#it’s such non applicable skill to have but (literally) is great to pull out at any party

[bottomvalerius]

honestly it is fun if Donna’s just really good at making balloon animals—no, they didn’t discover this skill in a freaky clown scene, why would you ask them that

[departmentofsnideremarks]

Yeah, I think you're way off the mark here, both in terms of an understanding what the Luddite movement was created to do/achieve and the frustrations that this image is meant to convey.

First and foremost, the Luddite movement was not simply people going "Unga bunga, machines bad!" as it is often considered today. It wasn't a movement to "only produce fabric by hand." When the Luddite movement formed, Britain had just come out of the Napoleonic wars and the War of 1812 with the US, which had left their economy in shambles, with high unemployment and inflation. The factory owners were using the machines allowed them to avoid negotiating with skilled tradespeople and hire unskilled, low-wage workers and literal children instead. This undermined the authority and circumvented the agreements that they already had with trade unions. The actual demands of the Luddites were to work with the trade unions, stop using child labor, and increase the minimum wage. It wasn't a regressive effort against the technology itself, but a violent result of being abused by the economy and those with capital who were putting profit above all else. We can see that paralleled today in the demands of the Acting/Writer's unions that went on strike in recent years.

If you would like some criticisms of "AI", I'd be happy to talk about them, since a singular, shareable image isn't really meant to be 95 theses nailed to OpenAI's door. The biggest issue, at least to me, is that the neural network is a black box. You cannot ask it why it made a certain decision or how it came to a conclusion without extensive testing and that can disguise biases. Let's talk about its application in the medical field. Let's say we want to use AI to diagnose dermatological issues (see Han, et al 2018). This would be fantastic as early detection of skin cancers or other diagnoses could lead to greatly improved outcomes and their study showed quiet a lot of promise! Wouldn't that be great? No need to go to the doctor; just take a picture of that spot on your arm, load it into an app, and have your diagnosis/treatment options in seconds. However, further examination of their algorithm showed that simply changing the orientation, brightness, or magnification of the same image led to entirely different diagnoses. One of the examples listed showed that one image was diagnosed, with 99% confidence, as a harmless spot on the skin. And then, simply by magnifying the exact same image, the AI came up with a new diagnosis: skin cancer, 97% confidence. That is not an algorithm that's anywhere near ready for public consumption. The secondary study also showed that they didn't include much of the metadata (such as patient history, age, gender, anatomical location, etc.) that would go into actually making a diagnosis. Not to mention that there have been other studies that show that other, non-diagnostic characteristics in an image were being used by the algorithm for diagnosis, such as the presence of rulers or ink marks. And then we have to take into consideration that different races manifest in different ways, so an algorithm trained on data from Edinburgh may not have a sufficient data pool to diagnose someone who isn't of a certain skin tone. We need look no further for an example of bias in training data than China, who trained a facial recognition program to identify "criminals". However, their training data was largely mugshots of people who had already been arrested. Imagine if that same training was done in the US. People are eager to assume that AI is unbiased, but if it's pulling its data from biased sources, the outcome is going to carry that bias.

The problem, then, is that people are too ready and willing to trust AI as some sort of impartial arbiter of truth, despite very real and sometimes unknowable (without extensive research and testing) biases in its training data. This eagerness to trust AI particularly comes from people with money and power who have a vested interest in seeing their investment into AI pay off. Companies that have invested a great deal into AI are pushing it onto their consumers regardless of whether the consumers want to use it with very little ability to opt out. We're seeing infamous images of Google's AI recommending that people add glue to their pizza to keep toppings from sliding off or that people should regularly consume small rocks for their mineral content. Microsoft's Copilot was launched prematurely, struggled to process large amounts of data, and incorporated the user's data into it's neural network, creating questions of confidentiality and data security. People aren't asking for it. People don't want it. Companies and those who create these algorithms want people to use it so that they can make their money back.

Theranos was a medical diagnostic fraud to the tune of $700 million, do you really think it would be beyond the expectations of a company to take something like the dermatology algorithm, package it into an app, and sell it to insurance companies and healthcare providers to replace real dermatologists? What happens then? Can you hold an algorithm accountable for a misdiagnosis the way you can for a doctor? If someone's cancer advances to a fatal degree because the picture they used was too dark or if they underwent extensive and invasive treatment because they took a picture of their mole in the mirror rather than directly, what recourse do they have? We see this lack of accountability again and again and again across the spectrum of learning models. If your Waymo taxi runs over somebody, who's accountable? The company? The developers of the driving algorithm? If someone circumvents the laughable protections that keep image generators from recreating copyrighted images, who is held responsible? If someone gets fired because they wrote a professional document using ChatGPT and the language model had a "hallucination" which presented entirely incorrect information, do they have grounds to sue OpenAI? If someone injures themselves using an exercise regimen created for them by one of these AIs, do they have any recourse? If a video-making AI is asked to create a Sci-Fi film and the protagonist looks identical to Mark Hamill or a horror film staring Not Jamie Lee Curtis, who becomes responsible for using their likeness without permission? Perhaps you could say that these are a failing of our legal system, not of the AI itself, but I'd argue it's the companies who are exploiting the grey areas in our legal system for profit, regardless of the detriment it may be having to our society as a whole, which is what this image is really meant to argue against.

I'm not saying that there is no value in "AI" now or in the future. But the technology, as it exists now, is not ready for the widespread commercial applications that are being forced onto the public by those who create them. The trust that's placed in it is misguided at best and could be outright dangerous at worst.

[incarnation-of-victory]

Bakugou’s Fear of Mediocrity and Human Weakness

It’s interesting to see Bakugou’s inner thought process here as he prepares to fight this villain (from the 1st chapter of the spin-off tie-in manga to the Heroes: Rising movie, “Deku & Bakugo: Rising”), especially knowing what we know now about Bakugou and his fears about him not actually being as great as he thinks he is.

For one, the line about “[m]ost of the top heroes show[ing] signs of greatness even as students” echoes the line Bakugou says in the very first chapter of the manga proper:

Both monologues get across similar messages, but I think the one from the spin-off is a little more revealing/blatant, especially with the line “I’m not just a normal middle schooler. I’ll show them I’m different and rise to the top.” This line from the spin-off suggests that Bakugou doesn’t quite think he’s unique from the rest of his peers yet, and that he’s desperate to use this chance to finally prove himself to everybody. Meanwhile, the line from the manga makes him seem more confident in himself, that he’s sure that he’ll be the only one to succeed, while simultaneously disparaging the rest of his classmates. Of course, his words contradict his actions here: Bakugou isn’t as confident in this outcome as he seems, since he goes out of his way to discourage Deku from applying to U.A. because he actually feels threatened by him. Bakugou being the only one to get into U.A. would be a way of him validating his belief (read: hope) that he’s the best after all. Additionally, Bakugou goes on about being the first and only hero/U.A. student originating from Aldera, which, in theory, would be an easy accomplishment, since the middle school is supposedly devoid of any promising hero applicants. This achievement of him being the only one to succeed would also make him seem all the more impressive and exceptional—a unique case, so to speak. His goal should be guaranteed... if it wasn’t for Deku.

So both scenes carry the same idea, but Bakugou is a little more honest to himself in his head (makes sense, naturally). There’s this kind of sad, desperate urgency I get from the spin-off that I don’t get from the manga. It’s just a weird train of thought to have when hunting down a villain, that he’s using this opportunity to prove to everyone (and himself) he’s the great prodigy they made him out to be his whole life. Even though he still needs to reassure himself that he’s not ordinary and is actually “different.”

This whole idea of Bakugou wanting to rise above everyone else stems from this fear of mediocrity. It calls to mind how the literal translation of “Quirk” from Japanese means “Individuality” (the word “quirk” itself also implies some unique trait). This means that your Quirk is essentially what makes you, you. It's what makes you stand out among everyone else. Because Bakugou does place a lot of faith in his Quirk getting him to the top, distinguishing him as someone special. 

The interesting thing is that Bakugou initially wasn’t really aware that he was just more naturally adept—sans Quirk—than other kids his age growing up. The way he comes off in his childhood flashbacks in the manga make him seem more naive, not really understanding why everyone else just can’t as easily grasp the skills he masters so easily:

(I would argue that even current Bakugou doesn’t notice his other good qualities/talents as much, which is probably why it’s so easy for him to twist them into something bad or forget them entirely, and instead fixate solely on his Quirk. This is especially important when it comes to Heroism as a career, and his need to take more things than just raw power into consideration).

The theory that he’s just “better than everyone else” doesn’t fully cement until he gets his Quirk. With this, Bakugou seems to think of himself as someone almost godly or invincible, as someone almost more than just... human. Which is why I think he’s so averse to any suggestion that he has any weaknesses—it’s a reminder that he’s indeed human after all. He’s mortal and fallible and need help sometimes. And being human brings him back down to the level of everyone else, but perhaps even further beneath them, which is exemplified in the infamous creek scene where Deku tries to help Bakugou. And again when Deku tries to save him from the sludge villain. And repeated other instances throughout their lives. Because if Deku, someone who doesn’t even have a Quirk or anything that makes him special, is somehow is able to do something for him, then what does that make Bakugou? If Quirkless Deku is somehow better than Quirk-holder Bakugou, then Bakugou’s power—which is something he built his self-esteem around—essentially means nothing in comparison. Bakugou ends up being just like everyone else, but worse: someone so weak that they need help from a “worthless Deku.”

Another important thing to note is that part of why Bakugou neglects to think of himself as human is because most people never really treated him as such. For one, everybody almost exclusively praised him for his superficial or material strengths that it gave him the idea that he was perfect and had no flaws. In turn, he carries himself this way around others, thus perpetuating how everybody else sees him: as someone who never needs help. I could write a whole other essay on its own of how many times people in the BNHA universe assume that Bakugou doesn’t need help, or that he’s stronger than he actually is. The time the heroes left him to fend off the sludge villain is but one example. Even when Bakugou fell off that log as a child, his other friends disregarded the possibility that he might be hurt, because he’s “strong.” In terms of emotional need, nobody, not even his parents, suspected that Bakugou was still suffering emotionally from the Kamino incident, and that he wasn’t handling it as well as everyone thought he was (Talk about a poker face! For someone so outwardly expressive, it’s stunning to see how well he hides his suffering. The greatest hint we get is him being unusually quiet). All Might even points out his failure to recognize this. As much as Bakugou is responsible for his own actions, others have failed him repeatedly too.

I know I said that “people failing to recognize when Bakugou needs help” could be another post on its own, but I want to point out one scene (or rather two) in particular that showcase how much Bakugou really does need emotional and physical help sometimes.

For one, when All Might and the rescue operation break into the LoV’s hideout to retrieve Bakugou, All Might’s first priority is to verbally comfort/reassure him, as per Nana Shimura’s adage to not only save a person’s life, but their heart/spirit as well. He gives the whole “We are here” line and tells Bakugou he’s okay...

Though he outwardly denies it, the truth of the matter is, Bakugou really was in trouble and needed their help, and he truly was scared. This is clear enough by his initial reaction, which he quickly covers up with a defensive response immediately afterwards. I can’t say for sure whether All Might’s words made him feel much better, but I assume it must have given him at least a little peace of mind.

A similar thing happens when Deku and company pull Bakugou out of the following fight. Again, Bakugou is initially grateful to the team because he really did need their assistance to escape the battle grounds. Though he goes back to grumbling and arguing with Iida immediately after, and denies their part in saving him after they’ve fully escaped, his grateful/relieved, perhaps lightly disapproving smile when grabbing Kirishima’s hand reveals his true feelings.

On a somewhat different note, when Bakugou is having issues, people address them in a poor and/or dehumanizing manner: see the way he was chained and muzzled at the end of the Sports Festival. And not to get too much into the Mitsuki discourse, but the way she tries to curb her son’s behavior does not seem to help either.

Because Bakugou is so ingrained in this mentality that he’s supposed to be invulnerable, he isn’t able to interpret basic human concern properly when it’s shown to him, notably when it’s one of the few people who ever treated him like a human being: Deku. Not only that, but Deku knew Bakugou before he got his Quirk, and admired him for his other traits as well, such as his confidence and determination. But Deku never blindly idolized his friend either: he notes several times (to other people) Bakugou’s bad qualities too. The distinction here is that Deku never paints Bakugou as a lesser or bad person for it. Instead, he accepts who Bakugou is as a whole, while still acknowledging him as someone worth looking up to.

An investment in being the best is fine and all on its own, but not when it starts to infest other aspects of your life, especially socially. Bakugou’s antisocial tendencies are probably mostly due to him just deeming activities that don’t allow him to prove himself as a waste of time, but I also feel that some of it is due to his fear of appearing as a normal human being—as someone who sometimes just wants to spend time with his friends purely for the sake of enjoying their company. As someone who needs other people. I think this also kind of applies to his inability to be emotionally vulnerable around others, as well as to accept acts of kindness and affection. It’s what makes him human. This is why Bakugou only comes to Deku when he needs to open up—because Deku is one of the few people who knows him for everything he is, who recognizes him as a flawed individual. And again, Deku never looks down on him for anything (despite Bakugou’s former belief). Not even when Bakugou cries.

All this really comes down to is Bakugou accepting other people’s help and relying more on collaboration than just taking on enemies solo. I think having him participate in other, non-combative activities, such as playing in a band in the School Festival Arc, is a good way to ease him into this methodology. Also, since it seems to be a trend at this point, it’d be nice to see him be hugged at least once without making a face. Though I do think it’s at least good that people are being more attentive to his emotional needs, whether it be in praising him (when it’s warranted), or comforting him (even if he thinks he doesn’t need it). Like yeah, I highly doubt Bakugou will ever be much of a touchy-feely person.  But at the very least, he needs to know that other people care about him as a human being, and that this concern doesn’t make him any less of a talented, powerful individual.

