#it's like twitter. there can't be valuable discussion in any of that

[aliusfrater]

i’m like. so sure you’ve probably addressed this before but there’s been a popular topic on tt recently pertaining to john and favoritism of all three of his sons, particularly about how dean is least favored and i am just. simply not buying it since an alarming amount of people seem to have the impression that john didn’t even give two fucks about his kids, so i just wanted to hear your thoughts on that!

fundamentally petty discourse filtered through a dean perspective bias. it's fundamental to sam and dean's (and their conjoined relationship dynamic vs adam's) dynamic as foils that they're both jealous yet not entirely privy to the dynamics of their respective relationships with john while also having quite views that are quite warped through apologia, guilt, or as mentioned, their respective dynamics with him—failed parentification and relative codependency vs infantalisation and isolation (they're both neglect but are fundamentally different kinds. it's where, i think, the idea of john as Figure is foundational within). i don't really know how to answer this ask without straight up summerising episodic plot points except to give you a watchlist: the entirety of seasons one and two, 3.01, 3.08, 3.14, 4.13, 4.19 (i, ii), 4.21, 4.22, 5.06, 5.11, 5.13, 5.16, 6.02, 7.11, 7.12, 7.14, 7.19, 11.08, 11.12, 11.22, 12.04, 13.04, 14.13, and feel free to add more if you find this list to be missing john exploration or hauntings.

like dean's role within the winchester familial dynamic has largely to do with the fact that he was the perfect soldier, the perfect weapon, the perfect extension of john and he fit that role for john's sake; the jacket, the music, his hair, and the impala are all aspects of his emulation of john. much of sam's relationship with john (and his role) has to do with his inability to fit within the parameters of their relationship that john expects/wants/needs. dean's dialogue (1.08, "and then within five minutes, you guys will be at each other's throats.") as well as specific scenes in season one (1.21, "you were just pissed you couldn't control me anymore!") establishes that sam and john's arguments are a fundamental aspect of their relationship dynamic while dean's obedience defined his and john's relationship. season one explores these factors as well as the idea of sam and dean's redeveloping relationship changes the way both think of their respective relationships with john; dean was very well aware of the differences in how he and sam were treated and he placed the blame of much of it on the child (sam) in the parent/child relationship (john and sam) (1.08, "i seem to recall a few choice phrases comin' out of your mouth." / "well, it's a two-way street, dude.") which affected sam's budding guilt complex about his and john's relationship while sam is very well aware of the impossibility of several aspects of dean's relationship with john (1.18, "you were just a kid.") and eventually gives dean his own agency to stand up to john like sam did (1.11, "you stand up to dad. and you always have. hell, i wish i—" / 1.21, "although i'm not too crazy about this new tone of yours, you're right. i'm sorry."). in the same vein, john and dean chronically isolated sam from their own family dynamic while dean never fully understood sam's perspective in that, his resulting desire for a life outside of hunting, and conflict this caused between sam and john (largely in favour of john's pov) which results in a median lack of understanding of each other's relationships with john. this snowballs throughout the rest of the show, especially regarding sam and dean's own dynamic. the thing is that, both dean and sam initially saw, and to some degree still do and forever will see, the way they view their respective relationships with john as the ideal. sam wants to feel wanted and included by john while dean admires sam's rebellion and envies the outward care john demonstrated to sam as a pedestal of innocence; dean very often neglects to acknowledge sam's childhood experience from his own perspective (lots of examples, but is encapsulated within 11.08, "you weren't lonely you had me!") (and in other cases he was expresses resentment for his own) while sam, privy to dean's attempted parentification, accommodates to his (1.18 mentioned above and even his reaction to the events of 9.07 and 15.16).

it's fundamental that john loved his kids—he loved both these aspects of them both but it was also cause for his own abusive behaviour. he took advantage of his codependent relationship with dean, especially when it came to hunting and he othered and eventually entirely excluding sam from the family for having life goals that didn't centre hunting because he was scared of how he thought this inadvertently dangerous paranormal world would affect his children. this also circles back around to how and why i think he neglected adam. it's kind of fundamental to john's character that he loved his family because otherwise the abuse sam and dean faced, and later, the dynamics of sam and dean's own dynamic, wouldn't work—which is why i've said time and time again that anyone who villainises or omits john's character will never fundamentally understand their familial dynamic. john's love for them is quite literally his driving motivation but there was straight up never any narrative exploration about a favourite: there was quite simply a difference in their respective childhood experiences because john loved them differently (largely based on their differing reactions to him as the parent as well as their circumstances).

[cleolinda]

Hello! I think I have some new followers! You may either remember me from Livejournal/Twitter, or it might have been a total impulse follow. Right now I'm 1) hanging out on my dash, reblogging, chiming in on things sometimes; 2) writing about perfume because I got really interested in that over lockdown; 3) reviving a series of recaps I was doing back in 2010.

I like vampires. Always have. Like to write about them. Here's why I have brought back Varney the Vampire (1845-1847) recaps:

It is not currently being published and there won't be any author/fandom drama (probably; we can't rule out the ghost of James Malcolm Rymer)

It hasn't been discussed as much as... pretty much any other vampire media

Recaps are valuable because even people who try to read it rarely finish it, and I don't blame them

As of May 2023, I’m writing fresh recaps of chapters that are suddenly much longer, which is……. exciting:

Varney the Vampire masterpost

The perfume posts are following some pattern unknown even to me, but I have some interesting stories coming up:

Perfume discussion masterpost

Sometimes I write about songs I really like:

Music discussion

On Sundays I do Weekend Links posts to summarize the most interesting things I posted/reblogged that week, so check those or the archive out.

