#another thing this game confirmed is that the more confident alan is

[velvetjune]

I finished AWAN! It was fun. Turned Scratch to dust while a hawk screeched in the distance (it really was alans 😤✨🦅American 🇺🇸🦅💫 nightmare), then kissed my wife… in Night Springs. I think I enjoyed it more with the knowledge of what happens in Alan Wake 2. Makes everything more of Alan’s fantasy/failure while he’s still stuck in the spiral.

[layanasstories]

Eighteen

The hour passed in a flash. We had hidden the motorbike deeper in the forest. And Jake was locked in one of the bedrooms, along with his bags. All the dishes were done, all the beds made. There was no indication that there were four people here instead of three. We had two minutes left when my phone beeped.

Alan: As you requested. I am now driving up the forest road. I'll be there in five minutes.

Layana: Thank you. We will be waiting for you.

"Five more minutes and Alan will be here" I announced to the others. Just a little louder than usual so Jake could hear it too. As fast as the hour went, so slowly did the five minutes go. I was already getting worked up about telling the story about my attack, reliving the horrors. But also about the questions Alan wanted to ask about Jake. "Okay Layana, take a deep breath. You can do this." I said to myself as I saw Alan park his car in front of the house. I took another deep breath and stepped outside.

As Alan steps out of his car, he immediately notices that there is something wrong with Richy's car. "Richy, what the hell have you done with your car?" he walked towards the car and looked in through the broken window. "We'll explain that to you in a moment. May I introduce you to Layana first?" Richy said as he walked over to Alan. "Yes of course" he leaves the car and walked my way "Hello, Layana. Nice to finally meet you" he gave me his hand and a friendly smile. The handshake was a little too hard, and I cringed a bit "Nice to meet you too, come on in." I let go of his hand and turned around, then walked inside.

After we had poured our drinks, we sat down at the table. I started talking, I didn’t want Alan to have control over the conversation.

"Alan, there's only one reason I've decided to talk to you." I spoke in a formal way.

" I'm listening. Anything, no matter how small, could help us in the arrest" he said letting me know he's all ears.

"Let's be honest, you are suspecting it's Phil behind the mask." I raised an eyebrow, to get confirmation. He nodded. "And I can tell you, I know for sure it's him".

I told him that I ended up in Duskwood by accident, and curiosity got the better of me. That Phil drugged me, and took me to Michael's farm. I told him every little detail I could remember, the way I woke up, the excruciating pain, the hunt Phil did on me, everything about the attack on me. Even things I didn't told Richy, Hannah or Jake.

"This is what he has done to me in the basement" I shifted the neck of my t-shirt, showing him the bandage "I can show you the wound. So you can take a photo of it?" I sounded a little hesitant.

"I know that it must be really hard for you. But yes, that would be very useful" despite the shocked look, he remained professional. I nodded to agree. "But finish your story first" he gave me a reassuring smile.

"Well that brings us to the car. If Richy hadn't been driving there and seen me running, I would have died..." I shifted in my seat, the idea made me uneasy. "He shot an arrow through the window, missing me and Richy with an inch. The arrow is still stuck in the car seat. I am hoping it would provide any evidence that it was Phil's arrow." I shrugged, not sure if it could be real evidence.

"It's better than nothing at all. Who knows, forensics might find something on it that leads to Phil" he tried to reassure me.

"And that's the whole story" I concluded.

"What you've been through is very traumatizing. And I don't want to trivialize it, but I have some questions" his reassuring look changed to serious.

"I didn't expect anything else, what do you want to know?" I said as confidently as possible, because I knew exactly where this was going.

"To be honest, I have no questions about what happened to Phil's attack. You are very clear about that. And just to be blunt I am very curious about how you are involved with Hannah's disappearance, and everything after that" his whole attitude had changed to interrogation, instead of taking a statement.

"I'm not going to answer that question. Or whatever question pertains to it." I said clearly.

"Layana, I will make no bones about it. You are involved in a dangerous hunt for one of the best hackers in the world. It is of utmost importance that he been is found." he sighed. "And I'm sure you can tell us where he is or at least any information about his location. I can get you immunity, despite working or having worked with him."

"I don't think you get it, Alan. I don't know any hacker. Let alone working with one." my look said enough, not a word would come out about Jake.

“It is a one-time offer. The moment we linked you to this hacker, we will hunt you too." he was more certain than he should to be.

"I was once told that if I get an offer, I have to decline it. And I'm convinced that this is the offer. I'm not going to say more about it." I tried to suppress the nerves.

The conversation between me and Alan quickly came to an end after my comment. We carefully removed the bandage from my wound so that he could take pictures of it, then Hannah helped me to re-band the wound. After that he went out to take the arrow as evidence. We said goodbye, and he drove off. Jake game out of his hiding place. The dismay was visible on his face, although I couldn't immediately place why.

He walks directly towards me. Unable to say anything. It's not necessarily fear what I see in his eyes, but being struck by guilt. Before I could say anything he put his arms around me and held me tight. Very softly he said "I don't know what to say."

[socratoteles]

A year to get Ph.D in letting go

The last time I was here, I wrote that perhaps it was time for me to go out and just enjoy the world. And amid the global pandemic, I sort of managed to do that. It was such a lifesaver in a year of goodbyes. I`ll get to that, but let me begin with my coronavirus scare.

On March 4 last year, I was away in Bandung, aware but not worried of some obscure virus that triggered a total lockdown in some Chinese cities. That very same day was also the time when my colleagues came in contact with a man who later confirmed of having contracted COVID-19.

That was how close I was of contracting the virus. Had I not taken a paid leave to write last year’s essay in the city where I was born, chances were high that I was another case as well, at that early stage of the pandemic too. I`m still familiar with the helplessness that came after I checked in to a hospital only to being denied the test (the nurse reasoned that the contact with my colleagues, who might catch the virus from the confirmed man, cannot be categorized as close contact).

And that experience, of confusion and fear of infecting loved ones, left a lasting impression that shaped my behavior going forward. After all, it takes a pandemic to make wearing mask and washing hands could made the difference between life and death.

Covid-induced isolation meant that I spent most of my time being holed up in my room for the past 12 months. To this day the side effects of this solitary existence is still beyond my full grasp. On one hand, this situation had brought out my inner resiliency, resourcefulness and adaptability in the long days and night when things were just so dark. On the other hand, it also forced me to deal with unresolved traumas and numerous intrusive thoughts, which I will get into later.

People get really creative during the long locked-down days, spending it doing viral social media challenges one after the other. Videoconferencing become a thing on its own and for some reason loads of folks played a game named Among Us too, perhaps to remind themselves of the interactions cruelly torn apart because of the virus.

There was also a newfound awareness on class too, because the coronavirus disproportionately affected different individuals with different income level. At least on my part, I was lucky that essential workers (the pandemic elevated the phrase into such a buzzword) near my place were safe and somehow never contracted the virus. It is worth mentioning that I definitely cannot survive this long if not for the minimarket workers, ride-hailing drivers and dozens of cooks, all of whom must have worked in long hours, despite knowing the risk, just to keep their families fed.

Others, however, were not so lucky. the SARS-CoV-2 had infected more than a million Indonesians a year after it was officially detected in these shores. Millions have lost their jobs as economic activities ground to a halt. The place I currently work was not an exception. Massive layoffs would have happened in my office had the shareholders have enough money to properly compensate their workers.

It was an obviously eye-opening experience to calculate my own severance pay and make sure I could survive on that for as long as possible. The prospect of losing your income during the pandemic –which should be that particular time for anyone to hold on to their what-ifs money– was really awful.

This is the paragraph where I say that I wish nothing but the best for those who left the company simply because they deserve nothing less than that.

But there was another reason why I signed up for a help from professional therapist last year. In the latter part of last year, things got very, very grim. At the risk of oversimplification, let’s just say that I was unable to express my feelings properly to a girl that I really liked, right at the most critical moment when probably both of us needed support from each other. She eventually left with another guy.

Days before that fateful event happened, I was quietly bearing my own burden. After years of convincing myself that I was okay, I was, in fact, not okay, at least mentally. Years of trauma have caught up. It’s too personal to even spell that out here but I`ll just quote this Youtuber just to describe a fitting metaphor. 

“You see, human identity is like a house of card. One that’s always expanding. A story that is ever developing and always referred back to because every memory becomes a new card. Trauma is when a card doesn’t fit because the experience itself is so painful that it’s incompatible with everything else and if you become obsessed with making it fit the whole house of cards can fall apart and you lose the confidence to build anything new.”

Basically, my house of cards came crashing down, hard. At a time, it reduced me into this insecure soul who were unsure that people will accept me for who I was.

The last time I felt this way was a couple years back when my parent’s divorce was formalized. A girlfriend turned ex-girlfriend at that time too. Apparently, the universe has a cruel sense of timing to combine existential crisis with a relationship one.

The road to recovery was rocky, to say the least. I know something fundamental must be addressed, hence the therapy session.

I`m grateful for the company of my friends, either offline or online. (yes, I had become quite loose in terms of isolation because I know I had to prioritize my mental health; COVID-19 be damned). I`m also glad to say that because I talked with my friends about this issue, some of them were also encouraged to seek professional help.

At the height of my despair, I watched La Grande Bellezza (probably for a half a dozen time already) again and found this quote, spoken by the protagonist Jep Gambardella:

“We’re all on the brink of despair. We can only look each other in the face, keep each other company, kid each other a bit. Don’t you agree?”

Someone was kind enough to upload the entire scene on Youtube.

I decided that all bets are off, so I purchased books, many of which had been on my to-read list for years because I know I`ll have to read it when I search for a catharsis. That was how I finally read the Camus’ Myth of Sisyphus, from which I managed to understand what he meant by the absurdities of life. Into the Wild, excellently written by Jon Krakauer, broke my heart too because of Chris Mccandles’ tales somehow mimicked my own, minus the grand adventure part. I finally read Alan Watts too, from whom I learned that efforts to avoid from pain is painful in itself.

And music, a constant part of my life as I know it, helps too. I was saved because Fleet Foxes released a life-affirming record that fittingly spoke about relief, gratitude, and seasonal rebirth. During the darkest days I was just alone with my guitar in my room, terribly singing out the words that these musicians carved out of their soul to release my emotional burden. I was particularly grateful for being reminded time and again that “no one gets it right” but “we’re all supposed to try”.

I made a playlist containing songs that for me served as a reminder to be gentle for myself. You can check that here.

All of that was a roundabout way to say that I indeed, was able to go out amid the pandemic. On one afternoon I just said fuck it, I need to go out and see things. That led me to a weekly socially-distanced walk around the neighborhood, which was therapeutic in itself because the walks allowed me to be fully present and be sensitive to the sights and sounds and smells around me. Nothing is more liberating that allowing your feet to go where it you to go.

I don’t have the full answers yet, but as I wrote his essay, I`m glad to be able to say that I have rebuild my house of cards, with some of the bad cards included as well. It was quite a bumpy ride but when I looked back, this particular tweet was eerily prescient because it rings true today as was the day I tweeted it.

But I walked away from the depths of that bottomless pit not only with knowledge, but also of understanding the parts that made me who I am. I`m also humbled after I saw the abyss for the second time because it suggests that there might be another time when I found myself on the edge of despair.

I`ll never forget the fact that these hard-won lessons came on the back of years of pain, grief and suffering. But it also came on the heels of moments of simple walk in the setting sun and feeling the breeze on the beach too. In fact, I have made it my mission going forward to acknowledge both good and bad things as they are. Because forcing yourself to remember all the bright things when you were in the dark, and vice versa, is a form of self-torture. I hope this essay somehow do that mission justice.

I have said goodbyes to many things in life as the crisis comes and goes, but 2020 goodbyes were simply different. So much so that I thought I have a PhD in letting go already, however absurd that idea is.

[fanficnewbie]

Sienna Weighs in P8

OPEN HEART: SECOND YEAR - CHAPTER EIGHT

(ETHAN x FEMALE MC)

MC is Dr. Francesca Houseman *This entry takes place after Francesca leaves Ethan’s apartment in Chapter Eight. (This is a chapter by chapter series…)

Francesca has to the consequences after the baseball game.

PREVIOUS CHAPTERS Chapter 1:  MC tells Sienna about her Ethan convo at Donahue’s. Chapter 2:  MC and Sienna discuss Ethan’s gym routine. Chapter 3:  MC questions how well she really knows Ethan. Chapter 4:  MC takes Elijah and Sienna to see Evelyn’s exhibit. Chapter 5:  Sienna talks MC through a panic attack over Ethan. Chapter 6:  Sienna cheers on MC for standing up to Ethan. Chapter 7:  MC confides in Sienna how she met Ethan’s mother. Word Count: 1162 Rated: Teen

***

Francesca sat in the back of the car, her stomach twisted into excited knots. He had finally kissed her. He had kissed her with an intensity and passion which proved what she and Sienna had been sure of all these months, that he wanted her as much as she wanted him. The thick walls that he’d spent months trying to construct had tumbled down in that moment and his actions spoke his truth. But she still had no idea what it meant. “We’ll talk about it later.” Francesca liked Ethan’s dad but she silently cursed him for choosing tonight to stop by and check on him.

Opening up the door to her apartment she was excited to share the news until she spotted Elijah and Sienna sitting on the couch watching a movie with Aurora. Suddenly, it was like someone had poured a bucket of ice water over her shoulders and every ounce of goodwill left her body. For a moment everyone just looked at each other and then Aurora stood up, “Um, I’ll just go to my room.”

Francesca went to say something but the words died on her lips as Aurora quickly exited. She turned to the others who took no efforts to hide their disdain, and Francesca was momentarily caught off guard by just how quickly her night had changed. 

“How could you?” Sienna’s voice carried more hurt than anger, “You could have given her a chance to explain before you accused her in front of both hospitals. You know how hard she was trying to change her reputation and you just threw that all away over some sort of pissing contest.” 

Elijah hoisted himself off the couch and onto his chair. “You had the nerve to lecture me about maintaining professional boundaries, you need to start taking your own advice.”

“Elijah…” He wheeled by her without a second glance and with his admonition, Francesca recognized the consequence of allowing her anger to overwhelm her judgment. Suddenly, Edenbrook’s victory over Mass Kenmore seemed hollow.

She turned back to Sienna who stayed seated with her arms folded, “Where were you anyway?”

Francesca hesitated, hating that the news they’d waited so anxiously for over the past months would now be delivered under a dark cloud. “I was at Ethan’s, he kissed me.”

Sienna’s face momentarily lit up with surprised excitement before she masked it with a stern coolness, “Why are you back here then?”

“His father stopped by and I left to give them privacy.”

Sienna nodded, her flat tone betraying her words, “Well, I’m happy for you, that it finally happened.”

Fully giving into her dismay Francesca sat down beside her, “Don’t be just yet. I’m still not even sure what it meant, if anything.”

Sienna started to respond but didn’t, and the pair sat in silence for several tense moments.

“I’m sorry Sienna. It truly wasn’t my intention to create another roommate fiasco. I really thought Aurora and I were good, we were good but…”

“I’m not the one you should be apologizing to. You and Jackie, you need to make this right.”

“But she---”

“Aurora has been nothing but gracious since she arrived here. She has gone out of her way to show that our friendships were important to her. What makes you think she would act any different at Mass Kenmore? If the situation had been reversed and you had heard Aurora’s team had found an innovative way to receive grant money, are you telling me that you wouldn’t have told Dr. Ramsey about it?”

Francesca shook her head, “But that’s not the same thing, Ethan would never have compromised his principles to steal a patient.”

Sienna cocked her head, “Maybe not, but can you say the same about June? If you told Ethan, the team would surely have known and then would you be responsible for June’s actions? You’re the one who told me you weren’t sure you could trust her.”

Francesca leaned back into the couch cushions as she contemplated Sienna’s words.

