#The 8.2 Second Rule

[absolutebl]

hiii this might be hard to answer but im gonna ask anyway—

my ten-year-old brother came out to me as gay about a year ago, but he's been struggling with the idea that his attraction isn't normal. i wanted to show him some bls to show him that he’s okay to be gay, and that queerness is something to be celebrated.

so far, we've watched kieta hatsukoi and my school president, but im stuck on what we can watch next.

any ideas of bls that are appropriate for his age?

~ malkolm :)

Ooooo WHAT a questions.

And congrtz on being the safe person! You leveled up.

10 is awful young so I gotta think. Also, no kids in my life so I'm not at my best in this regard. As I always say, with kids, you need to vet it yourself first. You know the kid better than I do.

10 BLs "Safe" for a 10 Year Old

Uplifting, gay positivity!

Kieta Hatsukoi (Japan)

My School President (Thailand)

Seven Days (you are bonkers if you didn't think this would make the list)

Nobleman Ryu’s Wedding (I know, adult characters, but it's basically Cinderfella in drag) - it's a gay fairy story and it's Korea so the bubble is in play

Rainbow Prince (for the Disney fans) - adult characters but it's a gay Disney movie

Mr. Heart (Korea) - it's university but it acts like a high school flick

Kimi no Koto Dake Mite Itai (Japan) - this is a bit arty but good

Stupid Boys Stupid Love (Vietnam) - 3 couples, BL, GL, and het in high school navigating friends to lovers. Very soft friendships, no angst, just teens, hormones, and HEAs for everyone. It’s very scattered and low quality, but cute, and nice to see some GL in the mix.

The 8.2 Second Rule - this is a micro piece from Japan, but very low stakes and sweet

Semantic Error - and odd pull but I think it might work

Others I considered but it really depends on the kid, these are bit angsty

Love Sick

Light On Me

Takara & Amagi

I Cannot Reach You

Great Men Academy

21 Days Theory

Hopefully some of these will work.

su su na

[paganimagevault]

Ai Khanoum 3rd C. BCE - 2nd C. CE. More images on my blog, link at bottom.

"These wise sayings of men of old, The words of famous men, are consecrated At holy Delphi, where Klearchos copied them from carefully To set them up, shining from afar, in the sanctuary of Kineas.

As a child, be well behaved; As a young man, self-controlled; In middle age, be just; As an elder, be of good counsel; And when you come to the end, be without grief.

—trans. of Ai Khanoum stele by Shane Wallace and Rachel Mairs.

Ai-Khanoum (/aɪ ˈhɑːnjuːm/, meaning Lady Moon; Uzbek Latin: Oyxonim) is the archaeological site of a Hellenistic city in Takhar Province, Afghanistan. The city, whose original name is unknown, was likely founded by an early ruler of the Seleucid Empire and served as a military and economic centre for the rulers of the Greco-Bactrian Kingdom until its destruction c. 145 BC. Rediscovered in 1961, the ruins of the city were excavated by a French team of archaeologists until the outbreak of conflict in Afghanistan in the late 1970s.

The city was probably founded between 300 and 285 BC by an official acting on the orders of Seleucus I Nicator or his son Antiochus I Soter, the first two rulers of the Seleucid dynasty. There is a possibility that the site was known to the earlier Achaemenid Empire, who established a small fort nearby. Ai-Khanoum was originally thought to have been a foundation of Alexander the Great, perhaps as Alexandria Oxiana, but this theory is now considered unlikely. Located at the confluence of the Amu Darya (a.k.a. Oxus) and Kokcha rivers, surrounded by well-irrigated farmland, the city itself was divided between a lower town and a 60-metre-high (200 ft) acropolis. Although not situated on a major trade route, Ai-Khanoum controlled access to both mining in the Hindu Kush and strategically important choke points. Extensive fortifications, which were continually maintained and improved, surrounded the city.

Many of the present ruins date from the time of Eucratides I, who substantially redeveloped the city and who may have renamed it Eucratideia, after himself. Soon after his death c. 145 BC, the Greco-Bactrian kingdom collapsed—Ai-Khanoum was captured by Saka invaders and was generally abandoned, although parts of the city were sporadically occupied until the 2nd century AD. Hellenistic culture in the region would persist longer only in the Indo-Greek kingdoms.

It is likely that Ai-Khanoum was already under attack by nomadic tribes when Eucratides was assassinated in around 144 BC. This invasion was probably carried out by Saka tribes driven south by the Yuezhi peoples, who in turn formed a second wave of invaders, in around 130 BC. The treasury complex shows signs of having been plundered in two assaults, fifteen years apart.

Although the first assault led to the end of Hellenistic rule in the city, Ai-Khanoum continued to be inhabited; it remains unknown whether this reoccupation was effected by Greco-Bactrian survivors or nomadic invaders. During this time, public buildings such as the palace and sanctuary were repurposed as residential dwellings and the city maintained some semblance of normality: some sort of authority, possibly cultish in origin, encouraged the inhabitants to reuse the raw building materials now freely available in the city for their own ends, whether for construction or trade. A silver ingot engraved with runic letters and buried in a treasury room provides support for the theory that the Saka occupied the city, with tombs containing typical nomadic grave goods also being dug into the acropolis and the gymnasium. The reoccupation of the city was soon terminated by a huge fire. It is unknown when the final occupants of Ai-Khanoum abandoned the city. The final signs of any habitation date from the 2nd century AD; by this time, more than 2.5 metres (8.2 ft) of earth had accumulated in the palace.

While on a hunting trip in 1961, the King of Afghanistan, Mohammed Zahir Shah, rediscovered the city. An archaeological delegation, led by Paul Bernard, unearthed the remains of a huge palace in the lower town, along with a large gymnasium, a theatre capable of holding 6,000 spectators, an arsenal, and two sanctuaries. Several inscriptions were found, along with coins, artefacts, and ceramics. The onset of the Soviet-Afghan War in the late 1970s halted scholarly progress and during the following conflicts in Afghanistan, the site was extensively looted."

-taken from Wikipedia

...

"The silver ingot engraved with runic characters found during the excavations of the Treasury could suggest they were Sakā/Sai. This inscription comprises 21 characters of a script and a language that are unknown and both attributed to nomadic people of Sakā origin, by comparison with a dozen similar inscriptions coming from an area extending from Ghazni in Afghanistan to Almaty in Kazakhstan, and dated between the 5th century BC and the 8th century AD."

-taken from Ai Khanoum after 145 BC: The Post-Palatial Occupation by Laurianne Martinez-Sève, University of Lille, 2018

[fleshengine]

Porkbelly review I guess

Welp! I finished Star Fetchers: Escape from Porkbelly! In my opinion it's a solid 8/10, just like the base game. It's absolute gold, but there are some technical issues and the pacing feels... weird. Spoilers after the break tho. The original game (free) took me about 45 minutes to beat, and I played through it again to see the updated physics and stuff when I get Porkbelly. I've since sunk a total of 8.2 hours into the game total, so at $8 I'd say the DLC is definitely worth it.

Go play Star Fetchers, and give LK $8 for the DLC.

I did mean it about spoilers btw.

My issue with pacing are mostly difficulty curve related. The game is fine up until QT (the first boss) which is a hard boss that doesn't obey the rules that the previous fights have layed out. QT has a second phase that I had no idea how to pass for a while. She whips out two uzis and just starts spraying you and I kept dying. I think the attacks could be better telegraphed, or do less damage, either way the fight is really hard. After QT the fights are back to normal until the second boss, Matryoshka. Her attack is throwing fucking bombs at you, and I have no idea how to effectively dodge them. Her special boss thing is playing tennis with you with you guessed it, a bigger bomb. I found both of the bosses frustrating because they both just seemed to be DPS checks and in a game with this bad of hit registration, that's annoying.

The Return to Porkbelly section was fun. The pseudo on-rails bit was fun at first, but once you get to the room with a bunch of Rhinestone Cowboys it starts to wear thin. Because the bosses are essentially DPS checks, I made a build with huge DPS and nothing else. As such all of the cowboys were either dealt with in one punch or I sat there for 40 seconds crying and shitting and trying to land a hit. Which I couldn't. Because the hit-reg in this game is atrocious. There's nothing to indicate when you can or cannot hit someone in this game, the cursor turns red sometimes but for some enemies that's a fakeout and you take damage, and for others it's so brief by the time you react and swing you miss anyway. Anyway yeah the cowboys seemed too hard and piss easy at the same time and that's a really interesting line to walk. The Nevada and Zambezi being the addict and jesus from that one meme was funny, and I think I grabbed a screenshot. Wait lemme find it.

I was laughing my ass off at this.

Nevada's character arc (?) is neat btw, the entire game up until near the end I was like "she's the worst I hate her but I love her she's so great." But then we get to fight her and I just feel bad afterward.

Anyway, after she heals Zambezi, we get to the final showdown with Texas and man... I have no idea what is supposed to happen in that fight. My damage was so high I was able to shred through him, and I think I bugged out his phases or something because my computer froze and then there was a cutscene of us getting to the roof. The roof fight was neat, but I spent the whole time wondering if I had a secret invisible healthbar that was about to his zero. Anyway I won on my first try.

I was only able to beat QT the first time when I was high off my ass, and I was only able to beat Matryoshka and Texas while sick. What's wrong with this game that being impaired improves my performance?

Anyway game is good, I wish the hit registration made sense and I wish it was balanced better but you know what? It's a tiny team and the game is fun. It only made me scar myself a little out of frustration.

Anyway here's a bunch of screencaps I took of the game. Someone get me a Nevada hurt/comfort fanfic STAT

[yxxxxxx1]

Thread about Joanna of Castile: Part 8.2: “A Mother's Distress: Juana's Turbulent Departure from the Castle”

Guessing that her mother was trying every trick she could think of to keep her, Juana abandoned pleading and talking. Instead, she staged an astonishing display of histrionic, even hysterical, behaviour, indulging in tactics she would employ for the rest of her life whenever she was thwarted or powerless. She refused to eat, to talk, or to sleep, she attempted to force a ship’s captain to prepare to sail.

On a cold November night, Juana fled, half-clad, from the castle.

When she realised that Isabel had ordered that the gates be shut, she

“Remained in the outer precinct of the house all evening and all night and all the next day until the second hour in the humidity and night dew and without either hat or coat, during one of the coldest nights of the year so far, and not for a moment would she return to her room.”

She even threatened the bishop with death and torture for keeping her locked up.

Martire describes her prowling the outer precincts of the castle like “an African lion.”

The international fair was in full swing, with the saddle and leather workers engaging in trade close to the castle walls. Concerned that Juana’s departure would cost her authority and reputation, Isabel sent a series of high-ranking emissaries, including Cisneros, in vain attempts to persuade her to return inside.

