#currently at around 500.000

[oediex]

In a report released Thursday, the activist group said that Nueva Pescanova intends to slaughter around one million octopuses each year by submerging them in a freezing "ice slurry." In addition, it criticizes the conditions they will be kept in prior to their slaughter, saying the company intends to cage a solitary creature in dense housing — up to 15 octopuses per cubic meter of water — and subject them to 24-hour periods of light in an effort to speed reproduction. "It will inflict unnecessary suffering on these intelligent, sentient and fascinating creatures, which need to explore and engage with the environment as part of their natural behaviour," Elena Lara, research manager at the group Compassion in World Farming, said in a statement.

"To kill them with ice would be a slow death," Dr. Peter Tse, who studies octopus cognition at Dartmouth, told the BBC. "It would be very cruel and should not be allowed."

In an open letter last year, before specific details of the proposed factory were released, a group of environmental scientists at New York University who specialize in animal sentience argued that is not possible to humanely raise octopuses in captivity at a commercial scale — and could indeed cause not just pollution, from the release of contaminated waters, but cannibalism in animals that have effectively been driven mad.

(my emphasis)

CLICK HERE TO GO TO EKO.ORG AND SIGN THE PETITION TO STOP THE SPANISH OCTOPUS FACTORY FARM! The petition still needs 1/3 of the 750.000 signatures

[theskyexists]

There are many reasons to not go in for nuclear power and some reasons to go in for it after all.

Against:

1. It takes so many damn years to build. We'll be 20 years on and far past our carbon budget. That HUGE (they are insanely expensive) amount of money could have been spent on something more scalable. Nuclear is not scalable. Wind and solar are extremely scalable (and cheaper every day). One reason is that renewable plants (e.g a mill) are small and a repeated construction. Expertise for constructing renewables is widely available, nuclear plant construction expertise is in short supply. Counter (a bit weak): even if it takes ages to build, still, we're not on schedule for non-fossil fuel use anyway, so it will probably unfortunately still be relevant in twenty years.

2. A nuclear plant is a national security risk. One: in times of war. 2: in times of natural disaster. No counter to that except: surely war won't be THAT bad and the failsafes will always be enough.

3. Sourcing the concrete, steel and uranium that goes into such a plant isn't good for the environment. Nor is uranium renewable. Current stocks and use would provide us with 130 years of energy production. Build more plants, that number goes down. Counter: producing any power plant requires mining and transport - coal plants and renewables do too, for example.

4. Nuclear waste is a non-negligible problem. There are (war) incentives NOT to reduce waste. Even when waste is minimised, waste remains. Highly dangerous waste can kill people for longer than any society on earth has ever survived. 500.000 years... So no society can reasonably take responsibility for it. When nuclear waste is stored and then spills (as has happened in Germany) the state must pay billions in taxes to clean it up. Storage is difficult. There are NO permanent storage sites ready in all of Europe. There's about 180 plants now that have ran for decades. No permanent storage. If a company is made responsible for a nuclear plant, they tend to pay out to their shareholders one year and claim not to be able to take care of the waste for fear of bankruptcy the next - or they've already declared bankruptcy. Literally happened here. There are no incentives to deal responsibly with the waste for companies. Germany is projected to have to pay hundreds of billions of euros for permanently storing all the waste they've still got lying around at interim sites. Once again, money which might have been spent on scalable renewable production. 500.000 years... this a storage solution must last for 500.000 years. Ever seen concrete last so long... ?

5. We're seeing nuclear crowd out renewables RIGHT NOW IN REAL TIME in politics in the Netherlands and the UK. The money (and project managemeny time) really cannot be spent twice.

For:

6. Fossil fuels have done way more damage to the environment so far. Nuclear is preferable. In fact, 20% of European electricity and 10% of total energy is provided by nuclear power plants. 180. Plants. All renewables combined provide 17%. No real counter to that: they really do produce a lot of electricity without emitting greenhouse gases! Importantly: they don't need a lot of space. (Nuclear on the whole causes about as many greenhouse gases as wind energy equivalent and even slightly less than solar. Forty times less than coal.)

7. Nuclear is a proven way to produce a LOT of power. Weak counter: this makes it a liability in the electricity grid and incentivises less maintenance to minimise downtime (if no other plants can take over - generally not if they're too big. This makes them unreliable, just like renewables). Counter to that counter: much smaller (scalable) plants are being developed. Counter to that counter: they're experimental. The thorium reactors thay produce shorter lived waste are also experimental. I.e. it will take decades before we can build operational versions. (BUT! there's an ENORMOUS amount of thorium on earth, which is extremely important. Waste is much less problematic and meltdown impossible)

8. Nuclear plants that are not traditional baseload only plants and have load following capabilities can play a role in managing the ups and downs of renewables on the grid. Counter: even when built for this purpose, it's impossible to make enough money to pay for the construction and management and deconstruction and waste management by only running these plants as buffer. This is a problem because companies are asked to construct the plants, not the state. Counter 2: in a hybrid system with renewables the grid operator actually has to PAY OFF (millions) the nuclear plant to stop it producing so much. It's a liability in a hybrid system with renewables.

Final conclusion:

CURRENT nuclear power plant construction does not play well with the transition to renewables because there is no way in this financial system to use its production as a buffer, the state cannot produce the plants because there is a lack of expertise, companies cannot afford to run the plant as buffer and cannot be trusted and ideologically and politically nuclear power is proposed as an alternative to renewables instead of a complement which cuts into the much-needed financial resources necessary for renewable expansion. It is slow to build and badly scalable. We need speed and scalability considering our climate deadline. There is no permanent solution for waste and takes billions of euros to store right now already. Uranium is a scarce and non-renewable resource. Existing plants impede the transition to renewables (there is no need). They form a liability for continued production when it comes to short term production for the grid when needing maintenance and long term liability for energy production when they need to be decommissioned (France is dependent for 3/4ths on many plants that must be decommissioned at the same time). Nonetheless, existing plants are preventing a large amount of carbon emissions. Nuclear can be a useful element to the energy mix, and requires a lot less space than renewables. If innovations in scalable, smaller plants with increasingly better business cases, faster build times and ability to offload production to each other, there may be serious synergy with renewables. Still, these will be useful for 50-100 years until uranium runs out. Problematic, not just because it leaves us with expertise and infrastructure that will have no fuel, but also because we need to transition FAST and it's uncertain in how many years this technology will be operational. Thorium would be a solution to a lot of problems, but that is also decades away from operation. Putting money into research and test reactors is a priority. Decommissioning existing plants early would be stupid even if it would remove their contributions to transition intertia and the as of yet unsolved and increasing waste storage problem.

[deardazedchild]

I've been reading and thinking about the LGBT+ community position on Israel-Palestine war and may have found a motive. This is not a new thought btw.

We know the community to stand up for the oppressed, the weak and the minority. Or at least we can see as such. And since a terrorist organisation, aka Hamas, assumed Palestinians leadership their country have been more and more isolated. Now Israel is a big name in the world's current history and Gaza Strip just a 'terrorist country', some would say. Right?

Gaza Strip is a minor player. Minor. Minority. Weaker.

And that's what the LGBT+ community see. Not what Hamas led Palestinians have done. Not the war crimes they've committed. Not the crimes against humanity. Their numbers. If you're fewer you're automatically oppressed. Right?

So nothing more normal than community of minorities banding together to take another minority under their wing. Because the minorities are always the kind and innocent ones just trying to live their life in peace without bothering anyone.

Even if they hate the LGBT+ and wish their death for going against their holy book, everyone should show them empathy and support their right to hate us. Because the majority are always the oppressor and bad. Doesn't matter if they've committed war crimes and crimes against humanity, they're still the minority so they're still oppressed. Right?

It's not about their religion. Not about their culture. No, no. Numbers.

But somehow Syrian civil war had 500.000 dead by their own regime and no one cried about them. Yemen civil war had 400.000 deaths, 70% being children under age of 5 and no one cried about them. Early in 2023, 10.000 deaths and millions displaced because ethnic violence in a small region in Sudan and no one cried about them.

So why are people crying about Palestinians now? What makes them worthy of giant protests around the world but not those 910.000 lives lost? Why not a single tear for the 1.200 Israeli who died since the beginning of this war? Did they deserve to die because of bad decisions their government made? So many questions.

[marcussour]

So, I’ve seen a lot of people sharing these pictures online (even celebrities like The Weeknd), but I’d like to shine a bit more light on them.

These are players from the chilean football club C.D. Palestino, wearing keffiyeh before a match with Colo-Colo a couple of weeks ago, as part of the chilean first division. The players decided to wear the keffiyeh as a symbolic gesture in solidarity with Palestine, and were led in this idea by the team captain, Chile’s international (and former Internazionale, West Ham and other club’s) player Luis Jimenez.

But beyond this gesture (that came along with shirts with the phrase “O Palestine, here I am for you”), you can probably guess from the team’s name that there’s a long history regarding Palestine.

Palestino was founded in 1920 by palestine immigrants in Chile. In fact, outside of the countries located in west Asia, Chile houses the largest palestinian community in the world, with an estimated 500.000 members of the diaspora (2,5% of the total chilean population).

The palestinian community in Chile began forming in the 1840′s and 50′s, when many palestinians escaping the Crimea War, moved from Palestine to Western Europe, and then to South America, arriving in Chile thanks to the efforts of the chilean government to bring immigrants from France, Germany and England (most of these european immigrants ended up settling in lands belonging to Chile’s native people). Palestinians however settled mostly in urban areas and turned to commerce and the textile industry, where they soon became the target of xenophobics attacks by the chilean elite who looked down upon them in comparison with european or usamericans immigrants. 

Palestinians and other immigrants from arab countries (like Syria and Lebanon) became widely known in Chile as “turks” (since at that time, they were all part of the Ottoman Empire), a term that was used first in a derogatory form and then evolved into one mostly affective.  Most of these palestinians came from 3 cities: Bel Jalá, Bethlehem and Beit Sahour, with Chile having nowadays more christian palestines that even the population living in Palestine.

A second wave of palestinian immigration arrived in the 1910s and 20′s, following WWI, and then a third one in the 40′s and 50′s after WWII and the expulsion of many of them from Palestine after the creation of Israel. By this time, even though there was still discrimination from the wealthy chilean “elites”, the palestinian community had already integrated with the booming middle class and the lower income people, and had become staples and cornerstones from many communities, for example, in the Patronato neighborhood in Santiago, one of the most diverse and inclusive neighborhoods, home to many immigrant communities, with the palestinian and korean communities being the most prominent (the mayor of Recoleta, the Santiago municipality where Patronato is located, is Daniel Jadue of the communist party, who’s also part of the palestine community).

As time went on, the community diversified and mixed even more with the chilean society, which is why you can find today prominent members in different areas like sports (2 times olympic gold medalist and former ATP top 10 player Nicolás Massú for example) or some of the biggest fortunes of the country (like the Said and Yarur families, thanks to the textile, commerce and construction business), and across the whole political spectrum (support for the palestinian cause might be one of the few political issues where you can find support across most of the political spectrum and parties here in Chile, ranging from the right wing, all the way to the communist party -around 10% of the current serving members of congress are part of the palestinian community-). There’s even an old saying that states that if you go to any city or town in Chile, you’ll always find “a priest, a policeman and a palestinian”.

Immigration from Palestine and neighbouring countries still continue to this day, with Chile receiving many refugees, at least until before the pandemic started.

Returning to Palestino, the club not only is an important part of the palestinian community in Chile (many of it’s players have played both for the Chile national team, but also for the Palestine national team), but also has continously used the platform that football provide to show support por palestinian causes. There was even a time when they replaced all the “1″ in their jerseys with the historic map of Palestine.

