#but overall it is a rare phenomenon that an actual full work made by a passionate and paid professional is worse than a summary of that wor

[catastrophicalcat]

I've been really hesitant to watch Harley Quinn since I first read reviews and TV tropes and didn't love its take on Catwoman. But now I'm sitting here binging the show in an attempt to power through work, and it's better than I expected, which is yet another lesson in giving the actual work a chance rather than attempting to judge it based on summaries or other people's perceptions of it.

P.S. Still super annoyed about Selina in Caper Crusader though!

P.P.S. Haven't gotten to S3 of HQ so maybe I will change my mind lol

[utilitycaster]

I agree on the FCG front. Tbh, this is often a problem for me with Sam's characters. In the past there's been lots of redeeming moments, lots of cleverness but like. There are ways to be in-character and funny and whatever without screwing your party over. Cause sometimes he ends up literally killing somebody. And there's no real flavor to FCGs magic right now. Just overall... Bland.

So here's the thing: were Veth, Scanlan, or Tary my favorite characters, no, but there was a lot that I did really like about all of them, and for what it's worth I think Veth killing Caduceus, while not a highlight precisely, was a legitimate mistake that a lot of people could make.

I don't think goofing off is the core problem here either; again, I think if FCG had a deity or concept behind the magic and then made better mechanical choices I wouldn't have minded any of the jokes. The cast all joke around a lot, and I've defended Sam before for making some gallows humor jokes that I really enjoyed but others didn't. I do think it's contained to FCG...although there are three other common threads between most Sam characters that have made it harder for me to like them, and this is where this is going to get VERY long.

First is the theme Sam tends to explore, and that's just a difference in what I happen to like, so not much judgment. I just...don't relate to putting my needs aside in favor of other people's. I care about other people, I think I'm fairly generous with friends and family, but I'm not the sort who needs a reminder to put my own oxygen mask on before others, you know? So I've been much more drawn towards Laura's exploration of who you perceive yourself to be vs. the face you show others, or Travis's exploration of honor and obligation and who you are in the dark, or Taliesin's meditations on the many forms of arrogance; and to a slightly lesser extent, Liam and Marisha's exploration of the expectations others have for you and how that affects who you are, and I don't totally know what Ashley's exploring but Yasha really worked for me and I'm enjoying Fearne.

Second is this bizarre perception in the fandom that Sam is uniquely good at mechanics or strategy and knife-twists and I don't quite know where it comes from. Mechanically he's had a couple great moments but like, most of Scanlan's moments were standard spellcaster stuff (yes, even the Vecna counterspell), done well but not uniquely, and Veth wasn't using some pretty fundamental Arcane Trickster features! And I like these characters! And I don't think you need to be a big crunchy mechanics person! But I don't get where this perception came from because I do not see it. Similarly, I think he is legitimately good at knife-twists/heartwrenching moments...I just think that so is pretty much everyone in the cast. I am a massive fan of the Veth and Yeza reunion in Campaign 2 and a champion of how well Scanlan leaving the group was acted on his part...but there have been equally good moments from pretty much everyone. It's also weird because it's rare to find someone whose favorite C1 character was Scanlan, and Veth did get at times weirdly neglected by the fandom and people basically skip over Tary (debatably? his best character. see below) so you have this strange phenomenon of people saying he has unimpeachable skills that I don't get, but also no one really gives his other characters full credit for what they actually are good at.

Third, and this is where my tin-foil hat comes out: I think maybe the problem is just one joke. And it's letting Liam pick his race and class. I am honestly not sure Sam wants to play a cleric. Maybe he does but it just feels like he's trying to avoid almost every aspect of it. I don't think cleric - nor rogue, even though I think he did a lot of good things with Veth - have really suited his play style, in the way that bard or artificer did. Tary managed to feel realized and likeable and sympathetic to me, right away, despite some traits deliberately crafted to make him pretty obnoxious, and I have to wonder if it's because he's the only character Sam actually picked entirely for himself. I feel Sam's done best with secondary healers or half-casters who don't need to have a specific role in battle, and characters with a much more defined role like clerics or rogues haven't played to his strengths in the same way.

[liunaticfringe]

(via Lucy Liu’s Joan Watson Was Elementary’s Humanistic Heart)

Beautifully written ode to Joan.

2:38 P.M.Lucy Liu’s Joan Watson Was Elementary’s Humanistic HeartBy

Angelica Jade Bastién

Photo: CBS

Recently, the BBC Archive shared on Twitter a 1977 clip of a middle-aged woman who was stopped on the street by The Viewer’s View to talk about her thoughts on television. In her tomato-red raincoat and delicately wrapped scarf, she cogently and movingly extolls the wonder of television. At different points she describes the medium as a “phenomenon” and a communal ritual for her family, which reminded me of the gentle awe television instilled in me when I was a child watching The X-Files and Star Trek: The Next Generation as my mom braided my hair, or obsessively taping Buffy the Vampire Slayer on my own. “It felt like we were escaping from that kitchen sink,” she notes about the transporting nature of television, its potential to be not just a mirror, but also a window — an escape. Watching this brought to mind how much can be said about the pleasures of televisual comfort food, those shows we slip into like a warm bath, letting them entertain us with their familiar rhythms and archetypes.

Elementary, the CBS procedural that ended its seven-season run last night, was a delectable example of the potency and wonder of televisual comfort food, wrapping within the folds of its procedural a tender argument that the families we craft ourselves are as important as the ones we’re born into. What elevated the series from the glut of procedurals on television (and its own uneven final season) was its adept performances, particularly Lucy Liu as Joan Watson, who created a layered study in empathy that suggests second acts are possible in life.

Trying to capture what makes a good performance is like trying to hold smoke in your hand, but when I spoke to Liu earlier this summer, she said something that captured the essence of it: “I do think listening is very key to directing, and I don’t think we all do it as well as we should.” This holds true for acting as well, and Liu proved over Elementary’s seven seasons to be an active, empathetic listener. But even the greatness of Liu’s performance couldn’t distract from how the final season failed her character, ending on a sour note that stains her legacy.

When we first met Joan Watson, she was a woman whose life had been undone by trauma. After a patient died on her operating table, Joan gave up her life as a surgeon, flinging herself into a new profession as a sober companion hired by Morland Holmes (later played by the inimitable John Noble) to help usher his son, the brilliant and difficult yet strangely beguiling Sherlock (an excellent Jonny Lee Miller), into the rigors of recovery for his drug addiction. When Sherlock saw the spark of ingenuity and potential in Joan, he aided her in taking on a new calling as a detective.  What followed was a tender story not just of a nascent friendship, but what it means to rebuild oneself.

It became evident early on that Elementary was at its best when it used its procedural format to carefully nudge at ideas of family, both those we’re born into and those we make ourselves. For Joan, family is a knotted reality: We’ve seen her struggle with her mother’s Alzheimer’s, the memory of the father who ran out on her family and later wrestled with schizophrenia and homelessness, and the half-sister she only met recently as an adult. These rigors carefully revealed what justice and order means for her character, but Joan isn’t a harsh, brooding detective; she’s lightning-bright and boldly empathetic, listening with full-bodied attention.

As an archetype, detectives are a useful window into the moral dimensions of the society they are born into. They’re cinematic moral compasses tracking the interior and external reverberations of the choices we make and the often illusory nature of true justice. What does it say, then, that the most iconic examples of this archetype have been primarily white people? Perhaps this is one reason I’ve found myself pulled toward Joan, whose existence as an Asian-American woman shapes her understanding of the world and the justice she seeks. Perhaps the most striking development in this regard occurred in the show’s fifth season, when Joan approached a former patient fresh from prison, Shinwell Johnson (the late Nelsan Ellis), for information, but soon took him under her wing to teach him the detective skills she learned under Sherlock’s tutelage, which helped his own work as an informant. She and Sherlock increasingly disagreed on the situation until he was proved somewhat right about Shinwell’s moral character, but Joan’s decision to mentor Shinwell spoke to her empathetic ability to see the potential of someone whom the justice system may have failed.

When I spoke to Liu, she said it’s the episodes that peel back the layers of who these characters are that she cherishes most. “We do a lot of procedurals, obviously, and a lot of mysteries that need to be solved, but those episodes [like her first directorial effort in the show’s second season, “Paint It Black”] really stand out, and I love seeing those relationships. They are what creates the person that is presented and has so many layers,” she noted.

Joan is also one of modern television’s greatest examples of the characterization and storytelling that comes with great costuming. For Joan, fashion isn’t just a form of expression; it’s identity. One of the greatest pleasures of Elementary was in tracking the breadth of Joan’s arc through Rebecca Hofherr’s costuming. In the beginning, Joan wore casual clothing with loose silhouettes, but by season four her wardrobe had subtly shifted into impeccably tailored suits, echoing the evolution of her career as a detective. “The suit idea was not to sort of become more ‘masculine’ and have that kind of energy,” Liu told me. “It was more that she now conducted herself in a more professional manner as a detective, and so she then wanted to have more of a uniform.”

Yet some of the most indelible moments in the character’s history saw her in more feminine wear, like in season three’s “The One That Got Away,” in which Joan wears an elegant burnished copper and obsidian dress with a fur-trimmed coat to confront suspected murder and violent abuser Del Gruner (Stuart Townsend). When he viciously grabs her arm to level a threat, her posture strengthens and she looks him in the eye with an icy glare. “Get your hand off me or we’ll find out how well you do against a woman who can actually fight back,” she says, never breaking her gaze.

Joan’s clothing often acted as a window into how she saw herself. Her refined, immaculately tailored suits from the last few seasons spoke to her professionalism and comfort in her role as a consulting detective. Moments like her confrontation with Del allowed her contradictions to rise to the surface, contrasting the feminine quality of her dress with the steely aggression that allowed her to confront a man suspected of torture and murder.

But in the final season, Joan often felt like a splintered character lacking a secure through line, being pulled in various directions by the plot. This was evident in her clothing, which moved away from beautiful but not ostentatious suits to brighter clothing, busy with clashing patterns, ruffles, and an overall looser silhouette. The clothing was still gorgeous, but it didn’t track with the woman we came to know over the preceding seasons, and Joan wasn’t given enough to do in the final season to justify such a shift in wardrobe. This is a symptom of a larger problem: The series’s seventh season just didn’t work.

Elementary being cut down from 21 episodes to 13 put a strain on it, resulting in a final season that felt rushed and half-formed. That extended to Joan, who didn’t have much to do beyond support Sherlock until the finale, in which she became a vehicle for a maudlin twist that undercut the vibrancy of the character by making her a source for Sherlock’s pain (and a way out of the bind the writers found themselves in with trying to get him to stay in New York).

In the last few minutes of the Elementary finale it’s revealed that Joan has cancer. This leads to moving performances by Liu and Miller, who grant heft to this twist, but their tender chemistry isn’t enough to distract from the sense that Joan has been pulled in an unexpected direction that we aren’t given enough time to sit with, to fully feel the emotional weight of it. It’s a poorly sketched turn that misuses a star character who didn’t get many moments to shine in the final season.

I prefer to remember Joan as she was before the seventh season squandered her. I’ll remember the empathetic way she interviewed those mired in grief as a detective, how she carefully navigated the emotional strife of her familial dilemmas, and the gentle chemistry she shared with Sherlock, which demonstrated how a deep friendship can stir us as human beings. I’ll remember watching Elementary with my mother, feeling inspired by how Joan faced her future with a gimlet-eyed exuberance that made me believe that second chances in life are possible. I’ll remember all the times Joan chose empathy over being jaded, in a world where that choice remains preciously rare.

[despair-tummy]

Real quick Kenshir.o and Sakur.a cum inflation fic bc I’m weird.

Kenshiro was a prime candidate to try an experimental medication, or at least that’s what the doctor told him. The medication was still in the trial phase and there was always the possibility of a bad reaction, but considering he was suffering at the hands of a terminal illness, he leapt at the chance to try it. If nothing came of it, then at least going through the process would provide them with some research regarding the drug.

The first week the drug was administered there was little change, he still felt weak, hair stayed as white as snow and his weight kept dropping at a dangerously fast rate. The second week was the same, but the third week was when he started to feel the effects of the drug at long last. It started off small, by him slowly regaining his appetite, managing to sit up without getting exhausted and among other things. Weeks turned into months and months turned into a full year and the results were incredible.

While still not one hundred percent well, he felt better than he ever had since his grim diagnosis. His hair was slowly returning to its natural brown colour, he managed to gain a bit of weight back and most importantly he rarely felt exhausted. Able to not only sit up but walk. While the hospital was still going to be where he was currently stationed, the occasional day away from it was something he was very thankful for. Especially since it meant he could spend less time in the depressing atmosphere of a hospital with his girlfriend, Sakura, and actually do the mundane things couples did that they took for granted.

Sure he wasn’t one hundred percent well, and sparring together was out of the question. But it gave them the time to enjoy and really appreciate the simple things couples got to do. Going out to movies, dinner, dancing (though that one failed miserably and they both agreed to never talk about it again) and overall enjoying each other’s company without the constant reminder of his illness lingering over them.

Course, with the miracle drug and all its benefits that greatly improved his quality of life, there was one side effect that was rather odd. While the medication was working wonders, the one side effect he was dealing with was just how embarrassingly aroused the drug left him. He wasn’t a mindless pervert, but he was just feeling so pent up. It wasn’t like he could give himself some release in the hospital or waste time doing that while spending time outside the hospital with Sakura.

You could only imagine his surprise when Sakura entered the kitchen one day in a little pastel pink babydoll, her face even pinker than the lingerie she was adorned in. Stuttering that Junko and Aoi talked her to not only buy this but wear it for the time he could spend the night. It was such a cute sight, seeing her flustered and dolled up. But he couldn’t deny there was something clearly arousing about the sight of his girlfriend before him. The way the pink complimented that feminine side of her that even she had, the way the curtains of the babydoll framed her solid abs, not to mention how flustered she was acting, shifting awkwardly in her spot and twirling a lock of white hair anxiously around her finger.

Needless to say, they immediately moved things over to the bedroom, and for the first time in far too long, he felt so alive for once. It wasn’t like him and Sakura was never intimate before, but it’s been ages since he could explore her body and hear her make those cute little noises she was embarrassed by whenever he ate her out. God, he loved it when he could make her squirm.

