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hazelnut-u-out · 2 years ago

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EPISODE REVIEW TIMEEEE:

(contains spoilers for “analyze piss”)

sooo…. goddamn….

that was dark, and lighthearted, and inspiring all at once.

i was stoked to see rick seeking out therapy, adapting to it, and being open to growth and change.

i think because of the serious nature of this episode, i’m going to divide my specific initial thoughts into two categories- “light” and “heavy.”

i have to give this ep a 9/10 on first-watch. it feels like a crime to not appreciate this for what it is.

light thoughts:

-NIMBUS CAMEO NIMBUS CAMEO. i didn’t realize how much i love and miss this character until we got to see him again. i am so interested in his dynamic with rick and how much potential he has to be explored.

-YEEEUPPPP. this moment still holds up-

- lmao for once i found myself rooting for jerry in a fight. i’m astounded at how much that showed for his character development, too. he was defending his daughter. his actions later on in the ep are questionable, but no more petty than what we’ve seen from rick.

- it was also cute to see morty and summer be proud of their parents for once. super nice contrast from previous moments that showed they are usually not too thrilled with being associated with them (like in “childrick of mort,” etc.)

- i loved how everyone was celebrating rick for accepting therapy. jerry having his back was really sweet- and beth kissing him on the cheek. it’s nice to see this family unit show some support for each other.

- LMAO RICK IGNORING MR. GREEN BEAN WITH HIS SUNGLASSES ON

- it was so sweet to see rick genuinely happy for his family. just :) while they were climbing on board. (idk if that was him being facetious towards himself, considering he was pulling from his flask, but i thought it was cute)

-shoutout to wong for tricking rick sanchez into doing therapy homework. woman works wonders.

okay… time for the heavy stuff:

- they handled the topic of suicide beautifully and respectfully, which i assume would be a difficult move for a “comedy” to make.

i cried a lot during this episode. a lot.

- wow. just… wow. that was a lot to take in. i found it interesting that rick sought out piss master because he related to him. he knew he was probably complex and misunderstood.

it’s reminiscent of “the old man and the seat” to me, but it seems like rick found it easier to accept another “piece of shit” as his friend than he did tony, who was generally a decent person.

the fact that piss master had a daughter also reminded me of rick’s relationship with tony. rick related to tony because of his dead wife, which drove his decision to forfeit his toilet. rick related to piss master because of his relationship with his daughter, which drove him to make his death something she could be proud of (and wouldn’t blame herself for).

- building off of my last thought, it seems like every time rick decides to open up and accept friendship, they end up dying (with an exception of BP, squanchy, etc.). he’s growing, but he’s still not allowed to let new people in yet.

- that scene of him trying to save piss master was gut wrenching. just… all of it. he really didn’t want him to die. he really cared. he’s really a person- wholly and fully. piss master wasn’t just some guy to rick in that moment.

- that scene where he has a conversation with piss master’s daughter (literally SPEAKING AS piss master) hit me hard.

i really think, in his mind, he was talking to beth there.

piss master is someone rick can relate to, not only for his daughter, but the fact that he wanted to take his own life. the show isn’t shy about the fact that rick has attempted suicide before.

here’s the scenes this scene reminded me of:

rick has literally tried to kill himself in his daughter’s house. i wonder if that made him think of how that would have made beth feel- to have found him there. if she would have blamed herself…

he wouldn’t ever want his little girl to think that.

piss master is a lot like him: a piece of shit whose daughter loves the fuck out of him for some reason.

i also don’t think it’s a coincidence that piss master’s daughter looks a lot like beth. that look through the peephole at her? damn… how do you think that felt?

(can’t find a screen grab of her yet, but when i do i’ll update this.)

we know he’s a sap for men with dead wives/daughters. this one hit home.

-in the end, morty is his best friend. he couldn’t bear to hurt alone.

i don’t think that he confided in morty to be a dick, or to regress at all. i think he was trying to healthily share his feelings, but that wasn’t fair to morty. he could’ve called wong, or told her earlier. that’s what therapists are for.

- it shows a lot that morty retaliated immediately.

“i can’t sit with that!”

“and you expect me to?!”

great moment that shows his growth.

(i really don’t feel like i’m giving this episode justice, so i’m going to rewatch soon and make a full analysis).

#rick and morty #rick sanchez #morty smith #rick and morty spoilers #analyze piss

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theteasetwrites · 2 years ago

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The Beginning Is the End Is the Beginning

Chapter 99: In the Company of Angels

❧ Pairing: Daryl Dixon x Female Reader ❧ Era: Season 11 ❧ Pronouns: she/her ❧ Warnings: major character death ❧ Word Count: 3.5k

❧ In This Chapter: The Commonwealth is saved in one last effort to defeat the herd. When the panic dies down, there is happiness, but not everyone will live to see another day.

❧ A/N: Second-to-last chapter! So this one is pretty short, but I wanted to write the time jump in the next chapter (aka the last chapter ahhh). I tried to add in some stuff to tie in Reader's father and some of the characters she was closest to. You might also notice that I purposefully made Reader kind of uncomfortable with the celebration (because I was uncomfortable with the celebration lmao). I just felt like it was kind of random and unrealistic (yes I am aware that there are zombies walking around, but within the context of the show, it's nice to have the way people behave be a little realistic). Idk the whole dinner scene didn't sit right with me, so I tried to convey that a little bit lol.

Date: April 18, 2021

Time: Midnight

Our arrival to the Commonwealth was fraught with some… trouble. A herd had somehow gotten through the walls. Governor Milton’s orders were to direct the swarm to the lower wards, where the poor live. She’d also caught onto Mercer’s betrayal, imprisoning him. By the time we arrived, the walkers were flooding into the streets. We took the sewers through to Union Station, where a shootout ensued. Myself and many others were shot, and at this point my recollection fails me, but I’m told that at some point, Princess led a group to release Mercer from his prison. From there, Mercer and his guards snuck us into a safehouse in the Estates, where Pamela and the other elites were hoarding the last of the medicine. We lost Luke and Jules to the walkers. Lydia and Aaron had lost track of Jerry and Elijah in the herd, but they joined with us again by some miracle. Rosita found her daughter, Coco. She is safe, and so is Eugene, Yumiko, and Maxine.

The estates have the luxury of walls to keep the walkers out, but it kept the Commonwealth citizens out, too. Pamela refused to open the gates, signing a death sentence for the unlucky ones who were locked outside. They were screaming, crying, and begging to be let inside, spared from the dead.

Father Gabriel Stokes took a stand, ignoring the guns pointed at him as he made his way to the gate, preparing to shoot the lock and let the people in to save their lives from the impending herd. Governor Milton commanded her guards to shoot him down, but a resounding voice stopped them. It was Alexandria’s own Daryl Dixon, bravely approaching the governor herself, no weapons drawn. His words were simple, but louder than any gunshot, and stronger, too.

“Stop,” he said. “We all deserve better than this. You built this place to be like the old world, that was the problem. We’ve got one enemy. We’re not the walking dead.”

You paused for a moment, thinking of what to write next. It was most important that you wrote down exactly what Daryl had said, you figured. You supposed the rest now was living history, and you’d have to write more later, when you could collect your thoughts.

Daryl himself made his way over to you, looking just as dashing and brave as he did just a few hours ago now. As you sat up in your bed, he eyed you suspiciously. Hadn’t he just told you to rest? And yet there you were, etching hundreds of words into your journal, frantically writing down every thought that had come to you the past twenty-four hours. Everything that happened here tonight was important, and so much more was about to be underway.

When you felt his gaze on you, you lifted your head from your journal. The letters were starting to make you dizzy anyway. “Yes?” you asked.

A few men dressed head to toe in Commonwealth armor pushed past Daryl, carrying various boxes of explosives. It made you nervous, to say the least, but it was all part of the plan. Mercer’s plan.

Daryl crossed his arms with a huff, coming forward to sit himself down beside your bed. He’d left a chair there for himself, marked rather obviously by his vest. “Thought you were gonna be restin’.”

“I am resting.”

“No, you’re writing.”

“Well, I can write and rest at the same time, can’t I?”

He narrowed his eyes at your left arm, still wrapped tight in its sling. “How you feel?”

“My arm hurts,” you sighed. “But I’ll be fine.”

Out of curiosity, Daryl leaned back in his chair, his neck craning to get a look at what you were writing. “I see my name,” he said, focusing on your familiar cursive writing. “What’re ya sayin’ about me?”

“Oh,” you sighed dramatically, “just about how… noble, and brave, and heroic my husband is.”

You swore his eyes rolled into the back of his head. “Stop.”

“Why? It’s true. Besides, Robin and Westley will need to know how great their father is. It’s important, you know. And maybe someday they’ll have children of their own, and they’ll tell them about their… grandpa.”

Daryl shook his head. “Nah, no way. I’m not gonna be a grandpa.”

“Maybe you will,” you said with a shrug, and a mischievous grin. Sometimes, you got far too much enjoyment out of teasing him, but he was just so serious, and it was so fun to make that serious demeanor crumble, as it only really could for you. “It’s important to think about the future, about the consequences of all this.”

“All’s I know is what’s goin’ on right now. And right now it’s time to go, so get your journal.”

Indeed, the plan was ready. Aaron and some of the others had already diverted the herd, clearing a path for a truck to leave the estates and bring back the fuel. The plan was to light up the sewers, soak them in gasoline and lead the flame to the center of the estates, where the walkers would be corralled.

You could hear it now, the music just starting. “Cult of Personality” by Living Colour. Fitting, you supposed. The lyrics didn’t matter, though. What mattered was that the music was loud enough to bring the walkers to the estates. When those mansions were going to blow up, you didn’t want to be anywhere near it.

Everyone was loaded onto a truck, packed like a can of sardines and taken to the rendezvous point—one of the houses on the other side of town. By the time everyone had cleared the estates, the gates were left open, purposefully. The walkers poured in, death and decay taking over this once prosperous neighborhood.

Everyone was far away when the music stopped, time suspended for what seemed like years, but it was only a few moments. Finally, a huge burst of flames, followed by waves upon waves of explosions dotting the estates, each triggering another until the whole district was bubbling with bright orange.

Beneath the ground, the sewers were opening up, splitting the dirt to suck in hundreds of burning walkers, like Hell was opening up and taking back its creatures. When the first bursts of the explosions died down, the charred remains of the estates were filled with burning trees and the last of the walkers that could still walk as their rotten flesh burnt off their bones.

From what you could see, the herd was eradicated. Still, you weren’t sure it was cause for celebration. The estates were destroyed, along with dozens of homes that could’ve housed the poor and the sick. Whatever food and resources those buildings had were reduced to smithereens before your very eyes. Not only that, but who knows how many people had died during the swarm?

