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serpentface · 1 month ago

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Comparing livestock color-words.

Both the Chenahyeigi and Wardi languages are derived from peoples who have been pastoralists for millennia, and both have an absolute ton of words for livestock coloration.

Both languages have had at least some mutual influence for about a thousand years (to varying extents by dialect, depending on geography/trade connection) so you'll see similar or identical words crop up here and there.

THE WORDS:

Hneya - [hne:ʝɑ] or [hne:jɑ] (whether the ʝ sound is retained in speech and to what extent varies by dialect)

Straightforwardly refers to bright reddish-orange color, but is mostly used for animals rather than other orangeish things. The word Was probably influenced by an older form of the Wardi 'reyla', and absorbed with the introduction of orange colored cattle. It may have been merged with the Chenahyeigi '(h)ne', which is the root of several red color-related terms.

Reyla - [rejlɑ]

This is a Wardi word for most reddish-orange hues in general. When applied to livestock, it refers to solid orange coats without spotting/masks/notable countershading.

Fels akhri - [fels] [ɑ:khɾi]

Translates readily as 'storm cloud' (the 'storm' here specifies thunderstorms). When applied to livestock, it describes fur that is rich dark blue-gray with white guard hairs.

Aganne - [ɑgɑ:ne]

This doesn't actually translate to 'night sea' in a straightforward manner, but as a color word it's poetically associated with dark seas, at night or in storms. When used for livestock, it describes this coloration exclusively.

Woud et lleng - [woʊd] [ɛt] [ɬeŋk]

Woud is the word for rich moist soil specifically, lleng refers to laterite and its association with iron deposits. This phrase is used to describe livestock with dark brown heads and and orange-brown bodies.

Tsipanibe - [t͡sipɑnibe]

This would be more literally translated as 'ochred'. Many Wardi words with the -ibe stem from verbs or nouns modified to indicate that the subject matter has 'received' an action or concept. (Examples of such words are long-established linguistically, you can't just add '-ibe' to any noun or verb). This one takes the root 'tsipan' (ochre) and applies it to the subject matter (cattle coloration).

Livestock with a dark brown or black head and orange-brown body are given this description, the idea being that their bodies look like they've been painted in ochre. This word is extremely rare outside of this context (you would usually just say the full 'ochre-painted' to convey this idea for other things)

Drengh yipeg - [dɾeŋg(h) yɪpɛ:g]

This is pretty straightforwardly 'little moon'. Yipeg comes from the same root as the Wardi 'hippe' for 'small', while drengh refers to the appearance of the moons in the sky (rather than the gods they embody). It's used to describe small round white blaze marks.

Ipalen hamita - [ipɑlɛn (h)ɑmitə]

Straightforwardly 'star marked', used for small round white blaze marks. Wardi actually does have a 'moon marked' (ipalen amit) to describe round white blazes that entirely cover the animal's forehead.

Brinyavir - [bɾi:nʝɑvir] (ʝ is retained for this word in most dialects)

This one is not directly translatable, 'celestial' or 'heavenly' just function closely enough. The word conceptually relates to stars but most specifically describes a layer of sky in which the afterlife rests (brinyavir is part of the phrase I translate as 'celestial fields'). The cattle there are said to have these markings. The stars in the night sky are sometimes playfully described as the spots of these cattle (though not literally, in Chenahyeigi cosmology stars are spirit-inhabited bonfires lit along pathways through the heavens).

As a color word for livestock, brinyavir refers to this rare (I Think nonexistent irl) white-spotted black coloration, due to both resembling the stars and the cattle that are moved among them.

Asi inwetadi - [ɑsi in:wetɑ:di]

This directly means 'like night sky', and is applied to this coat pattern with a similar underlying logic- it looks like a starry night sky. You will often see asi (like/akin to) retained in place or animal names like this, and it is sometimes part of names for people (the name Asinya is derived from a contracted 'like the sun').

Ogriye - Chenahyeigi: [oʊ:gɾije] Wardi: [oʊgɾi:je]

This word is (or was) a way to say 'gravel' or 'gravelly' in both Chenahyeigi and Wardi, and is pronounced very similarly in both (with the only significant difference being emphasis)

In Chenahyeigi it is a loanword from the Wardi language family, most likely received in the exchange of cattle of this coloration. It is retained in general speech as a word for gravel, more specifically the adjective 'gravelly'.

The word is mostly obsolete in contemporary Wardi, speakers do not know it used to mean 'gravel' (though it sounds close enough to assume a connection, the word is 'ogri') and exclusively use it to describe this livestock coloration (one of the more common among Wardi native cattle).

---

Also here's some cow lore.

There's some fairly tremendous diversity in Wardi cattle herds, given they have genetic influence from at least two separate aurochs domestication events (also distant and negligibly minor influence from one instance of bison domestication) and from multiple relatively isolated domestic cattle populations. Present day herds within Wardi provincial territory near-ubiquitously have at least some ancestry from the kulustaig and the Burri tepang cattle.

The ancestors of the Wardi native cow have been in the region for at Least 5,000 years. Burri cattle Possibly could have had tiny, isolated introductions between 2500-3000 years ago (this is extremely unlikely, but maize Was probably introduced by seafaring proto-Burri peoples at this time) or at more recent points since, and the tepang was certainly introduced during Imperial Burri occupation. High quality cattle are also occasionally received in diplomacy with the present-day Different Entity that is the Burri Republic. The kulustaig cattle arrived with proto-Finnic migrants starting 1500 years ago, and is the biggest external genetic influence on Wardi herds. Small populations of Yuroma native cattle arrived with migrants 540 years ago, though these have been wholly absorbed into Wardi herds, with their biggest trace being genes for naturally polled horns. Some Finn cattle were extracted in the recent two decades of Wardi occupation, though not enough to have a noteworthy genetic impact on any herds.

Most of the cattle in this post show predominantly Wardi native cattle + kulustaig ancestry (this takes place in the Ephenni riverlands, where the ancestry of herds tends to be around 2:1). The one with the blaze has a delicate sloping muzzle that suggests Burri tepang ancestry, and also likely has a wild aurochs grandparent (the white ring around the nose is a telltale sign, as it usually vanishes within a few generations of introgression).

Diversity in color and coat pattern is culturally favored for Wardi cattle herds, and selective breeding for aesthetics is usually limited to the purpose of preserving unique coats. The average herd tends to be very colorful, though the one shown here is a bit of an outlier, the universe having mysteriously put in place perfect conditions to compare the words for a variety of coat patterns.

#My marginal comprehension of the IPA has advanced somewhat. For those who don't know : indicates the vowel/consonant beforehand #is long and () means a sound is marginal/optional/not articulated #The 'h's you see at the end of a lot of Chenahyeigi words are usually soft unvoiced exhalations and very subtle #It's part of the accent but not doing it doesn't change the meaning of the word in most cases #The Wardi language has a tendency of dropping H sounds at the beginnings of words over time/in certain dialects #(especially when followed by the [i] vowel. A lot of people pronounce hippegalga as just ippegalga) and in a lot of words #pronunciation of leading H's is essentially optional #One aspect of Wardi formal register is always enunciating these droppable H's

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bustedbernie · 5 years ago

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Oh hai. Lately there have been a slew of think pieces about Bernie Sanders being the front-runner, discussing how his movement has threatened to withhold their votes from Democrats if Bernie isn’t the nominee. Hidden between the lines is the idea that Democrats, in general, owe their votes to Sanders if he is the nominee, regardless of the fact that his voters do NOT owe Dems their votes if he is not. So, rather than call them out for using the same tactics that lost the 2016 election, there is a faction in the media that is growing more and more permissive to the idea that Bernie and his Revolution are somehow the victims in all this, and that mainstream Dems have done them wrong time and time again when picking a candidate that appeals to the Dems masses.

Let me let you in on a little secret.

I don’t owe Bernie Sanders or his fucked off revolution of stanerific emo-marxist cyber-terrorists a goddamn bit of shit the fuck all. When these utter fucking geniuses in the media reflect on how energized and dedicated his enthusiastic fans are when engaging in their harassment of the average Dem, they seem to think the people who have been abused don’t fucking matter. These Dems are people who have never done anything whatsoever to deserve the constant bullying, cyber-stalking, targeting, threats, or in my case, being falsely reported to the FBI by fans of Bernie who seek to silence dissent. What these media personalities don’t understand is that the abuse by Bernie fans, in his name, actually causes the gap between MAGA and Berners to shrink to the point where it is non-existent. There is no real difference between the abuse from either side, and since Sanders isn’t the warm and fuzzy type that reaches out to the people who have been abused, often there appears to be no real difference between Sanders and Trump.

Slate:

Still, the Bernie-or-Busters, small as they may be, have spun their position into an argument for why others should vote for Bernie Sanders too, regardless of the platform they prefer. As efforts in political persuasion go, this contingent puts forward an openly hostile argument. Sanders is the only electable candidate, they suggest, not just because of his policies, but because of the single-mindedness of his followers. The reason you should vote for Sanders is that we won’t vote for anyone else. You don’t want Trump to win again, do you?

No. But I also don’t want Bernie Sanders to win. In a case of one not liking either candidate, people look to see which movement they feel most comfortable with, Bernie’s or Trump’s. If it turns out that both movements engage in racist behavior, sexism, and homophobia, it really doesn’t matter what they profess to be in favor of as far as policy is concerned, what matters is how they treat their fellow citizens by and large. We all know that unless we take back the Senate with a large majority that can defeat Republican attempts to stop legislation from hitting Sanders’ desk, nothing will pass anyway. So, if you’re not in favor of Bernie’s policies in the first place, and do not like him or his movement, why would you be enthusiastic about showing up for the guy who leads the movement that engages in attacks on you?

Yes, it sounds like ugly hostage taking—not a brilliant persuasive strategy but a crude ego-boosting exercise for a group of leftists who can’t resist the impulse to lord some power over an electorate that doesn’t normally consider them relevant. But that’s exactly what makes it so normal, even understandable, in a depressing “we’re all human” sort of way. [NO.] Because the truth is this: Every threat these Sanders stans are explicitly making is one the venerated Centrist Swing Voter makes implicitly—and isn’t judged for. The centrist never even has to articulate his threat.

Excuse me, it IS ugly hostage taking, it is NOT normal, and no, it doesn’t make me see them as more human.

Another thing is this: not everyone opposed to Bernie Sanders is a Centrist, Moderate, or a Swing voter. Many of us are as far left or to the left of Sanders, I for one am definately to his left, and had supported him in 2015. That was until his racist abusive Bern Mafia targeted me for expressing concern about his lack of outreach to black voters. I noticed his lack of history in hiring black people (D.C. is Chocolate City, we could not find one black staffer in 2015; I am open to correction on this point; if he had black staffers prior to 2015, please send me receipts because I have been looking for them.), lamented and mocked his poor showing at Netroots, fumed over his constant MLK appropriation, jeered at his white ass crowds, and felt humiliated by his inability to discuss black people in ways that were not centered on Poverty or Prisons. It is HIS FAULT that his voters have no clue how to engage Black people without resorting to stereotypes and outright bigotry, because he does the same thing.

Buzzfeed:

Sanders, seated across the table, a yellow legal pad at hand, responded with a question of his own, according to two people present: “Aren’t most of the people who sell the drugs African American?” The candidate, whose aides froze in the moment, was quickly rebuffed: The answer, the activists told him, was no. Even confronted with figures and data to the contrary, Sanders appeared to have still struggled to grasp that he had made an error, the two people present said.

No. He did not apologize for spreading this stereotype, and yes, it shows how he views black people in general.

