#jr tower bargain final

[japansapporowalk]

🇯🇵JRタワーバーゲンファイナル開催中の札幌駅 アピア 札幌ステラプレイス 散歩 2024／日本 北海道 札幌市 中央区 [4K HDR Binaural ASMR]

[uponrightful]

Unforgettable

So this isn’t my normal S.W.’s content.

I’ve been working on this for a college final, and thought I would share it. 

(Note from the Author: If you’d like a little atmosphere while reading… play the original “Unforgettable” by Nat King Cole. It might replay once or twice, but I don’t think Rose would mind hearing it. :) )

A cast iron skillet with pork chops sizzled over the wafting heat of the stovetop. The worn silver handle sat turned away from the edge of the old Glenwood. It was a long ago formed habit after that same skillet had ended up in the floor, smattering gravy and fried potatoes to the floor. The pockets in her apron wouldn’t cause any problems tonight. Next to the pork chops sat a towering stock pot full of cubed potatoes, rumbling under a cloud of steam that poured over the sides of the cookware. Rose dropped her wooden spoon down into the pot, stirring just long enough to make sure nothing was sticking. She hummed a little tune as she went along, tending to the collard greens and bacon grease, letting the shaky sound of her voice carry her through the dinner preparations.

At one point she might’ve swayed to the King’s voice, loving the smooth piano and gently dancing around the kitchen with light feet. Maybe giggling at how silly it was for a young woman to be dancing in the kitchen. Labors of love had Rose’s wrists swollen and fingers crooked, detailing just how many nights she’d spent toiling away to soft sounds of music in the kitchen. Only now, she  did well to lift the cast iron skillet onto the stove without making an awful racket when the weight became too much. Rose preferred to hum now, occasionally deepening her voice to sing a few words along with Mr. Cole. Her ankles protested the constant standing and so would her babies if they had seen her fussing over such a trivial thing as dinner on a Thursday night.

No doubt her daughter-in-laws would offer to mash the potatoes for her, or politely bargain with Rose to tend to the cornbread once it was done in the oven. With a wrinkled smile she would decline, knowing just how much longer the cornbread needed without a timer and that you needed to add buttermilk before thinkin’ about reaching for that wood-handled potato masher hanging on the wall. Bless them girls, they always offered to help but dinner never turned out quite right if Rose wasn’t the one “doin’ the fixin’”. Donnie Jr. didn’t like it when the collards weren’t greasy enough, and Billy always liked the potatoes a little lumpy. But tonight, only three pork chops simmered in the skillet.

It had become one of her newer habits -only about twenty years old now- where she cooked a little differently than she had before. No longer did she have to catch children running around her feet, or take a moment to step away from the Glenwood to tie a shoelace or button up a jacket. It was in the last twenty years Rose hadn’t bothered with buying the fattier cuts of pork opting for the new green-packaged medallions, always reading ‘low fat’ or ‘heart healthy’. The smaller portions and ‘grass fed’ options weren’t the only things that had changed for Rose. Now she needed a pair of glasses to see just a bit better to stir in a little more salt and pepper to the greens. Even the once-white paint on her stove had tinged a bit yellow despite umpteen tries at scrubbing away the aged tone on the iron.

In a different time she would’ve worn a pretty dress and a little heel as she cooked; Maybe going far enough to wear some of that light pink Avon lipstick she used to love. Of course she couldn’t really remember the last time she’d seen one of the order booklets on the church’s greeting table. All those trivial things had fallen to the wayside over time. Rose looked down at her feet, bare and blending in with the gnarled and knotted floor below her. A bright smile spread over her face at the sight. Her mother would’ve had a fit if she could see Rose cooking without shoes on. Even worse than being barefoot in the kitchen Rose neglected to wear a dress as well, preferring some corduroy pants and a sweatshirt with buttons sewn to the front in the shape of a heart. A Christmas present from many years back, given to her by Billy’s wife as newlyweds. Rose didn’t mind the thought of her own mother’s disapproval of her style, rather choosing to reminisce on that sweet Christmas so long ago and how much she treasured the button-embroidered shirt from her sweet daughter-in-law.

With shuffling feet Rose moved away from her place at the stove to set the dinner table. She pulled at the silverware drawer, making sure to gently guide it a little to the right so that it wouldn’t stick or make that awful squeaky noise. In the back of her mind, she momentarily reminded herself to pick up some beeswax and grease the darn thing instead of putting it off any longer. Billy had used some type of spray last month, promising that it would be better than her tried-and-true beeswax. But here Rose stood, listening to the sharp queak of the drawer pulling dryly across it’s wooden rails. Her shaky hands searched for the two best forks in the mess of mismatched cutlery, making sure that tonight the table would look its best with identical forks and knives. She wanted to celebrate the best way she knew how. After deciding on a set, she tucked them in the pocket of her apron. Just above her head in the cabinet above, Rose collected plates, little dessert dishes and salad bowls, stacking them in her hands with another precious memory playing out to that same sweet song she’d been humming all afternoon.

The table setting, milky white with small pink flowers painted along the rim of the dishes had been a wedding gift. Darling in their time -and still timeless in her opinion- as Rose set to work setting the table in the dining room. Again to her mother’s disapproval, she skipped adding a tablecloth before sitting the dishes and cutlery down in their respectful places. A table so well-used deserved to be seen, instead of being hidden under some plain white cloth. Little scratches in the varnished wood had once caused quite a fuss at dinner time; A dropped steak knife, or the unpracticed hands of a child dropping their fork onto the unprotected surface. Now, Rose could look at them with tenderness and a wisdom for the blemishes that life imprinted on everyone and everything. Seeing years of love and togetherness in the scuffed and scratched surface, just like in the growth rings of the planed wood that had been collected to make the table. The old thing was beautiful in its own unique way, and Rose couldn’t help but feel the same way about herself.

That internal clock ticking in her mind reminded her of the cornbread in the Glenwood, and additionally the pork chops that would no doubt be done by the time she added that buttermilk to the potatoes. Just as she’d already known, the cornbread came out the same as it always did… but not quite as good as she remembered her mother’s to be. Nevertheless Rose couldn’t help herself from sneaking a little nibble in an unsuspecting corner, enjoying the heavy weight of the bacon grease-soaked bread with a little nod of approval. Rose repeated the process of taste testing her other side dish, and tending to the pork in the cast iron with an expectant glance focusing on the back door just outside the kitchen.

It wouldn’t be much longer.

Dinner didn’t take a full two hours from start to finish, and more importantly Rose knew the drive to Dr. Nancy’s office in town only took eight minutes. If you were driving fifteen miles an hour down main street. The waiting room always took up twenty minutes of time, especially when that sweet receptionist wanted to know how everyone on the edge of town was doing with the annual hay cutting. It seemed Rose was the only woman who could find out how many more acres were needing laid down before a rainfall came.

Even Dr. Nancy knew that dinner was on the table at seven thirty though. She’d have Sam sent on his way long before Pat Sajack and Alex Trebek made their nightly appearances.

Normally the sound of gravel would set Rose into motion, delivering the serving dishes to the dining room, potholders protecting her wrinkled hands from the heat and subsequently the table. Filling cups with ice, and sitting them at their ritual place next to the fridge. Rose knew what time it was without even looking at the old clock above the ‘frigerator and even though she couldn’t hear the tires in the driveway anymore, it would only be a couple more minutes before that back door swung open on a bees-waxed hinge and a loud smack of the screen door following close behind. Another weathered smile broke her consistent humming. Maybe there were some things that didn’t change after all...

Struggling the most with the old cast iron, Rose managed to get it to the table without accident. The potatoes had been mashed, and transferred into a more presentable bowl resting on a crocheted potholder, browned from hundreds of bowls of potatoes. While the greens stayed in their skillet between the two other dishes, steaming temptingly up towards the dining room‘s light fixture. The salad Rose had chopped that morning rested in the middle of the table with a bottle of sour-cream base ranch accompanying it in a quart-sized mason jar.  A pie also sat in the fridge, awaiting dessert time with the plastic container of sweet tea that had been religiously filled that morning as well.Of course none of that was considered ‘heart healthy’ but there were some recipes that didn’t agree with Dr. Nancy’s orders. Rose had never been royalty, or had any desire to be one. But in her heart of hearts this meal was more than worthy of being served to a king and queen… or the occasional doctor.  

In her haste to bring the cornbread to the table, she’d missed the tap of the screen door on the doorframe, and the slow thump of boot heels over the hallway floor. Not even the rustle of a Woolrich coat unzipping and being hung on the coat rack just outside the kitchen alerted Rose that she was putting on quite a show.

“That someone so unforgettable… thinks that I am unforgettable too…” Rose sang, quite lost in her slow hustle of final preparations, unaware that her husband was standing with a big grin on his face. As terribly unaware as she was, Samuel couldn’t resist joining his sweet wife’s ode to Nat Cole.

“Like a song of love that clings to me, How the thought of you does things to me.” Sam’s voice wasn’t nearly as pretty as Rose’s, but he had sang just loud enough that her surprised gasp of realization had given away his little hiding place behind the wall.

They met in the middle of the kitchen, neither one wanting the other to walk the long distance. And as if they both still had the King‘s song playing, a gentle sway brought them together, right on time with the imagined strokes over ivory keys. The couple shared a little laugh, imagining how they must look to anyone out the window. Struggling to keep time with such a slow tempo, nevertheless letting their dinner get cold. This didn’t keep them from enjoying the moment, taking each other’s weathered hands and rocking gently to Rose’s light hum. She rested her head against his chest, cherishing the slight bump of his leather glasses pouch in his shirt pocket and the smell of freshly cut hay filling the room.

“Who are those two?” Sam’s warbly voice spoke out, rocking them in a circle towards the small shelf on the wall of the dining room. In the middle of family portraits, grandchildren, and children hung a monochromatic picture of Rose and Sam smiling brightly at each other. It had been taken ages ago… almost a lifetime.

“Hmm,” Rose paused in fake contemplation. “No idea. Must be as old as the hills by the looks of that old picture.” She chuckled when Sam’s eyes glowed mischievously  at her little jab. Sensing that Sam might’ve been thinking the same thing she patted his shoulder knowingly.

“Well, you might be right there.” Sam wrapped an arm around her shoulders, pulling her close to his chest. “But I can’t imagine having spent sixty-two years married to anyone else.”

Sam ducked his head down pressing a soft kiss to the love lines between Rose’s greyed eyebrows, sighing contentedly. Her brown eyes had turned golden over the long years, reminding him of just how rich he was standing in the middle of the family kitchen. Even the soft circles she rubbed against his back soothed away the stiffness he’d felt sitting in the drivers seat of the truck.

“Happy Anniversary, dear.” He murmured into her hair.

“Happy Anniversary, my love.” She smiled brightly back at him, glowing just as brightly as she had sixty-two years ago today. “How was Dr. Nancy today?” He chuckled in response, extending his arm to let her take a slow spin, careful not to let her get too dizzy.

“Tickers ticking like it should be.” He paused, focusing on catching her hand after the turn-about, easing her back against his chest. “She did say to lay off the blackberry cobbler…” He added softly.

“Oh that woman… I already told her I was using fresh blackberries. Not frozen.” Rose sighed, thinking about how there was no pleasing the young doctor. “One day she’ll understand how nice it is to have a nice slice of pie after a hard day’s work.” Sam let out another chuckle, this time he was more than happy to oblige his wife with a little more good news from Dr. Nancy.

“I have more good news dear.” He waited for those bright golden brown eyes to look back up at him, waiting expectantly. “I didn’t have to schedule another appointment for a whole year.” His eyes glittering with a mix of tearful relief, and pure adoration for the prospect of another whole year with his best friend.

