#graph courtesy of echo

[chaos-has-theories]

Okay but what did I actually MEAN by that

[elsanna-shenanigans]

December 2021 feedback and reviews

It’s very high time for some cheerful feedback on your December stories!

Below the cut you will find: a run-down of the bonus restriction points, individual feedback for the stories from the voters and a link to a sheet containing detailed reviews of every August submission, courtesy of our Monthlies Reviewing Club.

BONUS RESTRICTIONS

Points were being awarded for completing three different criteria: using the smell of chocolate, pine or gasoline somewhere in the story, mentioning coins and including the number 12. Each restriction was worth one bonus favorite point + one extra for fulfilling all three for up to four extra points.

Stories awarded 4 extra points: Winter Blooms; Frostfire; A handful of sun; New Year's Kiss; The Rubaiyat of Sisters; Confined; Of Artifact, Snow, and Love; Echoes of You; Fields of Evergreen; Loose change on the loose; The Twelve Days of Yule; A(n arguably) Delicious Tradition; The Years to Come

Stories awarded 2 extra points: Staying Inn; Arthur

Stories awarded 1 extra point: Wedding Tradtions; pon farr

Stories not awarded extra points: A calm year; Sacrifice To The Beast

The extra points have already been included on the results graph.

FEEDBACK AND REVIEWS

This month’s roster of 8 reviewers included: Antor2001, Basil, @dont-tell-them-its-me, @the-magic-one-is-you, KnightSolaire, Primxl, @adoraslastbraincell and ElsannaSnowdrop.

The reviews can be read here. The nicknames listed above and on the sheet might not be the same, but the people are in the same order.

Individual stories feedback from the voters:

f = favorite vote, k = kudos vote

1: Winter Blooms Style 6 (3f 3k) Characterisation 4 (2f 2k) Dialogues 3 (2f 1k) Tone 2 (2f) Flow 1 (1f) Plot 2 (1f 1k) Grammar 1 (1f) The story's Elsa 1 (1f) The story's Anna 1 (1f) Setting/Universe 1 (1k)

2: Frostfire Style 11 (5f 6k) Fits the prompt best 1 (1f) Characterisation 5 (4f 1k) Dialogues 2 (1f 1k) Tone 6 (4f 2k) Flow 7 (3f 4k) Plot 7 (4f 3k) Grammar 3 (3f) The story's Elsa 4 (3f 1k) The story's Anna 4 (4f) Setting/Universe 7 (4f 3k) Other (1k): - Guess I’m a slut for enemies to lovers

3: Staying Inn Style 4 (1f 3k) Fits the prompt best 1 (1f) Characterisation 2 (1f 1k) Dialogues 1 (1f) Tone 1 (1f) Flow 1 (1f) Plot 3 (1f 2k) Grammar 1 (1f) The story's Elsa 1 (1f) The story's Anna 1 (1f) Setting/Universe 2 (1f 1k)

4: A handful of sun Style 10 (5f 5k) Fits the prompt best 3 (1f 2k) Characterisation 12 (7f 5k) Dialogues 7 (4f 3k) Tone 9 (4f 5k) Flow 11 (5f 6k) Plot 10 (6f 4k) The story's Elsa 7 (4f 3k) The story's Anna 6 (4f 2k) Setting/Universe 4 (3f 1k) Total other: 2 Other (1f): - chef’s kiss Other (1k): - anna is SO IN LOVE

5: New Year's Kiss Style 1 (1k) Characterisation 1 (1k) Dialogues 2 (2k) Tone 2 (1f 1k) Flow 1 (1k) Plot 3 (1f 2k) Setting/Universe 2 (2k) Other (1k): - it was cute

6: The Rubaiyat of Sisters Style 3 (1f 2k) Tone 1 (1k) Flow 1 (1f) Grammar 1 (1f) Other (1f): - It's an amazing bit of poetry

7: A calm year Fits the prompt best 1 (1f) Dialogues 1 (1f) Flow 1 (1f)

8: Confined Style 10 (3f 7k) Fits the prompt best 4 (2f 2k) Characterisation 8 (2f 6k) Dialogues 7 (3f 4k) Tone 6 (1f 5k) Flow 4 (2f 2k) Plot 11 (4f 7k) Grammar 1 (1k) The story's Elsa 2 (1f 1k) The story's Anna 4 (1f 3k) Setting/Universe 1 (1k)

9: Of Artifact, Snow, and Love Style 1 (1f) Characterisation 2 (1f 1k) Flow 1 (1k) Plot 1 (1k) Setting/Universe 1 (1f) Other (1f): - love me some Warehouse 13

10: Echoes of You Style 9 (2f 7k) Characterisation 7 (1f 6k) Dialogues 6 (1f 5k) Tone 10 (2f 8k) Flow 8 (2f 6k) Plot 10 (2f 8k) Grammar 2 (2k) The story's Elsa 2 (2k) The story's Anna 9 (9k) Setting/Universe 3 (3k) Other (2k): - the snapshots of anna's misery in the present contrasted with her happy memories of elsa were really effective; i especially loved the way the story gradually doled out info about how things got like this. i wondered why elsa even had powers, until she got abducted by the government (??) bc of it, this was an A+ plot twist. - that reunion scene was written flawlessly bestie

11: Fields of Evergreen Style 9 (4f 5k) Fits the prompt best 2 (1f 1k) Characterisation 9 (4f 5k) Dialogues 6 (2f 4k) Tone 4 (1f 3k) Flow 3 (1f 2k) Plot 9 (5f 4k) Grammar 2 (1f 1k) The story's Elsa 5 (2f 3k) The story's Anna 5 (2f 3k) Setting/Universe 5 (3f 2k)

12: Wedding Traditions Plot 1 (1k) Setting/Universe 1 (1k)

13: Loose change on the loose Style 3 (1f 2k) Fits the prompt best 2 (2k) Characterisation 2 (2k) Dialogues 2 (1f 1k) Tone 2 (2k) Flow 3 (1f 2k) Plot 3 (3k) Grammar 1 (1k) The story's Elsa 1 (1k) The story's Anna 1 (1k) Setting/Universe 1 (1k) Other (1f): - ok so this had a dearth of proper punctuation, but that absolutely did not hinder the raw energy/momentum of the story. i loved every line of dialogue. this was a consistently fun read from start to finish, even if there wasn't much tradition to be found haha

14: Sacrifice To The Beast Style 1 (1k) Characterisation 1 (1k) Tone 1 (1k) Flow 1 (1k) Plot 1 (1k) The story's Elsa 1 (1k) Setting/Universe 1 (1k)

15: Arthur Style 1 (1k) Fits the prompt best 2 (1f 1k) Characterisation 3 (3k) Dialogues 3 (1f 2k) Tone 1 (1k) Flow 2 (1f 1k) Plot 3 (1f 2k) Grammar 1 (1k) The story's Elsa 4 (1f 3k) The story's Anna 1 (1k) Setting/Universe 3 (1f 2k)

16: The Twelve Days of Yule Style 2 (2k) Tone 1 (1k) Flow 1 (1k) Plot 2 (2k) The story's Anna 2 (2k) Setting/Universe 1 (1k)

17: A(n arguably) Delicious Tradition Style 1 (1f) Fits the prompt best 1 (1f) Characterisation 1 (1f) Tone 1 (1f)

19: The Years to Come Style 1 (1k) Characterisation 1 (1k) Dialogues 1 (1k) Tone 2 (2k) Flow 1 (1k) Plot 1 (1k) The story's Elsa 1 (1k) The story's Anna 1 (1k) Setting/Universe 2 (1f 1k)

[naussensei]

What happens when you leave Levi unsupervised in Erwin’s office?

Chapter 9 (Excerpt)

After he completed the rest of the tasks list, Levi headed over to Erwin’s office, bringing with him a pile of folders. He knocked on the door - only out of courtesy - and opened it without waiting for a response. He had run out of patience for that long ago, always finding Erwin napping on the desk while he waited outside like an idiot.

“Oi, stop slacking...” he said as he entered the room.

To his surprise, Erwin was not there yet.

The meeting must have been extended, Levi assumed , lingering around the door for another moment, hesitant to go inside.

He had been in Erwin’s office many times before, but for some reason, without him in there, it felt a little odd. As if he were trespassing his privacy. But if he left the door unlocked, it was probably because he expected Levi to continue his work even without him there.

Levi decided to at least take the pile of folders to place them on Erwin’s desk. He closed the door behind him, in case someone would see him there and ask unwanted questions.

When he dropped the heavy tower of folders on the desk, a screen of dust flew up into the air.

“Fucking hell, Erwin,” he grunted, annoyed, fanning the dust away from his face with disgust. His eyes went to the layer of dust over the desk, then scanned all around the room, wondering when was the last time Erwin had cleaned his office.

Levi had never really stopped to pay attention to the place. It was a fairly large room, with flowered pattern panels on the walls. One of the walls was covered by a small built-in library that went from the floor to the ceiling, the shelves topped with thick books. Levi wondered why Erwin would want them there if he barely had time to read.

He walked to stand by the library and slid a finger over the old wooden shelves, all covered in dust.

A picture caught his attention in the middle of the shelf. It was a portrait of a man. Blond and tall; thick eyebrows over gentle eyes. He would have thought it was Erwin’s picture if it weren’t for the glasses and the beard he wore. Levi assumed it was Erwin’s father, curious as to why he wouldn’t keep any other pictures there.

He browsed around, skimming through the titles of the leatherback tomes, most of them history books, he guessed by the titles. He picked a lone book idling in a corner and read the title out loud.

“Alexander the Great,” he muttered, opening the book on the page that was marked with a piece of paper. All he could see was maps and war strategy graphs detailed in the pages. He immediately recognized Erwin’s neat handwriting in the annotations, and couldn’t help but chuckle at his keenness on the subject. He took the book with him as he moved towards the desk again, flipping through the pages with curiosity. It was an easier read than he had imagined; all terms associated with war and military concepts he was now able to follow. He lost his train of thought at one moment when he had to put the book away to sneeze, suddenly aware of the dust in the air again. He lay the book on the table, and headed outside to bring a bucket of water and a cloth.

