#also less emphasis on coherency which is. concerning

[lackeyhenchman]

Interesting how blogs run by someone who would have been a Steven Universe "softboi" 10 years ago (terminal anxiety/better at repetition than articulation/standard gender rage babytalk) are still mostly the same, except they now involve relentlessly inserting reclaimed slurs like they just learned a new cuss word. Small birb into bitey chihuaha energy

[sol-consort]

I don't know if this is too odd, but what would you think a relationship with a Vorcha, Elcor, Hanar or batarian would look like because they are less conventional for cross-species relationships in the ME fandom. Or maybe I'm just deep in the alien fucker trenches who knows :)

"Is this too odd?" Anon asked the tumblr writer.

"I sure hope so," said the writer, whose was actually the weirdo writings guy.

Elcor In a relationship with a human

[romance, fluff, xenobiology, cultural differences]

Views on humanity?

So far, our species have yet to step on their toes... emphasis on yet. Through the trilogy, elcor have always been one of the most helpful and polite species to come across.

Our first encounter with an alien is with an elcor and volus mid-conversation. And despite all the volus's bad faith comments towards humanity, the elcor is quick to dispute his rude claims and apologetically tell us to ignore him; his frustration stems from the unfair practices of the council, not out of true malice towards humans.

The placement of humanity's first embassy next to the elcor one has got to have established some early bridges of trust between the two species. As far as the elcor masses are concerned, humans are chill.

Which is... a lot better of an impression than what the other alien species hold towards humans, shocking I know, who could ever hate us? Well, not the elcor, that's for sure.

Most salarians do hold prejudice against them... kind of a lot, so if you happen to be friends with one, it might wear thin on the stability of your relationship with your elcor partner. Otherwise, a human and an elcor are akin to two happy peas in a pod—politically speaking.

Communication?

We've already established how emotionally intelligent they are with the above example. Very composed and patient, albeit phlegmatic in the eyes of other species.

Elcor communication is intricate, multilayered, and subtle. Requiring their full cortex senses to decipher and convey a coherent reply back. The use of vocal speech has been adapted out of necessity to communicate with the other species.

Even if you studied your whole life, there is no feasible way for a human to reach a level of understanding capable of mimicking a fraction of elcor communication. It's one of those situations where you have to throw the towel in and find an alternative.

Luckily, most elcor are very understanding and considerate enough to lower their standards of communication. In more blunt terms, they settle for less with us.

Yeah.

But hey! Love is worth it, just like how you don't expect them to suddenly turn bipedal. They, too, are content with your limited range of communication and as subtle as a brick to the face.

In a one on one intimate situation, the two of you can easily work around it. But when it's time to meet your parents, or for you to meet theirs, it might create a lot of conflict. Both your families need to accommodate your choice of partner, otherwise the neglect will gnaw at your hearts.

Arguments aren't very fun, their way of speech tend to be irritating when you're already on your last straw and it feels like you're being talked down to.

As for them, you seem completely dramatic and emotional—borderline manic. It's hard to remember that humans are naturally this expressive when their patience is being tested.

It takes a great deal of effort to adapt and learn to the ways of a completely different species. A lot of times you'll wonder why do you even bother, why struggle so much to achieve a semi-normal relationship when you can get these things for granted in any relationship with another human?

And, well, you'll have to find the answer to the question yourself. Because the novelty of dating a shiny new alien will wear off in not a month's time.

In the end, you'll be left with another person, a whole being with a soul just like you, who longs, loves, and needs. Who is also wondering the same thing, why do they stay and make this difficult for themselves? Why don't they just leave to find another elcor?

Because there are many great difficult things in life that are worth the effort.

It's not always all doom and gloom; remember that line about how a human smile is as subtle as a fireworks show to an elcor?

Imagine how it must feel for the elcor, to see your partner being so loud and proud—in your prespective—with their happiness to be around you.

That every small nonchalant "love you, bye bye" you said at the end of a phone call, is akin to a declaration of love shouted from the rooftops. To be so clearly and shamelessly loved. There is no playing hard to get with an elcor, something as small as the glint in your eye as you steal a glance their way speaks mountains to them.

You are a fireworks display. They love you for it and wouldn't have it any other way.

Romance?

It's not elaborated on much, what their species consider romantic, where do they draw the line between platonic affection and other? How many types of love do they have?

Humans are tribal, herd mammals. We enjoy taking all of our treasured belongings and putting them in a cave, hopefully with another treasured person inside.

As children, we daydream about being neighbours with our friends when we grow up, we wish to visit our loved ones a ton, and sleepovers are beloved for a reason.

Elcor are the opposite. They are solitary creatures spread out across their planet. The dense gravity their species developed under might imply they find cuddling or any form of extra weight against them uncomfortable.

Or, actually, it might do the opposite.

Think of it this way, their bodies got so used to the crushing gravity of Dekuuna—their homeplanet—so much so that once they left it, they started feeling a lack. While they may hate the feeling of extra weight when on their homeworld, they begin to miss it and crave the added weight once they leave to the Citadel, Earth, or anywhere else.

So when you cuddle them, lean against them, or cover them in a weighted blanket, they feel at home.

The flora of Dekuuna not only offers an overabundance of lush forests but is also protected by the law. Meaning they place great cultural value on nature itself.

Which means their romantic gifts may also stem from nature, like ours, except an elcor would think it's more romantic to gift you a living plant than a bouquet of flowers; the act of cutting them itself is seen as insulting.

But if you give them a potted flower? The romantic innuendo will come across!

Elcor migrate a lot, as in walking the distance to move their capital, because they enjoy doing it. They like being outside, maybe dates to the park or somewhere vast and open will appeal to them?

Some of them are seen to consume nicotine and alcohol; you can safely ask them out for drinks, flirting by paying their tab and walking them home.

They enjoyed Hamlet enough to adapt it! They have a taste for theatrics and tragedy. Implying their preference overlap with humanity when it comes to art and expression. Not only that, but it proves they deeply enjoy art.

You've hit the jackpot, you take an elcor on a picnic at a nearby park, share a bottle of wine, use some classy flirting lines and watch them add "says flustered" in their speech tone indicator, then bring em home, cuddle on a pile of blankets and watch a doomed romance together!

Eventually, they, too, will get the hand of what makes your heart flutter and smile widens. That humans place sentimental values on material things and enjoy receiving fun little trinkets, shiny stuff, your prefered colour to receive them in, your favourite food to eat, the snacks you like.

They get the hang of it with practice and observation. They can pick up on a lot of your subtle body language that you're oblivious to. They recognise what you're feeling without you having to say a word. They act accordingly each time. Being considerate and thoughtful are in their nature.

Sex?

Wouldn't you like to know weatherboy

[rathologic]

The thesis of the post I’m following up on was that Pathologic 2’s approach to children is “adults know best”, failing to produce any points about the self-determination and marginalization of children that were vital in p1, because it constantly overrules and opposes the young characters’ desires. The points of this post are (besides greater detail) that this theme is underpinned by A) the lack of a “future” in p2 preventing the children from having an ideology, and B) the game telling instead of showing. not comprehensive by any means but it’s a slightly better elaboration than said confusingly phrased post :-)

The List seem to know each other (outside the handful of individual connections like Capella-Khan and Notkin-Murky) primarily through knowing Isidor; conversely Isidor’s list is the only thing connecting them into a coherent faction, emphasized by the game displaying the “List” as a separate category under People. Isidor, an adult, takes the role of “identifying the children necessary to preserve the Town” from p1 Capella. The point that “these children must survive” is copied from p1, but it’s weakened by their survival not having an impact on any p2 ending – it becomes the “just because Isidor wanted it this way” reasoning which is also used to explain the Haruspex’s presence in the story, which starts to register weirdly with the kids given that p2 Isidor abuses Rubin and potentially abused Artemy (like most things with Isidor, why he did it this way is never seriously questioned). The existence of the List is something imposed on them by an adult instead of chosen.

Because their grouping is no longer based on a shared struggle to preserve the Town according to a single vision, the familial duty that motivated it in p1 is less of a factor in each child’s life. The position of “Mother Superior” not being real, Capella’s insistence on marrying Khan coming from herself rather than pressure from their families, Khan having run away from Victor – the kids are independent in the sense that they do things primarily for themselves, but the same disconnection from the broader context of the Town causes them not to have coherent goals. Therefore, the tension they face is limited to personal events: will Murky and Sticky move in with the Haruspex? will Grace stop the dead from being burned? will the Polyhedron support all kids for a few days?, preventing the List from expressing their relevance to the future of the Town as a whole (*except after the ending has already been decided!). This is in part imposed by p2’s intrinsic requirement that the game can continue with some or all of the List dead.

The only time their relevance comes up is Capella’s belief that she should lead the children, which she frames as her becoming a mother to them (that she should succeed “father” Isidor in this role instead of Artemy), and which is immediately negated in gameplay by the events of day 10 (further, her assertion that the List will all die as the player’s wards creates drive for the player to oppose her statement and actions by trying to disprove it). Due to this framing of motherhood, the other children’s loyalty to Capella becomes an emphasis on faith in the advice of a parent, rather than collective maturity. (In the same vein, Aspity’s character in p2 is explicitly as an advice-giving mother to Artemy, as well as to the Kin at large, who are described as infants and depicted as relying on her guidance to make choices.)

This form of “independence” means the List aren’t well beholden to the past, which means they aren’t concerned about their futures. The children will go along with any role they’re given by the player’s selected ending – the endings happen to them, not because of any part they played in the story. The central choice of Pathologic 2 as framed by Isidor is whether Artemy values the mutually exclusive past or future, so the choice to completely bypass this tension in his seven closest NPCs by making them not particularly care causes it, and them, to fall flat. This is in part imposed by the other fundamental issue, that p2’s Town doesn’t have a future for them to make choices about, forcing all character conflict to be resolved during the 12 days of the game.

(NB: Taya is an exception to the above several paragraphs – she takes 1 action that affects the landscape of the Town in the long run, although the actual choice to move the Kin to Shekhen is given to adult Artemy instead, and she’s motivated entirely by duty to her family. This is essentially in line with her being the Nocturnalest kid which is a separate post!)

Meanwhile, the older heirs Artemy, Maria, Vlad Jr., and Rubin are committed to becoming what their predecessors wanted, which when contrasted with the younger children associates their commitment with maturity. The few times Maria and Vlad Jr. do something conflicting with their parents (house-marking and going to the Kin respectively), the player is always given the opportunity to report it to said parents, who overrule and stop them. The implication that Simon asked Rubin to kill and dissect him makes Rubin’s actions completely dependent on the desires of Isidor and Simon until his medical duty runs out. Throughout the game, the decisions of older characters are prioritized in story and in gameplay effects, specifically decisions that control and direct the lives of the younger ones.

These decisions are roundly accepted by both the List and the heirs; any discontent is a side note in dialogue with no gameplay effect. Grace’s line “I don’t want to leave […], but Katerina [later referred to as Mother] says I can’t stay” applies doubly, as her arc involves being taken from her home and placed in the care of foster parents either once or twice depending on ending choice. The most obtrusive lack of challenge is that the player is unable to express dissatisfaction with Isidor’s choice to unleash the Plague beyond “killing thousands of innocents was cruel”, nor to talk about the implications of that act and Artemy’s position as its inheritor with either the Kin or Isidor’s List. Furthermore, the description of the Plague as a vaccination frames the Town as Isidor’s child, while he simultaneously justifies the misery inflicted on the Town with his love for it. Refusing the brutal choice that Isidor then imposes on the player results in a special ending where the game’s meta-narrator mocks and criticizes you for your “failure”.

In short, the lack of motivation and goals among the children of Pathologic 2 makes them passive to the choices adult characters make for them, which is every important choice. This could have been made a device about disempowerment if their resistance to it had an impact on gameplay at any point, but game design in fact opposes this. The player’s natural priority of “see as much dialogue as possible” leads the player towards dialogue and quest choices that align with the authority of parenthood; agreeing or leaving the children alone tends to end conversation undesirably, which the dialogue-end markers ensure the player is aware of. The endings incentivize endorsement of harsh parenting choices by skipping the finale if you oppose them. Neither the story nor gameplay contest the idea that an adult, in most cases a man, has the authority to make decisions controlling the lives of children.

