#and my american taxes will cancel it out

[sweetfirebird]

what I love about my French publisher is that I will get a notice from them about a royalty statement. and then weeks, maybe a month, maybe more, will go by, and then I will get sent money and I will be like, where did these Euros come from oh right.

Which doesn't feel shady to me in the Dreamspinner way. It more feels like a) more relaxed work environment b) publishing in general and c) they aren't stealing they just don't care about me personally.

Anyway I consider it more like bonus money than anything else. Found money. Surprise money.

[chromations]

The Robert Plant post that's been on my mind since the jimmy post.

EDIT: tumblr fucked up and deleted half the post AND put it without tags. Now complete

It's easier to write about psychology I relate to. To dive into something so clear, so easy to point out the faults of. Writing Jimmy's story was easy. What I'm writing now is less than.

This is how Led Zeppelin impacted Robert Plant. As usual, feel free to add, and the rest is under the cut. This is gonna be sad (and long)

Anyone can spot how, now, Robert reflects on his Zeppelin days with disdain. He doesn't perform nor relate to the majority of his Zeppelin songs anymore. Of course, just as the rest of the band, he's sick of the press asking for another tour. Another reunion. Another reminder of a dark spot in who we see as the golden god.

What happened?

What *didn't* happen?? At first, Zeppelin started out and grazed the sun. And the sun had been spun for years, so to speak. Popularity, sex, riches, women, freedom, *music*. Who wouldn't want that? Of course, there had been the lyrics written by a guy in his early 20s, the many meanings eluding and warping to the ears of the listener. There was criticism over the different lifestyles, tear gassing, police raids, there was Jimmy and Lori. Even recounted by Jimmy Page (Through the On This Day feature), they'd perform in Memphis, only to be stopped by a man with a gun when they'd wanted to perform an encore.

Still, each life had its faults. Robert would write Sick Again's lyrics with the groupees in mind, with the underlying sadness for what Lori had gone through.

Come 1975, and the wax starts to melt. Jimmy starts on heroin at some point during their tours that year. After Plant's family flies out, he and Robert vacation in Morocco. After, in Greece, Robert is driving with his family, and they get into an accident: Almost fatal on Maureen, a broken ankle + elbow on Robert, and bruises on the kids. Back in England, they'd receive care... Only for Plant to have to leave England due to his tax exile. He'd spend the time in a wheelchair, writing and developing Presence. Achilles Last Stand, about his time in Morocco with Jimmy, previously called The Wheelchair Song. Tea For One, about the loneliness and despair on tour, of being away from his family. For Your Life is about a friend of Robert's who had been heavy in drugs. Quote from faroutmagazine, it's reflected that Presence was "a cry from the depths"/"a cry of survival"

Presence is often shat on for what's perceived as a lackluster, boring, rehashed album. While I see where these statements come from, Presence happens to be my favorite album.

In 76, Presence is released, and in the same year, Zeppelin's concert film The Song Remains The Same, to make up for the canceled tours in pursuit of Plant's recovery.

1977 comes around. American tour. Everyone's unsure if the band will perform the same after such a hiatus, but it works out. Mostly. Page, as in my other post, is emotionally unavailable, to say the least, in his own struggles. The band in total is still imbibing in heavy drug usage (JPJ, however, more discreet with his use and not to be found in embarrassing situations), but the tour breaks records, a heavy hitting comeback.

Icarus falls, the zeppelin crashes.

Come summer, the third leg just there, and Robert gets the call: Karac Plant, his son, passed while he was away. The cause had been an unknown stomach illness, and he couldn't have even been there for his son. Gut wrenching. Karac was 5.

Tour canceled, and the last time Zeppelin played North America, Plant flies back home with Bonham and Richard Cole at his side. Jimmy and Peter Grant remain in America, while Jones takes time for vacation. During his time of immense grief, Plant heavily considered quitting music all together to be a teacher, as he just wanted to be with his family. While everyone else was off flitting about, Robert says John Bonham was the only one really at his side for the entire process. Out of the members of Zeppelin, Bonzo was the only one attending Karac's funeral at Plant's side. The darkest, most heartbreaking moment of your life, and your friends aren't around (Of course Bonham was, of course he was around. They were best friends). Jones had said, later, with what Elvis dying, all he knew was that he (Robert) should have his space. Lacking etiquette and not knowing consolation shouldn't mean you (in context, Jones and Page) lack the ability to be there for your friend, though.

Robert never fully got over Karac's death. I wouldn't blame him. He wrote multiple songs over the years honoring his son (All My Love, Blue Train, I Believe).

In addition, he would have a talk with himself, in which he would quit drugs. Quote below.

After everything of 1977, the future of Led Zeppelin became uncertain. Just about silence for a long time, while Plant went through the grief process.  About 1977, he says: “[it was] the year it all stopped for me. Nothing could make it all right again and nothing ever will.” 

"During the absolute darkest times of my life when I lost my boy and my family was in disarray, it was Bonzo who came to me."

Finally, Page and Bonham convince Plant to stay in music, to stay with Zeppelin, when Jimmy told him to take a break until he's ready, and that the band is nothing without Robert.

Zeppelin returns in 1979, though the light has dimmed. Jimmy and Bonham lose themselves further. If you take a look, In Through The Out Door is largely about Robert's feelings once more. When recording and writing, it's often said that the band had split in two: Sober (Plant and JPJ) and not sober (Page, Bonham) . While Plant and Jones wrote and composed, the other two would fail to show up on time, sometimes even at all. As previously mentioned, All My Love and I'm Gonna Crawl are tributes to Karac. In The Evening is about the struggles and stress faced even through his stardom and wealth.

Carouselambra tells the story of Zeppelin's fall. From kings, gods, to rust. In particular, it details the loneliness and betrayal felt by Plant after his band mates failed to be there for him.

"Where was your word, where did you go?

Where was your helping, where was your bow?

Dull is the armour, cold is the day

Hard was the journey, dark was the way, way

I heard the word, I couldn't stay, oh

I couldn't stand it another day, another day"

In particular, "Where was your word, where did you go?" struck with me.

The rest of the album is filled with lighter, story centered, and explorational songs. Plant knew that while Zeppelin was there, it was nearing its end. Come Knebworth, a great show, but Robert is different, you see it in his eyes. The naivety, the innocence, the belief that he could have it all, has faded.

And nobody else is the same at knebworth, either.

Fast forward a year and John Bonham dies, god rest his soul. Led Zeppelin breaks up. Robert loses his best friend and son in the span of 3 years.

Icarus burns. The zeppelin crashes.

Robert distances himself from the rock scene, exchanging most of his heavy vocals to explore different genres of music. He shies away from Zeppelin, but the public is calling for more. An encore. A reunion. Each one goes wrong, between being too stoned and ill timed, the improper rehearsals, the matter not being taken seriously.

Page and Plant starts and Robert finds himself back in his old shoes, polished and new. He enjoyed it this time around, digging up unreleased material and playing it "Unledded."

The masses want more. The golden god, playing the same old tune and having to visit the same old wounds of life. They want the sun to shine like it had been touched again, but the sun shined differently back then. The public dooms him to the same old song he's been fighting to escape, but the song doesn't remain the same, the song has changed.

He's still beautiful. Still Robert Plant. But he's not the same as he was, he's not the bright, young boy performing Stairway to the crowd for the first time, or 50 playing as Page and Plant. He's past that.

December 10th, 2007, O2 Arena, London. He says good evening. One last show. Jason Bonham on drums and backing vocals. John Paul Jones, keyboard and bass guitar. Jimmy Page, electric guitar. And himself, Robert Plant. A legendary show, honored to Ahmet Ertegun.

After, Jones and Jimmy want to continue with a reunion. Robert doesn't, won't. He has a solo career. He's fought to free himself from the golden boy he was. This isn't him anymore. These aren't his songs.

He grows disconnected from his songs of Zeppelin, a lifetime ago. He grows to hate stairway, until it's 2012 at the Kennedy Honors Center. Heart performs Stairway to Heaven with a choir and Jason Bonham. Robert tears up, seeing his best friends son out there. In that moment, he grows to appreciate Stairway: Only if it's sung by a younger voice, though.

The media wants more. The people want more. They will always want more, it's never enough, but he can't sing a song that's lost its meaning to him.

Robert Plant is a man of many times. The golden god we know of now is eternally different from who he was. I will always love him through all walks of life, each and every stage.

[oddvanilla]

PLEASE EXPLAIN WHAT "SKIBIDI" AND "SIGMA" MEANS I'VE BEEN TRYING TO FIGURE IT OUT FOR A WEEK AND IT KEEPS POPPING UP IN YOUR BLOG AND I'M SO CONFUSED 😭😭😭😭

AAAA I love people who ask me open ended questions,, you're basically allowing me to yap 🫶🫶🫶

It all starts with Gen Z, you could say. The thing with Gen Z is that we're so sarcastic it's CRAZY. I mean, we got lots of terms that millennials can barely wrap their head around. It's like only we can understand this dumb humour. Like obviously, we say "rizz" (short for charisma: a charm) and "GYATT" (usually popular in African-American environments, short for goddamn),, but the thing is, we say that stuff ironically (in a sarcastic manner).

But there's Gen Alpha, basically people who are born after 2010 (until 2025, starts gen beta). And these kids are like brainrotted to the EXTREME. Keep in mind, brainrot usually means people who are too chronically online and sometimes can only speak in internet slang...weird. Gen Alpha is responsible for creating or popularizing some terms. These include a LONG list, I'll try to explain as much as I can here...

Sigma: the equivalent of alpha, an individual who's viewed as dominant.

Skibidi: short for Skibidi Toilet, a series made up of short videos created by DaFuq!?Boom! On YouTube.

Cap: a lie. Usually used in phrases like "No cap!" (No lie) Or "That's cap!" (That's a lie)

Slay: Something done impressively or greatly. Usually used between females but it's NOT restricted to that. used In phrases like "you slayed that/you ate that!"

