#board game education is sadly lacking

[testormblog]

Learning the Tools

Grade seven was a paradoxical year for me.  On Saturdays, I pretended to be quiet and pious in confirmation class aside from my furtive winks at the pretty girl.  Yet on Wednesdays, I was as noisy as I could be, banging the hell out of timber boards or tin sheets with a hammer and real religious fervour.

Pop was a tools man.  Given I had lurked in his shadow since I began to walk, I wanted to be one too.  My Uncle Alan, a bridge carpenter, was one but Dad wasn’t.  It befuddled me that my father couldn’t drive a nail or use a screw driver.  Maybe, Dad’s fingers lacked the dexterity required.  Perhaps, I inherited my dexterity from Mother.  She certainly had it to thread needles.  Consequently, my father owned very few tools.  Pop had probably given Dad the hammer and the hand saw hidden away in our shed although he came by when anything in our house needed repair.

I often ogled Pop’s tools.  Alan stored his tools at Pop’s place too.  I was careful not to let my light fingers anywhere near those.  I learnt that tools were to men what jewellery was to women only useful.  Whenever Pop worked with his tools, I watched intently.  As I grew, he taught me their uses and how to handle them safely then let me help him.  Sometimes, we worked together with the cross cut saw to fell trees.  Young though I was, the saw was safer and easier to use with one of us at each end.

In my final two years of primary school, the Education Department gave me the opportunity to attend rural school one day a week at a much larger district school.  This scheme strove to prepare boys, without academic prospects due to their circumstances, for a trade, and girls for home duties in readiness for marriage.  Despite the government department’s dictum, my school teacher strongly discouraged me and other students from participation.  Fortunately, the decision was ours and our parents to make.  Since the Railway would issue me a travel pass, my parents didn’t care what I chose to do.  So, of course, I was going!  I was born to be a tools man.  Ronnie was going too.  His father didn’t mix his words with the school teacher.  With the two class brains absent, the dunderheads remained and only wished to do diddy squat.  Our school teacher found the situation quite an inconvenience.  For the other four days a week, he attempted to mentally intimidate us whenever possible in front of our classmates.  We knew his game and acted, as best as we could, like saints.

So, Ronnie and I caught the train to Beenleigh and walked the kilometre to the school. We were now thirteen and quite familiar with catching trains.  Children from a few other country schools joined us.  Before long, on our train trips home, an orange peel fight would erupt amongst everybody.  Fortunately, we jumped off at the first stop and escaped these and the usual reprimand from the guard.

The first day was a big deal for us.  We met the twenty plus other boys in our class.  We felt a bit lost to start with amongst so many strangers.  We had to find our way around the school too.  This had lots of buildings, numerous teachers and hundreds of students compared with our one room one teacher school with forty children from the age of five to fourteen.  It was really three schools in one, a primary, a secondary and the rural school with its two big sheds.  When I saw inside these sheds, my eyes opened in wonderment.  I wanted to use every tool in them.  I eyed the electric powered tools enthusiastically.  Pop didn’t own any of these!  One shed was set up for woodwork and the other for tin smithing and technical drawing.

I thought our teacher was an odd man.  Ronnie conferred.  We found his mannerisms strange.  Today, a person would say he was effeminate.  Back then, we, country lads, were innocent of different sexual orientations.  Soon after, I’d unfortunately see him drunk outside of school hours.  Sadly, the harsh social judgement of the community cost him his job.  The man didn’t act inappropriately or unkindly towards us or any boys we knew.

When the new teacher walked in, every single boy’s mouth gaped open in utter silence.  A real hero stood before us!  A very masculine one!  This teacher was Wally Walmsley, an all round cricketer and the coach for the Queensland Cricket Team.  Back then, cricketers worked in day jobs too.  This hero was a batsman capable of batting in any position and was a master of the leg break and googly bowling techniques.  Nobody played up in class!  Of course, we boys played cricket with him at lunch breaks.

In woodwork, I learnt joinery, in particular how to dove tail two pieces of wood together with intersecting cut teeth.  If one wanted to become a furniture or cabinet maker, they needed this skill.  I was just happy I could now repair things that broke at home.  The best thing I made was a sewing box with drawers, which I graciously gave to Mother.  I really enjoyed working with wood and was quite skilled at it given Pop’s earlier teaching.  I found tin smithing more difficult however.  Cutting tin sheets into patterned pieces and hammering these into the required shapes to make cake tins and billy cans was easy enough.  Alas, I struggled to solder the joins between the pieces of tin neatly.  Whilst this worried me at the time, I needn’t have been concerned.  I wasn’t destined to be a plumber.  Besides, soldering would soon become an obsolete skill when the fabrication of metal tanks and the connection of metal pipework ceased.

Alas, the moment I picked up my pencil and slid my set square and T square around a large sheet of paper in my technical drawing class, my imagination came alive and my ability shone.  I was already good at drawing.  I realised a plan was just the specifications for a pattern to construct something.  I knew about patterns and measurements.  I had watched Mother draft and cut out hundreds of patterns for the dresses she sewed her clients.  I also had a natural eye for perspective and could draw it in my diagrams.  Perhaps, my roaming up and down dale over the countryside had developed my spatial awareness.  Then, with my aptitude for mathematics, everything in technical drawing made sense.

I no longer knocked pieces of wood together in a haphazard way to build something.  I calculated the size and measurements for my projects and drew scaled plans with different drawings for their various elevations and perspectives.  I cut the timber or tin according to these plans and the scales required and built my projects.  I used my brain to design and my hands to construct.

I grew from wanting to be a tools man, who followed instructions, to be a design man, who determined the instructions.  I’d subsequently learn that draftsmen were the best paid of the trades too.

I had discovered my gift; a gift that would open the door to my future!

[saturnsstufff]

Awsamdude/Technoblade- Rumor Has It

For my beloved @sugarandspicebutnonice

Warnings: sexual innuendo

    Techno was a great Prince. He worked hard to keep his family's name in good graces. All of Phil's boys worked hard to keep their names held high with respect. Tommy was known around for keeping sprits high, any ball or formality with Tommy was always known as the best to attend.

   His older brother Wilbur was a skilled artisan with music. Always teaching and making new sounds like it wasn't any struggle. Anyone could find him out in the court yard with a guitar in hand. Humming and singing a casual song.

   The eldest, Technoblade was a skilled swordsman and statists. Anytime he was called into a meeting, the others shuddered knowing he would trump them all. He made swinging a sword look like art. Trust me, you would know.

   You had a wonderful relationship with techno for a long time. But sadly, you both had parted away from each other. Of course, it was on all good terms, He was more concerned with the kingdom rather than establishing a strong and sturdy relationship.

   You, being a knight- fully understood. But you also choose to be a bit selfish about it. You truly wished for him to give you a bit of attention at least when together. He could be such a ladies man when he choose to in public, yet when it came to the two of you he just became closed off and anything but warm. Even behind closed doors it was lacking some spark of passion.

   So you both agreed it was best to let things lie.

  But what left you with a sour taste was how quickly he moved on.

   You would give him the benefit of the doubt of course, he was a well known man. She could have been someone he had met previously, and during your break off she was there to talk it out with him.

She, she ain't real

   But something about her screamed fake, her smile and movements seemed too thought through. Her words all laced with a sickening sweet hum, it also didn't help she giggled at basically anything techno said.

    Plenty of times you sat with the general and talked about how dense she came off. Respectfully, you had assumed Tech would have went for a well educated woman such as yourself. But after seeing her- you wondered if that type was in short supply.

   Anything she did, she would just bat her eyes and he was wrapped around his finger.

   It honestly made Sam and you laugh.

She ain't gonna be able to love you like I will

   As much as you started to loathe the woman, techno wasn't yours anymore. Thus you started getting closer to Sam. Both of you connecting on how your past relationships had been. Well you were casted aside, Sam was flatly cheated on.

   Of course knowing that, your heart ached for him. Sam was a well educated and handsome man with a heart of gold. Respectfully his whole job was centered on protecting and serving the people.

   Jumping into a relationship was Sam was like practically nothing. You promised him all the love in the world, and just like you, he promised to give you the same.

   And love each other you did.

She is a stranger

   Techno did see you grow close to his general, and honestly it didn't set well with him.

   He liked the woman he was with, but he also had known you since childhood. You both had played within the court yard plenty of times to claim it as your own.

   Sam didn't do that with you. Sam had only started to know you when you joined the ranks.

   Techno would often catch himself watching you and Sam spar. His eyes would watch as Sam's hand grabbed at your waist, gripping your hips and using his own to throw you off balance. He hated how close your bodies were.

   At one point he couldn't help but pull you aside and ask why you let him touch you. But that conversation drove spikes through his heart. "How can you just let him touch you like that?! He’s practically all over your body! You wouldn't let me touch you like that- and You and I have history" he yelled not believing what he saw.

   When your face twisted in front of him into disgust, he thought you were almost joking. "The hell is with you?! I'm not your girlfriend! Or don't you remember!?" You yelled at him. Lightly shoving him back from you. "Don't tell me where he can, and cannot touch me" You sneered. In all his years he never saw you so heated.

Sure, she's got it all

   Truthfully you saw techno leave you as a drop to his pride. He dropped a knight for a soft noble girl. A girl babied all her life. You knew as soon as she was exposed to blood she would have fainted like a goat in pasture. But in the end of the day, you weren't sleeping with her so what did it matter?

But, baby, is that really what you want

   Arguments between Technoblade and you had become more frequent. Sam let you duke it out, he knew he had no place to tell you to leave it be. Sam also didn't appreciate how fast Techno jumped onto your case about finding someone else.

   Although he knew it irked you about Techno moving on, you never got in his face about it like he would. Sam viewed this as your way of showing you were the bigger person.

   On one particular day he found the arguments amusing. Techno had started up again when Sam was publicly teasing you. Well techno found your back talking distasteful, Sam relished with how powerful you were.

   Listening to techno ramble off on his pathetic reasonings left you a laughing mess, even to the point you cut his argument off. "Bless your soul, you've got you're head in the clouds, she's going to use you like a fool!" You laughed in his face.

   His jaw tightened as he spat at your words, pointing at Sam. "You made a fool out of you General. She doesn't even love you- Your wasting your time on a-" at Tech's words you couldn't help but push back even harder for him targeting Sam.

   "How dare you say that. Your common penny is getting around more than I- And, boy, she's bringing you down!" You called out. Putting a finger to his chest. "She made your heart melt- But its all a lie!" You didn't stop their, you had more to say to him. "She thinks your all that- a fairy tale prince to save her dreams! But you're cold to the core" you said to him. Causing him to back off.

   "Besides. Now rumor has it she ain't got your love anymore"

Rumor has it, ooh, Rumor has it, ooh, Rumor has it, ooh

   You weren't lying. Their were plenty of rumors going around saying she was sleeping with others besides Techno. Although Sam and you had no proof to this. Your hunches seemed right.

   On one day, Sam had left for a out of village meeting. You really didn't mind, you trusted him enough and knew he wouldn't do anything behind your back.

   But sadly you wished to go with him. Techno had asked for you to join him for a round of chess. Something you both greatly enjoyed when together. But now you knew there was meaning to the game.

   Sure enough when you sat with in in the court yard, he brought up Sam.

   "You know he is much older than you..." he said as he moved his knight across the board.

   "And She is half your age" you said flatly. Picking your pawn up. "But I'm guessing that's the reason that you stayed" you said moving it to where you pleased. His brows drew together in slight anger. But he did try and keep his calm.

   "I heard you've been missing me" he said, a small smirk growing on his lips. He found pride within those rumors. Knowing that you still supposedly whined and withered about for him.

   Of course, you knew he was gravely mistaken.

   "You've been telling people things that you shouldn't be" you said carefully. Knowing he was probably behind the rumors somehow.

   Techno took this moment to see if he still had a effect on you. Usually during chess you both would flirt a bit. So naturally, he took the chance. "Like when we creep out and she ain't around" he said bemused, your face twisting into disgust again.

   "I sneak out to see Sam... besides Haven't you heard the rumors" you said moving your queen. When he didn't respond you laughed. He didn't even under stand. "Bless your soul, you've got your head in the clouds" you said, fully amused within the moment.

   "C'mon darlin... I know you fell hard for me when we started dating..." he cooed to you. Your eyes darting up like daggers.

   "You made a fool out of me" you said to him. Wanting to get your point across. Well he moved his pawns about you took your moment to explain how you felt. "You make me sick to my stomach.. And, boy, you're bringing me down" you said softly. Smiling to yourself slowly. "You made my heart melt, yet I'm cold to the core" You said, moving your queen to take his knight. Your eyes slyly skimmed over his. His lost knight now within your fingers.

   "But rumor has it I'm the one you're leaving her for"

   After that game, rumors and tensions soared wildly. Sam at one point thought you were back and evolved with Techno again. Of course you explained to him the situation, which thankfully he understood and apologized for trusting second hand mouths.

Rumor has it, ooh, Rumor has it, ooh, Rumor has it, ooh

All of these words whispered in my ear

   But Techno's mood plummeted fast...

Tell a story that I cannot bear to hear

   A engagement, specifically Sam and yours. Oh how his blood boiled at the news. He thought his hands all over you was bad, but now... now you would take Sam's name in law. You would he his wife. Not Techno's.

Just 'cause I said it, it don't mean that I meant it

   Because of this news he didn't hesitate to run and find you. More than hell-bent on giving you a piece of his mind. He wanted to make it clear you couldn't marry him.

People say crazy things

   He didn't care what people would say, he wanted to claim you again. Techno didn't want anyone else touching you. He especially didn't want Him touching you.

Just 'cause I said it, don't mean that I meant it

   Even if within the past week he yelled hurtful things to you, he hoped you would understand he just wanted to protect you from unworthy suitors. Sam couldn't provide for you like Techno could. Sam was a general born from a farmer. Technoblade was to be crowned king.

Just 'cause you heard it

   So their he stormed. Heading to the stables, knowing full well that's where you were. His anger was fuming. He couldn't wait to shove it in Sam's face that Techno wouldn't let you marry him.

   But lets just say Technoblade was the one left speechless in the end.

Rumor has it, ooh, Rumor has it, ooh Rumor has it, ooh,

   Especially when he slammed the door open to the stables and saw Sam's body covering yours, your legs around his waist in a tight hold well he was buried deep inside you.

But rumor has it he's the one I'm leaving you for

[hxneydreamers]

Hello, could u share your journey in the law of assumption and how u started and what progress you've made till now, what you had trouble with at first and how you resolved them, and finally what concepts made everything click for you and made manifestinf super easy like being on a roll for you? And thank you for starting this cool blog 😊

Hey! I'd love to!

I'll first point out that I am still learning and whilst I am here to help people manifest, I am learning alongside you! I want you to know that I am very well educated on the law of assumption, and I am also currently manifesting an SP. I have manifested lots of things in the past (like traveling, meeting a celebrity crush, as well as multiple specific people including my current SP), but I never really pushed through because I never properly tried. I was always on and off my game for a number of reasons, so I would receive my manifestations, but not in full, and this was all because of my self-doubt and self-concept.

I first discovered manifesting with the Law Of Attraction a few years ago after watching the documentary 'The Secret'. I had NEVER EVEN HEARD about manifesting before, and I felt like it was a bit far fetched.

For a very long time, I was extremely non-religious, I didn't believe in God or magic, the afterlife, spirits, fate, NOTHING! I was the biggest non-believer out there. When I watched 'The Secret' I tried to simply change my attitude to be positive as much as I could so I would only attract positive things in my life, and I noticed it worked for a little while, but it wasn't anything significant. I pretty much forgot all about manifesting very quickly, because I never took it seriously.

The next year one of my friends was obsessed with the law of attraction and twin flames and all that spiritual stuff, and she was trying to convert me a bit. I was intrigued by the concept, but I didn't really believe in any of it at all. I just liked making vision boards with her for fun. I never took any of it seriously.

My friend made me go to a psychic with her for fun one day and I resisted and said no, but I eventually gave in because I got curious. Seeing this psychic was extremely earthshaking. I won't go into detail about my experience with her, but some things happened that pretty much changed my view of life and way of thinking. I was much more open to the possibility of things like manifesting.

A year ago, 2 people close to me sadly passed away. I felt very lost and I spent many nights awake and I stumbled across 'Sammy Ingram' on youtube and discovered the Law Of Assumption. I began to binge watch her videos and I did sooooooo much research about the law. I was immediately obsessed.

I started manifesting text messages and instant replies and dates so easily because I was so excited about it and felt no doubt that it would work.

I had success manifesting an internship, consistent shifts at work/consistent money flow and other money manifestations, I manifested dating a specific person (but I ended it for natural reasons), I manifested another specific person literally within a night, just to see if I could do it, and I manifested my current specific person as well (we have a past).

