think Chorus might have rebuilt their new capital near the Temple of Communication, in the bones of a city that survived the war abandoned but mostly intact.

I hope you enjoy this map, and perhaps find it useful! Please credit if using, as there is a whole lot of my own headcanon and analysis going into this. 

As with all meta, nothing is set in stone. I will almost certainly find something I don’t like about it five minutes after I hit “post.” :P But it’s a working model! which is more than we had before.

[fatchange]

How to Talk to a Climate Change Denier

I love the winter season. The cool crisp air, the misty mornings, my warm bed. The problem is that winter is becoming a thing of the past, as our planet faces neverending summers. As I write this post, the Antarctic is 65º F (18.33º C). This is the hottest temperature ever recorded. As a mother, it's tough to accept what my kids will face. At this point we need ALL HANDS ON DECK. We have less than 10 years to slow down the cataclysmic effects of climate change. So how do we talk to climate change deniers and win them over?

Despite all of the evidence, there are people who don't believe human activity (burning of fossil fuels, which creates excessive greenhouse gas) causes of climate change. They're at our dinner tables, at work, at school, and on Facebook. They're our friends, family, acquaintances, pastors, coworkers, or teachers. They may share our concerns about extreme weather events, but they don't accept the science of climate change.

We Need All Hands on Deck.

They come up with the strangest reasons why climate change isn't happening or it's a hoax. Some extremists believe it's a plot by the Illuminati to depopulate the earth. A close relative of mine believes that the governments of the world are secretly geo-engineering extreme weather events to lower the population. Here are a few of the statements I've heard.

"The weather changes all the time. There's no way to predict if the earth will continue to warm."

"Human history is a few thousand years, the world is billions of years old, we can't possibly know the weather patterns from thousands of years ago."

"The scientists claimed the earth was cooling in the 1970s, now they say it's warming."

"The earth is in a natural cycle of warming. Humans have no control over it and we can't do anything about it."

"The sun is getting warmer and producing more heat, thereby heating the earth more."

"The magnetic poles are changing, which increases the heat."

"Only God can change the climate. The end times are near."

RELATED CONTENT: 13 Things We Can Do Today About Climate Change.

Yes, these are REAL responses I've personally received when discussing the realities of climate change. There's a reason why these statements exist. Similar to the tobacco industry in the mid-20th century, the oil and gas industry came up with plan to seed doubt about the causes of climate change and they were very successful.

We are all products of our environment and the communities we live in. I'm not better than anyone else. I just woke up from 'The Matrix' a little earlier. We're dealing with a misinformation campaign on a massive scale, such as forming "scientific" advisory committees, writing papers, utilizing conservative media to deliver talking points, and buying off lawmakers.

How to Talk to a Climate Change Denier (and win them over)

1. Don't Insult Them

...because they don't believe the causes of climate change.

If you want to convince someone of your point, don't insult their intelligence, talk down to them, or call them names. Insulting someone will immediately put them on the defensive (and rightfully so). Psychologists have determined that our brains interpret humiliation as physical pain. This is a profound point. If we are publicly called out and told "YOU'RE WRONG" our brains react as though we are in physical pain. From an evolutionary perspective, humans along with other species instinctively avoid pain.

Humans are hard-wired to double down on our own point or run away even if we're wrong because admitting that we are wrong hurts. You can apply this to many other things, like politics, medical decisions, and conspiracy theories.

If We Are Called Out Publicly Our Brains React as Though We Are in Physical Pain.

That doesn't mean we can't speak truth to misconception. We can and we should. We can speak in an assertive, tactful manner that doesn't denigrate or humiliate, yet shows our authority to speak on this subject.

RELATED CONTENT: See how to Lower Your Household Emissions Instantly

2. Stick to the Facts

Present Climate Change Data.

Learn the basics of the causes of climate change, climate change data, and greenhouse gas emissions. Here are the facts about climate change from NASA, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), and the scientific community:

Skeptics are correct with regard to human history, but they are not correct with regard to measurement. Central Greenland ice-core records provide paleoclimatic temperatures dating back hundreds of thousands of years.

"Scientists have evaluated all-natural forcings and factors capable of driving the Earth's climate to change, including orbital (Milankovitch) and solar forcings, and it is only when the anthropogenic forcing is included that the observed modern warming can be explained."

"Scientists have also quantified the warming caused by human activities since preindustrial times and compared that to natural temperature forcings."

"The Earth's climate only changes in response to warming or cooling forcings. No known natural forcing fits the fingerprints of observed warming except anthropogenic greenhouse gases."

"Changes in the sun's output falling on the Earth from 1750-2011 are about 0.05 Watts/meter squared. By comparison, human activities from 1750-2011 warm the Earth by about 2.83 Watts/meter squared (AR5, WG1, Chapter 8, section 8.3.2, p. 676)."