Nowadaways Palestino shows many palestine symbols -including the map- in their jerseys, and the club (like keeping the keffiyeh motive as part of the shirt, as well as playing with the colors of the palestinian flag)

To close this post highlighting Palestino and the chilean palestinian community, here are some photos from today, where there was a 7km vehicle march (due to coronavirus restrictions) in support of the palestinian victims and protesting the apartheid in Palestine. There was also a message in support of Palestine projected in the Telefonica Building, one of the largest buildings in Santiago, located in the center of Santiago, in the Plaza Dignidad/Italia, the epicenter of the protests of the last few years against inequality in Chile that ended up bringing down the dictatorship era constitution in favor of a new constitution.

[melancholydreadfuldream]

wonders lost and wounded

Fandom: Doctor Who

Pairing: 10th Doctor x Reader 

Summary: The Doctor has lost so much and he has gotten a bit dark but will you still stay with him or leave?

  Warning: ooc, angst, plot holes, dark!doctor, manipulation, death, etc. You have been warned.

 More warning: English is not my first language so beware of the headache you will receive upon reading this.

    The Doctor sighed in relief and disbelief as he realized he is still alive. He chuckled. "I'm still alive." Maybe the prophecy is wrong after all, he thought.

  He turned to you who were knocked unconscious on the floor a few feet away from him. He crawled toward you to check you for injuries. He is relieved knowing you are fine too.

  You slowly woke up under his touches. "D-doctor..." You whispered groggily.

  The Doctor grinned at you. "We are alive." He said and pulled you into a hug.

  You were surprised at his sudden show of affection but you were not complaining. You knew about the prophecy, he had told you before about the four knocks. You both thought it was about the Master.

  You smiled at him too, relieved, thinking he is able to cheat the prophecy.

  He chuckled again until four sharp knocks were heard. The dread you both felt was so great as you both turned around slowly and saw Wilfred, trapped in the radiation booth. 

  And the Doctor knew then, he still trapped to fulfill the prophecy of his death.

  You knew what will happened next. You thought the Doctor will have to sacrifice himself to save Wilfred.

  You listened numbly as the Doctor explained the situation to Donna's beloved grandfather.

  "Can't you just open the door?" Wilfred asked.

  "The Master left the nuclear bot running and it's gone into overload."

  "That's bad, is it?"

  "No cos all the excess radiation gets vented inside there. Vinvocci glass. Contains it. All 500.000 rads about to flood that thing."

  "Well better let me out then yeah?" Wilfred said with a chuckle.

  The Doctor doesn't laugh. "Except it's gone critical. Touch one control and it floods." He pulled his sonic screwdriver. "Even this would set it off."

  "I'm sorry." Wilfred looked a bit scared but also resigned.

  "You had to go and get stuck. Cos that's who you are, Wilfred. You were always this. Waiting for me all this time." The Doctor said calmy but you could sense the rage and despair in his voice.

  "Oh really just leave me. I'm an old man, Doctor, I've had my time." Wilfred said softly.

  "Well, exactly look at you. Not remotely important." The Doctor said in such a ruthless tone.

  You stared at him in disbelief. You knew he is working on the acceptance of his upcoming death but his words are cruel. You didn't say anything though. You wanted to comfort him but you got the sense he will refuse any comfort right now.

  "But me...I could do so much more. So much more! But this is what I get. My reward." The Doctor raged at the world. "And it's not fair!!"

  You flinched when he threw some stuff on the floor in his anger. Your heart ached for the Doctor. You wish you could do something, anything to help him at this moment.

  You know you could choose to sacrifice yourself in his place but you were too afraid. You can't judge him for wanting to live. He is right. He deserve to live longer. But he need to save Wilfred. The Doctor will die but he will regenerate, you know this.

  "I don't accept it."

  You turned to look at the Doctor at what he said.

  The Doctor's words chilled you to the bone. He sounded so cold. "I'm sorry, Wilfred, I'm so sorry." He said. "I refused to die here."

  "Doctor..." You whispered his name. You didn't know what to say, too horrified at the thought that he is willing to let Wilfred die.

 The Doctor didn't even look at you. He still staring at Wilfred with a dispassionate look.

  Wilfred glanced at the Doctor and nodded his acceptance.

  "No." You said. "Doctor, you can't just let him die. He is Donna's grandfather." You grabbed his arms, pleading at him. "There has to be a way."

  "There is no other way. Would you rather I die instead, (name)?" The Doctor asked you insensitively.

  "That's not fair. I would never wish for your death, you know this." You answered with tears on your eyes. "But, Wilfred..."

  "It's okay, (name)." Wilfred said. "I have lived a good life. I am old. Sooner later I will die."

  "Not like this." You said to him. "Not like this." You turned to the Doctor. "Donna would never forgive you if she know..." You knew it was cruel to bring up Donna but you just wanted the Doctor to snap out of whatever the state he is in. He frightened you. He sounded like the Time Lord Victorious back at Mars.

  The Doctor flinched. He turned and glared at you. "Then, it's a good thing that she will never know."

  "Doctor, please, you are scaring me..." You begged him.

  He won't budge from his position and you didn't know what it is you are trying to make him do. You wanted him to save Wilfred but you didn't want him to die either. So, what are you going to do now?

  You couldn't think straight as you made your way toward the booth but before you could reach it, the Doctor grabbed your arms roughly. 

  "Don't even think about it." He hissed at you. "You can't regenerate. You will die."

  You turned to him, tears in your eyes. You didn't want to die either, part of you is relieved he stopped you but all you know is you can't let Wilfred die here, certainly not because the Doctor choose not to save him.

  "Doctor, you can't just let him die..."

  "I can't always save everyone." He said callously.

  You flinched.

  "It's okay, (name), it's alright." Wilfred said comfortingly at you.

  The Doctor pulled you away from the booth. You didn't stop looking at Wilfred. He is still smiling gently as he resigned to his fate. You turned toward the Doctor and blanched at how unfeeling he seemed as he stared at Wilfred.

  7777

  The Doctor has dragged you back into his Tardis. 

  He had done it. He cheated death, he broke the prophecy. He will live on. He is victorious.

  The Doctor smiled.

  You couldn't believe your eyes. How could he be smiling like this after he let someone he close to die? 

  You were still shaking and in shock after leaving Wilfred to his death. You wiped your tears and you turned away from the console room and back into your room aboard the Tardis.

  You sat on the floor, hugging your knees. You didn't know how long you were on the floor. You couldn't think straight.

  7777

  You first joined the Doctor in his current incarnation. He was traveling with Rose at the time. He invited you to travel with him and Rose. Rose never like you, thinking you were her competition. You did started having feeling for the Doctor but you could tell he loves Rose so you never tried anything with him. 

  You stayed with him even after he lost Rose. But you were never good enough for him. At long night when he especially missed Rose, he would glance at you and you could tell what he was thinking. Why you? Why can't Rose be the one who gets to stay by his side?

  He would feel guilty when he saw your hurt look but he never apologies.

  You were grateful when Martha joined the Tardis. You got along well with Martha. You and Martha were both miserable with the love you both felt for the Time Lord. You bonded with the fact the Doctor always compare you both with the awesomeness that is Rose Tyler.

  It surprised you at all that John Smith ended up falling in love with you during the period of hiding from the family of blood. Oh it was hard for you to fend off John's affection for you. You couldn't bear the thought that when John disappeared, the Doctor will remember everything he did as John. You were mortified, especially knowing his true feeling for Rose.

  However John is very persistent in wanting to court you and he is so adorably awkward about it. If thing is different, if John is just a simple human, you could see yourself falling in love with his charm. But you know better. Or at least, you should have.

  And yet despite knowing this, you ended up accepting his courting. Martha supported you albeit a bit bitter about it. You can't blame her for you would be too in her place.

  John would always smile at you whenever he saw you, offer his arm as he took you out on a stroll into town. He shared with you his weird dream and his journal. That made you felt guilt because you know the truth about his real identity. You saw his drawing of Rose. Even as a human, this version of the Doctor is still fascinated with the idea of Rose.

  He draws your picture in his journal and he was very good at it. You thought he have made you too beautiful and told him so. He had said that is how he see you. 

  And you realized he did see you when the Doctor himself didn't. You both shared a look and he kissed you.

  If it's not for Martha's interference, you would have been sweep away by your passion for John. You felt bad for Martha when John shouted at her for not knocking before entering his room. 

  You tried to leave despite John's insistence to stay. "This is a mistake." You said without thinking.

  John looked hurt. But it was the truth. You shouldn't have let him kiss you or kissed him back in return. You were ashamed that you have no self-control.

  He tried to stop you from leaving but you were a coward as you ran out of his embrace.

  You hated yourself for being so weak, for easily falling in love with John just for his show of affection of you, even knowing full well that he has an expired date. What were you thinking? Stupid!

  You talked to Martha about it. You apologized to her for everything she has to endure in this period and for having John's heart. Martha, brave-heart Martha, never blame you and she understood you. You were grateful for her friendship.

  When the family of blood attacked, John were attending dance party with Joan, the matron who have her eyes on John ever since the first time they met. You thought he did that on purpose to make you jealous, to hurt you as you have hurt him when you rejected him. 

  You and Martha raced against time to find the pocket watch containing Doctor's time lord consciousness. You and Martha had to convinced John to open the watch but he refused to do so even after you both explained everything about the Doctor and his current enemy.

  John glanced at you mournfully. "Did you love him, this Doctor?"

  You didn't know how to answer him. You wanted to lie but you found you couldn't lie to him. "I love him."

  "And did he love you back?"

  Your heart ached at the question. You shook your head. 

  "Then how can I return to be him when he didn't even love you?"

  "John..."

  "I don't want to go..." He whispered brokenly. "Why can't I stay?"

  You pulled him into your embrace. Tears filled your eyes as your heart ached for this man, John Smith. 

  "Promise me something, (name)." John whispered to you. "If this man, this Doctor, would never love you back, promise me you won't stay with him. You deserved someone who loved you back. You find that person. Can you do that?"

  You glanced up at him. You hesitantly nodded. You didn't know if you could keep your promise but you made that promise anyway.

  After he returned back into the Doctor, you noticed he started treating you a bit differently. Martha said she caught him staring at you a few times. You believed it was a remnant of John's feeling for you and yet it still not enough for the Doctor to do something about it. So you both tried to ignore the elephant in the room. But Martha is right though, you kept catching him giving you a look. You wondered if he remembered the promise you made to John and whether you would ever act on it.

  You lost the only family you have left in the world during your travel with the Doctor. You didn't even get to say goodbye. You were devastated. The Doctor and Martha were thankfully there for you. The Doctor granted you a chance to say goodbye to your mother and you were eternally grateful to him and his Tardis.

  Afterward you needed a break from the Tardis but you made the Doctor promised to come back for you when you are ready. You reunited again with them on Valiant when the Master arranged his people to kidnap you. It was painful year for everyone involved. You were so glad when the Doctor and Martha defeated the Master and time is reset.

  Martha left the Tardis after the fiasco with the Master. She warned you not to put your life on hold for the Doctor. You wished you could take her advice but maybe you are still one sick puppy for you let yourself burn over and over again for him.

  The Doctor invited Donna to join you both. You got along with Donna. You love how she took no nonsense from the Doctor. You remembered your first meeting with her in her wedding dress. She never stop yelling or slapping the Doctor. It was funny. You thought Donna is exactly the kind of companion the Doctor needs. You loved watching the two exchanged banters, it was very entertaining.

  You thought you could keep your feeling for the Doctor under wrap but Donna noticed it. Despite her teasing and support, you refused to act on her crude advice regarding the Doctor.

  Then Rose returned. She always is possessive of the Doctor. She doesn't like that you were still there with the Doctor. She is afraid that you will take her place in the Doctor's hearts. She really need not to worry for you know the Doctor only has eyes for one Rose Tyler. You could never compete with her.