In the end, Isabel had to come in person:

“With more effort and haste, and making longer days of it than I knew was good for my health.”

But Juana :

“Spoke to me so heatedly and with words so disrespectful and so far, beyond what a daughter should say to a mother, that had I not seen the state she was in I would not have tolerated it for a moment.”

We do not have Juana’s account. Did she, when arguing with her mother, venture into the darker territory of Isabel’s past? Might she even have referred to Isabel’s role in the descasamiento of Afonso V of Portugal and Juana (‘la Beltraneja’) of Castile when the war of the Castilian succession of 1475–1479 ended in their defeat? The heir to the throne of Castile, Enrique IV's daughter and heir, was still confined to monastic confinement in Portugal in 1503, but she would never give up her claim to the crown.

On 2 December 1503, Lope de Conchillos wrote to his uncle, Fernando's secretary, Miguel Pérez de Almazán, that Isabel was well but “very afflicted and tired” of the princess.

In March 1504, Juana was finally allowed to leave the country. In the end, her tantrums worked. The bishop of Catania, Diego Ramirez de Guzmán, was sent with her to strengthen the Spanish diplomatic presence in Brussels. Moreover, Diego Ramirez de Villaescusa, bishop of Málaga, did not accompany her.

Juana’s journey, from beginning to end, was a reversal of the first. There were no tears when she left Laredo, but Philip eagerly awaited her at Blankenburg/Blankenberge.

While Isabel wondered if she would stay as unhappy as she was while she was here, she was the talk of the Low Countries. Juana's decision to leave Castile would have big effects on her future and the kingdoms she ruled.

Sources: Fleming, G. B. (2018). Juana I: Legitimacy and Conflict in Sixteenth-Century Castile (1st ed. 2018 edition). Palgrave Macmillan.

Fox, J. (2012). Sister Queens: The Noble, Tragic Lives of Katherine of Aragon and Juana, Queen of Castile. Ballantine Books.

Gómez, M. A., Juan-Navarro, S., & Zatlin, P. (2008). Juana of Castile: History and Myth of the Mad Queen. Associated University Presse.

[lenbryant]

LATimes Column: Trump’s proposal to make overtime pay tax-exempt obscures how awful he was for all workers

By Michael Hiltzik, Business Columnist  

Donald Trump speaks at the White House during his presidency with his anti-labor secretary of Labor, Eugene Scalia, right, at his side. Who thinks his worker policies would be any better in a second term than they were in his first?

(Associated Press)

Donald Trump, in his determined effort to claim the mantle of friend of the working man and woman, unveiled a proposal the other day to make overtime pay tax-exempt. 

“People who work overtime are among the hardest-working citizens of our country, and for too long, no one in Washington has been looking out for them,” he told a rally in Tucson. 

Let’s be blunt about something here: Anyone who buys Trump’s pose about this is the mark in a con game. Trump’s claim that no one in Washington has been looking out for overtime workers was never as true as it was during the Trump administration, which slashed overtime protections for more than 8.2 million workers. 

Trump’s Department of Labor was a black hole for worker rights. The agency abandoned an Obama administration policy that would have favored more than 4.2 million workers. The Biden administration restored the Obama rule and went further. 

And that was just on overtime. As president, observed economic commentator Pedro Nicolaci da Costa in 2019, Trump pursued “the most hostile anti-labor agenda of any modern president.”

Trump’s Dept. of Labor was a black hole for worker rights.

Before exploring Trump’s manipulation of overtime regulations, let’s examine his overall record on workers’ rights.

In 2019, Trump appointed as his Secretary of Labor Eugene Scalia, son of the late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia. The new labor secretary had made his career as a corporate lawyer fighting pro-worker policies. In 2012, the Wall Street Journal had labeled him one of the financial industry’s “go-to guys for challenging financial regulations.”

Scalia had helped Walmart overturn a Maryland law mandating minimum contributions by big employers for workers’ healthcare, defended SeaWorld against workplace safety charges after a park trainer was killed by an orca (he lost that case), and had written extensively against a federal regulationexpanding ergonomic safety requirements. 

He had written that the latter rule, proposed by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, “would require businesses to slow the pace of production, hire more workers, increase rest periods and redesign workstations or even entire operations.” 

No legitimate candidate for secretary of Labor would have regarded that policy as a bad thing, but Scalia condemned it in print as “the most costly and intrusive regulation in [OSHA’s] history.”

Scalia’s predecessor as secretary, Alexander Acosta, had gone to Congress to oppose measures to raise the federal minimum wage, which has been stuck at $7.25 an hour since 2009 to $15 in steps. It shouldn’t need mentioning that this was an extraordinary position for a secretary of Labor to take. 

(Acosta, it may be remembered, lost his job after revelations about his role in soft-pedaling sex-trafficking charges against Jeffrey Epstein produced a political uproar.)

Trump remade the National Labor Relations Board along the same lines. In a key move, his NLRB scrapped the effort under Obama to expand the definition of “joint employer,” which would have made big franchisers such as McDonald’s jointly liable with their franchisees for violations of employees’ wage and hour rights. 

The Trump NLRB’s proposed definition would narrow the joint-employer standard “to the point at which many workers would find it nearly impossible to bring all firms with the power to influence their wages and working conditions to the bargaining table,” according to the labor-oriented Economic Policy Institute.

Put it all together, and Trump had turned the Department of Labor into the “Dept. of Employer Rights,” I wrote.

Now to the overtime rules. As my colleague James Rainey reported Sunday, Trump’s proposal to make overtime pay tax-exempt was part of a passel of purported tax cuts for the working class, including tax exemptions for tips and Social Security benefits, all of which economists saw as “gimmicks” and “shams.”

In 2016, Obama had raised the ceiling making salaried workers eligible for time-and-a-half overtime — that is, working hours exceeding 40 hours per week — to $47,476 in annual wages, up from $23,660. The ceiling would be adjusted regularly to overall wage growth. Hourly workers typically get overtime after 40 hours, but salaried workers receive overtime pay if their wages are below the ceiling. 

The Obama administration’s idea was to narrow the practice of low-wage employers to designate workers as “managers” to exempt them from the OT rule while paying them an hourly wage. (That’s why fast-food restaurants are always suspiciously loaded with “general managers, assistant managers, night managers, managers for opening and closing and delivery,” as former New York prosecutor Terri Gerstein observed in 2019.) 

It was estimated that the new rule would give 4.2 million workers new overtime protection.

The Obama rule was blocked by a federal judge in Texas. When Trump came into office, his Labor Department refused to defend the rule in court. Instead, the agency proposed a new rule reducing the wage ceiling to only $35,568. That was nearly $20,000 below the level that would have been reached by the Obama rule, as it was adjusted for wage inflation. The Trump rule was not indexed.

Some 8.2 million workers who would have gained OT protection under Obama were left behind by the Trump rule, Heidi Shierholz of the pro-labor Economic Policy Institute calculated. They would be deprived of a combined $1.4 billion in pay annually.

The 8.2 million workers left behind, Shierholz estimated, included “4.2 million women, 3.0 million people of color, 4.7 million workers without a college degree, and 2.7 million parents of children under the age of 18.”

The Biden administration restored the Obama rule, and then some. The new rule set the ceiling at $844 per week, or $43,888 for a full-time hourly worker, as of July 1. 

On Jan. 1, the salary ceiling will rise to $1,128 per week, or $58,656 annually. After that, it will be indexed every three years. The new rule will benefit an estimated 4.3 million workers, more than half of whom are women and about one-fifth workers of color. 

Among the largest groups of affected workers, EPI estimates, are those in healthcare and social services.

Whether Trump has sat down to map out a pro-worker policy is doubtful in the extreme — it’s not a concern he has ever displayed in the past. He appears to have blurted out the overtime policy as part of what the Irish writer Fintan O’Toole aptly describes as “the surreal bricolage of his rally speeches.”

But a clue can be found in “Project 2025,” a road map for a second Trump term drafted by the right-wing Heritage Foundation. (Trump claims to have nothing to do with this 900-page tome, but no one really believes him.)

Project 2025 would shrink overtime coverage materially. It advocates cutting the compensation subject to time-and-a-half to salary only, excluding pay for such benefits as healthcare, retirement, education, child care or paid meals. Under existing law, the only compensation that can be excluded from the calculation is pay for expenses a worker pays on the employer’s behalf, discretionary bonuses, gifts on special occasions, and vacation and sick pay.

The Project also advocates indexing the ceiling once ever five years rather than three years, which would slow its rate of growth, and index the ceiling to consumer inflation, which tends to grow slower than wage inflation, the current index. 

The Project also advocates allowing employers to calculate overtime hours over two or four weeks rather than weekly, which would allow them to require workers to put in more than 40 hours some weeks and make it up in others. That sounds like an open invitation to employer manipulation of work schedules.

Trump’s record on worker rights is clear as day. Do you really think he’ll be looking out for the men and women in the rank and file?

[doniveatry]

Jumin Han kisses 💋 | Mystic messenger.

I remember that English is not my first language 🫶✨️

He doesn't even know how he ended up there, here, with this beautiful, attractive woman, but he is.

A few moments ago he was complaining about the bad reception the bar had with his long-haired friend and his fiancée, and now, he was so mesmerized by this woman that he didn't even care that she was a stranger who accidentally bumped into her. him.

It all happened very quickly but in a fair way, in a way where the next CEO strangely didn't mind this unknown woman comparing the size of his hands while curling those juicy red lips upwards. Letting out a soft laugh at how pale Jumin's skin looked compared to yours.

Jumin felt like an idiot for being so attracted to wanting to kiss you without even knowing your name. But sometimes it was like that, he just needed those 8.2 seconds looking at you to know that he wanted more from you, not just physical, but spiritual, carnal, reaching so deep into your soul until he stole a piece of it and marked it. in your next life.

Jumin feels overwhelmed, not by the wine he drank before arriving at the club, nor by the strange margarita he had at the bar after waiting a thousand years for it to be given to him. It was your soft perfume, the beautiful glow that now passed from your skin to his clothes. He was so drunk with love at first sight... so in love with your soft voice, with the way you put his hands on your hips and helped guide him in the movement he should make to dance and follow your rhythm.

He was so in love with the way you sweetly told him your name.

And I was lost in looking for how to keep you and spend more time with you. But he acts faster, your lips against his at the best moment of the song that echoed off the walls of the club.

Jumin exploded, feeling like everything that was him had collapsed, his hands roamed your back, down your hips and stopping at your ass, squeezing it to his will as he pressed you closer to him, lifting one of his hands to the side. back of your body, your neck to fit. perfectly with you and establish a rhythm in which he would rule and you would feel comfortable...

Everything happened very fast. That I didn't even know how to find you the next morning.

Everything was cold again, the heat of your body and the sweet taste of your lips were still there, with him in that big king bed in his penthouse, but you were gone, you had slipped away like a rat, without saying goodbye. . and without leaving anything...