Slate:

One of many disorienting factors in this election cycle is the fact that the left is more popular and more viable than it has been in a long, long time. They have not one but two exciting candidates, and both are offering policies closer to what leftists actually want than most presidential contenders in U.S. history have.

I wanted the party to move to the Left towards the direction of where I stood too. I can’t really name my ideology because it’s so far left I am almost hitting the wall. Additionally, I am more Libertarian than Sanders, who trends more authoritarian. Yet, I instinctively know that playing a game of “my way or the highway” won’t lead to a place where poverty programs are expanded up and out, ensuring all necessities of life are provided. It will lead to gridlock and we will make zero progress.

Because folks at the center tend to be wooed by multiple candidates, they’re used to having options, and they’re used to the experience of their vote determining who ends up with the nomination. This means that they usually like the candidate they vote for, in the primary and in the general. Not so for leftists, who get to merely tolerate the candidates they end up having to vote for in order to mitigate the damage from a worse result.

Here’s the rub… I’m Black. None of this shit applies to me, because as a Black person, I rarely even LIKE or TRUST any of the candidates I have been voting for over the years. I also usually, especially in State and Locally, don’t have any say so in determining the nominee of any race. I am always stuck voting for whoever White People choose as the candidate, and as such, am merely tolerating whoever is chosen to prevent a worse outcome, which usually means preventing a racist shitmonger from winning a race.

Speaking of race… Progressives refuse to address race as a factor in anything; they like to ignore race in everything they do and allow Prison Policy to stand in for Racial Policy, so it’s impossible to get them to see my reality. They get this shit from Bernie.

From Buzzfeed:

“The real issue is not whether you’re black or white, whether you’re a woman or a man,” he said in a 1988 interview. “The real issue is whose side are you on? Are you on the side of workers and poor people or are you on the side of big money and the corporations?”

Not much has changed with Bernie, as you know, Bernie never changes, because he was born as a 72 year old yelly man, just like Benjamin Button, but louder and not as cute.

“It’s not good enough for someone to say, ‘I’m a woman! Vote for me!’” No, that’s not good enough. What we need is a woman who has the guts to stand up to Wall Street, to the insurance companies, to the drug companies, to the fossil fuel industry,” the Vermont independent senator and former Democratic presidential candidate said in a not-so-subtle rebuke to Hillary Clinton”

Bernie’s attacks on Identity Politics filtered down to his base, causing them to feel confident in their attacks on Blacks, LGBTQ, and Women who brought up issues of race, sexuality, and gender over the past few years. They love to say shit to black people online that they would never say to an actual Black person IN PERSON, because they are scared as fuck of Black people. Kinda like Bernie. The refrain of “that’s identity politics, not real policy’ rang out constantly on social media the past few years to the point where pointing out racism, homophobia, and sexism was met with swarms of white men attacking Black people, All Women Who Dared To Be THAT Bitch, LGBTQ, and really, anyone worried about social justice issues that focused on identity. The attacks were and ARE bigoted in the extreme.

This is racist as fuck and is one of the ways the Bernie Titty-Babies managed to marginalize Kamala Harris and drive a wedge between her and Black Voters. Somehow they thought keeping it going would make us like dusty ass Bernie more, but they’re stupid, because we don’t even like that geriatric Bernadook now.

This is homophobic.

Bernie’s supporters are engaging in a hate campaign against Mayor Pete and are trying to convince the world that they are not being homophobic, they are just saying Pete is suppressing his dangerous serial killer nature by being so straight laced. This is fucked up because they are attacking a gay man for being “straight appearing” in spite of the fact that his seeming straightness is how he interacts with a world that hates gay people, and has at times (and Still Does) MURDERED men and women who are gay for not assimilating or conforming to hetero-normative stereotypes. Bernie ignores this behavior from his fans like he ignores all of their nasty hate campaigns. I blame him.

This is misogynistic. No explanation needed.

Racist and fat shaming. Black hair is not your fucking business, bitch. Back the fuck up.

This is just blatantly false and caused people to harass Kamala Harris supporters until they stopped using the Yellow Circles she asked supporters to wear, it stems from the misogynoir his fans engaged in towards Kamala. Bernie has never said shit, so I blame him.

Bigotry. Also erasure of Biden’s Black support in a effort to make it seem as if Bernie is the candidate of diversity. Bernie is at fault, he also erases minorities.

Sexist. Also, damn near all of his fans seem to hate Obama on the same level and with as much heat as MAGA. Why the fuck would we want to join in unity with this man when his fans HATE the first black President. Oh, you think Bernie has nothing to do with setting the tone?

“The business model, if you like, of the Democratic Party for the last 15 years or so has been a failure,” Sanders started, responding to a question about the young voters who supported his campaign. “People sometimes don’t see that because there was a charismatic individual named Barack Obama, who won the presidency in 2008 and 2012.

“He was obviously an extraordinary candidate, brilliant guy. But behind that reality, over the last 10 years, Democrats have lost about 1,000 seats in state legislatures all across this country.”

Bernie doesn’t fucking like Obama either.

Sexism. Racism. Bernie does the worst with Black Women, and is often dismissive when asked a question by one of us. So, his fans see nothing to lose by targeting us in particular, and we in turn are likely the largest group of people willing to sit this one out if Bernie manages to come out on top. The media is no help whatsoever to marginalized people, because they ultimately weave a narrative where Bernie comes out the victim.

We can already see it happening amongst the Children of the Bern, where they have taken to labeling K-Hive, a movement started by a Black Woman (Me) for a Black Woman (Kamala Harris), “Liberal ISIS” for our resistance to Bernie and willingness to defend the other candidates from the attacks levied by the Berner Swarm.

Oh, cry me a fucking river! We don’t dox, cyberstalk, harass, abuse, try to get people fired, engage in bigotry, we learn from our mistakes, and we never make it our mission to ruin someone’s life.

We simply turn the tables on the bros and ask tough questions, like Kamala Harris. If that breaks you down, you were already broken before you found us. Oh, yeah. That’s another thing. We don’t go looking for Berners to abuse; we wait until they come to abuse US and refuse to play along.

Regardless of what poor Peter Daou says, there is no “Unadulterated Hatred” in asking if someone has checked on him.

So, yes, I can blame Bernie for the nastiness of his movement and choose not to ever join it no matter what. Progressives love to play forever victims, even while they engage in their vile abuse, but I do not have to empower their movement or help them elect Bernie. Maybe if enough people sound the alarm and let him know we will not be helping him in November while suffering constantly at the hands of his Branch Bernidians, then he will have no choice but to be a leader and fucking lead these assholes into being decent people. I don’t expect the abuse to magically end if Bernie becomes President or loses to Trump, and I also don’t expect him to do shit about it, so I guess I’m just Never Bernie. What I am now stuck with is the same as always; White States get to vote first and create the narrative that Dem voters are in favor of whoever these powerful white voters choose, and I am sick of it and sick of Sanders. I didn’t become a Democrat to not only be marginalized by the White Moderate, but to also suffer abuse from the punk ass White leftist bitchmade humdinger of a Revolution. I’m not here to empower shitfucks that search me out no matter where I am just to heap abuse on me, threaten me, or report me to the FBI as a possible MASS SHOOTER, all because I think Bernie is an old bigot who minimizes Black oppression to appease the white voters he thinks he’ll need to win the General.

I’m just Never Bernie, deal with it or die mad about it. I don’t care which.

#neverbernie #bernie #berniesanders #bernie sanders #berniebros #bernie bros #notmeus #feelthebern #long post #longpost #faq

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iggytheperson · 7 years ago

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34, Iori and Daisuke

[BrOTP ask meme]

34 - “I think I’m dying.” “Tell me you’re being dramatic, please”

3,000 words

Iori really doesn’’t understand why Daisuke had all but demanded that they pair up, but he really wishes that he hadn’t.

Iori knows how to talk to Takeru. He knows how to talk to Miyako.

He doesn’t even have the first beginnings of an idea on how to talk to Daisuke.

He does know how to do maintenance on some broken buildings, and how to tell Digmon to aim a bit higher, so he tries his best to focus on those things instead of the awkwardness of not knowing how to make any kind of small talk.

Daisuke tries his best to do the opposite, and fails about as much as is humanly possible. Iori thinks that he might lose his mind if Daisuke asks him how he’s feeling one more time.

It’s painfully clear that Daisuke had a reason to pair up with him, and is struggling to articulate it. What that reason could be, he hasn’t the slightest clue. He instead tries his hardest to just focus on the task at hand.

The Flymon shows up from practically out of nowhere, and Iori is taken too off guard to move away from the oncoming attack.

So it’s incredibly strange when he finds himself flying backwards onto the ground. And even stranger when the crash reveals that something is behind his back, and wrapping around him. There’s a massive weight on his chest and he looks down, only to get a face full of white fluff. He hears a straggled gasp of pain right next to his ear, and with that it clicks that Daisuke is holding onto him.

The world is still spinning as Daisuke gives a pained yell for their digimon’s help, and Iori struggles to put his brain back into gear. He needs to focus, now. What’s happening, where’s the enemy? What’s-

What’s sticking out of Daisuke’s back?

The world crashes down and narrows to that. The sound of Digmon’s “Are you ok?” is fuzzy white noise as he stares at a bloody stinger sticking out of Daisuke’s back. The sound of Daisuke’s shallow breathing sounds like thunder over the sound of the fight starting above them.

“Daisuke…?” He squeaks, unable to manage anything other than that.

“Hey, hey…I’m ok, don’t freak out, I’m fine.” Daisuke says as he pushes himself up onto violently shaking arms. The position lasts for little over a second before he crashes on top of Iori again. His body goes into a spasm before stopping entirely. Iori almost screams before a gasp signals that Daisuke is not in fact dead.

“I…can’t move…my…body.” Daisuke rasps out through gritted teeth.

Paralysis. A Flymon’s stinger is coated in a poison that causes paralysis.

Iori’s mind goes into maximum panic mode, thinking of every most horrible outcome it possibly can as he slowly tries to get himself out from under Daisuke somehow without accidentally hurting him further. Every little what if. What if they can’t make it to anyone? Can the paralysis kill him? Could it put him into a coma? What can it do? What can Iori do?

He knows nothing about first aid, he’s useless, what if Daisuke needs immediate medical attention and he dies because Iori didn’t know what to do? What if he lives but the damage is permanent? What if-

“Hey…Get that…scary look off your face. It…doesn’t suit you.” Daisuke tells him quietly. A horribly shakey hand makes it about a millimeter in Iori’s direction before losing movement again.

With those flimsy words, Iori manages to calm himself. Ok. He can’t freak out right now. Daisuke needs him. He can’t mess up. Daisuke is counting on him. Everyone who needs Daisuke to come home safe is counting on him. He can’t mess this up.

Where does he…start? You…aren’t supposed to take the object out of the wound but…it’s poisonous, so that’s probably different, right? He should get it out so that there’s as little poison as possible. He needs a bandage…

“Daisuke! Iori!” calls Exveemon from above. Iori snap out of his train of thought and looks up to see…a lot more Flymon than before.

“It’s getting dangerous! You guys need to bolt!” Digmon yells, before disappearing from sight behind three Flymon. Iori doesn’t think about it. He hauls Daisuke up the best he can and starts moving. He makes it about five meters before Daisuke pukes.

It’s not without a little bit of guilt that Iori’s first thought is “Gross.” His friend and leader is in grave danger, this isn’t the time to be worrying about stupid crap like being grossed out.

Though part of him really, really wishes that Daisuke had picked someone a bit bigger to pair up with today.

A buzzing sound that should’ve been getting quieter is suddenly very close and very clear. Iori looks up to see that a Flymon is swooping down directly at them.

With no other option, he pulls Daisuke down onto the ground. They’re barely missed.