"What this means is that the warming driven by the GHGs (greenhouse gasses) coming from the human burning of fossil fuels since 1750 is over 50 times greater than the slight extra warming coming from the Sun itself over that same time interval. Models use the physics of our world with data from empirical measurements and scientific observations serving as initial starting parameters."

"CLIMATE CHANGE IS A FACT, BASED ON DATA AND EQUATIONS. It’s science (not politics). The human-causation of the current observed warming over the past half-century is well-documented and well-established and is uncontroversial in a scientific sense."

"In comparison, there has never been a period in the last 2,000 years when temperature changes have been remotely as fast and extensive as in recent decades. The difference between the two is stark. By the mid-20th Century, global temperatures had exceeded those of the Medieval Warm Period and global temperatures have significantly warmed even more, since."

"The effects of global warming on the timescale of human lifetimes are irreversible, are happening now and will continue to worsen in decades to come: 'The removal of human-emitted CO2 from the atmosphere by natural processes will take a few hundred thousand years (high confidence). Depending on the RCP scenario considered, about 15 to 40% of emitted CO2 will remain in the atmosphere longer than 1,000 years. This very long time required by sinks to remove anthropogenic CO2 makes climate change caused by elevated CO2 irreversible on human time scale. {Box 6.1}'”

"But it IS stoppable. Recent public discussions of '12 years' (now 10 years) point to having a limited window before some of the worst effects of global warming and climate change become locked-in. In reality, the effects are a continuum and many things like ice sheet mass losses and subsequent sea-level rise will still occur for centuries and millennia to come, due to the human burning of fossil fuels to date. But just as when you're in a well that the stoppage of digging makes the well stop getting deeper, so too is it true that time yet remains to make a difference, for those generations yet to come."

RELATED CONTENT: Learn how to conduct a Household Environmental Audit.

3. Make it Personal

Connect the realities of climate change to their daily lives.

Stop posting pictures of polar bears. It's sad, but the unfortunate truth is that discussing the plight of the most climate-vulnerable animals, like polar bears, does not have the effect we intend it to. So what does have an effect?

The Australian wildfires were horrific. The sight of wildfires destroying an entire continent resonated with people because it was PERSONAL. Seeing people running toward the beach for sanctuary with red skies in the background was PERSONAL. Watching kind souls rescue koalas from burning alive was PERSONAL. People lost their homes and their lives. One billion animals were lost. That figure is mind-boggling. I still can't fathom it.

People Losing Their Homes is Personal.

In the United States, midwesterners are experiencing historic floods, 20-year rains are happening every year, some areas are in severe drought, the southeast is getting hurricanes no one has ever seen before. This is real and it's happening right now.

Lastly, the elephant in the room is PHYTOPLANKTON. Phytoplankton produce about 60% of the planet's oxygen. There's already some indication that warming oceans are killing phytoplankton. What happens when 60% of our oxygen goes? It won't be sea-level rise that kills us. It will be oxygen deprivation. THAT'S PERSONAL.

4. Accept Cognitive Dissonance

Cognitive dissonance is real y'all and we all have it.

So what is cognitive dissonance? It's a psychological theory first investigated by Leon Festinger. Festinger discovered that people are prone to have "conflicting attitudes, beliefs or behaviors" to reduce their own discomfort. In simple terms, we know something intellectually, but we reduce the importance of that belief to relieve our psyche. We find ways to justify behaviors, instead of acknowledging it.

The Scientific Community Needs to Communicate More Than Just Science.

We all do it, to various degrees. We don't exercise when we know we should, we smoke, we lie, we buy $5 shirts made in sweatshops, we buy meat from animals kept and slaughtered cruelly, we buy SUVs despite the environmental cost.

Our own death is the ultimate cognitive dissonance. We all know that we're going to die, but we don't want to acknowledge it. YES, I JUST WENT THERE. It's uncomfortable right?

So what does cognitive dissonance and climate change have in common? We know that 90%+ of scientists agree that climate change is happening and the causes of climate change are from human activity. The remaining scientists who dispute climate change typically work for the oil and gas industry. Yet, depending on one's belief system they will doubt this consensus.

A 2012 study suggested that the scientific community needs to communicate more than "scientific evidence." "It also has to create a climate of deliberations in which no group perceives that accepting any piece of evidence is akin to betrayal of their cultural group.”

5. Find What You Agree On

Even if someone cannot be convinced about the causes of climate change, they typically do agree on something.

Our current culture is TOO disposable. Remind people of how our grandparents lived (minus the racism and sexism of course). My grandmother cleaned up messes with cloth towels, put bread in the freezer, and mended her clothes. Most people can relate to this and agree that reusables are better than disposables.

