#i’ve on stop 7 of 8 in india today

[cinematicnomad]

i head to my final city of this 3 week trip to india today! after that it’s istanbul and then a short holiday on the turkish coast and then finally, finally back home next wednesday.

[earisu1]

When did the Airship Crash?

Original date of the post: 24 of October, 2007

Disclaimer: not my words, not my ideas, just reposting to spread and preserve.

“ I’ve been studying my newly created Document-based Time-line: Before Jennifer arrived at the Orphanage  in order to try to figure out a few things about the Rule of Rose game.  Such as when did the airship crash? And, using the crash as a reference point, when did Jennifer arrive at Gregory’s house?

There are a couple of newspaper articles that relate to the airship flight.

25 April 1929

The World’s Largest Airship to Take Flight

In anticipation of the coming era of airship travel, Britain announced the completion of the world’s largest airship. In its long awaited first flight, it will lift off at Cardington and fly to India by way of London. All of Britain eagerly awaits the inaugural ceremony. Along with the Mayor and the Countess, children from the local orphanage will participate in the ribbon-cutting ceremony.

(“Unlucky Clover Field”, Smoking room, newspaper)

and

23 June 1929

Luxury Airship Missing!

England’s largest luxury airship, which just set sail on its virgin flight—a flight celebrated across the country with great fanfare—was reported today to have gone off course and is currently missing.

It is speculated that the vessel diverted from its course to avoid a low pressure system approaching from the south, but its whereabouts are still unknown.

Due to the heavy thunder and rain that have blanketed the area since yesterday, the search for the airship has faced many difficulties.

(“Gingerbread House” Cellar Bedroom, newspaper clipping pinned up on wall)

It might be thought that the ribbon-cutting ceremony coincided with the beginning of the airship’s “virgin flight” (I think this is a slight miss in the translation: I’ve always heard such flights phrased as “maiden flights”). But I think that we can rule out that the flight referred to in the RoR article–23rd of June–began a full two months earlier, unless we want to try to make an argument that the airship made it to India, stayed there for quite some time, and then crashed near the end of its return flight to Cardington. The expected time for a flight from England to India was, according to this article (Airships R100 and R101)  on comparable airships of this era, only 5 or 6 days.

If it were the case that the airship was on its return flight, however, I would think that something would have been included in the RoR article–23 June–regarding the airship’s success in reaching India (which I imagine would also have been celebrated with fanfare) and that it was on its return flight (and can that return flight much later still be called its virgin flight?) when lost. Instead the RoR article–23 June–says that the airship “just set sail on its virgin flight.”

I think that the “inaugural ceremony” described in the RoR article–25 April–probably was the occasion of a test flight, perhaps the first test flight, of the airship. The “virgin flight” term must’ve been saved for its first commercial flight later, which began sometime in June.

I think that the true-life story of the R101 was the inspiration for the airship flight depicted in the Rule of Rose game. The first commercial flight (it had only test flights previously), in 1930, of the R101 had the following schedule: Cardington to India: 5 days; stop-over: 4 days; return from India to Cardington: 6 days. Total round trip time: 15 days. (Airship R101 –a different article).  Even the depiction, in Rule of Rose, of living spaces inside of the airship, rather than just inside of a gondola, uniquely match the R100 and R101:

Life on Board :

The R101 was seen as a lavish floating hotel. Even by today’s standards, the open promenades and public spaces would be seen as unique in the skies. These large British ships were the first to adopt the style of using the interior of the ship for the passenger accommodation. The only contemporary ship which was running a passenger service was the German Zeppelin ZL127 – Graf Zeppelin. Even then the ship could only accommodate 20 passengers who were situated in a stretched forward gondola beneath the hull of the ship. The utilisation of interior space within the R100 and R101 was a first of its kind and the R101 could boast 2 decks of space, a dining room which could seat 60 people at a time and a smoking room which could seat 20. The promenades showed off the view to the fullest advantage. Compared to the noisy smelly and tiring journey in an aeroplane, the airships were seen as pure luxury, with service comparable to that of the greatest ocean liners.

The R101 also crashed during its attempted flight to India. It crashed in France, at night during a storm, resulting in 48 deaths and 7 survivors. It was less than 8 hours into its flight.

I think that the airship in Rule of Rose also must’ve crashed very early into its flight. It took off from Cardington, and the place where Gregory (who “rescued” Jennifer) lived was also in Cardington. It makes sense to think that the crash occurred in, or very near, Cardington probably not long after take off.

Despite that radar had not been in use in those days, I don’t think that the airship could have been down for long without it being noticed that it was missing. The R101 sent and acknowledged numerous radio messages during its few hours of flight. So I think that, in the case of the airship in Rule of Rose, if it stopped acknowledging radio messages this would have been noticed promptly.

A complication arises when we now compare the weather report of the RoR article–23rd of June–which speaks of “heavy thunder and rain that have blanketed the area since yesterday”, with the weather observations of Gregory in his diary. Gregory doesn’t report rain!

Did the Rule of Rose game-writers mess-up? Or can we come up with an explanation?

I think we can come up with an explanation that works.

The airship could have gotten all the way to France within 8 hours, so it could easily, in just a few hours, gotten to an area which was blanketed with heavy thunder and rain, but which didn’t bring rain to Cardington. If the airship took damage in that storm, and perhaps had a lightning strike knock out their radio system, they might have decided to escape the storm and return to Cardington to make an injured landing. And although they did escape the storm (and make in back to, or near, Cardington) their damage still caused them to crash before making it back to their intended landing area. Jennifer survived, but was dazed and traumatized (we know she lost her memory) and wandered away from the crash site. Perhaps this occurred on the 22nd, a day that Gregory describes in his diary as “cloudy”.

Gregory’s June 1929 calendar (edited)

18 (sun)

19 (sun)

20 (sun)

21 (sun)

22 (cloud)

23 (sun)

24 (sun)

25 (sun)

26 (sun)

27 (sun)

28 (unmarked)

29 (unmarked)

30 (unmarked)

I don’t see anything in Gregory’s dairy to indicate that he found Jennifer, or that Jennifer wandered into his yard, so this probably means that Jennifer didn’t arrive at Gregory’s house until after the 27th (we don’t see any diary entries later than that). Was she wandering around in the woods until then? If so, she must’ve been in pretty bad shape by the time Gregory rescued her.

If anyone has an alternate way of fitting together the clues, that seems good to them, I’d be delighted to read of it in the comments section.”

[aconboyindependent2021]

‘Now and Then’ - current state of play

My film is a re-imagining of the site of Brighton General Hospital next to my home. Until around 70 years ago, a workhouse operated on the site (for details, see: Gardner, J, (2012) A History of the Brighton Workhouses). Aspects of the austere workhouse are still evident on the site today. I began to think about the stories of the residents of the workhouse – what did they have to endure? With this in mind, I bought the above book by a local author about the history of workhouses in Brighton.

I have always been fascinated by the idea that traumatic events in a particular location can be recorded and replayed at a later time in history and that this might be a basis for ghosts and hauntings – for example, in the blockbuster, Poltergeist, and the BBC drama from the 1970’s The Stone Tapes (Sasdy, 1972). This is one of the key concepts behind the film.

After a lot of thought, I settled on the story of the workhouse being told by a single woman, Agatha, whose infant child was taken from her illegally and sold to a rich couple living in Brighton. This is a variation on the common Victorian  practice of unmarried women being compelled to give their children to a foundling home.

The film starts with Aggie telling her story in largely neutral terms and comparing the workhouse and the site’s positive use today as a hospital, but it climaxes with Aggie screaming with the loss of her child, and we see that she is a tormented spectre.The film ends with her anguish fading into a sign on the present site, promoting a nursery for infant children.

The film will be around 5-6 minutes long and will consist of edited original footage taken on the site in the present day. The film will be treated with video effects to alter the pacing, colour and atmosphere of the original footage. I have asked for a drama-trained friend to narrate the film as Aggie and will be using original and library sound effects and music motifs, or possibly drones to punctuate the soundtrack.

Now and Then – influences from other artists

1. Brian Percival - About a Girl

Female voice-over revealing a terrifying truth about motherhood at the end of the film. This film gives a cold dead feeling inside from the casual yet downcast demeanor as the leading character talks about her dysfunctional life and especially the ending, where the girl is revealed to have secretly miscarried a baby and we see her dump it into the canal (“I’ve become good at hiding things”). Both my film and About A Girl attempt to humanise the female main character outside of their tragedies.

2. Tobe Hooper - director of Poltergeist Paranormal activity centred around past events and the presence of aggrieved spirits. This was a film that made an impact on me from its non-stop tension, even before the presence of the supernatural becomes apparent. Tobe Hooper, ever since creating The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974) has achieved many awards, and after this film, it is easy to see why. It also has a similar plot to my initial idea for my film - where a great wrong done in the past creates a ‘haunting’ by aggrieved spirit(s)..

3. Peter Sasdy – Director of The Stone Tape (1972)

The original idea from the film was stones “recording” traumatic events from the past. While the current draft has drifted away from this concept, it still lives on with how Agatha remembers everything about the past as if she died yesterday, despite the superficial veneer of the current day hospital. However, Agatha is a real soul though in my film.

4. David Lynch - Eraserhead, The Elephant Man His black and white films – particularly The Elephant Man In the latter, view of Victorian England shot in black and white featuring cruelty and time-specific sounds, sights and atmospheres. The film always seems to have a sense of foreboding, even when the scene is uneventful, and with a deeply engaging soundtrack. Eraserhead will always always be an influence due to its deliberate disturbing monochrome style, investigation of altered perception and the anxieties of parenthood.

5. James Gardener- Author of: A Complete History Of Brighton Workhouses A detailed and easy-to-understand book centred around the original workhouse in my area. It includes the Brighton General Hospital Site. It helped give a real-life grounding to my supernatural tale.

6. Richard Boden - director of the Blackadder series 4 finale, Goodbyeee The series as a whole has very little to do with my film, but this is a powerful episode whose fade-out ending and closing-sound inspired the cross-dissolve effects and soundscape in my film - coincidentally both are centered with the cruelty of the past and atmospheric sound. Present and past merge at this point. One of the most popular scenes in TV drama/comedy and understandably so too.

7. Piotr Obal – various films and still images Obal is an independent artist who works with art, music and still photography. Occasionally, he teaches youths how to work at the computer like me (!) when he was helping out with an arts award I was studying for. Below is one of his images that has been an influence on me and the film. I love his Photoshop collages and the wonderful images he posts from his native Poland.

                                                        Work by Piotr Obal

8. Nalini Malani- for her immersive installations, ‘disgraced’ women under partiarchy, history and mythology, miscarriages of justice. I found out about Malini when I was writing my essay on her work in the  Diversity module: what started off as just finding out about an artist for the sake of my writing became a long-lasting admiration and inspiration from an artist who not only knows where she is coming from (from her upbringing hugely affected by India and Pakistan’s partition) but willingly sticks her neck out for those oppressed by society and history, and confidently shows her creations to the world. A particularly relevant aspect of her work is her use of the supernatural and mythology stories and myths to highlight aspects of women’s oppression throughout history.

9. Chris Butler- director of ParaNorman A key influence, supposedly aimed at children, I used the same of the spectre in this moving animation, and I was influenced by its themes about the cruelties of humanity and how we “moved on”. The spectre is a ghost of a falsely accused of being a ‘witch’ who wreaks her revenge on those who persecuted her.

It was also a strong influence that is more powerful at its climax and twist. In-depth look at how prejudice destroys lives that are never regained - even  death provides no relief. Butler is a part of Studio Laika, creating animated films that go beyond the norm.

10. Jacqueline Wilson - the writer of the Hetty Feather trilogy and other such Victorian novels such as Clover Moon.

A part of Jacqueline’s writings is her commentary about how unjust the past could be compared to today: even though her protagonists speak in ways that were customary to Victorians, she keeps them relatable the same way she keeps her modern-day protagonists relatable. The writing style of her books inspired certain characteristics of Agatha’s narration, because it was easy to understand yet engaging.

11. David Lean  - Director of Great Expectations (1946) This film, based on the Dickens book,  also brought to mind the cruel period of the Victorian era, and the acting and emotions continued that spirit and my inspiration around my project. I love that it is black and white as well as dialog-centred - I particularly like the formal style of speech - even to express negative emotions- for example:

“Let me point out the topic that in London it is not the custom to put the knife in the mouth for fear of accidents. It's scarcely worth mentioning, Only it's as well to do as others do”.

Miss Havisham, an almost ghostly older woman, in a similar way to Agatha cannot move beyond the terrible wrong done to her - she was left at the alter and devoted her life to training her adopted daughter, Estella, to get revenge on men.I use s similar obsessive, sing-minded hatred to motivate Agatha.

12. Sunset Boulevard (1950)

This film involve a man becoming the object of affection of a former silent movie star, Norma Desmond who overtake his life little by little until she kills him. Norma suffered with the times when silent movies went out of fashion and she is unable to move on, alone in her great house: people told Norma that she had no value and it had an impact on her psyche. She loses all sanity when arrested for killing Joe Gillis as she believes she is back in show business. The film also explores facades; Norma may live a glamorous if not lonely life, but her mental state torments her, like Aggie has with hers as she wanders around the hospital site driven ‘mad’ with grief and anger.  

13. R D Laing: ‘anti-psychiatrist’

'Here was someone explaining madness, showing how the fragmentation of the person was an intelligible response to an intolerable pressure”

Quote from: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/aug/25/rd-laing-aaron-esterson-mental-illness

 In discussing the concept of my film with a member of my family, I was directed to the psychiatrist/anti-psychiatrist, RD Laing. In the 1960’s and early 1970’s Laing wrote about how a person’s so-called ‘mad’ behaviour was in fact intelligible when their entire situation and experience was taken into account. He and other writers (like David Cooper) talked about the concept of the ‘double-bind’ where a person’s opportunity to make a decision to resolve the way they were being treated was blocked – perhaps by a member of their family saying that it was not in their personality to be assertive or angry.

This reminded me very much of Agatha; she tries to express her outrage at the great wrong done to her, but she is judged as unworthy and undeserving, so the wrong is seen as justified and her punishment for being the ‘low-life’ who would have a child and have to live in a workhouse. It is circular – she is treated badly because she deserves to be treated badly and so this means that her hatred and insanity brings the great wrong up herself.

Laing is largely forgotten today, but his ideas resonate with certain ideas in feminism and anti-racism. ‘Gaslighting’ is everywhere, both back then and now.