Cover, they need to get to cover. Now.

Iori’s eyes fall on the unstable, collapsing building they’ve been struggling with all day. It’s the only thing close enough. He doesn’t have a choice.

He gives Daisuke an apology as he starts dragging him across the ground towards the building. He doesn’t get an answer.

The Flymon comes down again, this time shaky and unstable from a newly melted wing. Thanks, Exveemon. With the added margin of error, Iori is able to get Daisuke onto the ground a bit less painfully. Though it might not even matter, as his leader isn’t responding anymore. The Flymon grazes past them by far too short a distance and falls onto the ground. It immediately starts trying to get up again and Iori does the same, scrambling to his feet and dragging Daisuke the rest of the way into the building.

The entire infrastructure shakes not two seconds after their entrance, just to make sure Iori knows that this isn’t a good idea and they’re not safe at all. He shoves his feeling of impending doom aside and turns his attention back to the injured party.

It’s inaudible, but holding a hand up to Daisuke’s mouth reveals that he is alive and breathing. Iori is immediately hit by a wave of relief.

Wait, no. No. Daisuke is still in danger. This isn’t the time to be feeling relieved. He has to get to work.

Iori moves over to Daisuke’s back, trying and mostly failing to fight back the nausea brought on by the blood staining into his jacket. Bandage…

In movies, Iori vaguely recalls seeing the heroes rip apart shirts or such to make bandages. A minute of desperate tugging at his shirt reveals that he’s not strong enough to pull that off, though. There’s…nothing he can use. What is he supposed to do now…?

Daisuke’s jacket…appears to be absorbing at least something. Would that…work? Maybe, just for a little bit. Right. A little bit. He just needs to make this work for a little bit, yeah.

With this in mind, Iori gets to work. It takes him a few seconds to gather enough courage to grab onto the stinger, but once it’s in his hand, he pulls it out easily. Followed by the jacket, then the shirt. This last movement ends up being far more horrifying than it has any right to be. Oh god, why is his skin so cold? Someone wearing a giant jacket shouldn’t be…this cold. Iori feels another wave of painful nausea wash over him.

He manages to hold his cold, ragdoll leader up long enough to get the jacket tightly around his waist, and immediately runs into another wall of what in the name of god am I supposed to do?

…The others. He should call the others.

He has the d-terminal in his hands within a second and is already typing up the message by the next. They’re in danger. There’s a swarm of Flymon. Daisuke is paralyzed. To Ken, Takeru, Miyako, Hikari.

The message doesn’t send. He retries. It fails again.

Again. And again. Iori feels like ripping his hair out with frustration as he continues trying and failing to send the distress call out.

“I…ori?” Daisuke whispers, so weak that the sound is practically drowned out by Iori’s typing. He makes an attempt to move, but barely manages any more than a twitch. Vomit rises up in his throat, but unable to cough it up, he starts choking on it. This finally gets Iori’s attention, and he gets down to Daisuke’s side again immediately. Daisuke is propped up, and finally manages to cough everything out with the minimal help of Iori hitting on his chest.

“Ah…haha. Sorry…” Daisuke mutters, giving Iori a painfully weak smile.

“I-it’s fine.” Iori says. His apprehension is more apparent than he’d like.

“Nah, not that…I mean. I dragged you out here…’cause I wanted to…be a good leader, and chat with you to be…better friends with you…or something.” Daisuke explains, before stopping to cough up more vomit. “And now I’ve got you…stuck taking care of me. Not exactly…the ‘good leader’ thing to do, huh?”

Iori isn’t quite sure how to answer that. Daisuke had wanted to…chat with him? He wanted to…hear more about Iori? That’s…actually kind of sweet, besides the fact that he’d been completely weird about it.

“Putting aside the fact that you’re a super awkward dork, I think sacrificing yourself to protect your teammate is a perfectly ‘good leader’ move on your part.” Iori eventually says.

“You…make it sound like I’m gonna kick the bucket or something…” Daisuke responds jokingly. Iori can’t really find the humor in any of this. Not knowing what else, he drops Daisuke onto his shoulder and goes back to trying to contact the others.

“Wait...heeeey, who’re you calling an awkward dork?” Daisuke whines softly, apparently only noticing the jab.

“The idiot leader who partnered up with me out of nowhere and tried to get closer to me by asking me about my day like, 13 times instead of just asking me to hang out with him like a normal human being.” Iori says.

“Nooo” Daisuke moans in despair. “My…*cough* reputation as a cool leader is ruined!”

“Nobody ever thought you were cool, dork.” Iori responds, trying to hold back his desire to giggle. Finally, the message sends. Thank god.

“You’re meeeeean.” Daisuke whines, and Iori can’t tell if he’s joking or if the poisoning is making him delirious.

“Alright, well, this meanie needs to go make sure our digimon aren’t dead, so I’m going to put you down, ok?” He says, not actually waiting for an answer and lying Daisuke on his side. Daisuke gives a weak protest to this, but Iori just ignores him and heads across the shaky floor to check outside.

Apparently, the injured Flymon had been waiting in anticipation for him, because it immediately tries to pounce on him the second he steps out the door. Iori lets out a scream as he jumps out of the way. The Flymon crashes into the doorway again, causing the whole frame of the house to shake in a way that makes Iori’s stomach churn. This was a horrible idea.

And now there’s a Flymon between him and Daisuke. God dammit.

Unable to come up with a better plan, he attempts to lure the giant thing after him away from the doorway. He accidentally ends up leading himself right into the heat of the fight. He can’t even see their partners anywhere, but he hears Exveemon’s voice cry out somewhere above him, and sees another Flymon crash into the ground before disintegrating into data.

He tries as hard as he can to not think about it as he darts into a narrow back alley, hoping to loop around back to Daisuke without any pursuers.

He almost gets away with it, and makes the mistake of thinking that he really has when he sees the house come into view. But apparently, the Flymon caught wind of his little strategy, and climbed up onto the roof with the plan of falling down on him. Iori spots it gearing up to jump down in front of the entrance. Nope, not happening.

Iori breaks into a sprint and flings himself into the house. The thing jumps down, and turns around to screech at him, before rearing up and bashing into the house. A chunk of roof hits Iori in the head.

The Flymon starts wailing on the side of the house, and it becomes horrifyingly clear that the ceiling is about to collapse. There’s nothing to hide under, and Iori’s mind starts spinning as he tries to figure out what he’s supposed to do in this situation. He stares up at the ceiling. It’s…caving in closer to where the Flymon. Banking on this, he grabs Daisuke and drags him over to the opposite corner. Daisuke gives a weak sound of suprise, having apparently been too out of it to notice the commotion around him.

“Iori? What’s-” The roof caves in.

Iori feels like he’s gone deaf as he tries to figure out where up and down are. The thunder is gone in a second, replaced by darkness and dust and the sound of Daisuke coughing something up again.

When the dust feels cleared enough for Iori to brave opening his eyes, he finds himself in a tiny, cramped little space with Daisuke drawn up in a ball next to him. The only bit of light comes from a tiny crack in the ceiling. He’s less worried about whether they’ll get out and more about how much Daisuke seems to be hyperventilating.

“Hey, hey calm down. We’re going to be fine. The others are coming right now. They’ll be here soon.” Iori assures him. Through the dust, something smells vaguely like metal.

“I…think…I’m dying.” Daisuke whispers shakily. Iori’s brain comes to a halt.

“…Tell me you’re being dramatic, please.” He says, as his stomach ties itself up into a knotted ball. He can’t breathe.

“That…wasn’t vomit I coughed up…just now.” Daisuke rasps. The metallic scent is suddenly a million times stronger and Iori thinks he might vomit himself.

Outside, he hears Miyako scream.

“They’re here. They’re here, you’re going to be ok. Y-you’ll be fine, ok? Relax, you’ll be fine.” Iori says, trying to comfort himself a bit more than Daisuke.

“Daisuke! Iori!” Ken screams. It’s screechy and frantic, but it’s the most soothing sound in the world at the moment.

“We’re over here!” Iori calls back. The protective bubble surrounding them shakes and caves in closer as Takeru and Ken can be heard above them, sounding breathless as they ask if the two of them are ok.

Iori says yes. Daisuke doesn’t answer.

They leave, and presumably Nefertimon and Pegasusmon start to pull away bits of rubble. Iori and Daisuke’s space gets increasingly smaller as everything loosens and starts sliding towards them. Daisuke’s breathing is nerve-wrackingly shallow, and Iori can’t get him to respond. In spite of himself, Iori starts crying.

Soon enough, the glowing holy binding drops down where Iori can see it and pulls a plank of wood away, illuminating the space significantly. Iori can finally see the sky again, but more importantly he can actually see Daisuke again. As well as the blood spit up over his shirt. He starts crying more.

After another piece is dragged away, Miyako’s face blocks out the sun to come check on them. She turns off to the side and pukes upon seeing Daisuke.

“…W-we’ll be in there soon! Don’t worry Iori, it’s going to be ok!” She assures afterwards. Iori’s not sure how he’s supposed to feel assured by someone who plainly doesn’t even believe herself.

It’s a long, painful wait as the rest of the hole is opened up.

Eventually, the others surround the hole, and Iori lifts Daisuke up to them. Ken and Hikari carry him away as Takeru helps Iori out. He doesn’t get a second to stand on solid ground before his partner pulls him into a suffocatingly tight hug, which then turns into a group hug as Miyako flops onto them, sobbing.

“Hey. You did really great and I’m proud of you, but can you maybe never scare me like that again?” Takeru asks quietly.

“Yeah, ok.” Iori mutters back.

“…Alright then, good! You’re getting a piggyback ride and unlimited access to my snacks stash for the next 24 hours as a reward for being a little hero!” Takeru declares, picking Iori up before he has a chance to protest. Despite everything, Iori bursts into laughter. He hears a click and turns to see Miyako, now smiling, holding up a camera. He doesn’t bother telling her to delete it.

The next day, Iori is at the hospital, with a tub full of Takeru’s favorite chocolate mint ice cream that he’s constantly buying. Daisuke is about as overjoyed about the ice cream as he is about seeing Iori. It’s terrifying to watch him devour it.

Abruptly though, the feast stops, and Daisuke slowly turns his attention back to Iori with a nervous smile on his face.

“Hey I’m…sorry if I scared you.” He mutters. Hit by the sudden whiplash in mood, Iori takes a long time thinking of what he should say. Eventually, he comes up with something good.

“Well I…think there’s a way you could make it up to me.” Iori says with a laugh.

“Oh yeah?” Daisuke says, raising an eyebrow.

“Yeah. Come hang out with me this weekend.” Iori tells him. Daisuke takes a second to process this before bursting into laughter.

“Oh my god that was so cheesy. I think you’re the dorky one, little dude.”

“Nope. Calling me ‘little dude’ just solidified your position.” Iori retorts.

“Oh come on! You let Takeru call you little man!” Daisuke whines indignantly.

“One, only sometimes, and two, Takeru is my best friend, you’re going to need to get some more friendship points for that, mega dork.” Iori claims jokingly.

“Well then I guess I’ll have to come to your house this weekend!” Daisuke says.

“Yup, you sure will.” Iori, trying and failing to hold back a smile.

They push fun at each other for a few more minutes before Iori has to leave, and he goes home thinking about just how much he’s looking forward to hanging out with Daisuke this weekend.

#iori hida #daisuke motomiya #ASDFGHJKL #fanfic #ask memes #replying #kindnessemitsagoldenlight

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michaelandy101-blog · 4 years ago

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What Is the Proper Value for Your Company’s search engine optimisation Providers?

New Post has been published on https://tiptopreview.com/what-is-the-right-price-for-your-agencys-seo-services/

What Is the Proper Value for Your Company’s search engine optimisation Providers?

