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tswiftdaily · 5 years ago

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In the 2010s, she went from country superstar to pop titan and broke records with chart-topping albums and blockbuster tours. Now Swift is using her industry clout to fight for artists’ rights and foster the musical community she wished she had coming up.

One evening in late-October, before she performed at a benefit concert at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles, Taylor Swift’s dressing room became -- as it often does -- an impromptu summit of music’s biggest names. Swift was there to take part in the American Cancer Society’s annual We Can Survive concert alongside Billie Eilish, Lizzo, Camila Cabello and others, and a few of the artists on the lineup came by to visit.

Eilish, along with her mother and her brother/collaborator, Finneas O’Connell, popped in to say hello -- the first time she and Swift had met. Later, Swift joined the exclusive club of people who have seen Marshmello without his signature helmet when the EDM star and his manager stopped by.

“Two dudes walked in -- I didn’t know which one was him,” recalls Swift a few weeks later, sitting on a lounge chair in the backyard of a private Beverly Hills residence following a photo shoot. Her momentary confusion turned into a pang of envy. “It’s really smart! Because he’s got a life, and he can get a house that doesn’t have to have a paparazzi-proof entrance.” She stops to adjust her gray sweatshirt dress and lets out a clipped laugh.

Swift, who will celebrate her 30th birthday on Dec. 13, has been impossibly famous for nearly half of her lifetime. She was 16 when she released her self-titled debut album in 2006, and 20 when her second album, Fearless, won the Grammy Award for album of the year in 2010, making her the youngest artist to ever receive the honor. As the decade comes to a close, Swift is one of the most accomplished musical acts of all time: 37.3 million albums sold, according to Nielsen Music; 95 entries on the Billboard Hot 100 (including five No. 1s); 23 Billboard Music Awards; 12 Country Music Association Awards; 10 Grammys; and five world tours.

She also finishes the decade in a totally different realm of the music world from where she started. Swift’s crossover from country to pop -- hinted at on 2012’s Red and fully embraced on 2014’s 1989 -- reflected a mainstream era in which genres were blended with little abandon, where artists with roots in country, folk and trap music could join forces without anyone raising eyebrows. (See: Swift’s top 20 hit “End Game,” from 2017’s reputation, which featured Ed Sheeran and Future.)

Swift’s new album, Lover, released in August, is both a warm break from the darkness of reputation -- which was created during a wave of negative press generated by Swift’s public clash with Kanye West and Kim Kardashian-West -- as well as an amalgam of all her stylistic explorations through the years, from dreamy synth-pop to hushed country. “The skies were opening up in my life,” says Swift of the album, which garnered three Grammy nominations, including song of the year for the title track.

She recorded Lover after the Reputation Stadium Tour broke the record for the highest-grossing U.S. tour late last year. In 2020, Swift will embark on Lover Fest, a run of stadium dates that will feature a hand-picked lineup of artists (as yet unannounced) and allow Swift more time off from the road. “This is a year where I have to be there for my family -- there’s a lot of question marks throughout the next year, so I wanted to make sure that I could go home,” says Swift, likely referencing her mother’s cancer diagnosis, which inspired the Lover heart-wrencher “Soon You’ll Get Better.”

Now, however, Swift finds herself in a different highly publicized dispute. This time it’s with Scott Borchetta, the head of her former label, Big Machine Records, and Scooter Braun, the manager-mogul whose Ithaca Holdings acquired Big Machine Label Group and its master recordings, which include Swift’s six pre-Lover albums, in June. Upon news of the sale, Swift wrote in a Tumblr post that it was her “worst case scenario,” accusing Braun of “bullying” her throughout her career due to his connections with West. She maintains today that she was never given the opportunity to buy her masters outright. (On Tumblr, she wrote that she was offered the chance to “earn” back the masters to one of her albums for each new album she turned in if she re-signed with Big Machine; Borchetta disputed this characterization, saying she had the opportunity to acquire her masters in exchange for re-signing with the label for a “length of time” -- 10 more years, according to screenshots of legal documents posted on the Big Machine website.)

Swift has said that she intends to rerecord her first six albums next year -- starting next November, when she says she’s contractually able to -- in order to regain control of her recordings. But the back-and-forth appears to be nowhere near over: Last month, Swift alleged that Borchetta and Braun were blocking her from performing her past hits at the American Music Awards or using them in an upcoming Netflix documentary -- claims Big Machine characterized as “false information” in a response that did not get into specifics. (Swift ultimately performed the medley she had planned.) In the weeks following this interview, Braun said he was open to “all possibilities” in finding a “resolution,” and Billboard sources say that includes negotiating a sale. Swift remains interested in buying her masters, though the price could be a sticking point, given her rerecording plans, the control she has over the licensing of her music for film and TV, and the market growth since Braun’s acquisition.

However it plays out, the battle over her masters is the latest in a series of moves that has turned Swift into something of an advocate for artists’ rights -- and made her a cause that everyone from Halsey to Elizabeth Warren has rallied behind. From 2014 to 2017, Swift withheld her catalog from Spotify to protest the streaming company’s compensation rates, saying in a 2014 interview, “There should be an inherent value placed on art. I didn’t see that happening, perception-wise, when I put my music on Spotify.” In 2015, ahead of the launch of Apple Music, Swift wrote an open letter criticizing Apple for its plan to not pay royalties during the three-month free trial it was set to offer listeners; the company announced a new policy within 24 hours. Most recently, when she signed a new global deal with Universal Music Group in 2018, Swift (who is now on Republic Records) said one of the conditions of her contract was that UMG share proceeds from any sale of its Spotify equity with its roster of artists -- and make them nonrecoupable against those artists’ earnings.

During a wide-ranging conversation, Billboard’s Woman of the Decade expresses hope that she can help make the lives of creators a little easier in the years to come -- and a belief that her behind-the-scenes strides will be as integral to her legacy as her biggest singles. “New artists and producers and writers need work, and they need to be likable and get booked in sessions, and they can’t make noise -- but if I can, then I’m going to,” promises Swift. This is where being impossibly famous can be a very good thing. “I know that it seems like I’m very loud about this,” she says, “but it’s because someone has to be.”

While watching some of your performances this year -- like Saturday Night Live and NPR’s Tiny Desk Concert -- I was struck by how focused you seemed, like there were no distractions getting in the way of what you were trying to say.

That’s a really wonderful way of looking at this phase of my life and my music. I’ve spent a lot of time recalibrating my life to make it feel manageable. Because there were some years there where I felt like I didn’t quite know what exactly to give people and what to hold back, what to share and what to protect. I think a lot of people go through that, especially in the last decade. I broke through pre-social media, and then there was this phase where social media felt fun and casual and quirky and safe. And then it got to the point where everyone has to evaluate their relationship with social media. So I decided that the best thing I have to offer people is my music. I’m not really here to influence their fashion or their social lives. That has bled through into the live part of what I do.

Meanwhile, you’ve found a way to interact with your fans in this very pure way -- on your Tumblr page.

Tumblr is the last place on the internet where I feel like I can still make a joke because it feels small, like a neighborhood rather than an entire continent. We can kid around -- they literally drag me. It’s fun. That’s a real comfort zone for me. And just like anything else, I need breaks from it sometimes. But when I do participate in that space, it’s always in a very inside-joke, friend vibe. Sometimes, when I open Twitter, I get so overwhelmed that I just immediately close it. I haven’t had Twitter on my phone in a while because I don’t like to have too much news. Like, I follow politics, and that’s it. But I don’t like to follow who has broken up with who, or who wore an interesting pair of shoes. There’s only so much bandwidth my brain can really have.

It’s sort of an amalgamation of all of it. People who aren’t active fans of your music, who like one song but love to hear who has been canceled on Twitter. I’ve had several upheavals of somehow not being what I should be. And this happens to women in music way more than men. That’s why I get so many phone calls from new artists out of the blue -- like, “Hey, I’m getting my first wave of bad press, I’m freaking out, can I talk to you?” And the answer is always yes! I’m talking about more than 20 people who have randomly reached out to me. I take it as a compliment because it means that they see what has happened over the course of my career, over and over again.

Did you have someone like that to reach out to?

Not really, because my career has existed in lots of different neighborhoods of music. I had so many mentors in country music. Faith Hill was wonderful. She would reach out to me and invite me over and take me on tour, and I knew that I could talk to her. Crossing over to pop is a completely different world. Country music is a real community, and in pop I didn’t see that community as much. Now there is a bit of one between the girls in pop -- we all have each other’s numbers and text each other -- but when I first started out in pop it was very much you versus you versus you. We didn’t have a network, which is weird because we can help each other through these moments when you just feel completely isolated.

Do you feel like those barriers are actively being broken down now?

God, I hope so. I also hope people can call it out, [like] if you see a Grammy prediction article, and it’s just two women’s faces next to each other and feels a bit gratuitous. No one’s going to start out being perfectly educated on the intricacies of gender politics. The key is that people are trying to learn, and that’s great. No one’s going to get it perfect, but, God, please try.

At this point, who is your sounding board, creatively and professionally?

From a creative standpoint, I’ve been writing alone a lot more. I’m good with being alone, with thinking alone. When I come up with a marketing idea for the Lover tour, the album launch, the merch, I’ll go right to my management company that I’ve put together. I think a team is the best way to be managed. Just from my experience, I don’t think that this overarching, one-person-handles-my-career thing was ever going to work for me. Because that person ends up kind of being me who comes up with most of the ideas, and then I have an amazing team that facilitates those ideas.

The behind-the-scenes work is different for every phase of my career that I’m in. Putting together the festival shows that we’re doing for Lover is completely different than putting together the Reputation Stadium Tour. Putting together the reputation launch was so different than putting together the 1989 launch. So we really do attack things case by case, where the creative first informs everything else.

You’ve spoken before about how meaningful the reputation tour’s success was. What did it represent?

That tour was something that I wanted to immortalize in the Netflix special that we did because the album was a story, but it almost was like a story that wasn’t fully realized until you saw it live. It was so cool to hear people leaving the show being like, “I understand it now. I fully get it now.” There are a lot of red herrings and bait-and-switches in the choices that I’ll make with albums, because I want people to go and explore the body of work. You can never express how you feel over the course of an album in a single, so why try?

That seems especially true of your last three albums or so.

“Shake It Off” is nothing like the rest of 1989. It’s almost like I feel so much pressure with a first single that I don’t want the first single to be something that makes you feel like you’ve figured out what I’ve made on the rest of the project. I still truly believe in albums, whatever form you consume them in -- if you want to stream them or buy them or listen to them on vinyl. And I don’t think that makes me a staunch purist. I think that that is a strong feeling throughout the music industry. We’re running really fast toward a singles industry, but you got to believe in something. I still believe that albums are important.

The music industry has become increasingly global during the past decade. Is reaching new markets something you think about?

Yeah, and I’m always trying to learn. I’m learning from everyone. I’m learning when I go see Bruce Springsteen or Madonna do a theater show. And I’m learning from new artists who are coming out right now, just seeing what they’re doing and thinking, “That’s really cool.” You need to keep your influences broad and wide-ranging, and my favorite people who make music have always done that. I got to work with Andrew Lloyd Webber on the Cats movie, and Andrew will walk through the door and be like, “I’ve just seen this amazing thing on TikTok!” And I’m like, “You are it! You are it!” Because you cannot look at what quote-unquote “the kids are doing” and roll your eyes. You have to learn.

Have you explored TikTok at all?

I only see them when they’re posted to Tumblr, but I love them! I think that they’re hilarious and amazing. Andrew says that they’ve made musicals cool again, because there’s a huge musical facet to TikTok. [He’s] like, “Any way we can do that is good.”

How do you see your involvement in the business side of your career progressing in the next decade? You seem like someone who could eventually start a label or be more hands-on with signing artists.

I do think about it every once in a while, but if I was going to do it, I would need to do it with all of my energy. I know how important that is, when you’ve got someone else’s career in your hands, and I know how it feels when someone isn’t generous.

You’ve served as an ambassador of sorts for artists, especially recently -- staring down streaming services over payouts, increasing public awareness about the terms of record deals.

We have a long way to go. I think that we’re working off of an antiquated contractual system. We’re galloping toward a new industry but not thinking about recalibrating financial structures and compensation rates, taking care of producers and writers.

We need to think about how we handle master recordings, because this isn’t it. When I stood up and talked about this, I saw a lot of fans saying, “Wait, the creators of this work do not own their work, ever?” I spent 10 years of my life trying rigorously to purchase my masters outright and was then denied that opportunity, and I just don’t want that to happen to another artist if I can help it. I want to at least raise my hand and say, “This is something that an artist should be able to earn back over the course of their deal -- not as a renegotiation ploy -- and something that artists should maybe have the first right of refusal to buy.” God, I would have paid so much for them! Anything to own my work that was an actual sale option, but it wasn’t given to me.

Thankfully, there’s power in writing your music. Every week, we get a dozen synch requests to use “Shake It Off” in some advertisement or “Blank Space” in some movie trailer, and we say no to every single one of them. And the reason I’m rerecording my music next year is because I do want my music to live on. I do want it to be in movies, I do want it to be in commercials. But I only want that if I own it.

Do you know how long that rerecording process will take?

I don’t know! But it’s going to be fun, because it’ll feel like regaining a freedom and taking back what’s mine. When I created [these songs], I didn’t know what they would grow up to be. Going back in and knowing that it meant something to people is actually a really beautiful way to celebrate what the fans have done for my music.

Ten years ago, on the brink of the 2010s, you were about to turn 20. What advice would you give yourself if you could go back in time?

Oh, God -- I wouldn’t give myself any advice. I would have done everything exactly the same way. Because even the really tough things I’ve gone through taught me things that I never would have learned any other way. I really appreciate my experience, the ups and downs. And maybe that seems ridiculously Zen, but … I’ve got my friends, who like me for the right reasons. I’ve got my family. I’ve got my boyfriend. I’ve got my fans. I’ve got my cats.

#taylor swift #interview #billboard #women in music #woman of the decade

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path-of-my-childhood · 5 years ago

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Billboard Woman of the Decade Taylor Swift: 'I Do Want My Music to Live On'

By: Jason Lipshutz for Billboard Magazine Date: December 14th issue

One evening in late October, before she performed at a benefit concert at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles, Taylor Swift’s dressing room became - as it often does - an impromptu summit of music’s biggest names. Swift was there to take part in the American Cancer Society’s annual We Can Survive concert alongside Billie Eilish, Lizzo, Camila Cabello and others, and a few of the artists on the lineup came by to visit.

Eilish, along with her mother and her brother/collaborator, Finneas O’Connell, popped in to say hello - the first time she and Swift had met. Later, Swift joined the exclusive club of people who have seen Marshmello without his signature helmet when the EDM star and his manager stopped by.

“Two dudes walked in - I didn’t know which one was him,” recalls Swift a few weeks later, sitting on a lounge chair in the backyard of a private Beverly Hills residence following a photo shoot. Her momentary confusion turned into a pang of envy. “It’s really smart! Because he’s got a life, and he can get a house that doesn’t have to have a paparazzi-proof entrance.” She stops to adjust her gray sweatshirt dress and lets out a clipped laugh.

She also finishes the decade in a totally different realm of the music world from where she started. Swift’s crossover from country to pop - hinted at on 2012’s Red and fully embraced on 2014’s 1989 - reflected a mainstream era in which genres were blended with little abandon, where artists with roots in country, folk and trap music could join forces without anyone raising eyebrows. (See: Swift’s top 20 hit “End Game,” from 2017’s reputation, which featured Ed Sheeran and Future.)

Swift’s new album, Lover, released in August, is both a warm break from the darkness of reputation - which was created during a wave of negative press generated by Swift’s public clash with Kanye West and Kim Kardashian-West - as well as an amalgam of all her stylistic explorations through the years, from dreamy synth-pop to hushed country. “The skies were opening up in my life,” says Swift of the album, which garnered three Grammy nominations, including song of the year for the title track.

She recorded Lover after the Reputation Stadium Tour broke the record for the highest-grossing U.S. tour late last year. In 2020, Swift will embark on Lover Fest, a run of stadium dates that will feature a hand-picked lineup of artists (as yet unannounced) and allow Swift more time off from the road. “This is a year where I have to be there for my family - there’s a lot of question marks throughout the next year, so I wanted to make sure that I could go home,” says Swift, likely referencing her mother’s cancer diagnosis, which inspired the Lover heart-wrencher “Soon You’ll Get Better.”

Now, however, Swift finds herself in a different highly publicized dispute. This time it’s with Scott Borchetta, the head of her former label, Big Machine Records, and Scooter Braun, the manager-mogul whose Ithaca Holdings acquired Big Machine Label Group and its master recordings, which include Swift’s six pre-Lover albums, in June. Upon news of the sale, Swift wrote in a Tumblr post that it was her “worst case scenario,” accusing Braun of “bullying” her throughout her career due to his connections with West. She maintains today that she was never given the opportunity to buy her masters outright. (On Tumblr, she wrote that she was offered the chance to “earn” back the masters to one of her albums for each new album she turned in if she re-signed with Big Machine; Borchetta disputed this characterization, saying she had the opportunity to acquire her masters in exchange for re-signing with the label for a “length of time” - 10 more years, according to screenshots of legal documents posted on the Big Machine website.)

Swift has said that she intends to rerecord her first six albums next year, starting next November, when she says she’s contractually able to - in order to regain control of her recordings. But the back-and-forth appears to be nowhere near over: Last month, Swift alleged that Borchetta and Braun were blocking her from performing her past hits at the American Music Awards or using them in an upcoming Netflix documentary - claims Big Machine characterized as “false information” in a response that did not get into specifics. (Swift ultimately performed the medley she had planned.) In the weeks following this interview, Braun said he was open to “all possibilities” in finding a “resolution,” and Billboard sources say that includes negotiating a sale. Swift remains interested in buying her masters, though the price could be a sticking point, given her rerecording plans, the control she has over the licensing of her music for film and TV, and the market growth since Braun’s acquisition.

However it plays out, the battle over her masters is the latest in a series of moves that has turned Swift into something of an advocate for artists’ rights, and made her a cause that everyone from Halsey to Elizabeth Warren has rallied behind. From 2014 to 2017, Swift withheld her catalog from Spotify to protest the streaming company’s compensation rates, saying in a 2014 interview, “There should be an inherent value placed on art. I didn’t see that happening, perception-wise, when I put my music on Spotify.” In 2015, ahead of the launch of Apple Music, Swift wrote an open letter criticizing Apple for its plan to not pay royalties during the three-month free trial it was set to offer listeners; the company announced a new policy within 24 hours. Most recently, when she signed a new global deal with Universal Music Group in 2018, Swift (who is now on Republic Records) said one of the conditions of her contract was that UMG share proceeds from any sale of its Spotify equity with its roster of artists - and make them non-recoupable against those artists’ earnings.

During a wide-ranging conversation, Billboard’s Woman of the Decade expresses hope that she can help make the lives of creators a little easier in the years to come - and a belief that her behind-the-scenes strides will be as integral to her legacy as her biggest singles. “New artists and producers and writers need work, and they need to be likable and get booked in sessions, and they can’t make noise - but if I can, then I’m going to,” promises Swift. This is where being impossibly famous can be a very good thing. “I know that it seems like I’m very loud about this,” she says, “but it’s because someone has to be.”

While watching some of your performances this year - like SNL and NPR’s Tiny Desk Concert - I was struck by how focused you seemed, like there were no distractions getting in the way of what you were trying to say. That’s a really wonderful way of looking at this phase of my life and my music. I’ve spent a lot of time re-calibrating my life to make it feel manageable. Because there were some years there where I felt like I didn’t quite know what exactly to give people and what to hold back, what to share and what to protect. I think a lot of people go through that, especially in the last decade. I broke through pre-social media, and then there was this phase where social media felt fun and casual and quirky and safe. And then it got to the point where everyone has to evaluate their relationship with social media. So I decided that the best thing I have to offer people is my music. I’m not really here to influence their fashion or their social lives. That has bled through into the live part of what I do.