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9NnBonXPLJM

[reading-writing-revolution]

This is truly magnificent analysis. It's a bit of a long read, but it is ABSOLUTELY magically clarifying. I'll include my thoughts in a follow-up because this is perfectly in line with something I've been thinking about for a while.

Buckle up, this one is a bit of a roller coaster.

Let’s talk population density.

Do you know the population density of the zip code you live in?

What about the population density of where you spent your formative years?

That’s a bit of a rhetorical question, because I’m guessing the answer is no. I certainly didn’t, so I’d be impressed and surprised if I asked someone this question in casual conversation and they rattled off the number to me.

I’d never thought about population density until I traveled to India in 2018. We flew into Mumbai which has a population density of 75,000 people per sq. mi. To give you some perspective, NYC has 27,000 per sq. mi. (post originally said 10,431people but that is per sq. km. not mi.) and as most of my friends are familiar with King of The Hammers, in Johnson Valley, when Hammertown doesn’t exist, it has a population density of 15.2 people per sq. mi.

Mumbai has the highest population density of any city in the world, and until you’ve experienced it, it’s hard to describe. If you have ever been in the first 10 rows of a sold-out standing room only concert, that is as close as I can relate to how people move through the streets of Mumbai. There is literally no such thing as personal space. Not for you, not for your vehicle. I think one of the most fascinating things our entire group realized in Mumbai is whatever you do, do NOT stop. Merge in, merge out, but sudden stops cause pile ups of humans, vehicles, etc. Everything is in fluid motion, when you step into the stream you go with the current, when you need to leave the stream you move to the edges and hop out. What was also interesting was the lack of rage or frustration we saw, and the lack of accidents! I don’t think I saw two people yell at each other the entire time we were there. Same with car accidents, I saw one slight bumper brush. Nothing worth stopping over, as every car had marks from similar encounters.

You would think with so much closeness fights would break out often, accidents would be on every corner. But something strange happens. There is no space for the individual in that type of population density. If you wanted to stop and be mad or outraged, you would literally be trampled. So you move with the flow, or you step outside of it. One person cannot go against the current and be successful, individual needs simply cannot matter for society to function in that type of population density. This is different from NYC where you do see individuals disagree on street corners. Because even as dense as NYC is there is room for the individual. Even our most densely populated cities are nothing compared to other countries. America has space and the individual has rights.

When this country was founded the population density of even our biggest cities was a fraction of large cities in Europe. Which is why our constitution so heavily outlines the liberties and freedoms of the individual compared to places like England where their population density even today is 10 times that of the United States as a whole.

Ever since news of the pandemic broke I’ve found myself fascinated with population density in the US. This fascination started because it seemed obvious to me that the transmission of COVID would happen far faster in our highest population density areas of the country. Wikipedia has a list of cities by population density. Here’s how the top 20 most dense cities breaks down: 9 in New Jersey (NYC metro area),4 in CA (LA metro area), 3 in NY (NYC metro area), 2 in Florida (Miami metro area), 1 in Mass (Boston metro area), and 1 in Kentucky (Louisville). Except for Kentucky these population dense areas directly correlate to the highest areas of infection in the country.

But my fascination with population density didn’t stop at the pandemic. I wanted to understand population densities of different areas. I started looking up places I’d lived and visited that felt both dense and sparse population wise. It should come as no surprise that cities are always the most dense and rural areas are always the most sparse.

Then as the mask debate started unfolding in my newsfeed, I found myself loosely assigning a population density to people as they made their stance on masks known. Those that lived in higher population densities were usually more for masks than those who lived in less population dense areas.

Again, this made sense. Those that live in cities encounter more people in a day going about their routine. If they live in high-density housing, they share elevators, stairwells, mailrooms, lobbies, etc. The needs of the individual matter less the higher the density, so fighting the mask goes against the stream. You can do it, but it’s not easy.

Those I know that live more rural were less inclined to want to wear masks. I’ve found a general rule of thumb in casual conversation is if you can walk to your nearest market (even if it’s a gas station or 7/11), you understand the need for a mask. If you MUST drive to your nearest market, you likely don’t have to encounter many people in a day if you choose not to, and masks feel like just another unnecessary restriction imposed by the government. The individual has more freedoms and rejects government oversight more the lower the population density.

At some point this year I saw some people sharing an image of the US broken up by red states (Republican) vs. blue states (Democrat), compared to a map of COVID cases. At the time, the blue states almost directly correlated to where the highest COVID outbreaks were happening. The conclusion those sharing this map were trying to draw was that COVID was political and made up by the political leaders of blue states. It was largely those living in unaffected areas sharing this map and drawing these conclusions.

What I took from these images was that the higher the density the more likely an area was to be run by Democrats. Which lead me down a rabbit hole. Apparently, someone named Dave Troy noticed the same thing, and wrote an interesting article based on the 2012 election between Obama and Romney. 98% of the 50 most dense counties voted Obama. 98% of the 50 least dense counties voted Romney.

And this Dave guy sounds like someone I would enjoy having a discussion with. Because this data drew him to the same question I had. Where is the crossover point in population density between those that vote Republican vs. those that vote Democrat? The data says that at about 800 people per sq. mi. people switch from voting primarily Republican to voting primarily Democrat. Below 800 people per sq. mi. there is a 66% chance that you voted Republican in 2012. The data doesn’t appear much different in the following years.

So why does this matter? Because how you were raised and how you live has a huge impact on what matters to you from your politicians and your government.

Those I know that grew up in less dense areas had to be self-reliant. When calling 911 means you’re likely waiting 20 minutes or longer for police, an ambulance, or a fire truck. You have to be able to defend yourself, handle your own first aid, and rely on your neighbors to help in critical emergency situations. When I tell people in Southern California that where I grew up had volunteer firefighters and EMTs they don’t believe me.

The more rural you are, the less you rely on government entities for your day-to-day needs. The most rural have well water, septic systems, take their trash to the dump, if it snows, they have a vehicle that can plow, and the truly rural use propane for power and heat. They are not reliant on most services provided by the public utilities. They use guns as tools to protect their animals and their family from prey and from vermin. They do not really encounter homeless people, as even the poorest can usually find a shack to live out of and require a vehicle to get around. These people in less dense areas do not depend on the government to solve their problems. They’d prefer government stay out of their lives completely. Less taxes, less oversight, less being told what to do. To the rural, it seems like every time the government interferes in their life, they lose another freedom, and their quality of life diminishes.

Those I know that grew up in more dense areas are used to calling 911 to handle emergencies. Their streets are swept in the summer and plowed in the winter. Their trash is picked up on the same day weekly. They don’t have space for cars and tools, so they tend to take public transportation or walk. They call someone when something breaks that requires tools they don’t own. They are used to encountering the homeless on the streets as part of their daily life. The truly poor and homeless usually end up in cities as the services to help the sick, mentally ill and the poorest among us are more available in dense areas. So the wealthy interact with the poor in cities far more than they do in rural areas. Those in higher density areas are willing to pay for government services because they are a regular part of their daily lives and make life more manageable. Without these services, the quality of life they know would not exist.

This got me thinking about some research I did a few years ago, when I learned that the average American only lives 18 miles from their mother. Those in NY and PA only live on average 8 miles from their mothers. From Kentucky to Louisiana the average is 6 miles. Less than 20% of Americans live more than a few hours drive from mom. The further you move from home depends greatly on your education and income. For the most part, the wealthier you are, the more you can pay for child and elder care, making it easier to travel further from home. Also, the more educated, the more likely you are to travel to utilize your education in a specialized career field.

So what does this have to do with population density? Most Americans never leave the population density we were raised in. Why does this matter? Because that means most Americans can’t understand or relate to the needs of those that live in population densities that differ from their own.

My friends that have been raised in cities see guns primarily as a source of violence. My friends that live rurally see guns as a necessary tool for their way of life. My friends that have been raised rurally don’t understand the need for taxes and government services, where they come from you take care of your own problems. My friends that live in cities, could not imagine a life without public utilities and governmental oversight of social problems.

Neither are wrong. Their needs and perspective are just vastly different.

I also realized that I’m probably in a small percentage of the American population. I have spent the last 20 years living more than 2500 miles from my closest family members, which puts me into the 20% category plus I was raised and lived in both high density population areas and low density population areas throughout my life.

Here’s my life by population density:

Age: 0-10 Zip: 14613 Pop Dens: 7323.5 people per sq. mi.

Age: 11-18 Zip: 14468 Pop Dens: 345 people per sq. mi.

Age: 18-22 Zip: 14850 Pop Dens: 5,722 people per sq. mi.

Age: 25-32 Zip: 92606 Pop Dens: 4,913 people per sq. mi.

Age: 33-43 Zip: 91773/91750 Pop Dens 2,163/1245 people per sq. mi.

I went to inner city schools as a young child. I was upset that my mother could not put my hair in corn rows with the pretty beads like my friends wore. I learned civil rights songs taught to me by our bi-racial music teacher and came home and sang them for my disapproving father who was raised in Shinglehouse, PA with a population density of 26.5 people per sq. mi.

Then at the age of 11 my family moved out of the city and into the country. We lived on 20+ acres of land and the population was 98% white. I didn’t walk to school anymore, heck, we didn’t really walk to our neighbor’s house because country roads don’t have sidewalks.

Then I went away to college for 4 years where I lived part of that time on the 11th floor of a tower, with a shared elevator, lobby, and I didn’t own a car. I walked everywhere, took the bus or would grab a ride from my few friends with cars if it wasn’t feasible to take public transportation.

After college I moved to Southern California. I spent my first 10 years as an adult mostly living in condos and townhomes in wealthier higher density areas, where I would say the majority leaned slightly left, but there was a fiscally conservative undertone. But I spent most weekends taking my Jeep to lower population density areas to live a life more closely to what I had on the farm growing up. Less government oversights. No one ticketing my Jeep for a few stickers as a commercial vehicle, etc.

Currently, I live in Los Angeles County, one of the highest populations in the country. But I live in one of the lowest density zip codes within that county. We have horse property and rodeos, and one of the only country bars in Southern California. Our population is almost completely split down the middle between left and right. I don’t have a sidewalk but a half a mile down the road they do. I can walk to the 7/11 and the subway around the corner but need to drive to the closest grocery store.

I’ve come to realize that just about every polarizing debate I see my friends having; I can see both sides of the argument. And I’m starting to suspect it’s because I’ve lived in both their worlds. I can relate and understand their needs and where they are coming from because I’ve experienced each of their way of life to a certain extent. Most in this country are raised one way and live that way for life. And how we want to live really comes down to the population density in which we have existed.

I truly believe our population density experience matters more to our political views than education, income, race, gender or sexuality.

As a society we are so wrapped up in left vs. right. Liberal vs. conservative. We figure out which we identify with and lump every social/political issue we agree with into “our” category, and everyone we disagree with into “their” category. I don’t see this really helping us hear each other any better. It more results in people trying to prove why they are right.

Since I’ve started considering people’s population density experiences in life (if I know them and have a reasonable idea) I have found a new filter with which to view information that is far more conducive to understanding their point of view than the filters we currently use.

Mark Twain once wrote, “Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime.”

And while I think there’s some truth to that, travel in Mark Twain’s day and age is different than how we travel today. For instance, when I go to Baja, I like to stay in the small towns and eat at the local restaurants. But I have many friends that only go to all inclusive resorts, or stay in tourist areas, never venturing outside of the luxury they are there to enjoy. They don’t spend time in the rural areas seeing what life is really like. Traveling with ULTRA4 and for off road has kept me outside of most tourist areas. Where there’s only one place to stay and you have to explore local eating options. Seeing the countryside and how people live both in US and in Europe. I prefer to travel this way.

Many of us with the means to travel prefer to vacation how we live. The more rural we live day to day, the less spending a week in NYC sounds like fun. But going camping in the woods likely appeals to us. And those that live in cities, tend to not choose wilderness adventures for their downtime. The travel to help us see how other people live that existed in Twain’s time doesn’t really happen in our service oriented society where restaurants and hotels are abundant most places. We can eat at the same restaurants and sleep at the same hotels from one side of the country to the other. We’ve stopped getting outside of our own bubbles even when we travel.

I don’t know what we can do that would expose us to other ways of life like travel in Twain’s age did. But we probably need to figure it out to stop the divide from separating this country further.

From the beginning of 1900s through the Vietnam War between 7 and 9 percent of Americans were in military service. Today less than 0.5% of Americans serve in the military. That was one way that we used to expose Americans to life outside of what they grew up with. College is another way, but as costs have risen, more students continue to live at home and attend community colleges or local universities vs. leaving home to experience a different way of life between 18 and 22.

I find myself thinking about kids who go off to the army or away to college. They are forced outside their comfort zones. Some thrive there, some don’t. But they learn a different way of existing, at least for a little while. The type of travel Mark Twain is talking about. Part of me wonders if we shouldn’t offer some sort of service requirement for our youth between say 18 and 20 that requires them to get involved in something to help the country, away from where they were raised, military or civil service. If they were raised in a city, working on rural projects. If they were raised rurally, working on urban projects. Just to have a frame of reference for how diverse this country truly is and how different our needs are based on that diversity. But this is a topic for another day. You’ve already been too kind reading this far.

I don’t have the answers. But I’m glad I’ve finally put down some of the thoughts I’ve had floating around in my head regarding population density. Kudos to those of you that stuck it out.

If you’re like me and are curious about your own population density experiences, I’ve included a link in the comments where you can throw in zip codes and see what your exposure has been.

https://medium.com/@davetroy/is-population-density-the-key-to-understanding-voting-behavior-191acc302a2b

[sylvain-writes]

Scarlet Letters (TMNT Raphael x Reader)

Chapter 6/8: Goodbye

It’s time for Raphael to head home.

(Ch 1, Ch 2, Ch 3, Ch 4, Ch 5, Ch 6, Ch 7, Ch 8, Ao3)

Goodbye.  That word has caught your heart in a vice for as long as you can remember.  Today it’s charged anew as you watch Raphael stir in his sleep.  Your stomach twists at the thought of that word, of its history.  You figure you’ll say, “See ya,” when you and Raphael part ways.  But the meaning will be the same.  

Fear of goodbye is the reason you let Raphael hold you even after the power returned.  It’s why you stayed in his arms long after the baseboard heat had warmed the room.  It’s why, for hours, you remained in bed with him under the guise of sleep.