The Buyer Section Makes a Distinction

Your search engine optimisation company’s DNA will inform how you identify your consumer segments, whether or not based mostly on geographies, dimension, or trade.

Additionally, in response to the vary of companies you provide, you’ll know what purchasers don’t fit your wants – for example, an early-stage startup received’t be search engine optimisation consumer for varied causes (lack of product-market match, lack of finances, no search engine optimisation foundations to start with and many others.).

Moreover, take into consideration the distinction in creating search engine optimisation worth for a startup and a longtime ecommerce firm with just a few technical points.

You should use a strategic device just like the business model canvas to begin mapping your present consumer portfolio and decide who’s your very best consumer profile, answering questions like:

Who’re the shoppers?

The place are they of their development stage?

What are their income streams?

Perhaps you concentrate on a particular vertical like medical search engine optimisation, attorneys search engine optimisation, B2B SaaS and many others. Or maybe you’re considering specializing in online companies solely or enterprise solely.

It’s additionally essential to look into your company’s historical past and analyze your failures in choosing purchasers and initiatives. You’ll bear in mind the unhealthy offers and the misaligned provides – map them and study from them:

How had been your revenue margins for every certainly one of them?

What number of hours did you spend?

What different sources did you utilize?

What was the month-to-month recurring income?

How did all the above have an effect on your earnings?

Realizing who to refuse to safe particular pricing and never destabilize your coverage is simply as vital as figuring out your most well-liked consumer section. That means, you don’t begin negotiating from scratch each time a possible consumer contacts you.

In any case, if it’s not a certified lead, you have to say no.

Articulate the (Perceived) Worth & Forecast It

After determining what purchasers you need to work with (those that make sense from a pricing viewpoint), you want an easy course of to assist them perceive your worth.

Even when your gross margin (the hole between your prices and your potential pricing) and your lead qualification ideas, you have to consider a somewhat unsure enter to make the formulation full – the perceived worth of your company’s companies.

There are lots of doable variables in your certified lead’s head: your model, your referrals, different gamers available in the market, different provides obtained, their historical past with different distributors, and many others.

It’s arduous to take all of them under consideration and it’s a slippery highway, anyway.

It’s extra environment friendly to determine a data-driven course of via a dependable forecasting methodology. It would make a distinction in your positioning and enable you be clear and reliable whereas bypassing the subjectivity inherent to notion.

Translate search engine optimisation Outcomes to Enterprise Outcomes

With a purpose to decide the related inputs that can affect the consumer’s enterprise, you want to take note of:

The non-brand natural visitors which you could straight affect via the search engine optimisation marketing campaign.

Search seasonality and the year-over-year development of your focused key phrases.

The inertial visitors influenced by seasonality solely (as if the web site’s rankings would stand nonetheless).

The efficiency in time in the direction of the visibility enchancment goal, whether or not linear or exponential.

The typical CTR curve for the highest 10 positions, for every mixture of SERP options and system break up, displaying you the precise clicks that handle to achieve your consumer.

The entire above information will can help you estimate outcomes when it comes to clicks and conversions as a substitute of rankings, thus making a more in-depth connection between your proposed search engine optimisation technique and their potential enterprise outcomes.

Furthermore, you’ll be capable of spotlight the distinction in visitors with and with out your proposed search engine optimisation marketing campaign. This implies you’ll additionally be capable of calculate what the equal in PPC seems to be like – an goal quantity to anchor the worth in.

Bringing on this exterior comparability will present the value search engine optimisation brings, giving purchasers an opportunity to analysis and assess the projected final result with a transparent context in thoughts.

Set the Proper Value

With this equal at hand, you’ll not solely create a trustworthy pitch, however you’ll additionally know the perceived worth benchmark. Plus, you’ll be clear from A to Z, an added worth when it comes to consumer relationship constructing.

Let’s say you’ve gotten a consumer whose estimated Google Advertisements Worth is $875,000 for the 12 months forecasted state of affairs. A $10,000 retainer could not sound as far-fetched anymore, contemplating this consumer should be a participant in a extremely aggressive worldwide market and the added conversions you’ll be able to generate aren’t any small feat.

Or perhaps it’s a consumer with a $63,000 estimated Google Advertisements Worth for the 12 months timeframe. Then, a $500-700 retainer appears extra believable – it’s most likely an SMB inside restricted geography, needing assist to boost the bar of their market.

Regardless of the consumer profile you need to serve at your company, with this environment friendly use of search information you’ll be capable of create lifelike enterprise eventualities that assist dictate your pricing with out the painful guesstimations.

As soon as once more, you may make the purpose that search engine optimisation is an funding and the visitors you’re producing for the consumer is there to remain. There’s a cumulative worth that goes past the paid media outcomes in the event you assume long-term.

Plus, for accountability functions, you’ll be able to go one step additional and set your search engine optimisation goals following the forecasting benchmarks, thus having a dependable start line to measure towards.

Month-to-month Retainers. One-Time Tasks. Success Charges.

Contemplating the company enterprise mannequin and that search engine optimisation is a long-term funding, the month-to-month recurring income (MRR) is the pricing that makes probably the most sense.

However the query of one-time initiatives will seem – do you have to or shouldn’t you settle for them?

As with every clarification course of, it will depend on how your outlined pricing coverage integrates exceptions.

Typically, accepting a one-time deal can convey advantages in the event you think about:

Technical audits as a separate service.

Consultancy companies.

search engine optimisation coaching.

It may well additionally work in the event you really feel there’s a definite profit to be gained.

Perhaps it’s a brand new vertical you need to enter, or an experimental venture your company needs to discover. In these circumstances, you’ll be able to agree on a Three-month venture and set the expectations accordingly – no inflexible outcomes, however an experimental setup to pinpoint search engine optimisation potential.

In fact, this could be a beginning technique that results in subsequent steps, ought to the preliminary outcomes be promising.

When evaluating such leads, it’s good to do your preliminary key phrase analysis with the “low-hanging fruit” lens and spot the search engine optimisation alternatives early on. For example, evaluating the focused key phrases’ problem or the extra visitors generated if these key phrases attain the highest Three provides you with a good suggestion about your consumer’s market and your potential ROI.

One other added worth in your search engine optimisation provides is the success charge. You need to do it each time you begin a collaboration. You’ll not solely talk confidence from the get-go, however you’ll add an additional layer of motivation in your staff to ship past the agreed-upon outcomes.

Do We Contemplate Competitors?

The appropriate value is principally influenced by your prices, your revenue margins, and your consumer profile. But, you have to be conscious of your company’s opponents and their pricing insurance policies, in an effort to see in the event that they anchored the perceived worth on a distinct scale.

If you end up on a distinct degree than what the market is accustomed to, your positioning and perceived worth play a serious position within the last choice.

In enterprise principle, this strategy to pricing is named the value-based strategy.

In an HBR article, A Fast Information to Worth-Primarily based Pricing, you’ll discover the next definition:

“Value-based pricing is the method of setting a price by which a company calculates and tries to earn the differentiated worth of its product for a particular customer segment when compared to its competitor.”

Now, with all the inputs at hand, you’ll know learn how to set and clarify the differentiated price of your company.

Abstract

Making a pricing technique that resonates together with your company’s enterprise mannequin could be a robust endeavor.

Analyzing value, value, and perceived worth, you get to consider all of the parts that preserve the stability between your incentive to promote and the consumer’s incentive to purchase:

The fee construction of your company.

The shopper segments that you simply need to cater to.

The shopper profiles to whom you’ll say no.

The perceived worth of your search engine optimisation companies, calculated via a dependable and clear forecasting methodology (making the case for the extra visits and conversions you’ll be able to convey and the way that may look in a PPC marketing campaign by comparability).

SEOmonitor’s forecasting module highlights the Google Advertisements worth equal, letting you see all of the calculations right down to a key phrase’s degree, for the sake of a clear and beneficial pricing choice (which you’ll current to your purchasers).

That is simply one of many many options we’ve developed to assist search engine optimisation companies purchase, handle, and retain extra clients.

Join us in our journey to convey extra transparency to the search engine optimisation trade.

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#General

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stopkingobama · 8 years ago

Text

Inside the Soros-backed "Alt Left" terrorist movement

Click here to deport George Soros! —

Image credit: World Economic Forum Photo by Sebastian DerungsCC by SA 2.0

When writing this piece, a quote kept rattling around in the back of my head. It was the title of the opening chapter of “The Feminine Mystique,” Betty Friedan’s seminal 1963 feminist manifesto: The Problem That Has No Name. Apologies in advance, for appropriating and altering three of the quotes I find most meaningful from that chapter, for my own purposes here:

The problem lay buried, unspoken, for many years in the minds of American liberals…

Even so, most liberals still did not know that this problem was real. But those who had faced it honestly knew that all the media dismissals, the academic justifications, the intellectualized double speak and the manufactured outrage were somehow drowning the problem in unreality…

How can any person see the whole truth within the bounds of one’s own life? How can she believe that voice inside herself, when it denies the conventional, accepted truths by which she has been living? And yet the liberals I have talked to, who are finally listening to that inner voice, seem in some incredible way to be groping through to a truth that has defied the media.”

The Alt-Left Is Real

There is an effort underfoot, in the media and in academia, to declare the Alt-Left a myth, to sweep it back under the rug, to reduce it, in effect, back to being a sickness not spoken of, a problem that has no name. I have had well-meaning friends tell me I should not use the term Alt-Left (or any of its synonyms: Regressive Left, CTRL-Left, SJWism) because they are ‘pejoratives’ used only by the right to attack the left.

In my experience, this is not true. Like canaries in the coal mine, liberals who do not (or no longer) subscribe to the Alt-Left ideology have been sounding the alarm about this creeping plague of repressive groupthink for quite a while now. I believe this attempt to dissuade our use of the term Alt-Left is purposeful (even if not consciously recognized by individuals who are doing it) — for how can we discuss something we cannot refer to by name?

When asked to define Alt-Left, I would describe it as a leftist but illiberal authoritarian ideology rooted in postmodernism and neo-Marxism that supports censorship, condones violence in response to speech, is obsessed with identity politics (much like the Alt-Right), and functions like a secular religion that gives its believers a sense of moral self-worth.

It masquerades as a form of liberalism, but it has more in common with authoritarianism than its true believers can (or want to?) admit. It claims to speak for the marginalized, but it either ignores or attempts to hatefully shame members of marginalized groups who do not subscribe to the ideology.

It is not simply Antifa; it is the ideology that undergirds Antifa, and it has swallowed much of BLM and intersectional third wave feminism. It wishes to swallow the whole of the left, the country, the world. It is rooted in nihilism, resentfulness, and arrogance, though it presents itself as being rooted in equality, justice, and morality. It favors collectivism over individualism, statism over liberty, forced equality of outcome over freedom.

Now…imagine if I had to say that mouthful every time I wished to talk about the Alt-Left because I bought into the notion that to give it a name it would be insulting to fellow liberals. No, to speak of it by name is to out it for what it is and to reduce some of its power.

What’s in a Name?

I can’t tell you how good it felt when I first discovered the work of Dave Rubin, a reasonable liberal, and realized I wasn’t alone in seeing this pernicious belief system for what it really is.

In his video, Rubin offers that it doesn’t matter which term we use, what’s important is that we are allowed to identify the problem. “Whatever name you use for this well-meaning yet painfully misguided set of ideas is largely irrelevant. We needed this phrase to identify this backward ideology which puts groups before people. And sometimes you need a label to get people to understand an idea.”