Sus: Suspicious, unsettling

GOAT: abbreviation for "greatest of all time". Like in "Ronaldo/Messi is the GOAT"

Clout: popularity. Example— "I did that for clout"

Flex: to show off

Bop: Bae of plenty, someone who is seen as a player

Cancel: Cancel culture is pretty much getting celebrities banned off social media platforms. For example, many people want to cancel Andrew Tate.

Noob: newbie, someone who is a rookie. Either new to a game or bad at a game.

Drip: how cool your outfit looks. Like seeing a kid with a hoodie and saying "Damn, that kid got drip!"

Dope: The equivalent of Rad, something that's cool.

Dupe: yes, there's a difference. Dupe is like a knock off or a fake.

Lit: the same meaning as dope. usually something fire, as in it's awesome.

Stan: to be a huge fan of someone. Others can interpret it as a stalker fan, but the first definition is more popular.

Fanum tax: popular streamer Kai Cenat is friends with another streamer known as Fanum. Fanum often appears in Kai's streams to steal food from Kai. Fanum tax has become a popular term between fans indicating someone is stealing your food. Sometimes used in percentages. For example, my best friend casually fanum taxes 85% of my lunch every other afternoon.

Mewing: a technique used to sharpen your jawline, where you put your tongue at the roof of your mouth—often not allowing you to speak.

Edging/gooning/surfing: (Sorry asexuals..) a sexual practice involving controlling your 0rgasm.

Glazing: to over-hype something or give something so much compliments and attention it has gotten cringe worthy.

Tweaking/tripping: to act energetically or even unintelligently under the influence of crack/drugs, used sarcastically.

Aura: an imaginary calculation method of how much power or reputation you have. For example, falling In front of a group of teens means you have lost aura, or power. You can say that's -500 aura (points). Or maybe helping a homeless man. That's +5000 aura. Memes go around like "the golden dog", a card that makes you immune to losing aura.

Of course there is MUCH more. and Gen Alpha creates new terms every other weekend that it's starting to get tiring keeping up with these trends. Unless you're on the internet 24/7/365, then you'd surely know all of these and spontaneously use them. But I don't, so there's a lot I missed here, at least i believe so😭😭

The problem is, gen alpha uses all these different words and terms UNIRONICALLY. Meaning that they're actually serious. And oh, trust me they will look at you weird when you use an outdated word like "lol", "yas", or "YOLO".

So... Who can we blame for this ridiculous behaviour? Obviously, no other than millennial and generation Z parents. In my personal belief, Gen Alpha being on the internet from such a young age is seriously a bad idea. I mean, I have not one, but TWO (2) gen alpha siblings. You can imagine how hard it is from me... My 5 year old cousin goes to kindergarten and he says that he "rizzed" a girl at his class, which got him +10000 aura. Yeah, even I can't believe what this world has come to.

But from another perspective, we can do nothing about it. Maybe it's a good thing to let gen alpha on the internet? After all, we can't keep taking steps back, saying we need to quit phones and cellular devices in general. All we can do, really, is just let the future unfold. A few decades away from now, Generation Gamma or Delta or whatever, is gonna be laughing at gen alpha saying they're as old as time, probably holding a portable toilet in their hands. we never know what the future brings us🤷‍♀️

So that's it, sorry for answering your silly little question with a whole essay 🙏 thank you all for coming to my ted talk.

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

Bagley

* * * *

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

August 14, 2024

Heather Cox Richardson

Aug 15, 2024

The July report for consumer prices from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, which came out today, showed that prices rose less than 3% in the previous twelve months. Core inflation has fallen to its lowest rate since April 2021. For well over a year, wages have grown faster than inflation.

President Joe Biden cheered the news but added in a statement, “Prices are still too high. Large corporations are sitting on record profits and not doing enough to lower prices. That’s why we are taking on Big Pharma to lower prescription drug prices. We’re cutting red tape to build more homes while taking on corporate landlords that unfairly increase rent. And we’re taking on price gouging and junk fees to lower everyday costs from groceries to air travel.” 

When a reporter asked Biden if the U.S. has beaten inflation, Biden answered: “Yes, Yes, Yes. I told you we were going to have a soft landing…. My policies are working. Start writing that way.” 

Just yesterday, the administration announced $100 million worth of investments in new housing in the form of grants to state and local governments to spur the production of new housing. Kriston Capps of Bloomberg reports that “more housing units are under construction now than at any point in half a century—some 60,000 multifamily units were completed in June alone—and rents are stabilizing in some areas as a result.” 

Single-family home construction is slower, and with Senate Republicans having blocked a $78 billion tax deal that would support housing tax credits that promote the construction of housing, the White House is finding other ways to spur housing construction. 

On Monday the White House continued its attempt to protect the interests of consumers after years in which they lost ground. Continuing to combat junk fees, it proposed rules to fight back against “all the ways that corporations—through excessive paperwork, hold times, and general aggravation—add unnecessary headaches and hassles to people’s days and degrade their quality of life.” 

Companies deliberately design processes to be burdensome in order to deter people from getting a refund or a rebate, or canceling a membership or a subscription. Those frustrations waste money and time, the administration said, and after listing some of its own proposals for making it easier to navigate ending subscriptions or activating insurance coverage, it invited Americans to submit their own on a public portal. 

In a speech on Friday in North Carolina, Vice President Kamala Harris is expected to take on the issue of price gouging by large corporations. Researchers for U.K. think tanks Institute for Public Policy Research and Common Wealth found in late 2023 that profiteering, or “greedflation,” “significantly” boosted prices, leading to increases of 30% or more in corporate profits. “Excessive profits were even larger in the US, where many important sections of the economy are dominated by a few powerful companies,” wrote Phillip Inman of The Guardian. 

Responding to today’s news that inflation is coming down, the stock market ticked up in expectation that the Fed will now be more likely to cut interest rates in September. 

The White House took notice today of the fact that applications for small businesses continue to boom across the country, with 19 million new business applications since Vice President Harris and President Biden took office, an annual growth rate 90% higher than prepandemic averages. The White House also noted that congressional Republicans are trying to cut the Small Business Administration and to cut taxes for big corporations.

Politico greeted today’s economic news with a headline saying, “Inflation is easing. Now, Harris has an even bigger problem with the economy.” And the New York Times reported that in a speech in North Carolina, “Harris Is Set to Lay Out an Economic Message Light on Details,” adding that she is expected to tweak Biden administration themes “in a bid to turn the Democratic economic agenda into an asset.”

The United States economy under Biden and Harris has been the strongest in the world, and now that inflation seems to be under control as well, Harris needs to turn that record “into an asset”? Political journalist James Fallows wrote: “Now they are all just trolling us.”

The Biden-Harris administration has changed the orientation of the United States government from relying on markets to order society and protecting the interests of wealthy Americans in the expectation that they would invest in the economy more efficiently than they could if the government interfered by protecting workers and consumers. Biden and Harris, along with the cabinet officers and staff of the executive branch, revived an older ideology calling for the government to promote the interests of the American people as a whole. This means regulating business and providing government services and oversight to make sure no interest can run the table. 

What the two different worldviews look like was on display earlier this month, when Republicans and a few Democrats in the Senate killed a bipartisan expansion of the child tax credit, a tax break for parents with dependent children. A hike in that credit during the pandemic cut child poverty dramatically, only for that rate to bounce back when the pandemic relief expired and dropped five million U.S. children back into poverty in 2022. The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities noted that the change “underscores the fact that the number of children living in poverty is a policy choice.”

On January 31, 2024, the House passed an expansion of the child tax credit that was smaller than the one in place during the pandemic, and Republican vice presidential hopeful Ohio senator J.D. Vance, who has been criticized for comments about “childless cat ladies,” seemed to support the measure when he said, “If you’re raising children in this country, we should make it easier, not harder. And unfortunately it’s way too expensive and way too difficult.” He then falsely accused Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris of calling for ending the child tax credit (she has actually called for expanding it).  

But Vance missed the vote, and before it, Senator Thom Tillis (R-NC) told colleagues that passing the bill would “give Harris a win before the election.” According to Chabeli Carranzana of The 19th, Tillis “printed out fake checks made out to ‘millions of American voters’ with the memo: ‘Don’t forget to vote for Kamala!’”  

The two different worldviews were also on display Monday night when Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump complimented X owner Elon Musk for firing workers who threatened to strike. The right to strike is protected under federal labor law, and the Biden-Harris administration has stood firmly for workers’ rights. 

On Tuesday the United Auto Workers union filed charges against Trump and Musk with the National Labor Relations Board for threatening and intimidating workers. “When we say Trump stands against everything our union stands for, this is what we mean,” said UAW president Shawn Fain. 

Tonight, Trump gave a speech in Asheville, North Carolina, that was supposed to be about the economy. Before he could appear, Trump had to pay the city $82,247.60 in advance, with city officials apparently concerned about the candidate’s habit of skipping out on costs associated with his rallies. Once on stage, he tossed economic issues overboard and concentrated on personal attacks on Biden and Harris, along with stream-of-consciousness musings on tampons and socialism. Apparently speaking of his campaign aides, he said: They wanted to do a speech on the economy. They say it’s the most important subject. I’m not sure it is.”

The era of unfettered markets and the concentration of wealth may be coming to an end. In late July, the finance leaders of the Group of 20 (G20), a forum of the world’s major economies, agreed to cooperate on fair taxation of  "ultra-high-net-worth individuals,” although they did not agree as to whichinternational body should lead. 

But yesterday, Joe Perticone of The Bulwark noted that MAGA Republicans appear to have figured out a way to use the struggle over the nation’s economic ideology to elect Trump. 