[cosmictiddies]

isn't it important to understand the beliefs of people you are on opposite ideological sides of? if we can't understand our own beliefs then were just parroting Twitter phrases and we're not any better than them. we cany just say all exclusion is bad and leave it there, we have to understand why or it falls apart the first time anyone asks a question. like, why is it okay to ban men from things for women but not ban trans women? both are banning a group, the effect is the same even if the ideas behind it are different. I'm all for banning men from say, calling themselves lesbians but if I'm banning a group and telling them what they can or can't call themselves then why is it different than what terfs do? it's not splitting hairs, it's a valuable tool in having discussions with these people, and maybe even succeeding in changing their minds

ive done my time in the "argue with bigots" mines. i know their ideology bc i used to think i could change their minds or whatever. and i dont care bc it didnt do anything except make me mad. i dont want to understand them or their point of view anymore bc they will not do the same for me. also i dont wanna ban men from anything you listed i simply dont care. this is a wendy's

[gollancz]

Heya, this is probably just in my head cause I've been typing up a story, but I've been writing books for years but have no clue how publishing works so other than typing one up out of my notebooks and currently working on typing up another nothing gets done with them.

If I wanted to like submit a novel to Gollancz to see if you'd publish it would I need like a writing agent or something?

Hi there! Congratulations on all your writing! Getting started is the hardest part, followed by actually finishing the dang thing (and then followed by whichever bit of editing the author is currently on and therefore hating the most)

We are occasionally open to unsolicited/unagented submissions, however as we are still (shamefully) working through our last batch - thanks to a grave underestimating of how many we would get, and overestimating of how much time we had around everything else - I can't say for certain when we plan to re-open them.

That said, even for authors we pick up through unagented submissions, we would generally recommend that they look into getting a literary agent, and often will refer them to agents we work with regularly! This is for a number of reasons that will benefit both you and us:

Your agent will have a broader knowledge of your genre pool, and be able to submit your work to editors within the field more broadly. If they've been around a while, they'll also have a sense of what each editor's tastes are so they know where it's worthwhile to try.

Your agent should be your biggest champion. They should have a good knowledge of publishing contracts, so they understand what's standard to be asked, and what is unusual. That helps manage expectations for both the author and the publisher in negotations.

They will act as a relationship buffer: when your book is acquired, it'll be based on passion and excitement, and - particularly if you're a debut author - it can be very hard to bring up things you're uncomfortable with for fear of rocking the boat or damaging the relationship with your editor. Your agent gets the lovely job of being able to be the person who can communicate any concerns or things you're upset with directly to your editor, without you having to feel like you have to throw your toys out of the pram directly. The nature of a go-between might feel like a bit of a game of Telephone, but it's actually really valuable to also take a step back from the situation and can often take the panic out of discussions. (Note: You should NEVER be in a situation where you feel like your editor is making you uncomfortable or that they wouldn't take feedback well, however the relationships between authors and editors and agents and editors are very different)

They can focus on the business administration side of things while you get to focus on the fun bit of actually being creative!

There are loads of ways you can pitch to agents - whether it's through one of the many pitching events (PitchWars, PitMad, specific pitching hashtags on twitter etc.), through writing competitions (The Future Worlds Prize is one we're directly involved with for unrepresented British SFF writers of colour) or as a direct submission. If you are submitting directly to an agent, make sure that you check:

Are they open to submissions?

Do they represent books in your area?

What are their submission guidelines?

Most agents will get inundated with submissions - more than it's feasible to read! And if you aren't in their genre, or don't follow their submission guidelines, it's a quick way to get your work disregarded without it even being looked at. Check out Manuscript wishlists, agent websites, and agents' social media to see what's going on!

On tumblr, @literaticat has a wonderful 'Ask the Agent' blog and I really recommend it. Agents on twitter often run AMAs as well, depending on what else is happening, so keep an eye out there.

I hope this is helpful! I'm always happy to answer publishing and writing questions, and good luck with your writing!

[shantalanadevil]

Ok, I am doing this on Tumblr as it's long and I don't think Twitter is the right medium for this size.

First to mention - KP was and still is the first and for now only serialized asian production that i've ever watched (excluding anime) and I have never been part of the kpop fandom.

Maybe because of that I don't understand the fandom's obsession with scheduled live events promoting a brand or a product for artists.

And the belief that if an artist isn't doing those, then nothing professional is happening in their life and the company that they are signed on isn't working with and for them at all.

As I mentioned I'm not familiar with the other players in this market. But I do remember last year, when I started being interested in KP, reading multiple posts that the other companies in Thailand don't have the best environment to work in. And that was said quite loudly.

And everything i've read, seen or heard from the artists in BoC has been very positive towards the company. Even when they don't have to, like with instagram comments or multiple interviews about them discussing the environment there.

And believe me, I've listened to enough interviews and i've written enough answers for artists to know that there are ways one can express displeasure without saying it directly. Or even staying neutral.

Is there any data or information about how much artists make from such commitments, which take multiple hours and sometimes even the whole day? Or is there any relevant data that's such activities actually help significantly promote them longterm?