People have an idealized view of what life used to be like in the mid-20th century. Before the United States Environmental Protection Agency (U.S. EPA) was created, pollution was legal. You can see these vintage photos of what the United States looked like before pollution was regulated. It's important to remind people that the good ole' days weren't necessarily good.

EVERYONE wants clean water, clean air, and good food to eat. THIS IS COMMON GROUND.

Remind people of what their children and grandchildren will face when they're gone. We all want our children to have a better life than we did.

Appeal to their religious or intellectual beliefs. As a Christian, I believe God has charged us to be good stewards of his creation. This is a value that people from various backgrounds share.

RELATED CONTENT: Learn How To Go Zero Waste When You're Broke.

6. Discuss What They Can Do as Individuals for Climate Change Mitigation

When someone talks about systemic change (change on governmental or corporate levels) people's eyes glaze over. In public administration, climate change is what's known as a "wicked problem." Theorists Horst Rittel and Melvin M. Webber first used the term "wicked problem" to refer to problems that were unsolvable, hard to define, unique, lack criteria. The list goes on. Thnk world peace, hunger, poverty, and now...climate change.

People want to know WHAT THEY CAN DO as individuals to help. We can control our behavior as individuals easier than we can solve "wicked problems." Ultimately the only way we will slow down climate change will be at the governmental level through voting for climate-friendly candidates, running for offices ourselves, and supporting policies for renewable energy.

However, getting people to acknowledge their part in the climate crisis is the first step to systemic change. Listed below are 16 things we as individuals can do to mitigate climate change.

The biggest thing people can do is VOTE. Vote for candidates who will fight for environmental protections (regardless of affiliation). Did you know that many environmentalists don't vote? If you are privileged enough to live in a democracy please VOTE and donate to a politician who will fight against climate change.

CONSUME LESS. "72% of global greenhouse gas emissions come from household decisions, including mobility (especially using cars and planes), diet (especially meat and dairy consumption), and housing (heating and cooling, and electricity consumption)." --Guardian 06/29/2019

EAT LESS BEFF & DAIRY. "Meat and dairy with other agricultural practices, such as fertilizer, and land-use changes, such as deforestation and soil disruption"...generate more greenhouse gas emissions than the entire European Union. --Forbes 04/04/2019

FLY LESS. "A one-way flight across the Atlantic from New York City to London emits one ton of carbon dioxide per passenger. Aviation emits about 860 million metric tons of carbon dioxide every year, or about 2 percent of total global greenhouse gas emissions." --Vox 09/27/2019

PLANT A GARDEN. During World War II they had victory gardens. Throughout history people have had potager (kitchen) gardens on small patches of dirt, in a pot on their window sill, or on their porch. Growing your own food (however small) will lower your disposable plastic waste.

LISTEN TO INDIGENOUS VOICES. Indigenous people were the first environmentalists. All over the planet they are fighting against the fossil fuel industry. From the Amazon to the Australian outback to Standing Rock to Hawaii. Support indigenous voices on social media and donate (no amount is too small) to help their cause (which is your cause too). Visit Indigenous Environmental Network.

WATCH OUT FOR GREENWASHING AND SAVE YOUR MONEY. Biodegradable products are problematic. There is a distinct difference between biodegradable and compostable. Compostable means an organic product can be broken down in the environment when exposed to certain factors and oxygen flow.

DRIVE LESS. "A typical passenger vehicle emits about 4.6 metric tons of carbon dioxide per year." Combine errands to make car trips more efficient. Remove excess weight from your car and use cruise control. --US EPA

MANAGE YOUR FOOD WASTE. If food waste was a country it would be the 3rd largest greenhouse gas emitter on the planet. One-third of all food produced in the world for human consumption never reaches the consumer’s table. Learn how to manage your leftovers properly with some tips from the U.S. EPA. Here is a food waste tool kit to help lower your food waste in your home and community. If you have space to compost consider learning about composting.

SAY NO TO FAST FASHION. "The apparel and footwear industries together account for more than 8% of global climate impact, greater than all international airline flights and maritime shipping trips combined." Buy secondhand clothing or from ethical/fair trade manufacturers. --CBS News 04/19/2019

JOIN A BUY NOTHING OR GIVE AND TAKE FACEBOOK GROUP. A buy nothing group is a hyper-local group focused exclusively on the barter economy. Members give secondhand items away or receive them. ⁣The Buy Nothing Project has local chapters all over the world. Visit buynothingproject.org.

ADOPT ENERGY EFFICIENCY MEASURES. Energy efficiency is the cheapest and easiest way to lower emissions because saving energy is more efficient than making new energy. Change your 5 most used light bulbs with ENERGY STAR models. Learn all about adopting energy efficiency measures here.