Reasonable liberal Maajid Nawaz, widely credited with coining the term Regressive Left, also made the following observation last year:

Today’s active, organized left is no longer liberal. A liberal will always prioritize free speech over offense. This behavior, censorship on the organized left, post factual behavior, violence being seen as an option and prioritizing group identity over individual rights. That isn’t liberal.”

Do yourself a favor and watch the whole video:

youtube

Yet another reasonable liberal, Tim Pool, points out that one of the few things Politico gets right about the Alt-Left is that it is a term used by centrist liberals. Pool says, “Yes, I use the term Alt-Left because I want to make sure everybody knows when I say I’m left-leaning, I’m not the kind of person that’s gonna go out and punch somebody in the face or take away their rights because I think mine are more important.”

I’m also a liberal who’s been using the term Alt-Left since I first learned to trust that voice within myself, that voice that denies the conventional, accepted Alt-Left “truths” by which I had been living.

The first time I used it in a public piece of writing was back in May while attempting to articulate my transformation in belief systems in an essay called On Leaving the SJW Cult and Finding Myself. The essay itself was a long time coming. I started to wake up to the creeping authoritarianism and endless internal hypocrisies of the accepted Alt-Left ideology over a year ago. But leaving behind a belief system to which you’ve subscribed for twenty years is a bit like razing your house to the ground and rebuilding from the ground up.

Suddenly you are starting with nothing; everything you thought you knew is suspect. It takes a long time to evaluate each previously held belief and try to discern which ones hold substance. Where before my house had foolishly been built on the shifting sands of postmodernism, this time I want to ensure that, as Dr. Jordan Peterson might say, my house is built on rock.

It makes me think of George Lakoff’s “Don’t Think of an Elephant,” my first introduction to the concept of framing. Lackoff said “Frames are mental structures that shape the way we see the world….Neuroscience tells us that each of the concepts we have — the long-term concepts that structure how we think — is instantiated in the synapses of our brains…If a strongly held frame doesn’t fit the facts, the facts will be ignored and the frame will be kept.”

I devoured this book when a young SJW. It helped me understand how people could vote Republican and why my right-wing Aunt didn’t seem to be swayed to my point of view no matter how many facts I threw at her. What I didn’t think too much about was how this human tendency is just as prevalent on the left as it is on the right.

The Frog and the Pot

I am of the opinion that a lot of well-meaning people have become converts to the Alt-Left ideology without even realizing it. Like the parable of the slow boiling frog, if you had told me at the beginning that one day I’d be expected to perform mental gymnastics in order to defend censorship and violence in response to speech, I would have leaped from the pot.

Instead, I was conditioned to accept as gospel each new tenet of SJWism over a period of twenty years. I believed in the essential goodness of the ideology, and in my own essential goodness in preaching it. When facts about the direction it was taking me made themselves known to me, I rejected them because they did not fit the frame. As the ideology became more noticeably toxic, hypocritical, and authoritarian, so too did the tactics of the true believers. Whether in academia, in the media, at Google, or online — the message is clear: dare to step out of line or express an independent thought, and a mob of zealous SJW zombies will come for you. The fear of losing one’s job, status, friends or personal safety is a strong motivator in forcing reasonable people to remain silent.

I have received a lot of positive feedback about the sentiments expressed in my writing about SJWism from people all over the political spectrum. Most meaningful to me of these might be the messages I get from fellow liberals who are going through the same realization, confusion, and fear.

In addition to the public responses you can read yourself, I have received private messages from people in academia, journalism, and entertainment — many of them liberals — expressing that the piece resonated with them and that they were afraid to share it (or presumably in some cases, to express themselves about anything at all). Excerpts from a handful of these are below:

I honestly was scared to tweet that…that’s how bad things have gotten. I’ve nearly lost work…The world has gone mad.”

“I have definitely taken notice of so many of my friends on the left going to a dark place.”

“It is totally wild. These people are my friends — my community….They’re so angry.”

“…your piece on the social justice cult affected me more than words can say. After being called ‘violent’…because I used a word that someone decided was offensive…I had a bit of an existential crisis about my life and self-worth. Thus, I’ve been thinking about this quite a bit… I remain committed to the idea that privilege exists and it should be combated through both self-reflection and system action. I also am a proud liberal, and that hasn’t lessened. That said, I can’t get behind the individual scapegoating, shouting and intimidation in the name of fighting hate, or defining sharing a point of view as “educating” and “labor.” Ultimately, the world needs more compassion….I’m trying to get there on talking and writing about some of this a little more publicly, but I don’t think I’m quite there yet (also, the fact that I’m on the academic job market makes me a bit hesitant).”

“I saw your posts and they were refreshing. I hate politics but free speech is so important to me….but then I remember I work in TV and Music and I can’t say anything that’s going to make me lose my job. It’s crazy what’s going on right now.”

“Just wanted to let you know I’m one of those people who greatly appreciates your voice on social media, but am too afraid of the thought police to voice my support.”

Actions Speak Louder Than Words

If the Alt-Left doesn’t exist, why are so many liberals and centrists afraid of expressing themselves? Why are so many people self-censoring for their own sense of safety? I was fascinated by the James Damore story, not because I have an opinion on the legality of his dismissal, but because his online stoning and subsequent firing confirmed for me what I already suspected: Google, like most of the tech space, the entertainment space, the academic space and the media space has become a panopticon of Alt-Left groupthink, self-censorship, and fear.

I know this fear intimately. As I started waking up to the illiberal nature of the growing Alt-Left ideology, I held my tongue for a long time out of fear of losing job opportunities, the safety of anonymity, and friends. After all, I built my career, and by proxy a lot of my friendships, from this SJW frame. I don’t judge anyone for subscribing to this ideology out of misplaced idealism and a desire to do good; I did for twenty years. Likewise, I don’t judge anyone who is currently waking up from it but is constrained by fear. As I tell folks who write me about it: I don’t know the exact way to get over it. I suspect it’s different for every person. But trust me when I tell you, it is so liberating on the other side.

For those self-identified liberals who may have been seduced by this belief system, by its propaganda, and are fuming at this piece, thank you for reading this far. I believe a part of you is struggling to wake up if you stuck it out this long. I encourage you to start listening to that small voice inside yourself, the one that tells you when something doesn’t seem quite right or reasonable, no matter if it’s accepted by all of your peers.

Take a look at who was really at the Free Speech Rally in Boston for starters. This, for example, is Shiva Ayyadurai. You may decide you don’t like him because he’s conservative, but to call him a “white supremacist” is a dangerous Alt-Left falsehood.

Take the time to listen to Will Johnson and Joey Gibson, two of the organizers of the Patriot Prayer Rally in SF this past weekend. Their rally was canceled after successful media (and political) attempts to smear them as “white supremacists” caused subsequent threats of violence from the Alt-Left. Ask yourself if it’s not odd that so many so-called liberals are now smearing people of color with whom they don’t agree as “white supremacists” (Charles Barkley is apparently one now too, so Johnson, Gibson, and Ayyadurai are not alone).

Then ask yourself if these people, or these people, or these people, or these people, or these people, or these people, or these people, or these people or these people, or these people, or these people, or these people, or these students, or these students, or these students, or these students are really fighting fascism, or if they are acting as footsoldiers (some witting, some unwitting) for a pro-censorship and pro-violence ideology. These facts may not fit your frame, but — do the actions depicted here reflect your liberal values?

I read a C.S. Lewis quote some time ago, that has stuck with me during my transformation in thought. Perhaps it will stick with you:

“Suppose one reads a story of filthy atrocities in the paper. Then suppose that something turns up suggesting that the story might not be quite true, or not quite so bad as it was made out. Is one’s first feeling, ‘Thank God, even they aren’t quite so bad as that,’ or is it a feeling of disappointment, and even a determination to cling to the first story for the sheer pleasure of thinking your enemies are as bad as possible? If it is the second then it is, I am afraid, the first step in a process which, if followed to the end, will make us into devils. You see, one is beginning to wish that black was a little blacker. If we give that wish its head, later on we shall wish to see grey as black, and then to see white itself as black. Finally we shall insist on seeing everything — God and our friends and ourselves included — as bad, and not be able to stop doing it: we shall be fixed for ever in a universe of pure hatred.”

Keri Smith

Keri is Co-Founder of Whitesmith Entertainment.

This article was originally published on FEE.org. Read the original article.

#George Soros

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americanlibertypac · 8 years ago

Text

Inside the Soros-backed "Alt Left" terrorist movement

Click here to deport George Soros! —

Image credit: World Economic Forum Photo by Sebastian DerungsCC by SA 2.0

The problem lay buried, unspoken, for many years in the minds of American liberals…

The Alt-Left Is Real

What’s in a Name?

I can’t tell you how good it felt when I first discovered the work of Dave Rubin, a reasonable liberal, and realized I wasn’t alone in seeing this pernicious belief system for what it really is.

Reasonable liberal Maajid Nawaz, widely credited with coining the term Regressive Left, also made the following observation last year:

Do yourself a favor and watch the whole video:

youtube

The Frog and the Pot

I honestly was scared to tweet that…that’s how bad things have gotten. I’ve nearly lost work…The world has gone mad.”

“I have definitely taken notice of so many of my friends on the left going to a dark place.”

“It is totally wild. These people are my friends — my community….They’re so angry.”

“Just wanted to let you know I’m one of those people who greatly appreciates your voice on social media, but am too afraid of the thought police to voice my support.”

Actions Speak Louder Than Words

I read a C.S. Lewis quote some time ago, that has stuck with me during my transformation in thought. Perhaps it will stick with you:

Keri Smith

Keri is Co-Founder of Whitesmith Entertainment.

This article was originally published on FEE.org. Read the original article.

#George Soros

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silver-and-ivory · 8 years ago

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A Thing that I find extremely upsetting is fatphobia against men.

A lot of feminists I know are really fatphobic- against men. A lot of anti-colonialists I know are really fatphobic- against Americans. The antiracist (”antiracist”) I know is really fatphobic- against whites. There is a long litany of fatphobic comments and statements, all of which disturbed and upset me.

This really hammers home the point that I’ve been trying - and failing - to articulate for a while now. Even if your subject is privileged on almost every axis, you are still able to hurt them.

But no, I want to go further than this.

Sometimes the way you are hurting them matches up to an axis of oppression - like fatness, or disability.

But other times, the way you are hurting them is simply through being very mean. Or what you are doing is a perfectly ordinary thing to do that happens to interact badly with emotional needs and experiences they have.

Structural harm isn’t always more painful than nonstructural harm. In fact, nonstructural harm has at times hurt me more than structural harm. Each person’s experience of structural and nonstructural harms is different based on their positionality.

I am hurt less emotionally by an incident of racism than I am by, say, one one incident of someone arguing in favor of antifa violence. I suppose you could wrangle my experiences into somehow being a legitimate axis of oppression, but they’re really not.

On average (?), structural harms injure more people. The average example of “an incident of verbal racism” is probably more emotionally harmful than the average of “an incident of someone arguing for antifa violence”. This does not apply to a smaller scale always.

A lot of things that are currently filed under the ”nonstructural hurt” category probably fit societal patterns. These patterns probably are structural in some way. But a lot of them probably don’t!

But it actually doesn’t matter, since you should just avoid being very mean to people even if this is a completely new type of being very mean. And if someone has an apparently arbitrary emotional need, then you might be able to accommodate it or it is a competing access need, in which both of you need to negotiate a solution. (Or maybe they are lying and a fake. I do not know any good procedures for dealing with lying fakes other than setting your own boundaries, which falls under the same idea as competing access needs.) (Or you can take the tactic of just leaving. Which is what I did, but which also is like your least good option.)