To be clear, I'm not saying trents don't help. I do definitely think, if an artist has a product to promote, that they are valuable. And am all for getting a bag of money in exchange of 1 day of work.

But in the case of Barcode (as he is the one I mainly follow), the only long time we didn't see any work related activity is in 3 weeks of March. After that he shot at least 3 YT programms for the company and is working on music with Jeff. And before that he wasn't posting on his YT or TT at all, which I count as mainly his channels, not the company's, so that tells me he maybe didn't have the energy for that? With school, the tour and then the military camp.

So my question is, why are advertizing activities for other brands the only way some fans will accept that a person at a company is working?

Even their superstars Mile and Apo have like 2 per month at most in 2023. And if somebody believes that they can't get more and trend every week, then there is no point in even having a conversation.

Sometimes this reminds me of a group of rabid Taylor Swift fans on Twitter who are so chart obsessed, that anything that isn't the biggest hit of the year, is being criticized by them as being a wrong professional move by her.

So can anybody explain this obsession in this fandom with live sponsored events as being the only and main way ccompanies should work with their artists? Is that valid for all Asian artists? And accepted as normal?

And I can't fail to mention the hilarity of somebody saying stay in your lane and accept criticism while they have posted their personal opinion on the internet and other people have the right to comment on it.

I have no horse in the game and am not a BoC "fangirl", as with any company or individual there are ways I think they could be better, but do have opinions. 😁 And questions about these schedules, as this is the part I really don't get. Thus this post.

[zov911]

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[shihalyfie]

Honestly the Frontier stage drama is anything BUT “disposable material that shouldn’t be considered canon.” Given the character arcs from the main series, the drama script itself, and the tones and voices the VAs used on stage (Tomoki’s deadpan tones rank #1 on that list, and it was a joy to hear), it’s very much something that could fit into the canon perceptions we have about each character. After all, this takes place just two years after the story, while the drama CD takes place (as you or someone else mentioned) several years later when everyone’s much busier and gotten used to being close with each other for some time.

Also, that fanart from Twitter was so delightful and perfect, and never have I seen something that so aptly conveyed exactly what would have happened had this script been animated (still holding out for more Frontier official art)

Trust me, when I was lazily scrolling through Twitter reading liveblog reactions from people attending the event, the entire timeline was just full of people going "how dare you put this kind of quality content in a vanishable stage reading?!" To give a frame of reference about what kind of content you'd normally expect from stage readings:

A silly crossover skit from 2003 with Adventure through Frontier characters discussing what constitutes a Digimon protagonist (cute, but basically just for fun as a crossover special)

The one tri. one from 2016 where the boys talk about how to hit on girls (this one actually did get on Blu-ray, but 2016 was a bit of a special case)

The Kizuna one from 2019 where the Digimon debate on what to give their partners for August 1 (cute but also canonically inconsequential compared to the official media from the movie)

The Tamers one from last year (which...I think most of us would like to forget if possible anyway)

...and, well, Frontier material is so scarce that anything is valuable, but at the same time they really just barraged us with a whole wave of extremely important material all of us were dying to know. In a vanishiable stage reading. That really is offensive. Thankfully, even questionably legal stuff aside, we had multiple people like the above-mentioned fanartist liveblogging and keeping records and summaries of what happened, but...!

(Actually, the thing that revealed these apparently aren't supposed to be canon is from a certain writer from last year being extremely salty about the fact he couldn't make any long-lasting additions to the Tamers timeline, due to the fact the official stance was that anything that goes into a stage reading is to have all records wiped. The reason is that these events tend to be rights nightmares, so other than 2016 being a special case they usually can't clear the rights to have these on preservable media and therefore don't want to have future canon depend on temporary things like this. But it's not like Frontier is all that likely to have media that contradicts any of this in the future, let alone much canonical media at all, so as long as we all agree that we have enough records of this story to acknowledge it for the time being...)

Given the way they've been handling anniversaries and based on the dates the Tamers one spanned and the Frontier one started, it seems like the air date in April is actually being used as the start and end date instead of having it be January to January, so we actually have more than six months left in the Frontier anniversary. I wouldn't rule out more new art or merch!

And that artist's work (referring to this) is super lovely, isn't it? I really appreciate attempts to preserve and visualize the contents of it, and that artist's passion for Frontier is super clear and passionate. They've been liveblogging their rewatch with fanart, and I definitely recommend checking going to their profile and checking it out.

[bogkeep]

there's a thing i find very frustrating with the [gestures vaguely] general online sphere, at least the one i am part of. almost every discourse and public discussion will center around the english language, usamerican politics, usamerican history, usamerican identity dynamics, and usamerican experiences. which makes sense considering how much of the western internet population of note is, indeed, usamerican. there's nothing wrong with that in and of itself, it's not really anyone can help, but, it can get... overwhelming? discouraging? when one culture seeps its way into the Everything. i understand it's not just One culture, usa/america/the english language is Not A Monolith - but neither is any other culture, or country, or continent, or language.

have you noticed how many vicious internet fights are just about words? who gets to call themselves what, as if any one person gets to be an authority on other people's experiences and identity (my lukewarm take is that they don't). i'm not saying words don't hold power and community and pain. they do! language is such a fundamental part of how we connect, across all this space and through all these barriers. but like, my native languages might not even have an equivalent of whatever word we're fighting about this time around. or if it does, it has entirely different history and connotations. it might not be a word i will ever say aloud in dialogue offline. it makes so many discourses seem pointless and needlessly cruel, especially when it is so completely disconnected to my own lived experience. i understand, i am a guest at the english speaking table and i'm doing my best to pay respects to the hosts, but i'm also chained to the chair and can't really escape it, either.