The House recessed in late July having failed to pass a single one of the 12 appropriations bills the government needs to stay in operation because, although the appropriations bills are traditionally kept “clean” of anything extraneous, extremist members of the House Freedom Caucus insist on making extreme cuts and adding their culture war items to the bills. Congress doesn’t reconvene until early September, and the new fiscal year starts on October 1, leaving the House very little time to pass the necessary bills.

Yesterday, members of the House Freedom Caucus called for Republicans to return to Washington, D.C., to pass the bills “to cut spending and advance our policy priorities.” If they can’t pass the bills—and they failed all spring—the extremists want a short-term fix just into “President Trump’s second term.” But they also want the fix to include the SAVE Act, “as called for by President Trump—to prevent noncitizens from voting [and] to preserve free and fair elections in light of the millions of illegal aliens imported by the Biden-Harris administration over the last four years.” 

It is already illegal for noncitizens to vote in federal elections. As Perticone notes, Trump’s own 2017 commission to find evidence that undocumented immigrants voted in 2016 disbanded without finding any, and another audit, led by Georgia Republicans before the 2022 midterms, found not a single successful attempt of noncitizens to vote in the previous five years. 

Perticone reports that the measure is designed to suppress legitimate Democratic voting and, if Trump still loses, by claiming that Trump lost, again, because the election was stolen by illegal voters.

Trump continues to insist that Biden’s replacement at the top of the Democratic ticket was a “coup,” partly because he wants to face off against Biden, rather than Harris. But he also is priming his supporters to believe that those Americans who want the government to work for them rather than the very wealthy are illegitimate.

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

HEATHER COX RICHARDSON

[infinitysisters]

“Like everything based on the writings of Karl Marx—seeing oppressors and colonial struggles everywhere—DEI was doomed to fail. The uniformity of thought known as intersectionality, fostered by DEI, meant all oppressed people must support all others who are oppressed. But that idea burst on Oct. 7 when Hamas raped, murdered and kidnapped Israelis. Many liberals, especially Jewish ones, couldn’t support genocidal “colonized” terrorists. Pop! The long march is in retreat.

By the way, ESG, or investing based on “environmental, social and governance” principles, peaked last June, when BlackRock CEO Larry Fink said he would stop using “the word ESG anymore, because it’s been entirely weaponized.” Never mind that performance of ESG funds has been sketchy and that BlackRock had been adding the label “sustainable” or “ESG” to funds and charging up to five times as much. Then a study published in December by Boston University’s Andrew Kingfound “no reliable evidence for the proposed link between sustainability and financial performance.” Pop!

Most offensive to me was DEI’s devious underlying agenda: societal design. 𝐁𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐝 𝐛𝐲 𝐟𝐚𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐝𝐞𝐯𝐨𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧, 𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐬 𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐩𝐚𝐰𝐧𝐬 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐥𝐝 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐚 𝐜𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐮𝐭𝐨𝐩𝐢𝐚 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐞 𝐫𝐮𝐧, 𝐨𝐟 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐬𝐞, 𝐛𝐲 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐠𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐯𝐞, 𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐟-𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐟𝐲𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐞𝐬. That was the “my truth” that Ms. Gay invoked on her exit. Critical theories and Marxist techniques would take power from you and me, using big government as the enforcer.

The new societal design, embedded in DEI and ESG, envisioned idyllic communal progress. 𝐇𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐲 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐰𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐧𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤𝐬 𝐛𝐞𝐜𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐩𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫 𝐜𝐨𝐫𝐫𝐮𝐩𝐭𝐬. Diversity meant ideological conformity. Equity meant discrimination. Inclusion meant blurring the sexes. Men winning women’s athletic events would be considered normal. It was all theatrics, like the tampons I’ve seen in men’s bathrooms on Ivy League campuses. Somewhere George Orwell is rolling on the floor laughing.

One goal of progressive societal design is to shrink—depopulation. Twenty-somethings now question having children. Net zero and degrowth, both World Economic Forum approved, are pushed via energy myths: carbon bad, cows bad. A plant-based chicken in every pot and two electric cars in every garage. They envy the merit-touting rich, shout “inequality” and wear “Tax the Rich” dresses. They tear down statues to erase history. How did we let this happen?

𝐖𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐞 𝐌𝐚𝐫𝐱𝐢𝐬𝐦 𝐢𝐬 𝐚 𝐦𝐞𝐚𝐧𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐠𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐩𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐨 𝐢𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐬𝐨𝐜𝐢𝐞𝐭𝐚𝐥 𝐝𝐞𝐬𝐢𝐠𝐧, 𝐢𝐭 𝐪𝐮𝐢𝐜𝐤𝐥𝐲 𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐧𝐬 𝐚𝐮𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐧. There was very little free speech at Harvard—the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression ranked it last of all colleges last year. Those against the societal-design agenda were shouted down. Dissent was met with accusations of privilege or cancellation. Conform or be cast out. On a larger scale, the Biden administration co-opted social media to censure opposing views.

I, like most Americans, am for diversity, but not when it’s forced or mandated. In a 2017 interview, Mr. Fink admitted BlackRock would use DEI tactics to “force behaviors” of corporations on “gender or race,” including via management compensation. Now that’s power.

𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐩𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫 𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐭𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐲 𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐚 𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐜𝐡 𝐨𝐟 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐮𝐚𝐥 𝐜𝐨𝐫𝐫𝐮𝐩𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡 𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐭𝐮𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬, 𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐜𝐡 𝐰𝐞’𝐯𝐞 𝐬𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐚𝐭 𝐇𝐚𝐫𝐯𝐚𝐫𝐝, 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐁𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐧 𝐚𝐝𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐞𝐥𝐬𝐞𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞. Does national security adviser Jake Sullivan really care about equity or climate change? It polled well and put him back in power to implement his own societal design via “industrial strategy.”

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐠𝐨𝐨𝐝 𝐧𝐞𝐰𝐬 𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐨𝐦𝐢𝐜𝐬 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐮𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐨𝐮𝐭𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐨𝐥 𝐟𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐤𝐬. 𝐂𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐥 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐥𝐨𝐬𝐞𝐬. 𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐥 𝐥𝐢𝐟𝐞 𝐢𝐬 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐤𝐞𝐭𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐝𝐚𝐲 𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐬𝐦𝐢𝐭 𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐩𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐞 𝐬𝐢𝐠𝐧𝐚𝐥𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐡𝐮𝐦𝐚𝐧 𝐝𝐞𝐬𝐢𝐫𝐞𝐬. Those prices inform production much better than any government bureaucrat or Harvard professor. Societal design—remember Lyndon B. Johnson’s Great Society?—requires government control. I’ll take freedom.

Preferred pronouns are fading. College admissions, and maybe hiring, based on race is illegal. DEI departments are being deconstructed. But while the DEI movement may have peaked, like that Monty Python character, it’s not dead yet. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐡 𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐬𝐞 𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐬𝐩𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐭 𝐫𝐞𝐢𝐧𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐩𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐛𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐲 𝐠𝐞𝐭 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐬𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐃𝐄𝐈 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐮𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐝𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐚 𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐦𝐩𝐞𝐫.”

— Andy Kessler//WSJ

[the-eternal-quest-for-balance]

THESE ARE MY 20 PROMISES TO YOU AND ALL OF AMERICA:

1. SEAL THE BORDER AND STOP THE MIGRANT INVASION

2. CARRY OUT THE LARGEST DEPORTATION OPERATION IN AMERICAN HISTORY

3. END INFLATION, AND MAKE AMERICA AFFORDABLE AGAIN

4. MAKE AMERICA THE DOMINANT ENERGY PRODUCER IN THE WORLD, BY FAR

5. STOP OUTSOURCING, AND TURN THE UNITED STATES INTO A MANUFACTURING POWERHOUSE

6. LARGE TAX CUTS FOR WORKERS, AND NO TAX ON TIPS

7. DEFEND OUR CONSTITUTION, OUR BILL OF RIGHTS, AND OUR FUNDAMENTAL FREEDOMS, INCLUDING FREEDOM OF SPEECH, FREEDOM OF RELIGION, AND THE RIGHT TO KEEP AND BEAR ARMS

8. PREVENT WORLD WAR THREE, RESTORE PEACE IN EUROPE AND IN THE MIDDLE EAST, AND BUILD A GREAT IRON DOME MISSILE DEFENSE SHIELD OVER OUR ENTIRE COUNTRY -- ALL MADE IN AMERICA

9. END THE WEAPONIZATION OF GOVERNMENT AGAINST THE AMERICAN PEOPLE

10. STOP THE MIGRANT CRIME EPIDEMIC, DEMOLISH THE FOREIGN DRUG CARTELS, CRUSH GANG VIOLENCE, AND LOCK UP VIOLENT OFFENDERS

11. REBUILD OUR CITIES, INCLUDING WASHINGTON DC, MAKING THEM SAFE, CLEAN, AND BEAUTIFUL AGAIN.

12. STRENGTHEN AND MODERNIZE OUR MILITARY, MAKING IT, WITHOUT QUESTION, THE STRONGEST AND MOST POWERFUL IN THE WORLD

13. KEEP THE U.S. DOLLAR AS THE WORLD'S RESERVE CURRENCY

14. FIGHT FOR AND PROTECT SOCIAL SECURITY AND MEDICARE WITH NO CUTS, INCLUDING NO CHANGES TO THE RETIREMENT AGE

15. CANCEL THE ELECTRIC VEHICLE MANDATE AND CUT COSTLY AND BURDENSOME REGULATIONS

16. CUT FEDERAL FUNDING FOR ANY SCHOOL PUSHING CRITICAL RACE THEORY, RADICAL GENDER IDEOLOGY, AND OTHER INAPPROPRIATE RACIAL, SEXUAL, OR POLITICAL CONTENT ON OUR CHILDREN

17. KEEP MEN OUT OF WOMEN'S SPORTS

18. DEPORT PRO-HAMAS RADICALS AND MAKE OUR COLLEGE CAMPUSES SAFE AND PATRIOTIC AGAIN

19. SECURE OUR ELECTIONS, INCLUDING SAME DAY VOTING, VOTER IDENTIFICATION, PAPER BALLOTS, AND PROOF OF CITIZENSHIP

20. UNITE OUR COUNTRY BY BRINGING IT TO NEW AND RECORD LEVELS OF SUCCESS

Make no mistake, there are people, born in this Country, raised in the greatest Nation on earth, who do NOT want a few, some, most, ALL of the above from happening.