  With Rose returned, you know it was time to take Martha's advice and keep your promise to John about leaving the Doctor for good. At least that is your plan until everything fall apart around you. The Doctor once again stranded Rose in the bad wolf bay and gifting her a gift of a life with Metacrisis Doctor. Then, he had to erase Donna's memories of everything pertaining the Doctor. 

  You can't leave him now. You can't let him be alone. He is the loneliest man in the universe and you wish to ease his loneliness even for just a bit. So you stayed for him.

  The Doctor treated you differently now. He is more affectionate with you. You were confused and you couldn't help the hope rising in your heart even though you knew he is just using you. You found you didn't mind. How pathetic you can be? So hungry for his affection that you would be anything he want.

  He frightened you though during a trip to the Mars. At first he insisted to leave for he doesn't want to mess with a fixed point in time. But he changed his mind when he saved some of the crews' lives. You were properly scared when he proclaimed himself the Time Lord Victorious. You thought he snapped out of it when Adelaide committed suicide to keep the timeline in tact. 

  Now with what happening with Wilfred, you have to wonder if he is still the Time Lord Victorious.

  7777

  You felt guilty. You knew it was out of your control and yet you still felt guilty anyway. You had nightmare about Wilfred. You couldn't stop shaking every time you woke up in cold sweat.

  The Doctor acted as if nothing has changed, grinning at you and talking about the next trip he planned for the both of you.

  You couldn't stand it so you asked to be taken home even though there is nothing for you at home. You needed a break from the Doctor so that you can sort out your mind.

  A dark expression crossed his feature immediately, making you winced as you took unconscious step back away from him.

  "Okay." He said solemnly.

  You blinked in surprise and confusion. You glanced at him, wondering if your mind just played a trick on you earlier.

  He smiled at you and talked you about giving it a few days for him to prepare a last hurrah for you. 

  You couldn't refuse when you watched how excited the Doctor as he was planning that last hurrah thing.

  7777

  True to his words, he planned a very exciting trip for you. You had a lot of fun that day. You laughed along with the Doctor. He would grab your hands tightly as he made you run as he showed you the wonder of the universe.

  He glanced at you fondly, grinning boyishly. You love the sound of his laughter. 

  And then he kissed you.

  You were stunned.

  He cupped your face gently, pulling your chin up as he continues kissing you.

  "Doctor, what are you doing?" You asked in hurt tone.

  He glanced down at you, putting his forehead over yours and let out a soft sigh. "Can't you tell?"

  "Are you trying to stop me from leaving by doing this? Kissing me?"

  "I don't want you to go." The Doctor whispered in your ear. "Stay with me?" He is distracting you with kisses on the neck.

  "Doctor, I..."

  Your mind short-circuits when he kissed you again.

  And so, you give in to him the next time he asked you to stay.

  7777

  Ever since that day, your relationship with the Doctor changed. He kissed you a lot, not that you are complaining, you just still not sure whether you were a couple or not. You were too afraid to make confirmation though. So, yeah, you did indeed stay with him again. 

  He was smiling and grinning a lot and still talked really fast over everything like over excited puppy. The dark look that alarmed you before never made appearance again until Jackson Lake.

  The Doctor took you to London on Christmas Eve in 1851 where you encountered a man that the Doctor thought to be his future regeneration. Soon the both of you are pulled into the cybermen fiasco where the Doctor learn the man he met is not a future version of himself. His name is Jackson Lake. His mind got infused with cybermen infostamp which made him believe he is the Doctor.

  It was there you once again saw the Time Lord Victorious. He let Jackson Lake fell into the time vortex along with the cybermen. He didn't even bother to try to save him.

  You confronted him about it much to his displeasure.

  "I can't always save everyone. You know this."

  You couldn't believe him. You knew he could have; he just chooses not to. "Is this who you are from now on, Doctor? You would just let people die."

  "I did the best I can do in the situation."

  "Yeah? And will one day you would do that to me too? Someday you will just choose not to save me?" 

  He glared at you as he moved toward you, causing you to flinch in fear. You thought he would hit you. He trapped you instead between him and the wall.

  The Doctor cupped your cheeks with his hands. "I will always do everything in my power to save you, (name)."

  You were stunned to see the sorrow in his eyes.

  7777

  There were times that you wanted to leave the Doctor but then he will do something that made you feel too guilty to ever leave him behind. So, you never did leave him.

  You and the Doctor ended up in Leadworth where you met Amy Pond while the Doctor deals with Prisoner Zero and the Atraxi. 

  Amy told you she has a message for you from her raggedy Doctor. You were confused. She took you to her house to her bedroom and told you to touch the crack on her wall.

  You were hesitant at first but you eventually did.

  You found yourself in some white space and you saw a man who Amy claimed is the raggedy Doctor.

  The man smiled at you fondly. "(name)..."

  "Who are you?"

  "I'm the Doctor."

  "But you can't be."

  "Well, I was supposed to be the Doctor until he, your Doctor, changed his path." He said. 

  Suddenly the surrounding around you changed into the time where the Doctor were still with Wilfred, only this time you saw the Doctor walked inside the booth, allowing Wilfred to survive another day. You watched in tears as the Doctor made his goodbyes trip and his heart-breaking final words which reminded you of John. Then he regenerated into the man you saw, the so-called raggedy Doctor.

  You blinked suddenly when you realized you weren't with the Doctor in these visions. "Where am I? Why am I not with you?"

  The Doctor looked so sad. "Oh, (name), remember Mars?"

  You nodded hesitantly.

  "Do you remember what happened after Mars?"

  "You mean with Adelaide...?"

  "After that..."

  You pondered about it. "I was in the Tardis with the Doctor."

  "And then what? Where did you both go?"

  You frowned when you realized you didn't remember. "I don't..."

  The raggedy Doctor has such a sorrowful look as he look at you. He cupped your cheeks. "I'm so sorry, (name)."

  You felt like choking. "What is going on? I don't understand."

  You woke up on the Tardis med-bay. The Doctor, your Doctor, apparently found you unconscious in some empty house. The owner of the house apparently were in a coma, a victim of Prisoner Zero.

  You didn't tell the Doctor of what you saw.

  7777

  You and the Doctor encountered River Song in the Byzantium. You were annoyed watching River flirted with the Doctor. You watched the Doctor tentatively flirted back much to your disbelief.

  River then explained why she called the Doctor here and asked him about what he know of weeping angel. There was supposed to be only one angel. However, it turned out this time, the Doctor didn't notice the danger the weeping angel pose as you and everyone involved were in the middle of the angels army waking up.

  Despite the Doctor warning for you to stay close, you ended up got lost and you screamed when you met face to face with one of the angels.

  You woke up feeling weak inside the Tardis med-bay and you distinctly heard the Doctor arguing with someone, arguing with River, apparently.

  It sounded very heated. River looked pissed and the Doctor looked annoyed.

  "It was very stupid and foolish, not to mention, cruel!" You heard River yelling at the Doctor.

  "Don't talk about things that you don't understand."

  "Oh I understand more than you think, Doctor."

  You choose that moment to cough.

  The Doctor and surprisingly, River, fussed over you immediately.

  You touched your stiff neck. "Ow, I think I sleep wrong, my neck is killing me..." You whined.

  The Doctor and River exchanged a look but it went unnoticed by you.

  7777

  You were shaking in fury and in tears.

  Earlier that day, during routine adventure, you and the Doctor naturally gotten into trouble. By the end of it, you were taken hostage. And as you always dreaded, he chooses not to save you.

  At first the Doctor has threatened them with his usual no second chance thing, his oncoming storm vibe. His eyes cold and calculating as he stared down the people who took you.

  Your eyes widened in disbelief and hurt when he said to the alien to go ahead and kill you. You felt so betrayed. Even the said alien was confused with the Doctor's sudden change in mood.

  The Doctor's firm look betrayed nothing of what he planned. He just stood there with flat look even as the alien insisted he will kill you. Instead you saw him lifted his sonic screwdriver at your direction.

  You must have fainted at some point because you woke up on the Tardis med-bay unharmed. You cried though when you recalled what happened.

  The Doctor entered the room and dare to look happy to see you awake after he just betrayed you like that. How can you trust him again?

  You were so furious. You refused to hear his explanation that he was just bluffing and that everything turned out okay. 

  "(name), you need to trust me. I would never abandon you." The Doctor said as he grabbed my arms.

  "Take me home, Doctor. I am done. I can't stay here anymore. I don't feel safe with you anymore." You said with tears, ignoring his pleading eyes. "I can't do this anymore. I can't trust you."

  The Doctor looked like he was being slapped. His eyes looked sad and tired. "After everything we have gone through together, how can you not trust me?"

  "I am afraid of you. I know I am just human. I know traveling with you is dangerous and that someday I will eventually die. But I have always trust you to have my back, to protect me when it matters. But you told him to just go ahead and kill me!"

  "It was just a bluff. I would never let him kill you." The Doctor pleaded. "Please, (name), you can't leave..."

  "I can't stay. I am sorry, Doctor. I just..."

  "I am sorry too."

  You glanced up at him and saw a dark look on his face. You took a step back away from him in fear.

  He glanced down at you as he walked toward you slowly. "Don't be afraid of me, (name), not you..."

  You tried to stay put as he stood before you. He raised a hand over your head. He tentatively wiped your tears with his thumb. He bend his head toward your ear and whispered something to you.

  7777

  You woke up to the sound of bird song inside the Tardis even though you were pretty sure you were at home just before. Were you really at home though? Didn't you decided to stay with the Doctor? You couldn't think straight.

  There was a man that look exactly like the Doctor, saved for his ginger hair, sunglasses and his dark clothing. He called himself the Dream Lord. He was very loud about it too.

  He insinuated the Doctor is keeping some secret from you. You said that was nothing new. But then he mentioned the secret involved yourself. He showed you a door, a vault really, with complicated lock on it.

  "How am I meant to open that?"

  "Well not here you can't but when you woke up and find it, just think open sesame, it will work."

  "Seriously?" You asked in disbelief.

  "Don't you want to know what happened after Mars?" He asked in a chilling tone.

  You froze under his gaze.

  "Find the vault. Learn the truth."

  That's when the original Doctor suddenly appeared and the vault dissolved before the Doctor noticed as he was busy yelling at his twin.

  You eventually woke up for real. You wondered what is that dream lord thing. The Doctor had said the dream lord is not real, just a manifestation of his darker side, influenced by psychic pollen inside the Tardis which heated up and causing both you and the Doctor caught into some dream world.

  7777

  You secretly tried to find the vault you saw in your dream but you couldn't find it within the Tardis. You wondered if the dream lord is bullshitting you. Would open sesame even worked to open the vault? 

  But you were curious about what he said about after Mars. It was twice now a version of Doctors warned you about it.

  What happened after Mars? Where did you and the Doctor go? Why can't you remember?

  You must have lost your mind because you started to hearing whispers in your head. You followed the whispers alongside the corridors within the Tardis.

  Find the vault. Learn the truth. Find the vault. Learn the truth.

  It was like someone is chanting those words over and over again.

  You clutched your pounding head with both hands, wishing the headache will go away.

  "(name)? Are you alright? What's wrong?" The Doctor asked.

  The whispers suddenly gone and so is the headache. You glanced up at the Doctor, eyes glassy but you were relieved.

  Without thinking, you rushed toward him and hugged him close. He hugged you back and rubbed your back. 

  "Come on." He led you away from the corridors. He discreetly turned to look at the corridors you both just left. The air around it started to falter, showing something hidden beneath it. He pulled an arms around you protectively.

  7777

  The Doctor let out a heavy sigh. That was a close call. One more step and you would have seen through the perception filter and once again find the vault.

  Each time you did find the vault, he would have to erase your memories of it for you could never cope with the truth behind the vault. 

  And yet for some reason, time and time again, you continued to stumble your way into the vault no matter how many times he relocated the vault, regardless the many protective layer after layer of perception filter he placed upon it.

  You always ended up finding the vault, learning the painful truth behind the vault, almost like something is guiding you to find it.