You didn’t share that sentiment with most of the others, though.

Yumiko invited everyone from Alexandria to her house in the wee hours of the morning. For your part, you fell asleep on her couch, not knowing when you awoke that a grand feast was waiting for you in the afternoon.

It was Daryl’s hand that gently rocked your shoulder. “Come get somethin’ to eat,” he said, and you swore you were in a dream.

The dining room was immaculate, with a meal of epic proportions splayed over the table, with more to spare on the kitchen counters, where so many familiar faces gathered around to serve themselves. You blinked hard, shaking your head as you looked towards your husband. “Am I awake?”

“Yeah,” he said, and you knew it must’ve been real—you could feel his hand pressed upon your lower back, then his lips grazing your cheek. “I’ll make ya a plate. Sit down.”

Despite its clear reality, you couldn’t escape the strange warm glow all around you. It felt like you were dead. Well, in Heaven, maybe. But you weren’t, you knew you weren’t. You were alive, but something felt too good to be true. Something was off.

Across the dining room table, you felt Rosita’s eyes on you. She leaned closer, pointing her finger at your sling. “You all right?”

“Mhm.” Tentatively, you took a sip of red wine. It was the first you’d tasted of it in ages. Nine months pregnant, plus several more in which wine was the least important thing you could consume, so you didn’t. It felt strange to drink it now, but why not? Everything else felt so strange, anyway. “Are you?”

She rocked uncomfortably in her chair, but flashed a smile regardless. “Of course.”

Something was wrong.

“Rosita—”

Maggie’s hand startled you as she touched your shoulder. Her green eyes widened as she let out a laugh. Were you the only one not happy?

As she sat beside you, she eagerly unfolded her napkin, then helped herself to a serving of mashed potatoes. How did anyone have the energy to prepare this meal? Nothing seemed right.

“You were asleep for so long,” remarked Maggie. “I was worried you wouldn’t wake up.”

“Feels like I didn’t.” You were caught between reality and a dream.

Daryl’s heavy presence loomed over you. He placed your plate in front of you—it was overflowing with ham and gravy and biscuits and salad and grapes… He’d given you far too much food for one person to eat. Still, you knew you would eat all of it with how hungry you were.

“Thank you.” He shocked you for a moment, bending over to kiss the corner of your mouth. You looked at him suspiciously. “Am I in the Twilight Zone?”

“Eat your food,” he scoffed playfully. “‘Fore it gets cold.”

With a belly full of food, soon it became clear to you that there was no harm in celebrating what merriment there was for the time being. Pamela was imprisoned, the walkers were slain, the people were free.

It was a beautiful dinner, the warm glow of the candles spread all over the table illuminating so many smiling faces. The world had changed so much since last night—darkness had given into light, and with the new day came a new era. It was on everyone’s breath. The cleansing fire had come again, as it had come so many times before.

It was nothing new, you’d seen it before, so many, many times.

Atlanta, the quarry, the CDC, the farm, the prison, the Kingdom, the Hilltop… As worlds ended, new ones were born. Even those worlds hadn’t really ever ended, you figured. It wasn’t even really a matter of things ending or beginning when it came down to it, it was a matter of continuing on, keeping those memories alive for as long as you could. That was the trick.

That was the celebration. A new beginning, once again. As many times as you’d felt it, you’d never get tired of that feeling. Hope, that’s exactly what it was. Hope for the future, for the world to become whole again.

The mission wasn’t over, you all knew that. The world was still broken, crumbling all around you, but there were pockets of wholeness, moments wherein everything became so perfect that it was hard to believe it was real. But it was real, and they were real. Your family was real.

And yet, you couldn’t shake this feeling, as though the vibrant images that projected all around you were just figments of your imagination, like any second now you’d wake up and it would all have been some strange, long dream.

Maybe you’d awaken, having never met a man named Daryl, having never had his children. That was the worst thing you could imagine, so you willed it away from your mind as quickly as it came.

Instead, you dozed off for a while, thinking of all the voices you couldn’t hear amidst the celebrations. Strangely, you found yourself picturing a world in which your father could see all this. You hadn’t thought of him in so long, but a sudden wave of memory lost to time came flooding in.

The memory wasn’t one that had ever existed, at least, not in this lifetime. It was an image of a dinner much like this, but with everyone you’d come to know and love.

Rick, Michonne, Glenn, Beverly, Dale, Tara, Andrea, Tyreese, Beth… All the ones you lost were surrounded by some glowing aura, like they were angels. They were so bright and beautiful that you nearly squinted just to make our their features.

Your father, though, you saw particularly clearly. In your vision, he’d sit right across the table from Daryl. He’d know the happiness you had found with him, the true and innocent love he gave you. You knew above all else that he would’ve loved Daryl, too. He would’ve seen him as another son, and a great man.

In his lap would sit baby Westley, watching in fascination as his grandfather played peek-a-boo with the child, much to his wonder.

Robin would sit near him, too, laughing at one of Dale’s silly jokes. He’d impart some important lesson to her, and she’d listen closely, eager to learn from the wise man.

Aaron would pour a glass of wine for Eric, his one true love. You were sure your father would look on proudly, happy to know that Aaron was living the life he wanted with the man he loved.

Perhaps Rick would raise a toast, it seemed like the kind of thing he would’ve done. “To family,” he might say. “To hope, and to the future.”

Glenn and Maggie would laugh together like they used to. They’d have a hard time letting go of each other’s hands. You recalled they used to hold on until the last possible second.

Sophia and Carl would be so much bigger now. You’d hardly be able to recognize Sophia, but what a beautiful young woman she would’ve become. You’d reminisce with them about the times at the quarry, and how little they seemed in such a big, scary world.

As much as you hated to invite him to your perfect little tableau, you turned to look at Daryl, and you saw an inkling of Merle in that smirk he gave you. It had Daryl’s gentleness, but Merle was in him, too. You liked to think that, if he had lived to see this day, he’d have changed. Maybe he’d see the ignorance of his ways, and maybe, by some miracle, he’d be a good uncle to your children. Well, thank goodness it was just in your imagination.

“Hon?” Daryl’s raspy whisper made those faces disappear, but their essence still lingered. His warm hand laid tentatively over yours, until he gently squeezed it to get your attention. “You all right?”

“Yes,” you said with a smile. He felt some relief wash over him. For a second there, he worried you had already gotten tipsy from the wine. You were always a lightweight, but then again, you were terribly amusing when you were drunk. He would know. “I’m fine, sweetheart.”

His lips eased into a small smile. As his cheeks lifted, you admired his face, how beautifully sculpted it had been. Every detail, from the bags under his eyes to the slight slope of his nose, was your favorite—you couldn’t decide on just one. And his skin was so clear, so soft. The wine must’ve been getting to him a little, as you could see a glowing rosiness in his warm cheeks.

Though his black eye had only darkened, you still swooped his hair back, allowing you to see every perfect inch of him.

The fact that you were admiring him through hazy bedroom eyes did not go unnoticed.

“What’re ya thinkin’ about?”

Naughty things, mister Dixon.

“How happy I am,” you replied, opting for an innocent conversation instead.

His hand squeezed yours a little tighter. In this lighting, with the gold-tinted hue of the candles playing off your features, he couldn’t take his eyes off you if his life depended on it, and thank goodness it didn’t.

“Are you happy, Daryl?”

For the last eleven years, he’d been able to say yes. Why would that change today?

“Yeah. I’m the happiest I’ve ever been, since you came along.”

He wished he had the more complex words to describe the way you made him feel, but simple platitudes spoken by many lovers before and many lovers after would have to do.

“I’d like it to stay like this forever,” you said. “Just frozen in time. I don’t ever want to forget this feeling.”

“You don’t have to… We keep it alive, you and me. Long as we live, and after.”

“And the people,” you added. “The people we lost, they’re still alive, right? We keep the fire burning for them.”

“That’s right, angel.”

Despite the euphoria you felt come over you, there was still that inkling of looming devastation floating around the room. It didn’t show itself immediately, but gradually, as the heady afternoon blended into the clarifying evening, your suspicions of impending tragedy proved to be correct.

Rosita shared the news, that horrible news you’d been dreading since she looked at you that way. You didn’t process it at first, it just sort of… sat there. She’d hid it so well all this time. The bite on her back was completely covered by her shirt and her hair, but nothing could hide the fact that the fever was coming, worsening and becoming stronger with each passing moment. Time was running out for her, and it felt so wrong.

In the bedroom where she laid, each and every one of you was given the unspoken opportunity to say goodbye. It was a beautiful room, perfect for Rosita. The walls were a pale blush color, with lovely pink roses in a vase by the door. Roses for Rosita, you thought, smiling through your tears as you sat upon the chair by her bed.

She reached for your hand, and you took it with a gentle shake. Beside her was Coco, napping upon a bed of pillows. She was older than Wes, of course, but you couldn’t help but see her and wonder if one day the two of them would be friends. You hoped so.

“Hey,” she said, her eyes struggling to keep open. She looked paler than usual, and you could tell by the redness under her eyes that the illness was taking its effect. It felt so cruel, so unfair. She had so much life left in her, and for it to be cut short so suddenly was nothing short of a tragedy.

“Hi.” Even a single syllable word was not immune to your tears. Your voice cracked and faltered as you wiped your nose with your free hand. What were you supposed to say? There was so much to say to her. She was your friend. “I—I, um…” You shook your head, trying to compose yourself. “Rosita, nothing’s going to be the same without you.”

She smiled. “You’re going to be fine. You’re brave.”

You laughed at that. It seemed like just yesterday Rosita had called you weak. Now, it was just a humorous memory. “You’re one of the bravest people I’ve ever known.”

It was evident in the way it happened. She’d been bit saving Coco, her child. That, indeed, was the greatest act of bravery. “Will you… watch over Coco for me?”

You were choked up at this point, hardly able to speak without bursting. “I will,” you said with a fervent nod. “Of course. Always.”

“And, if you can,” she faltered a little, her eyes becoming hazy. You could tell she was on her way out, her voice having trouble coming through. “Tell Robin… about how badass we were, you and me.”

Your eyes widened a little. Of course, Rosita was “badass,” but you weren’t so sure that you were. “I sure will,” you snorted. “I’ll tell her all those stories.”

“I wish I could see her grow up…. Her and Coco, and Wes, too… All of them.”

“Hey,” you said, leaning forward to hug her. She was burning hot, so hot she was cold. “I’ll be your eyes and ears, okay? Everything I see, you’re gonna see it, too.”

“Promise?”

“Promise.”

It was so hard to say goodbye.

That night, you closed your eyes to sleep, held tight by the same pair of strong arms that were made for you. They kept you safe, sheltered, but your mind still wandered.