You’re dressed in a hoodie and sweatpants by the time Raph wakes up, but that doesn’t erase his memory of what lies beneath your shirt.  Even as he rubs sleep from his eyes, he stares at your shoulder like the scar is still on display.  

Gingerly, Raphael pushes himself up to sit and lets the blankets pool in his lap.  

You pay no mind to his focused attention, or so you tell yourself.  Instead, your thoughts drive you forward, urging you to fix the bandages that have started to peel off of Raphael’s side.  Certainly, his fresh injuries are more deserving of attention than a wound that’s well over a decade old.  

Raphael, however, isn’t fooled by your fussing.  “Your shoulder-” he stops your fidgeting with a hand on your wrist.  “How did that really happen?”

Though you two had spent more time in bed swapping life stories than sleeping, you’d made sure to sidestep any topic that would steer the conversation back toward the scar.

You glance down.  No matter how understanding Raphael had been, you knew more questions would come.  No one carries around this kind of mark their whole life without people asking questions. 

You raise your hand to your shoulder and are comforted by the way Raphael’s hand comes along with it.  “It was the Dragons,” you confess, thinking about the purple-tipped dagger the gang had passed around like your fear was a game.  “They cornered me and my dad.  The doctors said the poison never really left my body so...”  So, you got stuck with this reminder.  A jagged, puckered scar with lines dark as India ink branching out like a web.

Raphael’s thumb draws circles over your shoulder with precision; he remembers exactly where your scar lies hidden underneath your clothes.  It’s too much - his unhurried touch, his attentive gaze.  

You listened to Raphael talk about his family as you laid together before sleeping the rest of the day away and you learned the way he cares for those he holds dear.  He feels things - everything - intensely.  With his whole heart.  It’s how anger takes hold.  Everything fuels it - fear, love, sadness.  

Now, you see his worry.  And you wonder where that anger - that shield behind which he’s learned to hide his vulnerability - has gone.  

“Raph, I-”

Your phone trills, cutting you off with the alarm you’ve set for departure.  You think, maybe it’s for the best.  

The sun set a few hours ago.  It’s well past dark.  “We should get going,” you say and you hope he doesn’t notice the tightness in your voice or the way your hands shake before you stuff them into your pockets.

⁂

Raphael insists on walking ahead, which is fine by you.  It gives you a chance to admire your handiwork on his shell.  

"Are you sure?" You had asked, looking down at a picture of the characters he’d worn when you found him.  But you understood.  By then, you had gained understanding that this was part of his mask, part of his armor.  

"That's me.” Raphael rolled his shoulders back defensively, but the way he shifted on the stool had betrayed his fear of rejection. “And if you don't like it-"

It wasn’t that you didn’t like it, or didn’t respect what it stood for.  But you had something else in mind.  

Your phone clunked against the table when you shoved it toward him.

He stared at the screen, frozen.  He swallowed hard but didn’t look away.  "Yuuki?  Naw.  That's not for me… that's-"

“It’s OK.”  You could see he was getting agitated and you didn’t know the story of the Kanji or much about the Bushido code, so you weren’t going to force the issue.  But you wanted him to know, “Since I’ve known you… and from all you’ve told me… This is who I see, Raphael.”

By way of answer, Raphael brought up an image of the characters Michelangelo had been spray painting on his shell since they were teenagers.  You looked up at him as he placed the phone in your hand.

“Please,” he said.

“Teach me,” you replied.

Anticipating the touch of your paintbrush to his shell, Raphael held his breath.  His arms flexed as they tightened around the back of the chair he was straddling.  The tick of his jaw matched the pat of his hands as he nervously drummed a beat against his elbows.  

You weren’t sure if it was the act of being marked or the suggestion you made to change his characters that had him anxious, but you stood behind him, ready to stop at a word.  This was for him.  And if he didn’t trust you with this, if he didn’t want it-

“...ya start yet?” Raphael asked.  The way he sat, with his face tucked into his forearms, made his question nearly inaudible.  But you didn’t think he was really looking for an answer.  He knew you hadn’t touched his shell.  Because the moment you placed your non-dominant hand upon it, you heard his sharp intake of breath.  You felt his body quiver with it.  

You paused, allowing him time to get used to your touch.  “Should I…”

Raphael nodded against his arms.  And when you brought the paintbrush down to the hard scales of his back, he released his breath in a rush.  

With slow strokes, you followed the diagram Raphael had drawn out.  There was an order to the characters; you would get it right.  

Each time you lifted the brush for more paint, Raphael rose into the palm of your other hand.  It was as if he missed the pressure, as if he needed the contact.  So, you slid your hand along the edge of his carapace in languid sweeps as you worked.  You let yourself get lost in it - in the brushstrokes, in the quiet, in the notches and grooves of his shell.  

And now Raphael walks with his kanji emblazoned on his back, but you don’t see the bright red characters as a marker of unprovoked violence.  Not after everything Raphael and his brothers have been through.  Not after the effort Raphael has put into his training and the growth he’s described in not as many words.  

You believe the characters are a testament to his strength and bravery and compassion.  When he’s in control of it, Raphael’s anger is his ammunition and his shield.

Your phone buzzes in your pocket as you and Raphael turn a corner.  He doesn’t lead you much further before he finds an alley that “looks familiar.”  Nonetheless, it still takes him a solid minute to find what he’s looking for under the snow.

Once the manhole cover is clear, Raphael lifts it and sets it aside with ease.  

“So, eh, ya comin’ down or what?”

You look at the giant mutant turtle standing in front of you and at the open sewer beneath your feet, and you smile knowing that life can’t possibly get any weirder than this.  You smile as you lean into it.  And you smile with the realization that you’re finally excited to see where life wants to take you.  It’s brought you to him.  And you want to see how far this will go. 

But your damn phone won’t stop buzzing with requests from work.  

“It’s Damian again.”  Your Nurse Manager has been trying to bribe people into work with promises of free pizza.  You had texted back, ’How about double-time?,’ nearly an hour ago.  

You frown at the response that just came through.  ‘I got you for time-and-a-half.’  You can’t turn down the money.  “I gotta go into work,” you say apologetically.

“Oh.  Right.  Well...” Raphael looks down at the ladder and his brow creases with dark thoughts.

Your hand rises and falls.  You’d like to touch him, to hold onto him, but to what end?  “You could come by sometime, y’know.  Talk to your brothers, clear the air.  Then, come and tell me all about it over take out or somethin’.”  

He probably figures you’ve invited him for greasy, MSG-loaded Chinese, but you know you’ll pull a bait and switch.  Recruit him as a sous chef.  All his boasting about being a ninja and you’ve yet to see his knife skills in action.  “Whaddaya say, Red?  Dinner at mine?”

Raphael shuffles in place, scratches the back of his head, and gives a half-hearted shrug.  

“Maybe bring your brothers around,” you say, so he knows you have no qualms about meeting them.  “I know I live in a pretty rough neighborhood,” you joke to cut the tension, “but I hear you turtle guys know a thing or two about fighting.  Maybe you can teach me…”

Raphael seems to perk up at that, but you can’t help but poke fun at him just a little.  “On second thought, maybe I should take another class at the Community Center.  You did get your ass handed to you yesterday.”  

“Hey, if I hadn’t been pushed-”

Was it really only yesterday?  Your eyes drift over his injuries, impressed with how quickly he’s healing.  “Just keep your feet on the ground, alright?”  

This time, when your stomach flips, you give into the urge to reach out to Raphael.  Laying a hand on his forearm, you draw in some of his courage.  “And if ya don’t wanna bring around your brothers.  If, maybe, you wanna visit - just you and me - that’d be fine, too.”  Your smile widens as you tighten your grip and bring yourself a step closer.  

Raphael’s cheeks flush.  You think all is going well until he steps out of your reach and you come to the conclusion that maybe you can’t read Raphael as well as you thought.

His hands are up and his eyes are on the ground as he backs away.  “I-I ain’t some cursed prince, y’know.  What ya see is what ya get.”

“I like what I see.”  He has to know that by now.  You need him to know that.  “Is this about me going into work?  Bring me down to your place when I’m done.  I’m not scared to see where you live.  I want to know you.”

“I gotta go,” he says.  And out of respect, you have to let him.

“Raphael.”  You call out his name as he turns toward the ladder.  Your heart pounds against your chest at the thought of never seeing him again.  “Here,” you say, reaching into the pocket of your parka.  “It’s not much.  Just an antibiotic.  Apply it twice a day, when you change your bandages.”

The tube of cream is dwarfed by his palm, but he accepts the ointment with a small word of thanks.

“A-and,” you stall as he starts to turn again, “I know you said your brother helps out with the med stuff.  You can tell Donatello the stitches shouldn’t be removed yet.”

“OK.”  

You take a deep breath as Raphael stands at the edge of the manhole, knowing these words are your goodbye.  “Give it about four or five days, OK?  But no longer than that.”

“OK.”

“A-and, Raph,” you hold up your hand as he prepares to jump, and he waits.

“Yeah, ___?” 

You bite your lips together to keep yourself from saying something stupid, something revealing, something you can’t take back, “Nevermind.”

Raphael nods.  

“Take care of yourself,” you say, finally, and when he looks up this time the turtle is holding his injured side and wearing a small smile.

“Ya killin’ me with all this red light green light, y’know.”

You wince.  “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to-”

“See ya in about four or five days,” he interjects.

Your eyebrows shoot up.  “Wha-?”

“To take out the stitches.  Ya think I’m gonna trust Donnie with dis pretty face?”

Your heart leaps and you’re smiling so hard that it hurts.  “OK.  Yeah.  OK.  Four or five days.”  

⁂

You walk home with a bounce in your step and your head in the clouds and your eyes on your phone.  You have to text Damian confirmation that you’ll be in as soon as you can.

There’s no foreboding change in the air.  No dark clouds rolling in.  No ominous music playing, when you’re jumped.  But there are figures dressed in black, a soaked cloth over your mouth, and the clatter of your phone as it hits the pavement.

[purplesurveys]

1013

surveys by -thoughtlessdork

Have you ever had the chicken pox? No. I’m constantly in a place of waiting for it to pass by, because everyone tells me all people are bound to have it at one point in their lives (idk how true that is, though). I am also told it gets a lot suckier as one gets older, so...not too thrilled about it at all.

how often do you do laundry? I don’t handle that chore myself, but it’s done 1–2 times a week in our house.

Have you ever been evicted? Nopes.

would you grow your own garden? I don’t see that happening. I’m a magnet for killing plants.

do you know anyone who snores? I do.

Trigger warning kinda, by the end.

what is your favorite font? Proxima Nova. It’s the default font that my org used for all documents and works-in-progress, and it ended up becoming my actual real-life favorite. I’ve always picked out that font even outside of org matters.

do you know what a wombat is? Sure.

would you make a good movie critic? Not at all. I don’t know enough about different filmmaking elements to make a reliable critic. I’ve criticized things like acting, plots, and dialogues in the past, of course; but there’s still so many things that go into films that aren’t overtly projected like lighting, symbolism, hidden meanings, etc. I don’t have a very good nose for those.

what goal are you aiming for this year? In the last 8 weeks of the year? Hmm...avoiding corona would be at the top of that list, lmao.

are you currently reading any books at the moment? No. I’ve stopped opening the book I used to constantly mention on here.

when i say foxy lady what comes to mind? Beyoncé’s character in the Austin Powers movie she was in lol; her name was Foxxy.

would you have liked to have lived during the Victorian times? Wasn’t this era like a golden age of sorts for the UK? I’d love to visit for that purpose; but given the still-horrible hygiene and living conditions for most people of the time, I wouldn’t choose to live there.

would you own a Siamese cat? No.

have you ever had an ultimate adrenaline rush? I don’t think so. I’ve had bursts of energy in the past, but I wouldn’t call any of them an ultimate adrenaline rush.

do you like deviled eggs? I’ve never had them; it’s not a common dish here. But they always look so good in the American shows I watch??? I really hope they taste as good as they look.

what tends to upset you? Hearing anything about animal abuse.

what's the farthest you've walked? I can’t give you a distance, but my parents opted for us to walk the whole time we were in Bali (except if we had a tour day which included transportation). Walking in an unfamiliar - and very humid - country and not knowing where anything is (this was before food and travel apps got as detailed as they are today) and ending up walking long stretches because you can’t locate any good local spots is a very easy way to run out of patience, apparently.

what is your favorite horror movie? Carrie was pretty fun.

what does your favorite shirt look like? It’s a twist on the Chicago flag, made black and red and with a raised fist in the middle. At the back it says “CM Punk: Best in the World.” Been my favorite and most overused shirt for the past 9 years. My friends tease me about it sometimes, but I don’t care lol, the shirt is very significant to me.

is your life like a daily routine? It is, but I prefer that it is. I like when things are in my control and, for the most part, predictable. I enjoy spontaneity in short bursts.

were you ever told as a child if you eat carrots you'll have pretty eyes? So many times.

what career are you most interested in? Communications and media, so it’s great that I’m headed there so far.

have you ever seen a rooster? Sure.

what time do you usually wake up? I wake up wake up by 7:30 or 8 AM, but I usually also wake up for a bit any time between 4–6 AM. Sometimes I choose to stay up from then, and sometimes I’d want to go back to sleep.

what do you think about religion? It’s good when people use it for good, or if it has helped save a person’s life. In my own personal experience, though, it’s beenhard to find Christians who aren’t hypocritical. So even though I see religion’s potential, I don’t have a lot of trust in believers themselves.

what made you feel most accomplished in your life so far? Graduating college.

have you ever seen a lunar eclipse? I saw the super blue blood moon two years ago, which according to a quick Google search is a lunar eclipse! So yeah, I’ve seen one.

what are you allergic to? No allergies.

do you ever feel like people hold things you do or say against you? Only my mom does this.

what can't you afford but wish you could? Front-row Wrestlemania tickets. My childhood (and now adulthood) dream is to go to Mania 50 which is only 14 years from now, but at least I still have more than enough time to save up for it. 