“Could one argue that Aurora should have known better?” Sienna shrugged, “Maybe. But that still does not make her responsible for Dr. Carrick’s actions. Blaming her for him is taking it too far.”

“Then why didn’t she tell me? She expressly confided in me that she had nothing to do with Mass Kenmore taking our patient, and that was a lie. Even if it wasn’t intentional, she was involved.”

Sienna pursed her lips, “She was afraid that you wouldn’t believe her. But I’ll concede that her actions on that accord were wrong. So, you owe each other apologies. And Jackie does too.”

“This is all so unfair. Have you spoken to them about all of it?”

Sienna stood up, irritated. “Jackie went straight into her room when we came home and Aurora confided in Elijah and I what really happened. The rest is up to you but you better find a way to make amends Francesca. I refuse to lose another friend and roommate to such competitive nonsense.”

Francesca watched Sienna walk out of the room and curled up onto the couch, leaning her head on the armrest she lay there for a few moments until she heard her phone ding. Looking at the screen she saw a text from Ethan: Just confirming that you made it home safely.

Smiling as she typed her reply, she almost jumped out of her skin at Jackie’s voice, “What are you smiling for?”

Francesca looked up, “What?!”

Jackie took a sip from her glass of water and leaned against the door frame, “You have a silly grin on your face which seems completely incongruous from the lecture you undoubtedly received from Sienna.”

“You heard that?”

“No, I’m just assuming that yours was worse than the one I received on the way back home after the game. Apparently, we both have to apologize.”

Francesca sighed, “Yeah, whatever. I’ll worry about that tomorrow I guess. It’s late, we should probably both get some sleep.”

She stood up but Jackie didn’t move, “Who were you texting, you seriously looked like a giddy schoolgirl.”

Francesca rolled her eyes, “I did not...but it was Ethan. He was checking to make sure I got home okay.”

Jackie gave her a sly smile, “You were with him after the game? Good for you.”

She turned and Francesca followed her down the hallway to their respective bedrooms. “Goodnight Jackie.” Jackie nodded as she closed her bedroom door.

An hour later Francesca was showered and snuggled into bed, she was just about to turn off her light when her phone dinged again. She anxiously reached for it in time to see Sienna’s name flash across the screen followed by: I’m still mad at you but I’m really glad that he kissed you tonight. And it means that he’s still madly in love with you. ❤️ Duh. 🙄

Francesca laughed to herself as she put her phone down and clicked off the light.

Read the Companion Pieces here: Alan Weighs In & Afternoon Delight & Chapter 9:  Baz starts to question Ethan & Francesca’s relationship. 

***

THANK YOU ALL FOR READING. YOUR LIKES AND COMMENTS MEAN THE WORLD!

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[scribbles97]

Left Behind - Part 2 - Chapter 14

And now on to Part 2, just when things were meant to be settling down, they get a hell of a lot more complicated again. 

PART 1 /  Chapter 14 / Chapter 15 / Chapter 16 / Chapter 17 / Chapter 18 / Chapter 19 / Chapter 20 / Chapter 21

Read on Ao3

Lucy hadn’t been sure that writing was a good coping mechanism. That letters that would never be read was simply holding onto ghosts of the past rather than letting them go. Sally had assured her otherwise though, that getting thoughts and feelings out on paper would help her process and organise what she needed to. Her mother-in-law had even given her the empty journal to write in.

She hadn’t realised just how many thoughts she had shared with that little book until she found herself writing on the last page. For the time being her little corner of the world was under control so she could allow herself the chance to flick back through the notes of the last few years written in her scrawl.

It was John completing his NASA training that had dominated her first entry, following exactly in his father's footsteps to gain his space rating, ready to be launched into the atmosphere. Jeff should have been there on launch day, imparting all the wisdom he had for space flight on their red haired son. Lee had been there, flown back from the retreat specifically for the occasion but the advice wasn’t the same from an Uncle as it was from a father, even if the sentiment was still there.

She hadn’t expected Lee to stay home after that, yes he had been calmer, more at ease than she had seen him since Jeff had been gone. There was still something there though, hidden behind the blue of his eyes and never spoken about even when she had asked. It was still there, even four years later, she had hoped that he would eventually say something to her but the conversation had never come and after a time she had given up asking.

Flicking forward a few pages and she had to smile at the photo stapled onto the page. The 2056 Olympic games, and the achievement of a lifetime for Gordon. She knew he kept the gold medal safe in his room on the island those days. Months of literal blood, sweat, and tears had been worth it. Days when he had been convinced he couldn’t do it, where the balance between school and swimming had gotten too unequal and Lucy had had to be the harsh reminder that both were equally as important. The win had been celebrated in true Tracy style that night by them all.

What she hadn’t realised at the time was how Gordon decided to continue the celebrations in the weeks that followed. She had trusted the sixteen year old to use his free time well. School finished, medal won, it was only a matter of a few months before he would be joining the academy. It was only when the newspapers had picked up on the underaged Tracy partying late into the night that she had realised just how far he had taken his liberties and she had been forced to step in with sharp and strict consequences.

Too much on her plate, the Tracy Industries board had said. Too busy to be a proper mother, the papers had reported. Too soft on them all, Lee had commented.

It had all stung. Even with Hugh helping with the business, she was constantly busy. Even with Scott flying Thunderbird One, she was still needed on more rescues than she would have liked, Alan still needed the care of his mother to oversee his school work and be there for bedtime at the end of the day. Meals needed cooked, paperwork needed approving, maintenance needed completing.

She had started to break, wondering if Jeff could have done it better, questioning if she should have taken his place.

There was a big chunk after that which she knew could be skipped. Some of the pages had been torn out in the past, hurt or anger being unleashed on them when there was no other outlet available. Rough, heavy sketches adorned the corners of some of the pages, depicting the monsters that had snuck in and haunted her mind, forcing her to take a temporary step back from IR.

There was one entry half way through the darkness that she always paused on and never failed to make her smile. It had been just before Christmas, John was only a few weeks returned to earth from his latest stint on the NASA orbital. It hadn’t bothered her that he hadn’t returned straight to the island at the time, he was a grown man, if he had things to do she wasn’t going to question it.

At least not until he turned up on the island with International Rescue’s best space operator in tow.

She knew Scott had spoken highly of Ridley, and she knew he had taken the chance at his Passing Out party to introduce her to the family’s own astronaut. That the two had apparently kept in touch after that, sharing tips and advice on space travel and managing both in and out of orbit. John had admitted having kept it very quiet from everyone, unsure of his own feelings and where the friendship had been going for the longest time.

It had felt unprofessional to squeal at one of her own operatives, but it had always been John she had worried about the most, lacking a certain confidence that the rest of her boys carried. Of course, she hadn’t been sure that a relationship was something he aspired to in life, and so had never said anything more about it when he hadn’t readily taken up the conversation with her on more than one occasion. That he had turned out to be the first of the five in what seemed to be a serious, steady relationship had made her heart swell for him.

Smiling to herself she made a mental note to check when the pair were next rota’d down from space at the same time, quietly hoping they would come out to the island for some time off before each of their next rotations.

Debates against herself filled a few pages, half way through his training Virgil had been asked what area of the organisation he wished to specialise in. Whilst for Scott there had been no question, for Virgil the decision wasn’t quite so straight forward.

The young man held a degree in engineering, but his interest in helping others had him leaning towards the operative line of work. When he had brought EMT training into the mix she had raised her eyebrows but listened regardless. It had been clear he had wanted to be able to do everything in order to be best equipped to help.

A visit to Roca and discussions with other students in various stages of their training had revealed Virgil wasn’t the only one in that boat. Looking at the broader picture, Lucy could see they had a point. Not everyone was Like Scott or John, with one set career in mind and a focus purely for that.

What had surprised her most was when Gordon had thrown his name into the ring for wanting to study more than one specialist area, apparently also keenly interested in following the EMT route alongside being an aquanaut after his olympic training.

Questions from the educational board had followed, comments that she was simply going out of her way for her boys rather than doing what was best for the organisation. The students had stuck with her though, as had the current operatives, all too aware that being part of IR required each and every member to have more than one simple skill set.

It wasn’t the only change that Virgil turned out to be responsible for. Tanusha and Penelope had been qualified security operatives for year at that point, yet he had pointed out they seemed to have very little in the way of contact with the rest of them.

Lucy hadn’t thought much of it, yet had found herself questioning it in the pages of her journal. Did the two women need more contact with the team they were assigned to? Was it her place to order them back to the Island more often to keep in contact? Or was it better that she kept her nose out of it and trusted the judgement of the experts?

A quiet word with Kyrano had confirmed Tanusha could well benefit from being based on the Island, and some discussions later she had moved in full time.

It was from there that drawings of a new jet started to fill pages, ideas jotted here and there for secret gadgets and silent flying. It was only then, two years after Tan’s move, that the newest of the Thunderbird fleet was finally coming together.

Protest had come from Alan at the discovery of a new Thunderbird being built, the teenager unhappy that he seemed to be the only family member somehow not involved in the operation. The youngest didn’t understand his mother’s worry, it was likely he never would. In time she knew she would have to let him join, and it would likely be sooner than she would like. It had been a consolation prize to let him near the simulators once he hit thirteen, a clear breach of protocol but better than him trying to break into an actual ship. The scores he had quickly racked up though had made her jaw drop and sent her for the records they kept. The boy was beyond a natural, more skilled without any training than some of the students she saw with two years under their belts.

A promise of eventually having a place to pilot Thunderbird Three had made his face light up, even as Lee had scowled behind her son’s back. Yet, what else could she do? It had always been Jeff’s promise to the youngest, the rocket painted the brightest red just for him in a reminder that someday she would be his.

Protocol stated that Alan would have to be twenty before he stepped near the ship. Knowledge of her youngest son told her that staving him off for another five years was going to be near impossible.

Alan being stubborn. Virgil officially joining her team. Gordon working as an apprentice alongside his two older brothers. Somehow none of them seemed like big things in comparison to her final entry.

The Hood, Gaat, Kyrano’s brother, had seemingly vanished alongside Jeff. There hadn’t been any confirmed activity relating to him since the incident involving both Tanusha and Kyrano.

Four years had lulled them all into false security, hope had started to creep in that perhaps he was gone for good and no longer out to get them and everything else relating to International Rescue.

There were whispers though. Kyrano had reported murmurings that his brother was back in the business and looking for assailants to take under his wing.

It scared Lucy for what his reason may be.

Things were different after four years, her sons were in the business now, she couldn’t afford to risk their lives.

Yet she knew she couldn’t drag them away from it either.

Closing the book she sighed heavily, shaking her head as she looked to the photo next to her bed, “What do I do Jeff?”

[nebris]

The Book No One Read

Why Stanislaw Lem’s futurism deserves attention.

I remember well the first time my certainty of a bright future evaporated, when my confidence in the panacea of technological progress was shaken. It was in 2007, on a warm September evening in San Francisco, where I was relaxing in a cheap motel room after two days covering The Singularity Summit, an annual gathering of scientists, technologists, and entrepreneurs discussing the future obsolescence of human beings.            

                   In math, a “singularity” is a function that takes on an infinite value, usually to the detriment of an equation’s sense and sensibility. In physics, the term usually refers to a region of infinite density and infinitely curved space, something thought to exist inside black holes and at the very beginning of the Big Bang. In the rather different parlance of Silicon Valley, “The Singularity” is an inexorably-approaching event in which humans ride an accelerating wave of technological progress to somehow create superior artificial intellects—intellects which with predictable unpredictability then explosively make further disruptive innovations so powerful and profound that our civilization, our species, and perhaps even our entire planet are rapidly transformed into some scarcely imaginable state. Not long after The Singularity’s arrival, argue its proponents, humanity’s dominion over the Earth will come to an end.            

                   I had encountered a wide spectrum of thought in and around the conference. Some attendees overflowed with exuberance, awaiting the arrival of machines of loving grace to watch over them in a paradisiacal post-scarcity utopia, while others, more mindful of history, dreaded the possible demons new technologies could unleash. Even the self-professed skeptics in attendance sensed the world was poised on the cusp of some massive technology-driven transition. A typical conversation at the conference would refer at least once to some exotic concept like whole-brain emulation, cognitive enhancement, artificial life, virtual reality, or molecular nanotechnology, and many carried a cynical sheen of eschatological hucksterism: Climb aboard, don’t delay, invest right now, and you, too, may be among the chosen who rise to power from the ashes of the former world!            

                   Over vegetarian hors d’oeuvres and red wine at a Bay Area villa, I had chatted with the billionaire venture capitalist Peter Thiel, who planned to adopt an “aggressive” strategy for investing in a “positive” Singularity, which would be “the biggest boom ever,” if it doesn’t first “blow up the whole world.” I had talked with the autodidactic artificial-intelligence researcher Eliezer Yudkowsky about his fears that artificial minds might, once created, rapidly destroy the planet. At one point, the inventor-turned-proselytizer
 Ray Kurzweil teleconferenced in to discuss,
among other things, his plans for becoming transhuman, transcending his own biology to 
achieve some sort of
 eternal life. Kurzweil
 believes this is possible, 
even probable, provided he can just live to see
 The Singularity’s dawn, 
which he has pegged at 
sometime in the middle of the 21st century. To this end, he reportedly consumes some 150 vitamin supplements a day.                           

                   Returning to my motel room exhausted each night, I unwound by reading excerpts from an old book, Summa Technologiae. The late Polish author Stanislaw Lem had written it in the early 1960s, setting himself the lofty goal of forging a secular counterpart to the 13th-century Summa Theologica, Thomas Aquinas’s landmark compendium exploring the foundations and limits of Christian theology. Where Aquinas argued for the certainty of a Creator, an immortal soul, and eternal salvation as based on scripture, Lem concerned himself with the uncertain future of intelligence and technology throughout the universe, guided by the tenets of modern science.            

                   To paraphrase Lem himself, the book was an investigation of the thorns of technological roses that had yet to bloom. And yet, despite Lem’s later observation that “nothing ages as fast as the future,” to my surprise most of the book’s nearly half-century-old prognostications concerned the very same topics I had encountered during my days at the conference, and felt just as fresh. Most surprising of all, in subsequent conversations I confirmed my suspicions that among the masters of our technological universe gathered there in San Francisco to forge a transhuman future, very few were familiar with the book or, for that matter, with Lem. I felt like a passenger in a car who discovers a blindspot in the central focus of the driver’s view.            

                   Such blindness was, perhaps, understandable. In 2007, only fragments of Summa Technologiae had appeared in English, via partial translations undertaken independently by the literary scholar Peter Swirski and a German software developer named Frank Prengel. These fragments were what I read in the motel. The first complete English translation, by the media researcher Joanna Zylinska, only appeared in 2013. By Lem’s own admission, from the start the book was a commercial and a critical failure that “sank without a trace” upon its first appearance in print. Lem’s terminology and dense, baroque style is partially to blame—many of his finest points were made in digressive parables, allegories, and footnotes, and he coined his own neologisms for what were, at the time, distinctly over-the-horizon fields. In Lem’s lexicon, virtual reality was “phantomatics,” molecular nanotechnology was “molectronics,” cognitive enhancement was “cerebromatics,” and biomimicry and the creation of artificial life was “imitology.” He had even coined a term for search-engine optimization, a la Google: “ariadnology.” The path to advanced artificial intelligence he called the “technoevolution” of “intellectronics.”            

                   Even now, if Lem is known at all to the vast majority of the English-speaking world, it is chiefly for his authorship of Solaris, a popular 1961 science-fiction novel that spawned two critically acclaimed film adaptations, one by Andrei Tarkovsky and another by Steven Soderbergh. Yet to say the prolific author only wrote science fiction would be foolishly dismissive. That so much of his output can be classified as such is because so many of his intellectual wanderings took him to the outer frontiers of knowledge.            