  After making sure you were asleep, he left you behind. He walked toward many corridors within the Tardis before stopping in front of the vault.

  He pushes open the vault door with ease. He entered the room with heavy heart as he walked toward a huge tube containing a figure submerged in watery grave.

  The figure within the tube is badly disfigured. The tube is connected with some complicated machinery which put the figure in deep sleep. Not far, there were some sort of bath tub containing icky white liquid. 

  The Doctor sighed as he put one hand over the tube. "I swear it, (name), I will never stop finding a cure for you, until then you will have to bear seeing reality through your gangers."

  He leaned against the tube. "I'm sorry about yesterday. Your ganger got her neck snapped by a weeping angel. I know that was very unpleasant. I will do better next time to keep you safe."

  He slowly sat on the floor, staring forlornly at the floor, remembering an early ganger version of you, crying in pain, unable to fully stabilized, feeling too much pain of the original you, melting and screaming, unable to accept that you weren't real.

  "I am real! I am (name) (last name)! I am real! I am not ganger!" You had screamed and raged amidst the pain. You were confused and in pain even though you weren't injured at all. You were horrified to see your own skin, how wrong it feels. You watched your hideous flesh face from the reflection of the tube and screamed.

  He stared at you solemnly, eyes looking apologetic and sad. "I am so sorry." He raised his sonic screwdriver, turned it on and vaporizing you. The eyes are always the last to go and he hates it.

  The Doctor sobbed as he harshly clutched his own hair. Keeping the truth from you has been hard. And now even your ganger self is wanting to leave him. He can't let you do that. He can't let you leave...so he made you forget your intention. 

  He was thankful he got to the real you when he could. You weren't grateful though, in absolute pain as you were, you begged him to kill you.

  He couldn't do it. It would be a mercy to put you down. But he couldn't. And so against your wishes, he put you into the tube, put you into deep sleep, pumped you full of anesthetic drug. 

  You were hanging by a thread. He knew he will lose you so he forcefully bound you to himself. You will live as long as this version of himself remained alive.

  And so he fought time itself, the prophecy of his own death, to buy you more time. He will not accept another loss, no more. But in order to keep you alive, he was forced to sacrifice another. He will have to live with that with the rest of his life.

  The Doctor was lonely. He didn't want a new companion. He wanted you. So when he found out about the flesh technology, he hooked you up to it. He tampered with your memory to ensure the trauma didn't get transferred to your ganger self.

  He found the hard way just how far gone you are and that caused some of your gangers he created descent into madness. So, he had to dig deep inside your mind, separating the damage, salvaged a semblance version of you before he could connect you into the flesh technology.

  He had to experiment with many versions of your ganger self in order to make sure you will get the best experience. Unfortunately, it didn't always work. The flesh technology is not perfect but enough to give you a half-life.

  The Doctor had no idea how River know about you and the vault. She was not pleased with it. She said he was playing God. She said he was being cruel to you. It made him angry. How dare that woman says such a thing? He did everything for you, to ensure you live. How can him trying to keep you alive being seen as cruel?

  He could feel time is falling apart and rearranged itself around him forming a new timeline. He was supposed to die that day and regenerated into his eleventh self. But he didn't. He cheated his death. Part of him is relieved he can postpone his own death. Because...he didn't want to go.

        A/N: ok, this story won't make any sense at all. I think halfway through writing this, I lost sight of what I actually want to write. I'm not satisfied with it but honestly, i don't think i can continue developing the storyline for it. I already use KISS to try to salvage this, erasing half of what I already write, it still won't connect the dot though. But I already write too much of it, I figure I will just have to accept it is a failure and then dumpost it so that it will no longer occupy my mind and just filed it as finished or discontinued.

[sims-gayming]

The Sims 4 | Royal Legacy Challenge

Hi! I know there are some challenges like this around, but I really wanted to create my own version and decided to share with everyone! This challenge is heavily inspired by llazyneph’s Royalty Mod – the mod isn’t required to play the challenge, but both fits really well together.

In this challenge, your objective is to play with a Royal Family for ten generations and build up your lineage’s prestige with actions and decisions you will make during the course of this challenge. Good luck!

 Concepts

 Monarch: the leader of the Royal Family. This title is inherited by his offspring when he/she dies. Monarchs may only work in the Politics career.

Heir: the child of the Monarch who will inherit the title of Monarch. The heir is decided by the Kingdom Laws. Heirs may work in other careers until they become Monarch.

Consort: the person who will pair with the Monarch and bring in the next generation of the family. Consorts may work.

Royal Family: the family of the Monarch. They are considered nobles, but not every noble is royal.

Noble: Sims from families/households selected by the player. Must represent the minor part of the world’s population. Nobles may work only in the following careers: Politics, Secret Agent, Astronaut, Business, Military, Doctor, Social Media and Style Influencer. Teen jobs are not allowed.

Commoner: Sims that are not part of the selected households. Must represent the major part of the world’s population.

Prestige: the points in this challenge that represent the reputation of the Royal Family.

Setting Up

Your first step is to create your Royal Family. You Monarch must be a YA, Adult or Elder (if male) or YA or Adult (if female). You may create other Sims to be Consort, parents or siblings of your Monarch, but he/she must not have an offspring yet. To start, you’ll have $ 500.000 (use cheats for this) to build or buy your house. Choose wisely because you must not move during the challenge.

Second, you must choose, download or create other noble families for your save. Since you set this families as nobles, every other Sims in your save are now considered commoners. I suggest at least three or four families for your kingdom. Also, I suggest you to mark the noble families as Your Households, so you will always know who they are.

Finally, you may choose, download or create other Royal and noble families. They’ll represent the noblemen of other kingdoms. In my game, I created a Royal Family and three noble families for each world available. This is not mandatory, but will help you to have a fitting dating pool for your Sims.

 Basic Rules

You must not use cheats or mods that give you advantages on the challenge. I recommend using the Royalty Mod and MC Command Center.

Lifespan must be normal and aging must be on for active and inactive households.

You must only play with your Royal Family in this save. Again, I recommend MC Command Center to create some sort of story progression in your save. If you don’t use mods, you may access the other noble families really fast just to marry and procreate Sims (or you can do that using CAS in Edit Household on the map view).

Before start your game, pick your Kingdom Laws below and stick to it. There are conditions to change your Laws that will be explained below.

This challenge ends when the 10th generation’s heir ascend as Monarch. Your objective is to build up your lineage Prestige until this point. If your Monarch dies without any heir or if your Royal Family reach -10.000 Prestige Points, you fail the challenge.

Marriage & Inheritance

Marriage and inheritance are very important aspects of monarchies. You may marry your Sims as you wish as long as allowed by your Kingdom Laws, but keep in mind that marrying commoner will have a great impact in your Prestige. The Laws also will say if your Sim will move out of the family or if the partner will move in.

There are also Laws that will discuss the matter of inheritance. The Heir will be the first eligible child of your current Monarch. If your Monarch dies without any child, the throne goes to a younger sibling – this, however, will not count as a new generation. If there is no one to inherit the throne, you fail the challenge.

Children born outside of marriage are considered illegitimate and can only become legitimate if the Monarch marries the non-royal parent. Only legitimate children can be named heirs. You may legitimize a child if your Monarch and the child have 100% relationship, but it will cost you some Prestige.

Optional: It is expected that Royal children will have the best education. Toddlers must have at least one skill level 5 or 3 skills level 3, while children and teens must have at least B grade in school. If you fail this, you must randomize a new trait in the moment of the child birthday. You may only pick traits if your kids study hard enough.

The Kingdom Laws

You must pick an option for every category below – those will be your kingdom laws. You may change your laws if you meet some conditions. It will also cost some Prestige, of course.

Lineage

Matrilineal: girls come before boys in the line of succession. In addition, when a Sim marries, he/she will become part of the family of the wife.

Patrilineal: boys come before girls in the line of succession. In addition, when a Sim marries, he/she will become part of the family of the husband.

Equality: gender is not considered in the matter of succession. In addition, when a Sim marries, his/her partner will always move in to the Royal Family.

Marriage

Arranged: members of the Royal Family may only marry if the Monarch have at least 50% relationship with the fiancée and his/her parents (if they have).

Free: members of the Royal Family may marry as they wish.

Succession

Traditional: only Sims related by blood to the current Monarch are eligible to be heir. Royals may adopt, but adopted kids won’t be in the line of succession.

Modern: adopted kids will be in the line of succession after blood-related kids.

Inheritance

Birth: the first eligible child of the Monarch will be heir and become Monarch once his/her parent dies.

Merit: the most talented child will be the heir. This means that when a Monarch dies, you must sum every skill point his/her children currently have (example: 7 logic + 3 culinary + 2 piano = 12 points). The new Monarch will be the child who have more skill points.

Strength: when the Monarch dies, every eligible heir must fight for the throne. The one that defeats every other claimant will be the new Monarch.

Taxes

Low: the Royal Family can collect $2.500 in taxes in Sundays. However, it will cost -50 Prestige Points.

Medium: the Royal Family can collect $10.000 in taxes in Sundays. However, it will cost -100 Prestige Points.

High: the Royal Family can collect $50.000 in taxes in Sundays. However, it will cost -500 Prestige Points.

Rulership

Democratic: You may change the Kingdom Laws if you have 100% friendship with all the leaders of the noble families of your Kingdom. It will cost you 1.000 Prestige Points. In addition, Monarchs will be deposed if they have 10 negative relationships or half negative reputation.

Moderate: You may change the Kingdom Laws if you have at least 50% friendship with at least half of the leaders of the noble families of your Kingdom. It will cost you 1.000 Prestige Points. In addition, Monarchs will be deposed if they have 20 negative relationships or full negative reputation.

Authoritarian: You may change the Kingdom Laws whenever you want. It will cost you 3.000 Prestige Points. Monarchs can’t be deposed.

Prestige

The Royal Family will start the challenge with 500 Prestige Points. Some actions and decisions made during the challenge will add or remove Prestige Points from your family. Prestige Points will only be earned and lost by members of the active family. Remember: if at some point you reach -10.000 Prestige Points, you fail the challenge.

House & Finance

+2 for having a Maid

+2 for having a Nanny

+2 for having a Gardner

+5 for having a Butler

+5 for each fully-upgraded item in your house

+50 for every $500.000 your house worth

+100 for having S1.000.000 in the household funds

-10 every fire that stars on your house (-50 if someone dies)

-100 every time lights/water are shut off

-500 every time your household funds reach 0

 Life & Death

+50 for marring another noble (+10 for marring a member of another Royal Family)

+10 for each legitimate child

+20 for each toddler that max out every skill

+20 for each child that grows up with an A

+25 for each child that completes an aspiration

+20 for each teen that grows up with an A

+20 for each teen that grows up with max positive character value

+50 for each Sim that completes an aspiration

+50 for each Sim that reaches the top of his/her career

+10 for each Old Age death

+15 for each family member memorialized in a painting

-10 for changing aspiration

-30 for each child or teen that grows up with an F

-30 for each teen that grows up with at least 1 max negative character value

-50 for each sim fired

-50 for every death excluding Old Age

-50 for having a child before marriage

-75 for each illegitimate child

-100 for marring a commoner (-100 if he/she works in your household)

-100 for being caught cheating

-250 for divorcing

-500 for legitimating a child

-1.000 for each child taken away from the household

 Miscellaneous

+2 for each pet born in the household

+2 for each bronze social event

+5 for being good friends with a noble from another household (+5 if best friends)

+5 for each silver social event

+10 for each gold social event (+10 if royal marriage or coronation banquet)

+20 for every best-seller book or masterpiece

+50 for each Sim that has full positive reputation

+100 for each Royal Family member that becomes a 5-star celebrity

-20 for each pet taken away

-30 for each time a Sim has a bladder/energy/hygiene failure in public (-20 if during a social event)

-50 for each failed social event

-100 for each Sim that has full negative reputation

[arawynn]

Update on our Corona situation

After dealing with the whole pandemic insanely well with the pandemic until late summer, we (=Germany) get bitten in the ass by a mix of carelessness (probably mixed with ‘it’s not that bad’ conspiracy myths and the likes), being tired of the measurements/wanting to go back to ‘normal’ and people being idiots.