Meanwhile, you’ve found a way to interact with your fans in this very pure way - on your Tumblr page. Tumblr is the last place on the internet where I feel like I can still make a joke because it feels small, like a neighborhood rather than an entire continent. We can kid around - they literally drag me. It’s fun. That’s a real comfort zone for me. And just like anything else, I need breaks from it sometimes. But when I do participate in that space, it’s always in a very inside-joke, friend vibe. Sometimes, when I open Twitter, I get so overwhelmed that I just immediately close it. I haven’t had Twitter on my phone in a while because I don’t like to have too much news. Like, I follow politics, and that’s it. But I don’t like to follow who has broken up with who, or who wore an interesting pair of shoes. There’s only so much bandwidth my brain can really have.

You’ve spoken in recent interviews about the general expectations you’ve faced, using phrases like “They’ve wanted to see this” and “They hated me for this.” Who is “they”? Is it social media or disparaging think pieces or... It’s sort of an amalgamation of all of it. People who aren’t active fans of your music, who like one song but love to hear who has been canceled on Twitter. I’ve had several upheavals of somehow not being what I should be. And this happens to women in music way more than men. That’s why I get so many phone calls from new artists out of the blue - like, “Hey, I’m getting my first wave of bad press, I’m freaking out, can I talk to you?” And the answer is always yes! I’m talking about more than 20 people who have randomly reached out to me. I take it as a compliment because it means that they see what has happened over the course of my career, over and over again.

Did you have someone like that to reach out to? Not really, because my career has existed in lots of different neighborhoods of music. I had so many mentors in country music. Faith Hill was wonderful. She would reach out to me and invite me over and take me on tour, and I knew that I could talk to her. Crossing over to pop is a completely different world. Country music is a real community, and in pop I didn’t see that community as much. Now there is a bit of one between the girls in pop - we all have each other’s numbers and text each other - but when I first started out in pop it was very much you versus you versus you. We didn’t have a network, which is weird because we can help each other through these moments when you just feel completely isolated.

Do you feel like those barriers are actively being broken down now? God, I hope so. I also hope people can call it out, [like] if you see a Grammy prediction article, and it’s just two women’s faces next to each other and feels a bit gratuitous. No one’s going to start out being perfectly educated on the intricacies of gender politics. The key is that people are trying to learn, and that’s great. No one’s going to get it perfect, but, God, please try.

At this point, who is your sounding board, creatively and professionally From a creative standpoint, I’ve been writing alone a lot more. I’m good with being alone, with thinking alone. When I come up with a marketing idea for the Lover tour, the album launch, the merch, I’ll go right to my management company that I’ve put together. I think a team is the best way to be managed. Just from my experience, I don’t think that this overarching, one-person-handles-my-career thing was ever going to work for me. Because that person ends up kind of being me who comes up with most of the ideas, and then I have an amazing team that facilitates those ideas. The behind-the-scenes work is different for every phase of my career that I’m in. Putting together the festival shows that we’re doing for Lover is completely different than putting together the Reputation Stadium Tour. Putting together the reputation launch was so different than putting together the 1989 launch. So we really do attack things case by case, where the creative first informs everything else.

You’ve spoken before about how meaningful the reputation tour’s success was. What did it represent? That tour was something that I wanted to immortalize in the Netflix special that we did because the album was a story, but it almost was like a story that wasn’t fully realized until you saw it live. It was so cool to hear people leaving the show being like, “I understand it now. I fully get it now.” There are a lot of red herrings and bait-and-switches in the choices that I’ll make with albums, because I want people to go and explore the body of work. You can never express how you feel over the course of an album in a single, so why try?

That seems especially true of your last three albums or so. “Shake It Off” is nothing like the rest of 1989. It’s almost like I feel so much pressure with a first single that I don’t want the first single to be something that makes you feel like you’ve figured out what I’ve made on the rest of the project. I still truly believe in albums, whatever form you consume them in - if you want to stream them or buy them or listen to them on vinyl. And I don’t think that makes me a staunch purist. I think that that is a strong feeling throughout the music industry. We’re running really fast toward a singles industry, but you got to believe in something. I still believe that albums are important.

The music industry has become increasingly global during the past decade. Is reaching new markets something you think about? Yeah, and I’m always trying to learn. I’m learning from everyone. I’m learning when I go see Bruce Springsteen or Madonna do a theater show. And I’m learning from new artists who are coming out right now, just seeing what they’re doing and thinking, “That’s really cool.” You need to keep your influences broad and wide-ranging, and my favorite people who make music have always done that. I got to work with Andrew Lloyd Webber on the Cats movie, and Andrew will walk through the door and be like, “I’ve just seen this amazing thing on TikTok!” And I’m like, “You are it! You are it!” Because you cannot look at what quote-unquote “the kids are doing” and roll your eyes. You have to learn.

Have you explored TikTok at all? I only see them when they’re posted to Tumblr, but I love them! I think that they’re hilarious and amazing. Andrew says that they’ve made musicals cool again, because there’s a huge musical facet to TikTok. [He’s] like, “Any way we can do that is good.”

How do you see your involvement in the business side of your career progressing in the next decade? You seem like someone who could eventually start a label or be more hands-on with signing artists. I do think about it every once in a while, but if I was going to do it, I would need to do it with all of my energy. I know how important that is, when you’ve got someone else’s career in your hands, and I know how it feels when someone isn’t generous.

You’ve served as an ambassador of sorts for artists, especially recently - staring down streaming services over payouts, increasing public awareness about the terms of record deals. We have a long way to go. I think that we’re working off of an antiquated contractual system. We’re galloping toward a new industry but not thinking about re-calibrating financial structures and compensation rates, taking care of producers and writers. We need to think about how we handle master recordings, because this isn’t it. When I stood up and talked about this, I saw a lot of fans saying, “Wait, the creators of this work do not own their work, ever?” I spent 10 years of my life trying rigorously to purchase my masters outright and was then denied that opportunity, and I just don’t want that to happen to another artist if I can help it. I want to at least raise my hand and say, “This is something that an artist should be able to earn back over the course of their deal - not as a renegotiation ploy - and something that artists should maybe have the first right of refusal to buy.” God, I would have paid so much for them! Anything to own my work that was an actual sale option, but it wasn’t given to me. Thankfully, there’s power in writing your music. Every week, we get a dozen synch requests to use “Shake It Off” in some advertisement or “Blank Space” in some movie trailer, and we say no to every single one of them. And the reason I’m rerecording my music next year is because I do want my music to live on. I do want it to be in movies, I do want it to be in commercials. But I only want that if I own it.

Do you know how long that rerecording process will take? I don’t know! But it’s going to be fun, because it’ll feel like regaining a freedom and taking back what’s mine. When I created [these songs], I didn’t know what they would grow up to be. Going back in and knowing that it meant something to people is actually a really beautiful way to celebrate what the fans have done for my music.

Ten years ago, on the brink of the 2010s, you were about to turn 20. What advice would you give yourself if you could go back in time? Oh, God - I wouldn’t give myself any advice. I would have done everything exactly the same way. Because even the really tough things I’ve gone through taught me things that I never would have learned any other way. I really appreciate my experience, the ups and downs. And maybe that seems ridiculously Zen, but... I’ve got my friends, who like me for the right reasons. I’ve got my family. I’ve got my boyfriend. I’ve got my fans. I’ve got my cats.

Taylor Swift Discusses 'The Man' & 'It's Nice To Have a Friend' In Cover Story Outtakes

Billboard // by Jason Lipshutz // December 12th 2019

During her cover story interview for Billboard’s Women In Music issue, Taylor Swift discussed several aspects of her mega-selling seventh studio album Lover, including its creation after a personal “recalibrating” period, her stripped-down performances of its songs and her plans to showcase the full-length live with her Lover Fest shows next year. In two moments from the extended conversation that did not make the print story, Billboard’s Woman of the Decade also touched upon two of the album’s highlights, which double as a pair of the more interesting songs in her discography: “The Man” and “It’s Nice To Have A Friend.”

“The Man” imagines how Swift’s experience as a person, artist and figure within the music industry would have been different had she been a man, highlighting how much harder women have to work in order to succeed (“I’m so sick of running as fast as I can / Wondering if I’d get there quicker if I was a man,” she sings in the chorus). The song has become a fan favorite since the release of Lover, and Swift recently opened a career-spanning medley with the song at the 2019 American Music Awards.

When asked about “The Man,” Swift pointed out specific double standards that exist in everyday life and explained why she wanted to turn that frustration into a pop single. Read Swift’s full thoughts on “The Man” below:

“It was a song that I wrote from my personal experience, but also from a general experience that I’ve heard from women in all parts of our industry. And I think that, the more we can talk about it in a song like that, the better off we’ll be in a place to call it out when it’s happening. So many of these things are ingrained in even women, these perceptions, and it’s really about re-training your own brain to be less critical of women when we are not criticizing men for the same things. So many things that men do, you know, can be phoned-in that cannot be phoned-in for us. We have to really — God, we have to curate and cater everything, but we have to make it look like an accident. Because if we make a mistake, that’s our fault, but if we strategize so that we won’t make a mistake, we’re calculating.

“There is a bit of a damned-if-we-do, damned-if-we-don’t thing happening in music, and that’s why when I can, like, sit and talk and be like ‘Yeah, this sucks for me too,’ that feels good. When I go online and hear the stories of my fans talking about their experience in the working world, or even at school — the more we talk about it, the better off we’ll be. And I wanted to make it catchy for a reason — so that it would get stuck in people’s heads, [so] they would end up with a song about gender inequality stuck in their heads. And for me, that’s a good day.”

Meanwhile, the penultimate song on Lover, “It’s Nice To Have A Friend,” sounds unlike anything in Swift’s catalog thanks to its elliptical structure, lullaby-like tone and incorporation of steel drums and brass. When asked about the song, Swift talked about experimenting with her songwriting, as well as capturing a different angle of the emotional themes at the heart of Lover. Read Swift’s full thoughts on “It’s Nice To Have A Friend” below:

“It was fun to write a song that was just verses, because my whole body and soul wants to make a chorus — every time I sit down to write a song, I’m like, ‘Okay, chorus time, let’s get the chorus done.’ But with that song, it was more of like a poem, and a story and a vibe and a feeling of... I love metaphors that kind of have more than one meaning, and I think I loved the idea that, on an album called Lover, we all want love, we all want to find somebody to see our sights with and hear things with and experience things with.

“But at the end of the day we’ve been searching for that since we were kids! When you had a friend when you were nine years old, and that friend was all you talked about, and you wanted to have sleepovers and you wanted to walk down the street together and sit there drawing pictures together or be silent together, or be talking all night. We’re just looking for that, but endless sparks, as adults.”

Read the full Taylor Swift cover story here, and click here for more info on Billboard’s 2019 Women In Music event, during which Swift will be presented with the first-ever Woman of the Decade award.

[link to this tweet]

Was there ever a part of you that was like, “Oh shit, I like this darker vibe, let’s go even further down that path?” I really Loved Reputation because it felt like a rock opera, or a musical, doing it live. Doing that stadium show was so fun because it was so theatrical and so exciting to perform that, because it’s really cathartic! But I have to follow whatever direction my life is going in emotionally... The skies were opening up in my life. That’s what happened. But in a way that felt like a pink sky, a pink and purple sky, after a storm, and now it looks even more beautiful because it looked so stormy before. And that’s just like, I couldn't stop writing. I’ve never had an album with 18 songs on it before, and a lot of what I do is based on intuition. So, you know, I try not to overthink it. Who knows, there may be another dark album. I plan on doing lots of experimentation over the course of my career. Who knows? But it was a blast, I really loved it.

I mean, look, a Taylor Swift screamo album? I’ll be first in line. I’m so happy to hear that, because I think you might be the only one. Ha! I have a terrible scream. It’s obnoxious.

Why Taylor Swift's Lover Fest Will Be Her Next Big Step

Billboard // by Jason Lipshutz // December 11th 2019 - [Excerpt]

On why she chose to put together Lover fest: “I haven’t really done festivals in years - not since I was a teenager. That’s something that [the fans] don’t expect from me, so that’s why I wanted to do it. I want to challenge myself with new things and at the same time keep giving my fans something to connect to.”

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crazycat-88 · 5 years ago

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Male Orc Sigmar x Male Reader (NSFW)

My first story set in West Oaks, a fictional town that features in a few of my stories. Connected to my Modern Monsters: In the City series.

This one features an orc, who’s Raum’s (from another story) brother, this story is set before, during and after Raum’s story. Its not necessary to read that one to follow this though. And a male tattoo artist reader.

I hope you enjoy it. Words: 3,611

When your grandmother passed and left you her house in her will, you weren’t planning on leaving the big city to move to a small town in the middle of nowhere. You were even reluctant to go and sort through your grandmother’s possessions and check the condition of the house before putting it up for sale. It was unavoidable however, so you had taken a couple of weeks of work and got on a train to West Oaks.

To say you were pleasantly surprised when you arrived there would have been an understatement. You had expected a pokey little town with a few shops and people with old fashioned views. Instead you found a beautiful landscape, with a mountain towards the North and the sea to the West and nothing but trees to the East and South. The streets in the town were bustling with the same variety of creatures as was in the city and a huge selection of shops, cafes and restaurants.

Unlike in the city however, the people were incredibly friendly. You were given more smiles and heard more hellos in one day walking the streets there than you’d had in a year walking down city streets. When you arrived at your grandmother’s property, you were shocked to discover it was a beachfront property, with two bedrooms, living room, kitchen, bathroom and a patio outside that gave a stunning view of the beach and sea.

By the end of the two weeks you didn’t want to leave or sell the property, so you started looking into how feasible it would be to live there. The biggest obstacle was your career, as a tattoo artist you thought it would be highly unlikely to find enough work in a small town to be able to live comfortably. Discovering that there was in fact a tattoo studio in the town's centre and it was advertising space for rent for tattoo artists, seemed like fate.

Deciding to go in with your portfolio, you discovered that the owner was a well built orc, called Sigmar and while he looked intimidating, he sent your heart rate rocketing for other reasons. His eyes were a dark chocolate brown colour and his hair was half shaven. The hair that he had was shoulder length and he had it in small braids decorated with beads. He was also covered in tattoos, which was not unusual for a tattoo artist and while he wasn’t particularly tall, he was still big, with a broad chest and muscular arms and legs.

Sigmar has taken a quick look through your portfolio and with a wide grin had offered you the space. Taking a few days, you travelled back to the city to get everything in order and then went and moved to West Oaks, with a new way of life and a new job.

Three months later and you couldn’t be any happier. You had made new friends and work was going great. Working with Sigmar was a blast and apart from the receptionist Keeya, who was a petite pretty moth, it was just the two of you in the studio. In the weeks you’d worked there you had developed more than a small crush on the orc.

You’d spent a lot of time with Sigmar, he’d invited you out for drinks after work a few times with his friends and while he was always quick to smile at you and very tactile, you’d observed he seemed to be the same with everyone. No mention had been made of him having a partner but despite how your pulse jumped every time he gave you a grin or touched you lightly on your arm, you were hesitant to do anything about it. Not only could it get awkward since you worked together but you didn’t know if he was interested in dating men or interested in humans in general.

***************

You were busy prepping your equipment and watching Sigmar tattoo a frankly huge drider completely oblivious to your surroundings when Keeya brought you out of your thoughts.

‘‘You’ve got your next customer in twenty minutes,’’ she says, giving you a knowing look.

Flushing you nod to let her know you have heard her and you start working quicker. You’ve been so distracted watching Sigmar, you're nowhere near ready to ink a customer.

‘‘There… that’s you all done, take a look before I wrap it,’’ Sigmar tells the drider. Looking over you see the drider has had a pair of wings tattooed on his back, a bit of an odd choice for a spider you think. You hear the rest of their brief conversation until the drider leaves and Sigmar sits down with a sigh.

‘‘That was a tough one,’’ he says, turning his wrist in circles trying to work out the stiffness.

‘‘Was he your last customer for the day?’’ You ask.

‘‘Yeah… thankfully,’’ he says standing up, starting to clean up his work station. ‘‘I’ve been meaning to ask… have you got plans this weekend?’’

‘‘No… why?’’ You say, looking up at him surprised.

‘‘My parents are throwing Halden a birthday party Saturday night, you should come.’’ he replies. ‘‘It will be fun…’’ he adds, looking at you briefly grinning.

‘‘Are you sure they won’t mind?’’

‘‘Not at all. The more the merrier,’’ he laughs. ‘‘The place will be packed as it is, one more won't make a difference.’’

‘‘Yeah alright,’’ you say, watching as he grins widely.

‘‘Yes! Now I can show you how us orcs have a good time,’’ he says chuckling. ‘‘My brother Raum is coming home from the city with his new girlfriend so you’ll get to meet them too.’’

You smile, Sigmar’s excitement is obvious, ‘‘How long has been since you saw him?’’

‘‘Not since last Christmas,’’ he sighs. ‘‘Same with my cousins Breckin and Broden, they’ll be coming too hopefully, so it’s like a family reunion too.’’

‘‘Nice. What should I bring with me?’’ you ask.

‘‘Just yourself,’’ he says, shaking his head. ‘‘Everything else will be supplied.’’

*******************

The week passes quickly and you soon find yourself making your way Sigmars parents house with a tray of brownies you’d picked up at the bakery, not wanting to show up empty handed. You’d also picked up something for Sigmar’s little brothers birthday, not sure what the half-orc would like, not really knowing him, you’d settled for a gift card hoping he liked movies or gaming.

The party already seemed to be well underway, you can hear the sounds of laughter and cheering from halfway up the street. Ringing the doorbell, you wouldn’t be surprised if it goes unheard. Soon enough the door is being opened and you see an older female orc answer with a smile on her face, whom you assume is Sigmar’s mother.

‘Hi, I work with Sigmar...’’ you start, only to be interrupted as she suddenly hugs you tightly.

‘‘I know who you are dear, Sigmar hasn’t stopped talking about you since you started working at the tattoo studio,’’ she grins. ‘‘It’s so nice to finally meet you. I’m Eivor, come in, come in,’’ she says, pulling you into the house.

‘‘Um…thank you,’’ you mumble stunned, heart pounding at the knowledge that Sigmar had told his folks all about you. ‘‘These are for you,’’ you say, handing her the brownies.

‘‘Thank you dear, you shouldn’t have, but I’ll enjoy these anyway,’’ she laughs. ‘‘The boys are all in back garden,’’ she adds giving you shove towards the back door.

Outside you quickly spot Sigmar, who’s standing with Halden and another orc who looks a lot like him and has his arm around a human girl. They’re all gathered around two orcs that look like twins, who are arm wrestling each other. Spotting you, Sigmar grins and makes his way over to you.

‘‘Hey, you made it,’’ he says, grinning happily. He looks good you think swallowing tightly. He’s dressed smartly compared to his usual casual wear and even his tusks look like they have been polished.

‘‘I did. Thanks again for inviting me,’’ you say, then glance around. ‘‘This place is packed, I’m surprised it can fit so many people.’’

‘‘Yeah I know,’’ he laughs. ‘‘Come meet my brother Raum and his girlfriend,’’ he says, leading you over to the group.

He makes the introductions and you learn that the twins are his cousins Breckin and Broden who live in the city like Raum. Handing Halden his gift card, you apologise saying you weren’t sure what to get him. He assures you it’s all good, he loves gaming and thanks you for getting him something, claiming that you really shouldn’t have.

‘‘I hear you’ve only been in town a few months, how are you enjoying life here?’’ Raum asks you, handing you a beer he grabs out from a nearby cooler.

‘‘It’s really great, I love this place,’’ you reply smiling.

‘‘Isn’t it just beautiful,’’ Raum’s girlfriend sighs. ‘‘Raum rented us a beach house and it’s just stunning.’’

‘‘It is, I actually live in one of the beach houses, they really are beautiful,’’ you tell her.

‘‘Oh my god, you are so lucky,’’ she squeals suddenly jumping up and down in excitement. Raum laughs and cuddles her into his side. He suddenly leans down to whisper something in her ear and she blushes bright red. They make their excuses and move off, while the others all cheer and hoot.

