#just slapped on a million lists that dont make sense

[shinesurge]

WHILE IM AT IT i think 90% of akechi goro playlists are just people trotting out standard edgy for the sake of edgy shit BUT somebody put Pork Soda on one and i still completely associate it with him, Glass Animals are so so good at writing like. Seething music lmao

[ughseoks-main]

follow me - |2|

peter parker x reader

summary: you just got your spidey powers and have no idea how to use them, but lucky for you, a certain spider-boy is willing to teach you his ways.

word count: 1.9k

warnings: small fight scene 

a/n: guys..... y’all dont even know what i have in store for this series.... ch1&2 may seem chill, but it’s gonna get crazy soon. i’m so excited to keep posting it eee!! enjoy!

chapter 1 - chapter 3

“Y/N! You’re gonna be late for school!” your mom yelled up the stairs, only panicking your tired mind even more.

“I know, I know!” you shouted back, “I’m hurrying!”

You’d been out all night practicing with Spidey (that’s the nickname you’d given him, since you didn’t know his real name), and when your alarm went off at 6am, you may have hit the snooze button one too many times.

Spidey had been trying to teach you how to stick and unstick to things, but you just couldn’t get the hang of it. After hours of frustration and countless accidents, you both decided that it’d be best to take a break and keep working on it at your next practice. But now, you had the issue of accidentally sticking to objects at random. (For example: you’d accidentally gotten stuck to your toilet when you’d tried to flush it the night before.)

“Bye mom!” you shouted as you ran out the door and started jogging towards school. All you could do on the way there was hope and pray that you didn’t accidentally stick to something, or somebody, at school.

___________

It all started when Peter had sat down at your lunch table, asking you a question about your chemistry homework. When you leaned over to look at the work he’d done wrong on the problem, you’d placed your hand on his forearm.

Big mistake. Now, you were sitting there, unable to let go of him. You smiled awkwardly and tried to tug away, but your hand wouldn’t budge.

“Uhh, Y/N?” Peter asked, confusion evident in his voice, “Is, uh, everything okay?”

“Y-yeah!” you tried to play off the situation as cooly as possible, “Why? Are- are you okay?” You attempted to direct the question back at him in order to hide your panic.

“Yeah, I’m okay… but are you?” he looked more concerned than anything, but you were still worried that he’d think you were insane.

(Inside, Peter felt terrible for not being able to help more; he felt that he’d failed as a teacher, because clearly you were struggling. If you didn’t get this figured out soon, you’d be able to accidentally reveal your powers to almost anybody.)

“Of course!” you plastered on the biggest smile possible and gave it one last tug, your hand finally unsticking from him. “I’ve gotta go, I’ll see you later!”

“Wait, we weren’t done with the worksheet-”

“Bye!” you smiled, scooping up your things and practically sprinting away from him. Your sneakers slapped the floor as you ran through the cafeteria doors, slowing to a walk once you were back in the hallway. As you caught your breath, your attention shifted to the small television mounted above your head.

“Crime rates have been on the rise for the past two months, and we have no doubt that they will continue to increase,” the news anchor announced grimly, “We advise that you take extra measures to keep you and your family safe. Always lock your doors, walk in pairs at night-”

You shook your head and blocked him out, placing that tidbit of information in the back of your mind for later.

____________

Kick. Punch. Dodge. These were the three words that would haunt you in your sleep for the next hundred years.

Spidey was currently training you on how the basics of hand-to-hand combat, and while you were a quick learner, he was much more skilled than you. Even though you’d been training for at least two hours, you’d yet to win a match against him even once.

You threw a punch, but he caught your fist, twisting your arm and slamming you down.

“Ouch,” you exhaled, slowly sitting up from where you were laying on the ground, “Hey, can I ask you something?”

“Go for it,” he shrugged, extending a hand to help you up, “We could probably use a short break anyways.”

“Have you seen the news reports? The ones about crime rates increasing?”

“Yeah, but I’m not sure why it’s increasing. It’s something I’ve been trying to figure out-”

Suddenly, a scream rang through the night air, causing both of you to tense up. His head snapped towards you before nodding slightly in the direction of the scream. “Let’s go. Training can wait.”