[chemicalresearchupdates]

Revolutionizing Organization: Water Bottle Racks Market's Impact on Clutter-Free Spaces

The Water Bottle Racks Market is estimated to be valued at US$ 4.24 Bn in 2023 and is expected to exhibit a CAGR of 4.8% over the forecast period 2023 to 2030, as highlighted in a new report published by Coherent Market Insights. Paragraph: The Water Bottle Racks Market is estimated to be valued at US$ 4.24 Bn in 2023 and is expected to exhibit a CAGR of 4.8% over the forecast period 2023 to 2030, as highlighted in a new report published by Coherent Market Insights. Market Overview: Water bottle racks are used for organized storage of water bottles. They allow easy accessibility of bottles as per requirement and prevent stacking of bottles in disorganized manner. They come in different designs, sizes, and materials like plastic, metal, wood, etc. to suit various commercial and residential applications. Market Key Trends: One of the key trends driving growth of the water bottle racks market is increased penetration of e-commerce industry globally. Many online retailers offer wide variety of water bottle racks to cater to growing demand from residential as well as commercial sectors. Increased online shopping has boosted sales of water bottle racks significantly over the past few years. Various advantages offered by e-commerce such as discounted prices, ease of shopping from home, large product variety, etc. are fueling popularity of online shopping channels for water bottle racks. Porter’s Analysis

Threat of new entrants: The water bottle racks market has low threat of new entrants due to the presence of established players dominating the market. New entrants require high initial capital to build infrastructure and distribution channels.

Bargaining power of buyers: Buyers have moderate bargaining power due to the availability of substitute products. However, customized features and quality provide some differentiation.

Bargaining power of suppliers: Suppliers have low to moderate bargaining power due to availability of substitute raw materials. Established players source raw materials from multiple suppliers globally.

Threat of new substitutes: Substitute products like drinking water dispensers and water coolers pose moderate threat. However, water bottle racks unique benefits like portability provide product differentiation.

Competitive rivalry: Intense due to presence of global and regional players competing on pricing and product innovation.

SWOT Analysis

Strength: Durable and reusable nature. Portable and occupies less space compared to dispensers.

Weakness: Requires frequent replacement of water bottles. Limited storage capacity.

Opportunity: Growing health awareness is driving demand for pure drinking water. Expanding retail sector boosts installations.

Threats: Stringent regulations regarding plastic usage. Substitute products gaining popularity.

Key Takeaways

The global water bottle racks market is expected to witness high growth, exhibiting CAGR of 4.8% over the forecast period, due to increasing health awareness. Consumers are shifting towards pure drinking water from carbonated drinks due to health concerns which drives the demand for water bottle racks. Regional analysis The Asia Pacific region dominated the global water bottle racks market in 2023, accounting for around 35% of the overall shares, owing to the presence of emerging economies like China and India. China represents the world's largest market for water bottle racks due to the large population and rising health consciousness. Europe is also among the major markets for water bottle racks due to strict regulations regarding plastic usage and emphasis on recycling. Key players analysis Key players operating in the water bottle racks market are Coca-Cola Bottling Company of Saudi Arabia, Palletco Plastic Industries LLC, Lista International, Power Rack, Bahrain Water Bottling and Beverages Company S.P.C., ALSAMAANI Group, The Water Delivery Company, Shandong Liyang Plastic Molding Co. Ltd., Cixi Best Electrical Appliance Co. Ltd., Zhejiang Rongxin Industrial & Trading, MIW Water Cooler Experts, Zephyr Fluid Solutions, Polymer Solutions International, Inc. Major players focus on new product launches catering to customized requirements to strengthen their market share.

[penig]

"But dear Madam Mina, are you not afraid; not for yourself, but for others from yourself, after what has happened?"

Headcanon/interpretation confirmed. She is definitely pregnant and the tension in this conversation ramps up a notch with the certainty.

Mina ascends to Mother Goddesshood on October 3, which is very Victorian of her. Even Renfield worships at her altar and turns on Dracula before the end for her sake. I will leave indignant and horrified reactions to the way his death is handled by the author and the characters to others. I’m sure they’ll do a bang-up job. It occurs to me that if his round of the Tumblr Sexyman contest had come after this scene rather than before it he might have won it - which is a fairly horrible thought all it itself. But no, I’m here to talk about Mina, Our Lady of the Files.

Mina clearly thinks quite a lot during the course of the day, to come out with the “compassion for Dracula” speech at the end of it. What else had she to do? Well, begin making another copy of the journals, for one. Her foresight in making multiple copies (extremely tedious work, as those of us whose work lives began before photocopying became common office tech recall) paid off when Dracula ransacked the study and, now that they’re back down to one copy and she desperately needs something to occupy her hands and mind, making a new backup seems called for. Such an occupation would provide exactly the right state of mind for thinking the kinds of thoughts she’s been thinking and working out the points she works out, as the content of what she copies out would be so familiar as only to take up a small part of her brain, leaving the rest relatively free but focused on the topic occupying that part. Anybody who’s done this sort of attention-heavy, cerebration-light work for an extended period knows what I mean.

Presumably the alternation between journals and the small amount of overlap in this entry indicates the editing out of redundancies to make a coherent narrative, so the audience knows Mina survives long enough to edit them, which probably wouldn’t occur to anybody else on the team and would be done less seamlessly by them, if it did. It also indicates that yes, despite the emphasis on inclusiveness, Mina does judicious omitting, which strengthens the interpretation that she may have omitted small parts of Jonathan’s diary, indicating that Jonathan has already been fed on and forced to drink blood at the castle. Even if not, the hints the Count drops to Jonathan about his joining the brides in his little vampire family must be leading her to consider the possibility that a shared fate awaits them even if she doesn’t take him down in her own fall, so in putting the case for mercy to herself being extended to Dracula, she is also putting the case for extending it to Jonathan. But she’s not going to say any such thing out loud. Jonathan’s hair has already gone white overnight, and it seems likely that only the pressing need for action and the self-imposed writing therapy have held off collapse all day. It is a theory, not a fact, and one she can’t help bearing the weight of but need not impose on him.

This probably looks masochistic and far too similar to the counterproductive shutting of Mina out of council that we just got past, to many people; but it something I do regularly myself. You will, too, someday, if you haven’t yet; many disabled people live like this all the time.

When one person is having a crisis, their loved ones take care of them; when everyone is having a crisis, constant calculations must be made concerning who can bear what weight when. My husband and I both have a lot of Health Crap, and when we both feel bad we have to run a comparison study to determine which of us is presently feeling less-bad in a way relevant to the task in hand. I had to take myself out of a podiatrist boot three days early because I couldn’t manage the back stairs to the kitchen in it and my husband lost all mobility recently; but I’ve also been too unbalanced to go downstairs at all for a month and my husband took care of all downstairs business for me during that time without once complaining about his aching back and feet. Our Year from Hell - not 2020, as you might be thinking, which was comparatively a doddle, but 2005, during parts of which I was 50% of the abled members of our support network - was marked by a serious emotional and mental crisis on my part, brought on by events early in the year, and which could not be resolved without my husband’s participation as it directly related to the marriage; but my attention had to be focused entirely on the fact that my husband would die if I couldn’t take care of him properly and he was not strong enough to handle his part of the crisis. Nor could I discuss it with other people, even within our support network, until I had discussed it with him, because it concerned him so closely. So I wrapped it up tight in a knot in my chest and carried it for about six months until he was strong enough to deal. Meanwhile, I was also doing constant calculations concerning what I could do for other people in the support network and who was in a state to be given certain information or asked for what kind of help, and the other people in the support network were having to deal with emotional distress and make the same kinds of calculations concerning us, without having the information I withheld in hand!

And this is more or less the state this vampire-hunting team is in right now, except that they are all focused on one overarching major crisis in the form of Count Dracula. Which at least simplifies the calculations. No one here is operating at 100% capacity, though. Mina and Jonathan are obviously the worst hurt and most in need of protection, but everyone has seen things and done things and been helpless to stop things that are significantly traumatic. All the judgement calls, good and bad, made from here out will be made under these difficult conditions, and we may expect a bill to come due to every survivor after the end of the book.

[lovesick-feelin]

Willex with 42 and 27 please!

Another anon also requested 42, so this is for both of you! Enjoy :)

Send me prompts! | Read on AO3

27. Kisses exchanged while one person sits on the other’s lap.

42. Distracting kisses from someone that are meant to stop the other person from finishing their work, and give them kisses instead.

“Alex?”

“Hm?” Alex squints at the blinking cursor on his screen. Gray’s poem is part nostalgic love letter to the school at which he spent his formative years, part lamentation on the cruelty of a cold contemporary society that young boys must enter upon reaching adulthood. Does that sound too pretentious? No, wait. This is for Professor Lessa’s class. Does it sound pretentious enough?

“Alex.” A nudge at Alex’s shoulder finally manages to tear him away from the screen. Willie’s face is touched with an endearing mixture of fondness and concern, his video game controller limp in his hands. Someone has turned the string lights on above them on Alex’s bed. The room is dark. When had it gotten dark outside? Alex frowns. He’s not nearly close to being finished with his first draft. He switches back to his tab on JSTOR. He should have enough sources by now, right?

There’s a sudden touch to the side of his jaw and before Alex can react, he finds himself being kissed. His heart gives a pleasant flutter, eyes slipping closed as he lets himself lean into it. This thing he has with Willie is still new, but Alex has a sneaking suspicion that kissing Willie is never not going to give him butterflies.

Willie pulls away far too soon, and Alex blinks his eyes open slowly, feeling a little dazed. “What was that for?” he asks, and Willie shrugs.

“Just wanted to,” he says. “Also, you’ve been working for, like, three hours straight. You need a break.”

Working. Alex’s gaze snaps back to his laptop, still sitting in his lap. “I gotta finish this first,” he says, already scanning where he left off in his last paragraph. “I need a first draft.”

Willie sighs. “Alex, you told me this wasn’t due until, like, next week.”

“Okay, but why wait when I can finish it now?”

“Because,” Willie says, taking Alex’s face in his hands and turning it to face him again, “you could be doing this.” He kisses Alex again, less chaste this time, and Alex’s mind is once again pleasantly blank. He reaches up to fist a hand in Willie’s shirt --

-- and almost succeeds in dropping his laptop on the floor. “Shit!” Alex grabs for it quickly, making sure he hasn’t accidentally deleted anything. “I just - no. I need to finish this.” He hears Willie sigh next to him and Alex’s stomach tightens. “I’m sorry,” he adds quickly, voice a little higher than he’d like. “I know this is boring for you, you don’t have to stay if you don’t want to --”

“Alex.”

“I just, like, what if I forget about it? Or I don’t have time to revise a draft and I just have to turn in what I have? If I fall behind, I’m never going to catch up, and then my dad will --”

“Alex.” Willie’s quick fingers appear in front of him, saving Alex’s changes in Word before reaching up and snapping his laptop shut. He puts it down on the desk next to Alex’s bed. “It’s okay.”

Alex shakes his head, unable to look anywhere but his hands in his lap. “It’s not. I’m sorry. I’m being a shitty boyfriend.”

“No. Nope. Uh-uh.” The mattress dips and shifts and suddenly Alex is pinned against the back wall with his lap full of Willie and wow, this is new. Willie’s hair falls from where it’s tucked behind his ear, tickling Alex’s nose. His weight is solid but not heavy, seated across Alex’s legs with his knees bracketing Alex’s hips, and suddenly Alex can’t remember what he was panicking about if only because he can’t form a single coherent thought.

“Hi there,” he manages, and Willie smiles, reaching with the hand that’s not braced against the wall to tip Alex’s chin up with one finger, locking their gazes together.

“Listen to me,” he says, and Alex is helpless to do anything but that. “You are not a shitty boyfriend,” Willie continues. “You’re actually, like, kind of an amazing boyfriend. You’re really cute,” and here he plants a kiss on Alex’s nose, “and really smart,” a kiss at Alex's temple, “and I’m telling you to take a break because I care about you.” Willie sweeps the bangs away from Alex’s forehead and kisses his hairline with so much tenderness it aches. “You’re, like, insanely ahead on your work. You’re allowed to give yourself a break. You deserve it.”

Alex nods dumbly, finally regaining enough motor control of his limbs to reach out and rest his hands on Willie’s hips, sweeping his thumb across the stretch of bare skin where Willie’s shirt has ridden up. “Okay,” he concedes softly, meeting Willie’s gaze and earning himself a brilliant smile as a result.