Tears welled in Rose’s eyes, followed by an unsteady little cheer of laughter. Her soft hands rubbing gleefully up and down his back. The two tightened their hug, still gently swaying as if the kitchen itself had put them under a spell where aching joints and deep wrinkles didn’t exist anymore. A room that didn’t remind them of how difficult life could be. The kitchen, with its wood-burning Glenwood was a sanctuary. A place where both Sam and Rose could forget about the bustle of appointments and prescriptions and celebrate a life full of love, all while swaying back and forth to King Cole.

[quentinblack]

The Squib

Featuring: Gawain Robards & Walden Macnair (with Harry Potter, Rhea Savage and Femi Wakanda)

Warnings: Swearing, Mature content

Link to full story on FF.net

Walden Macnair looked absolutely terrible. He was about as broken a man as a man could be. The Death Eater sat, if you could call what his broken back was allowing him to do sitting, in a hastily erected bean bag on the marble floor of the interrogation room.

The bean bag had been the only thing that Macnair had been able to sit in or on without screaming in agony for the best part of a week - and judging by the look on his face he was now about as broken mentally as he was physically.

An eager looking Gawain Robards sat opposite him in a fairly comfortable looking oak and leather chair. The Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement aimlessly fiddled with his quill as he studied the notes in the pieces of parchment on the table in-front of him.

Robards was the only one who was on the interrogation side of the chamber with Macnair. Harry, along with Rhea Savage and Femi Wakanda, the pair of whom had spent the most amount of time interrogating the Death Eater in the last fortnight, were behind the charm-field section on the other side of the room.

The charm-field, which Harry had discovered was a quintessential feature of almost all interrogation chambers, allowed for other Ministry agents to watch an interrogation without the suspect being able to see or hear their presence.

They were actually very reminiscent of the sort of glass-mirrored screens that Harry had once seen on old repeats of ‘The Bill’, a police-detective program which regularly aired on the muggle television. He had often watched that and another similar detective show called ‘A Touch of Frost’ on the few occasions that the Dursley’s had gone out for the day and left him to his own devices.

A common theme of those sorts of programmes was the “good cop, bad cop” routine, where one detective would aggressively interrogate the suspect, whilst the other would be somewhat kinder. Harry was not quite sure on the exact phycology of this method, but it seemed to work for the fictional police officers.

It was fairly safe to say that Gawain Robards liked to take an altogether different approach to his questioning.

His approach was less “good cop, bad cop” and more just plain old “bad cop, bad cop”.  

“I always thought you did lack a spine, Walden,” Robards said sarcastically. “Life imitating art I suppose,” he added with a smile, enjoying his own witty remark considerably more than anybody else watching on had seemed to.

Macnair said nothing. He merely glared at Robards with an intense look of fury and pain on his scarred and slightly wrinkled face.

“I’m sure that Savage and Wakanda have already informed you of the considerable case The Ministry has against you, Walden. The charges that landed you into Azkaban several years ago in the first place were not too pretty, but since then you broke out of prison, continuously colluded with The Dark Lord, played a crucial role in the illegal international transportation of many murderous giants and of course, most notably, are the prime suspect in the murder of Broderick Bode. Do you have anything to say in your defence?”

“No comment,” Macnair spat.

Robards grinned nonchalantly.

“As I have said, the charges levelled against you, much like the state of your back, are not pretty. However, any cooperation on your part that may lead to the arrest of one of your comrades will of course be heavily considered when you are sentenced.”

Macnair rolled his eyes in disgust.

“You want me to betray my friends like some kind of traitor…and for what? A couple of years shaved off of a life sentence?! I’m not fucking stupid, Gawain. I know that I don’t know enough to receive a get out of jail free card like some of the others might. Sure, I could sell out Selwyn to you, but you won’t drop all of the charges against me even if you did manage to make an arrest. I’d sooner take my chances on him and the others that got away doing some damage and breaking us all out of here.”

Robards sighed heavily.

“You really think that a handful of stragglers are gonna manage to do some damage to us and break you all out?!” he asked in an incredulous manner.

“I don’t see why not! You would be incredibly naïve to write them off,” Macnair snapped back defiantly. “Judging by how emotional your little bitch has been in the last few days… I expect they already have done some damage!”

Savage swore under her breath next to Harry, as Wakanda, who towered over the both of them in her leather heeled boots groaned.

“I warned you, Savage. I told you that you were emotionally compromised. You should have listened to me when I-

Savage loudly shushed Wakanda as Robards began to speak once more.

“You know, Macnair. I think you’re the one who is being incredibly naïve,” Robards said. “You talk about bargaining to get a couple of years off of your life sentence… I don’t recall saying anything about a life sentence. The act of murdering an unspeakable is a crime that has historically carried only one possible sentence… and it is not life, but death.”

Macnair eyed Robards with a slight sense of caution, but Harry observed that he did not truly yet seem to believe what Gawain was suggesting.

“You won’t execute any of us,” Macnair attested in an arrogant tone. “The Ministry hasn’t executed anyone in decades. Barty Crouch liked to make out that he was tough on crime at the end of the last war, but even that silly old shit never sentenced Dolohov, Black or the Lestranges to death… and they committed the worst crimes of all.”

Savage stole a glance at Harry when Macnair mentioned Sirius.

It had been just three days prior, on the same day that Hagrid had received a pardon of his own that Kingsley had also posthumously cleared Sirius of all charges against him.

Harry was very glad indeed that Barty Crouch had never sentenced Sirius to death, for if he had then Harry would’ve never even met his Godfather for the fleeting few years that he did.

Robards glared at Macnair with something between contempt and pity in his eyes.

“Do you know why Dolohov, Black and the Lestrange trio were never sentenced to death for their despicable crimes?” Robards asked in an irritated tone.

“Everyone knows why,” Macnair replied confidently. “Barty Crouch believed that a life-time of the Dementors was a much harsher sentence than a killing curse, although I guess he never banked on The Dark Lord returning to power and setting everyone free.”

Robards chuckled to himself and violently shook his head at Macnair.

“The only thing he never banked on was his son falling in with The Dark Lord. Allow me to let you in on an age-old Ministry secret, Macnair. Barty Crouch was full of shit. He never believed any of that bollocks about life sentences being the harshest sentence once could suffer, although I’m sure he said it enough times that even he might have believed it in the end.”

Robards rose to his feet and wandered over towards a fearful looking Macnair, who could do nothing but look up at the head of the Department for Magical Law Enforcement as he towered over him.

“Dolohov and Black were never meant to have life sentences. They were both in line for the death penalty – and they would’ve gotten it too, if Barty’s own bloody son hadn’t have winded up getting caught torturing the Longbottoms with the Lestranges. That left old Barty with quite the predicament. He couldn’t execute Dolohov, Black and the Lestranges but spare his son – the cries of bias would’ve finished his career. But he couldn’t execute his son either, as that would’ve finished his marriage. So we got the compromise option. It all worked out very well for The Dark Lord and his cronies, probably the only reason why you recruited the useless little fucker in the first place!”

Macnair said nothing. He re-positioned himself slightly, trying not to make eye contact with Robards and swearing under his breath in pain as he did so.

Harry trembled slightly at his new-found knowledge that Sirius may been sentenced to death if not for Barty Crouch Jr’s turn to the dark side. It was hardly a glowing endorsement of capital punishment.

“The mood of the public is one of finality, Macnair. They want some closure. They want some justice – and unlike Barty Crouch, as you well know, I do not have a child in the docks awaiting sentencing-

“You don’t have a child full-stop,” Macnair spat.

“Oh, Merlin,” Wakanda sighed under her breath, as Savage swore violently.

An enraged Gawain Robards instantly pelted the defenceless Macnair square in the head. The connection of his shoe to the Death Eater’s nose saw it break on impact, making a loud crunch and crack in the process.

Blood began to trickle down Macnair’s face and onto the cream coloured bean-bag, as he cried out in pain at the abrasive movement this had caused his injured neck and back.

Harry looked on in utter bewilderment at what had just happened, as Wakanda exhaled loudly.

Savage turned to him with a saddened look awash her pale face.

“Gawain’s daughter,” she whispered. “She… she died when she was only seven years old… dragon pox.”

Harry suddenly understood Robards’ extreme reaction and wondered if Macnair had known, judging by the look on Savage’s face he assumed that he probably had.

Robards began to pace frantically in-front of Macnair, as Wakanda eyed her boss with great caution and concern, perhaps fearing any further retaliation, although he seemed to have calmed down a little.

“You know actually Walden, I’m glad that you want to talk about family,” Robards said with an evil looking grin. “Savage and Wakanda took the liberty of informing me last week that you didn’t actually want to speak to or see any of your family at all. I must confess, given your reputation years ago at the Ministry as a devoted family man, I considered this development to be, well, strange.”

“Go fuck yourself,” Macnair replied, to which Robards grinned with glee.

“I’m sure you remember your wife used to be quite close to mine once upon a time, so naturally I felt given the circumstances it would be my duty of care to reach out to Cara and make sure-

“You shut your filthy mouth, Gawain! Don’t you dare talk to my fuckin-

Robards motioned to punt Macnair in the head once more, but he had only pretended, which nonetheless still caused Macnair significant pain as he had flinched when reacting to the expectant kick.

Macnair tried to spit at Robards, but due to his hunched posture he succeeded only in spitting on himself.

“Oh, but I did dare to talk to her, Walden!” Robards jibed. “And I’m very glad that I did. Cara was most forthcoming about the issues in your broken marriage… and it all seemed to stem back to one thing…

“Don’t you fucking-

“The Squib daughter of a Death Eater,” Gawain mocked triumphantly, as Macnair looked shattered at Robards having discovered this revelation.

Harry noticed that there was a different kind of pain on the Death Eater’s face at this divulgence though. It was not one of discomfort or anger, but rather, for the first time Harry saw vulnerability in Walden Macnair’s eyes.

“The way Cara tells it, most of the blame falls at your feet, Walden. She thinks that little Niamh was so embarrassed when her Father got sent to Azkaban for being a Death Eater that she started repressing her magical abilities, so much so that she never actually has shown any magical abilities.”

Macnair, defeated, said nothing at this point. Harry watched the blood trickle down the pathetic looking man’s nose. He was no longer even bothering to wipe it on the dirty sleeve of his jumper like he had been previously.

“What was your plan if You Know Who wasn’t defeated, Walden? Wouldn’t it look a bit suspicious when your daughter didn’t get a Hogwarts letter this year?” he asked, more rhetorically than literally.

Harry felt his boss was perhaps pushing too far now, but either Robards didn’t sense Macnair’s agony or did and was merely trying to use it to his advantage.

Gawain now retrieved a piece of parchment from his desk and unravelled it.

“Do you know what this is, Walden?” Robards grilled, as he flashed the piece of parchment in-front of the captive.

Macnair remained silent.

“I’ll tell you what this is… written by Dolores Umbridge no less… this… this is what The Ministry’s official policy on Squibs was under your exalted leader’s control… and I quote…” he began, taking an exaggerated deep breath, which seemed more for show than any sort of respiratory benefit.

“The Ministry of Magic defines a Squib as a person whom is born with the assumption of possessing magical blood, yet possesses either extremely limited magical abilities, or indeed, is entirely devoid of any magical ability whatsoever. The primary cause of the birthing of Squibs is believed to be caused by the Mother fornicating, whether wilfully or against her will, with either muggles or mud-bloods - it is also a possibility that the Father may have falsified their own family history, thereby concealing their un-pure blood from the pure-blood witch who birthed the defected child. Either of these crimes, whereby a deformity such as a Squib is created, are punishable to the guilty party only by the Dementor’s Kiss.”

Macnair did not look up at Robards, instead much preferring to look at the floor, perhaps in the desperate hope that it would open up and swallow him whole.