Bobbing your head in agreement, the two of you took off, jumping from rooftop to rooftop. As you drew closer, you felt Spidey to become increasingly worried. Why? Hadn’t he done this a billion times before?

“What’s up?” you shouted towards him, trying to make yourself heard over the rush of wind in your ears.

“I know somebody who lives here,” he replied, concern and nervousness evident in his slightly shaky voice, “I just hope it wasn’t them.”

As you drew closer towards the place of origin, your spider senses began to direct you towards a large apartment building. It seemed that Spidey was feeling the same tug in his gut. You landed on the roof, climbing down the side of the building until you reached a window that was practically screaming at you.

Spidey shoved it open before slipping inside, you following immediately afterwards. You heard shuffling and signs of struggle coming from what you assumed was the living room as soon as your feet dropped onto the carpeted floor. Spidey was already turning the corner when you dropped, so you sped up to try to catch him.

When you finally reached him, you froze in place when you saw a masked man holding a gun to the head of a woman with long, reddish-brown hair. Much to your surprise, she didn’t seem very nervous at all. In fact, she looked more surprised to see you than she was at being held at gunpoint.

“Thanks for stopping by, Spider-Man,” the criminal sneered, malice and anger soaking into his words, “So glad you could make it. Say, who’s this new girl? I haven’t seen her around before.”

“Can it, would ya?” Spidey quipped, his senses practically radiating anger.

“I don’t think I will,” he shrugged, “It seems I can do just about whatever I want, considering I’m holding this lovely lady hostage here.”

“Not for long,” the hero murmured under his breath before shooting a web onto the end of the gun. This surprised the criminal enough for you to sprint over and kick him sideways across the face, immediately tackling him and pinning his arms behind his back. You held him in place until Spidey came over, quickly using his webs to tie together his wrists and legs.

“Nice work,” he gave you an excited nod, holding his hand up for a high five, “That was pretty slick. I didn’t even need to tell you what I needed you to do.”

“You work well together,” the woman inserted herself into the conversation, “Thanks, you two.”

Throwing up a hand, you waved dismissively, telling her it was no big deal. As you did so, you tried to get a good look at her face. You were sure that you knew her from somewhere, but you just couldn’t place your finger on it.

“Are you okay, Ma’am?” Spidey asked in a trying-too-hard-to-be-serious voice, eliciting a small giggle from the woman.

“I’m just fine thanks to you two, Mister Spider-Man,” she gave him a knowing look, making you wonder if they knew each other better than they were letting on.

“So,” he scratched the back of his neck, “H-how’s Peter?” Something was off about the way he asked the question; the little sparkle in the woman’s eyes when he spoke.

“Peter?” you interrupted, “As in Peter Parker? You know him, Spidey?”

“I’m Peter’s Aunt,” the woman answered before Spidey could, sticking out her hand for you to shake, “Sorry, I should’ve introduced myself earlier. You can call me May.”

“Nice to meet you, May,” you took her hand, giving her a genuine smile. It seemed like Spidey was about to answer the question you’d asked when suddenly the criminal spoke up, finally recovering from that kick to the head.

“So, you’re gonna put me in jail, just like you did to the boss?” the man growled, a sick sense of humor in his voice. Spidey simply shrugged, opening the door for the perfectly-timed police. The man didn’t say anything else as he was cuffed and dragged away, but his eyes never left you. It made your skin crawl.

“Can we get out of here?” you shivered, wanting to escape the man’s gaze. Spidey agreed, the two of you waving goodbye to May before slipping back outside.

You slowly made your way up to the roof, dangling your legs off the edge and gazing out at the city sprawled beneath you. There was something beautiful about it, and in that moment, you were incredibly thankful to have been given the opportunity to experience it in the way that you were. It seemed like you and Spidey had been sitting there staring out at the glowing lights for forever when you finally broke the silence.

“So, you mentioned back there that you know Peter?” you asked quietly. For some reason, you felt like if you spoke too loudly, the peace of the night would shatter around you in a million broken pieces.

“Oh yeah,” his voice was smooth and soft, carried by the soft breeze towards you, “I know him through Tony Stark. We both have internships there.”