After these successes, I ended up having to deal with some personal issues with my grief for a while, as well as finish my studies, AND my internship, which took my mind off manifesting, and as a result, I manifested negative circumstances in many areas of my life, because I let myself spiral.

I won't tell you the old story too much, because I don't want to revisit it, but basically, for years I had been stuck in a cycle of being abandoned. I felt unlovable and my self-esteem was quite low. All of these beliefs were reflected in many ways, and I was constantly worrying about everything. My internship became toxic and I wanted to leave, my relationship also ended temporarily, and my self-concept was very very very bad!

I felt like I was obsessing over everything in my life going wrong and I wanted to manifest my SP because I thought that he would fix everything, but by putting him on the pedestal I was stalling.

As soon as all this happened, I was of course upset, HOWEVER, I had suffered so much loss at that point that I was determined to make sure that I turned my life around. So I decided to manifest ending my internship naturally, rather than me leaving or being dismissed.

I started visualizing a conversation with my superior where they told me that something came up and we would have to pause the internship.

Literally, two weeks later, he met up with me and told me this exactly, and he said that the decision was ultimately up to me if I wanted to continue later or not. So I said that the timing would not work with my studies, and I successfully manifested leaving the internship naturally.

Next, my SP.

- I literally went to sleep every single night repeating my affirmations.

- I affirmed every single day, I affirmed through tears and I affirmed with my friends. EVERY CHANCE I GOT!

- I started affirming from a place of peace, indifference, faith, and trust that it would work out

A week later we were back together again.

My struggles with the law were mostly that:

- I KEPT CHANGING MY AFFIRMATIONS

- I was on and off my mental diet

- I kept looking for confirmation in the 3D

- I kept repeating the old story

- I focused too much on my SP and not enough on me

About 2 months ago, I had a breakthrough where I decided I needed to completely change everything in my life to put myself in control.

- I started listening to music that made me feel extremely happy and would watch movies and shows that put me in a great mood

- I decided to pick my affirmations and stick with them NO MATTER WHAT!

- I started having a better mental diet, and I noticed results immediately

- I started being able to say 'I don't care what I see, I'm getting my manifestation, and genuinely feeling relaxed and peaceful about it

Once I shifted the focus onto myself and even took some space from my SP, I felt amazing 24/7 and my mental diet was practically perfect.

He has started implying that we are a couple, I don't feel needy, and don't even text him much anymore, he is the one chasing me and constantly blowing up my phone. He is constantly asking to see me, begging me even. He initiates ALL CONTACT NOW! Finally, the whole tone of our relationship has changed and our interactions have been extremely amazing! I have never felt so confident in myself and I can see it reflected in how he treats me.

I manifested him in steps to build our relationship to this point, and I didn't want to begin manifesting commitment until I felt my self-concept was perfect, as I want a healthy relationship with him. Now I am finally beginning to manifest the final stage: official commitment, and I am certain that I will get it!

My biggest tip based on my own experience is to:

- Persist in the same affirmations.

- Do not affirm from a place of desperation and lack

- Keep yourself busy and prioritize yourself and your life, they must reflect this and prioritize you as well

- Trust that it is done and don't check the 3D for confirmation

- If you started having negative thoughts, PERSIST! Do not be discouraged!

- If you know that you have been doing everything right, but suddenly everything feels wrong and your negative thoughts are coming out all at once and/or the 3D looks like shit, you could be in a transition period. THIS JUST MEANS THAT YOU ARE FINALLY GETTING RID OF THE OLD BELIEFS AND YOUR MANIFESTATION IS REALLY CLOSE! SO PERSIST THROUGH THIS!

So for whoever is reading this, please remember that I am here to help you, AND I am on this journey with you! We are all human and none of us is perfect!

I'll share updates on future manifestations in the future, but this is my story so far and my current manifestation in progress!

I will probably make a post in the future about past manifestations such as celebrity crush and travel etc.

[emerald-studies]

The revolutionary  Nelson Mandela 

Early Life

Mandela was born on July 18, 1918, in the tiny village of Mvezo, on the banks of the Mbashe River in Transkei, South Africa.

His birth name was Rolihlahla Mandela. "Rolihlahla" in the Xhosa language literally means "pulling the branch of a tree," but more commonly translates as "troublemaker."

Mandela's father, who was destined to be a chief, served as a counselor to tribal chiefs for several years but lost both his title and fortune over a dispute with the local colonial magistrate.

Mandela was only an infant at the time, and his father's loss of status forced his mother to move the family to Qunu, an even smaller village north of Mvezo. The village was nestled in a narrow grassy valley; there were no roads, only footpaths that linked the pastures where livestock grazed.

The family lived in huts and ate a local harvest of maize, sorghum, pumpkin and beans, which was all they could afford. Water came from springs and streams and cooking was done outdoors.

Mandela played the games of young boys, acting out male right-of-passage scenarios with toys he made from the natural materials available, including tree branches and clay.

Education

At the suggestion of one of his father's friends, Mandela was baptized in the Methodist Church. He went on to become the first in his family to attend school. As was custom at the time, and probably due to the bias of the British educational system in South Africa, Mandela's teacher told him that his new first name would be Nelson.

When Mandela was 12 years old, his father died of lung disease, causing his life to change dramatically. He was adopted by Chief Jongintaba Dalindyebo, the acting regent of the Thembu people — a gesture done as a favor to Mandela's father, who, years earlier, had recommended Jongintaba be made chief.

Mandela subsequently left the carefree life he knew in Qunu, fearing that he would never see his village again. He traveled by motorcar to Mqhekezweni, the provincial capital of Thembuland, to the chief's royal residence. Though he had not forgotten his beloved village of Qunu, he quickly adapted to the new, more sophisticated surroundings of Mqhekezweni.

Mandela was given the same status and responsibilities as the regent's two other children, his son and oldest child, Justice, and daughter Nomafu. Mandela took classes in a one-room school next to the palace, studying English, Xhosa, history and geography.

It was during this period that Mandela developed an interest in African history, from elder chiefs who came to the Great Palace on official business. He learned how the African people had lived in relative peace until the coming of the white people.

According to the elders, the children of South Africa had previously lived as brothers, but white men had shattered this fellowship. While Black men shared their land, air and water with white people, white men took all of these things for themselves.

Political Awakening

When Mandela was 16, it was time for him to partake in the traditional African circumcision ritual to mark his entrance into manhood. The ceremony of circumcision was not just a surgical procedure, but an elaborate ritual in preparation for manhood.

In African tradition, an uncircumcised man cannot inherit his father's wealth, marry or officiate at tribal rituals. Mandela participated in the ceremony with 25 other boys. He welcomed the opportunity to partake in his people's customs and felt ready to make the transition from boyhood to manhood.

His mood shifted during the proceedings, however, when Chief Meligqili, the main speaker at the ceremony, spoke sadly of the young men, explaining that they were enslaved in their own country. Because their land was controlled by white men, they would never have the power to govern themselves, the chief said.

He went on to lament that the promise of the young men would be squandered as they struggled to make a living and perform mindless chores for white men. Mandela would later say that while the chief's words didn't make total sense to him at the time, they would eventually formulate his resolve for an independent South Africa.

University Life

Under the guardianship of Regent Jongintaba, Mandela was groomed to assume high office, not as a chief, but a counselor to one. As Thembu royalty, Mandela attended a Wesleyan mission school, the Clarkebury Boarding Institute and Wesleyan College, where, he would later state, he achieved academic success through "plain hard work."

He also excelled at track and boxing. Mandela was initially mocked as a "country boy" by his Wesleyan classmates, but eventually became friends with several students, including Mathona, his first female friend.

In 1939, Mandela enrolled at the University of Fort Hare, the only residential center of higher learning for Black people in South Africa at the time. Fort Hare was considered Africa's equivalent of Harvard, drawing scholars from all parts of sub-Saharan Africa.

In his first year at the university, Mandela took the required courses, but focused on Roman-Dutch law to prepare for a career in civil service as an interpreter or clerk — regarded as the best profession that a Black man could obtain at the time.

In his second year at Fort Hare, Mandela was elected to the Student Representative Council. For some time, students had been dissatisfied with the food and lack of power held by the SRC. During this election, a majority of students voted to boycott unless their demands were met.

Aligning with the student majority, Mandela resigned from his position. Seeing this as an act of insubordination, the university expelled Mandela for the rest of the year and gave him an ultimatum: He could return to the school if he agreed to serve on the SRC. When Mandela returned home, the regent was furious, telling him unequivocally that he would have to recant his decision and go back to school in the fall.

A few weeks after Mandela returned home, Regent Jongintaba announced that he had arranged a marriage for his adopted son. The regent wanted to make sure that Mandela's life was properly planned, and the arrangement was within his right, as tribal custom dictated.

Shocked by the news, feeling trapped and believing that he had no other option than to follow this recent order, Mandela ran away from home. He settled in Johannesburg, where he worked a variety of jobs, including as a guard and a clerk, while completing his bachelor's degree via correspondence courses. He then enrolled at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg to study law.

Anti-Apartheid Movement

Mandela soon became actively involved in the anti-apartheid movement, joining the African National Congress in 1942. Within the ANC, a small group of young Africans banded together, calling themselves the African National Congress Youth League. Their goal was to transform the ANC into a mass grassroots movement, deriving strength from millions of rural peasants and working people who had no voice under the current regime.

Specifically, the group believed that the ANC's old tactics of polite petitioning were ineffective. In 1949, the ANC officially adopted the Youth League's methods of boycott, strike, civil disobedience and non-cooperation, with policy goals of full citizenship, redistribution of land, trade union rights, and free and compulsory education for all children.

For 20 years, Mandela directed peaceful, nonviolent acts of defiance against the South African government and its racist policies, including the 1952 Defiance Campaign and the 1955 Congress of the People. He founded the law firm Mandela and Tambo, partnering with Oliver Tambo, a brilliant student he'd met while attending Fort Hare. The law firm provided free and low-cost legal counsel to unrepresented Black people.

In 1956, Mandela and 150 others were arrested and charged with treason for their political advocacy (they were eventually acquitted). Meanwhile, the ANC was being challenged by Africanists, a new breed of Black activists who believed that the pacifist method of the ANC was ineffective.

Africanists soon broke away to form the Pan-Africanist Congress, which negatively affected the ANC; by 1959, the movement had lost much of its militant support.

Wife and Children

Mandela was married three times and had six children. He wed his first wife, Evelyn Ntoko Mase, in 1944. The couple had four children together: Madiba Thembekile (d. 1964), Makgatho (d. 2005), Makaziwe (d. 1948 at nine months old) and Maki. The couple divorced in 1957.

In 1958, Mandela wed Winnie Madikizela. The couple had two daughters together, Zenani (Argentina's South African ambassador) and Zindziswa (the South African ambassador to Denmark), before separating in 1996.

Two years later, in 1998, Mandela married Graca Machel, the first Education Minister of Mozambique, with whom he remained until his death in 2013.

Prison Years

Formerly committed to nonviolent protest, Mandela began to believe that armed struggle was the only way to achieve change. In 1961, Mandela co-founded Umkhonto we Sizwe, also known as MK, an armed offshoot of the ANC dedicated to sabotage and use guerilla war tactics to end apartheid.

In 1961, Mandela orchestrated a three-day national workers' strike. He was arrested for leading the strike the following year and was sentenced to five years in prison. In 1963, Mandela was brought to trial again. This time, he and 10 other ANC leaders were sentenced to life imprisonment for political offenses, including sabotage.

Mandela spent 27 years in prison, from November 1962 until February 1990. He was incarcerated on Robben Island for 18 of his 27 years in prison. During this time, he contracted tuberculosis and, as a Black political prisoner, received the lowest level of treatment from prison workers. However, while incarcerated, Mandela was able to earn a Bachelor of Law degree through a University of London correspondence program.

A 1981 memoir by South African intelligence agent Gordon Winter described a plot by the South African government to arrange for Mandela's escape so as to shoot him during the recapture; the plot was foiled by British intelligence.

Mandela continued to be such a potent symbol of Black resistance that a coordinated international campaign for his release was launched, and this international groundswell of support exemplified the power and esteem that Mandela had in the global political community.

In 1982, Mandela and other ANC leaders were moved to Pollsmoor Prison, allegedly to enable contact between them and the South African government. In 1985, President P.W. Botha offered Mandela's release in exchange for renouncing armed struggle; the prisoner flatly rejected the offer.

F. W. de Klerk

With increasing local and international pressure for his release, the government participated in several talks with Mandela over the ensuing years, but no deal was made.

It wasn't until Botha suffered a stroke and was replaced by Frederik Willem de Klerk that Mandela's release was finally announced, on February 11, 1990. De Klerk also lifted the ban on the ANC, removed restrictions on political groups and suspended executions.

Upon his release from prison, Mandela immediately urged foreign powers not to reduce their pressure on the South African government for constitutional reform. While he stated that he was committed to working toward peace, he declared that the ANC's armed struggle would continue until the Black majority received the right to vote.

In 1991, Mandela was elected president of the African National Congress, with lifelong friend and colleague Oliver Tambo serving as national chairperson.

Nobel Peace Prize

In 1993, Mandela and President de Klerk were jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for their work toward dismantling apartheid in South Africa.

After Mandela’s release from prison, he negotiated with President de Klerk toward the country's first multiracial elections. White South Africans were willing to share power, but many Black South Africans wanted a complete transfer of power.

The negotiations were often strained, and news of violent eruptions, including the assassination of ANC leader Chris Hani, continued throughout the country. Mandela had to keep a delicate balance of political pressure and intense negotiations amid the demonstrations and armed resistance.

Presidency

Due in no small part to the work of Mandela and President de Klerk, negotiations between Black and white South Africans prevailed: On April 27, 1994, South Africa held its first democratic elections. Mandela was inaugurated as the country's first Black president on May 10, 1994, at the age of 77, with de Klerk as his first deputy.

From 1994 until June 1999, President Mandela worked to bring about the transition from minority rule and apartheid to Black majority rule. He used the nation's enthusiasm for sports as a pivot point to promote reconciliation between white and Black people, encouraging Black South Africans to support the once-hated national rugby team.

In 1995, South Africa came to the world stage by hosting the Rugby World Cup, which brought further recognition and prestige to the young republic. That year Mandela was also awarded the Order of Merit.

During his presidency, Mandela also worked to protect South Africa's economy from collapse. Through his Reconstruction and Development Plan, the South African government funded the creation of jobs, housing and basic health care.

In 1996, Mandela signed into law a new constitution for the nation, establishing a strong central government based on majority rule, and guaranteeing both the rights of minorities and the freedom of expression.

Retirement and Later Career

By the 1999 general election, Mandela had retired from active politics. He continued to maintain a busy schedule, however, raising money to build schools and clinics in South Africa's rural heartland through his foundation, and serving as a mediator in Burundi's civil war.

Mandela was diagnosed and treated for prostate cancer in 2001. In June 2004, at the age of 85, he announced his formal retirement from public life and returned to his native village of Qunu.

The Elders

On July 18, 2007, Mandela and wife Graca Machel co-founded The Elders, a group of world leaders aiming to work both publicly and privately to find solutions to some of the world's toughest issues. The group included Desmond Tutu, Kofi Annan, Ela Bhatt, Gro Harlem Brundtland, Jimmy Carter, Li Zhaoxing, Mary Robinson and Muhammad Yunus.

The Elders' impact has spanned Asia, the Middle East and Africa, and their actions have included promoting peace and women's equality, demanding an end to atrocities, and supporting initiatives to address humanitarian crises and promote democracy.

In addition to advocating for peace and equality on both a national and global scale, in his later years, Mandela remained committed to the fight against AIDS. His son Makgatho died of the disease in 2005.

Relationship With Barack Obama

Mandela made his last public appearance at the final match of the World Cup in South Africa in 2010. He remained largely out of the spotlight in his later years, choosing to spend much of his time in his childhood community of Qunu, south of Johannesburg.

He did, however, visit with U.S. first lady Michelle Obama, wife of President Barack Obama, during her trip to South Africa in 2011. Barack Obama, while a junior senator from Illinois, also met with Mandela during his 2005 trip to the United States.

Death

Mandela died on December 5, 2013, at the age of 95 in his home in Johannesburg, South Africa. After suffering a lung infection in January 2011, Mandela was briefly hospitalized in Johannesburg to undergo surgery for a stomach ailment in early 2012.

He was released after a few days, later returning to Qunu. Mandela would be hospitalized many times over the next several years — in December 2012, March 2013 and June 2013 — for further testing and medical treatment relating to his recurrent lung infection.

Following his June 2013 hospital visit, Machel, canceled a scheduled appearance in London to remain at her husband's side, and his daughter, Zenani Dlamini, flew back from Argentina to South Africa to be with her father.