worst of all is how hard it is to like, speak up about things that don't align with a general usamerican perception of Things. there's a big overlap in problems people have across the world, but due to the world being a vast and diverse space with lots and lots and lots of people, the majority of which are not in fact on tumblr or even twitter, things may be Different. even though usamerican dynamics and history and politics are affecting the rest of the world more and more and the internet makes us more globally connected than ever, it does not mean you can always apply How Things Work In USA to anywhere else. when people say, "things work a little differently here," it does not mean they are avoiding the issue or trying to escape accountability, it might just mean that the usamerican framework of thinking about this issue doesn't match up at all and isn't helping anything. or worse, due to things being Different and the Usamerican Framework being held up as the true arbiter of Problem, many people really may believe We Don't Have That Problem Here (<- is probably sitting on a very bad hideous Problem they can't see because the usamerican part of the internet is completely unaware of it and will never bring it up and if anyone brings it up it will get drowned in the cacophony of Things That Happen Outside America Actually. Do We Need To Care About Them? Oh Shit Caring About Everything In The Entire World Is Actually Very Overwhelming And Way Too Much For One Human To Handle).

i have learnt a lot from being online. i have learnt a lot of valuable perspectives, i have learnt a lot about history and activism i never would have otherwise, i have learnt to recognize dogwhistles and stereotypes that aren't present in my offline surroundings, but are useful to know when interacting with the wider world. but it always always always feels like whatever i read and learn about usa and america it carries much more weight and importance and relevance than... the rest. and every time someone speaks up that maybe usa isn't the protagonist of the world, they get yelled at. i mean, a lot of things get you yelled at online, so that's not special. but it's discouraging to constantly have your experiences downtrodden!

i don't think this is going to change anytime soon. but for anyone who has it in them to do so; try to keep an open mind. no experience is universal, and no experience is exclusive.

[wyrmoffastring]

There's been some discussion about "ethical" NFTs and I'm here to explain why that won't happen.

The discussion in the comments of this tweet is full of people who don't understand why and how we can't just have NFTs but good. That's by design. They're made obscure and difficult to grasp by design, so your FOMO gets you before you can even research. Long Post incoming. This is re-formatted from a twitter thread so sorry if it looks a bit weird.

Artists feel pressured to mint NFTs because they see a demand, or they see others are just stealing their art and minting it. They feel like they're between a rock and a hard place and they don't even know where to start looking for answers and many cave into the pressure and mint their own.

NFTs currently are almost all hosted on the Ethereum blockchain, which is incredibly destructive and uses a Proof of Work system. That means each new addition to it requires more and more energy, driving up the cost of each minted coin or NFT.

This isn't a bug, it's a feature. That's half of how this type of crypto becomes valuable. You need to make sure people can't just go and mint a shitload of NFTs and flood the market with cheap versions, or the value tanks. However, since NFTs are digital only, there is no labor, no material cost, nothing that could boost the value of an NFT beyond what an artist might charge normally for a print. And that's not enough to make it worth people's time and money.

And this is the second part of how NFTs become valuable - you convince people they need them. You make it look like an investment, trading cards etc. The point isn't for the people collecting them to make money though. It's for your specific blockchain to make money.

If you collect beanie babies you might sell some for an inflated price. But the entity that actually benefits is Ty INC. When you mint an NFT you may sell it for ETH of value that's beneficial to you.

But the people really benefiting are the founders of the blockchain. When they started ETH, minting was cheap. It always starts that way.Crypto in a PoW system is mined by making computers solve more and more complex puzzles, but they start off fairly easy and any PC can mine a bunch of coins at the start. They all have a decent amount of ETH in their crypto wallets. But if you want to get some now, you get it from them or contribute to mining new coins by wasting a shitload of energy in crypto mining setups.

I will use ETH as the main example, but know that just replacing ETH with a currently less damaging Proof Of Work crypto coin won't solve anything, because it will get to a similar energy drain eventually. It's designed to. It doesn't matter if it's ETH, or BTC, or DOGE, it all sucks.

So, moving on to NFTs.

Every new NFT that's minted on that blockchain is paid for with ETH. You have to buy ETH from them to even make an NFT. You pay them cash. They get real money. You get a token. Then you don't keep that ETH, you spend it to mint an NFT. If someone buys it, you then lose some ETH to transaction fees. On every step, you lose. The way to profit from this is to be either someone who already has ETH and wants it to raise in value ( when more people invest in it, for example via NFTs) or are an already established, usually rich artist, who knows everyone will buy their art.

This is why it's so often called a pyramid scheme, or ponzi scheme. People who have ETH in their wallets pay out when you buy their ETH to mint your NFTs. But if everyone suddenly decided to pay out all of their ETH they made on NFTs, the market would crash, because there would not be enough people to sell their ETH too. Sure, the founders probably have some cash to pay out small amounts, but they do not have anywhere near enough to actually pay everything out, because this isn't, in reality, a currency exchange.

You're swapping tokens for cash at a casino that only functions because all of the people who think they're winners were convinced they will be bigger winners if they hold on to their chips for just a bit longer.