“Alternatively, in cases where Squibs have previously shown some kind of magical ability at a younger age, but have since lost the ability, it is believed that their magic was stolen from them. There are many mud-bloods that defy the conventions of logic and biology by possessing magical abilities without magical blood – and this fairly modern phenomenon is believed to be caused by the mud-blood stealing magic from magic-users, i.e – Squibs. It is thought that the most common method of magical theft is achieved through fornicating, but research has also shown that a muggle may achieve the theft of magic by stealing the blood of a witch or wizard. The crime of allowing a muggle to steal one’s magical blood, even if the muggle somehow achieved this by force, is a crime that is once again punishable only by the Dementor’s Kiss.”

Robards finished reading and discarded the parchment onto the floor in-front of Macnair.

“You’re clinging onto an ideology that would’ve seen your only child suffer a fate worse than death, Walden!” he shouted incredulously.

Macnair looked considerably defeated at this point, but did not seem to be rising to Robards’ bait.

“You refuse to sell-out Selwyn and Travers and Co, but would they have stood in your corner when The Dark Lord came to take Niamh away and give her to the Dementors?” Robards asked in a disgusted sounding tone.

Macnair tried his best to hide it, but he had become increasingly uncomfortable and significantly more distressed since Robards began talking about his estranged daughter. He had flinched momentarily at the mere mention of her name again. Harry was not sure if Robards, Savage or Wakanda had spotted it, but he certainly had.

Robards continued probing and taunting Macnair for a further fifteen minutes, but no matter what was said to him he failed to take the bait and showed absolutely no intention of co-operating.

The only time his eyes ever truly showed signs of fight or life where when Robards mentioned his daughter, but Harry supposed that there was nothing they had to tempt Macnair to sell-out Selwyn or any of the others.

Robards was offering Macnair the chance to avoid being sentenced to death and merely see out a life sentence instead, but the Death Eater had previously assumed he was seeing out a life sentence anyway, so this must have barely seemed like an upgrade to him – perhaps the prospect of a quick exit even somewhat appealed to him in his broken state.

What they really needed to get Macnair to talk was something to truly tempt him.

“He’s a lost cause,” Wakanda commented to Savage and Harry after Robards had been at him for another quarter of an hour after that.

“If he was going to talk then he would have by now. I thought the reminder of his daughter might push him to it, but it looks like the prospect of dying and never seeing her grow up isn’t even enough for the sicko.”

“He does care about her,” Savage quipped back in a knowing fashion. It seemed Harry had not been alone in noticing Macnair’s body language when his daughter was mentioned.

“But she’ll grow up to be a Squib,” the Head Auror continued. “She’ll be an outcast and he knows both his daughter and his wife will always blame him for it… maybe he’d rather die than live with himself knowing he caused that.”

“Perhaps,” Wakanda conceded in an irritated tone, as the three of them watched on as a slightly exasperated looking Robards continued to interrogate him. “But all the same… if he won’t talk, he won’t talk.”

“What if we gave him a reason to talk,” Harry said, as an incredibly bold idea suddenly popped into his head.

“I’m all ears, Potter,” Savage replied. “What would you suggest?” she asked, as Wakanda eyed Harry with a slight look of bewilderment.

“Well the thing that is upsetting him the most is that his daughter will grow up to be an outcast and hate him, right?”

“Right,” Wakanda and Savage replied almost in unison, surprising themselves in doing so.  

“What if she didn’t have to be an outcast?”

“But she’s a Squib… how could she not be an outcast?” Wakanda replied, not cottoning on to what Harry had been suggesting at all.

Savage eyed him very carefully, perhaps pondering what she thought he may be implying.

“But don’t you see?” Harry began. “That legislation that Robards read out earlier about Squibs. They weren’t treated that badly before Voldemort was in power…”

Harry paused briefly as Savage and especially Wakanda reacted wildly to Harry so openly and boldly using Voldemort’s name. He forgot that people reacted that way to it and he thought it seemed especially silly since he was now long dead.

“… but even in civilised wizarding society they seem to be largely outcasts,” Harry continued. “I think the one thing that would make Macnair talk and lead us to Selwyn and the others is if he knew by talking he could stop his daughter from becoming an outcast.”

“But again, Potter, what exactly are you proposing we do? Send an owl to Minerva McGonagall and ask her to send an acceptance letter to Macnair’s Squib daughter if he talks?!” Wakanda asked in a condescending manner.

Harry did not reply instantly, but Savage again eyed him up cautiously.

“I think that’s exactly what he’s proposing,” Rhea said carefully, as she appeared to begin to contemplate the idea.

Wakanda looked mortified.

“But - but you can’t be serious,” the mature witch began.  “The implications – the mere idea of a Squib attend-

“Robards said that her Mother believes she repressed her magical abilities,” Harry interrupted. “If she was put in an environment with other children and felt confident and accepted for who she was then she might even develop some magical abilities.”

“And if she didn’t?!” Wakanda interrogated.

Harry’s mind darted into action as he tried to think on his feet and justify his reasoning to the older witch.

“Well, you don’t use magic in every subject at Hogwarts,” he mustered. “Potions… Herbology, erm…

“Divination,” Savage added. “Astronomy and History of Magic too, I guess even Care of Magical Creatures and…

“Arithmancy and Ancient Runes… oh and Muggle Studies too,” Harry quickly interspersed.

“You can’t seriously be entertaining this idea, Rhea,” Wakanda mocked.

“Do you have any better ideas?!” she snapped back. “This is all hypothetical regardless. There’s no guarantee that Macnair would talk even if we offered this to him, but yes, I think it’s certainly an avenue worth exploring.”

Wakanda tutted and then sighed dismissively.

“Good luck selling this idea to Gawain,” she snickered.

“Gawain won’t be a problem,” Savage replied confidently. “It’s Minerva McGonagall that I’m worried about.”

Savage smiled and then suddenly slapped Harry on the back affectionately.

“It’s a good thing we’ve got Potter here for that one,” she grinned, as she stared thoughtfully at Macnair through the charm-field.

[taffysannotatedsonichu]

Sonichu 7 Page 9

RATING: TV 14 (this sketch only)

SKELEVISION: Uhh… I gotta use the bathroom… excuse me!

SAMMY: Uh… I gotta use the can too.

DOOR: Ghosts (neutral)

SKELEVISION: Uh… sorry, occupied!

SAMMY: Ah, here’s a can!

SAMMY: Hmm. I wonder what these buttons do.

Marking the change in scenery and a shift from Eastern to Western style of character design, Chris emblazons this scene with the rating “TV-14”, a rating designation used by the United States’s Federal Communications Commission (FCC) for use on television programs airing in the US. TV-14 is the second highest of the six ratings that have been in use for the last 20 years, and it signifies, according to the FCC, that “This program contains some material that many parents would find unsuitable for children under 14 years of age”; this is the rating most frequently applied to Family Guy. It is the rough equivalent of the “PG-13” rating used in the US for theatrical films and, in other territories, the “M” rating used in Australia, the “14+” rating used in Canada, and other similar rankings usually ranging from 13-16 around the world.

Sonichu 7 in general is the time where a medium that has always had an influence on Chris’s work finally gets the chance to “shine” - Western adult animation. Sure, we had the CADD Chef in Sonichu 5 and some scattered references to stuff like The Simpsons and South Park before, clearly from between the fall of 2007 to the summer of 2008 Chris was binge watching a lot of Western adult (and to a lesser extent children’s) animation and around this time in the comic, references to Family Guy, Beavis and Butthead, and Futurama really come into full bloom.

Now, the IP “Ghostbusters” has had a long and storied history. The CWCki explains the Filmation vs. Columbia Pictures feud over the name better than I ever could:

“If you were a child of the 80s, you probably wondered, "Why the heck is that awesome cartoon with Venkman, Egon, and Slimer called The Real Ghostbusters?" And since there was no Wikipedia until 2001, your mom probably told you to stop asking stupid questions, or go outside and play. Well, thanks to a forgotten show in their back catalog, Filmation Associates (producers of shows like He-Man) struck gold in 1984 when Columbia Pictures had a hit with a movie of the same title. Filmation sued Columbia in 1985 over the use of the title Ghostbusters, and in the ensuing settlement, Columbia agreed that it would not use that name for a cartoon based on their film. Filmation quickly cranked out a low-budget spin-off of its 1970s live-action show to capitalize on the free marketing. The results were mostly forgettable, and destined to join the vast catalog of cut-rate VHS cartoons that populated bargain bins at local grocers in the early 1990s. In response to Filmation's legal trolling, Columbia, DIC Entertainment and Coca-Cola Telecommunications responded by calling their own cartoon series The Real Ghostbusters. That, Christorians, is true and honest. “

Chris doesn’t realize in the slightest that the 1984 film (or possibly its controversial 2016 remake) are going to be the first things that come to people’s minds when you say “Ghostbusters” and not the forgettable 1975 show or its 1986 animated followup this sketch is based around.

The premise of the ‘86 cartoon is leader Jake Kong Jr. and comic relief Eddie Spencer Jr. (the sons of the human protagonists of the original show) inherit their fathers’s ghost catching business and their fathers’s gorilla, Tracy. Their HQ is a haunted mansion called Ghost Command between the Twin Towers and they go out and fight ghosties and ghoulies. Much like the transformation sequences of Power Rangers or Sailor Moon, the Fake Ghostbusters had an overblown transformation sequence that happened once an episode.

Up at the top we see the tops of Jake, Eddie, and Tracy’s heads behind a couch; they and Sammy are receiving orders from “Skelevision”, their talking ghost TV set. Why a ghost skeleton TV set would need to use a bathroom is beyond me. Also Sammy’s head is about twice the size of anyone else’s head.

Also, during this sequence, Chris is replaced by a lookalike by the name of Sammy. who is similar to Comic Chris except he is much fatter and is drawn in the style of a Seth McFarlane character. Sammy has become a popular character in troll works as he is far closer to the real Chris in appearance and attitudes than Comic Chris has ever been.

That thing in the bottom panel that Sammy mistakes for a port-o-potty is something called the “Skelevator” (yeah, they aren’t very creative with these names) that, when entered, sends the unlucky soul through a Rube-Goldberg machine designed to make getting dressed unnecessarily difficult.

When Sammy is wondering what those buttons do, he’s likely referring to the thing in the “Skelevator” where you have to press the teeth on a skeleton like keys on a keypad to get it to work. Somehow, Sammy triggers the machine to work.

[duaneodavila]

Incompetent Dictator And Son May Be Lying, Says Spurned Local Clown

It’s all so dumb. I mean, it’s important and I’m writing about it but, Jesus Christ, watching Donald Trump, Don Jr, Michael Cohen, and Rudy Giuliani sling mud is like watching the Zoolander version of a criminal conspiracy.

Anyway… Breaking News! From CNN:

Michael Cohen, President Donald Trump’s former personal attorney, claims that then-candidate Trump knew in advance about the June 2016 meeting in Trump Tower in which Russians were expected to offer his campaign dirt on Hillary Clinton, sources with knowledge tell CNN. Cohen is willing to make that assertion to special counsel Robert Mueller, the sources said.

Cohen’s claim would contradict repeated denials by Trump, Donald Trump Jr., their lawyers and other administration officials who have said that the President knew nothing about the Trump Tower meeting until he was approached about it by The New York Times in July 2017.

The Trump Tower meeting has become the leave-behind of entire, alleged, conspiracy between the Trump campaign and Russian operatives. We have to keep coming back to collusion because the Trump Tower meeting is still on the table. Donald Trump Jr. and Jared Kushner attended the meeting. President Trump has repeatedly claimed that he knew nothing about the meeting… until he drafted a statement for his son about what happened at the meeting.

It’s never been credible that Fredo Trump took that meeting on his own accord, but that is the story team Trump has been sticking to. Donnie even testified before the Senate that his father knew nothing about the meeting before it occurred.

But unnamed sources are now claiming that Cohen knew about the meeting and was at a meeting where Trump was told about it. More on those in a second.