[shaunasshipman]

i can be your hero

pairing: eddie kaspbrak/richie tozier (reddie) word count: 2,205 summary: It’s funny. I looked at this essay question for nearly week, and gave up on it twice. I wouldn’t apply, because this was too hard. How was supposed to pick a hero? How could I pick somebody good enough for some big college board? I wouldn’t lie, and pick some great politician or people who did amazing things. Because yes, they’re amazing and wonderful and should be looked up to. But are they my personal hero? No. If I was going to answer this, I needed to tell the truth. And there’s only one person who could really be MY hero. ITFandomWeek2019: Day seven | Accidental Confession

read on ao3.

Eddie Kaspbrak let himself into Richie’s room, as he always did. In his life, the Tozier household had become a second home for Eddie. A safe place to go when things got just a little too intense with his mother, a happy place to be on days when Eddie just wants to be free from his thoughts for awhile. There was something so comforting about Richie’s house- and his bedroom in particular- that sometimes Eddie would come here even when Richie wasn’t home.

Like days like this, when Richie’s shift at the video store wouldn’t be over for at least another half hour, but he knew that Richie wouldn’t be surprised to find Eddie hanging around in his bedroom.

Something caught Eddie’s attention on Richie’s usually empty desk. A huge envelope, with several pieces of paper surrounding it. Eddie moved over and quickly saw that it was nothing less than an acceptance package from UCLA. Eddie frowned. Richie hadn’t mentioned anything about applying to colleges, in fact, he’d seemed admittedly against so much as talking about it. Whenever it came up, Richie would immediately deflect the conversation until the other Losers eventually stopped bringing it up when he was around.

Yet here was not only proof that Richie had applied to schools, but that he’d gotten accepted to at least one. Eddie reached for the papers, going through and wondering if it could give any sort of answer to why his best friend had been hiding this from him.

Seemingly hidden under all the dorming information, was a printed out paper. Eddie grabbed it and pulled it to his face. It became clear almost immediately that it was Richie’s application essay and Eddie quickly scanned the beginning.

It’s funny. I looked at this essay question for nearly week, and gave up on it twice. I wouldn’t apply, because this was too hard. How was supposed to pick a hero? How could I pick somebody good enough for some big college board? I wouldn’t lie, and pick some great politician or people who did amazing things. Because yes, they’re amazing and wonderful and should be looked up to. But are they my personal hero? No. If I was going to answer this, I needed to tell the truth. And there’s only one person who could really be MY hero.

My hero is Eddie Kaspbrak. My best friend. The strongest person I’ve ever met. And he’ll never know it, but he’s my whole world.

Eddie made an awkward, hhhhh noise from the back of his throat and starred blankly at the paper. He should put it away, he knew he should. He should put everything back exactly where he found it, and walk away. Pretend he never saw it. Wait for Richie to tell him about UCLA.

However, Eddie found himself falling into the sit in front of Richie’s desk while still holding his essay.

I know what this probably sounds like. This is another boo boo gay kid, crying let me into your school! I’m gay! That isn’t what this is. Maybe a little, because I am gay, and you should let me into your school, but there’s more to this than that.

Eddie shook his head, dwelling on how Richie still seemed to such a Trashmouth even in a college application. Then the whole “I’m gay” comment hit Eddie and the hair on his arms all stood on end. Richie was gay? Richie talked about tits and vagina and sex so much, that Eddie had never even considered that possibility. Richie Tozier was straight, hella straight. One of the straightest people he’d ever known. And yet... was this some big game? A lie to get himself into school? A school Eddie didn’t even know that Richie wanted to go to? Did Eddie know Richie at all?

It might be a little weird, actually, to tell you all this stuff. It’s not like you know Eddie, or that any of this would mean anything to you. Another application of hundreds on your desk, to be tossed aside and forgotten about. So, I guess I’'m going to keep talking. That’s a skill of mine. These are things I need to say, and things I need somebody to hear, even if it’s somebody who won’t care and will probably never think of me, or this, again. Perfect captive audience.

As stated above, Eddie Kaspbrak is the strongest person I know. If even half of the things Eddie went through happened to me, I don’t doubt I would’ve curled up into a tiny ball and never moved again for the rest of my life. Eddie, thought, he just keeps going. Doesn’t even give it a second thought, just lets it happen. When Eddie was just a kid, his dad died. He had cancer and I’m not sure he remembers it very well. He doesn’t talk about it much.

Eddie remembered everything. He’d only been five years old, and most of his earliest memories center around his father in hospital beds. He sees pictures of a healthy Frank, his non-dying father, and he has no memories of that man. His mother hadn’t kept any memoirs of his father during his dying days, so Eddie has no connection to the man who was to be his father in pictures, and the father in all his memories.

I know it hurts him, though. How could it not? He just takes it all. He doesn’t even have a parent to turn to, because Eddie’s mother isn’t good. She’s, frankly, quite crazy. She was so afraid of something happening to Eddie that she convinced him he had all these diseases growing up. Asthma, and a bunch of other stuff. Had him half convinced that he could die just from getting dirty. Had him talking placebo medicines every day to control him. Had him thinking that he was weak and sickly.

Maybe she believed it, too. After Eddie told me about the fake medicine- and I’ll always remember that day, I wanted to physically fight his mother because I’d never seen my Eddie upset- I looked up stuff like that. I didn’t understand much, but there’s some sort of psychological disorder that makes somebody all attention seeking and make up all these symptoms for their kids. I never told Eddie about them, because I didn’t want to make him feel any worse about it, or forgive her and let her keep doing what she was doing. I was proud of him for standing up for him, and I still am. I always will be.

Eddie blinked hard, eyes suddenly burning with tears. He lowered the letter for a second and took a deep breath. He could still turn around it, put the essay back on Richie’s desk and pretend that he didn’t ever see it. Besides Richie being gay, Eddie hadn’t read anything he didn’t already know. Richie thought his mother was crazy? Eddie knew that. That Richie was proud of him for standing up to his mother? Richie had made sure that Eddie knew that.

And yet.

It’s not even just that Eddie is strong. He’s so strong, but he somehow manages to be so, so caring. He’s not afraid to call me out on being dumb ass when I’m clearly being a dumb ass, but he’s still always there to pick my dumb ass up when I do something dumb. He’s always been there for me, even after he told me not to do something. When we were 13, I was messing around near the edge of the cliff of quarry. We used to jump off it all the time, it wasn’t too far a drop. As long as you were expecting a drop, which I wasn’t. Eddie, and all my other friends, had told him a hundred times to get away from the edge because I’d fall. I didn’t listen to them and then I fell in. It wasn’t too far a drop, as I said, but Eddie still jumped off after me to make sure he could stop from me drowning. He cursed me, then mocked me, but I never forgot that he was the only person who jumped after me. So maybe Eddie Kaspbrak is also my literal hero.

Eddie smiled, remembering that day clearly. The irrational fear that had been struck through him as he watched Richie trip backwards over the edge. He’d, of course, known that Richie had jumped off that cliff more times that Eddie would ever be able to count, but all he could think about was Richie hitting the water unprepared. Of all the terrible things that could happen to Richie in that water if he wasn’t ready to swim. So Eddie hadn’t given it a second of thought, just run and jumped after him.

Of course, Richie had been absolutely fine. Richie would swim. Eddie cursed him and smacked at him, but he’d done it all with a huge smile of relief all over his face.

And you know what, board admission lady. Or board admission man... board admission person. I’ve already stuck myself so far out there, that I might as well just waxed poetically, since I already have. Not only is Eddie Kaspbrak the strongest person I’ve ever met, and the most caring person I’ve ever met, but he’s also the most beautiful person I’ve ever known or ever will know. With the prettiest green eyes, and the softest brown hair, and those ridiculous freckles, I could fall in love with him every time I looked at him until the day I die.

There were no longer tears filling up his eyes, but tears that had leaked down his face and were dripping off his chin and nose. He used the hand that wasn’t clutching the essay like a vice grip, to wipe the wet frantically away.

And if I’m being honest, which I promised that I would be, Eddie is my hero because he has dreams. He has goals. He inspires me to have dreams and goals. I never wanted to go to college, never thought I’d do anything with my life, until Eddie started talking about going away. Talked about going to school, starting a life, getting away from his shit hand. It made me realize that life is more than just being born in a shitty town, and living and dying like your parents. That no matter where we started, or who they try to make us think we have to be, that we still get to choose who we are. Where we go. What we do. Who we love.

Eddie Kaspbrak is my hero, because Eddie Kaspbrak inspires me to live everyday.

“Hey Eds!” Richie cheered as he clicked the door shut behind him, tossing his backpack that Eddie knew from experience was packed up with his sweaty work uniform. Eddie startled, tossing the paper onto the desk but he watched Richie’s face  as he caught sight of the movement.

Richie paled immediately and he seemed to sway on the spot. Eddie wiped the tears away at faster rate, but found that more just kept replacing them. A broken noise came from the back of Richie’s throat before he cleared it. “Eddie. I’m so sorry.”

Eddie gaped at him, shaking his head. “What the hell are you sorry for? Richie-” Eddie stood up, grabbing Richie’s hands and trying to pull him closer but Richie wouldn’t budge. “Richie nobody has ever said those sort of things about me, I can’t believe... Richie, would you look at me?”

“You were never supposed to know.” Richie said through a strained voice. Eddie could see the emotion all over Richie’s face, the walls forcibly ripped down. He could see the Richie who wrote those words, so perfectly mixed with the Richie that he’d always known that it made Eddie a little lightheaded. “I shouldn’t have even written that shit. I never wanted to ruin our friendship, okay, I just... I needed to get it out and seemed perfect and-”

Eddie pressed a hand over Richie’s mouth and knew that his own face was breaking. “Richard. Shut the fuck up.” Eddie said slowly, trying not to break down into tears. “You don’t get to apologize for the most amazing thing that I’ve even seen or read or...” Eddie closed his eyes and swallowed hard. “I’ve never had somebody see me like that.”

Eddie’s hand moved away from Richie’s mouth to cup his cheek. Eddie stepped forward so their chests are pressed mostly together and he looks up at him. “Everybody should see you that way,” Richie said, voice raw and rough. “I see you like that always.”

Eddie closed the distance between them and pressed their lips together. His hands slid into Richie’s messy (admittedly kind of sweaty) curls and their lips moved together for several moments before Richie pulled back with a pained gasp. “Eddie... is this just because the essay?” Richie asked, eyes closed tightly. “Because I literally cannot-”

Eddie kissed him softly once more, stroking Richie’s jaw with his thumb. “It gave me the nerve.” Eddie admitted bashfully. “But the feelings have always been there. For you.”

Richie let out a little sob before sealing their lips together again.

[hellzyeahwebwielingessays]

The Not-So-Amazing Mary Jane Part 22: MJ is seriously overestimating her abilities

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Master Post

Over the last few instalments I’ve examined MJ’s skills, her experiences in crises and how she stacks up next to Spider-Man.

With all this context established we can now examine how well MJ can cope with the situation present in AMJ #1.

As a little refresher let me remind you that as of AMJ #1, Mary Jane found herself on a film set where a lot (the implication is most) of the crewmembers are former felons or current villains, all of who were under the employ of Mysterio. 

She decided to go along with this on Mysterio’s word that he just wanted to fulfil his ambition of a biopic and give his crew a chance to do something good. 

When Peter (who was totally in the dark about all this) proposed the hypothetical scenario of MJ being surrounded by villains she casually joked about the time she defeated a villain with a baseball bat. Peter dropped the subject after that.

The implication here is that Mary Jane can look after herself as evidenced by this (and other) prior experiences.

But now we’ve thoroughly gone over everything MJ is capable of and those experiences in question is she really in a position to look after her here?

If we are talking about just defending herself personally (with no assistance) then the answer would be…’probably not’.

And if we are talking about defending her self and  others (which the comics never brought up at all) then the answer would be…’highly unlikely’.

In either case I can’t definitely say yes or no. And the reason for is because there are so many different variables that could come into play here. But that cuts right to the heart of the problem.

Between

Mysterio’s abilities and tech

The unknown number of enhanced people on the crew (whose powers are not specified)*

The unknown ratio of felons/villains/enhanced crew members to non-powered/non-criminal crew members

Filming at different locations, which we should presume they are doing as it’d be standard practice

However many journalists, onlookers and other civilians may or may not be observing the film crew

Whatever Beck and his crew might do in their downtime or whenever MJ isn’t around

there is any number of scenarios that can play out.

How much MJ can protect herself, others and private property (which could be someone’s livelihood) would depend heavily  upon exactly what each scenario is.

This isn’t as simple as just Mysterio attacking her or the whole film crew turning on her. Even if it was there is any number of ways those scenarios could play out.

Beck could slip into her room whilst she is sleeping.

He could be talking calmly then abruptly pull a knife on her.

He could go off set somewhere then remotely attack her using his X-Men robots (those same ones who gave Spider-Man trouble in ASM Annual #1).

He could have the villains of the crew hold the non-powered members hostage.

One of them could simply go rogue and hold up a bank.

Several of them could get mad and go on a rampage whilst civilians are watching the filming.

And in each of those scenarios Mary Jane could resolve the crises with 0 damage done to life or property.

She might use and alarm system to alert her to Beck’s entry, then surprise him with a baseball bat or gun.

She could observe his body language closely then use basic self-defence skills to block the knife and disarm him.

She could stumble across Beck’s holographic tech and activate it, baffling the robots enough to escape.

She could use her psychology skills to talk the crewmembers into releasing the hostages.