You have a brief conversation with the twins about city life versus small town before they move on to talk to others. Haldens already wandered off at some point and now you find yourself alone with Sigmar.

‘‘Want another beer?’’ he asks, noticing your bottles now empty.

‘‘Sure,’’ you say, watching as he grabs you one. ‘‘Your family all seem really nice.’’

‘‘Yeah... they're a pretty good bunch,’’ he says smiling.

‘‘You have another brother right?’’ you ask questionly, not having been introduced to him.

He nods, ‘‘He couldn’t make it tonight, his wife is really sick and he didn’t want to leave her at home alone.’’

‘‘I’m sorry to hear that…’’ you say sympathetically.

‘‘It’s okay, hopefully she’ll be fine by morning… Want to go inside and grab something to eat?’’ he asks. Nodding, you let him lead you in to living area where a buffet style table has been set up.

You spend the rest of the party chatting to various relatives of Sigmar’s and other guests. At one point you tell Sigmar he doesn’t have to stay beside you all night but he just shakes his head and doesn’t leave your side. When you find yourselves back outside, he beckons you follow him down to the end of the garden.

‘‘Come on, I want to show you something,’’ he says leading you down to the bottom of the garden holding onto your hand. You feel your pulse jumping but tell yourself he’s only holding your hand because it’s so dark. As you approach the wall that signals the end of the garden, he stops and bends down encouraging you to sit on the ground beside him. You do, looking at him slightly confused. Taking your hand he places it down on the ground and you’re startled to feel some sort of plaque there.

The plaque itself is square and while it’s dark, you can just about make out some sort of symbol in gold which is raised in a circle in the middle of the plaque. Looking at Sigmar, you wait for some sort of explanation.

‘‘A few hundred years ago before this town was built, there wasn’t much here except an orc clan who built a compound up on the ridge of the mountain. The clan leader at the time was said to be the wisest and most fair leader the clan ever had… when humans and other monsters started building a town here, the orcs came down from the mountain and helped build it. This was his house, where he raised his five sons after their mother died. He eventually remarried, to a human woman and they were buried right here.’’ He pauses to take a breath and taps the plaque. ‘‘This is our clan sigil, this house has been in our family for generations, my family are descendants of Brodhir and with five sons you can imagine there’s a lot of us,’’ he finishes chuckling.

‘‘Wow that’s an impressive lineage… I didn’t realise the town had such a rich history,’’ you say, slightly stunned.

‘‘I didn’t show you this just to try and impress you,’’ he laughs. ‘‘When I was a boy, I fell off the wall and this plaque left an imprint on my ass for days. I was so upset that it didn’t last and that’s when I first knew I wanted a tattoo. So I started designing it, then a bunch of others until I realised my dream to be a tattoo artist.’’

‘‘That’s so cool… I wish I had an interesting backstory of why I wanted to be a tattoo artist,’’ you chuckle. Looking down you realise he’s still holding your hand in his, heart pounding you meet his eyes and you see him flush.

‘‘So… I don’t know if your just slow or maybe you’re not interested,’’ he flinches. Blushing he continues, ‘‘But I’ve been trying to flirt with you since I first met you... I really like you.’’ You look at him shocked, you had not picked up on that at all… ‘‘If don’t feel the same that’s cool though, we can just forget I said anything,’’ he says, looking down and removing his hand of yours.

‘‘No! I do, I mean, I like you too, like a lot…’’ you jabber stupidly, taking his hand back in yours. Taking a breath you continue, ‘‘I just didn’t know if you were interested in me… I never realised you were flirting with me.’’ Shaking your head, feeling like an idiot, you watch as he grins widely.

‘‘I’m not very practiced at flirting so I’ll forgive you for not noticing... if you’ll agree to meet me tomorrow night for a date?’’ he says hopefully, his green skin still flushed in embarrassment.

You chuckle. ‘‘Definitely,’’ you agree, smiling happily.

Both of you smile at each other like idiots for a minute until he eventually he looks away. ‘‘Can I kiss you now?’’ he asks, looking nervous, meeting your eyes briefly before flicking away again.

Feeling nervous yourself, you lick your lips nodding and meet him halfway. Both shy, your lips meet tentatively, a mere brush at first, his tusks pressing up against your cheeks. Kissing an orc wasn’t quite what you imagined and you have to angle very precisely but it feels good. Tangling your hands in his hair, you swipe your tongue along his lips and he opens his mouth allowing you to explore inside. Groaning he pulls away to take a deep breath, needing a breath yourself you open your eyes and see his are still closed and he’s panting lightly.

‘‘That was…’’ he swallows. ‘‘Good, really good…’’

Nodding, you agree silently. ‘‘We should probably return to the party,’’ he sighs, standing up and offering you a hand up.

Silently, glancing each other as you make your way back to the party, you see the twins grinning and giving you both knowing looks when they spot you. You don’t spend much longer at the party and say goodnight to everyone before you leave. Sigmar tells you he’ll call you in the morning to make the arrangements for your date and walks you to the front door, giving you a quick kiss as you part. You make your way home with a smile on your face and skip in your step.

************

Sigmar calls you in the morning just as he promised and you arrange to meet at one of your favourite restaurants, The Shark Tank. You spend the day etching tattoo designs in order to keep busy, when that fails you decide to take a walk along the beach. As you reach the cove, you smile seeing mermaids frolicking in the water.

By the time you return home, it’s time to shower and get dressed for your date. Sigmar is already waiting outside the restaurant when you arrive ten minutes early and he grins watching as you walk towards him.

‘‘Hey,’’ he says. As he pulls you into a half hug, his tusks press into your cheek slightly in what you assume was meant to be kiss, pulling away he chuckles slightly looking down. He’s nervous, you think elated and smile widely.

‘‘Hi, did the party end well last night?’’ you ask questionly.

‘‘For the most part, come on, I’ll tell you it all when we’re seated,’’ he says chuckling. Intrigued you follow him into the restaurant. Once you're seated, he explains, ‘‘Most of the guests started leaving shortly after you did, once everyone who wasn’t staying the night had gone, those of us remaining ended up playing a game in the living room. To cut a long story short, the twins got over competitive and ending up breaking a window.’’

‘‘Oh wow. I bet your mother isn't pleased.’’

‘‘Nope,’’ he chuckles. ‘‘But it’s not the first time it’s happened and I’m sure it won’t be the last.’’

A server you don’t recognise brings you the menu over and takes your drink order. The meal is delicious as always and the conversation flows nicely. Sigmar tells you more of his family stories and it seems that it’s always the twins that cause damage. He asks you to tell him more about your life in the city and surprises you when he says he’s never actually left West Oaks.

‘‘Really? But the city is only a four hour drive away…’’ you say astonished.

‘‘I know… it’s just, I’ve never felt the need to leave here.’’ he says, rubbing the back of his neck, looking embarrassed.

‘‘Fair enough, there's plenty here to do after all.’’

Quickly changing the subject, seeing he’s uncomfortable, you move to another topic. After paying the bill, you end up walking along the beach, seeing that your fast approaching your house, you point it out to Sigmar and asks if he wants to come in for a drink, he agrees nodding and you see his cheeks darken slightly.

You end up sitting together out on your patio on the bench, watching the sun set, making casual conversation. Looking over at Sigmar you see his gaze his locked on you and when you meet his eye he flushes, cheeks darkening.

‘‘Are you alright?’’ you ask curiously, turning to face him more directly.

‘‘Yeah…’’ he swallows. ‘‘It's just… been a long time for me…’’

‘‘Since you’ve been on a date you mean?’’

‘‘Yeah… that and all that goes with it,’’ he says, rubbing the back of his neck, nervously chuckling.

‘‘We don’t have to do anything, we can just sit and talk,’’ you say, smiling gently.

‘‘ No! I want you… I mean, I want to do more than just talk to you,’’ he says.

Putting your drink down, you cup his cheek in your hand and brush your lips gently across his. ‘‘Is this alright?’’ you ask him quietly, he nods quickly and putting his hand on the back of your head pulls you back to his mouth. Smiling you kiss him again and this time it’s his tongue that strokes across your lips asking for entry. Allowing his tongue in your mouth, you let him explore your mouth for a moment before stroking his tongue with your own. His hands trail down your chest until he’s cupping you through your jeans.

You gasp, pulling away and tipping your head back not expecting him to be so bold. He suddenly moves to kneel on the ground and unbuttons your jeans, looking up asking for approval, you give him a nod. Taking a deep breath as he pulls your cock out, you exclaim when he takes your cock in hand and runs his tongue over your tip.

‘‘Look at you, your so beautiful,’’ he smiles, before taking your cock in his mouth and swallowing you down. You grunt as you feel your cock hit the back of his throat. Tangling your hands in his hair, you clasp the back of head gently, not restricting his movement in any way. As he hollows his cheeks and starts working his head up and down, you moan and try to resist rutting up but eventually he has to move his arms over your thighs to stop you thrusting.

He draws back for breath, panting, and takes your cock in his hand working his wrist down and then up over the tip. ‘‘I’m close… so close,’’ you groan. Grinning, he takes your tip in his mouth and sucks on it, you swear grunting and mumble incoherently. Cupping your balls in one hand, he tugs them gently and you cry out, vision going white as he swallows you down. As your mind clears you see him watching you smiling, still stroking your slowly softening cock.

‘‘Holy crap, that was…’’ you pant, shaking your head. Trying to recover your breath, you tug him up, directing him to sit beside you again. Leaning towards him you brush your lips against his. ‘‘Give me a minute and I’ll return the favour.’’

‘‘I’d rather give you twenty and have you fuck me,’’ he chuckles.

‘‘Alright,’’ you laugh, slightly stunned he wants you to top. ‘‘We may want to take this inside though,’’ you say, looking around hoping no one has seen your show.

‘‘Not an exhibitionist then?’’ he chuckles.

Shaking your head, you try standing and find yourself wobbling. Sigmar stands, picks you up and grins carrying you inside.

************

Thank you for reading! If you liked it, don’t forget to reblog it. Likes/Comments are also appreciated.

My Masterlist

#exophilia #orctober #male orc #male reader #male monster #mlm #orc boyfriend #orc/reader #my writing #My OC’s

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dommomdeals-blog · 6 years ago

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Christmás

Each year we spend more and more during the holidays. The month of December hits our wallets hard not only in the heating bills but also through parties, events, and of course the gifts. It seems the perfect time to start a 2019 resolution just a little early. A new blog on the art of thriftiness. Soon Christmás becomes Christmas again and our wallets fatten up instead of our waistlines. (results not guaranteed- those cookies will get ya Santa.)

This year we bought for 20 people. This includes all the trimmings for our preschooler who wholeheartedly believes in the magic of Santa. The total cost was just under $250. Here are are a few of my tips*

Combine Vacation Souvenirs and Gifting: Each year we go to a few new spots. This year was Florida and with a child this is almost a given that we spent a day at Disney. Every year part of our tradition is to get ornaments for each other and for our son. These often come from gift shops on our travels and this year is no different. the roughly $10 an ornament we spend allows us to have a memory to share and keep the house uncluttered. Plus it’s fantastic reminiscing while putting up the tree. If you have kids small memorable toys or clothing from your trips is another way to maximize. This year he is getting a monorail toy from Disney that plays to his love of trains and a memory of his mindblowing trip. I always enjoy the travel souvineer myself and have received ornaments and things from my family’s travels over the years. Thus if you see a scarf or a token that is perfect for so and so on your list you can pick it up and save it for this end of year madness. Which brings me to my next tip.

Buy Year Round: We buy on our trips but also through clearance sales and buy sell trade boards.(see below) By spending a little year round we end up getting the most bang for our buck. I keep a dresser in the basement to store the items I find. I will note though that I sometimes find I overbuy because of this so I end up selling a handfull of items at most at the end of the year at the same cost to me. This year’s examples include a Thomas Karaoke machine and a box of playdoh.

Shop clearance: This year we hit it big since Toys R US pranked us all with going out of business sales (They are bringing Geoffrey back if you haven’t heard) We looked for deals on the things you can’t often find 2nd hand or on sale. I.e. Lego, Thomas the train wooden trains, Coloring sheets, playdoh, and more. We spent about $30 here and I admit I over bought a bit, but because of the great deals I got I was able to resell the items on local BSTs for what I spent or more.Which would be the next tip.

Buy 2nd hand when you can: BSTs, Craigslist, Ebay etc. can allow you to get a wanted item for a fraction of the cost. This is something I do year round not only for Christmas and Birthday gifts but also for clothing and other needs (especially for the kids!) An example of such a find might be the Thomas puzzle from Ebay or the Paw Patrol toys in his stocking this year. I personally use the BSTs so much that I now admin a few. There are free groups as well which is where I sourced the items I filled both hubby and my stockings with. (Got to keep the magic alive folks) Then of course there are thrift stores which are fantastic for kids items or the random houseware item your MIL wants. Many items are donated still in original packaging unused! I can also promise you that kids care about the item not the package it comes in so it’s a great spot to update their wardrobe or find a gently used toy. My wonderful wool winter coat cost me $2 this year at the thrift! I personally like the local thrifts or Volunteers of America here. While you may not have a VOA there are often city/ state local stores like it. We personally find that some larger branded thrifts no longer compete in the pricing to the others nor do we feel the money is doing the most good in comparison. That’s a story for another day though. At the end of the day I always remind people to donate to charity where they wish and regard thrifts like you do any other business rather than a charity. The savvy shopper cares more about the benefit to them in this regard. Where are the best prices and selection?

Bargain Stores: Outside the thrift store, (which is honestly where I shop most) the Dollar Tree, Five Below and I are the 3 shopeteers. These are the best spots for stocking stuffers. With young kids it’s even possible to get them items for under the tree. This year a few PJ Masks puzzles made their way under the tree as Five Below gets closeout deals on things. The Dollar store is great for things like close out books, washcloths that grow in water, treats, and more. They have character lines of most major kids shows that make it easy to fill a stocking and match your child’s interests. While on this topic this is also the best spot to get your gift wrapping. This year he has PJ Masks paper which is easily $3 to $6 in other stores. Reusing bags and tissues is always the way to go but also having a cheap source is handy. They will discount their paper the day after Christmas if you are like me and want a bigger discount. While I don’t shop them often myself I think it’s worth mentioning stores like TJ Maxx, Tuesday Morning, and Ollies. I suspect as he gets older I may end up at these spots more for their close out deals. Ollies had the remaining Toys R Us stock this year at steep discounts!

Black Friday: Lets get a few things out of the way. The only reason you should go out on Thanksgiving is because you haven’t had any other human interaction. I am 100% for companies moving back to 4,5,6 am Black Friday start times instead of starting some crazy hour on Thanksgiving. Now obviously I am talking shopping here in the States but for others I believe this is the equivalent of Boxing Day (Though I am all for some after Christmas shopping too.) A few tips to maximizing your deal. Shop Online- Most stores offer free shipping or they offer free in store pick up. It is also easier to Google the item and see who has the best deal. This is how I buy for most of the extended family. The best deals this year were a cardigan for my MIL and a set of monogrammed hand towels for my mother at Kohl's. Total cost for both was about $7 (originally $50.) I waited in no lines and was able to quickly pick up the items I ordered when the stores didn’t offer free shipping.

Get Crafting: What is your talent? I am definitely creative so there is always some sort of craft to be done. One that we do annually with our son is an ornament. We make one for each family so about 12 total. This year it was glitter glue (dollar tree) and Pine-cones to make Christmas trees. Age appropriate and cheap! I also bake lots of goodies so that there is enough to take a tin to each preschool teacher and some to fill whatever I find for the mailman (typically a thermal mug of some sort etc) using your creativity goes a long way in the savings game.

HAND ME DOWNS: My favorite. While we don’t really use this method yet ourselves (our son is the youngest of the cousins) we do benefit from it. Great example: Thomas Wooden railway (now known as Wood) is a timeless classic that many boys enjoy and that my son is obsessed with. Last year he received several special pieces of track and a few trains that were hand me downs. HE WAS THRILLED. The year before he received a hand me down Trackmaster set. I don’t think I can say it enough. KIDS DON’T NEED A PACKAGE!!!! This is a win win win because it costs you nothing, purges outgrown things out of the house, and the recipient gets a great gift! Which brings us to the next tip.

Santa Swap: I love this for so many reasons. 1- It costs me nothing. 2- It purges things before more stuff comes into the house. Here is how it works (there are several versions online) At the beginning of December I get a trash bag out. My son and I work together to fill a sack for Santa. We put these unwanted, outgrown but usable toys and clothing under the tree for his elf to pick up (no we aren’t a Elf on the Shelf family but there is a version of this if you are) I then host a meetup with other moms who bring their sacks and we swap stuff. Leftovers are donated to local charities who use the items for the less fortunate. This year Santa will be bringing him a Green Toys Fire truck which I got free from this type of swap. I also got the gifts for the cousins we don’t see often nor have a list for through this. I purged about 3 boxes this way and only brought in a handful of items. That is a mom win folks.

White Elephant: Have you thought about how hard it is to buy for Uncle so and so or even how hard it is to come up with a list for yourself? My husband’s family found the perfect solution years ago. Find like new items you aren’t using around the house and the adults can enjoy a fun game of White Elephant after the kids have opened their gifts. The game is a blast and we save on buying for about 5 people. This means that I can re-gift or purge and it costs me nothing! This is also great for work where I often re-gift something for our holiday exchange. There are many ways to play, a quick google search will give you tons of options. Another idea related to this is a Secret Santa. Everyone draws a name and you buy for that 1 person. A Secret Santa is a great way to cover lots of kids too by each child pulling a name. A friend does this so they buy 4 gifts and each of her 4 kids receive 1.

SELL: BSTs aren’t just for buying, it’s also a great way to purge and make a little cash for your holiday shopping! This year I brought in just under $100 from old housewares, clothing, and TOYS that we had outgrown or no longer used. That’s almost half of what we spent!!! I do sell year round as I purge and while I don’t keep track it brings in $15 to $100 a month for stuff I no longer need. It’s easier than a garage sale! Ebay, Poshmark, and other sites are also great for this.

So that’s our holiday saving habits. What things do you do to save?

*I do not own nor am I affiliated with any of the characters or companies mentioned in this post. None of these companies have sponsored or paid for this post. This is a personal post referencing companies I have personally used. This is not an advertisement or endorsement of any brand or company.

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badmousestuff-blog · 6 years ago

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Is TAXATION THEFT

(SHOTS OF ME OPENING A LETTER)

Mmm Money. Oh hello there, Badmouse, I was just enjoying the sweet sweet smell of the British Payslip, nah its pretty bland, this one here’s from a job I had about 2 years ago, ah memories, memories, memories…. (Sees Tax) I’ve been stolen from.

£50 taken from me! Money that I don’t even get to decide how it gets spent, 1 vote every 5 years out of 2 preselected jerks every 5 years I wouldn’t call a great turnaround. We don’t tolerate thieves coming into our houses and stealing our prized possessions, why do we allow the Federal government to do the same?

(British Mouse appears) We don’t have a Federal Government in Britain, you poser twat.

Rational Mouse: Maybe I can be of assistance.

Its not really ‘THEFT’ though is it? Its a lot less of this “Gimmie your money, of you’ll die!” And a lot more of this “Gimme your money, and I’ll give you, Mrs Piggy Winkle.

IrM: Still Theft Buddy! If one man steals from you, is that Theft? What about 5? What if they buy the man a hamburger and give him a vote? Is that not still the…

MYOPIA ———————————————

RM: This is Myopic and Archaic guff dude

(Irrational Mouse Gasps)

This isn’t how the form of governance we now inhabit came to be anyway, its like that Who will Pick the Cotton without slaves analogy when you compare it to Roads.

Its conflating a systemic transport basis, to a generalised commodity thats sold many times over. They’re not the same thing, theres a very obvious reason why business prefers state run roads the same way industrialised economies prefer state run schools. You’re sort of neglecting why these things came to emerge in the first place. Is it it any coincidence that most of the toll roads started being gutted when Feudalism came to a close?

IrM: Who even are you?