--

what is one word that sums up this year so far? Revelatory. ever felt like you were putting your life in danger? [trigger warning] Yes, it’s called suicidal tendencies. what do you like with your eggs? If scrambled, with cheese. If omelette...stuff that crap up with everything lol. Tomatoes, bell peppers, mushrooms, cheese, ham, bacon, and onions are all good in my book. what remedy do you partake when experiencing the common cold? The good ol’ wait-for-it-to-go-away life hack. would you ever spend a weekend in the mountains in a log cabin? That sounds amazing. I sure would. have you ever been called a psycho? No. have you ever taken martial arts? would you? No but I was always a little envious of my cousin who was taken to taekwondo class every weekend when we were kids. Sure, I’d take classes if I had the chance. who is someone you look up to? Nacho, but he’s gone now. is there something you're anxious about? I have work jitters for tomorrow, but they’re manageable for now. Otherwise I’m feeling pretty good. what is the longest you've gone without sleep? A little above 24. what is the longest you've been on the phone? This makes me cringe now, but it was like 8 hours long or something like that. It was still the ~honeymoon phase of that relationship and we were still clingy. We never did it again after that. do you care about calories? No. do you know someone with a really annoying laugh? Nah, can’t think of anyone. what band do you mostly always listen to no matter what mood? Paramore.  have you ever been to Indianapolis? Nope.

--

what type of bread do you like to eat? I eat white bread all the time, but my favorite kind is brioche. do you have any great great grandparents still living? Two greats is a bit too much don’t you think? Lmao. Anyway, my last great-grandparent died in 2010. I never knew my dad’s grandparents, and my great-grandfather on my mom’s side had died all the way back in the 70s. what is one country that you really want to visit someday? India. who usually cooks or what do you usually crave the most? Those are two different questions haha. My parents take turn cooking; and as for my craving, I find myself seeking sushi most of the time. ever been associated in a program that was a complete waste of time? Yep, like that one time I had to attend this 5-hour mandatory program/seminar before my driver’s license could be issued to me; it taught me nothing I didn’t already know about driving, and it used driving tutorials that I’m pretty sure were recorded in the 90s. This seminar took place in 2016. do weird numbers call your phone? Not regularly. Occasionally an unknown number will come in, but I reject all those. where are you right now? Sitting up on my bed. do you tend to care about other people's feelings more than your own? Yes. I really shouldn’t. what type of lifestyle do you want to obtain? if you haven't obtained it [trigger warning] I haven’t even figured out yet if I love life enough to want to stay in it. A type of lifestyle isn’t much of a priority for now. what was something that use to frighten you as a child? Getting lost at the mall. have you ever been on a train? Just once. who's been in your life the longest? did you expect this person to still be around? Apart from family, Angela. Yes, she’s here for the long haul. how do you feel about anatomy? Fascinating. I’d take a class on it. Insert interesting fact here: Read this on Reddit a few days ago, so I’ll just copy-paste the whole thing: “When Jadwiga, the King of Poland (medieval Poland referred to every ruler as King regardless of gender), was considering a marriage proposal from the Grand Duke of Lithuania, a chief concern among her court was that said Duke was rumored to have massive genitals to the point that they would kill his wife on their wedding night. Two of her councilors volunteered to travel to Lithuania to try and discover the truth of these rumors, which naturally meant they would watch the Duke as he bathed. They returned and happily reported that not only weren’t the Duke’s genitals fatally large, they were in fact a tad smaller than average, so nothing to worry about. Thus Poland and Lithuania were united, and the rest is history.” Got a chuckle out of that one when I read it that I just had to scroll through the entire thread again just to be able to share it here lmao.

[alltimebestbooks]

Top 10 Books Must Read Today Generation

1. The Rudest Book Ever by Shwetabh Gangwar

Shwetabh Gangwar is a professional problem-solver—and he’s ace at it. For the past five years, people from all over the world have contacted him with their troubles and he’s worked these out for them.

In the process, he has picked up on a simple pattern: people need a set of principles and perspectives to protect them from all the unnecessary bullshit they go through. Codes to live by, essentially.

But be warned: Gangwar has no desire to spare your feelings. What you will find in this straight-forward, straight-talking, no-craps-given guide, is:

How to deal with rejections of all kinds

How to change your perceptions of people so you don’t end up screwed

Why a society that sees people as ‘good and bad’ is dumb

How the search for happiness screws us over

How seeking approval and acceptance kills our individuality

The truth about social media influencers

Why we should be taught ‘how to think’, instead of ‘what to think’

Laying out clear principles, YouTube megastar Gangwar shows you how to deal with the shit that has happened to you, is happening to you and will happen to you.

A refreshing, easy-to-read, and relatable guide, The Rudest Book Ever will make you rethink everything you’ve been taught.`

2. Do It Today: Overcome Procrastination, Improve Productivity, and Achieve More Meaningful Things

Are you also tired of putting off your dreams until “tomorrow?” Guess what! Tomorrow never comes. Am I right?

I’ve procrastinated and putt off my desire to write a book for a decade. I always came up with excuses like, “it’s not the right time.” Or, “I need to do more research.”

But in 2015 I got tired of this endless procrastination, and finally took action. Six months later, my first book was published.

Look, we all have limited time on our hands. And we’re getting closer to death every single minute. That shouldn’t scare. That should motivate you!

Time is limited, that’s why we must do the things we want: Today.

In this “best of” collection, I’ve handpicked 30 of my best articles that help you to overcome procrastination, improve your productivity, and achieve all the things you always wanted.

Plus, I’ve written an extensive introduction about my life and work philosophy.

And I’ve made many improvements and edits to the articles. So the content of this book is different from the articles on my site.

In Do It Today, you’ll learn:

1.Why we procrastinate and how we can overcome it

2.How to increase your productivity without being stressful

3.How to achieve more meaningful things in your life so you can enjoy it more

Are you ready to start reading this book?

If so: Do it today—not tomorrow.

3. The Lean Startup: How Constant Innovation Creates Radically Successful Businesses

The Lean Startup is a new approach to business that's being adopted around the world. It is changing the way companies are built and new products are launched.

The Lean Startup is about learning what your customers really want. It's about testing your vision continuously, adapting and adjusting before it's too late. Now is the time to think Lean.

4. Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World

One of the most valuable skills in our economy is becoming increasingly rare. If you master this skill, you'll achieve extraordinary results.

Deep Work is an indispensable guide to anyone seeking focused success in a distracted world.

'Deep work' is the ability to focus without distraction on a cognitively demanding task. Coined by author and professor Cal Newport on his popular blog Study Hacks, deep work will make you better at what you do, let you achieve more in less time and provide the sense of true fulfilment that comes from the mastery of a skill. In short, deep work is like a superpower in our increasingly competitive economy.

And yet most people, whether knowledge workers in noisy open-plan offices or creatives struggling to sharpen their vision, have lost the ability to go deep - spending their days instead in a frantic blur of email and social media, not even realising there's a better way.

A mix of cultural criticism and actionable advice, DEEP WORK takes the reader on a journey through memorable stories -- from Carl Jung building a stone tower in the woods to focus his mind, to a social media pioneer buying a round-trip business class ticket to Tokyo to write a book free from distraction in the air -- and surprising suggestions, such as the claim that most serious professionals should quit social media and that you should practice being bored.

Put simply: developing and cultivating a deep work practice is one of the best decisions you can make in an increasingly distracted world and this book will point the way.

5. Understanding Millennials: A guide to working with todays generation

Have you often wondered, "What's wrong with this younger generation?" Or, "Why are these younger workers so lazy?" How about this one, "How do I get these Millennials to work harder?" If you still think that you can change the Millennials to make them fit into your business model, you, my friend, are wrong. We have to think on a bigger scale, and answer the question "How can we use this generation's strengths to make our business better?" In this minibook instead of trying to find ways to get this generation to stop acting the way they do, we figure out ways to inspire them to work harder no matter how they act. The tips and tricks in this book not only work for Millennials but can be used to inspire others in your employ as well. Put these ideas and beliefs into practice quickly and thoroughly, and watch your business grow not just fiscally but in emotional bonds as well. Your staff won't just respect you, they will follow you! The best way to read the book is with your current business trends and office staff in mind.

6. Sita: Warrior of Mithila

Immerse yourself in book 2 of the Ram Chandra series, based on the Ramayana, the story of Lady Sita, written by the multi-million bestselling Indian Author Amish; the author who has transformed Indian Fiction with his unique combination of mystery, mythology, religious symbolism and philosophy. In this book, you will follow Lady Sita's journey from an Adopted Child to the Prime Minister to finding her true calling. You will find all the familiar characters you have heard of, like Lord Ram and Lord Lakshman and see more of Lord Hanuman and many others from Mithila. You will also start discovering the true purpose of the Vayuputras and Malayaputras and their conflicting ideologies that leads to plot twists, politics and intrigue as they try to influence outcomes from behind the scenes.

She is the warrior we need. The Goddess we await.

She will defend Dharma. She will protect us.

India, 3400 BCE.

India is beset with divisions, resentment and poverty. The people hate their rulers. They despise their corrupt and selfish elite. Chaos is just one spark away. Outsiders exploit these divisions. Raavan, the demon king of Lanka, grows increasingly powerful, sinking his fangs deeper into the hapless Sapt Sindhu.

Two powerful tribes, the protectors of the divine land of India, decide that enough is enough. A saviour is needed. They begin their search.

An abandoned baby is found in a field. Protected by a vulture from a pack of murderous wolves. She is adopted by the ruler of Mithila, a powerless kingdom, ignored by all. Nobody believes this child will amount to much. But they are wrong.

For she is no ordinary girl. She is Sita.

Continue the epic journey with Amish’s latest: A thrilling adventure that chronicles the rise of an adopted child, who became the prime minister. And then, a Goddess.

This is the second book in the Ram Chandra Series. A sequel that takes you back. Back before the beginning.

7. The 5 AM Club: Own Your Morning, Elevate Your Life

Part manifesto for mastery, part playbook for genius-grade productivity and part companion for a life lived beautifully, the 5 am club is a work that will transform your life. Forever.

Legendary leadership and elite performance expert Robin Sharma introduced The 5 AM Club concept over twenty years ago, based on a revolutionary morning routine that has helped his clients maximize their productivity, activate their best health and bulletproof their serenity in this age of overwhelming complexity.

Now, in this life-changing book, handcrafted by the author over a rigorous four year period, you will discover the early-rising habit that has helped so many accomplish epic results while upgrading their happiness, helpfulness and feelings of aliveness.

Through an enchanting—and often amusing—story about two struggling strangers who meet an eccentric tycoon who becomes their secret mentor, The 5 AM Club will walk you through:

How great geniuses, business titans and the world’s wisest people start their mornings to produce astonishing achievements

A little-known formula you can use instantly to wake up early feeling inspired, focused and flooded with a fiery drive to get the most out of each day

A step-by-step method to protect the quietest hours of daybreak so you have time for exercise, self-renewal and personal growth

A neuroscience-based practice proven to help make it easy to rise while most people are sleeping, giving you precious time for yourself to think, express your creativity and begin the day peacefully instead of being rushed

“Insider-only” tactics to defend your gifts, talents and dreams against digital distraction and trivial diversions so you enjoy fortune, influence and a magnificent impact on the world

8. Mahatma Gandhi Autobiography: The Story Of My Experiments With Truth

This unusual autobiography “The Story of My Experiments with Truth”, is a window to the workings of Mahatma Gandhi’s mind – a window to the emotions of his heart – a window to understanding what drove this seemingly ordinary man to the heights of being the father of a nation – India. Starting with his days as a boy, Gandhi takes one through his trials and turmoils and situations that moulded his philosophy of life – going through child marriage, his studies in England, practicing Law in South Africa – and his Satyagraha there – to the early beginnings of the Independence movement in India. He did not aim to write an autobiography but rather share the experience of his various experiments with truth to arrive at what he perceived as Absolute Truth – the ideal of his struggle against racism, violence and colonialism.

9. How to Enjoy Your Life and Your Job

If you are not satisfied with your job and often struggle to achieve a work-life balance, you’ve picked the right book! “Count your blessings—not your troubles!” From ways to finding peace and happiness to insights on how to deal with people and make them like you at once, this book introduces good working habits and includes valuable advice on how to drive away the fatigue-producing boredom. With suggestions on how to relax and churn out the most of oneself and bring a sense of fulfilment, harmony and purpose, Dale Carnegie’s classic bestseller, How to Enjoy your Life and your Job, continues to help people reassess their approach to life, people and job and also helps them discover their strengths and talents.

10. Yoga and Stress Management

Yoga & stress management is a therapeutic guide for those dealing with mental and physical stress, as well as a reference book for healthy living. Although urban work culture has greatly improved the individual economic status, it has grossly diminished br Nature’s endowments. While modern psychology effectively helps in creating an awareness of what causes this, the Yoga philosophy is capable of changing one’s overall attitude towards life. This book combines both and provides valuable guidelines, tips, and techniques. Yoga offers the complete toolkit to deal with psychological and psycho-somatic disorders that are globally on the rise. With yogic techniques one can understand the nature of human consciousness and attain its higher stages. Using yogic practices like meditation and Pranayama, one can delve deep within and connect the body and mind to the inner self. By enhancing the latent energy in man, yoga offers a holistic solution to erase conflicts, suppression, and sensitivity.

[engineer-ai]

A Week in Sachin Dev Duggal Life: CEO of Engineer.ai

Sachin Dev Duggal is a serial entrepreneur, founding Engineer.ai in 2012 as a solution to the long and expensive process of app and software development. Prior to this, he founded technology companies Shoto and Nivio.

Engineer.ai is a technology company that is re-shaping how bespoke software is built, driven by the belief that everyone should have the opportunity to see their business idea come to fruition, without huge investments of funding, time and technical knowledge.

Monday

I wake up most mornings at 6:30am. This morning, I wake up even earlier due to the cries of my three-month-old daughter, Samanäya. As I pick her up from her crib and rock her back to sleep, I can hear my phone buzz a million times a second from across the house. With Sam in one hand, I begin to skim through the many emails I’ve received in the last six hours. I don’t even bother checking Slack at this point because messages, from engineering to marketing, run into three digits there in a matter of hours.

I run a global organisation, so work never stops. The Indian office is in full swing by now. Meetings are lined up from 9:30am to 6:30pm and a lunch break seems like a far-fetched dream at this point. I put Sam back to bed and get on my laptop. The rest of the morning is spent catching up on emails, going to the gym, having breakfast with family, doing the school run with my three-year-old son, Aramnäya, and more meetings, emails and messages.

The day is spent revisiting the previous week and planning the one ahead. We also have the formidable annual review coming up since the end of the year is near. But despite all the chaos, at the end of the day, I feel grateful for everything – the opportunities that I’ve been given to create something meaningful, my entire team at Engineer.ai who make it happen, and my family, of course.