You found yourself at that dinner table again, surrounded by all those you loved, and those you lost. Rosita was shining bright now. She held her baby in her arms. She looked like the Virgin Mary.

Her soothing face didn’t haunt you, it lulled you to a peaceful sleep. The death she’d been given was beautiful. You could only hope that someday, you’d die with your greatest loves beside you, and you’d see them again in some crazy woman’s vision.

Thanks for reading! Likes, comments, and reblogs of any kind are always appreciated!

Series Masterlist Next Chapter ➳

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aion-rsa · 3 years ago

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The Walking Dead Season 11: Who Lives and Who Dies

https://ift.tt/eA8V8J

This Walking Dead article contains major spoilers.

Many of us thought this day would never come, but as all of The Walking Dead‘s characters know very well, everything that has a beginning has an end. Season 11 of AMC’s flagship zombie drama will be the show’s final run of episodes, but fortunately it’s an expanded season. Fans will get 24 more episodes, broken up into three parts, before the show — and a few of its characters — meets its end.

And it wouldn’t be a season of The Walking Dead without a few big deaths along the way. As we have in past seasons, we’ve made some predictions regarding who will bite the bullet in season 11. For the final time, here are the characters we think are on the chopping block and the ones we believe will live on to remember them after the credits roll on the series finale.

Keep track of all The Walking Dead season 11 deaths below:

DEAD

Roy (C. Thomas Howell)

Prediction: Dies

Result: Dead

Roy took an arrow to the face during a Reaper ambush.

Gage (Jackson Pace)

Prediction: Dies

Result: Dead

Gage stabbed himself in the chest twice, attempting to kill himself before being devoured by walkers in a train car. Zombie Gage was then put down with a shot to the head by Gabriel.

ALIVE

Pope (Ritchie Coster)

Prediction: Dies

I’ve never seen a guy more likely to die in the first half of a Walking Dead season than Pope, the leader of the show’s newest villains, the Reapers, who themselves strike me as filler villains for Maggie and Daryl while the real story at the Commonwealth develops. I assume the Reapers will be out of the picture by the time Alexandria needs to turn its attention to the much larger settlement in the second part of season 11.

Pamela Milton (Laila Robins)

Prediction: Dies

The Governor of the Commonwealth is poised to be the final season’s big bad. A bureaucrat hellbent on preserving the way things were before the zombie outbreak, Milton even established a caste system within her settlement to propagate class inequality. She represents everything that was wrong with the world before the fall of society and the complete anti-thesis of how the Alexandrians do things.

If you’ve read the comics, you know how Pamela’s story ends in Robert Kirkman and Charlie Adlard’s story, but the TV series is known for taking sharp left turns when you least expect it. One thing we know for sure is that the Alexandrians will have to reckon with Pamela’s rule before the series finale.

Lance Hornsby (Josh Hamilton)

Prediction: Dies

A Commonwealth acolyte and bookkeeper of the community, Lance is one of Milton’s chief personnel, helping her run the settlement’s government. He’s also seems like cannon fodder to me as things heat up between the Commonwealth and Alexandria, an early death that could spark a conflict between the two factions.

Mercer (Michael James Shaw)

Prediction: Lives

Mercer is loyal to the Commonwealth but there are more sides to him than his distinct orange military armor lets on. He’s one of the most interesting characters of the comic’s final storyline, and it would be a shame to lose him before we can see his story through.

Elijah (Okea Eme-Akwari)

Prediction: Lives

Elijah made his debut in one of the most WTF moments of season 10 when he rescued Aaron and Alden from the Whisperers. For weeks after his reveal, people wondered who the man in the steal mask could be. When he returned in the final six episodes of season 10, the show just kind of moved on without fleshing him out, which is unfortunate since he looks so cool! I’m going to assume that the series is saving a big Elijah-focused episode for later in the season and that he’s too awesome to kill off. You don’t just introduce a blade expert in a steel mask for no reason!

Virgil (Kevin Carroll)

Prediction: Dies

Virgil has a lot to atone for after kidnapping and drugging Michonne in season 10. At the end of the season, we learn that he’s found a disoriented Connie in the woods. His redemption arc will likely include helping Connie survive on the walker-infested road back to Alexandria. Will that eventually involve a final sacrifice to save her?

Connie (Lauren Ridloff)

Prediction: Lives

Connie’s been through a hell of a lot in the past season. After surviving an explosion, a cave-in, and an entire walker horde, Connie’s made it out of Whisperer territory but is still a ways from home. Expect part of season 11’s story to be about Connie’s odyssey and ultimate reunion with her sister and Daryl.

Lydia (Cassady McClincy)

Prediction: Lives

Lydia was at the center of Alexandria’s conflict with the Whisperers for a season and a half. With Alpha and Beta defeated, and their faction all but obliterated, I have to wonder what Lydia has left to do on the show. That said, the writers have continued to find interesting ways to explore this character, and someone has to live on to lead the next generation of Alexandrians. I think Lydia is in it for the long haul.

Magna (Nadia Hilker)

Prediction: Dies

Magna was sidelined pretty quickly after her introduction. While a reunion with Yumiko seems like the logical direction for her story, The Walking Dead universe is a cruel one. She could be headed toward tragedy.

Yumiko (Eleanor Matsuura)

Prediction: Lives

In season 11, Yumiko is inheriting a major storyline from the comics that likely means she’ll survive the final 24 episodes of the series. Of course, the TV show could always alter that storyline to bring a tragic end to Yumiko’s story.

Luke (Dan Fogler)

Prediction: Dies

It’s pretty wild that Luke has survived as long as he has. A man of the arts hardly has a place in the cruel world of this show, but he has clumsily persevered thus far. But if the writers are planning an especially bloody final season, I’d put Luke on the short list.

Kelly (Angel Theory)

Prediction: Lives

Kelly has been one of the best late additions to the show. It would suck for her to finally reunite with her sister only to meet an unexpected end.

Alden (Callan McAuliffe)

Prediction: Dies

Another candidate for the chopping block. I’m surprised he’s even made it this long.

King Ezekiel (Khary Payton)

Prediction: Lives

Yes, Ezekiel has thyroid cancer, and were he in Alexandria, that would mean his inevitable death. But the Commonwealth is a different ballgame, an advanced settlement in the comics that will likely have the doctors and surgical resources needed to save him. That is, if Ezekiel isn’t caught up in Milton’s caste system.

Jerry (Cooper Andrews)

Prediction: Dies

I love Jerry and don’t want to see the tank with a heart of gold go. But if the season needs an early death that pulls at the heart strings, Jerry is a prime candidate for a midseason casualty.

Father Gabriel Stokes (Seth Gilliam)

Prediction: Lives

Gabriel has evolved so much since his debut in season 5, becoming one of Alexandria’s key leaders. He’s come so far and even survived longer than his comic book counterpart. I’d hate to see him go so close to the end. So I’m just going to say he lives.

Aaron (Ross Marquand)

Prediction: Lives

Aaron seemed destined to die seasons ago, too kind and trusting to survive this long. But here he is, still fighting and surviving. He’s lost the man he loves, his arm, and many friends — and it’s all hardened him into a war machine. It’d be a shame for him to die now.

Rosita Espinosa (Christian Serratos)

Prediction: Lives

In the comics, Rosita’s head ended up on a pike during the Whisperer war, but her TV counterpart has persevered. It’s difficult to predict where her story goes at this point, but since she survived her comic book death, I assume the show’s writers have something in mind for her in season 11.

Eugene Porter (Josh McDermitt)

Prediction: Lives

Eugene has become an unlikely protagonist going into season 11. From a mulleted coward hiding behind his intelligence so that others protect him to the Alexandrian leading his people to the Commonwealth, Eugene is central to the plot of the final season, and I think that means he’s safe. Plus, Eugene is hilarious, and The Walking Dead can always use a little comedic relief.

Judith Grimes (Cailey Fleming)

Prediction: Lives

Result: Lived

NO.

Rick Grimes Jr. (Antony Azor)

Prediction: Lives

Nah.

Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan)

Prediction: Lives

I think The Walking Dead is going to end with one last big death, one last sacrifice before the credits roll on the massive zombie drama. Like Rick in the comics, one of the major characters of the TV series will likely become the martyr who inspires change inside the Commonwealth’s walls. Negan would probably be on the short list for this big moment from the comics, a villain finally choosing to do the right thing for a cause bigger than himself, a fitting conclusion to his seasons-long redemption arc. But Jeffrey Dean Morgan recently teased that he was already having discussions with AMC about a potential Negan spinoff after The Walking Dead has concluded, which means the former Savior leader is safe…unless the Negan show is a prequel.

Carol Peletier (Melissa McBride)

Prediction: Lives

This one’s an easy one: Melissa McBride is getting her own spinoff that will follow her character after The Walking Dead series finale. That means she’s safe.

Daryl Dixon (Norman Reedus)

Prediction: Lives

Norman Reedus is joining McBride for that spinoff, so he’s safe, too. The actor even told us what the Daryl and Carol show will be about.

Maggie Rhee (Lauren Cohan)

Prediction: Dies

That leaves The Walking Dead with one logical choice to pick up Rick’s final storyline from the comic. It’s Maggie. It also makes a bit of sense from a logistical standpoint. Lauren Cohan has already left The Walking Dead universe once before to pursue other small and big screen projects. She’s back for the final 24 episodes of the series as a welcome legacy character but that doesn’t mean Cohan wants to stick around for longer than that. I assume Cohan’s returned to bring closure to her character, not to prepare for a spinoff.

Let us know your predictions for The Walking Dead season 11 in the comments!

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uniquequotesonlife · 5 years ago

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rhondastephens To Catch A Falling Cactus

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Parenting: Are We Getting a Raw Deal?