DIVEST YOUR FUNDS FROM OIL & GAS COMPANIES. This may be a tough sell to a climate change denier, but give it a go anyway! Oil and gas companies are the biggest polluters in the world. Many are investor-owned. These corporations have known about climate change for decades. Yet they have funded and promoted climate change denialism. Go to gofossilfree.org to learn how to divest your funds.

LOWER DISPOSABLE PLASTIC USAGE. Recycling isn't on this list for a reason. Recycling is a failed concept that gives consumers a false sense of security. Most disposable plastic thrown in the recycling bin is never recycled. Instead of recycling, lower your disposable plastic usage. "Plastic contributes to greenhouse gas emissions at every stage of its lifecycle." --Guardian 05/15/2019

GO ZERO WASTE. Don't let the title fool you, there is no such thing as zero waste. Even the most ardent zero wasters produce waste. Zero waste is about conscious consumption and lowering your individual waste stream. It is an old concept and the way people lived for centuries before consumerism exploded in the mid-20th century.

REFUSE, REDUCE, REUSE, REPAIR, REPURPOSE, ROT, and RECYCLE. The first mantra of zero waste is to refuse. Is there something you have been purchasing that can be purchased in sustainable packaging, can you make it yourself, or go without it? CARDBOARD and ALUMINUM are typically better than plastic.

Compost food scraps. Organic material in landfills creates methane, which is a greenhouse gas. If you don't have access to composting, plan out your meals by inventorying your pantry, refrigerator, and freezer.

7. Discuss the Positives

Renewable energy can bring jobs and economic prosperity.

Depending on someone's circumstance, they may have different motivations and ways of helping the cause. Finding what motivates people is key. I would highly recommend the books 'Switch' and 'Microtrends.' 'Switch' explains how we can make dramatic changes to our communities with little to no resources or authority, by "directing the Rider, motivating the Elephant, and shaping the Path."

Direct the Rider - The Rider is our RATIONAL SIDE. Motivate the Elephant - The Elephant is our EMOTIONAL SIDE. Shape the Path - BUILD A PATH TO SUCCESS.

We need to have a vision of the future to promote it to others. What do people want? A peaceful life, with prosperity, and safety. If we can have renewable energy for the same price as fossil fuels isn't that a great idea? Windmills, solar panels, carbon sequestration, and biomass are the future. Clean energy needs workers. Clean energy can bring prosperity to areas hit hard by plant closures.

It's hard to think about prosperity when basic needs aren't being met. Rent is too high, food is expensive, and they don't have healthcare or are underinsured. Supporting policies that benefit working people such as access to affordable healthcare, parental leave, and livable wages will help people envision a better future for their lives and their children. It's hard to focus on climate change when you're behind on your bills and living hand to mouth.

I hope you've enjoyed the 7 Ways to Talk to a Climate Change Denier. If you have any ideas or suggestions, please share with me in the comments or on Instagram.

Ready to Join me on this journey? If you'd like access to exclusive content, please sign up for my zero waste newsletter. If you'd like to keep up to date on new posts or Follow my blog with Bloglovin

[maritzaerwin]

What’s It’s Like to Be Golf Course Superintendent?

Original Image Source – Depositphotos.com

A golf course superintendent is a richly rewarding and hands-on job for anyone who loves the game of golf, improve a swing, and is interested in the maintenance of the playing grounds.

For players, a pristinely manicured golf course can be one of the primary reasons why they have a great experience on the links. This responsibility falls directly on the education and execution of the golf course superintendent.

To perform the duties of the superintendent at a high level of efficiency, the superintendent must be current with all the latest trends in golf course management, execute their management plan by clearly delegating tasks to staff, and be able to work within the restraints of a budget.

If anyone of these tasks becomes neglected, then it could ultimately show itself in the worsening condition of the course, causing membership at the club to fall and walk-in business to drop. So, as you can see, the golf course superintendent is incredibly important to the health of the course and, by proxy, the overall health of the club’s business.

This article is a deep dive into all of the intricacies of what a golf course superintendent can expect from their job. From salary to a daily schedule, everything is covered as we answer the question: What is it like to be a golf course superintendent?

What is a Golf Course Superintendent?

A golf course superintendent is the chief authority figure when it comes to the day-to-day care of the actual golf course. This incredibly important job oversees the management of all aspects of the course including such responsibilities as the health and maintenance of the turf and the irrigation systems that water the grass on each hole.

The superintendent also oversees a collection of employees that maintains the course. It is the superintendent’s job to make judgment calls on what needs to be improved or corrected either immediately or over time and pass that request onto their staff for execution.