Except for that bold lipstick you were wearing the night before. That color that left marks on Jumin's milky skin, leaving a trail that the night before had not been the eccentric millionaire's imagination.

Jumin was in front of the mirror, seeing his neck with the repeated red stains along with the red lips marked on his skin, the shape of your lips was still intact on his skin even though he had spent the night before and from the friction against the sheets had to be pulled from his skin. Still, there they were. There you were.

[techno-99]

Narendra Modi Story

Narendra Modi (born September 17, 1950, Vadnagar, India) Indian politician and government official who rose to become a senior leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). In 2014 he led his party to victory in elections to the Lok Sabha (lower chamber of the Indian parliament), after which he was sworn in as prime minister of India. Prior to that he had served (2001–14) as chief minister (head of government) of Gujarat state in western India.

After a vigorous campaign—in which Modi portrayed himself as a pragmatic candidate who could turn around India’s underperforming economy—he and the party were victorious, with the BJP winning a clear majority of seats in the chamber. Modi was sworn in as prime minister on May 26, 2014. Soon after he took office, his government embarked on several reforms, including campaigns to improve India’s transportation infrastructure and to liberalize rules on direct foreign investment in the country. Modi scored two significant diplomatic achievements early in his term. In mid-September he hosted a visit by Chinese President Xi Jinping, the first time a Chinese leader had been to India in eight years. At the end of that month, having been granted a U.S. visa, Modi made a highly successful visit to New York City, which included a meeting with U.S. Pres. Barack Obama.

As prime minister, Modi oversaw a promotion of Hindu culture and the implementation of economic reforms. The government undertook measures that would broadly appeal to Hindus, such as its attempt to ban the sale of cows for slaughter. The economic reforms were sweeping, introducing structural changes—and temporary disruptions—that could be felt nationwide. Among the most far-reaching was the demonetization and replacement of 500- and 1,000-rupee banknotes with only a few hours’ notice. The purpose was to stop “black money”—cash used for illicit activities—by making it difficult to exchange large sums of cash. The following year the government centralized the consumption tax system by introducing the Goods and Services Tax (GST), which superseded a confusing system of local consumption taxes and eliminated the problem of cascading tax. GDP growth slowed from these changes, though growth had already been high (8.2 percent in 2015), and the reforms succeeded in expanding the government’s tax base. Still, rising costs of living and increasing unemployment disappointed many as grandiose promises of economic growth remained unfulfilled.

This disappointment registered with voters during the elections in five states in late 2018. The BJP lost in all five states, including the BJP strongholds of Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, and Chhattisgarh. The rival Indian National Congress (Congress Party) won more state assembly seats than the BJP in all five elections. Many observers believed that this portended bad news for Modi and the BJP in the national elections set for the spring of 2019, but others believed that Modi’s charisma would excite the voters. Moreover, a security crisis in Jammu and Kashmir in February 2019, which escalated tensions with Pakistan to the highest point in decades, boosted Modi’s image just months before the election. With the BJP dominating the airwaves during the campaign—in contrast to the lacklustre campaign of Rahul Gandhi and Congress—the BJP was returned to power, and Modi became India’s first prime minister outside of the Congress Party to be reelected after a full term.

In his second term Modi’s government revoked the special status of Jammu and Kashmir, stripping it of autonomy in October 2019 and bringing it under the direct control of the union government. The move came under intense criticism and faced challenges in court, not only for the questionable legality of depriving Jammu and Kashmir’s residents of self-determination but also because the government severely restricted communications and movement within the region.

In March 2020, meanwhile, Modi took decisive action to combat the outbreak of COVID-19 in India, swiftly implementing strict nationwide restrictions to mitigate the spread while the country’s biotechnology firms became key players in the race to develop and deliver vaccines worldwide. As part of the effort to counter the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, Modi undertook executive action in June to liberalize the agricultural sector, a move that was codified into law in September. Many feared that the reforms would make farmers vulnerable to exploitation, however, and protesters took to the streets in opposition to the new laws. Beginning in November, massive protests were organized and became a regular disruption, particularly in Delhi.

Modi’s policies backfired in 2021. Protests escalated (culminating in the storming of the Red Fort in January), and extraordinary restrictions and crackdowns by the government failed to suppress them. Meanwhile, despite the remarkably low spread of COVID-19 in January and February, by late April a rapid surge of cases caused by the new Delta variant had overwhelmed the country’s health care system. Modi, who had held massive political rallies ahead of state elections in March and April, was criticized for neglecting the surge. The BJP ultimately lost the election in a key battleground state despite heavy campaigning. In November, as protests continued and another set of state elections approached, Modi announced that the government would repeal the agricultural reforms.

[brookstonalmanac]

Events 8.16 (before 1920)

1 BC – Wang Mang consolidates his power in China and is declared marshal of state. Emperor Ai of Han, who died the previous day, had no heirs. 942 – Start of the four-day Battle of al-Mada'in, between the Hamdanids of Mosul and the Baridis of Basra over control of the Abbasid capital, Baghdad. 963 – Nikephoros II Phokas is crowned emperor of the Byzantine Empire. 1328 – The House of Gonzaga seizes power in the Duchy of Mantua, and will rule until 1708. 1513 – Battle of the Spurs (Battle of Guinegate): King Henry VIII of England and his Imperial allies defeat French Forces who are then forced to retreat. 1570 – The Principality of Transylvania is established after John II Zápolya renounces his claim as King of Hungary in the Treaty of Speyer. 1652 – Battle of Plymouth: Inconclusive naval action between the fleets of Michiel de Ruyter and George Ayscue in the First Anglo-Dutch War. 1777 – American Revolutionary War: The Americans led by General John Stark rout British and Brunswick troops under Friedrich Baum at the Battle of Bennington in Walloomsac, New York. 1780 – American Revolutionary War: Battle of Camden: The British defeat the Americans near Camden, South Carolina. 1792 – Maximilien de Robespierre presents the petition of the Commune of Paris to the Legislative Assembly, which demanded the formation of a revolutionary tribunal. 1793 – French Revolution: A levée en masse is decreed by the National Convention. 1812 – War of 1812: American General William Hull surrenders Fort Detroit without a fight to the British Army. 1819 – Peterloo Massacre: Seventeen people die and over 600 are injured in cavalry charges at a public meeting at St. Peter's Field, Manchester, England. 1841 – U.S. President John Tyler vetoes a bill which called for the re-establishment of the Second Bank of the United States. Enraged Whig Party members riot outside the White House in the most violent demonstration on White House grounds in U.S. history. 1844 – Governor-general of the Philippines Narciso Claveria, signs a decree to reform the country's calendar by skipping Tuesday, December 31, as a solution to anomalies that had existed since 1844. 1858 – U.S. President James Buchanan inaugurates the new transatlantic telegraph cable by exchanging greetings with Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom. However, a weak signal forces a shutdown of the service in a few weeks. 1859 – The Grand Duchy of Tuscany formally deposes the exiled House of Lorraine. 1863 – The Dominican Restoration War begins when Gregorio Luperón raises the Dominican flag in Santo Domingo after Spain had recolonized the country. 1869 – Battle of Acosta Ñu: A Paraguayan battalion largely made up of children is massacred by the Brazilian Army during the Paraguayan War. 1870 – Franco-Prussian War: The Battle of Mars-la-Tour is fought, resulting in a Prussian victory. 1876 – Richard Wagner's Siegfried, the penultimate opera in his Ring cycle, is premiered at the Bayreuth Festspielhaus. 1891 – The Basilica of San Sebastian, Manila, the first all-steel church in Asia, is officially inaugurated and blessed. 1896 – Skookum Jim Mason, George Carmack and Dawson Charlie discover gold in a tributary of the Klondike River in Canada, setting off the Klondike Gold Rush. 1900 – The Battle of Elands River during the Second Boer War ends after a 13-day siege is lifted by the British. The battle had begun when a force of between 2,000 and 3,000 Boers had surrounded a force of 500 Australians, Rhodesians, Canadians and British soldiers at a supply dump at Brakfontein Drift. 1906 – The 8.2 Mw Valparaíso earthquake hits central Chile, killing 3,882 people. 1913 – Tōhoku Imperial University of Japan (modern day Tohoku University) becomes the first university in Japan to admit female students. 1913 – Completion of the Royal Navy battlecruiser HMS Queen Mary. 1916 – The Migratory Bird Treaty between Canada and the United States is signed. 1918 – The Battle of Lake Baikal was fought between the Czechoslovak Legion and the Red Army.

[languidlotus]

2022 Watchlist

Current Watchlist // 2023 Watchlist // 2021 Watchlist // My Favourites / My Art These are all the dramas I finished in 2022. They might not have been released in 2022, but this is when I watched (and finished) them. Year total: 76 dramas watched. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Beware, here be spoilers!!

(Everything is subject to change and just personal opinion. My ratings and opinions don't reflect on the quality of the shows at all. Tastes vary!)

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

Dramas I finished in 2022.

(Alphabetical order.) 180 Degree Longitude Passes Through Us (Thai BL) Final rating: 8/10 This show was painful but beautiful. Painful in that I knew from the very first episode that it wouldn't have a happy ending, but the writing and acting and cinematography were still gorgeous to look at. Wang falling in love was tragic, because it was never going to work out. He was the very image of his father, stuck between his (love for his) mother and (his love for) In. Except where his father was on an even setting with the both of them, he's still seen as a child. Him trying to convince the world that he's not was more of a struggle in this show than him being attracted to a man was. He represented his mother and In's greatest fears and regrets. And as a result he was never going to get what he wanted with In, because In was never going to risk making the same mistakes and destroying someone the way he destroyed himself. Beautiful, but painful. So be careful if you watch this.

21 Days Theory (Thai BL) Final rating: 7/10

A cute show that surprised me. I was expecting it to be, well, worse, but it was actually rather cute and I didn't even hate the side characters. I don't really have strong feelings about it, though, which means it was good enough to have me look back on it fondly, but nothing really stood out to me at the same time.

8.2 Byo no Hosoku / The 8.2 Second Rule  (Japanese BL) Final rating: 6/10 A short little series with a main character who finds himself being the match maker for cute guys but never finds one who likes him. Or does he? It's short and not really much of a BL, but it's cute?

About Youth (Taiwanese BL) Final rating: 7/10 I have to admit that I don't remember much from this show. I remember that I thought it was cute and that I was surprisingly into the secondary pairing, but that's all. I may have to rewatch it at some point to be able to give a better review. Ai Long Nhai (Thai BL)

Final rating: 6/10 Oh boy, this one was messy. The two main actors try their best and do have chemistry, but the storyline was a mess and I left the show feeling confused. I finished it because I felt like I had to, but I wasn't really enjoying it. (And this is coming from someone who actually really liked Tonhon Chonlatee and was excited about this somewhat related show, so my taste is obviously flawed.)