Once back in the office, Levi removed all the items from the desk to remove the dust. After he finished, he placed the items back neatly, arranging them in a much more harmonic way. He wiped down the small globe Erwin kept on top of the drawers, and placed it next to the brass lamp he had just polished, fixing the quills and stamps in an appealing way. He finally relaxed on Erwin’s chair to admire his work, smiling with satisfaction. Hiis feet slightly dangling on the oversized chair, fingers drumming on the table as he looked around, picturing what Erwin would see from that spot every time someone went into his office.

His eyes stopped at the bucket of water lying on the floor next to him. Unable to resist the urge, Levi continued to wipe down the rest of the surfaces, opening the window to ventilate and feel the warm breeze cleansing the air of the room.

He had just started wiping the windows when he heard Erwin coming in.

Erwin froze at the door when he saw him.

“Levi?” He said, “What are you doing?”

Levi instantly hid the cloth behind his back, like a child hiding his shame. “Nothing.”

“Are you cleaning again?”

“No...”

Erwin raised his eyebrows, waiting for a confession.

“Maybe…” Levi said.

Erwin sighed. “I’ve told you, you don’t have to do that…”

“Fine, yes, I was cleaning. The place is a fucking mess, I can’t work like this.” He complained. “When was the last time you cleaned your office?”

“I… don’t remember,” he admitted.

“Don’t you have someone to come and clean for you?” Levi recalled seeing the maids cleaning the common areas at least once a week.

“Yes…” Erwin said, closing the door behind him, “but, I’m always busy in here when they come, so I send them away.”

Levi clicked his tongue and rolled his eyes, then continued to clean.

Erwin now moved to stand by his side, rolling his sleeves up, watching Levi with guilt as he wiped the windows so thoroughly “Let me, I’ll do it.” He said, grabbing the cloth from his hand.

Levi’s grip tightened around the cloth, pulling his hand away. “I’m almost done.”

Erwin pulled again aggressively, causing Levi to clash against him. But Levi’s hand remained stubbornly attached to the cloth.

“Levi...” Erwin threatened him.

“Erwin...” he echoed, imitating his voice with a challenging glare.

Levi was pushed with his back against the wall, his arm twisted over his head, leaving him out of breath.

“Let go.” Erwin said, his voice imperative and harsh.“That’s an order.”

Levi held his gaze another moment, then finally his grip loosened. Yet instead of letting Erwin grab it, he let the cloth fall onto the floor out of spite. Erwin smirked when he did.

“You’ve learned to listen after all.” he hummed, without moving just yet. “Good boy.”

Erwin now bent down to grab the cloth, and Levi’s chest fluttered, his gaze going to the bookshelf again to avoid looking at him. He stared at the photograph again to keep his eyes busy, waiting until he could hear the squeaking of the cloth against the glass to move.

“Is that your father?” He asked, eyes still on the picture.

Erwin turned to look as he continued to clean. “Yes. That’s him. You can tell by the eyebrows.”

“You look like him.” He observed. “And your mother?”

He watched Erwin smile briefly before he put the cloth away.

“My father threw away most of her pictures. He said it was too painful to look at them.” He now walked to sit at his desk and begin his reports, and Levi pulled another chair to sit in front of him to continue his work as well.

Only then Erwin noticed something was out of place in his desk, his eyes now going to the book he usually kept on the shelf.

“Did you have fun in my office today, Levi?” he asked with a smile.

“Yes, lots of fun cleaning your filth,” Levi said ironically, “I don’t even want to imagine what your room is like.”

Erwin chuckled quietly before he opened the first folder of the endless pile on his desk.

From: The Slum Rat and the Wings of Freedom (Historical AU)

[vicshush]

[Text transcript, courtesy of @horriblehottakes

Right now this image might not make much sense to you but it’s my favorite science graph ever because it’s what happens when you swing a bat. (Pauses) Sorry, it’s what happens when you put a bat in a swing. And in case you were concerned, no bats were harmed in the study they were all released the same day.

So you’re a mustached bat. First of all, congrats. Second of all, you’re going to have to use your echolocation to eat about 500 bugs in one night. That’s just how it is I don’t make the rules. The problem is the world is a noisy place so you have a few tricks up your sleeves.

One of them is to make a wide sweep of frequencies. (example with pitch shift) But the other strategy is to make a specific frequency that you are really really good at hearing. How good at hearing? As a mustached bat, your ear is physically shaped to be good at hearing that pitch.

A mustached bat’s inner ear is physically thicker in the exact part of the ear that resonates at that sweet spot frequency. This strategy is great because you only have to worry about one frequency so it’s a huge load off your brain. But there’s a problem with that, specifically, physics. (shakes fist, yells "Physics!" angrily)

The Doppler Effect is what causes frequencies from moving objects to increase as they approach and decrease as they leave (example with a car sound effect -- steady noise when traveling alongside, higher to lower shift if passing by).

As a bat, your problem is, the faster you fly forward, the higher pitch your echoes when they come back to you and if the pitch increases, they’re going to be knocked out of your sweet spot. (example with someone running down a street -- stationary, the sound echoes back correctly, but as the person moves forward faster, the echo's pitch changes and the person gets frustrated, saying "What? I can't hear anything!")

This whole plan can’t work! You’re constantly moving at different speeds so the pitch of your echo is constantly changing and you can’t change your sweet spot.

Unless you, as a mustached bat, change the pitch you make based on your speed to exactly compensate for the Doppler effect so when your echo comes back to you, it’s always right in that sweet spot. (example with running person -- they drop the pitch as they speed up and the echo comes back steadily at the same higher pitch)

This is called Doppler Shift Compensation and it's incredible.

How did we figure out bats were doing this? Scientists put bats in a little foam swing and when they swung the bats forward they made this diagram.

The pitch in the graph changes exactly to match the movement of the swing so when you add them together, you get exactly that sweet spot pitch.

But you may have noticed the pitch doesn’t change on the backward swing. Over here, the red dots are a perfect mirror of the Doppler curve but over here they’re a straight line.

Bats don’t fly backwards so they don’t know how to compensate for that.

And that's why this is my favorite science graph.

/end text]

[writer59january13]

Raid versus woe

Black flag(s) show up

on social media platforms

when potential homicidal maniac(s)

communicate(s) intent to strike

with ambush and ready read - able, eager, and willing

to embark upon murderous rampage.

Prospective killer armed to the teeth

usually a young bucking male

between ages of eighteen and twenty five

wielding, targeting subjects then firing

high powered choice powered guns such as:

Bushmaster XM15-E2S rifle;

Glock 20SF handgun

.22LR Savage Mark II bolt-action rifle or AR-15-style rifle,

a popular range of semiautomatic weapons.

After countless shooters on the loose wreaking havoc vis a vis carnage

bloody death and destruction indelibly etched upon consciousness regarding every surviving person,

who hears and especially

witnesses the terrible and horrible news anesthetized, brutalized, traumatized, et cetera

for his/her remaining existence.

Violent deadly crime spree shoots upward;

gun owners indiscriminately brandish

loaded firearms toward innocent victims,

and concomitantly excite anguish purported in accordance

with first amendment relish,

yet proliferation allowing

free ranging banshee dervish

sans weapons of mass destruction

(mainly innocent lives)

inures citizens to appear standoff fish

U.S., and self-important solitudinarian

becoming comfortably numb

at regular headlines detailing

some lone hooligan a bit mish

hug ha, an automatic killer

methodically unloading with a swish

multitudinous cartridges attempt

oddly to even the score, a wish

to take revenge viz a personal vendetta amidst the madding crowds -

utter oy vey - tis Yiddish.

Such proliferation of

high-powered assault pistols graph berserk arc with surging blip

bipedal hominid(s) deadly grip

handling barrel as dirk in case the clip

doth miss the mark,

where siege mentality induces nationwide sprinting infamy to drip

metamorphosing into igneous

malignant state with curled (Elvis) lip

mailer daemon hell bent

on besieging bait (unaware nip

pee nap noopy snapchatting beings)

bursting with deadly quip

with a barrage of bullets

malicious intent to spray;

killing machines delivering rip

paying deathly howls

amidst pandemonium, thence funereal slip

epitaphs etched on tombstones proliferate taking souls to Hades trip loved ones next of kin tragic loss

analogously suffering courtesy stinging invisible whip.

More often than not

such brutal and nasty team (short lived) nefarious scheme unleashing angry people to rage and scream

directed at humble lettered people like those comprising ream

member ring my hometown - once evoked with pastoral meme

of Lake Woebegone minding their p's and q's, when in the extreme

and out of the blue like a nightmare interrupting an idyllic dream

a sudden bitta bing bitta bang rings terrorist catcall followed

by red tide and river of bloodying bodied of hue men caskets

rendered veneer of dark wood

within lies mutilated corpse,

pistol whipped, where mortician

daub with creme.

Soundcloud(s) boom(s) across,

thus occurs yet another staccato sinister sonic thunder

across the pearl jam gray slate

of some formerly anonymous name sake, which underling of bossed

son or daughter blasting

bombardment blitzkrieg shells cross invisible trajectories shatter

at uber twittering, shutterfly speed,

the democratic rubric - rendered as dross

disposable lives of society with senseless slaughter,

whereat somber silence echoes nostalgia for the Mill on the Floss

when life seemed so innocent

against the gun metal gloss wails of agony at another human loss elapsing years tombstone covered with moss.

This epidemic re:

murderous love affair perfervid

with gruesome morbid

fixation allowing, enabling

and providing terrifying

trappings, whence went Pandora out the lid

anger loosed maniacally gun down

(in S-L-O-W mo) recorded by hid

den madding crowd, each person

locked in crosshair grid

source (perhaps pathetic plan

premeditated) employing did

da ding from flying bullets,

a coterie upping the ante vis a vis bid

ding fare thee well from odious

loading incendiary fiery clips.

