#is going to like...throw a lot of 'organizers/activists' off unfortunately

[iftari]

heres my personal question/reflection. growing up post 9/11 i rmr a lot (& i mean A LOT) of sentiment surrounding the concept of assimilating to the west, being the "good immigrant" and still being fucked by institutions. in line w that was a lot of feeling on how tiring that felt, how exhausting, n like, would we ever be accepted? this isnt an accurate timeline but i would say say this shit peaked in mainstream culture w yt ppl in 2016 (hamilton i think is acc a really great pinpoint of this) and then this energy i would say imo kinda died down throughout trumps presidency (which i personally think has to do w the fact that sm yt liberals were firing up for poc so arguably this was the time institutions were pretending to make "amends". actually. liberals & instutions were maybe trying to make 'ammends' a bit before 2016. maybe since 2014? timeline is rough on this but for sure they were Very Sorry during trump...)

anyway. 2024. in the imperial core of america alone i would say theres *at least* 4 genocides happening (& thats prob me undercounting !) simultaneously. there is currently a very overt livestreamed genocide of palestinians. it is VERY much impacting ppl in the imperial core in the sense that the facade of liberalism is so plainly falling away, institutions are very explicitly engaging in islamaphobia, antiblackness, n anti-palestinian sentiment, etc. and like i obviously think its important to document bc every form of fascism is important to note but i also feel like we're kinda back to convos we've had before of 'omg been SUCH good immigrants n *this* is how they treat us??? oh my!' n like i understand the feeling of betrayal but i wonder how much interrogating is going on beyond the betryal. to sum degree it feels like the way ppl engage w covid in the sense of...im wondering how much of what ur experiencing is actually radicalizing u that america even in its most liberal form should not exist - exactly like israel - n how much of what ur experiencing is like...shock that it could happen to u & the ppl u care ab (vs the....'unimportant/undesirable ppl). like yes its awful campuses are so blatantly engaging in islamohobia. but shouldnt we be reconciling more, as a community that we need to create a world w.o colleges n shifting the importance *away* from unis (esp in a time of shitty economy?) rather than reconciling w like...the betrayal of a institution preserving imperial interests? like how many times are we going to keep learning this? what are we benefiting from having this same shock over n over again? who is it serving to keep experiencing this? feeling similar to this campaign of voting 'uncommited' like who does this serve? dems dont acc care if they have office or not and theyre very clearly ok w losing. they dont need the presidency fr - if anything hey want to lose so they can punish ppl more for not shutting up. so like when we extend energy on the uncommited campaign, who is it serving? what purpose is it filling (& i do believe it is filling a purpose for some ppl. i think for lots of ppl it fulfils the very real emotional need to do *SOMETHING*, to move, to exert the tension n energy we're feeling n thats a correct emotional response! but how u spend ur energy DOES matter bc part of fascism is to literally divert energy so u DONT take up arms. like imo america is not at a place culturally for any sort of violent revolutionary resistance (organized or not) ! like we're just not! but the most explicit nonviolent form of resistance is not being uncommited to voting for a party that is relying on not having electoral offices but rather an actual coordinated strike. THAT has purpose no?)

[whitworth-waldo]

So, I wrote a one shot on Loceit, and it was kinda based in the flirty wave things that Janus just LOVES doing at Logan, but it feels kinda forced into it, but I tried my best so... I saw @totallybelievabledude's post and I wanted to write that.

Sorry if it's not what you wanted, but I'm pretty proud if it. ��

Anyway:

It was the middle of an argument, well, not necessarily an argument, more of a debate. Well, no one knows what to call it, but it was Deceit, Patton, Roman. Logan occasionally popped up with some facts here and there.

Deceit had been impersonating Logan for a little bit throughout the argument debate thingy because he knew the sides wouldn’t listen to him, and he just liked doing anything involving his boyfriend, well, secret boyfriend. The others didn’t know, and they didn’t need to. Plus, it would be weird to pop up as Virgil and just be like, “Hey, so you know how I hate Deceit? I think we should listen to him, I STILL HATE HIM THOUGH!”

So, that brings us about to where Logan came back, the real one.

“Not that any of you care-”

“Oh shit, shit.”

Deceit hid his face while Logan continued.

“I am unharmed and I don’t want to talk about it.”

Deceit smirked, he knew exactly why Logan didn’t want to talk about it, but we won’t go there.

“I’m just here to deliver one last fact and spare you my company.”

Deceit waved at Logan, much like how he did during the first Selfishness vs Selflessness fight, Logan got all flustered the first time, so it would probably work out the second time.

Patton went to say something, probably telling him that everyone enjoys him being around, but Logan interrupted.

“PETER SINGER-”

Deceit guessed he had to shout to get everyone’s attention, or he was just discombobulated from the wave, who knew. He wondered where Logan was going with this, Deceit recognized the name, but he couldn’t remember who the guy was or where he heard of him from.

“Is an Australian philosopher and activist who champions the movement called 'Effective Altruism'. The primary feature that differentiates Effective Altruism from other moral philosophies is its practicality. It employs the heart, and the mind so that Effective Altruism can earn its namesake and actually… be effective.”

Deceit was confused. Was Logan gonna agree with him? Were the others finally going to see he’s not that bad?

“The aim is to help as many people as possible while maintaining a "Perfectly Adequate standard of living'. So a poor, sick person giving five of their last fifteen cents to an aid organization, while incredibly altruistic, is not effective altruism because that money won’t go very far, and the act would only harm that person’s already unacceptable standard of living.”

Logan was on Deceit’s side! Logan, the logical side, the side that everyone ended up listening to at the end of the day, he was 100% on Deceit’s side! He wasn’t kind of agreeing, only to say that Deceit was wrong. Nope, he was agreeing with every point Deceit had made so far.

Deceit didn’t know if Logan was just biased, but damn did it feel good.

~~

Deceit threw himself onto Logan’s bed, he landed face down and groaned. Logan, who was behind him chuckled.

“What’s the problem?”

Deceit sat up.

“That was tense. Now come here.”

Logan tilted his head, but he sat on the bed next to Deceit. Deceit had a lazy smirk as he pulled Logan onto his lap, he rested his head on Logan’s shoulder and wrapped his arms around Logan’s torso.

There was a knock on Logan’s door.

“I’m doing something currently, I’ll be able to come down in 30 minutes.”

Deceit smirked as he heard the person walk away, he used Logan’s voice. A perk, he thought. He was able to copy the side’s voices while not having to appear like them. Logan sighed, knowing Deceit would whine if he moved, and in all honesty, he didn’t want to move. He moved so that he was lying across his boyfriend's lap, instead of sitting on it.

“My head was comfy! Traitor.”

Logan shrugged at Deceit’s mock betrayed tone. He grabbed a book that was on his bed. A Series of Unfortunate Events. Logan found himself enjoying this series, even if it was quite different from the books he usually read.

Deceit started to run his hand through Logan’s hair, and suddenly, Logan found that he couldn’t focus on the book.

“Do you think the others will be suspicious that you agreed with me?”

Logan shrugged, he rested his head on the mattress and looked at his boyfriend.

“Even if they are, it’s not like they’ll expect something like this.”

They were both quiet for a while, both enjoying the comfortable silence. Then there was another knock on Logan’s door. Deceit rolled his eyes.

“Yes?”

Logan just told him to hide, Deceit shook his head and smirked.

“Uh, you ok buddy? You’ve been up here for like, an hour more than you said you would be.”

Logan looked at his watch, Roman was right.

“I guess I got too interested in the book I was reading. Sorry, I'll be down in a second.”

Logan stood up and stretched, Deceit got up after him. Deceit placed a chaste kiss on Logan’s cheek and waved. It was the same flirtatious wave he’s been doing, it always made Logan blush.

Deceit then teleported, or you could call it fast traveled, there wasn’t a name for it, but Deceit did that to the dark side of the mind place.

“Where were you all day?”

Remus had an eyebrow lifted and his head tilted in confusion.

“There was a dilemma, and it seemed like they needed me.”

Remus nodded.

“I’m gonna go microwave this fork. I’ll tell you what happens.”

Remus ran away, and Deceit chased him. Luckily, Deceit managed to catch Remus before he could put the fork in the microwave, but then he heard the microwave go off in the kitchen.

“What did you do?!”

Remus shrugged, but he couldn’t contain his smile.

“I put a barbie in the microwave, and I knew if you saw it, you would take it out. It was a classic distraction method.”

Deceit groaned.

“WHY?!”

“Why not?”

Deceit covered his face with his hands.

“I swear; you scare me sometimes.”

Remus gasped and put a hand on his chest in an offended manner.

“Sometimes?!”

Remus mumbled something that Deceit couldn’t hear, well, almost.

“Must not be trying hard enough.”

Deceit shook his head.

“Please don’t try harder, I don’t want you being even more chaotic!”

Remus shrugged.

“Whatever you say.”

Remus walked away and Deceit presumed he went into his room, so Deceit went into his. He took off his coat and his under-blouse. He then put on a yellow hoodie over a white tee-shirt, he paired it with black sweatpants. He took off his hat and ran his hands through his hair.

~~

Deceit woke up to someone throwing themselves onto his bed right next to where he was, up until now, sleeping. Deceit recognized the figure next to him almost instantly, so he snaked his arm around their waist.

“You were right.”

“Of course I was dear.”

Deceit moved so that his boyfriend was pressed flush against his chest.

“Roman told Virgil what happened. Virgil didn’t like it one bit, so they called me down and started questioning me. A lot.”

Deceit nodded, knowing how upset Virgil could get. He had to deal with Virgil when he was a lot, for a lack of a better word, worse. It’s not like he ever thought Virgil was a burden, he could just get very agitated and rude when someone brought up a touchy subject, and Deceit guessed he was now a touchy subject.

“Do they know?”

Logan shook his head.

“No, I don’t think they thought of anything like that. They wanted to know if we were friends.”

Deceit hummed.

“What did you say?”

“I said no, but I didn’t necessarily mind your company. Which is true. Technically, we’re more than friends, and I don’t mind your company if anything I adore it.”

Deceit chuckled.

“You don’t have to defend lies when you’re talking to me. Literally, up until today, the other sides knew me as Deceit.”

Logan shrugged and rolled over so that he was now facing Deceit. Logan shoved his face into the crook of Deceit’s neck. Deceit rolled his eyes.

“Hey, Dee? Do yo-”

Remus had barged into Deceit’s room, only to find the two brain cells, as the fanders deemed them, intertwined and cuddling.

“I see you’re busy. I’ll come back later.”

Remus shut the door and walked away. 

“Will he tell the others?!”

Logan looked up to his boyfriend with big doe eyes, Deceit almost died then and there.

“No, even if he does the other’s would take it as him being the cursed… thing that he is.”

From a bit away, the two heard Remus yell.

“Wear protection!”

Logan’s face lit up a bright cherry hue and he froze. Deceit laughed and rolled his eyes. Logan shoved his face back into the crook of Deceit’s neck, and Deceit could feel the heat radiating off of Logan’s face.

Deceit kissed the top of Logan’s head, and he used the arm that wasn’t around his partner's waist to play with Logan’s hair. Deceit felt Logan relax, and soon Logan started drifting off.

~~

When Logan woke up, he was on his bed. He frowned and looked around for his python partner, but Deceit was nowhere to be found. He got up and went to brush his teeth, but then he noticed a familiar yellow hoodie on his nightstand. It was neatly folded and had a note on top.

“Sorry I had to drop you off, but we wouldn’t want Remus to think we did anything besides cuddling. Since you couldn’t wake up next to me, why not wake up next to my hoodie? Eh, sorry that was bad, but I’m writing this with a quill because that’s all I have in my room, plus it looks cool.