Jacob Zuma, South Africa's president, issued a statement in response to public concern over Mandela's March 2013 health scare, asking for support in the form of prayer: "We appeal to the people of South Africa and the world to pray for our beloved Madiba and his family and to keep them in their thoughts," Zuma said.

On the day of Mandela’s death, Zuma released a statement speaking to Mandela's legacy: "Wherever we are in the country, wherever we are in the world, let us reaffirm his vision of a society ... in which none is exploited, oppressed or dispossessed by another," he said.

Movie and Books

In 1994, Mandela published his autobiography, Long Walk to Freedom, much of which he had secretly written while in prison. The book inspired the 2013 movie Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom.

He also published a number of books on his life and struggles, among them No Easy Walk to Freedom; Nelson Mandela: The Struggle Is My Life; and Nelson Mandela's Favorite African Folktales.

Mandela Day

In 2009, Mandela's birthday (July 18) was declared Mandela Day, an international day to promote global peace and celebrate the South African leader's legacy. According to the Nelson Mandela Foundation, the annual event is meant to encourage citizens worldwide to give back the way that Mandela has throughout his lifetime.

A statement on the Nelson Mandela Foundation's website reads: "Mr. Mandela gave 67 years of his life fighting for the rights of humanity. All we are asking is that everyone gives 67 minutes of their time, whether it’s supporting your chosen charity or serving your local community." (source)

[doberbutts]

keeperofthehens replied to your post “I honestly do not believe people can be trusted to breed & own animals...”

The reason for the south with having so many intact animals is lack of education, an overflow of animals, and people not being able to afford to take their pets to the vet let alone actually afford getting fixed. Blaming the whole issue on “people just don’t care” is ridiculous. Plenty of people do care here in the south but there’s so many issues here that punishment via legislation would NOT solve! We need educational and financial resources here to help our communities tackle our problems!

And honestly that should be a part of any rescue’s mission as well. A tailor-made plan to ensure the area itself has the resources it needs to tackle the problem. Shipping dogs up north only helps those specific dogs, it does nothing to fix the problem of creation or the reasons they may have been abandoned in the first place. Blaming responsible breeders does nothing to help- we know that responsible breeders aren’t adding to this problem because they’re doing their best to make sure buyers are responsible themselves and are not putting dogs into the rescue system.

If people are poor? They don’t have the money to spay and neuter their animals. They also see that people will buy dogs for 100-500$ each. Why spay and neuter my animals if I can be sure that I’ll get $250 from each puppy and my bitch always gives me like 8? That’s some nice extra money coming in twice a year.

If people are uneducated? Educate them! Show them why it’s not good to let their dogs roam, to continuously breed and breed, to not practice good ownership. Show them how to do these things rather than shaming them for not knowing better!

If people don’t have the ability to keep their animals? Start changing the conversation. I lost my job so now I have to move into an apartment and I can’t keep my dog- okay, so can you start a coalition to change the way landlords control what people can and can’t do in their living spaces to try and stop separating dogs from their owners? I’m immune compromised and can’t keep my cat because it’s scratching me- okay, so show them ways they can prevent the cat from scratching and consider alternate solutions to giving the cat up.

Offer things at low cost. Training. Boarding. Housing. Vet care. Supplies. Find ways to supply these to those who need them. Give them solutions rather than punishments.

These are all things that rescues should be working for. These are all projects that would do just as much good for their local problems as placing animals in homes that love them. But sadly people are more interested in the politics game and claiming superiority rather than actually working with their communities to fix the problems that exist within them.

[sportsgeekonomics]

My notes/loose transcription of the NCAA v. Alston Supreme Court hearing, March 31, 2021

I am going to try to keep my SCOTUS commentary in this thread and try to be factual (albeit sarcastic, when warranted). Stay tuned. 

And we're up with Roberts introducing the case and asking Seth Waxman to start. Bang... we're off.

Waxman begins with a myth, that college sports have always been amateur. he says 2 errors: lower courts redefined amateurs too narrowly. Then allowed cash payments. This would make college sports professional, he says. He argues the NCAA rules are so clearly good that subjecting them to a full rule of reason is a nightmare. Roberts asks: SO you want Quick Look? Waxman, yes, but we also realize it's a little weird to say we lost at trial but we were so clean there's no way we should have been asked to defend ourselves. Roberts says we've never used Quick Look to dismiss a case. Waxman agrees in a "look over here" way by pivoting to other cases outside of SCOTUS. Roberts interrupts. Asks "pay for play" question WHICH I DID NOT EXPECT. A factual question about amateurism. This bodes well for athletes, I think Thomas up -- says he is curious why coaches aren't also paid less than pro coaches. Waxman explains Law v. NCAA prevents them from doing this. Claims that Law says Amateurism is good but capping coaches pay is wage fixing. Will be interesting what Thomas responds Thomas says it's odd to him coaches pay has ballooned. Now he turns to Board of Regents. Thomas asks if SCOTUS did a quick look re: amateurism in BoR. Waxman has to explain BoR was unrelated to amateurism, but rather TV. He explains the TV restraint was explored under FULL rule of reason. Then he tries to explain the way you get from that to the Quick Look, and cites American Needle "twinkling of an eye"/ Breyer is up. Breyer asks "what are you complaining about?" The injunction? Breyer than says "that could be VERY expensive" (sounds like Breyer is pro-Amateurism, sadly) is that what you are attacking? Waxman says antitrust courts lack the ability to judge amateurism. Breyer is like "what is the line in the injunction that allows the [dreamed of craziness]" Waxman lists some "pay for play" things in the injunction Waxman focuses on the schools' ability to essentially label as educational thing that are not "necessary or reasonably limited" to education Waxman says -- look at college coaches salaries -- they went through the roof. Alito up. Alito lists some of the amici who explain how everything other than college athlete spay is outrageously professional. 

Waxman embraces the State Law NIL stuff -- look this will allow them to be paid, so they will ignore academics and focus on money. List the 35 hour rule (is it 35?) Says only 24-25 schools make money. We have an Everybody's Broke moment! 

Alito is going on on the statistical shenanigans of NCAa grad rates., Asks what the P5 FB grad rate is -- Alito understand those #s are padded with crew and fencing teams. Surprising! omg, Alito paraphrases Schwarz saying Athletes are already paid. Scholarships are a form of pay. Waxman says "not under our definition of pay" Will Alito come back with the idea that the definition game is circular logic? [SPOILER ALERT -- Kavanaugh did just this later!]

Alito says his time is up. Sotomayor up. Why aren't the conferences, which remain allowed to enforce amateurism, still able to to enforce? Waxman claims its a prisoner's dilemma, but the prisoner's dilemma was rejected in this case record. Ken Elzinga explicitly claimed Prisoner's dilemma. Roger Noll demolished the argument. Elzinga dropped it at trial. Waxman answers Sotomayor with slippery slopes, OMG to much judicial supervision. It will be a parade of law suits, with people who were harmed asking for justice. (why is that bad?) 

Elena Kagan brings the FIRE: Isn't amateurism just a price fixing cartel? Why not think of this as competitors getting together with total market power and fixing prices? 

Waxman says the product is not a new thing ( think he's implying this is not a sham). Kagan interrupts. Things have change since 100 years ago. Says she's unmoved. Says "competitors as to labor combining to fix prices" I'm thinking I may propose to J. Kagan. Kagan continues, "Why does there need to be coordination on the cost of labor?" Waxman says "b/c we define the product" by price-fixing. Kagan says that might work except isn't the court's evidence that "lack of pay to play" was not what drives demand. Waxman disputes. Says 10% of people would watch less if $10K grants were given. Then he says this is about product differentiation. She thanks him. Gorsuch up. 

Gorsuch gives a long preamble on how he loves loose JV rules. But then Gorsuch says the same thing as Kagan: Here we have Monopsony control over labor price. That's not the usual JV situation. Why isn't Monopsony control over labor, at least, enough to get to a full rule of reason 

<OMG FREUDIAN SLIP>Waxman says the NCAA is defined as the reduction of COMPETITION. Then corrects himself to Compensation.

He says as long as you accept the NCAA is defined by capped pay, then all you need is abbreviated review. Points to pro-NCAA cases in other circuits. Gorsuch says Waxman did not answer his question. 

Gorsuch asks "does the monopsony status matter for level of rule of reason scrutiny?" Waxman: What level of inquiry rests in step 3. (But I think that admits Rule of Reason, no?)

 Kavanaugh turns to the baseball exemption, as having not been replicated. Suggests Board of reasons is dicta (first "dicta" quote I think). Kavanaugh says it seems "schools are conspiring ... to pay no salaries"  He calls NCAA's logic circular Kavanaugh comes close to asking the Schwarz question�� (the Schwarz question is: if school all hate "pay for play," why do you need a rule against it? Who's going to pay?)

Waxman say the NCAA is the most successful product in the history of America. Or he said something close to that. wow. I'd go with the automobile, maybe. 

Waxman says EVEN IF CONSUMERS WERE TOTALLY FINE WITH PAID COLLEGE ATHLETES, we still should be allowed to price fix.

Kavanaugh says if consumers are ok what's wrong with $6K? (btw, I think focusing on the amount is the wrong approach, but the fact that Kavanaugh is doing that strikes me a good sign for athletes). 

Coney Barrett up. She asks "why does the NCAA get to define what pay is?"  She suggests a lot of people play college sports explicitly for the compensation -- getting to go to college. 

Waxman says "well producers get to define their products" So we get to define what we think not-pay is, and so we can say "you aren't being paid" C-B asks "is it procompetitive to say people like to watch unpaid people playing sports?" Very unexpected from her! 

Coney Barrett asks about the effect if NCAA loses. If we rule against you, what's the impact on Title IX. Waxman admits that schools still have to follow Title IX. (which is correct) 

Then Waxman claims evidence in the case shows that schools would cut other sports, men and women. (I believe that is a false statement of the evidence in this case. The only evidence I know shows the money would come from coaches and facilities.)

Waxman summarizing his argument again. Dogs and Cats will live together.  Focuses hard on Our Product is Wage-Fixed Sports. 

Jeffrey Kessler up. He must be nervous b/c I think he said "lawful" when he meant "unlawful"

He is focused on the quick look vs. full rule of reason as his opening statement. Kessler list off all the past times the NCAA has claimed if they had to relax their cartel rules, college sports would die. Each time, the Courts struck the rule down, college sports did not die. "this is more of the same" Roberts interrupts. Roberts asks a question about whether it was wrong to look at a single rule or if the rules should be viewed in their totality. Likens it to Jenga, suggesting there might be a rule-by-rule approach that eventually leads to it all tumbling down. Kessler says the court didn't do that -- rather it started with ALL rules and then looked at the individual rules after. Roberts passes to Thomas. Thomas asks "what if consumers are shown to be fine with $20K, are we back in Court?" Kessler points to the "Patently and Inexplicably" language (in O’Bannon) and says incrementalism of that sort won't happen. Kessler explain that it was the NCAA that said the $5,980. Thomas asks a very knowledgeable sports question: "won't schools cherry pick athletes from the portal" Kessler explains the NCAA did not assert competitive balance b/c that argument was demolished prior to trial. he explains the Patriot league is not competing with the SEC.   [This is true, the NCAA lost their competitive balance argument at summary judgment, meaning it was so weak it didn’t even earn the right to be trotted out at trial] Breyer up. Breyer says it is tough for him. he says it's only partly economic. he sounds VERY much to be in the White dissent camp. He lays out that it could be that the way of viewing the case aren’t really economics. Kessler explains the Society of Engineers case says antitrust is about economics. if you want to go outside of economics, that's Congress, not the court. He then pushes back to Breyer that this would change the sport. Alito tosses Kessler a softball: what is the distinction b/w P5 sports and pro sports. Kessler: The differentiation is that they are students. The educational payments.= may even help that Alito asks whether the NCAA can set *any* educational limits. Kessler says the injunction already does. Quotes Emmert saying it was a good thing. Alito: Is this case the outer limit, or do antitrust laws allow athletes to bargain for things like guaranteed scholarships? Kessler says if they have a restriction that prevents guaranteed scholarships, that might lose. But he emphasizes it would NOT mandate guarantees -- it's about market competition. 

Sotomayor offers Kessler a chance to ask for a better injunction. He declines (I would have taken it, but maybe that's why I am tweeting and he's arguing in Court) Sotomayor asks: isn't the $5,980 just judicial price setting? Kessler answers the Court didn't pick that number. the NCAA did. Kagan up. Kagan offers Kessler the same chance to ask for more again. Kessler takes it this time, says We advocated for Conference competition. Essentially asks for the clean injunction. Kagan focuses on the amount. Kessler explains survey showing $10K was ok. Mentions $50K insurance Kagan follows up, asking whether $5,980 is too arbitrary. Kessler focused on the words of the injunction. 

Gorsuch now comes back to his love of JV law. Mentions the "new product that otherwise would not exist" standard. He asks, about law (not facts). What makes a searching inquiry into the JV appropriate? 

Kessler says, the easier standard IS the Rule of Reason. 

Gorsuch begs Kessler to say the Monopsony power of the NCAA makes JV scrutiny important.

Kessler takes the bait, explains that unlike other JVs, there's no market test of whether the JV is picking a pro-comp. Points to FN7 of AmNeedle. Kavanaugh asks whether Kessler agrees athletes must be enrolled student in good standing.  Then says we need to ask what the NEXT case would be. What is the end game for athlete litigation? Kavanaugh echoes Breyer saying he is concerned. Kessler focuses on antitrust. Says the end game is the NCAA to be subject to rule of reason. Says facts would have to change in the future but today they are no different than yesterday. 

Coney Barrett up, suggests both courts were concerned about doing too much. She thinks the lower Courts were being tepid (my word). Given all of that, how is the injunction is a substantially less restrictive? Kessler says these are life-changing benefits, hence substantial. 

Kessler summarizing now: He turns to the rule of reason issue again -- they failed to show their rules were reasonable under rule of reason and rule of reasonable provides ample latitude (using NCAA's favorite). Mentions there will be no parade of horribles, and other pro-Defendant rules 

Now the gov't is up. 

Elizabeth Prelogar is acting Solicitor General.

She is arguing about the Monopsony Power & Rule of reasons things Roberts says the rules changes may be moderate but the legal concepts were not. Should Courts micromanage joint ventures. Prelogar says the Rule of Reason is the proper deference for JVs. She also says step 3 of RoR is not for marginal changes. Thomas up. Thomas says -- won't any NCAA rule be a litigation-palooza? Prelogar leans into the PCJ the NCAA advances. I am not feeling the love for Solicitor Prelogar for being so into amateurism. However, she redeems herself in my book by explaining that Amateurism is not an antitrust good in an of itself. Rather, it needs to be tied to consumer demand. Thomas asks about the $10K... $20K.. etc. if the facts change, Prelogar says, then yes, we should re-examine. She explains if NCAA continues to restraint trade, it SHOULD be subject to more litigation.  [THIS IS THE RIGHT ANSWER --- if you want people to stop suing you for price fixing, stop fixing prices!] Breyer up. Asks, don't some JVs have non-economic goals? Prelogar explains that SCOTUS has said many times that Socially beneficial goals is not "cognizable" (allowed as a reason) under antitrust laws. Unless Congress carves out NCAA, the Court needs to think about economics. 

Alito asks what is the NCAA's differentiation. Prelogar says Bona Fide Students but then adds And Not Paid beyond Education. Obviously I don't love the second half. 

Alito asks: Let's say fans don't like highly paid PRO athletes either... these are not pro-NCAA questions. 

Sotomayor asks "how can we be sure we won't destroy college sports?"

Instead of going Andy Schwarz an explaining how labor markets set pay vis-a-vis consumer demand, Prelogar just says the injunction was very narrow. Sotomayor asks about the $5,980. Prelogar focuses on how the amount was based on the athletic awards that don't ruin college sports, so academic rules are ok. 

Kagan asks whether the $5,980 is arbitrary. Prelogar says it's not a requirement to give this amount. it's an allowance not requirement. She also focuses on how the NCAA can define restriction to make it bona fide. Kagan: Could the court have gone further? Prelogar: yes, 

Gorsuch on "light look" for JV's that create new products again. he says "that assumes a competitive market."  But here NCAA has Monoposny, and that justifies stricter look. Gorsuch channels Rascher & Schwarz (2000) saying that if conference set rules, this would be different.

 Prelogar also goes all Rascher & Schwarz (2000) saying that no one conference had market power. Gorsuch says the same. This is like they read our paper!  Gorsuch even says fans could root for more amateur teams if that what they want. 

Kavanaugh asks Prelogar whether these are just sham payments.

She explains the injunction allows NCAA prevention of scams. 

I am still reveling that Gorsuch and Prelogar essentially parrotted the paper @daniel_rascher and I wrote back in 1999 and published in 2000. 