                   Lem was a polymath, a voracious reader who devoured not only the classic literary canon, but also a plethora of research journals, scientific periodicals, and popular books by leading researchers. His genius was in standing on the shoulders of scientific giants to distill the essence of their work, flavored with bittersweet insights and thought experiments that linked their mathematical abstractions to deep existential mysteries and the nature of the human condition. For this reason alone, reading Lem is an education, wherein one may learn the deep ramifications of breakthroughs such as Claude Shannon’s development of information theory, Alan Turing’s work on computation, and John von Neumann’s exploration of game theory. Much of his best work entailed constructing analyses based on logic with which anyone would agree, then showing how these eminently reasonable premises lead to astonishing conclusions. And the fundamental urtext for all of it, the wellspring from which the remainder of his output flowed, is Summa Technologiae.            

                   The core of the book is a heady mix of evolutionary biology, thermodynamics—the study of energy flowing through a system—and cybernetics, a diffuse field pioneered in the 1940s by Norbert Wiener studying how feedback loops can automatically regulate the behavior of machines and organisms. Considering a planetary civilization this way, Lem posits a set of feedbacks between the stability of a society and its degree of technological development. In its early stages, Lem writes, the development of technology is a self-reinforcing process that promotes homeostasis, the ability to maintain stability in the face of continual change and increasing disorder. That is, incremental advances in technology tend to progressively increase a society’s resilience against disruptive environmental forces such as pandemics, famines, earthquakes, and asteroid strikes. More advances lead to more protection, which promotes more advances still.                           

                   And yet, Lem argues, that same technology-driven positive feedback loop is also an Achilles heel for planetary civilizations, at least for ours here on Earth. As advances in science and technology accrue and the pace of discovery continues its acceleration, our society will approach an “information barrier” beyond which our brains—organs blindly, stochastically shaped by evolution for vastly different purposes—can no longer efficiently interpret and act on the deluge of information.            

                   Past this point, our civilization should reach the end of what has been a period of exponential growth in science and technology. Homeostasis will break down, and without some major intervention, we will collapse into a “developmental crisis” from which we may never fully recover. Attempts to simply muddle through, Lem writes, would only lead to a vicious circle of boom-and-bust economic bubbles as society meanders blindly down a random, path-dependent route of scientific discovery and technological development. “Victories, that is, suddenly appearing domains of some new wonderful activity,” he writes, “will engulf us in their sheer size, thus preventing us from noticing some other opportunities—which may turn out to be even more valuable in the long run.”            

                   Lem thus concludes that if our technological civilization is to avoid falling into decay, human obsolescence in one form or another is unavoidable. The sole remaining option for continued progress would then be the “automatization of cognitive processes” through development of algorithmic “information farms” and superhuman artificial intelligences. This would occur via a sophisticated plagiarism, the virtual simulation of the mindless, brute-force natural selection we see acting in biological evolution, which, Lem dryly notes, is the only technique known in the universe to construct philosophers, rather than mere philosophies.            

The result is a disconcerting paradox, which Lem expresses early in the book: To maintain control of our own fate, we must yield our
agency to minds exponentially more powerful than our own, created through processes we cannot entirely understand, and hence potentially unknowable to us. This is the basis for Lem’s explorations of The Singularity, and in describing its consequences he reaches many conclusions that most of its present-day acolytes would share. But there is a difference between the typical modern approach and Lem’s, not in degree, but in kind.

                   Unlike the commodified futurism now so common in the bubble-worlds of Silicon Valley billionaires, Lem’s forecasts weren’t really about seeking personal enrichment from market fluctuations, shiny new gadgets, or simplistic ideologies of “disruptive innovation.” In Summa Technologiae and much of his subsequent work, Lem instead sought to map out the plausible answers to questions that today are too often passed over in silence, perhaps because they fail to neatly fit into any TED Talk or startup business plan: Does technology control humanity, or does humanity control technology? Where are the absolute limits for our knowledge and our achievement, and will these boundaries be formed by the fundamental laws of nature or by the inherent limitations of our psyche? If given the ability to satisfy nearly any material desire, what is it that we actually would want?            

                   Lem’s explorations of these questions are dominated by his obsession with chance, the probabilistic tension between chaos and order as an arbiter of human destiny. He had a deep appreciation for entropy, the capacity for disorder to naturally, spontaneously arise and spread, cursing some while sparing others. It was an appreciation born from his experience as a young man in Poland before, during, and after World War II, where he saw chance’s role in the destruction of countless dreams, and where, perhaps by pure chance alone, his Jewish heritage did not result in his death. “We were like ants bustling in an anthill over which the heel of a boot is raised,” he wrote in Highcastle, an autobiographical memoir. “Some saw its shadow, or thought they did, but everyone, the uneasy included, ran about their usual business until the very last minute, ran with enthusiasm, devotion—to secure, to appease, to tame the future.” From the accumulated weight of those experiences, Lem wrote in the New Yorker in 1986, he had “come to understand the fragility that all systems have in common,” and “how human beings behave under extreme conditions—how their behavior when they are under enormous pressure is almost impossible to predict.”            

                   To Lem (and, to their credit, a sizeable number of modern thinkers), the Singularity is less an opportunity than a question mark, a multidimensional crucible in which humanity’s future will be forged.            

                   I couldn’t help thinking of Lem’s question mark that summer in 2007. Within and around the gardens surrounding the neoclassical Palace of Fine Arts Theater where the Singularity Summit was taking place, dark and disruptive shadows seemed to loom over the plans and aspirations of the gathered well-to-do. But they had precious little to do with malevolent superintelligences or runaway nanotechnology. Between my motel and the venue, panhandlers rested along the sidewalk, or stood with empty cups at busy intersections, almost invisible to everyone. Walking outside during one break between sessions, I stumbled across a homeless man defecating between two well-manicured bushes. Even within the context of the conference, hints of desperation sometimes tinged the not-infrequent conversations about raising capital; the subprime mortgage crisis was already unfolding that would, a year later, spark the near-collapse of the world’s financial system. While our society’s titans of technology were angling for advantages to create what they hoped would be the best of all possible futures, the world outside reminded those who would listen that we are barely in control even today.                         

                   I attended two more Singularity Summits, in 2008 and 2009, and during that three-year period, all the much-vaunted performance gains in various technologies seemed paltry against a more obvious yet less-discussed pattern of accelerating change: the rapid, incessant growth in global ecological degradation, economic inequality, and societal instability. Here, forecasts tend to be far less rosy than those for our future capabilities in information technology. They suggest, with some confidence, that when and if we ever breathe souls into our machines, most of humanity will not be dreaming of transcending their biology, but of fresh water, a full belly, and a warm, safe bed. How useful would a superintelligent computer be if it was submerged by storm surges from rising seas or dis- connected from a steady supply of electricity? Would biotech-boosted personal longevity be worthwhile in a world ravaged by armed, angry mobs of starving, displaced people? More than once I have wondered why so many high technologists are more concerned by as- yet-nonexistent threats than the much more mundane and all-too-real ones literally right before their eyes.            

                   Lem was able to speak to my experience of the world outside the windows of the Singularity conference. A thread of humanistic humility runs through his work, a hard-gained certainty that technological development too often takes place only in service of our most primal urges, rewarding individual greed over the common good. He saw our world as exceedingly fragile, contingent upon a truly astronomical number of coincidences, where the vagaries of the human spirit had become the most volatile variables of all.            

                   It is here that we find Lem’s key strength as a futurist. He refused to discount human nature’s influence on transhuman possibilities, and believed that the still-incomplete task of understanding our strengths and weaknesses as human beings was a crucial prerequisite for all speculative pathways to any post-Singularity future. Yet this strength also leads to what may be Lem’s great weakness, one which he shares with today’s hopeful transhumanists: an all-too-human optimism that shines through an otherwise-dispassionate darkness, a fervent faith that, when faced with the challenge of a transhuman future, we will heroically plunge headlong into its depths. In Lem’s view, humans, as imperfect as we are, shall always strive to progress and improve, seeking out all that is beautiful and possible rather than what may be merely convenient and profitable, and through this we may find salvation. That we might instead succumb to complacency, stagnation, regression, and extinction is something he acknowledges but can scarcely countenance. In the end, Lem, too, was seduced—though not by quasi-religious notions of personal immortality, endless growth, or cosmic teleology, but instead by the notion of an indomitable human spirit.            

                   Like many other ideas from Summa Technologiae, this one finds its best expression in one of Lem’s works of fiction, his 1981 novella Golem XIV, in which a self-programming military supercomputer that has bootstrapped itself into sentience delivers a series of lectures critiquing evolution and humanity. Some would say it is foolish to seek truth in fiction, or to draw equivalence between an imaginary character’s thoughts and an author’s genuine beliefs, but for me the conclusion is inescapable. When the novella’s artificial philosopher makes its pronouncements through a connected vocoder, it is the human voice of Lem that emerges, uttering a prophecy of transcendence that is at once his most hopeful—and perhaps, in light of trends today, his most erroneous:            

                   “I feel that you are entering an age of metamorphosis; that you will decide to cast aside your entire history, your entire heritage and all that remains of natural humanity—whose image, magnified into beautiful tragedy, is the focus of the mirrors of your beliefs; that you will advance (for there is no other way), and in this, which for you is now only a leap into the abyss, you will find a challenge, if not a beauty; and that you will proceed in your own way after all, since in casting off man, man will save himself.”            

Freelance writer Lee Billings is the author of Five Billion Years of Solitude: The Search for Life Among the Stars.  

 https://getpocket.com/explore/item/the-book-no-one-read       

Summa Technologiae  https://publicityreform.github.io/findbyimage/readings/lem.pdf

[helshades]

Hard to deny that we live in an age dominated by the superhero. That classic Superman chestnut, “Look up in the sky!“, feels as apropos as ever when you can’t drive down a major road without Tony Stark’s mustachioed mug or Clark Kent’s Kryptonian biceps flexing down at you like judgemental gods. They rule the box office, they rule the pop culture conversation, they rule the graphic t-shirt real estate at every coffee shop. We’re about one particularly effective after-credits scene away from fandom spilling over into actual worship—pull up any video from inside Hall H if you don’t believe me—which means there’s no better time to ring up The Boys.

Adapted by Seth Rogen, Evan Goldberg, and Eric Kripke from the Dynamite comic series by writer Garth Ennis and Darick Robertson, the eight-episode Amazon series has a wickedly sharp eye for what an actual modern age of superheroes would look like. Costumed vigilantes come with an army of publicists to craft public apologies. Major media corporations schedule the crime-stopping “team-ups” that would drive the optimal amount of social media engagement. And there’s the possibility that the superheroes themselves, so shiny and glossed in front of a camera, are the type of A-list TMZ trash-monsters in their private lives who might smash a man’s skull during a particularly aggressive round of analingus. This is an actual thing that happens in The Boys. A lot of wild things happen in The Boys. But underneath all that superpowered ass-murder is genuinely one of the most timely TV series I’ve seen in a long time.

Our way into the mayhem is “Wee” Hughie Campbell (Jack Quaid), a completely normal A/V salesman living a completely ordinary life until a super-fast superhero named A-Train (Jessie Usher) literally runs through his girlfriend Robin (Jess Salgueiro), turning her into a cloud of blood and guts. A-Train is essentially untouchable as a member of The Seven, the world’s premiere superhero team, along with aquatic fish-talker The Deep (Chace Crawford), silent ninja Black Noir (Nathan Mitchell), the invisible Translucent (Alex Hassell), superstrong ass-kicker Queen Maeve (Dominique McElligott), and the squad’s Superman-esque leader, Homelander (Antony Starr). Quieted with a half-assed apology and ironclad Non-disclosure Agreement, Hughie’s thirst for revenge leads him straight to Billy Butcher (Karl Urban), former leader of an under-the-radar squad that worked to keep the “supes” in check: The Boys.

Running parallel to Hughie and Butcher is the story of Starlight (Erin Moriarty), The Seven’s bright-eyed and optimistic new recruit who quickly learns she’s joined a team of corrupt corporate suits, perverts, and murderers. The two plots intertwine, and soon a grand conspiracy emerges surrounding the mysterious super-steroid “Compound V” that could completely destroy the superhero game and the mega-corporation that funds it, Vought.

The Boys operates on a few different levels, all of which the creative team nails on one level or another. It’s your classic gettin’-the-band-back-together story, as the Compound V conspiracy convinces Butcher to track down the rest of the retired Boys, Mother’s Milk (Laz Alonso) and Frenchie (Tomer Capon), who are eventually joined by the hyper-violent killing machine known only as The Female (Karen Fukuhara). It’s also a pretty dang intriguing mystery tale dressed up in tights and capes, as well as a pitch-black comedy filled with enough flying guts, exploding dolphins, and C-4 shoved into a person’s unholy crevices to keep even the sickest of you puppies squirming.

But where the writing staff really excels is in the world-building. They’ve kept large chunks of the comic book story intact while also stripping away a bit of the X-Treme Edginess—I like Garth Ennis a lot, but Garth Ennis is occasionally too Garth Ennis for his own good—and setting it firmly in a setting that’s both comic-book elevated and so perfectly 2019. Superheroes argue not about the number of lives saved, but their cut of the merch and box office sales raked in from the Vought Cinematic Universe. ESPN runs 24/7 coverage of a race between speedsters. SEO experts and video editors cut together image-boosting clip shows of The Seven interacting with the common folk. (Possibly my favorite joke in the entire show is the fact newcomer Starlight’s segment is placeholder text that just says “Starlight relating to people.”)

And with that comes a really dark, unique relatability to the material that’s completely different than any on-screen comic book series out there. Though we don’t live in a world of actual superpowers, we do live in one filled with supremely shitty people in extraordinary positions of power and wealth. Tune into literally any news outlet of your choice—or just log on to Twitter dot com—and you’re bombarded with the latest government figure or Hollywood elite who was caught and/or just outright said the depths of their sheer shittiness. It makes you long for the days when a celebrity’s name trending meant they were just dead, not a sexual deviant. The Boys, similar to the comic series, leans hard into this idea: What if the rich, powerful fraudsters and public masturbators of the world were actually sitting in the position of the gods? It’s the darkest material on the show, but the story approaches it unflinchingly. There’s a real stomach-churning familiarity to a high-ranking member of The Seven dropping his pants in front of Starlight and asking how badly she wants to be a part of a superhero team. But even the worst parts come with a sense of wish fulfillment; as awful as it is to see and recognize a world run by all-powerful assholes, it’s thrilling when you realize The Boys is really about how ordinary people can fight back.

As Starlight, Moriarty shines brighter and brighter with each episode, a fantastic foil to Quaid’s increasingly twitchy Hughie. The cast is pretty electric across the board—especially Karl Urban out there throwing around c-words like his name is Cookie Monster—but there are two performances in particular that really make the story tick. Antony Starr is terrifying as Homelander; he plays the main supe like a petulant child given the strength of a nuclear bomb—a Shazam who also burns people’s faces off—and it’s chilling how quickly the actor switches between Homelander’s toothy-smiled choir boy image and the stone-cold persona below. Standing behind him is Elisabeth Shue as Madelyn Stillwell, Senior Vice President of Superhero Management at Vought. The Oscar-nominee is perfectly icy in the role, and low-key the most terrifying character on the show. As the mass murders and war crimes pile up around her, Madelyn is just booking the dates and scheduling the meetings, proving there’s nothing more horrific than a suit who signs lives away with a smile.

If there’s a complaint to be had about The Boys, it’s that its first eight-episode run ends awkwardly, right in the middle of the narrative with several loose threads dangling and a few key characters left forgotten in the home stretch. You have the sense the creators were pretty confident given the fact casting announcements started to pop up before a season 2 was confirmed. [UPDATE: Which it was, just now, at Comic-Con.] But the roller-coaster ride to that abrupt end is something you must experience. Like Alan Moore‘s Watchmen in the late-80s, TV series has the chance to be the superhero deconstruction of our time. Less a peek behind the curtain, and more a seedy glimpse behind the social media likes and box office numbers, a story that manages to be heartbreakingly relevant while still finding time to have Karl Urban kill a room full of goons with a super-powered baby.

