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stanjaaones · 3 years ago

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hilarycaollins · 3 years ago

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dinamicus · 4 years ago

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Thursday’s Child https://bowiesongs.wordpress.com/2014/01/21/thursdays-child/

One summer day some ten years ago, I was helping to paint a house. On the boombox was Best of Bowie: a long, chronological march from the beachhead of “Space Oddity,” with most songs met by indifference and occasional hums. The caressing synthesizers of “Thursday’s Child” began, and as Bowie started crooning, a fellow painter stopped mid-swipe and looked over at the CD player.

“What happened to that guy?” he said.

We’d made it through “Dancing In the Street” with a few chuckles and “Under the God” without comment. But “Thursday’s Child,” on that hot afternoon, sounded awful: treacly, gaspy, wan; the limp expiration of a career. When heard as the close of a sequence that runs through “Rebel Rebel,” “Ashes to Ashes,” “Modern Love” and “The Hearts Filthy Lesson,” “Thursday’s Child” sounds like a man falling down in the street, a hasty end scene tacked onto an overlong Act V. “I’m done with the future: here’s a song for your grandmother.” Dies, borne off stage right.

Sure, any slow, fragile-sounding number could’ve gotten a raspberry that day from our collection of young and recently-young NYC snobs. It’s not as if “Thursday’s Child” is an ill-constructed or poorly-sung track: if anything, it’s one of the few Bowie compositions of the period sturdy enough to withstand being a cover, whether a trumpet solo or a busker’s guitar piece (solo electric guitar interpretation by Jake Reichbart here). Its verse melody, a dance of mild leaps and modest falls, suits a lyric crafted for common use. In the verses, an older man regrets the paths he’s taken; in the choruses, he dares to hope a new love can give his life meaning. It’s Bowie’s “September Song.”

But “Thursday’s Child” wasn’t hip; it didn’t offer any pretense that it was—it sat in a comfortable present tense and stewed on the past. It felt genteel and a bit shabby. After a few years of running across stages in his bottle imp incarnation, after his stabs at industrial and jungle, after all the interviews about Damien Hirst and body scarifications and Millennial doom and Internet-as-cultural-dynamite, Bowie suddenly turned up as the sad clown again. He’d dusted off his Buster Keaton suit and reclaimed the shadow bloodline of his “rock” one: the Bowie of “When I Live My Dream” and “As The World Falls Down,” the cabaret and mime Bowie, the “light entertainment” regional thespian, the bedsit saddo, the Mod who worshiped Judy Garland and Eartha Kitt (see below).

The singer of “Thursday’s Child” is another of the Pierrots he’d played since the Sixties: a perpetual loser at love, like the glum figure of his “Be My Wife” promo. Take the Mr. Pitiful tone of the opening verse—

All of my life I’ve tried so hard doing the best with what I had: nothing much happened all the same…

—with its most desperate emphases (“best,” “hope”) cued to gloomy B minor chords, while the verse’s circular structure strands the singer back where he started, on an augmented E major (“breaking my life in two”). You can take the song as a straight-faced lament, as a quietly over-the-top spoof of the same, or both (it is Bowie, after all).

And while the chorus offers a hope of release from the cycle, its alternation of F# majors (“falling”) and F# minors (“really got,” “my past”) suggest the hope’s rather thin. The repetitions of “throw me tomorrow” start to feel desperate; Bowie’s “everything’s falling into place!” is someone trying to hypnotize himself. It’s as if Bowie’s answering Joni Mitchell:

It’s got me hoping for the future And worrying about the past

Ours was the most exciting show that had hit London since the war…I was glad that I was born in a part of the world that had been so well protected, but I was also ashamed of my protection. I carried guilt inside for being a privileged character when the rest of the world was being destroyed.

Eartha Kitt, Thursday’s Child, 1956.

This song, I might point out, is not actually about Eartha Kitt.

Bowie, 1999.

He’d taken the song’s title from Eartha Kitt, Bowie said upon introducing “Thursday’s Child” on VH1 Storytellers. Writing the song, he’d recalled the paperback cover of her first autobiography (“it just kind of bubbled up the other month”). It had been an erotic memory of his youth (that and D.H. Lawrence, he said).* Using Kitt as a starting point suited Hours’ theme of a middle-aged assessment of lost youth, a 50-year-old flipping through a box of mold-speckled records shipped from his childhood home (Ray Charles’ “Lucky Old Sun” —a man stuck in the middle of life and envying death—also gets a nod).

The title also plays with an old prediction rhyme—“Thursday’s child has far to go” (another variant is “Thursday’s child is merry and glad”)—that had come out of the ground somewhere in medieval England. The rhyme was a popular corruption of court astrology: Thursday was considered a day of great fortune as it was under the sway of Jupiter, kingpin of gods. The Book of Knowledge, by one Erra Pater (1745), notes a “child born on Thursday shall arrive to Great Honour and Dignity” (By contrast, David Robert Jones was born on a Wednesday “full of woe”).**

So the refrain of “Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday born, I was Thursday’s Child” was Bowie spading up his old occult interests, presenting them in anodyne forms: the little boxes tucked away on a newspaper’s comics page: horoscopes, birth stones, fortunes, lucky numbers (see “Seven”). It’s the “secret histories” of the Sixties reduced to syndicated copy; it’s another diminishing of unearthly power into ordinary life.

It’s also a clever way to cloud the lyric. What to make of the chorus kicker: “only for you I don’t regret/that I was Thursday’s child“? It’s at odds with the picture the singer’s painted so far: that he’s someone for whom little’s worked out, someone who’s estranged from everyday life yet firmly stuck within it (“He’s a teethgrinding, I’ll-get-this-job-done guy,” Bowie said of the narrator). (It’s also possible that, as Nicholas Pegg noted, Bowie’s referencing the VU’s “All Tomorrow’s Parties“: “For Thursday’s child is Sunday’s clown.“) But a Thursday’s child would be a lucky child: someone with pull, some who had far to go: a Kitt, or a Bowie.

Go back to Eartha Kitt for a moment. Born in South Carolina, she’d reinvented herself in the early Fifties as a nightclub goddess who’d seemingly flown in from the Continent; she played the seductress, the gold-digger with taste (“Santa Baby”) who captured men with her boxful of languages. She’d be cast in that role for the rest of her days: a life spent forever vamping. But what a role! As her biographer John L. Williams wrote of her performance of “Monotonous” in the film New Faces: Eartha is playing a character that’s almost unimaginable in reality [in 1954]: a black American woman who’s tasted all of the world’s delicacies and found them lacking…we wonder, who on earth is this woman? And how can she seem to be so indifferent to the laws and mores of her time? A question that could have been asked, with a gender change, about another performer in 1973.

So maybe the singer is someone like Kitt: not some teeth-grinding anonymous drone but a bright public figure, someone whose name everyone knows, someone to whom things seem have come easily. Doing the best with what I had becomes a modest boast; shuffling days and lonely nights are those of a stage life. Or maybe even the common life of an office drone is a stage life. Bowie had called himself “the Actor,” but in a way, we’re all actors.

Composed in Bermuda in late 1998, “Thursday’s Child” appears to have been mainly Bowie’s work, written on acoustic guitar. It was earmarked as a potential single, with a prominent role for backing singers. The question of who those should be became a bit contentious once Bowie and Gabrels were back in New York.

After toying with having Mark Plati’s six-year-old daughter sing the “Inchworm”-inspired “Monday, Tuesday..” line (she turned Bowie down! “she said she’d rather sing with her friends than with grown-ups,” Plati told David Buckley), Bowie thought of contacting the trio TLC. In 1999, they were arguably the premier female R&B vocal group of the decade. But they were tottering. Rife with personality and financial squabbles and having taken five years to cut their follow-up LP, they were about to be dethroned by Destiny’s Child.

Using TLC sat poorly with Gabrels, who thought it stunk of Bowie’s “New Jack Swing” moves in 1992: “Thursday’s Child” could be another potential Al B. Sure! fiasco. Gabrels had positioned himself as the house purist: some faint analogue in the Bowie camp to Steve Albini. He’d met Bowie during the nadir of Never Let Me Down and he saw it as his charge to keep Bowie honest and weird, to stop him from embarrassing himself by chasing trends after their sell-by date. During the making of ‘Hours’ Gabrels came to feel that his time with Bowie was over (we’ll get into this more in next week’s entry); his veto of TLC would be his last strategic win.

His alternative proposal had a touch of self-interest: he recommended a Boston friend, Holly Palmer, who Bowie auditioned via speakerphone (“let’s hear it with more vibrato now”). You could argue that Palmer’s vocals were just as time-stamped as any TLC vocals would have been: the Liz Fraser-inspired vocalese, the coffee-shop ambiance (a slightly edgier Dido). But Bowie liked what he heard and Palmer joined his touring band in 1999-2001.**

Another question was how far to take the production. David Buckley argued that the song was “crying out for strings,” and the various synthesizer fill-ins for woodwinds, strings and brass can make the song seem stuck in an embryonic state. Had Bowie held “Thursday’s Child” back for what he was calling the “Visconti album,” slated for 2000, it likely would’ve had a much grander production. Perhaps what kept “Thursday’s Child” from being a monstrous hit was that it hedged its bets too much.

The last piece was Walter Stern’s video. “Bowie,” with little makeup to mask his plus-fifty face, and his partner prepare for bed. They brush their teeth, she takes out her contacts (verrry slooowly). There’s a naturalist feel to counter the tasteful Wiliams Sonoma bedroom set: you hear Bowie cough, mumble and half-sing over the recorded track (taken from Elvis Costello’s “I Wanna Be Loved” video), and the plash of water in the sink. He looks in the mirror, transfixed by his aged but still beautiful face; he’s a veteran Narcissist. A twist of the glass and he sees younger versions of himself and his partner.

The mirror pair have the easy, arrogant confidence of youth; they stare at the older couple with the cold pity of what Bowie once called “the coming race.” They seem like beautiful wraiths. Bowie, seemingly infatuated with his younger self, does the Marx Brothers Duck Soup mirror game with him. The double plays along for a while, then stops, bored and disgusted with his older self. We passed upon the stair, Bowie had sung long ago, upon meeting another double. He’d been on his way up then, his life still mostly potential. This is the other end of the staircase: a man realizing that time has changed him, that the majority share of his life lies behind him now, that his younger self would’ve regarded the current him like some threadbare costume. Perhaps that was the right question to ask after all: What happened to that guy? He kisses his wife in his imagination, and so to bed....