Coney Barrett is up. She is asking about whether cross-market balancing is good or bad. Prelogar says this is a bad case to consider that major issue b/c no one briefed it. She is like Don't GO Here. 

Prelogar summarizes that the NCAA is wrong to say their rules must be immune from analysis b/c it is amateur. Instead they must show that amateurism itself is procompetitive. (more Rascher & Schwarz language). Waxman up on rebuttal. Waxman: Monopony power does NOT change the NCAA's right to define their product and receive deference for that definition. Waxman directly addresses Breyer, who was clearly the most pro-NCAA in his rhetoric. "Net consumer demand IS NOT the test." (wow) The test is whether a business can define its product definition. [I think if this is true, "Unpaid-Labor Produced Sneakers" would be legal] "once it is determined that 'no-pay amateurism'" differentiates the NCAA, that basically means they can't be questioned on those rules.] Then he whines about lots of litigation. 

---end of hearing---

Ok, well that was NOT at all what I expected. I think Waxman should be glad for Justice Breyer. I was pleasantly surprised by the Kagan-Gorsuch-Coney Barrett axis focusing on the Rascher-Schwarz hypothesis. here's the paper I was referencing: Rascher and Schwarz Neither Reasonable nor Necessary.pdf 

If you'd asked me beforehand what the odds are of it being a hourlong /barf session of paeans to Amateurism, I would said even odds or higher. So I am still a little in shock at how differently it went.

[chaoswillfallrpg]

POPPY HOOKUM is TWENTY-TWO YEARS OLD and an ILLUSTRATOR for THE POLITICS PAGE at THE QUIBBLER. They look remarkably like LIV HEWSON and consider themselves aligned with THE ORDER OF THE PHOENIX. They are currently OPEN.

→ OVERVIEW:

An activist and a fearless fighter with a heart of gold, Poppy Hookum believes passionately in equal rights for everyone who calls the wizarding world their home. The youngest child of GEORGE and ROSE HOOKUM, Poppy grew up in a rather fantastical household where imagination reigned supreme. Their middle sister DAISY, preferred to live in worlds they had created and Poppy’s childhood was filled with memories of Daisy pulling her sisters along on great expeditions. Daisy was a dreamer and although Poppy appreciated her efforts they could never quite relate to her. Poppy did not share their sister’s imagination. They were very matter of fact even as a child and although traipsing around in the wind looking for fairy rings was fun to Daisy it seemed like a pointless exercise to Poppy given everyone knew pixies were more commonly found in Cornwall. Their eldest sister PRIMROSE was a dreamer of another kind. Primrose looked at the world in front of her and wondered how she could make it beautiful, which sadly included dressing up Poppy to look like a pot doll and attempting to curl their already curly hair into tight ringlets and fashion princess style gowns for them to parade around in. In their younger years Poppy would try their best to rifle out of the clutches of their sisters and their games but as they got older they tended to go along with things to make them happy, even if they did sulk about it thereafter. 

Poppy was the blunt one of their family, with a perpetually knitted expression worn on their face and their nose buried in a copy of The Daily Prophet which made the rest of their family laugh.Everyone in Poppy’s family was eccentric, including Poppy though they had a hard time seeing it. They all seemed ridiculous to Poppy including their cousins who were just as crazy as Poppy’s sisters. BILLIUS WEASLEY somehow managed to make Primrose seem subdued in her style, whilst ARTHUR was hopping and obsessed with anything vaguely related to Muggles which Poppy found most peculiar. The only person who understood them in their family was their middle cousin FREDRICK. A few years older than Poppy, their family would laugh as everyone would run and play around the Weasley burrow leaving Poppy and Fredrick to sit reading wearing spectacles that didn’t help them see any better. An interest in current affairs ran in the family and whilst living in the fantastical never interested Poppy, dreaming of their life one day working at The Daily Prophet was a dream they allowed themself to indulge in. Their father George was a very famous journalist who covered the ousting of NOBBY LEACH from office and was largely responsible for the rumours which began to perpetuate about ABRAXAS MALFOY helping him be forced out of office. Poppy’s father believed in doing everything you could to change the world around you and was a very passionate journalist who believed in equality. 

The Hookum family were a longstanding Pure-Blood family in wizarding Britain with ties to Sacred Twenty-Eight families, but that didn’t matter to their father. What mattered was using his status to do what was right and it was an ideology they carried forth fiercely at school. Sorted into Gryffindor, Poppy was the last of their family to attend Hogwarts just behind their estranged cousins ALECTO and AMYCUS CARROW, whom Poppy utterly despised. None of their family spoke to that particular purist branch of their family tree but Poppy took their disdain one step further, openly challenging Amycus and Alecto whenever they got the chance and saw them doing something horrible and wicked, which happened to be a great deal. Poppy had hoped that their ghastly cousins were in the minority in their wickedness though Poppy soon discovered that was not the case. Alecto and Amycus were part of a larger rot of self important purists which included the likes of JASPER AVERY, LARKIN MULCIBER and SEVERUS SNAPE whom she saw bully and belittle people on the daily. Poppy’s fellow Gryffindors LILY EVANS and MARY MACDONALD were often a victim of prejudiced bullying, frequently tormented simply because they were Muggle-Borns. They were outraged. People like their cousins and their fellow nasty Slytherins needed to be stopped and Poppy was determined to do so. 

So began their activism, containing on from CHARITY BURBAGE and BENJY FENWICK’s hard work from their days at Hogwarts, Poppy fought under the banner of Sorcerers for Equality, starting hallway duels, pulling stunts and earning a number of detentions from PROFESSOR MCGONAGALL in the process. Poppy’s name was a famous one known for quite literally getting on top of a soapbox and preaching to their fellow students about equality. Thankfully Poppy wasn’t alone in their exactions and their antics attracted fellow supporters. CARDORAC DEARBORN had been Poppy’s friend since sitting down at the Gryffindor table during first year and the two had only gotten closer since then. Cardorac was like the brother Poppy hadn’t had, having always preferred the company of wizards and other non-binary sorcerers compared to their very feminine sisters. Cardorac always had Poppy’s back, happy to jump to their defense and plaster the school full of posters with Charity and Benjy’s teachings. It was more than Poppy’s own sisters did for them at the very least. Caught up in their careers, Primrose seemed more intent on making dresses for the enemy whilst Daisy focused on running her silly little newspaper which mostly printed gossip rather than anything of importance. Poppy had always thought her family held the same beliefs as they did but when push came to shove they could only rely on her friends and Arthur to be by their side. 

Some of Poppy’s friends had disappointed them in this area also. Since first year, Poppy, Caradoc, DEMETRIUS MCLAGGEN and GWENOG JONES had been inseparable. But as they grew older and Poppy and Caradoc’s eyes had widened to the problems occurring in their world, Gwenog and Demetrius had shied away from controversy. The excuses they made were flimsy, especially for Gwenog whose family had positions at The Ministry that could inflict change and had a girlfriend at the time who held very similar beliefs. Despite how much Poppy loved Gwenog, her unwillingness to join their cause and her relationship DORCAS MEADOWES was a slight point of contention in their relationship. Poppy had always held a candle for Dorcas and was ashamed to say they were somewhat relieved to hear when Dorcas and Gwen decided to go their separate ways and began to become quietly better friends with Dorcas behind Gwen’s back. Leaving school, Poppy wasn’t quite sure how to inflect the most change. Caradoc and Dorcas were training to be Aurors which had never suited Poppy and they were quite sure The Prophet would never have them after hearing about what they’d been up to at school. Poppy needed a plan and then suddenly a job offer fell square in their lap. Famous for their posters, boards and signs that often depicted various purists as hilarious cartoons, Poppy was approached by XENOPHILIUS LOVEGOOD for a job at his magazine The Quibbler, working alongside their idol Charity Burbage. 

Poppy couldn’t have said yes fast enough and although they saw themselves mostly taking to the streets to protest after graduation being paid to draw alongside an icon was pretty much their dream job. Working with Charity has been a blessing for Poppy and they would consider them somewhat of a friend after all the trouble they’d stirred after their article on the arrest of SILAS CRUMP was posted all over London. Although it was scary to have the Ministry have an eye on them both Poppy knew how important their work was and wasn’t scared into silence for having a target on their back. It was this utter fearlessness that led to Charity introducing Poppy to ALASTOR MOODY and joining the ranks of The Order of The Phoenix. Discovering there was an underground organisation trying to link the recent string of deaths and disappearances in London to one wizard as wild to Poppy but they were very committed to lending a hand. A bit of a hot head, Poppy has been assigned GLENDA CHITTOCK as a mentor who although is lacking in duelling ability is extremely stealthy and a very smooth talker. Helping them control their impulses to rush into situations and think more smartly, Poppy is enjoying learning from Glenda and has been helping them investigate a string of upper class villains they think are hiding amongst the upper class and are currently on the tale of mysterious French witch OPHELIA DELACOUR.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

Blood Status → Pure-Blood

Pronouns → They/Them

Identification → Non-Binary

Sexuality  → Queer

Relationship Status → Single

Previous Education →  Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry (Gryffindor)

Societies → Sorcerers for Equality 

Family → Primrose Jorkins (sister), Daisy Hookum (sister), Billius Weasley (cousin), Fredrick Weasley (cousin), Arthur Weasley (cousin), Amycus Carrow (estranged cousin/adversary), Alecto Carrow (estranged cousin/adversary)

Connections  → Cardorac Dearborn (best friend), Demetrius McLaggen (close friend), Gwenog Jones (close friend), Maren Linwood (close friend), Emilia Grey (close friend), Cassiopeia Kim (close friend), Cressida Abercrombie (close friend), Aurora Sinistra (close friend), Tilden Toots (close friend), Saoirse MacMillan (friend/colleague), Charity Burbage (friend/colleague/idol), Glenda Chittock (mentor/friend), Dorcas Meadowes (friend/object of affection), Mary MacDonald (friend), Lily Evans (friend), Marlene McKinnon (friend), Ophelia Delacour (person of interest), Benjy Fenwick (idol) 

Future Information → N/A

POPPY HOOKUM IS A LEVEL 5 SORCERER.

[kayinnasaki]

This was a weird year in gaming for me. I played all of one game released in 2017. The bulk of the year was covered by weird hacks and modded minecraft, as well as the usual slurry of bad games. I don't want to frame this as 'best of list' because while I like... most of these games, it's honestly more 'games I remember playing that I have some thoughts about. Anyways

Stardew Valley

What a lovely game. Due to a lot of Zachtronics stuff and modded Minecraft I got a little bit of a taste for a slower experiences again. The farming was alright, but the characters were super lovely. The game had very simple but effective writing that had me change my choice for Farmer Naomi's wife multiple times. Even the characters on the bottom of my list were great. The only issue I had was... and honestly I didn't notice it much because I wasn't going for that content... that the guys were lame. Shane had a great arc that got me to befriend him, but the rest? eh. Also that super simple fishing game was so fun.

Biggest issue with the game was the lack of an end game. I feel like randomized goals in the style of the carepackages would have been lovely. But on well, you can't play every game forever.

Momodora: Reverie Under The Moonlight

I played this on my flight to Japan since I was going to meat Rdein and the game was on my list for awhile. The level design of it had this lovely Demon's Souls meets Knytt Story feel to it. The map they made for the game was lovely and the world felt tangible and sensible. It had a very Japanese-esque style without being generic anime. It had lovely but simple combat. Just one of those games that's just... simply solid and good? Just a game with a lot of soul.

Getting Over it with Bennett Foddy

Foddy is a cool guy I've gotten to hang with a few times. Just... smart and funny and of course he makes real assholish games. But I found Getting Over It to be the least frustrating. It, more so than QWOP or GIRP became zen like to me. I just let go of any stress immediately. Progress didn't mean anything until the job was done. I didn't get mad or frustrated once. It was all zen. And Foddy talking philosophically about the nature of art and hard games was wonderful and a lot of it really resonated with me. A pleasant experience for a masochist.

Also this is the only game I played this year that game out in 2017. Yikes!

Metroid Rogue Dawn

What a flawed but lovely game. This is a game I wish I could get a physical copy of (it's just a little too expensive). This romhack has a lot of rough edges but truly creates an alien planet. It also looks unlike any NES game. It's gorgeous and just feels.... uncannily out of place, graphics from another time... Because, well, they are. I played this at the beginning of the year so a lot of details are lost on me but it was rad!

Super Metroid Rotated 90 Degrees

It's what it says on the tin. Some parts of the game are tweaked to make it reasonable but for the most part it's for crazy bomb jumping and walljumping nuts like me. It's great to have something familiar yet different, where you can use your knowledge to help you, but it doesn't ever quite help enough. Which also plays into...

A Link to the Past Randomizer

I played a Super Metroid Randomizer and some DS Vania randomizers bu the ATTP randomizer takes the cake. These are addictive.  In Super Metroid, finding a stash of items meant either, depending on difficulty settings, finding a stack of nothing or find a ton of great stuff, ATTP has enough diversity in its chest drops to make every chest feel like the pull of a slot machine. Every little trick gets you a little bit further and nets you a few more pull of the slots.

I even did entrance randomizer once because I hate myself. It was... something to be making diagrams in photoshop to figure out what goes where.

Sylvan Tale

A weird Game Gear Secret of Mana/Zelda clone thing? Certainly the only Game Gear game I have ever beat. Never released in America and oddly charming and good. If this was a GBC game released by Nintendo, it'd be one of those games people say is overrated. It hasn't aged excellently but in its time it was surely wonderful. The game has a neat, curious world with a strange cosmology that, while nothing shocking, is just... nicely thoughtful. It has simple but memorable plot moments. It just plays -nicely-. Not excellently, but definitely nicely. Also you change forms and shit and its kinda annoying but it's one of those weird gems that Sega fanboys would likely clutch close to their heart if it got a US release. But sadly, despite being a SEGA game, it did not.

I replayed Circle of the Moon and Harmony of Despair thinking Circle was the "okay one" and Boy was I wrong!

I didn't remember either of these games being great. In fact, I remembered Harmony of Despair being downright awful and ugly and Circle of the Moon being... odd but playable...

Oh my god Circle of the Moon sucks. I know there was some article claiming it was secretly The Best Portable Castlevania, but it is just... awful. Bland in looks, bland in level design, tedious to transverse. The DSS system is garbage, saved only by the fact that you can use a glitch to use any card combination. Finding them in the wild? Fuck that. You move weird. You jump weird. You're like a slug who can somehow jump 100 feet in the air. There are no items to pick up besides Health and MP ups so there is no real discovery -- just tedious cleanup work to maximize your stats. The only things that don't suck about this game: The monster choices are odd and there are a lot of them. A lot of classic enemies are replaced by oddbalsl like... archer wolves? Sure, okay, that's better than just another skeleton. And some of the bosses are okay? Sometimes? Maybe? Even if Dracula sucks horridly.

Harmony of Despair by contrast was much better than I remember. And by much better it was "Okay". I won't be itching to replay it any time soon and it was a number of steps below Aria of Sorrow but it was.. fine? A little bloated and with a few advancement triggers that defy reasonable design but... it's fine and... looked much better than I remember? Likely because GBA emulators are better about colors/backlight compensation so the game looked much less overblown than I remember. Hell at its best, it looks better than Aria, though Aria is just more consistent. Also it has a weirdass soundtrack. At first I hated it, but over time it oddly grew on me. The sample choices are weird but I guess kinda match the "Dissonance"? But the important is the soundtrack leverages these grainy, awful sounds in awesome ways. It reminds me of the horrible Demon's Souls trumpets. They're so bad. But so good. God I love them. Anyways here have my favorite HoD track.

Devil's Crash

There is something captivating about this stupid pinball game. Naxat has a skill for making games just... feel nice. And they never got to stretch that muscle much but this pinball game from the guys who made Rekka is awesome. It just feels cool, has a lot of energy, lots of little subboards to find. It's impossible to really explain. Just try it. I don't know if, as a kid, I'd be down with paying full price for a single board pinball game but hey it somehow works.

Also known as Dragon's Fury in the US, where it is on the Genesis rather than the PC Engine. Both versions are good. I feel like I slightly prefer the PCE version, but the Genesis version looks and arguably sounds better (which goes against my usual Anti-FM Synth bias). Also the main song is awesome.

Golden Axe Warrior

I can't believe there is a Golden Axe game that is a flat up clone of Zelda 1. Like almost nothing tried to clone Zelda 1. It's like a weird look into an alternative history. It's not particularly -good- but it's educational. Never beat it because my save corrupted but w/e.

This Fucking Thing

My uncle got me this weird crappy handheld thing for Christmas loaded with old NES games that is various minor tweaks of Super Mario Bros, Adventure Island and Contra, a few other random old shitty games and a TON of AWFUL chinese games made in the 2000s. They're awful and awesome. I just load it up sometimes and pick a random game and groan at how bad it is... but a good groan. An oddly... exciting groan.