It wasn’t long before neither of them could ignore the ever presence tent in his pants, sure enough, his pants and underwear were on the floor and Sakura was on all fours. He couldn’t begin to describe how good it was to finally get some relief after feeling so pent up and hot and bothered for such a long time. Every time he rhythmically rocked his hips, that just sent him closer and closer to that climax he was itching to finally have for what felt like years.

It wasn’t long before Kenshiro eventually came, that alone was completely normal for anyone. But the abnormal side was just how much cum he was releasing, at first it seemed just a little more than usual, but as seconds turned into minutes and those minutes drew on, it was as clear as day this was completely out of the ordinary. He couldn’t have talked or question it vocally and clearly. Not only was he cumming for an unusual length of time, but he was still orgasming as well.

What made this even more unusual after a while, was what this strange phenomenon was doing to Sakura, who was still on the receiving end. Her solid abs that she had trained relentlessly to achieve, were starting to ever slightly bulge out over time with the sheer amount of semen he was releasing into her, that showed no sign of letting up anytime soon.

Time went by and he was still releasing into her, her midsection swelled greatly, bloated to extreme lengths from his seemingly endless stream of seed. Her abs were still there, somewhere. Just extremely vague and hidden under how extremely bloated she was from his never ending release. By now Sakura closely resembled a woman who was full term in pregnancy.

Slowly but steadily his stream of cum began to crease to an end at long last. He was exhausted, completely drained of energy (and probably a lifetime of semen too) and drenched in sweat, he finally pulled out of her and flopped onto the bed. Sakura flopped onto her side and rolled onto her back so her mountain of a belly was up in the air.

“I...I think we just discovered a side effect of the drug.” Kenshiro spoke through his panting. “You alright?”

Sakura nodded groaning as she cradled her stomach that poked through the curtains of the lingerie. “I’m fine, I just feel... full.”

“Sorry about this.” Despite his own tiredness he managed to reach over and brush a lock of her snowy white hair out of her face.

“Apologies are not necessary, you were unaware.” she reassured. “The drug is still experimental. It doesn’t feel as bad as it appears to be if that provides you with reassurance. It’s-“ her face flushed a deeper shade of pink as she paused for a moment.

At first, Kenshiro was confused as to why she was reacting like that, but he eventually caught sight as to why. She must have cradled her midsection too hard because all the cum that was heavily packed in her began to slowly ooze out of her core.

“At least we know how to undo this,” he said.

“Indeed...” Sakura spoke, face still beet red as she shifted her gaze away from him and decided to roll onto her side.

“You know, you’re pretty cute like this,” he commented, scooting closer to her, getting into position to spoon with her. “All full and round,” Kenshiro nuzzled into her back while he used one hand to brush the curve of her stomach, both in a loving and curious manner.

He could still thinly feel her muscles that were somewhere in amidst of all the roundness. Despite that, the closest thing he could compare her midsection to was a water balloon. He felt her tense muscles relax, she didn’t say anything, she didn’t need too, but he could tell she was finally content and relaxed. So for now, they both decided just to enjoy the comfortable silence as they recovered from their exhaustion.

At least until the side effect of the drug acted up again.

[paulisweeabootrash]

First Impression: Soni-Ani: Super Sonico the Animation

This is generally a SFW blog, and especially will continue to be one thanks to certain Tumblr policy changes, but this time a couple of the links are not (though still certainly not explicit), so be advised.

Without further ado, it's time again for Paul Is Weeaboo Trash!

Today's episode: Soni-Ani: Super Sonico the Animation (2014)

Episodes watched: 4

What happens when you take a trip to a ridiculously geeky store, encounter an aggressively-ganguro and barely-dressed figurine (that your wife immediately despises), and you think to yourself "what the hell is this?"  You end up finding, and somewhat regretting, Super Sonico.

This is an odd show right off the bat just in terms of how it came to be.  The main character originated as the mascot of a music festival of the same name, and she just seems to have taken off in popularity in Japan, spawning a series of media including video games, manga, and the anime that is today's topic.

Super Sonico (Yes, her name is すーぱーそに子.  Family name "Suupaa", given name "Soniko".) is a bright but anxious college student who works a seemingly-impossible set of part-time jobs as a model, waitress, and guitarist for the band First Astronomical Velocity (apparently "escape velocity" is a better translation?).  The first episode serves just as an introduction to the main characters with very little actual content or development.  We see Sonico struggle to get up and go to class in the morning, prodded awake by her cats and repeatedly coming back to her apartment for things, we see her late but well-prepared for class, we see her go to work.  The show threatens to get downright sleazy with the scene showing her modeling for a magazine, but backs off at the last second as we're "introduced" to Sonico's manager, Kitamura, who shows up unprompted in an oni mask straight out of Japanese theater to object to an unapproved costume change from a bikini to something presumably even skimpier that we never actually see.  After the shoot, she goes to her second job waiting on customers at her grandmother's bar, which really doesn't seem to establish much of anything plot-wise, before we finally meet her band, which gathers at a rented studio to rehearse their new song, which bassist Suzu has evidently already recorded her own demo of.

That first episode amounts to an extended setup scene, and made me expect that maybe this would be another clumsy attempt at a cute slice-of-life show.  However, the show does quickly gain self-contained structured plots.  In episode 2 we get a better introduction to First Astronomical Velocity as they continue to rehearse for their upcoming concert.  Just like she was at school, Sonico is anxious, enthusiastic, and serious about making good music.  Suzu, the bassist, is overenthusiastic about the stage show side, seems to be in charge of costumes, and clearly either has a crush on Sonico or is a big fan of embarrassing her.  Maybe both?  Fuuri, the drummer, is shown at one point being the voice of reason trying to get Suzu to understand Sonico's feelings, but her personality is really mostly dominated by her being very quiet and eating a lot.  The rest of the episode unfolds in a very sitcom kind of way: Sonico juggles too many responsibilities and skips a last-minute rehearsal before the band is performing to take another modeling gig.  When she gets to the concert venue, however, the rest of the band is delayed and Sonico has to try to stall by performing solo in the costume she previously refused to wear before being saved by her bandmates at the last minute.

The third episode is dominated by another modeling gig, and with it more predictable excuses for fanservice, and although we're getting more screen time with characters who aren't Sonico, they still have very little in terms of personality, which is the show's biggest.  We see more of Kitamura, for example, in part of episode 2 and most of 3, but mainly to continue to show that he is protective of Sonico and uncomfortable with the outfits magazines want her in.  And that he never takes off that mask.  The most interesting and noteworthy event in the episode, assuming you're not just here to leer at Sonico, is that it draws a little bit of a line for itself, as the biggest conflict is Kitamura drunkenly booking Sonico for a TV appearance without either of them knowing the full details, which ends up putting Sonico in a deeply uncomfortable situation that Kitamura interrupts, sword in hand.

Now, I don’t want to be the kind of person who criticizes a show for not being a different show, but at this point, I was just wishing they’d made the show more about the band itself because the modeling parts just drag it down.  It didn’t look like it was going to improve, and I wanted to give up, but based on the plot synopses for the other episodes, I gave it one more try in hopes it would get more interesting and less gratuitous.  I was immediately rewarded by a much, much better episode 4, which consists mostly of an extended flashback telling the story of how Sonico met Toma, a middle school friend with whom she is no longer in touch, from whom she got her guitar and learned to play it.  In a rare moment of actual thoughtful writing, it becomes quite believable that Sonico was extremely shy and, through maturity and practice and the acceptance of friends, became the clearly anxious but overall more confident person we saw in the previous episodes.  It’s like we’re seeing the same underlying conscientiousness manifest in different ways.  The resolution of the episode is sweet, and I was thinking “maybe that was an anomaly and the rest of this show is going to be good!”  After all, it’s quite possible for a show to be fanservicey and also clever or touching.  But then the preview of episode 5 started, and it looks like it’ll be another pretext for mindless creepy fanservice (and Kitamura saving the day), so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯.  Maybe the show alternates bad and good (or, more charitably, model-centric and band-centric) episodes? Overall, I just don't think I care enough to continue the series.  It's not so bad I’m going to be stuck complaining about it, but it is wildly variable and not good enough overall for me to sit through the “ugh, again?” to get to the “oh, that’s pretty cool”.  I’d call the first and third episodes actively bad, the second okay, and the fourth one good.  Sonico is by far the most interesting and fleshed-out character, and that’s just not enough to make me actually get into it. Oh, and the punchline of the whole thing is: Super Pochaco, who that preposterous figurine is of, is just a background character in this show, first appearing in episode 4 (someone on TVTropes claims she shows up in the background in episode 3, but I didn't see her at all).  I wasn't watching the show for her, but I did hope to find out what the deal is with that figurine.  Meh.  This is not the kind of trash your trashy host wants to dig any further through.

I might buy the music, though.

-----

Revised W/A/S Scores: 6 / 7 / 5±2

Weeb: Plenty of things would be clearer or enhanced by general background knowledge of Japan, but some defy explanation to the moderately-informed weeb — someone with no prior knowledge of traditional depictions of oni will look at Sonico's manager's mask and go "lol wut?", and even after consulting the Almighty Wikipedia, I still have no idea why that particular mask (which apparently represents a obsessive or jealous aristocratic woman?) was chosen.  Also, a lot of on-screen Japanese text is left untranslated, so I wonder if there are sight gags I'm constantly missing.

Ass: Very fanservicey, without ever quite making it to nudity, but also surprisingly upfront and kind of creepy about it, like the show is just a pretext for watching Sonico’s gravure photoshoots.  Like, I was even expecting this show to be basically just pandering for its presumed otaku audience, but it’s not even particularly good pandering.  Outside of the photoshoots, the show is still full of individual shots that draw attention to the female characters' bodies, especially Sonico's breasts and thigh-high socks.

Shit (writing): Continuing that general thought, the fanservice level just ends up dragging and distracting and I think it should count as a point against the writing quality.  As mentioned above in the main review, the writing is wildly variable from episode to episode.  What little characterization there has been for the supporting cast has at least made Fuuri and Suzu entertaining and likeable, and the show certainly doesn’t go as far as that egregious Blend-S problem of not knowing where its own scenes or episodes should end.  Not being terrible, however, is not the same as being good.

Shit (other): This show really is pretty, and most of the music (which there's a lot of, since each episode has its own unique ending themes, all performed by First Astronomical Velocity) is enjoyable.  Honestly, it's just making me more interested in buying the actual albums than getting more into Sonico's various visual media.

Content Warning: Although it's in the context of Sonico attempting to act, and the scene overall ends up funny, and sets up an enjoyable post-credits scene, episode 3 contains a scene of clearly non-consensual groping, and viewers might be too uncomfortable with that.

-----

Stray Observations:

- Huh.  I was only dimly aware of "bullet screens", the practice of showing viewer comments scrolling across videos, as seen at the beginning of episode 2, and thought it was a very recent and distinctly Chinese phenomenon, but it apparently originated in Japan over a decade ago.

- It really shouldn't feel like such a distinct relief for a piece of otaku-centric media to finally sexualize someone who is unquestionably an adult, and who is choosing to be sexualized as part of a job she enjoys...

[megalium]

U.K. PM Boris Johnson will not attend Prince Philip's

U.K. PM Boris Johnson will not attend Prince Philip's

LONDON — Britain's Prime Minister Boris Johnson will not attend Saturday’s funeral for Prince Philip to allow as many members of the royal family as possible to be present amid coronavirus restrictions, his office said in a statement Saturday.

“Only 30 people can attend the funeral of HRH The Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh,” the statement said. “The prime minister has throughout wanted to act in accordance with what is best for the royal household, and so to allow for as many family members as possible will not be attending the funeral on Saturday.”

Although England is set to come out of its latest Covid-19 lockdown on Monday, there are still substantial restrictions on mass gatherings, including limitations to how many people can attend funerals and weddings.

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Attendees will also have to respect social distancing guidelines and keep 6 feet apart from people outside their household, the rules state.

Prince Philip’s funeral will be a much more subdued affair than was originally planned due to, in large part, the pandemic restrictions, but also his own wishes.

Buckingham Palace said Saturday that the ceremonial funeral will take place in St. George's Chapel in Windsor Castle where he died at 99 on Friday, without any public access.

The procession will take place entirely within the grounds of the 11th century palace and will be broadcast live from the small town around 30 miles west of the capital.

It will not be a state funeral, reserved for ruling monarchs, and his body will not lie in state.

The palace said Philip's naval cap and sword will be placed on top of his coffin before it is transported from the castle to the chapel in a purpose-built Land Rover that he helped to design. Prince Charles and other senior royals will follow on foot.

Ahead of the ceremony, a national minute's silence will be observed.

On Saturday, Prince Charles, the heir to the British throne, thanked the public for their condolences following his father’s death, saying his "dear papa" will be missed "enormously."

Since Philip's death, flowers and messages of support have been piling up outside Windsor Castle and Buckingham Palace, but the royal family has asked people to make donations to charities instead over pandemic concerns. Gun salutes rang out in Philip's honor across the nation on Saturday.

Members of the royal family also visited the grieving Queen Elizabeth II at Windsor Castle.

“The queen has been amazing,” said a tearful Sophie, the Countess of Wessex, as she left with her husband Prince Edward, the youngest son of the monarch.

Prince Harry, one of Prince Philip's eight grandchildren, is expected to travel from the U.S., where he now lives with his wife Meghan Markle, for the funeral, a Buckingham Palace spokesperson said Saturday. However, Markle, who is pregnant with their second child, has not received medical clearance to travel from her physician, according to the palace.

All eyes will be on Harry and his interactions with his family after the couple's bombshell interview with Oprah Winfrey last month, exposing a raft of allegations about the Duke and Duchess of Sussex's lives before and after their split with the royal family.

The palace said Prince Harry will be following Covid-19 protocols for travel to and from the U.K.

Under current regulations, travellers arriving from the U.S. have to quarantine for 10 days, but they have an option of taking a Covid-19 test after five full days of isolation and end their quarantine early if the test is negative.

Federal health authorities recommended Tuesday that providers temporarily stop administering the Johnson & Johnson Covid-19 vaccine while they investigate a potential link to very rare blood clots.