Trigger happy homicidal maniacs slake thirst finding me being verbally bullied

seem oh so yesterday

to take aim in billeted soiree

with deadly precision, and spray

with pump posse city,

a congregated engaged groupon

of people), with egregious pay

shunt and methodically

mowing down, a slew - nay

re: doth unsuspecting

victim aware - delivering melee

layered mayhem to this anonymous

American citizen as well

family and survivors, who lay

down their sorrows,

which bring revulsion and gray

obsolescence of faith in mankind to fray.

Death be not proud,

nor ought airtime allocated to these

heinous cavalier avengers

foe tee eight-hour special (proffers

twitchy finger itching to squeeze

especial easy access

to sophisticated high caliber compact

offspring doth please

manifesting those prize pride

killing machine owners never freeze

rapaciously with so much ease

lethal gimcrackery cutlasses

even a lil whippersnapper kite runner unleashing whipping cords

will serve you more

lacerating more so than ropes will ever do

necessitate strong control

to stem violence as disease.

[joshuajacksonlyblog]

1% Bitcoin, 99% Cash Portfolio Outperforms Gold, Bonds, S&P 500

Replacing just 1 percent of one’s portfolio with Bitcoin lets investors outperform the S&P 500, gold and US Treasury bonds, new data released February 8 claims.

Bitcoin Beats S&P ‘Every Year’

Compiled by Twitter-based economics analyst known as planB, the visual data simulates portfolio performance with varying degrees of Bitcoin involvement.

Compared to the three classic components, which planB identifies as having a ��nice risk/ return” identity, Bitcoin can increase the return factor considerably without engendering weakness overall.

“(Bitcoin) risk/ return is another universe,” he commented.

As such, a 1 percent BTC component in a 99% Cash portfolio offers 10 percent returns, but with a maximum 1 percent loss, surpassing the S&P 500’s two-year risk/ return record “every year.”

A 2 percent setup yields even better results, the graph shows, while a 0.5 percent Bitcoin component appears less than optimal by comparison.

S&P500, Gold & US 10Y Treasury bonds are on a nice risk/return-line. Investors can do slightly better by mixing assets and capture correlation.#bitcoin risk/return is another universe. 1%BTC + 99%Cash portfolio: 10% return + max 1% loss, beating S&P on 2Y risk/return EVERY YEAR pic.twitter.com/KZaBjXogom

— planB (@100trillionUSD) February 8, 2019

Secret’s Out

The analyst’s depiction broadly echoes those made by official entities. In August last year, Bitcoinist reported, research from Yale University suggested a 4-6 percent standing in Bitcoin was essential for all portfolios.

Others have cited a figure of around 10 percent as a healthy maximum, the figures nonetheless coming as volatility in Bitcoin varied considerably.

The second half of 2018 and the beginning of this year have been marked by periods of newfound Bitcoin price stability, with only a breakdown period in mid-November impacting on the wider trend.

Touching on altcoins meanwhile, planB was careful to delineate Bitcoin from any other cryptocurrency.

“…[A]ll cheap altcoin copies of bitcoin are irrelevant, like monopoly money to (USD),” he added.

The remainder of this year should see increased participation from institutional investors looking to build out cryptocurrency exposure within their portfolio. The first wave, commentators suggest, should come via the launch of Intercontinental Exchange’s long-delayed Bakkt platform in the first half.

What do you think about the Bitcoin portfolio data? Let us know in the comments below!

Images courtesy of Shutterstock

The post 1% Bitcoin, 99% Cash Portfolio Outperforms Gold, Bonds, S&P 500 appeared first on Bitcoinist.com.

from Cryptocracken Tumblr http://bit.ly/2WTa54j via IFTTT

[morganbelarus]

Instagram now lets you share Stories to a Close Friends list

No one wants to post silly, racy or vulnerable Stories if they’re worried their boss, parents and distant acquaintances are watching. So to get people sharing more, and more authentically, Instagram will let you share to fewer people. Today after 17 months of testing, Instagram is globally launching Close Friends on iOS and Android over the next two days. It lets you build a single private list of your best buddies on Instagram through suggestions or search, and then share Stories just to them. They’ll see a green circle around your profile pic in the existing Story tray to let them know this is Close Friends-only content, but no one gets notified if they’re added or removed from your list that only you can view.

“As you add more and more people [on any social network], you start not to know them. That’s obviously going to change the things that you’re sharing and it makes it even harder to form very deep connections with your closest friends because you’re basically curating for the largest possible distribution,” said Instagram director of product Robby Stein, who announced the news onstage at TechCrunch Disrupt Berlin. “To really be yourself and connect and be connected to your best friends, you need your own place.”

I spent the last few days demoing Close Friends and it’s remarkably smooth, intuitive and useful. Suddenly there was a place to post what I might otherwise consider too random or embarrassing to share. Teens already invented the idea of “Finstagrams,” or fake Instagram accounts, to share feed posts to just their favorite people without the pressure to look cool. Now Instagram is formalizing that idea into “Finstastories” through Close Friends.

The feature is a wise way to counteract the natural social graph creep that occurs as people accept social networking requests out of a sense of obligatory courtesy from people they aren’t close to, which then causes them to only share blander content. Helping people express their wild side as must-see content for their Close Friends could drive up time spent on the app. But there’s also the risk that the launch creates private echo sphere havens for offensive content beyond the eyes of those who’d rightfully report it.

“No one has ever mastered a close friends graph and made it easy for people to understand,” Stein notes. The path to variable sharing privacy winds through a cemetery. Facebook’s “Lists” product struggled to find traction for a decade before being half-shut down. Google+’s big selling point was “Circles” for sharing to different groups of people. But with both, users found it too boring and confusing to make a bunch of different lists they could share to or view feeds from. Snapchat launched its own Groups feature two months ago, but it’s easy to forget who’s in which list and they’re designed around group chat. Most users just end up trying their best to reject, unfollow or mute people they didn’t want to see or share with. The nearest anyone came to getting it right was Path, which had its own Inner Circle list with a similar star logo, but that app never achieved ubiquity.

Now after almost 15 years of Facebook, 12 years of Twitter, eight years of Instagram and seven years of Snapchat, that strategy has failed for many, leading to noisy feeds and a fear of sharing to too many. “People get friend requests and they feel pressure to accept,” Stein explains. “The curve is actually that your sharing goes up and as you add more people initially, as more people can respond to you. But then there’s a point where it reduces sharing over time.”

So Instagram chose to build Close Friends as just a single list in hopes that you won’t lose track of who’s part of it. As the feature rolls out today, there’ll be an explainer Story from Instagram about it in your tray, you’ll get walked through when you hit the Close Friends button on the Story composer, and there’ll be a call out on your profile to configure Close Friends in the Settings menu. You’ll be able to search for your close friends or quickly add them from a list of suggestions based on who you interact with most. You can add or remove as many people as you want without them knowing, they just will or won’t see your green circled Close Friends story. “We’re protecting you and your right to share or not share to certain people. It gives you air cover,” Stein tells me.

From then on, you can use the Close Friends shortcut in the Stories composer to share it with just those people, who’ll see a green “Close Friends” label on the story to let them know they’re special. Instagram will use the signal of who you add to help rank and order your Stories tray, but it won’t automatically pop Close Friends Stories to the front. When asked if Facebook would use that data for personalization too, Stein told me, “We’re the same company,” but said using it to improve Facebook is “not something that we’re actively working on.”

Robby Stein (Instagram) debuts a new feature called Close Friends that allows users to share Stories with a small group of friends #TCDisrupt pic.twitter.com/ontdA7CQU0

— TechCrunch (@TechCrunch) November 30, 2018

There’s no screenshot alerts, similar to the rest of Instagram Stories, but you won’t be able to DM anyone someone else’s Close Friends Story. That’s it. “We haven’t invented any new design affordances or things you need to know,” Stein beams. For now it’s meant for user profiles, but publishers, social media celebrities and brands would probably love ways to build fan clubs through the feature. Perhaps Instagram would even allow creators to charge users to be admitted to Close Friends. If not, some savvy influencers will probably do it anyways as they try to make Instagram more like Patreon.

Instagram’s Robby Stein (left) tells TechCrunch’s Josh Constine about Close Friends at Disrupt Berlin

The one concern here is that Close Friends could create little bunkers in which people can share objectionable content without consequence. It’d be sad to see it harbor racism, sexism or other stuff that doesn’t belong anywhere on Instagram. Stein says that because you’re talking with friends instead of strangers on a Reddit, “it self regulates what it’s used for. We haven’t seen a lot of that usage in the testing that we’ve done. It’s still a broadcast channel and it doesn’t generate this group discussion. It doesn’t spiral.”

Overall, I think Close Friends will be a hit. When it started testing a prototype called Favorites in June 2017 it worked with feed posts too, but Instagram decided the off the cuff posts wouldn’t fit right next to your more widely broadcasted highlights. But confined to Stories, it feels like a natural and much-needed extension of what Instagram was always supposed to be but that’s gotten lost in our swelling social networks: giving the people you love a window into your life.

Original Article : HERE ; This post was curated & posted using : RealSpecific

=> *********************************************** Read Full Article Here: Instagram now lets you share Stories to a Close Friends list ************************************ =>

Instagram now lets you share Stories to a Close Friends list was originally posted by Latest news - Feed

[pmsocialmedia]

Instagram now lets you share Stories to a Close Friends list

No one wants to post silly, racy, or vulnerable Stories if they’re worried their boss, parents, and distant acquaintances are watching. So to get people sharing more, and more authentically, Instagram will let you share to fewer people. Today after 17 months of testing, Instagram is globally launching Close Friends on iOS and Android over the next two days. It lets you build a single private list of your best buddies on Instagram through suggestions or search, and then share Stories just to them. They’ll see a green circle around your profile pic in the existing Story tray to let them know this is Close Friends-only content, but no one gets notified if they’re added or removed from your list that only you can view.

“As you add more and more people [on any social network], you start not to know them. That’s obviously going to change the things that you’re sharing and it makes it even harder to form every deep connections with your closest friends because you’re basically curating for the largest possible distribution,” said Instagram director of product Robby Stein, who announced the news onstage at TechCrunch Disrupt Berlin. “To really be yourself and connect and be connected to your best friends, you need your own place.”