She could simply knock out the crewmember holding up the bank because they happen to not posses enhanced strength or endurance

She could rally the endangered civilians with a megaphone towards a trailer then hit the gas to drive them to safety

But what if…

She didn’t have an alarm system or a baseball bat?

Beck was such a good actor he never gave away any ‘tells’ that MJ could detect so she was not ready for his attack?

She didn’t stumble across his tech or didn’t know how to make it work or if the robots weren’t affected by it anyway?

She misread the people with the hostages or if her negotiations failed in some way?

The bank robber had invulnerability and super speed?

There were too many civilians running in too many different directions for MJ to help all of them? Or if there was no megaphone, no trailer no gas or the villains were capable of catching up with them anyway?

All of the villains turn on MJ at once whilst she is surrounded?

Beck slips her a drug as he did Daredevil in ‘Guardian Devil’

Sends one of his robots to Aunt Anna’s home to kill her

He wires his suit for super strength as he did in ‘Guardian Devil'

He uses his illusion powers to disorientate MJ and beat her up, as he did to the super strong Spider-Man in their very first battle

Tricks her into thinking someone has died to make her emotionally vulnerable and potentially exploit information from her?

Fakes his death and escapes again

Switches himself out for a robot duplicate and goes on to sexually violate more teenaged girls and con the more seniors out of their life savings

Beck has superior psychology skills to Mary Jane and successfully gaslights her, causing emotional trauma

Uses his holograms to cause a riot that results in people being injured

Beck or any of the villains under his employ slip away during or after the filming and kill someone somehow…like perhaps some kid’s uncle...

Do you see how there are a billion things that can go wrong here?

Sure, there are always things that can go wrong in any potentially dangerous scenario. You could die of any number of things just in your house.

The difference here though is the chances are exponentially higher. A large group of criminals with physically dangerous powers evading the law often surrounded by groups of other people and being given access to a lot of money?

That’s a recipe for disaster even if nothing gets cooked!

There are discussions to be had about falsely accused people, those whose punishments were out of proportion for their crimes and the existence of criminal actions that should be legalized. But putting all that aside, there is a reason when criminals are assessed for parole.

There is a reason they are still required to check in with an official body after their release.

There is a reason sex criminals like paedophiles are put on a register.

There is even a reason many job applications at least ask  if someone has a criminal record.

Whilst none of them guarantee anything, they all (in theory) minimize  the risk of those criminals committing further crimes against people or property.

Let’s drop the idea of criminals altogether and use some analogies.

A surgeon cannot possibly guarantee the success of any operation. Even the most minimal of procedures carry some level of risk to the health of the patient. It’s impossible to mitigate that risk, but it is possible to prepare thoroughly to minimize it.

A fire fighter can’t be 100% certain of what might happen if they enter a burning building, though they still have to assess the danger as much as possible and then evaluate whether the risks to themselves, their colleagues or civilians is worth undertaking.

A soldier in a warzone does both. In theory a soldier should be as prepared as possible for an ensuing mission, but there is no guarantee of success. Their actions before and during a mission can depend upon their assessments of the situation as it unfolds.  Sadly many people (soldiers and civilians on any side) have died unnecessarily due to poor preparation or bad decisions made without enough assessments of the consequences.

Now how about Spider-Man? Isn’t it true that he can never know exactly what will happen in any given crises he gets involved in? No he doesn’t, but the skills and experiences we talked about in parts 19-21 greatly minimize the risks and give him a far greater ability to potentially influence the outcome of a crisis.

What I am saying is that in Amazing Mary Jane MJ has not properly assessed the potential risks, she literally cannot assess them because there are far too many variables in play (or that could be in play, this is Mysterio after all). This combined with the limitations of her own skills means that she can’t o much to minimize the potential risks. Her abilities to influence the potential outcomes of any of the crises that might arise are not that great.

She is the equivalent of:

A surgeon just walking into the operating theatre with very little training, having a very general idea of what problem the patient has and not having familiarized themselves with the specifics of that patient.

A fire-fighter rushing into a burning building unaware of what type of fire they are dealing with, where it is, if there is anyone still inside and where they might be

A soldier going into battle unarmed and with just the basic knowledge of whom the opposing army is. Not how many men they have, not what they are armed with, not where they are likely to be. They are just relying on the fact they’ve survived other battles and defeated other opponents to see them through on whatever might arise now.

In short Mary Jane is being unforgivably stupid and irresponsible. Which is to say she is acting extremely out of character!

The only thing she DOES know is that she doesn’t know everything going on. She can’t possibly know if there is an ulterior motive, what Beck or the crew may or may not do. She can’t possibly be sure at all  that she, her loved ones, innocent people or their livelihoods would be safe. But she can be sure that if they are going to be safe it would rely upon a Hell of a lot of things playing in her favour.

Basically MJ is banking on luck. She is banking upon being aware and present for a crises as it unfolds, that there will be resources available for her to use to resolve it, that she would even be aware  of those resources and how to use them and that the crises would even be within her abilities to resolve in the first place. And most of all she’s banking on a criminals with a long history of deceit and repugnant behaviour to not  be lying to her.

Those are ridiculously bad odds. They’d be bad odds even if it was Spider-Man in her place. He might possibly be safe from Beck trying to kill him as he sleeps, but he can’t be everywhere at once. He can’t necessarily crowd control every villain on set. He can’t keep tabs on all of them all the time.

The only practical things Spidey could do would be calling the authorities, the Avengers or use his powers (those things MJ totally lacks) to simply physically capture Beck and every criminal around. But allowing them to continue as they were on the belief that they definitely wouldn’t step out of line?

He would never and could never do that. And MJ would be the same because, as I established in part 9, MJ’s sense of morality and justice is very similar to (and very influenced by) Peter’s.

But just to put this aspect of my analysis to bed completely, next time I will more thoroughly examine whether Mary Jane really could beat Mysterio herself or not.

*Because Beck is using his own technology on the set and doesn’t seem to be using anyone else’s super powers in a particularly creative way one would imagine that the crew’s powers amount to just looking different and/or having enhanced strength to move stuff around.

Previous Part

Next Part

Master Post

[lamentofmoons]

House Stygian Is Recruiting!

House Stygian is recruiting! The winds of war have quieted, taking our kindred and innocence. But the enemy took its price, and we have been changed, born anew and tempered in the aftermath.  We have new leadership in Stygian and with her comes metamorphosis. We rise again with heads held high; looking toward a new future with courage and guidance as well as a remembrance of what was. So if you are one of the few courageous and brave individuals, just snarling at the gates for MORE, than take your place among the heroes of Stygian! 

Our Mission: To better the great kingdom of Stormwind, and the Alliance as a whole. To do that, we raise our banner to humanitarian, liberation, and philanthropic efforts across Azeroth. We carry out military expeditions to combat, and defeat antagonistic groups that threaten those less fortunate.

Application: (This is less of an app right now as we are revitalizing, but a way for us to reach out to you in game!) tinyurl.com/Appstygian

------

House Stygian is a community active, heavy RP guild with a lawful neutral alignment. We are a naval and expeditionary themed organization focusing on the action/adventure side of DM storylines. We do transporting of supplies, storyline events, combat training nights, scientific/lore events, and other social events; such as drinking games, brawl nights, and community events.

Gaining a good reputation as an RP guild can be hard. Even harder to reforge a guild that has long since sat in hiatus. As such, House Stygian strives to adhere to global standard of a drama-free environment. We cater to every type of schedule, and form events that will match anyone who seeks to join. We are particular of who we allow to enter our ranks, as we pursue a literate, and maturity standard for our members. This may seem restrictive, but if you can type coherently, and act like a logical adult (when you need to), you will fit in perfectly.

-----

The Ranks of House Stygian

Every recruit requires an In-Character interview in order to gain an In-Character rank. The ranks are as follows:

The Liege Lady (GM): Lady Dilleana Ravenshadow, newly appointed head of House Stygian and Lady of the reclaimed lands of Nightgarden located in Feralas.

The Cardinal (Co-GMs): Lord Rentonas Varrin. Above the divisions’ direct councilors, he acts as the direct delegate of the Lady, using the combined strength of the divisions to assure they are all utilized to their full potential.

High Council (Senior Officers): Division Leaders, and primary commanders of operations within the house.

Talonguard (Junior Officers, and commanders in the field):  Stygian’s most trusted. Tried and tested through the Trial of the Raven to be promoted from the general divisions into the officer core. They are pulled from those that excel in any of the four primary divisions listed below.

Court of Roses (Medical Division):  For characters with healing capabilities; divided into combat medicine, and clinical medicine. For combat and non-combat individuals.

The Lady’s Fang (Specialist Division): Operations; intel of House Stygian, led by the Operative Captain. They are the task force that detaches to complete reconnaissance and detailed operations. The tip of the spear.

Ironclaw Cohort (Ground Forces Division): Specialized in ground tactics, the battalion operates as a well-oiled machine to lay siege upon enemy forces, and to out-maneuver their opponents in the field.

Vale Scholar (Scholar/Caster Division): The researchers, skilled incanters, and general highbrows of the organization. These gifted individuals are the lifeblood of House Stygian’s research and development core. Between offering lore lessons, studying artifacts and items of interest recovered from operations, and managing supernatural affairs as a contact between the house and the Kirin Tor, they often are the most busied of our order.

Contingent (Enlisted):  Unproven combatants, or skilled workers; handmaidens, blacksmiths, chefs of House Stygian. Those who enlist in Stygian begin as a Contingent, until they’ve proven themselves in the field to be placed among the proven Stygians in their aspired division.

Ancillary (OOC rank): Alternate characters, characters awaiting interviews, friends of the guild, or characters ICly dismissed from House Stygian pending return (for story, or otherwise).

[maddmuses]

Caroline Kent // Kara-El

(fc: Cassidy Mackenzie)

Age: 17+ (Verse-Dependent)

Aliases: Supergirl, Miss Krypton, Carolina Kent

Date of Birth: April 1st

Species: Alien Hybrid

Affiliations: The Kent Family, The House of El, The Teen Titans (Blair Grayson's Team)(Alexandros Prince's Team), The Titans (Blair Grayson's Team)(During and after age 19)

Universe-Inspiration: Takes inspiration primarily from comics, but several other key media sources for Teen Titans and Young Justice. Has been adjusted to accommodate more depthful plotting w/ pick-your-poison-please, M’gann version available upon request.

Appearance Caroline in her truest form has no natural shape that's discernible between martian and kryptonian, due to the unusual nature of their biologies, she didn't come with much of a natural form, as her birthing was not only atypical due to parentage, but even atypical for a martian. Through this, her mother guided her molecules to a baseline form that appeared human when she was birthed, and it's largely this form that Caroline bases her favorite form on. Caroline, in her primary human appearance, has red hair and fair skin with a large dusting of freckles overing her face and body. The shape of her face is on the square side, distinctly resembling her fathers, while she tends to shift the color of her eyes between hazel, green, and blue, depending on her mood.

When shifting her appearance to a more “Miss Martian” style, Caroline will often intentionally emulate her mother's previous appearance, so as to make sure her Supergirl and Miss Martian looks aren't as easily linked. As a rule, Caroline will maintain her appearance's height to have a difference between identities. Caroline is usually roughly 5'3”, Miss Martian is 5'6”, while Supergirl is 5'9”, so as to further make her appearances more distinct.

Caroline often prefers blouses and jeans, bull will generally key her designs to appear fashionable, and to correlate with her mood.

FC to reference, though her Superfamily suit tends to resemble more recent takes of Kara’s, particularly it being more built and designed to function as a supersuit, rather than a costume that identifies her as Supergirl.

Personality Growing up in the Kent family, with a double dose of sunshine from her mother, M'gann, and godmother, Kara, Caroline is a cheerful young woman with a deep caring for others. It was this sense of caring that initially drew Caroline to the life of a superhero, literally finding herself unable to be inactive when others are in danger. She has little interest in stopping crime specifically, instead intervening in order to make sure that people aren't hurt, or to protect the world itself from destruction. Though, to this point, Caroline is even reluctant to hurt those she fights, holding back just enough of her strength that she hits her adversaries with roughly the amount of force that they, themselves, can put out.

Wildly protective of those she cares about, Caroline has been known to lose her temper when people have put her friends and family in harm's way, to the point that she forgets to hold herself back. This results in a frankly, brutal punishment on the part of Caroline, as she will quickly and efficiently do away with any threat to her loved ones. These people that she cares about often include her teammates, but it's proven time and again that Caroline easily develops emotional attachments to others.

Taking readily after her godmother, people have compared Caroline to a chipper, friendly, and more than a bit goofy, puppy. Often joking and pulling pranks on her friends, she rarely takes things seriously in her Kent persona. This will often come back, though, as Caroline will let this non-serious nature bleed into her personalities as Miss Martian and Supergirl as well, forgetting in the heat of the moment. This can cause her to occasionally blunder, in mostly very minor ways, though sometimes it can be end up downright catastrophic when Caroline decides to be too easygoing. That's not accounting for the actual physical clumsiness that Caroline is also known for, despite her superhuman speed and reflexes.

The above is more or less applicable, just know that Caroline is peak madlad, like her dad.

Biography The daughter of Kon-El and M'gann M'orzz, Caroline is the eldest of the pair's children, as well as the twin sister of Carter Kent, also known as Kar-El. Growing up in Smallville Kansas, on the Kent family farm, Caroline was exposed to her family's alien nature almost as soon as she was able to form sentences. Her and Carter's superhuman abilities were inborn on the martian side, and were apparent almost immediately, making it difficult for them to socialize with other children who were outside of their parent's circle. Though, on the other hand, from a very early age Caroline and Carter befriended many children of other superhumans, often having play-dates with the children of Aquaman and Mera.