Trump spokesman hype-man co-conspirator lawyer Rudolph Giuliani has gone on the offensive against Cohen:

“He’s been lying all week, he’s been lying for years,” said Rudy Giuliani, the President’s attorney, to Chris Cuomo on CNN’s “Cuomo Prime Time” on Thursday night. He added, “I don’t see how he’s got any credibility.” Giuliani also said Cohen is “the kind of witness that can really destroy your whole case” and called Cohen, who was a top Trump Organization attorney for a decade, a “pathological liar.”

Giuliani… actually has a point here. Michael Cohen is a pathetic button-man. He’s in a load of legal trouble, and has been publicly spurned and thrown under the bus by a man he seemed to honestly love before it all went bad. Everything Cohen has done seems to be a plea to get attention from Trump. In my uninformed psychoanalysis, somewhere in his mind he still thinks Trump will take him back.

Unless Cohen has this on tape, he’s not terribly credible here. He’s damaged. If the rest of Trumpworld closes ranks — if Trump and Don Jr. and Jared and Manafort ALL SAY Cohen is lying — it just doesn’t seem like Cohen has enough credibility as a human to have his say-so be the final word on the matter. This isn’t evidence, this is testimony, this is potentially hearsay. It’ll work in the press, I guess, but it won’t hold up in court.

Not that Trump is ever going to go to trial.

Which brings us back to the “sources.” Who do you think leaked this alleged Cohen testimony?

Cohen lawyer Lanny Davis has already said “it wasn’t us.” Davis has credibility if for no other reason than he likes to “take responsibility” and go on television when he violates the norms of criminal procedure. There’s also the fact that leaking this information doesn’t help Cohen. Remember, Cohen is trying to use this testimony to bargain for a better deal. He wants S.D.N.Y. to care that he might have information that relates to the Mueller probe. Having this out there in the press doesn’t help him. If what Cohen says is true, only Don Jr. has been caught, under oath, in perjury. A prosecutor would want to keep this information close until President Trump was under oath.

Conversely, it potentially makes a lot of sense for Trump’s team to leak this out. And we know Giuliani likes to play this kind of a game. It gives Trump the jump on slamming Cohen’s credibility. And… if it turns out to be actually true that Trump did know about the Trump Tower meeting before it happened, this is a soft way for Trump to start walking back his numerous, public lies about it, before a potential on-the-record deposition by the Mueller team. It still kind of screws over Don Jr., but if Don Jr. thinks he’s the favorite child he’s been living a lie his whole life.

I think team Trump leaked it. And I think they’re preparing to go to full war on Michel Cohen.

There’s not going to be anything left of Michael Cohen by the time MAGA is done with him. He’s going to have to go hide out at Hansel’s place.

Cohen claims Trump knew in advance of 2016 Trump Tower meeting [CNN]

Elie Mystal is the Executive Editor of Above the Law and the Legal Editor for More Perfect. He can be reached @ElieNYC on Twitter, or at elie@abovethelaw.com. He will resist.

[marymosley]

Mueller and The Stages Of Grieving

The release of the summary of findings by the Special Counsel has left much of the country in stunned silence.  For two years, millions of voters have kept hope alive that the term of Donald Trump would be cut short by a type of avenging angel in Robert Mueller.  They are now left with a reality that is still difficult to process: Donald Trump is likely to finish his term as President of the United States. There I said it.

Cable programs that have spent years airing assurance of criminal prosecutions seemed at a loss for words. Indeed, it is difficult to process.  Matthews are going through what is a familiar process. It is called the stage of grieving.  Psychiatrist Elizabeth Kübler-Ross famously laid out the stages of denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. Judging from the responses on Sunday night, we are still a fair distance from acceptance. 

Denial

For much of the last two years, many voters have been in open denial.  Denial is easy when it is a collective effort.  Voters quickly tuned into channels that reaffirmed their greatest hopes for prosecution or impeachment. This echo-chamber audience buoyed the ratings of MSNBC and CNN where viewers were assured by legal analysts that the evidence against Trump was overwhelming and that Mueller to set things right.  As Kübler-Ross explained, people will often start by cling to a false and preferable reality. 

That took an effort on collusion. From the outset, the entire theory of collusion was a bit wacky.  For months, legal analysts spoke of collusion like it was a defined crime.  It took months to get commentators to acknowledge that there is no such offense in the criminal code. The notion was that the Russian would collude with Trump or his family or aides to hack computer systems and then arrange for the leaking of the information through Wikileaks.  One has to have a tad more respect for Russian intelligence to believe that they would place themselves at risk by colluding with Trump or Trump Jr. or a circus clown like Roger Stone.  Why would they put themselves one tweet away from utter destruction?  In the same vein, it made no sense to schedule a meeting in Trump Tower with half the world’s media downstairs to hold one of your secret meetings. Add to that the fact that they did not know who was going to be at the meeting and did not actually turn over the promise evidence of criminal conduct by Hillary Clinton.

Many people still seemed stuck on denial.  On Friday, it was revealed that the Special Counsel had decided that he would not bring down any additional indictments. Some of us stated that this clearly indicated that Mueller had rejected the allegations of collusion between the Trump campaign and the Russians.  Nevertheless, on Sunday morning, House Intelligence Committee Chair Adam Schiff was still claiming that there was ample existence of collusion even if no one seemed committed a single criminal act of collusion.  Even before the summary was released, Rep. Steve Cohen (D-TN) declared that “very little credence” should be put in what Barr is saying.  Others like MSNBC host Joy-Ann Reid and panelist Eli Mystal noted that Barr’s approach to the summary “feels like the seeds of a cover-up are here.” As for Intelligence Committee Chair Adam Schiff, he has doubled down on both obstruction and collusion.

Anger

Many people however are past denial and moving quickly to anger. MSNBC Chris Matthews exclaimed “How can they let Trump off the hook?”  Over the last year, such anger has increased as filing after filing failed to mention collusion and even stated that no Trump campaign member knowingly dealt with the hackers or trolls in Russia.  Despite these lengthy “speaking” indictments, anger simply augmented the denial.  For those of us pointing out the absence of key elements and evidence, we were denounced as Trump supporters even through our columns generally denounced Trump for his conduct.  Either you were all-in on the guarantee of criminal prosecutions or you were a Russian boot-licking troll for Trump.  This anger rose to a crescendo when key figures from Michael Flynn to Paul Manafort were charged with things far removed from any collusion-related crime.

Nevertheless, there was considerable advantage in keeping this anger alive.  Democrats ran on the expectation that they would seek impeachment after the midterm elections.  Media virtually banished all other news to cover legal analysts explaining how new disclosures would easily satisfy the standard for prosecution or impeachment. 

Bargaining

As 2018 turned into 2019, the bargaining stage began.  Voters began to accept that Trump might not be charged but he would at least be impeached.  Mueller was now portrayed not as a prosecutor but investigator who would give the goods to Congress for a swift and satisfying impeachment.  After all, many Democrats rallied voters on the pledge of impeachment and Democratic leadership continued to insist that Trump was committing impeachable offense. As I wrote before the midterm elections, impeachment was always a cynical ploy for power.  Democratic leadership had no interest in impeaching Trump and no intention to do so.  Why bring about a Pence Administration in which he could unite the country just before the 2020 election?  They want a wounded but living Trump in the White House not because it is necessarily good for the country but it is manifestly good for them. 

With the release of the summary, many have shifted to the argument that, if collusion is a dry well, surely there can be relief in collateral crimes being investigated in New York and various congressional committees. Indeed, a recent poll showed support for impeachment of Trump falling, even among Democrats.  Instead, many critics will be satisfied with further investigation even if they do not likely mean impeachment or prosecution.

Depression

As soon as the midterm elections were over, the Democratic leadership revealed the greatest bait-and-switch in history. Pelosi announced that impeachment was no part of their “agenda.”  The members who were howling before the election about impeachable offenses now insisted that it would make no sense since the Republican Senate would not go along.  That was depressing enough, but then people had to read this chilling line: “[T]he investigation did not establish that members of the Trump campaign conspired or coordinated with the Russian government in its election interference activities.” That was followed by a finding by the Attorney General and the Deputy Attorney General that there was insufficient evidence of obstruction for a criminal case.  In other words, your Trump condition is terminal.

Acceptance

We are now at the final stage were people begin to accept the inevitability of the final result.  With Mueller not finding collusion or serious criminal acts, the two years of misleading and overhyped theories of criminality have come crashing down.  Democrats can walk away with their added seats and the media can walk away with the added ratings, but voters are left with the painful reality to cope alone. 

Of course, if prosecution or impeachment is unlikely, for many there is little to live for.  Dr. Elisabeth Kubler-Ross was not particularly helpful on bedside manner. She assured patients that such death is “neither frightening nor painful, but a peaceful cessation of the functioning of the body.” However, rest assured, there will be no cessation of the function of one body.  The House committees will continue to investigate and suggest that they could yet impeach . . . all the way up to the 2020 election.

Mueller and The Stages Of Grieving published first on https://immigrationlawyerto.tumblr.com/

[surveystodestressme]

160.

5000 Question Survey Pt. 37

3501. Is ‘no glove, no love’ your STRICT policy?

i mean, no.  i’m on the pill so i don’t really care

3502. What is the best Epic movie (examples of epics: ben-her, gone with the wind, last temptation of christ)?

oh i don’t know

3503. Finish the sentence.

Hey, Hey we’re the: people.

People say we: suck

But we’re too busy: fucking

The time to hesitate is: never

You’re too: weak

It’s a nice day to: fuck

3504. Have you ever had 'missing time’?

i don’t even know what that means

3505. Have you ever sent an electronic greeting?

i don’t think so

3506. If you could send anonymous tips to people you knew who would never ever find out who sent them who would you send the following tips to?

doesn’t know when to leave: my mom

poor crotch hygiene: uhhh.. i don’t know

talks too much: an old co-worker

band/art/dream is going nowhere: hannah

most likely to get arrested: my brother

needs to get their life together: andy

bad taste in clothes: i don’t know

bad taste in music: paul

needs a hobby: mariann

3507. Are you more likely to download porn or disney movies?

porn

3508. What is it with people?

who knows.

3509. Do you eat too much sugar?

i don’t think so

3510. Imagine you have a band. Let’s name your band.

Adjective:

Animal(plural):

Your band name is (adjective) (animals) Under Glass!

Could be better?

Let’s try again.

Adjective:

Noun (plural):

Your band is (adjective) (nouns) With Puppets

3511. Are you desperate but not serious?

not really.

3512. Was there a time when you were younger and it took less to get you excited?

yeah definitely

What did it take then?

anything really

What does it take now?

study stuff usually.

3513. Remember learning to write in elementary school?

uh huh

We spend 2 years learning to print..then they throw that out the window and teach kids cursive. Why?

because it’s important too

If cursive is so important and easy to read then why aren’t books printed in cursive?

some of them are, actually

Why aren’t cursive computer fonts more popular?

it looks more professional when things are written/typed in cursive so i think more professional websites or books are cursive probably

Why do business forms always say 'please print’?

sometimes cursive is hard to read

Schools are so preoccupied with teaching kids the complicated but traditional skill of cursive writing that more emphasis is put on that than on teaching kids how to clearly express their ideas through writing. I move that cursive writing become a jr. high school elective instead of a grammar school priority. Who’s with me?

i don’t really care either way.  i don’t even think they teach cursive anymore

3514. Can you think of anything else (besides cursive writing) that is unhelpful, yet traditional and unquestioned? What?

religion

3515. Name one female celebrity who you would guess wears size ___ clothing:

0?

5?

12?

16?

20?

3516. Have you ever been to a place where the restrooms were named in a clever way rather than just saying men’s and woman’s? I’ve seen Hens and Roosters, Bart and Lisa, Dudes and Babes…what have you seen?

i’ve seen stuff like that, but i can’t name any right now

3517. What is the 'message’ or 'point behind’:

Fight Club? to fight? idfk

Donnie Darko? people are fucked up

AI?

