#but as a rule of thumb im not doing all of that unless theres a whole criminal record check for the whole blog and a psych eval

[baby-royalty]

ooc question: out of curiosity, what would lizzy's ic reaction be to other children of damon oc's? (of which i have seen one other one, aside from lizzy herself).

Girl.

We have had the worst experience with other children OCs.

I wish you luck, it's hard out here as one herself, people get weirdly competitive and hateful on Lizzy when they rock up, and I sure as fuck don't appreciate it.

I'm one of you. Have some respect for your community.

But we aren't taking applicants for siblings now, Lizzy's traumatized and had enough drama for a lifetime.

Thank you so much, take care of yourself my darling.

In theory, I want her to be a good sibling whether she's a big sister or a little one, and it's open for discussion even though it'a a firm NO.

In practice?

She's so emotionally exhausted with those awful experiences and I don't have it in me to do it all again, so I think she'd try and protect her peace by yeeting the baby off the top of Mystic Falls.

[just-a-hooman64]

NO BECAUSE ME TOO BUT I DIDNT WANT TO BE RUDE IF THERES AN ACTUAL CONCEPT ARTOST BEHIND THESE

Theres so many skins woth eyes that i just. couldn't imagine an artost making them look that way???

Medusa: Eyes look soulless, ear looks very wonky to me, nose is.. interesting And some of the snakes just kinda merge with the larger strands

Unreleased BB skin: Her one eye is literally the same colour as her skin, I cant imagine a real person could fuck that up. Also her mouth is being sucked into her nose a little bit. Furthermore her eyeliner becomes a part of her helmet??

Aphrodite: her eyes are wobbly and taking a closer look, her headress doesnt really make sense? Is it looping back around her head? and what are those things on the left do they just float there?

And like, this summery skin with blue hair, the eyes also look weird, I don't wanna know what's going on with those earrings, one of the cat ears is filled in with the hair colour while the other isn't, and that hand. If a real person did do this I'm sorry, but for a piece for concept art I should expect it to look a little bit nicer (if that makes sense). Yes there's five fingers but those fingers look wrong on the palm, heck the palm looks wrong all together in accordance to the thumb!

And the final one im gonna talk about is this unreleased Hermes skin.

For one I could not tell you whats written on the shirt, kind of important for concept art.

Two, his hair makes NO sense because at his head, the long tail part is going under his clothes, however a little lower the end of it is shown?? So unless this guy has a hole in his shirt spesifically for his ponytail, something is wrong here.

Ans thirdly, simething is UP with that shoe because whats up with that random spot over the shoelaces?? Sorry if im wrong but i could NEVER see a real person doing that intentionally, maybe as an accidental touch on the drawing tablet, but that can be ruled out because this hypothetical artist would have notoced it when they went over it again to do the shading.

In comparison, here is some of the work done by Yang J in 2018, an artist who created many different skins in the game, including the one and only Drift. Just look at the difference.

(Also a little personal note, Yang J also did the summer drift skin and I find it really funny but smart that he copy pasted parts of the model where he could.)

Though I can understand if these examples are too old to be of substantial evidence, how about we look at a more recent example? Here are some concepts created by Bode Alaka, as far as I can tell a current concept artist at Epic and again, see how these weird artifacts don't happen.

Apologies if these images are crunchy, with each artists name I have linked their ArtStations for you to go look at their art pieces yourselves, which I would highly recommend. I hope this helps illustrate the fact that Epic is 100% doing something shady behind the scenes with some of these Survey skin's "concept art."

Reminder to support real artists 💖💖

So... does anybody else think these are created (in part) by artificial intelligence..???? nobody has talked about this and its making me feel so crazy

[totheendofthelinepal]

CONSTELLLATIONS (PART ONE)

Summary: Being stuck in space with ARES was not your plan, especially when a certain someone finds out you haven’t been intimate with anyone in your life.

Notes: Virgin Reader x Chris Beck, swearing, NSFW (18+)

six months.

one hundred and twenty eight days.