They are Democrats, Liberals, Progressives, Socialists, or putting them all together, you can cover them with the umbrella of . . . .

COMMUNISTS !!!

[jezebelblues]

yeah bc if ur a trump supporter in this day and age ur immediately cancelled and everyone hates you. youre right, i did that for a reason so when i do comment without anonymity, no one comes at my for having different political views. i also noticed u didnt answer my question. if u dont want to answer, how can u expect people to understand where ur coming from?

you gave me another anon the second i started to edit my post for an answer. (you also didn’t ask a question, you simply said to chill.)

i was also in high school during trump’s term, and graduated near his end during the height of the pandemic. so no, things weren’t flourishing personally. my dad was the breadwinner and i have three siblings with a mom who chose to stay home. my dad didn’t make a lot of money, growing up we relied on EBT for food. in 2018 my mom’s food-stamps barely covered two weeks worth of groceries.

at 16, with my very first job, i had to pay for my own groceries in order to take some slack off my mom.

the economy was cruising in 2017, barely even a year after obama left office. (that’s for a reason.) in 2018 it started to crash. i’ll provide some sources for that in the comments.

trump is raising taxes for the working class, lowering it for the rich. i’ll provide some sources in the comments.

felons don’t have the right to vote or own a gun. our president elect could literally run for president and has the nuclear codes—felons also can’t travel to certain countries. how does that sound for diplomatic relations?

our president elect has made abhorrent comments about women. our president elect supports abhorrent behavior toward women. our president elect admitted to his own daughter being hot.

i joined the army fresh out of high school to be able to afford going to college. our president elect has made abhorrent comments toward veterans. trump reduced access to healthcare for veterans. a lot of active members and veterans receive SNAP benefits to put food on the table—trump gave SNAP a large budget cut during his term.

our president elect is responsible for overturning roe v. wade.

our president elect never denounced the proud boys. our president elect never apologized for january 6th. our president elect had two different assassination attempts and still doesn’t see the problem with assault weapons.

trump is another nepo billionaire whose never known struggle his entire life. do you genuinely think he empathizes with average american people? do you genuinely think he cares for things that don’t directly benefit him?

i could go on and on about donald trump and his rat vance.

democrat or republican, two wings of the same bird. politicians don’t care about you. they don’t care about me.

so, no, my life didn’t flourish during his term. and the possibility of things flourishing after his inauguration seems unlikely as well.

[mostlysignssomeportents]

The "small nonprofit school" saved in the SVB bailout charges more than Harvard

There are no libertarians in a bank run. No sooner had venture capitalists whipped each other into a terrified Twitter frenzy at the imminent collapse of Silicon Valley Bank — a collapse caused by that selfsame frenzy — than the Ayn Rand-poisoned elite of Sand Hill Road started begging for Uncle Sucker to open the sluicegates:

https://twitter.com/EricNewcomer/status/1634300928621793283

If you’d like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here’s a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/03/23/small-nonprofit-school/#north-country-school

Now, on the one hand, it’s easy to dismiss these guys as very, very, very stupid. After all, they played a game of prisoner’s dilemma in which they were allowed to talk to each other as much as they wanted — and they still sold each other out:

https://newsletter.mollywhite.net/p/the-venture-capitalists-dilemma

But they still have the commonsense to realize that an America where $10k in student debt cancellation, school lunches for hungry children, and library budgets are out of reach, handing billions to a bank rescue a balance sheet overwhelmingly made up the investments of “high net worth” investors wouldn’t be popular.

After all, these guys have been crying about incipient guillotinism for years:

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-06-08/billionaire-cartier-owner-sees-wealth-gap-fueling-social-unrest

Sure, they don’t compare small rises in the top marginal tax-rate to Kristallnacht anymore:

https://www.npr.org/sections/alltechconsidered/2014/01/26/266685819/billionaire-compares-outrage-over-rich-in-s-f-to-kristallnacht

But they are locked and loaded for The Event, feathering elaborate subterranean, antipodean nests in the most luxurious bunkers New Zealand has to offer, against the day that the poors come to eat them:

https://www.cnn.com/2020/07/15/business/bunkers-new-zealand-intl-hnk/index.html

So amid the clamor for socialism-for-the-rich, these billionaires went on the hunt for average joes who could serve as the face of the bailout. Like the “Ohio mom with 4 kids and a husband who works in manufacturing, who owns a small business:”

https://www.businessinsider.com/mother-small-startup-ceo-fall-svb-not-1-problem-2023-3

She’s ex-McKinsey and raised $4m in VC for a $600/month life-planning app; her husband, another McKinsey alum, is a senior manager at a steel company (that is, he “works in manufacturing”).

Clearly, the ex-libertarian 0.01 percenters begging for relief needed to find someone else. Enter David Sacks, a billionaire Paypal mafiosi who waded into the debate with screenshots of an email from a “small, non-profit school” that would miss payroll if the bailout was not forthcoming:

https://twitter.com/DavidSacks/status/1636054055121453057

Sacks held this up as evidence that SVB’s depositors were “more diversified than the media narrative has allowed.” Sacks went on to claim that the bailout saved “innocent bystanders” like “teachers” from being “laid off.”

What is this small, nonprofit school? Writing in The American Prospect, Luke Goldstein sleuths it out: the “small, nonprofit school” is North Country School, an upstate New York boarding school where tuition runs $62k/year — more than Harvard or Yale:

https://prospect.org/economy/2023-03-22-david-sacks-bank-bailout/

North Country sounds like a great place to get an education. It’s got its own private ski-slope. The local city raised a $7m municipal bond on its behalf. There’s a rock-climbing range and horseback riding. The school emphasizes unstructured, outdoor education, with “farming, wilderness trips…even maple sugaring”:

https://northcountryschool.org/

Let’s be honest, this is the kind of education a lot of us dream of our kids having. No wonder that the alumna include numerous Rockefellers, and a scion of the Aga Khan family — claimed lineal descendants of the Prophet Muhammad.

As illustrious as the student body is, the trustees are even more gilt-edged. There’s a former Jpmorgan managing director, a former Google exec, Austrian nobility, the Welch’s grape heir and even JD Salinger’s kid. The chair ran a booze delivery company that sold to Uber. Together, they manage $30m in assets and raise $3m/year in donations, on top of $9m/year in revenues.

As Goldstein points out, it might be a lot to ask of the median small, nonprofit school trustee to investigate the soundness of the school’s bank. But these aren’t the median trustees of the median school. They’re raising millions from Vanguard and Fidelity and the JM Kaplan Fund. Perhaps it’s not asking too much that high-flying financiers craft a risk management plan for their deposits — or, you know, just have the nous not to stash all their money in a single bank account, diversifying their risk the way that any financial planner would tell them to do.

According to Sacks, if the FDIC had frozen SVB withdrawals, or imposed a 10 percent haircut on depositors with more than $250k in the bank, the “modestly paid workers who tend not to have a lot of savings to fall back on” who worked at the school would have been out in the cold. But with donors on tap who give $50,000 at a pop, it seems likely that the trustees could have tapped someone for a bridge loan.

It’s doubtless true that there are low-waged, precarious workers who would have been out in the cold if the FDIC hadn’t stepped in, but the wealthy “investors” who clamored for the bailout spent the last several years consistently, brutally, loudly calling for an end to covid relief, no student debt cancellation, and cuts to public services. The idea that they were worried about saving the janitors and receptionists of Silicon Valley strains credulity:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/03/18/2-billion-here-2-billion-there/#socialism-for-the-rich

You can’t be on record calling for tech billionaires to “Sharpen your blades boys 🔪” ahead of mass layoffs and also claim to be a champion of the middle-class:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/03/21/tech-workers/#sharpen-your-blades-boys

As Goldstein writes, “David Sacks couldn’t find a mom-and-pop institution to justify his cockeyed version of reality without turning to a VC colleague’s ultra-rich boarding school.” There might be mom-and-pop institutions on the SVB balance-sheet, but David Sacks evidently doesn’t know any of them.

New York State is a good place to be a Silicon Valley banker. For one thing, the Southern District of New York is an exceptionally nice place to be a bankrupt billionaire, which is why SVB’s investors now claim that their headquarters are at 387 Park Ave, 2,951 miles from the Santa Clara HQ the company listed on all its filings:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/03/18/2-billion-here-2-billion-there/#socialism-for-the-rich

In New York, elite boarding schools get federal rescues, so long as they can claim some nexus with SVB. But, as Goldstein writes, NY city and state schools are in outright financial crisis, with no aid in sight. The State University of New York system is drowning in debt. NYC schools are about to bring down massive layoffs, having lost $469m out of their budgets:

https://comptroller.nyc.gov/newsroom/testimony-of-new-york-city-comptroller-brad-lander-to-the-new-york-city-council-committee-on-education-on-resolution-283-2022-to-immediately-reverse-doe-reductions-to-school-budgets-for-fy-2023/

The FDIC stepped in to rescue SVB, claiming that it wouldn’t cost the public anything — instead, the money would come from increases in the entire bank system’s insurance premiums. But as Adam Levitin writes for Credit Slips, banks “will pass those premiums through to customers because the market for banking services is less competitive than the market for capital…higher costs for increased insurance premiums are likely to flow to the least price-sensitive and most ‘sticky’ customers: less wealthy individuals”

“So average Joes are going to be facing things like higher account fees or lower APYs, without gaining any benefit. Instead, the benefit of removing the cap would flow entirely to wealthy individuals and businesses. This is one massive, regressive cross-subsidy.”

https://www.creditslips.org/creditslips/2023/03/the-regressive-cross-subsidy-of-uncapping-deposit-insurance.html

Nothing about this bailout intrinsically protects anyone’s job. Yes, if the companies that banked with SVB went under, they’d have fired everyone. But tech companies are firing everyone anyway, 280,000 and counting, in profitable companies where they do stock-buybacks big enough to pay every worker’s salary for the next quarter-century:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/03/21/tech-workers/#sharpen-your-blades-boys

I’m kickstarting the audiobook for my next novel, a post-cyberpunk anti-finance finance thriller about Silicon Valley scams called Red Team Blues. Amazon’s Audible refuses to carry my audiobooks because they’re DRM free, but crowdfunding makes them possible

[Image ID: A vast castle surrounded by a stately brick wall bearing an ornate gilt-framed sign reading 'Small, non-profit school,' in gothic lettering. Atop the wall is a caricature of Humpty Dumpty, looking distressed. He has a SVB logo over his chest. He is being restrained by tiny, top-hatted bankers.]