Summer 1974. I’m 9 years old. By 7:30 am, I’m up and out of the house, or if it’s Saturday I’m up and doing exactly what my father, Big Jerry, has told me to do. Might be raking, mowing, digging holes, or washing cars. (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || ).push({}); Summer 2016. I’m tiptoeing out of the house, on my way to work, in an effort not to wake my children who will undoubtedly sleep until 11 am. They may complete a couple of the chores I’ve left in a list on the kitchen counter for them, or they may eat stale Cheez-its that were left in their rooms 3 days ago, in order to avoid the kitchen at all costs and “not see” the list. (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || ).push({}); If you haven’t noticed, we’re getting a raw deal where this parenting gig is concerned. When did adults start caring whether or not their kids were safe, happy, or popular? I can assure you that Ginny and Big Jerry were not whiling away the hours wondering if my brother and I were fulfilled. Big Jerry was stoking the fires of his retirement savings and working, and working some more. Ginny was double bolting the door in order to keep us out of the house, and talking on the phone while she smoked a Kent. Meanwhile, we were three neighborhoods away, playing with some kids we��d never met, and we had crossed 2 major highways on bicycles with semi-flat tires to get there. Odds are, one of us had crashed at some point and was bleeding pretty impressively. No one cared. We were kids and if we weren’t acting as free labor, we were supposed to be out of the house and out of the way. (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || ).push({}); My personal belief is that the same “woman with too little to do”, that decided it was necessary to give 4- year old guests a gift for coming to a birthday party, is the same loon who decided we were here to serve our kids and not the other way around. Think about it. As a kid, what was your costume for Halloween? If you were really lucky, your mom jabbed a pair of scissors in an old sheet, cut two eye holes, and you were a ghost. If her friend was coming over to frost her hair and showed up early, you got one eye hole cut and spent the next 45 minutes using a sharp stick to jab a second hole that was about two inches lower than its partner. I watched my cousin run directly into a parked car due to this very costume one year. He was still yelling, “Trick or Treat” as he slid down the rear quarter panel of a Buick, mildly concussed. When my son was 3 years old, we had a clown costume made by a seamstress, complete with pointy clown hat, and grease makeup. His grandmother spent more having that costume made than she did on my prom dress. (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || ).push({}); At some point in the last 25 years, the tide shifted and the parents started getting the marginal cars and the cheap clothes while the kids live like rock stars. We spend enormous amounts of money on private instruction, the best sports gear money can buy, and adhere to psycho competition schedules. I’m as guilty as anyone. I’ve bought the $300 baseball bats with money that should have been invested in a retirement account, traveled from many an AAU basketball game, or travel baseball game, to a dance competition in the course of one day, and failed to even consider why. Remember Hank Aaron? He didn’t need a $300 bat to be great. Your kid isn’t going pro and neither is mine, but you are going to retire one day and dumpster diving isn’t for the elderly. My brother and I still laugh about how, when he played high school baseball, there was one good bat and the entire team used it. (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || ).push({}); Remember your clothes in the 70’s? Despite my best efforts to block it out, I can still remember my desperate need to have a pair of authentic Converse shoes. Did I get them? Negative. Oh, was it a punch in the gut when my mother presented me with the Archdale knock-offs she found somewhere between my hometown and Greensboro. Trust me. They weren’t even close. Did I complain? Hell, no. I’m still alive, aren’t I? We’ve got an entire generation of kids spitting up on outfits that cost more than my monthly electric bill. There were no designer baby clothes when we were kids. Why? Because our parents weren’t crazy enough to spend $60 on an outfit for us to have explosive diarrhea in or vomit on. Our parents were focused on saving for their retirement and paying their house off. The real beauty of it is that none of these kids are going to score a job straight out of college that will allow them to pay for the necessities of life, brand new cars, and $150 jeans, so guess who’s going to be getting the phone call when they can’t make rent? Yep, we are. (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || ).push({}); Think back; way, way back. Who cleaned the house and did the yard work when you were a kid? You did. In fact, that’s why some people had children. We were free labor. My mother served as supervisor for the indoor chores, and the house damn well better be spotless when my father came through the door at 5:35. The battle cry went something like this, “Oh, no! Your father will be home in 15 minutes! Get those toys put away nooooow!” The rest of our evening was spent getting up to turn the television on demand, and only to what Dad wanted to watch. (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || ).push({}); On weekends Dad was in charge of outdoor work and if you were thirsty you drank out of the hose, because 2 minutes of air conditioning and a glass of water from the faucet might make you soft. Who does the housework and yardwork now? The cleaning lady that comes on Thursday, and the landscaping crew that comes every other Tuesday. Most teenage boys have never touched a mower, and if you asked my daughter to clean a toilet, she would come back with a four page paper on the various kinds of deadly bacteria present on toilet seats. Everyone is too busy doing stuff to take care of the stuff they already have. But don’t get confused, they aren’t working or anything crazy like that. Juggling school assignments, extracurricular activities, and spending our money could become stressful if they had to work. (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || ).push({}); I don’t recall anyone being worried about my workload being stressful, or my mental health in general. Jerry and Ginny had grownup stuff to worry about. As teenagers, we managed our own social lives and school affairs. If Karen, while executing a hair flip, told me my new Rave perm made me look like shit and there was no way Kevin would ever go out with my scrawny ass, my mother wasn’t even going to know about it; much less call Karen’s mother and arrange a meeting where we could iron out our misunderstanding and take a selfie together. Additionally, no phone calls were ever made to any of my teachers or coaches. Ever. If we sat the bench, we sat the bench. Our dads were at work anyway. They only knew what we told them. I can’t even conceive of my dad leaving work to come watch a ballgame. If I made a 92.999 and got a B, I got a B. No thinly veiled threats were made and no money changed hands to get me that A. Ok, full disclosure, in my case we would be looking at an 84.9999. I was the poster child for underachievement. (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || ).push({}); Back in our day, high school was a testing ground for life. We were learning to be adults under the semi-vigilant supervision of our parents. We had jobs because we wanted cars, and we wanted to be able to put gas in our cars, and wear Jordache jeans and Candies. Without jobs, we had Archdale sneakers and Wranglers, and borrowed our mother’s Chevrolet Caprice, affectionately known as the “land yacht”, on Friday night. No one, I mean, no one, got a new car. I was considered fairly lucky because my parents bought me a car at all. I use the term “car” loosely. If I tell you it was a red convertible and stop right here, you might think me special. I wasn’t. My car was a red MG Midget, possibly a ’74 and certainly a death trap. (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || ).push({}); Look at your coffee table. Now imagine it having a steering wheel and driving it. I promise you, it’s bigger than my car was. The starter was bad, so after school I had the pleasure of popping the hood and using two screwdrivers to cross the solenoids or waiting for the football players to come out of the dressing room headed to practice. Those guys pushing my car while I popped the clutch, is a memory no 16-year old girl around here will ever have, and it’s a great one. Had I driven that car in high winds, it’s likely I would have ended up airborne, and there were probably some serious safety infractions committed the night I took 6 people in togas to a convenience store, but I wouldn’t go back and trade it out for a new 280Z, even if I had the chance. I was a challenging teenager, and in retrospect the fact that it was pretty impressive every time I made it home alive, may not have been an accident on the part of my parents. Go to the high school now. These kids are driving cars that grown men working 55 hours a week can’t afford, and they aren’t paying for them with their jobs. (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || ).push({}); And those new cars don’t do a thing for telling a good story. I tell my kids all the time, the very best stories from my teen and college years involve Ann’s yellow Plymouth Duster with the “swirling dust” graphic, Randy’s Valiant with the broken gas gauge, and Carla’s burgundy Nissan that may or may not have had a complete floorboard. A story that starts, “Remember that time we were heading to the beach in Carla’s Nissan and your wallet fell through the floorboard onto the highway?” is so much more interesting than, “Remember that time we were going to the beach in your brand new SUV, filled up with gas that your parents paid for, and the…well, no, never mind. Nothing happened. We just drove down there.” To top it all off, most of them head off to college without a clue what it’s like to look for a job, apply for it, interview, and show up on time, as scheduled. If they have a job, it’s because someone owed their dad a favor…and then they work when it “fits their schedule”. (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || ).push({}); We all love our kids, and we want to see them happy and fulfilled, but I fear we’re robbing them of the experiences that make life memorable and make them capable, responsible, confident adults. For the majority of us, the very nice things we had as teenagers, we purchased with money we earned after saving for some ungodly amount of time. Our children are given most everything, and sometimes I wonder whether it’s for them or to make us feel like good parents. The bottom line is that you never value something you were given, as much as something you worked for. There were lessons in our experiences, even though we didn’t know it at the time. All those high school cat fights, and battles with teachers we clashed with, were an opportunity for us to learn how to negotiate and how to compromise. It also taught us that the world isn’t fair. Sometimes people just don’t like you, and sometimes you’ll work your ass off and still get screwed. We left high school, problem solvers. I’m afraid our kids are leaving high school with mommy and daddy on speed dial. (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || ).push({}); We just don’t have the cojones our parents had. We aren’t prepared to tell our kids that they won’t have it if they don’t work for it, because we can’t bear to see them go without and we can’t bear to see them fail. We’ve given them a whole lot of stuff; stuff that will break down, wear out, get lost, go out of style, and lose value. As parents, I suppose some of us feel pretty proud about how we’ve contributed in a material way to our kid’s popularity and paved an easy street for them. I don’t, and I know there are many of you that are just as frustrated by it as I am. I worry about what we’ve robbed them of, which I’ve listed below, in the process of giving them everything. (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || ).push({}); Delayed gratification is a really good thing. It teaches you perseverance and how to determine the true value of something. Our kids don’t know a damn thing about delayed gratification. To them, delayed gratification is waiting for their phone to charge.Problem-solving skills and the ability to manage emotion are crucial life skills. Kids now have every problem solved for them. Good luck calling their college professor to argue about how they should have another shot at that final because they had two other finals to study for and were stressed. Don’t laugh, parents have tried it.Independence allows you to discover who you really are, instead of being what someone else expects you to be. It was something I craved. These kids have traded independence for new cars and Citizen jeans. They will live under someone’s thumb forever, if it means cool stuff. I would have lived in borderline condemned housing, and survived off of crackers and popsicles to maintain my independence. Oh wait, I actually did that. It pisses me off. You’re supposed to WANT to grow up and forge your way in the world; not live on someone else’s dime, under someone else’s rule, and too often these days, under someone else’s roof.Common sense is that little something extra that allows you to figure out which direction is north, how to put air in your tires, or the best route to take at a certain time of day to avoid traffic. You develop common sense by making mistakes and learning from them. It’s a skill best acquired in a setting where it’s safe to fail, and is only mastered by actually doing things for yourself. By micromanaging our kids all the time, we’re setting them up for a lifetime of cluelessness and ineptitude. At a certain age, that cluelessness becomes dangerous. I’ve seen women marry to avoid thinking for themselves, and for some it was the wisest course of action.Mental toughness is what allows a person to keep going despite everything going wrong. People with mental toughness are the ones who come out on top. They battle through job losses, difficult relationships, illness, and failure. It is a quality born from adversity. Adversity is a GOOD thing. It teaches you what you’re made of. It puts into practice the old saying “what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger”. It’s life’s teacher. Our bubble-wrapped kids are so sheltered from adversity, I wonder how the mental health professionals will handle them all after the world chews them up and spits them out a few times. (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || ).push({}); I know you are calling me names right now, and mentally listing all the reasons this doesn’t apply to you and your kid, but remember I’m including myself in this. My kids aren’t as bad as some, because I’m too poor and too lazy to indulge them beyond a certain point. And I’m certainly not saying that our parents did everything right. God knows all that second hand smoke I was exposed to, and those Sunday afternoon drives where Dad was drinking a Schlitz and I was standing on the front seat like a human projectile, were less than ideal; but I do think parents in the 70’s defined their roles in a way we never have.I worry that our kids are leaving home with more intellectual ability than we did, but without the life skills that will give them the success and independence that we’ve enjoyed. Then again, maybe it’s not parents that are getting the raw end of this deal after all. (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || ).push({}); https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kJQP7kiw5Fk Watch: most watched video on youtube source Read the full article

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masterthespianduchovny · 5 years ago

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“How is it manipulation” you ask, as you list all of the things you like about joel and defend his selfish decision and most likely hate Jerry for his decision. 🥴 there’s something cognitive dissonance going on there, bud.