After our daily new infections climbed to something around 4000, our chancellor warned that we needed to get it under control again or we might reach almost 20.000 daily new infections.

(For reference, we’ve been noticeably below 1000 new infections per day.)

After a couple days of having roughly 4000 new cases per day, that number jumped to 7000 by the end of two weeks ago. Then once again the numbers stayed roughly at that amount for a couple days (I honestly expected we’d reach the 8000 after two or three days) before jumping once again - to 12.000 cases per day.

Which we haven’t even reached in March/April.

Dr. Merkel’s warning/calculation of 20.000 people at Christmas would currently be something to wish for because if it goes on like right now, we’ll be somewhere between 100.000 and 500.000 new infections per day at Christmas.

Germany as a whole is considered an at risk area (the incidence figure of more than 50 new infected per 100.000 inhabitants within the past 7 days has been reached and by now surpassed) as of last week. There are areas with an incidence figure of above 200 that have implemented a lockdown (in contrast to the shutdown Germany did earlier this year).

My home county as a whole is an at risk area as of today as well. 

Meeting people in public is limited to 5 people if they’re from more than two households. You can get the limit to 10 people, but you’d have to announce it to the public order office which means needing to have a concept and strictly sticking to them. We’d have to split the choir up again, most likely to soprano-only, alto-only, tenor-only and bass-only practices. Which might be useful to learn something new when you start with a piece, but at some point you need to sing them together because there’s a huge difference between singing it only with your/one voice and singing four-part.

The practices from my church choir we had picked up again carefully and with extensive safety measures (since the average age is definitely at least 60) are entirely cancelled. It’s questionable if we’ll be able to sing on Boxing Day EVEN IF (and that’s a very big even if) services would be allowed again by then. We’d probably have to retort to well-known and already performed pieces instead of the new ones we started practicing last week. 

Meanwhile the people who believe conspiracy myths keep demonstrating (without facemasks and social distancing of course) against “the dictatorially Corona rules” and want to throw some of the leading scientists like Professor Drosten in jail, want to file a class action lawsuit against the German government and scientists in the USA  (who aren’t even responsible for it, but the “lawyers” already collect 800 € per person), somebody tried to burn down the Robert-Koch-Institute (RKI - the most important health office during this pandemic in Germany) and another somebody put up a mannequin that looks like it’s been hanged with a piece of paper reading “journalists” attached to it.

So aside from the pandemic coming back full-force, we also have the conspiracy myth believer to deal with - who are becoming more and more radical, which honestly worries me a lot too. Because the only two ways I see for them to get out of it are 1) getting them out of the conspiracy bubbles cold turkey (including instantly them abandoning any and all social media) long term and ideally getting them into some sort of therapy or 2) either they themselves or a loved one of theirs gets very sick with the virus (and there has already been at least 1 case where somebody died of Covid after getting willingly infected and still claimed it was the right thing to do).

[hylukotranslations]

Pati Pati - vol 76, April 1991 Album: Kurutta Taiyou (Mad Sun) 2nd picture is a visual representation for the track: Machine  

Toll Yagami (Drums) Interview by Kazuyoshi Aikawa (Doll)

At the indie time, all the interviews were done by you and U-ta. Does this mean you had a kind of position of the leader ?

Well, not really. Actually, at that time we were the only two members who could speak (laughs). Now all the members got used to the interviews and speak, but at our debut Imai or Hide almost didn't speak at all, right ? As well in the interviews as outside the job. Or maybe I should say that they were unable to speak (laughs).

Then you had the role of the decider ?

At the beginning a bit yes, but now it changed and we are a total democracy. So, when we choose the songs or for other stuffs, we decide on the majority. Since we are five, there is forcedly a majority. Because, since we are the current members, we've been having a strong will to always respect each other.

Then, everything is decided on the principle of majority

But after all, maybe I'm the one who forces things the most. How to say, I accept to some extent what is decided on the principle of majority, but when I think that something is really risky, or the method is completely wrong, even if I've lost, I quite often bring the decision by force to my side.

Maybe you look at the band in its globality

I don't know. Maybe I'm the most objective one. It would be weird if I say I'm not someone artistic, but in the contrary I'm the one who has the most "fan" mind... So I look at the band from this point of view. You know, I like to watch our own videos. And I think, ah that scene is filmed that way, this is seen like that, that's the way I look at the band.

Is it since before ? Or does it come from your temperament ?

Probably from my temperament (laughs). Since the time I've begun drums, it happened that I studied before a mirror how I would look like if I hit like this or that...

You are a nervous one

Quite ! I'm tense since the day preceding a live in a big hall (laughs). It can seem ridiculous, but it's like if I was preparing myself for a fighting position (laughs). I think the worry is bigger, I hope for example that the sticks won't fall, since if they fall the rhythm will stop. I'm like that.

Are you aware of the fact that what you've been doing so far and the results you got are being linked ?

I don't know... The fact that we are staying in this circle that way, and that our records sales go up to 500.000 copies, makes me feel something like destiny. You know, I believe in destiny. So I think that maybe we were lucky to have been guided by destiny. So, about the "Buck-Tick Genshou (Buck-Tick phenomenon)" at the Yutaka Koukaido (note : the live which permit the band to sign with a major label), I can only think that the audience accepted to be caught in the mechanism. Moreover, considering our abilities of that time, we weren't a band that could gather an audience that goes up to five times the capacity. Really, it was a circle where you do your utmost and then you can only let God decide for the rest.

Recently, you said that you can finally assert what you really are, does this mean you couldn't do that so far ?

In the beginning, when you start as a major band, you have, despite everything, to accept the major system. Really, until "Seventh Heaven", we were in a situation where we couldn't refuse what we disliked. So, it happened that Acchan had to do a game in a gathering of fans, and after that he went back home very angered (laughs). We thought, is it that to be a major band ? But we knew later that we were the first band to have done, for our launching, stuffs that usually idols do (laughs). It happened that we were the first ones to have done stuffs different from the methods used until there. So, when we knew that we were shocked (laughs). Because until there, we thought that what we did was normal.

Despite of that, you've been expressing in your albums stuffs that are very self-asserting

Because we all wanted to engrave the best of what we had at these moments. So, it's not really a matter of technique, we pulled out the maximum we could at that moment, and stocked it. This means that we don't think about what comes after. In the interviews, when we were asked something like "what will happen next ?", we were often in a state where we said "We don't know. Since we pulled everything out we are like a blank paper, we can't say anything anymore". Today we are still like that.

In this meaning, in this "Kurutta Taiyou", in what did you pull out everything ?

The basis of the arrangement is that, Imai does his own, and Hide his own... So, what I cared the most about was, since guitars and vocals are put over me, I had to make their basis as solid as possible. I think this comes from what "Taboo" 's producer learnt me, the sensation of "just" which doesn't allow the sound's trembling. Until there, I didn't think about it that much. So, maybe I was too indulgent towards myself. When I thought it was right following my sensibility, I imposed it. I didn't listen enough to other persons' opinion, I was just thinking that if I felt it good, that was right.

With what kind of stance do you consider the Rock that you do ?

There are sounds and it certainly is a style too. So, I think that if we were popular, that would be rather weird. If it's not maniac to some extent, maybe it won't be cool enough... In reality, I think that people listen to music with that state of mind too. They think that this band is cool because they are different from the others on such points. As far as I'm concerned, the bands that I've liked so far are all original bands too.

You mean that their music is transmitted distinctively from the one of the idols ?

It's rather something that people feel at the moment they see us, and we don't force ourselves to show that we are different from them. When we show ourselves in lives and if we ask, do we look like idols, I think we don't. Until now we've been, in an usual way, playing in livehouses, that's our way of expression. So we don't care about how people see us, when they see bands something lets them guess how the latters grew up.

Then, how do you see the other bands ?

Well, I think that the ones that passed through identical methods look somewhere like us. Not the sounds, but the impression they give, their presence.

When you said a moment ago that you could play your own way, does this come from concrete results such as the number of audience or your albums sales ?

I thought that after all, if you win you become the imperial army (laughs). It allows you to say whatever you want.

Making this album, did you think you won ?

I don't really know what is to win or loose, but we have deepened what we really wanted to do, using as much recording time as we wanted. (laughs) We used around 900 hours. So, I wondered if we were in a situation where we were allowed to do that. You know, only 3 years have passed since our debut, but during that time it happened quite many stuffs in our band. Like that incident (note : probably the fact that Hisashi was arrested for lsd use). At that moment, I honestly thought we had lost. It was like, we couldn't say what we want anymore. And that was really the case. In the final analysis, it was like if we had completely lost our will during the process of rebirth... If I say it exaggeratedly, we were at the point 0 at that moment. From the point of view of our album sales, we hadn't fallen, but psychologically, how to say, we experienced again a decline (laughs). Personally, I couldn't care less about if our sales fell. What I want is to accomplish what we want to do. The basis of Buck-Tick's music is that the melodies are our major premise, so I think that we'll never escape from that objective (laughs).

By the way, you said you'd want to play in livehouses

Yes, like at Shinjuku Loft. If we limit the audience, I think it would be possible, and there won't be any problem. Even if they are only few hundreds, there is more pressure when they are closer to us, so we could see very clearly who they are looking at. Thinking about it now, I think it would be interesting. Just imagine Acchan facing empty seats, singing sitting next to a spectator (laughs).

Talking in this meaning, what could be the things you lost and the ones you gained arriving at this point ?

What we lost is surely, Imai and Acchan were targeted about it, our private life. It's really awful, these pictures, magazines. We'd like to say, we are a rock band so these things don't concern you at all. What we gained... a bit popularity, and fans (laughs).

Living your way, where do you look for for your feeling of satisfaction, as a musician ?

I simply wish we could reach the popularity of Yu-min or Southern (note : Southern All Stars). To get a solid status. That we could freely do all what we want to do, in a good meaning, wishing that our audience would accept it.

--fin

translation: hyluko [livejournal] scans: tigerpal [livejournal]

NOTE: these translations are not mine also might not be very accurate. i took them from hyluko’s site using the wayback machine. thought they’re great to share. if the owner is around and wants me to take them down i will!

[theiceemperor]

Lloyd: Sometimes I just want to give up being a ninja and move elsewhere with completely new identity because I feel like life would be so much easier. ://

Zane: The current average cost for a fake ID is $264.4. I'd suggest waiting a week longer because the price has been dropping.

The Ninja: w h a t

or

Cole, jokingly: Zane, I swear your cooking is going to kill me one day.

Zane: For that to happen, I would need to use much higher dose of nutmeg. But it would be impractical to damage the liver, though, as they are being sold for around $500.000.

The ninja: Zane what the fuck

Zane has complete acces to the Ninjago-version of the dark web and he uses it to scare the others with illegal weird facts.

[costaricafarm]

Invest Costa Rica From

Foreign Direct Invest Costa Rica proved as a pillar of its Economy 

Costa Rica’s location on earth. Ways You Can Invest Costa Rica From Abroad. Costa Rica is a country of Central America bordered by Nicaragua and the Caribbean Sea to the northeast. San Jose is the capital of Costa Rica. About 5 million people live in this country.

It is the most developed, modernized, school system, workplace in all Latin American countries. Purely democratic, stable systems, and investments system makes it more trustworthy. The country's economy is primarily coming from the tourism sector.

Typography of Invest Costa Rica.

Costa Rica has its importance from in the world. Its earth’s location topography and location of its map make it trustworthy for considerable investments. In every sector from real estate to traveling, hoteling, etc.