I spent the last few days demoing Close Friends and it’s remarkably smooth, intuitive, and useful. Suddenly there was a place to post what I might otherwise consider too random or embarrassing to share. Teens already invented the idea of “Finstagrams,” or fake Instagram accounts, to share feed posts to just their favorite people without the pressure to look cool. Now Instagram is formalizing that idea into “Finstastories” through Close Friends.

The feature is a wise way to counteract the natural social graph creep that occurs as people accept social networking requests out of a sense of obligatory courtesy from people they aren’t close to, which then causes them to only share blander content. Helping people express their wild side as must-see content for their Close Friends could drive up time spent on the app. But there’s also the risk that the launch creates private echo sphere havens for offensive content beyond the eyes of those who’d rightfully report it.

“No one has ever mastered a close friends graph and made it easy for people to understand” Stein notes. The path to variable sharing privacy winds through a cemetery. Facebook’s “Lists” product struggled to find traction for a decade before being half-shut down. Google+’s big selling point was “Circles” for sharing to different groups of people. But with both, user found it too boring and confusing to make a bunch of different lists they could share to or view feeds from. Snapchat launched its own Groups feature two months ago, but it’s easy to forget who’s in which list and they’re designed around group chat. Most users just end up trying their best to reject, unfollow, or mute people they didn’t want to see or share with.

Now after almost 15 years of Facebook, 12 years of Twitter, 8 years of Instagram, and 7 years of Snapchat, that strategy has failed for many, leading to noisy feeds and a fear of sharing to too many. “People get friend requests and they feel pressure to accept” Stein explains. “The curve is actually that your sharing goes up and as you add more people initially, as more people can respond to you. But then there’s a point where it reduces sharing over time.”

So Instagram chose to build Close Friends as just a single list in hopes that you won’t lose track of who’s part of it. As the feature rolls out today, there’ll be an explainer Story from Instagram about it in your tray, you’ll get walked through when you hit the Close Friends button on the Story composer, and there’ll be a call out on your profile to configure Close Friends in the settings menu. You’ll be able to search for your close friends or quickly add them from a list of suggestions based on who you interact with most. You can add or remove as many people as you want without them knowing, they just will or won’t see your green circled Close Friends story. “We’re protecting you and your right to share or not share to certain people. It gives you air cover” Stein tells me

From then on, you can use the Close Friends shortcut in the Stories composer to share it with just those people, who’ll see a green “Close Friends” label on the story to let them know they’re special. Instagram will use the signal of who you add to help rank and order your Stories tray, but it won’t automatically pop Close Friends Stories to the front. When asked if Facebook would use that data for personalization too, Stein told me “We’re the same company” but said using it to improve Facebook is “not something that we’re actively working on.”

There’s no screenshot alerts, similar to the rest of Instagram Stories, but you won’t be able to DM anyone someone else’s Close Friends Story. That’s it. “We haven’t invented any new design affordances or things you need to know” Stein beams. For now it’s meant for user profiles, but publishers, social media celebrities, and brands would probably love ways to build fan clubs through the feature. Perhaps Instagram would even allow creators to charge users to be admitted to Close Friends. If not, some savvy influencers will probably do it anyways as they try to make Instagram more like Patreon.

Instagram’s Robby Stein (left) tells TechCrunch’s Josh Constine about Close Friends at Disrupt Berlin

The one concern here is that Close Friends could create little bunkers in which people can share objectionable content without consequence. It’d be sad to see it harbor racism, sexism, or other stuff that doesn’t belong anywhere on Instagram. Stein says that because you’re talking with friends instead of strangers on a Reddit, “it self regulates what it’s used for. We haven’t seen a lot of that usage in the testing that we’ve done. It’s still a broadcast channel and it doesn’t generate this group discussion. It doesn’t spiral.”

Overall, I think Close Friends will be a hit. When it started testing a prototype called Favorites in June 2017 it worked with feed posts too, but Instagram decided the off the cuff posts wouldn’t fit right next to your more widely broadcasted highlights. But confined to Stories, it feels like a natural and much-needed extension of what Instagram was always supposed to be but that’s gotten lost in our swelling social networks: giving the people you love a window into your life.

Robby Stein (Instagram) debuts a new feature called Close Friends that allows users to share Stories with a small group of friends #TCDisrupt pic.twitter.com/ontdA7CQU0

— TechCrunch (@TechCrunch) November 30, 2018

via Social – TechCrunch https://ift.tt/2zwRWiZ

[localbizlift]

Instagram now lets you share Stories to a Close Friends list

No one wants to post silly, racy, or vulnerable Stories if they’re worried their boss, parents, and distant acquaintances are watching. So to get people sharing more, and more authentically, Instagram will let you share to fewer people. Today after 17 months of testing, Instagram is globally launching Close Friends on iOS and Android over the next two days. It lets you build a single private list of your best buddies on Instagram through suggestions or search, and then share Stories just to them. They’ll see a green circle around your profile pic in the existing Story tray to let them know this is Close Friends-only content, but no one gets notified if they’re added or removed from your list that only you can view.

“As you add more and more people [on any social network], you start not to know them. That’s obviously going to change the things that you’re sharing and it makes it even harder to form every deep connections with your closest friends because you’re basically curating for the largest possible distribution,” said Instagram director of product Robby Stein, who announced the news onstage at TechCrunch Disrupt Berlin. “To really be yourself and connect and be connected to your best friends, you need your own place.”

I spent the last few days demoing Close Friends and it’s remarkably smooth, intuitive, and useful. Suddenly there was a place to post what I might otherwise consider too random or embarrassing to share. Teens already invented the idea of “Finstagrams,” or fake Instagram accounts, to share feed posts to just their favorite people without the pressure to look cool. Now Instagram is formalizing that idea into “Finstastories” through Close Friends.

The feature is a wise way to counteract the natural social graph creep that occurs as people accept social networking requests out of a sense of obligatory courtesy from people they aren’t close to, which then causes them to only share blander content. Helping people express their wild side as must-see content for their Close Friends could drive up time spent on the app. But there’s also the risk that the launch creates private echo sphere havens for offensive content beyond the eyes of those who’d rightfully report it.

“No one has ever mastered a close friends graph and made it easy for people to understand” Stein notes. The path to variable sharing privacy winds through a cemetery. Facebook’s “Lists” product struggled to find traction for a decade before being half-shut down. Google+’s big selling point was “Circles” for sharing to different groups of people. But with both, user found it too boring and confusing to make a bunch of different lists they could share to or view feeds from. Snapchat launched its own Groups feature two months ago, but it’s easy to forget who’s in which list and they’re designed around group chat. Most users just end up trying their best to reject, unfollow, or mute people they didn’t want to see or share with.

Now after almost 15 years of Facebook, 12 years of Twitter, 8 years of Instagram, and 7 years of Snapchat, that strategy has failed for many, leading to noisy feeds and a fear of sharing to too many. “People get friend requests and they feel pressure to accept” Stein explains. “The curve is actually that your sharing goes up and as you add more people initially, as more people can respond to you. But then there’s a point where it reduces sharing over time.”

So Instagram chose to build Close Friends as just a single list in hopes that you won’t lose track of who’s part of it. As the feature rolls out today, there’ll be an explainer Story from Instagram about it in your tray, you’ll get walked through when you hit the Close Friends button on the Story composer, and there’ll be a call out on your profile to configure Close Friends in the settings menu. You’ll be able to search for your close friends or quickly add them from a list of suggestions based on who you interact with most. You can add or remove as many people as you want without them knowing, they just will or won’t see your green circled Close Friends story. “We’re protecting you and your right to share or not share to certain people. It gives you air cover” Stein tells me

From then on, you can use the Close Friends shortcut in the Stories composer to share it with just those people, who’ll see a green “Close Friends” label on the story to let them know they’re special. Instagram will use the signal of who you add to help rank and order your Stories tray, but it won’t automatically pop Close Friends Stories to the front. When asked if Facebook would use that data for personalization too, Stein told me “We’re the same company” but said using it to improve Facebook is “not something that we’re actively working on.”

There’s no screenshot alerts, similar to the rest of Instagram Stories, but you won’t be able to DM anyone someone else’s Close Friends Story. That’s it. “We haven’t invented any new design affordances or things you need to know” Stein beams. For now it’s meant for user profiles, but publishers, social media celebrities, and brands would probably love ways to build fan clubs through the feature. Perhaps Instagram would even allow creators to charge users to be admitted to Close Friends. If not, some savvy influencers will probably do it anyways.

Instagram’s Robby Stein (left) tells TechCrunch’s Josh Constine about Close Friends at Disrupt Berlin

The one concern here is that Close Friends could create little bunkers in which people can share objectionable content without consequence. It’d be sad to see it harbor racism, sexism, or other stuff that doesn’t belong anywhere on Instagram. Stein says that because you’re talking with friends instead of strangers on a Reddit, “it self regulates what it’s used for. We haven’t seen a lot of that usage in the testing that we’ve done. It’s still a broadcast channel and it doesn’t generate this group discussion. It doesn’t spiral.”

Overall, I think Close Friends will be a hit. When it started testing a prototype called Favorites in June 2017 it worked with feed posts too, but Instagram decided the off the cuff posts wouldn’t fit right next to your more widely broadcasted highlights. But confined to Stories, it feels like a natural and much-needed extension of what Instagram was always supposed to be but that’s gotten lost in our swelling social networks: giving the people you love a window into your life.

[roselirry]

fire and persuasion

edan never wanted to go back, she never wanted to step foot on the cobbled terrain or look in the eyes of people who labeled her as a hero. her prophecy was fulfilled, the fates had rested their scissors down and let go of her thread. olympus wasn’t supposed to need her again. 

but it did. 

banner by @stylesmyth coming soon to 1dff // tumblr

extended preview

Sunsets.

Edan found it easy to ignite fires when the sun hung low in the sky, red and orange hues painting blinding horizons. Sweat collected on the back of her neck, dripping and dripping down her back as she held the metal rod tightly in her hand, gripping until she felt ragged metal press indents into the palms of her hands, until she saw matching hues from the sky appear on her skin.