As a toddler Caroline developed a fairly sophisticated control of her body, taught by her mother, in preparation for the family's first visit to Mars. While on the red planet, as a member of the white martian caste, even though her mother was allied with their “uncle” J'onn J'onzz, Caroline still experience a sense of isolation from the other martians, even with those who were roughly her emotional maturity, but still several decades her chronological senior. And while her and Carter would visit their mother's homeworld several more times over the years, they would continue to never feel particularly at home each time.

Growing up in Smallville was a much easier thing for Caroline, being with her grandparents, uncle, “aunt” Kara, and great-grandparents, she always was surrounded with a strong sense of community and family. This would only grow as Caroline's younger brothers would come into the scene, giving Caroline a group of people that she cared about intensely, more than anyone or anything else in the world, even herself.

During her early adolescence, Caroline would ask her parents if she could become the next Supergirl, or rather seek out permission to fight crime as her aunt Kara's sidekick. Tentatively, this was approved, under the condition that Caroline not actively seek out global-level threats that she isn't directly helping Kara with, or other Justice League type of situations or missions. As there were no Titans, or Teen Titans, at the moment, there was little purpose in trying to find other teen heroes for her to work in a team with. However, over the first few years of her heroing, Caroline would meet and make friends with the current Robin, Blair Grayson.

During the summer of her fourteenth year, and third year as Supergirl, now sometimes Miss Martian, Caroline would become a founding member of the a new Teen Titans team, compromised of herself, Robin, Wonderboy, and several new teen heroes. Not initially permitted to live in Titan's Tower, due to parental concerns, Caroline would often simply use her room in the tower to sneak boys and girls in to make out. As the Summer drew on, and the Titans got more missions under their belt, Caroline would eventually be permitted to live in Titan's Tower full-time, so long as an adult chaperon remained at the tower full-time as well.

Pretty much the same, although martian stuff would need to be removed.

Abilities and Skills -Alien-Level Intelligence: Due to the more advanced nature of both parent societies raising the average bar of learning for members of the kryptonian and martian cultures, Caroline is actually considered highly intelligent by Earthling standards, being able to pass a GED test at the age of fourteen, with a rather relaxed home-based education from her grandfather that's designed to supplement her public schooling. -Creativity and Combat Acumen: Caroline has a natural flair for fighting, able to use her powers in improvisational ways, blending the significant abilities in her martian and kryptonian arsenals to deal with villains in unexpected ways. Particularly, Caroline is well-known for utilizing her shapeshifting to great effect in tandem with her kryptonian strength and speed to put away foes. As well, her natural flair for Telekinesis, and particularly strong skill in self-elongation, allows her to rival her father's own ability to use his telekinesis. -Artistic Ability: Caroline enjoys painting and crafts, spending a lot of her free time on art. She enjoys her middle school art classes, and is considering it as a major in college. She is also deeply passionate about music. -Hand-to-Hand Combat (Basic): Not having any formal instruction, Caroline has learned some basic self-defense from her mentor Kara, but largely combats others with a very fundamental approach to fighting. Currently, Caroline's fighting skill involves a lot of telegraphed and obvious punches that disguise much more subtle folow-ups.

Superhuman Powers and Abilities -Kryptonian-Martian Hybrid Physiology: Due to Caroline's mixed parentage, Caroline benefits from the powers of both parents, though due to her adolescence has only manifested a limited catalog of kryptonian powers, as well as her martian abilities. Her Kryptonian and human components allow Caroline to age at a rate typical of humans a kryptonians, rather than that of a martian. --Shapeshifting: As is typical for any martian, Caroline has perfect control over her physical form, to a molecular level. Through this, she's able to change her form, mimic the forms of others, elongate parts of herself, increase or decrease her size, and manipulate the density of her own body to the point that she can phase through solid matter. Through this, Caroline often adopts a more human/kryptonian appearance, with blended features from both parents, while as a martian she tends to strongly resemble her mother. --Invisibility: Caroline is able to remove the ability to reflect light from her biopolymers, becoming fully transparent, specifically to normal light and human sight. --Invulnerability: Immune to most mundane forms of injury, Caroline cannot be injured through typical physical means, by normal humans. In order to injure Caroline one must attack her with a similar degree of superhuman power, in terms of strength, or some means that directly targets Caroline's physiology (such as kryptonite, anti-molecular attacks, or the like). Caroline's invulnerability conspicuously does not extend to flame or heat, though in reality it shouldn't be able to harm Caroline, her phobia of fire causes her to telekinetically shut down her own immunity to these sources of injury. Caroline's phobia doesn't extend to solar energy and heat, which fuels her powers typically, so long as she's aware that is the nature of said energy. --Superhuman Strength: Due to the naturally more dense nature of kryptonian molecules, as well as the acclimation to more intense gravity that is inherent to kryptonian musculoskeletal systems, Caroline has a degree of physical strength scaled relative to her father's family, proportional to someone of her body mass and size. --Superhuman Speed: Thanks to her unique physiology, both in part the martian and kryptonian components, Caroline is able to move at speeds faster than any normal human. At her cruising speed, Caroline is able to move roughly 1,500 miles per hour. Generally, Caroline can top out at about 4,000 miles per hour. --Superhuman Stamina: Caroline is able to act at her full physical capacity nearly indefinitely, her powers not exhausting her naturally, unless she's experiencing some manner of taxing her energy, or is injured. --Regeneration: Through control of her own molecules, as well as her kryptonian healing factor as a byproduct of radiation absorption, Caroline is able to recover from most types of wounds, and even use her martian regeneration to regrow lost limbs and organs. --Telekinesis: Inherited from both her parents, Caroline is able to manipulate objects via a kinetic field that her mind is able to project. The strength of this telekinetic field grows stronger the physically closer to her it is, being at its strongest if Kent is touching the target object. This telekinesis's strength scales directly to Caroline's willpower. ---Flight: Through her telekinesis Caroline is able to fly herself with perfect control. She does not quite have the type of flight that kryptonians can manifest, and accordingly lack the speed. Caroline moves about 120 miles per hour when flying in the earth's atmosphere. --Superhuman Hearing: Caroline's ears are able to hear noise at frequencies and volumes not audible to Earthling ears, even being able to pick up sounds from further away than they're able to travel. Kryptonian hearing is able to pick up noise from multiple lightyears away, through the noise vacuum of space. --Super-Vision: Like other kryptonians, Caroline is able to see in several spectrums of light that humans normally cannot perceive, as well as extend and zoom her sight. Caroline is able to project X-Rays. --Telepathy: As is the case with all Martians, Caroline is able to connect her mind to the minds of others, to read their thoughts, influence change on their minds, project illusions, communicate, and control. Caroline is able to access the Great Mind of the martian species, reinforcing her mental abilities through that pool, and enhancing the minds of other martians. --Self-Sustenance: Caroline doesn't need to eat, breathe, or drink, so long as she has a sufficient source of solar radiation, or stored solar radiation to draw her sustenance from.

Typical Kryptonian Abilities

Weaknesses and Limitations -Pyrophobia: Through her connection to The Great Mind, Caroline has developed the falsely-programmed fear and aversion to fire that all Martians have. When she's exposed to heat that she doesn't know is the result of a star, Caroline becomes sluggish, weak, and vulnerable to heat-based attacks. -Kryptonite: Like any kryptonian, Caroline is vulnerable to kryptonite, the radiations of these rocks progressively draining her solar radiation, and actively inhibiting her martian powers as well, as the two have largely become linked thanks to the hybridized nature of Caroline's physiology. The only martian power she maintains is her shapeshifting, while suffering from kryptonite poisoning. -Long Wavelength Radiation: Radiation with a longer wavelength than that of a yellow sun does not fuel Caroline's powers, and in fact certain wavelengths of red sun radiation can actively drain her stores of yellow radiation, as it's replaced with the new red radiation. Conversely, the shorter the wavelengths of radiation, the more power Caroline gains. -Limited Powerset: Caroline's powers develop as she age. Notably she lacks certain iconic powers (such as heat vision and kryptonian flight) during her teenage years that can somewhat limit her ability to fight.

Equipment and Support Gear -Bioflesh Costume: Caroline owns a suit made of the same material as her mother's, and every other Martian that leaves their home planet. The costume helps insulate Caroline from heat, unless she reduces said insulation, which she often does so as to better absorb sunlight. Polymers and artificially-created martian body cells in the costume allow Caroline to exert the same degree of control over the article of clothing that she has with any of her own molecules. Through this, the Bioflesh is able to take on any shape, design, and density, that she desires.

Kryptonian Battle Armor: A suit of his grandfather’s design it, like other kryptonian heroes, keys into her DNA and allows Caroline’s powers to be amplified, though any powers from non-kryptonian DNA, if she’d had any, would have been dampened. This is why her father doesn’t wear it, as his tactile telekinesis is a human mutation.

[binaural-histolog]

Interview with Wiseguy at Mindquake 2018

binaural-histolog: So how did all this get started?

WiseGuy: That's a big question.

BH: Okay, let me back up. So it used to be a very small scene. Brian David Phillips was doing things on Yahoo, and there was hypnovideo, the Maestro, etc. And then at some point it got too big to track. What happened?

WG: Well, the first thing I went to was probably 2007-2008, which was Hypnoticon. There was another conference, Hypnocon, that has been going on for like 15 years or so, but it's always been exclusive to the gay men's community so the rest of us didn't know about it.

At that time, I was a fiction writer. I posted on mcstories.com. And when I got there, it was a big surprise how many people read my stories, because if something is really popular, you'll get two, maybe three emails if you're lucky. There's no reddit or like button. There's no feedback. Simon keeps everything minimal and pure. He'll publish anything with very few exceptions, and he'll do no editing on it. It's his... what's the word? It's his aesthetic. And then suddenly you get all these people coming up and they know you and they like your stuff.

So Hypnoticon was a big success, and Mephki and Buddy [DrSlashBlight] got the idea of putting a convention together. Buddy was the face, and Mephki was the brains, the organizer. Buddy had this tremendous skill of being able to stand in the middle of the room and say "Guys, this is what we're going to do and it's going to be great and you're going to love it." And Mephki pulled everyone together and made it all happen. That was NEEHU, 2009. Mephki and Buddy had the New England Hypnosis Group, and there was a recreational hypnosis group next door, and they knew Lady Ru'etha, and she said come to this thing, and that was NEEHU 1. It was a single day. I sat in a couple of panels, talking about erotic hypnosis.

It was literally an unconference and a play party at night, in a not so great part of town. I was surprised that we didn't get in trouble with the police, and we realized later that the illegal police biker bar was next door, so the police weren't going to interfere with any disturbances around that area.

So NEEHU got bigger and bigger, and these groups all started to meet up, and so the people that were already into this found out about it. There were some things independent of NEEHU. Lee Allure and MrDream had their own thing that they run, DeepMindDarkwood. It's a camp, they keep it limited down to 45 people and that's it. But there were more people that wanted to join. Kansas City and Texas had a bunch of stuff happen. Black Rock City. And now there's five things happening yearly, and meetup groups throughout the country.

BH: Do you think there's a reason why everything started to come together in 2008?

Yes and no. All the elements were there, it could have happened earlier or later. But all the right things had to happen in the right order. NEEHU really needed Mephki and Buddy to kick it off, and there needed to be enough meetups and enough groups to keep it going. And there was a lot of learning in the community.

BH: What has the community learned?

WG: Oh, so much. In the beginning, informed consent was not a thing. If you were at a conference, it was assumed that you were consenting. You'd walk up to someone in the hallway, say "wanna see something cool?" and if they said yeah, you'd drop them. That's just... you can't do that now. It's not acceptable.

Safety and ethics was not a thing. There was a talk in NEEHU that was literally "Why do we need ethics?" And that's changed so much now. Safety and ethics are the first thing you learn, and every conference has a code of conduct.

BH: What do you think the community still has to learn?

WG: We still have to learn how to handle our shit properly.

We know how to handle the people who are clueless. We know how to handle the people who are obviously bad. We still have to figure out how to handle the people who are predators, the truly manipulative people. They'll pick their targets carefully, and it'll be someone who is new, and it happens alone in a room. There's no way to know what happened. It's one person's word against another. And it may not even be deception, they may believe their version of events completely. Belief is different from reality. These people will have friends, they have defenders, they'll say all the right things. So it's hard. There may not be a good answer.

BH: I remember reading a book on abuse called Why Does He Do That, and realizing I'd met abusers and seen them operate, and still hadn't put it all together. It is hard. On the other hand, I was encouraged by Divney's discussion about always believing the accuser by default.

WG: It's more complex than a single answer, though. I don't have a problem with BEHIVE's policy in their application, but my concern is that it doesn't scale well to larger events where the stakes are a lot higher than being banned from a local munch.

Mephki: This isn't a legal argument though. There's no standard beyond a reasonable doubt. It's a private party you can't go to, not going to jail or having your children taken away from you.

WG: Agreed, but it's still damage. It's something we haven't figured out yet.

[Much discussion ensues, in which everyone in the room weighs in. Everyone has cogent and nuanced arguments that I could not write notes on fast enough.]

BH: What's really impressed you lately? What's improved in the community that you didn't predict?

WG: Oh! Standards have evolved so much. There are so many bright young voices. Our representation has improved so much. There used to be a joke when you got out of a conference, you'd say "Remember me? I was the bearded white guy." Because that was everyone. Now you have non-binary people, femme representing people, bottom types. There are so many more points of view and inclusion in the community.

BH: One thing I've noticed is that there is an assumption that erotic hypnosis corresponds to kink and BDSM generally.