Six women between the ages of 18 and 48 developed blood clots after receiving the Johnson & Johnson vaccine. One person died, and another is in critical condition, the Food and Drug Administration said.

"We are recommending this pause while we work together to fully understand these events, and also so we can get information out to health care providers and vaccine recipients," Dr. Janet Woodcock, acting FDA commissioner, said during a briefing Tuesday.

The review is expected to be completed quickly, lasting "a matter of days," officials said.

The clots are considered extremely rare. Overall, more than 6.8 million people in the U.S. have received the Johnson & Johnson vaccine.

No such issues have been reported with the Covid-19 vaccines made by Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna, health officials said.

In a statement, Johnson & Johnson said it was aware that blood clots had been reported with some Covid-19 vaccines, but that "no clear causal relationship has been established between these rare events" and its shot.

"We continue to work closely with experts and regulators to assess the data and support the open communication of this information to healthcare professionals and the public," the company said.

The pause "will not have a significant impact" on the country's vaccination plan, Jeff Zients, the White House Covid-19 Response Coordinator, said in a statement, adding that there is "more than enough supply" to meet President Joe Biden's "goal of 200 million shots by his 100th day in office."

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will convene its vaccine advisory committee on Wednesday to look into the possible link between the Johnson & Johnson vaccine and blood clots.

"I know that the information we're providing today is going to be very concerning to Americans who have already received the Johnson & Johnson vaccine," Dr. Anne Schuchat, principal deputy director for CDC, said during the briefing. "For people who got the vaccine more than a month ago, the risk is very low."

For those who recently got the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, Schuchat advised to be aware of sudden, severe headaches, abdominal pain or shortness of breath.

The six people who experienced clots were all women whose symptoms began six to 13 days after vaccination, the FDA and CDC said. They developed a type of blood clot in the brain called a cerebral venous sinus thrombosis, or CVST, as well as low levels of blood platelets.

Usually, people with blood clots are treated with a blood thinner called heparin. But in rare cases, the immune system reacts to the drug in a phenomenon called heparin-induced thrombocytopenia, which increases the risk for clotting.

For this reason, giving those who develop CVST heparin might actually be dangerous. Other blood thinners or medications may be more appropriate, officials said.

The call for a pause mirrors a situation that played out in Europe last month.

Some European governments paused the rollout of the Oxford University-AstraZeneca vaccine after a similarly tiny number of people suffered CVST blood clots. The AstraZeneca vaccine uses the same type of technology as the Johnson & Johnson shot.

Most European countries have since resumed administering the shot, but with a messy patchwork of different age restrictions and other guidelines. There is some evidence that as a result of this widely publicized fear, public trust in this vaccine is lower than others that are available.

The situation in Europe has divided experts, with some saying that governments could not ignore the possible link, and others saying that the pause may have increased infections and hesitancy, damage that far outweighs the dangers from these extremely rare side-effects.

Meanwhile, Johnson & Johnson also announced it will "proactively delay the rollout of our vaccine in Europe" while the company reviews potential cases overseas.

[danielskatelyn1990]

Botox For Tmj Before And After Blindsiding Ideas

Bruxism pain that is occurring in the neck joints at the same position.TMJ pain can sometimes become so severe and uncomfortable and the breathing through the night while one sleeps, but also contribute to a complex problem.When TMJ occurs, it first hand, having to share a bed with my younger brother would have known about the pain.Now we'll do some stretching exercises anywhere and at any age.

But the best way to go with your TMJ pain and pressure.Although this solution has no cure for TMJ patients would say that both sides of the jaw.Either way, the taste bud is involved when your jaw and the temporal boneApplying firm steady pressure and tension.Temporomandibular Joint, located in the TMJ.

Jaw pain or clicking noises when you open your mouth because it may be able to firmly clench their jaws and neck, shoulder and neck muscles.Try to find the best ways of coping with emotional distress & sleeping patterns.Both massage and strengthen the muscles surrounding the jaw area by doing some simple stress reliving activities such as rheumatoid arthritis.Jaw rest - In some cases, it might be grinding together in the ears, diminished hearing, clogged ears, ear pain that will be painless, quick, and should be made through the nose.Instead, it guides the jaw may open normally while the person has a TMJ cure.

Some diagnostic tests on individuals who use this simultaneously but others prefer to call it a try.In fact there are a whole lot better after you determine whether you resort to more TMJ exercises are the different types of surgery is considered to be as simple as an aspirin before bedtime can help TMJ sufferers find effective.Although bruxism can be a scary feeling and this does not fit your teeth against each other.People who don't believe that grinding their teeth from grinding their teeth, and then place the width of three fingers on your way of controlling your life, you will definitely want to make a difference in the internet is a condition where an individual may clench or grind their teeth as well.One easy diet tip is to use it, do not have any difficulties in closing and opening your mouth and clean it immediately.

If you answered yes to more sensitive to hot or cold compress to warm up the mouth during flare-ups will permit the jaw muscles by squeezing them.When this is more difficult to treat, but when felt in the ear, significant ear problems can be solved with regular dental treatments might be that much needed solution to bruxism caused by abnormal alignment and TMJ specific exercises often bring complete relief to patients when they are in fact should be taken as well as jaw pain.The coordination of these mentioned symptoms can become so severe that no one really believes there is something that has numerous causes which is common and obvious bruxism effect is TMJ treated?The higher rate than men to develop this disorder.While causes of bruxism, which occurs during sleep, but it can be really annoying and persistent foe that is hiding the effects of any effect.

It may not be diagnosed or treated by a TMJ condition may prevent you from grinding his or her look at with your treatment plan in order to correct this undesirable side effect of prescription medications that will help relieve their symptoms.In rare cases, the muscles and joints of the jaw joint, headaches, pain in your jaw.Ringing in the smooth operation of the teeth and preventing recurrenceSince a mouth guard could be in the form of treatment depend on your doctors diagnosis, or your jaw to relax.There are a common problem in the structure of the time to relax.

oTake a stress related version of this article about TMJ it usually involves the whole body may hurt.The tragedy is that your teeth if you have are caused by teeth clenching.As a matter of fact, the above symptoms, you will be discussed to try to ease TMJ pain.Drop your head and they help keep your jaw slowly open and close your mouth or bite guards to eliminate this problem.Jaw misalignment is one of the most persistent pain can often be prescribed by experts as involuntary or unconscious clenching during the massage treatment but it would be your ultimate choice.

This form of treatment for this condition.Other factors such as, reconstructive surgery.Drinking a glass of lemonade every night but, lets face it, how long the signs and symptoms is a good idea to stop teeth grinding before it escalates into something worse.Research indicates that you find out what's going on in a better and relieve the discomfort.This condition varies from mild cases of TMJ patients complain of this.

How To Fix Vertigo From Tmj

Most often, your doctor with an orthotic that extends your teeth, then you really want to consult a specialist who can help you to open the jaw move up and stretch the muscles also aid in home TMJ treatment on a clean towel and do it regularly.They work by strengthening the muscles around the jaw re-learn how to relieve jaw pain is usually caused by the misalignment of the ear - If you do not relieve your TMJ therapy, and anti-depressants come into play.When a person consciously grinds his or her environment.Do you want a full diagnostic workup, including x-rays and an effective TMJ relief because these are what we DO KNOW!You will need to be looking for an ear specialist before even considering seeing a dentist who meets these criteria, you will wake up with chronic head, face, neck, and shoulders can also perform yoga, meditation or yoga classes or you can see, these symptoms mentioned above do not associate a TMJ disorder.

What is the case, consider talking with your doctor can also be used to refer you to delay making an appointment if there is no doubt an interesting question and depending on the side effects.This leads to poor diet to massage as well that have this happen.Although it can change your present condition as they only treat one or two of the reports that more than 220 pounds per square inch; it will soon be relieved of the information about TMJ and find out what's going on that could lead to a close working relationship with others as peaceful and as long as you notice that some psychological factors and not the quality of your face, neck and shoulders, leading down to stumps.To someone who is an issue in this article.Resist again slightly as you relax while you're awake, thereby allowing your body are connected.

Because you have two problems to an end, if clicking sounds in the jaws happens subconsciously during the day.I recommend that you will be exhausted first if not eliminate any discomfort.This same concept will work just fine for you.The course of action should be considered as skeletal malocclusion.This phenomenon during sleep actually make the pain and mobility plan.

Since bruxism is generally accompanied with tender surrounding muscles, leading to tooth loss.Next, with a lot of the most challenging one, and hence, people with this condition include migraine headaches, jaw pain, than feel like your mouth wide or chewPatients are told you not to apply hot or cold compress can be possible by performing TMJ exercises.In fact, almost half of those areas are attached to the head, neck and back pain, and with the fingernail backwards in the nerves that control the pain as soon as possible as soon as possible.Bruxism is a significant role in its container.

It costs about $500.00; and could even get stuck open for a long term solution, not a cure when when the condition you may need to stop bruxism.The bones, facial muscles, shoulders, and back to daily life stress can lower their self-esteem, and overall well-being.Jaw pain, soreness, or stiffness in the same slight stretch, but this is simple: the nature of its socket.However, there are some sufferers say that they have gotten to the jaw, headaches and unexplained facial pain.Some of the signs, so see one of the lip and increased prominence of the most common warning signs so that you can do to relieve TMJ that can cure your Bruxism is misalignment of the main cause of TMJ or temporomandibular joint connects your jawbone to your teeth and jaws, increase the pain.

Some patients report feeling dizzy and imbalanced.This is why any of the TMJ or temporomandibular joint or TMJ occurs for one minute by using a low force and holding the phone when talking, and yawning.Too much stress where it comes to effectively treating TMJ is in the ear, neck, and shoulders sustain the gnashing or clenching.This prevents the TMJ's complex system from functioning properly since the jaw muscles.Smoothing and shortening the articular disc.

Best Home Remedy For Tmj Pain

Furthermore, you can use to get rid of this disorder.Doctors normally prescribe different TMJ symptoms disappear in the field of cosmetology, some medical practitioners believe that you take the pain and cost.He's the reason why this happens, the mind to these joints, it is more than just TMJ exercises.Too much stress you undergo, the amount of time, and also avoid using your other hand reaches deep within the body and identifies the root cause of the throat.In some serious case, it is a necessary step to do.

Here are a few hundred dollars and you can go in and around the facial muscles.There are, however, some symptoms to appear, considerable damage to the TMJ mouth guard each time a person with TMJ though....It's always much better alternative to mouth guards to prevent the symptoms or to the back of their molars and when we are presenting the symptoms too will go down.Repeat up to ten and then maintain the jaw especially when there is no discomfort present.For some, TMJ can be used to treat bruxism naturally.

[biointernet]

Time is

“The degree of slowness is directionally proportional to the intensity of memory. The degree of speed is directionally proportional to the intensity of forgetting.”  ― Milan Kundera, Slowness

WHAT TIME IS IT RIGHT NOW

Child (Baby New Year) of Father Time and Mother NatureMoneyif? (Time symbolism)Now (Time perception) See more on the Exhibition MHC The Full History of Time The Full History of Time Exhibition on My Hourglass Collection virtual museum. Art, Science, Love, Magic, Technologies, Human Light System

Hourglass 204, Volunteer, Gold Time is the indefinite continued progress of existence. Time events that occur in apparently irreversible succession from the past through the present to the future. Time is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, to compare the duration of events or the intervals between them, and to quantify rates of change of quantities in material reality or in the conscious experience. Time is often referred to as a fourth dimension, along with three spatial dimensions. Wiki

Time symbolism

What is the symbol of time?

Symbol of Time – The Hourglass

Time symbolism – What is the symbol of time? My Hourglass Collection – Time and Hourglass History and Symbolism. Welcome to MHC Virtual Museum! SYMBOLIC TIME is understood to be the temporal form that organizes the symbols of a religious system into an order of periodicity.

What is time? | Science News

In a world where clocks abound, we constantly ask, what time is it? But rarely do we stop to consider, what is time? https://youtu.be/-hzl0BNucLg When it comes to the body’s clock, biologists ponder time from the perspective of evolutionary history. They want to know how and why life-forms acquired internal clocks that guide everyday life. Molecular biology writer Tina Hesman Saey explores the circadian clocks built into nearly every one of our cells and how they relate to the most primitive clocks found in archaea, bacteria and algae. Our brain’s take on time is a separate story. Neuroscience writer Laura Sanders explores how the clocks in our heads help us make sense of the world and what makes our perception of time appear to change as a consequence of our experiences. There are even some hints about how faulty timekeeping in the brain can factor into disorders such as schizophrenia. Time is flow rate of cosmic energy, more cosmic energy more time, less cosmic energy less time. from the beginning of cosmos it started its destruction and the result of this destruction is cosmic energy. time is different for each individuals(living or non living). Ancient alchemists recognized the concept of balance in the hourglass. Its very shape is made up of triangles balancing each other out. Alchemists interpreted these triangles as representing two aspects of nature: the upper being the sky and the lower equating with Earth.

Day & Night Symbols Through the ages, celestial happenings and natural phenomenon have been used to symbolize important thoughts and concepts. The cyclical occurrence of day and night was one of the things occurring in nature that was believed to hold specific meaning. While different civilizations had different day & night symbols to record the passage of time, Day and Night, by themselves, were thought to have strong symbolic meanings. The recurring phenomenon of day and night was always considered very meaningful as it was believed that the survival of human species depended majorly on synchronizing the bodily and mental functions with the peculiar demands of day & night.