RM: Oh, I’m RATIONAL MOUSE

IrM: So that means I’m…

(RM does the Jack Nicolson eyebrows)

IRRATIONAL MOUSE… Well thats not fair is it?

RM: Look just read the script bud, y’know how it ends

IrM: Fucking writers, you don’t do anything…

RM: Excuse me

IrM: The state has been showcased to be an incredibly inefficient, bureaucratic nightmare, that can never innovate like the market can, it wastes too much of its money, I mean have you seen the state’s attempts to be cool, they couldn’t even make a Millennium Dome profitable.

EFFICIENCY ———————————————

RM: Well you’re right on profits but apart from that its pretty much all Chicago School taft

(IrM gasps)

So many of us have a distrust for the public sector these days, its really no wonder seeing as for the past 40 years men in suits have done an active push of erasing the private sector defects by blaming the state. Quite interestingly, and surprisingly for a lot of leftists, the state sector is actually very efficient, especially when it comes to R&D.

IrM: Blow me

RM: No, I’m serious, wide spread free at the point of use services benefit amazingly from economics of scale. https://newint.org/features/2015/12/01/private-public-sector http://www.psiru.org/sites/default/files/2014-07-EWGHT-efficiency.pdf

Let me put it this way, what seems more efficient to you. Have 10 businesses all competing to not to make the best product, but to win them over to you, you can’t just ask them. In order to do that you’ve gotta come up with some snazzy designs, aesthetically pleasing logos, a funky marketing gimmick, before long you’re spending so much dough in marketing you’re not even interested in helping people, just getting yourself seen. Or You could just have one org that does all of that stuff, it doesn’t need to compete. Sounds to me like a lot of hands that could be spend doing R&D.

IrM: Thats investment not waste, besides R&D is the definition of the private sector … Yea?

RM: No. The private sector utilises R&D a lot, but effectively every piece of GPT was created in the public sector. Yes Samsung made this phone, but who made the battery that goes in it? Why is the state sector significant? TIME. Companies flock new models of these out every year to keep the money train rolling, and most importantly keep faith with their shareholders. Makes them flimsy, crappy, liable to break. But GPT takes decades not years to bring it up to commercial satisfaction. Do you really think that shareholders are gonna give you investment with the tagline of “Coming this summer. 2047”

Fact remains, we’ve had plenty of time to analyse the effects of the free-market and what we find is theres hardly any greater efficiency.

IrM: You’re really getting off topic here, okay fine businesses want roads, the market isn’t as efficient as I thought, it doesn’t mean that taxes are moral.

WHY BASE AN IDEOLOGY AROUND IT? —————————————————————

Fair enough, the government sure as hell does take my money through a warm gun doesn’t it?

But for the vast majority of us… its really small, like in my pay check I only lost 1/20th of my monthly income, and sure its annoying not being able to spend that on the latest gamer game or a lush soap but I am getting free healthcare, an education, a polli… I’m getting firemen, ROADS, libraries, Society. If thats worth £50 a month then fuck me daddy I’m ready.

(BRITISH MOUSE gasps)

Point here is, you’ve got no semblance basing your entire ideology around something so insignificant, especially when the majority of us will not be owners we’ll be workers and buyers. Now I’m no normie, I know that a lot of this just goes on corporate warfare, IMF loans, and bailouts. But I recognise that thats part of the system we live in and sadly we have to hang on to what we’ve got whilst the very government I am under is selling it all off to the highest bidder. Don’t want things getting worse do I?

IrM: Yeahh its not a significant thing to base your ideology around, but you’re not getting the point, Taxation is still THEFT!

RM: Ok.

IrM: (Puzzled) eh… No, Taxation is Theft.

RM: Well at this point does anyone care about the views of an An-cap. Come back to reality dude.

(Blinding light)

IrM: The right of a man to own his own own property is a right ordained by common natural law prerequisite to our beings here on earth, through the self-ownership of a person’s own oneself, by natural exclusivity to the creation of ethics and rule of law, as prescribed in first principles, to disagree is literal rape and medieval iceland an…

RM: Alright I get it, you want a wibbly wobbly philosophical answer. Look I could the Positive/Negative rights shit if you want, Kant and Moral hierarchies if we want, I really don’t think folks give a damn about that right now, besides theres probably better people who could do that job than me (Olly)

I think when the dust has settled it all comes down to taxes being negligible compared to what you defend.

IrM: Huh?

RM: Exploited Labour

IrM: Huh, there is no exploitation, if I want someone to pick my potatoes…

EXPLOITATION IN 45 SECONDS

A man has £10 worth of Capital, he uses this to buy raw materials. He pays a wood turner to turn this wood into a chair worth £50. For this he pays the labourer £10. The turner therefore has to make 5 chairs in this arrangement in order to buy 1 of them for himself. You don’t gotta be a genius to see theres a disconnect going on here…

Remember my old pay check? I made about £1000 a month, Now as you…

IrM: Why do you keep leaving? I’m in here?

RM: I got £1000 a month, in an average day we made £1500 worth of goods, generally there were 3 people there each day. Divided by all of us thats £500 each. Now I’m gonna be super generous and say that only half of that is profit, that brings us up to a daily average of £250, but I only saw £60. Whats going on here?

IrM: You decided to take that job…

RM: No I didn’t it beats eating ass omelettes for a living.

I’m not denying its very liberal estimate it is, but £190 is a lot of money that I literally get no say in how its spent, I’m sure a lot of it would of have to have gone back into my employment or taken out as more taxes, but its not the specific amount I’m interested in, the point is I get no say my labour power, I don’t even get a vote, best I can do is fuck my boss. If we drag this out to a month, thats £3000, I’m getting screwed. And this, this small little number, is what we consider… THEFTTTTTTTTTTTT. Those Chicago boys were good.

IrM: You can… You can start your own business…

RM: Majority will always be workers not owners.

IrM: Not if everyone decided to save up their money and open one

RM: Nobody’s going to buy your cigars if they’ve quit smoking to sell you cigars.

PAUSE

And don’t think I’d stop there, I’d consider RENT theft too, think of all the money we spend so just existing in buildings, somehow I don’t think it costs half our pay checks to have personal washing machine fixers.

IrM: But its their property

RM: O RLY?

IrM: Yes, if they weren’t allowed to do that then they wouldn’t bother, nobody would be able to find anywhere to rent

RM: And maybe if jesus had been hanged we’d all be kneeling over a fucking gibbet.

IrM: Wa.httt??

RM: Theres a reason I think why we call them American Libertarians. See if you pick up a copy of Adam Smiths stuff you’ll notice that he’s not the pastiche we think of him as. Check this out… “The landlords like any other men, love to reap where they never sowed, and demand a rent even from its nature produce” Now I’m not saying BOOM Smith’s a lefty, the point is he didn’t view Capitalism as great just because, he was looking at it based in his experience of the system as it existed in Britain.

But America has a very different history to us Anglos, the entire nation was founded upon a certain hatred of taxes, and tea.

BM: Actually it never really was about the taxes, they just wanted to own the slaves whole sale, didn’t want old money controlling the colonies so they could …

And when you take the views of this man, and throw it into the melting pot of Exceptionalism and Capital, you get all sorts of zany concepts, like the Self-Made man, The U-turned addict, the Noble Christian, and above all the cult of the founders. They’re dead, they’re not going to sleep with you, I’m sorry.

So what of it? Is Taxation theft? Sure, but its not worth basing your life around it. We all think the Capitalist process is just the general flow of life but its very recent, Medieval Ireland and Iceland don’t compare guys, and at the heart of that system is Exploitation, something that we all as a class deal with on a daily basis, and gain nothing from. One might argue, Taxes on business are a trade off for what they get from us.

I know when you first get into politics its juicy to claim theft over a little bite out of your salary, but we only see it that way because its… literally right in front of us, there isn’t a spare column that counts your total labour value. We shouldn’t get so pissed off over the pennies scraped off instead of the huge overhead.

IrM: Well, guess you got me there.

RM: The circle is complete

BM: I must say it really is a very American thing this whole Taxation, not good business isn’t it rather? RM: Well at least we don’t live in a socialist country… like FRANCE!

Yeah thats like 2, 3, 4 personas in 1 video, I could start an extended universe.

BOOM RAWRRRRRRRR

Oh what now?

I’M THE LATE FOR TRENDS GUY, FEMINISM IS CANCER!

nope nope.

WAIT, STOP, SOMEONE GIVE ME AN OPINION!

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utk-hlp · 4 years ago

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Blockchain game evaluationThe virtual world on Ethereum Cryptovoxels - the expense logic behind 30 periods the property speculation

Cryptovoxels is a very noteworthy NFT concept blockchain video game. DappReview has always wished to spend some pencil and ink to dig into the gameplay. This article comes from Andrew Steinwold's 6,000-phrase long content. Andrew continues to be advocating this video game since June this past year, and has arranged a good example by investing in a lot of property. Now the price has enhanced by 30 periods, and his status is deeply hidden. In this article, Andrew analyzed and examined Cryptovoxels' success factors, future potential clients and their own investment logic from multiple dimensions.

Cryptovoxels is a rising star, and something day it'll be built into the most influential virtual world on Ethereum. Its developers are embarrassed and create it in a low-cost way, allowing the overall game to grow organically. This cautious and conservative development method isn't uncommon for industries which are in the early stages of development, like the current NFT industry. What is gratifying is that Cryptovoxels has found a spot of convergence between its items and the marketplace in the encrypted artwork community. The future "money scene" from the encrypted artwork community is difficult to imagine, and it is likely to business lead a new era in artwork history. If Cryptovoxels will keep its mission at heart and action on Decentraland (DCL), it will not be a wish to desire to the virtual world with the best valuation on Ethereum! In June 2019, I wrote a blog to speak about why I am optimistic about Cryptovoxels. There's a short paragraph in which I specifically analyzed whether Cryptovoxels is a potential investment possibility. In those days, I had fashioned compared the property in Cryptovoxel with Binance's BNB token. As you know, BNB has risen by 30,000%. So, now I am not scared to slap my encounter and say, I've long been bullish within the property inside Cryptovoxel, and I am still bullish now! Next, I'd like to talk more deeply together with you around a few of my applying for grants Cryptovoxels. Prolonged reading: Blockchain virtual world evaluation | We spent a day strolling inside Decentraland, admiring art, wool, pole dancing... Further reading: FundamentThe world's initial compliant property STO Cooperating with property giants, directing to Europe's 210 billion possible assets What is Cryptovoxels? Cryptovoxels (hereinafter known as Curriculum vitae) hopes to build a virtual world based on blockchain. Simply put, it is a totally open free sandbox video game. Players don't have any objective tasks and will do whatever they need in the overall game. For more video game information, you can browse: At the start of its founding, the founder of Cryptovoxels was Ben Nolan. He do have two brushes running a business projects. You know, it is not easy to create a virtual open world on Ethereum. Before Curriculum vitae went live, Decentraland (DCL) was the only real homogeneous project available on the market. In fact, it is not an exaggeration to say that CV was born from DCL. Because Ben Nolan worked in DCL for a period of time, I thought, this individual will need to have personally learned all about the advantages and drawbacks of DCL and applied each one of these lessons towards the development of CV. Until the release of CV, Ben did not quit his job, he has been using his free time to develop tasks. He knows perfectly that this is a completely new and challenging project that will not need a lot of expenditures, just go to the battle lightly. Many economic fathers waved banknotes at him, but he refused. To become able to create freely, he refused the problem of money. The benefit of this grassroots entrepreneurial approach is that he can maintain control of the entire project, and all key decisions are on his own. There is absolutely no huge team expenses, you don't need to pay office rent, Ben has worked out Cryptovoxels in his garage (known as Cryptovoxels garage) right after working. His fundraising design is quite smart, and the quantity of fundraising grows using the development of the system. In CV, there is an top limit on the number of plots (a total of 3026 in the original city), and he'll sell many of them every few weeks. At first it sold really slowly and the price was very cheap. Newly released land is frequently not sold. As increasingly more gamers join the overall game, every brand-new land is sold out each time it is put on the market. The amount of users has increased, and the demand for land has continued to increase. Ben increased the price of the land in a timely manner, which also produced his wallet increasingly more bulging. Knocking within the blackboard, because Ben only escalates the price based on user increments, in order to avoid the ridiculously high property price and prevent users from the marketplace. Judging from the existing sales situation, it is enough to help keep the project functioning for a lot more than two years. Further reading: US Securities Regulatory Commission | The former senator was accused from the SEC of illegally issuing "golden tokens" and purchasing sports cars with investors' money Extended reading: Driving in the blockchain world! Combining Defi, foreign media recognized the most fun Dapp race game "CryptoFast" Ethereum Dapp video game Cryptovoxels" data-medium-file="%E4%BB%A5%E5%A4%AA%E5%9D%8ADapp%E9%81%8A%E6%88%B2Cryptovoxels-300x126.png" data- large-file="%E4%BB%A5%E5%A4%AA%E5%9D%8ADapp%E9%81%8A%E6%88%B2Cryptovoxels-1024x431.png" launching="lazy" course="dimension- complete wp-image-51178 lazy" src="data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns=``%20viewBox='0%200%201999%20841'%3E%3C/svg%3E" data-src ="%E4%BB%A5%E5%A4%AA%E5%9D%8ADapp%E9%81%8A%E6%88%B2Cryptovoxels.png" alt="Ethereum Dapp Game Cryptovoxels" width="1999" height ="841" data-pagespeed-url-hash="1473193984" onload="pagespeed.CriticalImages.checkImageForCriticality(this);"/>One calendar year following the Ethereum Dapp video game CryptovoxelsCV went on the internet, Ben lastly resigned and all in to the development work Come. In the next half of 2019, Ben cleaned up an area as an office in his home in Auckland, New Zealand. He still has an attitude of splitting a penny into two. It wasn't until The month of january this year that Ben hired his first full-time employee, Marcus. Before that, the polished commander would just ask friends to help out at home when he was too busy. It's hard to believe that product development can still operate in this way. The general procedure ought to be to bring a white papers or PPT to attract a pie for investors, and then use the money came back from alms to lease an office, and then stuff a few employees into the house. However, the most amazing thing is that even today, Ben still hasn't lost his waistline for five buckets of grain. There were countless checks in front of Ben. Some of these external funds originated from personal funds, plus some belonged to venture capital institutions. As a result, none of them fell into Ben's eyes. He is committed to self-financing in order to maintain creative freedom and grow and income in the way he likes. For example, venture capital will encourage Ben to make some money on CV, allowing users to pay month to month fees for your platform. Fortunately, Ben insisted on this slow and steady growth method, also it paid off really early. Further reading: Bridgewater, the world's largest hedge fund | Dario: Economic recession is approaching, investors should choose gold "not Bitcoin" Prolonged reading: Legends | From the wandering journey of BitMEX exchange, go through the changes inside the worldwide "cryptocurrency supervision" policy Below, why don't we delve into many factors of Cryptovexels' success:

* Product-market fit * Defacto place for NFT artists (Defacto place for NFT artists) * Social space * Ease-of-use * Ease-to-build * Monetization product and market in good shape (Product-market Suit) This is of Product-market Suit is a product that can meet specific and large-scale needs on the market. Using the rapid development of the encryption/NFT marketplace, increasingly more users are starting to hold NFTs. They also urgently require a platform to make their NFTs arrive. Cryptovoxels has developed products that meet the needs of the marketplace and users. The desire to gather is etched in human being DNA, and folks developed the following known reasons for it:

* Self-display (Status signaling) *Enjoyment * Practicality (Tool) * Investment (Investment) Players display the collected NFT in the virtual world. Doesn't it fit the above factors? consider it:

* If you wish to display yourself, you can use the endless Curriculum vitae plot to envy others; * If you are a NFT collector, you can show your city house treasure NFT inside CV; * If you are a pragmatist, you can use your own property at will and create whatever you want on it; * If you are here simply for investment, additionally it is very good to place an order for others to buy your small items house. On this basis, a CV system can serve the entire NFT ecosystem. Additional reading: Trivial thingsNFT series <2> What is NFT? - The key towards the integration of blockchain and virtual reality is everything could be currency? The stage of NFT artists In fact, in the NFT community, the crypto art community is the one that embraces CV most enthusiastically. Every crypto performer expectations that his function can get the best opportunity to display. The buildings in CV have become intuitive. Customers can create a simple pavilion in a hour and place their very own NFT artworks inside it. This is furthermore a simple artwork exchange where various other users can buy you directly s work. The network aftereffect of encrypted art is within the verge. As increasingly more artists enter CV, increasingly more buyers will undoubtedly be brought in, and brand-new fluidity will continue steadily to emerge. These cryptographic artists are such as viral machines. They can always create wonderful pavilions in video games and post them on social media marketing. Once fans view it, they will come to join Curriculum vitae. As more users join, social contacts will happen, and some new dynamics will undoubtedly be born. The social space CV is also a social space: if you'd like, it's rather a 3D version of Facebook, where everyone no longer owns a personal homepage, but a bit of land. It is possible to put anything on it. People can also meet in this online world. For example, Gangam Artwork Clut, structured by user Conlan, is a collecting where people all around the globe who like encrypted artwork can participate. Gathering is a very magical make use of case, it could be extended to numerous vertical areas, and now there have been a lot of discussions about actually online exhibitions. As the number of users continues to increase, I could foresee that users of varied NFT projects will come together to discuss their collections: Axie users can gather in the Axie community, and Cryptokitty players can gather in the Cryptokitty community... Believe me, CV like a Public tools, users will always find new ways to play inside it. Further reading: Nike gets a US patent! Tokenize shoes within the Ethereum blockchain, and CryptoKicks realizes nonhomogeneous token NFT Ease of use Cryptovoxels is cross-platform. In the past, video gaming were restricted to a single platform. ONCE I was youthful, I couldn't play Call of Responsibility with my buddies because his video game console was PS3 and my house was Xbox 360 360. Lately, these games have only begun to become released on as many platforms as possible: PC, Xbox, PS, smart phones, etc.; cross-platform nature has permitted the explosive growth of game users. Those games with vast sums of users, such as for example "Fortress Night", "Minecraft", "Rocket League", etc., furthermore depend on cross-platform assistance to have success. CV could be logged inside via webpages, VR devices or even smartphones. Cross-platform login is of great advantage to projects which are just getting started. The net and smartphones on your own have opened the entranceway to most individuals on the planet. The user just needs to open the webpage, click "Enter the planet" using the mouse, and it is there. It's very easy to build issues online. In Dec 2017, the monthly active users of Minecraft arrived at 74 million. This is due to many factors, but multi-platform application and simple building things are the main reasons. Like Minecraft, CV is also available to everyone. Creating incredible works like the pursuing requires superb abilities, but most users can quickly build simple structures. Devil, Performer: Virtual Entire world Architect" data-medium-file="%E8%97%9D%E8%A1%93%E5%AE%B6%E8%99%9B%E6%93%AC%E4%B8 %96%E7%95%8C%E5%BB%BA%E7%AF%89%E5%B8%AB-300x193.png" data-large-file="%E8%97%9D%E8%A1%93 %E5%AE%B6%E8%99%9B%E6%93%AC%E4%B8%96%E7%95%8C%E5%BB%BA%E7%AF%89%E5%B8%AB-1024x660 .png" launching="lazy" course="size-full wp-image-51191 lazy" src="data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns=''%20viewBox='0%200%201456%20939 '%3E%3C/svg%3E" data-src="%E8%97%9D%E8%A1%93%E5%AE%B6%E8%99%9B%E6%93%AC%E4%B8% 96%E7%95%8C%E5%BB%BA%E7%AF%89%E5%B8%AB.png" alt="Devil, Performer: Virtual Entire world Architect" width="1456" height="939" data-pagespeed-url-hash="2448424482" onload="pagespeed.CriticalImages.checkImageForCriticality(this);"/>Devil, Performer: Virtual Entire world Architect Alotta Money, Artist: Virtual Entire world Architect" data-medium-file= "%E8%97%9D%E8%A1%93%E5%AE%B6%E8%99%9B%E6%93%AC%E4%B8%96%E7%95%8C%E5%BB%BA% E7%AF%89%E5%B8%AB-300x215.png" data-large-file="%E8%97%9D%E8%A1%93%E5%AE%B6%E8%99%9B%E6% 93%AC%E4%B8%96%E7%95%8C%E5%BB%BA%E7%AF%89%E5%B8%AB-1024x734.png" launching="lazy" course="size-full wp -image-51192 lazy" src="data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns=``%20viewBox='0%200%201456%201044'%3E%3C/svg%3E" data-src="%E8%97 %9D%E8%A1%93%E5%AE%B6%E8%99%9B%E6%93%AC%E4%B8%96%E7%95%8C%E5%BB%BA%E7%AF%89 %E5%B8%AB.png" alt="Alotta Money, Performer: Virtual Entire world Architect" width="1456" height="1044" data-pagespeed-url-hash="3384842422" onload="pagespeed.CriticalImages. checkImageForCriticality(this);"/>Alotta Money, Artist: Virtual Entire world Architect allows beginner users to rapidly start building items is a massive advantage, some platforms have surprisingly higher barriers to build, plus they don't need 3D modeling or encoding skills. Can take a detour. Probably the most sticky platforms/games for monetization often allow users to make profit some form. "Minecraft" allows users to have their very own servers, as server owners, they can sell digital items or members. Roblox goes a single action further, allowing one to create a complete video game on their system and make money according to their very own desires. Fortunately, because the style of Cryptovoxels is very open and connected to the worldwide financial system of Ethereum, it allows users to make money through in-game possessions. I have currently said that crypto artists can sell their NFT works directly online, but there are other ways to make money. The first sustainable profitable design developed by the Curriculum vitae team is the skin of the type. Cryptovoxels user MJMoonbow" data-medium-file="%E7%94%A8%E6%88%B6MJMoonbow-201x300.png" data-large-file="%E7%94%A8%E6%88%B6MJMoonbow.png" launching="lazy" course="size-full wp-image-51193 lazy" src="data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns=''%20viewBox='0%200%20502%20751'%3E %3C/svg%3E" data-src="%E7%94%A8%E6%88%B6MJMoonbow.png" alt="Cryptovoxels user MJMoonbow" width="502" height="751" data-pagespeed-url- hash="3101853363" onload="pagespeed.CriticalImages.checkImageForCriticality(this);"/>Cryptovoxels user MJMoonbow could make character skins and sell them within the open market. We furthermore see that users can rent property from other gamers . CV user Conlan developed a fascinating model to get several adjacent plots and use them to develop a core theme, just like a real estate designer. He added a row of plots inside Gangnam to create interesting themes that made the area very popular, and property prices rose accordingly. Following the popularity of Jiangnan Region became well-known, some users started to lease property in this area, which progressed into another method of making money. It is still too early to realize profitability within the Cryptovoxels system, but as it develops, we shall continue to discover different profitability experiments. Among the fascinating methods is the built-in video game on the Curriculum vitae system. Further reading: Which are the Defi coins well worth investing in? Analysis from the traditional financial "PE Proportion": SNX 3 times MKR 80 periods... Prolonged reading: Industry Unique VII "Evaluate and Prospect of Blockchain Games"-Lootex. Justine Lu2020 Taiwan Blockchain Illustration Games in the upcoming video game I believe that in the next phase of CV development, mini games will undoubtedly be embedded in the building. Once users may play a lot of video games on the planet, the features of Cryptovoxels will increase by many orders of magnitude. These video games will be simple initially, but as time goes by and the number of video games raises, the game's playability and complexness will increase. . There were discussions concerning the wish to develop a shooting game that allows users to shoot blocks and create a simple casino. If Decentraland is a guide on what could be built, then the video game of Bence Varga (a designer of the small video game in Decentraland) shows exactly what will come. The game in the Cryptovoxels game is coming soon" data-medium-file="%E9%81%8A%E6%88%B2%E4%B8%AD%E7%9A%84%E9%81%8A%E6%88% B2%E5%8D%B3%E5%B0%87%E4%BE%86%E8%87%A8-300x254.png" data-large-file="%E9%81%8A%E6%88%B2% E4%B8%AD%E7%9A%84%E9%81%8A%E6%88%B2%E5%8D%B3%E5%B0%87%E4%BE%86%E8%87%A8-1024x868. png" launching="lazy" course="size-full wp-image-51194 lazy" src="data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns=''%20viewBox='0%200%201204%201020' %3E%3C/svg%3E" data-src="%E9%81%8A%E6%88%B2%E4%B8%AD%E7%9A%84%E9%81%8A%E6%88%B2 %E5%8D%B3%E5%B0%87%E4%BE%86%E8%87%A8.png" alt="Cryptovoxels video game in the overall game is coming soon" width="1204" height="1020" data- pagespeed-url-hash="2393568131" onload="pagespeed.CriticalImages.checkImageForCriticality(this);"/>The video game in the Cryptovoxels video game is coming. To further illustrate, this general seemingly large video game is within the virtual world of Decentraland. On the LAND group. If my understanding is correct, Bence Varga has created a game engine that allows users to move their perspective in a perceptually wide world, but the actual "physical" area of the overall game is very small. Take note: The property sources of DCL have become expensive, and the reduced amount of physical area is of excellent significance towards the establishment of video games in DCL If this technologies is transplanted to Cryptovoxels, then the establishment of the game will undoubtedly be almost unlimited. What will the future of Cryptovoxels appear to be in the future? As the saying goes, "software is eating the planet", which also includes our physical world. It appears that each day more folks live, function and play inside a totally virtual environment. Many people can easily complete their work at home with only a computer, plus they can get daily entertainment, such as for example streaming media, by using only networked gadgets. Show, pay attention to the radio or play video games. These broader macro trends, like the rise of remote work and social acceptance of video games, are perfectly positioning platforms such as for example CV in order to obtain great value in the coming years. In my opinion, these platforms represent the first iteration from the virtual world. Virtual Entire world (Metaverse) 1.0 I believe how the missing ingredient in the real virtual world is the blockchain. Blockchains such as for example Ethereum can understand electronic scarcity and genuine digital asset (digital asset) ownership. The true ownership of assets makes people confident to get more time, money and energy within their interaction using the virtual economy and environment. Most importantly, in addition, it allows developers and users to instantly enter the Ethereum pre-established global financial system; because of these benefits, users and developers will invest more time and money to make a larger and more strong virtual economy body. This is actually the dawn of the real virtual world edition 1.0. I do not agree with the idea that the real virtual world could be in line with the existence of non-blockchain possessions, but that is another matter. Now that I've carefully explained all of the reasons why I am optimistic about Cryptovoxels, I'll further explain that I purchase specific Cryptovoxels. The lands for the plot. Private investment position is obviously, I am optimistic about Cryptovoxels for a long period. In the past year, I've slowly occupied advantageous terrain within the Cryptovoxels map. I have by no means sold a bit of property, and I worth the long-term worth of NFT and virtual world more than the tiny profit in front of me, and Cryptovoxels seems to be in a respected position in both markets. Andrew's investment position on Cryptovoxels" data-medium-file="%E5%9C%A8Cryptovoxels%E4%B8%8A%E7%9A%84%E6%8A%95%E8%B3%87%E5%80% 89%E4%BD%8D-300x235.png" data-large-file="%E5%9C%A8Cryptovoxels%E4%B8%8A%E7%9A%84%E6%8A%95%E8%B3%87% E5%80%89%E4%BD%8D-1024x803.png" launching="lazy" course="size-full wp-image-51196 lazy" src="data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns= ''%20viewBox='0%200%201456%201142'%3E%3C/svg%3E" data-src="%E5%9C%A8Cryptovoxels%E4%B8%8A%E7%9A%84%E6%8A %95%E8%B3%87%E5%80%89%E4%BD%8D.png" alt="Andrew's expense position on Cryptovoxels" width="1456" height="1142" data-pagespeed-url- hash="3902129925" onload="pagespeed.CriticalImages.checkImageForCriticality(this);"/>Andrew's expense position on Cryptovoxels. Recalling my first investment in Curriculum vitae, I firmly thought that height was one of the game land Important parameters. For this reason, I started some adjacent plots near Frankfurt (the in-game area), because that has been the block with the best roof height in the overall game. In those days, no one will be so stupid to spend more than one ETH from Ben (the top developer). Company) Investing in a parcel, except me. My arrogant bidding for property at that time caused quite a few commotion at that time, but I've always believed in my own opinions. Now it is really good to check back on the entry price of 1ETH! You know, the price of land in Frankfurt has increased to between 30ETH and 200ETH (data from January/February 2020).

* Both the property on Simply no. 10 and No. 8 of Top notch Throughway were sold for 30 ETH * The property on Cash Road No. 2 is area of the Playa package well worth 500 ETH, but the solitary price of 200 ETH ought to be the most valuable in Cryptovoxels. Why can you say that? Initial, it contains the biggest number of adjacent plots; 2nd, additionally it is the plot bag with the best average height. On the list of 12 adjacent plots, 9 of them are more than 18! Although the other land packs have higher land areas, they're not next to each other and so are owned by different players. I also found that since all new gamers enter the overall game from the biggest market of the planet (the guts, marked using a red underline in the figure below), the property round the "middle" should be a lot of money. The biggest market of the planet on Cryptovoxels The Center" data-medium-file="%E4%B8%8A%E7%9A%84%E4%B8%96%E7%95%8C%E4%B8%AD%E5%BF% 83-The-Center-300x214.png" data-large-file="%E4%B8%8A%E7%9A%84%E4%B8%96%E7%95%8C%E4%B8%AD%E5% BF%83-The-Center-1024x730.png" launching="lazy" course="size-full wp-image-51197 lazy" src="data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns=''%20viewBox ='0%200%201456%201038'%3E%3C/svg%3E" data-src="%E4%B8%8A%E7%9A%84%E4%B8%96%E7%95%8C%E4 %B8%AD%E5%BF%83-The-Center.png" alt="The biggest market of the World on Cryptovoxels" width="1456" height="1038" data-pagespeed-url-hash="3175013551" onload ="pagespeed.CriticalImages.checkImageForCriticality(this);"/>The Middle of the planet on Cryptovoxels It isn't easy to choose the land round the middle of the planet. Since many of them have been sold to other gamers, I have to The secondary marketplace seeks to take over opportunities. In those days, I had fashioned four adjacent plots, three of which happened to be on the way to the delivery of new gamers. I am convinced that the popularity of these locations will increase. I invested 1-2.5 ETH on these 4 plots. Fortunately, recently, the price of land round the center of the planet has reached the amount of 29.5 ETH to 35 ETH.

* Recently sold Buffer Crossing 2 and 4 property for 29.5 ETH *Score Fork Simply no. 1 land was recently sold for 35 ETH. After several months of getting these "real fragrance" property, I made a decision to create a comparative analysis of the property valuation. It proved that my intuition was incredibly correct. The property with the bigger upper restrict of height mentioned above, and the property around the world middle, have the best value. Further reading: Could Bitcoin become a "safe-haven asset"? From the historical exploration of the American "abandonment of yellow metal" in the 1970s Extended reading: Long story | If economic crocodile Soros really wants to destroy "Bitcoin", exactly what will he do? Personal Investment Program To be able to realize the fantastic vision from the virtual world (Metaverse), We decided to open a new business and experience within the land. My goal is to successfully generate income in the virtual world in the next three years. I have to clarify that whenever I discuss virtual worlds, it could be any blockchain-based virtual world, including CV, Decentraland, Sandbox, Somnium Space, etc. The ultimate goal is a virtual world, so it doesn't matter what platform we use to achieve this goal. I have a solid feeling that these platforms will ultimately merge together, similar to the early internal systems slowly connected to form the web that connects the planet; I also want to say that whenever I discuss the virtual world When "revenue generating" business, I mean any video game or activity that generates profit a sustainable way. If a business can earn $100 per month, I believe this is a huge victory, because it means that a native and stable business design can operate well in a totally virtual economy. The trading marketplace activities are as of the publication of the article (February 2020). Using the increase in investing volume, the marketplace has broken out. The month to month trading volume in early 2020 has reached an astonishing USD 378k. Cryptovoxels monthly sales background, recorded on nonfungible.com on February 14, 2020" data-medium-file="%E6%9C%88%E5%BA%A6%E9%8A%B7%E5%94%AE%E6 %Advertisement%B7%E5%8F%B2%EF%BC%8C2020%E5%B9%B42%E6%9C%8814%E6%97%A5%E8%A8%98%E9%8C%84%E6%96 %BCnonfungible.com_-300x58.png" data-large-file="%E6%9C%88%E5%BA%A6%E9%8A%B7%E5%94%AE%E6%AD%B7%E5%8F %B2%EF%BC%8C2020%E5%B9%B42%E6%9C%8814%E6%97%A5%E8%A8%98%E9%8C%84%E6%96%BCnonfungible.com_-1024x198.png "launching="lazy" course="size-full wp-image-51201 lazy" src="data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns=''%20viewBox='0%200%201456%20281'% 3E%3C/svg%3E" data-src="%E6%9C%88%E5%BA%A6%E9%8A%B7%E5%94%AE%E6%Advertisement%B7%E5%8F%B2% EF%BC%8C2020%E5%B9%B42%E6%9C%8814%E6%97%A5%E8%A8%98%E9%8C%84%E6%96%BCnonfungible.com_.png" alt="Cryptovoxels Month to month sales background, recorded on nonfungible.com on February 14, 2020" width="1456" height="281" data-pagespeed-url-hash="1395090730" onload="pagespeed.CriticalImages.checkImageForCriticality(this);" />Cryptovoxels regular monthly sales history, recorded on nonfungible.com on February 14, 2020. There are many high-volume land dealings. At the start of the year, quite a few notable deals include:

* 29.5ETH (worth USD 5,500 at the time of transaction) * 29.5ETH (worth USD 5,500 at the time of transaction) * 30ETH (worthy of USD 6,400 at the time of transaction) * 30ETH (worthy of USD 6,400 at the time of transaction) * 35ETH (worthy of USD 7,500 at the time of transaction) * 50ETH (worthy of USD 10,000 at the time of transaction) * 52ETH (worthy of USD 8,500 at the time of transaction) * 119ETH (worthy of USD 25,000 at the time of transaction) * 500ETH (worthy of USD 110,000 at the time of the deal) what else must be done? To make the future come true, you will find too many things to be done within an orderly manner. The CV team must also grow using the NFT marketplace and continue steadily to develop. The amount of users must be greatly enhanced from the existing 460. I am hoping that new users will never be frightened off from the property price, and that more property in original metropolitan areas can be created unexpectedly. CV must continue being a gathering place for NFT collectors and players. Different video games, users with various collections need to have space to meet up, gather and display their assets. If you can keep a Gods Unchained tournament in Curriculum vitae, or you can companion with Axies users and play against each other in real time, it'll be a pleasant surprise. CV especially must maintain the top position of NFT artwork. NFT artwork will certainly grow right into a massive industry, so that it can even match the traditional artwork market in the future, so it is necessary to continue steadily to encourage artists to create in CV. If each one of these things happen, CV will have a good possiblity to be a part of the vigorous development of the virtual world in the future. Nevertheless, we should bear in mind that we have been not even the first NFT players in the virtual world. Decentraland already has 3,500 users, while Curriculum vitae has only 460. We are still in an exceedingly early phase and there are still many things to do, but now it appears that both technologies and timing are the best time to form a genuine virtual world. DappReview: To be able to develop a blockchain version of "Second Life", "Minecraft", or the fantastic virtual world shown in "NUMBER 1 Player", several blockchain + video game practitioners are searching along, such as for example Decentraland, Cryptovoxels, etc. The project has continued in the past two years, and I believe that even more teams will sign up for this rank in the future. Ideals are beautiful, and reality is really skinny. According to the present completion and development progress of all products, it is not even close to a game with complete experience and rich playability, let alone those fantastic and distant tales. Practitioners need to think carefully about how to connect the street between reality and ideal. The writer of this content, Andrew, is undoubtedly an optimist. Of course, his ass may decide his mind. Can something that makes you make 30 times much less popular? From the perspective of DappReview, in line with the current situation from the Cryptovoxels development team and community, the overall game may end up in a hard-core and niche state. After all, for most gamers who do not create structures, What we perform is to go into the video game to visit a variety of artworks and structures. As for whether it's possible to make the video game increasingly more rich using the raise of UGC articles, we are conventional. Some readers who have finished scanning this article can also be struggling to help but want to buy some property and earn 30 periods because the author did. Please be sure to control your hands. First open the overall game web site, go set for a group, go to the Discord neighborhood to watch, and then make your financial commitment is not as well late. In the event that you enjoy it, you can buy everything. In the event that you just want to make money, make sure you understand what you are buying and become responsible for your own decisions. Further reading: Dapp ecology data PK inside January, Ethereum has a significant increase in the marketplace share of Defi and games, 83% of TRON are gambling and high-risk users

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As Tourists Flock to National Parks, Nearby Restaurants Brace for the Coronavirus

Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images

While campers can return home after a trip, they might leave COVID-19 behind in small communities under-equipped to fight the pandemic

The permanent population of Boulder, Utah, is less than 300. “We are considered to be one of the most remote towns in the lower 48,” says Blake Spalding, who co-owns and co-chefs with Jen Castle at Hell’s Backbone Grill & Farm, located at the Boulder Mountain Lodge. Every summer — well, almost every summer — travelers visit the town as they pass through the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument and enjoy a destination meal.

Spalding and Castle have worked to save the monument from the Trump administration, which cut it in half in 2017 to allow for extractive industry. But recent national efforts to reopen the country during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic pose an entirely new danger: The crush of tourists looking to leave virus epicenters could spread infection to towns like Boulder, putting restaurants that serve those travelers in a difficult position.

“It was unbelievable what happened here over Memorial Day weekend. I’ve never seen so many people. It felt really uncomfortable,” Spalding says. Hell’s Backbone was closed that weekend as the team worked on kitchen renovations and a patio to allow for more outdoor dining. A Payment Protection Program loan, as well as an online shop and the restaurant’s regenerative agriculture farm, have kept the operation afloat, but financially Spalding and Castle have to reopen the restaurant somehow, even if doing so imperils the shop and farm too. “We love our guests,” Spalding says, “but it feels weird to be kind of scared of them.”

“We love our guests, but it feels weird to be kind of scared of them.”

It isn’t illogical for travelers to want to leave big cities, where infection rates are high, to visit wilderness destinations, where infection rates have generally stayed low until now. The virus doesn’t spread as well outdoors, making national parks seem like convenient escapes. But while campers can return home after a trip, they might leave the virus behind in small communities under-equipped to fight the pandemic. In remote towns like Boulder, which is an inholding within the Grand Staircase-Escalante monument, it can be hard to acquire PPE, like masks and gloves, and other essential equipment. If a restaurant runs out, it could be a week before the UPS truck shows up with more. “There is a clinic that’s 45 minutes from here, but our health care situation, like most rural places, is pretty modest,” Spalding says.

And restaurants in so-called “gateway communities” near national parks are gearing up for a summer of more visitors. Despite warnings from the CDC about the potential summer death toll and a National Park Service campaign dissuading would-be parkgoers, campers are still flocking to public sites after being cooped up for months. RV sales are up, and Airbnb has seen a boom in vacation rentals too. According to an April survey by Kampgrounds of America, nearly half of travelers who canceled travel plans due to COVID-19 have decided to camp instead, and 41 percent of campers said they were following through on planned trips.

As traffic ramps up, tension is also rising within park communities between businesses that rely on tourism and locals who don’t want to be exposed to visitors. Charles Tanner owns K-Bar Pizza and Two Bit Saloon in Gardiner, Montana, directly across the street from the northern entrance to Yellowstone National Park. He says that when the pandemic first began to spread, locals stopped coming to his restaurants, even for takeout, because they feared interacting with tourists.