~ Your Boa Boyfriend (Sorry again, couldn’t help myself.)

Janus”

Logan laughed at the note. He unfolded the hoodie and put it on. Despite all the sides being relatively the same height, the hoodie was a little big on Logan, even though it seemed to fit Deceit perfectly.

Anyway, when Logan walked out into the kitchen wearing a yellow hoodie, especially after siding with Deceit, the only side who wears yellow, they had even more questions. Logan just shrugged at all of them and ignored them. 

It’s safe to assume that those little flirty waves that Deceit does, those really work on Logan.

[racefortheironthrone]

Thoughts on House of X #4

Over the halfway mark!

Look At What They’ve Done Infographic:

Suprisingly for an issue that, in retrospect is the climax of the standard superheroics part of House of X, this issue starts with an infographic, which turns out to be one of the more controversial in HoX/PoX.

Foreshadowing what’s going to come at the end of the issue, the tone is already different from the pseudo-academic objectivity of earlier infographics, although the term “mutant erasure” evokes the activist-inspired, post-cultural turn work of critical race/gender/sexuality studies, which is something of a stepping-stone. 

By contrast, describing Wanda Maximoff as both “the pretender” (does this mean “not-really-a-mutant” or “not-really-Magneto’s-daughter” or both?) and as associated with the Avengers is incredibly politically pointed, which speak to a particular kind of mutant nationalist identity that bears a good deal of grievance towards even benevolent human institutions.

Similarly, the term “human-on-mutant violence” is way too evocative of real world debates over racism and police violence to be accidental on the author’s point. It’s a depressing thought, but the 616 probably sees a lot of “what about mutant-on-mutant violence?” derailings, maybe as many as creep up in threads about HoX/Pox here...

So let’s get at the controversy: can Bolivar Trask be blamed for the Genoshan genocide? Contrary to a few voices in the fandom, I would argue strongly for the affirmative. As we see from his initial appearance, Trask created the Sentinels entirely out of racial paranoia/hatred; moreover, Sentinels have no purpose other than A. destroying all mutants and B. subjugating the human race along the way. Cassandra Nova’s actions on Genosha absolutely followed the Trask playbook of both father and son, and indeed relied on Larry Trask’s assistance to carry it out, making it a Trask affair from beginning to end. 

On a final meta note, this infographic really speaks to the outsized impact that Morrison’s New X-Men and Bendis’ House of M had on the X-line for the last 15-20 years. 

Observation-Analysis-Invocation-Connection:

But before we get to the punching, we get one burst of Hickman’s fascination with singularities and transhumanism, where for the first time we really get an example of how the Krakoan biological approach is going to work, showing us a surprisingly complicated biomachine:

Trinity (who runs the Secondary/External Systems part of Krakoa) uses her technopathy to gather intelligence from human mechanical systems: the Aracibo Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico, “re-tasked SETI radio telescopes," both of which are real things, and the “Dyson solar observatory,” which isn’t. 

Beast (who runs the Overwatch/Data Analysis part of Krakoa) uses Krakoan biocomputers and his own scientific genius to “extrapolate that data into an actionable forecast,” to deal with the delay caused by the immense distances between Krakoa and Sol’s Forge.

Professor X and Cerebro handle the direct Connection between Krakoa and the away team, while the Cuckoos link Trinity, Beast, Storm into a psychic link with Xavier, which means all of the parts of the system work seamlessly even as Storm handles the Invocation of visually representing Jean Grey’s thoughts.

If you step back and think about it, this is an astonishing technological feat: with minimal reliance on machine technology, Krakoa has established a NASA “KASA Mission Control” that can send data across half a solar system almost(?) instantly. 

That’s before we even get to the whole secondary purpose of the system, which is to allow Professor X and the Five to resurrect an up-to-date version of anyone who dies on the mission, which is one hell of a life-rope. 

Thematically, we see a really sharp distinction between biological and mechanical transhumanism/singularity: “KASA Mission Control” is described in biological terms, “function[ing] as a singular organism,” and also in religious terms, with “eight of us acting as one” explicitly labelled as “Communion.” And yet...the eight people involved retain their separate personalities and identities and no separate, artificial intelligence is created. 

Should We Fear the Worst?

 And across five hundred million miles, all Krakoa gets is bad news. Archangel and Husk, the redshirt’s redshirts on this mission, are dead before they do anything; Nightcrawler has some level of “internal injury,” and Wolverine almost had his arm blown off.

Incidentally, page 7 is where something of a problem crops up with Jean Grey’s characterization. As people have noted, Jean Grey starts off in the passive communications role (indeed, she’s even reliant on Monet to do that job) and doesn’t really improve from there. With the added context of her wearing her Silver Age miniskirt costume, it’s all a bit sus, especially if you’ve been reading a much more self-possessed, confident, and all-around more powerful version of Jean Grey in X-Men: Red. For a while, many of us were thinking that Jean is a younger backup, but that seems to have been Jossed by the resurrection ceremony in House of X #5. 

Better characterization abounds for the men: following their conversation from the previous issue, Cyclops and Wolverine have different perspectives about the question of whether to continue on with the mission (another key element of the special ops/espionage thriller genre). Cyclops emphasizes pushing on to make Warren and Paige’s sacrifice meaningful, Logan agrees but rather because of the existential stakes of the mission. There’s an interesting parallel there between Xavier and Magneto and means vs. ends. 

Following the catastrophe, Nightcrawler successfully inserts the struje team, while “Jean and Monet will stay to maintain our connection with Krakoa;”we know know that part was crucial in more than one way, but it is a continuation of some troubling gender dynamics.

Meanwhile, despite being “technically...just an observer” (and doesn’t that ring of all kinds of Cold War proxy wars), Omega Sentinel takes action to prompt Dr. Gregor into retaliation, similarly playing to the nationalistic theme of “if you don’t, he will have died for nothing.” 

Orchis’ retaliation doesn’t go so well, as we see Wolverine carving his way through an AIM securtiy team and Nightcrawler bloodlessly tying up two scientists (note the further emphasis on differing personalities and values; whoever these X-Men might be, they’re not mindless followers) towards popping two of the four constraint collars.

Unfortunately, this is followed up by a couple pages of more Jean Grey being awfully Damselly: yes, she’s holding open the connection, but she’s coded as way more helpless and indecisive than Monet (who gets to go out like a badass defending the shuttle), and the line “I dunno what to say, Marvel Girl. Try harder” really sums it all up. So far, this is reading a lot more like Stan Lee’s Jean Grey (but not Jack Kirby’s) than Chris Claremont’s. 

With the tension ratcheting ever-higher, we see Cyclops succeeding at his mission, while Mystique...doesn’t and then gets promptly blown out an airlock. The “habitat” connection and the odd business with her getting “turned around” despite having the plans for the base in her head like everyone else is highly suspicious (it might suggest the use of a Krakoa flower, but no one’s ever suggested what her motivation would be for doing so), but it’ll have to go on the list of plot threads that weren’t resolved in House of X.

In a development that really ought to be troubling to more people, Dr. Gregor throws away whatever moral compunctions she has about waking up a potentially violently insane A.I because “I don’t let them stop us. No matter what,” a potentially existential downside to Omega’s strategy. 

Do Whatever It Takes:

Having reached the “darkest moment” in the story diagram, Professor X orders his students to “do whatever it takes” to prevent Mother Mold from coming on line. This prompts Cyclops to give the order to Nightcrawler and Wolverine to jump out into unprotected space to sever the last constraint collar. All in all, we’re following the traditional beats of the special ops/espionage genre pretty closely, down to the team leader’s moral anguish moment.

Appropriately, we then get a quiet moment where Kurt and Logan contemplate whether or what will be “waiting for us on the other side.” Even knowing what we know now about the resurrection system, there’s still a good deal of weight to this moment, because in a way this Kurt and this Logan are going to die and whether they’re the same Kurt and Logan who will be reborn is a matter I’ll take up in Powers of X #5 along with the difficult topic of the philosophy of identity. (I’m going to leave aside the question of them having gone to literal Heaven and Hell in the past, because my Doylist position is that those story threads were probably a bad idea and my Watsonian No Prize is that you can’t remember the afterlife once returned to earth.)

Surprisingly, things get only more metaphysically weird when the two teleport outside and Wolverine starts chopping his way through the last arm. Mother Mold wakes up and immdiately starts talking about Greek mythology. Mother Mold’s interpretation of the Titanomachy is a little choppy (as we might expect from an insane A.I): on the one hand, if humanity are the Olympian gods as the creator of the Sentinels and the mutants are the Titans because of “their spoiled lineage” (this doesn’t quite work, because the Titans preceded the Olympians), then the Sentinels being “Man” makes sense. And as someone who’s written his share of college papers about omniscience/predestination/free will in Greek myth and drama, there’s a plausible anti-theist position whereby human beings might “judge and find you both wanting.” (Although that language is too Book of Daniel for the Greeks.) On the other hand, if the Sentinels are man, them having “stolen your fire” doesn’t work either - humanity was given fire by the Titan Prometheus - unless the argument is that Wolverine is Prometheus because he yeets Mother Mold into the sun?

Regardless, it’s a very ominous note for Mother Mold to go out on, because the consistent anti-human/Olympian tone suggests this insane A.I might hate humans way more than it hates mutants. 

With the day seemingly saved, we transition into the Rogue One scenario where Cyclops is murdered by a vengeful Dr. Gregor and Jean is torn apart by Sentinel drones. 

As gruesome as all of this is, I think it does play a very important role in explaining a good deal of Charles Xavier’s change of mind with regard to human-mutant harmony and assimilation. While this incident didn’t prompt any of the decisions that he’s made along the way - this mission is happening post-Xavier’s announcement and a day before the U.N vote, making it quite late in the X^1 timeline - I think it does a good job of showing us the kind of thought patterns that have led Xavier to this conclusion. In addition to everything he’s seen from Moira’s past nine lives, which only lend a greater sense of urgency and the fear of inevitability, Xavier himself has experienced the deaths of “our children” over and over again as the founder of the X-Men, and clearly both the direct trauma (keep in mind, he’s hooked into the minds of all of his X-Men as they die) and the pain he feels at humanity’s apathy/atrocity fatigue, goes a long way to explaining why he’ll make the decision that integration and assimilation are no longer viable options.

For all the crap that people sometime sling at Hickman over his use of charts, I will say that the way that “NO MORE” weaponizes them by extra-textually demonstrating the breakdown of the facade of calm objectivity is incredibly effective.

[tkmedia]

14 Fingering Tips You’ll Want to Remember the Next Time You Have Sex

Many of us viewed fingering as ~the thing~ to do when we were young and horny. Then as we got older, the classic sex move was traded for acts like oral, anal, and falling asleep alone with Netflix playing in the background. Regardless, it’s time we bring fingering back as one of the main events because let me tell you: It’s actually low-key amazing. Get Access to *All* of Cosmo “Fingering is using one or several fingers to stimulate the vagina or anus,” explains Michelle Murray, a professional counselor with Calmerry. So while you might have thought fingering just meant vaginal play, there’s more than one way to enjoy this move. Zoë Ligon, sex educator and founder of inclusive sex toy store Spectrum Boutique agrees: "Hands are the most versatile sex toy there is,” she says. "They're often overlooked and just seen as tools for foreplay, but manual sex is sex." That said, maybe it’s been a bit since you last used your fingers for something other than texting—or you might be totally new to the idea of using your hands for pleasure. If this is your first-time fingering (or first-time fingering in a while), we’ve got all the tips to get you started and get you or your partner off.