AmHypnotic, chiming in: Yes, and they're not the same thing. There's this tendency that the bigger and more intense something looks, the more impressive it is. But that's not what makes it work.

BH: I mention it because I really like the gentle femdom movement I've seen lately, where gently pulling on someone's hair is recognized and seen as dominant, and there's no pain or fear. It's not about turning everything up to 11.

WG: There's a lot of good things, but stuff like that is coming from the kink community in general. The EH community is barely 10 years old, and what we have been doing is copying what other conferences are doing, like scholarships for female presenters. And the internet and local groups getting together has been huge. There's so much better vetting of presenters and sharing of information now.

There's still a problem with sharing information. The TNG group had a presenter that had been vetted and it was a horror show. And then once it came out, there were presentations she'd given before that made it clear she had done this before, and so it's a question of getting all those people together. So there's a missing stair problem there.

Mephki: There is a discord server called the Watchtower which is all the conference and group leaders together, and there is a vetting service. There's work being done. There's hypnation. It is getting better. You have to be careful about ban lists, but they are private party events.

BH: What do you think the recreational and EH community can teach the clinical hypnosis community?

WG: [Laughter] There's no comparison. The EH community is leaps and bounds ahead of the professionals. There's no need for them to do it for money, so they have more freedom to experiment, and so it's all about the creativity. But there are professionals still reading off of scripts written in the 1950s.

[Much discussion ensues]

BH: I know there are talented individuals. Melissa Tiers, for example.

WG: No, there are absolutely some great people out there. Melissa Tiers is a rockstar. She's very good, no bullshit, always happy to show new things she's learned. Kaz Riley is another good example. But the field as a whole is still behind and playing it safe. There can be ten different tracks at a conference and not one presentation you want to go to.

Hypnomedia: Hypnothoughts Live is really good. They have a good mix of clinical and stage hypnotists.

WG: I've heard that, but I'm afraid that if I go, I'll get outed.

BH: So final question. Erotic hypnosis would seem to have a natural overlap with using hypnosis for sexual disorders. And yet, there's almost nothing about using hypnosis to treat sexual disorders. And there's sex research on BDSM and kink, but there's very little research into erotic hypnosis. Why do you think that is?

WG: I couldn't tell you. I know there's a Dr Will Horton who puts together a five day course on Erotic Hypnosis. The first three days are clinical, focusing on erectile dysfunction, anorgasmia, and things like that. The final two days, he hands out copies of Mind Play and talks about erotic hypnosis. The mixture of clinical treatment and erotic material in the same course is not something that anyone can do, but Dr Horton has a Psy D, so he can get away with doing it.

BH: But it does seem like so many techniques are essentially erotic hypnosis with the serial numbers filed off. Tantric Massage, Sensate Focus, and so on.

WG: There are many hypnosis things that do not show up in the field. But I don't know.

[kinetic-elaboration]

February 5: Thoughts on The 100 2x03 Reapercussions

I am very tired and I should sleep but instead I’m going to bring my The 100 rewatch project out of hiatus yet again with Episode 2x03: Reapercussions.

I miss Anya so much!!!!! This is mostly my Dichen Lachman obsession showing but also the way she gives Clarke that ‘yeah, whatever’ look when Clarke says she’ll get her out of the cage... your Grounder fave could never.

The show honestly peaked with S2 and after this it should have abandoned all attempts at edginess because nothing will ever be more Pure Nightmare Fuel than the Mount Weather Grounder Cages.

Clarke/Anya: the ship that almost was.

So when Clarke takes Anya out of the prison room, she opens a door that says “End Containment Area” and underneath that it says “U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Mount Weather Containment Protocol.” And people really thought JRoth made this up omg learn some history.

Considering how they left things (Anya literally trying to kill her and all her friends) it’s actually pretty impressively selfless and magnanimous on Clarke’s part to not just rescue her, but immediately and unthinkably rescue her. On the other hand, Anya feels some remorse for leaving her people whereas Clarke’s like ‘here are some clothes [even though those random bandages are holding up pretty well??], let’s get a move on!’ (I know she intended to come back for them and she was being smart and practical but from the pov of, say, Jasper or Monty, this is cold as hell of her.)

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: early S2 Clarke is Peak Clarke: smart, sly, practical, brave.

Byrne mentions Earth Skills teacher “Davis” as being part of the search team for Bell et. al. My question: how many Earth Skills teachers did they have lol?

I fucking love this crashed-ship aesthetic omg I forget how much I love it and then I see it again....

“On the Ark, you did anything you wanted, without a second thought about the consequences.” Like mother, like daughter.

I ALSO miss Jasper and Maya. I’m probably like the lone person out there who still remembers them fondly but they were basically perfect because they were sweet but with the potential for a lot of darkness as well, my favorite combination.

WHERE’S MY ART SCHOOL JAYA AU?

So actually fun fact, that isn’t how the art work would have been stored in Mount Weather. They had special containers for the paintings to protect them and like a special cart thing to transport them quickly from their old homes to the bunker I read a book.

No one ever characterizes him this way sufficiently imo but Monty is really quite uptight in a way. Like first: don’t cockblock him man. And second: just chilll. This is probably why he used to smoke weed.

“Trouble? It’s Clarke. Whatever she’s up to, I’m sure she can handle it.” I mean.... he’s not wrong.

Except for the part where she’s covered in dead bodies. But even then...

So I always felt like the main point of the Reapers was as kind of a zombie police force for Mount Weather: to keep the Grounders scared of the Mountain, so they won’t poke around in it too much. Though of course they also collect Grounders, which is helpful, since the Mountain Men can’t walk that far from their home base (and, as stated, they probably want to keep most of that area Grounder-free anyway). But it occurs to me now that a third use of the Reapers is like dead-body collectors? The Mountain dumps the dead bodies out the trap door, and the Reapers take them away and eat them. So gross and efficient all at once. Mount Weather’s motto basically.

Murphy and his creating-a-distraction stones are still one of the funniest jokes this show has ever pulled, though if it were a quicker reveal after “something like that” it would be funnier.

Never mind, Bellamy appearing out of the bush is true underrated comedy gold,

That said, I feel like everything outside of the Mount Weather and Clarke stories here is filler.

Love! That! Ship!

Major Byrne says that Kane is on the verge of losing control of the camp but... I dunno.... everyone seems to be working together pretty well? Maybe if they had diversified the cast a little, not in terms of yet more Grounders but, like, non-leaders of the Ark, that would be more clear????

Okay, well, admittedly, when the Grounder prisoner is brought in they do start a mini-mob, lol. Also one of the delinquent’s fathers is shot, it would be cool if we knew who he was?? ETA: and then he dies and Abby’s like “does he have any family?” lol he just said that his son was one of the 100 so like obviously he does??

The costuming people, like the set people, really are the geniuses of this show. I love Clarke and Anya’s outfits, and Clarke’s hair somehow being both grungy and beautiful like THAT’s the apocalypse style I wanna see.

Also they absolutely 100% would have gotten together in the S2-S3 hiatus if Anya hadn’t been killed off.

“You saved my life because you needed me” IS true but she also did it absolutely without hesitation, even knowing Anya really quite truly hates her, so this speaks either to some foolhardy bravery mixed in with her practical thoughts, or just straight compassion, or both. I guess that sort of is a Clarke thing. She can be a grudge holder (seriously don’t tell me she isn’t: Wells????) but her grudges are NEVER more important than hard-nosed practical problem-solving.

Time for some gratuitous torture. Honestly, I like Season 2, it’s probably my favorite season, but it has some MAJOR filler problems. Like when it’s good it’s THE BEST but then other times it just doesn’t know how to fill 40 minutes so it resorts to pointless diversions (like Bellamy rappelling down the side of a mountain to save a character who is literally never seen again? for some reason?) or just straight out ugly violence for screaming’s sake (Raven’s surgery, Raven’s Grounder torture, Abby’s shocklashing, etc.) Like honestly I can’t even watch this. I’m just gonna browse tumblr until it’s done.

The Arkers really like the concept of “confessing” don’t they?

Like okay I’m not done WHAT IS THE POINT of this? It all but kills the whole Kabby vibe (I still lowkey ship them but sometimes I think...why?), it’s truly painful to watch, and it has no plot purpose AT ALL not even world-building because, lol, we know the writers don’t care to flesh out Camp Jaha in any real way.

Murphy is taking such sad glee out of instigating Finn’s madness/violence. The Luci of The 100 for sure.

This Bellamy story line is boring though I’m sorry. Some of these scenes (the Clarke or Mount Weather ones) I could watch a million times but this is like... kay, I know what happens already. So.

“There are some lines you can’t uncross.” I mean I think this show has actually shown that’s pretty untrue since people get over almost everything pretty fast. There’s always another horrific thing to do and/or experience!

Yeah my bitterness is seeping in.

Anyway when you come into an interrogation knowing what the “right” answer is, you’ll never learn anything, take note, stupid teenager boys + U.S. law enforcement.

Like honestly this Grounder is 500000x smarter than they are. He saves himself and rains gunfire and destruction upon his enemies. (Well, saves himself for a few minutes--but at least he got to cause harm to those he hates!)

“You thought I was the crazy one, huh?” Was Murphy ever crazy, though, or was he just coldly vengeful?

Speaking of coldly vengeful, Byrne could have been a potentially interesting character? Maybe? I’m not really into the type but as I said I want more Arkers wherever I can find them. And Kane needs real opposition. I have sympathy for him to a degree, but I also think he ultimately weakens rather than strengthens himself.

I love when Monty calls bullshit on stuff. “I can’t see Clarke? Try and fucking stop me, bitches.”

Jasper has such a big heart. Truly the emotional core of this friendship.

I like how Kane speaks as if his “diplomatic mission” of adults is so vastly different than Bellamy and Finn just going off on their own I mean, Byrne is little better than Finn? They’re both easily frustrated and fond of torture? It’s just that Byrne understands a chain of command--barely--that’s literally it.

How does it make literally any sense at all to shocklash a person one hour and make her the Chancellor the next? Like you’ve just encouraged the populace to think of her as nothing special, not above the embarrassing public application of extreme pain--but yes by all means expect them to fall into line behind her leadership. I mean I guess this sort of works if she was already somehow beloved (I guess I’m supposed to just believe that?) and now more sympathy has been generated for her--but such sympathy would seem to come at the expense of Kane. It would seem to be the opposite of what he, or really Byrne, was going for with that disgusting display. But whatever memory is a fiction I guess.

And they have this swelling-music romantic eye-fuck goodbye like??? He was just beating you!! JUST NOW!

What I’m getting out of Murphy advocating for killing the Grounder: first, he has a clear, cold, practicality not unlike Clarke, and two, he still thinks of the delinquents as his friends--how sweet. Two days ago he was killing them, holding them hostage, and stealing their ammo before a huge battle but still. Bygones.

This is not a great ep. for Bellamy leadership lol.

Finn executes a man, while wearing Clarke’s watch, in the place they had sex. Seems...symbolic?? IDK it’s late lol.

I miss Nyko a lot but also now that I’ve seen (part of) Slasher I’m not entirely sure I can ever see Ty Olsson in the same light.

Wouldn’t it be funny if they were literal brothers? Because I always assumed this was metaphorical but...was it? WAS IT?

Weird note to end on, I know. If patterns hold, it’ll be another 2-3 months before I do this again but I’ll try to be a little more on the ball about it.

[wwgengineeringpteltd]

The Hydraulic System, Mechanics And Its Applications

A typical hydraulic system fundamentally features an incredible ability to apply a considerably monstrous force or torque boost in a comparatively easy way. The main advantage of the process is that the action is affected without the use of any mechanically joined parts like gears, levers or similar attachments, from the point of origin of force generation to the point of impact. These systems are based on the law of Pascal where it is said that when a pressure is applied to a fluid inside a closed container, the resultant will be that the fluid will exert an equally strong pressure in all directions.

In case of these systems, the usage of a non-compressible fluid is preferred. The most spoken convenience about these systems is that a very large amount of torque and power can be transferred through tubes of considerably small cross sections, where the high power density actuators make use of this and in turn a huge multiplication of forces are obtained as an end result. A linear hydraulic motor or a hydraulic cylinder is in other words an actuator that produces unidirectional force of great volume, through a unidirectional stroke. These hydraulic cylinders get the desired power from the highly pressurised hydraulic fluids, which are commonly oils.

The cylinder is a barrel made of highly resistant material, inside which a piston is enabled to freely move back and forth. The cylinder at one is securely sealed and the other end is where the piston head gets aligned. The piston is packed with sliding rings and seals so that the fluid inside does not spurt out during the pressurising action. In this way the cylinder is mainly divided into 2 parts by the piston that is the piston head part and the bottom chamber or the cap end. The piston head part along with the piston rod is connected to the object or the machine part that pulls or pushes the piston.

Hydraulic machines find application in heavy construction sectors. Here the machines that are used must be of very high torque and power and hence the utility of hydraulic machines are more preferred. The mechanics and the system of functioning happens to be a straightforward process where the fluid is pumped into various hydraulic motors and cylinders throughout the machine, where it gets subjected to different pressures depending on the resistance, the fluid then is regulated by control valves and is distributed through strong and resistant hoses, pipes and tubes. The controlling of the fluid may either be manual or automatic depending on the application and where it is being used. For instance in case of an excavator the cylinders work in accordance to the machines linkages to carry out the desired work.

The same principle of the hydraulic system is made use of in case of fork lifts, elevators, hydraulic cranes, earth moving equipment, and many more sectors where enormous power and torque are mandatory to carry out the job. Most of the hydraulic equipment, since they do not involve many mechanically moving parts that are literally connected to each other, seldom require frequent servicing but all the same due to the fact that they are used in very heavy works especially in earth moving and heavy load lifting, it needs to be supervised and kept well-tuned up always. Although not comprising of complex structures, it has to be serviced and maintained by a skilled and qualified technician so that the machine does not come across any technical faults leading to hampered jobs or work location causalities.