Modded Minecraft

I played a ton of modded minecraft this year. Too much, really. But the engineering you can do in modded minecraft is just wonderful. It's weird because no other modded game I can think of regularly assembles mods under 'mod packs' (without it being a huge community drama thing). So you get these weird custom play experiences made up of multiple peoples work. The integration a lot of time doesn't make sense but all things considered it works really well. Modded minecraft, with all its pipes and machines isn't even the same game. It feels like a sandbox Zachtronics game or something.

https://www.youtube.com/user/kayinnasaki/videos I've been uploading base tours and stuff so if you wanna get an idea of what I like doing, that'd work. But yeah, it's oddly infection. Sometimes I worry it's slowed down BEP but then when I cut myself off I just refresh reddit for 4 hours, which honestly is a huge downgrade. JUST GOTTA WORK ON MOTIVATION, SEE YA ALL NEXT YEAR.

[lolimnotfunnydude]

I recently had the opportunity to video chat with a third grade class from the United States about my time in Botswana and my new home. The students read a book about a little girl in Botswana, and it just made sense that they have the opportunity to chat with someone who really lives there.

Here are the questions they asked me, and the answers to those questions:

Is school free?

Besides a school fee which is reduced for almost all students, 12 years of free education are guaranteed for each and every single student in Botswana. The school fee is supposed to cover things like the school uniform. Lodging for boarding students (most schools in Botswana are boarding schools, as they accommodate students who do not live in the village in which the school is placed) as well as food for both lodging and non-lodging students are both free. They are not an extra cost for families.

What days do you go to school?

Monday-Friday. The same as in the United States! I do spend some days at the clinic or social worker’s office, though. Additionally, the Junior Secondary Schools do not run on a 5 day schedule. The time table at my school is 6 days long. I teach on days 2 and 4, so different days of the week every week.

Classrooms at my Junior Secondary School.

How many hours a day do children go to school? What months of the year do they go to school?

This first question depends on what year of schooling a child is in. Reception, which is the equivalent of preschool and kindergarten, is incredibly short. Standards 1-3, which are the equivalent of Grades 1-3, end around 12:30pm and start at 7:30am. Standards 4 and 5 end around 3pm, and 6 and 7 end sometime around 4 depending on how close in the year we are to exams.

I work at a Junior Secondary School with Form 1-3 students, which are the equivalent of 8th-10th graders. They have class from 7:30am to 4:30pm, with an additional study hour in the morning and in the evening. After school clubs and athletics run from 4:30-5:30pm.

The school year in Botswana is split into three terms which span the entire year. They do not have a two month break during the summer like schools in the United States. First term began on January 9th, and runs until April 13th. Term two starts the first week of May and ends on July 13th. Term three starts on August 6th and ends on November 30th, with a quick break in September.

Are there tvs in Botswana?

Yes! Television is actually a very important tool for socialization in Botswana. When I was in Pre-Service Training, I sat down and watched television—specifically BTV, Botswana’s government television station—every single day during dinner. Families often gather in front of the tv for hours every night to watch soap operas from South Africa and India. You will find people talking about those shows the same way Americans talk about their favorite shows.

Does Botswana have technology, video games, and iphones?

The short answer is yes. These things do definitely exist in Botswana. Whether they are readily available and accessible to the average Motswana is a different story. Everyone I know in Botswana has a phone, but not everyone has a smart phone. Even fewer have iphones, simply because they cost exorbitant amounts and are easy to break. They cannot withstand some of the harsher climates in Botswana. Android accessories like chargers and phone cases are super easy to find anywhere, as they use the same chargers as brick phones (which are used very similarly to Trac Phones, if anyone remembers those).

Most families do not own their own computer. In fact, I have yet to meet someone who owns their own computer. But every institution—school, clinic, NGO, social worker’s office, police office, tribal office—has computers. Tools like emails are not used particularly frequently, and wifi is not widely available in smaller villages. Batswana are not totally disconnected, though. People can buy monthly plans for their phones which include social media sites and apps like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Whatsapp. The connection in my village is pretty poor, so usually I am only truly able to use Whatsapp, but it fits all of my needs.

Do you have video games in Botswana?

I have not seen anyone play video games, and I have not seen any video game consoles. I would assume that they exist, though, as I have seen almost every form of technology available in the U.S. here, but I would also assume that they are not purchased or used frequently.

What type of food do you eat?

I did not have a fridge for the past four months, so I was eating a lot of rice and canned beans. I also ate canned vegetables which soaked for probably too long in a brine I really did not appreciate. This was incredibly difficult, but I am proud and excited to say that I just recently received a fridge! I am excited to start using it and getting back to a semi-normal diet.

What are the traditional foods of Botswana?

The traditional foods of Botswana are delicious, let me tell you. Much of it consists of meat and a kind of starch with tiny amounts of vegetables tossed in when appropriate. One of my favorites is called paletshe; it is very similar to grits, but the granules are small enough that the texture ends up being somewhat reminiscent of mashed potatoes. There are other types of starches made from maize and sorghum as well, like sampete and bogobe. Two of the vegetable dishes include a mix of beans and spices called dinawa, and cut spinach (or bean leaves, or a vegetable called rape) sautéed with carrots and onion called morogo.

A fancy version of traditional Tswana food. Chakalakah is on the top left, morogo on the top right, paletshe on the middle left, and the rest of the food should be recognizable.

Do you guys have watermelon?

There are, in fact, watermelons in Botswana. Botswana has a large variety of fruit, including several types of melons, papaya, mango, amarula (which is used to make several types of alcohol, and is even a favorite of elephants despite its tendency to ferment in their stomachs and cause them to get drunk), among others. Avacado, pineapple, apples, oranges, lemons, etc, are also all available at stores.

Does Botswana have McDonald’s? Have any of them had cheeseburgers?

Sadly, no. I found this very surprising, as I had assumed that McDonald’s had reached nearly every country in the world. But alas, I was wrong. There is a McDonald’s close to the southern border of Botswana in South Africa, but I live nowhere near the southern border, so it is not accessible for me whatsoever. I do look forward to eating at one again, though; I think this is the longest period of time I have gone in my entire life without doing so.

And yes to the second question. While there is not a single McDonald’s, Botswana is a country which runs heavily on tourism. A lot of tourists are from countries in which citizens eat hamburgers, so a lot of lodges and restaurants have hamburgers. I have yet to eat one that is of the quality I want it to be, but they are certainly not bad.

Another important thing to note is that Botswana does have KFC—Kentucky Friend Chicken. Most chain restaurants here primarily sell fried chicken. We have Chicken Licken, KFC, Hungry Lion, and Nando’s. Peri peri sauce, the popularity of which rose from Nando’s, is everywhere. One of my favorite snacks in Botswana is a chicken peri peri pie that I can get at most grocery stores. It is marvelous.

Do they have snow?

Botswana does not have snow anywhere. None of the altitudes are high enough, and even though the desert gets cold at night and the south can get very cold in the winter, it is never cold enough to snow. The temperatures—both hot and cold—just feel more intense because of the lack of heating and cooling systems within the houses.

What sport do the people of Botswana like the most?

Batswana love to play and watch sports. My perception is that both football (soccer) and netball are incredibly popular. Netball is basketball without the back board—just the net. But volleyball and track and field activities are also very popular. Students love any opportunity to run around and have fun, and adults love the opportunity to network, gossip, and blow off some steam. Sports games are community events, and they really build a sense of comradery.

  A PCV versus locals football (soccer) game during Pre-Service Training.

Do people in Botswana play football?

They do not play the American version of football. They do, however, play soccer, which they call football.

Do the people talk differently?

In terms of speaking another language, yes. In terms of having a different accent and using, technically and linguistically, another version of English, yes. Their accent includes rolled r’s, long a’s, etc. The most widely used language in the country is Setswana, although most schooling is supposed to be instructed in English. First languages can also include Sembukushu, Sekgalagadi, Sekalanga, Seyeyi, Afrikaans, Naro, etc. So many languages are spoken in Botswana that I could not possibly list them all.

What language are your books in?

Most books available in Botswana were written in English. Some are available in Setswana, and in some cases, there are books available in tribe-specific languages. For instance, there is a linguistics group in D’Kar working on translating books both into Naro and into Setswana and English from Naro.

My school and I are working on requesting more books in English to help encourage students to read and work on their English literacy. All standardized testing is done in English, and our students are lagging behind. They speak Sembukushu in their homes and then are forced to learn English and Setswana concurrently. It can be very difficult—especially because most of the teachers do not know Sembukushu. Teachers are government employees, so they are part of something called the transfer system. In order to prevent corruption, all government employees must transfer jobs and villages every 5 years. Teachers often end up in villages all the way across the country from their spouses and loved ones.

What holidays do people celebrate, and when are they?

People in Botswana are, for the most part, Christian. There is a small population of Muslim, Hindu, and Buddhist people, but the vast majority are Chrstians. They thus celebrate the same religious holidays as those Christians do in the United States; they might not celebrate them the exact same way, though. Other holidays exist for pretty much the same reasons as those in the United States. Botswana has an independence day—Boipuso—a day to celebrate the first president, and others.

Do people have parades with animals for holidays?

People do not have parades with animals. The relationship between Batswana and animals is quite complex. Wild animals are protected very effectively through legislation and through intense animal reserve border controls. The country is totally against poaching, and has enacted measures which fine people intensely or even allow military to shoot people on sight if they violate certain rules regarding wild animals. Domestic animals are not treated with the same reverence. They are able to wander around wherever, and you can often find children or adults throwing sticks or rocks at them. They simply do not have the same emotional importance as pets in the United States. They are a nuisance to many people, as they are an extra food and space burden. It is understandable despite how long it has taken me to accept that treatment.

What are some types of animals in Botswana?

Botswana is really cool. It has a super large variety of animals, from squirrels and mongoose to elephants, lions, and leopards. Botswana has the largest wild elephant population in the entire world. I also think Botswana might have one of the highest donkey populations in the world, but I have no tangible proof of that. There are just a lot of donkeys. Wild animals are not restricted to game reserves, though. There are baboons all over the capital city and surrounding villages. A child was recently killed by an elephant in the village next to mine. Another child was killed by a lion just a few hours from my village. Wild animals live everywhere around the delta, and it can be a huge problem for the humans who also live around the delta. They thus have a healthy fear and respect for such animals.

What is the time difference between Botswana and the U.S.?

The time difference currently is 7 hours. In the spring, when the U.S. “springs forward”, the time difference will be 6 hours.

What is the population of Botswana?

The population of Botswana is approximately 2 million. It has one of the lowest populations per square mile on the African continent. While the country itself is around the size of Texas, its population is much smaller. Manpower can be a struggle for community mobilization and other initiatives. Sometimes there just are not enough people. Most of the population is concentrated in the South, South East, and North East regions of the country. Those are where the two cities lie, and where a lot of expatriates live.

What kind of clothes do you wear?

I wear formal business attire to school every single day. The workplace is quite fancy, and women often wear heels several inches tall to work. Your outward appearance is meant to display the respect you have for the people around you; it is not meant as a form of artistic or personal expression. I do own some clothes I had tailored for me in African prints, but I do not wear them super often. In the workplace, people primarily wear Western-style clothing. Non-government workers are more likely to wear clothes we typically think of when we think of the African continent. Botswana is hot, and a Tswana-style dress allows for a lot more air flow than a button down shirt and pencil skirt.

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Q+A: From the mouths of babes I recently had the opportunity to video chat with a third grade class from the United States about my time in Botswana and my new home.

[entergamingxp]

The Steam Game Festival 2020: Demo Impressions Lightning Round

June 26, 2020 4:00 PM EST

Having played the best, I now play the rest. Here are more demo impressions from The Steam Game Festival that didn’t leave the same mark.

The Steam Game Festival – Summer Edition’s first iteration has come and gone, and I feel like it was an overall success. Lots of up and coming games got fresh eyes on them to drum up interest and feedback. I took it upon myself to play huge swathes of them, and I’ve already covered the games that most stood out to me. But that’s only the 10 most impressive games of the 24 in total I played.

As before, I’ve written impressions and limited myself to two paragraphs per game. They aren’t as universally good quality this time around, but there’s still some potential gems buried away here. So, here’s the lightning round of my remaining demo impressions from The Steam Game Festival – Summer Edition.

Iron Harvest

A squad based RTS with steampunk mechs in an alternate history set a little after World War I. It’s set in the same world as the acclaimed board game Scythe. In practice, Iron Harvest plays a lot like Company of Heroes with a WWI skin featuring steampunk mechs. You build up your forces, take and hold resource points on the map, and try to beat the enemy before they beat you. I was looking forward to this game, but I honestly found myself quite underwhelmed.

The ability to pick up weapons from defeated enemies and change up your infantry armaments on the fly is neat, and the presentation is quite nice. But I just found that the gameplay is missing something. The cover system is very barren and requires you to build most of it, and units just don’t feel like they’re as effective as they should be. Unit control feels unresponsive, the mechs are visually impressive but clunky to move, and I just found myself failing to engage with it. It all felt very hollow and lacked any sort of punch or X factor when playing. I hope this can be improved before launch, but it ultimately feels like it’s too barren an experience as it stands.

The Survivalists

The Survivalists is a somewhat standard survival/simulation game. You’re a castaway on an island and have to scrounge for resources to survive, thrive, and eventually escape. In addition to the colourful pixel art, The Survivalists’ main gimmick are the friendly monkeys you can bring on your side. These can be trained to gather materials for you, mass produce basic crafting, or aid you in combat.

In practice however, I found the controls and UI to be fairly imprecise and unclear. Multiple times I thought I was teaching my monkey pal a new task and assigning him orders, only for it to do nothing or go completely awry. The system needs a little cleaning up, I think. Beyond this, The Survivalists is colourful, functional, and entertaining enough. It’s fairly generic survival stuff beyond the presentation at this early point, though. With that said, there did seem to be the promise of ancient ruins, pirate treasures, and other intriguing things to unearth from hints gleaned in the world. Hopefully there’s more spark and variety in the full thing.

Builders of Egypt

Back in 1999, Impressions Games released an Egyptian flavoured city builder called Pharaoh. This is a game that my teenage history nerd self played quite a lot of. Apparently, so did the makers of Builders of Egypt. This is effectively an attempt at making that classic game on a modern engine. Unfortunately, there didn’t seem to be anything on offer here that I couldn’t get from just replaying Pharaoh. And I don’t mean that to be a reflection of the early nature of development; it just seems like it will be a lesser game even when complete.

Pharaoh had real charm to its presentation, sound, and general design that I just don’t feel in Builders of Egypt. There’s a lack of colour and personality here that no amount of historical accuracy and high fidelity Unreal Engine lighting can replace. Now to be fair to Builders of Egypt, it’s a perfectly serviceable city builder with a solid theme. It’s possible that with enough time and effort, the mechanics and options for building cities here will really stand out. I just don’t see it currently, is all. It’s not a great feeling to want to go and replay a 20-year-old game after playing a new demo, unfortunately.

Stronghold: Warlords

After finishing this demo, I went to check who had developed this. I thought that this was someone trying to capitalise on the Stronghold name and legacy with a cheap knockoff, or else they’d managed to get their hands on the IP. To my surprise, it’s still the same developer that’s had the series since the original game. Sadly, that’s not the only thing that hasn’t changed since the first game, either.

Stronghold: Warlords is a city-builder/RTS with a focus on building and defending a castle or stronghold. Warlords is an eastern-themed one, and has a diplomacy feature by which you can bring the titular Warlords into your fold for bonuses. But the entire thing is ugly, slapdash, and controls awfully. Again, it feels like there hasn’t been any forward development or improvement from the very first Stronghold game(s) almost two decades ago. This will need a lot of work to make it even slightly comparable to those games. Given the poor reception Stronghold 3 got, I wouldn’t hold my breath.

Occupy Mars

Another survival game, and this one just begging comparison to the book (and film adaptation of) The Martian. The aim of Occupy Mars is exactly what the title says. You’re an astronaut on Mars and you have to gather resources and build up the facilities needed for future colonisation prospects. The gimmick for this one is that it is intensely micro-management heavy. For example, let’s say you want to get ore from a rock. Generally, survival games will let you hit it twice with a pickaxe and then pick up the ore. In Occupy Mars, you’ll start by breaking up rocks into smaller chunks a few times until they’re small enough for your rover’s crane arm to load them. Then you’ll be manually moving and opening/closing the crane’s claw to load chunks of ore into your trailer.

That’s only the beginning of the tiny details you’ll need to control and pay attention to. How about manually setting power consumption, dragging power cables around and placing them in the right sockets? Or having separate oxygen metres for your spacesuit and interior structures? I generally don’t mind this genre of game, but Occupy Mars felt way too technical and fiddly for me to gel with it. That said, this is absolutely a dream for a small niche of players who crave that level of simulation. I respect its commitment to detail-oriented gameplay and wish it well, so check it out if this is your thing.