The sensation of metal melting in her hands under the scalding heat of her fire was addictive. She held control, if not of her life, then at least of her powers. She knew how she looked when the metal began to bend, began to deform, began to drop. To most, metal was strong, sturdy, but to her metal was weak.

Edan did nothing to mess with the result, simply using the rod to drain her of aggression, to help her let go of the troubles of the day; the month; the year.

“So, I did get the right address.”

The flames engulfed her hands, the rod deteriorating in the blink of an eye, becoming nothing but a solid piece of ash.

“Fuck,” she fought the flames, hitting her hands against the fabric of her jeans, cursing at her instincts. She would have to buy another pair. Ashes never left acid-wash.

After thirteen seconds, the flames were suffocated, extinguished, leaving nothing but black against her light skin. “Take money out of savings account for new jeans,” she mumbled to herself as she wrote it down on the notepad next to the burnt result of her guest’s surprise. Her pencil broke as she pressed down her period. She threw the pencil to the ground, letting it clatter against the ground, echoing around the room.

“I’m sorry for lighting you up.”

She nearly forgot her guest, the deep voice rattling her core.

Turning, she took him in. She knew him. Of him, more like, but only by appearance, never by name. He was leaning against the door like it was casual, like he could find home in the metal frame around him. The sheer shirt showed off the crisp and clean lines of his torso, his jeans hugging his legs. He could have been sculpted out of marble. But, Michelangelo wouldn’t be able to capture the pinkness of his lips, or the way his rings reflected from the setting sun.    

He was inherently beautiful. That was clear to her. He had eyes that drew her in instantly, pulling, tugging on her temptation. But he was out of place in her tiny workshop, his painted nails chipped from the sharp edges of his teeth, a contrast from her bitten nails covered in ashes and eyes that hadn’t tugged anything in a long, long time.

“We need your help,” he stepped closer to her, cheekbones shimmering under the light of her dim workshop.

“No.”

“Olympus is dying,” he stressed, stepping further in, locking eyes with her.

Edan stepped out of his line of sight, gathering graphing paper in her manila folder, shoving them into a disorganized order just to get away from his intensity. “I don’t know who sent you, but I don’t care what’s happening.” She hadn’t thought about Olympus in nearly two years. While others like her stayed, relishing in victory, she left. She didn’t deserve to be cherished.

Her arm heated before he could touch her, like she knew he was about to provide comfort, provide persuasion. The moment she felt his fingers brush her arm, they retracted, a single high-pitched yelp sounding from the man. “Edan,” he still showed no anger, “this is important. You’re needed again.”

“There are no more prophecies, I have lived out my requirements. I was promised a quiet life.” The sun was behind the trees bordering her small farm house, but the man still held the glow, his skin still shimmering under the single lightbulb. “My answer is no.”

The man infiltrated her space again, head tilting so that their air was the same. “You have to come.” His eyes had grown softer, face relaxed, concentrated.

“It doesn’t work on me,” she didn’t move, only crossing her arms so that they brushed against his chest.

His eyes grew in size. “What doesn’t work? I’m not trying anything?” He was a terrible liar.

“Your persuasion,” she answered, “I haven’t been able to smell since I was a baby. Never knew why. Probably from my father, or a gift from my grandmother. She never liked me. So this whole persuasion power you have, it won’t work on me.” Edan never cared about lacking a sense of smell. She was surrounded by smoke on a regular basis, and from what she knew, it wasn’t pleasant. She saw her lack of scent as a benefit to who she was. “I know who you are.”

Persuasion wasn’t a normal power.

“And I know who you are.”

“Everyone knows who I am up there,” she retorted.

He sighed. “Olympus is dying.”

“So you said.”

They were still standing close, arms brushing arms, and she would not back down from her stance. If he weren’t in heeled boots, more expensive than what she paid for the workshop to be built, they would have been eye to eye. “Nobody knows what to do.”

She scoffed, “And I do? Water your goddamn plants and recycle. There, problem solved.”

If she could describe the look he was giving her, it was that of a puppy who had just been kicked. “You’ve handled dire situations before.” He was positively desperate, his voice cracking, and when she found his eyes for the second time, they were filling with tears. “We need you.”

Edan backed away, her back hitting the table. Tears made her uncomfortable. Crying made her want to close herself up. “What I did...what I did was required of me. I was chosen. I didn’t do what I did out of the kindness of my heart.” Speaking about it hurt. Mentioning the words by name made her shut down, made the heat escape her body until she was shivering and forcing herself to light a match for her fingers to catch.

It was guilt.

But she wouldn’t let anyone else know that. Especially not the man in front of her.

“You don’t understand, you are the last resort.”

There were twelve gods and more than enough minor gods. They would never hit the last resort.

“Edan.”

“What’s your name?” She asked abruptly. He stared at her. “What’s your name? You obviously know mine, just like everyone else does, and yet you’ve forgotten that you’ve invited yourself onto my property, you’ve tried to persuade me to go with you and yet you haven’t even extended the courtesy of telling me your name.”

He was starting to lose the confidence that he was born with, obviously not used to not having the upper hand. Edan knew how to handle charm. She knew she didn’t like him, or the way he turned his toes in, standing like a tree trunk in the middle of her workshop, as if he were trying to take up less space. “Harry.”

“Harry,” she repeated, and he nodded even though she hadn’t questioned it. He looked like a Harry. “Son of Aphrodite, huh?”

“Yes.”

“I’m not going.”

Harry struggled to find words that he hadn’t already said. “Edan, you don’t understand. We don’t understand what’s happening. We’ve been trying to figure it out, we’ve tried to solve the issue. You're...the other four have tried, they can’t figure it out. Something bad is happening.” He didn’t say friends.

Edan hadn’t spoken to them since she told them she was leaving, her clothes covered in blood and skin in burns. “Your dad, he’s tried to keep you out of it. But, we can’t keep you out of it.”

She felt a searing pain on her left wrist. Her eyes dropped to her arm, a perfect diameter of smoke around her wrist. A sign. He was there. She had avoided it before. But when the mere thought of avoiding the call came into her head the burning happened again, this time the diameter of her wrist was engulfed in flames.

“He hurts you.”

He didn’t say it out of shock. Or anger. Just a fact.

“Only for a second. Fire doesn’t hurt me. But his is special.”  She looked up at Harry, his eyebrows knit in confusion as the ring of flames disappeared, leaving nothing behind. “He’s listening.”

“She is too.” Harry told her. “Edan, you have to come with me.”

“I know I do,” she snapped, rubbing her fingers along the skin of her wrist. There was no pain, but she knew his hand was there, ready for another singe. “I have to get a bag ready.”

[micaramel]

Artist: KP Brehmer

Venue: Weiss Falk, Basel

Exhibition Title: Song of Growth

Date: June 27 – August 8, 2020

Curated By: Elisa R. Linn and Lennart Wolff

Note: A conversation with Hans Haacke, Elisa R. Linn and Lennart Wolff is available here.

Click here to view slideshow

Full gallery of images, press release and link available after the jump.

Images:

Images courtesy of Weiss Falk, Basel

Press Release:

Growth lines of a leaf, fluctuations of particles and pollutants in a city’s atmosphere, the increase in food production or a self-portrait in the style of thermal imaging, KP Brehmer (1938–1997) employed a wide range of subjects. Made between the late 1960s and ’80s, the works on view in the exhibition at Weiss Falk have been selected because of their allusion in one way or the other to a seemingly immortal metaphor that continues to grab the collective imagination: growth. It penetrates every scale of modern societal organization and production, every aspect of public and utmost personal life, from the “miracles” of birth and death to the accumulation of waste along shorelines or the managed increase of yields in industrial farming.

For Brehmer, the “problem” of visualization was always a central concern in his art. Therefore, he attempted to depict aesthetic processes analogous to real ones, and appropriated, interpreted and manipulated all kinds of official records. This source material — data, information, maps — had very different origins, from scientific studies and reports by governments and official agencies to popular media and news outlets. Hence the found iconography, for instance motifs on stamps in Wohlstandsmarke, 1966 and statistical representations of political, social as well as ecological systems and their intersections, have all been painted, printed or drawn by the artist.

In the late 1970s and early ’80s, KP Brehmer produced a body of work that fused two kinds of compositions: graphic arrangements of lines and fields and musical notations. He developed scores and sketches based on observations of biological and social processes. In Komposition No. 3 (in Form und Wuchs eines Spitzklettblattes), 1983, the intensity of the leaves’ veins is translated into a musical score. Their symmetrical structure — two sides mirrored along the midline — accommodates the two-handed piano composition, divided into left and right. Similarly, in the unfinished series Lied von der Erde (Earth Song), 1979, a symphony by Gustav Mahler, from which its title is borrowed, is interwoven with visualizations of continental drifts. Here growth and movement that is either too fast or too slow, too big or too small and hence can only be experienced as representations recorded by technical apparatuses and (scientific) languages are re-read through a sensual and performative act when the notes are played.

The series Ideale Landschaft, consisting of multiple works that include three-dimensional objects, prints, drawings and films, looks at an imaginary idealized landscape, unveiling it to be merely an ideological construct. Here it becomes apparent that the very idea of a natural environment is ultimately human-made and without meaning unless determined by an organism’s relationship to it. Running parallel to the idealization of a virginal nature for the sake of creation of identity and nationalistic cohesion, Brehmer traces the continuous expansion of modern industry that reshapes the realm of the natural. Some of his works take the form of diagrams and maps that do away with the opposition between the concrete and the abstract. Instead they show actually existing real abstractions — attempts to accurately represent the world — such as a survey of food availability in different countries in Lebensmittelversorgung nach Ländern (Gemessen am Kalorienbedarf), 1973. Following Marx, the underlying mechanism of the here portrayed larger social whole is not only the ongoing alienation of turning all things into commodities, but also the privatization of land that disunites humanity from nature. In these processes even pollution is turned into a commodity that is intrinsically linked to growth, at least when thinking of it as a metaphor associated with consumerism and fossil-based economies. In fact the concentration of harmful organic and inorganic particles in ecosystems as addressed in Wenn das Meer tot ist…, around 1979, or Verschmutzungsgrad der italienischen Küsten, 1979, is mirrored by a semantic pollution in the modern media environments that are composed of images, signs and messages. Countering that, Brehmer developed a series of strategies such as “Sichtagitation” that mobilized mediality and perception, for instance in Schriftproben zur Bestimmung der Sehschärfe, 1976. These not only unearthed visual culture’s function in postwar societies, but also drew up alternating models for artistic agency. With that he re-politicizes allegedly irrefutable causality and neutral scientific truths, including ones about the natural environment. For instance, Sichtweiten in verschiedenen Höhen über der Po-Ebene (am 12.10.1978), 1979 is a painting based on observing visibility at different elevations in a part of Northern Italy characterized by manufacturing, the resulting smog, and the local, foggy climate. Historically it is also home to a strong workers’ movement. Thus the work points towards the correlation between the decrease in exhausts and fumes when production comes to a halt during strike days and the way the landscape is perceived.