Oh shit, did I not mention Karl Urban kills a room full of goons with a superpowered baby earlier? Yeah, man. Watch The Boys. A lot going on there.

[tagsecretsanta]

From Such-a-random-rambler

to @samanthalexistracy

Secret Santa does not own this piece, full credit goes to the creator mentioned above!

“And I suppose you yelled at him?”

“Seriously though John, he wants to do game design. What sort of use does that have in the rescue business?”

Scott was pacing in front of the holographic image of his brother as he ranted, and had covered the length of the room at least a dozen times since he called up to Thunderbird Five on his private channel. It was a line that no-one else could drop in to and John gave it priority meaning it was the go-to communication method for emergencies like this.  

Scott thought of it as an emergency anyway, and John would too if he just listened while Scott explained. This was urgent!

“Our whole lives don’t have to revolve around IR you know.” John said distractedly, gesturing on a screen just out of range of the holoemitters. He clearly wasn’t taking this seriously – this was Alan’s entire life at stake.  

“I know that, this isn’t about International Rescue. This is about making sensible choices, Alan should be  thinking about his future and choosing acareer. Not just” Scott waved a hand “playing around.”

“Do you think what I do is ‘playing around’?” John raised an eyebrow, pausing for just a moment before carrying on with whatever he was doing.

“Of course not!”

“Well Dad did. He didn’t see a value in programming or communications and I’ve covered some of the same areas as Alan will.”

“What does that have to do with anything?”

John sighed heavily and turned to face Scott, giving him his full attention.

“What did Dad say when you told him you wanted to be a pilot?”  

“He told me it was too dangerous.”

“And you....”

“I told him to go to hell.” Scott said with a smile at the memory.  

“And Gordon said the same when Dad forbid him to continue competitive swimming. And Virgil ignored him when Dad said he shouldn’t go to art college. And I just didn’t tell Dad until I’d had confirmation that I was accepted onto that first astrophysics course. And do you remember what you told me after the blazing row was over?”

Scott remembered. John, who was always buzzing with enthusiasm about his latest obsession so that he wouldn’t shut up about it, was instead subdued and listless. He had been laying on his bed staring at the ceiling when Scott found him. Little brothers were to be protected, taken care of, consoled and encouraged. There was only one thing to say in that moment.

“I said ‘Good for you.’”

“Exactly. You supported me when I needed you to.”

“But Dad would want...”

“It doesn’t matter. No, Scott listen to me.” John held up a spectral hand to forestall any interruptions. “It doesn’t matter what Dad would want because he isn’t here. He was always planning ten steps ahead but sometimes he forgot about the more human side, and that we needed to behappy as well. Which is why we come to you.”

Scott had indeed been a sounding board for the others for as long as he had been a big brother- listening to them talk about the test they took at school, a girl they liked, a cool stick they found. However important or passing their opinion Scott had wanted to hear it: never telling them they were wrong to think for themselves. The world would try and pull them down soon enough so he wasn’t about to contribute to it, though he sometimes suggested some more research to their more disastrous sounding ideas. Like when Virgil  - a ten year old intent on understanding everything by taking it apart and putting it back together again - wanted to build a combustion engine in his bedroom. Scott guided him in finding out how to do it safely and when Virgil learned that it wasn’t a good idea to have carbon monoxide being generated in your sleeping area he made the much more sensible decision to take apart the microwave.

Had Scott really stopped being the person they talked to? Was he now someone who talked at them instead? Of course they would stop sharing their secrets if they though he would go flying off the handle like Dad sometimes had. Sadly Scott could probably pin point the day it all changed and wondered what else he had missed out on. He would have to go to the others and make them spill all their secrets.

John had been watching him think, letting him come to his own conclusion. John had always been a great teacher like that. From the other side of the world and miles above  John nodded when Scott refocused on him and said:

“Alan’s smart enough to weigh up his options, he knows all the objections that a parent would raise and he still spoke to you before he went through it. I’m sure you’re smart enough to work out why. Now I’m way too busy for this so go talk to him.”

That was a lie. John could hold four conversations, plan two rescues, watch tv and bake a cake at the same time, there was no way

he was too busy. But Scott realised that he was talking to the wrong brother, that he hadn’t been thinking as a brother himself for a long time. It was time to fix that.

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

Scott slowly opened the door, to find Alan at his desk hunched over a text book writing in a large leather bound notebook.

“Go away Scott.” Alan said without looking up.

“Can we talk?” Scott asked, entering the room just a few steps.

“No, because I’m not going to change my mind, no matter how much you yell at me.” Alan said flatly.

“I’m not going to yell.”

“Any more. You mean you are not going to yell any more? You were yelling quite a bit.” Alan looked up now – a mix of hurt and angry and stubbornand unsure that Scott could remember from being a teenager himself.

“Yeah, I know. Sorry.” Scott sat on Alan’s bed, within touching distance but didn’t reach out just yet. “You know I’m only ever looking out for you, right?”

“Sure. Are we done now?” Alan was already turning back to his book. Was he studying anyway, despite the argument? That showed a dedication that made Scott proud.

“No we’re not done. I wanted to say....” Scott took a deep breath. “Dad would want you to think more seriously, not to rush in, make better plans for the future and all that. And I’ve tried to do what he would have wanted, to do what’s best for this family and for this organisation.”

“I know that, and you’re doing a great job. And I know that I needed a formal guardian after we lost Dad. And even though it’s not

been any different in some ways because you were the one who taught me to do my shoelaces and you’ve always been the one to make me do my homework or chew my food properly but sometimes....” Alan ran out of words.

“Sometimes you just want me to be your big brother.” Scott finished for him, on the same page.

“Yeah.”

“Come here.”  Scott held out an arm and Alan lumped his way over to the bed. Scott drew him in tight for a hug that the youngest Tracey resisted for only a second.  

“And I always want to be your big brother. The other responsibilities have made me forget just how much I love being a big brother and how different that is from anything else. It’s difficult to balance everything but I promise that I’m going to try harder and get better.”

“So you’re not going to be such a jerk?”

“Hey!” Scott protested, drawing back slightly, but grinned when he saw Alan’s cheeky expression. “Nobody’s going to be a jerk.”

“Then does my brother think my further education plans are ‘crazy, ill-judged and conceited?”

Alan’s tone was light but Scott could sense the weight of this question. As much as he may shrug it off Alan really cared what his family thought and the wrong word in the wrong place could wreck his confidence. Gordon often put his foot in it.  

Honestly Scott wasn’t entirely convinced that this course would be Alan’s best choice in any respect. He could offer suggestions of better options, better institutions, better paths to follow. Maybe, if Alan had been his son, he would have mentioned them. He would have tried to persuade him to take another option, lay out carrots as well as sticks. But Alan wasn’t his son and so there was only one thing to say in this moment.

“As your brother, I think it’s awesome.”

The grin Alan gave him was the reward for saying the right thing, and Alan immediately bounced off the bed grab the prospectus and wave it in his face. Guardian-Scott might have to do some damage limitation when Alan found distance learning for a course like this more difficult than he imagined. International Rescue – Scott would have to find enough hours in the day so they didn’t compromise their missions or Alan’s education.

Big Brother-Scott didn’t care about any of those things. Alan was happy and that was all that mattered.  

[pratyus4453e-blog]

So, the begining of day 3 and my life as a writer. Well its not that good but i hope you like it.

Ace of spades

Chapter 1-Arrival and despair

"In a world where people have different kinds of abilities, skill and summons, they are divided into ranks F, E, D, C, B, A, S, SS & SSS. Energy is required to use skills. The skills use different amounts of energy. People are ranked accordingly with the amount of energy they have in the same way as skills. People with rank F or E are considered as peasant, D, C, B, A & S is considered as noble snd SS & SSS are considered a royal order. There are different types of skills. They are active skill, elemental skill, unique skill and conditional skill. The active skills need to be activated before using it. Elemental skills are skills that uses the power elements. Unique skills are rare skills only a few people have it also depends on its rarity. The ranks according to its rarity are common, uncommon, rare, epic, lengendary and unique. Conditional skills are skills that can be used only after a condition is fulfilled. Abilities have different types as well. They are passive ability, active ability and recollective ability. Passive abilities are the abilities that are active all the time. Active abilities are also called power-up abilities. Recollective abilities can be activated once after a certain something is collected, it can be simillar to conditional skills. "

"Stop! what are you reading?" asked Eren.

" A book about a magical world and how it works." said Alan.

" But we don't live in a magical world." added Eren.

" I know but still I like these kind of things." replied Alan.

" Alright, fine but we need to haste our horses others will be waiting for us." said Eren.

"Wait, others who are you talking about?" asked Alan.

" Haven't I told you ?" asked Eren.

" No, you haven't." said Alan.

" There are some of my classmates coming. Now, we need to hurry up." said Eren.

At the meeting point,

"Hi guys." said Eren.

"You are late." said Ian.

"Sorry for that." said Eren.

"Okay time for our official introduction. I am Eren." said Eren.

"I am lan. This is lrik. This is Anne." said Ian.

"Hi, I am Rika." said Rika.

"Hi I am Alan, nice to meet you." said Alan.

"Alright lets go." added Eren.

"Go where?" asked Anne.

"To the arcade." answered Eren.

"You love games, don't you?" said Irik.

A few hours later in an unknown place, Eren opened his eyes and asked,

"Huh... Where am I?"

"Hey Eren, you finally woke up." said Alan.

"Alan, Where are we? How did we come here? Where are the others?" asked Eren confusingly.

"I don't know. I am just as confused as you." said Alan.

"We need to get out of this place but where are we?" asked Eren.

"Looks like a tunnel." added Alan.

"It doesn't matter we need to get out." said Eren.

"Could it be that we have been sent to another world." said excited Alan.

"You mean like in an isekai anime." said Eren.

"Yes and we might be the mc with amazing powers. Lets go fight some monsters." said Alan even more excited.

"No, its too dangerous to wander like that we might get hurt or die. We need to confirm where we are." said Eren.

"What are you talking about we are the mc we can't die." said Alan.

"Shut up! If you want to fight then learn about your powers first." said Eren.

"Yes sir." replied Alan half-heartedly.

"Start practicing, I am going find a way out of this creepy place. Don't go anywhere." said Eren.

"Okay, I am not a kid." said dissapointed Alan.

"Thats right you are worse than that. Now, start practicing." ordered Eren.

He starts exploring the tunnel and finds a dead body at a dead end. It was like some kind of animal's doing. He leave it there and keeps going ahead. Soon, he feels like he should go back but he keeps going like something is attracting him towards it. He suddenly hears a roar and a scream. He starts running towards it and encounters a huge monster. It was attacking a human. He was powerless to do anything. Then it looked towards him and starts running. He too scared to move and Alan appeared out of nowhere and attacked it. "Alan! What are you doing? Why are you here?" asked Eren. "If it weren't for me you would have turned into dead meat. " said Alan. "How did you come here?" asked Eren. "I used my skill 'Search'." said Alan. "You can already use them." said Eren amusingly. "Of course. Who do you take me for?" asked Alan.

"Idiot" answered Eren confidently.

"Is that how you talk to someone who saved your life. " asked Alan. "Yes, if its you." said Eren. "Behind you." Eren shouted. Alan gets hit by that monster and screams in pain. While Eren was unable to move that monster killed his friend. Eren was still unable to move. It didn't made any sense. The monster turned towards him and just before it stabed him he started to see his memories.

Eren thought, "Huh? Whats going on? Memories? People say that our memories flash before our eyes when we are going to die. " In that stack of memories, there were some he didn't recognise. "Wait, this is how could I forget? Its my fault. I am going to correct everthing."

[evenstevensranked]

#32: Season 1, Episode 7 - “Foodzilla”

Louis convinces Ren to let him do a live news segment on the school lunch lady for the Wombat Report. Unfortunately, his inability to be serious turns the story into a fiasco -- ultimately causing the lunch lady to quit her job.

The episode opens with Louis and Ren walking home from school. He’s nagging her and asking “please?!” over and over. This is obviously setting us up to wonder what the heck he’s asking for. Side note: I love how even though I know they filmed the interior shots of the house on a set, I STILL like to think they used the real house from time to time, lol. This is another one of those instances. They’re walking out and about in the real world, up until they reach their front door. You can’t tell if they’re still outside or if they’ve captured great artificial “natural” light. Gahhh. You can also hear legitimate sounding wind and cars driving by, which is either great sound editing or... ya know, they were actually at the house. In which case.. IT TOTALLY IS THE SAME INSIDE! 

Yeah, this is definitely (probably) my wishful thinking talking tbh. The more I stare at these images the more it looks like a set with bright lights... But still. 

Anyway, nerd analyzation aside... Turns out Louis desperately wants to host a segment on the premiere installment of the Wombat Report, which Ren is in charge of. He says that he could make her a comic masterpiece, which is where Ren immediately shuts any prospect down. Naturally, she absolutely will not allow it because she thinks Louis is incapable of taking anything seriously. I don’t blame her. If only she could lighten up, though.. Louis probably could’ve delivered something great, hilarious and take it seriously. I would’ve loved to see that, tbh. 

Literally a million scenes/lines from this episode were used in Disney Channel promos for the show. Including “You think I need to shave my pits?” “I rest my case.” which happens around this point of the episode. 

Louis heads out to the backyard, where Eileen is attempting to do Tai-Chi. The only problem is that she can’t find the right music to help her relax. Louis confides in her about the Wombat Report situation, and she tells him if he really wants to do it, the only option is to take it seriously and present Ren with a professional idea. She invites Louis to try exercising with her “Do this with me! It’s called: Golden Chicken Stands on One Leg.” Louis gives up right away and says:

So freaking good. Louis Stevens is all of us. 

Eileen eventually looks though Ren’s CD collection for better relaxation tunes and chooses Limp Bizkit. Oh my god. “The Limp Biscuits. That sounds relaxing” she says. bahaha I can’t. 

The next day at school, Louis tries to figure out a good idea for a story and goes to Twitty and Tawny for help at lunch. Twitty suggests that he do a behind the scenes look at his band, The Alan Twitty Project! Ahhhh! This is the first ever hint at the band arc! :D He also says that his lead singer has mono. The number one sickness mentioned on teen shows that literally no one I’ve ever known in real life has contracted. We get another one of those lines used in promos here: Louis: “You think I’m just some goofball who can’t be serious?” Twitty and Tawny: “...........yeah.” 

Right about now is when Louis gets the bright idea to do his story on the school lunch lady.. played by Wendy Worthington who’s been in a zillion things you’ve probably seen. Including “Tower of Terror” -- the single most horrifying movie to ever air on Disney Channel. (Well, except for “Don’t Look Under The Bed.”) There’s a decapitated corpse and doll in the film. Just sayin. 

She’s honestly really good at playing a creepy lady, I guess. Also, the little girl is Morgan from Boy Meets World... which instead of a direct parallel, you could consider a 6 degrees of separation deal between this show and BMW. I mean, that’s kinda reaching... but.

Just for the laughs, here’s me on the ride at Disney World. I was... well, terrified of it, but oddly obsessed at the same time. Also, that is my uncle laughing at me to my right. 

Louis presents Ren with a rough draft of his report “The Lunch Lady: Life Behind The Hairnet” which seems extremely promising. Ren thinks so too, and allows him to do the segment. We sort of get mirror talk that night... but not really. It’s just Louis practicing various ways to act on air -- another bit used in promos. 

Okay, we’ve finally reached the debut of The Wombat Report! For some reason Ren can’t correctly pronounce “Wombat Report” and says “Wombat Waport” I never understood this until I asked my mother for confirmation today. Louis refers to her as “Bawa” (a.k.a Barbara Walters) at one point, so I always assumed this was a reference to her or something... turns out my assumption was correct. I apologize for being an uncultured swine.