Haven

Haven’s a potentially interesting one, but the short demo didn’t give me a lot to go off. It starts with a gorgeously vivid animated cutscene full of life and colour. The actual gameplay can’t match those visuals, but it definitely tries to match the aesthetic. Said gameplay is very movement centric, as you control your character(s) and glide over the landscape to collect resources and investigate the world. At the tail end of the demo, it surprised me by becoming an RPG, featuring an ATB-esque battle system. You control two characters with their inputs mapped to each half of the controller, and you unleash their appropriate actions in combos or sequence as appropriate.

More than anything, Haven is aiming to be a story-driven experience. The two characters are young and in a relationship together, making that abundantly clear in their early actions and dialogue. It’s all set amidst a somewhat fantastical sci-fi backdrop, and there’s definitely enough threads that pique my curiosity. At the same time, it could very easily crash and burn hard based on execution, and there’s a couple red flags in the dialogue that make me worried about that. So I’ve got a curious eye on this one, and we’ll see if it pans out.

Learning Factory

I’m still not entirely sure what to make of Learning Factory. It’s not unlike Factorio, that delightfully complex game in which you build massive automated resource collection networks. The look, layout, and mechanics of Learning Factory are almost identical to that, but on a very simple level. Despite this, it’s got a very stylised appearance, and the machines are being built in order to sell goods to cats and satisfy their needs.

Just when I thought this was a kid’s first Factorio, that’s when it kicked off the learning machines and data analytics angle. You take the data from selling goods to cats and then refine it via these learning machines to perfect your algorithm and maximise your sales. There’s even a tutorial and links to educational sources for more about learning machines. By the looks of it, the developers Luden.io have a focus on making educational games, so on that front I could see this being a useful resource. It’s not something that I’d want to play over its contemporaries, but I nonetheless respect this approach and wish the devs all the best in this undertaking!

Ostranauts

Ostranauts is a top-down adventure/simulation where you get a derelict spaceship working and set off into space with it, hiring your crew and making life work out there. Unfortunately, that description ends up being far more alluring than the game is to play. It’s another case of having incredibly technical mechanics that end up being really esoteric in practice. There’s an audience for this, but it isn’t for me. Instead, I just found it very unclear how I was supposed to proceed with actions and tasks, and struggled to even begin doing so.

In fairness, this seemed to be one of the least ready-to-experience demos I played; so much of this could just be technical difficulties. Lots of trial and error was required to even really begin, only to find certain aspects clearly bugged and broken. This is a game in dire need of a manual, but that’s currently complete absent. I get the feeling that I’d be able to fly a real space shuttle easier than I could a ship in Ostranauts, at least until there’s actual documentation present. There’s not really a lot I can say about this one, unfortunately. Alas, I’m not interested in seeing more of it.

Mr. Prepper

Based on its appearance, I assumed Mr. Prepper was going to play something like Fallout Shelter. In practice, it’s much more a standard survival game with resource collection and crafting. Even so, the unique perspective and dystopian “hyper American Dream” setting and narrative makes for a fairly compelling time.

You have to manage your usual gauges for survival and scrounge what resources you can, but you’re also being watched by government agents. There will be routine inspections of your house, so you have to hide all evidence of your secret bunker and illicit activities. This means keeping your house above ground in complete order, covering up workbenches, putting bunker entrances under a rug, and so on. It’s an interesting little spin on things, and I have to say that I’m intrigued by Mr. Prepper. Will keep an eye on this one.

Grounded

I’m still surprised that this is made by Obsidian. But then, considering the systems are largely just adding more survival and crafting aspects to The Outer Worlds, it’s not all that unbelievable. Grounded is yet another survival game, but this plays with the Honey I Shrunk The Kids formula. You’re a child/teenager who has been shrunk to the size of a bug, and has to survive a suburban backyard amidst an assortment of now very large insects.

Like so many survival games, the general mechanics and crafting options on offer here are nothing new. The aesthetic and concept of your resources being chunks of grass stalks and bug parts is remarkably endearing, though. There’s also a lot of nods to the era of ’80s/’90s aesthetics and a general Weird Science feel to it all, though. I’m not sure how much content and variety this will feature, but Grounded definitely felt more charming than I expected. Worth a look at the very least.

Arietta of Spirits

At a glance, Arietta of Spirits ticks a lot of boxes for a somewhat generic indie game. Colourful pixel art, classic action/adventure mechanics that evoke memories of classic games — 2D Zelda titles in this case — and a story that promises to be emotional and personal? That’s all here, and there wasn’t anything in my time with Arietta of Spirits that I hadn’t experienced like that before. Still, that’s disingenuous of me to say. Something doesn’t have to be unique to be good, and Arietta’s demo was good.

It’s pretty, playable, charming and fairly well-written. The concept of the spirit realm bleeding into the physical has lots of potential to work with. Gameplay mechanics were somewhat bland though, with little in the way of unlocks or special moves beyond slash with sword and dodge roll. There’s nothing bad or out of place here, it just hasn’t really done much to elevate itself. I’d need to see how Arietta of Spirits plays in later parts before I can make a solid judgement call here.

Wild Terra 2: New Lands

Wild Terra 2: New Lands is another survival game, but this time it’s an MMORPG. You start in the wilderness and have to gather resources to survive, eventually building up a base and developing technology. Skills will increase through use, and some scavenged items will be higher quality than others. Once again, nothing that the genre hasn’t seen before, but it’s got some depth and a decent amount of options in its tech tree to entice players.

What killed the game for me, then, was the MMORPG aspect. As an Australian, I connected to the Asia Pacific server first, only to find that lag and rubber-banding was pretty extreme. I tested out the gameplay systems and found them enticing enough, but swapped to the US server to see if performance was better. Technically, the latency was improved, but in exchange? Everywhere I moved to in every direction was filled with the camps and huts of other players, and almost all usable resources were now impossible to find and respawning insanely slowly. For a new character, it was practically unplayable. If this isn’t fixed or addressed by launch, Wild Terra 2 is likely dead on arrival. Some potential here, but the current state is worrisome.

Earth From Another Sun

This is a lawsuit waiting to happen. I feel like Activision-Blizzard is going to smite me just for even speaking about the existence of this game. Still, here it goes: Earth From Another Sun is a blatant asset flip that shamelessly plunders visuals and designs from the likes of StarCraft. If the thumbnail wasn’t a dead giveaway, then the fact that I was fighting a slightly modified Hydralisk almost immediately was. Mechanically, it’s a horde-mode FPS that tasks you with killing enough units in a time limit to progress to the next wave, gathering pickups and loot along the way.

There is so much wrong with this game, quite frankly. It’s a visual mess; not just for the cheaply-designed or copied assets but also just in how readable the UI and systems are. Nothing describes trying to figure out what I was doing better than “trial by fire,” as I had no recourse but to wing everything. And yet? I couldn’t help but find the idea of the game enthralling. A fast-paced and frantic FPS with numerous progression and customisation elements? I could see myself playing that. Or hell, just make a StarCraft FPS. Anything that isn’t this much of a mess. Steer clear of this one, but do take note of the ideas in the process, developers!

EarthBreakers

Speaking of an FPS based on an RTS franchise, who else remembers Command and Conquer: Renegade? Petroglyph does, because that’s what they’re attempting to reimagine with EarthBreakers. It’s a team-based FPS where you use resources collected by harvesting or through kills on building up an RTS-style base. You can use money on upgrades for you and your team, eventually producing base defences and vehicles to deploy. Ultimately, the last base standing is the winner.

References to the original C&C Renegade notwithstanding, EarthBreakers is a decent proof of concept. It’s going to need a lot more work to really shine, though. Movement was very floaty, and weapons didn’t feel particularly satisfying to shoot or land. Hitboxes were an awkward affair, and currently the only vehicle on offer are tanks so there’s not a lot of variety. As much as I love the concept and really hope for it to be polished and delivered, I’m not sure that Petroglyph has the chops to land a strong FPS that feels solid to play. Let’s hope I’m proven wrong.

And that’s everything I played for the Summer Edition of The Steam Game Festival. The event is over now, but many of these games will be developed further and available in the future. Some are worth keeping an eye on, and some are less so. But overall, this was a good event, and the availability of demos is only a good for customers.

Here’s hoping the trend will continue, and I shall likely to do this again for future events. For now, if anything piques your interest, you can click the links on each game in the piece above to wishlist them on Steam.

June 26, 2020 4:00 PM EST

from EnterGamingXP https://entergamingxp.com/2020/06/the-steam-game-festival-2020-demo-impressions-lightning-round/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=the-steam-game-festival-2020-demo-impressions-lightning-round

[notbemoved-blog]

The Federation’s Expansive Vision

Eighth in a Series on the Federation of Southern Cooperatives

During the Federation’s 50th Anniversary year, marvel at its broad sweep and bold initiatives during its early days. Another installment from the Federation’s 50th Anniversary Commemorative Booklet: “50 Years of Courage, Cooperation, Commitment & Community.”

Funds for Families as well as for Co-ops

It was clear to the early cooperative boosters that the best way to help impoverished farmers was to give them access to capital to help smooth out the cyclical nature of their businesses and to grow their small operations. The credit union movement—a cooperative-like structure—offered the perfect antidote to individuals who had no credit history, could not get loans from White-owned banks, and who actually needed very little to make a go of their start-up businesses or to buy feed or seed for their family farms. “If a community is experiencing common problems with little resources,” Charles Prejean explained, “it made so much sense to pool resources and use them to satisfy a common need.”

Friends of Greene County Employees Credit Union--one of the many credit unions fostered by the Federation over the years. Pictured are Carol Prejean Zippert, President (center) flanked by Joyce Pham, Manager (left) and Kierra Epps, Accounting Clerk.

Representatives from several credit unions were present at the Federation’s formation. Once the organization was up and running, creating community-based credit unions became a key focus of the staff. One of the Federation’s early hires was Earnest Johnson, a self-taught financial wiz whose entire professional career would be spent helping low-income Southern farmers create and sustain credit unions so that they could have access to capital when they needed it. “For us to build on the civil rights movement,” Johnson once said, “we had to own businesses and we had to provide decent jobs for people.” The only way to do that was by pooling resources and building equity. Johnson worked tirelessly during his more than 30 years with the Federation to help struggling credit unions for low-income rural people to avoid the pitfalls of many such start-up entities: poor lending and collection practices, careless record keeping, inexperienced board members, and untrained management and lending staffers. Johnson became the Federation’s ambassador to its member credit unions, dispensing advice and offering his expertise to the 25 or so credit unions that have been under the Federation’s umbrella over the years.

Sadly, despite Johnson’s untiring efforts, the NCUA’s stringent requirements for size and capital investment forced many of the Federation’s member credit unions during the past 20 years either to merge with larger ones (most of which were not Federation members) or to liquidate altogether. Today, only six credit unions remain as part of the Federation’s family of cooperative institutions. Cooperative economics expert Dr. Jessica Gordon Nembhard notes, “The NCUA’s lack of understanding of the importance of these grassroots financial institutions to the Black community limits the ability of the [Federation] to provide support and asset-building opportunities to its members.” The Federation continues to advocate for less onerous requirements for locally based credit unions in order to help its member cooperatives provide the kind of capital lending base that their members require to succeed.

Ernest Johnson addresses credit issues at one of the Federation’s Annual Meetings at its Training Center, Epes, Alabama. Johnson was a pioneer in bringing credit union services to the poor of the South.

Cooperative Health Care and Housing

The number of times the Federation referred to its work as a “movement”—not only in the early days, but throughout its fifty years—is instructive.

Co-ops have become a vanguard and foundation for an economic base for Black people in the rural South. The Co-op Movement has successfully conveyed the idea and ideology that poor and oppressed people can find a way to work out of their problems by working together through the Federation.    1972 Annual Report

The survival of our member co-ops, the continued existence and growth of our Federation and the entire Cooperative Movement are testimony to our resilience and belief in working together collectively to cause and create the changes that are necessary.                                                                                                  1974 Annual Report

As we meet to celebrate the 14thAnnual Meeting of the Federation of Southern Cooperatives, there is much for us to be thankful for to God and [to] each other in the cooperative movement.                                                                          1981 Annual Report

Building on the work of the Civil Rights Movement, the Federation has organized a community-based cooperative economic development movement among 25,000 low-income families working in over 100 communities in the rural South. 1993 Annual Report

We have completed another year of success and struggle to develop a meaningful cooperative movementto serve African-American farmers and other low-income people and communities across the Southeast.                           2010 Annual Report

Those working for the low-income rural poor saw what they were doing was not just creating better jobs or better prices for their members and their products. Cooperatives were bringing an entirely new spirit to the once-depressed and demoralized citizens of the rural South, providing them a way to work together to gain a share of the American Dream. The vision was not simply economic in nature, though that was a large part of it. The vision was one of uplift, of hope, of self-determination, of working together for the common good. As evidence of this, some of the early visionaries expanded their initial scope of enhanced capital access and agricultural and handicraft cooperatives to encompass an array of democratically run institutions that could attend to all of the basic needs of the members and the community, including affordable health care and decent, well-built housing.

Not surprisingly, many of these innovations occurred in the proximity of the Federation’s home base—in the counties surrounding the Epes Training Center in Alabama. The Federation staff and their families provided the leaven for all sorts of innovative cooperative ideas for rural development and community progress. The Federation first stretched into these endeavors in the early 1970s with the advent of a housing project conceived on some of the land purchased with the PLBA. It took years of advocating for funding from the federal government and fighting with local building permitting agencies, but in 1980, the Wendy Hills Housing Project was launched (named after Wendell Paris, the first occupant of the Epes Training Center land), with 40 new homes for needy residents. Additional Federation-supported housing projects have yielded funding for more than 700 new or refurbished housing units for members primarily in Alabama.

Federation staffer John Zippert stands in front of an affordable housing apartment complex, the Sanders-Black apartments in Eutaw, Alabama, built by the Federation.

It cannot be underestimated the impact that these modest homes had on the local populace, many of whom had lived for much of their lives in tenant farmer shacks with no indoor plumbing or electricity. Access to these amenities was a huge advance, both in terms of quality of life and improved health. Additionally, to the degree possible, the Federation ensured that those who built the homes were people indigenous to the area, and that those knowledgeable about construction techniques passed along that knowledge to younger trainees who participated in jobs training programs funded by federal government grants.

Health care was another matter altogether.  It is a truism that rural areas typically suffer from lack of adequate medical care and that residents often have to travel to urban centers for anything more than the treatment of the common cold. From its earliest days, the Federation’s leadership had envisioned the creation of family health care centers to provide basic health and dental care to rural residents in “medical scarcity areas” within the Federation’s geographic footprint. With the opening of the Training Center at Epes, the possibility for creating a start-up health care initiative became a possibility.

By 1972, the Federation had received funds from the U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare (HEW) and other agencies to plan for the creation of a health care demonstration project to be run out of the Training Center. Should the program prove effective and successful, it could serve as a model for other such centers throughout the South and, indeed, throughout the country.

Out of this start-up concept came the Black Belt Family Health Care Center. As with so many of the Federation’s initiatives, its indigenous health care program ran into local White resistance and was forced eventually to merge with the White-controlled West Alabama Health Services. A promising concept of self-help cooperative health care was aborted to serve the interests of local elites rather than those most in need of its services. The concept remains a potential game-changer for providing health care services to underserved rural communities.

[fallenloverecords]

Interview:  Glass Arcades

Hi lovers! Here at Fallen Love headquarters we periodically interview people that we adore in order to shine a spotlight on our wonderful pop planet. We post all those interviews right here for your education and enjoyment.