My point was: after those cut scenes were over with Henry, Joel trusted him. Did he not? Joel is not (still) weary of Henry as wel play as him. Joel lets his guard down. All you did was elaborate on what I said, you did not disprove my point or even explain why it makes sense for Joel to trust Henry. Which is further perplexing because Abby also helped save both Joel and Tommy’s life in a sense by helping them fight off the horde and taking them to the hideout.

There was literally no reason to think that Abby was planning to kill him unless you think Joel was paranoid as hell, which he wasn’t. You all love to talk about how he’s grown as a person and is good, yet the idea of him trusting someone he saved is out of character, despite his life literally being in danger in that moment as well. This is honestly perplexing.

Who is everyone? Those in your echo chamber? You need to venture outside of that, bud. Everyone does not say that. Many people who came into the game hating it changed their opinion by the end. And those who swear Joel wouldn’t do x, y, z typically haven’t played them game or are upset because he died.

Yeah, and this game has shows logs and even tommy offering to invite the stragglers in. There is a difference between someone coming off to your gate and you coming across them while being on duty.

Ellie gets nothing from Abby because she’s seeking closure with Joel, which she cannot gets from Abby. All it does is further taint her, which is why she’s distraught when she lets Abby go. She thought this would bring her happiness, but now she knows it won’t. Her wanting to kill her is about anger and sorrow, but it won’t solve anything. It’s why she flashback to the night before Joel’s death: they only way to come to gripes with his death is to deal with her feelings towards him. Your insistence that she needs to kill Abby or it was all for nothing is very surface level thinking.

You make this big thing about how abbybfelt guilt after certain kills, let’s be real, it was only .01 percent of her murders, yet you think her murdering Abby is the way to go? Lol. How are you telling me about her regret blah blah blah and still want Ellie to go through with this? Ellie hunter Abby during a zombie apocalypse, what is your point? Your point is honestly so muddled. You contrast abby against Mel and say, “see, mel didn’t rack across the country to avenge her sister” to prove this is the better decision all while flossing over Ellie who did what you criticize Abby for and Dina tracked along. What the fuck are you even arguing? And it still doesn’t change the fact that abbybdid not kill Dina, but Ellie killed Mel. And I love how y’all love Mel who wanted to kill Ellie and tommy and thought Joel got what he deserved. Which is very much fitting all things considered. Lol

And yet, Ellie stopped speaking to Joel because she preferred to die on that table. 🌚

And ND subverted that because they’re telling their own story.

No, Ellie wasn’t ready to kill Lev too. She only threatens it because she recognized that Abby was protective of him. It was to motive Abby to fight. But, again, you’re willing to let Ellie go down a dark path she won’t return from all because she have a hate boner for Abby? We can’t tak about Ellie’s regret and how deeply she feels and think that she can just kill Abby and lev.

But, I bet Lev could’ve if she was hellbent on revenge.

And many gameplay channels i saw said that in the BEGINNING before ultimately warming up to Abby and really enjoying her sections.

ND’s professional practices and employee departures have been scandalized and even a gaming journalist admitted he was encourage to stoke controversy and make up shit.

My assertions can be backed up by many people and the game itself. Lol.

I love Joel, but he was selfish and an asshole. Both things can be true.

I Don’t Know How To Tell You Abby Is A Good Character And At This Point I’m Too Afraid To Start

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scootoaster · 5 years ago

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Download paid software for free or cheap

When someone's trying to explain to you how to buy software, but you already got it for free. (Christina @ wocintechchat.com/Unsplash/)

We all love free stuff. I mean, have you seen the line at Ben & Jerry’s on Free Cone Day? You’d think they were giving away Ferraris.

But sadly, not all things come at so low a price. There’s a lot of great free software out there, but some of the best tools cost money—whether it’s a $4 app like Dark Sky or a $120-per-year subscription like Photoshop. If you’re strapped for cash, there might be a way to lower the cost of that program you’ve been eyeing.

Track giveaways, sales, and bundles on deal sites

A lot of companies give away their products—or put them on sale—from time to time to stoke interest. This happens more with smaller programs that need exposure (you probably won’t see a Final Cut Pro giveaway anytime soon), but it’s still a great way to save a few bucks.

Sometimes, you can plan in advance—Digiarty gives away their premium DVD ripping software every year around the holidays, and Black Friday is always a good time to nab discounted licenses for popular programs. Other times, deals may come out of nowhere—like the Spotify-with-free-Hulu bundle from a few months ago—and disappear just as quickly. Some sites are dedicated to providing bundles of apps at a heavily discounted price, like MacHeist and Humble Bundle.

It can be difficult to keep an eye on all these sites at once, so aggregators like Giveaway Radar aim to collect deals in one place. But that’s still a whole lot of information to parse at once, so I recommend picking the programs you really want and setting up alerts on a site like Slickdeals.net (for desktop software and subscriptions) or AppShopper (for mobile apps). That way, when something goes on sale, you’ll know about it right away.

Get a referral link from a friend or forum

Many programs and services may offer discounts if you get a referral from a friend—like a longer free trial, or a discounted rate for your first year. Trello, for example, offers a month of its premium service for each friend you refer. Dropbox offers extra cloud storage space for each person you invite (I’ve had 20GB of free space for almost a decade). Evernote uses a points system that you can use to pay for premium features. Referral programs are more common with subscription services than one-time-purchase apps, but it never hurts to check.

Companies don’t always advertise their referral program heavily on the front page, though, which means you might need to ask around to find out if one even exists. Check forums like Reddit, Slickdeals, and others to see if current users are willing to offer you a code—they probably will, since they usually get some benefit, too.

Use your education discount (if you’re a student or teacher)

You probably know this is a good way to get a decent discount on computers, cell phone plans, or even Amazon Prime. But you’ll arguably find the deepest education discounts on software like Microsoft Windows, Microsoft Office, and—yes—Adobe products like Photoshop. However, you may have to actually walk down to your student union for the best prices.

For example, Adobe offers 60 percent off its Creative Cloud membership for students, but that’s still pretty expensive ($20 a month—and it goes up after the first year). Some schools, however, have worked out a deal with Adobe where a membership is far cheaper, or even free. (I’m still using the discounted version of Photoshop CS5 I got 10 years ago.) So ask at the university’s computer store, or email someone in the IT department, and see what they offer. Microsoft offers Office for free to students directly, as long as you have a valid .edu email address—not to mention upgraded versions of Windows 10, depending on your school. You may find similar discounts for military members as well.

Find the secret “free” URL

Some companies offer a free version of their software, but make it incredibly difficult to find on their site—probably so you’ll second-guess yourself and pay for the full thing. I once spent 20 minutes clicking around Genymotion’s site looking for the free version of their Android emulator. I remember Bitdefender being similarly difficult back in the day (though they advertise their free version more prominently now). And tax preparing companies like TurboTax are notorious for hiding the truly free version of their software—you can only access it if you know the secret link, or find it on the Internal Revenue Service’s website. (It’s only for certain income levels, though, and you may be better off with one of the IRS’ other free software recommendations.)

So if you know you’ve heard about a free version of some program but can’t seem to find it, ask around—read articles about the topic, post in a relevant subreddit, and see if anyone knows where to find that hidden web page. That free software may be hiding in plain sight.

Email the developer

Sometimes, all you need to do is ask. I’m not saying you should email every software company asking for free stuff—that’s a pretty annoying tactic, and it’s not likely to get you very far with most companies. Some may direct you to a sale you didn’t know about, or offer you a short-term deal—but I wouldn’t bank too hard on it.

In some cases, though, your circumstances may set you apart. Maybe you own an older version of the software and need a new activation key. In that case, a developer might offer you a discount on the latest version, or a new key with a proof of your original purchase. (Sega, for example, now offers Steam keys to owners of the boxed copy of Dawn of War for PC as long as you can send a photo of those old discs.) If you have a previous relationship with the developer as a paying customer, there’s a good chance they’ll do their best to help you out.

When all else fails, find a free alternative—or spend the cash

If you just can’t find a discount on the software you want, you might be out of luck. If you haven’t already, make sure to try the free or cheap alternatives—like GIMP or Pixelmator instead of Photoshop. (Check out our favorite open-source alternatives to Office for more recommendations.) And if they don’t work, you may just have to pony up the dough—trust me, some of those programs are worth paying for.

Just be careful as you go through this process. Some deals are totally legitimate, while others are straight-up piracy—and even more exist in a weird grey area. Sites that sell heavily discounted game and software keys, for example, might be selling stolen keys that could get revoked at any time. So be sure to do your research before you press that “buy” button.

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bountyofbeads · 6 years ago

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https://newrepublic.com/article/152638/escape-trump-cult

tRump is a cult. If you or someone you know is brainwashed by the tRump cult, seek help from a clinician trained in deprogramming. Key features include irrational subservience to tRump and morbid investment of one's personal identity in tRump. https://t.co/Sybnk5Q4QN #MAGA-cult

Millions of Americans are blindly devoted to their Dear Leader. What will it take for them to snap out of it?

By ALEXANDER Hurst | Published December 13, 2018 | New Republic | Posted June 18, 2019 |

ILLUSTRATION BY ZACH MEYER

On December 20, 1954, some 62 years before Donald Trump would be sworn in as president of the United States, Dorothy Martin and dozens of her followers crowded into her home in Chicago to await the apocalypse. The group believed that Martin, a housewife, had received a message from a planet named Clarion that the world would end in a great flood beginning at midnight, and that they, the faithful, would be rescued by an alien spacecraft.

Unbeknownst to the other “Seekers,” three of their group—Leon Festinger, Henry Riecken, and Stanley Schachter—were not there to be saved, but to observe. Psychologists from elite institutions, they had infiltrated the pseudo-cult to study Festinger’s recently elaborated theory of “cognitive dissonance.” The theory predicted that when people with strongly held beliefs were presented with contrary evidence, rather than change their minds they would seek comfort and “cognitive consonance” by convincing others to support their erroneous views.