1. Get a mani.

This doesn’t mean every time you want to engage in a little finger action you have to head to your local salon. It just means that hand hygiene is vital to having a pleasurable—and safe—fingering experience. Your vagina's a sensitive ecosystem. You're careful about what you stick in and around it, and this should include hands—whether your own or your partner's. Ligon suggests regularly moisturizing your hands, filing your nails (short and blunt is best), and keeping your hands clean—plus cleaning them before and after any sexual activity. "If you're not sure that you've smoothed the edges of your nail enough, run them over your lips and see if you can detect any rough spots you missed," she suggests. Nothing can grind an otherwise enjoyable fingering session to a screeching halt like a stray hangnail scraping your vaginal wall. You tensed up just reading that, right?

2. Consider wearing gloves.

What do you do if you want to keep your nails long? You have a few options. Some women have one or two nails shorter than the rest for sexy situations. If that doesn’t fit into your ~aesthetic,~ erotic educator and Founder of Organic Loven Taylor Sparks suggests putting some cotton balls under your nails and throwing on some gloves to avoid painful pokes. In fact, sex educator Sarah Sloane advises wearing gloves if the fingerer uses nail polish or has rough hands. "While it may be a little clinical sounding, gloves even out the surface of your partner's fingers, which keeps fingernails and calluses from abrading your delicate bits." Plus, this is the perfect time to test out that ER doctor roleplay you’ve been fantasizing about.

3. Don’t compare yourself to the screen.

Chances are you’ve seen actors engage in fingering plenty of times, whether it was in a sexy show like Bridgerton or your favorite porn. It’s important to remember that while yes, those scenes are very hot, they’re also very unrealistic. In fact, the best fingering may look a little subtler than what you or your partner is used to seeing on a screen. “Take your time," sex educator Kelly Shibari recommends. "This isn't porn. This isn't acting. No pressure."

4. Practice solo.

If you’re a lucky owner of a vagina, you have a ready-made practice playground ready to be explored. “The more you know your own body and what brings it the most pleasure, the easier it will be for you to communicate that to other people,” explains polyamorous activist and co-founder of The Sex Work Survival Guide, Tiana GlittersaurusRex. It’ll also give you a better idea of what other people might like as well. One great way to get in tune with your own pleasure is to literally watch yourself get off. “Try to eye gaze and connect with yourself while masturbating in a mirror,” suggests GlittersaurusRex. It might feel a little strange at first, but eye contact is major for couples’ connection and chances are, you’ll learn a thing or two from your private show.

5. Concentrate on connection.

One of the best ways to be really good at fingering is to stop worrying about being really good at fingering. “Have fun and enjoy moments of silliness if they arise,” suggests GlittersaurusRex. “It’s okay to laugh and bask in all parts of the journey.” In fact, laughing together will help ease some of that tension, relax your muscles, and help get you talking, all things that’ll make your sex life—and relationship—even better.

6. Use both hands.

Sure, you’re already using one hand, but what’s going on with the other? “Caress more body parts,” suggests Sparks. “Reach up/over and stimulate the nipples, or if your partner is into BDSM (and with consent), that can be added too.” Things like pulling hair, caressing the breasts or booty, tickling the thighs, or stroking the clit will provide even more sensation and pleasure. Additionally, using two hands means you can incorporate both internal and external stimulation (if that’s your partner’s thing). "Use one hand to gently massage the mons pubis, the labia, and the clitoris, and at the same time, use the other hand to rub or gently insert a finger(s) into their vagina,” sex educator Scarlette Cyn says. “If you maintain steady pressure and speed, chances are they’re more than likely going to enjoy the session."

7. Ease into it. Literally.

Unfortunately, most people have experienced an over-enthusiastic lover once or twice in their lives. You know, one that jabs instead of seducing? In reality, the more aroused you are, the more you'll enjoy stimulation. As Sloane points out, during arousal, "the labia swell up and the internal parts of the clitoris get engorged, making pressure even more pleasurable—which is why grinding on your partner's body gets hotter as you get more turned on," she explains. "So make sure you start slow, and that you and your partner are worked up before going to penetration or more direct pressure."How you keep things slow and sensual: “If you’re fingering a vulva-owner, start gently on the inner thighs, working your way up to the pubic mound down towards the clitoris and to the vaginal opening,” suggests Sparks. “Taking your time allows your partner the time they need to relax and enjoy what is essentially a finger massage.” Personally, I like whisper-soft brushing on the clit to start. In fact, you could even touch your partner through their underwear at first. When and if you move onto penetration, start with one finger and add from there.

8. Incorporate your mouth.

If you’re with a partner, be open to utilizing more than just fingers on them. Consider incorporating your mouth for things other than a passionate makeout. “This is a great opportunity to add small wet kisses on the inner thighs and a flick of the tongue on and around the clitoris,” advises Sparks. “Starting with one finger, wet it completely with your mouth, and part the outer and inner labia to enter the vagina slowly.”You don’t even have to just use your mouth on your partner’s genitals if you’re trying to switch things up or don’t want to give oral sex. Murray suggests licking or sucking your partner's nipples while Sparks notes incorporating little nibbles or full-on body bites (with consent, obvi), is a great way to incorporate more body parts, sensations, and erogenous zones. BabeLube Silk Babeland babeland.com $10.00 9. Add some lube.Even if you think your natural lubrication is sufficient, try using a little lube the next time you incorporate fingering—you'll appreciate not only the extra wetness but also the smooth, silky texture. "Lube is perhaps the best way to make fingering feel better," sex therapist Vanessa Marin says. "Our natural vaginal lubrication doesn't tend to last a very long time, so a lot of women notice discomfort when they're being fingered." What's more, shopping for and trying out different lubes with your partner can turn into foreplay in and of itself. "This is a great opportunity to find a lube that you enjoy and it's a chance for you to be adventurous," Cyn says. Experiment with warming, cooling, tingling, and even flavored lubes and gels. “Just make sure your lube is free from sugar-based compounds, as this can cause a yeast infection," Cyn adds.

10. Try different types of stimulation.

When it comes to sex, no move is one-size-fits-all. What works for you might not work for someone else and vice versa. That said, Ligon notes most people want one of two things when getting fingerbanged: direct stimulation of the front wall of the vagina—the classic "come-hither" finger motion is a good way to achieve it—or "a sensation of fullness, which involves deeper strokes in a more linear movement." No matter what position the person is lying in, GlittersaurusRex suggests trying different stroke techniques. "Put your fingers in the 'come hither' position, then instead of just moving your fingers or moving in-and-out, tug your entire hand and wrist back and forth while keeping your fingers stiff and sturdy," Ligon says. Additionally, you can consider adding a little anal play to your manual sex, whether that means anal penetration with a finger or brushing around their anus. This content is imported from {embed-name}. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site. 11. Guide your partner and ask for feedback.It doesn’t matter if you’re giving or receiving—being vocal is vital to having good sex of any sort. Especially if this is your first time, there’s a chance some nerves will be involved. “Some people may feel self-conscious about the smell, look, or taste of their vulva, so it important to be comfortable to enjoy the experience,” says Murray. This means creating a safe environment not only for play but for feedback as well. “Make sure everyone is comfortable and well supported mentally as well as physically,” advises GlittersaurusRex. “Enjoy communication of what feels good with periodic sexy check-ins.”If you’re not getting any response from your partner or you’re unsure if they like it, Sparks says you should always ask. In addition to listening to their body sounds and cues, you want to ensure you get verbal instructions as well, especially if you’re early in your relationship. Ask things like, “does this feel good” to open up the floor. When it comes to guiding your partner, don't feel like you need to tell them exactly what to do. Focus instead on giving feedback on what they're already doing by "giving directions like a ground controller on the airplane runway," Cyn says, using phrases like "left," "more pressure," "faster," "down," and "insert your fingers."12. Show in addition to telling."If you have a sensitive clitoris"—and even if you don't—"I recommend showing your partner the level of pressure that you enjoy," Marin says. "You can take your partner's hand and use one of your fingertips to touch the sensitive skin on the inside of their wrist ... You can say something like, 'I want you to touch me this gently.'" Sloane adds that "you can even hold their fingers and stroke yourself with them so that they can see exactly what pressure and patterns you love." Oh, and P.S.? Pretty much every expert recommends masturbating in front of your partner. Not only is it a turn-on, but they'll get to see exactly what gets you off, then do the same. Read the full article

[dustedandsocial]

Little Steven vs. Paul Simon

From an interview on Kick Out The Jams with Dave Marsh. Little Steven ripping into Paul Simon for violating a boycott in South Africa during Apartheid.

Dave Marsh: I was with you the first time you saw Paul and talked to him about this, at [entertainment attorney] Peter Parcher’s 60th birthday party.

Van Zandt: That’s right, that’s right, that’s right! I’m glad you were a witness, because wait’ll you hear the latest on that. Anyway, I said to them [the U.N.], “Listen, this is not gonna help anybody if you knock off Paul Simon. Trust me on this, alright? Let’s put that aside for the moment. Give me a year or so, you know, six months,” whatever I asked for, “to try and do this a different way. I’m trying to actually unify the music community around this, which may or may not include Paul Simon, but I don’t want it to be a distraction. I just don’t need that distraction right now; I gotta keep my eye on the ball.” And I took him off that assassination list, I took Paul Simon off the U.N. blacklist, trying to… You mean you convinced them to take him off…

Yeah, because this was a serious thing…

Because this was gonna eat up the attention that the movement itself needed.

Yes, and the European unions were serious about this stuff, man. You were on that [U.N. blacklist], you did not work, okay? Not like America, which was so-so about this stuff, man. Over there, they were serious about this stuff, you know? Anyway, so yeah, this was in spite of Paul Simon approaching me at that party saying, “What are you doing, defending this communist?!” What he said was, “Ah, the ANC [African National Congress, the organization of which Mandela was President at the time of his arrest and imprisonment], that’s just the Russians.” And he mentioned the group that [murdered black South African activist Steven Biko] had been in, which was not AZAPO…

Was he PAC [Pan-Africanist Congress]?

It doesn’t matter [for this story], but [Paul Simon] said, “That’s just the Chinese communists.”

Yeah, yeah. And he says, “What are you doing defending this guy Mandela?! He’s obviously a communist. My friend Henry Kissinger told me about where all of the money’s coming from,” and all of this. I was, like, all due respect, Paul…

I remember it very vividly, because it was aimed at everybody standing in the general direction.

Yeah, but mostly he was telling me.

Well, yeah, you were the one… Everybody knew who to get mad at first. [laughter]

He knew more than me, he knew more than Mandela, he knew more than the South African people. His famous line, of course, was, “Art transcends politics.” And I said to him, “All due respect, Paulie, but not only does art not transcend politics… art is politics. And I’m telling you right now, you and Henry Kissinger, your buddy, go fuck yourselves.” Or whatever I said. But he had that attitude, and he knowingly and consciously violated the boycott to publicize his record.

Well, to make his record. That’s the violation of the boycott — to make his record.

Yeah, and he actually had the nerve to say, “Well, I paid everybody double-scale.” Remember that one? Oh, that’s nice… no arrogance in that statement, huh? [laughter]

Now, the punchline. Cut to 30 years later, or whatever it is. He asked me to be in his movie [Under African Skies, the documentary on the making of Graceland, included as a DVD in the album’s 25th anniversary boxed edition]. I said, “Alright, I’ll be in your movie, if you don’t edit me. You ready to tell it like it is?”

He says, “Yep.”

“Are you, like, uh, apologizing in this movie?”

“Yep.”

“Okay. I’m not gonna be a sore winner. I’ll talk to you.”

I did an interview. They show me the footage. Of course, they edited the hell out of it to some little statement where I’m saying something positive about Paul. [laughter] And I see the rest of the footage, where he’s supposedly apologizing, with Dali Tambo [founder of Artists Against Apartheid and son of late ANC leaders Adelaide and Oliver Tambo]. He says, “I’m sorry if I made it inconvenient for you.” That was his apology.