Another second passes before Alex remembers a crucial detail about their current situation, which is that his recently acquired boyfriend is fully sitting in his lap. “So, uh,” Alex offers lamely, “this is new.” He squeezes Willie’s hips for emphasis, and Willie laughs.

“Sure is,” he agrees. “You don’t mind, do you? I can move.”

“No!” Alex blurts, almost embarrassed at how quickly he responds. “No, no, um. This is - this is good.” He lets one of his hands skate up Willie’s side under his shirt, priding himself on the way Willie’s breath catches. “This is, like, really good,” Alex murmurs, meeting Willie’s eyes again, their noses almost brushing.

Willie catches his bottom lip with his teeth, pupils so blown that his eyes almost look more black than brown. “Noted,” he says, voice low and so dripping with want that Alex finally breaks, lunging the short distance between them to catch Willie’s mouth in a searing kiss.

The marks on his neck are still fading a week later when Alex turns his first draft in for Professor Lessa’s class. It’s worth it.

[ravensirens]

The Birthday of Inquisitive Honesty

from Theresa Cheung’s The Element Encyclopedia of Birthdays: Know your Birthday Discover your true personality Reveal your destiny

2 May -- the birthday of inquisitive honesty

Dark Side-- Tactless, demanding, workaholic Best -- Generous, Ambitious, Realistic The more kind and gentle I am, the more positive energy I have.

People born on May 2 have a no-nonsense approach to life, believing in results not theories.  Although others admire them for their intellectual gifts and ability to organize their original thoughts with logical coherence, they do have a tendency to express themselves bluntly.  Fiercely honest, they don’t ever set out to wound others as they are naturally inclined outward cooperation and harmony; they simply believe that the best way to effect improvement is to tell others exactly how it is.

These people are blessed with inquisitiveness and great insight into the workings of the human mind.  It’s not easy to fool them and they don’t believe in pulling the wool over anyone’s eyes.  They will be respected for their intelligence and honesty but their bluntness may sometimes some across as insensitivity, earning them unnecessary enemies.  They should use their intelligence and insight into human nature to avoid this.  They also should avoid gossiping; even though this si not fueled by malice but more by their natural curiosity, it can upset others.  Respecting the privacy of others is important between the ages of nineteen and forty-nine, during which there is an emphasis on communication and exchanging ideas.  After the age of forty-nine they may feel the growing importance of getting in touch with their own feelings as well as those of others.

As perfectionists, they often shine in whatever task is set them and motivate others to emulate their fantasitic organizational skills.  Althought they can work well in a team, they are at their most productive when they are making an individual contribution.  This desire to work alone can cross over to their personal life; and their private life is exactly that--private.  Despite their reticence, they are at their happiest when they feel supported by friends and family.

These people are above all, intelligent and caring; if they can listen to the honest advice they give others and apply it to themselves, they have the potential to achieve outstanding success, whatever path in life they choose.

Health Vacations are a must People born on this day need to be careful that they don’t work themselves too hard in their quest to achieve results as this will cause them stress and damage their personal relationships.  As important as their work is to them, they will be more productive if they learn to identify less with it and seek out opportunities to explore other interests.  Regular vacations or time off work are a must and they should resist the tendency to work through their holiday.  As far as diet is concerned, they need to make sure they eat plenty of whole grains, fruits, and vegetables and get their mood-boosting essential fats from oily fish, nuts, and seeds.  Regular exercise is essential, and they will find walking or jogging particularly beneficial.  Wearing, meditating on or surrounding themselves in the color yellow will encourage them to feel more optimistic and self-confident.

Career: Born Surgeons These people have a marked potential for success in technical side of caring professions, such as medicine or scientific research, but also in advertising, media, and writing and acting.  Social reform, building, and management will also appeal, but in whatever field they choose to specialize, their luck and opportunities will often come through work.

Destiny To Work for the common good The life path of people born on this day is to learn to become more aware of the the impact their words and deeds can have on others.  Once they have become more self-aware, their destiny is to work for the common good.

Love 50/50 In relationships there may be a tendency for people born on May 2 to hold back or keep a part of themselves hidden.  They may choose to mask this by behavior that is controlling, smothering, or self-sacrificing.  They often fall for the underdog or people with problems, but to feel fulfilled in a relationship they need to aim for a 50/50 partnership in which both partners give and take equally.

Your greatest challenge is... learning to be more sensitive to the feelings of others.

The way forward is... to understand that people can find it hard to cope with the truth; a gentler way of introducing them to it is needed.

You’re drawn to people born on ...

June 22 to July 23--You share a passion for communication and a need for security, and this can create an intense and stimulating union.

Luck maker Everyone is a potential luck marker.  Lucky people understand that there should always be time for politeness, helpfulness, sensitivity, and caring because you never known who could eventually be of help.

Sun Sign: Taurus Ruling Planet: Venus, the lover Symbol: The Bull Birth Date Ruler: Moon, the Intuitive Tarot Card: the High Priestess (intuition) Favorable Numbers: 2,7 Lucky days: Friday and Monday, especially when these days fall on 2 and 7 of the month. Lucky Colors: Pale Blue, Silver, Green Birthstone: Emerald

[meditativeyoga]

Supporting Emotional Life in Boys Through Yoga

When I started educating Color Me Yoga ® for Kid in 1999, many of my youngsters's yoga classes were primarily populated by ladies. Every now and then, we 'd have a child or two join the group, however it was unusual. Over the years, both in my mentor and in the trainings I conduct, I have actually noticed that when kids do participate in classes, they start to drop off around age 9, partially because the yoga courses draw more women, leaving boys at that age unpleasant with a course with no various other male peers, the yoga instructor is a woman, or because lots of children around 9 begin to get included a lot more actively in competitive sporting activities, or various other after-school activities. Yoga behaved however there are various other ways to be active.

Then along come the experts. The majority of the diagnoses of ADD (interest deficiency problem) as well as ADHD (focus deficit hyper disorder) are for kids. Generally, since boys require to removal and also articulate their presence physically, they are the ones that get singled out as not listening during college, or having "problems" with listening, cooperating, as well as aggressiveness. While I can't spend an entire write-up analyzing the neuro-endocrine system or the condition of public colleges in The U.S.A., I can state that the real path of yoga exercise( which poses and also breathing are a really little component) has everything to do with sustaining and commemorating the physical, spiritual, psychological and EMOTIONAL life of boys.

It's a bit of a set up for children. Their natural inclinations can appear turbulent, at least in the system we have actually produced for them. They are asked to rest still a lot, as well as are commonly reprimanded when all-natural tendencies arise. There is still a great deal of stress to behave a particular method amongst their peers, which consists of the code of silence (not ratting), being patient, and being difficult. Children have their own distinct culture that includes not being a phony, teasing- the "infraction is defense strategy", standing up for pals, even if it implies losing another buddy, size equals respect, the constant reward to win whatsoever costs, and competition, which breeds it own sort of friendship which can sometimes be very isolating.

When boys behave tenderly, kindly, compassionately, are they recognized enough? Or is their overriding physicality the emphasis (as in- an issue) Regarding I can tell, psychological life in kids is an afterthought. Simply most likely to the youngsters's section of any kind of publication store. There are many books for women concerning self- esteem, the best ways to be a friend, lady power, and so on. In a much edge you might locate a couple of books concerning children. Don't kids are worthy of to have their self- esteem built as much as girls?

Even Yoga Is Not Immune

Boys need psychologically aware and also type male function designs, not simply sports heroes with doubtful personal lives and Uber- personalities from video games. We need more male yoga exercise educators who have actually developed those abilities of emotional knowledge to design and also show yoga exercise to boys.

Yet, our social conditioning commonly antagonizes us, also when it concerns instructing yoga exercise to children. One guy, who took my kids's yoga exercise training years earlier was extremely worried concerning exactly how he could immediately be on trial as a killer. Would he have had the same concern if he was a train, mentor affordable sports? Another kids's yoga educator made the unconditionally declared that kids are less adaptable compared to ladies, regardless of that versatility differs extremely within each gender.

If we condition our mind to decide exactly how a child will certainly behave in yoga exercise course or any field, or exactly what his capacities are( or not), then just how are we actually practicing, not to mention mentor, fundamental possibility or caring equanimity?

The true structure of Yoga is the auspiciousness of Ahimsa (or non-violence). The results of practicing Ahimsa in the direction of self and others brings about being: communicative, cooperative, part of a team( Group Yoga exercise!) with a typical function, daring, accountable, straightforward with generosity, charitable, thoughtful, imaginative, positive, understanding, seeing as well as matching the finest in everybody, self-care, non-attached, moderate, caring. Why not uphold young boys in this light? Any type of inconsistency is just a forgetting of who they really already are.

Yoga to the Rescue

Teaching young boys ways to attach to and confidently express the sensations in their hearts leads to psychological intelligence. Research study sponsored by HeartMath, a worldwide leader in the research of the heart as a physical, emotional as well as spiritual warehouse for the body's sense of Self, has actually shown that the heart is actually the director of the Self. The heart talk with the mind much extra compared to the various other way around. HeartMath talks about two sorts of signals that affect the brain and consequently the body. A mute heart is a heart, which is essentially from rhythm with the body and mind. The mute heart experiences disagreeable emotions. The coherent heart, on the various other hand, is one that remains in rhythm with the body and mind, as well as experiences reasonable emotions.

Yoga is a practice that straight impacts the ability of the youngster to recognize, listen and recognize the sensation of the inner heart. Given that yoga straight affects and perks up the parasympathetic worried system, the youngster is a lot more responsive and steadly receptive to his very own mood. Without the right tools to understand himself, exactly how can a young boy distinguish between the mute as well as coherent emotions?

A study report by Catherine Weinberger, scholar at the College of The golden state, discovered that young boys had a much tougher time self calming in the initial couple of months of life compared to ladies did. They were, it appeared, much more vulnerable, needing more loving nurturing touch. They were, actually, much less self-dependent.

A smart and experienced yoga exercise teacher will certainly be delicate to this fundamental fact.

Essential yoga exercise for children includes supporting real nature of yoga as a body, mind AND ALSO spirit method. Yoga exercise not just assists steady the mind. It brings about recognizing the self which includes paying attention to the body and emotions, and creating the intuitive/spiritual self. Yoga exercise helps kids shift well, discovering exactly how to take care of impulses with poise and concern. Yoga expands and motivates a young boy's capacity of the heart by focusing on the Yogic global concept of Oneness.

Marsha Therese Danzig is the founder of Shade Me Yoga © for Children, which has actually been training individuals in the great art of yoga for kids since 2002. She is a regular contributor to yoga exercise magazines. Her site is www.colormeyoga.com. She takes into consideration everyday a gift.

[all-things-are-nothing-to-me]

Communes & Land Projects: A Nomadic Critique of Communization

The establishment of intentional communities of all kinds is a popular fad yet again. Perhaps we have reached a point where economic pressures and the failure of government have heightened the desirability of such living arrangements. Leviathan has spread its slimy tentacles across every corner of the globe, and the jungles of concrete — the urban sprawl — have reached nearly everywhere. In the United States, the furthest distance to complete isolation from any road or structure is only 18 miles from one point to another. Where I am currently, this number falls to 6 miles. It gets as low as 2 miles or less in some US States. This shows how the urban setting is now essentially inescapable. There is a total of 2.43 billion acres of land in the United States, and its overseas territories. 17.5% of this land is Alaska. Out of these 2.5 billion acres of land, only 4.5% of it is wilderness today. The State of Alaska comprises 52% of the wilderness in the US. The State of New York, an exception in terms of population, but completely median in terms of geographical land mass, has less than 1%. It is the same for my home State. As a matter of fact, every State in the US besides Alaska and California (14%) have 4% or less. 31 States, including Hawaii, plus Puerto Rico, have less than 1% of the US wilderness area. Connecticut, Delaware, Iowa, Kansas, Maryland, and Rhode Island don't have any wilderness areas at all. In lieu of this lossage, the very human, yet also wild desire to “get away from it all’ and return to the land and nature is perfectly understandable. Our personal connections to pristine nature are as tenuous as ever. Hundreds of millions of people have never spent a single night camping outdoors. It’s difficult, if not impossible, to escape the ever-present noise and high-pitched buzzing of the AC units, Internet routers, giant flat-screen TVs, PC fans, etc. We are inundated with overwhelming, panic-inducing amounts of ads and information. On top of all this, most feel forced to engage in wage-slavery, for some boss. These realities and countless others paint an increasingly bleak picture of what civilization has to offer to the individual, or any of us, today.