Festinger’s prediction was right. When neither the apocalypse nor the UFO arrived, the group began proselytizing about how God had rewarded the Earth with salvation because of their vigil. His subsequent book, When Prophecy Fails, became a standard sociology reference for examining cognitive dissonance, religious prophecy, and cult-like behavior. What the three researchers probably never predicted, though, was that over half a century later Festinger’s theory would be applicable to roughly 25 percent of the population of the United States and one of its two major political parties. Nor could they have foreseen that the country’s salvation might well depend on its ability to deprogram the Trump cult’s acolytes—an effort that would require a level of sympathetic engagement on the part of nonbelievers that they have yet to display.

Personality cults are a hallmark of populist-autocratic politics. The names of the various leaders are practically synonymous with their movements: Le Pen, Farage, Duterte, Orbán, Erdogan, Chávez, Bolsonaro, Putin. Or if we were to dip farther back into history: Castro, Franco, Mussolini, Hitler, Stalin. Like religious cult leaders, demagogues understand the importance of setting up an in-group/out-group dynamic as a means of establishing their followers’ identity as members of a besieged collective.

Trump, like the populist authoritarians before and around him, has also understood (or, at least, instinctually grasped) how indispensable his own individual persona is to his ultimate goal of grasping and maintaining power. Amidst his string of business failures, Trump’s singular talent has been that of any con man: the incredible ability to cultivate a public image. Of course, Trump did not build his cult of followers—his in-group—ex nihilo; in many ways, the stage was set for his entrance. America had already split into two political identities by the time he announced his campaign for president in 2015, not just in terms of the information we consume, but down to the brands we prefer and the stores we frequent. And so with particularly American bombast and a reality TV star’s penchant for manipulating the media, Trump tore pages from the us-against-them playbook of the European far right and presented them to a segment of the American public already primed to receive it with religious fervor.

Amidst his string of business failures, Trump’s singular talent has been that of any con man: the incredible ability to cultivate a public image.

In an interview with Pacific Standard, Janja Lalich, a sociologist who specializes in cults, identified four characteristics of a totalistic cult and applied them to Trumpism: an all-encompassing belief system, extreme devotion to the leader, reluctance to acknowledge criticism of the group or its leader, and a disdain for nonmembers. Eileen Barker, another sociologist of cults, has written that, together, cult leaders and followers create and maintain their movement by proclaiming shared beliefs and identifying themselves as a distinguishable unit; behaving in ways that reinforce the group as a social entity, like closing themselves off to conflicting information; and stoking division and fear of enemies, real or perceived.

Does Trump tick off the boxes? The hatchet job he has made of Republican ideology and the sway he holds over what is now his party suggest he does not lack for devotion. His nearly 90 percent approval rating among Republicans is the more remarkable for his having shifted Republican views on a range of issues, from trade, to NATO, to Putin, to even the NFL. Then there are the endless rallies that smack of a noxious sort of revivalism, complete with a loyalty “pledge”during the 2016 campaign; a steady stream of sycophantic fealty (at least in public) from aides in the administration and its congressional Republican allies; and an almost universal unwillingness by Republican congressional leadership to check or thwart Trump’s worst instincts in any substantive way.

As for disdain, or disgust even, for nonmembers, who include “globalists,” immigrants, urbanites, Muslims, Jews, and people of color? “I suppose that Old Man Trump knows just how much racial hate / He stirred up that bloodroot of human hearts,” Woody Guthrie sang in 1950 about Fred Trump’s discriminatory housing practices. Those words could just as easily apply to Fred’s son Donald, as The New York Times details, about his birtherism, his view that dark-skinned immigrants come from “shithole countries,” his frequent classification of black people as uppity and ungrateful, his denigration of Native Americans, his incorporation of white nationalist thought into his administration, his equivocation over neo-Nazis. The “lock her up!” chants of his rallies are less about Hillary Clinton individually, and more about who belongs and who doesn’t, and what place exists for those who don’t. In perhaps the pettiest form of their disdain, Trump’s supporters engage in “rolling coal”—the practice of tricking out diesel engines to send huge plumes of smoke into the atmosphere—to “own the libs.”

Trump sold his believers an engrossing tale of “American carnage” that he alone could fix, then isolated them in a media universe where reality exists only through Trump-tinted glasses, attacking all other sources of information as “fake news.” In the most polarized media landscape in the wealthy world, Republicans place their trust almost solely in Fox News, seeing nearly all other outlets as biased. In that context, the effect of a president who lies an average of ten times a day is the total blurring of fact and fiction, reality and myth, trust and cynicism. It is a world where, in the words of Rudy Giuliani, truth is no longer truth. “Who could really know?” Trump said of claims that Saudi prince Mohammed bin Salman had ordered the murder of the journalist Jamal Khashoggi. “It is what it is.”

Reason rarely defeats emotion—or, as Catherine Fieschi, an expert on political extremism, told me, gut instinct. If it did, right-wing populist movements from Brexit to Bolsonaro would be on the retreat, not in the advance. Those caught in the web of Trumpism do not see the deception that surrounds them. And if scandals too numerous to list have not dented faith in Trump, those holding out for an apocalyptic moment of reckoning that suddenly drops the curtain—the Russia investigation, or his taxes—will only be disappointed. In all likelihood, the idea that Trump is a crook has been “priced in.”

When presented with his actual record, which has often fallen short of what he promised on the campaign trail, Trump supporters time and again have displayed either disbelief or indifference. As a Trump supporter explicitly stated in reference to the president’s many, many lies, “I don’t care if he sprouts a third dick up there.” What actually is doesn’t matter; what does is that Trump reflects back to his supporters a general feeling of what ought to be, a general truthiness in their guts.

Those caught in the web of Trumpism do not see the deception that surrounds them.

Amidst the frenetic pace of disgrace and outrage, Trump’s support remains stable among too large a chunk of the American public to just ignore. Trump, who insisted on the presence of voter fraud by the millions in an election he ultimately won, and a coterie of prominent Republicans spent the week after the 2018 midterms delegitimizing the very notion of counting all the votes in key races in Florida, Georgia, and Arizona. Trump’s claim that he could shoot someone in the middle of Fifth Avenue and still retain the loyalty of his followers is jokingly referred to as the truest thing he’s ever said, but it’s less funny that 52 percent of them would hypothetically support postponing the 2020 election if he proposed it. What happens when a man who has already promoted political violence, and whose most hardcore supporters have shown their willingness for such violence, finds on election night two years from now that he has just narrowly lost? Do any of us truly believe that Donald J. Trump and his followers will simply slink away quietly into the night?

So, how do we get those caught up in the cult of Trump to leave it?

Daryl Davis has played the blues for over 30 years, including with the likes of Chuck Berry and Jerry Lee Lewis. He’s also spent 30 years talking to Klansmen, over 200 of whom have quit the KKK as a result of their conversations, handing over their robes to Davis—who is black. “When two enemies are talking, they’re not fighting,” Davis told NPR in 2017. “I didn’t convert anybody,” he explained. “They saw the light and converted themselves.”

Davis’s success is more than a cute, feel-good story. It involved the real-world application of techniques that scholars advocate employing to help individuals leave cults. A 2011 study by the RAND Corporation concluded that, “Factors associated with leaving street gangs, religious cults, right-wing extremist groups, and organized crime groups” included positive social ties and an organic disillusionment with the group’s beliefs or ideology. As psychologists Rod and Linda Dubrow-Marshall write in The Conversation, it’s extremely difficult for people to admit they are wrong, and it’s crucial for them to arrive at that realization on their own.

The debate over how to deal with Trump’s anti-democratic following has largely avoided the question of engaging it directly. These days there is no shortage of articles and books dealing with radical-right populism, despots, democratic backsliding, and the tactics that authoritarian leaders deploy. Dozens of experts have pointed out that liberal democratic institutions need constant attention and reinforcement in order to be effective bulwarks. But most of the solutions on offer are institutional in nature: maintaining the independence of the judiciary, thwarting a would-be autocrat’s attempts to grab hold of the levers of justice, maintaining a legislative check on executive authority, enshrining political norms more clearly into constitutions.

In their 2011 book, Defeating Authoritarian Leaders in Post-Communist Countries, Valerie Bunce and Sharon Wolchik conclude that democratization in Eastern European nations like Croatia owed much to assistance from transnational pro-democracy networks, civil society, and energetic election campaigns run by a united opposition. In some ways this analysis offers us a modicum of hope: Trump, despite his desires, commands far less power over the political system than did any of the autocrats that Bunce and Wolchik studied, and the United States enjoys many of the elements they cite as critical, like robust civil society, energetic elections, and a mostly unified opposition. But at the same time, the very things responsible for the success of democratic transition are under near constant assault from Trump and his Republican abettors.

The very things responsible for the success of democratic transition are under near constant assault from Trump and his Republican abettors.

Democracy, especially liberal democracy, has always been dependent on the trust and belief of the self-governed. It is one thing to implement tangible measures to prevent the decay of bedrock institutions, and when it comes to voting rights, elections, the courts, and restraints on executive power, we know what these measures should look like. It’s another, far tougher thing to figure out how to maintain the legitimacy of these same institutions—and how to restore it once lost.

Javier Corrales, a political science professor at Amherst College and expert on the Chavez regime, has written that one lesson from Venezuela’s experience is for the opposition to avoid fragmentation within the broader electorate and, when possible, polarization. When it comes to Trump, he told me that rather than pursuing impeachment, which could backfire by polarizing institutions and the general environment even more, “the opposition needs to focus on strengthening institutions of checks and balances, and embracing and defending policies that produce majoritarian consensus rather than just cater to the base. The more defections they can get from voters that would otherwise side with the illiberal president, the better. If the opposition can get the other side to split, they win.”

When it comes to helping individuals leave cult-like groups, many sociologists agree: Positive social factors are more effective than negative sanctions. Lalich counsel's using dialogue to ask questions and reinforce doubts, rather than “to harp” or criticize. Testimonials from former cult members can be particularly helpful in fueling disillusionment, she says.

On a nationwide scale, this would probably look a lot like a field called “conflict transformation.” John Paul Lederach, professor emeritus at Notre Dame’s Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies, laid out the basics of conflict transformation in his 1998 book, Building Peace: Sustainable Reconciliation in Divided Societies. He argued that outsiders should work with mid-level members of the community who could simultaneously engage ordinary people and their leaders. He also called for an “elicitive approach” whereby solutions were developed by people themselves, in accordance with their own specific cultural contexts.

Of the places in the world where conflict transformation has worked, Northern Ireland probably most approximates the United States, in the sense that it was part of a wealthy nation with a democratic tradition (though in the 1980s, Northern Ireland was in a far worse situation of political division and communitarian violence).