Glass Arcades is the sleep pop project of Anton Salmine from Cardiff, Wales. Fallen Love head Harley interviewed Anton through e-mail. Fallen Love Records: Who is Glass Arcades? Anton: Glass Arcades is me, alone, in a room, shyly mumbling into a mic, playing some guitar with the reverb turned up a bit too high, recording it in one take if I can, and regretting not re-recording it later. Everything's fairly quick, spontaneous and unplanned, and even though I might spend an entire day writing and recording one two-minute tune that nobody will ever hear, most of that time is just spent obsessing over what I've just come up with and listening to it over and over again until I get bored. I'm my own biggest fan but only in short doses. FLR: Is it a solo project born out of desire or necessity? What would your dream vision of Glass Arcades be? A: I first started writing music when I was around 13 but I never really got the response I wanted from my friends when I played them any of the songs I'd come up with. All my songs that I was going crazy about were the ones that no one seemed to really grasp at all. I had a few proper bands and side projects with other people but none of those ever seemed to really go anywhere, at least nowhere that I was particularly interested in personally. I do really love not having to consult anyone else when it comes to music and just having complete freedom to do ...whatever, basically. It does get a bit tiring, though, especially when it comes to dealing with marketing or promotion, which I really haven't done at all, nor do I have all that much interest in either. In a year or two I might eventually feel like playing some of this stuff live, even though I can't really envision playing everything all on my own in some lo-fi drum machine + guitar + vocals set up, no matter how enticing that sounds. I must say that I've recently been pretty obsessed with this live footage I found on YouTube of The Magnetic Fields playing in a pub in Philadelphia around 1996, which is pretty much how I'd want Glass Arcades to sound live — all I need is a cellist now I reckon! FLR: What inspires you to write a song? A: It's taken me an excruciatingly long time to try and learn how to write songs that sound personal but aren't. I tend to write a lot in the first person but there always seems to be a 'you' that it's directed at. Often it's the same 'you', sometimes it's a fictionalised version of an actual real-life 'you' or two or a million 'yous' but sometimes it's just me. FLR: What is the pop scene like in Wales? A: Most of the time I tend to just find myself taking the train to Bristol for gigs — it is the second indiepop capital of Britain (behind Glasgow) after all! I do still feel that the scene here across the Severn is pretty vibrant and (re-)growing. To me Cardiff is just the perfect place creatively, given how friendly and welcoming (not to mention cheap to live in!) the place is. I just couldn't imagine Glass Arcades happening in say London or Birmingham. Even though I'm not Welsh, nor is Glass Arcades really even a proper band, I feel like Glass Arcades is very much a Welsh band, if that makes any sense. My absolute favourite Cardiff band would be the brilliantly named and thoroughly underrated Joanna Gruesome — aptly described by someone as "HC twee." Besides that I'm always (perhaps way too) eager to recommend both Gorky's Zycotic Mynci (whose 1996 "Patio Song" was probably the closest that Welsh language indiepop ever got to the musical mainstream, charting at a whopping #41 on the singles list) and Ffa Coffi Pawb, the band that eventually evolved and got somewhat anglicised into the Super Furry Animals, before being sadly forgotten by most everyone. Obviously there's also a long and rich local pop history all the way from Tom Jones (whose childhood home in Treforest I used to live about ten houses away from for a while) to the [Manic Street Preachers] (I often catch the bus 26 from Cardiff to their hometown of Blackwood, though I've never taken it all the way up there — maybe I should).

FLR: What's your favorite arcade game? A: I think I must now sorely disappoint anyone who just googled "Glass Arcades" excepting to read an insightful interview from a bearded bespectacled builder of artisan arcade machines made of glass and shit by saying that I don't think I've ever even been more than three feet into a gaming arcade in my life. I'm not strictly morally opposed to the idea, though, so if anyone wants to, they can buy a life-long subscription to everything I ever release by taking me out to play some arcade games. FLR: Tell us about a memorable nightmare you've had. A: It's not really a nightmare but I keep having this recurring dream where all the water, landmarks, cars, and people around me just disappear all of sudden. After I'd spent a lot of time around Europe last summer, in one of these dreams I couldn't tell if it was supposed to be Hamburg, Helsinki, London, or Cardiff Bay but I was just mindlessly walking about in a desolate post-apocalyptic urban environment, everything covered in jungle and desert where rivers and seas used to be. The "scripts" to most of my dreams tend to be more concerned with establishing the setting and atmosphere rather than the (mostly non-existent) narrative aspects or the passage of time. Sometimes there's one or two people involved as well but I tend to lose track of where they were by the end of the dream... And well, at the risk of sounding too Morrissey, I had a dream where a friend of mine died and nobody told me until two weeks afterwards. That was pretty distressing. I feel like Glass Arcades is not so much dream-pop as falling-asleep-pop. I write most of my lyrics when I'm about to fall asleep. I hate editing. That seems to give everything the mildly dreamlike quality of lacking any sensible structure, sentiment, or grammar. I'm currently in the process of trying to learn how to write with both of my eyes open. FLR: If you could time travel to 1991 but only stay for one night, who would you see in concert? A: I was born four years after that and I've spent a disconcertingly huge part of my life pondering that exact question. It's basically a full-time job for me now. I reckon seeing [Jesus And Mary Chain], [Dinosaur Jr.], and [My Bloody Valentine] on the same bill would've been pretty intense but I'd probably realistically (well, as realistically as you can for a question that involves travelling 26 years in time) go for Suede, still with both Bernard and Justine on board, playing some sweaty club in North London before they released "The Drowners" and got huge. My absolute favourite musical experience ever was seeing them do Dog Man Star from beginning to end at the Royal Albert Hall in 2014. My feet and toes were aching from the new boots I'd bought the day before, I'd lost my ticket in the train, bought a new ticket from some lad dressed as Wally off of Where's Wally?, got sunburnt (in March!), and basically cried my eyes, my lungs, my heart, and whatever was left of my central nervous system out when they played "Stay Together" as the final encore. FLR: What's one question you've never been asked in an interview that you would love to be asked someday? A: This is technically only the second interview I've ever given, unless you count the time when they came to our school to ask 8 year-old me and my classmates questions on our circadian rhythms for an article on school start times on the newspaper. I suppose I still wouldn't mind if you asked me about that but I think I'd love just about any excuse to go on about Momus, green olives, or the Posadist International. (I'm not even being purposefully absurd — those are like my genuine main three interests in life). You could also ask me "Where can I download and stream all the latest Glass Arcades releases for free or even donate something if I want?" FLR: And finally, what does 2018 look like for Glass Arcades? A: 2018 isn't looking too bad at all for Glass Arcades. I'm really excited to hear what I come up with but I'm afraid I can't tell you what it sounds like yet as it's yet to happen. At the very least I'll try and get a compilation of all the previous singles and EP's out, accompanied by a physical release on cassette, I think. Glass Arcades on Facebook Glass Arcades on Twitter

[writingwithlegends]

Terry Pratchett

Authors are amazing people who open up new worlds for their readers to explore.  They allow people to escape everyday life and delve into worlds of mystery and imagination.  I’ve been reading since a young age and one of my all time favorite authors is Sir Terry Pratchett.  The author of the fantasy and comedy series, Discworld, his books are extremely popular over in England, though not as much in America (making it very annoying to try and get all of them).  Sadly, Sir Terry Pratchett passed away in 2015, leaving behind a vast collection of books for future readers.

Early Life and Career

Terry Pratchett was a British born author who was born in Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire on April 28th, 1948.  An only child, he went to the High Wycombe Technical High School, now John Hampden Grammar school, where he was a member of the debate team and wrote stories for the school’s magazine.  He originally wanted to be an astronomer, but lacked the mathematical skill.  An avid science fiction fan, he read any book he could get his hands on, which is what he referred to as “getting an education”.  In 1965, he began working as a journalist for the Bucks Free Press, where he wrote under the name Uncle Jim.  

The first book that Pratchett published was Carpet People in 1971, after an interview with Peter Bander van Duren, the codirector of Colin Smythe Ltd..  This book was followed by Dark Side of the Sun in 1976 and Strata in 1981.  In 1980, Pratchett became the Press Officer for the Central Electricity Generating Board, though in 1987 he gave up the job and made writing his full time position.  In 1996 the New York Times ranked him as Britain's highest earning and top-selling author.

Discworld

Terry Pratchett’s best known series is his Discworld novels, which is forty-one novels long.  Set on Discworld, a flat world carried on the backs of four giant elephants who stand on a turtle as he floats through space, it’s a satire of the modern world and politics.  Rather than one series from start to finish, the Discworld collection is actually a set of different mini-series and stand alone books that take place in the same world.  There are seven main series along with standalone books, maps, and companion novels.

Pratchett began writing the Discworld series in order to “have fun with some of the cliches”.  In this series he parodies everything from Shakespeare (The Witches Series) to rock music (Soul Music).  In collaboration with other authors, Pratchett also published companion maps, science books, and folklore that take place in Discworld.  The final Discworld novel was published in 2015, after Pratchett’s death.

Personal Life

In 1986 Terry Pratchett married Lyn Purves and they had one daughter together, Rhianna Pratchett, who is also an author.  Still an avid lover of the night sky, he build an observatory in his backyard.  An avid videogame player, Pratchett not only had several computers (using them for writing as soon as they were available), but also helped upgrade them and design video games based around his books.  He adored games that are “intelligent and have some depth”, citing Half-Life 2, Thief, and Oblivion as some of his favorites.  He also enjoyed fanmade missions and mods in these games.

Terry Pratchett was also fascinated with the natural world, having a greenhouse filled with carnivorous plants.  He was also a trustee for Orangutan Foundation UK, trying to protect the species in its natural habitat.  Due to his concern, fans adopted the charity as their nominated charity at conventions.  In 1995, Richard Köhler, a paleontologist, named a sea turtle fossil after Terry Pratchett, the Psephophorus terrypractchetti.

In 2009, he received a knighthood for “services to literature”, about which he was quoted as saying “you can’t ask a fantasy author not to want a knighthood”.  He was also a recipient of the British Book Awards’ Fantasy and Science Fiction Author of the Year in 1994 and many of his books were recipients for other awards.  Pratchett also received ten honorary doctorates and was an adjunct professor of English at the Trinity College Dublin.

Alzheimer's and Death

In August 2007, Terry Pratchett was diagnosed with having had a stroke in either 2004 or 2005, which doctors believed to have caused damage to the right side of his brain.  However, in December 2007, Pratchett announced that he had been misdiagnosed and he was suffering from early-onset Alzheimer’s disease.  Rather than give into despair, Pratchett decided that he was going to stay optimistic and “keep things cheerful”.  He continued writing, though by early 2008 he was having a hard time writing dedications while signing novels.  Later, he would write by either dictating things to his assistant, Rob Wilkins, or using voice recognition software.  He was open about his condition, donating one million US dollars to the Alzheimer’s Research Trust and working with BBC to create a documentary about his life with the condition.  He also met with the Prime Minister and asked for more research funds to be given to dementia research.  In a 2009 article, Pratchett was quoted as saying that he wished to commit physician assisted suicide before the disease progressed too far, which was again addressed in the BBC documentary Terry Pratchett: Choosing to Die.  However, in the end, he ended up dying of natural causes. On March 12th, 2015, Pratchett passed away at home at age 66, surrounded by his family and his cat.  As a way to announce his death, his assistant tweeted the following:

~Elyce

[glopratchet]

jase

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[smartchurchblog-blog]

The 5 Factors Pastors Do Not Lead Their Churches

I understand this seems like an inverted subject but bear with me. Many senior priests throughout the nation have the title of Elderly Pastor/Leader however numerous do not have the authority to truly lead the churches they serve. The consequences of this absence of management at the regional church level are as well ruining to neglect.

  Lots of churches are run by superior pastor/leaders. Too many, nonetheless, waive management either as a result of the priest's own tendency to not lead or the church's propensity to take over management from them. Whichever the case, the church suffers.

  Here are the five (5) reasons senior pastors don't lead their churches.

  1. The board runs the show and the priest lets them.

2. The parish wants to elect on whatever as well as the priest lets them.

3. The team runs the show and also the pastor lets them.

4. Nobody runs the program as well as the pastor is one of the no ones.

5. The priest leads by consensus - takes a ballot on everything from everyone and also until everyone agrees.

  So which one are you? After you sufficiently get over the shock of thinking of on your own in one or more of these terms offer the following referrals your factor to consider in navigating to a greater degree of leadership in the church you offer.

  The board runs the show and also the pastor allows them.

  Moot: Typically the smaller sized the church the bigger the impact of a church board as well as its individual members. In the smaller church, the priest can often be seen as a "hireling." She or he is employed to preach, marry, bury, see the ill and also the senior and also go to every event as well as personal happening of everyone in the congregation.

  In way too many of these churches, the board directs the future of the church. Often, the board is the consent approving team for the pastor's vision. If an actual pastor/leader pertains to the church oftentimes a conflict takes place as to who is mosting likely to lead.

  OPTION: When this holds true the pastor/leader will likely be in for several show-downs with a board member or the entire board. I certainly recommend you identify this on the front-end. However, if you discover it after you are onboard you must set the record right regarding who will lead. Be sensible but move forward.

  When the society has actually been consensus-building in nature, the sensible pastor/leader will certainly take his time rectifying just how the elderly pastor's management is seen. The pastor/leader needs to spend time re-educating the board and congregation on the issue of management.

  Several board participants more than happy to have an actual leader progression. Those who are not will certainly not last lengthy on your board. Do not spoil controlling board participants. If they cannot comprehend that the church will not expand unless the elderly pastor leads, then they will need to tip aside. This will be extremely confrontational. If you can face and also win, then your management is being obtained with respect. If you can not, then you will certainly not be able to make the adjustments required to move the church ahead. You will either be asked to leave or you will certainly sit and stagnate.

Livestream Church

My idea is that you select your time, face the critics to your leadership and also neighborhood clear as well as concise leadership. It had much better be you!

  The parish wants to elect on every little thing and also the priest allows them.

  Moot: The stronger the congregational type of government the tougher it is for the church to grow. The members comes to be the ludicrous extreme of a committee-driven church. When the congregation requires to elect on every little thing from the shade of carpeting to whether to alter the prayer area right into a junior high game room, the church is slated for no growth and also decrease.

  SOLUTION: When you face the congregational management model, you require to gradually start turning the ship by beginning to choose yourself. When you do that initially, start communicating to the congregation of your activities in a growth-excitement fashion, keeping them fully in the loop to ensure that they feel much less a sense of "we are not electing any longer" to "we still are hearing the within scoop on decisions." This may take place for a couple of months until such factor that the parish sees that the choices that rise from your office are excellent ones which the church is expanding. If you have this congregational design at your church, begin turning it to the growth-oriented model. If you do not have the congregational version, do not let it begin. You are the leader. Imitate it.

  The staff runs the program as well as the priest allows them.

  Moot: Several team churches appear like a senior priest's dream-come-true. When the best team remains in location and also the senior priest leads it can be a dream-come-true. Nonetheless, in a lot of cases the senior priest is so bent on creating a collegial relationship with staff the elderly pastor surrenders their responsibility to lead. Likely, the team has actually been built with some very strong leaders. When that holds true, the staff starts to step up and also lead in the lack of the elderly priest's leadership.

  SOLUTION: When a new pastor enters into a society with an existing staff the priest has the possibility to find out new individuals while trying to show his very own management. Never should a priest, whether brand-new or entrenched, surrender his duty to lead. Sadly, there are personnel who construct coalitions of people around them. They look for opportunities to lead. The pastor/leader should obtain buy-in from his partners on the group while never ever releasing the senior leadership obligations. If the pastor/leader has already allowed this to happen they should start to transform that around by gradually and purposely interacting the designated management style to the present team. The pastor/leader can not be seen as an oppressor but he should interact that input is important from personnel. Nonetheless, at the end of the day regardless of the choice or instructions, the team must coalesce behind the senior pastor/leader. This leader gains buy-in and then marches and leads.

  No one runs the program and also the pastor is one of the no ones.

  Moot: This is one of the saddest scenarios. The church is on autopilot with everyone, including the senior pastor, taking turns being cozy as well as friendly with every person. Nobody challenges anyone or anything. No one leads. The senior pastor does whatever by making sure every person enjoys and that no one ever before obtains distressed. Nobody leads which consists of the senior pastor.

  SERVICE: When this holds true the pastor/leader need to begin to tip up and also make decisions. This leader can not be tentative in his choices even if he really feels tentative. The advantage is that since no person has actually been leading, simply the reality that somebody is tipping up to lead typically is gotten well. Absolutely nothing is worse than no management from anyone. The pastor/leader can not be seen as just an additional "nobody" resting by enjoying nothing occur. Make a little choice and after that stand by it. Then make another one ... and an additional one ... as well as one more one. Inevitably you will certainly be able to make a bigger choice and also it will stand as well as be good for the church. If you obtain resistance to this technique after that there truly is another person (likely a present or board participant) functioning in a passive leadership role. You require to figure out whom that another person is and implemented the aspects we spoke of about board management of the church.

  The pastor leads by agreement - takes a ballot on every little thing from everyone and also up until everyone agrees.

  At Issue: The elderly pastor is the utmost agreement building contractor. He takes a vote essentially or figuratively on whatever. The elderly priest blunders "gaining buy-in" for "consensus building." They are extremely, really different.

  REMEDY: Quit trying to build agreement as well as begin getting buy-in. Agreement building waters every decision to the most tasty degree for the most affordable level leader. Buy-in has solid team leaders hearing, understanding, testing, disputing and getting into the pastor/leader's vision or readjusted vision. When that vision or decision is flawed the clever pastor/leader does not dig their heels in, instead, retrenches as well as moves out once more with an also much better vision, plan and/or strategy for the future.

  Strong pastor/leaders must concern grasps with the difference in between consensus structure and also the production of buy-in. When buy-in achieves success, the church has the best capacity for incremental and then ultimately exponential development.