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tlatollotl · 7 years ago

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As the hullabaloo surrounding the Aug. 21 total eclipse of the sun swells by the day, a University of Colorado Boulder faculty member says a petroglyph in New Mexico's Chaco Canyon may represent a total eclipse that occurred there a thousand years ago.

CU Boulder Professor Emeritus J. McKim "Kim" Malville said the petroglyph—carved in a rock by early Pueblo people—is a circle that resembles the sun's outer atmosphere known as its corona, with tangled protrusions looping off the edges. Discovered in 1992 during a Chaco Canyon field school for CU Boulder and Fort Lewis College students led by Malville and then-Fort Lewis Professor James Judge, the object may illustrate the total eclipse of the sun that occurred over the region on July 11, 1097.

"To me it looks like a circular feature with curved tangles and structures," said Malville of CU Boulder's astrophysical and planetary sciences department. "If one looks at a drawing by a German astronomer of the 1860 total solar eclipse during high solar activity, rays and loops similar to those depicted in the Chaco petroglyph are visible."

One tangled loop jutting from the petroglyph circle may illustrate a coronal mass ejection (CME), an eruption that can blow billions of tons of plasma from the sun at several million miles per hour during active solar maximum periods. But if the sun was in a "quiet phase" of its roughly 11-year cycle, one would expect few if any CMEs, and the likelihood of one occurring during a solar eclipse would be negligible, Malville said.

Piedra del Sol petroglyph. Credit: University of Colorado at Boulder

"This was a testable hypothesis," Malville said. "It turns out the sun was in a period of very high solar activity at that time, consistent with an active corona and CMEs." Malville and Professor José Vaquero of the University of Extremadura in Cáceres, Spain, published a paper on the petroglyph in the Journal of Mediterranean Archaeology and Archaeometry in 2014. Chaco Canyon, the zenith of Pueblo culture in the Southwest a thousand years ago, is believed by archeologists to have been populated by several thousand people and held political sway over an area twice the size of Ohio.

The two used several sources to assess the activity of the sun around the time of the 1097 eclipse. That included data from ancient tree rings, formed annually and which have been cross-dated to create time series going back thousands of years and which also contain traces of the isotope carbon-14. Created by cosmic rays hitting Earth's atmosphere, carbon-14 amounts in the tree rings can be correlated with sunspots—the less carbon-14, the more sunspots, which indicates higher solar activity, Malville said. They also used records of naked-eye observations of sunspots, which go back several thousand years in China. A third method involved looking at historical data compiled by northern Europeans on the annual number of so-called "auroral nights," when the northern lights were visible, an indication of intense solar activity.

The free-standing rock hosting the possible eclipse petroglyph, known as Piedra del Sol, also has a large spiral petroglyph on its east side that marks sunrise 15 to 17 days before the June solstice, Malville said. A triangular shadow cast by a large rock on the horizon crosses the center of the spiral at that time. Such a phenomenon may have been used to start a countdown to the summer solstice and related festivities, he said.

In addition to the spiral petroglyph, the east side of Piedra del Sol contains a bowl-shaped depression where Chacoans likely left offerings like cornmeal. The southwest side of the rock faces a small butte on the horizon that marks the December solstice event, and the rock also has carved steps, indicating it likely had some kind of a ceremonial importance, he said.

Piedra del Sol petroglyph. Credit: University of Colorado at Boulder

"This possible eclipse petroglyph on Piedra del Sol is the only one we know of in Chaco Canyon," Malville said. "I think it is quite possible that the Chacoan people may have congregated around Piedra del Sol at certain times of the year and were watching the sun move away from the summer solstice when the eclipse occurred."

Two other Chaco Canyon rock art pieces may be related to astronomical events, Malville said. One is thought by some to be a depiction of an A.D. 1054 supernova bright enough to be visible in the daytime for several weeks, while another resembles a comet, perhaps Halley's Comet, which would have been visible from there in A.D. 1066.

"The appearance of the spectacular supernova and comet may have alerted the residents of the canyon to pay attention to powerful and meaningful events in the sky," he said.

#archaeology #native american #chaco canyon #petroglyph #new mexico #cu boulder #boulder #history #art

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scifigeneration · 7 years ago

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Chaco Canyon petroglyph may represent ancient total eclipse

CU Boulder Professor Emeritus J. McKim "Kim" Malville said the petroglyph -- carved in a rock by early Pueblo people -- is a circle that resembles the sun's outer atmosphere known as its corona, with tangled protrusions looping off the edges. Discovered in 1992 during a Chaco Canyon field school for CU Boulder and Fort Lewis College students led by Malville and then-Fort Lewis Professor James Judge, the object may illustrate the total eclipse of the sun that occurred over the region on July 11, 1097.

The two used several sources to assess the activity of the sun around the time of the 1097 eclipse. That included data from ancient tree rings, formed annually and which have been cross-dated to create time series going back thousands of years and which also contain traces of the isotope carbon-14. Created by cosmic rays hitting Earth's atmosphere, carbon-14 amounts in the tree rings can be correlated with sunspots -- the less carbon-14, the more sunspots, which indicates higher solar activity, Malville said. They also used records of naked-eye observations of sunspots, which go back several thousand years in China. A third method involved looking at historical data compiled by northern Europeans on the annual number of so-called "auroral nights," when the northern lights were visible, an indication of intense solar activity.

"The appearance of the spectacular supernova and comet may have alerted the residents of the canyon to pay attention to powerful and meaningful events in the sky," he said.

#science #eclipse 2017 #total solar eclipse #chaco canyon #science news

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cubuffs-blog1 · 7 years ago

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CU’s Studs In The Performance Nutrition Department

Phillip Lindsay has gained a significant amount of lean mass since arriving at CU working under the CU strength staff and with the Performance Nutrition Department.

BOULDER – Nutrition and the weight room go hand-in-hand. So does the weight room and football. Put it all together and you have a couple of the necessary ingredients to cook up a successful football player.

For the Colorado Buffaloes, it’s Performance Nutrition Department ensures all student-athletes have the necessary building blocks to develop healthy bodies. Now in its third year the program, under the direction of lead dietitian Laura Anderson and assistant sports dietitian Dana Bielinski, has seen tremendous results.

As Anderson tells the Buffs, “you can’t out-train a crappy diet.”

CU trained hard all summer in the weight room and maintained healthy diets. The results showed in the body composition testing Anderson did with the team before fall camp started.

“It really truly was the best preseason body comps I’ve had,” Anderson said.

Here are some of the highlights broken down into several different categories.

MOST IMPROVED OR BIGGEST TRANSFORMATION

Who: QB Steven Montez

Why: His preseason body comp assessment during his true freshman year in 2015, he weighed 215 pounds with 13.3% body fat. Preseason 2016 he was up to 227 pounds, 16.8% body fat and 189 pounds of lean mass. His weight was up even higher in that memorable Oregon game when he put up the big performance in his first career start, but he was noticeably out of shape on the field. That is when he bought in to the program to getting in better shape and eating properly.

“The biggest change, in less than a year, he has gained 12 pounds of lean mass,” Anderson said of Montez. “He is literally two pounds heavier (on the scale), but at 12.1 percent body fat and 201 pounds of lean mass. It’s really an impressive change and he is a completely different guy.”

Honorable Mention: RB Phillip Lindsay – in November 2014 he was 176 pounds and this July he was 190 pounds with 9.3 percent body fat. “All that mass that he has gained from November 2014 to now is all lean mass,” Anderson said.

WR Kabion Ento – gained 11 pounds of lean mass in his first year at CU, mostly in his legs. “All that mass is right in that power area for him,” Anderson said.

WR Devin Ross – Postseason 2016 he weighed 179 pounds with 7.1 percent body fat and 167 pounds of lean mass. “Too lean, I got after him,” Anderson said. At his body composition test before fall camp he weighed 190 pounds, had 8.0 percent body fat and 175 pounds of lean muscle. That is an eight pound gain of lean mass from the end of last year to this year.

“Devin Ross said to me at the end of last season ‘I want to be 190 pounds preseason,’ and he did what he said he wanted to do,” Anderson said.

TOP FREAKS

Who: Isaiah Oliver

Why: He was 184 pounds preseason last year, but was 194 pounds before fall camp and almost 100 percent of that gain is muscle tissue.

“That all came while he was participating in a spring sport where training was significantly different,” Anderson said. “(Because he is a two-sport athlete who ran track) he missed kind of all that spring ball time frame where people’s lifting programs were a lot different. He made a significant gain in a short amount of time and excelled at two sports.”

PLAYER(S) MOST DEDICATED TO MAINTAINING A HEALTHY DIET/LIFESTYLE

Who: RB Kyle Evans

Why: Evans dislocated his hip on March 4 in spring practices, a very serious injury that made him immobile for a lengthy period of time and caused a tremendous amount of mass loss in his body. Remarkably, his dedication to rehab and his nutrition dialed him back to almost where he was at with his body composition prior to last season.

“As soon as Kyle was injured, he was in here and we were working on different supplements he could do, but readdressing the timing on when he was fueling to make sure he was doing everything as much as he could from a nutrition side to aid in that recovery,” Anderson said. “Basic supplementation … things that were going to help reduce inflammation because he was in a really inflamed state post-surgery. Things like that but then again refocusing on foods and making sure that his timing with protein intake was consistent throughout the day so that we would always have those amino acids going to rebuilding any of the tissue that just got so destroyed in his injury. He did awesome and he attributes a lot of it to nutrition.”

Evans, on the right here next to Phillip Lindsay at a recent practice, has made a remarkable recovery and is close to returning to practice with the Buffs.

Who: OL Colby Pursell

Why: He is a kid who has thrived in his short time on campus, gaining eight pounds of lean mass since arriving in January. His weight at his body composition test at the end of July was 278 pounds with 17.4 percent body fat and 231 pounds of lean muscle.