Maria Power, a researcher in conflict transformation studies at Oxford, sees strategies from Northern Ireland that could be deployed on the other side of the Atlantic. She cited the example of dialogue-building between Unionist and Republican women, who faced much tougher obstacles to reconciliation since they were “risking their lives” every time they met in East Belfast during The Troubles. She said that the peace effort in Northern Ireland hinged on incredibly tough, person-to-person groundwork carried out by dozens of organizations and ecumenical groups. She emphasized above all the importance of investing effort and time into building trust, first within, and then later between, identity groups.

Power said that conflict transformation in the United States would likely involve local, grassroots community development in the areas that Trump likes to hold rallies. “I don’t mean that progressives should go to these communities and start knocking on doors,” she explained, “that would be the worst thing that could happen to exacerbate tensions. I mean that there should be a focus on real community development in these areas.”

Individuals would be led through a “single identity dialogue,” a safe-space where someone who has gained the community’s trust can guide them through discussion of their identity, why they feel threatened, and why they feel the need to otherize those they see as different. This does presume some legitimacy to their fears; as The Atlantic’s Adam Serwer, among others, has written convincingly, Trumpism is not primarily a story of globalism’s dispossessed, but rather one of identity politics. But there is reality, and there is perception, and the truth is that Trump voters perceive themselves as victims who have been culturally dislocated, disdained, and in danger of being left behind.

Power said that, in the mid-1980s, Northern Ireland had some 300 of these single-identity groups. She added that there was a tough balance to strike between allowing people “to become comfortable enough with their own place in society that other people don’t seem to be a threat,” and “dripping” in truth in such a way that avoided a reinforcement of their existing beliefs.

Only once that step had been undertaken on a local level were people able to have cross-community conversation, and eventually to engage with each other through social action projects—schemes to bring people together, not over political discussion, but in tasks beneficial to their communities. Power lamented that overall this is quite a long-term process, perhaps even a generational one.

That sentiment was echoed by Emma Elfversson, who researches peace and conflict at Sweden’s Uppsala University. Elfversson told me that because trust in the state and institutions is often crucial to reconciliation, democratic backsliding in the U.S. is worrying. “Important work to overcome divides is done at the grassroots level—through NGOs, religious initiatives, social service programs, schools, at the workplace, etc.,” she said, adding, “Civil society organizations that cut across identity borders can promote reconciliation and reduce conflict.”

The problem for the modern left is that none of this is emotionally satisfying. It’s just hard, hard work.

Such an approach might seem fuzzy to those who seek to buttress qualitative observations with hard data, but there are concrete examples of places where community-based peace building has been effective. Fieschi thinks that the way to short-circuit populism is to create an environment where people can think. “Populism encourages every fiber of your being not to think,” she told me. “In fact, it pretty much posits that if you have to think you’re not to be trusted. We need to create those spaces and times that offer the opportunity to exercise agency, to think things through.”

The problem for the modern left is that none of this is emotionally satisfying. It’s just hard, hard work. Push too hard, and you risk fostering even greater resentment and reaction. But let people off the hook, and the myths they perpetuate about race and national identity might never get punctured.

Above all, it also rings as profoundly unfair. Why should a group that still enjoys the momentum of historic privilege, and is still afforded outsize political weight, be handheld through an era of demographic change? And why should minority groups, who continue to suffer from oppression, be the ones to extend that hand?

American politics, as Alexis de Tocqueville once observed, has often had a religious character to it, with the nation itself exalted in a messianic way. After the end of the Vietnam War, Thomas Robbins and Dick Anthony, two researchers of cults, wrote, “There is a recurrent sequence in American history in which sectarian (and sometimes rather authoritarian) religions emerge and elicit tremendous hostility.” The decline of Cold War orthodoxy after Vietnam, the two noted, had produced a crisis in American civil religion, resulting in “the proliferation of cults as well as the growth of anticult demonology.”

We can understand Donald Trump’s rise as a civil religion giving way to its cultic expression. Con man, cult leader, populist politician: Trump is all of these, rolled into one. He has become all-encompassing, even to nonbelievers. We all feel the fatigue of merely existing in the Trump era, the rapid-fire assault on all of our political and social senses. We want immediate solutions to the Trump problem. We want to beat reason into his followers, until they recognize how wrong they are, or at the very least, submit. We want to blame them—justifiably—for perpetuating his sham.

I want these things. I want them in my gut. But I also know that the cult’s pull is so powerful that it risks destroying its opponents, by eliciting a counterproductive reaction to it. If we want to bring members of the Trump cult back into the mainstream of American life—and there will be plenty of those who say we should move on without them—resistance means not only resisting the lure of the cult and exposing its lies, but also resisting the temptation to punish its followers.

“When the cultic behavior is on a national scale, [breaking it up] is going to take a national movement,” Lalich says. Such an approach promises no immediate gratification. But it also might be the only way to move forward, rather than continue a dangerous downward spiral. Andrés Miguel Rondón, a Venezuelan economist who fled to Spain, wrote this of his own country’s experience of being caught up in an authoritarian’s fraudulent promises: “[W]hat can really win them over is not to prove that you are right. It is to show that you care. Only then will they believe what you say.”

#donald trump #u.s. news #politics #trump administration #president donald trump #trump #politics and government #republican party #must reads #maga #Cult 45 #trumpism #donald trump jr

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howtohero · 6 years ago

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Recreating the Universe

READ THIS ENTRY IF THE UNIVERSE AND POSSIBLY THE ENTIRE MULTIVERSE HAS JUST BEEN DESTROYED!!!!!

No time for a snappy intro, time is of the essence here. If your entire universe has just been blipped out of existence and you’re either the last survivor, or part of a group of last survivors, this is where you need to be. This entry will tell you everything you need to do in order to restart the universe.

The first thing you need to do is get a grip. I get it. When you woke up this morning you didn’t expect for the entire universe to explode or implode or get eaten or get wiped away by anti-matter or whatever the heck happened. This isn’t the kind of thing you even knew could happen. I’m sure you’re a little bit disoriented. A little bit afraid. Probably a bit sad. But you need to relax. I mean, technically, this can still all work even if you don’t but it’ll take longer. If you allow yourself to dwell on what’s happened you’re likely to go mad for an indeterminate amount of time. Time isn’t really a thing anymore so there’s not really a way to quantify it, but it’s not going to be good for your psyche that’s for sure. So listen up and listen very carefully. This is good. The fact that you survived the end of existence is a very good thing. That means that you’re exactly what we need to jump start things again. It’s just one of those existential truths. Every universe contains within it the tools to recreate it should it cease to exist and those very same tools will, always, every single time, survive the end of the universe. So if you’re here that’s perfect. And if you’re not, well, that’s ok too. That means you can just sit back and wait for somebody else to do all the heavy lifting and universe spawning. Now take a few deep breaths. You’ve got a hell of a day ahead of you. Relatively speaking.

Breathing? Good. Now, not to toot my own horn or anything, but if you’re reading this entry right now then that means I’m integral to rebooting the universe too. I’ve got to say I’m pretty stoked about that. Talk about a legacy right? Anyway, try a couple of these magical spells and let me know if they do anything: Abracadabra restore the universe!; Please restore the universe!; Niverseuay Estoreray!; Hibbity Jibbity Flibbity Glibbty! If any of that worked please shoot me an email when everything finishes popping back into existence. I’ve got fifteen bucks riding on that.

If you’re reading this entry in some sort of printed version of this guide then it’s possible the answer to recreating everything might be contained somewhere else in this book. Read through the whole thing front to back. I bet you’re glad I wasn’t always able to keep to my twice a week schedule now, I just made it that much easier for you to save the universe. Once you’ve read this thing cover to cover start dismantling it. Maybe I’ve hidden the answers somewhere in the binding of the book or inside one of the pages. (Or maybe I did!) {Or me!) [Or me!] No all of you go away, I’m saving the universe here. (Well, now that we’re all here we must be integral too.) Curses!

(If you’ve gotten through this whole book and the universe still hasn’t come back, maybe you’re from a slacker universe and you need to cut your losses. Start building your own, newer, better universe. A universe where parenthetical comments must be read. A world where guys like you and I can’t just be skipped over, leaving the meaning of any given piece of work relatively unchanged. A universe where it rains something useful, like rubies or chocolate pudding!)

{Maybe there’s something else that survived that is essential to kickstarting kreation. Look around and see if there are any magic wands or time machines that stayed intact when the rest of existence crumbled into oblivion. Ooh, maybe the thing that destroyed the universe is still hanging around!}

Curly actually makes a good point. {Neat!} (How dare you undermine me! This is why I never let you out!) Look to see if the existence-shattering bomb, or perhaps the unquantifiably powerful being that got bored of reality is still puttering around. If you can find them in the vast infinite void of nothingness you may be able to undo whatever happened. Maybe you’re the only person with the technical knowhow to reverse a universe destroying explosive. Or the only person with enough empathy to convince the absurdly powerful being that humankind and the universe deserve another shot! Never underestimate the power of one dedicated person. And since you’ve literally got nothing left to lose and literally everything to gain we have to assume you’re going to be very dedicated to this cause.

(Hey, if you’re floating around in an endless void try checking if there’s anything written anywhere. There might be a customer service number written on the underside or something. Then you can contact the company your universe came from and have the folks there walk you through a manual reset. Sure you might be on hold for a few epochs but it’s not like you’ve got somewhere to be!)

[What my colleagues here seem to have missed is that at the time of this writing, there isn’t a printed version of this guide. And I’m going to go out on a limb here and assume that you didn’t print out your own version of this guide on your own time with your own money. Which means either you’re reading this on a computer, or your phone. Something that’s connected to the internet.] (It could be one of those fancy internet refrigerators.) [Yes, I suppose it could be.] (Maybe they hid in the refrigerator to survive the end of the world.) [What?] (Maybe when they noticed the universe was coming undone they hid in a refrigerator and somehow that worked and now they and their refrigerator are the only thing that can save all of reality.) [Sure, fine. But what I’m saying is, maybe we were wrong in assuming that we hold the key to restoring the universe. If you’ve got the entire internet at your fingertips the answer might very well lie elsewhere.] (I can see it now. One man. Or woman. And their refrigerator. Working together to save a universe that’s always given them the cold shoulder. It’s the feel good movie of the holiday season. The heat death of the universe just got a lot cooler.) [Erm, sure. So, while this may sound tedious, you might have to read through the entire internet. Though as has been mentioned before, there is no concept of time anymore, so you can take as long as you need to do so. Good luck and godspeed.]