Minority Report?

Solaris?

A Walk to Remember? you never know where you can find love.

You’ve Got Mail?

3518. have you seen, and what are your thoughts about these movies:

Drumline?

The Hot Chick? lol a classic comedy, i love this movie

Maid in Manhattan?

Star Trek: Nemesis?

About Schmidt?

Evelyn?

The Guys?

Intacto?

The Jimmy Show?

The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers? it’s ok

Gangs of New York?

Two Weeks Notice?

The Wild Thornberrys Movie? i used to love the show but i don’t know if i’ve ever seen the movie or not

Smokers Only?

Treasure Planet?

The Santa Clause 2?

3519. START this sentence: ….and I think to myself, what a wonderful world.“

-

3520. What is:

insanity?

normal?

Fahrenheit? a temperature

3521. Tell us about yourself in the third person for a bit:

no.

3522. If someone breaks a law, should they be punished if they did not know it was a law?

yes.  they should be educated on the laws

3523. If it’s so much easier to learn languages when we are very young (and it is, something to do with the developing brain) why do they wait until jr high and high school to teach them?

that’s just how it is.  idk if parents wanted their kids to learn other languages when they were younger then maybe they’d teach them themselves or give them books or something

3524. Name a band you sort of like:

journey

You are wearing that band’s t-shirt in a store. SUDDENLY some guy you don’t know comes up to you and goes, "Hey! You like (insert name of the band here)??!!”

This is obviously a really stupid question because if you didn’t like them you wouldn’t be wearing the t-shirt. Your witty reply is:

yes

3525. If you were organizing cd’s in a music store what section would you put each of the following in (don’t forget the 'bargain bin’ section!):

Blink182 top hits

Depech Mode

Weezer top hits

Led Zeppelin

The Doors

Avril Lavigne 2000s hits

Nelly r&b

Manfred Mann

Iggy Pop

Pink Floyd

Guns N Roses

Shakira pop

Britny Spears pop

Tool

Ozzy Osbourne bargain

Madonna

The Rolling Stones classic

The Beatles classic

Motley Crue classic

Bon Jovi classic

3526. Does coffee stimulate your mind or body more?

body.

3527. Can you do 'six degrees of separation’ to anyone famous?

i don’t even know what that means

3528. What’s the oddest thing in your home?

idk.

3529. Do you find it odd when people who are not handicapped use the handicapped stall:

in the bathroom? no because sometimes at a workplace some people don’t have employee restrooms and may need to change or something and sometimes mothers go into the bathroom with their children, or if all the other stalls are full and someone really has to go to the bathroom.  so some circumstances are okay. 

in the parking lot? i’m not ok with this.

3530. Do you sometimes find yourself talking to yourself? Do you answer yourself back?

i talk to myself sometimes and occasionally answer back

3531. In your head do you call yourself 'I’ or 'you’ or both?

both.

3532. What is the best excuse for why you haven’t done your homework?

i didn’t feel like it

3533. Someone tells you 'well there are black people, and then there are n*ggers’. What do you think?

yeah that’s ignorant. 

3534. Does culture shape behavior or does behavior shape culture?

culture shapes behavior

3535. What determines whether a person will be:

intelligent? put in some work

pretty? genetics

happy? positivity

successful? hardworking.

3536. What is social loafing? What is groupthink?

i have no idea

3537. I have an idea. let’s change the english language by making the words fewer, shorter and more concise. What do ya think?

no.

3538. What are the physical symptoms of:

joy? involuntary smiles.

fear? it’s all in the eyes.

shame? blushing

3539. Here’s the scenerio…your little eight year old brother is hangin out in the house when you come in..and catch him watching the playboy channel!

What do you do/say?

i walk away

He says, “Why can’t I watch this?” What is your response?

i don’t care and walk away because he’s my brother not my child

Why do you respond that way?

bc i don’t care

3540. Who REALLY has a higher sex drive, girls or guys? How can you tell?

it usually depends on the age and the individual

3541. are you usually carefree?

most of the time

3542. Do you generally prefer reading to meeting people?

yes

3543. Do you often long for excitement?

sometimes

3544. Are you mostly quiet when you are with others?

usually, yes

3545. Do you often do things spur of the moment?

nope

3546. Are you slow an unhurried in the way you move?

i don’t think so, quite the opposite actually

3547. Would you do almost anything for a dare?

sometimes

3548. Do you hate being in a crowd who plays jokes on one another?

i don’t really care

3549. Do you enjoy wild parties?

on occasion

3550. Have you ever paid for something priced more than $5.00 in only change?

probably once or twice before

3551. Is racism still a big part of our culture?

sadly, yes.

3552. A drawing was shown to a person. The drawing showed a black man in a business suit standing next to a white man holding a razor. The person who saw this drawing was white and was asked to describe it to a second white person who had not seen it, who described it to a third, and so on. By the end of six rounds the final report often placed the razor in the hand of the black man and it is claimed he is waving it threateningly. What do you think of this?

i don’t really have an opinion

3553. How many famous people can you name who committed suicide?

too many honestly

3554. Do you have OCD?

no.

3555. Are you more anxious or relaxed? anxious.

Insecure or secure? secure

Sociable or with drawn? more withdrawn probably

Original or conventional? original.

3556. Are you more emotional or calm? emotional

self pitying or content? content.

Fun loving or sober? fun loving.

Imaginative or down to earth? a little bit of both, i think.

3557. Are you more Friendly or aloof? friendly.

adventurous or cautious? adventurous

Broad or narrow when it comes to interests? broad.

receptive or closed to new ideas? receptive.

3558. Are you more good natured or irritable? ehhh a mix

soft hearted or ruthless? soft hearted

well organized or disorganized? pretty well organized.

Dependable or undependable? dependable.

3559. Are you more courteous or rude? courteous.

sympathetic or tough minded? sympathetic.

hardworking or lazy? lazy.

ambitious or easy going? easy going.

Anxiety Insecurity Emotionalism and Self Pity are traits of a neurotic personality.

Sociable, fun loving, friendly and adventurous are traits of an extroverted personality.

originality, imaginative, broad interests, and receptive are traits of an Open personality.

Good natured, soft hearted, courteous, and sympathetic are traits of an agreeable personality.

Well organized, dependable, hardworking and ambitious are traits of a conscientious personality.

3560. Do men and woman have little or a lot in common?

depends

3561. Do you feel like any of the teachers you’ve ever had have REALLY cared about educating you to think for yourself?

very few of them, but yeah

Do you tend to try harder if they DO care?

yes.

3562. Have you ever been stereotyped? As what?

yes

3563. Have you ever been discriminated against? For what?

yes

3564. How often is your school and/or job closed due to weather?

not anymore, at least not for a while

3565. Who do you know that you believe does not masturbate?

i have some friends that said they’ve never done it but idk

3566. Does a cloned human being have a soul? Why or why not?

uhhh yeah, i’d say that eventually they become their own person and become a separate being from that of the person they were cloned from

3567. Finish the sentence: As the world turns..I only have one concern…that:

idk.

3568. What group in history has been the most oppressed?

a lot of different groups

3569. Have you read any biographies? Whose?

yes, plenty of them

3570. What are you obsessed with?

sleep.

3571. Break out your decoder ring..(no hints this time)! t3ii9 8 i9f3 697 29h5 697 53ii j3 6974 hqj3?

no.

3572. Do you crack your:

knuckes?

neck?

back?

other? yes to all.

3573. Of the following powers which 2 would you pick for yourself? The ability to fly, breathe under water, turn invincible, change into animals, freeze and restart time, never gain weight unless you want to, heal people with your touch, have orgasms that last for an hour

never gain weight and breathing under water

3574. Do you chew your pencils and pens?

i put them in my mouth but i don’t chew on them

3575. Can you tell the exact point where your back ends and your butt begins?

yes

3576. When you are bored do you picture everyone around you naked?

no? lol that’s weird

3577. What are some great holiday gift ideas for

guys: socks, underwear, tools

girls: clothes, shoes, makeup, perfume

3578. Who looks better naked, men or woman?

women for sure lol

3579. Do you sit in chairs or fall into them?

a little bit of both

3580. Has anyone ever

screamed your name during sex? no

moaned your name during sex? yes.

3581. Hershey’s kisses: mint, almond, hugs, plain. other?

plain.

3582. What’s the best slurpee flavor?

red, whatever that is? cherry, i guess

3583. What are five movies that you think someone would have to be living under a rock in iceland to not have seen?

mean girls, white chicks, titanic, jurassic park, home alone

3584. Of these words, which ones are funny:

beets?

cumquat?

pit?

Piss-capades?

fuzzy?

What are some other funny words?

moist

3585. Do you give good massages?

i think so

3586. What songs have been 'stuck’ in your head?

lots

3587. What don’t most people know about your job?

it’s easy lol

3588. Is there anything you won’t say unless someone else says it first?

i don’t think so

3589. Do you need a little Christmas?

no

3590. Fake or real tree?

fake.

3591. Is your refrigerator running? You know what to do.

yes.

3592. How can you explain when there are few words you can choose?

idk.

3593. Who can it be now?

i love that song

3594. Where HAS Joe Dimaggio gone? And why does our nation turn it’s eyes to him?

idk.

3595. How often do you get headaches?

very often

3596. Have you ever worn fake eyelashes?

nope

3597. What could you spend 24 hours in a row doing?

watching tv

3598. Is it Friday yet?

not quite

3599. Do you remember There was a time (ahaha) when people on the street were walking hand in hand in hand?/

no.

3600. Do you talk to inanimate objects? on occasion

Do you try to get them to answer you? no.

Have they ever answered you? no.

[consciouslyrebel]

Japan As A First Timer: Be Prepared.

This is the eighth installment of my Japan travelogue. Read my first impressions here, my visit to Odaiba here, my visit to Akihabara here, my last day in Tokyo here, my first day in Kyoto here, my shrine visit here, and my traditional inn excursion here.

After nine days in Japan, my sleep schedule finally caught up to Tokyo time. That meant that instead of getting up at 5 AM to write my travelogue, I woke up just in time to go sightseeing.

Our final two days in Tokyo passed like a blur, as we made the most of our Japan Rail passes and cheap subway fare. Instead of climbing Tokyo Tower or the Skytree, we went to the top of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Center, a free observatory where you can see both. We ate crepes in Shibuya, saw peak cherry blossom bloom among the temples at Asakusa, and in Harajuku I bought myself a capsule wardrobe on a dime.

Now that I’m home and have had some time to reflect, however, I would rather spend my final post not recounting, but sharing the most valuable things I learned traveling to Japan. If you’re planning on making your first visit there, here are my top ten suggestions:

Take an internationally run flight if you can.

On the way to Japan, we took a United Airlines flight, which was exactly like any domestic flight except that it was 13 hours long. On the way home, however, we flew All Nippon Airways and it was leagues better—roomier seats, footrests, personal TVs on the back of each seat. What was especially cool is that, aside from blockbuster films, the TV also came with dozens of documentaries on Japan. They would have been great to watch on the way there.

Get a JR Pass if you’re planning to leave Tokyo.

Much fanfare has been made of the Japan Rail (JR) Passfor foreigners. For about $250, you get a pass that will allow you to access any JR line in the country for seven days, including several different shinkansen (high-speed) trains.

I was in Japan for 10 days and couldn’t bring myself to spring for $500 on the 14-day JR pass, so John and I used the Tokyo subway for the first few days we were there, activating our JR passes on the day it was time to visit Kyoto. This turned out to be a great idea! Not only are Tokyo subway fares extremely cheap (in the $2 range), but very easy to get from electronic ticket machines, which all have English menu options. With such low prices, it would have been very hard to justify a JR Pass just traveling around Tokyo. However, a 7-day JR Pass conveniently costs about the same as a round trip ticket to Kyoto. In conclusion: it’s only a great deal if you’re planning to travel outside of Tokyo, and not so much of one if you’re not.