Tuesday

I got a fortunate four hours of sleep last night. Today, over breakfast, I’m reading “Click, Clack, Moo. Cows That Type” to my son. He loves the cows that type away, much to Farmer Brown’s dismay. I don’t like noisy typers myself, so this story book is enjoyed by both my son and myself equally. The rest of the day flies past with meetings and PR interviews.

I wrap up at 6:30pm sharp and head to my kickboxing class. This is my sacred hour and some of the best ideas have come to me during this time.

After my class, I head home. 7:30pm to 10:00pm is strictly family time. Post dinner, there’s story time again and off to bed my kids go. Many hugs and kisses and goodnights later, I’m back at it. My day hasn’t ended. I’ve got another 4 hours of calls lined up with the leadership of my organisation.

Wednesday

We are doing a front page ad campaign with the Times of India, the second-largest selling English-language daily newspaper in the world, for two of our products – Builder Studio and Builder Cloud. There’s a lot of planning that goes into nailing the segmentation and targeting, messaging, call to action, lead capture and so forth. So, I’m flying to India today. I get off the 9-hour flight and head straight to work. I won’t be getting much sleep for the next 48 hours.

At about 8pm, I leave from office to catch dinner with my mum. This is the best part of my trip! As soon as dinner is done, I head back to work for late night meetings with the product team. We wrap up by 1:30am and everyone seems satisfied with how much we got done.

Thursday

I’m up bright and early this morning despite sleeping late last night, thanks to jetlag. I go for a jog and then head to work. I walk in at 8:00am and there isn’t a soul to be seen, but that’s on me. I’ve always been the first one in, last one out and the habit just doesn’t leave me. I’ve never quite been able to segregate “work” time from “non-work” time. My mind just doesn’t work that way. I spend my day (including lunch hour) in operations, marketing, sales, PR and finance catch-ups, and believe me, in a fast-scaling global organisation like Engineer.ai there is enough to discuss.

We also finalised the nitty-gritty of our upcoming campaign and with that, my trip to India officially concluded, albeit with another late night.

Friday

I took a late flight last night back to London, walking onto the plane on a conference call, so I can attend my son’s first play. I manage to catch some sleep on the flight. In school, Aramnäya walked onto stage first (his eyes searching for his mother and I). My heart melted and suddenly all the craziness this past week made sense. The headteacher came to me to thank me for the lights, and I, at the back of my mind, thought of my wonderful assistant, Alessia, who just made magic happen.

I wrap up work early today, so we can go out for a little celebratory family dinner. No more emails, meetings, calls, or messages for the day. I put my phone away. Tonight is about love, gratitude, and family.

[rametarin]

Also just saw this.. uh.. ‘solarpunk’ thread on tumblr. About overpopulation being a ‘racist meme.’

Some dude with a hammer and sickle ski-mask was pointing a gun at the viewer and basically boomerposting about how “the myth of overpopulation is a skinhead/white suprmacist conspiracy.”

Well yes, but also, no. It’s more of a, “hoist by my own petard” talking point thing from the past. Before intersectional feminism.

Captain planet had three (3) episodes about overpopulation, and each one of them blamed a different source for it.

One episode blamed wealthy western nations for third world societies overpopulating for sexist and traditional/religious reasons. Loot&Plunder used a magic ray on a poor brown kid and he kept diving every time he ate something, perpetuating this cycle of poverty and indentured servitude. “WE SO HUNGRY. HUNGRY.” So even overpopulation among the third world was somehow western people (capitalism, white people)’s fault.

Another episode was a dream episode about Wheeler in the future, and talking about how everybody having kids taxed the earth of its resources. There were simply too many people.

Another episode again talked about that, but used this tiny society of mouse-people who, again, used tradition to excuse having big families, and a refusal to stop that doomed their civilization.

Way back in the day, every time they talked about overpopulation, it was always chidingly directed at first world white people. Exclusively. “Stop having babies, you resource hogs. You land hogs. You’re why everything is going to shit.”

If at the time you DARED to point out that white people across western Europe and former colonies limit their family sizes unless they’re specifically fundamentalist religious families, which are the minority, aren’t the ones overpopulating. You want to address overpopulators, you point at Asia and Africa and especially the polygamous families of places like India and Muslim ruled countries.

In the 90s the hair-trigger reaction to that was to call you a filthy racist (which, was code at the time synonymous with ‘white supremacist’, since the discourse was kept deliberately retarded and centric to make white bigotry synonymous with bigotry itself.) But it’s no less true today.

Well even then as today, Europe and former-European colonies do not overproduce. For every thousand Irish people, the Irish produce 16, and that’s the highest fertility rate IN EUROPE. Germany, about 8. The birth rate across Europe is barely above the population sustainability numbers, same as in America. The first world through clever financing controls overpopulation by the simple cost of things and the opportunity of a comfortable life, as well as the knowledge and social expectation to not raise your kids in a rickety barn just to keep having more of them, and the costs of housing, food, education and clothes.

Meanwhile, you look at countries like Nigeria. Where unlike European families, Nigerian women produce about 5-7 kids per family.

Suddenly when Europe and America’s overpopulation concerns are address... ironically, by capitalism and first world development.... “overpopulation” is a “racist myth?”

Do go on.

Maybe if they strain their ideology enough they’ll eventually have to come out and say the problem they have is just that certain people are having babies at all and certain others aren’t having enough babies or aren’t having them in the right places. But I’ve been seeing similar trends of posts and sentiments like these across solarpunk groups.

You cannot in one generation complain about overpopulation being a thing and then a mere 25 years later say, “it’s racist to tell brown people to stop having so many babies.”

[thoughtsthatwontstop]

Endless Circle of Self Fat-Shaming - Adele Edition

It’s Summer of 2020, we are in midst of COVID quarantine life that seems to have already lasted a year. My daily life may have drastically changed now that I’ve temporarily moved to my parents’s home to quarantine comfortably, but I still spend quality time browsing through my notifications first thing in the morning. Upon opening Instagram today morning, I was flooded with posts about Adele’s new skinny body. What a drastic transformation, boy I am impressed! To be honest, Adele has always been talented, witty and gorgeous in my eyes. While I celebrate her hard work and discipline, I’ve spent whole day wondering if she is happy with the results. Don’t get me wrong, it’s her body, she should do whatever she feels like doing with it. But the soul in my size six, not-skinny body is wondering if following Adele’s path will finally give it the happiness and self-satisfaction that it has been longing for last 10 years.

 Flashback to my first boyfriend when I was probably 18, he was a gym -freak while I couldn’t care less to work out/eat healthy. Opposites attract I guess? We were best friends before we started dated, he was my cheer-leader and loved me for who I was. His attitude towards me tweaked a little now that I was his girl. That cheer-leader of mine started cheering me to hit the gym and workout, you know “just to be healthy.” That “cheering” slowly turned into strong suggestions after few months. And eventually, into pestering. Believe it or not, we had a big fight one time because I ate a banana at night! It goes like this - I couldn’t sleep due to my late-night food craving, so I ate a banana – healthiest snack that I could find in my kitchen. When I bragged to him about how proud I was of myself for skipping ice-cream for banana as my night snack, little did I know that it was going to start a dramatic as fuck fight. His POV was that bananas have lot of sugar and how I should have just curbed my craving and slept without eating anything instead.

 You know how beer is an acquired taste? I fell in love with beer when I was 23. I clearly remember that night with my friends, when all liquor shops were closed and the only alcoholic beverage available was beer from a 24/7 smoke shop. I think I drank nine Blue Moons the first time I properly drank beer (can’t stand them anymore TBH, my spoiled ass prefers craft beers). This is when I had just started my grad school. No one warned me about the weight gain that would be accelerated by drinking 6-pack of beer on a regular basis. My cues for drinking beer came up often – whenever I was homesick, or at a party (which happened often - we were in a business school), or when my toxic roommates did/said something to upset with me (which happened often too). Six months into the school, I had to fly to India to attend my distant cousins’ weddings. I was going to be in my hometown for 15 days and was looking forward to all the amazing Indian food. I made a fucking list, you know. I was also excited to meet all my relatives and friends after years. Oh how I wish I had lowered my expectations for this trip. Instead of hellos and hugs from my relatives and friends, first reaction I received from pretty much every person I interacted with was “oh, you have gained weight”, “oh my god, I couldn’t recognize you”, “you really need to do something about that weight.” To give you some context, I must have gained 11 lbs. I remember breaking down in front of my mom on Day 7, when she suggested we should go out for dinner. “I don’t deserve it,” I said.

 After graduation, I moved to New York City. Beauty of this is city is that is accepts you exactly the way you are with open arms. I cherry picked my people to ensure I weed out all the possible toxicity. Since I was starting on a fresh page, I made up my mind to work on all the aspects of my life that I’ve been upset by in past. Working out and losing those beer pounds were on top of my list. I eventually tricked myself into liking yoga, boxing and HIT workouts. I was feeling healthier and stronger, yes. I lost those beer pounds, yes. Was I eventually at content with my body, a fucking hard no. I was still not good enough for me. A very sad realization hit me, the toxicity I was running away from was deeply embedded in me already.

I am not size 4 yet - look at those Soho girls, why can’t I be as skinny as my friend – I want to wear dresses like her, can’t find swimsuits that flatter me – I hate my tits, I don’t want my pictures taken – I know I’m not going to like what I see, I don’t want to approach that boy – I am not skinny enough. How I’ve felt guilty every single time I’ve eaten a snack, or slice of pizza, hell even dinner. I’ve somehow developed a mindset that dictates I don’t deserve dinner because I’m not skinny enough. “I don’t eat after 8 pm” is what I say when I’m capable of skipping dinner without passing out. I’ve googled “workout to lose weight” too many times. I’ve had a mental breakdown when an outfit doesn’t fit me, too many times. I’ve slept hungry too many fucking times. The guilt that overtakes me now when I don’t workout has been an easy gateway to depression. I am sad to say my pant size is holding me back. I worry about it way too often, maybe every other day. When the truth is, I’ve been blessed with an extremely healthy body – which hasn’t slapped me back despite of my unhealthy and toxic habits (cigarettes, not eating veggies despite of being vegetarian, not eating enough actually). Instead of feeling utterly grateful, I criticize it with every breath that I take.

How do I stop criticizing my body so harshly? I know no one else in my current life has a strong opinion on the way I look. How do I stop feeling guilty every time I eat? No wonder I’ve skipped so many dinner parties with my friends, have not baked at home often, and have not fallen in love with cheese. No wonder I prefer layers when dressing up. Where do I go from here? For one Jameela Jamil’s body positive “I_Weigh” Instagram account, there are thousands of Kardashian and Jenner lookalikes preaching the idea of perfect body upon me. Maybe starving more and working out often will give me results that Adele achieved. But coming back to that, will that make me happy? 

[dailyaudiobible]

03/07/2019 DAB Tranbscript

Numbers 8:1-9:23, Mark 13:14-37, Psalms 50:1-23, Proverbs 10:29-30

Today is the 7th day of March, welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I’m Brian it's great to be here with you today like it is every day no matter what part of the week it is. But it's the end of another of our weeks together and they just…they just keep going by and then just keep going by until we complete our journey. So, it's is wonderful to be here around this Global Campfire bringing to a conclusion another of the weeks that we get to share together, and we’ll take the next step forward in the Scriptures. And we’ve been reading from the English Standard Version this week. And today numbers chapters 8 and 9.

Prayer:

Father, we thank You for another week in Your word and we just keep marking the weeks and You just keep taking us deeper and we take to heart the words of the gospel of Mark today, “stay awake.” This seems to be the theme screaming out of the Gospels, “have eyes to see, stay away.” And we confess the slumber…the slumber of our lives, the way that we get so focused on whatever it is that's happening to make us uncomfortable. If we could just open our eyes, if we could just wake up and see the vastness of Your goodness and the eternal nature, the never ending-ness of it all and that we are in the middle of it, but that our vision is so narrowly focused that we can see, that we are just under the haze of life. We’re slumbering. Awaken us God that we might see You at work in this world in and among us, through us and all around us. We ask this in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com is the website, its home base, its where you find out what’s going on around here. So, certainly stay tuned and stay connected in any way that you can.

Check out the Daily Audio Bible Shop. It is stocked with resources that are for this journey, including our…our journal, including all of the writing…like the journaling stuff. Yeah, if you've come this far in the Scriptures and don't have a journal you might…you might want to grab one somewhere. Every time that the Lord speaks something to you that's meaningful for your life it's such a helpful thing to just kind of document that, to write that down so that you don't forget so that you can go back and be reminded. So, that…those…those resources are available in the Shop.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, you can do that at dailyaudiobible.com. There's a link on the homepage and I thank you with all of my heart profoundly for your partnership. If you’re using the Daily Audio Bible app, you can press the Give button in the upper right-hand corner or if, you prefer, the mailing address is PO Box 1996 Spring Hill Tennessee 37174.

And, as always, if you have a prayer request or encouragement, you can hit the Hotline button in the app, the little red button at the top or you can just dial 877-942-4253.

And that's it for today. I'm Brian I love you and I'll be waiting for you here tomorrow.

Community Prayer and Praise:

Hi beautiful family this is Susan Schultz I’ve been a listener since 2012 but I don’t call in much but I have been the airport liaison for the More conference for seven years and I love you all so much and I pray for you all the time, especially the pilgrims and I love all my More ladies. Hi, I love you. Hope to see you all soon. But I just wanted to call to rejoice with Harold. I have learned through More conference and I even have a jacket that says it, “I can do hard things.” I started running at the ripe old age of 57 two…two summers ago and I have made it my goal to run a half marathon by my 60th birthday which is six 6/6/60. Hey Nora Lee, my other six 6/6/60 DABber. I know that what God has taught me through running is that I can do hard things and when I did my very first...the longest run I’ve ever done since my training started, I was listening to the DAB. It was an 11-mile run and I made it the whole way, but in the middle, I was rejoicing because Harold called in and said that he was saved, and I…I just couldn’t believe it. I mean it’s…we’ve been praying for him since January and I was so excited because my training started in January and he was training and I just…he’s been on my heart ever since. And, so, I just thank you all and love you all. And, so, thank you Jesus…

[singing starts] Have Your way Lord. Have Your way. Have Your way Lord. Have Your way. Have Your way Lord. Have your way. Have your way. Have your way. Someone needs you Lord now today. Someone needs you Lord now today. Someone needs you Lord now today. Have your way. Have your way. Someone’s crying Lord have your way. Someone’s crying Lord have your way. Someone’s crying Lord have your way. Have your way. Have your way [singing stops]. I’d like to ask for prayer for the family and friends of Caleb Mekins a 31-year-old minister who passed away in Ethiopia. This is Blessings Flow in Pennsylvania.