You had been here already much longer than you had planned, but you were trained for the unexpected. In fact, most of the time someone like you knew it was bound to happen at least once in your career. When you were a little girl, there was something that always fascinated you - the stars. You would dream about them, hoping one day you could touch one - feel the energy they gave off. Now here you were, six months - one hundred and twenty eight days. You were picked for this mission by some kind of miracle, it didn’t happen often for someone who had just graduated. Then again, you were top in your class - that might have had something to do with it. There was five other people who were highly trained in this type of field on board with you, six other people you had gotten to know very well in the past six months. It was described as an elite team. There was Martinez, who was trained originally trained as a fighter pilot - he was more on the humorous side. There was Watney - trained botanist and chicago native. Vogel - he didn’t say much but he was both genius in chemistry and astrophysics. Johanssen - she was your favorite, the two of you had bonded over the months, she was incredible with software engineering, as were you.Commander Lewis. She was someone you had definitely heard about - and looked up to. She graduated with honors at the US Naval Academy, you knew she was a badass. Finally, there was the one person you’d known longer than anyone else aboard the spacecraft. Dr Christopher Beck. You met him long before the rest of the crew, in graduate cum laude Yale university. You’d like to say that the two of you were friends, but your paths hardly ever met unless it was in class every so often. In all honestly, you thought he was handsome. He was highly trained in flight surgeon detail, and you also knew his extensive training in aerospace medicine. The team was set for a six month mission. Typical EVA space walks to be done. But in recent light of events, although NASA explained little at the moment, your mission had been extended. It almost felt like part of your DNA, knowing just how much you had to sacrifice for this kind of life. But having the people around you here in space, it helped ease the wanting of going home. You watched carefully, the team surrounded at the table in the spacecraft. Martinez had already started up a conversation.

“What’s something you could really go for on earth right now?” He laughed out, his eyes searching the crew.

“I could go for pizza, to be honest.” Johanssen laughed lightly, earning a grin from you.

“I definitely miss coffee.” You sighed out, thinking just how much you could use a starbucks right now.

“Of course you would say that.” Beck chuckled lowly to you, causing you to give him a teasing glare.

“Sex.” Martinez blurted out, causing the team to groan lightly.

“Come on, Martinez. That’s not appropriate.” Lewis smirked lightly to his forward comment.

The team laughed in unison, and you smiled nervously. You heard the low murmurs of agreement, and there was something that popped in your mind. You wouldn’t know. You wouldn’t know if you missed it or not - because that was a void in your life. You thought your nervous reaction was unoticed, but you saw Chris’ eyes on you for just a lingering moment.

“I would say I definitely miss watching netflix.” You coughed lightly, wanting desperately to change the subject.

“Oh definitely. Catch up on Grey’s Anatomy.” Johanssen motioned to you, Vogel also nodding in agreement.

You took a sigh of relief, knowing you were off the subject you knew absolutely embarrassingly nothing about. You looked to Beck once again, he was laying across the couch nearest to the table now. You watched carefully as he fumbled a deck of cards in his hands, you met his eyes in a soft smirk. You wondered if he had taken notice once again of your dodging attitude. You bit you lip quickly, deciding to shake it off, not think anything of it.

It had been a couple days since what Martinez mentioned, and you wouldn’t be human if you didnt think about it. You wondered if that made you look almost childish. You were certainly old enough, it just never happened for you. Being at school, working hard to get where you are now - you didnt have time to even think about sex. There wasn’t exactly a long line either. Your mind let the thoughts fade away into something much more important at this moment. You gripped the small photo, it was completely battered - even a light tear at the top. It wasn’t all that old, you just stared at it so often it had gotten worn down. It was of you and the most important person in your life, your mother. This was another sacrifice. You traced your hands over the worn out photo, thinking of how much she needed you now. She was diagnosed with cancer five months ago, she had been in and out of the hospital through all of this without you. You father passed away years ago - you had no siblings. Your mother was pretty much all you had for her whole life. She had supported your dream from the very start, you could remember her setting up the glowing stars that stuck to the wall in your room when you were little. It nearly killed you knowing you couldn’t be there, hold her hand through all of this.

“How is she doing?”

Your thoughts were abruptly stopped by a familiar voice, Chris.

“I-Im not sure.” You mumbled, your thumb tightening to the photo.

“When was the last time you talked to her?” Beck bent down to the floor, taking a seat beside you.

You waited a moment, staring out into the beautiful view of the earth below you, “About a month.”

“Hey, just think of how happy she’ll be to see you.” Beck nudged you softly with his arm, and you gave him a polite smile.

“I just hope I get there in time.” You sighed, putting the photo back in your pocket.

“Wanna play cards?” Beck motioned, “Might take your mind off things. Just for a little while.”

You smiled genuinely once again, taking his hand as he helped you on your feet, “Sure, why not?”