“That’s cool,” you rested your chin on the palm of your hand, “I know him through Stark too, actually.”

The second the words came out of your mouth, you knew you’d messed up. Obviously Spidey had a Stark internship; he was basically Stark’s apprentice. But how many normal people got those internships?? Not very many. And you’d just revealed that you were one of the few who’d been awarded one. Considering how close he was with Tony, it wouldn’t be that hard for him to just ask for a list of all of the interns and figure out it was you.

Bu, much to your surprise, Spidey had no reaction to what you said. All he did was blink and turn his head back towards the city, only to be startled by his phone beginning to ring. It sounded like… yodeling?

“Sorry,” he held it up to his ear after a few rings, “Hey…”

You politely tuned out his conversation until he hung up, apologizing once more for it interrupting your conversation.

“It’s totally fine,” you paused for a moment, debating on whether or not to say what you were about to say, “You know, that ringtone sounds kinda familiar. I think that’s actually Peter’s ringtone-”

“That’s because, uh,” he stammered, trying to come up with an explanation, “That’s because we’re good friends! We’re really good friends and we wanted matching ringtones, that’s all.”

“Oh. That makes sense, I guess,” you shrugged, “Well, I should probably get going. I don’t want my mom to freak over me being out so late.”

“I’ll probably stay and keep watch for another hour or so,” he waved goodbye to you as you stood up from the ledge, “I’ll see ya later.”

“Bye,” you smiled before leaping off of the roof and swinging away, leaving the hero and all of his mysteries behind you. Maybe one day, you’d figure out the truth behind the mask.

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[btsandvmin]

u really think vm is real? iv been shipping vm(romantically) for more then 2 years now not only vm i have shipped every ship in maknae line and tbh there was not even a single day when i thought vm can be real(also bcoz i dont wanna get my hopes high)i mean i have seen ur list of things which makes u think vm is real but other ships have those too they have stronger evidence then us viminers i am also open minded but i really cant see anything btw vm i jst ship them bcoz of their special bond

Thank you for the ask, it’s not a simple ask, but I tried my best to answer it. Sorry if it got a bit long.

First of all I think the list you mention is my “10 Reasons to ship Vmin”, which is not a list of proof for Vmin being real, but rather of reasons to why you can ship them romantically. Something people can do no matter if they are real or not, and which I personally think Vmin have enough chemistry for. I just don’t personally understand why Vmin’s moments would be so much more “just friends” compared to moments between other ships, so I made that post to show that there are moments that make Vmin ship-worthy as well. That being said, if you don’t see any possible romantic or sexual spark between Jimin and Taehyung and just like their bond there is nothing wrong with that. I am not here to make people believe in Vmin.

So, do I really think Vmin is real?

A short answer to this question is no, I do not believe that Vmin is real, as in that I believe they are in a relationship. But I do think there is a possibility that they are. I know Vmin love each other, but I don’t claim to know how. As an outsider that is impossible for me or anyone else to know unless they state it clearly themselves. Something they would likely never do even if they are in a relationship because of their situation and homophobic culture.

The most likely thing is that no ship is real. Just imagine what a risk it would be to themselves and their brand. There might be attraction, but I think it would take a lot for that to be turned into action and even more for it to turn into a relationship in the sense how most of us perceive the word. Personally I think being in a relationship that you would have to hide like that, and just not being straight in the first place would come with a lot of hurt and stress. In that way it would maybe be better if no ship was real. I don’t know, so basically I just try to stay grounded because there are many possibilities and too many unknown factors for me to come to a firm conclusion.

The same goes for Ji/kook and Tae/kook or any other ship, within our outside of the group, straight or non-straight. They could be real, but I don’t know. However I think some ships have potential to be real, and they aren’t equally likely based on what I can observe and my own interpretations. But interpretations aren’t something you can trust to 100% either. Basically, completely believing a ship is real is in my own opinion not something you should do when there is no real “proof”.