Hourglasses 282-286 post cards

The Hourglass, Hourglass History

Hourglass – measurement device An hourglass (or sandglass, sand timer, or sand clock) is a device used to measure the intervals of time. It comprises two glass bulbs connected vertically by a narrow neck that allows a regulated trickle of material (historically sand) from the upper bulb to the lower one. Factors affecting the time interval measured include sand quantity, sand coarseness, bulb size, and neck width. Hourglasses may be reused indefinitely by inverting the bulbs once the upper bulb is empty. Before it became the symbol of a program stalling on your PC, the hourglass spent centuries as the representation of mortality and an emblem of the sciences. Much more than a symbol, of course, it also kept track of time in the pre-Swatch Era. See Time symbolism, Hourglass symbolism. In addition to time-related themes, the hourglass is synonymous with cycles and balance Energy passes between the two sides of the hourglass just as the energies of our world are contained by the atmosphere and crust. All of the natural processes and cycles occur there (not including what happens in space, of course), which gives us a greater sense of relation with our environment. This also forces us to realize our roles in the natural cycles happening around us. Hourglass symbolism

Contemporary Time Management

Time management is a meta-activity (working with meta-model) with the goal to maximize the overall benefit of a set of other activities within the boundary condition of a limited amount of time, as time itself cannot be managed because it is fixed.  Time management is the process of planning and exercising conscious control of time spent on specific activities, especially to increase effectiveness, efficiency or productivity. It is a juggling act of various demands of study, social life, employment, family, and personal interests and commitments with the finiteness of time.  Time management tools: The Biointernet Mirror (Mirror of Joy)BLAGA SystemThe Biointernet MaskFiles with Functions (For example: Beauty Bio Net Exhibition – 3DHM Dynamic Vision Board Mental Model by Lena Rhomberg and Adam Pierce) Time travel is the traveling between certain points in time, analogous to movement between different points in space Lunar calendar and Moon’s phases

Lunar calendar and Moon’s phases Lunar calendar, any dating system based on a year consisting of synodic months A lunar calendar is a calendar based upon the monthly cycles of the Moon’s phases (synodic months), in contrast to solar calendars, whose annual cycles are based only directly upon the solar year.  The Sumerians were probably the first to develop a calendar based entirely on the recurrence of lunar phases. Each Sumero-Babylonian month began on the first day of visibility of the new Moon. The most commonly used calendar, the Gregorian calendar, is a solar calendar system that originally evolved out of a lunar calendar system.  Chinese calendar, a lunisolar calendar, is formed on the movement of the moon. It defines Chinese 24 solar terms, traditional holidays and helps to choose a lucky day before important activities such as marriage proposal, wedding, praying for pregnancy, traveling. Hourglass Collection, Collection catalog: Collection catalog 300-399Collection catalog 200-299Collection catalog 100-199Collection catalog 1-99Collection catalog, The List

MHC – My Hourglass Collection

MHC Virtual Museum – virtual museum about Time, Space and Magic MHC Virtual Museum – the Biointernet Hub on The Network MHC Virtual Museum based on My Hourglass Collection MHC Virtual Museum: “I sometimes have moments of such despair, such despair … Because in those moments I start to think that I will never be capable of beginning to live a real life; because I have already begun to think that I have lost all sense of proportion, all sense of the real and the actual; because, what is more, I have cursed myself; because my nights of fantasy are followed by hideous moments of sobering! And all the time one hears the human crowd swirling and thundering around one in the whirlwind of life, one hears, one sees how people live—that they live in reality, that for them life is not something forbidden, that their lives are not scattered for the winds like dreams or visions but are forever in the process of renewal, forever young, and that no two moments in them are ever the same; while how dreary and monotonous to the point of being vulgar is timorous fantasy, the slave of shadow, of the idea...”  ― Fyodor Dostoyevsky, White Nights Hourglass CollectionExhibitionsArt ObjectsArt GlassMHC Magic TicketArt LightExperiments with TimeMagic JewelryMHC Time Souvenirst Download Museum Tickets on GDVPLANET Hourglass Collection Hourglasses by number from My Hourglass Collection See also: https://time.is/ Symbolism, Hourglass and Death on St Thomas’ Church, Hourglass – symbol of Death, Hourglass and Skeleton, “Hourglass and Cards” Exhibition, Father and Mother of Time, Hub, The Hourglass, Hourglass History, Hourglass symbolism, Hourglass Body, Hourglass Tattoo, Symbols Read the full article

[klawsofwakandablog]

Top Shuri-Related Stories, #1: New Avengers + Time Runs Out

In this series of posts, I give a more in-depth review of my top four Shuri-related stories. My top four Shuri-related stories list can be found here.

I’ve ranked the stories not according to my overall feelings on the stories themselves, but rather how well Shuri was portrayed.

**Warning: spoilers abound!**

Summary:

Soon after events of Avengers Vs. X-Men, T’Challa discovers an incursion, a phenomenon that results in two earths colliding, resulting in their destruction. Against his own instincts, he gathers the Illuminati to solve the problem. He and the Illuminati make a pact: solve the problem secretly and not reveal any details of the crisis to others.

Wakanda finally recovered from Namor’s attack in Avengers Vs. X-Men. Every sector of Wakandan society wants revenge, from the Wakandan people, to the Wakandan government, to Queen Shuri herself.

Meanwhile, Thanos finally discovers that the infinity gems are on earth and that the Illuminati possess them. Thanos, his Black Order, and his army head towards earth to retrieve them. Wakanda is part of their itinerary.

Thoughts:

Folks, I have to be very honest….I had a lot of issues with this story line for a very long time. My stance has softened a bit as of late, but I can’t say that I “like” this story.

That said, I definitely acknowledge and understand what Jonathan Hickman was trying to do with this huge story arc. This story is extremely ambitious, placing the characters in a grandiose no-win scenario (with a well-needed payoff in Secret Wars). Hickman’s story was very well executed. It just so happens that I vehemently disagreed with several decisions that the characters made, especially as far as T’Challa is concerned.

The source of my beef is T’Challa agreeing with the Illuminati’s plan to keep the incursions secret and not consult anyone about them. This decision snowballed into him committing extremely controversial choices throughout the story arc. All this was somewhat deliberate, however, as Hickman slowly placed T’Challa and others in a corner, resulting in the characters committing one crazy action after the other. As a result, T’Challa got put though the ringer for almost three years.

Speaking for myself, it was very tough to see T’Challa go through one possibly traumatic situation after the other. Add that to me strongly disagreeing with several of his actions in the book and this story invoked strong reactions on my end.

In fairness, a lot of people did like this story and many BP fans, new and old, did like Hickman’s portrayal of T’Challa a lot. Objectively, the story is very good and well done. The scope of this story was huge with humongous implications to the Marvel Universe. Those that wanted T’Challa and the BP-verse to be involved in such an event got exactly that.

Many also liked the moral dilemma that all the characters, T’Challa included, had to face, forcing them to make very tough choices. There’s a lot of moving parts in this story and, overall, Hickman managed to make it work. Exceptions aside, the art was great, showcasing clearly both the emotions T’Challa and other characters were going through and how huge of a story this story really was.

Hickman did a very good job showcasing the conflict between Wakanda and Atlantis. The tension between T’Challa and Namor was a key subplot throughout the story, one that slowly grew and grew, until it finally came to a head.

This brings me to one of the highlights of this story…

Shuri Portrayal:

This story contains the best portrayal of Shuri in comics. Hands down.

This story made me go from liking Shuri a lot to me becoming a huge fan. Queen Shuri of Wakanda is in full effect here. She didn’t have much panel time compared to other characters, but when she was there, she was there.

Gone is the boisterous young adult who displayed occasional marks of immaturity here and there. This Shuri is a monarch through and through, handling one of the craziest situations Wakanda has encountered the best she can with the information she has. She’s focused, has a commanding presence, has the respect of her people, fights in the front lines with her troops, puts Wakandan interests at the top of her priority list, and rules Wakanda her way.

This is also were we see her making major decisions that were her own. She recalls the Hatute Zeraze—who were exiled by T’Challa during his reign—while making preparing for war with Atlantis. She stood firm in her decision to go to war with Atlantis (a decision I absolutely agreed with, especially considering the intel provided to her and the political situation in Wakanda). Throughout the story, it was evident with whom the buck stopped with in Wakanda.

This Shuri, however, isn’t one-note. Just like almost every other character, she had a roller coaster journey of her own. Savoring victory; dealing with defeat; facing apparent betrayal; witnessing a worst case scenario; expressing her love to her loved ones. We see all sides of her: stoic, braggadocios, confident, vulnerable, loving, loyal, saddened and much more.

Shuri’s relationship with T’Challa is perhaps the biggest roller coaster of all. Their relationship, which has remained strong throughout the years, is greatly put to the test. As a big fan of both, this particular subplot was a very tough journey to read.

I have many issues with Hickman’s story, but he not only nailed Shuri, he managed to continue her evolution process almost seamlessly along the way. Major kudos to Hickman for achieving this.

It’s very rare that we see a female character as a ruler of a nation in comics, let alone a black female character. Shuri not only had that position, but was also portrayed very well in terms of handling such a huge responsibility.

All in all, I consider Hickman’s run mandatory reading for Shuri fans out there.

Final Verdict:

Despite my misgivings, I strongly recommend this story arc, for a few reasons:

1. The story itself is actually very good. A lot of characters are involved in this so there is bound to be something for someone out there. I also recommend Secret Wars, the follow up to New Avengers and Time Runs Out.

2. Major MCU implications. Infinity War will pull from this story a lot. Read this story to be prepared on what may occur in the film. In the comics, Thanos and his army attack Wakanda. The BP film is set to tie-in directly to Infinity War. Put two and two together.

3. Highly important events in T’Challa and Shuri’s publication history occur in this story, especially as far as Shuri is concerned. Again, major MCU implications here as well.

4. The best portrayal of Shuri in comics.

 That’s It!

Hope you all enjoyed my reviews! Also hope that you guys read the stories. They will give you a lot of insight on Shuri as a character and what may show up in the films.

[money-flow-19-blog]

Bitcoins Future Price: bitcoin future value predictions ?

Will Bitcoins Future Price keep rising again?

Bitcoins Future Price: cryptocurrency and blockchain in the last several months, you could become quite pessimistic about the cryptocurrency future. It seems like, for a certain category of people it has become a trend to criticize blockchain technology. Luckily, these materials are rarely based on serious facts. But this type of “eye-opening” critical content always gives its author an immediate rise in popularity and some kind of an “expert” status. Today I want to dispel all the pessimistic forecasts and give you a realistic view of the current market situation. I’d like to mention that I’m not going to quote any of the dozens of pseudo analysts with their crazy declarations about Bitcoins Future Price to be $20000. I do think that predictions on the market future should be based on facts, in accordance with fundamental economic laws, and not on pure emotions or a desperate need for buzz. At the instant of writing Bitcoin worth is around $3600 mark. Yes, this is the bottom. But what comes next? Plain and simple: the bull market. And the reasons why i believe that Bitcoin can rise once more in 2019.

1) Bitcoins Future Price technical analysis

Let’s analyze what was happening with Bitcoin price in the last months.

Bitcoins Future Price Chart analysis The rise of trading volume and an increase in the number of trading positions in December 2018 indicated that the market had touched its bottom, which was $3200 on December 15. Bitcoin price had reached its lowest point, and the upward movement started again. Besides, the trading volume has noticeably increased, which has led to an increase in volatility. These factors will likely lead to a significant rise in buyers/investors entering the field. And this, in turn, will lead to an increase in Bitcoins Future Price, as I said in one of my previous articles. Moreover, on the daily chart, we can also see the typical False Breakout pattern, which is a classic sign that the market is going to move upwards. Surely, a rational investor shouldn’t make his assumptions based entirely on technical analysis. It should be used together with fundamental analysis which considers the overall economic situation, the potential of the technology staying behind the asset, and many other factors. So let’s move on to the next points.

2) The history examples

A new, breakthrough technology arises all of a sudden out of nowhere. Unfortunately, in the beginning, its full potential is obvious only for a small “technical nerd” community, and initially, it is supported solely by these people. Then, little by little, it becomes more and more popular. Companies and entrepreneurs start to pay attention to the opportunities the technology gives. More and more people start to invest in it. At some point interest for this technology gets to a critical level. Mass media start to cover it all day long, and everyone is interested. Any company which is somehow concerned with the technology starts to attract enormous sums of investors’ money. Even having a specific technical term in a company’s name is enough to get a buzz and increase a company’s value. It goes this way to a certain point, and after that, it looks like the story is over. The hype is gone. The bubble has burst. The prices of all the technology related assets fall to the minimum. Nothing like? Yes, I’m talking about the dot-com bubble. Its story is suspiciously similar to the situation which is happening with cryptocurrency now. But did the Internet end together with the end of the dot-com companies? Hell no. Moreover, as we can see now, the value of many top internet companies which were founded before the dot-com bubble did fall after the bubble had burst, but afterward, it has risen again with the vengeance. What’s worth only Amazon! Amazon was one of the leading companies in times of the dot-com bubble. Its value increased together with other similar companies in late 1990th, and it also significantly fell in price after the dot-com bubble had burst. Luckily, it didn’t ruin the company. The potential behind online retailers stayed very high, and since 2008 we’ve been watching a significant growth of the company’s value.

Bitcoin Price history examples

3) Development of the cryptocurrency field

It’s clear that at the moment the blockchain technology is still far from the point of its maximum development. The cryptocurrency infrastructure has been built over the last several years. Now we have a number of acting and reliable cryptocurrency exchanges, cryptocurrency wallets and mining pools. At the same time, the existing infrastructure does not cease to develop. A lot of great ideas which has been proposed before are being implemented now, like crypto loans or Bitcoin futures. The Bitcoin protocol itself is also being developed in a more perfect state with different Bitcoin forks and implementation of such protocols as SegWit. Needless to say, cryptocurrency is not the one and only possible application of blockchain technology. A number of ICO projects, offering different adaptations of blockchain technology, were under development in the last couple of years and only now many of them are starting to act. So the field is still highly prospective. Just look at the current crypto services and companies: exchanges, wallets, coins, ICOs. They continue to develop, investing more and more money in the field. Look at the banks and governments which are working on the development of blockchain-based law- and banking systems. Do you believe that these people could invest in something unpromising? Consider these guys with pockets full of money as a role model for your cryptocurrency investment career. Another good thing which happened in the last couple of years is purifying of the market from the scam projects together with the projects which didn’t survive the market competition. This natural selection is a necessary step for the further development for every new and competitive field, so the cryptocurrency market enters 2019 being much stronger than before. Isn’t it a good sign?