Bring cash and a way to get more.

Japan is a cash-based society and many places that you might expect to take credit card normally—like McDonald’s—do not. A lot of stores simply aren’t equipped to take card and usually have a sign out front on the rarer occasion that they do. We ended up taking cash out of ATMs twice on our trip, at 7-11 and the post office, both recommended. I also recommend taking a card without any foreign transaction or cash withdrawal fees, like Capital One.

Also, since everything from 1 yen to 500 yen (about $5) are coins, I highly recommend bringing a coin purse with you, you’ll need it. After realizing how often I took mine out, it wasn’t any surprise to me that coin purses are one of the most common souvenirs at tourist shops.

Convenience stores are your friend.

If I could bring one Japanese thing back to the US, it wouldn’t even be those cool toilets with the heated seats—it’d be their convenience stores. Where else can you get a filling, semi-nutritious meal for about $5 American? From their ambient music (usually an instrumental version of a Beatles song) to their easy-to-use ATMs to their friendly staff who will go out of their way to understand your bad accent to the food that they WILL heat up for you right then and there, I wish I had one. If I had one instead of my local Rite Aid, I would probably never cook again.

Almost every morning, I now admit, we ate breakfast at 7-11, grabbing sweet melon or bean jam bread and hot coffee (or, on one occasion, cocoa milk that was certainly darker and more bitter than any kiddie chocolate milk), and saving ourselves dollars and time while we were at it.

Eigo o hanashimasu ka? / Do you speak English?

Though I strongly recommend that you learn Japanese before visiting Japan, you should at least know just this one phrase. Don’t be fooled by Japanese modesty either—as long as somebody doesn’t say “iie” AKA “no,” they speak well enough. Some of the most articulate English speakers told us they spoke English “just a little” or “not well.”

There are also places where people are more likely to be good English speakers—train stations, airports, and major tourist attractions especially. Try to save your questions for those places.

The five-story pagoda at Asakusa.

Bring hand sanitizer and a plastic bag everywhere.

In the end, there were only two things that I didn’t like about Japan. First was the lack of soap dispensers in many public restrooms. People would exit the stall, dribble some water from the sink over their hands, and leave. I thought at first that maybe soap was mixed into the water—the toilets are high tech, maybe the sinks are too? But no luck. To avoid finding yourself without soap after using the bathroom, always carry hand sanitizer with you.

The second thing that was hard to live with was a lack of trash cans in public spaces. Apparently this began as an anti-terrorism measure in 1995 after a cult attacked the Tokyo subway by leaving explosives in public trash cans. Now the only trash cans you can find in Tokyo are privately managed, at convenience stores and the like. I got used to carrying a plastic 7-11 bag in my purse and just putting my trash in it, dumping it out at the end of the day.

A wifi hotspot is essential.

When we arrived at the airport, we picked up our eConnect hotspot at the airport post office and instantly had data on our phones. At any time, we could make calls to the US, check out Google maps, or be assured of wifi connectivity even in remote places (like our mountain inn).

I think I used my phone in Japan more often than I usually do, and I always had it open to a couple specific programs. First, a yen to dollar conversion, so I could always tell instantly how expensive something was. Second, a Japanese to English translation window in Google. Third, jisho.org, a fantastic kanji dictionary, so I could more easily read signs.

Want to surf the net like an American? You need a VPN.

Like many Japonophiles, I’m a big anime fan. In fact, I review anime professionally for Anime News Network, a North American fan resource. The anime season finales were airing while I was on vacation, so I needed to watch those final episodes and review them for my work.

But when I tried to access US streaming sites, like Crunchyroll, Funimation, Daisuki, and even Hulu, I wasn’t able to see a thing. None of these sites have permission to air shows online to Japanese users. In order to let them know that I’m actually an American, I had to first connect to my Virtual Private Network (VPN) that I run off of my Raspberry Pi mini-computer back in my Virginia apartment. If you’re curious about setting up a cheap VPN before your trip, I  once wrote a tutorial about how to turn a Raspberry Pi into a VPN.

Bargains take effort.

Japan seems to reward an adventurer. In general, the further away you go from the train station, the cheaper everything becomes. Souvenir shrine amulets at the entrance to the Fushimi Inari Shrine cost 800 yen; amulets at the top of the mountain cost 500. Women’s shirts at the entrance to Harajuku’s most fashionable street, Takeshita dori, cost anywhere from $15-$30. But when I stumbled into basement shop Smile Market, I found comparable clothing for around $2.50.

This might be obvious advice, but I just want to encourage you to keep walking before you make any purchases. There might be more of the same later on, and for less.

Tokyo Skytree, as seen from Asakusa.

Take it one thing at a time.

From the moment I booked my trip last August, I received tons of useful advice for cool stuff to see and do in Japan. Planning out my trip, I originally had a more ambitious itinerary that would allow me to check a lot of these experiences off the list, but after John had to get emergency surgery on the eve of our trip, I decided to scale it back a ton, to just one activity a day. I thought that would be “taking it easy.” I was wrong.

I haven’t traveled internationally for eight years, and back when I visited Italy I was advanced enough in my language studies that I was reading Dante’s Inferno. When you don’t know the language or the culture, the little things intensify. Stuff you take for granted in your home country, like visiting the post office or ordering a coffee with skim milk instead of whole milk, are suddenly on hard mode. Doing one of those things first thing in the morning, when I am refreshed and have my best language skills at my disposal, is OK. Doing one of those things at the end of the day when I’m already tired, not so much.

Since I’ve gotten back from Japan, a lot of friends and family have asked me, “Did you do X? Did you do Y?” And I’ve had to answer in the negative. I did not see everything in Japan, or close to it—and yet I still wrote a 10,000 word travelogue about the things I did see. I don’t feel like I missed out at all, and you won’t either. One thing at a time.

[wionews]

Trump breaks with Bannon, says former aide 'lost his mind'

President Donald Trump on Wednesday blasted former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon as having "lost his mind" in the fallout over damaging comments Bannon made about Trump's son Donald Trump Jr. in excerpts from a new book.

Trump, who had continued to speak privately with Bannon after firing him in August, essentially cut ties with Bannon at least for now in a blistering statement issued after Bannon's comments came to light.

"Steve Bannon has nothing to do with me or my presidency. When he was fired, he not only lost his job, he lost his mind," Trump said.

Trump had relied heavily on Bannon, chairman of the right-wing Breitbart News website, for advice in the months leading up to his upset victory in the November 2016 election.

Bannon helped Trump shape a populist, anti-establishment message and has been the president's link to his conservative base of support. It was not clear if the split would push Bannon to be even more aggressive in his campaign against the Republican establishment and whether he now would also target Trump, or whether he would emerge much weaker.

According to excerpts from "Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House" by Michael Wolff, to be released on Tuesday, Bannon described a June 2016 meeting with a group of Russians at Trump Tower in New York arranged by the president's son and attended by top Trump campaign officials as "treasonous" and "unpatriotic."

While Trump in the past praised Bannon for his friendship, the president said in his statement on Wednesday that Bannon had little to do with his election victory over Democrat Hillary Clinton, calling him "a staffer who worked for me" after he had already won the Republican nomination.

Trump said Bannon was to blame for the loss of a Republican-held U.S. Senate seat in Alabama in December when Republican Roy Moore, whose campaign was derailed by accusations of sexual misconduct with teenage girls, lost to Democrat Doug Jones. During the campaign, Trump joined Bannon in backing Moore.

"Now that he is on his own, Steve is learning that winning isn't as easy as I make it look. Steve had very little to do with our historic victory, which was delivered by the forgotten men and women of this country. Yet Steve had everything to do with the loss of a Senate seat in Alabama held for more than thirty years by Republicans," Trump said.

'Nightmare of backstabbing harassing'

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, who had been upset over Trump's backing of Moore at the urging of Bannon, was clearly pleased Trump was willing to rid himself of the former aide. McConnell's campaign organization tweeted an image of the normally taciturn senator with a beaming smile.

Donald Trump Jr. attacked Bannon in a tweet.

"Steve had the honour of working in the White House & serving the country. Unfortunately, he squandered that privilege & turned that opportunity into a nightmare of backstabbing, harassing, leaking, lying & undermining the President. Steve is not a strategist, he is an opportunist," he said.

The president, an expert at self-promotion, said Bannon was trying to promote himself by "leaking false information to the media to make himself seem far more important than he was."

"Steve was rarely in a one-on-one meeting with me and only pretends to have had influence to fool a few people with no access and no clue, whom he helped write phony books," said Trump, who famously values loyalty in associates and employees.

With elections looming in November that could cost Republicans control of Congress, Trump praised Republican lawmakers and candidates, words likely to be welcomed by McConnell and House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan.

"Like me, they love the United States of America and are helping to finally take our country back and build it up, rather than simply seeking to burn it all down," Trump said.

'Brain trust'

As with much in the Trump White House, the story that triggered the harsh back-and-forth was an offshoot of the investigation into whether Trump campaign aides colluded with Russia to sway the election to Trump, allegations Trump and Moscow deny.

Bannon expressed derision about the June 2016 meeting in which a Russian lawyer was said to be offering damaging information about Clinton, according to the book.

The meeting was attended by Trump's son, his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, and then-campaign chairman Paul Manafort. Bannon also was quoted as saying he was sure Trump Jr. would have taken the Russians who took part in the meeting to meet his father in Trump Tower.

"The three senior guys in the campaign thought it was a good idea to meet with a foreign government inside Trump Tower in the conference room on the 25th floor - with no lawyers. They didn't have any lawyers," Bannon said in the book in excerpts seen by Reuters.

"Even if you thought that this was not treasonous, or unpatriotic, or bad shit, and I happen to think it's all of that, you should have called the FBI immediately."

When an intermediary proposed the meeting, saying the Russians were offering damaging information about Clinton, Trump Jr. responded in an email: "I love it."

Bannon was incredulous about the meeting shortly after it was revealed, according to the book, concluding sarcastically: "That's the brain trust they had."

The Wolff book, parts of which were published by New York magazine, portrayed Trump as shocked that he won the election and said his wife, Melania Trump, was in tears, and "not of joy."

White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders called the book "trashy tabloid fiction."

The first lady's spokeswoman, Stephanie Grisham, added: "The book is clearly going to be sold in the bargain fiction section. Mrs. Trump supported her husband's decision to run for President and in fact, encouraged him to do so. She was confident he would win and was very happy when he did."

]]>

[go-redgirl]

Trump Says Bannon ‘Lost His Mind’ After Leaving White House

By Alex Wayne and Jennifer Jacobs  

and

‎January‎ ‎03‎, ‎2018‎ ‎1‎:‎24‎ ‎PM Updated on ‎January‎ ‎03‎, ‎2018‎ ‎3‎:‎49‎ ‎PM    

President Donald Trump denounced his former top strategist, Steve Bannon, on Wednesday in a dramatic break from the man considered an architect of Trump’s populist campaign.

“When he was fired, he not only lost his job, he lost his mind,” Trump said in a statement issued after the publication of excerpts of a new book in which Bannon criticizes the president and his family. “Now that he is on his own, Steve is learning that winning isn’t as easy as I make it look.”

Bannon has lost the access to the president that he’s enjoyed since leaving the White House in August, one person familiar with the matter said.

Earlier on Wednesday, The Guardian published excerpts of a forthcoming book by author Michael Wolff in which Bannon predicts that Special Counsel Robert Mueller will “crack Don Junior like an egg on national TV” over the president’s son’s meeting with a Russian lawyer at Trump Tower in June 2016. Bannon also called Donald Trump Jr.’s meeting with the lawyer, in which he expected to receive damaging information on Trump’s election opponent Hillary Clinton, “treasonous” and “unpatriotic,” according to the Guardian.