I would use the same logic for their sexualities as well, I don’t know so I won’t say anything for certain until they tell us themselves (which is also a bit difficult since it will always be much harder to state not being straight). However I won’t assume they are straight either, I will of course collect info and base my own guesses on what I observe. For example, I think it’s very likely that not all members are straight, especially considering how BTS and Big Hit show a lot of lgbt+ support despite being from Korea (if any group might have their members come out as non-straight it might be BTS). Personally, I think Taehyung and JK has given me the most reason to think they are not straight, while I think Namjoon is at the very least attracted to women. But I could be wrong since it’s just based in my own views and guesses. What I try to do is to keep an open mind, and this goes for most topics. These are real human beings that I don’t know or interact with personally, and people are complex. There could be a million things I miss, either because they don’t want me to see it or because I simply fail to notice. There are just too many missing pieces to come to a definitive conclusion.

And that brings me to the “proof” or “evidence” that shippers tend to talk about. Frankly, I think the fact that you say that two other ships have more evidence than Vmin says a lot. Because if both Ji/kook and Tae/kook has “proof”, that means that unless both are real, that at least some of those things that people see as proof are simply misinterpretations. This goes for every single thing that shippers bring up. There can be a hundred of reasons behind the things they see and find strange that aren’t because two people are romantically or sexually involved. We also assume that if a ship is “real” that that means they are romantically involved, because that is our ideal scenario that we want to see. Even if two or more members are more than friends, they could be friends with benefits, aromantic, asexual etc. there are a lot of different types of relationships that could be the truth.

I’ve been in other fandoms, and there is for example a Japanese idol group that I love and have followed for a really long time. Members of this groups has admitted to kissing while drunk and basically shipping their own members. So even seeing two members kiss could be for other reasons than them being in a romantic relationship. Just think of how many groups there are and how many ships people analyze and believe is real, how high are the odds that all of them really are? Not that high. People see what they want to see, and that will always interfere with a person’s judgement.

That being said, I do think Vmin could be real, based on things I have seen and interpreted myself. That doesn’t automatically erase the possibility of another ship being real though, and I have said before that I personally think that if any ship would be real one of the maknae line pairs would be the most likely. It’s just me personally that weigh my own reasons based on what I have seen that makes me reach the conclusion that Vmin makes the most sense. This is also partially tainted by my own bias, as that is something no shipper can escape. Again, people see what they want to see, and it can be hard to accept things that goes against your own beliefs.

What I don’t agree with is that Tae/kook and Ji/kook has more “evidence”. I don’t like calling it that, but hints or clues isn’t really right either. People have analyzed these ships more, but just because something is popular and get talked about a lot that doesn’t mean it’s the most likely. Vmin has always been a step behind because of their platonic label and that means that people already since years back has gotten it ingrained that they are only platonic. But is there really that much of a difference between the ships? Most of the things that you see in shipping videos all the members of Bangtan do. Sleep together, slap butts, hold hands, hug, say they love each other etc. etc. the list goes on. Using these things as evidence by saying “it just feels different between them” is not evidence to me, this goes for Vmin as well.

These things are too difficult to interpret to use as any type of hard evidence, especially since you see the members do most of these things with others as well. But even if it is exclusive it doesn’t have to mean romantic love or sexual attraction. Heart eyes and jealousy are in my opinion the worst examples of these things because the looks could literally mean anything. Take for example Vmin holding hands, they do this a lot, and unprompted simply because they seem to want to. It makes me squeal to see it, and I love it and think it’s proof of their close bond and love for each other. But I would not say it proves that they are in a relationship together. It could be 100% platonic. It can be a point to make me think it’s more likely but in the end it’s just one thing that might make me lean more in that direction.

So, besides my preference and bias towards Vmin, why do I then think Vmin is more likely compared to other ships? Well, in the only way I can, which is based on my own observations. Which are in turn also dyed by my own preexisting beliefs in how relationships look like and work, which could be completely incorrect since I don’t know how the members of BTS would think about and look at these topics themselves. Especially since their situation is rather extreme and they come from a different culture.