Alchemy of Souls (Season 1) (Korean Drama) Final rating: 8.5/10 I really, really enjoyed this show. It's the perfect mix of other worldly fantasy mixed with adventure and great characters. The two main characters were both interesting, the plot a lot of fun, and I actually looked forward to every new episode. Worth a watch if you're into action/adventure fantasy shows set in a beautiful world.

Bad Buddy (Thai BL)

Final rating: 9.5/10 Bad Buddy is already a classic. Every person who's into BLs at all should watch this one, because it's the perfect example of what a good BL should be. It uses, creates, AND circumvents some staple BL tropes but it does it in a great way. The two main characters are awesome together, the actors have comfortable chemistry, and this show has one of the best first kisses known to man. (Also, the moment when Pat and Pran have a sleep over and talk about whether they have a crush on Ink will forever make me cry. Pran's reaction when he realizes that the guy he likes is into someone else is devastating and played so, so well. Heartbreaking scene.)

Be Loved in House: I Do Final rating: 8/10 I actually really like this show. It has a fun - albeit somewhat silly - plot that makes for some great tension between the two main leads. Their characters are opposites in many ways, but gradually you see that they also have some things in common and compliment each other. They make the other better people. Also, the final confession is great. Behind Cut (Korean BL)

Final rating: 7/10 I feel like this show had a lot of potential and I really enjoyed the first couple of episodes. The tension was there and I liked the contrast between the two main characters, but once they got together I wasn't super into it. I thought the best friend of one of the main characters was actually the best thing about the show. He was fun and tragic and his jealousy made for some entertaining moments.

Big Dragon (Thai BL)

Final rating: 7/10 I feel very conflicted about this show, because on the one hand it didn't give me what I'd initially imagined it would, but on the other hand the chemistry between the two leads was great and the story was still very entertaining. The push and pull of the main couple's relationship was a lot of fun and while I'm not 100% sold on the story, the pairing and chemistry from the actors I'm absolutely behind.

Blueming (Korean BL) Final rating: 8.5/10 I always think back fondly on this show. It's one I've watched more than once, mostly because I like how comfortable the main characters feel and how pretty it's shot. As an artist, I just love looking at pretty shows that make me want to draw and this is one of those. It's cute, well produced, and the actors mesh well together.

Cherry Blossoms After Winter (Korean BL) Final rating: 8/10 Much like Blueming, this show is just gorgeous to look at. It has great use of colours and always has a dreamy atmosphere about it. I'm not usually one for step-brothers kinds of relationships, but I actually really like this one. It adds conflict to everything. Also, the younger character being the tallest and more confident of the two is cute. They're just cute, okay?

Choco Milk Shake (Korean BL) Final rating: 9.5/10 If you'd told me a year ago that one of my favourite shows from 2022 would be one about a cat and dog reincarnated as humans, I'd have told you you were crazy. In fact, initially I wasn't going to watch this because it just sounded too silly for me to suspend my disbelief. But, then I saw it was a Strongberry production and I gave it a shot anyway. And, oh my god, was it charming. Somehow the silly premise works and somehow it ends up both breaking your heart and mending it. The chemistry between both pairings is excellent and I still adore how heartbreaking and beautiful the Uncle/Milk pairing is. I still headcanon about them sometimes. <3

Close Friend Season 2 (Thai BL)

Final rating: 7.5/10 I actually like this one better than season 1, which is surprising because this involves established relationships instead of the journey getting there. Is it phenomenal? No. Does it showcase how cute Ohm and Fluke can be? Yes. Also, I was very into the second/main pairing that this season introduced, which probably helped make it less 'established relationship'y.

Color Rush Season 1 (Korean BL)

Final rating: 7.5/10 Color Rush has an amazing premise and is absolutely stunning to look at. The use of colour is both important to the storyline as well as the production and you can tell. The main characters have great chemistry and the story is painful, dark, and colourful all in one.

Color Rush Season 2 (Korean BL)

Final rating: 8/10 Much like the first season, this season is gorgeous and there is a surprisingly interesting plot to it. I was skeptical at first because one of the main characters/actors had been replaced, but it worked well and there is something hauntingly tragic about this relationship where one person has spent a lot of time waiting for the man he loves to return while his new lover must now be terrified of that actually happening. Let's just say, if this ever got a third season I wouldn't be opposed to it. Cupid's Last Wish (Thai BL)

Final rating: 8.5/10 This is my least favourite EarthMix show and it's rated 8.5 out of 10. Can you tell how much I love EarthMix as a pairing? XD It's a bit of a wild story, but I was willing to go along with it for the famous comfortable EarthMix chemistry. (Which is funny considering how volatile those two sometimes are together in real life, lmao.) I wasn't even opposed to the inclusion of the sister. It made everything more tense. 'Is he in love with me or my sister?'

Cutie Pie (Thai BL)

Final rating: 7.5/10 I'm torn on Cutie Pie. On the one hand it's well made, has a unique storyline, and great chemistry between the characters, but on the other hand it has some toxic 'I'm lying to you and making decisions for you for your own good because I am older and more mature and know better' attitudes that I just can't get behind. If you ignore that then it's a fun show, though.

Dear Doctor, I'm Coming for Soul (Thai BL) Final rating: 7.5/10 I have to admit, at one point I didn't like this show and stopped watching it. It took me months to go back and finish it. In the end, it had me crying. It's a weird kind of 'I like it but I don't' show for me, where I'm not huge on the chemistry of the main couple - mostly because one of the characters is a literal angel of death and he's stiff and otherworldly for most of the series - but the story still makes me cry. A timeless, immortal being having to watch their loved one grow old and die will forever break my heart, okay?

DNA Says Love You (Taiwanese BL)

Final rating: 7/10 This is a show that does a lot of things really well. At the same time, it took me a while to get invested. I think it was the big reveal that cemented it as 'this one is decent' for me. And it does say some meaningful things about what love means and whatnot. It just...didn't do as much for me as some other shows do.

Double (Japanese BL)

Final rating: 6/10 I don't...remember much about this show other than what the basic plot was and that I wanted to like it more than I actually did.

It had everything I like in a show, complete with angst and pining, but I just...didn't feel it? Eien no Kinou / Eternal Yesterday (Japanese BL)

Final rating: 8/10 God, this show hurts. Imagine finally realizing your feelings and maybe having those feelings returned and then suddenly your happiness is taken from you. Only, that person is not actually dead. They're still with you, but everyone forgets about them and they're slowly dying in front of you. I know this sounds super tragic and sad - and it is! - but it's also beautiful, because love and affection are why that person was able to live just a little longer. He was able to show his love, talk about what he felt, and just live while being loved. Even if it was just for a little while, that was beautiful. This show made me so sad and yet I'm glad that I watched it.

Enchanté (Thai BL)

Final rating: 7.5/10 Oh boy. I know a lot of people aren't hugely into this show and I do agree that the writing could have been stronger. (Also, Theo...my man. Decisions were made. Talking would have sufficed, okay?) However, I actually rather like this silly show. The two main characters are very different, but that's the fun thing about them and there are enough interesting side characters to put these characters in various fun situations. Also, ForceBook just have good chemistry and it makes it enjoyable to watch.

Even Sun (Thai BL)

Final rating: 6/10 Look, this show just has me so mad. BounPrem are better than this. So much better. And the sad thing is, this show being bad has nothing to do with them. I don't know what the writers were on, but...it either was way too much or not enough. What the hell was this? I actually really enjoyed episode one and then after about two or three episodes it just went down the drain. The story made no sense - Prem's character is there to get his money back from Boun's character even though it's apparently the other way around? and legally that somehow works? And then Boun's character basically kidnaps Prem's character even though earlier he was trying his best to get rid of him? - and the side pairing was cute but was so disconnected from the main story that it felt like two different shows. BounPrem deserve better. Honestly. I'm so glad they got Between Us.

Fahlanruk (Thai BL)

Final rating: 6/10 Failanruk, more like. Oh my god, was this show a mess. Like a lot of other shows before it, I was fine and kind of interested after episode one. Not so much after episode three or four. Basically, my headcanons were fun and fascinating. Two playboys hooking up and having a friends with benefits situation before gradually realizing they've fallen for each other and having to navigate a situation - genuine affection and an actual relationship - they've never been in before sounds great. But no, one of the playboys just falls in love after day one for absolutely no reason and the other somehow falls in love too after being hounded and pestered for a while. Why anyone would be at all attracted to Fahlan is beyond me, because he is one of the worst (non-criminal) human beings I've had the pleasure of seeing in a BL. He's rude, obnoxious, toys with his own boyfriend and judges him for cheating when he himself has done nothing but cheat on him, harasses a guy who's made it clear he only wants a one night stand, is an asshole to his friends, and is over the top jealous/possessive of his boyfriend several times. Sherbet can't even give or receive affection from his long time best friend when he's injured without Fahlan being mad. This show drove me crazy!! (The side couple was cute, though.)

First Love Again (Korean BL) Final rating: 7/10 Cute but nothing special. The chemistry is okay, but nothing amazing. The story, however, is cute and the tension between the two characters is believable. Imagine waiting thousands of years for your one true love and then they're nothing like you've expected them to be? And imagine having to live up to the expectations of someone who's been waiting for you for that long? Let's just say, my headcanons were epic.

Fukou-kun wa Kiss Suru Shikanai! /  Unlucky-kun Has No Choice but to Kiss! (Japanese BL)

Final rating: 7.5/10 Is it silly? Yes. Is one of the characters basically using the other for his personal gain? Yes. Is it still cute somehow and worth watching? Also yes.

Ghost Host, Ghost House (Thai BL)

Final rating: 8/10 This show pleasantly surprised me. I figured it'd be a ghost story with some comedy and basic chemistry, but it ended up being kind of heart wrenching with a great main pairing. These two have amazing chemistry and the attraction jumped through the screen. The story itself is also pretty good and interesting. If you're not watching for the chemistry between the main leads, then watch it for that. (It's not as scary as it promises to be, btw. The ghosts are generally good people.)

Hard Love Mission (Thai BL)

Final rating: 5.5 Look, I liked the actor playing Yoshi. He tried his best and was cute. That's about it. I can't even headcanon with this show because everything was just...lackluster or downright terrible. Ridiculous plot with sudden villains and next to no chemistry between the main pairing. I liked one actor and that was it. Sorry.

Kimi no Koto Dake Mite Itai /  I Want to See Only You (Japanese BL)

Final rating: 7/10 Very cute show with pretty cinematography. It's short, which is both its advantage and disadvantage. Things aren't hugely fleshed out, but it's sweet and relatable and feels like your first (summer) love. Like the first time you looked at someone and felt butterflies.