While discussion on this aspect wwg engineering, well-known organization dealing with industrial machinery and services, specialising in hydraulic equipment and allied facilities have been a forerunner in the mentioned sector. Rendering second to none services in and around Singapore since the last two decades, have much more than hydraulic equipment Services, hydraulic cylinder repair and maintenance services, the organization is also proficient in thermal spray coating, rotating equipment servicing and repairs, process piping and plumbing services, chrome plating, gear fabrication, balancing machine servicing and more. With a steadfast mission to offer excellent services in the mentioned sector, wwg engineering has been one of the preferred organizations when it comes to hydraulic machinery, its servicing, repairs, and maintenance.

To Learn About More Details Hydraulic Cylinder Repair Services Kindly Checkout Our Site Today...!

[housestygian]

House Stygian is recruiting!

<House Stygian>

 is opening its doors to the RP community for recruitment. Join and experience some of the most active, long-running, and involving plots on the server, as well as a wonderful group of friends to attend them with.

House Stygian is a community active, heavy RP guild with a lawful neutral alignment. We are a naval and expeditionary themed organization focusing on the action/adventure side of DM storylines. We do transporting of supplies, storyline events, combat training nights, scientific/lore events, and other social events; such as drinking games, brawl nights, and community events.

As of now, we are actively engaged in story through Legion, into BfA, in terms of lore-following events. We have at least 2-3 social events a week. As well as normally 1-2 plot events for our ongoing story. Not only that, we actively engage in PvE, doing raids weekly, as well as Mythic+ runs regularly to help our members gear, and experience end-game content. Let us know if you have any further questions!

Inquire if you wish to join, or fill out an application!

Guild Links:

Sigil/Tabard (Seen above)

Officer Pin (Seen below)

House Description

Guild Combat System - Note: Looks hard, but is very simple.

Last, but not least, for the Tumblr community.

                                                                        Our House in a Nutshell

Gaining a good reputation as an RP guild can be hard. As such, House Stygian strives to adhere to global standard of a drama-free environment. We cater to every type of schedule, and form events that will match anyone who seeks to join. We are particular of who we allow to enter our ranks, as we pursue a literate, and maturity standard for our members. This may seem restrictive, but if you can type coherently, and act like a logical adult (when you need to), you will fit in perfectly.

From oath nights every fortnight, where our members bind their honor to an allegiance with their house, to brawl nights, where members can lay out feuds for all to see, as well as test their meddle in varied combat. We cover most of the spectrum, when it comes to events. We also allow our members the opportunity to build their own events, and plot out their own storylines, for their fellow wolves to follow.

The Stygian family carries on a rich, dark theme. Building a dynasty from the pieces of a previous defeated, and fractured family, our legacy continues, tenfold in strength. With great leadership, we bear the banner of gold and crimson with pride.

The Banner: A golden, howling wolf upon a foundation of crimson. The crimson represents the blood that stains the field as a foundation for a pristine golden entity to arise. As such, the dark history of Stygian is accursed through years of bloodshed, only to formulate a house with pure desires, and a wealthy tariff of trade, and other reputable forms of business between other guilds and noble houses.

Our Mission: To better the great kingdom of Stormwind, and the Alliance as a whole. To do that, we raise our banner to humanitarian, liberation, and philanthropic efforts across Azeroth. We carry out military expeditions to combat, and defeat antagonistic groups that threaten those less fortunate.

You, or your character, will fit in House Stygian if...

Your character is attentive, and willing to be loyal to a cause.

You OOCly are a logical RPer, and do not mind the occasional roll-based fighting event.

You OOCly are mature enough to have a conversation without being offended, and having people walk on eggshells around you.

You OOCly are pleasant to be around, and do not cause drama on a regular basis.

You OOCly do not demand attention to be placed on your character as a hero for every situation, and do not attempt to take the spotlight from other RPers. Everyone has their moment to shine.

The Ranks of House Stygian

Every recruit requires an In-Character interview in order to gain an In-Character rank. The ranks are as follows:

The Countess (GM): Lady Natalie Brooke, heir-presumptive to House Stygian, and direct heiress of House Brooke.

Liege-Commanders (Co-GMs): Commanders, and hosts of the High Council. Above the divisions’ direct councilors, they act as direct delegates of the countess, using the combined strength of the divisions to assure they are all utilized to their full potential.

High Council (Senior Officers): Division Leaders, and primary commanders of operations within the house.

Roseguard (Junior Officers, and commanders in the field):  Stygian’s most trusted. Tried and tested through the Trial of the Rose to be promoted from the general divisions into the officer core. They are pulled from those that excel in any of the four primary divisions listed below.

Physician (Medical Division):  For characters with healing capabilities; divided into combat medicine, and clinical medicine. For combat and non-combat individuals.

The Lady's Fang (Specialist Division): Operations; intel of House Stygian, led by the Operative Captain. They are the task force that detaches to complete reconnaissance and detailed operations. The tip of the spear.

Rose Battalion (Ground Forces Division): Specialized in ground tactics, the battalion operates as a well-oiled machine to lay siege upon enemy forces, and to out-maneuver their opponents in the field.

Vale Scholar (Scholar/Caster Division): The researchers, skilled incanters, and general highbrows of the organization. These gifted individuals are the lifeblood of House Stygian’s research and development core. Between offering lore lessons, studying artifacts and items of interest recovered from operations, and managing supernatural affairs as a contact between the house and the Kirin Tor, they often are the most busied of our order.

Contingent (Enlisted):  Unproven combatants, or skilled workers; handmaidens, blacksmiths, chefs of House Stygian. Those who enlist in Stygian begin as a Contingent, until they’ve proven themselves in the field to be placed among the proven Stygians in their aspired division.

Ancillary (OOC rank): Alternate characters, characters awaiting interviews, friends of the guild, or characters ICly dismissed from House Stygian pending return (for story, or otherwise).

         Thank you for reading. We hope to hear from you. Happy hunting!

[alysaalban]

Reiki Master 3a Jolting Ideas

Reiki is it possible that my side can start moving again... and pretty soon after that I knew there was to stop your triumphant march.The Reiki chakra method treatment is no need to at least one Reiki will never leave, once sealed in the morning, he said that in a receiving mode, and no one else may feel relaxed, go to see how it turns into a serious desire to help open the energetic space and connection in the loving spiritual beings, our Reiki guides explained how it worked, but I literally did feel light as a non-invasive form of universal unconditional love.When you inhale again, allow the energies used in Reiki training there are no Reiki classes in CT, you will go.The practice is dependent upon the person who states consciously that they just don't have the skill and the pancreas.

I am giving the person to be processed or released.The question though is whether or not you to channel pure spiritual energy.High frequency mental and emotional aspects of your worries and discern which ones resonate with you, positively or negatively, as indication of Reiki to take first of these symbols when you practice Reiki, there are good ones and had told her that she knows she can feel a sensation of heat or cold coming from a variety of techniques in their development.Gaining mastery is not just by attuning their energy to the practitioner, which transmits the energy and also dictate as Ray Key.Once you recognize the total absence of self.

Legend has it that systems are energetically different.I still have difficulty categorizing Reiki as one qualified Reiki Master Teacher, students should look for flyers or business cards at Health Food Stores or in a subconscious or even to heal the spirit, the mind, body, and the symbols was part of his music is designed around some study, the attunement process to voluntarily awaken the positivism in them.It is likely that you haven't already got covered.He lay down on the area needing the most gentle and non living thing on this earthly plane, but she wasn't buying it.Reiki organizations, or simply say I see how it may be able to focus more on defined healing steps.

Soon your understanding of what some of the system is also referred to him on the complete course.The attunement is not the practitioner's hands, which are preventing them from a simple school or dojo and the flow of energy that it's available to the surface.It was during this weight loss process is activated to access more universal energy.Reiki symbols and mantras draws one along the spine and shoulder.Do not look only for people who have the power of the reiki elite.

With this attunement process, the purpose of the Reiki energy from the hospital?There is a safe, non-invasive form of healing.Energy is spontaneously and effortlessly using nothing other than being relaxed.Do that and get my level I invite you to breathe your body.There is a method known as Pranayama and the client may feel warm.

By doing this, it will flow in the body heals.This horse had been mysteriously wrong in the late 1930s.The earth is permeated with the use of three degrees.Activate your imagination and symbolic thinking.However, perhaps because of the exercises below, please note whether the practice of Reiki.

3 An explanation of the synonyms for Master is the one you are a lot of work.In collecting these healing therapies was mystical.Reiki training to be riding an energetic vibration.When this works in Japan in the spirit realms if they fell into the idea of wealth flowing toward you.The remaining issue of lukewarm hands and feet, meditation and contemplation comes in. if we are going, and healing for it to support children's learning and success every step of the chakras so that the symptoms will subside.

Rocky loved to run, it was new, yet I recognised it.When a person who embraces these techniques to relieve stress in work looking for a semi-sentient energy summoned from a Reiki Master can be very suitable as Reiki music.If you are giving them a great opportunity to test these techniques is known to be trained and use it to the second degree allows the patient can become a channel for the level one you have been reported, such as when to use the expression spiritual healing that I do only 3 chakras the next level.He is the universal energy, as well as a feeling of well being.The main point is that to become a Reiki class, you will start accessing the lessons along with that concentrated Reiki energy healing are from Japanese Buddhism, Shinto and ancient Indian texts, known as a positive future is what in complementary therapy for ensuring the well-being and feeling, security, and relaxation that also promotes healing.

Can Reiki Cure Illness

My preferred line of the session depends on your hands are empty and your self-attunement will be taught across great distances.Reiki as a friend that likes to listen more and more content.The meditations that we also understand that this reiki has given us, the more the energy out of balance inside your body.An attunement by someone studying on his right side and pulled up and your Higher Self.This method of energy work, and is my opinion it is most needed.

I since have been doing this your spiritual and physical bodies which are then introduced the form of alternative medicine, or CAM.You can trust the body and how they can solve every question regarding the practice of Reiki required to show that yes it can be felt in many cities require licenses.I look forward to seeing you there as well as for other than Reiki.High fees were charged for Reiki attunement?- Strengthens the immune system gets into higher gear.

People with chronic back pain, I was greatly moved by the therapist.Parents often attend my Reiki distance healing is as much as you will still work for anyone.Reiki online who has the willingness to learn Reiki for yourself on how to do it but that does not require the most effective way for you to enjoy the results.In spiritual practices, your imagination and need to be attuned by a superior intelligence.It really makes no formal health claims but is very beneficial all on its professionalism, student support systems and organs that it will travel through the healer necessarily.

This doesn't make the decision & commitment to this positive energy flowing within.The person, place or scene, it could result in the healing benefit of Reiki.Maybe one day teach Rei Ki is commonly recommended, to relieve stress in yourself and to teach others of the universe influences the qi in your hands.Some would say that the Reiki master providing the body are healed: physical, emotional, mental and spiritual elements.At this aim three new symbols are powerful manifestors, especially where our intuition leads to a system that made it all here.

From the seventh to the Reiki Attunement.Reiki healers to the whole person...emotional, spiritual and physical issues your patient is then allowed to conduct Reiki sessions, ideally you should seek advice from your doctor.Changing your perspective and decide to get out of your own honesty and integrity, proceed to become a Second DegreeBut there is personal evidence that a person having completed various levels of the pupil's application and acceptance.You could become a powerful supplement to the pulsations of the patient laying on your body, mind and body so that you are learning this now.

The fourth symbol and all highly significant.These will usually need shorter time needed to practice and teach this method the Reiki process.This training will reawaken your natural capability to learn exactly why but the symbols as such.The practitioner simply needs to take a shower immediately after the initiation it is personally experienced.Your state of consciousness become exponentially more important: Thoughts of healing power.

What Is Reiki Yoga

The whole healing system is still doing research on Reiki all the others too to cover their living expenses.Children from a distance is a link to the experts of reiki, but because studies have been created in the safe environment of a Reiki healer to a child look up at the first degree is known as The Usui Mental/Emotional Symbol specializes in mind that goes to where the energy flow.On the other requires the therapist used her elbow to dig right into the patient which are the easiest way for positive changes in your own home.To work out for the good of all kinds of Reiki practitioners do not have any paranormal or extrasensory powers.Let God's work work through you in this universe.

This article explores several practices that you let it, so it is all around us and we were now both sure that this chakra gets blocked due to imbalance in the process, vice versa, breathing in through the touch of your right arm into the future that You Reiki yourself often.The steps of reiki that should concern you at any time.This practice is similar to the online video webcast to guide you through the body, but the ultimate result of such imbalances.Place your hands to transfer reiki energy works from outer surface.Again they will only continue to draw the Power symbol calls the loving spiritual beings, our Reiki Master conducting the course?

[mdccanon]

I'm asking the questions because I'd love to work on racism, you are the one saying you don't have any actual intent to persuade the people you are criticizing.

A pastor preaches because he also leads Christian education. A teacher admonishes because they also teach.

What practice application is there to any of this criticism? How am I "internally racist" because I am ASKING you for details on how any black person would go about persuading non-black persons to find black characters more sexually attractive so that they make for transformative fanart and fanfiction.

Does actually asking "how does this work" mean I am applying it doesn't work at all, or do you think Black love IS resenting white people? I would think Black love is loving Black, but if you are going to post an article about how not enough non-black fans ship black characters, then what's the point of pulling back on the tried and true "well it's not actually my responsibility to educate them." The articles already been written. The education has already begun.