The old idea was that we need to confront the bourgeoisie and the State head-on through class warfare via popular revolution. After centuries of failures, this outlook has been exchanged for one that says we can and must start doing communism now. This is often justified by obscure Easter eggs offered up from the writings of Karl Marx. Anarchy, class warfare, communization, and revolution are all seen by communisateurs as synonymous concepts. The Tiqqunistic text Call by an anonymous author describes “the process of instituting communism” as “only tak[ing] the form” of “acts of communization” [original emphasis], such as “making common such-and-such space” (2009, 22). The text also describes “this constellation of occupied spaces where, despite many limits, it is possible to experiment with forms of collective assembly outside of control, we have known an increase in power.” (2009, 17)

This optimistic talk of occupying spaces, becoming free of control, the talk of increasing power, of acceleration, is surely bothersome especially coming from neo-Marxoids like the communisateurs, but similar suggestions have also been made by anarchists, including Peter Lamborn Wilson (aka Hakim Bey). Similar claims about communes are made in T.A.Z.: The Temporary Autonomous Zone, Ontological Anarchy, Poetic Terrorism, first published in 1991. Much of the ideas of the communisateurs seem informed by, if not lifted from, these older writings of Wilson. And much like the communisateurs have asked us today (more than a quarter century later), Wilson also queried us the same way back in 1991:

“Are we who live in the present doomed never to experience autonomy, never to stand for one moment on a bit of land ruled only by freedom? Are we reduced either to nostalgia for the past or nostalgia for the future? Must we wait until the entire world is freed of political control before even one of us can claim to know freedom?

...a certain kind of 'free enclave' is not only possible in our time but also existent"...(38)

"What of the anarchist dream, the Stateless state, the Commune, the autonomous zone with duration, a free society, a free culture? Are we to abandon that hope in return for some existentialist acte gratuit? The point is not to change consciousness but to change the world.” (39)

Wilson, like the communisateurs, sees this as “the seed of the new society taking shape within the shell of the old” (41):

“I do suggest that the TAZ is the only possible ‘time’ and ‘place’...for the sheer pleasure of creative play, and as an actual contribution to the forces which allow the TAZ to cohere and manifest.” ... “A world in which the TAZ succeeded in putting down roots might resemble the world envisioned by ‘P.M.’ in his fantasy novel bolo'bolo. Perhaps the TAZ is a ‘proto-bolo.’” (52)

Both anarchists of Wilsons ilk, and the communisateurs of today, seem unfocused or uninterested in what many across the communist left (specifically its more traditional groups) have deemed “defensive struggles”, which is a term meant to refer to the increasingly extreme austerity measures imposed on the general populous by the ruling class (attacks made by the bourgeoisie). When I talk about defense, I usually mean the defense of nature rather than the economy. We have seen these attacks come in the form of tax hikes against everyday working families, instead of tax hikes for corporations and the wealthy captains of industry. Another example of these attacks by the bourgeoisie was the use of public revenue in the US to shore up companies and ensure the economic bailout of corporations following the 2008 US stock market crash. But Wilson differs from Marxist class warfare advocates in that he advocates camouflage and social concealment; “a tactic of disappearance” (1991, 50). Wilson believes the commune should blend in to its surroundings as best it can, hide, and not be outwardly confrontational, or stir up trouble with the neighbors. It’s more anarchist in this regard, but even with statements like “TAZ is a nomad camp” (43), the bolo’boloism of T. A. Z. and Wilson doesn’t quite cross into true nomadism, advocating something more similar to hermitry.

The communisateurs differ from Wilson in this regard in that they all want communes as a launchpad for centralized communist attack. Attack is something Wilson rarely mentions, if at all, which is a shame because I like attack as much as the next person! But what is unappetizing about the call for attack by the communisateurs and Tiqqunists is exactly that they are communisateurs — they are Marxists — they want the communes so they can have spaces to build their Party, or build whatever of their organizations, to opportunistically centralize and “increase power” (anonymous 2009, 17). This is in preparation of them launching their inevitable revolutionary war against the bourgeoisie, and following their victory, the communizers would of course seek to institute the dictatorship of the proletariat (also referred to in some circles of the Marxist far-left as the proletarian semi-State).

I am not against the breaking of legs in general, in the typical sense of moral opposition to a particular action, or beyond having my legs broken. And I’m not above, against, or beyond party-crashing tactics, either. I am an individualist, and in the sense of applying force, of many kinds, an occasional nihilist. But I would never use violence with the aim of controlling others. My attack is direct, purposeful. Violence must only be applied when and where it has to be, to the appropriate degree it has to be, without enjoyment, or with the goal of controlling others in mind. Saying this is not to ignore all the reasons violence does happen. But attack to destroy, because you must. I would use violence in self-defense, and perhaps even out of self-interest, but I differ from the communisateurs in that when I apply violence, my intentions and actions are meant to be centrifugal. They are directed away from a given pole of focus or concern. That is why Bolshevik coups are of no concern to me. Neither is direct action that aims to coerce people into dictatorships, the Party, or the Parties way of thinking. This kind of homogeneity is a hallmark of the State, Civilization, and Capital. I am not at all interested in being involved in any kind of community, network, or worknet that aims to progress in a quantitative way, to grow in numbers, or one that maintains a membership. My associations with others are never aiming to be coercive. I wear my intentions on my sleeve. Whether there are two or two-hundred people doing what I am doing and communicating with me about it, makes no difference. Although, groups bigger than three-hundred are increasingly Leviathanic. I suppose this also includes domestic living communities and villages. I prefer small groups. Under ten is perhaps best for me, and we all differ, but the point is small groupings of any size within natural limits encourage heterogeneity naturally. This is another difference between the views of Wilson and the views of the communisateurs. Wilson, displaying at least some awareness of the concept of nomadology, understands the need for not just escape, but dispersal, and generally describes his writing project as being against history, progress, and the narratives they bring with them. Wilsons T. A. Z. may be utopian, but it isn’t even in the same realm as the communization texts in terms of millenarianism.

My issue with attempting to permanently occupy spaces through any means whatsoever is that land occupation does nothing but encourage and even solicit domination over nature, domination over the other animals we share space with, domination over each other, and so on. I don’t have any interest in controlling things or others. In fact, I should not even separate myself from these things I’ve just mentioned in the ontological sense. The word land itself implies domination: I landed a job, I landed a date, I landed the top prize. To land, to be landed, to have stopped being in flux, is not dissimilar to having occupied a thing, and is often the same. This is, according to James C. Scott, the primary goal of the State: to fix populations to specific geographic boundaries. We might say in English, “I have this land. This land is mine.” Which is to say, because you stand there on it, apparently dominating over it, it is yours. I am here, so now this is mine. That’s what it means to land, to have it, to be landed. It’s like Manifest Destiny for everyone, an ideology not restricted only to whites and Christians. I am not part of this community, it is mine altogether! It belongs to me. In fact, God created it like this, just for me!

As you are hopefully beginning to see, or already seeing, we can not lay claims over spaces without first attempting to ontologically separate ourselves from nature, an impossible task. We are nature. Everything that exists, and even things beyond our awareness and perception, are also part of nature. It pains me to say it, but even technology is technically part of the natural world. I refer to this as pluralistic naturalistic holism. For billions of years before our arrival, the planet Earth was already one big commune. For the fishes, for the lizards, for the flowers, for the bees and ants — I think we have just forgotten our place in it.

[recalculatingthegenderwar]

Feminist academic reminds us mainstream feminism really does just hate men

The Washington Post recently published an editorial entitled “Why can’t we hate men?” It is a short and illuminating look at the psyche of a modern feminist academic. In her editorial, Northeastern University professor Suzanna Danita Walters “names the problem”, a term feminists use when they get tired of dancing around how evil all men are and just decide to come out and say it. In these moments, the pseudo-academic smokescreens of “patriarchy” start to fall away and feminists reveal themselves as naked bigots.

Anti-male bigotry is mainstream feminism.

Although the article’s quality tempts you to think otherwise, Walters isn’t some random blogger:

“Suzanna Danuta Walters, a professor of sociology and director of the Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Program at Northeastern University, is the editor of the gender studies journal Signs.” [link to her bio added]

I’m surprising no one by pointing out that while women’s studies or gender studies could be a legitimate academic discipline, it is really only feminist indoctrination in practice. The Northern University Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies Program website states:

“We advance knowledge through interdisciplinary research, innovative pedagogies, and collaboration with other institutions, inspiring new generations of gender and sexuality scholars and feminist leaders committed to social justice. We strive to be a globally recognized model of excellence in gender, sexuality, and feminist scholarship.” [emphasis added]

Walters is neither a nobody nor a fringe radical. She is a feminist professor teaching feminism at a prestigious university, running a feminist academic center and a feminist academic journal. She stands at the zenith of mainstream feminism.

This also makes it laughable when Walters claims “[t]he world has little place for feminist anger.” I won’t rehash the mind-bogglingly examples of feminist power and influence I’ve written about. I’ll just point out that Walters is one of many for whom “feminist anger” is a viable career. This is like Bill Gates telling us, “People really never much had of a place for that whole computer thing.”

The problem with naming the problem

In my past articles, I explained how Patriarchy theory is the core narrative of feminism. Patriarchy theory claims that women (and sometimes to a lesser extent men) are being oppressed by men as a class. Since men are considered to have absolute power over the world, even problems seemingly unrelated to gender (war, economic issues, environmental issues, etc) are the fault of men as a class. Individual male misdeeds are attributed to the entire male class even if most men would find those misdeeds repugnant. Positive male contributions are forgotten. Indeed, Walters blames men for a “milienia of woe”. Because God knows humanity was so much better off a millenia ago. Things have really gone to shit since a man invented Penicillin.

Meanwhile female misdeeds are seen as rarities, ignored or blamed on male influence. Under feminism, women must be angels and men must be devils.

Men as a class are referred to as the Patriarchy. This obfuscates and dehumanizes feminist bigotry toward men. Feminists portray themselves as fighting a system rather than people. This is useful for public relations and seducing new recruits. It is unclear whether feminists are just lying to the public or also to themselves. I honestly think it’s a bit of both.

As feminists become more indoctrinated, they get tired of dancing around the problem. They feel like they are doctors who aren’t allowed to properly diagnose a disease that is ravaging the world. Sit in the feminist pot long enough and you will eventually boil over. That is what we are seeing with Walters:

“Seen in this indisputably true context, it seems logical to hate men. I can’t lie, I’ve always had a soft spot for the radical feminist smackdown, for naming the problem in no uncertain terms. I’ve rankled at the “but we don’t hate men” protestations of generations of would-be feminists and found the “men are not the problem, this system is” obfuscation too precious by half”

Notice Walters is not only framing men (not “Patriarchy”, but men) as the “the problem”, but challenging the feminist credentials of all “would-be feminists” who don’t openly hate men. Walters believes hating men is essential to being a feminist.

Walters justification for hating half of humanity

So what is the “indisputably true context” in which “it seems logical” to hate half of the entire human species based on a biological trait they have no control over? What is Walkers indisputably justification for hating over 3.5 billion people across the world with diverse backgrounds, identities and beliefs simply because they were born a certain way? You would think an academic would have a rock solid argument to advocate such widespread hate. You would be wrong:

“It’s not that Eric Schneiderman (the now-former New York attorney general accused of abuse by multiple women) pushed me over the edge. My edge has been crossed for a long time, before President Trump, before Harvey Weinstein, before “mansplaining” and “incels.” Before live-streaming sexual assaults and red pill men’s groups and rape camps as a tool of war and the deadening banality of male prerogative.” [included original links from article]

These aren’t arguments. They aren’t even coherent sound bites. Walters is just ranting. We don’t even know if Schneiderman is actually guilty of anything yet. Yeah, Weinstein is a jerk. He doesn’t represent all men.

Yeah, 2 incels went on a killing spree (killing both women and men) in the last 5 years. However, incels aren’t inherently violent. They aren’t always saints, but they aren’t a terrorist movement. There appears to be no evidence that either killer colluded with the wider incel community. Frankly, a lot of the reporting on the supposedly “dangerous” incel movement seems like fear-mongering/feminist propaganda. More importantly, incels are a fringe movement that most men want nothing to do with. Most men don’t even know what an "incel" is.