“He has had just an amazing composition change since he came in,” Anderson said. “He applies it, he shows me photos of what he is doing, he keeps teammates accountable. It’s probably one of the best changes I’ve seen in a short amount of time and it is really cool to see that in a very young 18-year-old individual that comes in at the semester, which can be a tricky time to come in, has such great results.”

Big Man Award

Who: OL Jeromy Irwin

Why: At Irwin’s first body composition test in September of 2014, he weighed 278 pounds, had 21 percent body fat and 220 pounds of lean muscle. At his 2017 preseason assessment he registered in at 310 pounds on the scale, had 19.7 percent body fat and 249 pounds of lean muscle.

“He gained all that lean mass over the course of the years with a major ACL tear and his foot injury,” Anderson said. “He has good genetics and then he does extra work.”

Who: NT Javier Edwards

Why: When he first arrived in January he weighed 380 pounds, 244 of that lean mass. On July 25, 2017 he weighed 354 pounds with 273 pounds of lean mass.

“What we’ve seen with Javier, it is ridiculous,” Anderson said. “When he came in he really wasn’t that fit. Training completely changed when he came here, we completely changed his nutrition and so he was able to elicit that change. The fact is he gained a tremendous amount of muscle tissue as well as losing fat at the same time.”

Newcomer with the Best Anthropometrics (the measurement of the size and proportions of the human body)

Who: WR Laviska Shenault, Jr.

Why: He walks in the door weighing 217 pounds with 8.8 percent body fat and he has 197 pounds of lean mass.

“He’s got a really big bone structure, so I think that we can continue to have a little bit of hypertrophy growth in his thigh region, but for him it will be a matter of keeping that muscle tissue really strong and flexible to protect himself from injury,” Anderson said.

BEST CHEF ON THE TEAM

Who: OLB Sam Bennion

Why: He made it to the final round of the Performance Nutrition Department cook-off among all CU student-athletes last spring. For that he had to make a recipe every single week and compete against other student-athletes and their dishes to advance. Some of his dishes were shrimp linguini, chicken tortilla soup and for the final cook-off he made chili rellenos.

One of Sam Bennion’s dishes from the Performance Nutrition Department cook-off last spring. And yes, that is brussel sprouts that you see.

Who: OL Jonathan Huckins

Why: He really likes to cook, often preparing meals for teammates and other student-athletes on different teams. His favorite dish to cook is ratatouille, a stewed vegetable dish. He was also recognized because he had a gold card violation for buying a non-food item. Usually those violations are for an item like toilet paper from the grocery story, but he bought a rolling pin.

“He is probably the only college athlete we know that needed a rolling pin for his kitchen,” Bielinski said.

To learn more about CU’s Performance Nutrition Department, check out Neill Woelk’s feature on them from the end of April: CU Nutrition Specialist Helps Buffs Get Most From Their Fuel

- Jason Clay, Associate SID

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cielospeaks · 7 years ago

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my taste in fictional guys from the last 6ish yrs? or at least the main ones? ish?

hans (2014 i think?)

+ handsome prince type, canonically considered physically attractive so its not literally wanting to heck a shit gremlin manchild

- terribly written, only exists by word of canon to be hated, literally no character whatsoever, is supposed to just be a cardboard cutout boyfriend, and as such is basically the punching bag of the protags

joot (2015 spring ish?)

+ well written, pretty damn inspirational in getting me to improve myself in music (the whole cool headed thing specifically), actually pretty attractive

- tiny baby boy, canonically married and has kids, really tbh its just a crush and id want to be buddies w him at most (tbh around this time most fictional boyfs were like i wanna be best buds w you at most, ie kashuu, ect.)

cu (2015-2016??????)

+ also actually hot if not in a kinda why are you blue way, a damn good fighter, old as balls but still also a bishie dude, idk history punch ghosts are weird, would probably be the best boyf irl out of the three so far

- someones got a ��getting eaten by large feline” kink, why is he blue, a heckin historical/mythological figure (but albeit less weird than the later ones lol), most of my attraction to him stemmed from him dying and/or suffering why am i like this, still cant even heckin pronounce my first fate crushs name

motes (2016 or 17?-????)

+ the actual cutest? adorable lovely boyf. actually a decent person, wouldnt dare hurt anyone intentionally, has an awesome sense of humor, would be really fun to date irl, the sweetest boy, my sweet sunshine shitgremlin boyf

- why the fk am i crushing on a classical composer ive been a fan of since childhood, was it necessary to make the composers hot, explaining my feelings to ppl about him is hard a lotta the time, also the eaten by large feline kink returns

sacchan (last month- ????)

+ a sweet sensitive boy who is so heckin kind and deserves happiness, would be a very considerate person to date, also heckin badass and could kick anyones butt, duets? duets!!! (same w moz above)

- treble thirsts after a composer electric boogaloo, this time its even more awkward! they werent kidding when they said its hard to come to mutual understanding w him, also like cu its the suffering kink or whatever, slams that protect button, history version is fine but ill fight the movie/play version and hes like a weird amalgamation of both???? poor sacchan

#i dont even know how to tag this #vacationblogging

0 notes

royvelasco · 8 years ago

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Traveling Indochina: Vietnam-Cambodia-Thailand for 9 days for only ₱20k! All-in!

This might be the cheapest and a less stressful Indochina itinerary one can ever encounter. I’ve seen posts with a budget soaring up to ₱35k, some even with lesser days and/or a very challenging itinerary. I am so grateful that I am now able to share to you all my well-researched, organized, and budgeted trip to Indochina (LOL!). 3 countries, 4 cities, 9 days, no overnight bus rides, no 1 country-1 day, for only less than ₱20k ($400)! All-in!!!

Grand Palace, Bangkok Thailand

The plan actually started as early as 2014 but since that would be our first ever out-of-the-country trip, we changed plans to take the easier and safer option of Macau and Hong Kong. Backpacking Indochina has never been that easy. With the language barrier, unfamiliar places and customs, rampant scams, and even the heat make traveling to South East Asia very difficult. It’s indeed a backbreaking backpacking. But these reasons should not make you stop in traveling to this magnificent region. You’ll indeed have a feast of breathtaking sceneries, colorful cultures, and wonderful people. I testify to all of these as together with my friends, we had fun on our 9-day Indochina trip which definitely is our most memorable travel experience up to date.

Cu Chi Tunnels, Saigon Vietnam

Now here comes the tricky part, “Is it expensive?” I would say that it is actually not as everyone thinks about. Given the duration and vastness of our itinerary, our budget of ₱20k per person was already the cheapest I could think of. Another question would be “Can I do it?” Of course, you can! With enough research, wise budgeting, and of course enthusiasm to travel, this is achievable. Well if you’re not much of a planner and always appreciates the spontaneity, you can ditch the researching part but a lil’ bit of it to know the basics wouldn’t hurt. ;)

Bayon Temple in Angkor Thom, Siem Reap Cambodia

Three countries: Vietnam, Cambodia, and Thailand. Four cities: Saigon, Phnom Penh, Siem Reap, and Bangkok. Our itinerary was perfect for a 9-day plan. Some would even add Ayutthaya and/or Pattaya in Thailand which is exciting for sure but that would definitely make our itinerary more jam-packed and possibly stressful. If we just had more days and budget, we will surely try to visit them and maybe add more places like Laos and Phuket, Thailand.

Royal Palace, Phnom Penh Cambodia

Below is an overview of our itinerary with a breakdown of expenses. This can serve as a guide as I include a few tips and related links which hopefully would be helpful for those who aspire to travel Indochina as well. Please take note though that we were four in a group that time so please adjust your budget accordingly.

Day 0: Goodbye Manila. Hello Saigon, Vietnam!

10:50PM (PST) – Departure Time from Manila (Ninoy Aquino International Airport) via Cebu Pacific

GrabCar from Home (Pasig) to NAIA Terminal 3: ₱160 [₱320 total divided by 2 (I was with a friend)]

Roundtrip Airfare (Manila-Saigon & Bangkok-Manila): ₱3370.98 (Booked on promo via Cebu Pacific)

Philippine Travel Tax: ₱1620 per person

12:20AM (ICT) – Arrival Time to Saigon, Vietnam (Tan Son Nhat International Airport)

Airport Pickup: ₱200 [₱800 (389,300VND/$17) total divided by 4 (We were four in the group)]

Tip: Please take note that there is a time difference between two countries making the Philippines an hour ahead.

1:00AM (ICT) – Hotel Check-In (Blue River 3 Hotel)

3 Nights 3 Days Inclusive of Free Breakfast: ₱1307.44 [₱5229.78 (2.6M VND/$111) total divided by 4] (Booked through Expedia)

Click HERE to check on my review for Blue River 3 Hotel.

Tip: Vietnam’s local currency is called Vietnamese Dong that has large denominations being 500,000 as the highest note. Together with their local money, US Dollars are also widely accepted here. As far as I know, there is no money changer here in the Philippines that sells Vietnamese Dong so I would suggest changing your Peso to US Dollars, then maybe change the half of it to Dong once you get in Vietnam. That’s what I did actually.

Total Expenses: ₱6658.42 ($142)

Day 1: Saigon, Vietnam (City Tour and Cu Chi Tunnels)

8:00AM - War Remnants Museum

Entrance Fee: ₱30 (15,000VND or less than a dollar) per person

10AM – Independence Palace (Reunification Palace)

Entrance Fee: ₱65 (30,000VND/$1.3) per person – We didn’t bother to enter anymore as I read a lot of reviews that it was not worth it. Just a picture from the outside made me contented already.

10:30AM - Notre-Dame Cathedral

There was no entrance fee but it was said that there was a 9:30AM mass held every Sunday which unfortunately we’re not able to attend to. :(

11:00AM - Saigon Central Post Office

Despite of its old yet elegant design, it is still a working post office though souvenir shops can also be seen inside. Admission is free.

11:30AM – Lunch @ Popeye’s: ₱150 (720,000VND/$3)

12:00PM – Back to Hotel / Rest

Taxi: ₱15.5 [₱62 (30,000VND/$1.3) total divided by 4]

Read on: Starting In Saigon #Day1

1:00PM – Cu Chi Tunnels

Tour Fee (Inclusive of roundtrip bus ride and a tour guide): ₱275 (131,000VND/less than $6) per person (Booked through our hotel)

Cu Chi Tunnels Entrance Fee: ₱232 (110,00VND/$5) per person

Tip: Doing a DIY tour to Cu Chi Tunnels is not advisable as tour offered by hotels were already cheap and worth it. Aside from hotels, you can also directly book your preferred tours to a travel agency as it comes cheaper.