In other words, he still thinks he’s right, all these years later! You’re the only person who’s ever met Paul twice who thinks that’s surprising. [laughter] I mean, at this point, you still think you were right?! Meanwhile, that big “communist,” as soon as he got out of jail, I see who took the first picture with him. There’s Paul Simon and Mandela, good buddies. I’m watchin’ CNN the other day. Mandela dies, on comes a statement by Bono and the second statement’s by Paul Simon. I’m like oh, just make me throw up. You know, I like the guy in a lot of ways, I do; and I respect his work, of course. He’s a wonderful, wonderful artist, but when it comes to this subject, he just will not admit he was wrong. Y’know, just mea culpa. Come on, you won! He made twenty, thirty million dollars at least, okay? Take the money and apologize, okay? I mean, say “Listen, maybe I was wrong about this a little bit.” No. Well…unfortunately we live in a country where the money means you don’t have to apologize, and let’s leave that there.

[cartoonessays]

“Both Sides”

Pocahontas is a controversial Disney film.  It’s not hard to see why.  In its attempt to tell a story of a historical Native American figure, especially one alive during the beginnings of European colonization of the Americas, it ended up reinforcing a lot of Native American stereotypes and myths about colonization.  For the sake of this post, I’m only going to address one of the sources of backlash towards Pocahontas.  Which brings me to the song above, “Savages”.

The way in which Pocahontas chose to portray English/Native American relations was to compare their tension to the Capulets and Montegues from Romeo & Juliet, with John Smith and Pocahontas standing in as the eponymous characters whose love can help both sides grow past their animus towards one another.  This framing is very kum-ba-yah “can’t we all just get along” in its intent, but it’s dishonest.  It wouldn’t have been dishonest if, let’s say if the conflict between the two warring families in the story began with the Capulets claiming the Montegues’ property and resources as their own and spent the next several centuries removing the Montegues from their property through pillage, rape, and genocide.

In telling any story about Native American history, especially if your story takes place during the first European settlements of the US, and especially if you’re a non-Native American telling the story, the reality of colonialism cannot be ignored or soft-pedaled.  Unfortunately, the song “Savages” and Pocahontas in general mostly frames the Native Americans and English settlers on equal footing.  This isn’t to say that systems of colonialism didn’t or couldn’t bring about comparable individualized prejudice both Pocahontas’ Powhatan tribe and John Smith’s fellow settlers showed towards one another, but those feelings are the manifestations of living under a system based on inequality.

However, if you take a look at comment section of that “Savages” video, most of the comments proudly say “yeah, both sides are evil”, “both sides are bad”, etc. (along with a bunch of other obnoxious right-wing buzzwords like “SJW”, “PC police” or “T R I G G E R E D”)

Which finally brings me to that damned “well, both sides are bad” political talking point.

In the wake of the white supremacist violence in Charlottesville, VA that left numerous people injured and one person killed, President Donald Trump has been roundly and rightfully criticized on all sides for equating one side of protesters marching in support of Nazism, racism, xenophobia, antisemitism, homophobia, etc. and the other side of protesters marching against Nazism, racism, xenophobia, antisemitism, homophobia, etc. in his statements about the tragedy over there.  This type of stance of not really having a stance is not a new angle and it certainly isn’t an angle that someone who usually revels in being polarizing like Donald Trump invented.

If there is a contentious issue being debated, it is always a good idea to get a firm grasp of the arguments on each side and understanding all the nuances of each side.  With all those nuances in mind, it’s perfectly fair to have disagreements or misgivings about aspects of each side.  However, the “both sides are bad” view never actually does any of that.  It’s a very lazy and extremely reductive way of viewing the issues that only serves to self-righteously provide a veneer for sitting on the fence that forgoes giving either side any further thought or analysis by reducing them to strawmen.  Another version of this is the reflexive “well, one side says this, one side says that, so the answer must be somewhere in the middle”.  The South Park episode “Chef Goes Nanners” mocked this type of thinking when various townspeople would only flaky, indecisive answers when asked by news reporters whether or not their town flag is racist.

The funniest thing about South Park criticizing that way of thinking is that this show has been the biggest purveyor of this exact type of lazy “well, both sides are bad” thinking.  Their episode “Goobacks” more literally does this than any other episode by hosting a debate between two characters literally named “pissed-off white trash redneck conservative” and “aging hippie liberal douche”.

The other thing about the “both sides are bad” point of view is that while it prides itself on being even-handed and taking the middle road, it very often doesn’t even do that.  More often than not, it simply takes a “softer” conservative point of view.  Another South Park episode “I’m a Little Bit Country”, which centered around the debate over whether or not the US should invade Iraq, settled the conflict between the pro-war side and anti-war side by arguing “only a truly great country can go to war and act like it doesn’t want to”.  What the fuck does that mean?  First of all, I have to outline the way this episode defined both sides.  The pro-war side was defined as “we have to go to war cuz terrorists and 9/11” and the anti-war side was defined as “we should not go to war cuz war is violent and icky”.  The “middle-ground” argument that united both sides amounted to arguing that the US should go to war in order to maintain its powerful geopolitical status in the world, but the image of a robust anti-war populace makes the US look a lot less barbarous to the rest of world.  This completely ignores all of the other arguments made against invading Iraq, such as the Bush Administration’s false claim of Saddam Hussein having weapons of mass destruction and the Administration’s disingenuous connecting of Hussein to the attacks on the World Trade Center (and these are just two of the counter-arguments brought against invading Iraq).

I’ll stop beating up on South Park for a moment.

Jon Stewart’s 2010 Rally to Restore Sanity was one great big exercise of “both sides are bad, the answer’s gotta be somewhere in the middle”.  Besides taking a dig at Glenn Beck’s 9/12 rallies, Stewart mentioned in interviews that he organized this rally to fight against what he saw was a growing extremism on both sides.  This was during a time when the Tea Party movement was on the rise, Glenn Beck’s show on Fox News was a ratings giant, and at the heels of a massive Republican sweep on the upcoming midterm elections.  This was during a time when debates about Obama’s healthcare reform were characterized by one side arguing that a widely available public program would give private health insurance companies an incentive to reduce their costs and the other side arguing that Obama is a socialist attempting to implement a Nazi policy with “death panels” that will “pull the plug on grandma”.  The response to this growing movement on the right by the Obama Administration was to adopt a healthcare plan formulated by the right-wing think-tank the Heritage Foundation (implemented by his future presidential opponent Mitt Romney in Massachusetts when he was governor) as his healthcare reform, to greatly reduce the government branch that tracked the activity of white supremacist hate groups while membership of these groups were on the rise, and to assist in defunding ACORN and firing US Department of Agriculture director Shirley Sherrod after doctored videos of both falsely incriminating them of wrongdoing circulated around right-wing media.  This is all extremism that clearly skews on one side.  The only example Stewart could bring up of “liberal extremism” was CNN’s firing of news anchor Rick Sanchez after he made veiled antisemitic remarks about Stewart (and how is that liberal extremism?).  I think Jon Stewart did such a disservice to his audience by rallying thousands of them for something based on a false premise.  His snide, dismissive coverage of the Occupy movement the following year further reinforced his adherence to false “both sides” paradigms by framing the Occupy protesters in similar “ha ha look how stoopid and ridiculous these people are” as their coverage of Tea Party protesters.

Which brings me to one of the major tenants of “both sides are bad” ideology,  the horseshoe theory.  This theory equates the left with the right without a shred of nuance or any actual thought whatsoever.  In President Trump’s clusterfuck-of-a-press conference where he doubled down on equally blaming both sides for the violence in Charlottesville, he place a chunk of the blame of what happened there on what he called the “alt-left”.  “Alt-left” is a new-ish slur used to discredit the left-wingers, particularly activists inspired by Bernie Sanders’ 2016 presidential run, by giving them a moniker similar to “alt-right”, which was just a way of rebranding all of the things like white supremacists like the ones who committed violence in Charlottesville stand for as something deceptively softer than calling it what it really is. This term “alt-left” has been used quite a bit over the past year by right-wing pundits like Sean Hannity and powerful Democratic party insiders and surrogates like MSNBC’s Joy Ann Reid, Center for American Progress president Neera Tanden, and Daily Kos founder Markos Moulitsas.  Many who throw terms like “alt-left” around, particularly those invested in the Democratic party, have in the past justified their use of such terms by expressing agreement with the horseshoe theory.  Both the alt-right and so-called “alt-left” are allegedly so extreme that they’ve become identical to one another, and Trump and Bernie Sanders are the respective poster boys for these extreme ideologies.  This is a comparison between a cult of personality who finds absolute kinship with neo-Nazis and Ku Klux Klan members and a cult of personality whose politics is more comparable to Lyndon Johnson, Harry Truman, or even Dwight Eisenhower than to Karl Marx, Vladimir Lenin, or Antonio Gramsci.

The near unanimous admonishing that Trump has gotten for equating both sides in his remarks about Charlottesville is encouraging.  This type of vapid equivocating has been ubiquitous in political discourse for a long time, so my hope is that this will signal a complete deconstruction of this point of view.

But if I may go back to Pocahontas for a second, another major mistake the film made was framing anti-Native American sentiment as starting and ending with the villain Radcliffe.  Trump himself is a very despotic and ridiculous type of character with a lot of parallels to Radcliffe, and I worry that this admonishment of “both sides are bad” type of arguments will not go further than simply denouncing him.  It has been too politically expedient for the opportunists that have trotted it out for all these years, so it likely won’t go the way of phrenology or other pseudo-sciences anytime soon.

[weekegg2-blog]

A quick guide to biking in Chicago

In recent years, Chicago has consistently ranked as one of the nation’s most bike-friendly cities thanks to hundreds of miles of new bike lanes installed in the last decade and mercifully flat terrain.

However, it wasn’t always so easy to be a biker in the city as Travis Hugh Culley documents in his book The Immortal Class. Activists in the 1990s fought hard for bike safety and infrastructure at Critical Mass, a monthly ride of avid cyclists and newcomers which started in San Francisco and spread to Chicago. It’s that vibrant history of passionate bike activists whose legacy is carried on in Critical Mass and organizations like Slow Roll Chicago and the Active Transportation Alliance, that’s made the city great for those on two wheels.

Whether the spring temperatures has inspired you to ditch other forms of transit (or you’re curious how those winter warriors do it) this guide will get you started on biking in Chicago. We assume you know the basics, but if you need a refresher on laws or beginner safety the city covers the all that on its website.

There are plenty of ways to bike in the city: taking the occasional Divvy when the bus is late, riding leisurely to the park, or bravely commuting year round. So fear not! We’ll help you get acquainted with Chicago’s bike culture, how to find the best bike streets, and make the most of Divvy. Let’s get rolling.

Why local bike stores are the best

Step one is getting a bike if you are interested in owning one. While, yes, it is possible to find a deal online or get one from a big box retailer—you’ll get so much more out of your local bike shop. Stores like the Recyclery in Rogers Park and Blackstone Bicycle Works in Woodlawn train curious bikers how to maintain their own bikes through workshops, classes, and other education programs.

The two community-based shops are rooted in their neighborhood and provide quality bikes at reasonable costs too. These shops sell upcycled bikes, refurbished bikes, and used parts so biking can be more affordable for residents.

At Uptown Bikes, newcomers can learn about nearby trails, basic care practices, and gain insight on how to make biking more than just a hobby. If you’re interested in becoming a well-worn city biker, but don’t know where to get started, find a local bike shop to call home.