Hello Daily Audio Bible community this is Abiding in His Love from New York. It’s February 29th. This is my first-time calling in. I’ve been listening to the Daily Audio Bible on and off. Today I’m calling in…I actually struggle with calling in. I’ve been trying to call in but every time I put it off and I just want to reach out to the community to pray for myself as a parent for spiritual guidance in helping my daughter. She’s 12 years old and lately she’s been going through some tough times and struggle with self-defeating thoughts. Most days…her days are mostly overshadowed by just feeling oppressed. I know that’s not typical, that’s not of God and the Bible say that He came that we may have life and have it more abundantly. And I’m praying that over my daughter, that whatever spirit of oppression, depression or sadness or self-defeating thoughts, that those will be gone in the name of Jesus and for other parents who are struggling with adolescent children that may be going through the same thing, I pray dear God that we will use our weapon of praying to destroy whatever plans the devil has to destroy our children. So, I ask you guys to keep us in your prayer, to uplift us. My daughter is Kay. I thank you. God bless you.

Proud witness right here in this place it’s the light of God’s love all over my face all those who see me they ask me what’s up it’s the presence of God that’s filling my cup love overflowing in rivers and streams causing reflections visions and dreams dreams of the future reflections of the past visions and fulfillment of all that I’ve asked it could be a gesture a word or touch something so small can accomplish so much because it comes from you Father up in heaven above filling me with mercy wisdom and love helping me to be a blessing today to all those my Father whom you’ve sent my way someone who’s hurting someone in need yet all are desiring to somehow be freed so help us keep patient and do things your way help me dear Lord to have the right words to say someone’s confused about what they heard longing for the truth that comes only from your word there’s a powerful witness right here in this place it’s the light of your love all over my face

blindtony1016@gmail.com. Like to give a shout out to Brian, Jill, Max, China, China, Ezekiel and Christian, you know, the whole Hardin family. Thank you so much for this wonderful podcast for God’s Holy Spirit to flow. Keep it flowing y’all. And it was so nice hearing Jill’s voice again. I haven’t heard you in a long time. Sounds good.

Hello DAB listeners my name is Janice and I’m in Illinois. I’m here to report that I’m not just a DABber nor double DABber. I am a triple DABber. Because of a difficult trial I am going through right now I have many sleepless nights. So, instead of laying in my bed worrying and stewing over my troubles I listen to DABC and DAB for Kids and I let God’s words wash over me. I’ve been listening to Brian since the end of the first year of broadcasting DAB. China I was listening the year that you went to India with your dad. As a second-grade teacher in a Christian school I would use those DAB for Kids in my classroom. You were 11 years old. This year they are replaying that first year of DAB for kids. DABber’s, what a blessing it is to hear China and her dad teaching the Bible together. Then I listen to China, the grown-up. Oh my, what an incredible wisdom God has granted you China. So, I am a triple DABber and God’s word is carrying me through this, the most difficult time I’ve ever gone through. Thank, you China for obeying the Lord’s calling on your life. Thank you, Brian and Jill for bringing your children up at the feet of Jesus.

Hi this is Asia from Chicago it’s March 1st and I just heard Tony the Narrator or Tony the Narrator if you say it like him. Hey man. I’m so glad that you called in such a vulnerable spot. I just was really moved and heartbroken to hear you speaking and crying about your ex-wife and her boyfriend and it’s just so…I just can’t…I just…I can’t even fathom how hard marriage, loss, and divorce and marriage breakup could be. I…just this week had just a guy that he and I were talking and then we had a conversation and decided that we were gonna just be friends and it was so hard for me it was really sad. And I just can’t even imagine, I mean a hundredfold the anguish that you must be enduring right now, and I just want you to know that it’s okay to lament, it’s okay to grieve. It’s so hard. It’s not what we want. It’s never what we want, right? And we can do everything we can to distract ourselves. But I’m so proud of you for being brave and strong, for calling it like it is instead of, you know, putting a fake, a pseudo-silver lining over it. “Oh, it’s going to be fine, I’m good, Jesus is good.” Like those are all true things and it is good but brother, kudos to you for being strong and admitting when you are weak. And I’m here for you and I’m praying for you and I love you. This is Asia from Chicago.

[hobslobster]

desi tag

no one tagged me to do this but it seemed so fun! and honestly i’ve spent so long unconsciously trying to be Not Desi that i think it would be good for me if i tried openly embracing my culture.

1.What’s your name and what does it mean? im just gonna say my real name means light, it also refers to a traditional candle of sorts in my culture. funny bc my fake name on here is the opposite.

2.Where from the motherland is you/your family from? ahmadabad, india

3.Would you move back to where your family is from, why or why not? no because it’s literally sO hot and although i love my family there, my entire life is here.

4.What language(s) can you speak? english, hindi, gujarati, and about as little french as possible

5.Favorite Bollywood movie? veer zara and if u say it’s not in your top fav movies then you’re lying to yourselves

6. Favorite desi meal? oof that’s tough uhh i love ras madhuri it’s kind of a dessert and also there’s this one shak with potatoes and cabbage and i lob it

7.Where in the motherland do you want to visit? delhi, but like ALL of delhi. i’ve been to agra but i want to see more (although when i went it was like 45 degrees there so i have a bad memory of it klsjdf)

8.Favorite desi singer? for like classics i would say adnan sami and she’s fairly new but shreya goshal. recently arijit singh has been around and he has an absolutely beautiful voice.

9.Describe your favorite desi outfit? i actually don’t really like dressing up but like the anarkali style dresses oof 10/10 would reccomend

10.Can you make a round roti? yeah my mom taught me lmao

11.Favorite Bollywood actor? i like akshay kumar ig but idrk i’ve stopped watching movies entirely so im really out of the loop these days

12.Favorite Bollywood actress? i’ve alwayS loved priyanka chopra she was my idol. like her in krish was when i first saw her and ever since it’s been heart eyes for days 

13.Favorite desi in the western media? lmao idk? i’ve only seen like 3 people so i cant say

14.Strange superstitions you’ve heard from relatives. to get rid of ghosts you have to fill a plate with food (offerings) and put it in the middle of the street, you cant ask someone where they’re going or something bad will happen to them (so “kya jao chho?” turns into “si jao chho?” im pretty sure si isnt even a word sdkj), drinking water before going into labour is bad, if you have the hiccups it means someone’s remembering you, the amount of white spots you have on your nails are the number of friends you have

15.Describe your spice tolerance. i dont think it’s too high but compared to my white friends. high.

16.Best street food. the pani puri in india is like 90% pani but still good so yeah. oH also there are these really good tiny sandwiches in india!!

17.The weirdest question you got from a non desi person. "is that bits of plastic?” (referring to the chevdo i brought in for snack time). they tried it and for some reason still believed it was plastic.

18.How do you like your chai? i dont lmao i don’t drink cha because idk i just never acquired the taste. 

19.When was the last time you have visited the motherland (if you dont live there)? 4-ish year :(

20.Your favorite and least favorite part of your culture?

favorite: desi culture really just takes in the idea of love and makes it their own like friendly love, maternal love, sibling love, romantic love - everything is celebrated in grandiose in it’s own special way and it’s really beautiful. there’s friendship day in india and they make a whole thing about giving each other bracelets, my dad has friends he’s known since kindergarten and they say shit like “we love each other sm you’d think we were all gay”. mothers are worshipped, and indian weddings make you believe in true love even if you never had before. also there’s so much respect given to all living things and there’s just something nice about taking off your shoes in your house or touching the feet of an elder to get their blessings idk it’s a really nice culture to be a part of. 

least favorite: women are still treated badly and it’s hard to even think about it. like they’re the ones being blamed when divorce happens (something that is literally forbidden) even if they were in an abusive relationship, they’re the ones being told to stay at home to do the cooking and cleaning, they’re the ones blamed if a baby girl is born instead of a baby boy. it’s difficult to think that such rigid ways of living still exist in some parts of the world but they do. societal progress in general in india is slow and takes a lot of time to shift and change into something more fitting with today’s generation, they’ve come far but it’s still not far enough. also the conservative way of life sucks. there’s a lot more but i don’t want to rain on my own desi loving parade lmao.

[tulunnguaq]

Linguistic Excursions #8:  Romany (of England)

So the next stop in my virtual world tour of my bookshelves takes me to Kent in England, inspired by a recent interesting find in a second-hand bookstore: Gypsy Jib: A Romany Dictionary, by James Hayward.

I didn't know much about the Romany people or language before this, and the book gives a compact history as to how the Romany nation started essentially as a conscripted army from various ethnic groups, brought together 1000 years ago to help in battles between Hindu and Muslim peoples, starting in northern India and pursuing the enemy on into Persia. In the meantime, their Hindu homeland fell to the Muslims, and the displaced warriors, a disparate group formed from Lohars, Gujars, Tandas and Rajputs melded together and having no natural ‘home’ started a long journey west, reaching Greece in 1290, Hungary in 1383, France in 1418 and Scotland in 1505 (and from there to England).

The book also records some of the cultural history of the Romany/Gypsy people in England - the author himself being the grandson of one of the well-documented Scamp family, whose roots could be traced back to the 1500s. The family connection with Kent arose due to the seasonal nature of hop-picking in the county, which favoured the mobile and entrepreneurial lifestyle of the Gypsies [NB the author uses the term Romany/Gypsy somewhat interchangeably, and I’ve also done so occasionally here], who were able to arrive and leave as a self-contained labour force with their own mobile accommodation, and in fact the relative wealth they earned from this activity even created a lively market for manufacturers of 'well-designed waggons of great charm and beauty'.

The Romany language

The vocabulary of the Romany language as used in Britain and as described in the dictionary is largely derived from the various Indian languages and dialects that made up the original Romany people in India, and enhanced by a number of loans from languages such as Greek and Hungarian, reflecting the Romany people’s westward trek over the centuries. 

Having reached England, the language was Anglicised significantly, most noticeably in terms of the grammar. Essentially the verbal structure of English (-s, -ed, -ing) began to be applied to Romany roots, as well as English word order. English plural form -s was also generalised. New nouns were also created through borrowing or by creating calques or new compounds. An example being dur-dikki-mengri - 'far-seeing-thing' ie telescope.  Note also the term lavengro - word person = linguist!

The Romany people also followed a similar approach to personal names and place names, creating their own 'translated' Romany versions, no doubt allowing them some measure of privacy when discussing matters in the vicinity of the 'Gorgios' (non-Gypsies). Examples being:

Names

Smith - Petulengro - lit. 'horseshoe-man' - 'smith'

Marshall - Mokkado Tan - lit. 'wet place' - 'marsh'

Taylor - Sivamengro - lit. ‘needle-man’ - ‘tailor’

Places

Kaulo Parni - lit. 'black water' - Blackpool

Mailla gav - lit. 'donkey town' - Doncaster

Caseski tem - lit. 'cheese country' – Cheshire

Boro gav – lit. ‘big town’ – London

Sample Text - The Lord's Prayer

As an example of written Romany, I’ve set out the Lord’s Prayer below, which is also quoted in the dictionary (NB the spelling is the author's, who also notes that other forms are possible).

Amaro Dadrus Savo jives drey o tem oprey Be sherrafo tiro nav Avel tiro [tem]* Be kaired tiro buti Oprey o poov sar drey o tem oprey Del mande to-divvus amaro divvesko morro Ta fordel mande mande’s pizarripens Sar mande fordels wafor mushes lengues pizarripens Ta ma sik mande o drom te temptation But lel mande abri fon wafodupen For tiro se o tem O ruslipen ta o corami Cana ta ever-komi [Si]** covar ajaw.

*word missing from printed text – presumably a typo ** printed text says “So” but this seems to be a typo

amaro our dadrus father savo who jives  lives drey  in o the tem  country/land/kingdom oprey above, on –hence tem oprey heaven be as in English sherrafo religious, hallowed tiro your, yours, thine nav name avel come kair to do, make  be kaired be done buti work (the dictionary also lists (doovels) kerrimus for (Lord’s ) will which might otherwise be expected here - note also the image below which uses “caumes” in this place) poov earth, ground sar as del give mande I, me, but here presumably us to-divvus  today divvesko  daily morro bread ta and fordel forgive (NB from English for + Romany del) mande’s my, but here presumably our pizarripens debts (presumably – this wasn’t listed in the dictionary) mande fordels I forgive/we forgive (note use of third person -s ending with first person pronoun) wafor  other mushes men lengues their(s) ma  no, not sik show drom road (cf Greek δρόμος) te to temptation English word but English word lel take abri out, away fon from wafodupen wickedness from wafodu bad. NB wafodu tan – bad place = hell for  English word se is ruslipen power, strength corami glory (presumably; it wasn’t in the dictionary) cana now ever-komi ever more (komi more) si is covar thing ajaw so – si covar ajaw so it is = literal translation of “amen” from Hebrew

There are a lot of other interesting things to say about this short book. As well as celebrating their lives and going into some detail about the author’s most recent ancestors in the 18th and 19th centuries, it also covers some of the difficulties faced by Romany people through their history and in more recent times as their traditional lines of work fell away. In summary, it’s a recommended read. A couple of sample pages are set out below so you can get a feel for it - a lot of the word definitions and etymologies are fascinating.