[archoniluthradanar]

Demetri and the Woman With the Gift of Time

A request from @kpopgirlbtssvt:

You are a pretty young woman with blonde hair and blue eyes. You had decided that being twenty-two years without one major vacation was unacceptable. So you took your tax refund and booked a trip to Italy. None of your friends could come with you, so you thought, what the heck, I'll go alone. You book your flight and hotel in Tuscany, in the town of Volterra. It was based in the region where you hoped to visit several wineries, and maybe stop in Pisa.

Once you had arrived in the country, you rented a car and drove to the ancient town you had read about. It had quite the history, which intrigued you. While out walking in the square, you were approached by a very beautiful woman dressed in a lovely dress. Oddly, she wore long gloves that seemed out of place in the daylight. Even more interesting were the violet eyes she had. Her melodic voice drew you in when she spoke.

"Buongiorno. I'm Heidi, and I'm in charge of gathering people for a tour of the Palazzo dei Priori. I had a couple of cancellations. Would you be interested in joining my group? Are you with anyone else?" she asks, looking around you.

You tell her that you are traveling alone and would love to join her tour. You wait for her to add your name to the list on her clipboard. She hands you a ticket with a stamped time, and a brochure that has the address of the location for everyone to meet up. You thank her, and decide to go eat some lunch before heading for the palace.

You choose an outdoor café, and order some wine, salad and pasta. You enjoy people-watching, but notice the time for your tour is near. Finishing your meal, you head on over to see a group of people obviously from various countries. You smile, talking to some Americans who had been to Italy before and were happy to tell you all about it.

Heidi stands at the front of the crowd, giving out orders, then proceeds to lead everyone inside.

You hang at the back of the group, never one to be up front anywhere. Heidi has everyone follow her down a old stone corridor lined with pillars and fire-lit standing sconces. It all looks very medieval to you, but you notice that she doesn't explain anything that you are passing by. She just seems to be leading the group somewhere, but where.

The tour group walks down a set of steps, before arriving at a pair of heavy-looking carved wooden doors. You see Heidi knock on one of the doors and they are opened by two young men dressed in black, both wearing dark coats. You look around the round room built of stone. On the far side of the room, you notice three throne-like chairs, where three men are sitting unmoving, but watching the group enter with visible anticipation.

You turn to notice the two men who opened the doors are now closing them. Your spidey-sense goes off, telling you something is not right. All of a sudden, other people dressed in black begin to grab the tourists, and pulling them close, you see them biting them. It actually looks as if they are drinking the tourists' blood. Men, women and children are being viciously attacked. You see blood everywhere on the floor.

You start to move slowly backwards toward the doors, hoping not to be seen, when you see one of the men heading for you. He is the shorter of the two who stood guard at the doors. You think him handsome, but his eyes are dark, almost black, and you're scared. You turn around and run for the wooden doors, your heart beating so fast, you can barely breathe. You feel a hand on your shoulder and you scream, but the hand does not grab you. In fact, when you look behind you, the man is still and unmoving, his arm still reaching out. You inhale and exhale to calm yourself. The room is completely quiet now. No screams, no sounds at all.

You check out the man who had come after you. You reach out to touch his shoulder. He doesn't react. You step closer, peering into his face, your noses practically touching. What the hell has happened? You walk around the room, observing the still life-size diorama. Those dressed in black are in the positions of attacking the tourists, who are showing fear, looking as if they are screaming, which they were only a few minutes ago. You're amazed to see everyone frozen in place.

Now your mind is telling you to flee, so you go back the way you came, running until you're outside in the piazza again. You head back to the hotel to hide out until you feel no one will be coming after, and to figure out what had just happened.

Back at the castle, time has resumed, and the feeding is done. Aro feels as if something is not right. He orders the clean up to begin, and asks Marcus if he senses anything. Demetri goes over to the master to tell him that he saw a woman he was about to attack, but when he reached out to her, she seemingly vanished right in front of him.

Marcus tells Aro time was somehow affected. Aro's brain starts whirring, ideas filling his mind. If this woman was gifted, he wanted her. "Demetri, did you sense enough of her to track her?" When the guard nods, Aro tells him to go out and find her. "Take Felix with you. Find her and bring her back."

At your hotel, you shower and dress in your PJs, then open your small fridge to pull out a few snacks you had bought earlier. Going out was not something you wanted to do, in case anyone from the castle saw you.

You eat while watching TV, not understanding anything being said, but at least you begin to relax. You have finished eating and are about to doze off, when you hear someone at the door. Perhaps the man who worked the front desk was checking on her. It was a small, family-run hotel, and he was very friendly to her when she got back. Her broken nerves were apparent no matter how hard she tried to hide them.

She jumped off the bed and opened the door, ready to give Signor Facinni her thanks for his concern. Instead, she saw the man who had attacked her at the palace, his taller companion next to him. She did what anyone would do and fainted.

Demetri gathered the woman in his arms, and both he and Felix flashed downstairs and past the arrival desk. They headed for the castle, unseen by any humans they passed. Once home, they headed for the smaller throne room where the masters were studying. On seeing Felix and Demetri entering with the woman in his arms, Aro directed him to take her to one of the guest rooms and he would join them soon.

Once in the room, he lay her on the bed, and looked down at her. He brushed her hair off her face, finding her beautiful.

You opened your eyes to find yourself staring up at the man. Your eyes scanned the room to see it was not your hotel room. You start to sit up to scream, but the man holds you down by your shoulders.

"Shhhh, please don't scream. I'll explain everything. My name is Demetri, and you are in our castle. It's important you understand that you are not our prisoner. Far from it. Master Aro wants to speak to you about your gift. Somehow, you were able to stop time during our feeding."

You look up at the man, frozen in fear, but he said you were not their prisoner, if you can believe them. Still, they kidnapped you by force.

Demetri looks into your blue eyes and knows instantly you are his mate. You're human, but he will take care of that once you understand and agree to the change. He smiles down at you before sitting on the bed next to you. He takes your hand and kisses it.

You watch the handsome man hovering over you, Demetri, he said. Your heart feels strange, as if something were tugging at it. It was strong but not painful. His eyes pull you in, crimson in colour. You reach up one hand to touch his face, and find his skin cold. "What are you?" you ask.

He says simply, as if you would understand instantly. "I'm a vampire, but I won't hurt you. I cannot hurt someone who is to be my mate, someone destined to spend eternity with me."

You look at him. "Me?" Your heart skips a beat when you see him nod.

Just then, the three masters come into the room, their expressions ones of annoyance. The one with shoulder-length black hair speaks first. "You nearly interrupted our feeding, but I am willing to look past that if you tell me about this gift you have," he says softly.

You sit up on the bed, Demetri now standing by the door. You tell them you don't know anything about a gift. You only noticed how everything had stopped when you screamed, so you ran.

The blonde man stepped up, his face a scowl. "You didn't purposely attack us then?"

"Of course not!" you tell them. You see the taller of the three looking down at you, a small smile on his face. He seems to believe you.

The black-haired man tells you his name is Aro. He holds out his hand to you and waits. You look around at everyone and see Demetri nod his head, so you put your hand in Aro's. He sighs softly, then after a minute, let's it go.

The taller man speaks. "My child, you are for our Elite guard, Demetri. If you agree to stay with us, he will take you as his mate and make you a vampire. You may join the Elite guard if my brother feels you have a usable gift. If you were unaware of it, we can assist you to learn about it and use it for the benefit of the our coven. It seems fear triggers it, but you might learn to control it. Life will be good here, and you will discover your own strength."

The blonde who tells you his name is Caius explains that you have to accept being changed or you will be killed.

When you look at Demetri, you see his eyes pleading with you to listen well. Once the masters leave, with Aro telling him to stay with the woman, Demetri sits beside you on the bed, leaning against the headboard.

"If you agree to stay here as my mate, you will find it's not that bad. We will have our own room, you and I, and your clothing will be provided for. You will train so that you become proficient in the use of your power." He reaches out to touch your hair, then brings his fingers to your face, caressing your blushing skin. His thumb brushes over your lips, while he tells you, "You're beautiful." He asks you your name and you give it to him. His arm slips behind you, pulling you close. His other hand cups your chin. He kisses you, softly at first, but once he has tasted you, his kisses become more passionate.

A heat fills your belly. Breathless, you pull back but you give him a smile. Your eyes are sparkling and you kiss him again. You then lean against his chest, feeling comfortable and wanted. You tell him you will stay with him and here at the castle. You assume much will be expected of you, but he reassures you Aro will take care of you, as will he.

You wonder how it is you feel so close to this man already. It won't take long for you to fall in love with him. And the power you discovered you had excited you as well. Stopping time itself. But before you can think too hard about that, you feel Demetri touching your chin with a finger, guiding you to his lips. You wonder how long you have to decide to be changed. You ask Demetri to stay with you all night and smile when he agrees. You snuggle against his body, the coldness of his skin radiating through his clothing. You feel your face go hot when you imagine him without those clothes. You sigh and close your eyes, happy while thinking of nothing else but the vampire lying next to you.