“We have a lot of customers who moved here from some suburban community, or even another city that doesn’t have as much traffic,” Maria Barnes, owner of Uptown Bikes, said. “We’re a first point of contact to help people use their bike as transportation, not just for recreational riding.”

Stay safe

Fortunately, biking in Chicago is relatively stress-free. But, just as with all city biking, there are certain areas to stay vigilant. One of the most common areas of frustration are bike lanes, specifically ones that fall adjacent to parked cars. Bikers are then vulnerable to blocked lanes, or even worse, dooring—which is when a driver or passenger opens their door into an oncoming biker.

Organizations like Bike Lane Uprising are fighting to call out drivers and protect them from future harm by making it easier to report lane obstructions. Despite how often cars and trucks do it, stopping or idling in a bike lane is illegal and drivers can get a $150 ticket.

If a situation is particularly bad, use 311 to report vehicles or construction that block bike lanes. Thee online portal also makes it possible to request more bike racks at a location, the removal of abandoned bikes, or additional bike lanes for an area.

One trustworthy guide for a smooth ride is the Chicago Reader’s Mellow Bike Map, which gives riders some of the most picturesque routes throughout the city. According to John Greenfield, who helped to develop the map, the routes provided are meant to show riders streets not necessarily highlighted on the city’s official bike map, those quiet residential areas that aren’t officially bike lanes but are in practice some of the most relaxed riding around.

“The default approach has been to stripe bike lanes on busy retail streets, which is very important,” Greenfield said. “But I think experienced cyclists also tend to have their favorite routes on leafy residential streets that lack a lot of the stress and dangers of main streets.”

Using your bike and the CTA

After reaching a level of comfort in your own neighborhood, a next step might be venturing off to explore other great biking areas in Chicago. Perhaps there isn’t a pleasant bike route to the Lakefront Trail or the 606 and you’d rather take the CTA, or you want to explore bike trails via the Metra.

There are a few restrictions when it comes to bringing your bike on public transportation, and before your plans have to be put on hold, make sure you know the rules.

L trains don’t allow bikes on cars during rush hours—so that’s 7 to 9 a.m. and then 4 to 6 p.m.

Buses have front and rear exterior bike mounts and are free of any bans or time restrictions! It’s easy to throw your bike on and not worry about getting in anyone else’s way.

Metra bans bikes on trains heading downtown from 5 to 9 a.m. and then again on trains leaving downtown from 3:30 to 7 p.m.

Don’t own? Use Divvy

Today, the Divvy Bike service is crucial to the city’s mobility. The system has grown dramatically since its debut in 2013, and there are plans to bring Divvy to every area in the city and double the size—adding about 10,000 new e-bikes.

“Expanding Divvy citywide is a critical step towards embracing a truly multimodal vision for the future of Chicago’s transportation network,” Kyle Whitehead, spokesperson for transit advocacy group Active Transportation Alliance, said. “If managed properly, [the] Divvy expansion will increase transportation options in high-need communities and boost neighborhood health, sustainability, and equity.”

Depending on your approach, here’s how you can make the bike-share system work for you. First, there’s the $3 pass for a one-time, 30-minute ride. It was designed to help commuters get home from that last L stop or bus stop, but it’s also the perfect length for a quick recreational ride.

There’s also a $15 pass for the 24 hours—great for visitors or tourists looking to navigate the city. Divvy has annual membership around $99, which if great if you are a commuter, and the Divvy for Everyone program offers discounted memberships for low-income residents.

So what’s the downside? If you’re a serious biker looking to invest in your own equipment, you might not be on board with the heavy, clunky Divvy bikes. However, the service is affordable and storage or locking isn’t a problem. Ultimately, it depends how you want to ride.

Be a winter biker

One of the biggest challenges facing any eager biker is whether or not to bike in winter. It’s best to be cautious in inclement weather, but a little cold shouldn’t keep you off your bike. Here are pointers if you’d like to turn your seasonal biking into a year-round habit.

Think about the road conditions. The number one safety issue with winter biking is road quality. It can take weeks in some areas for snow to be completely clear, and black ice will catch even the most well-prepared biker. Before setting out, think about the last snowfall and recent weather. Most neighborhood streets and bike lanes probably won’t get plowed, so it might be best to skip the ride. Protected bike lanes are also left unplowed, which is an unfortunate design flaw. If you do go out, stick to main roads.

Give yourself extra time. Even if the roads are clear, your body simply won’t move as quickly in the winter. Be prepared to take considerably longer to get around, especially in high winds.

Consider wider tires and other equipment. Typical road bike tubes are narrow, minimizing road contact to enhance speed. In the winter, consider wider tubes to enhance traction and ensure safety. This guide goes further into detail on this process, laying out other handy winter gear, particularly mudguards and working pumps, as must-have winter items.

Layer clothes! No matter how cold it is, biking is intensive exercise, and that means sweat. Mitigating this means layering mindfully. One effective strategy is to think in three layers: a base layer of sweat-wicking exercise gear, another layer for insulation based on the day’s temperatures, and an outer layer for wind and water repelling. Another thing to keep in mind—bikers are at risk for overheating as well, so don’t bundle up too much.

Source: https://chicago.curbed.com/2019/3/28/18283957/city-biking-guide-chicago-divvy

[lewisgabriel84z31]

Shitcoin of the Week: Top Secret!

Shitcoin of the Week: Top Secret!

Coinstaker is very pleased to announce that this week, we’re covering the smelliest shitcoin of all. If Skycoin had an ugly paint job, and Tronix has a  used-car vibe, this one’s the roaring dumpster fire of the cryptocurrency world: a toxic, fuming wreckage of bad code and worse management with no benefits other than to make the rest of us feel better about our tanking portfolios.

Unfortunately, due to complicated restrictions involving  a Top Secret clearance and a pinky swear with my very real Canadian girlfriend,  we can’t disclose this week’s stinker just yet.  Before we reveal the Shitcoin of the week, we need to raise at least 3 million dollars in to make this project work.

Please donate to the address below so we can reveal this exciting crypto-turd.

ETH Address.

Did you donate yet? We can’t reveal anything until we meet our fundraising goal.

Please Donate here.

Okay, good. Surprise! The shitcoin of the week is: Verge.

Verge-in Birth

Verge(XVG) is the youngest sibling in the family of “privacy coins,” the projects designed to safeguard the secrecy and anonymity of their users. Whereas Bitcoin and Ethereum have public ledgers, allowing sufficiently-motivated busybodies to theoretically deduce who owns what, these coins help you hide your wealth from the IRS, the police, and your wife.

There are couple of different ways to do that. Monero, the preferred medium for darknet drug dealers, uses enhanced encryption to disguise addresses and transaction volumes. Dash  PrivateSend allows coins from multiple transactions to be mixed for greater anonymity. Verge uses Tor,  the IP masking system used by Dark Net Markets, Chinese activists and other cyber-miscreants.

As described in the XVG Black Paper(an admittedly clever bit of branding) Verge hides a users’ identity by island-hopping their transactions through a chain of nodes. There’s also the Wraith protocol,  which gives users the choice of recording transactions on a public or private ledger. 

Incidentally, Verge is also French for “penis,” a word we expect to appear on the XVG website in the coming weeks.

Brown Flag No. 1: The Dog Keeps Eating Their Code

Most of us learned about Verge after its first bull run last fall.  To novice investors, XVG  was crypto-catnip: it was cheap, had just mooned spectacularly, and had a heavy shilling from John McAfee, the L. Ron Hubbard of cryptocurrency. And it had just announced the Wraith Protocol, about which we knew nothing except that it had a really cool name.  

I immediately decided to throw some money at it, but a gut feeling held me back. Maybe it was the cultish shilling and endless Lambo-talk, but for some reason I decided to wait and see what the Nazgul money had to offer.

Then the Wraith protocol took a sickday. Then it was delayed by bugs.  By the time  it finally did come out, Verge looked like the digital equivalent of a guy selling speakers from the back of a van.

Brown Flag No. 2: Don’t Give your Money to Someone Who Won’t Tell You their Real Name

“Officer, that’s the man who ran off with my money. The cartoon character with the glasses. His name is SpookyKid.”

Verge is brought to you by “Sunerok,” which sounds like the Bizarro-world equivalent of Justin Sun.Apparently it’s a pseudonym for Justin Vendetta–I say “apparently,” because Vendetta sounds as much like a real name as Sunerok.

“Sunerok’s” other  colleagues include such distinguished crypto-luminaries as “SpookyKid” and “CryptoRekt,” as well as a team of identical grey silhouettes with names like “Yakuza112” and “XVGMonk.”

We’ve harped on this before, and not just because fake names make you look dumb. Having real names is an important sign of a projects’ security: it’s much harder to pull off a scam on people who know where you live.

Brown Flag No. 3: Don’t Trust a Locksmith Who Keeps His Key Under The Doormat

There are two things almost everyone should learn before they’re allowed near a computer. The first lesson, which I learned the hard way, is that you should always use Incognito Mode so that you don’t spend your teenage years with a therapist who specializes in cat porn.

Only slightly less important is to protect your passwords. That’s why you need twelve different alphabets just to get into your email. Usually when  you hear about someone famous getting hacked, it’s because all of their passwords are “Guest.” 

So it was a pretty bad sign when Verge—”The future of privacy”—got its Twitter account hijacked like a teenagers’ Instagram.

Sunerok would later shift the blame to Yahoo,  saying the hackers exploited a leaked database. The fact that a leading cryptocurrency developer is using Yahoo in the first place should be a pretty big warning sign by itself.

At least he wasn’t the only idiot in the room.

Urgent: My account was hacked. Twitter has been notified. The coin of the day tweet was not me. As you all know… I am not doing a coin of the day anymore!!!!

— John McAfee (@officialmcafee) December 27, 2017

Brown Flag No. 3: Please Contribute To Our Moon Fund

Most of the cryptocurrency world was ready to give XVG the benefit of the doubt. Sure, they had some green programmers, but they’d put too much work into it to exit scam. And then:

….A global organization with a vast network of high traffic sites is looking to enter the cryptocurrency market and form a strategic business alliance with Verge as the preferred form of secure payment method, offering a quick and private means of transaction to hundreds of millions of potential consumers daily. This partnership represents an enormous potential market with a global reach that will compete with multiple fiat currencies. We are eager to see this partnership materialize and invite everyone in the Verge community to support this groundbreaking initiative. Help us accelerate this crowdfunding effort and reach our target by donating coins today.

That’s the future of money, rattling a tin cup and promising to make you rich. In other words, your Verge could be the new Bitcoin—but only if you give us more money.

Justin Sunerok’s fundraising strategy. I mean, Justin Vendetta. How is that a real name?

This is textbook Nigerian prince-ing,  almost as sketchy as the time Elon Musk promised to send me ten Ethereum. He still hasn’t paid me back, but hopefully the Binance guy will pull through. 

“……..and the worst part is, I signed an NDA so I can’t tell anybody yet who we have this massive potential partnership yet with is….”

The secret “partnership” attracted wide speculation within the Verge community, and wider ridicule outside of it. Could it be Amazon? Microsoft? Or some fake shell corporation in the Bahamas? After much well-deserved roasting Bizarro-Justin produced the following, totally credible explanation, courtesy of his rectum:

We were talking about doing a crowdfund to get Verge supported on Ledger Nano, and uhhh, then I got an email from somebody at a big company, and uhh,  they said, “hey, we’ve been checking out cryptocurrencies for the last few months and we really like Verge. Can you come talk to us?” And I said, sure. And I met up with them, everything kind of worked out, and they said, “alright, if you guys can raise the funds to cover the integration and some marketing and stuff, we can make this all happen.”….and the worst part is, we signed an NDA so I can’t tell anybody yet who we have this massive potential partnership yet with is.