In 2019, tourists spent $500 million and supported 7,000 jobs around Yellowstone in towns like Gardiner, and they spent $21 billion total in park communities across the country. Since the COVID-19 pandemic forced many parks to close in March, local businesses have been ailing, and year-over-year sales are still relatively low for most. A second wave of infections could force states to close later in the year too, forcing some restaurants to reopen despite the risks.

“The parks are national treasures, but for our community they’re the reason we’re here in the first place,” says Fred Peightal, owner of Cafe Genevieve in Jackson, Wyoming, just outside of Grand Teton National Park. Peightal is concerned about welcoming visitors from elsewhere, but he doesn’t see any other option, especially since the restaurant has mostly been closed since July 2019 due to a fire. “One way or the other we’re going to have to do it, or we’re going to close up shop,” he says.

Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images

A worker at Yosemite National Park’s Base Camp Grill after it re-opened in June 2020.

Peightal estimates most restaurants in Jackson do 60 to 70 percent of their yearly business during the summer high season, from July to September. While the high season varies between parks and regions, remaining closed during those critical months can easily sink a business. “If we lose our summer,” Peightal says, “I don’t think we’d make it through another year. Especially if [COVID-19] comes back in the fall and we lose our winter. It could be devastating for just about every restaurant in town.” For seasonal businesses that don’t open during the winter at all, the pressure is even higher to make the best of the warmer months.

Chef Ian Boden saw a peak in domestic tourists when he opened his first restaurant in 2007, just before the Great Recession, which inspired many people to travel and spend locally. Boden expects to see that happen again at his current restaurant, the Shack, just outside of Shenandoah National Park in Staunton, Virginia. The restaurant offers a feasible destination for folks from D.C., Philadelphia, and New York, without a flight, which made Boden hesitant to reopen even as Virginia began allowing businesses to do so in May.

“Knowing that 80 percent of our clientele was coming from out of town, from large markets with higher infection rates than us, it was a concern for me for my staff,” Boden says. A positive review in the Washington Post earlier this year could attract even more citydwellers to the Shack. “That’s part of the reason I feel it’s irresponsible for us to open back up, even [serving food] outside. As soon as we open back up, I know our dining room will be full of people from out of town again. I would feel fucking horrible if one of my staff members got sick because someone from D.C. came to Staunton.”

Evidence from parks’ first wave of visitors isn’t heartening. A few days before Yellowstone even opened, Tanner noticed travelers arriving in the area from Seattle, LA, and San Francisco. But he also noted one glaring absence.

“I think a lot of people have that thought in their head, that it’s okay here, but we’re not immune to anything.”

“I didn’t notice any tourists with masks,” he says. “I might have expected some tourists who ordered just to go because they didn’t want to be in a public space, but I think we’re getting quite the opposite, the people that are very much happy looking for normalcy.”

Tanner guesses excited, early travelers are simply less concerned about infection, but they’ve already revealed a deeper vulnerability in gateway communities. Rural areas seem safe compared to cities. Visitors don’t feel as much pressure to protect themselves — or locals — from infection as they might in their hometowns. Nearly half of respondents in the KOA survey said they consider camping the safest form of travel, but that doesn’t mean travelers take precautions.

Jeannie Allen is business and operations manager at the Log Cabin Pancake House in Gatlinburg, Tennessee, on the edge of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. She suffers from asthma, which has made her especially cautious around the maskless visitors she has seen walking around.

“When you go out on vacation, you think you’re immune to it because this area doesn’t have a lot of cases,” she says. “You don’t have to worry because you’re in Gatlinburg. You don’t have to worry about anything when you’re in Gatlinburg. You can walk up and down the street at night and it’s safe. I think a lot of people have that thought in their head, that it’s okay here, but we’re not immune to anything.”

Tanner is confident he can provide that security. He’s working with the health department to test and monitor his staff to control any risk of infection. “Anybody who’s going through the trouble to open, especially in these gateway communities, is being extra precautious because we need that revenue so badly,” he argues, adding that every business owner in town feels pressure to follow health guidelines to the letter.

Many locals in Gardiner have come around since the state began looking at recovery, but the divide reveals how difficult it can be to mitigate risk in vulnerable communities near national vacation destinations. Decisions to relax precautions in one area inevitably affect surrounding areas, just as reopening a single business can affect a whole town. “It’s like opening a peeing section in a pool,” Boden says. Tension may only build as traffic — and risk — increase in parks.

If there’s one silver lining, it can be found inside the parks themselves, which have flourished without the crush of tourists. Congress capitalized on public interest in outdoor recreation to push through a bipartisan bill to grant the parks greater funding, too. Peightal says some of his restaurant workers might even enjoy the park themselves this year if traffic remains down.

“I don’t know that we’ll ever recover financially from this,” Spalding admits, “but I also don’t know that we won’t if we never try.” And the ideal of a park restaurant seems worth fighting for. “I’ve really seen the power of a lovingly prepared meal and jaw-droppingly beautiful wilderness. It’s a combination that can actually be transformational.”

from Eater - All https://ift.tt/3eyPpXZ https://ift.tt/2NtkuR5

Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images

While campers can return home after a trip, they might leave COVID-19 behind in small communities under-equipped to fight the pandemic

“We love our guests, but it feels weird to be kind of scared of them.”

Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images

A worker at Yosemite National Park’s Base Camp Grill after it re-opened in June 2020.

“I think a lot of people have that thought in their head, that it’s okay here, but we’re not immune to anything.”

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thecoroutfitters · 7 years ago

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Throughout history, the wealthy have had options available to them, that the common people couldn’t afford. They were able to buy products, go places and own homes which the rest of the population couldn’t afford; and you can be sure that they took advantage of it. While some say that the advantages of wealth are “unfair” and “oppressive to the masses” there has never been a time in history where there weren’t some people who were better off than others.

Through most of history, those who had it better off were known as kings and nobles. They took control of an area and its population and levied taxes upon the common folk, taking from their earnings to pay for governance and protection. In the process, those who levied those taxes had better things and finer houses that they built from the sweat of the brows of those who were taxed.

It wasn’t until the Renaissance that this really began to change. Traders, especially traveling traders, began to amass wealth, with some of the best of them reaching and even surpassing the wealth of the nobles who were their erstwhile masters.

This gave these wealthy traders the ability to own fine possessions and palatial homes, which they of course took advantage of. Being by and large smarter than the nobles they were gradually replacing, they fixed their sights on the novel, looking for new things from art and science, thereby giving a huge boost to the development of technology and the arts.

Today is no different. It is the rich amongst us who support invention, innovation and the arts, in many cases reaping the benefit of that support. One way they reap that benefit is in owning finer things, with better features than what the middle class have.

But the things that are luxuries of the affluent eventually trickle down to become commonplace. The cell phone is a prime example of this. A generation ago, installing a mobile phone in one’s car cost more than the car did. I know, because my granddad had one. But then, what was considered luxuries in the cars of a generation ago, has become commonplace in today’s cars.

Options like power windows and door locks were an expensive option, only seen in luxury cars or as a purchased option in mid-range cars. Yet today, there is hardly a car sold in America, which doesn’t come with power windows and door locks standard. Sound systems are the same. Fourty years ago, a tape deck (CDs didn’t yet exist) was a high-dollar upgrade or an aftermarket installation. Today, it is rare to see a car leave the dealership with only an AM or AM/FM radio installed.

Prepping Options for the Rich

One of the dreams that most preppers aspire towards is having a survival retreat. To own that proverbial cabin in the woods and have it all set up for survival is the ultimate level of preparedness that most of us can think of. Besides making an ideal vacation spot, it also provides us with a safe heaven to escape to, avoiding the zombies on the streets or the mobs of hungry people looking for a meal.

Yet few preppers can actually afford such a luxury. The cost of mountain land starts out north of $25,000 per acre and can reach up into the hundreds of thousands of dollars per acre; and that’s if you’re buying large swaths of land. Buying just a single acre is considerably more expensive.

Of course, building costs in the mountains are higher too, especially in remote areas. Not only do you have to pay to get everything trucked in, you may have the added cost of providing lodging for the construction crew, if they are not local.

This limits the building of such getaway retreats to those who have inherited land or to the wealthy who can afford it. Apparently there are enough of them around, that prices don’t have to drop in order to find buyers. Otherwise, you and I might actually be able to afford that cabin in the woods that we’ve always dreamed about.

While some of the wealthy build or buy homes in these isolated areas just as vacation getaway retreats, more and more of them are buying them as a different sort of retreat. It seems that prepping has reached the hearts and minds of the wealthy, and like everything else they do, they are doing it with style, spending big money in order to have security.

Many of these people are counted amongst the nouveau rich of Silicon Valley. Having made their pile, they are now looking to other needs of their family; most notably, security. As with many of the rest of us, they are recognizing the many risks that we face today and spending at least a part of their fortune to make sure that their family will survive.

But prepping wealthy style is much different than prepping for the rest of us. First of all, few of them are preparing to shelter in place in their homes. Of those that are, most are having expensive, lavishly furnished bunkers built beneath them. But this is only a minority. The rest are planning on bugging out at the first sign of trouble. What’s interesting is the types of places that they are planning on bugging out to and the amount of money they are spending to make that possible.

So, what are these high-dollar survival retreats? They are actually quite varied. But there are some common themes which we see happening today; such as:

mountain homes in remote valleys, in some cases, only accessible by helicopter

buying a private island and turning it into a retreat

New Zeeland

converted missile silos, which have been turned into luxury survival bunkers

The beautiful country of New Zeeland has become such a popular survival destination for these people, especially those in Silicon Valley, that the name “New Zeeland” has become a secret password amongst them. Mentioning it means that you’re part of the club or at least thinking about joining. The entry fee? Buying an upscale house on the island nation.

If you’ve seen The Lord of the Rings series of movies, you can understand the attraction of New Zeeland as a destination. The country is beautiful and largely unspoiled. It is difficult to get there from here, but that difficulty is apparently part of the attractiveness. The thinking is that any problem which plagues the United States is unlikely to make it to a country on the other side of the world.

The business in New Zeeland survival retreats is good enough, that there are real estate companies over there, which specialize in selling home to wealthy American preppers. Their business has paid off too, with the sale of land to those Americans quadrupling in the last six years.

Missile silos, leftovers from the days of the Cold War, have been being gradually sold off by the government. A few imaginative investors have bought some of those silos and are in the process of converting them into luxury survival condos. These condos, which are typically only half of a 55 foot diameter floor, generally sell for upwards of a million dollars.

These getaway bunkers are well thought out, with amenities like a theatre, an exercise room and an indoor pool. Security is well thought out and makes extensive use of high tech. They even have underground hydroponic gardens, to provide fresh produce to the residents.

So, Why are the Rich Becoming Preppers?

When the rich start putting their money into something, you need to pay attention. Typically, they have access to sources of information that the rest of us normally can’t or don’t access. You also have to take into account that these are uniformly bright people. You don’t get to be a millionaire or billionaire without being extremely intelligent, no matter what the disgruntled say.

More than anything, these people are concerned about social unrest and a breakdown of society. Current social trends pit the majority of the population against the wealthy, Washington insiders, and those who have influence in the highest places. They are seen as the enemy of the people, both by people on the political right and the political left.

The left’s problem with these people is pure class warfare, with Democrat politicians, celebrities and the media complaining about the “one percenters” and how unfair it is that they have more than the rest. In their eyes, those who are wealthy have stolen from the working masses and especially from the poor. In their zeal for the socialist utopia, they want to take what the wealthy have and redistribute it to the poor, lining their own pockets along the way.

The funny thing is, many of these public figures who are decrying the wealthy are themselves amongst the one percent that they badmouth. But in their eyes, they are the “good” one percents, while business tycoons and especially Wall Street bankers are the “bad” one percenters.

The right’s issues with those in power are totally different. First of all, they don’t have issue with the wealthy, always hoping a little if it will rub off on them. With a greater understanding of economics, they realize that the free-market capitalist system that we have is what allows our society to be as wealthy as it is, which translates into more of the population not being poor. More than anything, it creates and sustains the middle class.

What they do have issues with is crony capitalism. With politicians in Washington focusing on helping themselves, rather than helping the country as a whole. With their tax dollars being wasted by the government to fund liberal pet projects and win votes for liberals, rather than being spent for the protection of the nation, upkeep of our infrastructure and betterment of our nation. They resent their hard-earned wages going to pay for people’s abortions, birth-control pills and transgender operations. More than anything, they resent big government meddling in every area of their lives.

So, while both ends of the political spectrum are fed up with the way things are, they are clearly fed up for different reasons. We can see their level of frustration by looking at the last presidential elections. A lot of the reason that Donald Trump won, was because he was an outsider. Those who are fed up saw him as a much better option than any establishment candidate.

Yet the differences between the political left and right are big enough to cause considerable concern. Talk about a second civil war, which started during Obama’s reign, have increased since Donald Trump was inaugurated. Most of this talk is now coming out of the left, who are still enraged that their candidate didn’t win.

The anger on the left is a palatable thing. It has reached a much higher level than angry rhetoric. Paid leftist protestors are showing up at any Republican event, working to disrupt it. These protesters incite the grassroots people to violence, leading to violent confrontations with the police and with conservatives who merely want to hear what the speaker has to say.

This reached a head recently, with the shooting of a congressman and some staffers by a Bernie Sanders supporter. The victims in the shooting were at a practice for a charity baseball game, when the shooter started picking his targets. Had it not been for the courage of two of the Capital Police Department who were there fulfilling their duty, the casualty count would have been much higher.

These nouveau rich preppers see all this happening and are counting the days until a nationwide meltdown. In their eyes, the years following will be some of the most dangerous in our country’s history, especially for them.

So they are making plans to bug out and spend the next decade running their businesses from remote locations or even abandoning their businesses in the name of survival. Either way, they are preparing now, so that their families will be safe when that day comes.

Interested in keeping you and your family safe? Click the banner below for more!

This article has been written by Bill White for Survivopedia.

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moondeerdotblog · 3 years ago

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The Full F$&kin' Monty

The futility of waking the woke to the underlying problem … the one enabling the fancy of fruition for every fascist flicker frolicking about behind the foreheads of every last member of today’s GOP…

the flickers coming faster and faster now … as we approach the demographical destination point past which there lies no more minority rule …

a demographical destination point the fear of which they are not alone in possessing …

and attack openly (there are no more quiet parts … it is all out loud)

the one pushing possibility … promoting progressive motion to the point where the forming of a more perfect union, a true multicultural democracy for the land of the free, becomes measurably closer to inevitable than it is to unfathomable.

Alas … I fear this union is not for you … for to form it you must first wake to what its formation would require from you.

They committed themselves to the fascist coup as early as when they chose to hold a kangaroo court in place of the first impeachment trial. There is no pivot … only an obstructionist pretense.

This is a unique inflection point. The weight of this moment makes my bones feel heavier than I remember. Last November … hell … all throughout 2020 … we the people demanded our voice be heard and our will respected.

When our legislators stop working for us their concept of civil service must be corrected.

Democracy requires participation.

For decades we have allowed ourselves to fall into a pattern of governance where one party advances our nation, with a focus on equitably caring for our nation’s people and with an eye toward global stewardship.

After eight years, give or take, the people become seduced by the opposition party (their natural discontent eventually being harnessed and weaponized politically in order to flip the center). This is understandable and works both ways.

As with COVID, the work done over those eight years, the progress made, has lagging indicators.

The first half of that time in power is spent course correcting the corporate policies enacted by the previous administration. The second half is spent future building. That future arrives after the eight years are up. This further muddies the water.

The connection between good governance and the people’s happiness and prosperity is muted and difficult to point out for anyone not flooding themselves with the world of politics.

Of course bad governance sticks out like a sore thumb and requires a hell of a good sales pitch (or some perspective shifting event) to hold onto power. So why is this transition different? Why am I calling it an inflection point?

This cycle saw one party flat out refuse to court the people with policy or provide any form of feasible pitch. This cycle saw one party attempt to exploit the bifurcation of our information ecosystem into dueling realities by flooding that system with propaganda.

Never in our history have our politicians so deliberately lied to the American people in a desperate attempt to cling to power. The demography of the people that form our great nation have the old white regime terrified that they will lose their power for the last time.

We have been a minority rule nation for decades now. The discrepancies between both the populations of the parties’ constituents as well as their monetary contributions (upon which the constituents of the other party are dependent) are unsustainable.

Why must one party rule from the minority? Because they refuse to embrace their role as a stable for civil servants. They refuse to put their constituents’ needs above that of their donors’. This last cycle, they failed to produce even a modicum of effort.

They would not even gather what they were offering into words in some official party platform. They were not offering anything.

Instead of pitching we the people on why they deserve to retain power, they embraced the most vile forms of weaponized propaganda. They embraced fascism and white nationalism.

They embraced a cult to which approximately twenty-two million of our fellow Americans have fallen victim.

They embraced immortality by way of drinking up babies whilst wearing little girl faces.

They knew they could not grow their base with such allegiances, so they looked to abuse the court circuits they spent four years stacking (ask yourself why they deemed this necessary if not to extend their capability to hold minority rule over the American people).

This is an inflection point in our history because the very heart of American identity, the ideals we have spent centuries touting, the documents with which our nation’s forefathers have for so long guided the hand of governance … all of these have become vulnerable.

In Trump this nation elected a president that would test every “oh shit” button our forefathers installed. For the first time in my lifetime, I was prepared to go to war for my country.

As Obama surmised while eulogizing the great John Lewis, I felt I could no longer accept freedom for myself while witnessing the subjugation of my fellow Americans. The narrowness of our escape from this trajectory is impossible to over exaggerate.

We endured four years of Trumpism, four years of learning just how powerful a weapon is the bifurcated bubble. Isolate. Pump in propaganda. Prey on worldview rigidity. Prey on those susceptible to cult phenomena.

Do this and one may absolutely normalize the absence of accountability at the highest level.

All but a handful within the Republican party were hoping the insurrection would succeed. They were hoping they would retain power. They were hoping they would retain minority rule over this great nation.

For a brief moment, minority rule has ended. We the people have returned legislative power to the party that believes in civil service. There is, however, something of grave importance we must consider.

The governmental imprint Trump leaves behind will sound as a death knell for American democracy should the current administration fail to rake the sand.

Should they choose, however, to pick up the reigns and lead, it may be possible for we the people to return to some lesser level of political engagement. Not disengaged, but not dominated by the engagement.

Senator Joe Manchin, if the Democratic party fails to invest their courage in their convictions, if they tank good policy to brush back the red … we the people will be called upon once more to safeguard this nation against minority rule.

As arduous a task safeguarding against minority rule may be, merging our dueling reality information ecosystems is the more difficult task.

Senator Joe Manchin, the Democratic party must embrace the power we the people have bestowed upon them. The power we have bestowed upon them in order to restore a people’s freedoms. The power we have bestowed upon them to hold accountable those that have assaulted our democracy.

Senator Joe Manchin, and any other Democrat who happens to be cut of similar cloth, you will do the job we the people have asked you to do, or we … the people … will replace you with someone who will.

When we showed up in numbers … we gained the upper hand.

Even when I answer the why to their behavior, the pure obstinance required by Josh Hawley, Ted Cruz, and Marco Rubio to block out the reality of where this path ends still gets me. It was never a sustainable, career extending path to walk.

Rejecting reality was never a sustainable model.

Perhaps, had two years of reality rejectionism allowed for them to maintain the majority in the House. Their rejection of reality is why they failed to hold the House.

Perhaps, had four years of reality rejectionism allowed for them to maintain the majority in the Senate. Their rejection of reality is why they failed to hold the Senate.

Perhaps, had four years of reality rejectionism allowed for them to maintain the Presidency. Their rejection of reality is why the race ended as far back as July.

So … for heaven’s sake … Josh Hawley … Ted Cruz … Marco Rubio … why on your God’s green earth did you believe that continuing to reject reality would give you a leg up on a presidential run of your own?

And with the ink still wet on those indictments coming down the line on account of your little failed fascist coup. Sure guys … ride that adrenaline high … pander to insurrectionists. What better base around which to build a campaign.

You want to lock in the size of your base. Fewer people supporting you means fewer people to please, am I right fellas? I’m sure the world witnessing 2-4 years of a Washington D.C. full of dedicated civil servants won’t make y’all look bad in comparison.