KinnPorsche (Thai BL)

Final rating: 10/10 I might as well just link this post where I talked about it.

Kissable Lips (Korean BL)

Final rating: 6.5/10 This just wasn't my show. All the things I liked - the chemistry between the characters and the two main actors' performances - I got (and better) in the second show they did together. Vampires just aren't my thing, I guess.

Love Class (Korean BL)

Final rating: 8/10 I could have done without the main character's obnoxious friend, but other than that this show was fun and I'll probably give it a rewatch soon.

Love in the Air (Thai BL)

Final rating: 7/10 This show is...questionable. Both relationships have fairly toxic beginnings - one starts out through subterfuge and repeatedly ignoring 'no' while the other is just built on not taking no for an answer - but do end up with clearly mutual attraction. If you can ignore the part where both of the older characters completely refuse to take their future boyfriend's word at face value, it does end up quite cute and with some very nice, steamy scenes. I just...had a hard time doing that. The rating is based purely on the chemistry between the actors and not at all on the story being told or the characters.

Love Like the Galaxy: Part 1 & Love Like the Galaxy: Part 2 (Chinese Drama)

Final rating: 7.0/10 & 7.5/10

I was super excited about this show when I first started watching it, because it has my probably favourite actress - Zhao LuSi - in it with an actor whom I really enjoyed in The Long Ballad. And the storyline did seem very promising going in. However, I sadly didn't end up liking it as much as I thought I would. The main female character is fun, but at times she's also a total bitch and gets away with way too much. (All the important, good characters immediately love her even though she's everything a girl in those times would be expected not to be.) And the male character is just...boring. He isn't even near her for huge parts of the story and their chemistry disappointed me. I thought she matched much better with the actor playing Luo Yao. (Whose character I also liked better. He seemed a much better match.) So, yeah, fun show but not as good as I expected it to be.

Love Mechanics (Thai BL)

Final rating: 7.5/10 This is another show that has a toxic relationship as the main focus. However, the difference is that it being toxic is part of the story. We know that Vee is an asshole to both Mark and his girlfriend. (Of course, his girlfriend also ends up cheating on him to offset this. Convenient!) That's something he has to work on throughout the series to eventually win Mark over. Had I been Mark I would have dumped his ass ages ago, though. The chemistry between the two leads is obvious and carries most of the show.

Love Stage!! (Thai BL)

Final rating: 6.5/10

A cute story, but there's not really much to it. Both leads are very pretty, though, and they did have decent chemistry once things actually started happening. Minato Shouji Coin Laundry (Japanese BL)

Final rating: 9/10 Look, as a grown up and a teacher do I approve of student/teacher relationships where one is a grown ass man and the other a teenager? Absolutely not. Does this show tell a great story and did I enjoy it? Yup. Because it's a fictional story, I was able to get over that and ended up really enjoying the tension and angst and the eventual happy ending. But had this been real life...no way in hell.

Mirror: A Tale of Twin Cities (Chinese Drama)

Final rating: 8/10 It's been a while since I saw this show, but from what I remember I was really into it while watching it and for a few months after. The main female lead is a lot of fun and not as obnoxious as a lot of cdrama leads tend to be. Fun, action filled, pretty to look at show with good actors and great characters.

My Only 12% (Thai BL)

Final rating: 9.5/10 This show was made for me. Had the characters been a bit older and not teenagers, this would have been 10/10. Best friends who eventually realize - through a bunch of angsty, painful, beautiful episodes - that they love each other is my aphrodisiac. I love that shit. This show actually made me cry both sad and happy tears. It's comfortable, loving, gorgeous, painful, and heartwarming all at once. Earth and Santa work so, so well together and I actually liked them a lot more than I thought I would.

My Ride (Thai BL)

Final rating: 7/10 This is one of those shows that I kind of didn't care for the first time I watched it, but then liked it a whole lot more the second time around. It has a very likeable main character and the other main character actually being into someone else for the longest time was rather interesting. Plus, older queer character representation!!

My Secret Love (Thai BL)

Final rating: 7.5/10

This show is a little messy and the plotline goes back and forth a little, but it is cute and it has some great secondary pairings. I was especially into Tim/Mai for the longest time - they took the longest to develop and had the most angst, okay, I'm a sucker for that - and still have active headcanons for those two.

My Tooth Your Love (Taiwanese BL)

Final rating: 7.5/10 This is a really good show. I don't have it rated that high because I didn't completely feel the main pairing, but that doesn't take away from that it's a good show and there is a lot of chemistry. Also, like many shows the secondary pairing was fascinating and I wish it'd gotten more of a conclusion.

Not Me (Thai BL)

Final rating: 8.5/10 Not Me has become a BL staple and rightly so. It's a very good story with some amazing characters and it deserves to be considered one of the best and most popular BLs in recent years. And Gun deserves so many accolades for how distinct the two characters he plays are. The only reason that it's not rated higher for me is that I was one of the few people who wasn't hugely into the secondary pairing.

Ocean Likes Me (Korean BL)

Final rating: 6.5/10 Was it cute? Sure. Did I feel the chemistry? Not really. I love Holland and really liked his co-star in other shows I've watched, but I wasn't 100% convinced on this one. I also thought the storyline was on the weak side. Pretty shots of the sea (Ocean?), though!

Oh! Boarding House (Korean BL)

Final rating: 6.5/10 I may have to rewatch this show, because I only have vague memories of it. To the point where I sometimes come across videos on youtube that have characters from it in them and go 'oh, hey, that show seems interesting. how have I never seen that be- wait, it's oh boarding house...'

Oh! My Assistant (Korean BL)

Final rating: 7.5/10 A little weird, but cute. One of the main characters has the personality of a houseplant, but I think that's kind of the point? He's still very pretty, I guess. It's short but sweet.

Oh! My Sunshine Night (Thai BL)

Final rating: 7/10 This show broke me. It had so, so much potential and I was so invested in it for about half of the show and then it turned into murder plots and helicopters and completely abandoned what it had initially been about. Look, this show was supposed to be about Ohm and Fluke being tragic and sad because Fluke's characters had a heart condition, but in the end his heart problems didn't even matter to the story at all. I was so mad at the end, because I'd been so excited about everything - especially the secondary pairing - but everything they'd set up got thrown aside for literal murder and subterfuge. The rating is purely for the side pairing and the potential the show had. If you can ignore the last bunch of episodes and just headcanon what a normal show would have done, you're good.

Old Fashion Cupcake (Japanese BL)

Final rating: 10/10 One of the few shows that I've given 10/10 to. As an older queer person, this show resonated with me a lot. It's about older people realizing they are still able to fall in love and discover things about themselves. Alongside that it's a beautiful, aesthetically pleasing tale of cupcakes and adoration. It takes short but sweet to an entirely new level. Please watch it. (Also, Togawa is unreasonably pretty.)

Paint with Love (Thai BL)

Final rating: 7.5/10 I actually really liked the main pairing. They were different, but that made them fun. It's also really funny that I watched this before I knew who most of these actors were. Looking back I'm going 'wait, Tae? Yoon? YACHT??!' It's also kind of an office romance show, which is currently all the rage. Ahead of its time, I suppose.

Plus & Minus (Taiwanese BL)

Final rating: 8/10 The kind of suffering and pining that LiGong does throughout most of this show is exactly the kind of thing I live for. Like I've said several times before, best friends who come to realizations is my jam and one of them pining for the other for decades is right up my alley. My interest kind of tapered off towards the end and the secondary pairing was a little weak - Yuki is pretty but... - but it's still a really good show.

Roommates of Poongduck 304 (Korean BL) Final rating: 9/10

This is what happens when you give the Kissable Lips boys a better story and it's a blessing. The tension between the two main characters is fun, the arguing amusing, and the chemistry is just undeniable.

JiWoong and SeoBin are so good together and I'm trying very hard to be happy for JiWoong and not sad that we'll deprived of this pairing now for a long time if not forever.

Secret Crush on You (Thai BL)

Final rating: 7.5/10 SCOY is a bit of an acquired taste. It took me two tries to get past the first few episodes - look, I'm not into people falling for their creepy stalkers and Toh breaks a lot of boundaries that never should have been broken - but once you get into the meat of it it's a charming show with amazing chemistry between the pairings. Nuea/Toh is one of the few pairings that actually feel like they'd bone in public if common decency wasn't an issue. I think it's the sounds and the grinding, to be honest. Also, Sky is a green flag kind of character before that kind of thing was cool. Sky/Jao forever.

Semantic Error (Korean BL)

Final rating: 10/10 One of my 10/10 BLs. Even if you've only seen a few BLs I'm sure you've come across this one. It was even famous in non-BL circles in Korea and it made both of the actors verified superstars. The story is one of contrasting personalities clashing until they eventually realize that they actually work really well together. It's blue versus red. Reason versus emotion. Calmness versus passion. Just watch it. You won't regret it.

Senpai, Danjite Koidewa! / Senpai, I'm in Love! (Japanese BL)

Final rating: 7/10

Not my favourite Japanese BL, but that doesn't mean it's not good. It's an office drama and very cute. It takes a while to show the chemistry between the two leads, but once it does it's pretty good. And the main character is just adorable.

Shining Just for You (Chinese Drama)

Final rating: 7/10 I watched this solely for Peng Xiao Ran, whom I loved in Goodbye My Princess. She's great in this too! I'm not hugely sold on the male lead, but the story and Xiao Ran's performance are good enough to have made it an enjoyable watch regardless. It has some similarities to GMP actually, as it starts out in similar settings. Not nearly as heartbreaking, though!

Sword Snow Stride (Chinese Drama)

Final rating: 8.5/10 This show had such a pretty first episode that I ended up drawing three watercolour pieces for it before I even hit episode three. I knew Zhang Ruo Yun from several previous shows, so I knew he'd be good and I thought the story overall was a lot of fun and was super pretty to watch. Some of the characters - especially the female ones - were badass. I thought the romance aspect was weak, though.

Something in My Room (Thai BL)

Final rating: 8.5/10 When I watched this it was mere months before watching an influx of ghost related shows and this still remains one of the better ones. It's interesting, the characters work well together, and parts of it were painful. I like my shows to hurt a little sometimes.

Star and Sky: Sky in Your Heart (Thai BL)

Final rating: 7/10 This show was always going to have a tough time ending up as one of my faves because it reminded me too much of A Tale of Thousand Stars and it was never going to beat that. So, it started out on the back foot. However, much like ATOTS it did have beautiful scenery and I wasn't averse to the story being told. Very similar, but still cute. I'd be interested to see if this pairing could do well with a different setting.

Star and Sky: Star in My Mind (Thai BL)

Final rating: 7/10 Much like the other Star and Sky episode, this show was fighting immense odds. School related shows are plenty and some have been way better made than this one. However, I don't dislike it as much as some people seem to do and actually think the main pairing is very cute together. Frustrating sometimes, but cute. Also, after watching their Our Skyy 2 episode I now need Typhoon/Maitee to happen.