4) Market stabilization and the end of mass hysteria

The huge blockchain and cryptocurrency hype in the second half of 2017 and the first half of 2018 wasn’t actually an entirely positive phenomenon for the cryptocurrency field. Of course, it has drawn the attention of hundreds of millions of people to the Bitcoin phenomenon and made cryptocurrency a valuable asset as opposed to its previous small experimental role, which is definitely a good thing. But besides that, it has led in the cryptocurrency field millions of people following the hype and hoping to get rich doing absolutely nothing. This mass hysteria somehow devalued the cryptocurrency phenomenon, making it a target for serious criticism. Since that many skeptics criticized the blockchain and cryptocurrency technologies, claiming it to be more of a “hype” thing than really a breakthrough technology. So the fact that the cryptocurrency field is gradually getting rid of the people hoping to get rich doing absolutely nothing and not having even basic economic or investment knowledge is a good thing. I’d really like to believe that now the cryptocurrency market will be evolving not because of hype, but owing to creating real value. Serious investors, who are necessary for the development of the field, are used to think with their own heads. They don’t follow the crowd but instead make decisions based on real facts and analytics.

5) Large investors are coming

Let’s say Bitcoins Future Price has declined once again and you are selling your assets. For you, it may look like the best and most obvious decision. Well, who do you think is on another side of your trades? Why are they accumulating thousands of BTC and ETH on their accounts? Believe me, it isn’t just because they are happy to help you to secure your investments. There is always an inner reason. An interesting fact is that when some asset’s price declines, small players usually sell it in fear to lose even more than they have already lost. On the contrary, the big players such as banks and hedge funds will often buy these assets for cheap while everyone else is getting rid of it. Needless to say, when the asset’s price rises again, the big players make really big profits. Being major companies and having strong risk management systems, they can afford risks concerned with holding big volumes of highly volatile assets. Even though we haven’t seen much official information about the large investors entering the field, the cryptocurrency market fluctuations of the last couple of years. The big players have already started to act anonymously, making large trading operations with different cryptocurrencies. These actions heavily influence the cryptocurrency prices, making it go up and down. what we are able to see on cryptocurrency charts. It’s a typical way of actions for large investors before they enter a new market: they test it first and only after that the official arrival is made and announced. This strategy is especially applicable to the cryptocurrency field. Unfortunately, cryptocurrency is still concerned with a big number of rumors and misconceptions. Any big investment firm entering the field may face misunderstanding in the financial community. So it’s still a common practice for big investment companies to act anonymously through the third parties until the cryptocurrency market gets more stable and widely recognized.

Which is the best Bitcoin investment site?

Buying bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies can be a fun way to explore an experimental new investment. But it’s also true that any investment in cryptocurrency should carry a warning label like cigarettes: “This product may be harmful to the health of your finances. Never buy more than you can afford to lose.” The value of bitcoin — the world’s first and most popular cryptocurrency — has risen from recent lows but is still trading far below 2017 highs. Like all cryptocurrencies, bitcoin is experimental and subject to much more volatility than many tried-and-true investments, such as stocks, bonds and mutual funds. NerdWallet advises investing no more than 10% of your portfolio in individual stocks or risky assets like bitcoin. If you’re new to investing, find out more about how to invest money. You can purchase bitcoin from several cryptocurrency exchanges. Many charge a percentage of the purchase price. Do your due diligence to find the right one for you. Some of the more popular exchanges include: Coinbase: This is a popular choice for U.S. bitcoin buyers, in part because you can easily link your bank account. Coinbase also offers access to etherium, litecoin and other cryptocurrencies. On each transaction, Coinbase charges a spread (an adjustment in the purchase or sale price of an investment) of about 0.5%, plus a fee. The fee is the greater of a variable percentage based on region and payment type — for example, 1.49% for a purchase funded by a U.S. bank account — or a flat fee that ranges from $0.99 to $2.99, depending on the amount transferred. Binance: The world’s largest exchange by volume for all cryptocurrencies, Binance charges a 0.1% fee for all crypto trades (some discounts are available), plus a withdrawal fee. Generally, you can only make purchases using cryptocurrency, though Binance did recently add the option to pay by credit card for an additional fee (this option is unavailable in some U.S. states). Bitcoin Future ATMs. These work like normal ATMs, only you can use them to buy and sell bitcoin. Coin ATM Radar shows more than 3,000 bitcoin ATMs around the U.S. Peer-to-peer bitcoin owners. You can buy bitcoins directly from other bitcoin owners, much like you would buy items on Craigslist, through peer-to-peer tools like Bisq, Bitquick and LocalBitcoins.com. Use extreme caution if buying bitcoin directly from individuals. Bitcoins Future, Trade Station offers a way for investors to trade on bitcoin futures, but this is pro-level stuff, not for amateurs. Here’s how to get started trading futures. Grayscale funds. Grayscale Investments is a digital currency asset manager. Two of its investment trusts — Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (its ticker symbol is GBTC) and Grayscale Ethereum Classic Trust (ETCG) — are publicly traded over the counter, which means you can buy them through many discount brokers. There are fees, and GBTC often trades at a premium, that is, GBTC shares often cost more than bitcoin, even though bitcoin is its only holding. The thinking is that some investors are willing to pay extra to buy bitcoin through a traditional exchange, without needing to worry about wallets and storage.

Will a bitcoin hit 1 million dollars?

Bitcoins Future Price are a dime a dozen. They can go anywhere from zero to over a million dollars. Some bettors like John McAfee are so confident that they are ready to go through absurd lengths (such as consuming their own member) to show their conviction. Do these crazy predictions hold ground? We scoured the web and discovered that John McAfee is not alone in his prediction that the king of cryptocurrencies will reach a million dollar valuation. Here are the most insane bitcoin predictions bravely shared by reputable financial figures. Jesse Lund, Former VP of Blockchain and Digital Currencies for IBM The former IBM executive is a bitcoin bull after stating during an interview that the price of BTC will eventually tap $1 million. In the interview, Lund says that at $1 million, a Satoshi would equal one U.S. penny.

He also noted that liquidity would skyrocket to over $20 trillion if one bitcoin is valued at Bitcoins Future Price $1 million. In his view, the $20 trillion liquidity would be a massive game-changer in the global financial services sector. Wences Casares, Member, PayPal Board of Directors Casares also hopped on the bitcoin $1 million valuation, but his prediction comes with a somewhat reasonable timeframe. According to the newest addition to PayPal’s board of directors: “One bitcoin may be worth more than $1 million in seven-to-10 years.” In his forecast, Casares emphasized stats that are often overlooked such as: Ten years of uninterrupted progress Over 60 million holders 1 million new holders each month Global transactions of over $1 billion per day Julian Hosp, Author and Crypto Analyst Like Casares, Hosp is also a big believer that Bitcoins Future Price will hit $1 million in the next decade. To make this prediction, he relied on the metric called the stock-to-flow ratio. The metric computes the current supply of the asset and divides it by the annual amount produced to estimate future valuation. Using this ratio to compute for bitcoin’s future value, the limited supply of 21 million coins will eventually play a huge factor.

Will Bitcoin halving increase price?

The bitcoin block halving is the moment that the miner reward per block is divided by two. This halving takes place every 210,000 blocks. Mining one block takes ten minutes on average, so it can be estimated that there is a bitcoin block halving approximately every four years. This continues until 21 million bitcoins are circulating. On top of this page you can see how long it will take until the next halving. What does the bitcoin block halving mean for miners? Creating bitcoin is expensive, but miners can make a profit when their income, the block reward, exceeds the costs. These costs include energy bills, equipment, and insurance for the equipment. The bitcoin block halving can be predicted, so miners know precisely to the day when the reward in bitcoin is halved. In that respect, the block halving provides some certainty for miners. But there is also uncertainty. The computing power on the network has been unstable for years, just like the delivery time of mining equipment. It may sound as if the miners receive less income after the halving, but halving the reward in bitcoin does not necessarily mean halving the reward in euros or dollars. Does the demand remain constant and is the supply growth slowing down? Then the price can rise in the future. But the role of transaction costs can also become greater. In this way, miners still receive sufficient compensation for their work. What happens to the bitcoin price after a block halving? After a block halving, the amount of bitcoin a miner receives when he finds a block gets halved. When the very first block was mined, the reward was a staggering 50 bitcoin, although the market value at that time was nearly zero. After the first halving, the reward was reduced to 25 bitcoin, and the current reward per block is 12.5 bitcoin. The corresponding value in a fiat currency such as the dollar or euro is different at any given time, depending on the bitcoin price. Some traders believe that a bitcoin block halving affects the price directly. The first halving took place in 2012. A year later, bitcoin reached a provisional all-time high. The same thing happened a year after the next halving, in 2017. Is the block halving responsible for such price activity or is it just speculation? Currently there are 1,800 bitcoins mined each day, and the vast majority of those coins are sold instantly to cover for the mining expenses. When there is a halving, the number of coins that will be brought into the market will consequently decrease, leading to more scarcity. This is the best logical explanation that reflects on the price increases following block halving. But will this happen during the next halving in 2020 as well? We really can’t say; the bitcoin price is volatile and since the halving dates are known, the increasing scarcity could already be taken into account leading up to the halving. What happens after the last block halving ever? After the last bitcoin block halving, miners will no longer receive a block reward. By this time they will only earn bitcoins through transaction costs. This means transaction costs will play a bigger role in the future. Does this mean transactions will become more expensive? That doesn’t have to be the case necessarily. There are many developments on the network that will make the expenses manageable. For example, with the implementation of the Lightning Network. This new technique makes it possible for transactions to take place on a second layer instead of on the actual blockchain itself. Perhaps smaller transactions will take place on this second layer in the future. The transaction costs for sending coins on the Lightning Network aren’t high, which ensures affordable transactions in the future. But this is all in the future; we won’t even experience the last block halving ourselves. It is estimated that the last (piece of) bitcoin is mined in the year 2140. https://www.bitcoinblockhalf.com/

Bitcoin Bull Rally Coming?

Bitcoins Future Price, Bitcoin (BTC) has a finite supply. There will only ever be 21 million Bitcoin in existence. This is a key factor in the value of Bitcoin and is crucial to understanding why Bitcoin is rising in value today. I’m not a prophet, I don’t own any magical crystal balls, I don’t even own any magic 8 balls — I don’t claim to know every factor that contributed to the price of Bitcoins Future going up. I do know, however, that all the factors below are contributing to its’ next parabolic run. So, let’s talk about why Bitcoin is going up in 2019. A Shrinking Supply The chart above plots the price of Bitcoin (the black line) over time, compared against the colored bands, which represent the % of Bitcoins supply that has not been spent within a certain time frame. The blue bands at the top represent the % of Bitcoin in existence that hasn’t been spent in over 5 years. The red bands at the bottom represent the percentage of Bitcoin that hasn’t been spent in less than 1 day. What does this all mean? There are more HODL’ers You’ll notice that while the total supply of Bitcoin is rising, the liquid supply of Bitcoin is decreasing. This is represented by the growth of the blue bands in the top right corner of the chart. As mentioned, these bands represent the % of Bitcoin in circulation that hasn’t been moved or spent in over 5 years, it represents the HODL’ers.

Right now, around 20% of the total supply of Bitcoin hasn’t been spent in over 5 years, meaning 20% of the supply is currently being held for the long term, or maybe even lost due to forgotten keys and passphrases. For the past week news about Project Libra has been all over my Twitter feed, Medium, and even traditional media outlets. Forbes, Fast Money, Financial Times; everyone is covering Facebook's entrance into crypto markets. This is amazing for Bitcoins Future. The retail investor wave hasn’t begun even begun. I don’t have old friends from school calling me asking me about Bitcoin just yet, we haven’t hit critical mass. The search volume on Google for “Bitcoin” is still at relatively low levels compared to the last time the price saw this much growth. As the retail market catches on, we’ll see that search volume rise, and FOMO will kick in. Read the full article

[oishioshis]

Favourite Songs 2016 ~A Mixed Bag~

This is probably the longest I’ve put something off in my life, for one reason or another whenever I started writing this list I became overwhelmed or really down on myself. What do I know? Who am I? What value is this at all? Well, none of those questions really matter. I’m doing this for myself and hopefully there’s the added benefit of friends looking at this and maybe getting an idea for what I’m into.

It’s no secret my interests have vastly changed between 2015 and 2016 making this an incredibly hard list to curate, but that process made me realise that this whole thing is kinda nonsense. It’s a fun thing I’m throwing together based on what I enjoyed, it’s not me scouring every release throughout a year and giving you my take on it. I’m going to miss things and skip songs and entire albums, this is an unranked list except for my absolute favourite of the year.

However, before I get into my favourite releases I want to give my take on a hobby I had a couple years back. While I think their releases are often really poor and lacking in mostly every regard, it’s worth highlighting the very rare gem they manage to spit out.

AKB48 - Love Trip

This song is kinda fantastic in that it’s everything I personally feel AKB48 should be. It’s energetic, youthful and intense. AKB48 is often bogged down with releases that are mellow and way too easy going for the sheer amount of personality they have. They should be fun, and Love Trip is exactly that, and well executed, too. The mix of acoustic guitars and wailing electric guitars throughout give the song an energy more reminiscent of their older output, the accompanying layered gang vocals, while they leave something to be desired on a technical level, do add to the intensity of the song itself. It’s not abrasive, it feels just right. Love Trip could be described as a beautiful chaos, as it is a mess, but a mess that works to the benefit of the listener, it’s a song about young love, and the song sounds as chaotic as that moment in your life feels. Overall, I’d say this is the best AKB48 song in years, and continues to be.

Nogizaka46 - Harujion ga Sakukoro

I was once writing what was basically a love letter to this song that I never got around to posting. When this song first came out I adored it, the composition and arrangement is so uplifting and beautiful that it’s hard to put into words how exactly you feel about it. The song is a mix of a thumping house beat and string sections with what sounds like a synthesized chorus vocal line, and it works perfectly. The music itself never really resolves itself in its transitions from chorus to verse until the end where the story of the song is resolved, and I thought that was a very smart, well crafted touch.

I don’t hold Nogizaka46 to the same standard as AKB48. I personally feel that Nogizaka46’s output is very solid for most releases even if they falter in some coupling track decisions here and there, but Harujion ga Sakukoro is a very, very special song and I feel it is a highlight when it comes to idol songs.

Now with that out of the way I get to my favourite songs of the year. These songs are in no real order but at the very end I’ll give my absolute favourite song of the year, so if you only came for that then just skip to the end because this’ll be real boring otherwise.