The two of you sat across from each other, and this wasn’t exactly an odd occurrence. You played cards, board games, you name it. It was always with Beck, the two of you had been the only ones to really get into the games. Words were hardly exchanged, but it wasn’t an awkward silence - not in the least. It felt comfortable. Peaceful almost.

“So you planning on getting a latte as soon as we get home?” Beck chuckled lowly, dealing out cards.

“You bet your ass I am.” You grinned at his comment meant for teasing.

“I think I’m going to find a nice restaurant, and buy a steak.” Chris smiled, his eyes meeting yours.

It was something you recognized right off the bat with him, his eyes were almost piercing blue. It was the kind of eyes that you could tell all your secrets to. It was the kind of eyes that would get any kind of woman in trouble. But of course, you never lingered too long on his eyes. Otherwise thoughts would enter your mind that would break countless rules aboard a spacecraft.

“Steak sounds amazing right now.” You grinned softly, looking away from his gaze.

“Martinez wasn’t lying the other day about some others things to miss, huh?” Chris smirked lightly to you, and suddenly you felt your heartbeat pick up.

“Uh- sure.” You stammered, feeling your cheeks redden lightly.

“Why do you do that?” He leaned forward, his brow knitting in confusion.

“Do what?” You flickered your eyes away from his.

“You get all…weird.” Chris chuckled out, leaning back once again, “kinda twitchy almost.”

“Come on, I do not.” You laughed it off nervously.

“See, That. right there. You just got all weird.” Chris nudged you playfully.

“Chris, I dont know what you’re talking about.” You shook your head, trying to think of anything to change the subject, “I really want a burger to be honest.”

you shook your head at your words, seriously. that was the best you could come with.

“Okay, see theres the other thing. You changed the subject.” Chris shook his head in laughter, “Why are you so weird about the subject of sex?”

When he finally said it, you decided you weren’t going to be apart of the conversation anymore.

“Im feeling really tired.” You mocked a yawn, quickly collecting yourself.

You left before he could say anything, and you could almost the confusion he was in.

You avoided him as best you could, but you were inside a small compact spacecraft. So of course it was bound to happen, you running into him. But not if you had anything to do with it. You hung out with Johanssen as much as you could, knowing that Chris wouldn’t bring it up with anyone else around. You could almost feel the quiet teasing he was giving you, by each smirk and soft chuckle each time he saw you. You definitely hadn’t told anyone on board you’d never had sex. It didnt seem like vital information - or even appropriate information you needed to share. You were back at your spot, reeling through your mind trying to think of anything but all this nonsense. This was your spot, almost like your safe haven. Most of the crew would head into their own private quarters - the only place on the spacecraft that didnt have microphones or cameras. But you enjoyed this space. There was cameras here, no microphones surprisingly. But you didnt mind. They never really disturbed you unless they had to. Communications in this spot was only through the software on the other side of the room. It was your favorite spot mostly because of the view. As the spacecraft would float around, the window gave a perfect view of the space you loved so much.

“Hey you.”

You heard the familiar voice, and you instantly began to shuffle to leave.

“Whoa, hey sport. Don’t even think about running this time.” Chris chuckled lowly, sitting down next to you.

You shifted uncomfortably, hoping he wouldn’t bring it up. But you knew Chris Beck well enough, he most definitely would.

“Whats up?” You sighed out, hoping you deter him.

He laughed softly, his eyes placed on you, “Really? come on, talk to me.”

“Nothing to talk about.” You bit your lip, keeping your eyes to space.

“There clearly is.” Chris chuckled out now, nudging you softly.

“Seriously, Chris. Just drop it.” You huffed, bringing your knees to your chest.

He was quiet for a moment, and you looked quickly to see his eyes traveling you in realization, shit.

“Are you a virgin?” He merely whispered, even though he knew there was no microphones in here.

“Chris I dont want to talk-“

“Oh my god you are.” He bit back a grin, nudging you again.

“I…Didn’t have time.” You mumbled quickly, shifting once again.

“Oh come on. Even I had time.” Chris grinned widely to you, clearly taking amusement in this.

“You really think this is funny? It’s not like I had a long line of suitors.” You mumbled again, rolling your eyes.

“I find that very hard to believe.” Chris smirked, looking away from you finally.

“Yeah well. Believe it. Okay? I get it. Im a virgin. Im a prude.” You sighed heavily, slightly annoyed this came to light.