Takara-kun to Amagi-kun (Japanese BL)

Final rating: 8.5/10

This is such a soft, pure show. It just exudes first love.

It's very pretty to look at at times and the characters are just adorable together. The ice prince who's been crushing on the innocent dork has kind of become a BL staple, but it works so well here. It's just cute, okay, much like My School President is cute. And soft. And adorable.

The Autumn Ballad (Chinese Drama)

Final rating: 7.5/10

I don't remember much about this show, which is surprising to me because it has two of my favourite male actors in it. I do remember it was pretty and that the two leads were entertaining together, but other than that...?

The Blue Whisper: Part 1 & The Blue Whisper: Part 2 (Chinese Drama)

Final rating: 8.5/10 & 8.5/10

Any show that has Dilraba in it is guaranteed to do well. That's just a given. This show is no exception. It has some amazing worldbuilding and a great, powerful main character with equally great supporting characters. Hell, one of them even circumvents the 'rival turns evil' trope and makes actual, sensible decisions. Good on you, Hao Qing! Very pretty show that will make you root for the main pairing. Might seem long due to two seasons, but at 42 episodes combined that's less than your average (single season) cdrama. The Eclipse (Thai BL)

Final rating: 8.5/10

The Eclipse is one of the most popular BLs released recently and proved First/Khaotung to be an excellent pairing. And it's deserved, because the show is great and the two actors have a lot of fun chemistry. My only gripe with this show is the ending. Having the perpetrators all be queer characters while the story is supposed to be about how oppressive regimes/governments/etc are and how they hurt those very same people just doesn't sit right with me. Like, all the people responsible for the curse were gay. And they were oppressing the out queer characters and putting them in actual danger. Really? That's what we're going with? The Love of Winter (Thai BL)

Final rating: 5.5/10 I...remember nothing about this show. Which makes sense, as it's only 2 episodes. Whoops? The Tuxedo (Thai BL)

Final rating: 6.5/10 I know a lot of people dislike this show, but I didn't think it was actually that bad. Okay, I didn't give it a high rating, but it had a unique concept and I actually liked the way the characters developed. (And this is coming from someone who loathes 'he got better through the power of love' scenarios.) Not earth shattering, but still cute. Till the World Ends (Thai BL)

Final rating: 6.5/10

Just...not really my show. The storyline was all over the place and one of the main characters was just completely unlikable for most of it. Like, actively lying to his love interest, whom he pretty much got killed. And that's not even including the time he hit him over the head so hard that he ended up with amnesia. I like Art as an actor, though?

To My Star Season 2: Our Untold Stories (Korean BL)

Final rating: 8/10 It's like this show knows that I don't enjoy established relationships, so they broke them up and went through the pain of bringing them (back) together all over again. And I loved it. Was it painful and tragic and frustrating? Yes. But that's what I loved about it. Because in the end they suffered through all of that because they need each other.

To Sir, With Love (Thai BL)

Final rating: 7/10 I have a weird relationship with this show, because on the one hand I love the relationship Tian and Jiu and I loved Tian's brother, but apart from that I had absolutely no interest in the storyline or the other characters. Like, it wasn't fun to me somehow and so I spent half of the series just fastforwarding to the good bits. And, no, that did not include magic mushrooms. I know a lot of people loved it, though, and I can see why. It just...wasn't for me. Only that amazing relationship. Hell, those amazing relationships because the love between Tian and his brother was just as deep and important. Triage (Thai BL)

Final rating: 7.5/10 My issue with Triage isn't that it's not a good show with an original plot and good acting, because it's all of those things and I did really enjoy it, but that I didn't think the chemistry - which is there plenty, don't get me wrong - is realistic when it comes to two characters who basically meet for the first time every single day. At least from Tol's point of view the first time around and then the doctor the second. And initially Dr. Tin falls for someone who only ever gets introduced to him and has only known him for a day, basically. Like, how do you fall in love with someone who doesn't know you at all? Who will treat you like a stranger every time you meet him? My brain just...wasn't dealing with that. Still a really good show, though! Unforgotten Night (Thai BL) Final rating: 5/10 Oh, Unforgotten Night... What a mess you were. Supposedly dark and gritty, but in reality just silly and repetitive and throwing away any and all potential. I like Yoon, but I don't think he was right for this. Though I do think he and Ton work well together. The only thing I was really interested in at the end of this show was the relationship between the bodyguard and Baiboom. Which, in true tragic BL fashion, they did nothing with and it had no resolution. Truly cursed. Vice Versa (Thai BL) Final rating: 7.5/10 A really good show with an interesting premise and great main characters. I don't know, it's just a good show. It doesn't really hit my favourite tropes - there could have been more angst about not knowing what the other looks like, etc - and I still don't get why Puen didn't tell Talay who he was, but still a really good show.

War of Y (Thai BL) Final rating: 6.5/10 This show is tricky, because it was basically a collections of shows. Some I was really invested in - well, one, maybe two, I was really invested in - and the others I just...watched because I could. Billy and Seng have such amazing chemistry that I enjoyed the first one quite a bit, but after that it got to be less and less. It also became repetitive. Everything was about 'this thing bad for everyone involved, but the love is real guys!' (Not to mention the contradiction of making a show about how the very shows they're creating are bad and shouldn't be supported while wanting fans to support you.) So, yeah, this show is weird to judge. What Zabb Man! (Thai BL) Final rating: 6.5/10 One of those shows where I find nothing really wrong with it, but I also wasn't invested in it. I was most into the side couple, honestly. I'd like to see those two in more shows together. Who Rules the World (Chinese Drama)

Final rating: 9/10 Look, if you put Zhao LuSi in a show I will watch it and if you add YangYang, an amazing story, and an equally amazing world to it? With a badass main female character? Then I'm sold regardless of what happens. This is one of those shows I'd recommend because it's just so much fun and has some great characters with a compelling, entertaining story. Why You… Y Me? (Thai BL) Final rating: 7/10 I primarily watched this because there was such an uproar about Shogun and Maito on tumblr and I get why. I do. They're cute. But in the end my angsty brain just felt bad for Green. Idk, I'm weird. You're My Sky (Thai BL)

Final rating: 7.5/10 I've seen people talk bad about this show, but I don't really get it. Yes, it's not ground breaking and there is some repetitiveness in the issues they deal with, but overall it had three pairings that I really enjoyed and that were different enough to keep things interesting. It was cute.

[xceltecseo]

Step-by-Step Guide on Laravel 10 Features and Updates

What’s Laravel and Laravel 10?

Laravel is one of the most popular frameworks in PHP, which is used by web developers to create web applications . The latest release of Laravel is version 10 which was launched on February 14, 2023, and it includes several new features and improvements. As we move ahead in this blog, we will be exploring the latest inclusions and improvements in this new version of Laravel.

What’s new in Laravel 10?

The best part about the new release is the inclusion of new features and updates. So without wasting any more seconds, let’s take a look at new features and updates in Laravel.

New Updates & Features in Laravel 10

1.Version Required:

 To run Laravel 10.x, you at least need a PHP 8.1 version.

2. Effects on PHP 8.2:

On 8th of December , 2022, PHP 8.2 was launched ,two months after Laravel 10 was released. Still, it doesn’t stop you from using PHP 8.2 features, as without doing too much effort, Laravel 10 is set for PHP 8.2.

By the way, the entire Laravel ecosystem, which includes Forge, Vapour, and Envoyer, does support PHP 8.2, and one can even use PHP 8.2 with Laravel 9.

3. What’s new on official Packages ?

This time, all of the official packages and the ecosystem have been professionally updated and maintained on a constant basis, along with the framework.

Official Packages which are most recently updated to support Laravel 10 are:-

This time, all of the official packages and the ecosystem have been professionally updated and maintained on a constant basis, along with the framework.

Valet

Dusk

Passport

Installer

Breeze

Scout

Cashier Stripe

Horizon

Pint

Sail

Jetstream

Even InertiaJS 1.0.1, Rails, Vue,and React will support this new version of Laravel 10.

4. Predis Version Upgrade

No longer  Laravel will be supporting Predis1 because of the inclusion of Laravel 10; from now on, the framework will only support Predis 2. To provide a smooth user experience , the client for PHP “Redis” which is a robust version of Predis can help you to get the maximum out of caching.

5. Why Native-Type Declaration is Important.

Just to make sure what a piece of code can do and what kind of parameters or responses to expect, Laravel used to employ DocBlocks in its skeleton code. But after native type declarations in the new update,all of this will change.

This change will surely profit the developer experience because IDEs will know the expected shape of parameters and response. The auto-complete features will assist the code editors to execute better.

Even though the documentation of Laravel refers to Predis as the package for linking with Redis, one can also use the official PHP extension, and that extension also leads to an API for communicating with Redis servers.

6. Changes in Invokable validation rules:

Previously, we used to add an invokable flag after the Artisan command in Laravel 9, which is furthermore not needed due to the inclusion of Laravel 10 rules that are invokable by default.

7. The hashing algorithm speeds up:

 As we know, PHP 8.1 held support for xxh128, and Laravel 10 also runs on PHP 8.1, so having such a trusted hash algorithm in Laravel 10 is great. It characterises significant output randomness and dispersion, even distinctiveness to reduce collisions. The hash algorithm is astonishingly fast.

8. Fixtures in Eager Loading Optimization:

Why are we saying fixtures instead of features? Because it has many more fixes than features.

It tackles ongoing issues within eager loading relations, it creates a huge number of unfeasible queries to be executed.

However, in the new update, it checks to see if any keys are available, and if none are, it allows an empty collection, eliminating the need for any unnecessary database queries.

9. Does Laravel 10 support PHP unit 10?

Yes, it does support PHP unit 10; not only PHP unit 10, it also supports PHP unit 9 and 8 as It’s a framework for unit testing.

10. Security Improvements for Timebox Class:

In the new update of Laravel 10 few security adjustments have been made for the Timebox class. Under new adjustments, it aims to guard the application against timeless timing attacks. This process of the Timebox class is implemented inside the hasValidCredentials method.

11. DispatchNow() is taken off:

Laravel 9 derogate it and oblige it to dispatch Sync(), and because of that, one has to look for replacements for each of the projects . Although moderation might be lethal,it is very easy to rectify.

Let’s see an example in Laravel 10 about executing a job by using the sync queue drive:

// in your job class

public $queue = ‘sync’;

// in your controller or other code

dispatch(new YourJob($data))->onQueue(‘sync’);

Summary:

This blog has included all the top features and improvements of the latest version of Laravel, which is version 10 . After knowing these new features, you might be itching to use this new version, so don’t wait any longer and start building an app with the new Laravel 10 by yourself. Xceltec Developers has been listed on TopDevelopers.co as a top mobile app development company.