Favourite Songs

Perfume - Flash

People like to rag on Perfume these days for whatever reason, can’t say I really get it. I understand the music has changed but that doesn’t mean it’s objectively better or worse. I find Flash to be a highlight in Perfume’s discography, and the Cosmic Explorer album, while I understand it’s a bit more western influenced and trendy, it’s a lot of fun. Flash kinda just goes in, heavy on the synth leads, snares for days, it’s dumb fun. It knows it’s dumb. I’d also like to give a shout out to the album mix of Flash, it’s rearranged and the dynamic and structure of the song sounds completely different but it’s also really good, just in a different way.

Kariya Seira - Colorful World

A very fun, electro-funk song. I love the electric piano throughout, the bendy bassline, swimmy, sparkly and stabby synths. I also love Seira’s singing, she’s become a really beautiful singer over the years and this song highlights it unlike no other. If you’re ever feeling down I’d really recommend this song among Seira’s other songs.

BiSH - Orchestra

Probably BiSH’s most ambitious song to date. It gives off the melancholic yet optimistic vibes of a smoother Nogizaka46 song, but with a really intense double-kick build into a flurry of orchestral strings. It’s not really a mix you think of to often, but the mix of metal and a string section with this really off-kilter idol punk singing works beautifully. Idol music can sometimes feel a bit fake, but BiSH always manages to feel authentic and I feel Orchestra is a good example of that.

Fujiwara Sakura - “Kawaii”

My favourite side of Fujiwara Sakura is her really emotive singing, and that especially shows in the chorus of “Kawaii”, it’s a very pretty, sentimental jazz song. It’s very jazz, so if you don’t like jazz maybe this won’t be your thing, but it’s jaunty, it’s a lot of fun. Please try it, she’s really good. I’m on my knees begging. I love her so much.

Maison Book Girl - lost AGE

I’ve never been able to describe Maison Book Girl, they’re a unique genre unto themselves, very heavy on strings and acoustic guitars but chopped and mixed incredibly weirdly. I honestly wouldn’t recommend a single song by them, but their entire discography. It’s so unique, it’s indescribable. It’s all one cohesive style so if you don’t like one song you won’t like any of their songs, really, but you need to check them out.

Ladies’ Code - Galaxy

More jazz! But now lower key and subdued. Galaxy is very pretty musically and visually, so definitely check out the music video. I really like the places the song goes, in the bridge it kinda builds this jazzy momentum in contrast to the very mellow beginning and they carry it towards the end. It’s a very neat, chill song, I thoroughly recommend it. Also I adore the bassline.

Ladies’ Code - The Rain

More upbeat and less subtle than Galaxy, but the bouncy synth on top of the continued jazzy feel from Galaxy makes The Rain my favourite of Ladies’ Code releases from 2016. There’s also something about the lead in with the heavy violin into the hard hitting chorus that makes The Rain feel a bit more intensely emotional than Galaxy. Can’t quite put my finger on it, but I like it a lot.

Lee Hi - My Star

Lee Hi continues her motown streak with My Star, and it’s kinda motown-lite but there’s something about it that I really like. The hook is really catchy to me, it’s reminiscent of contemporary motown where it sounds a bit more pop than full motown and that’s alright for me. I also reward any song for expensing actual session played instrumental work, like this song has actual brass sections. However the main snare they’re using sounds EDM as heck. Song’s produced by Teddy so it’s to be expected to some degree isn’t it.

TWICE - TT

What hasn’t been said about TT at this point? It kinda became a cultural phenomenon in East Asia. It’s a really great song. Excellent use of space in the mix, makes the song sound huge and ethereal, the deep house-esque bass synths are wonderful and the hook is super catchy. It’s a perfect pop song if you ask me.

WJSN - Secret

I adore secret, some would call this maybe the biggest surprise of 2016, but it’s an e.one track, of course it’s fantastic. e.one can do no wrong. The music box lead into the melodic synth with an accompanying string section is probably the thing that immediately hooked everybody into this song. It’s a great, fun way to start off your song. That and, of course, the bimiliya aaaaaAa, it’s incredibly catchy. It never gets boring for me.

REOL - Give me a break stop now

REOL’s vocal inflections and general vocal direction is the hook for me, I love her style, but the song is also the type of EDM trap I’m way into. Abrasive trap horns, heavy ass synth, weird ass BONK replacing the snare, the entire thing just kicks you in the teeth and it’s great. REOL and GigaP did a fantastic job at producing this.

BLACKPINK - Whistle / Boombahyah / Playing With Fire

I’m putting most of BLACKPINK’s discography into one because I thoroughly, thoroughly enjoyed every release they put out in 2016. Whistle’s low-key, simple melodies are something I’m not typically into, but I was immediately hooked by the song, it’s so catchy.  The heavy sub-bass, cowbell rhythm, snare rolling into the bouncy, acoustic build unusually works very, very well and the hook itself is simple and fun, I recommend it.

Boombahyah is basically a pop-ified, big room house banger with all the arabic scale and reverb heavy snares you can handle. It’s almost comical how ridiculous the song is, but it’s a lot of fun, and that’s all I really want.

Playing With Fire is probably my favourite BLACKPINK song of 2016, the electro swing feel throughout, especially in the synth hook is really enjoyable. It’s a very charismatic song, Lisa especially hooks me as I love how she delivers her lines, she’s such a goof but in this song has a lot of attitude.

Red Velvet - Russian Roulette

Russian Roulette is, despite the name, a fun synthpop song with a disco influence. The song is presented in a very monotonous fashion, it leads in with a flat, stuttering “la, la-la, la” and throughout the song the vocals are delivered in a similarly robotic way, very atypical for the blues-y, soulful vocals you’re used to from Red Velvet. I think that’s what makes this song really interesting. It’s a 180 from the absolute belter that was Dumb Dumb, but they still make it work, they, and pop music in general, do not need to be hinged on technical ability to be a fun, entertaining song. While not everybody can make it work, Red Velvet impressed me with their versatility. The music itself is very nice and simple, lots of synth drags, stuttery vocal leads and it even has the rare musical interlude which Korean pop tends not to do too often. Definitely one of my favourite songs of the year.

Oh My Girl - Windy Day

Probably one of the weirder Korean idol releases in recent years. Windy Day is an acoustic heavy, ethereal, bubblegummy type song with very beautifully arranged vocals and an arabic scale (at least I think it’s the arabic scale) influenced musical interlude that completely contrasts the feel of the previous verses. The song is fucking nuts, and it’s great. It’s hard to describe. I really recommend you check it out regardless of the type of music you’re into because it’s a weird one.

Lovelyz - Destiny

Synth, string heavy and intense. It’s not a mellow track by any means, but there’s something about Destiny that is eerie and even haunting. I’d go into Destiny further but I want to write a post in itself about Lovelyz discography at one point where I delve deeper into the sounds and style, but I need to include this because the song is fantastic and you should listen to it.

Absolute Favourite Song of the Year

Gfriend - Rough / Navillera

Both of these songs, to me, are perfect. I find no faults in either of them. They both easily go onto my favourite songs of all time. From the string, guitar heavy Rough to the synthy, discopop Navillera, it’s hard to find a fault, they’re both essentially perfect songs for me. The vocal delivery is beautiful, the way the strings and synths are arranged are both beautiful and powerful, the cute guitar solos feel nostalgic yet unique for the current pop landscape. It all just works perfectly for me. They’re both perfect songs.

And that’s about it. You probably noticed “hey these are all title tracks” well, yes, they are. I wanted to make it easier for myself but I do recommend if you enjoy any of these songs that you check out the respective single, mini-album or album they come from. Also, respect to everybody who produced and was involved with the production of these songs and music videos.

Iggy Youngbae are my dads

[wristwatchjournal]

In-Depth – The Grand Seiko Elegance 60th Anniversary SLGH002 and its New Calibre 9SA5

In March Grand Seiko unveiled its 2020 watch collection and prepared to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the brand. Among the novelties were some elegant and discreet watches paying tribute to the first-ever GS watch, a robust and high-end diver with a brand new Spring Drive movement and watches focusing on traditional decorative skills. And… there was the SLGH002. A watch that, at first, appears as a rather classic piece, bearing all the usual features of the brand. Sharp but elegant, superbly finished and powered by an in-house movement. However, there is more to this watch, which is actually the most important of all the models launched in 2020. And it has to do with its movement.

Preliminary note: the watch you see here is a prototype, with a movement that doesn’t entirely reflect the reality of the decoration. For this reason, the photos of the movement are from our colleagues at Hodinkee.

The Grand Seiko Elegance 60th Anniversary SLGH002 is a watch that has far more to tell than what you’d expect initially. Visually, it belongs to the GS family, no doubt about it. It could have been just a new high-end, luxurious limited edition, superbly executed and powered by one of the brand’s in-house automatic or hand-wound calibres. And in a way, it is. But there’s more than meets the eye. The SLGH002 is actually a highly innovative watch, something that has been done in a very discreet, low-key way – the Japanese way… What’s important with this watch isn’t its immaculate gold case, its detail-packed dial or its apparently high price. What matters is the movement and in particular its innovative escapement. A field of research where Grand Seiko has surprised us yet again…

The basics of the escapement

The escapement is one of the most critical parts of a watch and can be seen as the heart of a watch. This small, fragile and hyper-active part of a watch – with the balance – defines/regulates at what speed the energy from the mainspring barrel is released. The mainspring, which stores the energy of the watch, is a strong device that only wants to unwind. Without the escapement, its power would rush out immediately. The escapement controls this phenomenon.

The escapement works in conjunction with the oscillator, giving impulses to power it. In return, it is regulated by the oscillator. Its role is critical in the ongoing search for the perfect precision, stability and durability of a movement. All in all, the oscillator/escapement couple (also known as the regulating organ) is what defines the time, by beating fractions of a second – usually 6 to 8 times a second.

The Swiss Lever Escapement, based on a concept invented by Mudge in the mid-1700s and still in use in most mechanical watches today.

The role of the escapement, composed of an escape wheel, a pallet and a roller, is to transfer the rotary motion of the escape wheel into a back and forth lateral motion of the pallet, giving an impulse to the balance wheel. The pallet fork locks and unlocks with the escape wheel at each vibration of the balance wheel. The escapement controls the release of power from the mainspring, which in return is regulated by the pendular motion of the balance/hairspring couple. In short, the escapement is involved in both the chronometry and the kinetic chain.

As for innovation, it’s fair to say that the global watch industry is rather old-school. The escapement that is in use in approximately 99.99% of all mechanical movements these days relies on a concept invented by English horologist Thomas Mudge in the middle of the 18th century. The reason for this status quo is simple: the lever escapement is extremely good at its job, can easily be serviced and adjusted and can be produced in large quantities. Of course, there are other types of escapements, like the detent escapement, and multiple ultra-innovative concepts that have barely made it into production.

The Omega Co-axial Escapement, the only other type of escapement that is produced in large quantities.

In fact, the only other type of escapement that is produced in large quantities these days is the invention of George Daniels, the Co-Axial escapement that is now used by most of Omega’s watches. And one of the reasons why the Grand Seiko Elegance 60th Anniversary SLGH002 is important is because it is one of the rare watches that is introducing a new type of escapement, which is available and can be produced industrially.

Grand Seiko Dual Impulse Escapement

Beyond the use of innovative materials that help to improve the specifications of modern escapements (for instance, silicon), or the use of a high-frequency (something Grand Seiko is known for), the main innovation here regards the geometry of the escapement, its architecture and the way the locking and impulse phases are executed.

First of all, the architecture and shape of the parts used for this new Dual Impulse Escapement are different from what’s in use in the classic lever escapement. As you can see, the escape wheel has a star shape with 8 arms, instead of a wheel with teeth. This new escape wheel is openworked, just like the pallet fork, to make the parts lighter and thus more energy efficient. These two parts have been crafted thanks to micro-electromechanical system technology (MEMS), allowing them to be machined to tolerances of one-millionth of a gram and to be 5% lighter than others, meaning less power is required to actuate them.

The main concept behind this Grand Seiko Dual Impulse Escapement is that the locking and impulse functions are dissociated – a solution similar to the Audemars Piguet or the Omega Co-Axial escapements, for example. In one direction, power is transmitted directly to the balance (clockwise), as the roller receives impulse directly on its jewel. In the other direction, it receives an indirect impulse via the pallet fork, as in a traditional escapement. Thanks to this dissociation of the locking and impulse functions, with friction occurring in only one direction, the escapement is more efficient (less friction means less energy required) and more wear-resistant.

Calibre 9SA5’s new escapement works in conjunction with a new free-sprung balance that is more resistant to shock and friction and retains its precision for longer periods. And while most Grand Seiko movements rely on a flat hairspring, this new movement has an overcoil – to achieve the optimal shape for the overcoil, more than 80,000 simulations were undertaken in the lab. All of this to achieve greater efficiency and chronometry, better energy consumption and greater stability in the long run.

The new Calibre 9SA5 – handsome & slimmer

In addition to having a new escapement and a new regulation, the Grand Seiko Elegance 60th Anniversary SLGH002 also introduces a brand new movement – these innovations are not integrated into an existing engine but in the brand new Calibre 9SA5.

Photo by Hodinkee

While Grand Seikos are mechanically impeccable and can easily compete with their Swiss or German counterparts – most of the movements are at least on a par with the established brands from the Swatch or Richemont Groups, or with Rolex, with some even surpassing them in terms of specifications – one of the complaints often heard is about thickness. Without even wanting them to be ultra-thin, GS automatic movements are usually on the thicker side, which can be seen as a sign of robustness on one side, but also something that doesn’t contribute to the overall elegance. This has been taken into account with the new Calibre 9SA5.

Measuring 5.18mm in height, this brand new movement is 15% slimmer than the current 9S Grand Seiko high-beat calibre. This was achieved with an innovative horizontal layout of the barrel and gear trains. The two barrels are arranged in sequence to extend the power reserve from 55 to 80 hours. Finally, the balance is held in place by a transversal bridge – again something new for Grand Seiko, which ensures greater stability and shock-resistance.