“I never said you were a prude.” He defended, “It’s actually really refreshing. You didn’t just do it because everyone else was, its nice.”

You looked to him, and you could see a small smirk on his lips. You couldn’t help but smile to his genuine compliment. You began to fumble with your hands.

“Thank you.” You mumbled, biting your lip.

“Whoever gets that privilege is lucky. You’re beautiful.” Chris smiled to you, his eyes meeting yours.

You suddenly wanted to kick yourself. Your eyes traveled to his lips, without your permission or thought. Your lingering gaze stayed much longer than it should have, long enough for Chris to notice.

“There is cameras in here.” Chris whispered out, a smirk forming on his lips.

“I know.” You choked out, flickering your eyes away.

“I should probably go.” Chris bit his lip, his hand falling to your knee.

In that moment, you noticed everything about him in a much different light. You’d been in a small confined space with him for months, but right now - he’d never looked so good. Your eyes stayed at his hand on your knee, and you felt the warmth radiate. His hand looked soft, his slender fingers almost encasing your whole knee. You took a deep breath, you couldn’t think about this. You couldn’t think about him.

Your thoughts would’ve broken about 32 rules by now.

[axtolatry-archive]

do all the even numbers

one “the pairs” comin up2.are there any languages besides english in which you think you could comfortably roleplay? absolutely not. I can stumble through some badly accented spanish to do a return at work, with a lot of “si, usted no quieres este, claro? bien, un momento. este para este, si? bien. el dinero es en usted visa card. Adios!” and thats /it/4. how often do you need to translate your own or the other’s writing with a dictionary or google when writing and reading replies?I sometimes have to yell at google until it tells me what word i was thinking of, but thats about it6. do you have ideal writing circumstances when you can do a lot of drafts or tackle really long ones very easily?They’re called “anti depressants and mood stableizers” and i miss them very much. Otherwise, “hey its after 6 pm time to spend like 3 hours writing 2 words until that burst of insperation hits up 20 min before bed”8.  - see last post - 

10. how much do you proof-read as you are writing vs. proof-read at the end?if I see a word thats misspelled i have to take care of it mid reply (unless im in The Zone,) otherwise i check it over before hitting post. I hate proofreading tho i literally dont even proof read academic shit i just hit spell check and go.12. is there ever been a time when you’ve had to drop a roleplaying partner because you’ve found their writing style exhausting?there’s been a couple people i just blocked because they were so repetitive and i really didnt feel like I could write anything but the 1-2 things they wanted. I can only write so many versions of my girls becoming part of one dude  with a “magic dick”s harem before I wanted to just delete. Also so many people who try to overstylize and use synonyms to hide the fact that they’re writing mediocre content. like. dont. its okay to be averal, im not on here to win a pulitzer. put the italics down and write lips instead of “petals” one time, it will be okay. I promise

14.what do you do after you see a person has replied? do you read it immediately, or do you wait for it to show up on the dash? do you like it, draft it immediately, etc?I typically see the activity notice when I check my dash, or on the side of my screen if just browsing. I tried to read it when i notice it, unless im in the middle of replies, then I do it after. typically i just read it then move on, replies are done by me going back in my activity page and remembering where I left off last time. its an interesting system. 16. do you first get in the “zone” when writing, or do you start writing and “enter” it that way?it depends! typically I try and find a reply or muse that is really speaking to me, but if I cant then I jsut choose the oldest one i owe a reply to and start writing slowly. Usually at least a little muse will respond to that, and then its easier. 18. what’s your inbox count currently? what did you do to get it so high/low?10, a few old asks that were replied to privately, and some duplicates I haven’t gotten around to clearing out. otherwise, its mostly jsut that no one talks to me. ((also, I reply to almost every ask i get, either by posting or iming you, if I dont, tumblrs eaten it. general rule of thumb for htis blog))20. if you are writing a wrong reply that’s not working out, do you save what you have to be continued at another date, or do you scrap it and rewrite?I hate the fucking draft function on this site, so if its really not working out, I just scrap it and go to another one. Otherwise, I leave the tab open in the background and come back after a bit to see if its gotten any easier to work with, or if theres anything salvageable with it. 22. longest reply you’ve ever writen on mobile?I dont write on mobile tumblr. on other mobile sites? 3,428. which I only remember because the formatting I used for that forum had the word count of every post, and I was astounded i’d been on a bus long enough to type over THREE THOUSAND WORDS on a lil iphone 4s24. what’s your thought process when you format? any unspoken rules you follow?small text, gif icon, erase my last reply above it. i also edit any partners reply to follow this pattern, but i dont add gifs, and I dont write with ppl who use mobile or dont cut posts frequently, so that mostly applies to text size. 