Previous instalments in this series:

#1: Scots Gaelic #2: Welsh #3: Manx #4: Irish #5: Cornish #6: German #7: French

[steamishot]

start of school

i officially started my accounting program with WGU on 9/1. i just completed my first class today. i could have completed it earlier, but i had some technical difficulties with the webcam my brother sent me and had to purchase a new one. the exams are proctored through examity, so basically someone from india instructs you to show them a 360 degree view of your desk area and then proctors you during the exam. i read of proctors stopping people if there are nosies or movements (even from pets and dog barks), so i was a bit nervous while taking the exam and couldn’t relax. i wanted to put my hand under the desk but was afraid it might have looked suspicious (not sure why), but i will be more relaxed for my next test. 

the first quarter of my classes don’t seem too difficult, where it’s possible i can finish a class in a day or two if i tried hard. but the actual accounting courses don’t come until later and i believe those should be more challenging.

matt has had easy rotations for about a month now, and he just started on one month of hard rotations again. because we live in a small studio and have been spending almost every minute together for the last month, i felt relieved when he finally left for work today hahaha. medical relationships are a real extreme. either he’s working super hard and i never get to see him, or his rotations are insanely chill and there’s just too much time at home. i enjoy his presence at home, but i also very much value having independence to do what i want, when i want. when he’s at home, he wants to spend time with me but he’s very loosely structured (understandably because it’s his time to relax). it tests my patience every time he delays plans together (i.e. “let’s work out at 8pm” turns into working out at 10pm). we also don’t get any alone time in our studio apartment. though, he seems okay with being around me 24/7 lol. i’m the one who needs more alone time/independence time.

we went to boston for labor day weekend. i’ve been wanting to go because my reddit friend talks constantly about how much she loves it there (and how much she hates LA). i’ve also heard that boston had better hot pot than LA. well, boston was the first time either of us had missed a flight. for such a stupid reason too lol. we had already passed through TSA and were lounging at the centurion lounge, enjoying breakfast, mimosas and coffee. our flight was to depart at 10am and we casually were like “alright let’s leave the lounge at 9:40am”, thinking the gate was just a couple min walk away. lo and behold, the walk took 8 full minutes (and we started running after realizing the gate was not just right there). we got there at 9:47 and the gate had closed. anyway, they put us on the next flight at 4pm and we really lounged that day. stayed at the minute suites for an hour and then went back to the centurion for another 3 hours - constantly ate, got a beer, and drank coffee while studying. it was also really cold in there. 

boston was much smaller than i thought, and not very diverse at all (well, coming from NYC). i thought it was very quiet, proper, and white. the most poppin area we went to was chinatown. a lot of history overall as well. they have a number of the oldest things in america: oldest park, oldest running hotel, oldest running restaurant, oldest running subway, etc. we also went on a duck boat tour that went over some historical landmarks from the american revolution. it made me think about how detached we are to america’s history living on the west coast. and also again chuckled at ronny chieng’s joke about east coast state mottos now that i’ve visited new england for the first time and understand it a bit more.

i was a bit annoyed with matt during this trip, though i can’t really blame him - everything kind of ties in with residency and OCD. he’s gained a bit of weight, about 20lbs since he first started residency, and he’s just overall not very energetic or fit anymore. being fat sucks. he’s also getting more acid reflux due to the fat content in his body, which propels him to eat more, and it’s just this vicious cycle. it also doesn’t help that i tend to eat small and frequent meals, which means he’ll eat by association. anyway, he used to have a lot of energy pre-residency when we traveled in the past, and now it’s like a struggle to do anything :(. 

even when his brother was here visiting for a week and he pushed himself to go out, he commented that it was more fun to watch people on youtube go out and do stuff/eat rather than doing the experiences himself. instead of experiences, he’s more interested in capitalizing on deals/offers and getting the best bang for our buck. our next trip will be europe in november. for that, he seems a lot more excited about using points to book flights/hotels (and stacking certain promotions) than the actual trip. there was a deal with iberia, possibly a glitch because we were unable to get it after numerous failed attempts, where we could have flown to madrid business class for under $300 worth of points per person. europe trip: planning in process.

i’m generally cool with his obsession over deals/offers but it greatly annoys me when it interferes with the quality of our trip. for example, he really wanted to stay at a hilton hotel one night because he had an offer for some cash back. so we did. however, what ended up happening was the hilton hotel was located in an underdeveloped part of town, and far from the subway stations. we had to spend money to lyft back and forth from this area to the main part of town, which ended up costing us a lot more time and money than just staying at a hotel without any cash back. 

anyway, i’m trying to see the big picture and not be petty or be a spoiled brat (constantly learning how to do this) and just be happy that we at least got to spend time together and travel to a place i’ve been wanting to go to for a while. emotions and my pettiness aside (i realize i can be a bit of a karen when things don’t go my way), we got to do great things: hang out at a fancy lounge, eat hot pot twice (LA is still better to me), bike to MIT and porter square, visit harvard, run through the oldest park in america, stay in the liberty (prison turned hotel), take the T, stay in citizenM, take a bath/do face masks, and ok the hilton hotel was also nice. we also capitalized on 5 uber eat deals that had an offer of $25 off $25. for one of our orders, i basically got a patanogia beanie and some donuts delivered for $5. 

also, just to note down: hurricane ida was quite destructive to the NYC/NJ area. i’ve never seen it rain so hard, like anywhere ever. the floods in the subway system, people’s cars and homes were devastating to see. at the same time, i was in the comfort of my high rise for two days straight and didn’t have to leave the building at all lol. 

[purplesurveys]

1045

surveys by lets-make-surveys 1 - What did you do to celebrate your last birthday? Did you get any decent gifts? Guh I honestly barely want to recognize my birthday this year because 2020 has been a huge waste of my time...but fine, I guess I’m 22. It had been during the peak of the quarantine/pandemic, so we had no choice but to stay home. I just played the Switch all morning, then I think I watched my dad play video games, and then Angela and Hans sent over a box of sushi to our place. Real chill day.

2 - What was the last “random act of kindness” you experienced? It was my first day at the office today and I had to go up and down the stairs several times to bring packages to delivery riders, since I had to send those out to certain people. A member of the maintenance staff in the area was super nice and offered to carry some of the boxes for me, since he saw how much I was struggling with the boxes.

3 - Have you ever “paid it forward” by putting money behind the counter somewhere so the next person can get a free coffee or similar? Not yet. I’d love to be able to do that soon.

4 - What caused the last injury that made you bleed? Was it a serious injury? I was trying to open a bottle of soju last night but the cap just would not budge. Next thing I knew my finger was already bleeding. Never got to drink my soju :(

5 - Who was the last person you spoke to on the phone? Are you close to that person at all? One of the delivery riders who took my package earlier. Bless his soul, he was very new to the delivering thing and I think I was his first-ever customer, and he kept asking for my help. I did my best for a while but eventually I had to tell him I genuinely did not know how to answer some of his questions as I wasn’t a driver myself.

6 - What was the last item you received in the mail? Something I had ordered online. It was the gift I’m planning to give my grandma for Christmas.

7 - When was the last time you received flowers? What kind were they? A year ago, I think. It was a single stem of a rose. We were saving up last year hahaha so I had gotten her a single stem as well.

8 - Are you a fan of salted caramel? What about other “odd” combinations like sea salt and chocolate or chilli and chocolate? Ooh, I didn’t know salted caramel was considered odd; it’s a pretty common flavor here and has even gotten more popular in the last few years. I like it as a flavor in desserts, like cupcakes with salted caramel frosting. When it comes to food, I’m generally open-minded and will try any combination that exists at least once; that said, chili and chocolate sound especially intriguing haha. I’ve only ever tried chili ice cream, which was delicious.

9 - Do you enjoy watching bloopers or outtakes from TV shows? If so, which series do you think has the funniest ones? Yes. Bloopers in general are great but it’s best when they come from shows that have a reputation for being more drama-heavy and serious - that said, Breaking Bad bloopers are the fucking best. ‘Bloopers’ from animated movies are hilarious too; they were always made so well too that as a kid, I legit thought the characters were actual actors as it never crossed my mind that animators would take the extra effort and time to make bloopers out of fictional characters and that they had to be real actors in some way lol.

10 - What’s your favourite dessert food? OMG macarons for the win. I’ve been craving them so much. Cheesecake is great too, and also cupcakes.

11 - Do you have any really dangerous wild animals where you live? Have you ever encountered any of them? Nope only stray dogs and cats, and probably some chickens somewhere.

12 - Have you ever dreamed of owning your own shop? What kind of thing would you like to sell? I’ve never dreamed of this; it’s never been a goal of mine and running a business doesn’t sound like my kind of thing.

13 - Are you a twin? If not, would you ever want to be a twin? If you are a twin, do you ever wish you weren’t? No. I’ve never really found myself wishing for it, either.

14 - Do you prefer wearing your hair straight or curly? Maybe just a little wavy. Definitely not in the extreme of either side of the spectrum.

15 - Would you ever want to go and visit the moon? If I had the chance and everything was paid for and stuff, hell yeah. It’d be cool to get to cross out one of my childhood bucket list items.

16 - What was the last hot drink you had? What about cold drink? Or alcoholic drink? My last hot drink was...probably the coffee I asked my mom to make last Friday, but I did wait it out until it was considerably cooler as I didn’t want to drink it hot. My last cold drink is the iced caramel macchiato I ordered tonight and still have with me at the moment. Then for alcoholic drink, I had soju mixed with Yakult about two weeks ago.

17 - Does anything on your body hurt or ache right now? My lower back, unsurprisingly. I also cut my right middle finger trying to open a soju bottle last week, andddd I gained a blister on my right foot today because of the shoes I picked to wear for work.

18 - When was the last time you struggled to get to sleep? Was there was a specific reason for that? I can’t remember exactly when, but it happened within the last week or the last two weeks. Sometimes I just drink too much coffee during the day that it affects how sleepy I’d ultimately feel at night.

19 - What three countries would you most like to visit? Morocco, India, and Thailand.

20 - Who’s your closest friend from another country? How did you come to meet this person? I don’t really have one anymore...I’ve grown apart from my internet friends from different countries a long time ago, and I also don’t tend to keep up friendships with my friends who’ve since migrated from the Philippines to another country. I suppose the one I’m on best terms with is Angel who migrated to Toronto around a decade ago; but I use ‘best’ very loosely as the most we do is comment on one another’s posts whenever we reach like a life accomplishment, like when we graduated college.

21 - When was the last time you had a cold? With everything going on in the news, did you worry that it was COVID? It’s been a while. I can’t remember; it was definitely pre-Covid.

22 - As of today (10th December, 2020) the COVID vaccine is being rolled out in the UK. Are you going to have it once it’s available to you (if it ever is)? A part of me is a little concerned because I know vaccines take years and sometimes even decades to be fully developed, but that doesn’t mean I don’t trust doctors and science. I very much do, of course. It’s just that I’d personally prefer to wait it out first to see if it’ll have any negative effects once rolled out on a massive scale.

23 - What are your favourite websites to browse when you’re bored? Wikipedia black holes are the way to go.

24 - Do you think people should have to pass a test in order to own pets? A local animal welfare NGO already does that; Nina had to go through several tests before she was allowed to adopt Arlee. There was a verbal interview, a written form she had to fill out, and a representative from the organization even visited our house to see if it was a suitable environment for Arlee; I’m sure there was a few more steps she was required to undergo. I certainly think it’s a good and responsible process. 

25 - When was the last time you fell asleep/had a nap during the day? Is this something that happens often? It’s been monthssssssssss. I don’t really take naps during the day anymore.

26 - Do you suffer/have you ever suffered with bad acne? What kind of things did you do to try and improve it? I’ve never had issues with acne and was always rather fortunate when it comes to my skin. I’ll have a pimple or two show up once or twice a year, but they go away within a week or so. Since I don’t want to jinx it, I just wash my face with water and I’ve never experimented with any skincare products ever.

27 - When you think about it, do you think it’s odd that we stop drinking human milk at a young age, but we happily drink milk from other species instead? Not really.

28 - How’s the weather where you are? Is this a good or a bad thing for you? These days it’s humid and hot during the day (as always), but now that it’s Christmas season the weather tends to plunge to like 24-26C during nighttime. I’d say the night part is good for me as I prefer being cold than hot, so I’m glad we’ll be having this weather until March at most.

29 - When was the last time you ate a pizza? What toppings did you get? Tuesday. Relatives came over then and my cousin got us pizzas. I don’t remember what toppings he got but both pizzas had stuffed crust in it.

30 - How often do you wear make-up? What kind of make-up do you wear? Wow, almost never. Gab used to put makeup on me but now that she’s gone, I don’t really see myself wearing makeup for the meantime as I definitely wouldn’t apply them onto myself. 

--

1 - If you have caffeine late in the day, does it cause you to struggle with your sleep? Eh, sometimes. Sometimes it’ll do what it’s supposed to and make me stay up for a while, but other times it doesn’t work and I’ll end up getting sleepy the same time I usually start feeling so.

2 - When you struggle to sleep, what do you do instead? Watching videos has eternally worked for me.

3 - Who was the last person you spoke to for the first time? How did you come to speak to this person? Hmm I met my co-workers Ysa and Bea for the first time today, if it counts. I’ve only ever talked to them through Viber since we’re on a WFH set-up, but we had to go to the office today to fix up some boxes that we needed to get delivered. But the last person that I really hadn’t met nor spoken to before was Jhomar, the company messenger who takes care of pickups for the day. 

4 - If you have a pet, have they ever embarrassed you in public or in front of friends or family members? What happened? Kimi is typically unfriendly towards strangers, so as cute and cuddly as he looks he would probably bite your finger off. I’ve had to explain that to guests who’ve felt puzzled about his demeanor. He’s my little baby though and I wouldn’t say he’s embarrassed me because of it. Cooper on the other hand is hyper-friendly to the point that he looks aggressive and it has scared some people away; in reality, he’s always SO pumped to meet anyone and everyone and can never contain his excitement haha. He’s literally the nicest dog.

5 - Do you leave the house every single day? I never leave the house, except if it’s to withdraw cash or go to the Starbucks drive through to pick up a coffee.

6 - Would you rather spend the day at the beach, or a day in the snow in the mountains? I would normally pick beach, but I think the mountains would be best for me at the moment.

7 - Do you prefer tops that are plain, or ones with patterns/logos/slogans? Plain.

8 - Are there any TV shows from your childhood that you still watch today? I’ll watch Spongebob every now and then. When I’m bored and have enough time on my hands I’ll sometimes watch other shows from my childhood just for that nostalgia wave, like Barney or Hannah Montana.

9 - How many texts would you say you send on an average day? Used to be hundreds, but now it’s probably like...5, on average. Sometimes I’ll need to text media for work and that’ll come up to around 15-20 texts but that happens only occasionally, like once every two weeks.

10 - Do you enjoy buying gifts for other people, or do you never know what to buy them? I never know what to buy for people. I like buying gifts for a significant other, though. I tend to spoil one to no end.

11 - Girls - if you get periods, do you suffer from period pain or any other horrible symptoms? I get the hormonal symptoms, but the physical symptoms are almost never there. My stomach will usually contract in a way that tells me it’s coming soon, but it never really aches. Most of the time, I just cry and mope a lot and that’s how I know it’s on its way, ha.