Read on: Underground Stories: A Tour in the Cu Chi Tunnels #Day1

7:00PM – Back to Saigon

Back to hotel/Rest

8:00PM – Saigon Square (Souvenir Shopping)

Taxi: ₱18.75 [₱75 (35,000VND/$1.6) total divided by 4]

My friends were able to score original North Face Backpacks for less than a million Vietnamese Dong each. That’s less than $40 or ₱2,000 for a genuine North Face bag!

10:00PM – Dinner at a nearby Pho restaurant

Pho Bo & Banh Mi: ₱177 (850,00VND/$3.8)

Tip: Your Vietnam experience will never be complete without trying local dishes like Pho and Banh Mi. Satisfy yourself with a hot bowl of Pho, a famous Vietnamese rice noodle soup with herbs and meat of either beef or chicken, partnering it with Banh Mi, a cold cut meat sandwich.

Read on: What and Where to Shop and Eat in Saigon?

10:00PM – Back to hotel / Lights out

Total Expenses: ₱898.25 ($19)

Day 2: Mekong Delta & Saigon Souvenir Shopping

8:00AM – Mekong Delta Tour

Tour Fee (Inclusive of roundtrip bus ride, a tour guide, boat rides, and lunch): ₱459 (220,000VND/$11) per person (Booked through our hotel)

Non La (Vietnamese Conical Hat): ₱46 (22,000VND/$1) – For OOTD purposes LOL!

Coconut Candies (for pasalubong): ₱230 (111,000VND/$5)

Read on: Like a Local in Mekong Delta #Day2

5:00PM – Back to Saigon (Back to hotel/Rest)

8:00PM – Ho Chi Minh City Hall

Taxi: ₱18.75 [₱75 (35,000VND/$1.6) total divided by 4]

Starbucks Vietnam Mug: ₱522 (250,000VND/$11)

9:00PM – Ben Thanh Market

Souvenir Tshirts: ₱300 (143,000VND/6)

Tip: Always carry with you your best haggling techniques in shopping here. Start from 40-50% of the original asking price and negotiate from there. Another great technique is stepping away from the stall if you’re not satisfied with the price. Every step would lower the price eventually. A lil’ bit of your drama skills might be helpful here as well. LOL! Just be careful though as vendors here are very persistent and sometimes violent.

Read on: What and Where to Shop and Eat in Saigon?

10:00PM – Dinner: ₱150 (72,000VND/$3)

11:00PM – Grocery Shopping (Chips, Biscuits, Coffee, Water, etc.): ₱200 (95,600VND/$4.2) – We were just letting go of the Vietnamese Dongs that we still have. :D

11:30PM – Back to Hotel / Lights out

Total Expenses: ₱1,925.75 ($41)

‘Got more time to spare? Click HERE to check out more awesome things to do in Saigon!

Day 3: Off to Phnom Penh, Cambodia!

8:00AM – Hotel Check-Out

8:30AM – Departure Time

One-Way Bus Ticket to Phnom Penh, Cambodia via Long Phuong Cambodia Bus Company (with Bottle of Drinking Water and Wet Wipes): ₱480 (229,000VND/$10) per person (Booked through our Hotel.)

Lunch at the Bus Stop (somewhere in Bavet, Cambodia): ₱70 (33,000VND/$1.5/6,000KHR)

Tip: Restaurants on the border normally accept Cambodian Riel, Vietnamese Dong, and US Dollars so no need to worry if you haven’t exchanged your money yet.

Read on: Saigon to Phnom Penh: Moc Bai, Vietnam – Bavet, Cambodia Border Crossing #Day3

3:00PM – Arrival Time in Phnom Penh, Cambodia (1 hour late due to traffic and road constructions in the city.)

3:30PM – Hotel Check-In (Aura Thematic Hostel)

1 Night Stay with Free Breakfast: ₱356 [₱1426 (124,000KHR/$30.64) total divided by 4] (Booked through Agoda)

Click HERE to check on my review for Aura Thematic Hostel.

5:00PM – Leisure Walk

Tip: Just like Vietnam, USD is widely accepted here in Cambodia. Locals actually might prefer it more than their local money.

National Museum of Cambodia

Entrance Fee: ₱235 (20,000KHR/$5) per person – Unfortunately, it was already closed when we got there. Opening hours are from 8AM to 5PM.

Sisowath Quay

8:00PM – Dinner (Happy Pizza): ₱250 [₱1,000 (87,000KHR/$21) total divided by 4]

9:30PM – Back to Hotel / Lights Out

Read on: Overnight in Phnom Penh #Day3

Total Expenses: ₱1,156 ($24)

Day 4: Phnom Penh City Tour

Tip: Make sure to have your face mask on if you’re touring Phnom Penh via tuktuk as this place is very dusty.

8:00AM – Royal Palace

Tuktuk Half-Day Tour: ₱175 [₱700 (60,000KHR/$15) total divided by 4]

Entrance Fee: ₱300 (25,000KHR/$6) per person

Tip: Visit the Royal Palace as soon as it opens in the morning to avoid the crowd. Opening hours are from 7:30AM to 5:00PM but please take in mind that they close at noon from 11:00AM to 2:00PM.

Silver Pagoda (Temple of the Emerald Buddha)

Read on: A King for a Day: A Tour in Phnom Penh’s Royal Palace #Day4

10:00AM – The Killing Fields at Choeung Ek

Entrance Fee: ₱140 (12,000KHR/$3) per person

Tip: Though there are few storyboards that explain the history of some spots, it’s advisable to have an audio guide (which is available in 15 different languages) as this place looks nothing but just a piece of land with trees and excavations.

11:00AM – Toul Sleng Genocide Museum

Entrance Fee: ₱140 (12,000KHR/$3) per person

Tip: An audio guide can also be availed for an additional fee to help you more with your tour.

Read on: Cambodia’s Dark Past: The Killing Fields and S-21 #Day4

'with our Tuktuk driver in Phnom Penh, Cambodia

12:00PM – Back to Hotel / Check-Out – Chips and biscuits for Lunch LOL! It was raining so hard that time we cannot go out. Silver lining was we were able to save money! ;)

2:00PM – A van picked us up from the hotel to the bus terminal.

One-Way Bus Ticket to Siem Reap, Cambodia via Mekong Express Limousine Bus (with Free Snack and a Bottle of Drinking Water): ₱600 (52,000KHR/$13) per person (Booked through our Hotel)

3:00PM – Departure Time

8:00PM – Arrival Time in Siem Reap, Cambodia

8:30PM – Hotel Check-In (Le Tigre Hotel)

2 Nights 2 Days with Free Pickup: ₱470 [₱1878.14 (163,000KHR/$40) total divided by 4] (Booked through Expedia)

Click HERE to check on my review for Le Tigre Hotel.

10:00PM – Late Dinner at a nearby restaurant: ₱150 (13,000KHR/$3)

11:00PM – Back to Hotel / Lights Out

Total Expenses: ₱1,975 ($42)

Day 5: Siem Reap, Cambodia (Angkor Wat and More Temples!!!)

4:00AM – Breakfast (Biscuits and Coffee)

4:30AM – Tuktuk Pickup

5:30AM – Angkor Wat Sunrise

1-Day/Small Tour with Angkor Wat Sunrise: ₱212.5 [₱850 (73,000KHR/$18) total divided by 4] (Booked through our Hotel)

Tip: Almost all accommodations in Siem Reap offer Angkor Temple Tours. You can go for a tuktuk, private car, join-in group on a bus/van, or even rent a bike. For fast-paced travelers, a 1 or 2 days will do but there are also tours that last for a week! Make sure to inquire through your hotel to know what suits you and to avoid the scams as well.

1-Day Pass: ₱930 (81,000KHR/$20) per person

Tip: The ticket is like an ID card as it shows a picture of you. Always keep your ticket during your visit as there are some officials who regularly check it before you enter the temple. Avoid it from being torn and wet or you will need to purchase another one. The 7-day pass is laminated though for better protection.

Tip: Though we didn’t have a tour guide, it’s actually advisable to have one to explain all the stories and meanings behind every corner of Angkor Wat. As everything was beautiful in the eye, it was also interesting making you want to know more about it.

Read on: A Beautiful Morning in Angkor Wat #Day5

9:00AM – Angkor Thom

South Gate of Angkor Thom

Bayon Temple

Baphuon

Terrace of the Elephants

Terrace of the Leper King

@ Bayon Temple

11:00AM – Lunch: ₱325 [₱1,300 (113,000KHR/$27) total divided by 4] – This might be the most expensive meal we had on the entire trip! It was such a rip-off!

12:00PM – More Temples!!!

East Gate of Angkor Thom

Chau Say Tevoda

Ta Keo

Ta Phrom

Banteay Kdei

@ Ta Phrom

Read on: Temple Overload in Siem Reap #Day5

3:00PM – Back to Hotel / Rest (We actually planned to have a swim but due to exhaustion, we slept and woke up by night time. LOL!)

8:00PM – Angkor Night Market / Pub Street

Dinner: ₱100 (8,700KHR/$2)

Souvenir Tshirts: ₱150 (13,000KHR/$3)

10:00PM – Back to Hotel / Rest

(3:00AM – Swimming) ;)

Total Expenses: ₱1,717.5 ($36)

You’ll never run out of things to do in this wonderful kingdom. Click HERE to find out the things that I missed in Cambodia!

Day 6: Siem Reap, Cambodia to Bangkok, Thailand

8:30AM – Hotel Check-Out / A van picked us up from the hotel getting us to the Poipet border.

One-Way Ticket to Bangkok, Thailand: ₱560 (48,700KHR/$12) per person (Booked through our Hotel)

11:00AM – Arrival Time in Poipet Border / ‘Cleared Immigration

Read on: Siem Reap to Bangkok: Poipet, Cambodia – Aranyaprathet, Thailand Border Crossing #Day6

1:00PM – Lunch: ₱130 (96THB/$2.7)

2:00PM – Van Ride to Bangkok, Thailand

6:00PM – Arrival Time in Khao San, Bangkok / Hotel Check-In (The Secret Service Bed and Breakfast Hotel)

3 Nights 3 Days: ₱1,725 [₱6900 (5100THB/$149.40) total divided by 4] (Booked through Agoda)

Click HERE to check on my review for The Secret Service Bed and Breakfast Hotel.