[tayfabe75]

Hi. Not sure if this was answered before. Sorry if it was! I am not really sold on the Tayfabe idea. Do you not think that the risks are enormous when Tayfabe comes to light. For Taylor she is already so rich it does not matter. But the band are not in the same tax bracket so to speak. Would the fans completely be alienated? Also how do you see a reveal or will there not really be one but just breakups on both sides and the tour being over and Matty and Taylor quietly spend a while together they announce they are together maybe even married?

Regardless of whether or not kayfabe is happening, I believe Taylor is going to take a bit of a break from music (since it is rumored she has some upcoming film and possibly television projects on the horizon), so the band might be on a break soon anyway. Though admittedly, I'm not sure how all of that works between tours as-is.

And, if kayfabe happens to be correct and is eventually revealed, it will be entirely by their own hands and they will not make themselves look bad doing it. Deception would not be the motivation for kayfabe, but would be a byproduct of it. The real motive is to protect each other's privacy and mental health.

When they first tried to date publicly, it ended with a well-documented breakdown for Matty. From then on, we got several interviews where Matty describes, sometimes in detail, why he couldn't be Taylor's boyfriend. And a few weeks after their alleged 2014 breakup, Taylor says this in an interview:

"You always kind of have that person, that one person who you feel like might interrupt your wedding, and be like, 'don't do it, 'cause we're not over yet'. I think everybody has that one person who kind of floats in and out of their life and the narrative is never truly over."

And wouldn't you know it? In 2023, all of the fears Matty had once expressed about dating Taylor manifested before our eyes. Remember, I believe Matty got cancelled on purpose - so he walked right into the fire knowing what awaited him, because he helped start that fire via Adam Friedland. And, he may or may not be working with Nick Mullen on a project called 'Canceled'… so, that's my guess for an eventual reveal.

But who knows! Again, it's a rather unconventional theory, so I don't expect many people to entertain it lol Lastly, a kayfabe reveal could have very positive rippling effects, perhaps getting people to investigate the other ways it is utilized, like in American politics.

[reflections-in-a-critical-eye]

I don't watch a lot of US tv shows. Not because I think they are "bad", but more because they barely hold any appeal to me.

The last few I tried were like : let's start with a pointless sex scene, because dang, regular american boy loves that! Also, let's not pay anyone to do the light. Better if it's too dark to see anything at all 60% of the time, wow we're so gritty.

That said, I happened to stumble on Night Sky. And the reason I got interested was that for once, our two heroes were old people (and it's sci-fi, which I have always loved). And as the heroes, the tone of the first episode was very much slower, calmer and yet super interesting.

It had zero useless sex scenes the whole way, the plot unraveled at a pretty slow but good rhythm, the acting was good. Lovely.

and then.

and then, the number one reson why I've been mostly staying as far from US shows as humanly possible.

The reason why I absolutely despise 99% of all american TV shows.

They can't ever write a freaking ending, and you never know if a show is going to be "renewed" or not.

I've been watching so much shows from other countries where the show is clearly bought to last a set number of episodes, so there is always an ending. Good, bad, I don't even care, as long as it's there.

Now I'm left with no ending, more questions than answers, and the absolute certainty that this was my last ever foray into "made for the US" series.

What are your thoughts about that format? You obviously watch older movies, so I'm not sure if you are into shows at all. I'm curious.

Pfff, I watch sort of everything anon. And definitely tv series.

I wasn't sure how to answer your questions because there is a lot to unpack and honestly? In order to get an encompassing answer, I'd have to write a thesis. But I'll keep it short.

In terms of American shows not getting an ending and in turn, becoming a frustrating viewing experience, I'd say that it has more to do with current production practices and the industry at large, rather than the shows being American. The US has produced most of the greatest tv since its invention and we have experienced the golden age of television for the first couple of decades of the 21st century.

I'd say that the problem is represented by the streaming services and the run of the mill and cancelled shows are a product of that culture. Binge watching, too many projects getting a green light leading to a lot of trash as well, focusing too much on algorithm and quick social media response lead to abrupt cancellation. And sometimes they do it for tax purposes as well. It's the same in the film industry.

Getting out an entire season to streaming immediately hurts the people behind it. With cable tv, writers had a more long-term job, each season had more episodes, the episode was written specifically to fit in commercials as well. Direct to streaming changed that for the worst, hence the writers strike. There's a lot more to be said on this and you can watch this as well, it will help

Poor lighting has indeed been another criticism which I can understand. It's because they're shooting on digital and somehow it gives this illusion that it's more "realistic"? It's not, it's just lazy and it's a shame. Lighting in cinematography is an art and there's plenty of examples out there.

Lastly, the "useless sex scenes". I wonder what constitutes as useless for you though? The existence of a sex scene is not just for some "regular american boy". It's part of a lot of people's lives and being depicted in fiction is to be expected. There's nothing wrong with watching it, for everyone. Would it have a point only if it advances the plot? Could it not be another means of characterization? Of setting a mood? A commentary? Perhaps a glimpse into a life? There's plenty of reasons, even if it appears "pointless". It's unfortunate to see this trend nowadays, but at least it creates debates from people on all sides. I'd actually say that the lack of eroticism and the abundance of sexless characters in a lot of mainstream cinema/tv is creating a false, artificial image of a world that gets boring really fast and certainly a fictional Hollywood subpar to everything that came before.

[cindylouwho-2]

RECENT ECOMMERCE NEWS (INCLUDING ETSY), Early April 2024

Welcome to my coverage of all the important Etsy and other ecommerce news that microbusinesses need to know! It's been a few weeks since my last update, so there is a fair amount to report.

Want to get the news more often and in a more timely fashion? Please sign up to support my Patreon site, where among other features, I will soon be starting periodical live chats on important topics. (I promise there will be one the day Etsy announces a fee increase)

TOP NEWS & ARTICLES 

Etsy has made changes to how processing times and estimated delivery dates work; I covered everything you need to know in this post. 

Etsy seems to be sending more Messages to the spam folder, so you may miss a real message. After reading that thread, I checked, and there was one from another seller needing help from just 5 hours ago. Etsy did say engineers are looking into it. 

UPS has won the USPS air cargo contract, currently held by FedEx. It kicks in at the end of September. “As of May 31, 2023, FedEx counted the USPS as the largest customer of its Express unit.” 

ETSY NEWS 

Etsy is rolling out a new seller pricing tool, and it is just as useless as the old version. I posted some early thoughts (with screenshots). 

Some shop owners are struggling to cancel Etsy coupons, while others are not having the same problem. Support says the company is aware of the issue. 

If you still can't access most of the Etsy forum after the changes on Tuesday March 26, post in this Technical Issues thread so that your account can be fixed.

Periodically, some shops suddenly stop getting deposits. If your shop has recently had a security warning, you may want to check to see if your bank account is still verified with Etsy. 

Looks like Etsy has an issue with misrepresenting how many items are left for each listing on the app; I wrote about it here.

Canadians getting harassed by Etsy to sign up for TurboTax should know that the company has told a seller that it doesn’t import Etsy data into your tax return for you; that is only available for Americans. [If you can’t import your info from your various platforms, my suggestion is use a free online program to file instead; I’ve used Wealthsimple for several years with no issues filing small business taxes; the T-2125 is part of the program.]

Etsy’s activist investor seems to think that the marketplace can “…add more buyers and increase the amount of money they spend on the platform”. But “monetization opportunities” were also mentioned. 

Etsy is yet again called out for allowing AI-generated porn on the site. “Several of the available listings also appear to violate existing trademarks — TheStreet identified listings that sell NSFW (not safe for work) AI-generated, suggestive images that appear to mimic Rapunzel from Disney's "Tangled," Princess Jasmine from Disney's "Aladdin" and She-Hulk from Marvel's "She-Hulk."

Etsy has been talking a lot about "image quality" lately, but doesn't really define the term anywhere. While I agree with those that say it is more than image size - Etsy would not have humans curating images to train its AI if "quality" could simply be measured by pixels - note that Google Shopping Ads describe image quality as size. “The resolution of your product images determines its quality. Google considers images with more than 1024 pixels as high-resolution images.” 

Apparently Etsy CEO Josh Silverman likes to make “unorthodox, downright risky career decisions” that often involve a ton of responsibility. [Link to podcast in article; I haven’t listened to it]

ECOMMERCE NEWS (minus social media)

General

Patreon’s live chats are now accessible on the web (instead of just the app). A creator can assign moderators, and have chats for different categories of members. 

Canadians: beware that new tax rules requiring digital platform operators to report their users’ income to the Canada Revenue Agency are expected for 2025. These laws would make Canada similar to the United States and the United Kingdom, among others. 

Amazon

Amazon is struggling to verify the VAT status of many UK sellers, and the fact the company holds all funds until the process is complete means many sellers are without income. 

eBay

eBay is offering 3 free “express payouts” to select US sellers by email only, available until June 30th. Money is paid to seller debit cards and can take a half hour or more to receive. (The usual cost is 1.5%.)

If you use eBay For Charity, you may want to check to see if the charity is getting paid, as some apparently are not. 

If you advertise on eBay, or just list inconsistently, you may be interested in the marketing trends calendar for 2024. It shows you when certain types of searches peak. 

Michaels Makerplace

The landing page for Makerplace sellers doesn’t provide a lot of hard details; some of the actual policies appear once you begin to sign up. Here’s how they define handmade: 

Thanks to Bluesky user Brushfeather for the info.

Shopify

Shopify is putting more effort into large businesses these days, despite its core offerings targeting small and medium-sized businesses for years. [soft paywall; Business Insider] The company “...has made a concerted effort over the last 18 months to introduce more software solutions to win over larger merchants. It has enhanced Shopify Plus, a higher-tier subscription with more features, and launched Hydrogen, a more custom framework geared toward retailers with more complex needs...Shopify introduced Commerce Components, an offering that allows merchants to integrate parts of Shopify's software into their existing tech stack. Mattel was its first retail partner for that product, and Everlane has since adopted Shop Pay as a stand-alone component.”