In the earlier work Skylines (Variable Versions), 1970/1971 the levels of different types of particles and pollutants in Berlin’s air are traced by the viewer on a blackboard-like surface. The graph that results resembles an abstracted skyline. Here it becomes obvious that Brehmer deliberated ways to assure the timeliness of the work through its adaptability and constant updating (Doreen Mende). On another level it also shows what the artist attempted to achieve: to move all emphasis from the I to the We. This echoed a productivist approach prevalent in the 1920s Soviet Union which pursued a radical democratization of art produc- tion in which no longer only a few would participate in its making, but instead artistic and non-artistic means would be fused in the collective move towards a “non-capital-oriented form of living” (Kerstin Stakemeier).

By no coincidence, during this same period Vladimir Vernadsky founded the concept of the Biosphere, environmental protection laws were being passed, and studies in Soviet ecology flourished, before the Stalinist dogma of relentless industrialization put an end to it. Vernadsky saw societies’ creative labor not only associated with animals and plants but as an equal part of the larger complex system on the earth’s crust. In this understanding of the biosphere as encompassing both non-living and living matter, human society is only one of its subsystems (Chris Williams). In turn the economy is only a subsystem of society though important to its reproduction and development. Yet a conventional economist would deem the exact opposite as being true. From that vantage point economic concerns occupy the center stage, whereas ecological aspects are only an afterthought — something that at best needs to be managed better or more carefully integrated. Only by making the human-made system of the capitalist economy the overarching framework, its very own essential notion becomes plausible: the idea of endless economic growth. Precisely here Brehmer’s “sharpening of tools” helps one to see through this smog of semantic pollution, that is composed of ideological fragments, conventional wisdom and truism to understand the workings and possible toxicity of a metaphor or image — such as growth.

Elisa R. Linn & Lennart Wolff

Link: KP Brehmer at Weiss Falk

from Contemporary Art Daily https://bit.ly/3jJS2cA

[elsanna-shenanigans]

October 2020 voting feedback and reviews

Before we roll in with the next prompt, it’s time for our Authors to receive feedback on their stories.

Below the cut you will find: a run-down of the bonus restriction points, individual feedback for the stories from the voters and a link to a sheet containing detailed reviews of every October submission, courtesy of our Monthlies Reviewing Club.

BONUS RESTRICTIONS

Points were being awarded for completing three different criteria: setting the story in Autumn, including the moon and using the word heart only once (and unique heart-derivatives no more than 3 times.) Each bonus restriction was worth one point, and completing them all awarded one point extra for a total of four points.

Stories awarded 4 extra points: Gold, Don't Be Late, Finally October, Echoes, Of Love and Zombies, The Rescue of Queen Anna, Tea For Two, Fate's Games, Peculiar Spells for the Advanced Caster, These Shadows, Boreas (A Wildfire), The Locket, Soul Mates, Tracing the Soul, Till the Silver Light Fades

Stories awarded 2 extra points: Ectopia cordis, What Comes Next, Never Gonna Be Alone, In Small Spaces

Stories awarded 1 extra point: Heart of Ahtohallan

The extra points have already been included on the results graph.

FEEDBACK AND REVIEWS

This month’s roster of 13 reviewers included: Anam of Arendelle, Blue Unknown, @dont-tell-them-its-me, @elsanndra, hanyou, HeartToBreak, Moriturus, ObservantMagic, Pengu, @adoraslastbraincell (Rose), Space Alien, t-jack7, Vergasi and VolksParadox.

The reviews can be read here.

Individual stories feedback from the voters: f = favorite vote, k = kudos vote

1: Ectopia cordis Style 14 (8f 6k) Fits the prompt best 19 (10f 9k) Characterisation 18 (11f 7k) Dialogues 15 (10f 5k) Tone 11 (8f 3k) Flow 10 (7f 3k) Plot 20 (10f 10k) Grammar 6 (6f) The story's Elsa 11 (7f 4k) The story's Anna 10 (7f 3k) Setting/Universe 14 (7f 7k) Total other: 6 Other (4f): - Amazing how well the theme of "heartbeat" was woven into every aspect of the story. The interaction between Anna and Elsa was fabulous and warming, and the twist reveal absolutely broke my heart. - The suspense and plot twist - This story is just amazing! - This story hit all the right spots for me while, imo, staying truest to the prompt. Masterfully done Other (2k): - Ectopia Cordis is the type of story that a movie or series could be made after, kind of like Grey's Anatomy or 50 Shades, just both of those on steroids. With Elsanna. - probably the best and most precise use of the prompt, it also feeds nicely to my recent obsession with Grey's Anatomy - really captures the feel of the show.

2: Gold Style 1 (1k) Characterisation 1 (1k) Tone 1 (1k) Flow 1 (1k)

3: Don't be Late Style 4 (1f 3k) Fits the prompt best 2 (2f) Characterisation 6 (2f 4k) Dialogues 2 (2f) Tone 3 (1f 2k) Flow 4 (2f 2k) Plot 3 (2f 1k) Grammar 1 (1k) The story's Elsa 3 (2f 1k) The story's Anna 5 (2f 3k) Setting/Universe 2 (1f 1k) Other (1k): - Really worked an underlying uneasiness throughout the story without overdoing it. Tragic and beautiful.

4: What Comes Next Style 2 (2k) Fits the prompt best 1 (1k) Characterisation 1 (1k) Dialogues 1 (1k) Tone 1 (1k) Flow 1 (1k) Plot 1 (1k) Grammar 1 (1k) The story's Elsa 1 (1k) The story's Anna 1 (1k) Setting/Universe 1 (1k)

5: Finally October Style 2 (1f 1k) Fits the prompt best 1 (1f) Characterisation 1 (1k) Tone 4 (2f 2k) The story's Elsa 2 (2k) The story's Anna 1 (1k)

6: Echoes Style 8 (2f 6k) Fits the prompt best 1 (1k) Characterisation 5 (1f 4k) Dialogues 7 (2f 5k) Tone 6 (2f 4k) Flow 7 (2f 5k) Plot 7 (2f 5k) Grammar 3 (1f 2k) The story's Elsa 1 (1k) The story's Anna 3 (2f 1k) Setting/Universe 5 (2f 3k) Total other: 4 Other (1f): - Beautiful writing and love story, had me transfixed from the start Other (3k): - They sound cool - This was a heartwrenching story, and in particular, the moment where Gerda says they found the shipwreck, has stayed with me for days. - very interesting and refreshing AU

7: Of Love and Zombies Style 11 (7f 4k) Fits the prompt best 7 (5f 2k) Characterisation 9 (8f 1k) Dialogues 10 (6f 4k) Tone 7 (4f 3k) Flow 5 (2f 3k) Plot 13 (8f 5k) The story's Elsa 7 (4f 3k) The story's Anna 9 (6f 3k) Setting/Universe 14 (8f 6k) Other (1f): - suprisingly funny and *heart*warming, the prompt itself was utilized perfectly.

8: Till the Silver Light Fades Style 6 (1f 5k) Characterisation 5 (5k) Dialogues 1 (1k) Tone 5 (1f 4k) Flow 3 (3k) Plot 2 (2k) Grammar 1 (1k) The story's Elsa 1 (1k) The story's Anna 1 (1k) Setting/Universe 2 (1f 1k)

9: Never Gonna Be Alone Style 4 (1f 3k) Characterisation 4 (1f 3k) Tone 1 (1k) Flow 1 (1k) Plot 5 (2f 3k) The story's Elsa 4 (2f 2k) The story's Anna 2 (1f 1k) Setting/Universe 4 (1f 3k)

10: The Rescue of Queen Anna Plot 1 (1k) Grammar 1 (1k) The story's Elsa 1 (1k)

11: Tea For Two Style 4 (1f 3k) Fits the prompt best 2 (2k) Characterisation 6 (1f 5k) Dialogues 4 (1f 3k) Tone 7 (2f 5k) Flow 3 (3k) Plot 4 (4k) The story's Elsa 8 (2f 6k) The story's Anna 7 (1f 6k) Setting/Universe 4 (2f 2k) Other (2k): - Cottagecore/witch lesbians get me every fuckin time man - Very cute and fluffy

12: Fate's Games Style 7 (5f 2k) Fits the prompt best 1 (1k) Characterisation 7 (4f 3k) Dialogues 8 (7f 1k) Tone 6 (4f 2k) Flow 5 (3f 2k) Plot 6 (4f 2k) Grammar 4 (2f 2k) The story's Elsa 5 (2f 3k) The story's Anna 8 (5f 3k) Setting/Universe 6 (3f 3k) Total other: 2 Other (1f): - Adorkable, beautiful, nailed-characterization, fluff, lovely piece! Other (1k): - Really great all around

13: Peculiar Spells for the Advanced Caster Style 7 (7k) Fits the prompt best 5 (5k) Characterisation 5 (5k) Dialogues 7 (7k) Tone 5 (5k) Flow 4 (4k) Plot 6 (6k) Grammar 3 (3k) The story's Elsa 4 (4k) The story's Anna 6 (6k) Setting/Universe 10 (10k) Other (2k): - This was an extremely fun story that kept its tone fairly light despite a slightly dark plot. I really loved the style and the humor in this piece. - Peculiar Spells is a story that I could see novels written about/after. It was a lovely read, would love to see more.