Basically even if you had a perpetual motion machine, you'd reach a point where you can't get more crypto. If you make it easier to get enough processing power, the puzzles needed to mine new coins will just become too difficult to solve for existing hardware. Then you can't get new coins and make it harder for new people to get into the system. If you can't feed new people into the system, you don't get new cash to pay out to the initial buy-ins and the pyramid collapses. This is why you hear a lot of promises and you have people make their own crypto mines with solar panels, but the coins are still incredibly environmentally damaging.

With ETH especially, each transaction costs massive amounts of energy and even if we got it all from solar, that would require for our entire global grid to be solar. Which is possible nowadays, but the creators of the coin do not have the ability to do that. No one single entity does. We've had this talk for years now and it's against the holders of the majority of the world's capital to swap to solar, they don't give a shit if the planet dies because they're all too old to live through the fallout.

Replacing a Proof of Work system with a less damaging one like Proof of Stake won't fix much. It will fix the environmental aspect but not the pyramid scheme. You end up with a situation where you might have theoretical income, but can't pay it out. It's less than exposure.

You see, if you want to pay out crypto, you trade it for a fiat currency, just like you would stock. And as someone who used to hold some inherited stock and had trouble selling it when I desperately needed to fix my car, that doesn't always go well. It requires someone to want to buy it, and while for now people are excited about NFTs and crypto, that doesn't mean they'll buy it all the time, or at the price you believed you'd be able to sell.

Oh and participating in the NFT market doesn't protect you from getting your work stolen and sold for less, by the way. The anonymous aspect of the blockchain means you don't even know who to send a CnA to. This might change soon though, since the IRS is now demanding NFTs are declared.

If this means they have to show what they're selling as NFT, then you can just take them to court without the need to make your own NFT. If they just have to declare they sell NFT, which is unlikely, then making your own won't help you locate them to DMCA.

There is a hypothetical use for blockchain technology that isn't destructive. Maybe. But not under capitalism. I don't think it was created to be a scam, but neither was the stock market, at least not entirely. Yet both only benefit those who are already established in them.

As blockchain exists now, as we exist now, there is no way to "redeem" NFTs. There's no option where this won't lose a lot of people a lot of money. The system being pay to play should already make people realize it, but with MLMs thriving, I'm not surprised so many fall for it.

We shouldn't dismiss every artist that feels pressured to participate. We shouldn't demonize people who feel they have to do this before someone just steals their art. But I genuinely believe there's no way we can salvage anything out of this. This was meant to fuck people over.

[clownvoy]

Why convoy news is failing us

I spent a couple hours watching the TV news again today.

It's a frustrating experience, for several reasons.

First, television carries with it expectations of a narrative. You expect something new. If it's a serialized, ongoing story, you expect progress. Yet nothing is changing in the anti-mandate protests. The protesters continue occupying, lying, and gloating, while the police and politicians express their grave concerns.

There is just no new information. Most coverage comes from either reporters on the scene, or from supposedly informed commentators. We almost never hear from anyone who actually knows what's going on.

For reporters, there’s very little to learn on the frontlines. Talking to individual protesters is almost pointless. Their energetic rants may sound interesting at first, but if you've heard two you've heard them all.

Virtually none of the protesters knows anything about their movement – how big it is, its motives, or its next steps. Their reason for being there – to protect freedom from overreaching government – is indefensible. Reporters can't even ask useful follow-up questions, because few protesters can articulate much beyond their initial grievance.

Another problem: the trucker leaders are shadowy figures largely absent from the news. They hold news conferences without the national media, or anyone who will ask hard questions. They stay in the background to avoid accountability.

Since the media's focus is on the battlefront, the convoy leaders don't get the scrutiny they deserve. Who are these people? Can you name any? What are their philosophies? What are their goals? Do they have any plans to end this standoff other than being pushed out by force? (Or is that what they want?)

We don't know the leaders' intentions because the media aren't talking about them. I've learned more about the leaders (and their associations with racism and separatism) through Twitter, Facebook and YouTube than I've learned by reading the paper or watching the news. None of them have ever reported convoy leader BJ Richter's promise of "massive disruption" in a YouTube interview two weeks ago.

(A Google search just now retrieved only my own tweets on this subject.)

There is valuable context on social media, and the mainstream journalists are missing it.

Significantly, what's missing from the coverage of the protesters is informed commentary from government and police officials. This may not be the media's fault. Our leaders haven't a clue.

We see them express outrage, and hear their whines about insufficient resources. But we haven't heard any strategy from them. Of course, they imply that they have plans, and they're sorry they can't share them. But what's become clear is that they don't know how to dislodge these protesters without resorting to violence. And they don't know how to overcome their positional disadvantages.

Finally, I see almost no discussion in the media of the implications of these events. I bet many people feel that something has changed in Canada, and that politics and protest will never be the same again.

I agree that nobody knows what will happen next. But it's important for leaders and thinkers to talk about likely outcomes and scenarios. Because without thinking through the consequences of our actions, we lose our ability to control events.

So if you're tired of watching these protests play out, you're not alone. Our leaders and our media have let us down.

Addendum: If you want to “do your own research,” I have found one of the best sources of information is TikTok. All day, from 7:00 a.m. till 2:00 a.m., you'll find #freedomconvoy protesters live-streaming their every move. You get to see and hear how they think, who they talk with, and what they're up to. You can watch them engage with their followers and supporters, as well as with trolls like me (i.e., anyone who defies their illogic, or ask them to go home). It will give you a much deeper understanding of their issues and their behaviour.