The role of the golf course superintendent has become even more important in recent years as there is a push among groups, such as the USGA, to conserve resources such as water and reduce the use of pesticides and weed-killing chemicals to create a more green and safe playing surface for customers and members.

For environmental reasons alone, keeping up with the latest trends in turf management and finding new and exciting ways to care for the course’s turf is of utmost significance. So, even though the superintendent may already have a degree and certification, keeping those credentials up to date with continuing education is a smart play in staying relevant within the field.

What are the Job Requirements of a Golf Course Superintendent?

A golf course superintendent is ultimately responsible for everything that happens with the playing surface. From tee box to green, a superintendent is in charge of making sure that the course is in its best possible shape each and every day.

A huge requirement of being a successful golf course superintendent is working well with others. Since the golf course is located on such a sprawling piece of land, it is very difficult to be in multiple locations at once. So, for areas that need attention or improvement, the superintendent needs a well-trained and highly competent staff that can handle requests and follow through with the execution of the superintendent’s vision.

With rapidly changing environmental factors that the course deals with throughout the year, the golf course superintendent has to constantly be aware of the overall health of the turf and if it needs more personal care. That care could come in the form of more or less watering and aerating techniques that allow more air to get to the soil underneath the top layer of grass.

Why is Knowing Turf Science So Important for a Golf Course Superintendent?

Since golf demands a strong and adaptable playing surface that can withstand the punishment of hundreds of thousands of rounds each year, the golf course superintendent must keep the grass and the soil in tip-top shape.

Having an understanding of how turf reacts to the elements is crucial for a superintendent to know as it could be the difference between keeping the fairways pristine or allowing unsightly and unplayable brown spots to flourish in the grass.

For example, aeration is one of the best things that a superintendent can do for the health of the course’s soil, but also makes the grounds virtually unplayable for a few weeks, causing frustration among members and visiting golfers.

The process of aeration is necessary due to the compression of the top layer of soil by golfers over the course of the playing season. If the average golfer takes 45 steps on a green, for example, and commonly plays in a group of four, that’s 180 steps on each green. Multiply that by the number of foursomes that play the green each day, roughly 50-75 per day, depending on the weather and the popularity of the course.

Using that equation, each green on a course can expect to see anywhere from 9,000 to 13,500 steps per day. Now take into account how many days a course gets played and it is easy to see how compressed the soil can become with the added weight of all those golfers’ footsteps.

Many experts believe it is important to aerate when the grass is the strongest, but that typically falls on the calendar when the course is experiencing its highest traffic. More golfers mean more money, which is very important to the ownership and financial health of a club. But there’s no avoiding that aeration is a vital part of maintaining the health of the soil and keeping the course looking and playing its best.

Although it may not seem important, at first glance, understanding the science behind aeration and working in concert with members and ownership to set times to restore the health of the course is one of the biggest responsibilities that a superintendent will face during their tenure at a golf club.

Do I Need a Degree to Become a Golf Course Superintendent?

While it is not essential to obtain a collegiate degree if you are interested in becoming a golf course superintendent, having one certainly allows you to jump to the front of the line when applying for entry-level positions at larger golf courses. By studying through an accredited university, you gain networking possibilities through the college and the potential to easily find internships that will allow you to build experience for your resume.

Top-flight universities, such as Rutgers, promote certifications through their agricultural department in becoming a golf course superintendent. Rutgers offers an undergraduate degree in Turfgrass Science, a 2-year certificate program and a 3-week prep course on managing Turfgrass as a part of their Continuing Professional Education curriculum.

Certifications and some type of secondary education in turf management is an expectation for individuals looking to find a job in golf course management. If you are a 22-year old student, fresh from getting your degree in Turfgrass Science, it may be hard to immediately get a superintendent job without experience, so you’ll want to make sure that during your schooling you are working at a course with responsibilities in working with turf maintenance.

What Salary Can a Golf Course Superintendent Earn?

The reason a golf course superintendent will want to become certified through traditional methods is that the expertise they build and display on their resume will determine their expected level of salary.

According to a 2019 survey by the Golf Course Superintendents Association of America, (GCSAA), the average base salary for a golf course superintendent increased 4.5% from 2017 to an all-time high of $93,176. For certified golf course superintendents, the salary is even higher, averaging $111,250.

The survey was based upon the participation of 3,191 professional superintendents. The average golf course superintendent in the survey is 46.5 years old, with roughly 16.4 years of experience and 10.5 years at their current job.

What’s the Day-to-Day Schedule of a Golf Course Superintendent?