[themoneybuff-blog]

The proactive homeowner: How to stay on top of home improvement

Yesterday was an exciting day at the Rothwards household! After three weeks of demolition and construction, we installed our new hot tub. It took six men an hour of maneuvering before we managed to set the spa into placebut we did it. And we didnt break anything. Now its a matter of completing the decking and roofing, then Kim and I will be able to enjoy our remodeled outdoor oasis!

Were eager for construction to be over. Since buying our English cottage last summer, weve poured tons of money and time into a variety of renovations. Its been a non-stop construction zone. You see, during the seventeen years the previous owners lived here, they performed very little maintenance and upkeep on the home and property. When we had the place inspected before purchase, the inspector raised a lot of concerns:

The inspection report was so dire that Kim and I almost passed on the purchase. After we did decide to buy the place, I vowed that Id be a proactive homeowner. Instead of allowing things to fall into a state of disrepair, I wanted to fix everything that was broken and then stay on top of home improvement in the years to come. Today I want to share four specific actions Ive taken to try to be a proactive homeowner. Develop a Schedule for Regular Maintenance A great place to start with home improvement is to find (or create) a regular maintenance schedule. While youll definitely have projects specific to your own house (about which more in a moment), there are certain chores that ought to be done on a routine basis. Here in Oregon, for instance, gutters should be cleaned both at the start and the end of the rainy season (late October and late April). Spring is a good time to wash windows, inside and out. Its also time to clean and set up outdoor furniture. During the summer, I like to trim trees and shrubs back from the side of the house. Fall is a good time to inspect the attic and crawlspace. To create our maintenance schedule, I started with this home maintenance checklist [Google Doc] based on an article from The Art of Manliness. I tweaked the document to fit our needs, adding and removing things specific to our home. Ive also discovered that its useful to add certain recurring tasks to my digital calendar. (Im never going to remember to change the furnace filter unless I make an appointment with myself to do so.) Create a House-Specific To-Do List

While its helpful to have a general maintenance schedule to remind you of regular tasks, its even more important to keep an up-to-date to-do list thats specific to your home. I keep our to-do list in Basecamp, a web-based project-management tool that I already use for other projects. (Ive heard good things about Asana too, although Ive never used it.) You might keep your to-do list in a spreadsheet or even a spiral notebook. For each room in the house and area of the property, I keep a separate list of tasks that need to be completed. To start, I populated these lists in two ways: I went through the pre-purchase inspection report and added every problem the inspector had flagged. Some of the stuff he noted was minor. In these cases, I made sure to mark the task as low priority.Kim and I made a slow tour of our home and yard in order to catalog other projects we wanted to complete. For example, every room in the house needs new paint. Every corner of the yard needs to be weeded and re-landscaped. We refer to our to-do list constantly. Whenever we have a free weekend for home maintenance (as we did last weekendand this coming weekend), we check the list to see which tasks are most pressing and/or most appealing. Finally and this is important (if somewhat obvious) whenever we find a new project that needs to be tackled, we add it to our list. By keeping our home projects to-do list up to date, needed maintenance should never be neglected. Keep a Home Journal Before we even moved in to our current home, I started keeping a home journal to log everything we learned about the place. Honestly, its one of the smartest things Ive ever done. I keep this home journal in a Microsoft Word document. (Ive uploaded an edited version to Google Docs for you all to look at.) Every time we do major work on the house, I make an entry in the journal. Every time we discover something new about the property, I make a note in the journal. Heres a typical entry from my home journal:

Each note includes a date and the type of work done, then a narrative description giving more detail. In some cases, I document costs. Most of the time, however, we keep receipts and invoices and other documentation in a dedicated Dropbox folder, which is where the home journal lives too. This journal is mostly meant for me. From past experience, I know that Ill forget what work we did when, which usually leads to a frustrating search for documentation. With my home journal, I have all of the needed info in one place. This home journal has a secondary purpose. I want to use it as documentation if/when Kim and I decide to sell this place. I want to be able to show prospective buyers all of the upgrades we made to the house. (Note that this benefit is purely theoretical. When we sold our motorhome recently, we learned that many buyers view work like this as evidence theres something wrong with what youre selling.) On a similar note, its smart to perform periodic video tours of your home and property. These are useful not only for you but also in the event of an insured loss, such as robbery or house fire. When shopping for a house, I film every home I tour. After buying and moving into a new place, I do another pass through with the camera. Going forward, I try to do a video tour about once per year. Build a List of Trusted Contractors Over the past fifteen years, Ive learned that contractors come in all kinds of flavors. Some are cheap. Some are fast. Some do quality work. Ive also learned that its impossible to find a contractor that possesses all three traits. Two of them? Sure. But not all three. (In other words, if a contractor is fast and high-quality, shes going to be expensive.) When we started looking for homes last Spring, my friend Emma Pattee who has experience buying and remodeling rental properties suggested that I start a spreadsheet to list trusted contractors. My husband and I have done this for a while now, she told me, and it really helps. When we find somebody we like to work with (or think we might want to work with in the future), we add them to the spreadsheet. Ill send you our current list, if youd like. Kim and I have referenced Emmas spreadsheet to find plumbers and electricians. Weve also started building our own list of contractors we trust. (For instance, we love the guy who did our carport. We hired him to do our back deck project too. Hes not cheap, but his quality is amazing!) Even with a list of trusted contractors, its important to follow standard advice when hiring folks to work on your place: Get price quotes from multiple sources. Its smart to know what your options are even if you ultimately dont go with the lowest bidder.Seek referrals. When youre ready to hire somebody for a project, ask your friends (Facebook is good for this) and contractors youve liked in the past. Ive found that good contractors know who the other good contractors are, and theyre happy to recommend them.Ask for references. If you havent worked with a contractor before, request contact info from past clients. These references will be cherry picked, of course, but theyll still give you some idea of what the company is like.Check reviews on Angies List (or similar sites). View these reviews through skeptical eyes, but check to see if theres some sort of pattern. Ive been able to rule out potential contractors, for instance, because of multiple reviews complaining about lack of communication. Searching for new contractors can be a little scary. You dont want to make a mistake by choosing somebody whos too expensive or whose work is shoddy. (Or, worse, both at once!) By maintaining a list of trusted vendors, you can reduce some of the trepidation. Plus, the list is something useful you can share with friends and family! Theres No Place Like Home I also think its smart to set aside money for future repairs and improvements. One common financial rule of thumb is to contribute 1% of your homes value to a dedicated home maintenance savings account each year. After Kim and I are done with this initial round of work, well probably do so. The deck and hot tub project should be our final large home-improvement expense for many, many years. During the past eleven months, weve repaired and/or replaced every major system in this house. Sure, theres still some small stuff that needs done we want to paint each room, for instance but these jobs are minor. Theyre things we can do ourselves for cheap. Honestly, Im looking forward to some peace and quiet. Its been exhausting to live and work in a construction zone! First, though, Im going to have our house inspected again. After plowing so many resources into repairing and renovating this place, I want to have a neutral third party go back through to make sure weve addressed all of the important issues and that these issues have been handled correctly. As frustrating (and expensive) as the past year has been, we dont regret buying this house. We love it here. We want to continue loving this place, which means were going to do our best to stay on top of maintenance and home improvements. Were going to do our best to be proactive homeowners. https://www.getrichslowly.org/home-improvement/

[samanthasroberts]

‘It was a nice idea, but …’ Europeans on what went wrong with the EU

On its 60th birthday, people from Sweden to Bulgaria with doubts about the EU speak their mind about whether the project is worth pursuing

A triple-A rating is more important than solidarity. Were digging our own grave

Constanze Clever. Photograph: Sddeutsche Zeitung

A few months ago, I was chatting with my husbands work colleague in a beer garden. It was about eastern Europe and the question of why those countries take so few refugees. The colleague came from Poland. He was of the view that in Europe we should first and foremost look after ourselves.

In particular, he didnt want Muslims to be allowed in. According to him, they are a threat to the Christian identity of Europe.

So of course we clashed about this Im a fan of open borders, and I find it unbelievable when people oppose open borders while personally benefiting from them. To be able to move freely is a basic right, and the essence of Europe.

In the conversation, it became clear to me: we are both Europeans, but we come from different worlds. For us in Germany, things have gone well materially in the past 10 years. In Poland, things are different. That is why it is important that we reduce the imbalance.