The only items with even a little meat are claims of live-streaming sexual assault and rape camps. How common are these things? Who are the victims? The perpetrators? Walker doesn’t tell us. We get no information about live-streaming sexual assaults. Her link on rape camps takes you to a 18 year old article about the trial of Serbian soldiers who sexually enslaved Muslim women during the Kosovo conflict. This is tragic, but is it grounds to hate all men? Again, the article is about their criminal trial in the Hague. Strange how the rape of women is globally condemned in our universal patriarchal rape culture.

“Pretty much everywhere in the world, this is true: Women experience sexual violence, and the threat of that violence permeates our choices big and small. In addition, male violence is not restricted to intimate-partner attacks or sexual assault but plagues us in the form of terrorism and mass gun violence.”

Walters provides no links or no citations here. Statements like this are largely meaningless without some effort to establish scope. “Pretty much everywhere in the world women experience” synethesia and gout. Female violence “is not restricted to intimate-partner attacks or sexual assault.“ These are also both equally true statements.

Similarly, Walters gives us no actual data about men’s role in terrorism or mass gun violence. I’m still willing to consider men might be overrepresented in terrorism and mass gun violence. However, does this mean I should hate women because women commit the majority of infanticide? What? I can’t because only a minority of women commit infanticide and most women find infanticide abhorrent? Feminists say I should be sensitive about possible psychological or social issues that motivate female child-killers? Really?

What about women being the majority of human traffickers? Should I hate all women now?

Surprise! It's the wage gap.

Walters eventually gets something that sort of resembles an actual argument:

“Women are underrepresented in higher-wage jobs, local and federal government, business, educational leadership, etc.; wage inequality continues to permeate every economy and almost every industry; women continue to provide far higher rates of unpaid labor in the home (e.g., child care, elder care, care for disabled individuals, housework and food provision); women have less access to education, particularly at the higher levels; women have lower rates of property ownership.“ [original links included]

Basically you should hate men because…wage gap - the dead horse feminists keep thinking will win the Kentucky Derby. The wage gap is generally found to be the result of women’s choices in the labor market, not sex discrimination. The same goes for unpaid labor. Walters’ own source explains that women often do more unpaid labor because their husbands often do more paid labor.

Walters claim about education holds a bit more water. Her linked source is a recently published academic report on girl’s worldwide school enrollment. I haven’t had a chance to read through it detail, but it seems to take a much more nuanced view of than Walters would have you believe. First, there are only significantly unequal primary and secondary school enrollment rates in very poor countries and/or war torn countries. The report doesn’t seem to blame girls lack of education enrollment simply on patriarchal oppression, but mentions issues such as the greater costs on families and greater concern for girls’ safety.

It is unclear what Walters means by “higher levels” of education. The report says very little about post-secondary education. It doesn’t seem to have any statistics on global post-secondary enrollment. One of the few things it does point out is that U.S. colleges have a higher female enrollment than male enrollment (page 18).

Walters never offers hard evidence all of these supposed inequalities she lists are due largely to widespread to sex discrimination against women by men. In fact, she doesn’t even directly make this claim. She only strongly infers it.

Walters Advocates Violence?

“So, in this moment, here in the land of legislatively legitimated toxic masculinity, is it really so illogical to hate men? For all the power of #MeToo and #TimesUp and the women’s marches, only a relatively few men have been called to task, and I’ve yet to see a mass wave of prosecutions or even serious recognition of wrongdoing. On the contrary, cries of “witch hunt” and the plotted resurrection of celebrity offenders came quick on the heels of the outcry over endemic sexual harassment and violence. But we’re not supposed to hate them because . . . #NotAllMen. I love Michelle Obama as much as the next woman, but when they have gone low for all of human history, maybe it’s time for us to go all Thelma and Louise and Foxy Brown on their collective butts.” [originally links included; emphasis added]

Now we are getting into SCUM manifesto territory. The pivotal plot point in Thelma and Louise is one of the protagonists shoots a man to death. I’m less familiar with Foxy Brown, but it sounds like the female protagonist also commits violence against men. It’s hard to not to see this as a thinly veiled call to violence.

This fits with the general cowardice of Walters’ editorial. While it’s clear she hates men and it’s clear she wants us to hate them too, notice she never explicitly writes, “I hate man and you should hate men too”. She is simply stating “”it seems logical to hate men” and that women have every “right to hate” men. She isn’t literally telling anyone to actually hate men.

I’m not sure what legal, professional or ethical bullet she thinks is dodging by so thinly obscuring her obvious intentions.

Feminist Julie Bindel is a monster, but at least she had the decency to just come out and say she wants to put men in concentration camps.

Why was this written?

It isn’t well written. It isn’t thoughtful. It likely won’t improve the public opinion of feminism. Why would Walters write this? Why would the Washington Post print it? What purpose does it serve?

Firstly, Walters wrote it because she is a bigot who wants to spread her bigotry.

Secondly, the Washington Post produces feminist propaganda. I don’t know exactly why, but they do. They concocted a new bogus 1-in-5 college rape statistic after the CSA study finally fell from grace. They further scrambled to save the feminist college rape panic in the face of government data showing incredibly low rape rates on campuses. They tried to whip up #MeToo frenzy by creating a bogus work place harassment study that completely ignored male victims.

Finally, I hypothesis the main goal is to bring Democratic voters to the polls for the midterm election. Look how Walters ends her editorial:

“So men, if you really are #WithUs and would like us to not hate you for all the millennia of woe you have produced and benefited from, start with this: Lean out so we can actually just stand up without being beaten down. Pledge to vote for feminist women only. Don’t run for office. Don’t be in charge of anything. Step away from the power. We got this. And please know that your crocodile tears won’t be wiped away by us anymore. We have every right to hate you. You have done us wrong. #BecausePatriarchy. It is long past time to play hard for Team Feminism. And win.“

Since Trump took office in the United States, SJW groups and left-leaning media outlets have formed an indistinguishable mass of outrage to keep the anti-Trump fires burning for the midterm elections. This is why the National Organization for Women is making tweets about immigration and the 2nd amendment. This is why the Women’s March really wasn’t about women, but about left-wing talking points and hating Trump.

Take a look at this sentence again:

“Pledge to vote for feminist women only.” [emphasis added]

Remember feminism isn’t for women. Feminism is for feminism.

[andveryginger]

5 or 13 for the sex fic thingy ;)

5: Biting to stay quiet.

13. Anything involving secretive brushing of fingertips against inner thighs in public spaces  – this is in the queue and will probably be finished later this week.

DM!verse Mairen and Reanden were apparently happy to step in and fill this particular prompt. Decidedly NSFW behind the cut.

Her legs wrapped around him, back braced against the wall, Reanden reached up and pushed a lock of wet, wavy red hair back from her face as a smirk curled across her features. He trailed his fingers down her side, pausing just long enough to pinch at the darkened, sensitized peak that stood out against her ivory skin as he gently rolled his hips. A gasping moan escaped her and his grin widened against her neck. “Like that, do you?”

“Much as I enjoy it when you get cocky, you kriffing old bastard,” Mairen began, her warmth intentionally tightening around him, “I’d say the scales are fairly even.” He bucked involuntarily as the tension at the base of his spine coiled even more densely and he groaned. A laugh reverberated through her chest and her lips, sealed over his.

Mischief danced in his eyes as he looked up at her. “All evidence,” he murmured, “to the contrary.” Pushing deeper, her legs tightened around him, as if capable of drawing closer as her body welcomed him – encouraged him. “Can’t help it if I don’t play fair.”

“Play fair? Oh, darling….” The low, seductive note to her voice, combined with the sheer want mingling with amusement in her green-hazel eyes sent a rush through him. And then he felt a gentle caress against first his lower cheeks, followed by firm, ghostly fingers trailing under his base. His length surged and he thrust into her. “I could play much, much dirtier.”

The curse that escaped him was unintelligible, even if the meaning was clear enough. “Kriffing Force users,” he managed. “Always showing off.” His body slid effortlessly against hers.

Mairen smirked down at him as her muscles began to flutter around him. Her voice was breathy, pattern broken as she struggled to stay coherent. “You just don’t… like me… having the upper hand,” she teased.

Shaking his head, the former Imperial spy captured her mouth with his, right hand closing over her breast as he shifted his weight into her, this time with a bit more emphasis. He felt her moan, the tenor almost lost among the rush of the shower behind them. “Next time, sweetheart,” he replied. “Right now… just want…”

“Dad?”

Reanden frowned as both he and Mairen struggled to pause their attentions. Their bodies, however, maintained rhythm, tempo increasing slightly despite their efforts. His hips rolled into hers, and she bit her lip. “What the…?” He turned his ear toward the door, attempting to focus his implants to enhance his hearing. “Korin?”

“Yeah!” came the response. “You in the shower?”

“Be out in… a minute…”

His hand slipped back to her hip, fingers tightening as he ground into her, chests heaving as they struggled to breathe in the steamy confines. “Come for me,” he murmured into her ear, “but you’re going to have to keep it quiet.”

Her voice was a whisper, her head tossed back against the bulkhead. “Shit, Reanden… Feels too…” She dropped her head to his shoulder, a whimper escaping her and echoing softly. Knowing that she was struggling, knowing he was the reason – feeling her response against him and around him as he slid home again and again and again – he plummeted over the edge, sensation exploding between them in a blinding flash. His mouth closed firmly over her left shoulder, teeth barely breaking the surface, even as a sharp ache rippled from his right, their cries muffled by the rush of water and soft, warm skin.

The pace slowed, taking on an almost languid feel as they came down. He laved her shoulder with his tongue, kissing the wound before working his way up to capture her mouth with his. She offered a sigh, one that was echoed as he carefully withdrew, placing her back onto her own feet. He brought his lips to her ear and tugged on her earlobe. “I’d better go,” he said quietly.

She nodded, impish gleam in her eyes, rueful smile tugging upward at the corner of her mouth. “You know where to find me.”

“That I do.” Reanden placed a kiss against her temple, then gave himself a cursory wash as she did the same. Switching off the water, he passed her a towel. The rest of the process was handled in silence, with only the shift of fabric heard between them.

Finally dry, he stepped into his underwear and pants, grabbing his shirt from the counter. He cast a glance to Mairen. Still nude, she stood at the counter, arms stretched up as she plied the long, damp locks into some decently artistic style atop her head. His gaze traced the visible contours with appreciation, eyes meeting hers with a smouldering grin. He would have to show that appreciation later.With a wink, he slipped out, ensuring the door closed behind him.

Korin regarded his father with an arched brow, arms folded across his chest as he leaned against the doorframe. “You all right, old man?”

“Sorry, kid.” Reanden looked up at his eldest son, opening the bottom hem of his shirt with a shrug and a bit of a smirk. “Thought I’d wound you less if I got dressed first.”

“Speaking of wounds…” Korin nodded toward his father, his observant gaze tracing details. His expression flickered between surprise and concern. “That one looks fresh. Company last night?”

“Hm?” Arms in his sleeves, the older spy paused, following his son’s attention… right to the red, crescent-shaped marking on the curve of his shoulder. He felt warmth crawl up his neck and spread across the bridge of his nose, and dove into his shirt as a distraction. Smoothing his hand down the front as he tucked it in, he shook his head. “It’ll heal up quick enough.”

A moment of silence hung in the air. When Reanden looked back toward Korin, he noted the wide-eyes and gaping mouth. His hazel depths showed equal amounts astonishment, admiration, and disgust. “Holy Hells,” he said. He took a step toward the ‘fresher. “That’s why it took you so long to get out: She was in there with you. Is she still –?”

Panic surged through Reanden, even as he struggled to maintain a neutral expression. He reached for his holster rig, buckling it on and stepping in front of his son. “She?”

Korin gave his father a wry grin. “Bite mark’s humanoid, and just a bit too small to be a dude… which, I might add, is a lot more than I wanna know about your sex life, but…”

“But you want to know who she is.”

“Well, yeah…” The smuggler-spy had the grace to look sheepish. “I mean, ‘Rand, Xaj, and I kinda suspected – there may or may not be a bit of a pool going…”

“A pool going?”

The indignation and curiosity was unmistakeable, but Reanden was suddenly glad the door masked the most distinguishable features of Mairen’s voice. He coughed. “A pool? You three have been betting on who I’ve been sleeping with?”