8:00PM – Dinner @ KFC: ₱200 (148THB/$4) – This dinner gave me a terrible tummy ache that lasted throughout the remaining days. :(

9:00PM – Strolling in Khao San

10:00PM – Back to Hotel / Lights Out

Total Expenses: ₱2,615 ($56)

Day 7: A Grand Day in Bangkok, Thailand

8:00AM – Breakfast @ McDonald’s: ₱200 (148THB/$4)

9:00AM – Grand Palace

Tuktuk Ride from Khao San: ₱17.5 [₱70 (50THB/$1.4) total divided by 4]

Tip: If your hotel is just somewhere in Khao San just like us, you can actually walk to the Grand Palace for around 20 minutes or opt to ride a tuktuk for only 50THB or less than ₱70 ($1.4). Since we were four, I already settled with that though he offered me 60THB at first. So haggle first and make sure to get out of Khao San Road to not get ripped-off. Prices there are starting from 100THB above and very difficult to haggle with.

Entrance Fee: ₱670 (500THB/$14.5) per person

Tip: A dress code is strictly being implemented in the Grand Palace compound. Avoid wearing inappropriate and revealing outfits.

Wat Phra Kaew (Temple of the Emerald Buddha)

Read on: A Grand Day in Bangkok #Day7

12:00PM – Lunch (Pad Thai and Mango juice): ₱150 (111THB/$3) – I shared the Pad Thai with one of my companions as my tummy was still not fine that time. :(

1:00PM – Wat Pho

Entrance Fee (with One Bottle of Drinking Water): ₱135 (100THB/$3)

How To Get Here: Wat Pho is located just south of the Grand Palace. Make sure to drop by here as well if you’re having a tour in the Grand Palace. A short 10-min walk or a cheap tuktuk ride will get you here. Ditch the tuktuk ride if I were you.

3:00PM – Wat Arun

Cross-River Ferry Boat (Rountrip): ₱8 (6THB/$0.1)

Entrance Fee: ₱70 (50THB/$1.5) – The central tower was closed for restoration that time so no admission fee was asked.

How To Get Here: Wat Arun is almost directly opposite Wat Pho with the Chao Praya River in between. If you’re coming from Wat Pho, have a short walk towards Tha Thien Market until you reach the cross-river ferry pier which is just beside the Tha Thien ferry pier. The boat will take you on the other side of the river where Wat Arun is. Fare was just cheap for only 3THB or ₱4 (less than a $ cent). The Tha Thien / N8 Ferry pier is your drop-off point if you’re coming farther away using the Chao Praya Express Boat. To go back to the other side, just take the same cross-river ferry.

Read on: Can’t Get Enough of Temples: More Wats in Bangkok! #Day7 #Day8

5:00PM – Back to Hotel / Rest – Early lights out as my tummy ache was getting worse. My other friend was feeling the same thing as well. Damn that KFC coleslaw that we ate last night! :(

Tuktuk Back to Hotel in Khao San – ₱26.75 [₱107 (80THB/$2) total divided by 4]

Click HERE to know different ways to reach Khao San.

Total Expenses: ₱1,207.25 ($25)

Day 8: More of Bangkok!

8:00AM – Breakfast (Noodles and coffee from our supplies)

9:00AM - Wat Saket (The Golden Mount)

Tuktuk Ride from Khao San: ₱17.5 [₱70 (50THB/$1.4) total divided by 4]

Entrance Fee: ₱27 (20THB/Half a $)

How To Get Here: Take the not-so-tourist-friendly Khlong Saen Saep Express Boat and drop off at Panfa Leelard ferry station which is just near Wat Saket. The ride might not give you the most scenic view but it will definitely take you to your destination. It will also let you feel the local life as people here ride this going to work and anywhere else. People from the city center going to Khao San also drop off to this station as it’s just near the area. Another option and probably the easiest would be riding a taxi or a tuktuk. If you’re staying in Khao San like us, a 20 minute walk or a 50THB or less (depending on your haggling skills) tuktuk ride will take you here.

Read on: Can’t Get Enough of Temples: More Wats in Bangkok! #Day7 #Day8

11:00AM – Terminal 21 Mall

How To Get Here: Terminal 21 is very accessible as two rail systems intersect just literally beside the mall. Sukhumvit Station will be your drop off point if you’re taking the MRT Subway. But if you’re somewhere near the BTS Sky Train (Sukhumvit Line), take this train and unload yourself in Asok Station then access the mall directly via the Skywalk. Don’t worry if the Silom Line of BTS Sky Train is the nearest to you as you can get out in Central/Siam Station then change train to Sukhumvit Line.

Taxi Ride: ₱50 [₱200 (150THB/$4) total divided by 4] – Since there’s no near MRT or Sky Train in Wat Saket, we just decided to have a comfortable 15-min taxi ride going to Terminal 21.

Tee for Myself: ₱130 (100THB/Almost $3)

Lunch @ Pier 21 Food Court (Hainanese and Fried Chicken with Rice and Soup, Mango Smoothie, Sticky Mango Rice, and Ice Cream): ₱150 (115THB/$3)

Tip: Food Courts in Bangkok are different as you need to buy first a prepaid card that you will be using to purchase your meals. Proceed to the coupon counter upon entering Pier 21 Food Court and avail of the card amounting to your desire. Don’t worry if you will not be able to consume everything in your card as you can get the unused amount refunded on the same counter. Or if there are only few bahts left on your card, I would advise to just keep it and have it as a souvenir. ;)

Read on: Shop Around the World at Terminal 21 #Day8

3:00PM – Wat Traimit (Temple of the Golden Buddha)

MRT Subway from Sukhumvit Station to Hua Lamphong Station: ₱34 (26THB/Less than a $)

How To Get Here: Take the MRT subway and drop off at Hua Lamphong Station. From there, it’ll just be a short walk to Wat Traimit. Just look up and once you see the tall white temple structure with a golden spire, that’s it!

Entrance Fee (Golden Buddha): ₱50 (40THB/$1.2) – Admission to the museum costs an additional ₱130 (100THB/Almost $3).

Tip: Have a side trip to Chinatown as it is just literally behind Wat Traimit. Visit the temple late in the afternoon then visit Chinatown afterwards at night to see it alive with colorful lights and people everywhere. Indulge yourself with authentic and delicious Chinese food for dinner anywhere here. Another suggestion is to have a walking tour in the morning to visit the Chinese temples and shop for cheap finds.

Read on: Can’t Get Enough of Temples: More Wats in Bangkok! #Day7 #Day8

5:00PM – Back to Hotel / Rest

Taxi Back to Hotel: ₱50 [₱200 (150THB/$4) total divided by 4]

8:00PM – Dinner Somewhere in Soi Rambuttri in Khao San (Fried Pork Noodles and Coke): ₱80 (60THB/Less than $2)

9:00PM – Souvenir Shopping @ Khao San

Souvenir Shirts and Tank Top: ₱335 (250THB/$7)

Grocery Shopping @ 7-11 (Chips, Breads, Noodles, etc.): ₱65 (50THB/$1.4)

Coconut Ice Cream: ₱65 (50THB/$1.4)

11:00PM – Back to Hotel / Lights Out

Read on: Around Khao San

Total Expenses: ₱1,053.5 ($22)

Day 9: Back to Manila!

4:30AM – Breakfast (Noodles and Coffee from our supplies) / Pack-Up

5:30AM – Off to the Airport

Taxi Ride to Suvarnabhumi International Airport: ₱266 [₱800 (600THB/$17) total divided by 3 (My other friend had a late flight)] – The price was a total rip-off!!! Normally, it can just cost you around 300THB. I’m not sure if I was hypnotized or just didn’t have enough breakfast that time or I really didn’t know of the right fare. :P

9:40AM (ICT) – Departure Time from Bangkok, Thailand (Suvarnabhumi International Airport) via Cebu Pacific

Nissin Cup Noodles and Water: ₱150 (111THB/$3)

2:00PM (PST) – Arrival Time to Manila, Philippines (Ninoy Aquino International Airport)

Airport Taxi to Home: ₱150 [₱300 total divided by 2 (I was again with my friend)]

Total Expenses: ₱566 ($12)

Bangkok has a lot to offer. Click HERE to check out more things you can do in this marvelous city.

Over-All Expenses: ₱19,772.67 ($419)

This trip gave me overwhelming experiences that definitely taught me a lot of significant lessons. I was able to witness and learn different cultures and certainly tried my best to speak and understand new languages. I couldn’t believe that I can maximize our small budget for this kind of trip and challenge ourselves for a new kind of adventure. Most importantly, we met new friends along the way that made our travel more fun and memorable. Traveling may not be for everyone but it is definitely one of the things that makes one fulfilled. This 9-day journey is for sure my best experience so far that I will forever cherish.

Previous Post: Feelin’ at Home: Where Did We Stay in our 9-Day Indochina Trip?

DISCLAIMER: Prices may change depending on the exchange rate, season, and/or inflation.

NOTE: I own all the images used in this blog post unless otherwise stated. Please don’t use these for any purposes, unless you acknowledge the owner. Thank you

If you have questions, feel free to contact me HERE. :)

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sciencespies · 4 years ago

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Volcanic ash may have a bigger impact on the climate than we thought

https://sciencespies.com/environment/volcanic-ash-may-have-a-bigger-impact-on-the-climate-than-we-thought/

Volcanic ash may have a bigger impact on the climate than we thought

When volcanoes erupt, these geologic monsters produce tremendous clouds of ash and dust — plumes that can blacken the sky, shut down air traffic and reach heights of roughly 25 miles above Earth’s surface.

A new study led by the University of Colorado Boulder suggests that such volcanic ash may also have a larger influence on the planet’s climate than scientists previously suspected.