They start off with a “Coming up...” intro that features a character named DaNica Henderson (played by Alexis Lopez from The Luck Of the Irish, whose sister is Bianca Lopez a.k.a Mandy “Always Gets Her Man” Sanchez! Holy crap!) To quote Season 3 Louis:

DaNica says “Ever wonder what happens to the fines you pay on overdue library books? I have a shocking report.” And the camera zooms out to reveal a fancy sports car in the librarian’s parking spot: 

Like, wth?! lol. Imagine if the librarian saved up enough piddly overdue fines to buy a freaking lambo or something?! omg. What’s funnier is that I’m picturing the stereotypical, old lady librarian driving around in that car. 

They segue to a sports report by the underused Artie Ryan. Yesssss. He’s interviewing Twitty about a recent basketball game. This scene cuts to Louis, who’s on next, telling Tom (who of course is the AV guy/cameraman) that he’s just gonna wing the interview with the lunch lady. Not good. When it cuts back to Artie’s segment, we get another one of those backends to a random sentence from Twitty: “...Let’s just say it’s the last time I played without a cup.” Oh my god. Chill, Disney. Twitty takes this on-air opportunity to say that his band is looking for a bassist. Artie leans in like “Hey! I play bass!” lol. This is so great because Artie goes on to join The Alan Twitty Project/Twitty-Stevens Connection! Again, very cool to see the band arc starting to form. Gotta love solid continuity. 

It’s time for Louis’ report and, well... this is just one of those absolutely iconic scenes ya gotta embed: 

“It’s FOODZILLA! Tokyo is dooooomed!” (At least, I think that’s what he’s saying.)��

..........as you can see, Louis started off his live-streamed interview sort of okay? And then it all just went down in flames pretty quickly. Only Louis Stevens could take an interview from a simple question, to a full out food war between the news crew and the Lunch Lady. It’s actually pretty hilarious, but you just cannot help but cringe at the fact Louis f’d up… again -- Much like his meltdown in Wild Child. But, I’m ranking this disaster higher because I find it less horrible than tarnishing the name of his own family and jeopardizing Eileen’s campaign on television. It’s a lil less cringy than that, which makes it funnier. I love how he shouts “MAN DOWN! I’ll try to get’cha out! I’ll try to get’cha!” as if they’re literally at war, which is too much lol.. and also predicted Shia’s future...? (Again, I’m reaching, but STILL.) That ending shot scene of Ren fuming with anger was also used for promos. Actually, you can just check out this promo video I posted recently to see every moment I’ve mentioned so far and then some.

To Ren’s surprise, everyone (including Principal Wexler for whatever reason) loved Louis’ segment and thought it was hilarious. DaNica refers to it as “phat” which definitely dates the show, lol. Just like that, Ren switches gears and tells Louis to prepare another segment. Wow. Unfortunately, at lunch that day.. all the kids start taunting the lunch lady by screaming “FOODZILLA!” at her. This one kid was the first one to shout it, and I always thought he was Khleo Thomas (Zero from Holes) lol:

The lunch lady is obviously mortified and runs away into the kitchen. :( Louis and Ren feel incredibly remorseful. When they get home from school, they tell Eileen everything and she forces them to go to the lunch lady’s house and apologize. (This is also the “You are a horrible little person” bit. As seen in that darn promo I linked.)

They go to her house later that night, and she reluctantly invites them in. We learn that her name is Elsa Schotz, and she “shows them who she really is” by yodeling for them. I don’t know how that’s supposed to reveal her true colors, but ok. We find out that she came over on a boat from Europe to become a professional yodeler, but sadly no one cares about yodeling in America — which is most definitely extremely factual. Have you ever heard a Top 40 yodeling hit? Honestly, why would ANYONE travel to America of all countries to pursue a yodeling career? She was already in Europe! That seems like something you’d go to Germany or Switzerland for??? I feel like this is a career endeavor you’d research where it’s most lucrative before moving to another country? Anyway, once she found out that yodeling work literally does not exist in the US, she started cooking at the school for money. But, now she’s depressed because she’s being made fun of.

This information somehow leads to Louis and Ren giving her a makeover??? I never realized it before, but that almost makes no sense? The kids at school weren’t making fun of her for the way she looks, but rather, because of her crazy outburst. I’d be so insulted and confused if I were Elsa. Is the makeover just a way to... somehow distract from the Foodzilla thing? Idk. She forgives them in the end though and her new-look gives her a confidence boost.

Where’d they get that outfit? Did she just happen to have something snazzy like that in the back of her closet? or did they seriously glamify her uniform?

They were pumped for the kids at school to see the “new and improved” Elsa Schotz, but she doesn’t show up the next day. Turns out she struck up a relationship with the school janitor and they eloped to Las Vegas to get married. Still a better love story than Twilight. 

And that’s pretty much it! The short return after the last commercial break is Louis yodeling for Eileen while she does her Tai-Chi. 

This episode remains super memorable. Probably because how many freaking scenes they used on commercials! It also aired a lot as well. Like, wow. But other than the actual Foodzilla scene, the rest of the episode is just a little bland and slightly random at times haha. It’s still good though. It’s nice to see Louis and Ren work together to help Elsa in the end. 

Thoughts?

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[un-enfant-immature]

Slack must use cash hoard to find new ways to keep competition at bay

It was quite a week for Slack, wasn’t it? The enterprise communications platform confirmed this publication’s earlier report that it had scored another $427 million investment on an over-the-moon valuation of over $7 billion. Slack took a market that had once been in the doldrums and turned it into something significant by making itself more than a communications tool.

It changed the game by making itself a work hub. Through APIs and UI updates, it has made it simple for countless third parties (like Evernote) to integrate with Slack and provide the long-sought workplace hub for the enterprise. Instead of task switching, you can work mostly in one place and keep your focus on your work.

It’s quite a value proposition and it has enabled Slack to raise $1.2 billion (with a b) across 11 funding rounds, according to data on Crunchbase. They have grown to 8 million daily active users. They boast 70,000 teams paying to use it. Whatever they are doing, it’s working.

Competing with corporate behemoths

That said, Slack’s success has always been a bit surprising because it’s facing off against giants like Microsoft, Facebook, Google, Cisco, Salesforce and many others, all gunning for this upstart’s market. In fact, Microsoft is giving Teams away for free to Office 365 customers. You could say it’s hard to compete with free, yet Slack continues to hold its own (and also offers a free version, for the record).

Perhaps that’s because it doesn’t require customers to use any particular toolset. Microsoft Teams is great for Microsoft users. Google Hangouts is great for G Suite users. You’re already signed in and it’s all included in the package, and there is a huge convenience factor there, but Slack works on anything and with anything and companies have shown there is great value in that.

The question is can Slack continue to play David to these corporate behemoths or will patience, bushels of cash on hand and a long view allow these traditional tech companies to eventually catch up and pass the plucky newbie. Nobody can see into the future, but obviously investors recognize it takes a lot of capital to keep up with what the competition is bringing to the table.

Expanding their reach

They also clearly have some confidence in the company’s ability to keep growing and keep the titans at bay or they wouldn’t have thrown all of that moolah at them. Up until now, they seem to have always found a way, but they need to step up if they are going to keep it going.

Alan Lepofsky, an analyst with Constellation Research, who keeps a careful eye on the enterprise collaboration market, says in a recent video commentary that it’s great they got all this money, but now that someone has shown them all of this dough, they have to prove they know what to do with it.

“For Slack to continue to be successful, they need to expand beyond what they are currently doing and really, truly redefine the way people communicate, collaborate, coordinate around their work. They need to branch out to project management, task management, content creation — all sorts of things more than just collaboration.”

What comes next?

Lepofsky says this could happen via a build or buy scenario, or even partnering, but they need to use their money strategically to differentiate the product from the hefty competition and stay ahead in this market.

The other elephant in the room is the idea that one of the competing mega corporations could make a run at them and try to acquire them. It would take a boat load of money to make that happen, but if someone had the cojones to do it, they would be getting the state of the art, the market share, the engineering, the whole package.

For now, that’s pure speculation. For now, Slack is sitting comfortably on a huge cash pile, and perhaps they should go shopping and expand their product set with their newly found wealth, as Lepofsky suggests. If they can do that, maybe they can keep the technology wolves from the door and make their way down the path to their seemingly inevitable IPO.

[charliehatesyourmusic]

Live review: San Fermin aren’t here to sell laundry detergent

I think I’ve come quite a long way in terms of my musical open-mindedness. I’ve certainly learned to keep my mouth shut until I’ve had an adequate amount of time to think through the music I’m listening to. My going to see The 1975 live with my fiancé is a testament to my progress. I walked out of the show with their newest LP in tow. You really can’t understand a band until you’ve seen them live. Even if you don’t like them, you can’t “get it” until you’ve seen how they interact with their audience and deliver their lyrics. I didn’t appreciate the boy-band bullshit of The 1975 until I saw the lithe, curly-headed Matt Healy stagger around an incredibly lit stage, touting his message of equality (Loving Someone) and questioning his spiritual identity (If I Believe You). I felt that he believed what he was singing, a quality that a band as well-travelled as them often loses. Anyway, my point is whether I spin their record at the house all the time or not, I left the show appreciating what they were capable of doing.

This sort of thing happened to me again a few days ago. Since we’ve been dating, my fiancé has raved about a band she saw called San Fermin. I think I listened to them once after she mentioned them and wrote them off as another baroque pop ensemble in the same vein as Of Monsters And Men *shudders.* I didn’t think ill of them per say, I just read the book by its cover and didn’t revisit it. In my defense, the music industry has been saturated by these phony baroque pop bands since, and some might argue earlier, around 2010. Baroque pop has been around much longer, but the phony ones I’m referring to are the ones with those silly and blatant love metaphors, the breathy female vocals with the tender I-Wear-Suspenders male lead backing them, and the “we don’t wear shoes on stage, but we wear rather large hats and jump a lot” fuckery that brainwashed Coachella-going basic bitches for years. Put plainly, the shit they play in laundry detergent commercials. I could not care less about some shitty little grasshopper who fell in love with a lion or whatever-the-hell, so enough with the lousy metaphors, Aesop.

Of course the successful acts in the baroque pop sub-genre were successful because they didn’t feel like a gimmick. Their music is like a picture: they don’t need an Instagram filter, they actually took a great photo. I’m thinking of bands like Vampire Weekend, or even early Arcade Fire. There weren’t pandering, they were just making honest music. I didn’t think this type of honesty was still around in this sub-genre until recently.

I got the chance to take my fiancé to see San Fermin in Austin. From what I had heard and researched in the days leading up to the show, I surmised that the music would be better live and hoped the show would have the same effect The 1975 show had. To add some context, the man behind the lyrics and sweeping arrangements San Fermin is known for is Ellis Ludwig-Leone, a classically-trained Yale graduate who has worked with orchestras, ballets and lastly indie rock bands. You can do your own research on the band’s full history, but after learning of Leone’s educational upbringing, I was excited to see how he maintained the band. I was very pleasantly surprised.

We got to the show one or two songs into San Fermin’s set, and by then they already had the diverse audience bopping. We were welcomed by the sound of a trumpet and a saxophone, playing harmoniously over a pulsing beat. Onstage, I saw the mini brass section finish their part, dip their instruments down and fade into the background, letting the lead singers, the talented Charlene Kaye and Alan Tate, continue the song. This seamless exchange of power continued all night. Leone was on keyboard on the far left of the stage and introduced a song here and there, but otherwise the band was airtight. Despite having a very small stage for seven people (almost all with instruments) to share, the give-and-take between the members was remarkable. There was no ego onstage whatsoever. When the bridge of a song began, the two lead singers would kindly step back, allowing the trumpeter/saxophonist/violinist to take center stage. This improved the sound as well since the venue was so small. Because the arrangements were so tight and every member of the band was on point, I kept watching Leone to see if he was giving any physical cues to the rest of the band, like Jack to Meg. I saw none. This was not their first rodeo. Leone expected and was confident that every member would be on their game.

The music itself sounded incredible. The venue was perfect for San Fermin’s brand of music. The lyrics aren’t particularly complicated or worth writing home about, but I’ll be damned if it doesn’t sound pretty. Tate’s baritone rumble and Kaye’s operatic flourishes are like a more classical XX. Between songs the band had total control of the audience. Every break was followed by applause, then silent anticipation for the next piece. Kaye’s charm and Tate’s broodiness played well off each other. Every member of the band was having the time of their lives without looking like that’s what they wanted you to think. The emotion I picked up on were genuine, not manufactured like a mega-church worship ceremony. This fact was confirmed after the show. The band hung around the venue and allowed fans to talk to them. I awkwardly bopped around, trying to talk to everyone. I met the trumpeter first, telling him it was the first time I had seen them and that I enjoyed it very much. I met Kaye next, who gave me a hug immediately and introduced herself. She told me that three of her band-members were playing in a punk band later that night and I should check them out. Between that fact and seeing Kaye go from singing to playing guitar to playing drums, I knew this band had many talents beyond their chosen genre. She was perfectly kind and very real. Nothing changed between her controlling the audience and her being among the audience. She was sweet to the doe-eyed little girls (I say little, I mean high-schoolers) who came to admire her, hugging each one and thanking them.

I finally made it to Leone, who was overrun with girls in cutoff t-shirts and underwhelming personalities. Once I ran them off, I got to tell him how much I enjoyed the show. I told him, trying my best to not seem like a creep, that I had researched his background and had been excited to see his arrangements live. He humbly replied, “Yeah I write it, but I kind of just let them,” he gestured to Kaye and Tate, “do their thing.” I was dumbfounded by how grounded he was. He seemed to understand the dynamic a band like San Fermin needs to be successful. Like a Gordon Ramsay kitchen, ego cannot stand in the way of success. I fully expected Leone to be a pretentious little dude from New York, but like the rest of his outfit, he was very kind and thankful that I had been “converted.”

At the end of the night, I had their new record in my hands and an autographed poster if, for nothing else, a reminder that kindness and selflessness exist in the music industry. While their music may not be 100% up my alley, I can support any band that makes music that doesn’t try to be something it isn’t. I can support any band whose members are just happy to play music and genuinely enjoy hanging out with their fans. I’m sure a lot of bands are like this, but going to see a band with no expectations added to my feeling of happy surprise.

I could rant and bitch about flowery, gimmicky bands that crank out fake emotions and manipulate their fans for hours, but this post is about the opposite. Even if you hear San Fermin and don’t really feel the music, they’re still very good at what they do. And above all, they haven’t let it get to their heads.

[leftpress]

2016: The Death Of Liberalism

The year 2016 ended with two more dramatic and bloody occurrences: the assassination of the Russian ambassador in Istanbul and the brutal murder of people in Berlin who were peacefully enjoying preparations for Christmas. These events were linked to the bloody morass in the Middle East and more specifically to Syria.

January 05, 2017 | Alan Woods

The fall of Aleppo represented a decisive turn in the situation. Russia, which was supposed to have been isolated and humbled by the “international community” (read Washington) now controls Syria and decides what happens there. It called a peace conference in Kazakhstan to which neither the Americans nor the Europeans were invited, followed by an agreement for a ceasefire dictated on Russia’s terms.

In different ways these developments expressed the same phenomenon: the old world order is dead and in its place we are faced with a future of instability and conflict, the outcome of which nobody can predict. The year 2016 therefore represented a turning point in history. It was a year marked by crisis and turbulence on a global scale.

Twenty-five years ago after the fall of the Soviet Union the defenders of capitalism were euphoric. They spoke of the death of socialism and communism and even the end of history. They promised us a future of peace and prosperity thanks to the triumph of the free market economy and democracy.