From what I see Vmin still share hotel rooms at least sometimes, they have slipped up before in various ways “Jimin and friends” trying to correct themselves or play it off as a joke and in general seem to be rather careful themselves with how they speak about and too each other. This goes for how the other members talk about them as well. I’ve mentioned Namjoon talking about Vmin “being great friends” a lot, and for me I just think the context of how and when he says these things seems a bit odd at times. I think the fact that everyone keeps saying how Vmin are the closest, how they call each other soulmates and a lot of other examples that come from the members themselves make it less likely for other ships to be real. Because these are things that Vmin doesn’t have to do, but they do them because they want to. I’ve talked about their neediness and how it seems they can’t be apart for too long and other things that could be platonic, but still kind of makes other ships less likely in my own mind. For me the way Vmin behave with each other simply makes me more inclined to think they could potentially be real compared to other ships in the group. I have seen theories for all ships, and I think some are really interesting, but nothing I have seen for any ship has been enough to convince me that it’s real or to make me believe in them more than in Vmin. I have seen things about Vmin that are also weird and interesting to analyze, mostly on my own because as we know there aren’t that many Vmin analysis out there. But the things I have seen still makes me raise my eyebrows sometimes. But I know I could be wrong.

To summarize I think a lot of proof and evidence that people talk about are overrated and often very misleading because how it’s presented. I think that it’s dangerous to stay too focused on only one possibility and be completely certain that what you think is the only answer. I know that Vmin has been underrated and lack the same type of focused investigating that other ships have been subjugated to. In the end all I can really do is take in the things I see and weigh them against each other to come up to likely scenarios in my head and to me Vmin being in a relationship could make sense.

I write my own analysis and share them, but in the end these are just my views that I share with you. Every person could think and see different things and we don’t know the truth, so all I really do is give different possible explanations. I also think Vmin could use more analysis to balance against the other ships. Though the fact that there are so many weird things to find with multiple pairs in itself seems to indicate that they are all less likely to be real.

Thanks for the ask, and sorry for the long and complicated reply (I feel like I might come off as a bit pretentious). But I think this fandom could do well with being a little less black and white. Either way, I love Vmin’s bond no matter what kind of love they have for each other, and I will keep on writing analysis. For fun, and because sometimes there really are things that I think are worth looking into. Thank you again, this was an interesting question to try and answer.

[applekitty]

WIP Challenge

@radiantseraphina is literally evil for making me write out like 30 or so wip summaries!!!

i’m tagging @roy-my-boy / @captainvul since that’s my only other ao3 mutual other than socially and seraphina already tagged them

Challenge: post the names of all the files in your WIP folder, regardless of how non-descriptive or ridiculous.

fun fact i now keep my wip list public over on my fic page, but here’s the link anyways

anyways, i title everything by fic titles, nothing goes untitled so yeah here we go

Kirby: Back At Ya Again!: a series of 100 chapters, planned to be 700k words long. it regards a sequel to the kirby anime with haltmann instead of nightmare. i, fun fact, was just writing chapter summaries for this before checking to see i got tagged here

Kagami No Kaabii: the all too familiar mirror anime i post art about too much, lol, also planned to be 100 chapters and 700k words long, or maybe even 200 chapters and 1.4 million words long depending on if i want to mirror the above fic as well

Zero Percent Chill: the fic you guys know as ‘the one ching hasnt updated in over a year and for some reason is still her most popular fic’, this fic is the bane of my existence and it’s on hiatus rn

Capricious Support: an au to ^ regarding customer service, due to plot details i cant say much about it

Blue Cat: my mirror magolor fic i haven’t updated in a while either, lol, despite it only being what, 10 chapters long? it’s basically about return to dreamland but mirror world.

True Paradise: true paradise is.. interesting. it’s a fic wherein suddenly, no one can feel negativity. kirby and meta knight and everyone else, no one can feel it. except beings of negativity like gooey, dark matter, negativity based demons like nightmare, etc. things begin to die and necrodeus sees this and goes ‘ah, well, FUCK’ and smacks meta knight, kirby, and tiff and MAYBE tuff and tells them to go fix shit by slapping people into reality. aka you cant be happy all the time, pain is natural and being forced to be happy is wrong

To Hunt A Monster: a fic following some kirby ocs who are monster hunters. they will do anything to kill monsters and to get money off of their skins or get trophies. anything.