This is crucial to a good leftist social justice. Noted trans activist Julia Serano talks about holistic feminism and myriad double standards in contrast to fixed perspectives; I’ll quote her here:

Generally within feminism and queer activism, we have a fixed idea of the system that we are challenging—e.g., the patriarchy, heteronormativity, the gender binary, kyriarchy, and so on. Being fixed models, each of these acknowledges certain forms of sexism and marginalization while overlooking or dismissing others. The forms of sexism and marginalization that are ignored tend to become points of exclusion—for instance, if your concept of “patriarchy” does not include transphobia/cissexism, then your movement will exclude trans people; if your concept of “the gender binary” does not include biphobia/monosexism, then your movement will exclude bisexuals. And so on.

And (if I might take the liberty to argue so) this applies to literally everything. If your concept of “things that hurt people really badly that I shouldn’t do” doesn’t include “being very mean to them in nonstructural ways”, then you will tend to hurt people in “nonstructural ways”.

(A particularly snide commentator might notice that this is in fact systemically biased and harmful, especially since we might not have discovered some marginalizations, and also because you’re flat-out ignoring the harms that you could do to some people just because they’re “nonstructural”. A particularly snide commentator would be right on the money.)

I want to be clear that you don’t have to include nonstructural issues in your Official Activism About Society. But if you apply your activism to your personal life, then yes, you do have to include nonstructural issues in your Personal Activism.

This sounds like a dauntingly immense goal. However, it might be good to remember that, most of the time, “hurting people really badly on accident” can be solved by apologizing to them and having an honest conversation.

I think that sometimes people feel a lot of pressure to be intersectional feminists to the extreme hilt - policing their every word, advocating for others, constantly being on their guard for other people violating these guidelines. I would know, since I felt this pressure.

And I want to be clear that that’s not what I’m asking, and I think that asking people to pour this much of themselves into activism is absurd. No, people are not responsible for policing other people’s actions. You do not have to take on an insane amount of self-questioning, pain, and guilt in order to be kind to others.

I can’t make universal prescriptions, and what is necessary for someone might be awful for someone else. But in general, I would suggest that you make it possible for people to tell their emotions to you, not only by listening to them, but also by having boundaries and a backbone. “Listening” means here “carefully evaluating and thinking about their stated concern”. “Having boundaries and a backbone” means here “paying attention to your own emotional health and needs, and not immediately conceding everything, and also being willing to ask them to be more polite or to rephrase”.

Sometimes it’s not possible for someone to talk to you about their needs without being extremely aggressive. Unless you are in a position of clear official authority over them, I suggest that you pay attention to your own emotional needs and be clear about setting boundaries.

“I don’t feel comfortable when people talk to me loudly and I would prefer it if you could lower your voice” is a reasonable thing to say. “Can we please discuss this later, when both of us are calmer? This is something that I need for my emotional stability” is also a reasonable thing to say. Many other things are reasonable things to say also. Be clear that this is not a value judgement of them - just your own personal emotional need.

(Different rules apply in different situations, and this deals with relatively equal relationships between friends or fellow activists.)

Establishing norms like this, where everyone’s needs are recognized and respected, means that later, when you’re in pain, your needs can be recognized and respected by the same standards.

If you can’t tell someone that they’re hurting you, that you think what they’re doing is kind of mean sometimes, and you are afraid of them a lot - that’s a warning sign. A really, really bad warning sign.

And yet that’s a norm that I’ve heard espoused a lot, from people who really should know better. - Or at least, it’s a norm that predictably results from following some of these suggestions.

As intersectional feminists, we need to recognize the individual positionality of people’s emotional needs and the ways they might be hurt or harmed. In order to create inclusive communities, flexible mindsets whereby myriad oppressions can be recognized and addressed ought to be cultivated.

In order to concretely achieve this, activism in our personal lives must simultaneously broaden its scope and diminish its intensity. In pro-sj communities we must encourage the setting of boundaries, by everyone and for everyone.

#sj #intersectionality #intersectional feminism #intersectional social justice #feminism #I really really want this to be spread around #since I think that it's crucial for people to realize #I also welcome critiques #(thoughtful ones)#julia serano #please reblog this #please #effortpost #fatphobia cw #abuse cw #(not directly but related)#about her #discourse norms #competing access needs

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mrhotmaster · 5 years ago

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Leaf Pods Truly Wireless Earphones Full Review

Leaf Pods Truly Wireless Earphones Full Review: The Rs. 3,999 Apple Airpods Elective

There are costly matches of genuinely remote headphones, and there are reasonable ones. It's protected to state that the more you're willing to pay, the better the exhibition that you can anticipate from a couple of earphones, and that applies to the really remote item fragment. We've evaluated a lot of genuinely remote headphones in the previous couple of months, since we solidly accept that such items are going to assume a noteworthy job later on for individual sound. The most recent item that we've gotten an opportunity to audit in this section is the Leaf Pods, an entirely reasonable pair of genuinely remote headphones by a Delhi-based organization called Leaf Studios. The organization focusses on remote sound items, which are all evaluated intensely and sold both on the web and disconnected (in the Delhi-NCR region). Estimated at Rs. 3,999, the Leaf Pods are, at first look, a great worth driven advertising. We survey these remote headphones to see whether they can be the minimal effort AirPods elective the world needs.

Leaf Pods Plan and Details While extravagant plan and solace can be underestimated with increasingly costly really remote headphones, reasonable alternatives normally offer a misfortune less accommodation and aren't as simple to utilize. All things considered, the Leaf Pods are astonishingly structured and are well-worked for a couple of headphones that costs Rs. 3,999. The headphones are light and look great, and they fitted us easily. The matte dark completion, reduced shape, and flawlessly planned Leaf logo make this among the most inconspicuous and modern looking sets of genuinely remote headphones we've utilized at any cost. We found that we required the ear wings for the best fit; the Leaf Pods weren't verified to our ears very well without the wings, making them hard to wear. Each earbud has a physical catch and a pointer light on it. The catches control (long press), play/stop (single short press), volume (two short, snappy pushes on the left for lessening the volume, two on the privilege for expanding the volume) and skipping tracks (three short goes ahead either side individually).

The business bundle incorporates two sets of ear wings, three sets of ear tips, the charging case, a Micro-USB link to accuse the instance of, and an intriguing USB charger that can charge one of the earbuds at once outside of their case. The single-earbud charger is a fascinating expansion to the bundle, however not one we utilized by any means, since we discovered charging one headphone at an opportunity to be awkward. The charging case is additionally matte dark and has a straightforward top, which felt somewhat feeble to us. The case is charged through a Micro-USB port at the front, and is less extravagant than the greater part of the items we've utilized in the previous couple of months. There are patterns for the headphones, four pointer lights, and a solitary catch that controls charging. There's not all that much here; you have to ensure you press the catch after you've set the headphones for the situation. Whenever squeezed, the marker lights working on this issue demonstrate the present battery level of the case, and the lights on every headphone shine white to demonstrate that they are charging. When charging is finished, the lights turn blue for a moment or something like that, and after that mood killer. Hauling the earbuds out of the case while charging powers them on. On the off chance that the case is off, the headphones won't naturally shut down on being put into it, and will remain on and continue playing. Normally, the majority of this makes the Leaf Pods somewhat more muddled to use than we had sought after, and we needed to guarantee that they were turned off when not being used to evade pointless battery channel. To emphasize, there are no sensors here either, so everything must be controlled physically.

The left earbud of the Leaf Pods is the essential one in the pair which associates with the source gadget, while the correct bud interfaces with the left one. You can in this manner utilize the left bud separately in the event that you pick, yet not the privilege alone. The Leaf Pods bolster the SBC and AAC Bluetooth codecs, and have a recurrence reaction scope of 20-20,000Hz. The headphones are IPX5 evaluated for water opposition, and use Bluetooth 5 for network. We had the option to get around six hours of battery life from the headphones on a full charge, and the charging case had the option to charge the headphones thrice finished, giving us a conventional aggregate of around 24 hours of battery life.

Leaf Pods Execution Our involvement with spending remote headphones has to a great extent been disappointing, yet the Leaf Pods ended up being shockingly useful at the cost. In spite of being a standout amongst the most moderate sets of genuinely remote headphones you can purchase today, the Leaf Pods are noteworthy with regards to sound quality. We tried the headphones with an OnePlus 6T (₹ 27,999) (Review) as the source gadget, tuning in to music spilled from Spotify and YouTube Music just as our very own portion high-goals sound tracks saved money on the gadget. In spite of the fact that the OnePlus 6T does, as a matter of course, utilize the SBC Bluetooth codec, we changed to AAC, which improved sound quality on the Leaf Pods. The sonic mark of the Leaf Pods is expectedly buyer well disposed, intended to draw out the best in most famous classifications — the attention is on the lows and highs, with a marginally milder mid range. In any case, we felt a specific feeling of warmth to the sound, with the lows somewhat increasingly articulated in whatever tracks we tuned in to.

Tuning in to Daft Punk's Voyager, we delighted in the solid pound to the beat, which was as energizing and driven as we could expect at this cost. The punchy lows did sometimes will in general overwhelm the mid-extend, yet this didn't significantly influence sound quality. Other likewise bass-substantial tracks, for example, Panoramica by Hyenah and Pablo Fierro, additionally had the equivalent punchy character. The sound felt as refined as it does on considerably more costly really remote choices, for example, the Skullcandy Push. Mermaid of Salinas by Basement Jaxx drew out a considerable lot of the noteworthy and open nature of the headphones, likewise flaunting their wide soundstage with the delicate tropical instrumentals that structure the base of this quick paced, energizing track. When utilizing the SBC Bluetooth codec, the Leaf Pods did exhibit a great deal of these equivalent attributes, yet to a to some degree lesser degree. The AAC codec — which is presently accessible on a developing rundown of cell phones — made a capable of being heard contrast to sound quality, bringing out more detail, character, and refinement in our music. Tuning in to Michael Jackson's Love Never Felt So Good in high goals, we were additionally dazzled with the capacity of the Leaf Pods to do equity to great quality sound. We additionally discovered that the headphones are equipped for getting very noisy. This, alongside the clamor seclusion offered by the eartips, made for a vivid listening knowledge, and one that we had not anticipated from such a moderate pair of genuinely remote headphones. The Leaf Pods are better than average with regards to voice calls also, helped by their din. Voice calls were clear, bother free, and to a great extent unaffected by a moderate measure of foundation sound.

Decision The Leaf Pods are an incredible pair of really remote headphones, everything considered. Despite the fact that the charging case and power control execution have their issues — the utilization experience is too low-tech notwithstanding for a reasonable pair of genuinely remote headphones — this item resists desires with great structure, better than average sound quality, and amazing battery life.

There are a great deal of choices in this value run in India, yet the Leaf Pods are the main ones that get every one of the nuts and bolts right. Consequently, it's very simple to suggest this pair of genuinely remote headphones to anybody searching for a moderate alternative at the present time. We'd venture to state that the Leaf Pods are conceivably the best pair of really remote headphones you can purchase for not as much as Rs. 5,000 at this moment. Value: Rs. 3,999

Pros

· Great looks

· Agreeable

· Generally excellent battery life

· AAC codec support

· Energizing, punchy, and itemized sound

· Phenomenal incentive for cash

Cons

· Charging case and power controls are entangled

Appraisals (out of 5)

· Configuration/comfort: 3.5

· Sound quality: 3.5

· Battery life: 4.5

· Value For Money: 4.5

· Generally speaking: 4

For Regular & Fastest Tech News and Reviews, Follow TECHNOXMART on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and Subscribe Here Now. By Subscribing You Will Get Our Daily Digest Headlines Every Morning Directly In Your Email Inbox. 【Join Our Whatsapp Group Here】

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#leaf #leaf pods #leaf pods review #leaf pods true wireless #leaf pods true wireless earbuds #leaf p

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tech-battery · 5 years ago

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Fujifilm X-Pro 3: A Personal Review of a Personal Camera

There is no getting away from it: Fujifilm's decision to implement a “hidden LCD” on their brand new Fujifilm X-Pro3 camera was always going make this a divisive camera. The question is: has Fujifilm created such a niche camera as to make it unusable? After using the camera extensively for the past couple of weeks, here is my purely personal take on this very personal camera.