It has the most beautiful typographic locations where people wonder to see the things that no one can imagine like national parks, river rafting, swimming ducks, zip-lining, and cave tubing. 

Not just this, places for animal lovers also attract the wildlife searchers like sea turtles and adorable sloths.

Tourism.

Costa Rica provides a stable system of tourism. The state has a stable democratic system and a highly educated workplace.

 Primarily people speak English. With the successful policies of the government, Costa Ricans are earning huge profits from health, education, tourism, worldwide companies. Different sectors, projects of development, and real estate work.

The state provides many sectors to invest in, like tourism, finance, corporate services, medicine forming, and many more. Companies located in the FTZ (Free Trade Zone) invest in Costa Rica to benefit from tax incentives and investments.

The very rich (millionaires) that buy the large tourist hotels, bars and casinos here invest a lot of money but also make huge profits in this sector. Hotels and bars are the country's pillar robust nonbreaking policies to ensure high-quality fair and success rate in all sectors.t

Why invest in Costa Rica?

The state has free trade agreements with many significant countries whose economy is excellent and booming day and night, including the US. A fair and sound system always seeks to establish the best laws that must not affect investments.

They aim to negotiate any trade barriers that would affect imports in the country and lower the tariffs than other American countries. Direct access to American markets and the ocean opens the door for Asian and European markets.

Tourism in Costa Rica.

The tourism industry of Costa Rica provides all benefits to the tourists. Including transportation, low taxes, and the best luxurious locations to live in the country. Due to this, thousands of people move from America, Europe, or Asian countries to live here and invest in Costa Rica. This is one of the reasons why Costa Rica is known for its tropical paradise.

 According to the country's facts and figures, they state that they are the most visited region (Country) in the entire Central American region. In 2016, almost 2.9 million visitors came to visit and Invest in Costa Rica.

The highest number of visitors came from the United States with about a million tourists and almost 500.000 tourists from Europe. Statistics show that 22% of all tourist visits Tamarindo, 18% go the region around Lake Arenal and the beautiful volcano and 17% visit the Liberia region.

Foreign Investments in Costa Rica.

A world-class Democratic system makes it more reliable and beneficial to all companies to invest in Costa Rica. Free Trade agreements and low tariffs make for a stable investment and attract visitors from all over the world to invest in Costa Rica.

Costa Rica is a beautiful state in which buying real estate or a small business can be a very good investment. Investing in property and/or buying or selling goods under a very reasonable tax. The system makes investing in Costa Rica very attractive.

 Now if you have the intention to live in Costa Rica permanently the government and healthcare system has a lot to offer.

People buy hotels and bars due to their beautiful weather and climate positions. However, Ireland have made the best investment by buying a local business that exports one of many exotic fruits.

Real estate businesses.

The commercial real estate business makes millions of dollars. There are many changes within this sector. A yearly salary in this sector is about 90,000 dollars for the most successful agents. A lot of space is still present in this country to invest in real estate.

 A tremendous amount of money is current to earn. Costa Rica has over the past 2 decades developed economic and political stability. The Ticos (Costa Ricans) are loving people and hard-working. Many reasonable options to invest in Costa Rica and a very good education and health system make it a very attractive place to live. All these options make the country very popular in the American markets to capture intentions.

Costa Rica, s land developmental projects.

The world calls Costa Rica a global leader because this is the only country in America.  In the world it has proved itself to reverse in clearing a wide area of trees. These specific land developmental projects appeared as a success for the country.

 One of the most significant projects of Costa Rica is to protect the natural and cultural heritage of Limon city. Not just this, it is focusing on increasing access to the sewage system to reduce urban flooding.

 This project aims to make the state modern by developing Limon city and Port terminals. As mentioned, the state called a global leader because the state can reduce carbon dioxide emissions in small farms. So this project also has its importance in ecology, wildlife of the central valley, and landscaping diversity.

  Almost, the aim is to clear about 4140 hectares of land in Costa Rica in three years.

Another worthwhile project has launched by the country, called the Umbrella Project. It will also help to decrease carbon dioxide emissions from land farms.

Costa Rica Land for Sale

Their purpose is to generate electricity from reusable processes rather than thermal processes. The Limon and San Jose project have also proved significant as it provided shortcuts to connect two cities. 

The projects are doing certain international companies with big engineering, consultation, and idea-making experience. Several bridges and bus stops provide access to the famous port city. Another famous project deals with protecting wildlife and land areas in which tourism is the only way of generating high revenue.

 Investors and multinational companies that move to Costa Rica will spend a lot of money here in the years to come. Land development projects and new business will be on the top of the list for investors.

 Other options could be a low-risk investment that arises from rental income. This is only possible in the larger cities such as San Jose where there is an increased rental demand. Costa Rica offers any kind of investor or free zone company. It is a great opportunity with lowest tax environment within Latin America.

 https://buymyfarm.co/

[patrickpatrovichluxury]

"Celebrating the #2023".

Stories without photo - editing to show a style. 

Available worldwide. 

More: www.linktr.ee/patrick.carafa patrickcarafagroup@gmail.com 

Patrick Carafa:CEO of Patrick Carafa GROUP. PRO X 4:Construction 360°;Rafting Company;Mktg/communication;Photo and image. 

Anyway,Property Developer,Rafting Company,Photo Agency,ADV Agency. 

Italian origin,Hungarian mother,spent mine first childhood in Rimini,passing from Trentino in Italy to the first overseas experience take place in New Zealand. 

I lived in Budapest,my second home,Rimini,where I was born and returned,Bologna,where I studied as a boy and had fun when I grew up,the UK where I studied and had fun,central Italy from the sea to the Apennines,New Zealand in hundreds of its aspects,the Italian Alps both in summer and in winter only for unconventional sports.I have instead traveled to other 15/20 States.

After the experiences of 90s,I became the Founder and CEO of Patrick Carafa GROUP,combining what I have learned and accumulated by years,widening and setting in the meantime,the existing Business Units: 

Patrick Carafa Constructions 

Patrick Carafa Constructions:Bio&Green&Passive 

Patrick Carafa Properties:Villas,Hotels,Castles,Resorts 

Communitycation 

Photographia 

Patrick Rafting Center 

Patrick Rafting Journeys 

Patrick Rafting Events 

Patrick Rafting Franchise 

Patrick Rafting K A Y A K E R S 

Patrick Rafting - 76 W I L D C A R D S - JOURNEYS 

Patrick Patrovich - Luxury Unit   

This is Patrick Carafa GROUP.

Rafting,outdoor,tourism,constructions,communication,real estate,marketing and photography,image,properties,adv & Co. . 

More than 500.000 images,90 video,more than 15 social channels,around 20 web sites with our offers,critiques and informations.

EXCLUSIVES,NEWS,CURRENT PHOTOS AND VIDEOS,ONLY ON THE CLOUD,here: 

patrickcarafagroup@gmail.com 

www.linktr.ee/patrick.carafa 

More social,here: 

www.linktr.ee/patrick.carafa www.instagram.com/patrick.carafa.social www.twitter.com/PatrickCarafa www.twitter.com/CarafaPatrick www.pinterest.com/patrickrafting www.vimeo.com/patrickcarafa www.vimeo.com/patrickpatrovichluxury www.patrickcarafagroup.tumblr.com www.patrickpatrovichluxury.tumblr.com www.flickr.com/people/patrick-carafa www.flickr.com/people/patrickraftingcompany www.flickr.com/people/patrickcarafaconstructions www.flickr.com/people/timeofphotographia www.flickr.com/people/communitycation www.flickr.com/people/patrickpatrovichluxury www.linkedin.com/in/patrick-carafa www.vogue.it/photovogue/portfolio/?id=193572 www.viewbug.com/member/patrickcarafa www.gurushots.com/patrickcarafagroup www.dribbble.com/patrickcarafa www.medium.com/@patrickcarafagroup www.pixels.com/profiles/patrick-carafa www.patrick-carafa.pixels.com www.pexels.com/it-it/@patrickcarafa www.patrickcarafagroup.blogspot.com www.youtube.com/channel/UCbKX0PsyO9QJhOgEGgKG-HQ www.youtube.com/@patrickcarafagroup www.youtube.com/@patrickcarafa www.youtube.com/@patrickraftingcompany www.youtube.com/@patrickcarafaconstructions www.youtube.com/@timeofphotographia www.youtube.com/@letsgocommunitycation www.youpic.com/PatrickCarafa7 www.ello.co/patrickcarafagroup www.100asa.com/photographer/patrickcarafa

[baddly-well-done-translations]

Hole/M. Manson: The Beauty and the Beast | by Richard Royuela, Rock Sound magazine N°15, year 1999

  There’s no doubt that at the present time, Courtney Love and Marilyn Manson are two of the most controversial characters in the world of rock: egocentric, capricious, intelligent, shrewd… Well, they possess all that sort of adjectives that anybody needs if he wants to triumph in this complicated circus.

  Both of them are the frontmen of their bands, Hole and Marilyn Manson if somebody was left with doubts, and have been at the center of the world these last nine months because of the editions “Mechanical Animals” and “Celebrity Skin”, albums which practically have overcame all commercial and qualitative spectations everyone had on them.

  The big surprise came when at the end of last year, it was announced that Hole and Marilyn Manson were going to protagonize a two month American tour in which they’d play in big enclosures with the increasingly popular Monster Magnet. Lots of people didn’t believe in the implausible nature of the prompt, since it didn’t seem easy for the egos of Courtney and M. Manson to coexist too much time together, but at the same time, being as intelligent as they are, both of them should have known that it was the perfect way for them to be seen by the biggest number of people it could be. This way, the big question of the year was open. Or did somebody doubt this wouldn’t be?

Aerial crisis n°1

  Obviously such an event couldn’t be ignored, and because of that, we decided we had to be there at all costs. The chosen date would be Sunday 14th of March, in which both bands would visit the legendary Forum of Los Angeles… But it wouldn’t be so easy.

  When I entered Barcelona's airport the Saturday before the concert, I wasn’t minimally aware of what was going to happen. The so classical behind-of-schedule arrivals made me lose the junction between Paris and Los Angeles. It seems that the fact that twelve persons had to make that same junction wasn’t enough motivation for the airline to wait for us fifteen missere minutes, and there you watch me rotting seven magnificent hours in Paris airport waiting the eight of the night to come so I could take the following flight… But the surprise had to come soon, because after two hours waiting, the “magnificent and educated” company’s staff told us that the flight had been canceled and it wouldn’t leave until the next day. That meant I’d lose an entire day of my short stop in Los Angeles and also have the beautiful sensation of being treated as a donkey and of an oh-so-educated staff of my new favorite airline called me “rubbish” because I asked for explanations of that big caos. Let’s see if he’s so confident when the report arrives to him. Anyways, let it all be in the name of rock.

The preambles

  Thanks to God I arrived safe and sound to Los Angeles with the exact time to go to a hotel, contact with the person from Universal Records, the great Jose Puig, take a shower, eat something and go to the Forum. Little time to find out that that would be the last concert of the tour. Yes, all those bad omens from the bad talkers had come to reality, and the tour hadn’t even lasted one month. Hole had decided to abandon. Official reason was “production problems”, a too broad term to be taken seriously. In some declarations I found on MTV, Courtney Love said that she had soon noticed that playing in sites with 25.000 persons wasn’t a very good idea and the best was to finish it soon. But as it’s often the case, the rumorology had started and now other motivations about Hole’s abandonment were running. The most popular one was one the actress Rose Mcgowan, current Manson’s girlfriend, had started. Reportedly, she was totally jealous about the possibility of Mrs. Love approaching her man and because of that, she prohibited him from having any kind of contact with Courtney. This and some declarations she made in the magazine Alternative Press, in which she said that she couldn’t understand how anybody could like Hole’s new album, and that if the press said good things about it, it was because they were scared of Courtney Love; it seems that these things flamed up the fuse of discord. What is clear is that watching the show Hole gave made it easier to me understanding why the band’s desertion. But we’ll talk about it later.