“Yeah – I mean, no… “ Korin sighed, hand rubbing the back of his neck. Pink blossomed across his cheeks. “More betting on who finds out first?”

Irritation welled up within him, mingling with amusement. The entire situation was ridiculous to begin with: A former Imperial spy with three adult children, diving into an affair with his late wife’s cousin, right under the nose of her very disapproving uncle – also known as his former father-in-law. It was largely for that reason that they agreed to keep their liaison a secret. Not having to tell his kids had been an added benefit. Now, it seemed they knew he was up to something, if not entirely who he was up to it with.

He wasn’t about to tell them. Or give Korin a hint.

The younger Taerich sighed. “And why do I think finding out who she is just got exponentially harder?”

Reanden laughed and clapped his son on the shoulder. “C’mon, kiddo. I’ll buy lunch.”

Korin followed his father into the corridor, shaking his head. “Thanks, Dad. Suppose it’s the least you could do for scarring my over-active imagination. Mom always said I inherited it from you…”

If there was a snort of laughter from the ‘fresher, both men chose not to hear it.

[pride-vns-blog]

LGBTQ VN Week: Day Four! (6/21)

Wow, we’re already at the fourth day of LGBTQ visual novel recommendations! You’ve probably seen this preface on previous parts of this list, but if you haven’t read my first post, that writeup’s “One note before we get started” section, explains more clearly what this list is and why I’m writing it!

Plenty of visual novels talk about sex and intimacy, so for today, I’ve set aside four with my personal favorite approaches to the topic — CODE:Phantasm’s 404 Error: Connection Not Found, parade’s No Thank You!!!, SugarScript’s Cute Demon Crashers, and Mitch Alexander’s Tusks: An Orc Dating Sim, plus a conversation with Mitch about his creative process on Tusks.

Head on in to hear about your little brother dyeing his hair pink, a truly inscrutable protagonist, freeloading demons playing Mario Kart, and inspirational Skyrim mods!

404 ERROR: CONNECTION NOT FOUND (CODE:PHANTASM)

Itchio Tagline: “Sometimes connecting to others is harder than loneliness.” Genre(s): Slice of life; drama. Release Date: July 30th, 2017 (demo); TBA (full version). Content Warnings: Text-only depiction of sex and sex work; adult content.

404 Error: Connection Not Found is the story of Ren Matsuura, a camboy who ran away from home after turning eighteen and supports himself financially through camming — but thanks to his agoraphobia and general anxiety, he rarely goes outside, to the point that he’s pared all his social connections down to casual conversations with his clients and lying to his younger brother Haru about what he does for a living. When his brother decides to come visit for the first time since Ren moved out, Ren is forced to confront the fact that his guilt and shame have driven him into a corner with no support system. In the span of the demo, he starts to try and reach out to the clients he has a more regular relationship with to prepare him for Haru’s eventual visit, ending on a cliffhanger that seems to be leading directly into the plotline of the main story.

This visual novel’s demo is the shortest of all the stories on my entire list, to my knowledge, but it’s also the most memorable demo I’ve played in a long, long while. As someone who’s had to contend with similar mental illnesses in the past — paranoia and agoraphobia unsurprisingly have a pretty high degree of comorbidity! — I felt like Ren’s slow struggle to make progress for the sake of his younger brother was written sincerely, thoughtfully, and believably in the timespan of a single demo playthrough. Ren can be funny, when he’s not spiraling internally, and his rocky progress at trying to talk to others more honestly is loaded with plenty of funny jokes and quips about his takes on things. He’s a sympathetic, well-rounded protagonist who comes across strongly in the demo alone, and I ended up really rooting for him to make it to a place where he was happier with his life.

There’s another aspect to the story that I ended up really liking, too: the fact that sex work, especially jobs like camming, can be extremely common among LGBTQ people who can’t support themselves financially in other ways. Ren can’t go outside and can’t interact with many people without severe, earth-shattering anxiety attacks (a few of which we see in the demo!), so this job is what he’s got. It’s a job that’s sustained him for years, and although it’s certainly fed into his own relative isolation, 404 Error seemed to walk that careful balance of making it explicit that it’s Ren’s own lack of steady support for his mental illness instead of the simple fact that he does sex work that causes his interpersonal problems. I’m optimistic about the remainder of the story’s handling of those kinds of things, too, because what was present in the demo was sympathetic and sincere! There’s not very many sex workers or camgirls/camboys in visual novels outside of an extremely tiny handful, let ones alone in conjunction to stories that acknowledge of the way LGBTQ people as a whole can struggle with more convential jobs, so Ren’s genuinely empathetic personality and the hope I have for his future makes me excited to see where CODE:Phantasm takes 404 Error from here.

404 Error: Connection Not Found’s free Yaoi Game Jam demo is available now, and you can follow the CODE:Phantasm team on Itch.io, Twitter, or Tumblr to stay updated on their progress with Ren’s story.

NO THANK YOU!!! (PARADE)

MangaGamer Tagline: “This summer vacation begins with a car accident...” Genre(s): Comedy; drama; mystery. Release Date: June 28, 2013 (Japanese); February 27, 2015 (English).  Content Warnings: Adult content; multiple sex scenes; frequent sexual harassment; blood; drugs; violence; death.

Right off the bat, I think parade’s debut visual novel (as a studio, at least) does a lot of interesting things and definitely seems to be aiming high with creating distinct, memorable stories. The art in No Thank You!!! is gorgeous, its voice acting is top-tier, a lot of the side characters are compelling even beyond the space or role the narrative gives them, and the love interests alone are all fully-realized characters with interesting stories. Romance option Ryu’s route, in particular, fleshes out the larger sense of mystery and the other characters to an astounding degree! That’s to say nothing of the most unique mechanic — which I mostly call the NTY!!! button — that offers you the chance to say “no thank you” in a variety of scenes without always telling you what it is you’re saying that to. It’s occasionally a little too easy to guess, but at certain points I ended up lulled into a false sense of security with that easiness that the game was all too ready to take advantage of with a much less obvious choice.

One of the sticking points with No Thank You!!! that I’ve seen other players express, on the other hand, is the way protagonist Haru is written. That’s not to say his writing specifically is bad — parade clearly had a vision in mind for Haru’s personality, and from his sketchy beginnings to his clearer end, he’s a coherent character with a consistent narrative. While the crux of the story is more insight into Haru, where he came from, and what the truth behind all those mysteries might be, though, Haru’s behavior still underpins a lot of what drives the romance routes forward. And his behavior... The official quote on his personality, “[s]exual harassment is an everyday activity for him,” can at times seem like it’s underselling exactly how often he tries to grab an ass. It’s no surprise that a fair few other players I’ve seen have walked away with pretty strong opinions on Haru as a character. (I’m personally not a huge fan.)

But to me, a divisive protagonist who you don’t actually fully understand as a character — Haru’s thoughts on a lot of key things are far less accessible than the likes of Aoba Seragaki or most Western M/M protagonists, which leaves you knowing most of his thoughts or feelings via his interactions from others — seems to go perfectly hand-in-hand with the way the visual novel as a whole operates. No Thank You!!! puts you at a distance by Haru’s viewpoint being occasionally “indecipherable” (to use the official phrasing), and then it throws you further with its sometimes-unpredictable NTY!!! button mechanic, but the strength of its other individual pieces taken together still sold me on it as both a solid set of mystery stories and an 18+ dating sim.

Also I really like Maki.

No Thank You!!! is available for a sale price of $19.95 on MangaGamer’s store (18+), and you can read more about parade’s story and characters on MangaGamer’s designated No Thank You!!! page (also 18+).

CUTE DEMON CRASHERS (SUGARSCRIPT)

Itchio Tagline: “A short and silly consent-friendly and sex-positive VN!” Genre(s): Modern fantasy. Release Date: April 7th, 2015 (Mirari and Akki’s routes); August 15th, 2015 (full version). Content Warnings: Multiple sex scenes; detailed uncensored nudity.

I don’t think I could sum up Cute Demon Crashers better than the Itch.io tagline does — it’s short, it’s hilarious, and it’s got an emphasis on consent that meshes perfectly with its goofy “a bunch of incubi and one succubus come to the mortal realm to have sex” plot. The characters are all charming and fit perfectly into its universe, with distinct personalities that come across clearly without ever feeling hamfisted in the limited time that the script lets you spend with them. Although this isn’t necessarily a romance game, especially given that incubi and succubi are “closer to what people know of as aromantic” according to the SugarScript FAQ, its cute, thoughtful writing and adorable design in everything from the characters to the user interface mean that there’s plenty of love infused in every aspect of Cute Demon Crashers.

Like yesterday’s We Know The Devil, Cute Demon Crashers is one of those visual novels with a distinct, memorable mechanic that almost placed it squarely in Tuesday’s creative design list. Cute Demon Crashers is one of the first visual novels — or, by my experience, the first altogether — to implement a mechanic specifically themed around stopping in the middle of sex. If you’re ever uncomfortable or you just plain want the scene to end, you can hit a button and protagonist Claire will talk with her partner to bring things to a close. (There’s also an option to just plain old not have sex with any of them, and spending time with the characters!) A lot of the dialogue in these scenes in particular is thoughtful, nuanced, and reads to me as being a pretty realistic depiction of how someone like Claire might ask those questions or express those kinds of concerns. 

The way Cute Demon Crashers handles intimacy and sexuality, by another measure, is one of those things that I think has also had a not-insignificant impact on the visual novel community as a whole; I’ve seen a fair number of people who’ve apparently never enjoyed an 18+ dating sim before talk about how its portrayal of sex resonated with them or brought them some measure of comfort. Because of the SugarScript team’s relative investment in the English-language visual novel scene as a whole, too — this project was born out of NaNoRenO and I’ve seen them promote development forum hub LemmaSoft or other small visual novels more than once — the compassion for the player that’s written into every aspect of Cute Demon Crashers seems to extend naturally to everyone else around the team in real life, which is something extremely special.

The entirety of Cute Demon Crashers is available now for free, and you can find out more information on its upcoming sequel (Cute Demon Crashers: Side B) on the SugarScript Twitter, Tumblr, and Itch.io!

Itchio Tagline: “GAY ORCS available in YOUR AREA.” Genre(s): Romance; fantasy; community building. Release Date: July 18th, 2015 (First Day demo); January 1st, 2018 (FUARLANG/full main story); TBA (individual route endings). Content Warnings: Adult content; sex; mentions of violence.

Mitch Alexander’s Tusks: The Orc Dating Sim, from head to toe, is one of my favorite depictions of sex and intimacy in video games — and with every gradual update, especially the most recent FUARLANG build that finished out the mai storyline, I’ve only become more sure of that. There’s an endearingly genuine quality to its art, character dialogue, and even in things like the NPC autonomy feature, where your companions have just as many chances to sway things like group votes or decide who’s on watch as you would without NPC autonomy being enabled. 

Interested to hear Mitch talk a little bit about his design process and the inspiration behind Tusks, I got in touch and asked him a few questions!

Thanks for taking the time for an interview, Mitch! While the title might be fairly self-explanatory, haha, how would you outline Tusks: An Orc Dating Sim in more detail to somebody new?

Tusks is a visual novel where the player joins a group at an annual orcish gathering, in a forest at the edge of a semi-mythical version of Scotland, and you then travel with this new found family and get to know them better. Most of the game is your group getting into adventures, talking to them one-on-one at camp at nighttime, and making decisions about how to go about your travels. The game's cast are all queer, and the game itself is an exploration of queer identity, community, history, and our relationship with the idea of monstrosity/Otherness.

I think it's fair to say that Tusks, as well as your larger body of work, deals a lot with intimacy and sexuality, especially the intersection between those two things; this is probably a question you've thought over yourself a fair bit, but what in particular interests you about those topics that drives you to explore them in Tusks and your other work?

Part of it is the fact that intimacy and sexuality are areas that can be massively important to queer people (especially since many of us are marginalised as a result of our sexuality being seen as deviant) but there aren't a lot of mainstream sources that play with intimacy and sexuality in relevant ways. And part of it is just because exploring sexuality for its own sake can be fun as well!

Definitely! There's always room for more fun with depictions of sexuality, haha. The premise for an all-orc dating sim is definitely a memorable one, and one you've fleshed out incredibly well with the thoughtfulness of your worldbuilding and character dynamics. What was the original inspiration that you built Tusks on, and what helped carry you across the finishing line of completing (for the most part) its story?