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Liberalism had triumphed and therefore history had reached its final expression in capitalism. That was the essential meaning of the now notorious phrase of Francis Fukuyama. But now the wheel of history has turned full circle. Today not one stone upon another is left of those confident predictions of the strategists of capital. History has returned with a vengeance.

Suddenly the world seems to be afflicted by strange and unprecedented phenomena that defy all the attempts of the political experts to explain them. On 23 June the people of Britain voted in a referendum to leave the European Union – a result that nobody expected, which caused shock waves on an international scale. But these were as nothing compared to the tsunami provoked by the result of the American presidential elections – a result that nobody expected, including the man who won.

Within hours of the election of Donald Trump, the streets of cities all over the United States were filled with demonstrators. These events are the dramatic confirmation of the instability that has afflicted the entire world. Overnight the old certainties have disappeared. There is a general ferment in society and a sense of widespread uncertainty filled the ruling class and its ideologues with deep foreboding.

The apologists of capitalist liberalism complain bitterly about the rise of politicians like Donald Trump who represents the antithesis of what is known as “liberal values.” For such people the year 2016 seems like a nightmare. They are hoping that they will wake up and find that it was all a dream, that yesterday will return and tomorrow will see a better day. But for bourgeois liberalism there will be no reawakening and no tomorrow.

Political commentators speak with dread of the rise of something they call “populism”, a word that is as elastic as it is meaningless. The use of such amorphous terminology merely signifies that those who use it have no idea what they’re talking about. In strict etymological terms populism is merely a Latin translation of the Greek demagogy. The term is applied with the same gusto that a bad painter plasters a wall with a thick coat of paint to cover up his mistakes. It is used to describe such a wide variety of political phenomena that it becomes entirely devoid of any real content.

The leaders of Podemos and Geert Wilders, Jaroslaw Kaczynski and Evo Morales, Rodrigo Duterte and Hugo Chavez, Jeremy Corbyn and Marine Le Pen – all are tarred with the same populist brush. It is sufficient to compare the real content of these movements that are not only different but radically antagonistic to realise the utter futility of such language. It is not calculated to clarify but to confuse, or more correctly to cover up the confusion of stupid bourgeois political commentators.

The death of liberalism

In its editorial of 24 December 2016 The Economist chanted a hymn of praise to its beloved liberalism. Liberals, we are told, believe in “open economies and open societies, where the free exchange of goods, capital, people and ideas is encouraged and where universal freedoms are protected from state abuse by the rule of law.” Such a beautiful picture really ought to be set to music.

But then the article sadly concludes that 2016 “has been a year of setbacks. Not just over Brexit and the election of Donald Trump, but also the tragedy of Syria, abandoned to its suffering, and widespread support—in Hungary, Poland and beyond—for ‘illiberal democracy’. As globalisation has become a slur, nationalism, and even authoritarianism, have flourished. In Turkey relief at the failure of a coup was overtaken by savage (and popular) reprisals. In the Philippines voters chose a president who not only deployed death squads but bragged about pulling the trigger. All the while Russia, which hacked Western democracy, and China, which just last week set out to taunt America by seizing one of its maritime drones, insist liberalism is merely a cover for Western expansion.”

The beautiful hymn of praise to liberalism and Western values has ended on a sour note. The Economist concludes bitterly: “Faced with this litany, many liberals (of the free-market sort) have lost their nerve. Some have written epitaphs for the liberal order and issued warnings about the threat to democracy. Others argue that, with a timid tweak to immigration law or an extra tariff, life will simply return to normal.”

But life will not simply “return to normal” – or more correctly, we will enter a new stage of what The Economist refers to as a “new normality”: A period of endless cuts, austerity and falling living standards. In reality, we have been living in this new normality for quite some time. And very serious consequences flow from this.

The global crisis of capitalism has created conditions that are completely unlike the conditions that existed (at least for a handful of privileged countries) four decades after the Second World War. That period witnessed the biggest upswing of the productive forces of capitalism since the Industrial Revolution. This was the soil on which the much vaunted “liberal values” could flourish. The economic boom provided the capitalists with sufficient profits to grant concessions to the working class.

That was the golden era of reformism. But the present period is the era, not of reforms but of counter-reforms. This is not the result of ideological prejudice, as some foolish reformists imagine. It is the necessary consequence of the crisis of the capitalist system that has reached its limits. The whole process that unfolded over a period of six decades is now thrown into reverse.

Instead of reforms and rising living standards, the working class everywhere is faced with cuts, austerity, unemployment and impoverishment. The degradation of working conditions, wages, rights and pensions falls most heavily on the poorest and most vulnerable sections of society. The idea of equality for women is being eroded by the remorseless search for increased profitability. A whole generation of young people is being deprived of a future. That is the essence of the present period.

The elite’s Marie Antoinette moment

The ruling class and its strategists find it hard to accept the reality of the present situation and are completely blind to the political consequences that flow from it. The same blindness can be observed in every ruling class that is facing extinction and refuses to accept it. As Lenin correctly observed, a man standing on the edge of a precipice does not reason.

The Financial Times published an interesting article by Wolfgang Münchau entitled “The elite’s Marie Antoinette moment”. It begins as follows:

“Some revolutions could have been avoided if the old guard had only refrained from provocation. There is no proof of a ‘let them eat cake’ incident. But this is the kind of thing Marie Antoinette could have said. It rings true. The Bourbons were hard to beat as the quintessential out-of-touch establishment.

“They have competition now.

“Our global liberal democratic establishment is behaving in much the same way. At a time when Britain has voted to leave the EU, when Donald Trump has been elected US president, and Marine Le Pen is marching towards the Elys��e Palace, we — the gatekeepers of the global liberal order — keep on doubling down.”

The comparison with the French Revolution is highly instructive. Everywhere the ruling class and its “experts” have shown themselves to be completely out of touch with the real situation in society. They assumed that the order of things that emerged from the post-war economic boom would continue forever. The market economy and bourgeois “democracy” were the unquestioned paradigms of the epoch.

Their smug complacency precisely resembled that of the unfortunate Marie Antoinette, the Queen of France. It is by no means certain that her famous phrase was ever pronounced, but it accurately reflects the mentality of a degenerate ruling class that has no interest in the sufferings of ordinary people or the inevitable consequences that flow from them.

In the end Marie Antoinette lost her head and now the ruling class and its political representatives are losing theirs. The Financial Times article continues:

“Why is this happening? Macroeconomists thought no one would dare challenge their authority. Italian politicians have been playing power games forever. And the job of EU civil servants is to find ingenious ways of spiriting politically tricky legislation and treaties past national legislatures. Even as the likes of Ms Le Pen, Mr Grillo and Geert Wilders of the far-right Dutch Freedom party head towards power, the establishment keeps acting this way. A Bourbon regent, in an uncharacteristic moment of reflection, would have backed off. Our liberal capitalist order, with its competing institutions, is constitutionally incapable of doing that. Doubling down is what it is programmed to do.

“The correct course of action would be to stop insulting voters and, more importantly, to solve the problems of an out-of-control financial sector, uncontrolled flows of people and capital, and unequal income distribution. In the eurozone, political leaders found it expedient to muddle through the banking crisis and then a sovereign debt crisis — only to find Greek debt is unsustainable and the Italian banking system is in serious trouble. Eight years on, there are still investors out there betting on a collapse of the eurozone as we know it.”

In 1938 Trotsky wrote that the ruling class was tobogganing to disaster with its eyes closed. The above lines are a graphic illustration of this fact. And Mr Münchau draws the following conclusion quote:

“But it is not happening for the same reason it did not happen in revolutionary France. The gatekeepers of western capitalism, like the Bourbons before them, have learnt nothing and forgotten nothing.”

The collapse of the centre

Contrary to the old prejudice of the liberals, human consciousness is not progressive but profoundly conservative. Most people do not like change. They cling obstinately to the old ideas, prejudices, religion and morality because they are familiar and what is familiar is always more comforting than what is not. The idea of change is frightening because it is unknown. These fears are deeply rooted in the human psyche and have existed from time immemorial.

Yet change is as necessary to the survival of the human race as it is to the survival of the individual. The absence of change is death. The human body constantly changes from the moment of birth; all cells break down, die and are replaced with new cells. The child must disappear in order for the adult to be born.

Yet it is not difficult to understand people’s aversion to change. Habit, routine, tradition – all these things are necessary for the maintenance of social norms that underpin the functioning of society. Over a long period they become ingrained, conditioning the daily activities of millions of men and women. They are universally accepted, as are respect for the laws and customs, the rules of political life and the existing institutions: in a word, the status quo.

Something similar exists in science. In his profound and penetrating study The Structure of Scientific Revolutions Thomas S. Kuhn explains how every period in the development of science is based on an existing paradigm that is generally accepted, providing a necessary framework for scientific work. For a long time this paradigm serves a useful purpose. But eventually small, apparently insignificant contradictions appear that eventually lead to the downfall of the old paradigm and its replacement with a new one. This, according to Kuhn, constitutes the essence of a scientific revolution.

Exactly the same dialectical process occurs in society. Ideas that have existed for so long that they have hardened into prejudices eventually enter into conflict with existing reality. At that point, a revolution in consciousness begins to take place. People begin to question what seemed to be unquestionable. Ideas that were comfortable because they provided certainty are shattered on the rock of hard reality. For the first time people begin to shake off the old comfortable illusions and look reality in the face.

The real cause of the fears of the ruling class is the collapse of the political centre. What we are seeing in Britain, the United States, Spain and many other countries is a sharp and increasing polarisation between left and right in politics, which in turn is merely a reflection of an increasing polarisation between the classes. This in turn is a reflection of the deepest crisis in the history of capitalism.

For the last hundred years the political system in the USA was based on two parties – the Democrats and Republicans – that both stood for the maintenance of capitalism and both represented the interests of the banks and big business. This was very well expressed by Gore Vidal who wrote “our Republic has one party, the property party, with two right wings.”

This was the solid foundation for the stability and longevity of what Americans regarded as “democracy”. In reality, this bourgeois democracy was merely a fig leaf to conceal the reality of the dictatorship of the bankers and capitalists. Now this convenient setup is being challenged and shaken to the core. Millions of people are waking up to the rottenness of the political establishment and the fact that they are being deceived by those who claim to represent them. This is the prior condition for a social revolution.

Crisis of reformism

We see a similar situation in Britain, where for 100 years Labour and Conservatives alternated in power, providing the same kind of stability for the ruling class. The Labour Party and Conservative party were run by solid, respectable men and women who could be relied upon to run society in the interests of the bankers and capitalists of the city of London. But the election of Jeremy Corbyn has upset the apple cart.

The ruling class fears that the massive influx of new members into the Labour Party may break the stranglehold of the right wing over Labour. That explains the panic of the ruling class and the vitriolic nature of the campaign against Corbyn.

The crisis of capitalism is also the crisis of reformism. The strategists of capital resemble the Bourbons, but the reformist leaders are only a poor imitation of the former. They are the blindest of the blind. The reformists, both of the right and left varieties, have no understanding of the real situation. Though they pride themselves on being great realists, they are the worst kind of utopians.

Like the liberals of whom they are merely a pale reflection, they are pining after the past that has vanished beyond return. They complain bitterly about the unfairness of capitalism, not realising that the policies of the bourgeoisie are dictated by the economic necessity of capitalism itself.

It is a supreme irony of history that the reformists have fully embraced the market economy precisely at a time when it is breaking down before our very eyes. They had accepted capitalism as something that is given once and for all, that cannot be questioned and certainly not overthrown. The alleged realism of the reformists is the realism of a man who tries to persuade a tiger to eat salads instead of human flesh. Naturally, the realist who attempted to perform this laudable feat did not succeed in convincing the Tiger and ended up inside its belly.

What the reformists to not understand is that if you accept capitalism you must also accept the laws of capitalism. And under modern conditions that means accepting cuts and austerity. Nowhere is the bankruptcy of reformism more clearly expressed than in the fact that they no longer talk about socialism. Nor do they talk about capitalism. Instead they complain of the evils of “neoliberalism”, that is to say, they do not object to capitalism per se but only a particular model of capitalism. But the so-called neoliberalism is merely a euphemism for capitalism in the period of crisis.

The reformists who imagine that they are great realists are dreaming of a return to the conditions of the past when that past has already receded into history. The period that now opens up will be entirely different. In the decades that followed 1945, the class struggle in the advanced capitalist countries was attenuated to some extent as a result of the reforms won by the working class through struggle.

Trotsky explained long ago that betrayal is implicit in reformism in all its varieties. By this he did not mean that reformists consciously betray the working class. There are many honest reformists, as well as a fair number of corrupt careerists. But the way to hell is paved with good intentions. If you accept the capitalist system – as all reformists do, whether right or left – then you must obey the laws of the capitalist system. In a period of capitalist crisis, this means the inevitability of cuts and attacks on living standards.

This lesson had to be learnt by Tsipras and Varoufakis in Greece. They came to power with huge popular support on an anti-austerity programme, but were very quickly made to understand by Merkel and Schäuble that this was not on the agenda. In the end they capitulated and meekly carried out the austerity programme dictated by Berlin and Brussels. We saw a similar situation in France where Hollande won a massive victory promising an anti-austerity programme, then did 180° turn and carried out even deeper cuts than the previous right-wing government. The inevitable result has been the rise of Marine Le Pen and the Front National.

Capitalism in a blind alley

In countries like the United States every generation since the Second World War could look forward to a better standard of living than that enjoyed by their parents. In the decades of economic boom workers became accustomed to relatively easy victories. The trade union leaders did not have to struggle much to obtain wage increases. Reforms were considered to be the norm. Today was better than yesterday and tomorrow would be better than today.

In the long period of capitalist upswing, the class consciousness of the workers was somewhat blunted. Instead of clear-cut class socialist policies, the workers’ movement has been infected with alien ideas through the transmission belt of the petty bourgeoisie which has elbowed the workers to one side and drowned out their voice with the shrill declamations of middle-class radicalism.

The so-called political correctness with its mishmash of half-baked ideas fished out of the rubbish bin of bourgeois liberalism has gradually become accepted even in the trade unions where the right-wing reformist leaders eagerly seize upon it as a substitute for class policies and socialist ideas. The left reformists in particular have played a pernicious role in this respect. It will take the hammer blows of events to demolish these prejudices that have a corrosive effect on consciousness.

But the crisis of capitalism does not permit such luxuries. Today’s generation of young people for the first time will face worse conditions of life than their parents enjoyed. Gradually this new reality is forcing itself on the consciousness of the masses. That is the reason for the present ferment of discontent that exists in all countries and is acquiring an explosive character. It is the explanation for the political earthquakes that have taken place in Britain, Spain, Greece, Italy, the United States and many other countries. It is a warning that revolutionary developments are being prepared.

It is true that at this stage the movement is characterised by a tremendous confusion. How could it be otherwise, when those organisations and parties that should be placing themselves at the head of a movement to transform society instead have been transformed into monstrous obstacles in the path of the working class? The masses are seeking a way out of the crisis, putting political parties, leaders and programs to the test. Those who fail the test are mercilessly cast to one side. There are violent swings on the electoral front, both to the left and to the right. All this is a harbinger of revolutionary change.

In retrospect the period of half a century that followed the Second World War will be seen as an historical exception. The peculiar concatenation of circumstances that produced this situation in all likelihood will never be repeated. What we face now is precisely a return to normal capitalism. The smiling face of liberalism, reformism and democracy will be cast aside to reveal the ugly physiognomy of capitalism as it really is.

Towards a new October!

A new period opens up before us – a period of storm and stress that will be far more similar to the 1930s than the period after 1945. All the illusions of the past will be burned out of the consciousness of the masses with a hot iron. In such a period as this the working class will have to fight hard to defend the gains of the past, and in the course of bitter struggle will come to understand the need for a thoroughgoing revolutionary programme. Either capitalism is overthrown, or a terrible fate awaits humanity. That is the only alternative. Any other course of action is a lie and a deceit. It is time to look truth in the face.