The new research, published in the journal Nature Communications, examines the eruption of Mount Kelut (or Kelud) on the Indonesian island of Java in 2014. Drawing on real-world observations of this event and advanced computer simulations, the team discovered that volcanic ash seems to be prone to loitering — remaining in the air for months or even longer after a major eruption.

“What we found for this eruption is that the volcanic ash can persist for a long time,” said Yunqian Zhu, lead author of the new study and a research scientist at the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics (LASP) at CU Boulder.

Lingering ash

The discovery began with a chance observation: Members of the research team had been flying an unmanned aircraft near the site of the Mount Kelut eruption — an event that covered large portions of Java in ash and drove people from their homes. In the process, the aircraft spotted something that shouldn’t have been there.

“They saw some large particles floating around in the atmosphere a month after the eruption,” Zhu said. “It looked like ash.”

She explained that scientists have long known that volcanic eruptions can take a toll on the planet’s climate. These events blast huge amounts of sulfur-rich particles high into Earth’s atmosphere where they can block sunlight from reaching the ground.

Researchers haven’t thought, however, that ash could play much of a role in that cooling effect. These chunks of rocky debris, scientists reasoned, are so heavy that most of them likely fall out of volcanic clouds not long after an eruption.

Zhu’s team wanted to find out why that wasn’t the case with Kelut. Drawing on aircraft and satellite observations of the unfolding disaster, the group discovered that the volcano’s plume seemed to be rife with small and lightweight particles of ash — tiny particles that were likely capable of floating in the air for long periods of time, much like dandelion fluff.

“Researchers have assumed that ash is similar to volcanic glass,” Zhu said. “But what we’ve found is that these floating ones have a density that’s more like pumice.”

Disappearing molecules

Study coauthor Brian Toon added that these pumice-like particles also seem to shift the chemistry of the entire volcanic plume.

Toon, a professor in LASP and the Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences at CU Boulder, explained that erupting volcanos spew out a large amount of sulfur dioxide. Many researchers previously assumed that those molecules interact with others in the air and convert into sulfuric acid — a series of chemical reactions that, theoretically, could take weeks to complete. Observations of real-life eruptions, however, suggest that it happens a lot faster than that.

“There has been a puzzle of why these reactions occur so fast,” Toon said.

He and his colleagues think they’ve discovered the answer: Those molecules of sulfur dioxide seem to stick to the particles of ash floating in the air. In the process, they may undergo chemical reactions on the surface of the ash itself — potentially pulling around 43% more sulfur dioxide out of the air.

Ash, in other words, may hasten the transformation of volcanic gases in the atmosphere.

Just what the impact of those clouds of ash are on the climate isn’t clear. Long-lasting particles in the atmosphere could, potentially, darken and even help to cool the planet after an eruption. Floating ash might also blow all the way from sites like Kelut to the planet’s poles. There, it could kickstart chemical reactions that would damage Earth’s all-important ozone layer.

But the researchers say that one thing is clear: When a volcano blows, it may be time to pay a lot more attention to all that ash and its true impact on Earth’s climate.

“I think we’ve discovered something important here,” Toon said. “It’s subtle, but it could make a big difference.”

#Environment

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coin-news-blog · 5 years ago

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CHAI Processes USD 54m via Terra's Blockchain + 12 More Crypto News

New Post has been published on https://coinmakers.tech/tech/chai-processes-usd-54m-via-terras-blockchain-12-more-crypto-news

CHAI Processes USD 54m via Terra's Blockchain + 12 More Crypto News

Crypto Briefs is your daily bite-sized digest of cryptocurrency and blockchain-related news – keeping you up-to-date with under the radar crypto news from around the world.

Adoption news

South Korea’s mobile payments platform powered by Terra’s blockchain technology, CHAI, came out with a series of achievements since its launch in June 2019. The company says that more than USD 54 million has been processed by CHAI via the Terra blockchain, while more than 500,000 users signed up to CHAI. Merchants are estimated to have saved USD 810,000 in transaction fees, and the average user spends USD 20.30 per transaction to buy everyday goods and services. The platform says that 14,000 stores from Korea’s largest convenience store chain, CU, will use CHAI by December 2019.

The Seoul district of Seocho – home to many of South Korea’s biggest blockchain and cryptocurrency ventures – has announced it will launch an apprenticeship program for blockchain-keen graduates. The initiative will see an initial 20 students undergo paid internships at six up-and-coming blockchain companies based in the area, per Fn Today, with a view to expanding Seoch-blockchain business cooperation.

Trustology, the digital asset custody provider, which was founded by former bankers from UBS, BNY Mellon and Bank of America, announced in a blog post the release of a new version of their suite of technologies, the TrustVault. This custodial wallet will be integrating with MetaMask, a web-browser plugin for Ethereum, the post explains, which will give dapp (decentralized app) users "the option to use their TrustVault wallet private keys instead of MetaMask’s local key store to support the signing and verifying of any Ethereum decentralised finance transaction across different websites, without compromising their security or access." Users will also be able to run decentralized apps through a browser, but without having to run a full Ethereum node.

South Korean social media platform Taehee has struck a blockchain deal with telecoms operator Sejong Telecom, reports DongYang Ilbo. The parties have agreed to build a blockchain platform and a series of dapps, as well as a public-industry-academic collaboration. Sejong specializes in international, internet and long-distance telecoms, and says it has a network spanning 12,800km.

MyCreditChain has become the latest company to join Kakao’s Klaytn blockchain platform as a partner. The company operates the Good Morning app, a networking service. Per Paxnet News, MyCreditChain intends to launch a Good Morning dapp on the Klaytn blockchain mainnet by “early next year.”

Technology news

ING says its researchers have solved a security and privacy problem on R3’s Corda blockchain platform. The financial firm says, per a research paper, that its solution makes use of zero-knowledge proofs on Corda’s validating notary operations, meaning that the platform will be able to verify transactions without seeking specific information about their contents.

Litecoin revealed the draft plans of two improvement proposals, which would mean a privacy upgrade. According to Litecoin Foundation‘s Twitter announcement, asking for feedback on the idea, the upgrade would enable users to access opt-in privacy by conducting MimbleWimble transactions on an Extension Blocks-style side-chain. Litecoin has also posted the announcement on Reddit to probe people’s reactions to it.

Trading news

Bakkt trading volumes on October 23 reached the BTC 640 mark, or the highest level since the plaftorm was launched in the beginning of this month, according to Bakkt Volume Bot that tracks activity on the Bakkt bitcoin monthly futures contracts.

Daily summary of Wednesday’s Bakkt Bitcoin Monthly Futures:

— Bakkt Volume Bot (@BakktBot)

Investment news

The majority of Telegram investors have allegedly agreed to postpone the launch of Telegram’s native blockchain network TON, so they will not be asking for the majority of their funds back, according to Forbes Russia. This comes after the last week’s news that Telegram decided to postpone the launch of Ton and Gram token.

South Korea’s CoinPlug says it has raised USD 6.4 million in a Series B2 investment. Per EToday, major investors include KB Ventures, the investment arm of commercial bank KB Bank, as well as financial services giant Mirae Asset and VC company Smilegate Investment. Coinplug is a cryptocurrency exchange, wallet and payments provider with operations in both the domestic market and elsewhere in Asia. The company has raised a total of USD 12.8 million thus far, with KB making another large investment in 2015, and Mirae also investing big back in 2014.

A South Korean pet-themed blockchain platform named AnimalGo says it has received an investment boost of an unspecified amount from a Hong Kong-based blockchain fund named Block Inside. The platform offers tokenized rewards and incentives and claims to have some 50,000 active users. ETNews reports that Block Inside has previously invested in major projects such as EOS.

Trading news

Coinbase was profitable in the last three year, said CEO Brian Armstrong onstage at Vanity Fair’s New Establishment Summit. Armstrong explained that the exchange has generated nearly USD 2 billion of transaction-fee revenue since its launch in 2012, and has generated more operating profit than venture capital money raised. “Most of these profits were plowing back into the business to create new products,” Armstrong is quoted as saying. “I sort of think of us as the anti-unicorn unicorn…I want Coinbase to be a company of repeatable innovation.” Commenting on whether Coinbase’s valuation of USD 8 billion puts the exchange in the unicorn category, Armstrong said: “I leave that up to investors…I just like to build products with technology.”

Stacks (STX) token can now be traded on Binance and HashKey Pro exchanges. According to the announcement by decentralized computing network and app ecosystem Blockstack, their goal with the listings of their native token on these two exchanges is to increase access to the Blockstack network globally, as users can now easily acquire Stacks tokens for use on the network, as well as to ensure convenient liquidity for Stacks holders and app miners.

Source: cryptonews.com

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lodelss · 6 years ago

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True Crime and the Trash Balance

Soraya Roberts | Longreads | January 2019 | 9 minutes (2,514 words)

In his satirical 1827 essay, “On Murder Considered as One of the Fine Arts,” Thomas de Quincey called himself a connoisseur of murder before ensuring us he hadn’t actually committed one himself. In her new book I’ll Be Gone in the Dark: One Woman’s Obsessive Search for the Golden State Killer, late author Michelle McNamara also reassures us that her interest is personal, not prurient (it originated with an unsolved crime in her childhood neighborhood). Most of us have excuses for our interest in true crime, as though enjoying it offered real insight into our own predilections. The quasi-religious impulse to consider this a perversion of society’s innate morality has led to a flurry of theories about the source of our fascination, with four main hypotheses recurring: true crime can be a cathartic conduit for our primal urges, a source of schadenfreude, a controlled environment to experience the thrill of fear, and way to arm us (women particularly) with the knowledge to keep ourselves safe. A psychologist, speaking to NPR in 2009, provided the perfect précis: “our fascination with crime is equaled by our fear of crime. It’s two sides of the same story.”

True crime is less embarrassing, like so many things, when it’s scrubbed clean. On my shelf, Truman Capote’s In Cold Blood, Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s News of a Kidnapping and Dave Cullen’s Columbine stick out for how unobtrusive they are amidst the loudly stylized spines of Ann Rule’s The Stranger Beside Me and Vincent Bugliosi’s Helter Skelter, among others. With their unadorned print (no drips) and minimalist art (no claret), these tasteful soft covers pass for literature. They are comparable to “prestige” podcasts like Serial and S-Town and series like Making a Murderer and The Keepers, Netflix shows in which the classic hallmarks of true crime programs — overly explicit, overly emotive — are massaged into character-driven narratives for the graduate set. In the midst of this influx of classy crime content, watching throwbacks like Lifetime’s Surviving R. Kelly, in which survivors are tasked with reliving their abuse and tear-stained grief is the closeup du jour, starts to feel like an ignominious act.