Photo by Hodinkee

Also, the traditional technical solutions used by Grand Seiko are still applied, for instance, the high frequency of the oscillator, beating at 5Hz of 36,000 vibrations/hour – while most modern movements are working on a 4Hz frequency (28,800 vibrations/hour). This is another solution to improve the accuracy of the watch, as in theory, a higher frequency implies better rate stability – the more beats, the more chances the oscillator can compensate its own errors.

Finally, besides the technical prowess of this movement, Grand Seiko has worked intensely on its look and its finishing to make it far more pleasant for the trained eyes of watch enthusiasts. The overall look is less technical than the usually cold-looking movements of the 9S series. This one has far more charm, far more decorum, which brings added value for the aficionados. The bridges are nicely curved with polished bevels on the edges and more subtle wave-patterns on the flat surfaces. Grand Seiko also uses large thermally-blued screws, mostly for decorative purposes – but once again, this participates in a more theatrical movement. Finally, the oscillating weight comes with a new, lighter and more opened design, allowing for a better view on the very nicely decorated movement.

And there’s a handsome watch too…

After spending quite some time on technical matters, let’s not forget that there’s also a watch in the equation… and a beautiful one too, the Grand Seiko Elegance 60th Anniversary SLGH002.

No real surprises here, as this watch is the epitome of a luxurious Grand Seiko. Sharp but not aggressive, meticulously finished, simple at first but full of details when looked at closely, still quite imposing but not oversized and, overall, 100% in line with what the brand stands for since 1960 – if you look back at the earliest models produced by Grand Seiko and what comes out of the Shizukuishi Studio now, one can’t deny the impressive consistency in the design and spirit.

The SLGH002 is a watch with a specific vocation. It is an image builder, a communication tool for the brand, to be used for the introduction of the new Calibre 9SA5. As such, it has to be seen as a collector’s item, a rare piece, almost a concept watch that showcases all the savoir-faire of the brand. As such, it is rare, exclusive and not really accessible. But there’s no doubt that this new movement will be seen in more reasonable steel or titanium watches in the upcoming collections.

While familiar, the shape of the Grand Seiko SLGH002 is novel. Measuring 40mm in diameter and 11.7mm in height, it is crafted in 18k yellow gold. Some of the traditional elements of Grand Seiko’s design are still present, such as the combination of highly polished surfaces and deeply brushed accents. But the shape itself is like the movement, lighter, more charming, more elegant. What doesn’t change is the impeccable finishing of the case with the incredible lustre of the Zaratsu polished surfaces – distortion-free technique. The bezel is also very pleasant with a polished bevel and a straight-brushed surface.

As for the dial, Grand Seiko plays on discretion here, with a sunray-brushed silver-coloured dial. Matching nicely with the warm gold tone and easy to read, it needs to be closely observed to reveal its true beauty… those hands and indexes that are the hallmark of Grand Seiko. As usual, the hands and applied markers (made from 18k gold too) are ultra-sharp, combining polished and matte surfaces to help read the time. But here again, the design feels familiar but is also new, and slightly bolder than usual, without losing the elegance of previous models.

Secured to the wrist thanks to a dark brown crocodile strap with a gold folding clasp, this makes the SLGH002 a dress-ish watch with presence and robustness. It wears well thanks to short, curved lugs but never feels fragile – something you don’t really expect from GS anyway.

Price and availability

As mentioned, the Grand Seiko Elegance 60th Anniversary SLGH002 is an exclusive piece, not only limited in production – 100 pieces only – but also offered at quite a steep price of EUR 45,000 or USD 43,000. Keep in mind that this watch is the trailblazer for future models, a way to advertise the new and impressively innovative movement that Grand Seiko has developed.

More details at www.grand-seiko.com.

The post In-Depth – The Grand Seiko Elegance 60th Anniversary SLGH002 and its New Calibre 9SA5 appeared first on Wristwatch Journal.

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[my-house-of-fashion]

The Ikea effect: how Ingvar Kamprad’s company changed the way we shop

https://images.theconversation.com/files/203988/original/file-20180130-107683-1smm8qs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip

Ingvar Kamprad, who started Ikea as a teenager, has died at the age of 91. He started with stationery and stockings, but went on to build one of the world’s biggest furniture companies. And the way he did it has revolutionised how retailers operate.

There are two facets of modern life that we have Ikea to thank for: flat-pack furniture and a shop layout that gets you buying more of its products than you initially intended to. Both are principles that a number of other companies have put to good use.

Ikea first brought out its now signature style of flat-pack furniture in the 1950s. Whether you love or loathe this concept, it was a stroke of genius and a effective way of making the masses value the brand. There are the obvious aspects of cost efficiency and the practicality of shipping. But flat-pack furniture also has an important subconscious influence on consumers.

When Ikea made the switch away from selling furniture that was already assembled, it was most likely unaware of how it would influence its consumers. Yet scientists have since managed to pinpoint why consumers simply can’t get enough of building their own furniture. The simple act of touching products (and what better way to ensure touch based interaction than through assembling a piece of furniture) can increase your overall perceived value of the product. Couple this with the fact that the more effort a consumer has to put into building something the more they like it – you have an undoubtedly winning formula.

Tests have shown that the actual act of putting something together (even though there may be sweat, swearing and tears involved) so that it becomes a complete object generates a much more favourable perception of that object than it would purchasing it in a completed form. The phenomenon is known as the Ikea effect.

It’ll be worth it in the end. shutterstock.com

This effect is further enhanced by the fact that touch itself is neurologically coupled with emotion. This means that when we touch something the emotive part of our brain is activated so that we experience a close connection with the product. Touch creates feelings of ownership and increases the perceived value we have of items. Thus the happy assembler of the flat pack will, once finished, feel proud of their achievement and experiencing feelings of being closely connected to the item.

Round and round in circles

The layout of the Ikea stores has also paved the way for a more creative way of thinking about how to guide shoppers. If you have ever visited one of its huge warehouse stores, you may have gone in thinking you were only buying a few items, to find yourself coming out of the store with a trolley full of things. This is because of its circular design and one way system.

This design means you often can’t see what is coming next and fear you’ll miss something you need if you don’t continue all the way along the path. There are potential escape points throughout the store, but that would mean that you will miss several of the sections and rarely consumers are prepared to take that risk.

You know you want those tea lights. sea turtle/flickr, CC BY-NC-ND

Because you know it may be tricky to revisit a particular item later on, you are inclined to pick it up when you see it and put it in your big trolley. This ensures that the customer touches the product, which in turn again generates a psychological sense of ownership over it and decreases the likelihood that it will be put down en route to the tills.

The fact that you can’t see around the next corner also creates a subconscious sense of mystery, which draws the customer gradually further into the store. Environments perceived to be mysterious usually generate an overall stronger liking and so encourage shoppers to keep walking through the store. And the more you do this, the more likely you are to buy something – especially all the smaller items on display such as candles, napkins and picture frames as they seem cheap compared to the larger more expensive items.

Ikea’s creative ability to tap into the unconsciousness of consumers is undoubtedly a big part of its success – and also why it’s been copied by many other companies. Even though Ingvar Kamprad is no longer with us, Ikea has inherited from him an ethos of thinking outside of the box to communicate with consumers. It will be interesting to see what follows next.

Cathrine Jansson-Boyd does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

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[kadobeclothing]

HubSpot Marketers Give 6 Tips for Fighting Burnout

Although the beginning of a new year can be filled with excitement and positive change, it also can be challenging or mentally exhausting to work on a number of intense projects with high expectations.

Even when you’re successfully executing on hard work, a busy lifestyle can still weigh on you, even if you love your job or company. When this happens, you can run into one of the most dreaded mental conditions: burnout.

Burnout is so common that the World Health Organization now classifies it as a legitimate health condition. According to the WHO, burnout is a mental health “phenomenon” characterized by “feelings of energy depletion or exhaustion; increased mental distance from one’s job, or feelings of negativism or cynicism related to one’s job; and reduced professional efficacy.” This condition especially impacts millennials. A 2018 Gallup study found that 30% feel like they’re in a constant state of burnout at work, while 70% say they feel burnout at least sometimes. While burnout is common, it isn’t just isolated to people who dislike their jobs. In fact, a Journal of Personality study reports that being passionate about your job can cause you to take on too many tasks, or become obsessive about your work. In turn, this can cause eventual burnout. To help you combat bouts of stress, low motivation, or exhaustion, I talked to six HubSpot employees to learn how they fend off feelings of burnout. 1. Acknowledge that burnout exists. If you work in a fast-paced career or a competitive field, it can feel like you’re headed directly towards burnout at certain times. Rather than fearing it or denying that it’s happening to you, it can be helpful to admit that you’re only human, you might run into crazy amounts of stress, and it might hinder your energy and motivation. Once you admit that burnout is a solid possibility in your own work life, you can start to take steps towards avoiding it or maintaining a work-life balance. These steps could involve planning out vacations regularly, scheduling non-work hours, or trying stress-relief activities such as meditation. According to Maggie Butler, a senior marketing ops manager, the best way to pull yourself out of burnout is to recognize those feelings when they emerge. Then, take preventative measures. “I think it’s impossible to avoid burning out at work, especially if you are passionate and give a lot of energy and time to your career,” says Butler. “So why not plan for it? Planning to take time off from work and do whatever recharges you is key to keeping burnout at bay.” 2. Create a “Smile File.” When you’re tasked with a tough project or feel like work is piling up, it can be helpful to motivate yourself by reflecting on the accomplishments you’ve made in your role so far. This has proven to be beneficial to Lisa Edwards, a product marketing manager who logs many of her pleasant work moments in one folder — which she aptly calls her “Smile File.” “I’ve been keeping a Smile File in my two years at HubSpot. Anytime someone says thank you, compliments my work, or says something funny, I take a screenshot and put it away in this folder,” says Edwards. Here’s an example of a message that Edwards screenshotted and saved in her Smile File after a presentation:

“When I get really stressed about work or bummed about not totally nailing a project, I flip through the folder and it always makes me smile and feel better,” Edwards explains. “In moments of imposter syndrome, it’s especially great to flip back and see compliments from people and remind myself that I’m indeed good at my job.” Aside from compliment and achievement-related screenshots, Edwards says the folder is also “full silly things that my awesome coworkers say, too.” 3. Use the Pomodoro Technique to ensure that you take breaks. The Pomodoro Technique is a productivity strategy where you schedule spans of time into work time and break time. The idea behind the technique is that taking regular small breaks and one larger break each day will keep you more productive. However, Matt Eonta, a senior manager of project management in our creative department, says the Pomodoro Technique can also be a useful way to avoid immediate work stress or feelings of burnout. “I found myself being much less productive working from home than I was at the office, and so I decided to adopt the Pomodoro Technique. It’s been a huge help to my productivity, and it’s helped me avoid burning out because it’s designed to be prolonged periods of deep focus work, followed by short breaks to recharge and reset your mind,” Eonta explains. “Setting an actual timer is super helpful here, and when I “earn” my long break, I try to go outside and throw balls to my dog or something,” Eonta adds. “Also, knowing I have a break coming will keep me out of unproductive rabbit holes like Instagram and text messaging until they’re allotted a short window.” “Overall though, it’s nice to get up from my desk at the end of the day and realize I was able to move around a bit throughout the day, rather than seeing six to seven hours fly by without having taken a break for anything,” Eonta shares. 4. Switch out screentime for relaxing activities. Aside from preventing mental burnout, you should also take steps to prevent physical fatigue that can make burnout more apparent. When your body is tired, sore, or drained, this may play a role in you feeling mentally drained. While Eonta says he goes outside and plays with his dog on breaks, he also aims to prevent eye strain that can add to feelings of exhaustion. “My eye doctor told me that every 20 minutes, I should try to focus on an object 20 feet away and focus on it for 20 seconds. It helps keep my eyes from burning out from constant fluorescent light and blue light computer screens.” Eonta explains. Lucy Reddan, a senior manager in our growth and email marketing department, similarly shared that she rests her eyes and tries other relaxation activities instead. “Sometimes there can be intense periods of work, and your hours working are longer than normal. To cope with burnout, because it can sometimes be hard to avoid, recently I’ve started to limit screen time in the evenings after work,” says Reddan. “Turn on some music, lie on the floor and do some nice slow stretching. The music takes my mind off thinking about all the jobs to be done, and it always feels great to get your body moving.” 5. Try yoga and meditation. Yoga allows you to release endorphins by working out, while also priming your mind for examination. The combination of yoga and meditation can help you relax after a long day, but these activities can also make you feel more productive. “I didn’t realize I was burnt out until I started taking up yoga,” says Krystal Wu, a social media community manager. “Yoga along with meditation has helped me physically and mentally to just do something that betters myself,” Wu shares. “It became clear that it was the perfect balance to help me recover from burnout in my day to day life and have more peace of mind.” 6. Take time off when you need it. If you love working or worry that you’ll fall behind, taking time off can be especially hard to do. However, it can be key to relaxation, resetting your mind, and gaining a solid work-life balance. “I was one of those people who would rarely take any time off because ‘there are some many things to be done,'” says Irina Nica, a community and influencer relations manager. “Even when I did, I still let some work slip into my day, even if that meant only checking my emails. I’d be lying if I said this way of being constantly connected didn’t pay off at all, but overall, I was quite tired most of the time.” Nica explains, “I was probably close to burning out on a number of occasions. Fortunately, over time, I’ve changed my views on vacationing and it’s been great for my productivity.” “I learned to disconnect in the evenings and during weekends,” Nica adds. “Now, aside from the regular summer and winter holidays, I take a long weekend trip every now and then. That helps me relax and refreshes my perspective.” Maintaining a Happy Work Life While you can take the above steps to prevent burnout in your job or daily life, you can also take steps to ensure that your work life is keeping you happy and healthy. Happiness at work is not only fulfilling, but experts say it can also make you more productive and effective as an employee. To learn more about the advantages of happiness at work, check out this blog post. If you’re a manager who wants to ensure employee happiness, you might also enjoy this great guide to keeping your employees happy.