The Same, but Different

As the naming convention would suggest, the X-Pro3 is the third iteration of Fujifilm’s rangefinder style camera. It builds not only on the success of previous versions of the same model, but also upon other models from their X Series line of cameras.

It uses exactly the same 26.1MP APS-C X-Trans 4 sensor found on the Fujifilm X-T3 and Fujifilm X-T30. So much has been written about this sensor that there is no need to repeat it all again here. Suffice to say, the X-Trans sensor has so matured over the years; you just know it will produce simply fabulous photographs.

The hybrid optical/electronic viewfinder found in the Fujifilm X-Pro2 and Fujifilm X100F is back, this time with a few incremental improvements. The X-Pro3 also uses the same menu system as the other cameras in the X-Series range, meaning existing users will immediately feel at home. Even the NP-W126S batteries are exactly the same as used on the X-T3, X-T30, X100F, and so on.

So far, the same. Where this camera really starts to get interesting is where the X-Pro3 differs from its sibling cameras.

That "Hidden" LCD

So, let’s just deal with the elephant in the room, the hidden LCD screen. Instead of the forward-facing, fixed screen of previous versions, the X-Pro3 features a 180-degree, flip-down LCD monitor, which hides away behind the back panel when not in use.

In its place, Fujifilm has implemented a small, forward-facing, sub monitor reminiscent of the top display of the Fujifilm X-H1. By default, the sub monitor displays the current film simulation, a clear nod to the old practice of slipping a piece 35mm film packaging into the back of the camera as a reminder of which film had been loaded. it's a nice touch, but personally, I quickly changed this to display common camera and exposure information, which I found more useful.

I must admit, I had some initial reservations about the hidden LCD. With this camera, Fujifilm clearly want to take away as many distractions as possible, allowing photographers to really engage in the moment. How many photographers this will appeal to remains to be seen, but I have to say that after using the camera for a while, I have really enjoyed the shooting experience it brings.

That experience hasn’t been without a few hiccups though. It definitely took me a while to get used to having to open up the LCD, especially when using the menu system. I am so used to pressing the menu button and looking at the screen that I often did the same with the X-Pro3, only to find myself staring at the little sub monitor instead of a menu system. I did this enough that I kind of wish Fujifilm would just allow the menu to be displayed on the sub monitor. Maybe this is something for a future firmware update.

In use, I actually prefer prefer the way the screen opens on the X-Pro3 compared to the X-T3, especially for shooting down low or from the hip. This is mainly due to the physical design of the two cameras. The viewfinder of the X-T3 sticks out quite a way, partially obscuring the LCD, especially at 90 degrees. The viewfinder of the X-Pro3, on the other hand, is much more flush to the body, allowing the entire screen to be seen.

Where I found the design of the LCD did get in the way was when I mounted the camera onto a tripod. With the flip down nature of the articulation, the tripod restricted the range motion of the screen was able to achieve, limiting it to not much more than 90 degrees, which was a bit annoying.

Truth be told, though: I didn’t find the lack of a forward-facing LCD to be an issue, and within a day or two, I wasn’t missing the screen at all.

Design

There is no doubt about it: the X-Pro3 is a beautiful camera. Reminiscent of the rangefinder cameras of old, its minimalist design lends itself to the nostalgic experience of shooting with an X-Series camera.

In the hand, the X-Pro3 feels very well balanced, helped by a slightly redesigned grip to improve the overall handling. This is very much enhanced by the tactile nature of the exposure dials, which I love, although I recognize many other photographers dislike.

Beauty aside, this is a really tough camera. With a body made of magnesium and top and bottom plates made of titanium, this camera will likely laugh in the face of any amount of abuse you care to throw at it. Anyone wanting absolute maximum protection can opt for the optional Duratect coating, which comes with a slight price bump but makes the X-Pro3 practically impossible to scratch. Add to that the obligatory weather-sealing you would expect of any 2019 camera, and you have a camera that nobody is going to worry much about being thrown in and out of a camera bag on a rainy day.

The X-Pro3 brings with it quite a few changes to the button layout of previous versions. Most noticeably, the D-pad has been removed. It's a decision which seems to have annoyed quite a few users. Realistically though, this is the direction Fujifilm has been moving in for a while in their pursuit of the cleanest possible design. Given that every button on the camera can now be customized to suit individual user preference — even the Q menu button is no longer locked to the Q menu — I didn't find the loss of the D-pad to be an issue.

Talking of the Q menu, this has now been updated to not only allow the ability to customize what each menu tile does, but also how many tiles to display. I really like this. I always found the fixed 12 tile Q menu layout to be a little too crowded and usually set most of the tiles to be empty. Now, I can chose to display as few as four and as many as 16 items on the Q menu. The Q Menu can also be set against either the standard black background or a new transparent background, which allows adjustments to be viewed in real-time. In use, I found these tweaks to make the menu much more useful.

Shooting Experience

The X-Pro3 introduces a number of new or improved processing options. In-camera HDR, the ability to tweak clarity, and to adjust highlights and shadows using a single tone curve setting are all welcome additions. A new “Classic Neg” color profile joins the existing lineup of film simulations that are so popular with Fujifilm shooters. I’m sure it won’t take long for Classic Neg to make its way to other X Series cameras via a firmware update, but for now, the X-Pro3 is the only camera to feature this new simulation.

Autofocusing has always been excellent with Fujifilm cameras, and the X-Pro3 is no different. Face and eye detection work well, and improved phase detection allows focusing in light conditions as low as -6 EV. That's crazy dark. I wasn't able to fully test the veracity of that claim, but certainly, I was able to autofocus in conditions that the X-Pro2 couldn't have handled. Overall though, I found autofocus ability of X-Pro3 wasn’t quite up to that of the X-T3, but in practice, the difference between the two was marginal.

When it comes to video, it’s probably fair to say this is an area where the performance of the X-Pro3 is less than stellar. Sure, the X-Pro3 can shoot around 15 minutes worth of 4K, 30p, 200 Mbps video, but let’s be honest, nobody is going to want to shoot anything but b-roll with this camera, and even thenn only at a push. No, this is a stills camera through and through, and it is shooting stills photography where this camera comes alive.

As cliché as it sounds, some cameras just make you want to go out and shoot more, and the X-Pro3 is exactly one of those cameras. While I absolutely love my X-T3, the shooting experience with the X-Pro3 just seemed to feel that much more connected.

Conclusions

So, where does that leave us? We know the X-Pro3 was always going to be a fabulous camera. The X-Series ecosystem has matured so much over the years, and Fujifilm knows how to build a camera, so the quality of this camera was never in doubt. The real question is: who it is being aimed at?

Fujifilm claims their design intention with the hidden LCD was to encourage a more traditional style of shooting, allowing photographers to stay in the moment rather than constantly chimping their images after each shot. Personally, I am not sure how much I buy that explanation. Experienced photographers, especially the street and documentary photographers this camera is largely aimed at, will likely not be in the habit of excessively chimping. And less experienced photographers will probably not be buying this camera in the first place. So, it seems to be a solution to a problem that didn’t really exist.

Rather, I believe the choice to implement the hidden LCD was made to achieve one clear objective: to differentiate the X-Pro3 from all the other cameras on the market. It should be remembered that when the X-Pro range first launched back in 2012, the mirrorless market was decidedly sparse. Today, that market has become very crowded indeed, with every manufacturer offering at least one serious mirrorless system.

With three flagship products within their own lineup, not to mention all the other cameras on offer from other manufacturers, Fujifilm had to take some bold steps if they want the X-Pro range to establish (and maintain) its own personality. With this update, they have done exactly that, squarely positioning this as the camera for the photography purists.

Personally, I love the design choices Fujifilm has made with this X-Pro3. As a travel and documentary photographer, I fall exactly within the target audience of this camera. I almost never use a touchscreen, I rarely frame my photographs using an LCD, and I much prefer the discrete look and feel of this camera over some of the flashier alternatives. So, for me, the minimalist design and the backward-facing LCD are very attractive features. I totally understand that many other photographers will totally disagree with me, and that’s ok.

The X-Pro3 isn’t a camera for everyone; it is now very much a niche camera. Those it appeals to will absolutely love it, and for those who want a different experience, Fujifilm (and all the other camera manufacturers) has plenty of other options. As photographers, we should all welcome having so much choice.

What I Like:

Beautifully designed, well-constructed body.

Hybrid OVF/EVF allowing flexibility of both systems.

The hidden LCD.

High level of button customization.

What I Didn’t Like:

Limited articulation of the LCD when used with a tripod.

Battery life could be improved.

Lack of menu display on the sub monitor.

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lorrainecparker · 8 years ago

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10 tips to get your client to use Review and Approval services

Editors have had access to online video Review and Approval services for many years now but I find it’s still difficult to get some clients to use them. This baffles me in a day and age when there are so many alternatives to Vimeo/YouTube/Dropbox links which offer a number of significant advantages (we get into those below).

I began using a review and approval services many years ago with the unfortunately named First Cut Pro (later rebranded as Remark). It was a revelation for several reasons. First and foremost it let reviewers make a comment right in the viewing interface tagged to a specific place in the clip without moving between a viewing application and typing application. Second, it allowed for a much better review experience than what was at the time a kludgy private FTP solution my employer was using. Thirdly I was able to import those comments right into the NLE. What a novel idea! When I wrote the article Review and Approval Options for Video Pros I had no idea there were as many out there as there are.

I had a client who would respond to Frame.io links with hour long conference calls where they share their screen, play the video and comment

— Chris Colton (@Chris_Colton) September 20, 2017

Here we are some 4 + years later and review and approval services are a dime a dozen. They are affordable and easy to access. But I sometimes still find it’s hard to get clients to use them. I think there’s a variety of reasons but often those reasons aren’t articulated. Instead you might send over a R&A link and you get back an email with vaguely time-stamped notes. Some clients take to it and never look back. Some try it out but regress back to their old ways. Some just never give it a try.

I use an introductory email template with screenshots to start. Then, based on their usage, I'll gently introduce: • Versioning • The app

— Isaac J. Terronez (@ijterronez) September 21, 2017

Part of this comes down to education so I’ve written up a few key points about the advantages of a review and approval service.

1. It helps get your cut done faster and better.

When notes on a cut come back to the editor it’s important that the editor digest them in totality and in context of the program itself. This is best done in a single space where the editor can see the comments, in-order and in-line with the video, jump around, play before and after and not have to toggle between applications. A good Review and Approval environment does just that and helps the editor get a grasp on the notes both faster and more importantly better.

These tools allow a lot of different options for the editor when it comes time to review the comments and keep them straight. First in the interface. Second back in the editing application.

2. It places your comment onto a specific frame.

There’s nothing more frustrating to an editor getting notes than to have something vague like “at 43 seconds in don’t use blue” only to go to 43 seconds into the edit and there be only red. But the shot before is blue, and the shot after is blue. Which is the correct blue shot to lose? One second of video is made up of 24 – 30 frames so that’s a lot of margin for error and when the commentor isn’t diligent noting exactly where they are making a comment and then properly and accurately noting that for the editor. It can lead to incorrect time stamps. That slows down the edit and makes the process of making proper changes sometimes improper.