But were not doing that. Why must Greece pay such high interest rates on the capital market? Rich Germany pays virtually nothing. We Europeans are under the thumb of financial markets. A triple-A rating is more important than solidarity. So were digging our own grave. Unless justice quickly assumes precedence over the economy again, we wont have the EU much longer. That would be a nightmare.

Constanze Clever, 33, hairdresser, Germany

I hate the ever encroaching political union its a vanity project

Gerard Richardson. Photograph: Gerard Richardson

I dont think Europe as a group of countries has ever really been able to unite. Cultures, opinions, approaches to everything, from business to foreign relations, are so diverse.

Trade, on the other hand now thats a really good harmoniser. People can agree on that far, far more easily. So I liked the idea after the war of uniting around trade. It didnt have to be complicated, and at first it wasnt. But then we started down the road to political union.

Thats what I hate: ever encroaching political union. Europe has become a vanity exercise for politicians with too much ambition. The euro was vanity, not based on economic reality. Im not an isolationist, far from it, but I really, honestly do not believe good government can ever come from too large and diverse a group of politicians.

Look at the hopelessly divided approach to problems like Greece, or the migrant crisis. Its a disaster. The EU cant even agree on where to host its own parliament.

There are good parts: free movement, thats obviously a benefit. But its all so badly managed. And I dont believe the EU has prevented war; Nato did that. If they turned the clock back to the EEC being just a free market alone, then I would be more than happy to stay engaged. They should take the politics out of Europe. It worked as a trading bloc, but not as this.

Gerard Richardson, 55, fine wine merchant and coffee roaster, UK

It sows a mentality that theres always money but billions have disappeared

Graca Ramos. Photograph: Sddeutsche Zeitung

First of all, the EU has been a great thing for both my countries, Portugal and Spain. The other European countries brought us back to life (after decades of dictatorship). Thats why the vast majority of Spaniards and Portuguese tend to be pro-European. Europe has pumped a lot of money into our countries.

On the one hand the EU has brought positive economic developments, on the other hand there have been negative consequences. It sows a mentality that there is always money. We have lost sight of what it is to save. People havent been watching closely enough where all these billions have gone. The economies of both countries have slumped because there hasnt been effective control over the way this money has been spent.

As a Portuguese woman Im worried about a two speed Europe . Does that mean the small countries will be put aside and suspended? We feel as a small country both protected and accepted within the EU and I hope that that doesnt change. The Eurosceptic voices in other countries worry me a lot. We must all ask ourselves what we have done wrong.

Graa Ramos, 40, theatre administrator, Spain

Nations have no rights. The EU took over everything

Jozsefne Varadi. Photograph: La Stampa

The nations have no rights. The EU completely took over and everything has to happen here as they wish.

But the EU has a lot of advantages too. We entered to EU so we have to accept a lot of things, I admit, but they should give more independence to nations.

Every time the government wants to decrease utility costs or taxes, or create more workplaces to let us breathe a little bit easier, they have a problem with it. Im with the nation with all my heart. I do everything. I help campaign. Im a member of the Fidesz party since its foundation. I consider this government good and fair. Our prime minister needs a lot of bravery to stand up like this for the nation.

Did you see what happened here during the prime ministers speech? Did you see the people whistling? They think this is not a democracy, but if I had done the same when Ferenc Gyurcsany was prime minister, if I had used my whistle, they would have shot me.

Jozsefne Varadi, 87, pensioner, Hungary

Erasmus, the euro, are just sweets with a bitter aftertaste

Luca Carabetta. Photograph: Luca Carabetta/La Stampa

They draw lines on a map, take decisions from on high, and then, if they dont work, they use every economic excuse possible to justify them as necessary to maintain the unity and progress.

I am an energy engineer, a young entrepreneur from the Erasmus generation. I was born when Italy joined Schengen, in 1990, and you could leave your passport in the drawer to travel with family, or later to see friends in France, Germany, Denmark. Yet my Euroscepticism began when I was young, in my town of ButtiglieraAlta, near Turin. I saw the No-Tav movement (against high speed rail) grow in my valley, the Susa valley, I started studying and concluded that the projects tied to the European corridors were conceived in an office in Brussels, far away from local communities and their needs.

I believe Europe is an extreme concession of sovereignty, which flattens diversity and national identities built throughout history. I do not agree with the economic homogeneity that binds the EU together. Does that seem strange from a young person with foreign friends? Absolutely not. Beppe Grillos Five Star Movement has shown me a clear path for what I always thought, and thats why I vote for it.