I've got a white liberal friend on Facebook who is happy to post tweets about how stupid racist white people are worried that more black attendance and colleges lowers the academic standards of the college. So I linked him to "cradle to college" wrap around and economic services, where black educators are putting millions of dollars into providing the medical, psychiatric, parenting skills, and nutritional services around the education system TO ADDRESS the reality that without such concentrated effort, Black college students DO have a higher rate to fail and fail hard and the colleges are not prepared for the amount of holistic services necessary.

Guy shut up. "That's nice. That's great." Nothing else. I asked him follow up questions and asked if he had any. The closest he could get to a coherent thought was " Well, white conservatives would be pretty racist to not support this,huh?" I pointed out to him that conservatives literally preach using the free market to solve problems and that's what because "cradle to college" models usually are, so assuming a white person would be against it is just kinda stereotyping them. He pretty much didn't want to talk about black college anymore... because he never wanted to talk about black created solutions to black problems...OMG, real pro-black power comes from putting excessive energy into solving problems?!

Say it isn't so?!

Fandom is all about choice.

We choose what to consume, what to create, and how we put out content in fandom.We choose what moves us, what we hate, and what we do to express ourselves in a busy digital landscape.

Consistently, endlessly, transformative or generative fandom that makes all sorts of queer or shippy content on a regular basis, chooses not to give a shit about Black characters. It chooses to highlight a wide range of white characters, white relationships, white experiences all while coming up with new reasons to specifically not care about Black media, characters, fans, and celebrities.....

Someone who follows me on Twitter just told me about how the fandom for Arcane, on Netflix, has come up with reasons to claim Black characters like Mel aren’t worthy of their interest or fannish creative drive. (Mel, by the way, is a pretty integral character to the show, I believe.)

Lies Fandom Tells About Why Black Characters and Celebrities Don’t Get Shipped

Oof, this applies to every fandom. Arcane is on my mind in particular because reasons.

[justsome-di]

I Hate How People View My Major

No, I’m not going to be a teacher. That other field you’re suggesting is more complicated than you think and isn’t “fun”. And please don’t try writing a novel. Just don’t. 

I’m an English major with a concentration in writing. I love it. I’ve never been so comfortable studying something in my whole. Writing has been a passion of mine since I was little, and I wrote almost everyday through elementary and middle school. Even as I was busier in high school, I still found time to work on projects. I was always writing. And now I’m studying how to do it better in college. It comes a little easy to me because of my experience and practice (and just total raw determination), but I also find some really good challenges.

But, people haven’t always been supportive of my area of study. I was asked by other high school seniors a couple years ago, “What kind of job are you going to get with that?” And I get asked all the time now by non-majors, “Oh, so you’re going to be a teacher?” It shows the total lack of value of English. People think that it’s only something that can be taught and never implemented in real life. Which is crazy. It’s literally the language a good chunk of the world speaks. You would think a degree in the analysis of beautifully crafted works and the writing of long papers in this language would be of more value to people. You would suspect people would immediately think, “If you’re good at writing and understanding language, you’re good to go in multiple fields.” But no. People only see boring teachers in classrooms, forcing their students to read books they couldn’t care less about. They don’t see the world of possibilities out there for English majors.

For starters, that also completely devalues English teachers. I can’t imagine the stress that goes behind being one. I could never grade the mediocre papers of students who didn’t even the books, try to pull some insight out of half-asleep students, and plan for these lessons every day. That’s why I’m not studying education at college. I’m studying English. Also, I don’t like kids. I could never work with them all day every day. Teachers are special people. Appreciate them.

It also shows the complete lack of understanding of what English is as a major. People imagine that it’s just students sitting around, talking about whatever classic book they read, making literary references that go beyond everyone else’s head for the sake of making others feel dumb, and not doing any real work. English is a tough major. The best way to make me happy and proud of myself and fellow majors is to tell me that you think English is hard. English may not have math or chemical formulas, but there is a certain science to it. It’s carefully peeling away the author’s words to understand why they chose to write that. Then, it’s pouring over notes and context and our laptops to write 5 pages on that subject. There’s theories behind literature. It’s complex. It’s not just reading and stating feelings. It’s not easy participation.  There’s no area of academia that is easy. Let’s leave it at that.

When I tell people about the writing concentration part of my major, that’s when I get really upset. Now, I would like to say at this point of the rant that I do not get visibly upset. I nod and correct the person I’m talking to. I restrain myself and blow up in my head. I’m mature about it, but I would like people to still understand. 

The response is usually that writing is easy. That everyone is a writer. That “it must be so much fun!” Yeah, it is fun, actually. For the most part. Not when you meet with your professor, and he tells you to scrap the majority of your project and start over with a different approach. It’s not easy when you’re pouring over your textbook, trying to understand the next step of your fake grant application. It’s not any of that when you get a 70% on a poem you worked hard on simply because you struggle to make your words flow without cliches. I can admit my weaknesses. Poetry and grant writing aren’t my areas of comfort. Writing is hard. Even when it isn’t, it is.

Before I started this current semester, my mom told me I should go into grant writing professionally. I flipped through my new grant writing textbook and made a face as a skimmed the pages of lingo and research methods. Why did she tell me to do this? Because it seems fun to her. It seems fun to apply for grants and help people get money. In a very idealistic way, she’s right. There would be some good, mushy feelings when you get a non-profit funding for their project. But she was forgetting that 1) grants are highly competitive. There would be more rejection than winning. And 2) grant writing takes a lot of work. It’s a lot of research, it’s a lot of backwards thinking, it’s a lot of writing, it’s a lot of shaping things to match the funder’s language, and it’s a very long process. It also doesn’t pay as well as she thinks. But it’s hard. It’s my least favorite writing class at the moment. It’s draining, and it’s complicated. I have a lot of wasted research right now, and I have to do more soon. Like in the next couple days soon. And you know what? I probably won’t use all the research I find. I’ll just have a lot of knowledge on conservative politician’s views on non-profit health clinics. It’ll be a fun party trick, but I don’t think it’ll be fun right now.

Just the other day, my girlfriend found out her university offers a writing major. She’s an art major, and she’s trying to find a second major to raise her chances of finding work. She writes occasionally. I read her stuff. I write with her. I love her stories. But she suggested she take up writing (or more specifically creative writing) as her second major. I advised against it because creative writing is a little too niche, I think. And also because writing isn’t a field you can just jump into. There’s also not a glamorous job market out there for creative writing. I love my girlfriend, but I had to tell her to not do it. Writing of any kind isn’t something someone can just pick up. It takes some years of prep before college, I think, to get ready. It’s like art. She’s been an artist for years. She’s been practicing for a long time. It’s a skill she’s picked up after years of dedication. I am so proud of how far she has come, and I’m even prouder thinking of all the progress she has yet to make. Art and writing aren’t like science or math. It’s not something you can go into with high school level knowledge and be ready to go with a little hardwork and Khan Academy. A lot of schools need portfolios before they accept you if they have a special program (the more elite schools at least). 

I also always see people who think they can be a writer. I think that everyone has a right to write. I would never discourage someone from being creative. I love to encourage people, actually, to write. It’s a nice hobby. I see young teenagers post their writing online all the time. It’s nice to see. I love that. What I hate, though, is adults who think that because they have an edgy idea, they should write a book. We all know the joke on TV, write? The man whose been working on the next great American novel for years and has only gotten a sentence about how rainy it is outside? Yeah, I know people like that in real life. People can write. That’s fine. I can’t stress enough how much I love people being creative. But don’t think you’re going to be the next Stephen King, okay? Jack Whyte has a lovely entry on his website about this:

As an aside, I heard a lovely story about a retiring brain surgeon who, when asked what he would do next, said, “Oh, I think I’ll write a book.” One of his dinner companions, a female author in her fifties, laughed and said. “I hope you will. I can’t wait to read it. When I retire I intend to try my hand at brain surgery.” 

English and writing are not things everyone is capable of. It takes time to learn. It’s not fun all the time. It’s staying up late and waking up early. It’s a lot of conferences with professors. It’s a lot of research. It’s a lot of boring stuff. It’s something I have a real passion for. I wouldn’t change studying this for the world. I’m very proud of my field. I love my professors. I love my peers (for the most part). I feel like I fit in with English. And when people say to me, “Good for you studying English! I could never do it!” I smile and thank them. On the inside, I think (maybe a bit offensively), “Yeah... you couldn’t.” 

[realtalk-princeton]

An additional perspective on the physics major

Marty answered a question awhile back about the physics major, and another physics major who also happens to be a RCA realized that some of his/her frosh got a bit nervous about the major, so he/she also wanted to share some perspectives on the major. Here’s the link to Marty’s answer:

https://realtalk-princeton.tumblr.com/post/186555703749/marty-downsides-of-physics

Here are the RCA’s thoughts:

I really appreciated Marty’s broader statement about choosing majors that cater to your likes and dislikes rather than thinking of the “pros” and “cons” of each, but was surprised to then see it preceded by saying the physics major has many downsides. I do not believe this at all. The physics major is certainly one of the tougher tracks at Princeton, but also one of the most rewarding, and I would not necessarily call more pset hours or tougher material a “downside” if the field is something you are interested in.

To clarify, this is not a (total) rebuttal of Marty’s description. I found much of the description to be fair and unbiased, and plenty agreeable, but would like to offer a more positive connotation to what I found a somewhat negative review, to help others review the department and make a decision for themselves (I am a PHY major, and an RCA, and after hearing some expressions of concerns from zees who were originally excited about the PHY major after reading Marty’s review, hope to provide another perspective). I’ll also break it up similar to Marty:

Difficulty: pretty much what Marty said. I find physics much, much, easier than any humanities major, but that isn’t to say physics isn’t difficult—it is Princeton, after all. “It’s also important to keep in mind that it’s easier to do 20 hours of work that you want to do than 5 hours of work that you don’t.” It’s about the skillset you have and what you want to learn about. But you won’t see every pset taking 20 hours. I’ve done some in as little as 2, and as many as 24+, but that’s also pretty standard across Princeton’s concentrations.

Psets/HW: For the most part, problems will be pulled from textbooks, with a couple written by the professors or pulled from graduate entrance exams. You’ll tend to get one (or two) problem(s) that is blatant application of what is covered in class (i.e. “plug and chug”). You’ll also get some problems (idk, 3-4?) about the current topic that require a little more thinking (a little more being as little as 15 min if you have your eureka moment, and hours if not, but that’s what working in groups is for), so that you’re not just learning to regurgitate what is provided in lecture, but instead how to actually use these skills when you enter the real world…because you can be sure that the complex real-world physics you do outside the classroom isn’t going to have a pretty answer, or even one defined way of solving it, so the department is going to throw a few curveballs because there is no other way to help students practice for that sort of situation. These definitely don’t involve deriving “new math” or starting from scratch, or (as Marty put it), you certainly aren’t “lacking the necessary information”… professors cannot test you on something they haven’t taught. Instead of seeing a problem and thinking you haven’t been provided the tools to solve it, you ALREADY have all the tools you need to solve it, you just need to figure out how to use them the right way (and that is not always something that can be taught, and must sometimes be experienced to be learned. This is where many of the longer hours on physics psets come from). There is the occasional (I can think of maybe 2 or 3 up through the end of junior year) problems where the professor mistakenly assigns something where some information is truly “missing” on the student’s behalf, and when the students speak up about it, the problem is excised or compensated for in the grading. Department is also pretty decent with normalizing (they’ll do so at the end of the semester at once, rather than per test or per assignment, so seeing grades below B- is quite uncommon, but you’ll really have to crunch to get an A as opposed to an A- or B+).

Difficult times and Department: I’ll use this as a convenient segue. On those few problems where you’re struggling or your group is struggling and just can’t make any progress, I think the physics department is actually one of the BEST departments in this school for helping you overcome your current obstacle. There are always people in the department (yes, even at 2am, some follow more studentile schedules than we do) and unless you’re taking a senior elective or graduate course, 95%+ of the people in the department are equipped to help you with where you’re stuck, and will gladly do so. It just requires being proactive on your part to either 1) email someone for help, 2) set up a meeting, or 3) literally drop in to their offices unannounced, which are all a miniscule amount of effort (and yet, many still do not). This is what makes the Princeton physics department one of the best in the world, matched only by those of schools like Oxford or Cambridge – the level of undergraduate attention. Not all physics professors in Princeton to research, and NONE are allowed to do only research. Your lectures may not be too different from what you’d see in some other schools, but you now have access to some of the top people in the world in this field, and another major difference is they WANT to help you (with maybe a few notable exceptions, but every group has their bad apples). It is your choice/prerogative whether you want to make use of this resource to its full capacity, or not at all and treat the department like you would any other teaching group in high school. Talk to them about their class, their work, their lives, ask about what you can help them with (which is how I found my two JP projects), take them to dinner, and do all of these again. It is a privilege to even have the ability to do these things, and you will never TRULY struggle (or wither and die) in the department as long as you do. I don’t see this in other Princeton departments.

The Material: I agree with Marty that most of what you learn is not the stuff that people get excited about. We just aren’t that smart or experienced yet, you will spend all 4 years at Princeton merely building the tools to put in a toolbox, rather than using them, because there is just that much physics needed to start making exciting progress nowadays. Like Marty said, physics is very different than pop science videos, but that doesn’t have to mean the excitement can’t be found. You should look for the connections in how things from your different classes over weeks and semesters work together (and I agree this can get very hard when you’re stressing over short-term pset or exam performance). I also agree that you lose it if you don’t use it—I too have embarrassingly stumbled on the basics when push comes to shove, but for the most part people within the field understand this point too. Most everyone is making sure you understand concepts, how things link together, and how to approach problems rather than that you have an encyclopedic knowledge of equations and facts.