Being a golf course superintendent demands a lot of supervision of the course each and every day. Typically, the morning begins with an assessment of the course. This means that the superintendent hops on a golf cart and drives around the 18-hole layout checking all aspects of the grounds. Everything from the condition of the greens to the height of the rough is assessed for maintenance.

Superintendents always have to account for weather and precipitation when considering the maintenance schedule for the day. In rainy areas of the country, such as the Pacific Northwest, golf course superintendents have to make different judgment calls than a superintendent in Arizona.

A typical workday for a superintendent starts early as the course’s needs must be understood before the club receives a surge of golfers. If the course is due for mowing, it is wise to start that process ahead of the first group off the tee, in order to not disrupt the flow of the playing groups.

Golfers understand the course has maintenance requirements and are willing to have their round interrupted to make sure the layout is playing in its best shape possible.

One of the biggest areas that a new golf course superintendent can struggle to adapt is by delegating work rather than just trying to do it on their own. An efficient superintendent does well at clearly outlining expectations and the daily assignments of others rather than trying to fix everything themselves by believing that they are the only person qualified for the task at hand.

A golf course superintendent is a leader and therefore, they must work hard at letting their bias fall to the side and instead, become a teacher and, sometimes cheerleader, for other members of the staff. By building up the skill level and confidence of employees, the golf course superintendent streamlines the process of a request of staff to execution by the employee.

Are There Negatives to Becoming a Golf Course Superintendent?

The job can become a bit lonely at times as the superintendent drives from one hole to the next to check on the condition of specific areas of the course such as greens, bunkers and irrigation systems.

One of the ways that superintendents cut through the loneliness of the day is by adopting a good companion, such as a friendly and energetic dog. On a side note, adopting a dog is more beneficial when it comes to the cost so you will save money. And it is also more satisfying to adopt one rather than buying as those dogs in the shelter need pet parents. Having a friendly dog on the course to help carry the superintendent through the day is a wonderful way to build camaraderie among the staff and guests of the course.

Another way to combat the blues is by playing the course regularly with members and understanding how the most frequent players are responding to the conditions of the layout. Yes, you may hear more complaints than praise, but the job requires an understanding of how others are enjoying the course and tailoring the experience to meet the demands of ownership and those who play the most.

Conclusion

For golf course superintendents, there’s nothing better than spending hundreds of hours crafting a playing surface that has golfers talking about how wonderful their day on the links was for them and their playing group.

However, as you can see, the job of a golf course superintendent is not one to be taken lightly. With several responsibilities that involve decisions that ultimately affect the health and quality of the golf course, the superintendent must be prepared to accept criticism and work harder at achieving the goals of ownership.

Scary stuff aside, if you love working in the fresh air among one of the greatest games that sport offers, then superintendents are well paid, receive perks such as unlimited golf and invitations to play some of the country’s most exclusive courses.

The post What’s It’s Like to Be Golf Course Superintendent? appeared first on CareerMetis.com.

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Joint Custody and Child Support in your Texas divorce

Divorce Attorney in Houston: When we use the term “joint custody” what do we mean, exactly? Custody as a word does not appear in the Texas Family Code even once. It is a term that we use to combine all aspects of parenting after a divorce- visitation, possession, access, and conservatorship.

In yesterday’s blog post we discussed the concept of joint legal custody which has to do with the rights and duties that you as a parent possess towards your child. At the outset of today’s blog post from the Law Office of Bryan Fagan, PLLC I would like to talk about the other side of joint custody- physical custody of your child.

Sharing physical custody of your child is referred to as possession in the Family Code as well as in your Final Decree of Divorce. In theory, what joint physical custody allows for is the ability of both you and your ex-spouse to be able to continue to grow in your relationships with your child.

Having the ability to physically interact with your child is different than being able to make decisions on your child’s behalf alone. While these rights are important, it is almost like being a stock trader if you only have legal custody of your child. The physical aspects of your relationship are what many parents crave coming out of a divorce. This is likely because parents, yourself included most likely, have legitimate fears about being able to see their child as much as they would like as a result of the divorce.

Stability and consistency in your ability to parent your child are important as your post-divorce life begins. Having a regular time to spend with your child means that you are there for him to her to ask questions of and to get direction on the issues that affect him or her on a daily basis. I have heard parents talk about how they fear their child will be losing him or her as a parent after the divorce and that he or she would do anything to maintain their place in their child’s life. This, I believe, is that joint physical custody offers parents such as yourself.

Potential negatives of joint physical custody

As with everything in life, there are positives and negatives to point out in regard to joint physical custody. For starters, the whole concept of shared physical custody of your child hinges on your and your ex-spouse’s ability to co-parent with one another. This is a phrase that appears often in our modern-day language regarding divorce and child custody. Co-parenting is really nothing more than the tenants of joint physical and legal custody combined into one word.