N(a){h}. You need us, we’re very clearly the solution to this problem. But Lawyer Guy is right, you’ve got eternity to figure out how to do this so might as well try everything. Try examining the void that you’re in. Maybe you’ll get lucky and find out that it’s just a giant white tarp that’s covering everything, meaning all you need to do is pull it away and everything can go on like it always has. Try grabbing at the edges of wherever you are now. If it’s not a giant sheet you might not be able to come away with anything but you also still might! Maybe the void is made of something tangible! (And if you need to place that chunk of void somewhere please think of Jerry Jarman’s Homegrown Jars for all your tangible nothingness jarring needs!) NO! There is no way that Jerry’s Homegrown Jars is going to be involved in reconstituting all of reality! (If it makes you feel any better, it seems like Dr. Brainwave was erased when reality was destroyed so he won’t be chiming in) Good! Supervillains have no place here in the boundless void! Also, he doesn’t work here! (Wow I can’t believe you just said “good” to the news that one more person was erased with all of existence.) {Yeah man, that’s low.} We’re working to bring him back right now! <Aw I knew you cared> What the hell! (Hahahaha we totally got you!) This is not the time! [Technically there’s no such thing as time now. Have we mentioned that yet.]

If there’s nothing around you that looks (looks can be deceiving, for example you look like you’d be way more successful than you are) is useful it may very well be that the answer to bringing the universe back lies within you. Think about your powers and how they might be used to recreate the universe. Do any of your powers create or use energy in someway? A big enough build up of energy might just reset the universe to the way you remember it. Are you a shapeshifter? Can one of your alternate forms secretly recreate the universe? It has been theorized that certain species of bugs are actually responsible for maintaining things that most people take for granted as universal constants. Perhaps they can recreate them too. See if you can turn into one of them. Are you a conjurer? Feel up to conjuring up a little bit of everything that ever existed? Get creative in mixing and matching your primary and secondary abilities, creating the universe isn’t really an exact science so you may be surprised at what actually ends up working. [Remember, matter cannot ever actually be destroyed, it can only be turned into other forms of matter. Thus it could be reasoned that everything still exists in some form, it is just up to you to determine what form it is now in, and how best to use your powers to turn it back.] What, suddenly you’re an expert in the laws of physics too? [That was actually my concentration in law school. I thought you knew this. Didn’t any of you read my application for this job?] (You were the only person who applied we gave it to you by default.) Wait you’re not an actual lawyer?? [Focus.] All right... This might even be the time for you to discover a completely new power that you’ve never used before. That’d be pretty neat. Especially if that new power is the power to create entire universes whole-cloth.

Once you’re able to figure out how to recreate the universe you can generally just sit back and wait for reality to reform around you. Occasionally you might have to lend a hand in the creationing process. (I’m very confident the word you’re looking for is “creating”) It didn’t seem big enough you know? (Ok, yeah actually I get that.) So if that happens this is your chance to change some things for the better. Of course, this raises innumerable ethical quandaries such as “can you create a world without crime or pain?” or “can you alter one portion of history without causing drastic changes that you could never have foreseen?” so you might be better off not changing anything. But I don’t think anybody would look down on you for getting rid of, say, mosquitoes or something. (Or letting Professor Paleontologist slip through the cracks.) {Nobody can look down on you if do it because nobody will ever know! Only you’ll remember the way the universe used to be!}

Curly raises another good point {oh boy am I on point today!} (you are forever dead to me) once you restore the universe and everything in it, almost nobody will ever remember that it was destroyed. Sure there are the Tetrawallians and the lizards who exist outside of spacetime and a couple of other blokes who have a special awareness for such things but on the whole, nobody you encounter will have any recollection of the end of the universe. When you recreate the universe the event that caused its collapse will generally be erased. Either that or it will be rewritten to have a different ending, which won’t result in the destruction of the universe. As such, you won’t be able to really talk about your experiences. (Well you can but nobody will believe you.) But if you want to talk about it, shoot us a message! We’d love to hear about how instrumental we were in restoring the entire universe. You know how to reach us. [I’ll have you know that you guys have never been successfully sued while I’ve worked here, so there should be no doubt as to my qualifications for this position.] Quiet you, I’m in the middle of my wrap up! (We’ll deal with you later “Lawyer” Guy.) Regardless of who else knows, you can rest comfortably with the knowledge that you are, without a doubt, integral to this universe and it’s continued existence. And that’s got to feel good.

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usatrendingsports · 7 years ago

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Why Yu Darvish is the final word risk-reward signing for the title-chasing Cubs

The Chicago Cubs struck again within the NL Central arms race, inking Yu Darvish to a six-year contract value a assured $126 million.

The deal, which may pay Darvish as much as $150 million general, fills a obvious space of want for a workforce that is made the NLCS three years in a row, with just a little one thing else thrown in for good measure. With Jake Arrieta submitting without cost company and John Lackey retiring, Chicago wanted beginning pitching assist, even after nabbing Tyler Chatwood on a considerably speculative three-year pact.

That is greater than only a big-revenue workforce filling a gap by throwing cash at an issue, although. By signing the four-time All-Star, the Cubs perked up what had been a quiet offseason for one in all baseball’s glamour groups, and a surprisingly quiet Sizzling Range season for MLB as a complete.

The Cubs taking this lengthy to signal Darvish is not merely a operate of a slow-moving offseason. Few big-ticket free brokers of latest classic have introduced this putting a mix of danger, and reward.

When he calls it quits sooner or later, Darvish will go down as one of many best prodigies in baseball historical past. Six-foot-five, robust and athletic, with blazing fastball velocity and a beguiling array of breaking pitches, he was already a celebrity at Tokohu Excessive College in Japan. With that stardom got here the horrifying workloads that managers heap on star pitchers of their quest for the coveted Koshien Nationwide Excessive College Baseball Championship. It was Darvish’s 2004 no-hitter in that event that rocketed curiosity within the huge righty into orbit.

By age 18, Darvish was firing high-leverage innings on the professional stage, for the Nippon Ham Fighters. At age 19, he led the Fighters to their first pennant in 25 years, whereas firing 149 2/Three innings and clocking a 2.89 ERA. That is the good paradox of wunderkind pitchers, after all: The dazzling skill at a younger age that makes scouts drool additionally make medical doctors and trainers wince on the prospect of rebuilding a broken arm in some unspecified time in the future sooner or later.

In Darvish’s case, that setback did not crop up till a decade after that magical no-no, with elbow irritation knocking him out for the stretch run in 2014, adopted by Tommy John surgical procedure the next March. Going beneath the knife did not sluggish him down at first, although; quite the opposite, Darvish’s fastball spiked to career-high ranges after his return from surgical procedure.

However after a powerful 17 begins in his 2016 return season, Darvish posted a few of the worst numbers of his main league profession in 2017, together with his ERA spiking to a close to career-worst Three.86, largely as a result of career-high 27 homers he surrendered over 31 begins. Nonetheless, Darvish stays some of the prolific strikeout artists in baseball, rating seventh amongst MLB beginning pitchers in Okay charge since since his return.

Darvish additionally suffers from the incurable situation of being a pitcher. Whereas the speed of Tommy John surgical procedures has dropped considerably from just lately terrifying peak ranges, predicting how a pitcher will fare over the subsequent six seasons is a idiot’s errand of the best diploma. As data-heavy and details-focused as at this time’s entrance places of work are, baseball by and huge nonetheless does not know a rattling factor with regards to predicting long-term pitching efficiency. Provided that Darvish’s contract may take him previous his 37th birthday in what’s more and more changing into a younger man’s sport, it is arduous to not see the pink flags flashing all over the place.

The flip aspect to all that gloom and doom is there are actual rewards available right here. For starters, the going charge without cost brokers is approaching $9 million per win, if we use Wins Above Substitute as a baseline. WAR is under no circumstances an ideal measuring software, and a panoply of different components can and do have an effect on how a lot groups pay for expertise on the open market. Nonetheless, the Cubs have valued Darvish as roughly a 2.5-win participant primarily based on the $21 million a 12 months he’ll rake in. Sure, his historical past of massive workloads and elbow points are alarming. He is additionally going to make much less per 12 months than the far, far, far much less gifted Jordan Zimmerman received again in 2015. That is a cheerful final result.

There’s additionally this: The Cubs won’t should hold paying Darvish till he is 37. In accordance with ESPN’s Jerry Crasnick, they may not should pay him for greater than two seasons, if Crasnick’s report of a potential opt-out clause after two years proves to be correct.

Most significantly, the Cubs are nonetheless rolling out a loaded core led by All-Star corners Kris Bryant and Anthony Rizzo. That core turned threatened by the upstart Brewers this offseason, after Milwaukee reeled in two toolsy-as-hell outfielders in Christian Yelich (who the Crew favored sufficient to commerce a number of high quality prospects to get) and Lorenzo Cain (who’d been the highest-paid free agent this winter earlier than the Darvish signing).

When the Brewers made a suggestion to Darvish as a possible coup de grace, the Cubs had good purpose to get nervous, and to succeed in into their warfare chest. With employees ace Jimmy Nelson presumably out till June and Milwaukee already loading up on expertise, anticipate the membership’s consideration to show to different free brokers equivalent to Lance Lynn or Alex Cobb, with the potential for an Arrieta signing looming as a scrumptious method to additional stoke what could possibly be an electrifying NL Central race (even when a few of the computer systems do not agree). With Darvish off the board, do not be stunned if this winter’s stalemate breaks, and the opposite important arms nonetheless on the market get scooped up within the subsequent few days.

One common narrative that emerged final fall painted Darvish as a very delicate soul who folds beneath stress. His ugly outings in Sport Three and Sport 7 of the World Collection, by which Darvish turned simply the second pitcher in World Collection historical past to final fewer than two innings in two completely different begins, turned whispers into horrified screams.

Shade me skeptical. Sportswriters love each post-hoc evaluation and psychoanalyzing gamers virtually as a lot as they love Springsteen. Barry Bonds was a flashy jerk of a participant who could not come by within the clutch … till he annihilated all the things in his path through the Giants’ 2002 run to the Fall Traditional. Alex Rodriguez was a prima donna stat-padder who saved his dwelling runs for Eight-Zero video games … till he put the Yankees on his again and led them to their 27th World Collection crown in 2009.

Baseball’s playoffs whack us with the dreaded one-punch of misleadingly tiny pattern sizes and heightened stakes, which may trigger to lose our minds and push half-baked theories, fairly than simply accepting the common reality that generally, dangerous issues simply occur. Darvish crapped the mattress in two straight begins, with your complete baseball world watching … and likewise dominated in his two earlier 2017 postseason begins, permitting a single run in each his NLDS and NLCS outings final 12 months.

The Cubs have World Collection aspirations of their very own, and there is a good likelihood Darvish will get a number of alternatives to show his mettle in October. The good cash says that this deal will nonetheless sink or swim primarily based on how effectively his oft-used golden arm holds up beneath the 30-start grind of a number of common seasons, not the bizarre randomness that washes over playoff baseball. Yu can wager the home on it.

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