  At the end of the day, it is important that the elderly pastor have the ability to lead which he does so. Also, for a church to grow, it needs to have strong elderly management. Churches that do not expand have actually dropped prey to one of the five reasons.

  Senior Pastor, it is your work to lead. Mitigate the reasons as articulated over. If you have others in your church society mitigate those also. The stakes are too expensive for you to just rest by and also remain with the status quo. Your objective is the best on the planet. Act like it and lead your church.

  If you stop working at this job the church loses. If the church intends to shed, after that shake the dirt off your feet and move on. Do not cop out to this however where the entrenchment of leadership besides the elderly priest exists the church does not have vision. We all know what occurs when there is not vision. But don't fail to remember, when you lead there may be fireworks yet if you are still standing at the end of the discussion, the Kingdom success.

  Do whatever you can to eliminate these reasons from your church society. When you do, the kingdom will win!

  Cock Hardy is the Owner as well as Head Of State of The Hardy Group, an Executive Consulting firm for elderly pastors of churches. Every little thing yet teaching is his style. Handling right stuff that keeps you up at night is his focus.

  Penis brings a riches of experience to the table for pastors when dealing with the difficult problems of the church relative to growth, organization, leadership, administration, as well as adjustment. His solution as Administrative Pastor at two mega churches and as Vice President at a front runner partisan Scriptures college makes him a resource your church will wish to preserve. Penis is also offered to act as an audio speaker on this subject and much more.

[96thdayofrage]

https://medium.com/@hasan.ali.ibrahim.fb/talib-kweli-the-hypocrite-that-rupert-murdoch-funded-e29b26f535cf

For months, Talib Kweli Greene has been on a smear campaign against a lineage-based political movement called American Descendants of Slavery (ADOS) and a woman named Yvette Carnell who helped coin the term. The basis of his smear is founded solely on a conspiracy theory and has seemed to gain traction among the detractors of said movement. The idea being that at one time, Carnell was on the board of an organization financed by a now deceased white supremacist. The organization is called Progressives for Immigration Reform and the white supremacist is John Tanton. Kweli has spread the idea that ADOS is financed by rightwing groups and, in this new era of red scare hysteria, his idea has taken hold. At this point, Carnell and ADOS have been investigated by journalists who can’t find any proof of such a conspiracy. Yet, daily, Kweli can be found on his social media repeating the assertion.

Earlier this year, Talib Kweli had a somewhat infamous run-in with Yvette Carnell. Kweli made a tweet dismissing the idea of taking support away from the Democrat party if they wouldn’t meet the demand of reparations. This seems a strange position from a rapper who’s boasted about a “no voting” stance for most of his career. In response, Carnell said celebrities were “loud and wrong” about these types of political takes because they don’t understand the data. She also questioned why people listen to celebrities like Kweli when it comes to politics. Kweli, who’s profession often includes trading verbal insults back and forth with other rappers, seem unable to handle that his political position was even mildly challenged. He’s since gone on to attack the credibility of Yvette Carnell, anyone she’s associated with and the political movement she sparked with Antonio Moore around the justice claim for American Descendants of Slavery. Kweli has been consumed by arguing with the people of ADOS and misconstruing their positions as right-wing xenophobia, going as far as calling them MAGA. Seemingly the only basis for his assertions is: ADOS refuses to act in lockstep with the Democrat party nor leftist ideas about how black people should view politics.

The ADOS agenda:

Yvette Carnell previously worked as an aid in Washington for the Democrat party and says she left because of frustration with the disregard Democratic politicians have shown the black community who have consistently been their most loyal supporters. She was able to find a like minded partner in Antonio Moore, who felt it necessary to refocus black politics after reviewing staggering economic data about wealth among black Americans who descend from slavery. They are simply echoing a sentiment that has been around in the black community since the establishment of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which is that the government hasn’t done enough to even the socioeconomic playing field. More specifically, after 60 years of black voters giving at least 80% of their support to Democrats with no results and very little attempt to fight for them, many in the black community are questioning our loyalty to this political party and it’s ideologies. Carnell and Moore are making a concerted effort to educate black Americans about the economic data to change the course of our politics. Their detractors seem to imply that black people can’t have differing opinions from traditional Democratic sources without also having nefarious intentions. Carnell and Moore argue that drastic measures have to be taken since the median wealth of black families is set to hit 0 by 2053.

With data in hand that shows a different economic story for blacks who descend from American slavery versus black immigrants, Carnell wants to redefine the conversation about race in America to include discussions of ethnic lineage. Ultimately, she suggests that native black Americans have a justice claim for reparations and she relies heavily on the research of Duke University’s Dr. Sandy Darity. Part of this conversation is reimagining what being an American citizen means for the descendants of slavery and our claim to the resources of the most powerful nation in the world. In ascribing value to American citizenship for this purpose, it is logical that native blacks have to distinguish ourselves from immigrant blacks however difficult it is to explain this position without it being misconstrued as xenaphobic. Carnell has also made many videos reframing race in an attempt to move it from the top priority surrounding discussions of black Americans in favor of our experiences as an ethnicity. From her perspective, we have allowed our unique experiences to get diluted into vague stories of the minority struggle in America. That vague minority struggle means that, sadly, many of the governmental attempts to address the harm done to black people have been co-opted by other groups, constantly and systemically leaving American descendents of slavery without the resources intended for us.

Essentially, Yvette Carnell and Antonio Moore spend a great amount of time trying to shake loose black people’s need to conform to the ideas of the Democratic party, traditional ideas about race, lineage and what black citizenship in America should mean, particularly for the descendants of slavery. They do this by presenting fact-based and data-driven arguments with hopes that American descendents of slavery will align our politics with our own self-interests.

At some point we have to break loose from this concept that it’s unreasonably selfish when black Americans focus on helping ourselves versus being the people with the least trying to help the most. We must also get over the notion that black Americans can’t be at odds with both major political parties. It is an incomplete conversation to express our disdain with criticisms anchored to the Republican party alone. All parties are complicit in the anti-justice movement against black Americans, even black politicians and black media mouthpieces aren’t above being taken to task. Our dissatisfaction must be spread around not only to our enemies, but also to the allies who have failed us.

The Music of Symbolic Revolution:

If you listen to Kweli describe his music, he will say something like:

“My lyrics are aggressive. My lyrics are not passive. My lyrics ain’t let’s all get along, let’s be happy. My lyrics are ‘fuck the status quo, fuck white supremacy, I’m pro-black, I’m pro social justice. That’s what my whole lyrical output is.” (https://hiphopdx.com/news/id.48093/title.talib-kweli-breaks-down-rap-fans-hypocrisy-on-lyricism-racism)

Kweli’s started in the era after the East Coast/West Coast beef. Shiny suits and getting “jiggy” were setting up the path for the southern takeover of the Bling era that was the early 2000’s. In 1998, Mos Def and Talib Kweli made their debut album through nontraditional music imprint Rawkus Records. On the surface, Rawkus was like a beacon of light for hip hop fans thirsty for the grounded traditional flavor of the golden eras of hip hop. Their roster was full to the brim of what were labelled conscious rappers. Now that we can look back at Talib’s career, it’s hard to justify that label. His catalog of music is full of bad attempts to crossover with small doses of comfortably safe revolutionary fever that come across with the same inauthenticity as a studio gangster. But this has been the con game of rappers like Kweli; he offers the most milktoast approach to saying things that will “shake up the system” in his actual music but paints himself as the Khalid Muhammed of rap.

During Kweli’s era, rappers ran from the label conscious because by the time rappers like Kweli became the face of “consciousness”, their work redefined the term in a way that was the essence of uncool. Gone were the records so politically charged that they would cause the FBI to tap your favorite rappers’ phone. Insert a crew of choir boys preaching about cleaning up our acts instead of pinpointing how to overturn the fabric of this unjust society. So inauthentic and purposeless that soon they were going whichever direction the wind blew to try and shake the moniker of consciousness. Kweli was more than willing to drop having a message in his music at all by going with the “sometimes people just want to party” sentiment. In retrospect, Kweli never had the song-making ability, the substantive political depth, nor a hard hitting perspective that could make his faux “revolutionary” music appeal to the everyday black American. Kweli and his music have always given off the impression of a soft, thin-skinned college kid from the Boule society of a middle class upbringing. And no…this isn’t an attempt to black check Kweli by saying blackness can only be understood through the lense of struggle or militancy. The grander issue that has made his music come across hollow and soulless is that after all these years and tunes, we still have no idea what really encompasses Kweli’s politics nor philosophy on life. It’s as if he is an outcast begging to be down and using tidbits of pro-black jargon as a shield against any examination of what he truly represents. Basically, Kweli is the “revolutionary” rapper that people vaguely recall and who only appeals to us in theory.

Undeveloped Politics:

Kweli often boasts about a lifetime of pro-black advocacy but it’s substanceless. There seems to be a lack of strategy to Kweli’s so-called “activism” which has come in the form of making music, doing concerts, giving money to nonprofits, speaking at rallies and sit-ins. If you look at the causes he has advocated for over the last decade or so such as Occupy Wallstreet, ending police brutality, freeing political prisoners, ending “Stop and Frisk”, and cessating “Stand Your Ground” laws, it’s questionable if Kweli’s activism has any form of impact, yet he will claim authority in that space. What doesn’t help Kweli’s case for being a real activist is that he will quote his own rap lyrics as his qualifications. In Talib’s mind, because he rhymed with the word “reparations” in a verse from 20 years ago that no one remembers, he can now claim he’s been in a 20 year fight for reparations. You don’t see much in the way of shifting laws that adversely affect black people or even a trail of working class black folks who would point to Kweli as someone who has helped improve the quality of their lives. He shows up for a photo opt, says some words that rhyme and nothing changes, then Kweli pats himself on the back for being a revolutionary.

We are far removed from the days of grassroots activism such as that of the Black Panther Party. Somewhere along the way, the black celebrity became the voice of our politics, with or without the equipment to understand what it takes to be in that position. Especially in the case of the rapper. If you could rhyme S.A.T. words and keep a rhythm, all you needed to do was reference a history of pro-blackness and some people would shamelessly compare you to Huey P. Newton. This empty rhetorical attempt at politics has left a void in the place of advocacy that is greatly needed by black Americans. Instead of strategic calls to action around a goal, the celebrity class has tainted our politics and made it hard to galvanize people. It is no wonder media outlets and politicians love propping these people up as tools to infiltrate the rest of us with confusion. Rhyming words over a beat only qualifies you to rhyme words over a beat. It doesn’t make you an expert on political action. In losing the strategic political planning, entertainment has been our biggest distraction from black empowerment and politicians have run amok rolling back almost everything that real pro-black movements fought for years ago.

For the politically immature, buzzwords, cliche slogans from 40-50 years ago, and waving off all political involvement has been considered black activism and Kweli has mastered all 3 things. You can search video streaming platforms and find old interviews of Kweli arrogantly saying he doesn’t vote because he saw the whole system as white supremacy followed by some vague message about “the people” without saying what “the people” should do instead. Anyone who wasn’t dazzled by celebrity and rhetoric would wonder what’s the point of Kweli’s “activism” because it sounded like he was apolitical with no pathway to offer his imaginary revolution. The problem with undefined political positions is that you can easily be co-opted into any half baked ideology. And these days Kweli has changed his tune about voting to become a shill for anything Democratic. It’s probably because his brother, Jamal Greene, is working with the Kamala Harris campaign. And that is the same Kamala Harris who can be seen in that viral clip responding to a question about reparations by saying, “...I’m not gonna sit here and say I’m going to do something specifically for black people…. NOOO.''

What is Mr. Greene’s real agenda?

In his campaign against ADOS, Kweli hasn’t attempted debating political perspectives in good faith. He’s taken people out of context and avoided any tough questions about his positions. One of his laziest attacks comes from a video where Yvette jokingly put on a MAGA hat. An image of it has been screenshotted and now Talib Kweli uses it as if it’s some Bohemian Grove initiation ceremony into the evil kabal of White Supremacy. Yvette has regularly made unconventional statements and done stunts to break the lovefest our people have with the Democratic party and underdeveloped ideas about “blackness” in America. She’s also fought this idea that we have to be allies with groups who don’t reciprocate support for us and our causes. She argues that we don’t owe anyone after decades of black Americans getting on the frontlines for other people’s causes. What Kweli doesn’t seem to understand with all his hollow arguments is that political advocacy means that you sometimes have to be at odds with the people who approach you with a smile. They will talk as if they are fighting for your interests but really they are trying to manipulate you. This concept seems to fly over the heads of the anti-ADOS crew. Kweli’s politics seem so unsophisticated that he only questions the intentions of people he deems as hostile to him. Yet, in his arguments, he acts as if he is guided by strict principles instead of hurt feelings. The issue is usually someone with principles isn’t easily shown to be a hypocrite.

It’s odd that Kweli attacks Yvette for this hat stunt when he should be logical enough to know better. More strange than his reaction to Yvette in a MAGA hat is that Kanye West is Kweli’s friend and longtime collaborator. Kanye has gone well beyond wearing the MAGA hat. In the same breath, Kanye is also responsible for Kweli’s only hit record, “Get By”. In every way possible, Kanye has supported Trump to the point of calling Trump his Daddy. Yet, you can see Kweli on DJ Vlad speaking about how he continued to work with Kanye during the Pro-Trump fiasco (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xMJnjgxKT3s). Kweli even worked on a demo for Kanye recently while at the same time claiming that he was telling Kanye that the people around him were white supremacists. Beyond that, the choice to go to DJ Vlad for this interview is extremely problematic when the surface level optics of Vlad’s platform is about promoting an awful caricature of black life through the lense of unstable black celebrity. Also, DJ Vlad is being sued by a former black employee for a host of things including making racially and sexually inappropriate remarks such as, "Black people aren't slaves anymore", "racism isn't as bad anymore", and that the employee "should get ass shots, or whatever it is women are putting into their behinds these days" (https://www.casemine.com/judgement/us/5c494e13342cca0d53c62dc6).

Sadly, Kweli has defended the Vlad appearance by chastising people with tweets about how they won’t watch his show. These are the inconsistencies in his politics and there are more…

Kweli has to think he is more intelligent than the average black person bred from American bondage or at least that we are incapable of thinking for ourselves. He has created this grand conspiracy theory that ADOS is a white supremacist front that hundreds of thousands of native black Americans can’t see through after engaging hours upon hours of material from Carnell and Moore. Kweli is smarter than us all because he was able to figure out this fiendish plot within moments of his twitter exchange with Yvette. His greatest piece of evidence for this theory is held together by shoestrings. He claims that Yvette Carnell’s previous involvement on the board of a group called Progressives For Immigration Reform (PFIR) must mean ADOS is a front for white supremacists. Carnell has addressed this issue by saying she was not paid by PFIR at any point, that her role on the board has been consistent with her position about the value of citizenship in America and that she used this position to advocate for the black Americans who get passed up by an immigrant population. It is very easy to make this simplistic deduction that Talib presents and write ADOS off without attempting to engage with their arguments, but I question Mr. Greene’s political savviness after witnessing his endless crusade.

What if he is wrong and in the process he is alienating the very type of black American who would support him in this new era of rekindled pro-black “wokeness”? The reality is that Kweli’s bread and butter over the years has been a young, white progressive audience and he has been co-opted to appeal to them. It’s much like how the term “woke” has been co-opted and bastardized from a variation of the rallying cry at the end of Spike Lee’s School Daze… a message for black youth to “wake up” and become socially aware about the issues facing black American society… now changed to being the marching orders of Borg-like drones for white progressive politics. Is Kweli pro-black or progressive? Is he able to accept that sometimes these things can be in alignment but other times they can be at odds? More importantly, is he willing to upset his white lefty friends to advocate the best policies for the American Descendants of Slavery?

Maybe there isn’t a concern about black people at all and Kweli’s been a manchurian candidate this whole time?

Let’s say it’s valid to theorize about people’s agendas in the way that Kweli has done. Investigative journalists haven’t sniffed out these links to a rightwing machine as far as the origins or day-to-day ativities of ADOS are concerned but that hasn’t stopped the wacky theories. Maybe this is projection and we should question Talib Kweli Greene’s roots? Kweli currently hosts a podcast on Uproxx which is a company that was started by Brian Brater and Jarret Myer, who are the same guys who signed Kweli to Rawkus Records. But there’s some forgotten history about Rawkus Records that no one has mentioned during all of this back and forth between Kweli and ADOS. Rawkus started without a focus on rap music and went a couple of years experimenting based on $10,000 investment from the two entrepreneurs but when the company floundered financially, Brian Brater and Jarret Myer turned to hip hop and the family of Rupert Murdoch for help. The Fox News mogul ended up buying 80% ownership in the company and this is the business move that financed the rap career of Talib Kweli.