And a sounder context for interpreting the daily news.

Addendum Update, Feb. 13: Since the above post was published, the number of livestreams on TikTok seems to be decreasing. Perhaps life is no longer a party on the streets of Ottawa.

[garetthawke]

okay so. just to let tumblr know what is going on with twitter wrt the she-ra ending and what's blowing up on lesbian twitter, someone made a post celebrating canon sapphic couples, with she-ra, korra, adventure time, and steven universe.

then this fucking asshole made this comment on it:

...which was followed up by this comment of the asshole below him.

[a twitter retweet with the comment "girl on girl is the safest and laziest LGBT representation" by twitter user TroyVaderInk, with a comment below from twitter user UnHolySpork that says "its almost like they are completely fetishizing lesbian relationships and also completely ignoring that lesbian relationships are most often extremely abusive. EXTREMELY."]

and the overt lesbophobia is enough to be mad about, obviously. but this is getting under my skin for more than that, too.

so, contextually, the discussion these people thought they were having was pointing out how seriously hard it is to get m/m couples on a show like this. however, the conversation had instead was this extremely offensive mess.

the original comment does a few things here, 1 being the complete erasure and dismissal of the struggle LGBT people have had actually getting these f/f couples on screen.

2, acting like these four children's cartoons are somehow elevating wlw representation to straight representation by pitting mlm rep against them vs against het couples, rather than acknowledging both facts: that four shows of minor, one-to-none kiss rep is pathetically low, AND that mlm rep is pretty much nonexistent in media like this.

and 3, he used the phrase "girl on girl" like a goddamned porn category, implying his opinion on the apparent "easiness" and "laziness" of sapphic couples is in fact informed by and probably counting fetishistic lesbian porn made for straight men.

(this man also spent a good deal of time on twitter antagonizing lesbians who called him out, many of them teenagers, some by saying some sexist shit and defending it with utterly stereotypical sexist responses, and he had added to his callout, a post of him referring to a sapphic character with the d slur, so feel free to go report him.)

the second comment here chimes in with an almost hilariously hypocritical assertation that a) these sweet, canon wlw couples on CHILDREN'S shows are (somehow) fetishistic (for existing at all i guess??) and that b) most lesbian relationships are (somehow) abusive; which is besides the point of this post, but still one of the most hurtful and damaging things said in this thread. there is an additional comment of hers (not shown) below this one that clarifies that is what she meant.

in any case, this drove me up a fucking WALL.

because while the initial point here - that media creators are still too scared to show boys as much as even holding hands in shows like this - has a lot of validity to it, it was posed at the utter expense of lesbians, and requires of heavy dose of hypocrisy to follow through in that way.

because while media is still scarce on similar mlm rep, fandom is literally DOMINATED by it. to the point that many lesbians, including myself, have said we can't find a safe space within it ANYWHERE. I've had to drop out of active participation in SO MANY fandoms i previously loved, because the entire fandom was reduced down to thirsting after and fetishizing men in the fandom, particularly in m/m format.

there is overt hostility towards lesbians in fandom spaces when we express our discomfort over this, and to boot f/f often gets ignored or mistreated by the same people, so it only adds to our discomfort and alienation.

these 4 shows have hardly put a dent in that. they are very meagre representation at best, save maybe steven universe on a technicality, because the rest are all end-of-show or even post-show confirmations, and all of these shows have about 1-2 kisses each, if even that. pathetic stats when compared to m/f couples. it has not made fandom that much of an easier place to be as a lesbian, but i am nontheless INCREDIBLY thankful they exist nonetheless.

the hypocrisy is hard, because as a lesbian the most we are often offered is blatant fetishization, so wlw media that literally DOESN'T do that, coming from lgbt people, is incredibly important. anything that is normalizing is desperately needed.

and yet this person calls what little bit of non fetishistic media we have fetishistic, underneath a fetishizing comment about them, decrying it existing because of claimed fetishization - all in the name of speaking up about mlm rep, which is, within fandom, actually JUST as fetishized, if not more.

and it breaks my fucking heart as much as it enrages me, because this COULD have been a valuable discussion. we could have talked about the fact that mlm have yet to get similar representation to this, likely mostly due to toxic masculinity. but instead these posts used that as merely an excuse, the afterthought to tearing down lesbians and this wlw rep.

and all this to say: it literally doesn't matter how valid your original point is; if you build it on a foundation of hatred and bigotry, it loses all credibility, and destroys the desire for anyone to put in discussion about it. talking about mlm rep under a heavy blanket of lesbophobia will get you nowhere except on a lot of shit lists, unless you WANT to align with general homophobes; but i promise you they will care even less about the plight of mlm rep, save for, oh how ironic, cases of fetishization.

if you look at four, yes the whole FOUR shows sapphics got of representation like this, and your follow through logic is that sapphic rep is thus "easy" and "lazy," you are clearly lesbophobic already and have no ground to start with.

the clashing, hypocritical combination of ideas here that bizarrely imply that both a) fetishized lesbians count as rep, and b) that lesbian rep shouldn't be there because it's fetishized, do not create a cohesive starting point for a discussion of lack of mlm rep, and conveniently ignores the endless bounds of fetishization that is involved with m/m couples in fandom; which means none of it is actually about fetishization at all. it's about these couples being sapphic.

the fact that these two people are bi, people from within our own community, makes this hurt all the worse. lesbophobia is so goddamned pervasive among us that even when we should be fucking celebrating this factually rare achievement of rep, instead people are tearing down lesbians, both characters and real people.

it's disgusting, disheartening, and it's something we need to pay attention to so we can call it out and make it abundantly clear that it will not be tolerated or normalized.

the height of offensive irony is calling us "safe" when this is what we get just over an episode of a cartoon showing two girls kiss.