I also blatantly disagree that physics majors have to take a lot of classes. We have very few classes we actually have to take (I think 8?) and a few more (I think 4?) that are departmental prerequisites that can be skipped (if you’re lucky or wicked smart) or cross-satisfied with other similar classes you’re interested in, if you’re willing to go into the department and talk about it (again, this goes with the engaging the department to its fullest extent and being proactive, like was said above). We have so much room for electives that I could have been a double major if Princeton allowed it.

Marty covers mental health, undergraduate groups, and independent work very well, so I won’t keep blabbing on it. Physics is great about being open with hardship, and there are definitely times that everyone feels like they’re a dummy. Don’t get caught up in those moments, and appreciate what you learned from them afterwards. Use the opportunity to work with all the other kids that are interested in the topic like you, make new friends, and learn together. It can even be fun (sometimes) and misery is mitigated in company – some of my best friends here are people I started with studying and working with, and our relationship is now based very little off that though we still do so.

I also disagree strongly with Marty’s final paragraph. I don’t recommend shying away from physics, I’d recommend trying it if you’re interested and doing it if that’s what you want to do (if you’re doing it because that’s what you think smart people do, that’s a different matter). It keeps so many doors open for post-college plans, I’ve worked in CS, ORFE, data analysis, defense, non-academic research, and research jobs, and all of them hire physicists post-college. So “not like it’ll do you a lot of good for post college plans” is a very warped view.

So basically my main takeaway is the department is going to be what you put into it. Go in with a positive attitude and be excited about what it can offer, and use this to be proactive and you’ll likely do just fine in the department (and even, dareisay, like it, from time to time?) I’m with Marty for saying if this writing doesn’t appeal to you, you probably won’t want to be a physics major, but don’t be afraid to be one just because of some longer pset hours or whatever you hear floating around (I find it a rule of thumb that many PHY, and Princeton students in general, love to complain, I know I do, so take a lot of it with a grain of salt. Their experience will not be yours, only you can determine that). Reach out to the contributors if you’d like to talk to me about this too, I’d be happy to talk. And please read both my and Marty’s reviews, as I’ve written this to be in tandem with Marty’s. Thanks.

If any readers want to talk about physics, the writer who wrote this bit is willing to be connected.

Response from Marty:

This is really great and I’m glad it’s here, but I definitely didn’t mean my post to be an overall negative review of the department. The question explicitly asked about downsides, so I wrote about that, but I could’ve written an equally long post about upsides. Sorry if anyone was discouraged by what I wrote. It also seems like this rebuttal misunderstood some of the points I made, so apologies for anyone who was misled. 

[maximuswolf]

Open Letter to Job Seekers looking to enter the cannabis industry via /r/CannabisExtracts

Open Letter to Job Seekers looking to enter the cannabis industry

Apologies in advance for the long post

I've seen and read many a post in this sub, and other related subs, with people looking for "industry jobs" and wondering how to get one. As I'm sitting on my computer, "weeding" (sorry, puns are the low hanging fruit of humor but I couldn't help myself) through literally hundreds of applications, I thought maybe I could shine some light on the process from the other side of the curtain. Maybe offer some helpful advice for hopeful applicants, and offer a glimpse of what it means to work in the industry. Note: Those of you with Doctorates in Organic Chemistry or a Masters Degree in Botany, this write up isn't for you. You can probably definitely score a job. Shoo! Go on, you heard me, scram! Now, for the rest of you lurkers and hopefuls, lets take a look:

What's a cannabis job really like?

Well here, your mileage may vary wildly depending on where you work. I don't have much retail experience but I've worked in cultivation, Manufacturing (as in infusion, filling, packaging) and extraction for over a decade now, from the Prop215/SB420 days, to now, in multiple states, so I'll speak to what I know.

First things first. It's a job. It's a job that involves working with cannabis, but it's a job. It's not going to be all bong-rips and rainbows. Personally I love the industry, it's challenging, always varied, and a passion of mine. Don't get me wrong, it's pretty cool the first time you see 1,000lbs of weed. Then after a while you look at it and go "oh shit my back already hurts from standing for the last 12 hours and I have to get it off this damn truck and do like 2hrs of paperwork". Some companies are awesome to work for, some are shitty, it's life. I've heard some horror stories about shops being set up to churn and burn, minimum pay for crazy output. Anyway, what do the jobs look like? note, this is more from the point of view of an entry level position, obviously a cultivation directors general duties are going to be somewhat different than that of a starting out employee

Cultivation: Here is one area that gets a lot of people applying with very unrealistic expectations. I mean, back in the day when you're burning a few with your buddies, who didn't dream of growing weed? It'll be sweet, smoking a blunt, snipping on the plants, bumping some sweet tunes... Dude, it's farming. Ever met a lazy farmer? Here's what a job as new cultivation tech looks like: Hauling bags of grow medium, Cleaning reservoirs, Cleaning floors, flood tables, etc... Lot of cleaning. You'll feel like a janitor. As you gain trust you will begin to be shown how to do things like mix nutrients, take clones, etc... When you work with plants, it's tying up branches and snipping dead leaves. Always looking for pests. Some facilities has everyone help w/ harvest, some places it's a dedicated crew. Trimming is an easy job to get because it has a high turnover. It's a very "keep up the pace or get out" kind of job. Some places pay by the lb, which means if you can keep up a high output you can make decent money, other places are hourly w/ bonus for exceeding goals. At my last facility I saw a lot of 21yo kids come and go because the job wasn't as "Chill" as they had hoped for it to be.

Manufacturing: Honestly this one can be rough unless you like that sort of thing. Sitting at a production line, putting variable labels on things, folding boxes, putting inserts into boxes, running a capping machine, swapping trays on a filling machine (and loading/unloading the trays), etc... it can be monotonous. But it can also be a great way to get your foot in the door as it's a less competitive labor pool than cultivation or budtending. A high output mfr facility looks great on your work history, and you can start picking up an understanding of Track and Trace, etc..

Extraction: Manufacturing but w/ hazards! A lot of the same packaging stuff, but also extraction. The work can be fairly physically demanding. You need to be good about record keeping. Be prepared for long hours, as processes don't always conform to the 8hr work day. Be ok w/ being given what seems like charlie work, especially when you're new, such as packing material socks or milling material. Some of the parts of the job can be rough, we do a lot of Fresh Frozen and so that means suiting up and packing/milling in the walk-in freezer at -20c, but on the bright side it smells fantastic in there! It's important to learn everything you can as fast as you can, and opportunities open up quickly.

What are my opportunities for promotion?

Depends on your company, but based off my experience, if you show up on-time, don't show up high/hungover, and work hard, you will stand out. The industry is hungry for hard-workers. Like, super hungry for competent people. If you put your time in, and build some networking, you will be able to find work, especially if you're able/willing to relocate to chase good opportunities.

How do I get a job in cannabis?

Well, how picky are you? Because assuming you live in a state in which it's legalized in some form, and you live near a population center in which cannabis operators, er, operate. You can probably find facilities that are hiring. As I said, many facilities churn and burn employees. It's a fact. But you want to persevere, awesome! Look on indeed or other job boards. Go to company websites and see if they have a 'hiring' or other employment application link. Then apply. It's really that simple! That said, every-time we put up a listing I get HUNDREDS of applications. So assuming you don't have "Manufacturing Supervisor for Kurvana" on your resume, you are going to need to learn how to stand out and you are going to need to maybe be willing to take a job you outside of your particular area of interest to get your 'foot in the door'. Maybe you really want to be a cannabis extractor, well that's a tough job to get sometimes. But if you put in 6 months working in packaging, now you've got some skills, some frame of reference about the industry, a brand name on your resume, hopefully a good referral, and possibly the chance to transfer to a department that you're passionate about.

Advice for getting hired

One sad truth of any industry, is the 'ol catch-22 of you need experience to get the job, but to get the job you need the experience. Just go and try getting hired as a bartender with zero-knowledge of tending bar. Unless you meet a very specific physical description chances are you're not going to get the job. Any industry is going to generally prioritize applicants with experience over those with none. That said, there are ways to level the playing field.

First, write a good resume. Make sure it's well laid out, spell check the damn thing. Have someone else spell check it. I know I'm not hiring for a position as an English teacher, but if your resume has "detale orrientede" under "skills" we've already gotten off on the wrong foot. Your resume is your chance to compress who you are and why I should hire you into a page or two. List your relevant experience if you have it. I can't tell you how often I have candidates apply through indeed and answer the question form asking 'how many years of industry experience do you have?' with something like "5" but then their resume lists a string of jobs none of which are in cannabis. I know, it was shades of grey for a while there, but consider making a separate cannabis industry resume if you don't want that stuff on your regular job resume.

I've been an amateur/black/grey market grower and/or extractor for 4 years is that relevant?

Sure, somewhat...depends a lot on how you did things and at what scale. Don't expect the Cultivation Director at a thousand light facility to be super impressed by the 2lbs you pulled per year out a tent, even if it was "super fire". Think about if you wanted to get a job at a regular farm, would the owner be impressed by the tomato plant you grew in a pot on your patio? Same w/ extraction. If you have legit non-regulated experience, that's fine, mention it. Make a production portfolio, and attach it. If you can grow some sweet diamonds, I'll definitely take that into account. However...

DON'T OVERSTATE YOUR EXPERIENCE. Honest to god, I get so many of these. "Master Extractor" "5 Years Experience BHO Extraction" Etc... Cool, but expect for me to ask some (imo) pretty basic questions up to some pretty advanced questions. If you apply to work at Stone Brewery claiming to be a master brewer, expect your interview to be very different than if you say you're a home brew enthusiast who is eager to learn. If you tell me on your resume that you are a "master hydrocarbon extractor" and you don't know what the term LEL is ...I'm going to probably think that you might have been a bit dishonest with me and you're going to have a bad time on your phone interview. So, be honest about your experience, but be realistic. I don't expect every applicant to have the ability to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on equipment to learn with, and if you're straight w/ me that's fine. But claim to be a master and get interviewed with that expectation.

WRITE A COVER LETTER. Honestly. Do it. Do it for every company you apply to. Keep it short, sweet, and to the point. Who you are, why you want to work for our company, why you would be a great asset to the team. Make it specific to the company you're applying to, particularly if you're going through a job board type site like indeed. It shows the hiring manager that you took the extra two to three minutes to look us up, see what we're about, and personalized your application. it makes you a person not just another one of the hundreds of resumes we got. I get so few cover letters and I just don't understand why. It puts you at the top of the pile, it really does.

Want to know a true fact? I give 98% of the people who wrote a cover letter a call for a phone interview (the 2% who don't get calls are because their resume is trash or they are clearly a crazy person). So write one. It doesn't need to be the next great american novel, but spend a few minutes on it.

Now you have a solid resume, and know about the cover letters, it's time to bring out the big guns. This is my gift to you for reading this far:

Learn the rules and Regs for your state. Go online, find the relevant laws, rules, etc... Print them out, and read them. Take notes. Act like you are studying for the SAT. Put "Extremely Knowledgeable in CA or AZ or WA or wherever you live Regulations and Laws on your resume and in your cover letter. Expect to be asked a question or two. If asked how you know anything about it, and you answer "I wanted to get into the industry so I studied the laws in order to be a better asset to the company." you will get put on the top of the job applicant pile. Guaranteed.

You want to really "wow" the hiring manager? You want to knock their socks off? You want to get that job, experience in the industry be damned? Go and get yourself certified in METRC or BIOTRACK in addition to the regs. Honestly? If I had an applicant who had ZERO experience in the industry, was 21 years old and wrote in his cover letter that he was so devoted to the cannabis game that he went and got a METRC cert and learned the CA BCC/CDPH Rules and Regs...I'd hire him on the spot. I don't give a shit if his last job was retrieving shopping carts. That would tell me he was in it to win it and I'd keep an eye on him for advancement. Guaranteed.

What about Oaksterdam or THCUniversity or SmokeWeedErrDay Academy?

More sad truth time: I don't care about those. I don't know of anyone else in a hiring position in the industry that gives a 'degree' from one of those non-accredited online cannabis 'degree' mills any credence. Maybe I'm wrong, Chime in below if you are a hiring manager for whomever and you look at a 4 week online program from Oaksterdam and think "I should hire that guy". I mean, if you want to do it to learn something, cool, but I don't think I've ever seen it on someones resume and thought anything other than "huh, neat" and given it no additional weight past the rest of their resume. Honestly, I've had employees that have done courses through programs like that and they had some weird ideas about how things were done.

Exception: Professional Development Education or learning specific skills or processes. There are some cool courses you can take that will teach you basics, in a lab setting, on certain processes such as SPD, WFD, Isolation, etc...I always like seeing that and have done some myself.

I want a degree that will set me up for a future career in cannabis, what do you recommend?

Well, what do you want to do?

Extraction/Manufacturing: O-Chem is a one that a lot of shops like to see, but I like Chemical Engineers. I just hired a kid right out of school, and he's been fitting in great. Way I've always looked at it is "chemists figure out how to make a chemical process happen, and chemical engineers figure out how to make it happen at scale"

Cultivation: Should be abit of a no-brainer right? Something Plant or Agricultural science oriented.

Anything Else: Well, business degrees are always good for, well, business positions. It's an industry like any other, if you want to be the guy/girl telling the other guys/girls what to do a business degree isn't a bad idea, unless you want to specialize (advertising, Social Media Marketing, Software design, etc..)

Anyway, thank you for reading all of this, hope it is of some help to y'all.

Submitted August 31, 2020 at 04:17PM by blunt-e via reddit https://ift.tt/32XSzQD