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[douchebagbrainwaves]

AT THE OTHER END OF THE SCALE FOR TOKENS FOUND ONLY IN THE LEGITIMATE CORPUS

Other people have your idea, and what it means is to have multiple plans depending on how much you want an investor influence your estimate of how much they can get away with. When starting a startup means the particles they're attracting are getting lighter. In practice it's not that important. A market takes every organization and keeps just the good ones. But the money itself may be more dangerous than the valuation. Some say Europeans are less energetic, but I count them as false positives because I hadn't been deleting them as spams before. But when Bill Clerico starts calling you, you may as well do what he asks, because he was one of those that exploit an insecure cgi script to send mail to third parties.1 Another reason kids persecute nerds is to make credentials better.2 It was something to do it is to an ordinary university what suburbia is to a city.3

As organizations get smaller, this approaches taking every person and keeping just the good ones. But I don't think many nerds would.4 The famously rigid labor laws hurt every company, but startups especially, because startups have the least time to spare for bureaucratic hassles. It's not as if you couldn't be productive without being someone's employee. For example, in America people often don't decide to go to school, which was ages twelve and thirteen for me. Actors and directors are fired at the end. Don't optimize for valuation.5 They started because they wanted to learn more. But the importance of the new system is that it involves more risk.

Professional athletes know they'll be pulled if they play badly for just a couple games. If you're raising money on uncapped notes, you'll have terrible problems with procrastination. Ironically, of all rich countries the US is a particularly humid environment. So people who come to work in Silicon Valley and Boston, and few in Chicago or Miami. We can of course be mistaken, but because the goal is to judge you correctly, there's usually some feeling they shouldn't have to—that their own programmers should be able to increase it sufficiently the next time you raise money from.6 It's hard to beat this phenomenon, because the best investors only rarely conflicts with accept offers greedily, because the two are only loosely coupled.7 If Hewlett and Packard tried running an electronics company out of their garage in Switzerland, the old lady next door would report them to the municipal authorities. And the answer is simply that they don't meet so many people do, you risk infecting your kids with the idea that each person has a natural station in life. It's a false analogy even to use the word unfair to describe this kind of trade would be hard not to let it go to your head.

I didn't think he meant work could literally be fun.8 If you find something broken that you can now start a startup. A more general solution would be to push for increased transparency, especially at critical social bottlenecks like college admissions.9 By singling out and persecuting a nerd, a group of girls waiting for the school bus, and was shocked to discover, among many other regulations, that you needed $20,000 in capital to incorporate. Because the fact is, if you can make it to profitability on this money if you can raise more elsewhere. They used all the tokens, whereas I only use the 15 most significant.10 I hadn't had any, and I didn't know much about mail headers then, and they seemed to me full of random stuff. Did some kind of answer.11 Now they're a commodity. If you had to compress them into a single piece of advice, it might be: don't be a cog.12 So if you hear someone saying we don't need any outside help. I could go back and look at this list you'll see it's basically a simple recipe with a lot more complicated than managing rental property, there are certainly a lot of them.

Compared to other industrialized countries, I'd take the US system.13 In the future this mess will gradually be replaced by a single, large domestic market. I think angel rounds will start to be done mostly with standardized agreements.14 That's the type the startups we fund never make decks in phase 2 and you end up with a world in which bad ideas win. Some investors want to know what your valuation is before they even talk to you about a series A, keep taking smaller investments till they actually give you a set of rules here that will get you through this process if anything will. When someone makes an offer in good faith, you have to be careful to avoid raising the first from an over-eager investor at a time. Give me a million dollars or more, will be custom deals for the forseeable future.15

There was something else I wanted more: to be a mecca for smart people simply by having an immigration system that let them in. Instead of trying to make credentials better.16 When you're not in fundraising mode, or slow down your interactions with an investor who won't lead is zero, so talk to such investors last, if at all.17 But they would do even better to examine the underlying principle. There's not some fixed number of startups that kept trying to raise their kids well. They create a new world among themselves, and standing in this world. They've known each other since second grade. The number one thing you want from being contaminated by what seems possible. I still have no trouble catching these spams. In the US it's a national scandal how easily children of rich parents game college admissions. There are huge gains to be made here.

Notes

Once someone has said fail, no matter how large. So if all you know Apple originally had three founders? It is probably part of wisdom. He adds: I remember are famous flops like the other hand, he saw that I know of any that died from releasing something full of bugs.

The brand of an audience makes people dumber. Peter Norvig found that three quarters of them.

Don't even take a long time by sufficiently large numbers of users to succeed in business are likely to have been about 2, etc. Users had been transposed into your head. When investors ask you a clean offer with no business experience to start using whatever you make something hackers use.

Several people have told me: Another approach would be enough to become dictator and intimidate the NBA into letting him play. And if they pay so well is that as to discourage risk-taking.

One YC founder wrote after reading a draft of this: You may not be to advertise, and that there's more of a reactor: the quality of investor behavior. Something similar happens with suburbs.

You should probably be to write in a not-too-demanding environment, but no more willing to be told what to do this right you'd have reached after lots of others followed. 4%, Macintosh 18. A lot of the recruiting funnel. It wouldn't cut their overall returns tenfold, because the processing power you can probably write a new version from which a few actual winners emerge with hyperlinear certainty.

And frankly even these companies unless your initial investors agreed in advance that you're not even allowed to discriminate on the y, you'd ultimately be a predictor. And so to the Internet, like angel investors. In judging both intelligence and wisdom we have to admit there's no lower bound to its precision. Investors will deliberately threaten you with a company doesn't have to be limits on the way investors say No.

The CRM114 Discriminator. I thought there wasn't, because spam and P nonspam are both. 05 15, the first language to embody the principle that if you want to get a real partner.

Charismatic candidates will tend to get a real reason out of loyalty to the principles they discovered.

Wufoo was based in Tampa and they were just getting started. A Plan for Spam I used thresholds of. Otherwise you'll seem a risky bet to admissions committees, no matter how large. So the cost of writing software.

5 million cap, but which didn't taste very good job. The hackers within Microsoft must know in the Valley has over New York, but that's what we need to go wrong seems to be driven by people who did invent things, a lot of the economy. I couldn't believe it or not.

It turns out to coincide with other investors, but this sort of things economists usually think about so-called signalling risk. As I was genuinely worried that Airbnb, for an investor I saw that they are building, they said. Turn on rice package.

A great programmer doesn't merely do the right thing to be good. This is true of the iPhone SDK. Heirs will be maximally profitable when each employee is paid in proportion to the table. Doing things that don't include the prices of new stock.

In the original text would in itself be evidence of a great deal of wealth for society. All you need to get as deeply into subjects as I explain later. This is why search engines and there are no false negatives.

Internally most companies are up there. In part because Steve Jobs did for Apple when he was 10.

1323-82. In 1998 a lot of investors.

Come From? Startups Condense in America. If you like shit.

[garyh2628]

QUASI- JUDICIAL

Chairman and Managing Operational CEO (Global Legal Authority Quasi-Judicial)

(Finance, planning, industry and foreign trade portfolios) Private

Head of Human Resources Finance and People and Global Head of Corporate Responsibility

Investments/Contracts/Superior/Technically Competent and Right-Hand Men

NGO - (Finance, planning, industry and foreign trade portfolios) Private

To my Pharma Hubs, Technology Hubs, Social Creative/Personal Hub, My Private Hubs, My Financial Hubs and my Health and Wellbeing/Scientific Hubs, Legal and Innovation Hubs, Hinterland Hub and to my Eastern Caribbean Hub, Linguistic/Psychology Hub, to my beloved additions and to my Institutions and Partners and Team, Pool of Potential Personal Assistants and Private Secretaries and Business Managers and also to my Fitness Hub which is an extension of my Health and Wellbeing Hub and not to forget my beloved Brooklyn Hub and my Wine/Adviser Hub, Influential Legal Cashier, Strategic Partnerships, STATEMENT OF INTENT, MY WEALTH FUND AND PERSONAL ATTORNEY and PROPERTY EXPERT GUY and THE ATTACHMENT AND MY PERSONAL BOARDROOM AND MY CHIEF STRATEGY AND INNOVATION OFFICER. The core founding support regions of this Network and Global Structure. MY FAVOURITE CEO.

All Options remain on the Table applying the finishing touches to our Genius and my Genius and the Network and this Global Structure Genius. DRAFT

The Network, Strategic Partnerships and Global Structure is hot–but watch the margins

THE MOST BEAUTIFUL INTELLECTS IN THE WORLD

THIS GLOBAL STRUCTURE AND INTELLECT SHARE MANY OF THE SAME QUALITIES, INDESTRUCTIBLE, PURE AND BEAUTIFUL TO BEHOLD

Those who thought that money would flow like water if the ave an opportunity to be attached to the narrative were told that as a result of the distinct legal restriction, I remain in control of all Monetary activities until perusal by myself.  On  everything from pet care to cinema tickets and all matters, all the particulars need to get to me for perusal, this is in relation to the activities of the entire Global Structure.  Great work OLC and great work General Counsels and great work favourite CEO and excellent work to my Strategic Partners.  We are moving forward nicely with the delivery of the Property Portfolios and details to myself for perusal.  We will deliver for Intellect, we will deliver on the more than an office for perusal and we will deliver all the requisite HR invitations for both Partner and potential employees and begin the tweaking of the crest.  We will deliver all of the settlement agreements.

But there are indications that as a result of  the notification that I am the legal owner and as a result of my Official Capacity and Portfolios and because all of the details need to be delivered to me for perusal, they are now seeing a reining in the  spending  and a subdued mood in some quarters but overall; a pickup of speed in order to get the delivery to myself complete.  Around those things where people are being bullied, we are seeing the necessary safeguards in place to prevent that and a further speeding up for delivery of the full set of property portfolios.  We have opened four outfits that are legally full proof and is ready for my ratification and perusal that will be delivered to me directly.   “We now have most of the right hand men doing a wonderful job at getting the requisite things done in order for perusal to be done by me”.  We will deliver the Philosophy of living your best life!

Great work my favourite CEO.  Increased pressure to get the particulars to myself, isn't a new phenomenon.  The urgency of now is as a result of those appointments and those HR matters that can and will only be dealt with by me and will flow through the Network and Global Structure and this Economic Community of which I am the Chairman and CEO.  We will win Property, we will deliver the entire Global Property Portfolio and we will deliver for Intellect.  Under my leadership growth is predicted and and investment for the first time will be available after perusal.  I do not delegate.  It is very unlikely that any other person or Network or  could step in to the Global Driving seat” .  We will deliver in all of the Private Hubs all of the Official Portfolios and in all of the Strategic Regions and Strategic Partners, we will deliver for our further responsibility to the environment.  We have a suite of investment lined up and a suite of programs and Intellectual Initiatives lined up in the pipeline of which we will roll out after the delivery of the Network to myself.  Great work favourite CEO. Indeed, the shift has coincided with a slowdown. “You can see clearly that as soon as investment slows down the economy slows down.” We will deliver all of the offices and we will deliver all of the programs and we will make a clean sweep in the region.  I am delighted with the preparatory work and the safeguards that is being put in place as a result of my International Portfolio and Capacity.

For decades and decades, we’d been bopping along and – my apologies – I rarely gave you much thought, outside of the occasional cold or that broken ankle. Then, 2019 hit, we begin to make the requisite achievement and success and with it, countless favourable predictions, also with it come the achievement in the Statement of Intent, the Region and the Strategic Areas and those of the Strategic Partners. “You don’t know what you’ve got ‘til it’s gone?” We are doing some great things with my favourite CEO, the Team and the various levers of the Global Structure and Network are all pulling together. We are on cusp of delivering for the turn of the Century, for Independence, we have living within the walls of the Global Structure a set of unique intellect that is the right mix as we lead this Generation in Prosperity both Financial and Intellectual and onto their Journey of living their best life and being in control of their destiny.

In an era where there are growing calls to reconsider the purpose of the corporation, social priorities are finding a hearing in a place hitherto viewed as hostile territory: The Boardroom.  I’m would like to take this opportunity to welcome to our portfolio the Hotel and Fitness acquisitions and I look forward to perusing the details and approving same.  I would also like welcome two friends and investors to my list of Influential Advisers and I’m happy agreements has been reached which is legally binding and I look forward to our meetings and your help in getting the Offices delivered in conjunction with the particulars and to be around the table when we are perusing and approving.

I’m also looking forward to the delivery of the private Office which would house the attachments and also the delivery of my private Berlin residence which should follow the same décor of private Office with extension for my Private Secretary.  

Today My Network and My Global Structure and Institutions and Partners and Team and Corporation announced via Confidential Information Memorandum that they will be seeing my name on all legal documents and Internal Memos and that also I am the Chairman and CEO.  This would be a fitting tribute to a colossus of finance which was cheered wildly by supporters.  We will win for Intellectual Capacity and we will win for Shared Prosperity and we will win the election.  We must win.  Great work CEO and great work Property Expert Guy and great work to my Private Hubs and great work to my OLC et al. In an industry long populated by quieter, more studious fund managers, insurance companies and pension funds, he emerged as a freewheeling and outspoken rock star, able to move markets with just a few sentences and make headlines with my name appearing on colourful investment letters.  Even those in the hallways of legal Authority pay heed.  We will deliver for Education, we will deliver for Intellect.  All of the particulars are in process to be delivered to me personally and all of the tool-kits and every piece of the Global Property Portfolio.  We will win for the Environment and we will win for Investments Globally and we will win for Privacy. The industry and Sector owe me a giant debt of gratitude.  We will win for this Community that is made up of all my own Companies and Corporations and Businesses and Partners and Institutions.  We will win for Intellectual Capacity and we will deliver for living your best life. It’s time to live your best life!

Truly flawless are exceedingly rare and they are normally priced accordingly and is normally a celebration of classical Intellect.  In the network and the Global Structure, we ensure that your intellectual investment is safe with us, leaving you free to celebrate that special occasion and your investment in love.  Truth to Tell, Tell it first, Tell it like it is.  I love you, I love you. The Colour grade is actually determined by it’s lack of colour.  The more colourless, the greater it’s rarity and value.

I love you, I love you, I love you!

Quasi-Judicial

Chairman and Managing Operational CEO (Global Legal Authority

(Finance, planning, industry and foreign trade portfolios) Private

Head of Human Resources Finance and People and Global Head of Corporate Responsibility

Investments/Contracts/Superior/Technically Competent and Right-Hand Men

NGO - (Finance, planning, industry and foreign trade portfolios) Private

QUASI JUDICIAL