And later:

” I think that this is the largest adoption of a non-top three coin  to ever happen. It could be the largest adoption of a virtual cryptocurrency ever…..”

The secret to a good lie is making it believable, but Justin can’t even get that part right. Can anyone imagine a conversation like this happening in a real business run by grownups?

CEO: “We’ve decided to make our foray into cryptocurrency. As you know, this is a high-stakes business deal and we can only partner with the most sophisticated, professional development teams. We certainly can’t endanger our brand with a second rate partnership. How’s the research going?

Minion: “Well boss, there’s Bitcoin, but the fees are kind of high and its market dominance is slipping. Plus we have no idea if the Lightning Network’s going to work. We could try partnering with Ethereum, it’s not had quite as much time to prove itself but the market cap has grown by quite a lot. There’s one called Dash too..”

Boss: “Dash is out, they’re wasting their money on some sci fi show. Any other promising contenders in the top ten?”

Minion: “Well, there’s one called Bitcoin Cash, which forked from Bitcoin last year.

BOSS: “Bcash. LOL. What else? Anything in the top twenty?”

M:“No, but according to John McAfee there’s a one-year old privacy coin developed by volunteers. It’s unproven, doesn’t actually offer any real privacy, and keeps missing deadlines. It’s called Verge.

BOSS:“That’s just the kind of project we’re looking for! Let’s just hope they don’t get hacked in the next few days.”

Brown Clouds on the Horizon

Any doubts or reservations about XVG’s toilet quality should have been flushed away last week:

We had a small hash attack that lasted about 3 hours earlier this morning, it's been cleared up now. We will be implementing even more redundancy checks for things of this nature in the future! $XVG #vergefam

— vergecurrency (@vergecurrency) April 4, 2018

The “small” attack, which actually lasted for thirteen hours, exploited a loophole in Verge’s rules which allowed the hacker to successfully mine empty blocks in less than a second. Sunerok did not address the hack until it was discussed on Bitcointalk.

Instead of forking back to a pre-attack state, Sunerok panicked and pushed an update to the node software. The update caused an unexpected hard fork, which paralyzed the network, froze many users’ wallets and allowed the hackers to walk away with a million dollars in tokens.

Paradoxically, XVG tokens continued to soar on most exchanges, for the simple reason that the tokens were still impossible to move.

As usual, Verge downplayed the enormity of their fuckup while continuing to upsell their “groundbreaking” partnership. Meanwhile, somewhere in Silicon Valley, we can only guess what when down with Verge’s totally-real partnership when the protocol’s Swiss-cheese security was revealed. 

Diagnosis: Get your Umbrella

Until recently, even the deepest skeptics  didn’t really question the honesty of the Verge team. Although it had all the signs of a naive project by get-rich-quick amateurs, there was no reason to think it was an intentional scam.

That perception changed as the Verge team alternated between bungling their software and deceiving their investors. Their inability to demonstrate any technical skill–besides digging their hole deeper–make us wonder if they hired Firano the Bomber to help with the coding.

The mystery hack also set off alarm bells, and not just because of the shitty coding. The timing of the attack–and the strange decision to let the “hacker” walk with the coins–seem to echo the bad omens that foreshadowed the collapses of Mt Gox, BitGrail, BitConnect, Davorcoin and many bigger projects. 

 The only way to improve this project would be to exit scam, which at least would prove that Bizarro-Justin can get one thing right. On a scale of one to BitConnect, Verge gets a score of Nine Carlos.

Seriously. Get out while you can.

https://ift.tt/2ITHZ1n

[fashiontrendin-blog]

Fear and Heartbreak: Teachers React to the Florida Shooting

http://fashion-trendin.com/fear-and-heartbreak-teachers-react-to-the-florida-shooting/

Fear and Heartbreak: Teachers React to the Florida Shooting

“It’s a very disturbing time to be a teacher,” my cousin, a second-grade teacher, tells me on the phone a day after the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida.

This isn’t a new feeling for her. There have been over 60 school shootings with fatalities since the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary in late 2012, a shooting that reignited the post-Columbine national conversation about the Second Amendment and how to protect the lives of students and teachers.

Following the Florida school shooting, young people have been advocating for their fallen friends and the lives of all students. Teenage activists like Emma Gonzalez are confronting the politicians stalling gun regulation directly with their stories and anger. They’re questioning lawmakers and the NRA. Mass student walkouts are being organized around the country. They’re taking to social media to speak their truth.

Amid all the fervent action, however, a dark anxiety hangs overhead as those in favor of gun regulation fight for their concerns to be recognized in policy.

I spoke to teachers from school districts of varying political leanings, income and race demographics about their students’ reactions, their conversations among colleagues and the steps they hope our government will take. I spoke to young teachers who are still assistants and retired teachers with over 50 years of experience. Not one said that they felt their students and coworkers were fully safe at school today.

Note: Many identifying details, including names, have been changed due to school policy and personal preference.

In the wake of so many school shootings in recent memory, what have been your students’ reactions?

Jade: Not a week goes by without a student asking the “What would we do if … ?” question. They want to know if I’d save them. If we’d run. If we’d hide. If we’d follow protocol. If I’d let them grab their cell phones before going into lockdown. These are not the questions I expected to be focusing on as a teacher.

Robin: They blame Trump.

Connie: I used to think that there’s been no conversation in the classroom because my students are young and mostly on the spectrum. I’ve come to think, however, that school shootings just aren’t shocking anymore.

Nick: I remember when Sandy Hook happened. I had to comfort students for weeks. And they could just tell something was off — it was hard to keep that news from reaching them. These days, it all passes so quickly.

Marybeth: Some seem nervous; others don’t seem particularly impacted. They do want to talk about it, which I think is important, but our school doesn’t want us discussing it with them.

Tammy: After every shooting, my students ask me what would happen if there were a shooter at our school. They are terrified that this will happen to them.

Rachel: “Miss, if someone comes in here, we’re kind of screwed, huh?” They were respectful of the moment of silence this time — though with multiple moments of silence each year, I do think they’re becoming desensitized to those, too.

Lindsey: The only reaction I heard from a student after the Florida shooting was one boy saying that it was lucky that “only 17 people died.”

What has the conversation among your coworkers been like in the wake of these events?

Carrie: The teacher next to my classroom got [to school] early with me and we made a plan together about what we would do. We checked to make sure our windows would open. We put tables close to doors to barricade us in the rooms and we put curtains over the windows by our doors.

Jade: Being a teacher often means suppressing or stifling your own personal political views. Lately, we’ve been talking about how proud we are of Emma Gonzalez and these beautiful, bold students, survivors [and] speakers who are turning their grief into action. What she is doing is the ultimate “end goal” I have as a teacher for my students.

Rachel: Honestly, I tried to tune most of it out; I’ve found that the only way I’m really able to function and get through my days is by ignoring it as much as possible. I catch the salient details from the headlines, but I can’t allow myself to “go there” by watching video[s] or reading testimon[ies]. It’s my own form of self-care and self-preservation. I know that there are some who view that kind of approach as selfish or privileged, but if I’m expected to function in my classroom daily, then I can’t allow myself to go there mentally or emotionally.

Krystal: Unfortunately, these days everything is so politicized that you have to tread lightly when talking about anything. We all agree that these kinds of events cannot continue to happen, but not everyone agrees on what the problem actually is.

Diane: The conversation has been focused on what actions we can take and what groups we can join.

Elizabeth: It’s just really been a lot of head shaking, not so many words.

What actions would you like to see the government take to prevent further school shootings?

Rachel: No military-grade weapons, no bump stocks, significantly increased licensing requirements, monitoring ammunition quantity. I think that some of these “common sense” gun control regulations are just that: common sense. I don’t see how that’s infringing on anyone’s rights any more than having to get a driver’s license to drive or taking your shoes off at the airport.

Kimberly: I would like to see the government ban all semi-automatic weapons and put into place stricter background checks for all legal firearms, because the “good guys” shouldn’t have anything to worry about. Right?

John: I think we should follow the example of Britain and Australia where they banned assault weapons and made it very difficult to buy a gun without multiple levels of training [and] waiting periods.

Stef: My opinion on guns is that no one should have them. Realistically, I would like to see [the government] make it as hard to buy a gun in this country as possible. It needs to go beyond two pieces of paper and a background check.

Elizabeth: It’s really about starting early: Includ[ing] social-emotional components in curriculum from K-12, teaching them how to speak to each other and how to express your feelings, and that it’s okay to have feelings.

Marybeth: I don’t think we can make it a one-issue thing. It’s not that simple.

Connie: Of course mental health needs to be addressed, but our government has been steadily reducing our access to care, not increasing it.

Candine: I think we should enforce political term limits, with a maximum of 12 years in Congress. [We should also] make it illegal for lobbies to pay, donate, [or] give away anything to congressional members so these reps will endorse and vote that group’s agenda.

Have you or your coworkers had a dialogue with parents on this issue? If so, what’s been the response?

Marybeth: We are urged (and instructed) not to discuss anything with parents or students.

Nick: There just hasn’t been time. We’re always open to dialogue, but honestly, other things have been on our parents’ minds lately. Many of them may lose their Temporary Protective Status within the next few years.

Tammy: Parents know that we have safety measures in place.

Candine: We do have a group of NRA supporters who scream, “THEY’RE NOT TAKING MY GUNS AWAY FROM ME!” When I hear the gun supporters talk, they rant about, “I gotta protect my family.” My question is: “Protect them from what?”

Jade: I have seen several parents demand that “someone” do something. Schools need to do something. The government needs to do something. My response: We all need to do something. Don’t just expect “someone” to fix this problem.

Are there lockdown drills at your school? What do they entail?

Elizabeth: Basically, an announcement comes over the loudspeaker and I get my students low to the ground and out of sight from any openings. Admin goes around trying to “get in” to classrooms.

Marybeth: We lock the door, turn off the lights and try to place students in a part of the room that is not visible from the door.

Rachel: A few years ago we switched from the old “lockdown” procedure to the ALICE (Alert, Lockdown, Inform, Counter, Evacuate) procedure. They usually involve three different scenarios so that we can practice — evacuating, barricading and countering.

Evacuating is similar to a fire drill: If you are safely able to do so, get out. Barricading is used if there’s someone in your area but not yet in your room. You lock and block your door(s). The third scenario is Countering, and it’s based on the research that if shooters aren’t able to aim, then fatalities are reduced. If an intruder breaks through our barricade, we just throw things at them.

Connie: Everyone covers the windows and ducks out of view with 25 fourth graders who are trying so hard to be quiet, until someone farts and then there’s no hope. It was a scary sort of game for them, but for me, it was just scary — thinking about what I would do, what I would have to do as their teacher.

Nick: There’s been an emerging philosophy of common sense, meaning [that] if you think you can get away, then try [to] run. This is fairly new and isn’t directly embraced by the schools.

Casey: No. Perhaps naively, none of us can really see this happening at our school, carried out by one of our students.

Erica: The roof of the gymnasium is outside of our window and I [have] already told the students that if something happens for real… I am having each of them jump out the window and onto the roof. I’m taking matters into my own hands because I feel that if this situation ever does happen, I’m responsible.

Jay: My classroom is on the first floor in front of big, open windows. I’d be lying if I said I thought this method was 100% safe.

Ellen: The kids giggle, and they also get scared. That’s probably the most time we talk about school shootings. Multiple children have asked me would I die for them. I always say yes. It’s not a question.

How do you feel at work after these events?

Stef: I think a lot of young teachers like me are coming into the profession understanding our lives could one day be at risk, and that’s such a messed up thing to have to reconcile.