CEO Tobi Lutke recently received almost $200 million CAD in Shopify stock options, “one of the largest compensation packages in Canadian history.” As company founder, he now has around $8 billion worth of Shopify stock.

CIRRO Fulfillment now integrates with Shopify. 

Squarespace

Squarespace is rolling out Squarespace Payments to sellers in the United States, and they expect to add more countries later this year. Fees are in line with other payment processors. 

All Other Marketplaces

Mercari is following Depop and is ending seller transaction fees while adding a buyer fee. There is now a seller earnings withdrawal fee of $2, however, plus the pricing only applies to items listed after the announcement on March 27th, and sellers now have to accept returns for any reason, within 72 hours of receipt.  I suppose this fee might work for buyers if many are also sellers on Mercari or elsewhere, and are buying stock. If you see a good deal you know you can flip with a good margin, you might not mind paying a buyers fee on top of the listing price. The only other way I can see being willing to pay a buyers fee is if you are so enamoured with the platform and its culture that it is worth paying more for. Or maybe I am just out of touch… The Mercari CEO basically calls out Etsy for raising seller fees too much [soft paywall; Modern Retail]: “I’m not going to mention them by name, but you have marketplaces that have a lot of makers, a lot of people that create things, and the fees around selling on those platforms have just been going up a lot very aggressively”. [my emphasis] Mercari wants fees to remain competitive while attracting better inventory. Another article on Mercari’s announcement mentions Etsy by name when discussing seller fees. 

Mercari might want to consult lawyers the next time the site makes changes, though, as many sellers were furious that their existing balances were now subject to withdrawal fees without any warning, leading some to file complaints with the FTC. That led the company to announce that “On March 27, 2024, Mercari announced that it would begin charging a $2 fee(s) (“ACH Charge”) for all ACH direct deposit requests. Effective immediately through April 3, 2024 at 11:59 P.M. Pacific Daylight Time (“Waiver Period”), Mercari will waive the ACH Charge for ACH direct deposit requests made prior to the end of the Waiver Period for all eligible account holders.” Those who already incurred withdrawal charges will get refunds.

And because apparently you can never have enough Mercari news, they’ve introduced a listing importer for eBay and Depop. It uses AI. 

AliExpress will now do livestream shopping events in the UK. 

Payment Processing

PayPal users in the US will soon have only 30 days after delivery to file a significantly not described claim in most cases. Items not delivered by 180 days will still have the full 180 days. 

Shipping 

UPS is planning on closing about 200 facilities in the United States, and hopes to save money by instead using more automated hubs. Having fewer employees and consolidating locations is expected to save the company around $3 billion by the end of 2028. 

FedEx is continuing to combine its Express and Ground pickups and deliveries, both to save money and to make pickups easier on customers. 

[papirouge]

I hate how everything online feels so US centric you know? Like no, stop assuming when I say I’m pro life I’m for this backwards medieval attitudes Americans have towards socialism and social welfare that’s needed to help decrease abortion rates. Being pro life for me means I support socialist systems to care for the poor and those in need that includes women who are expecting babies and the babies themselves. America shutting down maternity wards and refusing maternity leave for workers and canceling legislation that would give kids in schools free lunches instead of fucking school shootings ever week is an explicit American issue. I’ll gatekeep all day on this - Americans are not and never been truly pro life. Especially since they worship their guns so much it’s in their constitution 🙄

The fact they indifferently use socialism, leftism, globalism, communism, liberalism - and now 'wokism'....like they were synonym is enough for me to know they are idiots. I hardly take any political take coming from USAmericans that seriously tbh.

I'm not that much of a political person myself, but USAmericans are the only people acting like advocating for free access to healthcare was instantly making someone a Communist... Only on Tumblr I've been called a commie for advocating for a better wealth distribution 💀 They are insane.

"first they ask for free stuff, then they'll come for my property!!" bestie, we all know you're broke and ain't owning shit. Sit down.

In their mind = getting stuff for free = stealing someone's labor. It doesn't occur in their mind that health distribution can make it happen while everyone getting paid. When I fainted in a mall, got sent to ER, got tested AND went to the pharmacy for medication, I only had to pay 10€ for ALL of this. And yet, the ER, the medics, and my pharmacists all got fairly paid.

It's a well known thing in France that tax evasion loss covers the retirement hole which is the excuse for that reform. That's why ppl are fuckin shit up. That's unfair to make the people pay the price of greedy billionaires. The money is here. Wealth dstribution is the problem.

That's why it's soooo annoying to these twat scream about Communism at the slight possibility of a better redistribution. The fact that they're aligning with millionaires when they're socially closer to the homeless person down their block is cringe.

And yeah, pro life is beyond simply fighting to protect the unborn. That's also why every pro gun pro lifers Americans has cognitive dissonance. They're brainwashed by their savage culture bred from genocide and slavery. They are spiritually cursed. Only a few ones got the Grace to snap out of it.

They really shown they ugly hypocrite asses when they *suddenly* cared about gun violence bc the shooter was trans..... Disgusting.

If me wanting universal healthcare & get pregnant women have free pregnancy care makes me a Communist I genuinely don't care lmao Hail Stalin. I'm absolutely immune to this brand of anathema. Me being a Communism won't make anything that I say any less true 💅🏾

USAmerican hate Communism bc they know it's the only regime that could virtually rekt them, because Nazism was mostly targeting Jews, so the Whites USAmerican don't care that much (they'll never openly admit it ofc, but their obsesssive hate boner against Communism -and not as much against Nazism- speaks louder than words)

[thoughtsbeewild]

What's on everyone mind? When will ABC the view get cancelled or terminated?

Elon musk or someone should do a poll. YOU WOULD GET GREAT RESULTS, IF THERE ONLINE PETITION PROMOTED OR MARKETED FOR AMERICANS TO SIGN ONLINE TO HAVE THAT SHOW REMOVED, YOU WOULD RECIEVED A GAZILLON SIGNATURES. JUST LIKE HOW CALIFORNIA ATTEMPTED 2 MILLION SIGNATURES TO HAVE GOVERNOR NEWSOM REMOVED OUT CALIFORNIA..BUT IM SURE GAVIN AND DEMONCRATS OVERRODE THAT AND TOSS THAT..WITH THE RESULT OF THE 2020 ELECTION WHICH IS THE TOP OF THE CHERRY, IT CONCLUDED MAYBE OUR VOTES DONT MATTER. BUT IT TRULY SHOWED THIS YEAR 2024

Anyway, Already on Facebook so many memes going around as the joke of humor, elon will acquire ABC and fire the view cast THERE WAS LIKE over 60K likes, SHIT LOAD OF comments WITH AGREEANCE. Although we wish Elon would make that that request true, sadly its not..so when will ABC The view be cancelled or have new representation(sure there better talent out there)?

ALL I HEARD FROM THIER RESPONSE OF THE ELECTION RESULTS: AS A BLACK WOMEN, A COLORED WOMEN, AS A WHITE WOMAN, AS A HARD WORKING WOMEN(WTF IS HARDWORKING AT THE VIEW, SPEAKING YOUR UNWANTED HATEFUL OPINION FOR AN HOUR IN AN EXCHANGE FOR A GOOD SALARY 100k to feed your yourself and your family , WHAT IS THE CONTRACTED RATE AGREEMENT WITH ABC CORPORATION?

Americans agree that these HATEFUL BITTER WOMEN COMMUNICATE NATIONWIDE ON TV, ONLINE STREAMING PLATFORMS, FULL OF HATE, CONTRADICTIONS, FULL OF SHIT AND HYPOCRITE(SAYING ONE THING AND DOING ANOTHER), MOST OF ALL THE DISHONESTY SPREADED IN ELECTION IN ORDER TO GAIN VOTES . GROWN ASS WOMEN/FEMALES SIT IN A LAZY TABLE WHO DEFINE THEMESELVES AS HARDWORKING(WHO YOU FOOLING)WHO CANT SEEM TO GROW THE FUCK UP OF OVER COMING SOMEONE SKIN COLOR OR GENDER.

IF YOU TRYNA PREECH ON A WOODEN TABLE FOR AN HR YOUR HARDWORKING WOMEN WHO JUST SIT ON A CHAIR GETTING A PHAT CHECK FOR ABC RATINGS, GET THE HELL OUT OF HERE..

Its like everything that comes out of thier mouth, starts off as a black women, as a white women, as a woman of color, AS THE FIRST FEMALE OF COLOR. IM SO SICK AND TIRED OF SAYING SHE FIRST WOMEN..TECHINCALLY IF YOU GO BACK IN HISTORY THEY WERE ALOT FIRST WOMEN IN MANY ROLES,,USING THIS TRICKERY CARD IS STUPID...

,..BLAH BLAH BLAH TOXIC..,..

YOU KNOW THESE WOMEN WILL NEVER CHANGE AND GET BEYOND RACE OR COLOR OF SOMEONE SKIN. YOUR PROMOTING UGLYNESS IN OUR WORLD..YOU ARE THE PROBLEM IN TODAY WORLD...

YOUR DEFINITION OF HARDWORKING DOES NOT ALIGN WITH AMERICAN PEOPLE OF UNITED STATES..

EXAMPLE HARDWORKING AMERICAN:

A WALMART EMPLOYEE SHE IS OVERWEIGHT, THIS STRONG TEENAGER GIRL HAULED OUT A LOG BAG OF ICE, OVER 100 BAGS TO THROW IN FREEZER ALL BY HERSELF FOR A LOW PAYING WAGE JUST TO MAKE ENDS MEET..RESPECT/PROP S TO HER..THATS LIKE A MANS JOB, LABOR , BACKACHE, HEAVYNESS OF ICE, NO GLOVES FOR INJURIES....