[andmineisyellow]

So... apparently, my previous post caused a small stir on Twitter (from a number of people who very clearly didn't actually read the post and just heard about it through word of mouth). Anyway, I normally wouldn't address this at all, and if I did, I would try and do so directly, but I don't have a fandom Twitter account, so here we are. Again normally, I would just ignore people looking down on my posts, because ultimately it really isn't about me, it's about their own feelings on the text, which is fine. They're allowed to have those feelings. But a line was crossed and I feel like I need to say something.

There is a small number of fans making the assumption that because I like the idea of Eloise having a crush on a girl, I am a quote, "Woke straight person." I should not have to justify myself, especially when it comes to fictional characters that mean absolutely nothing in the grand scheme of things. But, in case it wasn't abundantly clear before,

I am very Queer.

This is not the first time I've seen people make this assumption about those who view any of the characters in the show as potential queer representation. Straight is not the default, friends. And I would argue that while, yes, there is a history of straight people fetishizing queer or queer-coded people in media, we shouldn't just assume that is the case. Not every shipping preference is in bad faith. Feel free to subtweet about my Bridgerton hot takes all day long, but leave my sexuality out of it.

There is a much longer conversation to be had about gatekeeping within the Bridgerton fanbase, but it's not something I am ready to dive into today. For now, I'll just say, my interpretation of the work is no more or less valuable to the discussion than those who disagree with me. In the wise words of Charlie from The Santa Clause movies, "Just because you can't see something, doesn't mean it doesn't exist." Fandom would not be able to thrive without a little discourse, but let's keep it respectful, yeah?

[nolanwilsonvolusiacounty]

Nolan Wilson Great Advice To Help You Generate Good Leads

NOLAN WILSON from Volusia County, Florida Expert tips provider. Lead generation is just about the best way to boost your sales. Do you know much about this? Is it important to gain more knowledge? If your answer is yes, this article contains tips that are not available elsewhere, so read it carefully.

Be more active on niche-relevant forums and discussion boards to generate easy leads. If you hang out where consumers ask questions, you can gather trust, brand yourself and be a go-to source for them. Not only will they appreciate your assistance, they will also most likely visit your site for more info or to make purchases!

Set time every week to follow up with potential leads. It usually takes more than one touch point to turn a potential qualified lead into a real hot lead. SO after you've made first contact, set time a week or two later to touch base again. It's about frequency here to make this person into a customer.

Talk to business owners in related industries. They may be willing to share leads with you, by sending their customers your way. For example, if you own a shop where you sell balloons, talking to a florist about a joint venture is a great way to get leads from another business.

Know your target market. When you understand the specific group that most needs the products or services you offer, you will be able to reach them more efficiently. For example, if you are trying to reach elderly customers, you have a better chance of generating leads if you avoid a skateboard shop.

Do you know of any local events pertaining to your business? A realtor, for instance, may want to keep an eye out for wedding shows in their area. Newlyweds, for example, may want to purchase a home. Find out what will be in your area by looking at your local classifieds.

Don't forget your website! Many people create a site and then just leave it, believing that "if you build it, they will come." They won't unless you actually put some effort into it. Create a blog and update it frequently, or add new content as often as possible to the site itself.

NOLAN WILSON from Volusia County, Florida Best service provider. Your customer base is going to be loyal to you and help you get new leads. You can accelerate this aspect of lead generation by doing different things. For example, you can start a referral program. Referral programs reward your current customer base for helping you find new customers out there.

You have competitors, but you also have companies within your industry that are complement your business. Therefore, network with these companies so that you can exchange leads. This can be a great method to help gain new customers and strengthen your business niche in general for repeated business later on.

Look for people in your local community that are involved with lead groups. These are groups of diverse business owners who share leads between each other. While you might not think your dentist could find leads for a masseuse, you might be shocked! Meantime, a client of your may complain about their toothache, so you can returnt he favor.

When using Twitter, most people think about growing followers and using hash tags. Sure, but also consider searching for keywords related to your products so that you can find people talking about buying things related to your products. Finding posts of interest can help you generate new leads within your niche.

Create a local reciprocal referral database for yourself and other local businesses. You can set it up on Google Documents and ask people you know to join it. If you know someone who needs dental work you can refer them to a dentist on the list and, if he knows someone who needs you he'll, do the same.

NOLAN WILSON from Volusia County, Florida Qualified tips provider. Use time sensitive offers to generate more valuable leads for your business. Since people usually want what they can't have, they will be more likely to sign-up if they know the offer is set to disappear. Stay true to your word and dissolve the offer at your stated deadline, then count your new leads!

Take a class which would better your skills and talk to the other students. They might just be honing their skills because they aren't very good at what you're good at, and maybe they can use what you're selling to make up for the fact they can't do it on their own.

Start a newsletter and send it out to your current clients. You can also send them to those who have brought in referrals in the past, and even people who just happen to live near you. If you make it concise and clear people will read it, and you might get some new leads.