  It seems that difficult times start to be history for Monster Magnet. Dave Wyndorf himself has affirmed on more than one occasion that after the “Dopes to Infinity” tour he thought about ending the band, at least at a professional level. Luckily for him and all of us, “Powertrip” has achieved an unexpected success in America, they’ve just been awarded with a gold album and in Europe they’ve even managed to  increase their status in Europe. The fact that “Powertrip” has sold 500.000 CD’s in America hasn’t only been useful to the confidence of the band for going high, but apart of that to open the doors of big tours like this one. However, it’s obvious that on this tour Monster Magnet is nothing more than a special guest, as Faith no More in the tour of Guns ‘n’ Roses and Metallica. With a technically empty forum, and an empty forum is something impressive! Monster Magnet started the short half hour it had available. Without doubt the tracks of “Powertrip” are the ones that take up the totality of the repertory, being “Space Lord” and “Powertrip” those which were best received by their few, but unconditional, fans that acoplated in front of the scenery. With the inclusion of a second guitarist, the total protagonist of the stadium is Dave Wyndorf. Getting rid of his guitar in more than half concert, he feels more comfortable in his character of frontman and lots of his movements remind of the ones of his admired Iggy Pop. Having in mind that the conditions weren’t made to triumph: few lights, poor sound, so little amount of time, the truth is that Monster Magnet got off the scenery more than successfully, proving that all the rewards they’re getting and will get are more than well-deserved. At this time, a tour with Metallica, that isn’t little. 

Courtney’s rage

  For any fan of Hole, a start with “Violet” and “Awful”, the best songs of the new album, would be enough to be satisfied. And that’s no more, no less, what they did. Although in the course of these two songs, it’s easier to understand Courtney’s rage. Far from being the double billboard that was sold, Hole wasn’t more than some luxurious support band. The Californian quartet didn’t compete, neither in terms of scenery and sound quality, at the same conditions as Marilyn Manson and also a big part of the public, although the forum was technically full, wasn’t there because of them. But any of that was an impediment for Hole to perform an antologic concert. With the ascension of Melissa, a red-dressed goddess and the entry of the new baterist, Samantha (from Shift), spectacular and effective to the maximum; Hole has gained a lot in the aspect of visuals. Courtney is still the main focus and Eric, as always, is “conformed” with being staying next to the podium carrying the musical weight. And although she isn’t that beast that seemed to be dying in every concert anymore, she still is a star full of charisma that not even Hollywood could calm. The concert was based on “Celebrity Skin”, although the memories from the past -”Doll’s Dress”, “Miss World” or “Teenage Whore”- weren’t left to the side and in the 60 minutes the group demonstrated that they’re in the right path to be an atemporal rock band, or the Fleetwood Mac of the 2000, said in other way. As the concert continued, Courtney got hot and as she started getting out of her clothes (she ended in a transparent dress and an ass check in the wind) she didn’t stop shouting instructions against the press, television and whatever got through her head. Definitively it won’t be easy to stop Courtney and the fact that “Celebrity Skin” has got up again in the American charts will surely help with that. As expected, she didn’t even condescend to thank Marilyn for the days they spent together. 

And with you, the most stupid fall of all the history of rock

  When Mr. Manson appeared in the scenery crucificted in a cross made of televisions, the hysteria was total. That’s the unequivocal simbol that they’re a big group with all that entails. Dressed in the same way that in the tour that brought them to Spain, there wasn’t any real differences with what we had seen before. That means that his ribcase was punched, there were microphone foots all around the floor, the stilt act, etc… although it’s fair to recognize that the band was having an inspired night. But the great moment came when in the middle of the interpretation of “Rock is Dead”, Mr. Manson, over a one meter high platform, decided to lower his pants to his knees. Not conformed with that, he tried making some steps. Result? He couldn’t maintain the balance and fell off straight to the floor, totally fulminated. While he was still totally  inmovile in there, the rest of the band kept playing as if nothing extraordinary had happened. After that the lights went off and Manson was dragged out of the scenery. In those moments we all thought it was part of the show, but something indicated to us it wasn’t normal when the concert didn’t resume and the loudspeakers told us that because of technical matters the show was going to stay interrupted for another five minutes. Five minutes which guided to the final communication said that because of an accident of the artist, the show had ended. Only a few complaints as an answer. Would we have reacted the same way in Spain? And 25.000 persons with a “circumstance face” started getting out of the forum. The next day it was said that M. Manson had suffered from an ankle break and the tour would continue with Monster Magnet and Nashville Pussy as guests.

  It was speculated that the fall could had been an act that would permit Manson gain time and restructure the tour after Hole’s dissertation.

  An unforeseeable end, or depending on how you see it, totally previsible for a tour that had only started a month ago.

Aerial crisis n°2

  The next day I had to abandon Los Angeles and return to Barcelona, but a new surprise was waiting for me. The flight had been canceled again and I’d have to stay a short night in Los Angeles. Incredible. And as if it weren’t enough, in the hotel I was given I couldn’t smoke and there wasn’t any porn channel. Somebody take me the hell out of here!

[airdropsandcryptonews]

Crypto Projects Explained – UniBright

https://ift.tt/3nkL9zs

Crypto Projects Explained – UniBright

UniBright has made headlines often lately, and for good reasons. While Ethereum has been around for more than five years, additional solutions are needed to meet businesses’ requirements to apply blockchain technology.

Why was UniBright been created?

According to Ruud Huisman from UniBright, around 80% of business processes can be automated on the blockchain using templates, while 20% require custom-made solutions. On Ethereum, all smart contracts and transactions are publicly available. As everyone can track blockchain information, businesses need solutions that keep their data safe while still communicating with other companies.

UniBright has a team of blockchain specialists, architects, developers, and consultants with more than 20 years of experience in business processes and integrations. They found that the biggest issue for companies, especially for the small and medium-sized companies, is that hiring developers is expensive. To solve this problem, UniBright developed the UniBright Framework: a solution that integrates business processes into blockchain by using templates, without requiring any coding for businesses.

The UniBright Framework can function independently, or with the Baseline Protocol.

The Baseline Protocol is an approach to using the public Mainnet of Baseline Protocol as a common frame of reference between different systems, including traditional corporate systems of record, any kind of database or state machine, and even different blockchains or Distributed Ledger Technologies like Ethereum. Baseline Protocol is an open-source initiative from EY, Consensys, Microsoft, UniBright, and other companies. It is particularly promising to reduce capital expense and other overheads while increasing operational integrity when automating business processes across multiple companies.

While the UniBright Framework can function without Baseline Protocol, businesses gain multiple advantages when using the Baseline Protocol, such as the following:

Automate B2B agreements without creating new silos (a closed blockchain that can’t communicate with other blockchains like private blockchains do).

Integrate new relationships with existing ones flexibly without losing system integrity or adding integrations on top of integrations.

Enforce consistency between different parties’ records without moving the data or business logic from legacy systems.

Enforce continuity in a multiparty workflow (e.g., an invoice always agrees with the purchase order) while compartmentalizing which parties know the details in each step.

What solutions does UniBright offer?

Ruud Huisman provided two great examples to get an idea about what the UniBright Framework is and its impact.

“Before Microsoft Windows, we had MS-Dos. You had to know how to code to be able to use a computer. When Microsoft came up with icons, you didn’t have to code anymore, and everybody could use computers. Another example is what WordPress does for creating websites. There are many templates you can use for different kinds of websites. The UniBright Framework’s impact, in combination with the Baseline Protocol, will have a similar impact on business processes. It will have a huge impact on businesses.”

The UniBright Framework starts with a workflow designer that allows multi-party approvals. When working on a new product, multiple departments (or companies) have to give approval or feedback on decisions. A user can easily design workflows and validate them. While validating, the system checks whether or not all parties have been integrated into UniBright and creates smart contracts afterward. This allows all parties to use their software and systems. UBT, the token of UniBright, functions as the UBT blockchain’s fuel and allows UniBright to be blockchain agnostic, which means that the UniBright Framework can operate on any blockchain.

UniBright recently announced that it is working together with SAP, and that Unibright is now available to SAP customers in their SAP Appcenter, where it also says:”Additional UBT tokens are needed.” As far as we know there is no other crypto company that has this feature, where SAP tells their clients that they need to buy a cryptocurrency (UBT) if they want to use a particular product.

Who is using UniBright?

Currently, the UniBright Framework is being used by Coca Cola bottlers in North America. Prior to UniBright, Coca Cola used Hyper Ledger, but this limited them to Hyper Ledger’s private chain. Using UniBright offers more flexibility and opportunities as it will allow their private chain to work together with other software, systems, and blockchains. Other partners and clients of UniBright include Microsoft, Deutsche Bahn, and Tolar.

UniBright will continue working on Baseline Protocol, more integrations, and consulting companies to optimize their solutions.

UBT

The UniBright token is a vital part of the UniBright Framework. The Universal Blockchain Token (UBT) is required for every component. UBT is necessary to work with smart contracts on the UniBright Framework, as well as the UniBright Connecter if companies want to use Baseline Protocol. There is a token calculator to find out how many tokens you need per month.

One of the best features of the UBT token, is that the UBT that is purchased by companies to use the Framework, or UB Connector to Baseline, will not return to the market. This means that if a company like Coca Cola needs for example 500.000 UBT for their business processes, those tokens can be easily bought by their joint venture partner Provide (who purchases UBT from the market so that the client doesn’t have to deal with cryptocurrency themselves), and after they have been bought, they will NOT be sold back onto the open market. This means that the circulating supply will get smaller and smaller. For more details, please read the token model.

Unibright (UBT) is a newcomer to many of the major crypto exchanges. As a result, many people do not have access to much of UBT’s data. A lack of data makes technical indicators unreliable on the higher timeframes. Thus, support and resistance levels are the way to go for most traders.

Support and Resistance

This summer, UBT has formed two support levels. The first support level, where the price is currently, stands between 28,500-24,500 Satoshis. Ever since the price made a breakthrough in April, UBT has held this support level staunchly. The token has already bounced several times off this level, and it is likely to do so again.

If the current support level breaks, then we could see the price head to 11,300 Satoshis, 60% lower than the current level.

If the price does bounce on this current level, then we could see the price reach at least 48,000 Satoshis. This is a critical resistance level, which UBT has broken only once. The next resistance level thus stands around the all-time high at 66,500 Satoshis.

UBT General Guidelines

UBT is currently a very volatile coin. It can double its price in a single week or lose a significant percentage quickly. Thus, it is essential to be prudent with your investments or trading and use a position size that you can afford to lose if the trade/investment goes against you.

Due to its high volatility, UBT tends to create long wicks. Long wicks are a double edge sword when it comes to trading. On the one hand, they are great because it makes it easier to reach your profit target. On the other hand, they are harmful as they are likely to hit your stop loss. Therefore, you need to be careful when using a stop loss with this token. It might be better to go with the Parabolic SAR or the ATR as your stop loss rather than a specific percentage.

Want to learn more about UniBright? Check out UniBright’s website or have a look at UniBright’s Telegram channel.

Special thanks to Ruud Huisman, Marketing Strategist a Unibright.io.

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[abigailskoda]

Burma's Naga People And Kaing Bi

To a great extent obscure and for all intents and purposes isolated from the remainder of the world live in the north-west of Burma in a remote and for outsider as a rule out of reach some portion of the nation inborn individuals who were in the not very removed past referred to and dreaded as talented and excited head-trackers: The Naga.

Burma has a huge number of various indigenous ethnic gatherings however not every one of them are perceived by the Burmese government. Those perceived are gathered in eight principle gatherings of as they are authoritatively called 'Significant Ethnic Races'. These are subdivided into 135 distinctive ethnic gatherings (clans). The Naga individuals are one of them. They comprise of 14 Naga slope clans, for example, the Kanyaks, Angamis, Aos, Chang, Rengmas, and so forth.