VS STARBUCKS DRIVE THRU EMPLOYEE BEGGING FOR TIPS AT TIME OF PURCHASE(ITS NOT A DINE IN RESTAURANT):

HOW WILL STARBUCKS COORPORATION BENEFIT FROM NO TAX ON TIPS? FOR THIS..

THEY ARE ASKING FOR TIPS FOR A DRIVE THRU, WHY? THERES NO MANUAL WORK BEING DONE, JUST HAND ME MY COFFEE(IS THAT EXTREME HARD WORK STARBUCKS TO REQUESTS TIP OR NO TAX ON TIPS?..I COULDNT UNDERSTAND THE STRUCTURE OF HOW A WALMART EMPLOYEE AND STARBUCK EMPLOYEE WORKING AT DRIVE THRU ASKING FOR TIPS WHEN PURCHASING A PAYMENT. MAKES NO SENSE WHY STARBUCKS CORPORATION ARE GETTING TIPS IN A DRIVE THRU?..I WOULD THINK THE TIP IS NEEDED FOR EMPLOYEES WHO ACTUALLY DOING THE LABOR AND WORK. LABOR IS FUCKING HARD..LIFTING, CARRYING , BACKPAIN, NUMBNESS, BEEN THERE DONE THAT..

BACK TO THE VIEW:

Millions and trillions want to know when will these women get cancelled.

sign me up if thier is a petition

[engbergsinfinland]

A quick work-week post!

Hello, everyone! Greetings for a happy Friday! I swear this is going to be a brief post. I am currently on a train to Turku, Finland, on the west coast of Finland, for a two-day Fulbright event.

This coming week is the kids' Fall break -- and mine too! Everyone has a full week off. I wasn't quite aware of this, regarding my students at the university, but when planning my course, I canceled class for this Wednesday, because my colleagues told me that it is customary to cancel a class or two during a semester. I thought a good one to cancel would've been during my kids' Fall break. As it turns out, I was supposed to cancel it anyway! We have family coming to town -- Kaj and Tina -- on Saturday night, right after we arrive back to Tampere from Turku. We will will have a great week with them, I know! We will get to do some exploring around Finland, since everyone will be on break :)

Now, since Thursday night was Fall break eve, as it were, there were so, so many university students in their university overall, in throngs, all over central Tampere. I guess there was some university student party in the central square and I heard from one of the Fulbright graduate students that it is like the world's largest student party (maybe not the world's but pretty darn big! See here)! Now that I know that, I totally believe it! There were hordes of people out last night so when I was making my way down Hameenkatu on the way home from ballet, I was squished in to a very busy tram car to get home.

Ballet has been going well. I am very glad I've been getting to go once a week. My ballet teacher, Sari, has had a hip that has been paining her so much. This is very common among lifelong dancers. She found out this week that she needs a hip replacement, because the cortisone shots she was getting will no longer address her pain. She told me last night that she is getting a hip replacement in two weeks. I was surprised that it was scheduled so soon! She said she is using a private doctor, because she has insurance. I am not sure how this works at all. We would use private doctors here, if we were to take ill or get injured. The national healthcare system, Kela, is something we're not eligible for since we're only paying US taxes, not Finnish taxes.

What else was notesorthy this week . . .

Well, of all things, I woke up this morning (Thursday) to messages from friends in New Mexico with images of gorgeous pink and red aurora borealis over New Mexico!! I was gobsmacked!! I have wanted to see the aurora forever and I figured, well, Finland will make that happen. Nope! The solar activity has been very high this week (which is why the aurora extended as far south as New Mexico), but there has been so much cloud cover here, we have not been able to see anything. I am counting on seeing the aurora somewhere, somehow, while we're this far north, sometime before next June.

Rowan had a big Spanish test this week and Spanish has been his biggest challenge here. He had Spanish class in elementary school, but it was really phrase-based (not systematic grammar) and vocabulary, and it introduced the kids to cultures across Latin American and Spain. Here, I swear it seems like high school Spanish. The jump-up has been so intense. But, we started this week concertedly working with him, and he thinks he did OK on this test.

Cece has really been eager to get some Halloween decorations and we intended to do that this week -- but the week got away from us. We will do it over Fall break, as soon as we get back from Turku. It won't rival the extent of our Albuquerque decorations, but we will do something! The parents association at the kids' school here started advertising and recruiting volunteers for the annual Halloween party, which is the biggest school event of the year. The kid are excited! Cece wants to be Kitty, from the Kitty books. I am not sure what Rowan wants to be!

Also, I made three apple cakes this week, and applesauce, from the apples we collected at the allotment community. Also, I went to a "works in progress" group comprised of English literature and comparative literature faculty and Ph.D. students. We discussed a chapter of Johnny's (I mentioned him last week), which is a part of the book he is writing about interrupted railway journeys in United States and Canadian film and literature. The chapter was so interesting to discuss!

Well, I will sign off and I write again soon with some highlights from the Fulbright event in Turku! Hope the Fall colors (and auroras! arg!!!) are beautiful wherever you are!

[mint-moon25]

Don’t Waste Your Money! - Galaxy S23 vs Galaxy S22

LONGEVITY - SAMSUNG - GALAXY S 23

RENEWED CHEAPER - AMAZON PRIME

‘SPEND - ON - THIS - INSTEAD

BETTER - OVERALL - PACKAGE’

GOT - MY - REFUND - $26.74 - LEFT WAS

$1.84 - SO - TOTAL - GIFT CARD - $28.58

ULTRA - MOBILE - SIM KIT - $28.88

TAXED - 7% - TOTAL - $30.90 - AND

FINALLY - CLOSED - BOOST - INFINITI

THAT - JOINED - BOOST - MOBILE

NOT - APP - HEAVY - USE - OF - APP

NOT - WEBSITE - BUT - 2 - CLOSE

ACCOUNT - MUST - CALL - AND THEY

MADE - VOID - ONE - TEL - 4 CANCEL

PUBLIC - PHONE - BOOTH - MAIN LIBRARY

ALWAYS - ‘FEMALE’ - VOICE - SAID - CAN’T

HEAR - ME - COULDN’T - WITH - THEM

TRANSFER - WITH - 6 NOS - SIM CARD

CREATED - 2 - KEEP - CHARGING - FRM

SAME - CARD - EVEN - IF - SOLE - APTS

OR - HOUSES - DIE - THEY - GET - 2 YES

ENJOY - THEIR - CARDS - AS - USA

AMERICANS

POLICE - WILL - NEVER - CALL - THEM

DECEASED - MEMBERS

USA - GETTING - MONEY - FR - DEAD

MEMBERS - USA - BUSINESS

GETTING - COMPATIBLE

ULTRA - MOBILE

SAMSUNG - GALAXY - A 15 5G

MORE - COMPACT - THEN - A 15 5G

MY - 2ND - 5G

SAMSUNG - A 15 - BECAUSE - OF BLOCKS

TYPE - R - IT - SHOWED - ANOTHER LETTER

SO - DON’T - WANT - AGAIN

A 15 5G - MORE - COMPACT - 6.5 INCHES

A 14 5G - LARGER - AT - 6.6 INCHES

NEW - IS - BEST

BRAND - NEW - $199.99 - SO - WITH - TAX

7% - $13.93 - TOTAL - $213.92

CHEAPER - THAN - $265.65 - S 22 5 G

WHEN - SAMSUNG - S 23 5G - BETTER

GETTING - ANOTHER - SAMSUNG GALAXY

BRAND - NEW - 6.5 IN - A 15 5 G - ALSO YES

COMPATIBLE - WITH - ULTRA MOBILE - SIM

NEW - NUMBER

TRANSFER

BECAUSE - I - WAS - ROBBED - GOING - TO

MY - FAVORITE - WALMART

CORAL GABLES - FRONT - CHINESE FOOD

HUGE - ROSS DRESS 4 LESS - FIVE BELOW

BOTH - GIANT - STORES

SMALLEST - PARKING - LOT

WALMART - SUPERCENTER

BUS - BACK - FRONT - OF - THEM

SELF- SERVICE - CHECKOUT

BECAUSE - ROBBED

BLANK - SIM CARD - PURPLE - OUTSIDE

$9.99 - THEN - CALL - THEM

GIVING - ME - LINK - BY - EMAIL - 2 - YES

ACTIVATE - FOR - 30 DAYS

TRANSFERRED - TEL NO

FR - ORANGE - SIM CARD

90+ COUNTRIES - FREE

MEXICO - CANADA - USA - FREE

UNLIMITED - TALK - TEXT - DATA - (INTERNET)

$28.88

BOOST INFINITE - $45.59 - CAN’T - DELIVER 

THAT - YOU - CAN - CONTINUE - OR - WHEN

YOU - NEED - IT

EVERYONE - WANTS - U 2 - NOT - CHANGE

TEL - NO

SO - I - JUST - LOOSE - ROBOFORM PREMIUM

I - START - AGAIN

I - LOOSE - YANDEX - MY - 2ND - EMAIL - ADRS

BECAUSE - WANT - MY - FORMER - NUMBER

AUGUST - 2025 - I’LL - DEAL - WITH

ROBOFORM - PAID - OVER - $23.00

SO - WILL - DECIDE - LATER - WHAT - 2 - DO

IF - THEY - HAVEN’T - TRANSFERRED TEL NO

EASIEST - FASTEST - NEW - TEL

SMARTPHONES - IF - THIS - WORKS - OUT

WILL - BUY - ANOTHER - AND - LEAVE - IN

MY - STORAGE - UNIT

BREAK IN - AND - ENTERING - MY - APT

I - WILL - HAVE - AT - STORAGE - UNIT

ANOTHER - SMARTPHONE - READY

HISPANICS - AND - BLKS - MIAMI

THIEVES - ROBBERS - MURDERERS

UNITED STATES - FLORIDA - AGE 246