12 - The last time you were in a car, where you were travelling to? Were you the driver or a passenger? I was headed back home. but I came from the office. I was the driver as always.

13 - Who were you with the last time you went out for a meal? I took myself out on a date.

14 - What book do you wish they’d make into a film or TV series? The Septimus fucking Heap series, please. They’ve been trying to get it made into a movie series for years but as far as I know the talks have always fallen through.

15 - The age old question - do you prefer coke or pepsi? That’s a big ‘or’ for me. I don’t drink soda.

16 - What’s the last thing you watched on TV? Is this a programme you watch regularly? Bea took over the office TV earlier and she had it set to a BTS + Taylor Swift music video playlist so that we had background music while working. No, neither are my artists of choice, really.

17 - Do you have a favourite documentary subject (eg. nature, celebrities, history, crime)? Pro wrestling (a seriously underrated documentary subject) and crime. Documentaries on anthropological issues or discoveries are great as well. I do love history, but I prefer to absorb it in text/museum form.

18 - Do you prefer sweet or savoury snacks? What snack would you say is your overall favourite? Savoryyy. I get tired of sweet snacks pretty quickly. My current favorites to munch on are any salted egg flavored chips.

19 - Does having to wear a mask stop you from doing anything, just because you dislike them or find them uncomfortable? It can be harder to breathe and I get exhausted a lot faster with a mask on, but I keep it on because I would want to keep other people safe and because it’s so easy to keep a damn mask on.

20 - Do you prefer zip-up or overheard hoodies? Either is fine.

21 - If you have a yard or garden, how much time do you spend out there? I prefer the rooftop, and if I do go there I usually stay for a few hours during the evening just to have some time to myself. Being in a house with four adults can get pretty overwhelming and taxing sometimes.

22 - When was the last time someone bought you flowers? What was the occasion? I think it was for Valentine’s Day last year. If not, it was for the anniversary which was a week after Valentine’s Day.

23 - How often do you get takeaway? What’s your favourite thing to order? I don’t really do takeout. I usually dine-in or have food delivered to my place.

24 - Do you own a lot of clothing items in your favourite colour? What is your favourite colour, anyway? I don’t have a lot of clothes in pink. It’s not my best color, but I like it in everything else hahaha.

25 - When was the last time you stayed overnight away from home? Was this with friends, family or in a hotel somewhere? What was the occasion? Idk probably a sleepover at Gab’s place early this year.

26 - Would you ever be interested in seeing a live magic show? Sure. Magic shows are already a staple at kids’ birthday parties here, and I’ve always enjoyed them especially since magicians are quite the comedians too.

27 - What’s your favourite period to learn about in history? What got you interested in this particular era? I don’t have a favorite period per se but I’ve always had an affinity for the royalty. I like reading all about them, no matter what period they reigned or what house/country they’re from. Historians have kept impressive and super detailed accounts or records for most of them, so reading about their lives has also allowed me to learn more about the culture they lived through.

28 - Do you still use or carry cash, or do you pay for everything via card? I heavily rely on cash and I actually realized how behind I am just today, when Bea ordered lunch for the office. I paid her with cash and she looked at me all puzzled and was like, “Can you do bank transfer instead?” another big girl stuff I had to learn lol. Everyone in college used cash pls forgive me

29 - Are there any TV shows that remind you of your grandparents for some reason? Not really.

30 - Have you ever had to wear a tie for school or work? If not, do you know how to tie a tie without looking it up? I had a necktie as part of my uniform in my old school. I never knew how to tie it and always asked someone else to do it for me whenever it came loose.

[classyfoxdestiny]

General calls on Boris Johnson to set out new strategy to stop Afghanistan becoming terror base

General calls on Boris Johnson to set out new strategy to stop Afghanistan becoming terror base

A former head of the UK armed forces has called on Boris Johnson to set out a new strategy for Afghanistan to prevent the country once more becoming a haven for international terror following the West’s “defeat”.

General Lord Richards said he was “fed up” with government silence over what comes next after the withdrawal of Western troops from the country, where he commanded the International Security Assistance Force between 2006 and 2007.

The pull-out represented the culmination of “a pretty sorry tale of Western failed geo-strategy over the last 20 years”, not only in Afghanistan but also in Iraq, Libya and Syria, he said.

And he warned that with European troops gone and US deployment set to follow within months, cities like Kandahar are likely to fall to the Taliban, creating “ungoverned space” which could provide a haven for the planning of future terrorist outrages like the September 11 attacks on New York and Washington in 2001.

Gen Richards, who served as chief of defence staff from 2010-13, said that he accepted a “share of the blame” for the failure to secure Afghanistan from eventual recapture by militant fighters. But he said Western politicians bore much of the responsibility because of a failure to pour in political and economic resources following the initial fall of the Taliban regime in 2001.

Gen Richards told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “We have invested – as a country, as the West and the United States particularly – 20 years of time and much money and many lives in Afghanistan.

“I’m getting a little bit fed up that I’ve not heard from our government – indeed from the prime minister – as to why we have reached this nadir.

“It’s really not good enough, and I would like to hear from the government – I think it’s a prime ministerial obligation now – as to why we’ve got into this position and what we are now going to do about it.”

The former army chief has been active in the campaign to allow Afghan military interpreters to resettle in the UK, but warned that this must not be allowed to deflect attention from the wider issues around the future of the region.

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22 July 2021

People wade through a flooded street following a heavy rain in Zhengzhou, in China’s Henan province

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21 July 2021

People celebrate in Brisbane, Australia, following an announcement by the International Olympic Committee that the city was picked to host the 2032 Olympics

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20 July 2021

Muslims attending the Eid Al-Adha prayer at Skenderbej Square in Tirana

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19 July 2021

Muslim pilgrims gather on Mount Mercy on the plains of Arafat during the annual Haj pilgrimage outside the holy city of Mecca, Saudi Arabia

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18 July 2021

People protest against the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo, Japan

Reuters

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17 July 2021

A long exposure photograph shows Muslim pilgrims circumambulating around the Kaaba, Islam’s holiest shrine, at the Grand mosque in the holy Saudi city of Mecca during the annual hajj pilgrimage

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16 July 2021

A van crushed by the torrents is pressed against a tree after the floods caused major damage in Bad Neuenahr-Ahrweiler, western Germany

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15 July 2021

A staff member sits at an interactive digital installation “Fire / Forest and Spiral of Resonating Lamps in the Forest” during a media preview of “teamLab: A Forest Where Gods Live” at the lobby of Mifuneyama Rakuen Hotel, Takeo Hot Springs in Saga prefecture

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14 July 2021

Pupils of the Special Military School of Saint-Cyr march during the annual Bastille Day military parade on the Champs-Elysees avenue in Paris

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13 July 2021

Rescuers look for bodies after a catastrophic blaze erupted Monday at a coronavirus hospital ward in the al-Hussein Teaching Hospital, in Nasiriyah, Iraq

AP

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12 July 2021

People try to recover a car damaged during flash floods after heavy monsoon rains in Bhagsunag, a popular tourist town in Himachal Pradesh, India

AP

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11 July 2021

Police cars are seen overturned in the street in the framework of a demonstration against Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel in Havana

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10 July 2021

Tanya and Evance Chanda from Mechanicsville look on as a statue of Confederate General Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson is removed after years of a legal battle over the contentious monument, in Charlottesville, Virginia

Reuters

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9 July 2021

Hundreds of Haitians gather in front of the US embassy in the hope that they will be granted a visa to leave their country, due the uncertainty of what may happen after the assassination of President Jovenel Moise, in Port-au-Prince, Haiti

EPA

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8 July 2021

NGOs fly huge rainbow balloon at Hungary’s parliament protesting against anti-LGBT law in Budapest

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7 July 2021

The Ever Given leaves the Suez Canal after its Japanese owners reached a settlement following more than three months and a court standoff over compensation for it blocking the crucial east-west waterway for nearly a week earlier this year

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6 July 2021

Queen Maxima of the Netherlands arrives to be greeted by German Chancellor at the Chancellery in Berlin

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5 July 2021

Firefighters work at the site of an explosion and fire at a plastics factory on the outskirts of Bangkok

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4 July 2021

In this photo released by authorities, rescuers search for bodies from the site where a Philippine military C-130 plane crashed in Patikul town, Sulu province, Philippines

AP

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3 July 2021

A fire on the surface of the Gulf of Mexico erupted after a gas leak from an underwater pipeline sparked a blaze, according to Mexico’s state-owned Pemex petrol company

Twitter/Manuel Lopez San Martin

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2 July 2021

A human chain is formed by workers from the civil society, humanitarian aid, and medical and rescue services in a vigil calling for maintaining a UN resolution authorising the passage of humanitarian aid into Syria’s rebel-held northwestern province of Idlib through the Bab al-Hawa border crossing with Turkey

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1 July 2021

Members and supporters of LGBT community wear masks and hold rainbow flags as they gather during the annual gay pride parade in Pristina, Kosovo

Reuters

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30 June 2021

A man walks past traditional large figures called “Ondel-ondel”, donning face masks and displayed along a sidewalk of a main road, in Jakarta, Indonesia

Reuters

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29 June 2021

Toshiyuki Inoko, leader of TeamLab, poses for a photo following an interview with AFP in an interactive kinetic installation “Floating Flower Garden: Flowers and I are of the Same Root, the Garden and I are One” during a media preview of the TeamLab Planets Garden Area in the Toyosu district of Tokyo

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28 June 2021

Youths crawl on the ground while holding wooden mock rifles during a military summer training camp organised by the Islamic Jihad group, in Gaza City

AP

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27 June 2021

Juventude’s Matheus Jesus in action with Flamengo’s Rene in the Brasileiro Championship

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26 June 2021

A boat passes off shore as members of the South Florida Urban Search and Rescue team look for possible survivors in the partially collapsed 12-story Champlain Towers South condo building

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25 June 2021

The last super moon of 2021 behind the 66-metre tall Millennium cross in Skopje, North Macedonia

Reuters

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24 June 2021

Nikhil Sachania steers his Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X with co-driver Deep Patel ahead of the 2021 Safari Rally Kenya during a side-by-side super special at Kasarani near Nairobi

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23 June 2021

A football fan sits in the stands before the UEFA EURO 2020 Group E football match between Sweden and Poland at Saint Petersburg Stadium in Saint Petersburg

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22 June 2021

A child holds a Chinese flag near the museum of the First National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party during a media tour organised by the local government in Shanghai on June 22, 2021

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21 June 2021

Jun 21, 2021; Omaha, Nebraska, USA; Vanderbilt Commodores outfielder Cooper Davis (3) leaps over pitcher Nick Maldonado (29) in between inning action against the NC State Wolfpack at TD Ameritrade Park

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19 June 2021

A Palestinian girl with a national flag painted on her face, plays amidst the rubble of buildings destroyed by last month’s Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip, in Beit Lahia

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18 June 2021

A TV broadcasts Chinese astronauts in Shenzhou spacecraft, at a restaurant in Beijing

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17 June 2021

A giant jersey of Denmark’s midfielder Christian Eriksen is put on display on the pitch before the Euro 2020 Group B match between Denmark and Belgium at the Parken Stadium in Copenhagen

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16 June 2021

Several hundred brightly coloured umbrellas decorate the Bankowa Street walkway in Pszczyna, southern Poland

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15 June 2021

Parcel delivery workers scuffle with police officers as they try to bring loudspeakers, an unauthorised protest item, during a rally calling for improvement of working conditions in Seoul

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14 June 2021

Workers pluck tea leaves during a rainfall following a relaxation of lockdown restrictions imposed to curb the spread of the Covid-19 coronavirus, at Rohini village, some 15 km from Siliguri on June 14, 2021

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13 June 2021

eople celebrate after Israel’s parliament voted in a new coalition government, ending Benjamin Netanyahu’s 12-year hold on power, at Rabin Square in Tel Aviv, Israel

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12 June 2021

Tape is lifted by air leaving a vent from the metro system as thousands of activists take part in the anti-extreme right ‘March of Freedoms’ in Paris, France

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11 June 2021

Achille the cat, one of the State Hermitage Museum mice hunters, attempts to predict the result of the first UEFA EURO 2020 football match between Turkey and Italy, during a ceremony in Saint Petersburg, on June 11, 2021

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10 June 2021

An annular solar eclipse rises over the skyline of Toronto

The Canadian Press via AP

“It’s deflecting attention from our defeat,” said Gen Richards. “Added to what happened in Iraq, Libya, Syria, it’s a pretty sorry tale of Western failed geo-strategy over the last 20 years.

“And it’s time we had an explanation of why and what are we now going to do about it, to prevent it from happening in the way we all now fear might occur.”

Gen Richards said that the “light-touch” political and economic approach pursued by United Nations envoy Lakhdar Brahimi meant that the international community failed to consolidate the military gains of the 2001 campaign to oust the Taliban, allowing the militant group to return as a threat in 2006-07.

“As all soldiers will tell you, we know we can’t win these things by military means alone,” he said.

“What we hoped we were doing was providing an opportunity for governments, the whole of the West, to act in the way they needed, not just militarily but politically and economically.

“That didn’t happen… At the very moment, in 2002 to 2005, when the West should have poured in assets – and I’m talking primarily non-military by the way – we didn’t do so. The Taliban sensed an opportunity, they came back.”

Gen Richards said it was “inevitable” that Afghanistan’s second city Kandahar will fall to the Taliban forces unless circumstances change.

And he said the capture of the “totemic” city would pave the way for the whole of the south of the country to fall into the group’s hands.

“My biggest worry at the moment is, with the Western forces having pulled out with no adequate explanation of what is going to replace them, we are going to see a potential collapse in Afghan Armed Forces morale,” he said.

This “most certainly” raised the risk of a return of Islamist terror groups similar to Osama bin Laden’s al-Qaida, which planned the 9/11 attacks as guests of the Taliban in Afghanistan, he said.

“There will be ungoverned space… and in that ungoverned space terrorist acts may yet again be planned and executed,” warned Gen Richards.

“I think we all forget too readily the scenes of 9/11, the Twin Towers and the attack in Washington.

“That is actually why we went into Afghanistan, and we’ve been spectacularly successful in achieving what we aimed to do. That is now being put at risk, along with all the wonderful gains in terms of education, health, and democracy, allowing people to hope for the future.

“All that is now, I’m afraid at great risk. We don’t have a substitute strategy and I want to hear what it should be.”

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