Elizabeth: I worry. What if this kid that I had to give a consequence to or have a difficult talk with isn’t having it? I’ve had nightmares; I’ve stressed about things I shouldn’t have to think about.

Marybeth: I feel like I need to be wary of everyone, which can make it hard to focus.

Laura: After my coworker was killed [in a shooting outside our school], I felt calm at school when I had to take care of the students, but very stressed and nervous anywhere else for a couple of weeks. [I’m] often just frustrated and cynical that I don’t think this will change.

Jade: I feel like we’re being held hostage by fear. I also feel like I’m being held hostage by the taboo of a teacher discussing “politics.” Shouldn’t I be allowed to share my opinions on my safety and my students’ safety?

Kimberly: I wear my classroom key around my neck instead of keeping it in my desk in case I have to act in a split second.

Nick: I feel like people expect teachers to lay their lives on the lines — and any of us would to protect our kids. But it’s such an unfair expectation heaved upon an already overburdened and overworked community of professionals.

Jay: I want to say I feel safe because it wouldn’t happen in a school like mine, but that feels a little bit naive now.

What are your thoughts on the NRA’s suggestion to arm teachers?

Krystal: What an insulting idea.

Tammy: I don’t get funding to pay for Expo markers, let alone an assault rifle or training to shoot and kill someone. We agree that we would do anything to protect our kids, but … arming teachers won’t help the situation.

Rachel: The day I’m told I have to keep a gun in my classroom is the day I will leave this profession. I’ve accepted that someday my job may now involve jumping in front of a bullet, but I absolutely refuse to allow my job to become one where I have to fire that bullet. Especially if it’s at a student.

Jade: Having guns in the classroom provides access to guns for ALL students. Access to guns is the major contributing factor to these tragedies. Stop the guns from getting into my school or in my students’ hands. Stop trying to put one in mine.

Tammy: I would do anything for my students. This being said, I shouldn’t have to think about defending their lives. I should be thinking about how to improve their futures.

Are you in support of the scheduled student walkouts? What do you hope will be accomplished by this? What do your kids say about it?

Robin: I’m in total support of the walkout if it’s well-organized and has a purpose. The only way it can be effective is if the momentum continues and… there is a real, aggressive nationwide push for change.

Stef: I’m a social justice activist and my curriculum is centered around social justice issues, so I’m hoping my kids participate, honestly.

Nick: The cynic in me wonders what it will accomplish. I’m not trying to cast aspersions on the courageous survivors who came up with the idea, but I’m skeptical. Politicians don’t give a fuck how many kids march.

Casey: I hope that at the very least, someone will have to comment on it.

Connie: People are watching for our collective response, and we have to show that no matter how normal this all feels at this point, it is very much not normal.

Jade: I love the idea, but honestly, in this current climate, I think it presents a massive safety issue.

Lindsey: I’m worried that we’ll have to wait 20 years for these kids — who grew up thinking they could be shot in English class and watching adults do nothing to save them — to absolutely crush this issue into the ground.

Gemma: I think students have the right to peacefully protest whatever they find necessary. These children are trusting our government to take care of them.

What can the rest of the public do to show support for the safety of teachers and students during this time?

John: Petition their representatives at the state and national level. Vote them out if they are more beholden to the NRA than their constituents.

Robin: There needs to be a constant, in-your-face, aggressive fight by everyone.

Nick: Don’t ask teachers to become soldiers. Ask them how they’re doing. We’re all scared, and we’re never allowed to show it.

Connie: Unfettered access to killing machines is uniquely American, and it isn’t strengthening our society. We can do better and we should do better. We are the adults.

Tammy: If you own hunting rifles but would never own an AK-47, SAY SOMETHING! I think there’s a notion out there that only liberals want gun control, and that isn’t true.

Jade: Joining groups like Moms Demand Action and Sandy Hook Promise is a step in the right direction. Fundraising for money for metal detectors might help students feel a little safer tomorrow while we wait for change.

Kimberly: Stop spreading the “good guy with a gun” narrative.

Alisa: Demand to see your school’s active shooter plan.

Gemma: If you see a teacher, give them a hug or a drink — we’ve earned it.

Here’s what you can do right now to demand change for gun reform and support educators in America:

Call your representatives.

Donate to the Stoneman Douglas Victims’ Fund.

Join organizations like Moms Demand Action and Sandy Hook Promise.

Follow Everytown on Instagram for updates and visit their website for more ways to take action.

Learn more about the student walkout here.

Learn where to donate blood and march, and how to share tips with the police here.

Educate yourself: Learn more about the current landscape of gun control laws in America.

Have another resource to add? Fill up the comments with suggestions.

Interviews have been edited for length and clarity.

Jamie Loftus is a writer and comedian living in Los Angeles. You can follow her at jamieloftusisinnocent.com.

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[politicalfilth-blog]

The Grinch That Stole Flint’s Christmas?

We Are Change

I have been following a story for quite some time and gathering evidence of what looks like a heinous scam involving an alleged grinch and a Christmas party in flint.

What caught my eye is a Christmas party for the poor children of Flint, Michigan, involving misappropriated GoFundMe donations and a real life grinch that almost stole the Christmas of Mission Flint – alleged scam artist Syrah Scott.

While it must be noted that Syrah Scott is innocent until proven guilty in a court of law, the evidence demands an investigation into this woman for potentially exploiting a crisis.

First, who is Syrah Scott? Syrah Scott runs the BeYouCampaign on Facebook and was involved with charitable group Mission Flint early on to throw a Christmas party for the children of Flint. Scott alleges that she single-handedly created this virtuous event, claiming that she “wrapped all 100 presents herself and with her daughter.”  However, there is a different tale one that is much darker, painted by the activists of Mission Flint that came together to give the children of Flint a Christmas, and before that a Thanksgiving.

It all started in November with Scott hosting a Thanksgiving event for the families affected by the Flint water crisis. During the event a Flint resident spoke about the crisis in the city – and the way Scott attempted to control the situation in the video below is telling. Note: Mission Flint claims Scott told them that 300 people were going to show up to the event – in actuality the numbers were much lower then that as you can see in this picture and the video below.

http://wearechange.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/fraud-scammer.mp4

That video was ripped from “Ciscored’s facebook” – a member of Mission Flint. This was the first time the group got to witness Scott in action. Prior to any of this, the group claims that before working with Scott “there were already allegations of her stealing GoFundMe money,” a member of the group said.  But they chose to work with her anyway because they thought they were just rumors and she talked a big game and said she had a lot of connections that could help their cause.

The real problems took place with Scott leading up to the planned Christmas event in December. “The disconnect between Ms. Scott and the rest of the group began as the event developed, which was initially supposed to be ‘by the kids, for the kids’ which meant that we would let the younger members of our organization put the event together for the kids of the River Park Apartments,” Mission Flint said in a statement.

“As we began planning the event, Syrah got increasingly more hostile when she realized that the members didn’t care for her aggressive emphasis on “branding” nor her lack of communication skills. She began to exhibit a complete lack of respect and decency towards her co-workers, being prone to name-calling and other childish behavior. Despite her shortcomings, we moved forward for the sake of our Mission and for Flint, and only began taking action against her after all of our members were denied access to the GoFundMe and no financial records were produced.” – Mission Flint’s statement

Mission Flint claims Scott hijacked Mission Flint’s campaign and the money that they were raising for the children of Flint. Mission Flint further claims she used the money for her own gain, telling the group that “other expenses came first before donations to the kids” for that I will quote the group.

“First off: expenses do not include donations. We hope this would go without saying when operating a non-profit amidst a city-wide crisis, but apparently, for Ms. Scott ethics should not be assumed. This means that when a DJ agrees to perform for FREE, when a rapper agrees to perform for FREE when donors send gifts or supplies, these things are not counted against the funds raised in a GoFundMe account. After that it became clear that Ms. Scott was going to withhold funds and refused to provide financial documents, we opened a separate GoFundMe and began the process of having the GoFundMe linked to her personal bank account shut down and the donations refunded.” – Mission Flint’s statement

Other “expenses” that Mission Flint believe Scott used the GoFundMe money for include plane tickets for her and her daughter. Small tiny trinkets of gifts that she claims she donated in her own BeYouCampaign Facebook press release were allegedly gifts that were donated not purchased. The gift bags are seen below in two separate boxes.

“She sent gifts in thru him. Some bagged, some wrapped. The gifts were little trinkets, like five below stuff, we suspect donated. That’s what she does. She gets items donated, sends them into the party thru him, has our people to help carry it all in, so she can say ‘see? You brought it all in, but none of it was bought with the [GoFundMe money]. She says over & over she has receipts. Never provided any,” Mission Flint said.

Scott has yet to produce one single financial document showing that she purchased anything with the money raised on the GFM (GoFundMe) but claims that her colleague, an individual identified as Mr. McQueen, purchased out of pocket all these gifts including the entertainment at the event – a rapper WAOR, otherwise known as Michael T. Gilbert an independent rapper in Flint.

More allegations ensured, including a claim that clothing Ms. Scott sent to Flint back in September was actually sample clothing with holes in it. The picture below has the visible words “SAMPLE” and while Scott claimed to send clothing to the Christmas event, that clothing was never received.

  The clothing was provided by a company that doesn’t wish to be named or involved in any of this, and the company in question has since promised to make things right and provide the children with clothing according to one Mission Flint member I spoke to. This unnamed company should be proud of stepping up and making things right, because it is likely not their fault they were mislead, and to step up for the children is huge.

To that unnamed company, if you later want to to add a statement to this story, email me An0nKn0wledge@protonmail.ch or message me on twitter @An0nKn0wledge. And to the would be Grinch of this Christmas story, a final word:

“Ms. Scott’s business is evident in her handling of school uniforms for the children of Flint. Ms. Scott posted pictures of the uniforms to social media, uniforms that never showed up at our Christmas event for the children. She later claimed that these uniforms were delivered in gift bags, a claim which is provably untrue. The gift bags Ms. Scott sent had candy and trinkets of little practical use, and the intent of these bags seemed more clearly purposed towards branding Ms. Scott’s organization, as the bags had a large “Clean Water 4 Flint” sticker on the front. Having made the decision to avoid Ms. Scott’s persistent, neurotic appeal to branding everything from Flint’s events to its children, we removed each sticker with great satisfaction. Furthermore, none of the uniforms Ms. Scott posted about on social media had receipts. We do not know if they were donated if they were financed with GoFundMe funds, where the uniforms went, or how they were attained. We originally requested funds from Ms. Scott to purchase uniforms, but of course, to no avail,” Mission Flint wrote.

Where there is yin there is yang, as a generous donor, Jennifer McDermott, gave the amount of money that Scott allegedly embezzled and helped save Flint’s Christmas. It’s worth noting that Ms. McDermott didn’t do it alone, but unlike Scott, McDermott provided financial records and those receipts show her claims that she had to spend $705.08 out of pocket to cover for the money that Ms. Scott allegedly stole.

In total, the receipts for coats and boots published by Jennifer McDermott (published again in the comments) equals $1,384.66. Subtracting our new GoFundMe’s deposit of $679.58, we can see that Jenn had to spend $705.08 out of pocket because of Ms. Scott’s lack of concern for the children of Flint.”

I wish it ended there but it doesn’t unfortunately, no this woman has done more – she claimed to be at the event and a clear video of the event shows that she wasn’t there, she however, has been stealing other people’s pictures and posting them as her own. One includes a picture of the rapper WAOR with the gifts that Ms. Dermott bought as documented above with the receipts. The other is the picture of Tammy Loren above both have told her to take down their pictures according to Mission Flint.