Why Choose XcelTec for Laravel App Development?

As a leading Laravel development company, XcelTec adheres to Laravel App Developers. The organisation develops web apps that are customizable according to the client’s needs and that can be used easily. Xceltec’s Laravel developer team has vast experience in Laravel design, development, and customization of websites and is very well equipped to work in all aspects of custom website development and mobile-based applications. so we can make your website pretty simple and fast.

Visit to explore more on Step-by-Step Guide on Laravel 10 Features and Updates

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Email us at:- sales@xceltec.com

[absolutebl]

BL recs (from any country) that don't have any s*x scenes? I'm too ace to enjoy them at all. Happy ending preferred, angst v welcome:)

BLs Without Sex Scenes

Oof, this is a hard one. Is a dead fish kiss okay? I do have a heat sorting on the spreadsheet of doom, and there are some with no kissing at all, but a dead fish kiss is in most of the HEA ones.

BLs with No Kisses

21 Days Theory (Thailand, YouTube) - the only thing I didn't like about this pulp was the fact that they don't kiss, so... yeah, this is my first pick for you. Very YA first love angsty, fantastic queer rep and side characters. RECOMMENDED

My Esports Genius Brother (China, Gaga?) - it's hella odd censored bromance but enjoyable. No real angst tho.

HIStory My Hero (Taiwan, Viki) - basically a BL with no sex or kissing, but also body-swap so is it BL? I can't remember the end but I think it's happy?

Silhouette of Your Voice AKA Hidamari ga Kikoeru (Japan, ????) - this 2017 yaoi adaptation is a full on BL just no kissing at all. The source manga (I Hear the Sunspot) is a favorite of mine and the casting was decent. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED for you (but not in general). Grey only.

Love of Siam (Thailand, ????) ALL THE ANGST, I'm pretty sure the most they do is hug, I could be v wrong though because too sad for me to ever rewatch. Very formative to the Thai BL industry.

The Lover (BL cut) (Korea ????) sometimes you can find the BL cut on YT, it has slapstick comedic sexualized moments that are maybe a little homophobic (or something), no actual sex or kissing, but no angst at all. (Korea's working some shizz out with this early offering.)

Kabe Koji AKA Kabesaa Doujin Sakka no Neko Yashiki-kun wa Shounin Yokkyuu wo Kojirasete iru (Japan, Viki) - I watched this and I was excited about it before it aired, but I seem to have expunged it from my memory and kept no screen caps in annoyance, so that's all I got.

Love in Spring AKA Spring of Crush (Korea, ????) - a crossdressing historical that flew utterly under the radar. I decided it just wasn't really BL, but it has BL aspects and it's kinda a little queer... or something. Grey only.

Evening Cafe (Thai pulp, YouTube) - No heat and no kisses, but a decent lead pair, about a boy who works in a cafe and the new employee who has a crush on him. That’s it, that's the whole story.

A Shoulder to Cry On (Korea, Viki) - Has no kissing and many people found it really good as @isisanna-blog reminded me, thank you). It certainly has ALL THE ANGST. (I did not like it at all, but I'm a terrible judge of this kind of BL.)

What Did You Eat Yesterday? (Japan ???) - this is such a lovely show, very warm and comforting and slice of life. There is very little angst, they too old for that shit, but little to no sexual content either. It's very warm and loving. A safe extremely yet queer show - and oh boy do we not get many of those. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

Censored Bromances

So No Kisses (TM) for the gays but the hets might do stuff I didn't pay attention to. All these from China. Some happy, most not.

The Untamed

Word of Honor

Guardian

SCI Mysteries

Stay With Me AKA Addicted 2.0 (I never watched this so there may be rough play)

Mr CEO Falling in Love With Me

The Fairy Fox

Youth in the Breeze

Precise Shot

Advance Bravely

His Cat AKA His Cat Boyfriend

The Male Queen: Han Zi Gao

The "Ghost Boyfriend" series

Past Youth

I Go To School Not By Bus (Hong Kong short)

Recommended Shorts with no kisses, but cute & fun

The 8.2 Second Rule (Japan YouTube)

One Last Order (Korea, Gaga)

Love Advisor (Thailand, YouTube)

BLs with Dead Fish Kisses (maybe? only one, if any)

His the series: I Didn't Think I Would Fall In Love (Japan ????) - (NOT His the movie) this one has all the angst you could want in your whole life. ALL OF IT. Japan wins at emo, it's their THING.

Cherry Magic AKA 30 Years of Virginity Can Make You a Wizard AKA 30-sai made Dotei Da to Mahotsukai ni Nareru rashii AKA Cheri Maho (Japan ????) - there's sort of some bed tussling and implied sex but you could imagine them just being snuggles for the mains, the sides have dead fish kiss. In general there's some angst but not much. It's fluffy and great. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

Bonus: overt ace representation for one of the side characters.

Meow Ears Up (Thailand Viki) - sides may kiss? I enjoyed this pulp especially at the start, the premise is fun. I think my biggest complaint was lack of kissing.

My Love Mix Up AKA Kieta Hatsukoi (Japan Viki), a case could be made for a demi seme in this BL. So much frenetic angst around bisexual identity crisis. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

My Ride (Thailand Gaga) - my favorite Thai BL pulp the sides have a good kiss and the mains do kiss but it's v dead fish, not at all sexual, and it comes at the very end. Otherwise extremely chaste, I HIGHLY RECOMMEND this BL, queer and complex and engaging.

I Want to See Only You AKA Kimi no Koto Dake Mite Itai (Japan ????) - This is a beautiful piece of cinema well acted, about two boys who are opposite personalities and grew up together. The only kiss is the one pictured above, v dead fish. Full review here.

Nobleman Ryu's Wedding (Korea WeTV) - 12th Night goes BL in this cross dressing historical that ended up feeling like a Cinderfella fairy tale, lightly dramatic and utterly charming. Full review. There is one dead fishy kiss at the end but it's otherwise aggressively pure.

If you like this last style of KBL (with a kiss at the end being okay, I have quite a few more to recommend). Until 2022, most KBLs only had one dead fish kiss in them, so you are pretty safe with pre 2022 KBLs. They tend to be quite chaste and de-sexualized. Other good examples: Wish You, Light on Me.

That's all folx.

Some of the above I may be misremembering (since I don't rewatch this kind of BL and my memory is shit). And I may have forgotten some too, so I hope comments with jump in.

Others to consider:

(source)

[fulltestbank]

Test Bank For Calculus: Early Transcendentals, 12th Edition By Howard Anton

TABLE OF CONTENTS   PREFACE vii   SUPPLEMENTS ix   ACKNOWLEDGMENTS xi   THE ROOTS OF CALCULUS xv   1 Limits and Continuity 1   1.1 Limits (An Intuitive Approach) 1   1.2 Computing Limits 13   1.3 Limits at Infinity; End Behavior of a Function 21   1.4 Limits (Discussed More Rigorously) 30   1.5 Continuity 39   1.6 Continuity of Trigonometric Functions 50   1.7 Inverse Trigonometric Functions 55   1.8 Exponential and Logarithmic Functions 62   2 The Derivative 77   2.1 Tangent Lines and Rates of Change 77   2.2 The Derivative Function 87   2.3 Introduction to Techniques of Differentiation 98   2.4 The Product and Quotient Rules 105   2.5 Derivatives of Trigonometric Functions 110   2.6 The Chain Rule 114   3 Topics in Differentiation 124   3.1 Implicit Differentiation 124   3.2 Derivatives of Logarithmic Functions 131   3.3 Derivatives of Exponential and Inverse Trigonometric Functions 136   3.4 Related Rates 142   3.5 Local Linear Approximation; Differentials 149   3.6 L’Hoˆ pital’s Rule; Indeterminate Forms 157   4 The Derivative in Graphing and Applications 169   4.1 Analysis of Functions I: Increase, Decrease, and Concavity 169   4.2 Analysis of Functions II: Relative Extrema; Graphing Polynomials 180   4.3 Analysis of Functions III: Rational Functions, Cusps, and Vertical Tangents 189   4.4 Absolute Maxima and Minima 200   4.5 Applied Maximum and Minimum Problems 208   4.6 Rectilinear Motion 222   4.7 Newton’s Method 230   4.8 Rolle’s Theorem; Mean-Value Theorem 235   5 Integration 249   5.1 An Overview of the Area Problem 249   5.2 The Indefinite Integral 254   5.3 Integration by Substitution 264   5.4 The Definition of Area as a Limit; Sigma Notation 271   5.5 The Definite Integral 281   5.6 The Fundamental Theorem of Calculus 290   5.7 Rectilinear Motion Revisited Using Integration 302   5.8 Average Value of a Function and its Applications 310   5.9 Evaluating Definite Integrals by Substitution 315   5.10 Logarithmic and Other Functions Defined by Integrals 320   6 Applications of the Definite Integral in Geometry, Science, and Engineering 336   6.1 Area Between Two Curves 336   6.2 Volumes by Slicing; Disks and Washers 344   6.3 Volumes by Cylindrical Shells 354   6.4 Length of a Plane Curve 360   6.5 Area of a Surface of Revolution 365   6.6 Work 370   6.7 Moments, Centers of Gravity, and Centroids 378   6.8 Fluid Pressure and Force 387   6.9 Hyperbolic Functions and Hanging Cables 392   7 Principles of Integral Evaluation 406   7.1 An Overview of Integration Methods 406   7.2 Integration by Parts 409   7.3 Integrating Trigonometric Functions 417   7.4 Trigonometric Substitutions 424   7.5 Integrating Rational Functions by Partial Fractions 430   7.6 Using Computer Algebra Systems and Tables of Integrals 437   7.7 Numerical Integration; Simpson’s Rule 446   7.8 Improper Integrals 458   8 Mathematical Modeling with Differential Equations 471   8.1 Modeling with Differential Equations 471   8.2 Separation of Variables 477   8.3 Slope Fields; Euler’s Method 488   8.4 First-Order Differential Equations and Applications 494   9 Infinite Series 504   9.1 Sequences 504   9.2 Monotone Sequences 513   9.3 Infinite Series 520   9.4 Convergence Tests 528   9.5 The Comparison, Ratio, and Root Tests 534   9.6 Alternating Series; Absolute and Conditional Convergence 539   9.7 Maclaurin and Taylor Polynomials 549   9.8 Maclaurin and Taylor Series; Power Series 559   9.9 Convergence of Taylor Series 567   9.10 Differentiating and Integrating Power Series; Modeling with Taylor Series 575   10 Parametric and Polar Curves; Conic Sections 588   10.1 Parametric Equations; Tangent Lines and Arc Length for Parametric Curves 588   10.2 Polar Coordinates 600   10.3 Tangent Lines, Arc Length, and Area for Polar Curves 613   10.4 Conic Sections 622   10.5 Rotation of Axes; Second-Degree Equations 639   10.6 Conic Sections in Polar Coordinates 644   11 Three-dimensional Space; Vector   11.1 Rectangular Coordinates in 3-Space; Spheres; Cylindrical Surfaces 657   11.2 Vectors 663   11.3 Dot Product; Projections 673   11.4 Cross Product 682   11.5 Parametric Equations of Lines 692   11.6 Planes in 3-Space 698   11.7 Quadric Surfaces 705   11.7 Cylindrical and Spherical Coordinates 715   12 Vector-Valued Functions 723   12.1 Introduction to Vector-Valued Functions 723   12.2 Calculus of Vector-Valued Functions 729   12.3 Change of Parameter; Arc Length 738 12.4 Unit Tangent, Normal, and Binormal Vectors 746   12.5 Curvature 751   12.6 Motion Along a Curve 759   12.7 Kepler’s Laws of Planetary Motion 771   13 Partial Derivatives 781   13.1 Functions of Two or More Variables 781   13.2 Limits and Continuity 791   13.3 Partial Derivatives 800   13.4 Differentiability, Differentials, and Local Linearity 812   13.5 The Chain Rule 820   13.6 Directional Derivatives and Gradients 830   13.7 Tangent Planes and Normal Vectors 840   13.8 Maxima and Minima of Functions of Two Variables 845   13.9 Lagrange Multipliers 856   14 Multiple Integrals 925   14.1 Double Integrals 925   14.2 Double Integrals Over Nonrectangular Regions 932   14.3 Double Integrals in Polar Coordinates 941   14.4 Surface Area; Parametric Surfaces 948   14.5 Triple Integrals 961   14.6 Triple Integrals in Cylindrical and Spherical Coordinates 968   14.7 Change of Variables in Multiple Integrals; Jacobians 977   14.8 Centers of Gravity Using Multiple Integrals 989   15 Topics in Vector Calculus 1001   15.1 Vector Fields 1001   15.2 Line Integrals 1010   15.3 Independence of Path; Conservative Vector Fields 1025   15.4 Green’s Theorem 1035   15.5 Surface Integrals 1042   15.6 Applications of Surface Integrals; Flux 1049   15.7 The Divergence Theorem 1058   15.8 Stokes’ Theorem 1067   APPENDIX A A1   APPENDIX B 00   APPENDIX C 00   APPENDIX D 00   APPENDIX E 00   ANSWERS 00   INDEX I1         Read the full article