The home of the Naga individuals is Nagaland. With 6.401 square miles/16.579 square kilometers the biggest piece of Nagaland is situated in the north-easternmost piece of India where the western Naga individuals have their own, discrete, self-administering state inside the Indian Union. The Naga have two agents in the Indian national parliament and the little city of Kohima is their capital. The Indian piece of Nagaland is in the west and north-west circumscribed by Assam State, in the north-east by Arunachal Pradesh State and in the south by Manipur State. In the east, it is circumscribed by Burma where the littler piece of Nagaland lies.

An enormous region of the Burmese piece of Nagaland is as blocked off as the Indian part. It is incredibly sloping, thickly lush and sprinkled with profound waterway valleys Jewellery Design Competition. It extends along the Burmese/Indian fringe in the upper Chindwin River locale into regions of the Kachin State toward the east and in the northernmost piece of Chin State. In like manner, most by far of Naga individuals are living in the Indian piece of Nagaland, which is more thickly populated than the Burmese piece of Nagaland. As for the all out size of the Burmese piece of Nagaland no data have been accessible to me.

The complete number of all Naga individuals (Nagaland India and Nagaland Burma together) isn't actually known. The absolute populace of Nagaland in India is known to be around 2 million (what number of them are ancestral individuals I can't state) however the quantity of Naga individuals making their home in Burma (the eastern Naga, 4 primary clans and 49 groups) isn't known. Figures somewhere in the range of 70.000 and 500.000 are available for use yet as indicated by my examination the quantity of Naga in Burma is most presumably somewhere close to 150.000 and 200.000.

The five greatest towns, towns or townships in Burma's Nagaland are Khamti, Lahe, Layshi (Lashee), Nanywun and Htamanthi. The primary spot to show up when coming to Nagaland is Khamti. From that point it is conceivable to proceed to different spots.

As for the early history of Nagaland and the starting point of the Naga very little is known. It isn't certain whether they have a typical or assorted ethnic foundation. Since the individuals of Asia, particularly of South-East Asia, are considerably more assorted than those of different mainlands it is hard to discover. Contingent upon the sources in Burma tapped one catches wind of Karen associations, Chin relations and additionally Tibeto-Burman (Mongolian line) birthplace. By and by, I favor the last mentioned.

Getting to and into the Burmese piece of Nagaland requires most importantly an appropriate authorization gave by the pertinent specialists, besides an accomplished nearby guide and thirdly to be very brave; it is harsh voyaging and nothing in the method for extraordinary solace is not out of the ordinary, also extravagance.

Albeit certain things of present day life, for example, plastic packs, plastic ransacks and strips, recorded music and in all honesty films and even karaoke have just discovered their way into certain spots of the not all that effectively available Nagaland the Naga individuals are surely one of this present earth's generally immaculate by-current life-individuals who despite everything stick immovably to their old conventions. Since they appear to be content with their lifestyle this is something worth being thankful for. Yet, as much as it is attractive that the old traditions and habits just as convictions are kept alive and rehearsed there are unquestionably cutoff points to what one considers commendable conservation. Thus it is consoling to realize that for example the custom of head-chasing - which as I am certain was the fundamental explanation behind the Naga's not being among the 'best ten' of those clans that numerous individuals were keen on drawing nearer familiar with - was deserted in the relatively recent past and is right now not rehearsed any longer.

Albeit banned under British standard during the 1890s, scouting was as yet rehearsed by the Nagas at any rate till well into the 1940s. Scouting was significant for the Nagas since they accepted that the ownership of an executed individual's (enemy's) head, which they thought is where the 'mio' (soul) is found would bring about the transference of the separate (unfortunate) individual's qualities and mental fortitude to the triumphant warrior what might expand riches and fruitfulness of the one having taken the head. Additionally, having taken heads did altogether raise the status of a warrior.

Coincidentally, the Naga clans assumed a job not to be disparaged in significance during WWII. All the more correctly stated with regards to the freedom of Burma from the Japanese military by the British with help of American and Chinese powers. As General (later Field-Marshal) William J. Thin in his book 'Transforming Defeat into Victory' watches: "... dynamic help of the nearby tribesmen. These were the brave Nagas whose dependability, even in the most discouraging occasions of the attack had never floundered. Regardless of beating, torment, execution and the copying of their towns, they would not help the Japanese in any capacity or to double-cross our soldiers. Their dynamic assistance to as was past worth or applause... They guided our segments, gathered data, trapped foe watches, conveyed our provisions, and acquired our injured under the heaviest fire - and afterward, being the men of honor they were, regularly denied all installment. Numerous a British and Indian officer owes his life to the stripped, head-chasing Naga, and no trooper of the Fourteenth Army who met them will ever consider them yet with reverence and friendship."

Be that as it may, the Naga individuals are not just knowledgeable in the craft of wilderness fighting. They are additionally notable for their ability in makes basically woodcarving, material and crate weaving and to some prominent degree metallurgy and metalwork. These expressions have created from getting things done due to legitimate need instead of the aim to deliver something excellent. Allow us to take, for example, the lovely covers and shawls the Naga's are weaving and wearing. They are a significant thing of dress particularly during freezing (however only occasionally freezing) winters in the mountain zones. Both, female and male the same utilize these covers as a body wrap or material. Be that as it may, the structures of male covers vary from those of female covers.

The structures additionally contrast from clan to clan and sub-clan to sub-clan as they demonstrate inborn alliance. The Naga esteem these body materials profoundly and they are passed down from age to age for which reason many of the gladly worn covers are valuable legacies. The material these covers are made of is fleece. The essential shading sets are for the most part red and dark, orange and dark, red and blue, red and green just as white, red and dark. The hues utilized are extremely splendid, striking and intense. The structure components are overwhelmingly geometric example, for example, crosses, squares and stripes. The covers do at times have a band portraying creatures (frequently painted) running from one side to the next through the sweeping's middle. Materials used to decorate the covers are little polished and splendidly hued cowrie shells orchestrated around and around as well as twofold circles, lines and stick figures and slyly sewed unto the covers.

The cowrie (cypraeidae) is a marine mollusc with a smooth, domed shell with a long, limited and toothed opening. The name is gotten from the Hindu name 'Kauri'. The cowrie mussel is normal to tropical waters and particularly the yellow-white shaded cowrie shell (cypraea moneta) of the purported 'cash cowrie' was once in the past among others in Asia widely utilized as money. Be that as it may, considerably higher prized than the cowrie shell is among the Naga the greater conch shell.

The conch (family strombidae) is a marine mollusc. The name is applied to numerous types of marine snails. The genuine conch has a hearty winding shell with covering whorls, which may bear long, hook like projections and a flared lip. Portions of the conch shell are utilized as studs (worn by ladies and men the same), jewelry fastens or are utilized to make a crown. Concerning woodcarving, the Naga individuals cut everything from bowls and funnels to plates, spoons, coffins, and so on and are popular for molding regarded individuals, for example, expired relatives and warriors. The statues are dressed in customary dresses and enhanced with Naga hats and splendidly shaded beaded accessories. Among authorities these wooden Naga figures are as of now high prized objects. The Naga apply their significant woodcarving aptitudes likewise with regards to the adornment of totems. Totems and chain of commands assume a significant job in the Naga culture similarly for what it's worth in the way of life of for example North American clans of red Indians. Naga individuals praise a great deal of celebrations yet 2 of the significant celebrations are the Hornbill Festival in the main seven day stretch of December and Kaing Bi the Naga Lunar New Year in January.

[warzscam]

Hard evidence: “War Z” development only lasted 6 months

A clever reader of this blog was able to fetch a quote from one of the “The War Z“‘s developers, namely it is Roman Stepanov aka “RomanS” (Art director at arktos entertainment) talking about a new project (“The War Z” !) they were starting may 2012. This is finally hard evidence that this game has not been developed “for a couple of years” or atleast 2, “The War Z” has been developed in only 6 months !

But read for yourself, ironically this quote is out of a “Arma 2: Day Z” (That mod they didn’t copy at all) thread on a third party forum: “We have the engine We have artists We have programers We have designers We have tech We’ve been working on our own zombie for PS3 (Sony’s request) for a while. Would you guys play this if we make it on PC as a huge open world like in Chernarus. With lots of towns, villages, drivable vehicles, clans, trading merchants, resources, etc? We are thinking about doing this right now. This way you wont have problems with servers, buggy environment and combat system, and all the exploration zombie surviving you want How about it?” Roman Stepanov aka “RomanS” on 16th may 2012 Source: militaryphotos.net/forums/showthread.php?212608-ArmA-II-DayZ&p=6177919&viewfull=1#post6177919 Link to his linkedin to proof he is a developer at arktos entertainment: linkedin.com/pub/roman-stepanov/4/26b/504 There you got it, but let’s be fair towards “The War Z”, let’s say at this time point they already started developing the game since the whole of may, then you get about 6 months of development from start until end of alpha and getting “live”. Wow !

Some people are confused by “Hammerpoint Interactive“‘s misleading claims and moderators of their forums making false statements: The game right now is not in alpha or in beta. There is no beta, the developers simply dropped it out of the cycle and instead went “live” (as they call it) directly after the alpha. That is the reason why you will not find anything that says that this game is in alpha or beta status on their website and their buysite. Here are statments from the executive producers on the games current status:

“There’re no preorders anymore - not since October 31st . Game is live.”

-Sergey Titov Source: forums.thewarz.com/showthread.php?67660-Wipe-new-packages-new-features-roadmap-new-antihack-Steam-version-!/page2&p=1034822#post1034822 “We started pre orders on the 2nd or 3rd of october. We opened the game for the Pioneer and Legend buyers on the 15th of october. And since the 31st of October the game is wide open. People can play it. The game is out there from our perspective.”

-Sergey Titov Source: forums.thewarz.com/showthread.php?67660-Wipe-new-packages-new-features-roadmap-new-antihack-Steam-version-!/page2&p=1034822#post1034822

Now to everyone playing “The War Z” this gives atleast one answer as to why this game is missing so many features and is infested with bugs and hackers - This game simply has been pushed out onto the market in the fastest possible way to generate money.

Which leads to the next interesting point, as Sergey Titov stated in one post there are about 500.000 players right now registered on “The War Z”. Now let’s take the current prices and not the higher pre-order prices with which they ripped pre-orderers off and do some math: There are 3 packages: $15 - $25 - $50

Let’s say that only 10% opted for the most expensive one, 20% for the mid-priced and the rest opted for the low priced package. That makes a revenue of about 10 MILLION DOLLARS for 6 months of work. And that is even calculated with conservative numbers.

10 million dollars for 6 months of work, obviously “Hammerpoint Interactive” was very keen on bringing this game out even when it is missing most of its features and being plagued by bugs. Just to put the 6 months of development into perspective: Even a simple shooter such as “Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare” with around 100 people working on it took 2 years time of development. “The War Z” just has a couple of developers and put their game out in 6 months - Obviously because most content and the engine was recycled from their past game “War Inc”.

This evidence is quite clear and it once again proves that the developers have been flat out lying about their game. It’s time for “Hammerpoint Interactive” to answer some questions, and to tell the community of “The War Z” why they mislead and lied to them. BTW “RomanS” was also the developer who got caught and busted for talking about cheating ingame here: hvk-gaming.com/forum/m/8970566/viewthread/4808688-warz-developer-caught-cheating

[niishiki]

I am building something HUGE again X3 I wanted to make something a little bit bonkers. So despite the royal exterior (that is a little inspired by Versailles), there will be rooms that are just mad. I already build the mirror hall - and a mirror labyrinth with a hidden door that leads into the treasure room. Other than this there are going to be doors leading to nowhere and staircases leading straight into a wall. 

Current price: around 500.000 Simoleons.