It was a lot of different threads coming together: I'd been playing a modded Skyrim save with an orc character who, in my head, was gay and had left his stronghold so to find other orcs like him and establish his own wee found family. That happened at the same time as me finding out about the NaNoReNo visual novel game jam, plus wanting to work on a game that actually put queer characters and discussions first and foremost rather than us just being a token presentation.

As for what carried me through, there was lots of things: the excitement of getting to tell stories that you just don't see in mainstream games, getting amazing feedback from players, and then at the end when I released the full main story on New Years', it was sheer bloody-mindedness.

There's a fair few interesting mechanics in Tusks, especially with regards to NPC autonomy; can you share a little bit of insight on why you decided to include those and how they function in the code?

NPC autonomy's a small but effective way of just slightly upsetting this idea that in visual novels, the player character gets to make all the decisions -- it automatically puts you in a decision-making leader role, and it's up to the writer then to narratively justify that -- which can be difficult if you're wanting to tell a story about a group of equal partners. So instead, NPC autonomy lets characters vote on things or lets characters potentially turn you down for romantic encounters.

It's an optional feature, so it's possible to play the game without it being on -- it just slightly changes the flow of the story and makes it seem a tad-bit more like you're part of a collective, if that makes sense.

Yeah, that makes sense! I think my playthroughs where NPC autonomy was on were definitely more interesting, by and large, because it really does add a lot to that sense of cooperation and community.

If you had to pick just one, what non-human (and non-orc) creature do you think more people should appreciate?

I'm really interested in exploring things with strong mythological connotations like minotaurs, since they're surrounded by particular ideas like labyrinths, being half-human and half-animal. I'd also really like to see someone explore the monstrousness of hags from [Dungeons and Dragons], because I think there's probably a way to talk about them and explore their relationships to femininity, presentation, glamour magick, witchcraft, and power.

Good choices! Those are both definitely really interesting ones. To wrap things up, are there any LGBTQ visual novels from other developers that you'd like to recommend?

I'd recommend checking out The Bitter Drop, by Isak Grozny; Ladykiller in a Bind by Christine Love, and We Know the Devil by Date Nighto!

Perfect! It's been a pleasure talking to you, Mitch, and I'm looking forward to your future projects.

Tusks: The Orc Dating Sim is available now for a reverse-sale price of $2.02, and you can support Mitch Alexander’s work on Patreon or follow his “nonsense” on Twitter and fully-released work on Itch.io!

[shrutech]

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Hence, the wide use of dryers is expected to propel the global industrial dryer market growth over the forecast period.Market Dynamics- Restraints High operational costs are expected to hamper growth of the global industrial dryer market during the forecast period The process of drying is energy-intensive regarding manufacturing a product. In industrial sector, it is estimated that drying process alone consumes around 10% to 20% energy relative to other unit operations involved in the industry. Furthermore, majority of industrial dryers are focused on operations that require hot air for drying, which is formed by the burning of fossil fuel. Burning of fossil fuel imparts additional operational costs in the drying process. Hence, these factors are expected to hamper the market growth in the near future. 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[hiemaliis]

tell me what you want me to say

auburn was buzzing with the nervous energy that always drove fay up the wall. there was constant movement in the woman, she was  flickering  through the room like a fire, never stilling, not even to go and explain what on earth had happened, why on earth she had called fay out of class — not that the second was complaining about this particular detail. but she felt like complaining about the troublesome way auburn kept picking up things on her table, only to put them back down.

it was annoying in the way many things that auburn did were bothersome — it failed to bug fay right away but after a few moments, it was difficult to remember a time when she had not been bothered by this. especially given that fay  did not know  what had happened. and if she knew, she could make suggestions to solve the problem — because there  had  to be  a massive problem,  given the redhead’s near erratic behaviour. 

“ eleanor hudson — yes, your teacher — was in an accident and died, ” auburn finally said, her fingertips drumming too fast against the table, giving away much more than october likely wanted anyone to know. then, ‘anyone’ was not this used to reading her silent tells. ‘anyone’ would not know that she was  this  stressed out because while she gave away the emotion, the same could not be said about its magnitude.

but fay knew, knew that the last time auburn had been this stressed out, something had happened, something  very bad.  more precise details  escaped  the second for the moment, but she suspected that something had happened to someone who was closer to the tenth.

what did not add up just yet was that ms hudson was nice, yes, but no one auburn owed a debt to — and at the end of the day, it always came down to debts with the redhead. this, at least, fay could understand — she too preferred to pay off her debts before the people she owed them to died. which might explain why she was taking her time when it came to those concerning dylan.

“ you know her. as more than just my teacher. ”

it was the only rational explanation, the only thing that fay could think of that would make auburn’s reaction rational — and most of the things the other did  were  rational. and as always, auburn did not bother with a lie. perhaps because she valued the truth more than her own life, perhaps because she knew that fay would figure out the truth in any case and that a lie would only draw out the pain.

“ sixties. after, you know, you broke me out of prison. ”

fay stopped, froze inwardly. she had thought that she had left all aggression towards the redhead behind, that she had outgrown this stage a long time ago. but apparently, she had been wrong about that. because the old anger unfurled itself in her chest now, the very same anger that had once guided her hand, causing auburn to end on the floor of her own kitchen.

she had sworn herself that she would not do it again. mostly because she had proven a point when she had stabbed auburn — the very point she had been trying to prove  wrong  for so long — but also because not knowing for sure if and when auburn would take revenge had been very stressful.

which had possibly been the precise reason why auburn had never lifted a single finger to hit back, no matter how  deserved  it would have been. this possible explanation sounded better in fay’s ears than any that implied that she could kill the tenth as many times as she wanted to without having to fear any repercussions because auburn worried about the reactions of other people.

fay wanted to feel the risk underneath her fingertips, she wanted to feel like she was holding her fingers right above a candle — close enough to feel the heat but too far away to end up with burned fingers. and if auburn did never hit back, either  on principle  or because she was worried about the consequences, pushing her buttons was utterly boring — and felt nearly like cruelty, like fay was taunting a dangerous animal that had been shackled down.

(  and fay was no moron — she knew that these shackles could only hold auburn so long. )

“ you didn’t tell me, ” fay snapped, her hands clenching to fists. she hated it when this happened, hated when auburn valued the right other people had to share information about themselves higher than the fact that fay liked to know  all  the variables — and that her teacher was  like them  was something fay considered  sorta  important. “ again. ”

“ you never complain when it’s your secret i keep, ” auburn replied, her nonchalance  disgusting  because this was hardly the point now. the point was that fay had not asked for auburn to  out  someone who was absolutely irrelevant in her life. auburn had  failed  to tell fay that there was someone in her environment she did not have to worry about. and it was the second  major  omission of information fay was forcibly made aware of in less than a year.

“ we both know that this isn’t the point right now, ” fay remarked quietly, her fist pressed against her leg. a part of her wanted to throw the punch — because at this point, it was  deserved.  auburn had guarded the interests of  everyone who was not fay  lately, and this was getting increasingly troublesome.

“ exactly — your hurt ego really is not the problem right now, ” auburn bit back — and fay’s arm moved before the second actually considered whether this was a good idea, the fist aimed for auburn’s head, intent to cause damage because fay was  not  the one who was acting like a child right now.

fay expected the impact, expected that it might hurt her hand — auburn had a thick skull, after all. but apparently, the redhead was in no mood to play around right now. which was nothing new, february supposed, because the tenth had always chosen odd moments to drop all pretenses and to let it show that she was made of something  very  intense.

of course, the block that led the punch astray was lazy and a bit sloppy — fay  knew  that auburn could do better than this, but that did not matter — so that it was not quite as effective as it probably should have been, but the glare that followed extinguished all aspirations to throw another punch at october.

tragic as this always was — auburn had a point when she said that this was not about fay’s injured pride but about someone else.

“ so you’re gonna tell me what’s  really  happening? ” fay scowled as she stepped away from the fragile coffee table, reaching for one of the atrocious pink cups on the windowsill. she could easily do the math, could easily calculate that if ms hudson had met auburn in the sixties, she had to be older than she looked. much older, possibly.

“ she was hit by a car a good day ago, ” auburn said as she reached for her own cup of tea, her eyes gleaming with the same fire they had  ages ago, before rome had burned. this was auburn, in control. fay preferred this version of october over the somewhat  whiny  version that would be auburn, controlled by her emotions. she could work with this auburn, because they thought alike and ended up with solutions quickly.

“ we’ve all been there, ” fay said dryly, knowing that it was not really the truth — at least it did not apply to either of them. “ so? ” 

auburn winced, her lips pressed together for a moment, as if she was holding back some kind of secret that was not hers to tell. and fay had had more than enough of that attitude, of the way auburn let morals get in the way of what would be a clean cut, a fast and easy solution for their problem.

“ this is a really bad moment to test my patience,  red, ” fay said softly, the emphasis on the last word seemingly unnecessary. but the second knew better, knew what to do to make auburn snap back into a state where she was really useful.

“ …it is her first death, ” auburn finally said before she turned sharply, looking at fay with a gaze that seemed to burn. “ i don’t suppose I have to say more? ”

she did not have to. fay doubted that there could be a single of their kind who could forget the first time they had died. she knew that she remembered it all too vividly and with unusually much detail, given how little else she remembered of her childhood. she knew that auburn, too, remembered it well — they had talked about it, a long time ago.

“ fuck, ” fay whispered as the magnitude of the situation sunk in. she had been too young and too terrified to think straight when she had first died, too confused because she had known that she was going to die from the moment she had seen the cold steel gleam. she knew that it had been very similar for the tenth. neither of them had known what would happen, that they would not  stay  dead once they had fallen.

eleanor hudson had known that she would rise again when the car had hit her. this was, as far as fay knew, an unprecedented case — and she could easily understand how this concerned auburn, why it made the redhead pace around like that. this situation was out of hand, and it had the potential to get extraordinarily messy. dying was never pleasant and could have awful after-effects — fay would know about that. and it never got easier. at least not when one was coherent enough to realise what was going to happen.

“ yeah, exactly, ” auburn said dryly as she shook her head. “ it’s  that  bad. ”

“ you’re sure it’s her first death? ” fay asked, although she was sure what no matter how flawed auburn could be, she had never been neglectful when it came to important details. and this was something important, this was something she  had  to be completely sure about — because this was the one detail that mattered.

there was something oddly helpless in the way auburn held her folded hands in front of her own body, and fay signed inwardly. she knew indeed, and not for the first time, she wished that the people she surrounded herself with would be less prone to letting their emotional side completely overrule their rational minds. it would make her life, her existence much easier.

“ we talked about this. i — i would’ve offered for the first death to be … supervised but — you know. ”

“ your morals are a goddamn nuisance, hayden, ” fay groaned as she pinched the bridge of her nose. “ so, where’s the  actual  problem? ”

“ i have no idea where she is, how she is coping — if she already woke up … i know absolutely nothing … aside from that she died, ” auburn said, snapping back into a more professional mode, something fay welcomed because she was in no mood to deal with the mess auburn called her emotions.

“ you care. ”

auburn had too much pride  not  to make a face at the way fay said this, too much pride in her capability to care about more people than she should. “ yes, ” she said as she pushed back a strand of her hair. “ i care. ”

“ what makes you think that i’ll help you? ”

“ well, you stole from my personal supply, fay, ” auburn replied lightly, but there was something steel like in her gaze, someone that let fay know that she was not going to walk out of this room unless she had made at least an actual effort in helping auburn.

“ blackmail used to be beneath you, octavia. ”

“ think of it as of … reverse bribery, ” auburn replied, never missing a beat, her eyes never losing their steel. “ you know you would’ve gotten it without any conditions attached — if you had only asked me. ”

“ …i keep forgetting how awful you can be when you care about someone,” fay groaned as she rolled her shoulders, her eyes narrowed. she was not petty enough to remark that once upon a time, auburn had been just as  questionable  in her methods because she had cared about the second. she knew, if she were to point it out, she would sound like she had been the one who had been replaced at the end while, really, she had been the one who had no longer needed auburn, who had left.

“ you know i never stopped. ”

fay turned, her gaze scorching. yes, she could have interpreted this as auburn’s claim that she had never stopped being terrible in the name of those she cared about, but this sort of statement would be out of character for her — especially as it was said in such a soft voice and with such a knowing gaze. “ get out of my head, auburn, and tell me what you need, ” she snapped.