Watching as the pandemic nightmare your rejection of reality (at least publicly) has left behind as Trump’s greatest legacy comes to an end.

Watching the restoration of our economy … an economy that cratered because of your rejection of reality, surely that won’t move the people … am I right?

Watching as dignity and respect return to re-inhabit a White House from which they never should have been driven.

Watching as the World exhales and celebrates what we have achieved … we the people … in rejecting your rejection of reality.

Keep it up fellas. Your inability to pivot is making for some bright futures. It’s just that those futures don’t belong to y’all.

But the work was not finished … and we have left the remnant of our dumpster fire to smolder.

The general consensus across the Twittersphere with regard to Trump supporters goes like this: they are morons … Hillary was correct to call them deplorables … these are the dregs of our society.

Whole lotta truth here. The problem falling by the wayside for a myriad of reasons is that the percentage of people for which this provides an accurate description and the percentage of people that fall under the label “Trump supporter” are divergent.

What we must understand … and work to eliminate … is the why. For some reason unbeknownst to me … waayyy too many folks are squaring their perceived reality with an acceptance that our societal dregs have blossomed into 49% of our populace.

I am still not sure how they are squaring the ease with which millions in this nation have found it totally f$&king plausible for there to be a shadowy, high power cabal drinking up babies in pursuit of immortality.

The degradation of journalistic credibility, the rise of outright like-you-learned-it-in-school propaganda being fed to our nation like news (but let off the hook as entertainment), the degree to which social media has supplanted traditional news in our information ecosystem, the bifurcation of our information ecosystem into two unbridgeable dueling reality echo chambers … these things are what one needs to spark the dumpster fire within which we find ourselves.

I can count on two hands the number of people I have come across with appreciation for this.

The hand count drops to one when we refine our set to include people who realize that this ecosystem must be deconstructed should we hope to regain the ground we have lost … to perhaps progress further than we have previously been. Those within reach must be deprogrammed.

Those unreachable must be drowned out.

I haven’t yet found a single soul interested in helping me work out how this might be achieved. How we might merge our echo chambers so that we might once again share a collective voice.

There must be a return to civil discourse or the fabric of our society shall unravel past the point of patching. We must all inhabit a common reality should we ever hope to find common ground.

The rage is properly placed but progress would require more of us … and … at the very least … it will certainly require we understand how the fire started.

To heal as a nation would require merging our bifurcated information ecosystem. A stable democracy cannot house two realities.

Any postgame analysis must account for the current ecosystem by which we download information in this nation. The one which bifurcated our society into two distinct bubbles.

I could just as easily have gone with echo chambers, analogically speaking, but there is something mesmeric about bubbles that better suits my mood. So let’s have a closer look at what lies within these bewitching bubbles.

Let’s consider the first bubble. Here you’ll find such familiar factions as all-of-the-left and the NeverTrumpers. With these two resident groups, bubble one is unique in housing a complete representation of our nation’s traditional two party system.

This, predictably, generates much discord; however, you’ll find all bubble one denizens united behind a globule cause: the restoration of observable reality as a basis for civil discourse.

Let’s move to the second bubble. Here you’ll also find some familiar factions like the GOP and the KKK. To fully comprehend the complexity of bubble two denizens; however, we must familiarize ourselves with some relatively new additions.

Are you a white nationalist eagerly awaiting the commencement of your race war, fearing that an evolving American demography might minoritize you? Then perhaps you are already acquainted with the Proud Boys. Pizzagate got you down? Perhaps Q is not new to you.

As with bubble one, we may tease out a characteristic universally applicable to bubble two denizens: the uncanny ability to house diametrically opposing viewpoints within their skulls.

Tragically, this trait leaves bubble two residents tremendously susceptible to both propaganda and cult phenomena.

Let’s consider what the two bubbles have in common. Within each of these bubbles something magical happens. An entire reality blossoms within each bubble. An existence so colorfully complete that bubble residents begin to believe that their bubble must hold all of existence.

Spend enough time within a bubble’s confines and any memory of a greater reality, of a world outside of the bubble, fades away like the colors of a weathered “these colors don’t run” bumpersticker.

If we conduct a direct comparison between the two bubble realities, you’ll notice that they diverge in some fascinating ways. Take the first bubble. Within this bubble it is a widely held belief that our norms and our precedents alone can protect our democracy.

Naive, I know, but bless their hearts. Bubble two, in contrast, believes these same norms and precedents to be the insidious tools used by agents of the deep state as they work towards democracy’s deconstruction.

And check this out …

In the second bubble … and seriously you won’t want to believe me but I promise you this is true … in this second bubble millions … yes millions … of people find it totally plausible for their to be a shadowy, high power cabal drinking up babies in pursuit of immortality.

Suffice it to say that among the myriad of bubble one denizen concerns you’ll not find any mention of baby drinking.

Now ask yourself why such disparities between bubble realities? Cult phenomena can be tricky so don’t feel bad if you can’t think of the answer. I can’t think of it myself. What greater implications might we find concerning the bifurcation of our information ecosystem?

How would those implications affect political messaging? What does this bifurcation mean for mainstream media? Is “mainstream” still an appropriate moniker for applying to the media outlets we intend to reference?

What does the ecology of dueling reality information ecosystems mean for political analysis? Don’t worry if you don’t know this either. I sure as sh$t don’t. But I expect it’s consideration would be integral. Full disclosure, I am admittedly biased …

for I am obsessed with this information ecosystem quandary … as the frequency with which I recite the following will attest:

Dueling reality information ecosystems, worldview rigidity, and the power of propaganda may be considered the root problem from which we have birthed every crisis we now face. Solving it is prerequisite for progress … perhaps even prerequisite for halting our devolution.

It is understandable that we wanted … we still want … blood … for blood is warranted…

Everyone keeps acting like Trump is a f$&king mob boss controlling those around him. F$&k that sh$t … he is the bullsh$t babbling baboon puffed up like an orange balloon that we all clearly see him to be. Trump is the f$&king tool.

His enablers built the propaganda machine for peddling this cult of personality as a means for safeguarding their minority rule over our nation.

I am not quite sure how we are meant to judge psychopathy where accountability is concerned, I can’t quite put my finger on a true psychopath’s capacity for comprehension.

I have no such knowledge gaps when it comes to non-psychopaths utilizing weaponized psychopathy to achieve a stranglehold on power … willingly committing treason to protect that which they have gained.

The constitution had an answer for Trump. Enablers … such as Lindsey Graham … publicly parted ways with any pretense of public service … liquidated their constitutional oathes when the Senate chamber was recast as a kangaroo court. They chose subversion.

When COVID broke like a rogue wave across this nation … they once again saw an opportunity to embrace the contemptible whilst scrambling to shore up their dwindling authority.

These enablers sought to utilize the disruptive chaos produced by a plagued nation to amplify their efforts at disenfranchisement.

How pleased must they have been upon learning that the virus was disproportionately killing more brown and black Americans than it was killing white Americans.

The virus … itself … became a tool. Those we speak of as minorities in this nation … those who when we add them together shall soon become a majority … they were the ones in the eye of the storm.

What perhaps began as a political stance born of stupidity or stubbornness or something else entirely … had blossomed into fresh opportunity … an opportunity for our elderly white ruling class to roll back the color-to-white ratio of our populace … herd immunity very quickly became the official federal COVID response … tapping Atlas simply emboldened them to tell us so.

Lindsey Graham, Mitch McConnell, Bill Barr, every GD GOP senator, every f$&king GOP member that has openly embraced these actions … or whose solidarity is shown through silence … these are the responsible parties. These are the people for which we must ensure accountability.

These are the vampiric vultures whose feathers we shall pluck … for we the people must protect what we hold precious from such men and women … and make examples of them for future generations …

examples we shall include in our lesson plans when teaching our children’s children the history of this nation’s Tree of Liberty.

But the blood must balanced with something else … with something new

I wonder what it will be like for things to get better after being arguably as bad as they have ever been.

I wonder how all those falsehoods will play after things start to get better.

I wonder how many full fledged COVID deniers will finally encounter this deadly pandemic.

I wonder if red states will continue to suffer needlessly under Trumpian COVID policies.

I wonder what the recovering blue states will look like from those red states.

I wonder how those red state constituents will feel when their jobs come back.

When they aren’t so frightened.

When their families feel safe.

When they feel that their families are safe.

I wonder who the ratings leader is among cable news networks.

Wait … who used to be the leader?

Okay … but for how long? Really?

I wonder what changed.

I wonder how many more previously registered Republicans will re-register with reality.

I wonder what it will feel like in 2022 … after two years of feeling better.

I wonder how difficult it would be to reject reality for 6 straight years with nothing but the whole sale loss of jobs and the deaths of hundreds of thousands of American citizens to show for it.

I wonder how much quicker the historical record becomes cemented when that record has been broadcast to the globe via the digitization of every inch of our lives.

I wonder who will write that history, and how the reality rejectionists will come off in retrospect.

I wonder how embracing white supremacy and white grievance as a party platform will age as the demography tips (like flipped GA tips).

I wonder how many more people will come to believe in a shadowy high power cabal drinking up babies in the pursuit of immortality.

I wonder if it will be enough to win elections.

The optimistic vision I have of our future is only attainable when the answers to these questions are what your heart wanted them to be. Those answers are inevitable only if we put in the work. If you are doing what you did last time, you’re doin’ it wrong.

We continue to choose the unbalanced approach. So blinded by our outrage we are unable to see what progress necessitates

I just can’t get over what people think a large sign that says cancel Jim Jordan (or Google Jim Jordan Wrestling) could accomplish.

Just feels like, if you (eye rolly voice) haaave to throw your money into paint, one might compose something that at least holds a point. But really, f$&k billboards.

The fact of it is the billboards, the videos. You either didn’t need the negative sell, it was to make you feel powerful … or congrats you just convinced someone to dig in another two years on account of your self-righteousness.

With each new month, folks will have forgotten a little more. When enough time has passed without persuasion, well done, by not pressing our advantage you have managed to rehydrate a career that was ready to be crumpled and tossed.

The simplicity of the answer is what kills me.

Last November, I felt a part of something bigger. There was a sense of belonging. Today there is mostly a sense of disappointment. And it isn’t the government. It is the people. Which is worse.

Whatever happened to getting money out of politics anyway?

Being on the edge of my seat wondering whether (never even having been in a real fight) I was about to take the two tasers, the two axes, the two machetes, and the mallet (that drove those chain link fence posts into the soil on the San Diego County property we owned for six months), drive to DC, find a place to stay, take a breath, crack the laptop, and find out whether A Brilliant Mind could plan the perfect murder of the fascist coup instigating tyrant Thomas Payne told us was to fertilize that f$&king tree …

so … yeah … that was easier than watching y’all f$&k everything up. Congrats.

Carrying ahead as we’ve arrived does nought but stoke the flames of that fire. Ingenuity will be required.

I have always been fascinated by the common thread stretched about humanity that links up our narratives. The similitude with which humanity engineers itself by independent means.

Take dragons for example. Damn near everyone thought up dragons.

They thought ‘em up in Egypt, where Apep was the very embodiment of chaos.

Egypt also thought up my personal favorite, Ouroboros, who was a manifestation of the snake god Mehen.

They thought ‘em up in Mother Russia where it would appear three really is a magic number. One would assume their mastery of weather and water source got ‘em the gig at the bow of this Russian Viking ship.

This handsome three-headed fella, who goes by Zmey Gorynych, is from Russian folklore. He liked taking human form and seducing him some laadiees.

In Greece, dragons were hurling up namesakes. Here we see a depiction of Athena watching as the Colchian dragon, guardian of the Golden Fleece, disgorges Jason.

Greek dragons were also being raised solely for the purpose of slaying Heracles (pictured here failing miserably is the Lernaean Hydra).

The Greeks also liked stickin‘ ‘em in mosaics, as with this depiction of a sea dragon or cetus.

In China, where dragons were thought to bring good luck to those worthy of such fortune, you’ll find them carved into walls. I mean … be kinda awkward not to find dragons at Nine-Dragon Wall … am I right?

The last imperial dynasty of China, the Qing dynasty, chose to stick one of the dragon gods, the Azure Dragon, on their flag.

It wouldn’t be long before the Chinese dragon would make its way to Japan, as evidenced by this Hokusai painting,

as well as to Korea, as evidenced by the murals found at the Goguryeo tombs.

The first known portrayal of a fully modern, western dragon may be found within a medieval manuscript.

Native Americans painted dragons on bluffs. This fearsome piasa bird craved human flesh.

So what is the point of my little dragons of the world presentation? I believe it worth considering the discrepancies and commonalities amongst such cultural invention.

Let us begin with commonalities. The nearest I can tell, the single common thread among these narratives defines a dragon as a serpentine, legendary creature. Let me paint my point metaphorically.

We often speak of storytellers as though they were spinning yarn. It would not, then, be much of a stretch to reimagine them as weavers, and their creations as tapestries such as the two below.

We might think of the universally common as the warp threads running through these tapestries. Something structural. Not the good stuff.

What they all saw the same way isn’t really the interesting bit, is it? Seems to me the good stuff is what each culture thought of a little bit differently, the weft threads of the tapestries.

That which makes the Chinese dragon on the right something entirely different than the Celtic dragon on the left. Different … but no less beautiful … and the world is richer having known them both. Having known them both, what might one weave next?

Consider, then, what invention becomes possible with all things considered.

What might I be able to learn from someone with whom I share nothing but warp threads (were we each provided our very own babel fish … obviously).

What might he learn from me? After we have finished feeding our fish and gone our separate ways, how might we be affected? What ingenuity might we have unlocked for future endeavors?

Not enough? Not yet convinced of the beneficiality of discrepant embrace? Another example, then.

What must this untouched Amazonian tribe have thought possible that they hadn’t only moments earlier?

I don’t want y’all thinkin’ I only value discrepancy. We value the shared human experience, that which binds us as a species … the things about our lives, about the human condition, one finds to be as true beneath the canopy as they are in my backyard.

Without such warp threads we might find those outside the purview of our particular worldview entirely un-relatable. We might consider children one such thread. Entirely relatable.

What I find to be most valuable, however, are those weft threads … the good stuff. The stuff that tells us not who we are, but who we might be … who we might become.

It is the unique that drives us to want to try out something new … that has us saying, “huh, I never thought to do that,” or “I haven’t thought of it that way before.”

It is the unique that allows us to glance up at the sky and say to ourselves, “I never knew that was possible.”

Thinking about folklore and mythology in this way got me thinking about world-views, and the current political climate in our country.

When Trump was first impeached, I became deeply invested in the plight of our nation. If I was awake, the television was tuned to MSNBC and I was absorbing all of it.

The reality rejectionist platform pushed by the GOP, the militia grooming, the election theft, the fascist coup, etc., etc. You all know the story.

The things is, I was getting there weeks, if not months, before anyone I was seeing on my television (or Twitter for that matter). I began wondering why. I mean … me … a guy with a political knowledge gap the size of those Texan power bills.

Then there seemed to come a moment at which point everyone caught up. Biden was declared victorious.

I was caught up in the jubilation … and felt as though, perhaps, the whole divergency irritant had been flushed.

It hadn’t been. Coinciding with the beginning of Trump’s second impeachment trial, even more so than before, my read diverged from any other I could find.

Maximum dissidence was reached immediately following the Senate’s vote to acquit, when Mitch stepped up to the podium and began speaking.

Wait … wait … that wasn’t Mitch.

Okay, that’s Mitch. So Mitch got up there and did precisely what I feared he might … he pivoted away from a doomed reality rejectionist platform. My surprise was in how everyone else responded. I have yet to find anyone anywhere not surprised by Mitch that day.

“So what, then, is your point?” you ask. “It seems as though that vuvuzela isn’t the only horn you’ve been blowing,” you say (in a rather accusatory tone I might add). Here is my point with regard to my power to prognosticate.

I have grown convinced that I have uncovered the force at play here. It is precisely that political knowledge gap which has turned me amateur prognosticator.

Without the knowledge of political norms and precedents pressing into my mental map of possibility, my imagination would not be limited to what has come before.

My expectations were unflappable when met with a world that no longer made sense, while so many clung to a pre-Trumpian set of expectations. They, consciously or subconsciously (mind is tricky that way), feared the unrecognizable now.

I want to return, briefly, to that Amazonian tribe, staring up at that plane. No doubt you had a similar reaction to my own upon seeing that image, postulating what magic they must invent to explain that which they have seen.

I want you to consider something that perhaps you wouldn’t have thought to consider. Let’s reimagine magic. What if Trump were piloting that plane? (Nailed it, right?)

Of course the plane crashes. It was held aloft by norms and precedents. Say everyone survives the crash. Which group, the planites or the tribe, now possesses the most accurate view of what surrounds them?

Politically, societally, pick-your-ly … who among us has the most accurate view of what surrounds us today?

Well … I mean … you’re not wrong. We have a hell-of-a-lotta problems (and thanks for participating, couldn’t pull this off without ya) … problems requiring masterful weavers work together in fabricating solutions.

Let us, then, consider carefully whom we shall invite to sit down at our table … with which unique perspectives we shall be outfitted.

What might discrepant world-views or experience engender as we begin weaving? What might we see in the weft threads of our tapestry that we never knew was possible?

Here is what I see. A grassroots movement to reach into that other bubble of reality and snatch back salvageable souls.

There is no pivot for the Republican Party. There is only their base …

and the beacons that draw them.

The goal has always been minority rule by the white few over the multicultural many.

They share this goal with others.

It is the bifurcated information ecosystem, the perfect propaganda delivery system …

giving them end to end control over a fabricated reality,

that enables them to sculpt their base to suit their needs.

Your browser does not support the video tag.

By controlling the information ecosystem of their base, they have successfully torn the fabric of American society in twain.

And now the cultified have begun joining the ranks …

and they are all the way in.

We had the momentum. It is now a push … and we’ve but one clear way to topple the house of cards they’ve built for themselves within that other bubble of American reality.

We must merge our dual reality back into one … one common reality … a reality within which we might find that common ground …

the common ground required should we wish to build a strong foundation … fortify the American experiment … so that it may be gifted to our children. We must do this … and time is running out to start trying.

This is that to which you must wake. This is what I have tried to draw out of you since before COVID was a thing. The futility of waking the woke is why I’ll probably stop trying.

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mykatesingh-blog · 5 years ago

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We entered this summer with a goal to maximize savings and reduce spending to zilch outside of the monthly bills and mortgage. We had a dream and it inspired us to great heights of tightening the purse strings. And we did very well with it. The garden blessed us with onions, potatoes, zucchini, eggplant, and tomatoes. The neighbors’ nectarine tree hung over our fence to share plenty of the sweetest fruit it has yet to produce, and a kind and unknown soul sent us a Winco card for a large sum. We were truly blessed. We also walked everywhere and did everything at home. I mended worn-out yoga pants, we spent our days doing free activities such as art on scratch paper and reading our library books. We even ordered CD’s for the truck when the rose bush ripped my radio antenna off the truck hood. I make fancy lattes at home with a stovetop espresso maker and handheld milk frother and cook from scratch. I am proud of all this.

Then our dream was dashed and I went into a deep depression. Thank goodness I was quick about it as who has time for lengthy depressions, right? Ah, but it was a dark and wilty one with brooding and crying during certain songs and such.

Oh my but I sure do know how to recover even quicker. Nothing like a shopping spree…but with purpose of course. Yes, there was some spending that was about to happen.

Now, the first thing to happen was a new fence in the front yard. I have my second kitchen garden out there and lately, I feel like I’m right on the street (which I am, it’s the front of the house). I want privacy and a secluded sanctuary all around me these days. I feel vulnerable and weird, what can I say. After some shopping around we found that reed fencing is the cheapest and if you double it, it gives the illusion of somewhat privacy. We still don’t want to spend too much money on this house as the dream of moving is still floating about in the ether.