White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders told reporters at a briefing that Trump was “furious, disgusted” by Bannon’s remarks about his son, calling the claims “outrageous” and “completely false.”

Bannon, reached by Bloomberg News, declined to comment on the remarks published by the Guardian. Two people close to him said he wasn’t bothered by the president’s statement. They asked not to be identified discussing Bannon’s reaction.

New York Magazine also published an article by Wolff on Wednesday, based on the book, that recounts a conversation between Bannon and former Fox News Chairman Roger Ailes in which the two men debated whether Trump understood the importance of his election.

“‘Does he get it?’ asked Ailes suddenly, looking intently at Bannon. Did Trump get where history had put him?” Wolff wrote. “Bannon took a sip of water. ‘He gets it,’ he said, after hesitating for perhaps a beat too long. ‘Or he gets what he gets.”’

265-Word Statement

In his 265-word statement, Trump went on to indict Bannon for some of his activities at the White House and afterward. He blamed him for the loss of a Republican Senate seat in Alabama in a special election last month and accused him of leaking to news reporters while he served as the White House chief strategist.

“Steve had very little to do with our historic victory, which was delivered by the forgotten men and women of this country,” Trump said. “Yet Steve had everything to do with the loss of a Senate seat in Alabama held for more than thirty years by Republicans. Steve doesn’t represent my base -- he’s only in it for himself.”

Statement from the President of the United States:

Steve Bannon has nothing to do with me or my Presidency. When he was fired, he not only lost his job, he lost his mind. Steve was a staffer who worked for me after I had already won the nomination by defeating seventeen candidates, often described as the most talented field ever assembled in the Republican party.

Now that he is on his own, Steve is learning that winning isn’t as easy as I make it look. Steve had very little to do with our historic victory, which was delivered by the forgotten men and women of this country. Yet Steve had everything to do with the loss of a Senate seat in Alabama held for more than thirty years by Republicans.

Steve doesn’t represent my base—he’s only in it for himself.

Steve pretends to be at war with the media, which he calls the opposition party, yet he spent his time at the White House leaking false information to the media to make himself seem far more important than he was. It is the only thing he does well. Steve was rarely in a one-on-one meeting with me and only pretends to have had influence to fool a few people with no access and no clue, whom he helped write phony books.

We have many great Republican members of Congress and candidates who are very supportive of the Make America Great Again agenda. Like me, they love the United States of America and are helping to finally take our country back and build it up, rather than simply seeking to burn it all down.

Bannon backed former state Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore over Trump’s preferred candidate, incumbent Senator Luther Strange, in a primary election for the Alabama seat. Moore lost to Democrat Doug Jones in the special election after several women accused him of sexual misconduct while they were teenagers.

Trump Jr. also declined to comment, but re-tweeted a Bloomberg News reporter’s tweet about the outcome of the Alabama election with the comment: “Thanks Steve. Keep up the great work.”

“Steve pretends to be at war with the media, which he calls the opposition party, yet he spent his time at the White House leaking false information to the media to make himself seem far more important than he was,” Trump said. “It is the only thing he does well. Steve was rarely in a one-on-one meeting with me and only pretends to have had influence to fool a few people with no access and no clue, whom he helped write phony books.”

In addition to Wolff’s book, titled “Fire and Fury: Inside Trump’s White House,” Bannon was the subject of a best-selling book published last year by Bloomberg Businessweek writer Joshua Green, “Devil’s Bargain: Steve Bannon, Donald Trump, and the Storming of the Presidency.”

Green’s book has been optioned by Blumhouse Television, which has hired screenwriter Christopher Wilkinson to turn the biography into a two-part, four-hour drama.

Trump complimented Bannon when he left the White House in August, saying he “would be a tough and smart new voice at” his website, Breitbart News. “Maybe even better than before. Fake News needs the competition!”

And Bannon boasted at a private luncheon in Hong Kong in September that he spoke with Trump by phone every two to three days, according to two people who attended.

After Trump issued his statement on Bannon, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s campaign staff tweeted a GIF image of the Kentucky Republican sitting at his desk, grinning. Bannon, a populist and nationalist who considers much of the Republican establishment corrupt, has said Senate Republicans should replace McConnell and has sought to recruit people to run against McConnell’s favored candidates in Republican primaries, including in Alabama.

Jennifer Jacobs     

@JenniferJJacobsMore stories by Jennifer Jacobs

[surveysonfleek]

600.

5000 Question Survey Pt. 37

3501. Is 'no glove, no love' your STRICT policy? i’ve been on the pill for 8 years and i’ve only had one sexual partner since then so not really. if sleeping with someone new, then yeah. 3502. What is the best Epic movie (examples of epics: ben-her, gone with the wind, last temptation of christ)? umm.. not sure. 3503. Finish the sentence. Hey, Hey we're the: people. People say we: are too nice. But we're too busy: living. The time to hesitate is: idk. You're too: boring. It's a nice day to: sleep.

3504. Have you ever had 'missing time'? no? 3505. Have you ever sent an electronic greeting? hahaha yeah. back when internet was dial-up, e-cards were all the rage. i sent them all the time. 3506. If you could send anonymous tips to people you knew who would never ever find out who sent them who would you send the following tips to? doesn't know when to leave: my bf’s brother. poor crotch hygiene: omg haha no one. talks too much: sara. band/art/dream is going nowhere: sean. most likely to get arrested: not sure. needs to get their life together: me. bad taste in clothes: no one really. bad taste in music: meh, i respect everyone’s taste in music. needs a hobby: my boyfriend lol. 3507. Are you more likely to download porn or disney movies? disney movies. 3508. What is it with people? who knows. 3509. Do you eat too much sugar? probably. 3510. Imagine you have a band. Let's name your band. Adjective: wild. Animal(plural): pandas Your band name is (adjective) (animals) Under Glass! Could be better? no. Let's try again. Adjective: Noun (plural): Your band is (adjective) (nouns) With Puppets 3511. Are you desperate but not serious? not really. 3512. Was there a time when you were younger and it took less to get you excited? yes. What did it take then? just getting out of the house. What does it take now? now staying at home makes me excited lol. 3513. Remember learning to write in elementary school? yes. We spend 2 years learning to print..then they throw that out the window and teach kids cursive. Why? i didn’t learn cursive at school. If cursive is so important and easy to read then why aren't books printed in cursive? Why aren't cursive computer fonts more popular? Why do buisness forms always say 'please print'? Schools are so preoccupied with teaching kids the complicated but traditional skill of cursive writing that more emphasis is put on that than on teaching kids how to clearly express their ideas through writing. I move that cursive writing become a jr. high school elective instead of a grammer school priority. Who's with me? 3514. Can you think of anything else (besides cursive writing) that is unhelpful, or unuseful, yet traditional and unquestioned? What? algebra. never used it after school. 3515. Name one female celebrity who you would guess wears size ___ clothing: 0? no. 5? 12? 16? 20? 3516. Have you ever been to a place where the restrooms were named in a clever way rather than just saying men's and woman's? I've seen Hens and Roosters, Bart and Lisa, Dudes and Babes...what have you seen? blokes and shielas and the hawaiian words for men and female. 3517. What is the 'message' or 'point behind': Fight Club? Donnie Darko? AI? technology may be able to surpass our intelligence. Minority Report? Solaris? A Walk to Remember? you never know where you can find love. You've Got Mail? 3518. have you seen, and what are your thoughts about these movies: Drumline? loved this! never thought i’d be into a movie about drumming. The Hot Chick? pretty funny. Maid in Manhattan? just the typical, cute, romantic comedy. Star Trek: Nemesis? About Schmidt? Evelyn? The Guys? Intacto? The Jimmy Show? The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers? Gangs of New York? Two Weeks Notice? The Wild Thornberrys Movie? Smokers Only? Treasure Planet? The Santa Clause 2? 3519. START this sentence: ....and I think to myself, what a wonderful world." i see them bloom, for me and you. 3520. What is: insanity? omg no. normal? farenheit? 3521. Tell us about yourself in the third person for a bit: no. 3522. If someone breaks a law, should they be punished if they did not know it was a law? most people know the law... unless it’s one of those really obscure ones. if this was a thing, a lot of people would claim not to know what they did was illegal. 3523. If it's so much easier to learn languages when we are very young (and it is, something to do with the developing brain) why do they wait until jr high and high school to teach them? if you start teaching a child another language they may not know the difference between their first and second language. that’s exactly what happened to me as a kid, i switched between the two without knowing which was which. 3524. Name a band you sort of like: dvsn. You are wearing that band's t-shirt in a store. SUDDENLY some guy you don't know comes up to you and goes, "Hey! You like (insert name of the band here)??!!" This is obviously a really stupid question because if you didn't like them you wouldn't be wearing the t-shirt. Your witty reply is: i sure do. 3525. If you were organizing cd's in a music store what section would you put each of the following in (don't forget the 'bargain bin' section!): Blink182 way too lazy to do this. Depech Mode Weezer Led Zeppelin The Doors Avril Lavigne Nelly Manfred Mann Iggy Pop Pink Floyd Guns N Roses Shakira Britny Spears Tool Ozzy Osbourne Madonna The Rolling Stones The Beatles Motley Crue Bon Jovi 3526. Does coffee stimulate your mind or body more? body. 3527. Can you do 'six degrees of separation' to anyone famous? i can do four lmao. my cousin’s friend acted in a movie with halle berry. done lol. 3528. What's the oddest thing in your home? idk. 3529. Do you find it odd when people who are not handicapped use the handicapped stall: in the bathroom? in the parking lot? yeah both. it’s rude. 3530. Do you sometimes find yourself talking to yourself? Do you answer yourself back? i only talk to myself in my thoughts. 3531. In your head do you call yourself 'I' or 'you' or both? both. 3532. What is the best excuse for why you haven't done your homework? i don’t have homework. 3533. Someone tells you 'well there are black people, and then there are n*ggers'. What do you think? omg that’s an instant ignore. i already know that person is arrogant and ignorant as fuck. i just hate that word. 3534. Does culture shape behavior or does behavior shape culture? first one. 3535. What determines whether a person will be: intelligent? some are born smart and some put in work to be smart. pretty? just their genetic makeup in a physical sense. happy? bubbly, cheerful personality. successful? hardworking. 3536. What is social loafing? What is groupthink? idk. 3537. I have an idea. let's change the english language by making the words fewer, shorter and more concise. What do ya think? no. 3538. What are the physical symptoms of: joy? involuntary smiles. fear? it’s all in the eyes. shame? blushing, hanging your head down. 3539. Here's the scenerio...your little eight year old brother is hangin out in the house when you come in..and catch him watching the playboy channel! What do you do/say? what are you watching? He says, "Why can't I watch this?" What is your response? you’re too young. Why do you respond that way? 8yo is too young to be exposed to sexual content imo. 3540. Who REALLY has a higher sex drive, girls or guys? How can you tell? it just depends on the individual. 3541. are you usually carefree? not really. 3542. Do you generally prefer reading to meeting people? i’m in between. depends on my mood. 3543. Do you often long for excitement? weekly. 3544. Are you mostly quiet when you are with others? if i know the group, then no. 3545. Do you often do things spur of the moment? not usually. 3546. Are you slow an unhurried in the way you move? no. 3547. Would you do almost anything for a dare? haha no. 3548. Do you hate being in a crowd who plays jokes on one another? i don’t mind. depends how far they’ll go though. 3549. Do you enjoy wild parties? i did when i was younger. 3550. Have you ever paid for something priced more than $5.00 in only change? probably. 3551. Is racism still a big part of our culture? sadly, yes. 3552. A drawing was shown to a person. The drawing showed a black man in a buisness suit standing next to a white man holding a razor. The person who saw this drawing was white and was asked to describe it to a second white person who had not seen it, who described it to a third, and so on. By the end of six rounds the final report often placed the razor in the hand of the black man and it is claimed he is waving it threateningly. What do you think of thiss? stupid. 3553. How many famous people can you name who committed suicide? i’d rather not. 3554. Do you have OCD? no. 3555. Are you more anxious or relaxed? anxious. Insecure or secure? insecure. Sociable or with drawn? in between. Original or conventional? original. 3556. Are you more emotional or calm? calm. self pitying or content? content. Fun loving or sober? fun loving. Imaginative or down to earth? down to earth. 3557. Are you more Friendly or aloof? friendly. adventurous or cautious? cautious. Broad or narrow when it comes to interests? broad. receptive or closed to new ideas? receptive. 3558. Are you more good natured or irritable? good natured. soft hearted or ruthless? in between. well organized or disorganized? organized. Dependable or undependable? dependable. 3559. Are you more courteous or rude? courteous. sympathetic or tough minded? sympathetic. hardworking or lazy? lazy. ambitious or easy going? easy going. Anxiety Inscurity Emotionalism and Self Pity are traits of a neurotic personality. Sociable, fun loving, friendly and adventurous are traits of an extraverted personality. orignality, imaginative, broad interests, and receptive are traits of an Open personality. Good natured, soft hearted, courteous, and sympathetic are traits of an agreeable personality. Well organized, dependable, hardworking and ambitious are traits of a conscientious personality. 3560. Do men and woman have little or a lot in common? depends on the individuals. there’s no answer to this. 3561. Do you feel like any of the teachers you've ever had have REALLY cared about educating you to think for yourself? eh, yes a couple. Do you tend to try harder if they DO care? yes. 3562. Have you ever been stereotyped? As what? not really actually. 3563. Have you ever been discriminated against? For what? yes, my race. 3564. How often is your school and/or job closed due to weather? never. it’s open 24/7. 3565. Who do you know that you believe does not masturbate? haha it’s not something i think about. 3566. Does a cloned human being have a soul? Why or why not? i honestly have no idea. probably not. 3567. Finish the sentance: As the world turns..I only have one concern...that: idk. 3568. What group in history has been the most oppressed? a lot of different groups, let’s be real. 3569. Have you read any biographies? Whose? yes. 3570. What are you obsessed with? sleep. 3571. Break out your decoder ring..(no hints this time)! t3ii9 8 i9f3 697 29h5 697 53ii j3 6974 hqj3? no. 3572. Do you crack your: knuckes? neck? back? other? yes to all. 3573. Of the following powers which 2 would you pick for yourself? The ability to fly, breathe under water, turn invincible, change into animals, freeze and restart time, never gain weight unless you want to, heal people with your touch, have orgasms that last for an hour never gain weight and heal people. 3574. Do you chew your pencils and pens? no. 3575. Can you tell the exact point where your back ends and your butt begins? no. 3576. When you are bored do you picture everyone eround you naked? no. 3577. What are some great holiday gift ideas for guys: cologne, clothes, alcohol. girls: makeup, candles, perfume. 3578. Who looks better naked, men or woman? women. 3579. Do you sit in chairs or fall into them? if i know the chair well i’ll fall into it lol.