On the basis of diseased capitalism there can be no way forward for the working class and the youth. The liberals and reformists are striving with might and main to prop it up. They whimper about the threat to democracy, hiding the fact that so-called bourgeois democracy is merely a fig leaf behind which hides the crude reality of the dictatorship of the banks and big business. They will try to lure the working class into alliances to “defend democracy”, but this is a hypocritical farce.

The only force that has a real interest in democracy is the working class itself. The so-called liberal bourgeoisie is incapable of fighting reaction, which flows directly from the capitalist system upon which its wealth and privileges are based. It was Obama who paved the way for the victory of Trump, just as it was Hollande who has paved the way for the rise of Le Pen.

In reality, the old system is already breaking down before our very eyes. The symptoms of its decay are evident to all. Everywhere we see economic crises, social breakdown, disorder, wars, destruction and chaos. It is a terrible picture, but it flows from the fact that capitalism has led humanity into a blind alley.

It is not the first time that we have seen such things. The same symptoms can be seen in the period of the decline and fall of the Roman Empire and the period of decay of feudal society. It is no accident that men and women in those days imagined that the end of the world was approaching. But what was approaching was not the end of the world but only the end of a particular social economic system that had exhausted its potential and become a monstrous obstacle in the path of human progress.

Lenin once said that capitalism is horror without end. We now see the literal truth of this assertion. But alongside the horrors produced by a decadent and reactionary system there is another side to the picture. Our epoch is a birth-time, and a period of transition from one historical period to another. Such periods are always characterised by pains, which are the pains of a new society that is struggling to be born, while the old society struggles to preserve itself by strangling the child in the womb.

The old world is dying on its feet. That it is tottering to its fall is indicated by unmistakable symptoms. The rot is spreading in the established order of things, its institutions are collapsing. The defenders of the old order are seized by an undefined foreboding of something unknown. All these things betoken that there is something else approaching.

This gradual crumbling to pieces will be speeded up by the eruption of the working class on the scene of history. Those sceptics who wrote off the working class will be forced to eat their words. Volcanic forces are building up beneath the surface of society. The contradictions are building up to the point where they cannot be endured any further.

Our task is to shorten this painful process and ensure that the birth takes place with the least possible suffering. In order to do this it is necessary to accomplish the overthrow of the present system that has become a terrible barrier to the development of the human race and a threat to its future.

All those who are trying to preserve the old order, to patch it up, to reform it, to provide it with crutches that will enable it to hobble along for a few years or decades more are playing the most reactionary role. They are preventing the birth of a new society which alone can offer a future to humanity and put an end to the existing nightmare of capitalism.

The New World that is struggling to be born is called socialism. It is our job to ensure that this birth takes place as soon as possible and with the least possible pain and suffering. The way to achieve this end is to build a powerful worldwide Marxist tendency with educated cadres and strong links with the working class.

One hundred years ago an event took place that the changed the course of world history. In a backward semi feudal country on the edge of Europe, the working class moved to change society. Nobody expected this, on the contrary. The objective conditions for a socialist revolution in Russia seemed to be non-existent.

Europe was in the grip of a terrible war. The workers of Britain, France, Germany and Russia were slaughtering each other in the name of imperialism. In such a context the slogan “workers of the world unite” must have seemed like an expression of bitter sarcasm. Russia itself was ruled by a powerful autocratic regime with a huge army and police force and secret police whose tentacles extended to every political party – including the Bolsheviks.

And yet, in this seemingly impossible situation the workers of Russia moved to take power into their own hands. They overthrew the tsar and established democratic organs of power, the Soviets. Only nine months later the Bolshevik Party, which at the beginning of the revolution was a tiny force of no more than 8000 members, came to power.

One hundred years later Marxists are facing the same task that Lenin and Trotsky faced in 1917. Our forces are small and our resources are meagre, but we are armed with the most powerful weapon: the weapon of ideas. Marx said that ideas become a material force when they grip the mind of the masses. For a long time we were fighting against a powerful current. But the tide of history is now flowing strongly in our direction.

Ideas which are listened to by ones and twos today will be eagerly received by millions in the period that now opens up. Great events can take place with extreme rapidity, transforming the whole situation. The consciousness of the working class can change in a matter of days or hours. Our task is to prepare the cadres for the great events that impend. Our banner is the banner of October. Our ideas are the ideas of Lenin and Trotsky. That is the ultimate guarantee of our success.

London, 5th January 2017.

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[fmservers]

Slack must use cash hoard to find new ways to keep competition at bay

It was quite a week for Slack, wasn’t it? The enterprise communications platform confirmed this publication’s earlier report that it had scored another $427 million investment on an over-the-moon valuation of over $7 billion. Slack took a market that had once been in the doldrums and turned it into something significant by making itself more than a communications tool.

It changed the game by making itself a work hub. Through APIs and UI updates, it has made it simple for countless third parties (like Evernote) to integrate with Slack and provide the long-sought workplace hub for the enterprise. Instead of task switching, you can work mostly in one place and keep your focus on your work.

It’s quite a value proposition and it has enabled Slack to raise $1.2 billion (with a b) across 11 funding rounds, according to data on Crunchbase. They have grown to 8 million daily active users. They boast 70,000 teams paying to use it. Whatever they are doing, it’s working.

Competing with corporate behemoths

That said, Slack’s success has always been a bit surprising because it’s facing off against giants like Microsoft, Facebook, Google, Cisco, Salesforce and many others, all gunning for this upstart’s market. In fact, Microsoft is giving Teams away for free to Office 365 customers. You could say it’s hard to compete with free, yet Slack continues to hold its own (and also offers a free version, for the record).

Perhaps that’s because it doesn’t require customers to use any particular toolset. Microsoft Teams is great for Microsoft users. Google Hangouts is great for G Suite users. You’re already signed in and it’s all included in the package, and there is a huge convenience factor there, but Slack works on anything and with anything and companies have shown there is great value in that.

The question is can Slack continue to play David to these corporate behemoths or will patience, bushels of cash on hand and a long view allow these traditional tech companies to eventually catch up and pass the plucky newbie. Nobody can see into the future, but obviously investors recognize it takes a lot of capital to keep up with what the competition is bringing to the table.

Expanding their reach

They also clearly have some confidence in the company’s ability to keep growing and keep the titans at bay or they wouldn’t have thrown all of that moolah at them. Up until now, they seem to have always found a way, but they need to step up if they are going to keep it going.

Alan Lepofsky, an analyst with Constellation Research, who keeps a careful eye on the enterprise collaboration market, says in a recent video commentary that it’s great they got all this money, but now that someone has shown them all of this dough, they have to prove they know what to do with it.

“For Slack to continue to be successful, they need to expand beyond what they are currently doing and really, truly redefine the way people communicate, collaborate, coordinate around their work. They need to branch out to project management, task management, content creation — all sorts of things more than just collaboration.”

What comes next?

Lepofsky says this could happen via a build or buy scenario, or even partnering, but they need to use their money strategically to differentiate the product from the hefty competition and stay ahead in this market.

The other elephant in the room is the idea that one of the competing mega corporations could make a run at them and try to acquire them. It would take a boat load of money to make that happen, but if someone had the cojones to do it, they would be getting the state of the art, the market share, the engineering, the whole package.

For now, that’s pure speculation. For now, Slack is sitting comfortably on a huge cash pile, and perhaps they should go shopping and expand their product set with their newly found wealth, as Lepofsky suggests. If they can do that, maybe they can keep the technology wolves from the door and make their way down the path to their seemingly inevitable IPO.

Via Ron Miller https://techcrunch.com

[getseriouser]

20 THOUGHTS: Ben Stokes cleared, Snicko suggets he is lucky

TOUGH week of football.

Where the week before we celebrated the return of a few who had been cruelled by injury and the warm glow that gave us, one of those we saluted suffered the unthinkable and it just flattened us all.

Alex Johnson, who had gone the best part of six years on the sidelines with five knee recos, in his second game back does the good knee for the first time and its back to the grind of surgery and endless rehab.

Bloody unfair sometimes isn't it.

Could be worse. Could get paid a shirtload to become Australia’s new Bachelor before discovering that one of the 25 contestants prying for your eternal love is your stalker ex from the gym who wrote your name in her diary under a list of life goals.

Yikes.

You’d almost take the ACL. Almost.

 1.               Richmond have had no injuries at all for two years (Dion Prestia, a little bit, and yeah, Reece Conca, but that’s it), whereas the Eagles have now got injury and suspension issues, GWS and Collingwood are decimated, Sydney's lost half its backline in one week, Melbourne's lost their CHF and Port Adelaide lost its spine in a half of football.

 Hawthorn's the only reasonably fit team left, that's going to be mega important. Continuity is key, its why Richmond won last year, its why Hawthorn has snuck into the top four and rebuilt on the run gelling beautifully; when they were looking at an uphill battle to make the eight only a couple months ago, now they are such a live chance.

 2.               Yes, the Dees have not beaten anyone in the top nine, but Max Gawn had a shot to win in Round One, they were actually in front when the siren went in the rematch down Geelong, got within 9 points of Sydney and 10 points of Port. Bit of luck they win two of those four and it’s a moot point.

 3.               Someone really key to Melbourne's fortunes who should be back this week, Jake Melksham. Usually the realm of Shane Edwards and then daylight, the Dee is leading the league in goal assists, one ahead of the Tiger. The Dees are the highest scoring team in the comp and should they make September and do anything, whilst defence usually prevails their gung ho ballistic style is their best shot of making waves, and the former Bomber is critical in that.

 4.               How much do the Roos miss Ben Jacobs? He plays they win on Sunday. The Dogs get up by 7 points with Hunter, Macrae both getting 40, Bont getting 35. Jacobs curtails one of those somewhat and it's probably worth a couple kicks. The Roos will be ok, Polec is far from Michael Long but he isn't Jared Oakley-Nicholls, Tarryn Thomas as an Academy player looks really good and Luke Davies-Uniacke will be better again next year. The Roos are ok.

 5.               Its my understanding that Tom Lynch has chosen Collingwood. It appears that when Lynch was down in Melbourne recently and met with the Pies on a number of occasions, one of those meetings was with the vice-president Alex Waislitz. Waislitz is a billionaire investor and heavy hitter around town. Lynch’s catch up with the Pies vice-president was to talk about third party employment opportunities and life after football. The word though is that the significance of said meeting with Waislitz is that it was not as part of the sell or pitch to entice the Suns captain to Collingwood, but because Wasilitz would only then get involved once there's been a commitment made. So, on that basis, if that's the only reason why a meeting with Waislitz takes place, and it did indeed happen, we're adding one with one and getting two.

 However, as in the Murdoch press this week, there are still rumblings out there that Richmond thinks they have him across the line (they did also have the same feeling about Adam Treloar), Mark Williams who was a part of the club for a number of years is 100% confident Lynch will be a Tiger. Then this week that perhaps Nathan Buckley's comments on Footy Classified confirming and publicising private meetings may have disgruntled Lynch. Maybe there will be a final twist, maybe he was over the line with the Pies and now perhaps its back to an open race?

 6.               Whoever does land Lynch I don't believe will have to endure the same thing Geelong did with Dangerfield. Both Lynch now and Danger then were restricted free agents, which, unlike unrestricted, allows their current clubs the right to match the contract and retain the player. For example, when Carlton signed Dale Thomas, Collingwood had the right to match the terms and then retain him, but they waived that right and Thomas moved in free agency. With Dangerfield, the Cats signed him but the Crows, to be difficult but to extract a better compensation, matched the contract despite the player clearly keen to get home and forced both clubs to the trade table where a trade was then worked out and transacted. Where this differs for Lynch and the Gold Coast I believe is that the way they have moved on from their former co-captain suggests they in no way want to run the risk of matching a contract to then not be able to do the trade, or even do a trade better than the free agency compensation they'd receive for not matching anyway (a first round pick after their current selection, so pick 2 and then pick 3 as compensation). So, the winning club for Lynch, who we believe is the Pies, should get the All-Australian for nothing.

 7.               Gary Ablett got all the best on votes from the media in their loss to Hawthorn last Saturday. But whilst 32 touches and three goals looks great on paper, was he really that influential? The Coaches votes tell an interesting story, both coaches gave Danger best on, James Worpel got six, Burgoyne four, Smith and O'Meara three. Ablett? A two from one coach, a one from the other. Telling.

 Ablett should not be playing majority midfield. Selwood is statistically matching last year but with the likes of Menegola and Kelly having good years he is getting lost in the rotations. Dangerfield won a Brownlow in the midfield with Selwood next to him, Ablett is getting plenty of pill, but as we saw with Richmond late in the game he stuffed it. He would be one of the greatest forwards in the game if he was primarily inside 50. But onball, he is nowhere near as amazing as he once was, Selwood is feeling the squeeze and the Cats are underperforming.

 8.               So Tom Mitchell and that Brownlow. He had six best on grounds last year according to the umpires, and in those games he had one 50 disposal game, a 44, 39, 37, 36 and 35. Well, this year, two games of 50 or more, then another nine of 40 plus. Even if gets three votes in six of those, two votes in the other five, that’s 28 votes and probably unassailable. Under $1.50 with most reputable bookmakers, his only competition based on the odds is Patrick Cripps who will poll well but is in a two-win team, nowhere near enough to win, or if one of Clayton Oliver or Max Gawn take most of the Melbourne votes somehow and don't split it pretty evenly as most think might happen.

 9.               Michael Voss coached 109 games for a 39.4% winning percentage. Gerard Neesham, 88 games coaching Freo, 36.4%. Tony Shaw too coached 88 games, he was 34.1%. Alan Richardson? 108 games, one less than Voss, winning percentage of 34.3%, on par with Shaw.

 10.         Josh Kelly might be the best midfielder in the game. Not averaging Tom Mitchell numbers, but we know this column doesn't subscribe to more must always mean better. Does it all, right foot, left foot, supreme skills, by hand, inside, outside, everything. Number one in the league for inside 50s and metres gained per game whilst being fourth in goal assists per game, all the while averaging 28 touches and six tackles. As long as the Giants can have him, Coniglio, Ward, Shiel and then Whitfield off half back, they can do enough damage to Richmond in a final with the calibre of those blokes getting their hands on the footy.

 11.         Have always though Gaff stays at West Coast, but with McGovern's new contract I reckon he could get tipped out, with a number of suitors in Melbourne after him, the Demons and Kangaroos up there. Tell you what, don’t discount the Hawks, they always are surprising and successful when it comes to new acquisitions. Given Gaff's a free agent it wouldn't shock me if the Hawks saw Gaff as one of the final pieces to their newly built midfield starring Mitchell and O'Meara.

 12.         On O'Meara, how is that knee hanging on? Great work by the Hawks medicos to take the punt on the former Sun and then to get continuity in his football so he can start to flourish once more, but gee, first Shaun Burgoyne, now O'Meara, working miracles down at Waverley.

 13.         Greg Denham suggests Aaron Sandilands is a smoky to head to West Coast next year because Nic Naitanui is out for the majority of 2019. Now Greg. The Eagles have the option to somehow keep Scott Lycett around first and foremost, or, look to get further backup in and run with Nathan Vardy and then perhaps a Jordan Roughead or similar, but Sandilands? Please. Not sure if Greg's making stuff up because he is upset that Fairfax is now Nine and to some people that really makes a difference (um, The Age will still be called The Age, not the Channel Nine Gazette all of a sudden) or maybe hayfever has hit him early and he can't see the dribble his ageing fingertips are striking on his home office keyboard. Time for a spell Greg.