With all this evidence and many people telling me this was a scam, I got more curious to look into the BeYouCampaign, to my surprise Scott isn’t even an original founder of the BeYouCampaign – on the website associated with the BeYouCampaign the founders are named – J. Ryan Lacour and Brenn Colleen founded in 2010. Nor does Scott even run the official social media accounts so don’t direct hate at the actual BYC campaign.org. Scott’s apparently fraudulent BeYouCampaign was said to be founded in 2013 according to her Facebook group.

Launched in September 2013, #BeYou is an answer to some of these serious public health issues. It is the cheerleader and the support system for youth stricken with grief, hopelessness, and despair. It is the voice that individuals need for encouragement, and the outlet that people cry out for when they want to speak about their struggles and put life’s dilemmas into perspective.

Essentially, #BeYou is about embracing yourself, honing your skills, and living out your true purpose in life. It’s about self-expression, freedom of speech, and liberation. With focus on a positive outlook, our movement aims to inspire those that have doubt, insecurities, and extreme disbelief in themselves. We desire to motivate the masses to take action, think outside the box, and connect with their inner self. Being “normal” can be repetitive and limited. We encourage everyone to reach for the stars, and positively stimulate those around you, to do the same.

You owe this to the world, and would be doing a huge disservice to others around you if you didn’t. Embrace yourself, because at the end of the day, YOU are your biggest supporter!

I contacted the real BeYouCampaign via email and alerted them of Ms. Scott and what is going on, that she is using their name for potential fraud and that since she won’t make the organization’s financial activity transparent she needs to be investigated.

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bycmagazine/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Be-You-Campaign/209461442453684

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Syrah Scott’s BeYouCampaign:

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(when reached for comment Ms. Scott did not return any messages before publication to We Are Change.)

      The post The Grinch That Stole Flint’s Christmas? appeared first on We Are Change.

from We Are Change http://wearechange.org/grinch-stole-flints-christmas/

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Shitcoin of the Week: Top Secret!

Shitcoin of the Week: Top Secret!

Coinstaker is very pleased to announce that this week, we’re covering the smelliest shitcoin of all. If Skycoin had an ugly paint job, and Tronix has a  used-car vibe, this one’s the roaring dumpster fire of the cryptocurrency world: a toxic, fuming wreckage of bad code and worse management with no benefits other than to make the rest of us feel better about our tanking portfolios.

Unfortunately, due to complicated restrictions involving  a Top Secret clearance and a pinky swear with my very real Canadian girlfriend,  we can’t disclose this week’s stinker just yet.  Before we reveal the Shitcoin of the week, we need to raise at least 3 million dollars in to make this project work.

Please donate to the address below so we can reveal this exciting crypto-turd.

ETH Address.

Did you donate yet? We can’t reveal anything until we meet our fundraising goal.

Please Donate here.

Okay, good. Surprise! The shitcoin of the week is: Verge.

Verge-in Birth

Verge(XVG) is the youngest sibling in the family of “privacy coins,” the projects designed to safeguard the secrecy and anonymity of their users. Whereas Bitcoin and Ethereum have public ledgers, allowing sufficiently-motivated busybodies to theoretically deduce who owns what, these coins help you hide your wealth from the IRS, the police, and your wife.

There are couple of different ways to do that. Monero, the preferred medium for darknet drug dealers, uses enhanced encryption to disguise addresses and transaction volumes. Dash  PrivateSend allows coins from multiple transactions to be mixed for greater anonymity. Verge uses Tor,  the IP masking system used by Dark Net Markets, Chinese activists and other cyber-miscreants.

As described in the XVG Black Paper(an admittedly clever bit of branding) Verge hides a users’ identity by island-hopping their transactions through a chain of nodes. There’s also the Wraith protocol,  which gives users the choice of recording transactions on a public or private ledger. 

Incidentally, Verge is also French for “penis,” a word we expect to appear on the XVG website in the coming weeks.

Brown Flag No. 1: The Dog Keeps Eating Their Code

Most of us learned about Verge after its first bull run last fall.  To novice investors, XVG  was crypto-catnip: it was cheap, had just mooned spectacularly, and had a heavy shilling from John McAfee, the L. Ron Hubbard of cryptocurrency. And it had just announced the Wraith Protocol, about which we knew nothing except that it had a really cool name.  

I immediately decided to throw some money at it, but a gut feeling held me back. Maybe it was the cultish shilling and endless Lambo-talk, but for some reason I decided to wait and see what the Nazgul money had to offer.

Then the Wraith protocol took a sickday. Then it was delayed by bugs.  By the time  it finally did come out, Verge looked like the digital equivalent of a guy selling speakers from the back of a van.

Brown Flag No. 2: Don’t Give your Money to Someone Who Won’t Tell You their Real Name

“Officer, that’s the man who ran off with my money. The cartoon character with the glasses. His name is SpookyKid.”

Verge is brought to you by “Sunerok,” which sounds like the Bizarro-world equivalent of Justin Sun.Apparently it’s a pseudonym for Justin Vendetta–I say “apparently,” because Vendetta sounds as much like a real name as Sunerok.

“Sunerok’s” other  colleagues include such distinguished crypto-luminaries as “SpookyKid” and “CryptoRekt,” as well as a team of identical grey silhouettes with names like “Yakuza112” and “XVGMonk.”

We’ve harped on this before, and not just because fake names make you look dumb. Having real names is an important sign of a projects’ security: it’s much harder to pull off a scam on people who know where you live.

Brown Flag No. 3: Don’t Trust a Locksmith Who Keeps His Key Under The Doormat

There are two things almost everyone should learn before they’re allowed near a computer. The first lesson, which I learned the hard way, is that you should always use Incognito Mode so that you don’t spend your teenage years with a therapist who specializes in cat porn.

Only slightly less important is to protect your passwords. That’s why you need twelve different alphabets just to get into your email. Usually when  you hear about someone famous getting hacked, it’s because all of their passwords are “Guest.” 

So it was a pretty bad sign when Verge—”The future of privacy”—got its Twitter account hijacked like a teenagers’ Instagram.

Sunerok would later shift the blame to Yahoo,  saying the hackers exploited a leaked database. The fact that a leading cryptocurrency developer is using Yahoo in the first place should be a pretty big warning sign by itself.

At least he wasn’t the only idiot in the room.

Urgent: My account was hacked. Twitter has been notified. The coin of the day tweet was not me. As you all know… I am not doing a coin of the day anymore!!!!

— John McAfee (@officialmcafee) December 27, 2017

Brown Flag No. 3: Please Contribute To Our Moon Fund

Most of the cryptocurrency world was ready to give XVG the benefit of the doubt. Sure, they had some green programmers, but they’d put too much work into it to exit scam. And then:

….A global organization with a vast network of high traffic sites is looking to enter the cryptocurrency market and form a strategic business alliance with Verge as the preferred form of secure payment method, offering a quick and private means of transaction to hundreds of millions of potential consumers daily. This partnership represents an enormous potential market with a global reach that will compete with multiple fiat currencies. We are eager to see this partnership materialize and invite everyone in the Verge community to support this groundbreaking initiative. Help us accelerate this crowdfunding effort and reach our target by donating coins today.

That’s the future of money, rattling a tin cup and promising to make you rich. In other words, your Verge could be the new Bitcoin—but only if you give us more money.

Justin Sunerok’s fundraising strategy. I mean, Justin Vendetta. How is that a real name?

This is textbook Nigerian prince-ing,  almost as sketchy as the time Elon Musk promised to send me ten Ethereum. He still hasn’t paid me back, but hopefully the Binance guy will pull through. 

“……..and the worst part is, I signed an NDA so I can’t tell anybody yet who we have this massive potential partnership yet with is….”

The secret “partnership” attracted wide speculation within the Verge community, and wider ridicule outside of it. Could it be Amazon? Microsoft? Or some fake shell corporation in the Bahamas? After much well-deserved roasting Bizarro-Justin produced the following, totally credible explanation, courtesy of his rectum:

We were talking about doing a crowdfund to get Verge supported on Ledger Nano, and uhhh, then I got an email from somebody at a big company, and uhh,  they said, “hey, we’ve been checking out cryptocurrencies for the last few months and we really like Verge. Can you come talk to us?” And I said, sure. And I met up with them, everything kind of worked out, and they said, “alright, if you guys can raise the funds to cover the integration and some marketing and stuff, we can make this all happen.”….and the worst part is, we signed an NDA so I can’t tell anybody yet who we have this massive potential partnership yet with is.

And later:

” I think that this is the largest adoption of a non-top three coin  to ever happen. It could be the largest adoption of a virtual cryptocurrency ever…..”

The secret to a good lie is making it believable, but Justin can’t even get that part right. Can anyone imagine a conversation like this happening in a real business run by grownups?

CEO: “We’ve decided to make our foray into cryptocurrency. As you know, this is a high-stakes business deal and we can only partner with the most sophisticated, professional development teams. We certainly can’t endanger our brand with a second rate partnership. How’s the research going?

Minion: “Well boss, there’s Bitcoin, but the fees are kind of high and its market dominance is slipping. Plus we have no idea if the Lightning Network’s going to work. We could try partnering with Ethereum, it’s not had quite as much time to prove itself but the market cap has grown by quite a lot. There’s one called Dash too..”

Boss: “Dash is out, they’re wasting their money on some sci fi show. Any other promising contenders in the top ten?”

Minion: “Well, there’s one called Bitcoin Cash, which forked from Bitcoin last year.

BOSS: “Bcash. LOL. What else? Anything in the top twenty?”

M:“No, but according to John McAfee there’s a one-year old privacy coin developed by volunteers. It’s unproven, doesn’t actually offer any real privacy, and keeps missing deadlines. It’s called Verge.

BOSS:“That’s just the kind of project we’re looking for! Let’s just hope they don’t get hacked in the next few days.”

Brown Clouds on the Horizon

Any doubts or reservations about XVG’s toilet quality should have been flushed away last week:

We had a small hash attack that lasted about 3 hours earlier this morning, it's been cleared up now. We will be implementing even more redundancy checks for things of this nature in the future! $XVG #vergefam

— vergecurrency (@vergecurrency) April 4, 2018

The “small” attack, which actually lasted for thirteen hours, exploited a loophole in Verge’s rules which allowed the hacker to successfully mine empty blocks in less than a second. Sunerok did not address the hack until it was discussed on Bitcointalk.

Instead of forking back to a pre-attack state, Sunerok panicked and pushed an update to the node software. The update caused an unexpected hard fork, which paralyzed the network, froze many users’ wallets and allowed the hackers to walk away with a million dollars in tokens.

Paradoxically, XVG tokens continued to soar on most exchanges, for the simple reason that the tokens were still impossible to move.

As usual, Verge downplayed the enormity of their fuckup while continuing to upsell their “groundbreaking” partnership. Meanwhile, somewhere in Silicon Valley, we can only guess what when down with Verge’s totally-real partnership when the protocol’s Swiss-cheese security was revealed. 

Diagnosis: Get your Umbrella

Until recently, even the deepest skeptics  didn’t really question the honesty of the Verge team. Although it had all the signs of a naive project by get-rich-quick amateurs, there was no reason to think it was an intentional scam.

That perception changed as the Verge team alternated between bungling their software and deceiving their investors. Their inability to demonstrate any technical skill–besides digging their hole deeper–make us wonder if they hired Firano the Bomber to help with the coding.

The mystery hack also set off alarm bells, and not just because of the shitty coding. The timing of the attack–and the strange decision to let the “hacker” walk with the coins–seem to echo the bad omens that foreshadowed the collapses of Mt Gox, BitGrail, BitConnect, Davorcoin and many bigger projects. 

 The only way to improve this project would be to exit scam, which at least would prove that Bizarro-Justin can get one thing right. On a scale of one to BitConnect, Verge gets a score of Nine Carlos.

Seriously. Get out while you can.

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