14: These Shadows Style 1 (1k) Characterisation 3 (3k) Tone 4 (4k) Flow 3 (3k) Plot 2 (2k) The story's Elsa 1 (1k) Other (1k): - I like them

15: Boreas (A Wildfire) Style 9 (4f 5k) Fits the prompt best 1 (1k) Characterisation 7 (3f 4k) Dialogues 6 (3f 3k) Tone 4 (1f 3k) Flow 9 (4f 5k) Plot 10 (4f 6k) Grammar 2 (1f 1k) The story's Elsa 5 (2f 3k) The story's Anna 5 (2f 3k) Setting/Universe 6 (3f 3k) Other (1f): - The tension in their relationship was well built, the dialogue was excellent, the plot of the oppressive duties of royalty, all came together for a beautifully incest-filled and masterfully written piece. I couldn't stop reading it no matter how hard my ADHD pulled me away.

17: In Small Spaces Style 8 (2f 6k) Fits the prompt best 1 (1k) Characterisation 5 (1f 4k) Dialogues 5 (2f 3k) Tone 5 (2f 3k) Flow 4 (2f 2k) Plot 5 (1f 4k) Grammar 2 (1f 1k) The story's Elsa 3 (3k) The story's Anna 2 (2k) Setting/Universe 2 (1f 1k) Other (2k): - This story stood out a lot for me and I loved it immensely. It was clever and unique, very good read - It's a little rough around the edges, and there were some paragraphs where I had trouble following what was happening, but this story had a style that really got under my skin and left me a bit haunted. A well done piece of subtle horror fiction.

18: The Locket Style 1 (1k) Characterisation 1 (1k) Dialogues 1 (1k) Tone 1 (1k) Flow 1 (1k) Plot 3 (1f 2k) Setting/Universe 1 (1k) Other (1k): - This story was fantastic, satisfying from beginning to end

19: Soul Mates Style 4 (4k) Fits the prompt best 1 (1k) Characterisation 4 (4k) Dialogues 2 (2k) Tone 4 (4k) Flow 2 (2k) Plot 2 (2k) Grammar 1 (1k) The story's Elsa 2 (2k) The story's Anna 2 (2k) Setting/Universe 3 (3k)

20: Tracing the Soul Style 2 (2k) Characterisation 2 (2k) Dialogues 1 (1k) Flow 1 (1k) Plot 1 (1k) The story's Elsa 2 (1f 1k) The story's Anna 2 (1f 1k) Setting/Universe 2 (1f 1k)

[coin-news-blog]

Researcher Breaks Mimblewimble, Deanonymizing 96% of Grin Transactions

New Post has been published on https://coinmakers.tech/news/researcher-breaks-mimblewimble-deanonymizing-96-of-grin-transactions

Researcher Breaks Mimblewimble, Deanonymizing 96% of Grin Transactions

Researcher Breaks Mimblewimble, Deanonymizing 96% of Grin Transactions

The Mimblewimble privacy technology used by cryptocurrencies such as Beam and Grin is broken. That’s the claim of researcher Ivan Bogatyy who has published a report documenting his findings. In it, he reveals how he was able to deanonymize 96% of all Grin transactions just by running a node at a cost of around $60. Bogatyy asserts that the flaw is fatal, effectively breaking Mimblewimble.

Mimblewimble Is ‘Fundamentally Flawed’

“Mimblewimble should no longer be considered a viable alternative to Zcash or Monero when it comes to privacy.” That’s the belief of Ivan Bogatyy after deanonymizing the bulk of all Grin transactions that propagated to his node during a test. A weakness in the Mimblewimble technology, which obfuscates all transactions by default, has long been theorized. Now, Bogatyy professes to have proven this, causing him to recommend that “Mimblewimble should not be relied upon for robust privacy.”

Although the attack does not reveal the amounts being sent, it unveils which addresses are sending funds to other addresses, effectively rendering Mimblewimble obsolete, if a patch cannot be found. Moreover, Bogatyy claims had he been running multiple nodes, he would have been able to record an even higher success rate than the 96% he posted.

How the Attack Works

Cryptocurrencies such as Grin and Beam utilize a number of privacy techniques including Coinjoin, which all transactions are appended to, before being added to a new block, the contents of which cannot be reconstructed at that stage to determine the origin of the inputs and outputs. Bogatyy’s solution is to attack the transactions as they’re broadcast to Coinjoin to be mixed. He explains:

Because transactions are continually being created and broadcasted from separate places, if you run a sniffer node that picks up all transactions before cut-through aggregation is finished, it’s trivial to unwind the CoinJoin. Any sniffer node can just observe the network and take note of the original transactions before they get aggregated.

Grin’s developers were aware of this attack vector when constructing the cryptocurrency and took measures to thwart it through the use of additional privacy tools including Dandelion. This technology conceals the IP address of transactors and thwarts sniffer nodes that attempt to eavesdrop on network activity. But because Dandelion transactions are automatically aggregated by nodes that receive them, prior to entering Coinjoin, Bogatyy found a way to intercept them at this early stage and link them to their original sender.

Through increasing the number of peers his node connects to (the default is eight), the researcher was able to escalate his access, effectively granting him supernode status. This provided unprecedented oversight of Dandelion transactions, and the ability to disaggregate them before they reached Coinjoin. Bogatyy linked 96% of transactions while connected to 200 peers out of a possible 3,000, but points out the ease of connecting to all 3,000 nodes had he spent more on the attack, noting:

The same attack works by launching 3000 separate nodes with unique IPs, each only connected to one peer. As long as I’m sniffing all the transaction data and dumping it into a central master database, the attack works just the same.

Grin developer David Burkett praised the quality of research in Bogatyy’s report, but added: “none of this is “news”. I’m actually surprised only 96% was traceable. There are a number of ways to help break linkability in Grin, but none are implemented and released yet. As I always say, don’t use Grin if you require privacy – it’s not there yet.”

A Sliver of Salvation for Grin

Despite making grim reading for Grin and other Mimblewimble coins, Bogatyy’s report does provide a glimmer of light. He is at pains to point out the other qualities that are inherent to Grin, such as its ability to conceal transaction amounts, though this will be of small comfort to users who were relying on Mimblewimble to obfuscate the path of their transactions. The researcher suggests that Mimblewimble could be combined with another privacy protocol that conceals the transaction graph altogether, but that would be a significant undertaking to implement and is not feasible at this time. This suggestion was echoed by Charlie Lee, whose Litecoin project is looking to introduce Mimblewimble through a collaboration with Beam.

As Bogatyy concludes, “it’s clear that Mimblewimble on its own is not strong enough to confer robust privacy.” Grin has fallen 10% since the report was published earlier today, and beam 6%. One small crumb of consolation to Grin’s developers is that the exploit could not have been revealed at a better time: the project has just received a 50 BTC donation to fund its development courtesy of an early bitcoin miner. Thanks to this $420,000 war chest, it has the means to fight back in the hope of engineering a solution.

Source: news.bitcoin

[cryptswahili]

1% Bitcoin, 99% Cash Portfolio Outperforms Gold, Bonds, S&P 500

Replacing just 1 percent of one’s portfolio with Bitcoin lets investors outperform the S&P 500, gold and US Treasury bonds, new data released February 8 claims.

Bitcoin Beats S&P ‘Every Year’

Compiled by Twitter-based economics analyst known as planB, the visual data simulates portfolio performance with varying degrees of Bitcoin involvement.

Compared to the three classic components, which planB identifies as having a “nice risk/ return” identity, Bitcoin can increase the return factor considerably without engendering weakness overall.

“(Bitcoin) risk/ return is another universe,” he commented.

As such, a 1 percent BTC component in a 99% Cash portfolio offers 10 percent returns, but with a maximum 1 percent loss, surpassing the S&P 500’s two-year risk/ return record “every year.”

A 2 percent setup yields even better results, the graph shows, while a 0.5 percent Bitcoin component appears less than optimal by comparison.

S&P500, Gold & US 10Y Treasury bonds are on a nice risk/return-line. Investors can do slightly better by mixing assets and capture correlation.#bitcoin risk/return is another universe. 1%BTC + 99%Cash portfolio: 10% return + max 1% loss, beating S&P on 2Y risk/return EVERY YEAR pic.twitter.com/KZaBjXogom

— planB (@100trillionUSD) February 8, 2019

Secret’s Out

The analyst’s depiction broadly echoes those made by official entities. In August last year, Bitcoinist reported, research from Yale University suggested a 4-6 percent standing in Bitcoin was essential for all portfolios.

Others have cited a figure of around 10 percent as a healthy maximum, the figures nonetheless coming as volatility in Bitcoin varied considerably.

The second half of 2018 and the beginning of this year have been marked by periods of newfound Bitcoin price stability, with only a breakdown period in mid-November impacting on the wider trend.

Touching on altcoins meanwhile, planB was careful to delineate Bitcoin from any other cryptocurrency.

“…[A]ll cheap altcoin copies of bitcoin are irrelevant, like monopoly money to (USD),” he added.

The remainder of this year should see increased participation from institutional investors looking to build out cryptocurrency exposure within their portfolio. The first wave, commentators suggest, should come via the launch of Intercontinental Exchange’s long-delayed Bakkt platform in the first half.

What do you think about the Bitcoin portfolio data? Let us know in the comments below!

Images courtesy of Shutterstock

The post 1% Bitcoin, 99% Cash Portfolio Outperforms Gold, Bonds, S&P 500 appeared first on Bitcoinist.com.

[Telegram Channel | Original Article ]

[sheminecrafts]

Instagram now lets you share Stories to a Close Friends list

No one wants to post silly, racy, or vulnerable Stories if they’re worried their boss, parents, and distant acquaintances are watching. So to get people sharing more, and more authentically, Instagram will let you share to fewer people. Today after 17 months of testing, Instagram is globally launching Close Friends on iOS and Android over the next two days. It lets you build a single private list of your best buddies on Instagram through suggestions or search, and then share Stories just to them. They’ll see a green circle around your profile pic in the existing Story tray to let them know this is Close Friends-only content, but no one gets notified if they’re added or removed from your list that only you can view.