In 2016, at the beginning of the true crime renaissance, The New Yorker asked Popular Crime author Bill James whether, regardless of the highbrow livery, it was fundamentally “distasteful” (New Yorker for “trashy”) to transform tragedy into entertainment. “Well, certainly there is something distasteful about it,” James said, but, “When there is a car wreck, we ask what happened to cause the car wreck.” That is to say: The crime itself is distasteful (or trashy), therefore it’s necessarily distasteful (or trashy) when we address it. So, either we can refuse to interrogate crime, full stop, or we can ensure that the grief we cause is for a greater good. It is a sort of trash balance — less exploitation, more justice — with only one bad ending instead of two.

* * *

True crime was lurid straight out of the birth canal. Born in the mid-sixteenth century, it was the offspring of two relatively new developments: criminal justice and the printing press. Historic crime reports’ graphic nature is typically associated with a depravity believed to appeal to the unrefined, uneducated, and unmoneyed, but that was not the case with these early publications. Though they were often branded with explicit woodcuts that would have been understandable to even the illiterate, they also boasted rhyming text and only went to those who could afford them, predominantly the upper echelons. In “True Crime: The Origins of Modern Sensationalism,” published in The American Historical Review, Joy Wiltenburg writes that “emotive language, direct dialogue, building of suspense through circumstantial detail, and graphic description of bloody violence were common in the genre.”

Favored cases were in-family and usually involved multiple deaths. The focus was on the victims, while the moral of the story was that sin begat punishment. “The combination of truth with appeals to the heart underlined the religious focus of these works,” writes Wiltenburg. “Virtually all crime accounts published during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries connected their stories with an edifying Christian message.” This message associated brutality with the devil and positioned public order as the path to virtue. “[Sensationalism] has had religious, political, and cultural impact,” Wilternburg sums up, “promoting the ready acceptance of punitive government actions, the advancement of religious agendas, the internalization of mainstream emotional expectations, the habit of vicarious emotional experience, and the focus on distinctive individual identity.”

With a reputation for being insensitive to and financially exploiting both criminals and their victims, true crime is often accused of sensationalism, but that term wasn’t coined until the 19th century, a time that favored rational thought over the emotive prose of journalists. “While sexual scandals and other shocking events have become staples of modern sensationalism,” writes Wiltenburg, “its chief focus has always been crime, especially the most bloody and horrifying of murders.” The 1800s also gave us our first detectives, who inspired Edgar Allan Poe’s C. Auguste Dupin stories and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes series, the latter not only centering crime fiction as a genre, but granting it a modicum of respectability. The gutter was still within spitting distance, though. Penny dreadfuls arrived — demon barber Sweeney Todd in tow — as early versions of popular culture in the form cheap mass-produced serials for young, increasingly literate working-class men, featuring salacious gore; like the true crime paperbacks of today, they supplied affordable, digestible scandal to entertain tired people with no time. The last gasp of the penny dreadful coincided with the precursor to O.J. Simpson’s so-called trial of the century: The Lizzie Borden case. The 32-year-old Massachusetts woman’s trial for the axe murder of her parents spawned a media phenomenon and firmly established the mass appeal of true crime. The next century saw the trash-fired genre shooting off in various directions, from tabloids like The National Enquirer to paperbacks like Lacey Fosburgh’s Closing Time to shows like America’s Most Wanted.

Then there was In Cold Blood.

“Until one morning in mid-November 1959, few Americans — in fact, few Kansans — had ever heard of Holcomb. Like the waters of the river, like the motorists on the highway, and like the yellow trains streaking down the Santa Fe tracks, drama in the shape of exceptional happenings, had never stopped there.” Before In Cold Blood, this is not how real crime stories read. What Arthur Conan Doyle did for crime fiction, Truman Capote did for true crime. His 1965 experiment was released as a four-part serial in The New Yorker and became the reference point for every other high-brow true crime work in every other medium. “The motivating factor in my choice of material — that is, choosing to write a true account of an actual murder case — was altogether literary,” Capote told The New York Times. “It seemed to me that journalism, reportage, could be forced to yield a serious new art form: the ‘nonfiction novel,’ as I thought of it.” He believed only those with the “fictional technical equipment” — novelists, not journalists — like him could do it. The factual inaccuracies that have since emerged suggest that Capote’s belief in his own skills — he neither taped nor took notes during interviews — were as sensational as the genre he was hoping to reinvent. His book is still, however, considered the pinnacle of crime lit.

It was Capote’s book that the Times referred to when designating Errol Morris’s The Thin Blue Line a “nonfiction feature film,” per its distributors, in 1988. This exercise in lyrical fact was groundbreaking in its own right: an elegant piece of true crime as an advocacy tool. The subject of a false conviction, Randall Dale Adams had his case thrown out with the help of evidence Morris uncovered. It’s a straight shot from The Thin Blue Line to Serial, which blew up true crime podcasting in 2014. But while an appeal followed this program’s highly subjective long-form reexamination of Adnan Syed’s conviction for killing Baltimore teen Hae Min Lee in 1999, it was Capote — “a leap in narrative innovation on the scale of In Cold Blood” — who was once again cited, this time in The New Yorker. Serial’s executive producer has said they were trying to avoid an exploitative “Nancy Grace type of a titillating thing,” but the program was serialized with its own version of a cliffhanger each week, and provided its own hero, the avatar in our ears, reporter Sarah Koenig. Yet Koenig bristled at the suggestion by the Times’ Magazine that this was entertainment. “I don’t think that’s fair,” she said. “I’m still reporting.”

As though the two were mutually exclusive. As though true crime could only be trash if it were entertainment, and could only be entertainment if it weren’t journalism. Of course, this negates the nature of media. To entertain — to entertain a thought, for instance — is merely to take it into consideration, to allow it to hold one’s attention. Journalism is made to entertain; if it weren’t, reports would not be called “stories” and there would be no need for inverted triangles or kickers or pull quotes or anything else to catch our attention, to hold it. Because to deliver the news there has to be someone to deliver it to, and that necessitates their entertainment. Otherwise the news is nothing but fact; there is no story.

* * *

“Many of the differences between trash culture and high culture show only that storytelling adapts to changing economic, social and political conditions,” Richard Keller Simon writes in Trash Culture: Popular Culture and the Great Tradition. It’s something to consider when watching Lifetime’s Surviving R. Kelly. The series was produced by a network for women branded by its schlocky aesthetic and penchant for frothy romance. An exec at Lifetime has admitted it has “erred on the tabloid side” and Surviving R. Kelly, which has a number of black women recounting the decades of abuse they say the singer has inflicted on them, exhibits the familiar tropes: the inflated score, the voyeuristic set pieces, the abused women on display. In an interview with Complex earlier this month, showrunner dream hampton revealed that she received a number of notes from Lifetime and that she was pushed to find more victims. “I didn’t like the salaciousness of stacking up all of these people who survived him,” she said, “but I got the corroboration part.” The result is a series that orchestrates rescue attempts and highlights the explicitness of Kelly’s brutality, while only gesturing vaguely at the cottage industry he has fostered over the past three decades in order to victimize black women and at our collective failure to see these women as victims at all.

When I watched it, I couldn’t shake a feeling of ickiness, particularly when one of the victims was asked to describe her abuse and dissolved into tears. We didn’t need to see that scene from the pee tape so many times, we didn’t need a tour by one victim of the room where she was allegedly tortured, we didn’t need to watch as one mother reunited with her daughter. (I’m not even including the questionable stylistic choices). The whole endeavor read trashy, old-school Lifetime. “I saw someone kind of try to drag me about why isn’t this on something more premium like Netflix. But this to me is the perfect place for it,” hampton told Complex. “I know that women watch Lifetime, and that black women make up the majority of those viewers.” Reading this made me doubly uncomfortable. It suggested that to get black women’s attention you had to feed them trash. And, okay, maybe black women weren’t trying to mute R. Kelly over The Chicago Sun-Times’ original reporting, but none of us were! The world has changed since 2002, and all of us — including black women — have become more sophisticated about predation.

“The average American today has greater familiarity with the legal process, thanks in part to procedural dramas and the round-the-clock media coverage of splashy crimes that began with the O.J. Simpson trial in the 1990s,” writes Lenika Cruz in The Atlantic. “And people are more aware than ever of flaws in the criminal-justice system, including police brutality and wrongful convictions.” This means that true crime has had to hustle to keep up with its audience, reframing from the crime itself to seeking its closure. NPR noticed the new true crime formula in 2015, with programs like Serial and HBO’s The Jinx (and later Netflix’s Making a Murderer and APM’s In the Dark) concentrating on ongoing cases that could be affected by new reporting. Andrew Jarecki, director of The Jinx, called this subject matter “live ball,” and so here we are in the live-ball era of true crime in which Robert Durst literally burps up a confession on camera before he is charged with murder. “Can the genre sustain this? Can they really sustain true crime as an advocacy medium?” Michael Arntfield, founder of the Cold Case Society, asked The Pacific Standard. “The success and the legitimacy of the medium hinges on being able to stay within this framework of advocacy ahead of strictly sensationalism or profitability.”

But even advocacy has its limits. Netflix’s runaway success Making a Murder eschewed Serial-like narration and Jinx-like reenactments, but contorted almost 700 hours of footage into supporting a theory that the filmmakers had already formulated, that convicted murderer Steven Avery was innocent despite everything pointing to the contrary. Laura Ricciardi and Moira Demos told the Times they secured interviews where others didn’t because of their “tempered approach.” Like those books on my shelf, this refined series passed for high culture.