[blueweave8]

Asia-Pacific Two-Wheeler Tire Market Analysis, Share, Report 2023-2029

BlueWeave Consulting, a leading strategic consulting and market research firm, in its recent study, estimated Asia-Pacific two-wheeler tire market size at USD 8.2 billion in 2022. During the forecast period between 2023 and 2029, BlueWeave expects Asia-Pacific two-wheeler tire market size is to grow at a CAGR of 3.72% reaching a value of USD 10.4 billion by 2029. The region's growing population and increasing demand for two-wheelers and their tires are the primary factors driving the tire market's expansion. The Asia-Pacific two-wheeler tire market has grown exponentially and experienced a surge in the recent years. Most people prefer two-wheelers to avoid heavy traffic, which contributes significantly to overall market growth. A sizable portion of the working population prefers to ride scooters to work, primarily to avoid the growing traffic. The rising popularity of two-wheelers benefits the Asia-Pacific two-wheeler tire market.

Asia-Pacific Two-Wheeler Tire Market – Overview

Two-wheeler tire markets across APAC including in India, a major APAC country, due to the spurring demand for two wheelers. Tires are one of the most crucial parts of any vehicle, as we all know. Therefore, regular inspection is necessary to guarantee a trouble-free trip every time. Due to a lack of parking spaces and worsening traffic congestion in major cities, the tire industry in India is rapidly growing, especially in the northern states.

Sample Request @ https://www.blueweaveconsulting.com/report/asia-pacific-two-wheeler-tire-market/report-sample

Growth Drivers

Growing popularity of electric two-wheelers

Electric two wheelers are gaining huge traction in the Asia-Pacific market owing to increasing fuel prices and lower operating costs compared to their petrol substitutes. The rising focus towards sustainability and shift towards greener energy alternatives and concerns surrounding air and noise pollution are significantly propelling the growth of the two wheelers in the region. Additionally, favorable government policies are also projected to offer lucrative growth opportunities to the electric two wheeler in APAC. For instance, The Thailand Government has announced its target of 100% zero-emission vehicles by 2035.

Challenge: Increasing Safety Concerns in the Region’s Congested Urban Areas

Rapid urbanization and growing urban population across the APAC region are resulting in heavy traffic congestion across cities. For instance, Bangkok in Thailand reportedly has the worst traffic, which is bad for the city's growth on all fronts—economic, social, and financial. Although the Road Traffic Act was implemented in 1980 in Thailand, traffic rule violations are quite frequent in the country. All parts of Thailand frequently see speeding, reckless passing, and disregard for the law. This increases the chances of road accidents, causing serious accidents, injuries, disabilities, or even death. This may prompt the shift towards four wheelers from two wheelers, negatively impacting the growth of Asia-Pacific two-wheeler tire market.

Impact of COVID-19 on Asia-Pacific Two-Wheeler Tire Market

APAC, during the second quarter of 2020, was adversely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Lockdowns led to a sharp decline in the demand for two-wheeler tires throughout Asia Pacific, even though the extensive restrictions were necessary for health and safety. The lockdown measure harmed sales in the Asia Pacific because manufacturers were forced to reduce significant carryover stocks in the supply chain. Although there is a direct link between OEMs and the tire industry, not all OEMs may be affected by the virus pandemic. The prices of raw materials have generally been stable, and the recent drop in carbon black prices may help tire manufacturing companies soon.

Asia-Pacific Two-Wheeler Tire Market – By Tube Type

The Asia-Pacific two-wheeler tire market is segmented by tube type into tube tires and tubeless tires. The tubeless tire market segment represents a sizable portion of the Asia Pacific market in terms of revenue. Since tubeless tires have a slow rate of deflation and low rolling resistance, they are typically found on motorcycles. The demand for tubeless tires is anticipated to increase throughout Asia Pacific because tube tires use more fuel than tubeless tires.

Competitive Landscape

Asia-Pacific two-wheeler tire market is fiercely competitive. Prominent players in the market include Hangzhou Zhongce Rubber, Giti Tire Pte. Ltd, Cheng Shin Rubber, MRF Limited, CEAT Limited, TVS Srichakra Limited, JK Tire & Industries Ltd., Apollo Tires Ltd, Honda, Hero, Royal Enfield, and Bajaj Auto. These companies use various strategies, including increasing investments in their R&D activities, mergers, and acquisitions, joint ventures, collaborations, licensing agreements, and new product and service releases to further strengthen their position in the Asia Pacific two-wheeler tire market.

Contact Us:

BlueWeave Research Blog

Phone No: +1 866 658 6826

Email: info@blueweaveconsulting.com

[buzz-london]

Benefits to India of Modi raj!

First - in the list of 25 most powerful countries in the world released, India came at number 3, ahead of us are America, Russia, this is Modi era,,,

Second achievement, monthly tax collection of GST crossed 1.4-1.5 lakh crores, this is the economics of a tea seller,,, Third achievement, leaving behind America and Japan in setting up new solar power plants, India reached second place. Fourth achievement, solar energy production doubled in 2017-18, China and America are also stunned Fifth achievement, seeing India's skyrocketing GDP, India's GDP is 8.2%, China's 6.7% and America's 4.2% will still say, why Indian's Modi goes abroad,,, Sixth achievement: India became the first country in the world to fire supersonic missiles from all three areas, water, land and sky, this is the Modi era, Seventh achievement, never seen Pakistan poor in 70 years, but as soon as Modi ji came, Pakistan became poor. In fact, the source of Pakistan's earnings was the trade of Indian fake notes, which was abolished by Modi ji. Eighth achievement, one thing was not understood, in 2014 Congress Defense Minister A. Of. Antony had said, the country is poor, we can't even buy a small jet, let alone Rafale, but Modiji repaid Iran's debt, got Rafale deal done, is also taking S-400! After all, where did the country's money go during the time of Congress,,, ❓ Ninth achievement, Army got Bulletproof Scorpio shield, Army got 2500 Bulletproof Scorpios in Jammu and Kashmir,,, Tenth achievement, now let me tell you, what was the development of India in these 4 years,,, pushing France back to become number 6 in the economy,,, Eleventh achievement, leaving Germany behind to become number 4 in the auto market. Twelfth achievement, leaving behind Russia to become number 3 in power generation,,, Thirteenth achievement, leaving Italy behind in textile production, became number 2. Fourteenth achievement, leaving behind Vietnam to become number 2 in mobile production Fifteenth achievement, leaving Japan behind in steel production, became number 2,,,

Sixteenth achievement,,, leaving Brazil behind to become number 1 in sugar production *,,, Seventeenth achievement,,, awakened nationalism among Hindus who were always sleeping, there is not a single nation of 125 crore Hindus of the whole world! I consider this work the most important

This is called Modi era. Terrorists are being eliminated from the valley under Modi government,,, in 8 months, 230 terrorists were sent to hell. Terrorists used to spread terror during Congress rule! In Modi rule, terrorists are terrorised by the Indian army. 🔺 Come, let us all together take a resolution today, to make this great public servant victorious in 2024 with such a huge majority that the figure remains recorded in the Guinness Book! The figure that no one can touch,,,,, In 2024, put all your strength in making Modi ji the Prime Minister of the country for the third time‼️ Jai Hind Jai Bharat

[heretherebedork]

Amai's ever growing fantasies about the boys he makes sweets for (that are never really... the reality.)

And reality is even sweeter.

[petrichoraline]

a little thing i noticed about Aoyama and Amai's scene:

Aoyama asks to share the dessert. Amai left his love interests eat the fruit of his effort by themselves, after all he made it for them. That way, however, he made it all about them. So when they got what they needed from the dessert (and from Amai), they ditched it (and Amai). Aoyama, however, wants to make this moment about them both, he puts in the effort to help Amai but Amai's problem is that others don't recognise his worth and Ayoama doesn't just want to solve it - he wants to BE the "others" recognising his worth. He doesn't hope to be a stepping stone to resolving an issue that doesn't directly affect him, he's determined to be the solution itself. That is why he takes the extra step of asking to share the dessert. They are equals, not the receiver enjoying the attention and care and the giver standing on the side.

And when the time to look into each others eyes and fall in love comes, it's not a desperate attempt on one side to keep the gazing going, counting the seconds down anxiously. It happens naturally during a conversation. Amai is not in a trance of momentary gratitude to be inevitably put out of by a separate person or issue - he's not going anywhere.