Then I decided to take some things to the thrift store. I went through my closet and dresser and got rid of everything that was frumpy or had been waiting for years for this grand weight loss I kept swearing was about to happen. I went through the boys’ clothes and rid their drawers of small and stained, ugly and short clothes. It’s almost time for them to start school. They are doing Independent study through a charter and one day a week they have enrichment classes and kindergarten for Sammy all day and one day I take them to a forest outdoor school. We have been blessed for almost 5 years with nice hand me downs but I’ve used up the last box and they needed clothes. Nice and sturdy clothes.

I’ve got this very keen sixth sense about the thrift shopping. Some people know what horses to bet on and some know when the “right time” is to invest in certain stocks. I can feel when the thrifting will be profitable and all our clothing and toy dreams will be actualized. I can even sense what store we should go to.

I woke up the next day and had a vision. I knew where to go and that we would be very lucky.

The place was Savers in Vacaville where the wealthy from the bay area drop off all their clothes and toys. It’s an hour away but the drive is through lovely farmland filled with orchards, tomatoes, and sunflowers.

Savers is a great experience. Clean and well lit, large store, good music to tap your toes while you sift through well-organized clothing. Everything is sorted in sizes which saves hours. My only complaint is that the prices have gone up quite a bit since my last visit a year or two ago, kids clothing is way too pricy now, and the candles were a rip-off. They wanted $3 for a half-used candle!

Thrifting has become so popular over the years that these places are jacking up the prices, but when they start competing with Walmart, that doesn’t sit well.

Now, there are many items that may be $50 or more in their prime and are still in great shape, so $10 isn’t asking much. I bought a Pyrex glass casserole dish for $4.99 and many name brand, high-quality clothing pieces that would have total some high prices so the $5.99 wasn’t a big deal.

Since we shop there once a year…or two years, I stocked up on clothing for us all and purchased clothes a couple sizes up for the boys. I passed on the overpriced candles and the boys chose some fun toys. Arjan is very into dinosaur collectibles from Papo or Schleich, and CollectA. Most of these cost $10 to $20 something each but he found a bag of these collectibles for $5.99.

You just need to know the cost of goods and clothing and then go to the thrift store with this knowledge. There are wonderful deals there and then some items will have you shaking your head.

I will be buying candles from Walmart and hitting more garage sales for better deals. Another tip is to find out when the big half off days are. Some Goodwills have a half off day once a month and that is the time to go, but go early as everyone else will have the same idea.

We spent a pile at Savers, I won’t lie. But I have a new wardrobe, Bali has somewhat of a new wardrobe, the boys have huge new wardrobes to last a couple years, then there are new toys, Pyrex casserole dish, some towels…I feel great about it. It’s been a looong time since we actually bought anything outside groceries or gas.

We then had lunch. The boys wanted Panda Express and although the glossy food filled with sugar and oil called to us we chose a less nauseating fare of Poyo Loco. We felt full and happy minus the sickness and exhaustion that comes with eating fast food after ordering the family dinner of chicken, beans, rice, tortillas, and quesadillas. The family dinner meal is the cheapest way to go when eating at these types of chains.

But we didn’t stop the party there. Somewhere near Davis or Dixon, I never know, there is a wonderful produce farm store. I love going there and loading up on produce and snacks. We filled a big box and snacked our way home.

Normally I get a bit uptight about spending money. I love going places and doing things, going out to eat, thrifting, and playing tourist, but we have been frugal for so long and always saving for something so I tend to have this worrying in the back of my mind around opening the wallet.

Yesterday was different. I just feel there is a time to go have some fun and spend some money and very often it is for things we use and need.

I have also spent a pretty penny stocking up my garden pantry so to speak, with seeds, artichoke plants, banana trees, foods and oils for nourishment and remedies. But this will pay off with months of free and organic food.

Now what? Well, today I wash all the thrift clothes and get our closets and drawers organized and ready for school and winter. I start my seedlings and simmer my tomatoes I harvested to make more spaghetti sauce. I will sit down and figure out the budget and how to do a quick recovery on the spending. It’s amazing how much one can spend in a matter of days, but then you must keep in mind that it takes months to replace it.

What is my point besides just sharing a shopping spree? Us thrifty, frugal folk need to go on shopping sprees now and then. We need to enjoy the money we have and not just focus on hoarding it away. I tell this more to myself. I actually have to talk myself through spending. But when you have no debt, a small mortgage, no car payments, and a nice savings…it’s ok to splurge occasionally.

However, I will admit that the best way to do it is to save for these moments. Have an envelope and put a certain amount in the envelope monthly and when it’s packed with green bills, go do something fun like a road trip, a huge thrift shop buying spree to redo the wardrobes and decorate the home a bit, or use it monthly for a dinner out or movie at a real movie house.

Life is short and if we just work and save it becomes gray and bleak.

So, yes, I did some retail therapy and it felt oh so good. Partly because there wasn’t that emptiness and guilt after just blowing money on nothing but instant gratification. We actually have fantastic clothes and a new fence in the front yard and I have enough gardening goodies to keep me busy for weeks.

My point is…not all retail therapy shopping sprees are bad.

A big spend after a no spend. We entered this summer with a goal to maximize savings and reduce spending to zilch outside of the monthly bills and mortgage.

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rebeccahpedersen · 6 years ago

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Monday’s Quick Hits!

TorontoRealtyBlog

Too Much Information…

Have you ever had gum-grafting?

I did. On Friday. And it was far worse than I thought it would be.

I almost chickened out, to be quite honest. After they froze my teeth, mouth, lips, gums, and basically half my face, I panicked. But eventually I calmed down, and in the words of Gary Gilmore I just said, “Let’s do it.”

It’s awful. I’ve been splitting blood for three days, and that made for some very interesting client interactions on Saturday & Sunday.

So………on to something real estate related, then?

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F*** The Rich, And Tax Them Too!

Nobody cares about this, right?

Only me?

In 2019, I see just as many examples of people caring too much about things that don’t affect them as I do the complete opposite: people not caring at all.

Toronto City Council, in its infinite wisdom, is contemplating (ie. this is already a done deal) the creation of a new land transfer tax threshold for those properties selling over $3,000,000.

Read the article here:

“Create New Land Transfer Tax Bracket On Home Sales Over $3-Million, Toronto Councillors Propose”

Man, it must be nice to be a city councilor! You just sit around all day and come up with ideas for new taxes, without consulting anybody in the process.

This idea is being floated by none other than Joe Cresey, he who would literally put a safe-injection site in your living room if he could. In fact, he might have already tried, but you wouldn’t have been told, because he doesn’t like communicating with his constituents when they disagree with him.

Now I understand that people who don’t own housing, or people who purchased for $985,000 really don’t care about the land transfer tax that those buying over $3,000,000 are going to pay. But maybe they should.

Let’s not forget, the Toronto Land Transfer Tax didn’t exist until 2008 when Mayor David Miller essentially pulled it out of nowhere. Well, not nowhere, of course. The Ontario government already had the same tax in place, but the Toronto government thought nothing of doubling the tax. Imagine Toronto City Council suddenly coming up with a 13% sales tax to match the HST? And suddenly we paid 26% in tax on every purchase we made? Crazy, I know. Except that this is exactly what happened with land transfer tax, and the fight against it just wasn’t strong enough.

Toronto expects to collect a whopping $730 Million this year from land transfer tax, which goes a long way toward paying the bills at city hall.

But how much is too much?

City council has increased the land transfer tax amounts twice already since its debut in 2008.

And we’re constantly hearing the boo-hoo’s of city council about “missing their targets” and not raping home-buyers enough, as per this December 2018 article:

“City Of Toronto Land Transfer Tax Revenues Miss Target For First Time”

Just couldn’t quite make that $818 Million “target,” eh? Boo-f’ing hoo.

Imagine that. A “target” for tax revenue.

Am I the only one insulted by this?

I just can’t get over the fact that this tax didn’t exist just over ten years ago, and now the city cries when it can’t quite get it’s billion dollars for absolutely, positively, nothing.

This is a nothing tax, plain and simple.

We pay property tax to the city, which is a tax directly attributable to services received in exchange for home ownership.

And the insult to injury here is the new’ish fee of $75.00 required in order to pay your land transfer tax bill just to begin with!

Folks, don’t delude yourselves into thinking that city council’s pending increase in LTT for homes over $3M is an isolated event. It merely opens the door to further taxes down the road.

Every resident of the city should be outraged. Or, I dunno, maybe you just love paying taxes…

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Can I Get A Do-Over?

This is from the library of “Worst possible scenario.”

Imagine you put your home on the market and everything is going according to plan. You’re getting showings, the open house is busy, and you’re gearing up for an “offer night” on Monday.

But then imagine the worst possible scenario.

What could it be?

Perhaps, I dunno, a massive tree falling down in a storm and crushing the house?

Close.

A couple of weeks ago, a house flooded during the Sunday open house, and this was one day before offers were scheduled to be reviewed on the following night.

If I were the listing agent for the property, there’s no question what I would do: I would terminate the listing, fix the problem, and re-list in a couple of weeks, or a month, when the buyer pool is less scared of the problem.

What did the agents in this particular case do?

They went ahead with the offer night!

They sent an email to everybody that had shown the house and disclosed what had happened, which was great; that’s exactly what you’re supposed to do. But it just reeked of “Nothing to see here, folks. Just this little spot of water, which we’ve cleaned up, and now there’s no problem.”

Why in the world would they go ahead with the offer night?

What buyer in his or her right mind would purchase a house that just flooded?

The listing agent sent a 3-page email complete with times, dates, repairs, and photos, which, again, is exactly what you’re supposed to do if and when making a disclosure. But the tragic decision to go ahead and try to sell this house on the scheduled offer night, to buyers that wanted to purchase a newly-flooded house, was terribly misplaced.

The house still sold, and over asking too. I know, I know, “over asking” means less and less these days, but it did sell a good amount over list.

However, there’s absolutely, positively no doubting that one, two, or ten buyers said, “Thanks, but no thanks” at the prospect of buying a house that just flooded, and for the life of me, I just can’t understand this course of action by the sellers and the listing agent. Unless they needed to sell, like, that day, then there’s just no reason for this.

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How Tough Is The Rental Market?

Really tough, if you’re incapable of performing common, routine, day-to-day functions. Honestly, just listen to this…

I have a listing right now in an area in the northwest-GTA, and the interactions I’m getting with would-be tenants and agents are bizarre.

I’m looking at an Equifax Credit Score of 522 right now. Five-twenty-two.

I have never seen a credit score that low in 15 years. I’ve never actually seen one below 600. Bless these folks for trying, but two prospective tenants who both have credit scores in the 500’s, one of them unemployed, and looking to spend 65% of their household income on rent. It doesn’t make sense.

But the real kicker here was the folks who took eight days to get their offer and supporting documentation together. For real, an agent sent me an offer to lease eight days ago, with zero accompanying information. Even if it wasn’t common knowledge in the agent community that you need to have a credit check, employment letter, and rental application (plus often pay stubs and references from previous landlords), I always write this on my listings!

I told the agent that the offer wouldn’t suffice, and he just said, “Oh. Okay. So now what?” It made me want to spit blood….

I outlined exactly what the agent needed to do, and every day for the past eight days, I’ve been receiving one more piece of the puzzle. Except even those pieces don’t fit.

For example, I received an email saying, “Here is the husband’s credit report,” only it wasn’t a credit report, but rather it was an iPhone screen-caputre of the first page of an Equifax Credit Score Report, which is typically 12-15 pages in length. I told the agent to please have the tenant download the report, save it as a PDF, and email it. I was told, “He doesn’t know how to do that, and I can’t help him right now.”

Really? Then how is he going to take care of a house?

These folks completely disregarded the process required to find housing in this market, and seemed to be willfully ignorant about what they needed to do. The agent kept asking me, “Is this really necessary? These are good people. I promise!”

This went on for eight days; I’m talking employment letters that aren’t signed by anybody, and are in an MS Word file, upside-down photos of the OREA Rental Application, only 1/3 filled out, and a screen-capture of a TD Bank account with 10-15 debits/credits, but no date, no name, no account number, nothing. So, this would-be tenant spent $87.20 at Fido last month? Great!

And you know what? I don’t blame the prospective tenants. I blame the agents representing them.

It’s times like these I couldn’t be happier that it now takes a 2-year college course through Humber College to get into real estate.

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Not In My Backyard!

A friend of mine is part of a running group that passes through several different areas of the city with a horde of joggers every week, and I was shocked to hear about his latest experience.

Do you know Heath Street? Great spot, right? Family-friendly, scenic, really nice jogging trails connecting to the ravine.

Well, a local yahoo apparently told this group of runners that they “weren’t welcome” and stressed that they, apparently, had no right to trespass on this particular section of city-owned streets.

But it didn’t end there; this yahoo also called the head of the running group (I suppose this person was listed online?) to complain, and tell them to stay away.

Isn’t that nuts?

It reminds me of the Nike ads from the late 1990’s comparing the treatment of skateboarders to other athletes. They did one about running…

youtube

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Bottom Of The Barrel?

You know we’ve really become lax with the rules surrounding home building when you see this noted on the MLS listing:

“All Building Permits In Place And All Done Legally”

Really? We’re actually advertising this now?

It’s like a parent bragging, “I take care of my kids.” We’re just noting things that are supposed to be done?

A person selling a newly-built house got permits? And it was done legally? And this simply MUST be noted on the listing?

Yeah, well, I guess that’s where we are now. That’s how far we’ve come.

Toronto is full of homes that were renovated without permits; some even built without permits! And I have a sneaking suspicion that the Canada Revenue Agency is going to start coming after the buyers of homes if they can’t go after the builders.

Consider the “substantial renovation.” You all know what this is, right?

The developer keeps the side walls of a brick bungalow so he can claim this wasn’t a “new build” but rather a “substantial renovation,” and then doesn’t apply for the TARION warranty so he doesn’t have to charge GST.

The Canada Revenue Agency has become more fierce than ever. Just ask your accountant, and he or she will tell you stories. And guess what, folks? They’re coming after your substantial renovation.

Like every other agent in Toronto, I have sold homes without a TARION warranty.

But going forward, consider the red flag raised.

–

Okay, if you see me this week, just cut me some slack.

Yes, I look like a vampire.

Yes, I look like I have the mumps too.

Yes, I scare my daughter daily with my bright purple mouth, dripping blood like a zombie.

And yes, I have consumed eight packs of Kraft Dinner, five cans of Zoodles, and a family-pack of Spaghettini cooked so soft you could almost drink it.

Happy Monday, everybody!

The post Monday’s Quick Hits! appeared first on Toronto Realty Blog.

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topicprinter · 6 years ago

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A coworker at my place of employment invited me to a dinner date. Great, I figured this would be a wonderful chance to network.Unfortunately I am not at liberty to disclose much information on this. This individual however, has a "higher up" position in the company. I am new, and figured it would be smart for me to develop connections in the company. I've been informed that he has a business on the side by another coworker, and later he told me himself. I was excited, because I had a feeling (due to the industry I am currently in) that he might be a business consultant, maybe a business-coach sort of thing. After all, this individual works with owners of multi-million dollar companies throughout my locality; it couldn't hurt, right?"Sure, bring your girlfriend out and I'll have my wife find a date and time." Is what I am told. I did not think much of it, really. Kinda weird, because we normally don't socialize that much -- mainly weird for us.A little background, my girlfriend has a masters degree in market research. A bachelor's degree in business (something), I forget. She's really well versed with um...business stuff; however she can't work right now due to medical reasons. Getting her out of the house can be difficult, but in an effort for her to make herself new friends, she put on a cute dress and came on out for the night (so proud of her!).Great, we sit down at a sushi spot and the couple are a pleasure to speak with, truly. We're having fun! We talk about personal things, family, their kids, our hamster. We bring up some of our projects we are working on, discuss some of my/our long term goals. We talk a lot about marketing. We got comfortable and our guard was down, I had a drink and even brought up some of the things I failed at doing, or fail at doing. At this point, I'm starting to see something going on very gradually here but I try to take a benefit of the doubt.My girlfriend starts talking, then they start talking: a little politics, a little meaning of life, corporate America, being in control of your destiny, and all the quasi-spiritual crap in-between. At this point, I am thinking if we just keep the conversation here -- and this is as far as it goes, COOL! We made some nice friends to chat with and eat sushi together. But then the husband starts to get on the high-horse, and before you know it the conversations slowly turns to us being "talked to". At this point, I just start knocking back more sake to make it clear I'm not interested (I'm the only one drinking lol).Here we go folks: "I was working on getting into the NFL, NFL this, NFL that, I manged a multi-million dollar business before I entered this current field (our jobs), now I am on target to leave this current field for the side-business. My life is great, my current job just pays for expenses..."Now, I will say that I am in sales. I'm familiar with these strategies: gaining the trust, letting the guard down. The psychology aspect of bring the emotional levels up, and then down a little, followed by trigger phrases immediately churned out when you get that emotional reaction you need to reel them in. My girlfriend however doesn't, she fell for it as we were talking until the very end.He goes on and on in no particular order below:"Well can we earn your trust?""We met this couple, and they retired at 29. Now tell me this, what do you think when you hear someone says they've retired at 29?...Exactly! That's what we thought! Turns out...""...And now they want to mentor us, and have given us the ability to do the same for others""Tell me more about your education...""Oh wow! I'm sorry. Yeah, we are not about traditional education -- we know that it's a trap...""See, we are capable of offering a total different education. This is an entrepreneurial mentorship on you becoming the best of your ability at XYZ""We had to make a commitment of finding a baby-sitter, this costs us our valuable resource which is time...""What do you say you make the commitment of meeting with us again?""I can give you 90% of my trust, if you can just give me 10% of yours...""How does that sound to you?""Someones else's opinion never paid the bills..." (okay that was sorta clever)"So, can I have your trust?"..."Can we have your trust".Boom. My girlfriend is DONE at this point.Girlfriend:"Yeah, no we have been sitting here for over and hour and have not a single clue what the business is, outside of network marketing. It's hard to trust someone who can't be straight forward." ... "We were under the impression you had an actual business and wanted to simply chat, maybe bounce ideas around in the future."She turns her head. Have you ever pissed off your wife so much she won't even look at your when you're talking to her. Yep, she could not even offer eye contact because she felt so deceived.And this suave, who went from keeping his cool and his prestigious motivational speeches to becoming visibly angry. Mr. Meditation lost his cool, and you could see the micro-expression in his face as he was trying as best as he could to not appear angry."All right, well you can't trust us so we need to go. It was nice dinner, and it was a pleasure to meet both of you. We need to get going and pick up the kids."..."Clearly you can't trust us..."My reply is "well, I make informed and calculated decisions (this part is totally not true for me lol), and not knowing what we're getting ourselves into means that there is no interest; I do require my own due-diligence, and it will take me several days of research to render me capable of producing a yes or no response.""Well what type of research do you need to do?""Reddit. I'm going to go to Google and search this encounter to read that various stories of others that I know have been in this very same situation. There isn't any more information I need to understand what you're selling here."They quickly gather their coats, belongings, shake hands and rush off.So I see the guy at work the next day:"Hey hope everything was cool with your girl.""Oh, she's doing all right. She just feels like she was violated, because she thought we were genuinely making friends."I've spent a lot of effort always trying to meet friends that are like minded. Sometimes I have ideas and I do the whole "what if we.." ideas. I'm always trying to get some sort of entrepreneurial "team" or "group" going. It's because I lack motivation and struggle with mild depression and absolutely raging ADHD. I'm always trying to build some team to inspire each other on our own individual endeavors, bounce ideas around, research together. I actually have one friend and we are always sending links back and forth. I find him jobs for his painting business, he'll send me a research article on customer retention. Outside of this, I'm starting to realize this whole "network with like-minded individuals" and "building a team" is pure fantasy BS. I'm over it. Maybe in the future.Right now, I am going to go full on into my own independent venture, and some shared endeavors with my girlfriend. In fact, this same thing happened to use a year and half ago at Panera. I'm done trying to "link up", it's time I could be using doing research and taking notes on the things I specialize in.Stay focused out there, and don't get caught in the bull-shit!

#/r/entrepreneur #reddit

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