Ideally, you and your ex-spouse are able to work together to make decisions in real-time that can positively impact your child. If this sounds familiar it should- it sounds a lot like marriage itself. The downside to consider is obvious: you and that other person spent months trying to rid the other from your life. Now you are expected to bury the hatchet and work with each other on the subject that is the most important to each of you? Sounds like a recipe for bad blood and arguments.

Consider also your child. If your case were to proceed to a judge it is likely that he or would order standard visitation times for the parent who is not awarded the right to designate the primary residence of your child. This is done in part because it is thought that an every other weekend visitation schedule with the non-primary parent will negatively affect your child the least. Children thrive on consistency and stability, and a possession schedule that causes your child to have short stays at each parent’s house is unlikely to go over well for some children.

Finally, on a practical level after a divorce, you and your spouse will need to develop your own, individual lives. This means that you will need to rent your own apartment or make house payments on a single income. Costs will increase, temporarily at least, while your income goes down.

This is a recipe for financial troubles that can persist long after your divorce concludes if you are not careful. Money troubles may have caused your divorce and those money troubles will not go away just because the divorce was finalized. Inputting your child into the middle of this can be a potential problem as well.

How do courts set child support in Texas?

Divorce Attorneys Houston: If children are half of the divorce equation, and money is the other half then child support is the one subject that encapsulates both halves. The State of Texas has guidelines which provide child support percentages to be assessed against an obligor parent’s net monthly income. Income means (basically) any money earned as a result of work performed- wages, tips, salaries, commission, bonuses, etc. One child before the court means that twenty percent of your net monthly income is to go towards child support. Two is 25% and so on until you have can have at most fifty percent of your net monthly income utilized for child support purposes.

The goal of these child support formulas is to attempt to come close to what percentage of your income as an obligor parent would go towards the direct support of your child. Of course, if your child were to need a pair of shoes for their basketball season or a new calculator for school you probably would not bat an eye to pay for these items as well.

However, child support is intended as a bare minimum for you to pay for the support of your child on a monthly basis. If your child has special needs that require medical attention on a regular basis your child support obligation will likely be higher than the guideline levels we discussed earlier.

In what circumstances could below guidelines levels of child support be ordered?

The most frequently seen example that I can relate to you involves if you have other children who you are responsible for but are not presently before the court, as far as reasons why a less than guideline level of child support could be ordered for you to pay. For example, if you have a child from a previous marriage that you pay child support for, a “credit” will be issued in your current child support calculation meaning that you would only be obligated to pay 17.5% of your net monthly income rather than 20%.

Consider also an example that many parents run into in divorce negotiations. If you and your spouse are able to agree to true 50/50 custody- meaning that you and your spouse share equally in the physical custody of your child then there is more reason to agree on a very low level of child support to be paid- or none at all. If you and your spouse earn similar incomes that is another factor that could lead to there not being any child support obligation inputted into your divorce decree.

Keep in mind that if you are the parent who has visitation rights to your child he or she will have extended periods of possession with you in the summer. You will still be obligated to pay child support to your ex-spouse during these periods. There is nothing in the family code that allows for parents to avoid payments for the times that their child is in their possession, other than if the primary conservator makes it known that he or she is allowing an unofficial change to occur in who determines the primary residence of the child.

Child Support Enforcement and College Costs - tomorrow’s blog post topics

Houston Divorce Attorneys: If today’s subject matter was of interest to you then we hope that you will return to read about more subject matter related to child support. In the meantime, if you have questions regarding these subjects or any other in Texas family law please do not hesitate to contact the Law Office of Bryan Fagan, PLLC. We offer free of charge consultations with one of our licensed family law attorneys ... Continue Reading

[bryanfaganlaw]

Joint Custody and Child Support in your Texas divorce

If you have need a best suitable service your Child Law experience, Joint Custody and Child Support in your Texas divorce with the great process!

Houston Family Lawyers: When we use the term “joint custody” what do we mean, exactly? Custody as a word does not appear in the Texas Family Code even once. It is a term that we use to combine all aspects of parenting after a divorce- visitation, possession, access, and conservatorship. In yesterday’s blog post we discussed the concept of joint legal custody which has to do with the rights and duties that you as a parent possess towards your child. At the outset of today’s blog post from the Law Office of Bryan Fagan, PLLC I would like to talk about the other side of joint custody- physical custody of your child.

Sharing physical custody of your child is referred to as possession in the Family Code as well as in your Final Decree of Divorce. In theory, what joint physical custody allows for is the ability of both you and your ex-spouse to be able to continue to grow in your relationships with your child. Having the ability to physically interact with your child is different than being able to make decisions on your child’s behalf alone. While these rights are important, it is almost like being a stock trader if you only have legal custody of your child. The physical aspects of your relationship are what many parents crave coming out of a divorce. This is likely because parents, yourself included most likely, have legitimate fears about being able to see their child as much as they would like as a result of the divorce.