Only purchase a lead database which is targeted to your niche. The specific services or products you personally offer might dictate a narrow niche. Buying a basic database won't be worth it unless you make sure they fit your needs. You could end up with a ton of information that leads you outside your target demographics.

Test out new avenues before you go in whole hog. You don't want to end up investing a lot of time and money and yet get nothing in return. Run a test of each new strategy you have and carefully monitor your results, then jump in when the testing reveals success.

Try driving traffic to the lead generator you're using. Whether it stands alone as a splash page or is a full survey, with no traffic you will not get leads. Focus on getting people to this page the same as you would your main site.

NOLAN WILSON from Volusia County, Florida Professional tips provider. Take advantage of buttons that allow folks to instantly share your content. Having people "like" or "tweet" your content can gain it more visibility. By making social media sharing easy for users, you increase the likelihood that they will do it. This can have a wonderful Domino effect as people "retweet" and so on.

Are you now someone that can generate some leads? Are you prepared to dive in and work harder than ever? Put your knowledge and determination to work to be successful. Start right away and stay focused on the goals at hand.

[dipulb3]

Corporate America can't avoid one question. It's Tesla's fault

New Post has been published on https://appradab.com/corporate-america-cant-avoid-one-question-its-teslas-fault/

Corporate America can't avoid one question. It's Tesla's fault

Wall Street analysts have peppered executives at other high-profile companies about possible bitcoin forays during recent earnings conference calls.

GM (GM) CEO Mary Barra said during the automaker’s earnings presentation earlier this month that GM didn’t have any plans to buy bitcoin just yet.

“We don’t have any plans to invest in bitcoin, so full stop there,” she said in response to a question from Morgan Stanley auto analyst Adam Jonas.

But she did not rule out the possibility of customers one day being able to buy Chevrolets, Buicks or Cadilllacs with cryptocurrency — just as Tesla is planning to let customers use bitcoin to buy its electric cars and trucks.

“This is something we’ll monitor and we’ll evaluate. And if there’s strong customer demand for it in the future, there’s nothing that precludes us from doing that,” Barra added.

But executives at other companies, particularly financial corporatins, remain unconvinced that bitcoin should be part of their cash-management strategies.

“We’re not currently investing in cryptocurrency,” said Leslie Barbi, chief investment officer with Reinsurance Group of America (RGA), during an earnings conference call last week.

“My understanding is currently the accounting is different than other currencies and can create more volatility,” she added.

Volatility is a problem. The big swings in price will probably keep other major companies from putting corporate money into bitcoin.

Sure, the returns have been enormous as of late. But companies want stability from their corporate investments -— not an asset that has swung from a low of just above $4,000 to nearly $50,000 in the past year.

“We watch cryptocurrencies,” said Christine Hurtsellers, CEO of Voya Financial’s investment management unit during an earnings call. But she added that factors driving the big price swings can “still tend to be somewhat opaque at times.” That’s the reason why Voya (VOYA) won’t invest for now.

Taking the crypto plunge

Other companies are willing to embrace the risk.

So far, Tesla (TSLA) and software company MicroStrategy (MSTR) are the two most prominent firms to buy bitcoin. Payments giants Square (SQ) and PayPal (PYPL) now let customers buy and sell bitcoin (XBT) and use the cryptocurrency for e-commerce transactions. MasterCard (MA) and Bank of New York Mellon (BK) are dipping their toes in the digital currency waters too.

Twitter (TWTR), which like Square is run by Jack Dorsey, is also looking more at bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.

“We have done a lot of the upfront thinking to consider how we might pay employees should they ask to be paid in bitcoin, how we might pay a vendor if they asked to be paid in bitcoin and whether we need to have bitcoin on our balance sheet,” said Twitter CFO Ned Segal in an interview with CNBC after the company reported earnings last week.

Visa (V) CEO Al Kelly also noted during his company’s most recent earnings call that “there’s a growing interest in digital currencies.”

But he differentiated between assets like bitcoin and so-called stable coins that are backed by existing government currencies. Kelly said that bitcoin and other crytpocurrencies are more like “digital gold.”

“They are predominantly held as assets that are not used as a form of payment in a significant way at this point,” Kelly said, adding that “fiat-backed digital currencies, including stable coins and central bank digital currencies…are an emerging payments innovation that could have the potential to be used for global commerce.”

In other words, Tesla’s purchase may lead more companies to consider buying bitcoin, but it’s not likely to create a massive groundswell of support just yet.

The biggest wild card

Some are hoping that Apple (AAPL), the world’s most valuable company, could be next. Apple could let buyers and sellers trade bitcoin, and also invest directly in the cryptocurency like Tesla is.

RBC analyst Mitch Steves said in a report earlier this month that if Apple decided to set up its own cryptocurrency exchange business (potentially through its Apple Wallet feature) then Apple “could immediately gain market share and disrupt the industry.”

Based on how much money Square derives from bitcoin-related revenue, Steves estimates that Apple could eventually generate more than $40 billion in revenue tied to bitcoin.

He also noted that Apple could fund any bitcoin exchange plans by adding about $1 billion to its balance sheet, saying that an Apple purchase of bitcoin would help validate it further and that “the price of the underlying asset would then go up in a substantial manner.”

Apple has not publicly discussed any plans to invest in bitcoin and the company did not respond to requests for comment.