“As you add more and more people [on any social network], you start not to know them. That’s obviously going to change the things that you’re sharing and it makes it even harder to form every deep connections with your closest friends because you’re basically curating for the largest possible distribution,” said Instagram director of product Robby Stein, who announced the news onstage at TechCrunch Disrupt Berlin. “To really be yourself and connect and be connected to your best friends, you need your own place.”

I spent the last few days demoing Close Friends and it’s remarkably smooth, intuitive, and useful. Suddenly there was a place to post what I might otherwise consider too random or embarrassing to share. Teens already invented the idea of “Finstagrams,” or fake Instagram accounts, to share feed posts to just their favorite people without the pressure to look cool. Now Instagram is formalizing that idea into “Finstastories” through Close Friends.

The feature is a wise way to counteract the natural social graph creep that occurs as people accept social networking requests out of a sense of obligatory courtesy from people they aren’t close to, which then causes them to only share blander content. Helping people express their wild side as must-see content for their Close Friends could drive up time spent on the app. But there’s also the risk that the launch creates private echo sphere havens for offensive content beyond the eyes of those who’d rightfully report it.

“No one has ever mastered a close friends graph and made it easy for people to understand” Stein notes. The path to variable sharing privacy winds through a cemetery. Facebook’s “Lists” product struggled to find traction for a decade before being half-shut down. Google+’s big selling point was “Circles” for sharing to different groups of people. But with both, user found it too boring and confusing to make a bunch of different lists they could share to or view feeds from. Snapchat launched its own Groups feature two months ago, but it’s easy to forget who’s in which list and they’re designed around group chat. Most users just end up trying their best to reject, unfollow, or mute people they didn’t want to see or share with.

Now after almost 15 years of Facebook, 12 years of Twitter, 8 years of Instagram, and 7 years of Snapchat, that strategy has failed for many, leading to noisy feeds and a fear of sharing to too many. “People get friend requests and they feel pressure to accept” Stein explains. “The curve is actually that your sharing goes up and as you add more people initially, as more people can respond to you. But then there’s a point where it reduces sharing over time.”

So Instagram chose to build Close Friends as just a single list in hopes that you won’t lose track of who’s part of it. As the feature rolls out today, there’ll be an explainer Story from Instagram about it in your tray, you’ll get walked through when you hit the Close Friends button on the Story composer, and there’ll be a call out on your profile to configure Close Friends in the settings menu. You’ll be able to search for your close friends or quickly add them from a list of suggestions based on who you interact with most. You can add or remove as many people as you want without them knowing, they just will or won’t see your green circled Close Friends story. “We’re protecting you and your right to share or not share to certain people. It gives you air cover” Stein tells me

From then on, you can use the Close Friends shortcut in the Stories composer to share it with just those people, who’ll see a green “Close Friends” label on the story to let them know they’re special. Instagram will use the signal of who you add to help rank and order your Stories tray, but it won’t automatically pop Close Friends Stories to the front. When asked if Facebook would use that data for personalization too, Stein told me “We’re the same company” but said using it to improve Facebook is “not something that we’re actively working on.”

Robby Stein (Instagram) debuts a new feature called Close Friends that allows users to share Stories with a small group of friends #TCDisrupt pic.twitter.com/ontdA7CQU0

— TechCrunch (@TechCrunch) November 30, 2018

There’s no screenshot alerts, similar to the rest of Instagram Stories, but you won’t be able to DM anyone someone else’s Close Friends Story. That’s it. “We haven’t invented any new design affordances or things you need to know” Stein beams. For now it’s meant for user profiles, but publishers, social media celebrities, and brands would probably love ways to build fan clubs through the feature. Perhaps Instagram would even allow creators to charge users to be admitted to Close Friends. If not, some savvy influencers will probably do it anyways as they try to make Instagram more like Patreon.

Instagram’s Robby Stein (left) tells TechCrunch’s Josh Constine about Close Friends at Disrupt Berlin

The one concern here is that Close Friends could create little bunkers in which people can share objectionable content without consequence. It’d be sad to see it harbor racism, sexism, or other stuff that doesn’t belong anywhere on Instagram. Stein says that because you’re talking with friends instead of strangers on a Reddit, “it self regulates what it’s used for. We haven’t seen a lot of that usage in the testing that we’ve done. It’s still a broadcast channel and it doesn’t generate this group discussion. It doesn’t spiral.”

Overall, I think Close Friends will be a hit. When it started testing a prototype called Favorites in June 2017 it worked with feed posts too, but Instagram decided the off the cuff posts wouldn’t fit right next to your more widely broadcasted highlights. But confined to Stories, it feels like a natural and much-needed extension of what Instagram was always supposed to be but that’s gotten lost in our swelling social networks: giving the people you love a window into your life.

from iraidajzsmmwtv https://ift.tt/2zwRWiZ via IFTTT

[theinvinciblenoob]

No one wants to post silly, racy, or vulnerable Stories if they’re worried their boss, parents, and distant acquaintances are watching. So to get people sharing more, and more authentically, Instagram will let you share to fewer people. Today after 17 months of testing, Instagram is globally launching Close Friends on iOS and Android over the next two days. It lets you build a single private list of your best buddies on Instagram through suggestions or search, and then share Stories just to them. They’ll see a green circle around your profile pic in the existing Story tray to let them know this is Close Friends-only content, but no one gets notified if they’re added or removed from your list that only you can view.

“As you add more and more people [on any social network], you start not to know them. That’s obviously going to change the things that you’re sharing and it makes it even harder to form every deep connections with your closest friends because you’re basically curating for the largest possible distribution,” said Instagram director of product Robby Stein, who announced the news onstage at TechCrunch Disrupt Berlin. “To really be yourself and connect and be connected to your best friends, you need your own place.”

I spent the last few days demoing Close Friends and it’s remarkably smooth, intuitive, and useful. Suddenly there was a place to post what I might otherwise consider too random or embarrassing to share. Teens already invented the idea of “Finstagrams,” or fake Instagram accounts, to share feed posts to just their favorite people without the pressure to look cool. Now Instagram is formalizing that idea into “Finstastories” through Close Friends.

The feature is a wise way to counteract the natural social graph creep that occurs as people accept social networking requests out of a sense of obligatory courtesy from people they aren’t close to, which then causes them to only share blander content. Helping people express their wild side as must-see content for their Close Friends could drive up time spent on the app. But there’s also the risk that the launch creates private echo sphere havens for offensive content beyond the eyes of those who’d rightfully report it.

“No one has ever mastered a close friends graph and made it easy for people to understand” Stein notes. The path to variable sharing privacy winds through a cemetery. Facebook’s “Lists” product struggled to find traction for a decade before being half-shut down. Google+’s big selling point was “Circles” for sharing to different groups of people. But with both, user found it too boring and confusing to make a bunch of different lists they could share to or view feeds from. Snapchat launched its own Groups feature two months ago, but it’s easy to forget who’s in which list and they’re designed around group chat. Most users just end up trying their best to reject, unfollow, or mute people they didn’t want to see or share with.

Now after almost 15 years of Facebook, 12 years of Twitter, 8 years of Instagram, and 7 years of Snapchat, that strategy has failed for many, leading to noisy feeds and a fear of sharing to too many. “People get friend requests and they feel pressure to accept” Stein explains. “The curve is actually that your sharing goes up and as you add more people initially, as more people can respond to you. But then there’s a point where it reduces sharing over time.”

So Instagram chose to build Close Friends as just a single list in hopes that you won’t lose track of who’s part of it. As the feature rolls out today, there’ll be an explainer Story from Instagram about it in your tray, you’ll get walked through when you hit the Close Friends button on the Story composer, and there’ll be a call out on your profile to configure Close Friends in the settings menu. You’ll be able to search for your close friends or quickly add them from a list of suggestions based on who you interact with most. You can add or remove as many people as you want without them knowing, they just will or won’t see your green circled Close Friends story. “We’re protecting you and your right to share or not share to certain people. It gives you air cover” Stein tells me

From then on, you can use the Close Friends shortcut in the Stories composer to share it with just those people, who’ll see a green “Close Friends” label on the story to let them know they’re special. Instagram will use the signal of who you add to help rank and order your Stories tray, but it won’t automatically pop Close Friends Stories to the front. When asked if Facebook would use that data for personalization too, Stein told me “We’re the same company” but said using it to improve Facebook is “not something that we’re actively working on.”

There’s no screenshot alerts, similar to the rest of Instagram Stories, but you won’t be able to DM anyone someone else’s Close Friends Story. That’s it. “We haven’t invented any new design affordances or things you need to know” Stein beams. For now it’s meant for user profiles, but publishers, social media celebrities, and brands would probably love ways to build fan clubs through the feature. Perhaps Instagram would even allow creators to charge users to be admitted to Close Friends. If not, some savvy influencers will probably do it anyways as they try to make Instagram more like Patreon.

Instagram’s Robby Stein (left) tells TechCrunch’s Josh Constine about Close Friends at Disrupt Berlin

The one concern here is that Close Friends could create little bunkers in which people can share objectionable content without consequence. It’d be sad to see it harbor racism, sexism, or other stuff that doesn’t belong anywhere on Instagram. Stein says that because you’re talking with friends instead of strangers on a Reddit, “it self regulates what it’s used for. We haven’t seen a lot of that usage in the testing that we’ve done. It’s still a broadcast channel and it doesn’t generate this group discussion. It doesn’t spiral.”

Overall, I think Close Friends will be a hit. When it started testing a prototype called Favorites in June 2017 it worked with feed posts too, but Instagram decided the off the cuff posts wouldn’t fit right next to your more widely broadcasted highlights. But confined to Stories, it feels like a natural and much-needed extension of what Instagram was always supposed to be but that’s gotten lost in our swelling social networks: giving the people you love a window into your life.

Robby Stein (Instagram) debuts a new feature called Close Friends that allows users to share Stories with a small group of friends #TCDisrupt pic.twitter.com/ontdA7CQU0

— TechCrunch (@TechCrunch) November 30, 2018

via TechCrunch