Stability and consistency in your ability to parent your child is important as your post divorce life begins. Having regular time to spend with your child means that you are there for him to her to ask questions of and to get direction on the issues that affect him or her on a daily basis. I have heard parents talk about how they fear their child will be losing him or her as a parent after the divorce and that he or she would do anything to maintain their place in their child’s life. This, I believe, is that joint physical custody offers parents such as yourself.

Potential negatives of joint physical custody

Houston Family Law Attorney: As with everything in life, there are positives and negatives to point out in regard to joint physical custody. For starters, the whole concept of shared physical custody of your child hinges on your and your ex-spouse’s ability to co-parent with one another. This is a phrase that appears often in our modern day language regarding divorce and child custody. Co-parenting is really nothing more than the tenants of joint physical and legal custody combined into one word.

Ideally, you and your ex-spouse are able to work together to make decisions in real time that can positively impact your child. If this sounds familiar it should- it sounds a lot like marriage itself. The downside to consider is obvious: you and that other person spent months trying to rid the other from your life. Now you are expected to bury the hatchet and work with each other on the subject that is the most important to each of you? Sounds like a recipe for bad blood and arguments.

Consider also your child. If your case were to proceed to a judge it is likely that he or would order standard visitation times for the parent who is not awarded the right to designate the primary residence of your child. This is done in part because it is thought that an every other weekend visitation schedule with the non-primary parent will negatively affect your child the least. Children thrive on consistency and stability, and a possession schedule that causes your child to have short stays at each parent’s house is unlikely to go over well for some children.

Finally, on a practical level after a divorce you and your spouse will need to develop your own, individual lives. This means that you will need to rent your own apartment or make house payments on a single income. Costs will increase, temporarily at least, while your income goes down. This is a recipe for financial troubles that can persist long after your divorce concludes if you are not careful. Money troubles may have caused your divorce and those money troubles will not go away just because the divorce has finalized. Inputting your child into the middle of this can be a potential problem as well.

How do courts setchild support in Texas?

Divorce Lawyers in Houston: If children are half of the divorce equation, and money is the other half then child support is the one subject that encapsulates both halves. The State of Texas has guidelines which provide child support percentages to be assessed against an obligor parent’s net monthly income. Income means (basically) any money earned as a result of work performed- wages, tips, salaries, commission, bonuses, etc. One child before the court means that twenty percent of your net monthly income is to go towards child support. Two is 25% and so on until you have can have at most fifty percent of your net monthly income utilized for child support purposes.

The goal of these child support formulas is to attempt to come close to what percentage of your income as an obligor parent would go towards the direct support of your child. Of course if your child were to need a pair of shoes for their basketball season or a new calculator for school you probably would not bat an eye to pay for these items as well. However, child support is intended as a bare minimum for you to pay for the support of your child on a monthly basis. If your child has special needs that require medical attention on a regular basis your child support obligation will likely be higher than the guideline levels we discussed earlier.

In what circumstances could below guidelines levels of child support be ordered?

Family Lawyer Houston: The most frequently seen example that I can relate to you involve if you have other children who you are responsible for but are not presently before the court, as far as reasons why a less than guideline level of child support could be ordered for you to pay. For example, if you have a child from a previous marriage that you pay child support for, a “credit” will be issued in your current child support calculation meaning that you would only be obligated to pay 17.5% of your net monthly income rather than 20%.

Consider also an example that many parents run into indivorce negotiations. If you and your spouse are able to agree to true 50/50 custody- meaning that you and your spouse share equally in physical custody of your child then there is more reason to agree on a very low level of child support to be paid- or none at all. If you and your spouse earn similar incomes that is another factor that could lead to there not being any child support obligation inputted into your divorce decree.

Keep in mind that if you are the parent who has visitation rights to your child he or she will have extended periods of possession with you in the summer. You will still be obligated to pay child support to your ex-spouse during these periods. There is nothing in the family code that allows for parents to avoid payments for the times that their child is in their possession, other than if the primary conservator makes it known that he or she is allowing an unofficial change to occur in who determines the primary residence of the child.

Child Support Enforcements and College costs- tomorrow’s blog post topics

Divorce Lawyers Houston: If today’s subject matter was of interest to you then we hope that you will return to read about more subject matter related to child support. In the meantime if you have questions regarding these subjects or any other in Texas family law please do not hesitate to contact the Law Office of Bryan Fagan, PLLC. We offer free of charge consultations with one of our licensed family law attorneys six da ... Continue Reading