This commentor has embraced the Review and Approval system. Each of those markers represents a comment in this 23 minute video. Can you imagine how difficult it would be parsing those in an email?

3. Comments can be more easily kept in context when the edit timing changes.

If part of the notes on an edit is something like “remove the second sound bite” then addressing that note just made the edit shorter. Everything after that comment is no longer going to match review notes that are a minute:second time counter from zero. Yes there are ways to address this by figuring out an offset or doing changes from back to front but a proper Review and Approval system keeps the comments in context all the time since it can put markers into a timeline that can shift with an edit, leading to a faster and more accurate revision.

This comment might not seem like much but if the changes are done from first to last cutting something like an entire question might remove 20 + seconds so every comment after that is off if the reviewer is making their notes off of a counter that is counting up.

4. Comments can import directly to the NLE.

Piggybacking on number 3, most all Review and Approval services allow you to import comments directly into your NLE as markers. This removes yet another barrier between the cut and the revision as the comments are there in the NLE and those comments can most likely move with timing changes if you work the NLE correctly. This can lead to a faster and more accurate revision.

but then breaking apart that cmpnd clip attaches each comment to the point in time it live sso the @Frame_io comment stays in “sync.” 2/2 pic.twitter.com/I1ZIUwuqhf

— Scott Simmons (@editblog) August 15, 2017

5. There are playback tools to help you the commentor/reviewer.

Using a Review and Approval system can make life easier for the client and commentor as there are tools to facilitate better commenting. A dedicated playback interface where you can type comments below or next to the playback window is first and foremost. Many services will pause playback when you type, resuming when you hit return. There might be a dedicated jump back 5 seconds button that is very handy. Many will let you draw right on the frame to notate a specific issue.

Something as simple as this jump back 5 seconds button can make for a much more pleasant viewing experience if your client is making a lot of notes.

6. No jumping between a browser, email and/or note taking application.

I mentioned this above but the fact you don’t have to toggle between a player and a note taking app is huge. One app to rule them all means less chance for error, no stopping and starting playback over and over, no saving a document when you’re done and no emailing back to the editor. It’s all right there.

Do you really like toggling between a browser or playback application and an email application over and over and over?

7. There might be a mobile app you can watch on.

So many producers and directors are always on mobile today that a lot of cut reviews are done via a mobile phone. A mobile app like the one Frame.io provides offers up an optimized mobile viewing environment that takes the experience out of a mobile browser and makes it more pleasant for everyone involved.

The free Frame.io iOS app is a great way to interact with the service in a native mobile app. Clients like it too if you can get them to install it.

8. Vimeo, Dropbox and YouTube don’t care about your user experience.

As nice as these services are most are optimized for playback and not taking notes and not interacting with the video. Yes some of them allow comments to be made (like Vimeo’s video review) but their inline comments are all an after the fact add-on and not a well integrated experience. A good Review and Approval service excels at this as that’s what there were designed for.

Comments don’t always have to be bad our about changes. A Review and Approval system can encourage compliments which, to an editor inundated with changes, goes a long way toward making you feel like you’ve at least done something good.

9. You can still download the file to your hard drive.

Most every Review and Approval service I’ve used will allow the H.264 (or other if you choose) file to be downloaded to the viewer’s hard drive. This is important for many producers and directors as they want to watch the program over and over and over and over again. If this happens then you might have trouble getting those comments in the Review and Approval interface but this download option can usually be toggled off.

Most all R&A services let you download the viewing file to your hard drive but some, like Frame.io, can be used to store and/or send a master file like ProRes.

10. You’re stuck in your old ways … change for the better.

I know change can be hard especially if you’ve “always done it this way” but as technology changes so should our behaviors as these changes can often be for the better. And as I said before properly using a good Review and Approval service can lead to a faster and more accurate revision.

What do the Review and Approval services say?

I also reached out to a few of the Review and Approval services that I use and asked them a few questions about the matter. Their responses are below in the order that I received a reply.

What advice do you have for editors to pass along to clients in order to get them to properly use a Review and Approval service and the tools it has to offer?

One common compliant is that stuttering playback is blamed on the Review and Approval service (the new factor in this equation) so they ask to go back to Vimeo/YT/Dropbox. How does your playback engine work in comparison to these services?

With so many people using mobile phones for viewing these days and advice on using a phone with your service?

I got some very detailed replies so I’ve pasted them below, in their entirety with their permission. It’s good to get some insight into these services from their creators. Most every Review and Approval service I’ve come across offers some kind of free trial so you and your clients can try them out. If you have your own Review and Approval service and would like to address these questions yourself then let me know and I’ll update this article.

Kollaborate https://www.kollaborate.tv

It’s a tricky problem because it’s important to ensure smooth playback, but at the same time the purpose of a review site is to review video content so you cannot degrade quality too much. Sites like YouTube will degrade all the way down to 240p but that’s pretty useless for our audience.

We’ve been doing this since 2013 and the problem we had in the early days is that we assumed the biggest factor affecting playback experience would be bandwidth, so we aggressively optimized to keep file sizes low. Interestingly, that wasn’t the limiting factor at all – it was CPU performance. If you make the file sizes too small, it taxes the user’s processor significantly more and this can cause stuttering. So over the years we managed to find the best mix of video quality, file size and decoding performance and now I can’t remember the last time we had a playback performance complaint.

You can also control how an H.264 file buffers directly from the encoder, so how the files are encoded is a significant factor in how they play back. We’ve spent a lot of time tuning this. I recently was stuck with a very poor 3G connection for a couple of weeks yet could still play back files on Kollaborate smoothly, with only a slightly longer initial loading delay.

But here are some general guidelines for how to improve playback performance that should apply to all services, not just ours:

Check your browser – some are much better optimized at video playback than others. Google Chrome is highly optimized. Safari used to be extremely poor at video playback but Apple has made improvements in the last year or two. If you’re using an old version of Safari you should definitely update it or use Chrome instead.

If you’re on a poor connection, try pausing the video to let it buffer before trying to play it back.

Video services use a CDN that places the video geographically close to the user so it loads faster. But in a lot of cases that only happens on demand, so the first time they view the video it may not be in the cache. If playback performance is really bad they can try reloading the page after a few minutes, which will allow it to load from the cache where it should be faster.

Most video services offer you the ability to switch between different playback quality (on Kollaborate you click the HD button to toggle between SD and HD).

Look for other factors that may be slowing things down – is a cloud backup service like Backblaze running in the background? Are there other devices on your network using data? Is an app on your computer using lots of CPU or RAM? Do you have security software that may be interfering?

Simple tip: try relaunching your browser or restarting your computer. It can solve a surprising number of issues.

Finally, if you’re having problems with a specific site, try other sites to see if the problem happens there too. I occasionally have an issue where Firefox stops playing video on every website, which a relaunch usually fixes.

Here are some more Kollaborate-specific tips:

Kollaborate makes the original file available instantly and doesn’t force you to wait around for it to be converted. So if you upload a video that closely matches our specs (720p MP4, ~3 Mbps bitrate, fast start enabled) you can play it back with good performance immediately without waiting.

Our CinePlay video player (http://www.digitalrebellion.com/cineplay) allows you to cache files, which downloads the file and plays it back locally on your system but you can still comment and interact as if it was located in the cloud.

Worst case scenario: you can download the video, make comments in CinePlay or your NLE and then import those comments into Kollaborate.

I don’t have any specific advice for mobile because I have not found a significant performance difference between mobile and desktop. In fact, I often tether my phone’s connection to my laptop and use it with Kollaborate on the desktop with no problems.

I think the biggest barrier though is human nature – people are resistant to new things, especially if they appear complex at first glance. I don’t really know how to solve this. But with Kollaborate it’s assumed that the people setting up the project are more tech-savvy than the clients, so we aim our more complex features towards those users and try to keep them away from clients.

Frame.io https://frame.io

What advice do you have for editors to pass along to clients in order to get them to properly use a Review and Approval service and the tools it has to offer?

I think it all comes down to communication. Improving the way you work requires an investment. It’s important to communicate to your clients that you’re going to be using a tool that will actually make their lives easier. I think the fundamental misconception that clients have is that you’re sending them something that makes their life harder. A simple note like “Hey, we’re going to send you review links on a service we use called Frame.io. It will allow you to leave feedback more easily than email and we’ve found it to be incredibly helpful in speeding up the iteration cycles. If you have a minute I can show you how it works on a screen share but it should be pretty self explanatory. Our previous clients have told us they really love it”. That simple note could dramatically increase the adoption. Then it’s up to us to make sure when a client lands on a Frame.io review link that we’re making it simple enough for them to get started. We show a 60 second explainer video the first time a review link is accessed. We’ve found these to be incredibly helpful. I think lastly, it’s important to not treat our clients as special snowflakes that can’t be bothered to try something new. You’ll have a better relationship with your client when you drive the process and not the other way around. In the end, they will thank you for having a great process. The creative service you provide is not the only value a clients perceives when working with you. How smoothly they reached the end goal is actually a major consideration when choosing to work with you a second time.

The truth is, most of the Review and Approval services are significantly smaller companies than larger brands like Dropbox or Youtube. The engineering efforts to get smooth reliable playback in a variety of network conditions are complex. We’ve made a huge investment on improving our playback experience and we’re able to do that because we have the scale and resources necessary to dedicate the engineering time.

At Frame.io, we’ve invested most of our own video infrastructure. We’ve built our own transcoding stack where we can optimize the compression for the specific content you’ve uploaded. We’ve built our own javascript player so we have more control over how buffering is handled and how much is buffered ahead of the current frame. We’re currently investing in rebuilding our player to support MPEG DASH and HLS which are the two dominant streaming standards in use by YouTube, Netflix, etc. DASH and HLS essentially let us monitor your bandwidth and serve up the highest quality video possible without buffering. If you’ve ever started a Netflix show, you’ve probably realized the quality starts out really low and then increases as it buffers a higher quality stream in the background. This is MPEG DASH at work. Given that we’ve invested in building all of our video infrastructure, we have tight control over the user experience.

There’s also a third area where Frame.io has made an investment, which is the infrastructure side. A huge factor in your playback experience is how close you are to the server which is serving that video content. So that means if you’re in the UK and trying to access a video stored in the US, you’re going to have a fairly poor experience, likely with a lot of buffering. Typically this problem is solved with something called a content distribution network. A content distribution network caches copies of your content on servers all over the world so when you hit play in the UK, it’s serving the video from a server nearest you (the edge). This works when 1 million people in the UK want to watch the latest viral video on YouTube. YouTube recognizes there are a lot of requests coming from the UK so they cache the content to the edge and then everyone is happy. However, this does not work in a Review and Approve context because it’s not 1 Million people in the UK trying to watch your cut. It’s 1 person. And it needs to playback flawlessly for that 1 person the very first time. There’s no time to cache it to a server near her. So Frame.io uses a totally different infrastructure to serve this 1:1 relationship and it costs us a lot of money. The investment is worth it because we have customers all over the world who tell us what a great upload and playback experience they have on Frame.io.

With so many people using mobile phones for viewing these days and advice on using a phone with your service?

Frame.io has a native iPhone App which actually won an Apple Design Award last year. The main goal with the iOS App was to keep the iteration cycles going, even if you’re not at your desk. Your client can get a notification there is a new cut ready and immediately start watching/leaving notes, right from her phone. Leaving timecode notes is hard enough on the desktop but doing it on a mobile device would just be pure hell. And let’s face it, our clients are increasingly away from their desks and this leads to “feedback paralysis”. They’d rather just wait till they are back at their desk or can talk to you in person vs juggling two screens on mobile and writing notes in an email. Obviously this slows down the iteration cycles which could have a business impact or a creative impact. I know my best creative work always happen when I have tight and timely feedback.

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