“ i’m certain that leah will take her time to recover which means she’ll end up in dylan’s care, ” the redhead said, unaffected as always by the outburst, and at the mention of her brother, the corners of her mouth moved upwards — something that soothed fay’s mood.

it was easy to forget that no matter how far auburn had gone for her, she had always walked miles upon miles more for her brothers, because this was the kind of person auburn was: someone who choose to do the right thing whenever she could afford it. and it was impossible for fay to remain cross with auburn whenever she was reminded that auburn cared so much about someone who was as dear to fay as dylan was.

“ so if her death is handled, she needs a new life,” fay sighed, briefly wondering what people would do without her — aside from getting into massive trouble. “ what are you gonna do? ”

“ what i do best: erase a life, ” the redhead said with a mirthless laugh, one that sounded too much like her brother’s for fay’s comfort. but it did not matter to her what auburn was going to do, anyway. she had her part to play, and she did not have to know what exactly auburn would do to clean up the mess that had been made when eleanor hudson — leah to friends, apparently — had had an unscheduled death.

“ you know dying can be pretty rough … you should try to reach out to dylan — given how sure you are she ended up at his place — so he knows about it in advance, ” fay said, sounding less helpful than she was trying to be. she liked the teacher well enough, and she truly cared about dylan — and she had her doubts that he would take it in stride if one of the people are his institute suddenly sat back up. “ we wouldn’t want to traumatise him. ”

“ yes,  we  wouldn’t want that, would we, livia? ”

[abbie-jamieson-film-genre]

Week 14: Film Production Reflection

The first thing people noticed was how great the location was, although some thought we perhaps relied on it too much. People loved the orange and rusty colours it evoked, and that strong sense of a post apocalyptic world and that genre. However some thought we needed more from other aspects of the film, such as a stronger sense of narrative and character, as we perhaps focused too much on building this environment and not this protagonist and her story.

Everyone really loved Charlie’s performance and said that she was casted brilliantly as she really captured that sense of being a post apocalyptic world. Her performance conveyed the right emotions with such great subtly too, I personally loved it along with so many others.

The costume design had mixed views, people liked how worn and dirty the coat looked but people didn’t think the boots screamed “I am a survivor” as they didn’t reflect the same amount of wear and tear. The gas mask was liked by many too, they thought the idea was great but the execution wasn’t. People were confused as to when the gas mask could and couldn’t be used, it didn’t seem to follow a rule. However, in the sound design a geiger counter was introduced, but this idea was only thought of after production. This meant we had to try and match the sound to fit when the mask could and couldn’t be worn, and it was hard to make it make sense. Plus, not everyone in the audience was familiar with this device, and the beeping didn’t seem to have a purpose, many thinking it was a mistake or was a random choice. The feedback we were given gave us the advice that if we couldn’t incorporate it into the soundtrack, we should get rid of it, especially as we filmed without the intention of adding it.

We also received feedback on the overall sound design, and many liked how little we used a soundtrack and focused on other “smaller” sounds. The gas mask needs to sound more as if it is coming from her, and we need more sounds that connect as to her, such as the gentle breathing, humming and jingling metal noises at the very beginning of the film. Despite this, the sound design needs to be cleaned up a bit and hopefully we can edit another cut of the film.

The aesthetic of the film got some great feedback. The framing was really liked, and helped build on the idea of a journey, which is most noted in her walking from left to right and the change of location and daylight. The soft/ out of focus shots made our audience torn, some argued that it was frustrating that some shots were blurry and confusing, whereas others found it coherent. Personally I thought it added to the aesthetic with this foggy look, but I can see how people would disagree.

In addition, the colour grading was praised for emphasising the beautiful rusty orange colour palette as it really added the idea of being in a wasteland. The title font did not get a good response. People thought it didn’t “pop” enough and a different choice should be made to stand out more. Also the title divided people as some thought it was too long, and they had to pause the film to read it all correctly. Others liked how pretentious it was and how it incapsulated the main theme of the film, which was trying to transport yourself to times you deemed better.

The film’s narrative was strong, and the sense of journey was conveyed really well. Everyone felt as if they had been on an adventure with this character which is difficult to create in such a short time frame. I think the editing was mainly due to this as it managed to show such a progression of time without feeling rushed and keeping a relatively slow pace.

The main concern with the narrative is that there wasn’t enough conflict. For example, she didn’t appear to have much of a struggle to find this piece. However we did want to show the protagonist questioning her life at the top of the mound, and I think we didn’t put enough emphasis on this scene to show how distraught and lost she is without her music. If this had been conveyed, this may not have been an issue.

The key things I have learnt from this module are:

* communication (especially in person)

Communication is the number one thing in any film production. However, this project has made me really value the ability to be able to speak in person to my group. It was a lot more difficult to express and discuss ideas whilst over call or in text, as our group only met twice in person which both were the shoots. It makes the process a lot easier and miscommunication a lot less frequent. And our group communicated really well, I just think it would have made the process more smooth and less stressful, and I know I personally would have been more involved in giving feedback to edits if I had been with people in person.

* preparation

This is obviously a must, but as every film proves, you really can never be too prepared, especially as the producer. Although my group were extremely organised, and I had a schedule, I should have kept them more up to date with deadlines and tasks, and I should have had more communication with the director. I will definitely be using checklists for the shoot days and to do lists again

* rehearsal

checking and using equipment before the shoot, checking out location, filming practice at location and performance rehearsals make the shoot day run way more smoothly

* time management and getting coverage

Getting a good amount of coverage is necessary, but be careful you aren’t getting too much of one take and neglecting other possible takes.

* next time I would like to get more experience in sound because I am still not confident with this role and would like to learn more with pro tools to help advance myself

[swanandcmiprs]

INDUSTRIAL DRYER MARKET ANALYSIS (2019-2027)

Market Overview

Industrial dryers are used to effectively process large quantities of bulk materials that require reduced moisture levels. Industrial dryers are available in different sizes depending upon the amount of material needing to be dried. Generally, dryers function on two principles namely direct drying and indirect drying whereas various types of dryers are available in the market including a flash dryer, rotary dryer, spray dryer, and fluidized dryer. Industrial dryers find applications in various sectors including pharmaceutical, food, chemical, mining & minerals, constructions, etc. Other types of dryers are also available such as paddle dryers that are used where maximum heat transfer is required.

The global Industrial Dryer Market was accounted for US$ 2,929.7 Mn in terms of value and 2,648 units in terms of volume in 2019 and is expected to grow at CAGR of 3.5% for the period 2020-2027.

Market Dynamics- Driver

Rising demand from pharmaceutical and food sectors is expected to drive growth of the global industrial dryer market during the forecast period

The quality of the product in the pharmaceutical industry is a major concern. This is also important due to strict government regulations over product quality and its specification in food and pharmaceutical industry. Generally, products in the industries are heat sensitive that require suitable devices for drying process. The technologically advanced industrial dryers such as vacuum dryers and fluidized bed dryers are suitable equipment for drying operation in food and pharmaceutical industry. Moreover, these dryers are suitable for other unit operations such as purification and separation involved in the industry. Thus, high growth of the pharmaceutical and food sectors is expected to drive growth of the global industrial dryer market in the near future. According to Coherent Market Insights’ analysis, there are over 450 projects in the pharmaceutical industry and over 300 projects in the food industry that are expected to be completed in the near future.

Increasing application of dryers in various sectors is expected to propel the global industrial dryers market growth over the forecast period

Industrial dryers have witnessed a massive demand from various industry including healthcare, chemical, mining & minerals, constructions, etc. Different types of industrial dryers are used such as vacuum dryer in biological products and food sector, fluidized bed dryer in fertilizer, pesticides, and ceramics, sprayer in antibiotics, vitamins, and catalyst support, and rotary dryers in fertilizers, waste sludge, limestone, plastics, and chemicals. Hence, the wide use of dryers is expected to propel the global industrial dryer market growth over the forecast period.

Statistics:

Asia Pacific region is expected to dominate the global Industrial Dryer Market in 2019, accounting for 31.7 % share in terms of value, followed by North America, Europe, Middle East and Africa and Latin America.

Figure 1: Global Industrial Dryer Market Share (%) in Terms of Value, By Region, 2019

Market Dynamics- Restraints

High operational costs are expected to hamper growth of the global industrial dryer market during the forecast period

The process of drying is energy-intensive regarding manufacturing a product. In industrial sector, it is estimated that drying process alone consumes around 10% to 20% energy relative to other unit operations involved in the industry. Furthermore, majority of industrial dryers are focused on operations that require hot air for drying, which is formed by the burning of fossil fuel. Burning of fossil fuel imparts additional operational costs in the drying process. Hence, these factors are expected to hamper the market growth in the near future.

Strict environmental regulations are expected to hinder the global industrial dryer market growth over the forecast period

There are various strict government regulations enforced across the globe including REACH, EPA, etc. Industrial dryers such as belt dryers and tray dryers are adopted by small industries since they are low cost although they are less efficient well. Hence, these factors are expected to hinder the global industrial dryer market growth over the forecast period.

Market Opportunities

High growth of food processing industry can present major business opportunities

Food processing industry has expanded significantly in the recent past. Dryers can be used to prevent food spoilage by removing water from both preparation and processing of food products. Dryers can provide clean and dry air that can help extend product life and can assist in packaging, transporting and storing food products. Key companies in the market can capitalize on lucrative opportunities and gain significant advantages in the market.

High growth of the pharmaceutical industry can pose significant growth opportunities

The pharmaceutical industry deploys different types of industrial dryers including freeze-dryers, vacuum dryers, continuous-tray dryers, mixer dryers, etc. The pharmaceutical industry has expanded significantly in the recent past and as a result of this, there is a high demand for dryers. Key companies in the market can capitalize on lucrative opportunities and gain significant advantages in the market.

The global industrial dryer market was valued at US$ 2,929.7 Mn in 2019 and is forecast to reach a value of US$ 3,895.7 Mn by 2027 at a CAGR of 3.5% between 2020 and 2027.

Figure 2: Global Industrial Dryer Market Value (US$ Mn), 2016 - 2027

Market Trends

Rising adoption of superheated steam dryers is a major adoption

Superheated steam dryers have witnessed significant massive adoption with industries demanding standards for intended drying applications. Higher operating costs associated with conventional drying processes resulted in growing emphasis on either improving drying process economics or on the development of alternative lower-cost processes. For instance, the GEA group offers Superheated Steam Dryer & Processor for drying of oilseeds, beans, and proteins. Also, BMA AG offers a fluidized-bed steam dryer for drying of biomass, which can recover 90% of energy.

Market consolidation activities worldwide

Major companies in the market are focused on merger and acquisition activities, in order to enhance the market presence. For instance, in June 2016, ANDRITZ AG acquired Euroslot KDSS, including its two subsidiaries in China and India, which are involved in manufacturing of separation and filtration equipment. Moreover, in November 2016, HEINKEL Drying and Separation Group announced expansion of two of its workshops in Foshan, China, in order to increase its presence in the APAC market.

Segment information:

In global Industrial Dryer Market, by Operating Principle, Indirect Drying sub-segment dominated the global market in 2019, accounting for 77.7% share in terms of value, followed by Direct Drying.

Competitive Section

Key players operating in the global industrial dryer market are Metso Corporation, Anivi Ingenieria SA, ThyssenKrupp AG, YAMATO SANKO MFG. CO. LTD., ANDRITZ AG, Wuxi Modern Spray Drying Equipment Co., Ltd, Buhler AG, Ventilex Inc., GEA Group, Comspain XXI S.A., Carrier Vibrating Equipment, Inc., FEECO International, Inc., HEINKEL Drying and Separation Group, Mitchell Dryers Ltd., Spooner Industries Ltd, Changzhou Fanqun Drying Equipment Co. Ltd., and Changzhou Yibu Drying Equipment Co., Ltd.

Key Developments

Major companies in the market are involved in partnerships and collaborations, in order to enhance the market. For instance, in May 2016, the company entered into a long term service partnership agreement with TATA Chemicals Limited to restructure pyro-processing systems. The agreement includes repairing, rebuilding and modifying 7 calciners and 12 rotary dryers at the Green River, U.S. production facility.

Key players in the market are focused on mergers and acquisitions, in order to gain a competitive edge in the market. In June 2015, ANDRITZ AG acquired Euroslot KDSS, including its two subsidiaries in China and India which are involved in the manufacturing of separation and filtration equipment

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