The most balanced true crime isn’t actually true crime. Last year, American Public Media launched the second season of their hit podcast In the Dark, hosted by Madeleine Baran. Over 11 episodes, it examined the six trials of Curtis Flowers for the same murders. Even though the precipitating incident was the crime, the attention was on everything else; the reporting team embedded itself in Flowers’ Mississippi hometown for a year, ultimately producing not only a strong — dare I say entertaining? — sense of place, but a rigorous analysis of the systemic failures of the investigation. “For us as reporters, we’re here to look at the people in power and look at the systems in place that raise questions about whether or not the criminal justice system is fair, whether it is just using facts,” Baran told NPR. “So what that results in is not our place to say. But certainly, in this case, what we’ve shown is that the evidence against Curtis Flowers is weak. So this becomes a question now for the courts.” While other podcasts rely on their relatability, this one doesn’t have to — the story is enough. In the aftermath of Baran’s team’s exhaustive reporting, the Supreme Court has agreed to reconsider Flowers’ conviction. It is a rare case in which the balance seems to be moot. It’s all justice.

* * *

Soraya Roberts is a culture columnist at Longreads.

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junker-town · 6 years ago

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Big 12 Hate Week died. All we have are BU-TT and FARMAGEDDON.

Through realignment and schedule maneuvering, the league now has the worst rivalry week of the Power 5.

Look at the Big 12’s schedule for Hate Week, 2009. It’s neat, tidy, and spiteful.

ESPN.com

Now, look at 2018’s:

ESPN.com

Sure, it’s got big stakes in Oklahoma-West Virginia and some bowl eligibility on the line, but there’s only a faint hint of hate here.

What we do have are some games with silly names and hilarious recent history. Baylor and Texas Tech meet in the BuTT Bowl. Kansas State and Iowa State play in FARMAGEDDON. And this is where I remind you that Kansas beat Texas in 2016. That’s it.

How we got here is the story of conscious choices on multiple sides.

Let’s start with Nebraska and Colorado. It was barely a rivalry, given the fact that the Huskers historically dominated the Buffs. But the mid-1980s came around and CU got good. Cue the hatred, thanks to former coach Dan McCartney.

Colorado and Nebraska each left the Big 12 in 2011, and their annual matchup went out the window. Perhaps you remember when this all got announced in 2010 and we got near this nuclear option?

A Big 12 football coach, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, told ESPN.com’s Mark Schlabach on Wednesday night if Nebraska left the Big 12 the conference would dissolve, according to his athletic director and university president. The coach said Texas, Texas A&M, Texas Tech, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State and Colorado would join the Pac-10, leaving Baylor, Kansas, Kansas State, Missouri and Iowa State behind.

The Huskers did indeed go to the Big Ten. AD Tom Osborne said at the time that “this is not a financial windfall,” but by 2018 the Big Ten’s revenue sharing agreement would give out $14 million more to its members than the Big 12’s would. Colorado left for greener pastures as well in the Pac-12, and the teams didn’t get back together until 2018. There’s another game scheduled for 2019 and two more in 2023 and 2024, but the series isn’t regular and both teams aren’t in the Big 12 anyway.

Neither are Texas A&M nor Missouri. Their rivalries with Texas and Kansas were effectively killed off — on the field, at least — when they left for the SEC.

The reason the Texas schools don’t play again is hubris. A&M wants you to think its big, bad in-conference schedule is just too hard. But Georgia, Florida, Kentucky, and South Carolina all somehow find a way to play an out of conference game on Thanksgiving weekend after their brutal SEC gauntlets.

Texas certainly isn’t blameless here either, primarily because its posturing to leave the Big 12 helped kickstart the whole realignment wave to begin with. But at least the Horns have publicly expressed interest to play the Aggies. It’s a shrewd move to put the ball publicly in A&M’s court, whether UT really wants to renew the game or not.

Chris Del Conte on renewing UT/A&M football rivalry: "At some point and time we will pick up our rivalry. It’s important to our state and important to our fan base. I’m assuming when it’s appropriate and ready, we’ll play...We’d like to do that, it’s just matching up schedules."

— Chuck Carlton (@ChuckCarltonDMN) May 30, 2018

As for Missouri and Kansas, they can’t even get on the same page about a basketball game, much less the football series.

So for now, the Big 12 sits in Hate Week limbo because the almighty dollar pulled a third of its old membership elsewhere.

So, how can we put some hatin’ back on the table?

There’s one very easy step: put Bedlam back on Thanksgiving weekend permanently.

The game was moved earlier in the month because the Big 12 brought its championship game back. The league wanted to decrease its chances of getting a rematch two weekends in a row. Lo and behold, the game is returning to Thanksgiving in 2019, and the world does not look like it’s going to implode.

The league’s schedule rotation in 2019 puts Texas-Texas Tech on Black Friday. It’s not a perfect substitute for Texas-Texas A&M on Thanksgiving, but it’s at least something with in-state stakes and a trophy.

Kansas and Kansas State don’t have the amount of hatred that Kansas and Mizzou have for each other, but it also would be fun to add that game to the Thanksgiving weekend schedule, seeing as how they played two weeks before Thanksgiving in 2018.

Removing any mandate to play conference games on Thanksgiving weekend would be another step in a hateful direction. That would let West Virginia play Pitt instead of a Big 12 team on Thanksgiving weekend, if the two schools were up for it. The series is already coming back for at least four years in 2022.

For now, Baylor-Texas Tech and Kansas State-Iowa State are the only rivalry-like games on the weekend schedule.

And in both of those, the silly rivalry nicknames are better than the actual on-field spite.

@seth_rosenthal Pic from today's BUTT bowl pic.twitter.com/K9mcHxoMZz

— Chris Behan (@BehanBrah) November 30, 2014

There’s no easy fix, and we’ll never get back to that perfectly hateful 2009 slate as long as conference alignments are like they stand now. But there are some ways to bring back the hate. That’s what college football is all about, even if some current and former Big 12 members chased cash a few years ago and severed decades-old ties.

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incorrectclassroom · 6 years ago

Text

favvvv author/s(writer/s).

This post is a bit late but it’s here now.

As you all can guess from my previous posts, I’m not a fan of non-fictions. The only non-fiction that I liked was my Biology textbook. Sis, let me tell you,,,,, mitochondria is the powerhouse of the cell and cells,,,, are interesting as heck. What I do get on board with is fictions. I read a lot of Enid Blyton when I was a child. Only I thought her name was Gnid Buton and that she was a dude. Aaaaahh, being a child. I particularly like her Amelia Jane series. Home-made doll who isn’t store bought, thus, lacks manners. That series was nice. Can’t believe there’s only 4 books in that series. Growing up, I read a lot, like a lot lot of Diary of a Wimpy Kid. It’s funny and it gets me to read so mom just went with it. The series is still ongoing and I still read it till this day cus its what get my little brothers to read too so mom keeps buying ‘em. I particularly like To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before series by Jenny Han. Lara Jean Song Covey has like 5 crushes throughout her life and she acts on none of ‘em because she’s shy???? and awkward??? and have issues??? Honestly,,, mood. I got the third installation of the series on a travelling day and guess who read it from start to finish on a 7-hour car ride back to her hometown? Yea it’s this girl. Also the books makes me feel all giddy inside I hate it lol. The Alchemist was nice. Short read but very insightful. Oufff and that book that the dying doctor wrote. When Breath Becomes Air!!!!!!! Halfway through the end and I can’t put it down and tears won’t stop flowing lolololl. I just thank God I was alone. Can you imagine,,, crying, in front of other people? ಥ ͜ʖಥ Other than that we have The Time Keeper, My Heart and other Black Holes, It Ends With Us, The Roanoke Girls(disturbing read I’ll tell you that), Three Dark Crowns,,,, also,,, I have now realised that I absolutely cannot choose favourites. The books I’ve read was entertaining and for most of it, I looked up the reviews beforehand lololol this girl reads 3 stars and above only sisters. You might ask “Hm,,,, why isn’t Harry Potter in the list??? Is she not a fan of Harry Potter???? People her age like Harry Potter. They read Harry Potter don’t they?” To answer that question, yes, I am a fan and yes, I did read Harry Potter. Actually, I read the first two books and then the movie came out and I’m like,,,,,,, “You know what, I’m just gonna watch the movies.” But since the movies left most parts out and I had to ask mom(since she read the books) to fill the inconsistency in for me, I am now rethinking my decision and is probably going to pick up the book again somewhere in the future. Unimportant, but I’m a Slytherin hehehehehe hiss hiss amigos.

You know what else counts as writing??? Songwriting. It is a form of writing too so I’m just gonna go ahead and mention my fav songwriter/storyteller which is Miss Taylor Allison Swift. Her songs?? Bops. What are feelings you might ask?? Listen to her and you might have an idea. Love Story? An evergreen bop. Ours? I’m not in love but I sure am now. All Too Well? Sis,,, you already know I cried listening to it. Its been 6 years since its release and I’m still crying. The rawness of it, the love, the loss, the pain that she felt. It’s like she picked up a pen when the wound was still raw, still fresh, still bleeding, and girl just went ahead and used the blood as ink. Sis,,,, I just,,,,,,😭😭😭. 💯 would recommend. Beautifully written and painfully honest, a true masterpiece by a legend. And I absolutely CANNOT believe she stashed away the 10-minute version of this song in a drawer ‘somewhere'. I want to be that drawer. I want to be the drawer that safekeeps the extension of an already perfect song. And the live performance at the 2014 Grammys???? THAT WAS EVERYTHING!! “Maybe we got lost in translation, maybe I ask for too much but maybe this thing was a masterpiece till you tore it all up, running scared, I was there, I remember it, all too well. Yeah, you called me up again just to break me like a promise, so casually cruel in the name of being honest, I’m a crumpled up piece of paper lying here, cause I remember it all too well,” YES only the GREATEST BRIDGE EVER!!!! The Golden Gate Bridge is no match to this one and can suck it!(kidding of course, I exaggerate stuff, that bridge is impressive btw) Now let me just,,, slip in a quote from the songstress herself on this song,,,

"I think that happens most when you're missing someone, or you've lost someone, or you're trying to forget someone... And you just don't know how you feel about it. This happened to me one time and I knew that in order to get past it, I needed to write about it, so instead of trying to write what I felt about it, it might be better to just write what happened... because I remembered everything." -Taylor Swift on All Too Well

You have got nothing against Miss Swift, the lyrical genius™ . I know this Tumblr is for class but it is now her stan account too.

p/s: click the underlined words to be redirected to the music video of said song.

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