3580. Has anyone ever screamed your name during sex? yes. moaned your name during sex? yes. 3581. Hershey's kisses: mint, almond, hugs, plain. other? plain. 3582. What's the best slurpee flavor? raspberry. 3583. What are five movies that you think someone would have to be living under a rock in iceland to not have seen? any disney classic. everyone would’ve seen at least one.

3584. Of these words, which ones are funny: beets? cumquat? pit? Piss-capades? fuzzy? What are some other funny words? no. 3585. Do you give good massages? yes. 3586. What songs have been 'stuck' in your head? none. 3587. What don't most people know about your job? it’s easy af. 3588. Is there anything you won't say unless someone else says it first? no. 3589. Do you need a little chrsitmas? huh? 3590. Fake or real tree? fake. 3591. Is your refrigerator running? You know what to do. yes. 3592. How can you explain when there are few words you can choose? idk. 3593. Who can it be now? idk. 3594. Where HAS Joe Dimaggio gone? And why does our nation turn it's eys to him? idk. 3595. How often do you get headaches? hardly ever. 3596. Have you ever woen fake eyelashes? yes. 3597. What could you spend 24 hours ina row doing? haha lay in bed. 3598. Is it Friday yet? it is actually. 3599. Do you remember There was a time (ahaha) when people on the street were walking hand in hand in hand?/ no. 3600. Do you talk to inanimate objects? no. Do you try to get them to answer you? no. Have they ever answered you? no.

[gessvhowarth]

A Brief History Of London's Christmas Traditions

London has many a Christmas tradition, some not be as old as you might think. Carol services really have been around for centuries, but other traditions — like the notorious lack of public transport on the big day itself — have been part of the city's life for mere decades. Christmas carols at St Martin-in-the-Fields. Carol services and concerts London's second to none when it comes to carols, for what festive experience could hope to compete with going to the Christmas Eve service at St Paul's Cathedral? Many of London's churches host carol services in the run-up to Christmas, at lunchtimes as well as in the evenings, while St Martin-in-the-Fields has a full programme of Christmas concerts, some dates selling out months in advance. The singing of Christmas carols in England dates back to the Middle Ages, although most of the carols that we know today date back to the 18th and 19th centuries. The Christmas tree in Trafalgar Square A large Christmas tree has been erected in Trafalgar Square every year since 1947. It's Norwegian, an annual gift from the city of Oslo in recognition of the help that Britain gave to Norway during the second world war. Norway was occupied by the Germans in 1940, forcing King Haakon VII to flee to London where he set up a government-in-exile. His speeches were regularly broadcast to Norway by the BBC World Service, while British forces incorporated Free Norwegian units and trained Norwegian commandos to attack key Nazi installations within occupied Norway. Think of the tree as a long-running thank-you from the other side of the North Sea. Photo: Joao Paulo Pimenta. Crisis at Christmas The homeless charity Crisis was set up in December 1967 to raise awareness of homelessness — originally in the East End, but it now covers the whole country. David Hoffman captured photos from the early days. Christmas shelters opened in London in 1972 and have offered warmth, food and services such as dentistry and healthcare to homeless people over the festive period ever since. Department stores Christmas comes early to some places, but Selfridges wins the prize, having opened its Christmas store on 1st August — apparently the earliest Christmas opening in the world this year. The Oxford Street store's famous Christmas windows, an annual tradition dating back over 100 years, usually follows in October. We can also thank Harry Gordon Selfridge for the phrase 'X shopping days until Christmas', although the idea of shopping for Christmas presents had established itself in London in the 1870s. London's first Santa's grotto in was reportedly at JR Roberts Stores in Stratford in 1888. By contrast, Father Christmas made his first known appearance in Harrods in 1908. Smithfield's Christmas Eve auction. Photo: Londonist. The meat auction The great tradition of a Smithfield Market butcher auctioning off whatever he has left prior to Christmas take place every Christmas Eve morning (the sign announcing it remains up all year for some reason). Throngs tussle for the chance to pick up a quality cut of meat at a bargain price, or even for free if you win the coin toss! This is also an opportunity to see how genuinely trustworthy people can be, for if you've made the winning bid and you're standing at the back of the crowd, you pass your money to the front. The auction, run by Harts of Smithfield, started over 30 years ago as a way of selling meat that may otherwise spoil when they close between Christmas and the New Year. Don't forget to bring your own bag. No public transport on Christmas Day This tradition, unusual in a global city, really divides opinion. Some like the idea of the whole city shutting down for a day. However, for anyone who wants to go anywhere and doesn't have a car, it's a major inconvenience. It's not just confined to London though; most bus and train services across the UK don't run on Christmas Day. It was not always thus. In the early 20th century, railway companies made a point of selling Christmas Day tickets in advance, and even sold gift tickets that people could send to relatives who were due to visit. The decline started in around 1948, with transport providers apparently responding to a fall in public demand caused by the rise of car ownership. By the mid-1960s there were hardly any Christmas Day public transport services. London Transport held out for a few more years, with the tube running on 25 December for the last time in 1979. This is in complete contrast with other major cities: in Berlin, New York, Paris, Rome and Toronto (to name but five), public transport services run on Christmas Day, albeit with a reduced timetable. Photo: Benedict Sin. Open-air ice skating In its modern form, this London Christmas tradition only dates back to the 1980s when Broadgate began to play host to a seasonal open-air rink, said to have been the only one in the country at the time. Since then, other London venues have followed suit. The one in the courtyard at Somerset House, briefly immortalised in the London Christmas movie Love Actually, first opened for business in 2000. Hampton Court has had one since 2003, while punters have been able to skate on the moat of the Tower since 2005. Street lights London's tradition of streets having festive lights appears to have started on Regent Street, which has had Christmas decorations in some form since the 1880s — although they only became a regular thing in 1948 when the Regent Street Association (RSA — the organisation that represents the interests of the retailers, restaurants and offices in the area) decorated the street with trees. Lights followed in 1954, and the RSA is still responsible for arranging the display. Oxford Street got its Christmas lights in 1959, and over the years a tradition has evolved whereby the lights are switched on by a celebrity in mid-to-late November. Many other central London streets, such as Soho's Carnaby Street, also have their own lights, as do lots of suburban high streets. Some don't just celebrate Christmas — the ones in Edgware, for example, also celebrate the Jewish festival of Hanukkah. Photo: sinister dexter. Swimming in the Serpentine The tradition of swimming in Hyde Park's man-made lake at 9am on 25 December is over 150 years old. The annual 100-yard Christmas Day swim was first swum in 1864, and in 1904 the author JM Barrie donated a trophy, the Peter Pan Cup, to be awarded to the winner. Due to the risks involved in plunging into near-freezing water, this is not an event you can just turn up and take part in; the race is only open to members of the Serpentine Swimming Club who swim in said body of water year-round. Toasting in the Theatre Royal Since 1795, the Theatre Royal on Drury Lane has kept a tradition whereby everyone in the cast of whichever production is being shown on 6 January is given a glass of punch and a slice of cake, with which they toast the memory of the 18th century actor Robert Baddeley (1733-98). In his will, Baddeley had left money to help destitute actors and actresses as well as providing drinks and a cake for those performing on Twelfth Night. In this, he was following a very old tradition, for prior to Victorian times, cakes were specially made for Twelfth Night rather than Christmas Day. Opinion differs as to whether Twelfth Night, also known as the twelfth day of Christmas, should be celebrated in 5 or 6 January; it depends on whether you think the first day of Christmas is Christmas Day or Boxing Day. Winter Wonderland. Photo: Joyce Dela Paz. Winter Wonderland A relatively recent London Christmas tradition, the Hyde Park festive extravaganza — complete with funfair rides and a German -style beer hall — started in 2006 as a Christmas market next to an open-air ice rink. And finally, a couple of London's Christmas traditions that have fallen into disuse... The Boy Bishop of St Paul's In the middle ages, the clergy of St Paul's Cathedral would appoint one of the choirboys to be the 'Boy Bishop' in the run-up to Christmas, usually on St Nicholas's Day (6 December). The lucky chorister would be dressed in the bishop's robes and got to perform several of the ceremonial functions usually undertake by the (adult) Bishop of London, although he was of course unable to perform the Eucharist. Highlights included his delivering a sermon (which was written for him) and leading the carol singing in the neighbourhood. This tradition was abolished at the time of the Reformation. Photo: James Offer. Football on Christmas Day Many of us associate festive football matches with Boxing Day, but for much of the early 20th century, going to a football match on Christmas Day itself was a big event. The Football League used to provide a full fixture list for 25 December, invariably pitting teams against their locals rivals to make things easier for travelling fans and players. This declined as Christmas Day public transport services declined, and had more or less died out in England by the early 1960s. There was an attempt to revive this custom in London in 1983, when the Third Division fixture between Brentford and Wimbledon was scheduled for 11am on Christmas Day... but it was moved to Christmas Eve after complaints from fans of both clubs.

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