 14.         Not often this column whacks a Collingwood premiership player, but its needed. Dale Thomas. Having his best year for average disposals since moving to Royal Parade, 22 a game, his best return since the 2011 Grand Final year in fact. But he averages less than two tackles a game, last weekend against Freo he might have got 30 touches but did not lay one tackle. Only laid three tackles in the last five weeks. For someone who averaged well over three for most of his career at the Holden Centre, to have made one tackle or less in almost half his games this season is poor, a severe lack of leadership and one of the reasons the Blues are rooted to the bottom.

 Mind you, to be fair to Dale, he isn't the only jet from the 2010 Grand Finals who ain't making the tackles. Brendon Goddard. Has always averaged over three a game throughout his career, this season though, same as Thomas, under two, only four tackles in the last six games. Eight games this year without any. Trash.

 Oh, they are older players though, you say, and perhaps a bit outside? Yeah, ok, so let’s look at someone who, I don't know, turns 36 in October and such is his outside prowess he got the nickname 'Silk', Shaun Burgoyne. He had 13 tackles on the weekend alone – it took Dale Thomas until Round 8 to make his 13th tackle this season – and is averaging over four a game and has had only one tackle-free game all year in the bruise-free dismantling of the Suns in June.

 15.         You've enjoyed the footy of late? Seems like from late July onwards the games have been epic, a lot on the line, lots to play for, you name the cliché applies. Well, it might put a fork in the hope that the 17-5 proposal could solve the fixture imbalances. That model denotes the top six is locked in pretty much at the end of Round 17, teams seven through twelve are playing off for two finals spots and the bottom six please themselves. One example amongst many is that the Geelong-Hawthorn game on Saturday with 17-5 would probably not have happened, but it definitely would not have been anywhere as high stakes as it was though… so scrap that then.

 16.         Shout out to the Woodville-West Torrens footy club. This weekend in the SANFL is Retro Round, so clubs are dialling back the clocks to wear jumpers from yesteryear. Now the merger of the Warriors and Eagles happened 25 years ago, so in choosing their guernsey they’ve thought outside the box, in what I'd call a "hard tacos, soft tacos, why can't we have both" solution. They have designed a 1980s inspired Woodville guernsey, traditional green and gold, but then if you reverse it inside out, it's a blue with yellow sash West Torrens guernsey from the same period. Two in one! But, it gets better, for the actual game this week against South Adelaide, they will wear the Warriors side for one half, then turn them inside out and wear the Eagles side for the other. Very clever, nicely done.

 17.         A pressure index of sort, the number of clangers made by opponents on average. Richmond number one, no surprise, their opponents average 61 a game, Collingwood second with 61 as well, North and West Coast next with 60 and 59 respectively. Carlton are down at 54, yet Essendon the lowest with 50. So perhaps whilst better of late, that average tells the tale of a lack of pressure early in the season when they gave up too many winnable games.

 18.         Jordan De Goey is Collingwood's second most important player. Brodie Grundy holds the mantle of most important due to his position as no.1 ruck, but De Goey goes close. Dynamically whether as a leading forward out of the goal square, crumbing, winning a contested ball or swooping on a loose ball, he is becoming money up forward for the Pies. But then, in the middle, he looks as dangerous in winning clearances as Scott Pendlebury, but moves, and moves the ball, as well as Adam Treloar. And he is only 22. Averaging 17 touches, four marks and two goals a game, but in the fifteen games he has played this season, the Pies are 12-3. 12 goals the last three weeks, but had 30 touches as a midfielder in their best win of the year on Queen's Birthday. His recent signature as important for that footy club as any in recent memory.

 19.         The kid's only played six games but Brayden Sier is not only winning the ball really well inside (four a game, same as Nathan Jones, Josh Kelly, to name but two) but crucially getting it moving forward really well. Only Kelly, Shaun Higgins and Dustin Martin average more inside 50s a game which is pretty decent company. Came into the side as a Treloar replacement but the 21-year-old, who would have taken home the rising star nom this week if it wasn't for Worpel-fever, might be making claims to his own best 22 spot now regardless.

 20.         If we see the victory over the Swans as an anomaly, then the Suns from Round 9 have kicked 42, 36, 26, 78, 43, 60, 58, 51, 44, 47 and 51, all in losses. In those 11 games that’s averaging 49 points for, 104 against, a percentage of 47%. This team has the resurging Lions this weekend in the Q Clash then the Cats in Geelong last round. Their AFL journey so far has yielded 17th (last), 17th, 14th, 12th, 16th, 15th, 17th and this year looks like 17th again. The Giants have made the last two prelims, and are odds on to make that weekend again. They too have kicked over 25,000 members, the Suns are stuck at 12,000. Can’t see respite for this club any time soon. Not next year, 2020 at a pinch if it all goes well, maybe, probably not. Yikes.

(originally published 16 August)

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World Cup 2018: All that you must learn about Sweden

World Cup 2018: All that you must learn about Sweden

World Cup 2018: All that you must learn about Sweden

Highlights: Sweden 1-Zero Switzerland

England v Sweden Date: Saturday, 7 July (15:00 BST). Venue: Samara Area, Samara. Protection: Watch the sport reside on BBC One, the BBC Sport web site and app. Pay attention reside on 5 reside, with reside textual content commentary on-line.

Sweden stand between England and a spot within the semi-finals of a World Cup for the primary time since 1990.

Janne Andersson’s facet arrived in Russia and not using a win in six video games, no objective in 337 minutes and with out nationwide hero Zlatan Ibrahimovic.

But Sweden, 24th in Fifa’s rankings – 12 locations under England – discover themselves two wins from a primary ultimate since 1958.

We check out the Scandinavians as they put together to satisfy Gareth Southgate’s workforce in Samara on Saturday (15:00 BST) – Sweden’s first World Cup quarter-final since 1994.

How Sweden bought to the quarter-finals

That is Sweden’s first World Cup since making it to the final 16 in Germany in 2006, a marketing campaign which included a 90th-minute equaliser by Henrik Larsson in a 2-2 group draw with England.

They bought to Russia the arduous means.

Regardless of beating France, Sweden had been runners-up to Les Bleus of their qualifying group though they did end above the Netherlands.

They then beat four-time world champions Italy 1-0 over two legs within the play-offs to e-book their place on the World Cup.

In Russia, Sweden had been positioned in Group F together with world champions Germany, Mexico and South Korea but completed high with six factors earlier than overcoming Switzerland 1-Zero within the final 16.

What can England anticipate from Sweden? Evaluation by Shearer & Jenas

No Zlatan however beware Sweden’s ice-Berg

There was discuss Ibrahimovic – probably the most embellished and iconic gamers of the fashionable sport – may come out of worldwide retirement for this match.

“If I would like I’m there,” said the 36-year-old – scorer of 62 objectives in 116 video games for his nation – in March.

Ibrahimovic, who introduced his retirement after Sweden had been knocked out of Euro 2016, shouldn’t be a part of Andersson’s squad but Sweden are progressing properly with out the previous Manchester United striker.

In whole, they’ve scored 33 objectives in 16 video games in qualifying and at this match. Targets have come from all areas of the workforce. In qualifying, defenders Mikael Lustig, Victor Lindelof and Andreas Granqvist scored seven of Sweden’s 27 objective between themselves.

Zlatan Ibrahimovic – watch the complete interview

Striker Marcus Berg was Sweden’s main scorer in qualifying with eight objectives in 11 matches, together with 4 in a single sport in opposition to Luxembourg, however has but to search out the web in Russia regardless of beginning all 4 video games.

Certainly, Berg has had 13 photographs with out scoring, probably the most of any participant to fail to attain at this World Cup.

Nevertheless the 31-year-old, who performs his membership soccer within the United Arab Emirates for Al Ain, did handle to win a penalty within the 3-0 group win over Mexico on 27 June.

Spot-kick kings

Sweden have netted six instances in 4 video games at this match. Nevertheless, solely half of these have been scored in open play by a participant in a Swedish shirt.

An personal objective helped seal their win in opposition to Mexico, whereas former Wigan Athletic participant Granqvist is the primary Swede to attain two or extra objectives in a single World Cup match since Larsson in 2002 after netting two spot-kicks in opposition to South Korea and Mexico.

Sweden additionally scored an additional 4 penalties in qualifying, with Granqvist getting three of them.

Penalties taken in a shootout are much less prone to discover the again of the web than these taken in common play, in response to analysis by Ben Lyttleton, soccer author and creator of a e-book on penalties

Sweden revelling of their underdog standing

Evaluation from BBC Sport’s Paul Fletcher, who watched Sweden beat Switzerland in St Petersburg

It has not gone unnoticed that BBC Radio 5 reside pundit Pat Nevin – a Scot, it must be famous – recommended the opposite day that 99 instances out of 100 England ought to beat Sweden.

Certainly, within the Swedish camp close to Krasnodar they’re completely delighted with this type of remark.

The gamers had been discussing it the day after their win over the Swiss and see it as an indication that the message they like to unfold is as soon as once more taking maintain.

“Properly, it’s enjoyable for England to have that type of confidence,” stated captain Granqvist. “Let’s simply see how the sport goes.”

France and Italy in World Cup qualification, Mexico and Switzerland right here in Russia – all have under-estimated Sweden, all misplaced. Germany had been minutes away from the identical destiny of their group sport.

Sweden know that they lack star high quality, they know that their power is that they’re a workforce within the true sense of the phrase; a gaggle of people working in the direction of a typical objective.

World Cup 2018: Mexico 0-Three Sweden highlights

The Swedish gamers assume they’ll frustrate the English by taking part in in a defensive, type of boring means. They wish to gradual the sport down, draw its sting.

Southgate’s workforce confirmed that they may keep cool and centered in opposition to opponents who tried to spoil and worsen in seeing off Colombia on Tuesday.

Now they have to present that they’ve the intelligence to recognise the Swedish plan and the persistence to beat it.

‘Lack of tempo and in need of concepts’

Evaluation by BBC Sport’s soccer knowledgeable Mark Lawrenson

Granqvist made extra clearances than anybody else in opposition to Switzerland however he’s their largest voice in addition to their stand-out defender.

Granqvist is the person who organises every part for them on the again, and he does an excellent job. That organisation is their apparent power – they had been actually compact in opposition to the Swiss and denied them any house between their defensive strains.

However regardless of Sweden’s spectacular defensive file in Russia, I can see England inflicting them a lot of issues in a means Switzerland couldn’t do.

With the pace and mobility of England’s attacking gamers, together with their full-backs, I feel they’ll transfer Sweden round in midfield in addition to defence.

Sweden are competing of their fifth World Cup quarter-final – they’ve progressed to the semi-final in three of their earlier 4 (1938, 1958 and 1994), dropping solely in 1934 in opposition to Germany

In the event that they make the pitch as massive as doable, and get Kieran Trippier and Ashley Younger bombing ahead, then I’m certain they may discover some gaps.

I do not see Sweden inflicting England many points on the different finish, although.

Tempo is one thing that Sweden do not have after they come ahead and so they appeared in need of concepts – they solely had a handful of alternatives in opposition to Switzerland and had just a little bit of excellent fortune with the deflected objective they scored.

I do know they’ve momentum however, to be brutally sincere, they do not actually appear to be scoring objectives.

Head-to-head

England and Sweden have met one another 24 instances, and issues are very shut with eight English wins, 9 attracts and 7 Swedish successes.

Nevertheless, England received six of the primary 9 matches, and have solely received two of the latest 15 video games – with each coming within the 2011-12 season.

England received 1-0 in a Wembley friendly in November 2011 with Gareth Barry scoring the one objective, earlier than England beat Sweden 3-2 in an exciting Euro 2012 group sport.

Andy Carroll scored a beautiful header to place Roy Hodgson’s facet forward, Sweden scored twice to take a 2-1 lead, earlier than objectives from Theo Walcott and Danny Welbeck gave England the three factors.

Highlights: Sweden 2-Three England

England and Sweden have twice met within the group phases of World Cup finals, drawing 1-1 of their first match of the 2002 World Cup in South Korea and Japan after which drawing 2-2 in Germany four years later.

The one different time England and Sweden have met throughout a serious match got here again on the 1992 European Championships, which had been staged in Sweden.

Once more it was a gaggle match, with the winners going into the semi-finals. David Platt put Graham Taylor’s England forward early on, Jan Eriksson equalised earlier than Tomas Brolin linked up with Martin Dahlin to attain a late winner and seal a 2-1 victory to ship the hosts by and knock England out.

That sport was additionally Gary Lineker’s final for England. He wanted one objective to equal the then-record of most England objectives, which was held by Sir Bobby Charlton on 49 objectives, however with the rating at 1-1, Lineker was taken off after 62 minutes and changed by Alan Smith.

The final assembly between the 2 nations was a world pleasant in November 2012, which included an England debut for 17-year-old Raheem Sterling. Nevertheless, the sport noticed Ibrahimovic produce a shocking particular person efficiency as he scored 4 instances in a 4-2 Sweden win, together with a spectacular 30-yard bicycle kick.

‘England is England, now they assume they’re going to win the World Cup’ – Eriksson

Former England supervisor Sven Goran Eriksson expects his residence nation to win the match. He informed Swedish newspaper Expressen: “England will wrestle to attain objectives in opposition to Sweden. I feel will probably be a Swedish victory.”

In a later interview with Aftonbladet, Eriksson stated he thought the tie would at the very least go to additional time. “You may’t declare that both of the 2 groups line-ups have a lot of objective probabilities in open play,” stated the Swede, who was answerable for England from 2001 to 2006.

“There will likely be few objectives and a few element that determines the result of the sport. I will say draw after 90 minutes after which we’ll see how many individuals have cramps in every workforce.”

With Sweden’s Sven Goran Eriksson in cost, England reached the World Cup quarter-finals in 2002 and 2006 earlier than dropping to Brazil and Portugal respectively

Regardless of the England gamers being dubbed ‘The Golden Era’ when Eriksson was in cost, England went out within the quarter-finals of each the 2002 and 2006 World Cups.

“England is England, now they assume they’re going to win the World Cup once more,” added Eriksson. “Frankly, they’ve crushed Tunisia and Panama. It takes just a little extra to win the World Cup. They won’t get so many alternatives in opposition to Sweden.”

Former Sweden midfielder Hakan Delicate thought England will underestimate the Scandinavians. “England is simple to attain in opposition to”, Delicate stated in Goteborgs-Posten. “They assume they’re so rattling good. They aren’t.

“You hardly get terrified once you see the workforce. They’re spoilt youths who earn tens of millions. They do not have the full desperation required.”

Kennet Andersson, who helped Sweden end third within the 1994 World Cup, thought Sweden’s higher defence could be essential. “Sweden has renewed their defensive sport in such a means that the opponents cannot unpick it,” he told SVT.

“I feel there are various groups who do not wish to meet Sweden, as a result of they can not make their sport work in opposition to us. I do not perceive how England will have the ability to rating any objectives in opposition to Sweden.”

How they evaluate

Sweden goalkeeper Robin Olsen has saved three clear sheets on the 2018 World Cup, whereas England have conceded one objective in every of their 4 video games.

Nevertheless, England have extra objectives, extra photographs and corners than the Scandinavians.

Apparently, England’s ball possession at this World Cup is 53% in comparison with Sweden’s 38% whereas the Three Lions have tried 2,140 passes to their opponents’ 1,113.

England have additionally had 55 objective alternatives and coated 455.23 kilometres – that is 282 miles. Sweden haven’t coated as a lot floor. They’ve clocked up 419 kilometres or 260 miles.

Getting shirty – what the media is saying

Swedish paper Svenska Dagblade (SvD), stories that Sweden followers are discovering it troublesome to search out nationwide reproduction soccer shirts at residence because of the workforce’s World Cup success.

“Issues have gone a bit too nicely for Sweden”, a spokesman for Adidas informed SvD.

“We’ve been informed right here at customer support to inform the shoppers that there is no such thing as a level going to the retailers. The shirts are virtually fully gone,” a employee at Adidas’ buyer companies was quoted saying.

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