In these years, Brussels has not been able to create a common welfare system, no citizens feel like Europe is closer, notwithstanding the sharing of pseudo-values and the currency. Erasmus, the euro, are sweets with a bitter aftertaste. Unitary economics, so far, has penalised us. Unitary politics, for me, does not represent us, the citizens.

Luca Carabetta, 27, tech CEO, Italy

Europe was a nice idea, but globalist politics and the euro have killed us

Luc Defrance. Photograph: Cyril Bitton

Im a wheat farmer from northern France. Thats to say Im one of those people said to be very rich, living off subsidies, smoking a big cigar. In reality, I started work at 16, have worked like a dog for 50 years and am now ruined. I realised we were finished so I sold my operation last June.

Europe was a nice idea, but its the globalist politics that has killed us that and the euro. In the rest of the world, other countries can devalue their currency and become competitive. With the euro, we are trapped. Marine Le Pen is right we should get out of it.

Europe is just all restrictions and rules. You have to keep records on crop treatments and be careful about employment rules. You are bothered on all fronts. And the slightest mistake could cost you 10,000 in CAP aid, and thats a catastrophe.

In any case, theyre reducing the aid. In 2010, I got 100,000 in basic grants; last year it was 52,000, and soon there wont be any more. Doing a job that depend on grants is not healthy. Europe would do better to create a safety net and fix prices rather than grants.

Luc Defrance, 66, farmer, France

Many Dutch people feel powerless and angry. It is time to rediscover our identity

Joost Niemller. Photograph: Katrien Mulder

As well as books I write a blog called De Nieuwe Realist (the new realist). Europe is a land endowed with a rich civilisation. It works because it is based on the nation states, and yet its goal is to dismantle nation states, which would signify the end of European democracy. That is why many Dutch people, possibly even a majority, would like to leave the EU.

People want to take back control and decide their own future. Mass immigration is a serious problem. Many Dutch people feel powerless and angry. It is time for the Netherlands to rediscover its identity.

Joost Niemller, 60, writer, the Netherlands

The Eurosceptics in my family are happy that Russia is stepping up strongly

Rozalina Laskova. Photograph: Zdravko Yonchev/Sddeutsche Zeitung

I cant imagine Europe without the EU and am in favour of more integration. But I sometimes forget that other Bulgarians do not think like that. I have Eurosceptics in my own family, like my mother and aunt, who are bigger supporters of Russian culture, like a lot of Bulgarians. They see and read the same Bulgarian media which speak of the supposed all-encompassing manipulation of our country by Brussels and Washington. My aunt Maria asked me mockingly whether I also get money from the Americans. They are happy that Russia is stepping up so strongly.

Rozalina Laskova, 34, cultural adviser, Bulgaria

I would like to do a Swexit just like in the UK

Andreas berg Photograph: Andreas berg

The EU started as something different. In the beginning it was a good thing, a peacekeeping operation. But it has grown into something else: a massive, undemocratic monster, lots of people doing nothing to benefit the voters in their respective countries.

It seems to me more than half of the laws in Sweden are not decided by the Swedish government but by the EU. We vote for the government but if it doesnt have the majority of the power, how can that be democratic?

We choose representatives for the EU parliament, but I dont believe thats democratic either the ones who really affect what happens are not democratically elected. I havent read all the EU laws, only some of them, and some may benefit Sweden but many dont.

I work in the construction industry and we have seen a shift towards what they have in the UK, where people from the poorer countries come to work for you, and they do it for lower wages.

The main problem with the EU is that it incorporates loads of countries, and they are so vastly different in every way: welfare, economics, everything. To correct this the EU will have to make the richer countries poorer. So I would like to do a Swexit have a referendum like in the UK, and leave.

Andreas berg, 52, construction worker, Sweden

Stories collected by the Guardians Jon Henley and David Crouch in Gothenberg, and correspondents for the Europa group of newspapers: Thomas Urban in Madrid, Sebastian Jannasch in Brussels, Christian Gschwendtner in Munich, Lucie Soullier and Jean-Pierre Stroobants

Source: http://allofbeer.com/2017/10/20/it-was-a-nice-idea-but-europeans-on-what-went-wrong-with-the-eu/

from All of Beer https://allofbeer.wordpress.com/2017/10/20/it-was-a-nice-idea-but-europeans-on-what-went-wrong-with-the-eu/