Knightmare: a ‘meta knight is nightmare’s kid’ au. essentially, nightmare has a whole family of orbs he keeps in his empire while he’s at war. he keeps them sheltered and happy, making sure none of them hear of his horrific acts. meta knight is one such orb. one day, all the other orbs are taken by the gsa in an act of heroism except meta knight (and his stepbrother jecra) who were ontop of nightmare’s shoulder that day. 

Kirby Destroys Capitalism: sequel to what a lovely nightmare

And The Price Will Be High: sequel to what a horrible dream 

Galactasies Away: sequel to zero percent chill with galacta knight being there

Dadroach: a fic wherein daroach acts as kirby’s father figure rather than meta knight. set in cappytown / the anime since squeak squad acknowledges its existence

Le Monde Est a Nous: susie backstory fic, explores what dmk said in ‘dont worry she’s redeemed’ with  susie unnerving dark mind.

Suit And Tie: cs backstory fic, lots of corporate backstabbing, sexism, betrayal, manipulation, trauma, and office drama. i’ve gotten like.. 4k done on this and it’s going pretty swell

How Unfortunate: this one is being rewritten, it’s basically a fic wherein nightmare’s a wishgranter.. for a price

A Good Guy: taranza is an incel fic

Unlicensed Merchandise: ‘wouldnt it be funny if nme sold bodypillows’ i asked myself before jecs even drew a single line on that yamikage bodypillow

Mischief: marx backstory fic about how marx is bitter about being handicapped, and though he went through his entire life with a good family and good friends he couldn’t help but feel like he’s lesser. 

Hope, I Like Hope: sequel to ‘what do you like’ from nightmare’s perspective, trying to explain why he had such a drastic change of heart.

Hired: a half-venting fic about metasusie wherein susie tortures meta

owo: sequel to uwu

ⵙwⵙ: sequel to owo

Three Years Between Them: an au fic where kirby is an adult and he’s very, very jaded with a warped sense of justice because of how many eldritch horrors he’s fought. he believes that being a hero means he doesn’t have to value anyone else because he knows better than everyone else.

Sleepy Afternoon: a fic wherein nightmare is summoned back into reality post-anime by some cultists

[shg11]

Demos in San Sebastin and crackdowns in Rome and Dubrovnik as locals vent frustration at city-breakers and cruise ships

With the continent sweltering under a heatwave nicknamed Lucifer, tempers have been boiling over, too, as a wave of anti-tourism protests take place in some of Europes most popular destinations. Yet, as tourism-phobia becomes a feature of the summer, the World Tourism Organisation(UNWTO)has defended the sector, calling on local authorities to do more to manage growth in a sustainable manner.

The focal point for much of this has been Spain, which had a record 75.6 million tourists last year, including 17.8 million from the UK. In Barcelona, where tensions have been rising for years over the unchecked surge in visitors and impact of sites such as Airbnb on the local housing market, Arran, the youth wing of the radical CUP (Popular Unity Candidacy), have been filmed slashing the tyres of rental bicycles and a tour bus. An Arran spokesperson told the BBC: Todays model of tourism expels people from their neighbourhoods and harms the environment. Spanish prime minister Mariano Rajoy described the group as extremists.

There have also been protests in Mallorca and San Sebastin, where an anti-tourism march is planned for 17 August, to coincide with Semana Grande a major festival of Basque culture.

Other demonstrations have taken place across southern Europe. Last month in Venice which sees more than 20 million visitors a year and has just 55,000 residents 2,000 locals marched through the city, voicing anger at rising rents and the impact of huge cruise ships and the pollution they cause to the citys delicate environment.

A resident holds a placard saying, in Venetian dialect Im not going, Im staying during a protest in Venice last month. Photograph: Manuel Silvestri/Reuters

Speaking to the Guardian, UNWTO secretary general Taleb Rifai said the rise in anti-tourist sentiment is a very serious situation that needs to be addressed in a serious way. If managed correctly, he added, tourism can be the best ally to conservation, preservation and the community.

It should not be given up for the sake of mismanagement, he said. Ensuring that tourism is an enriching experience for visitors and hosts alike demands strong, sustainable tourism policies, practices and the engagement of national as well as local governments and administrations, private sector companies, local communities and tourists themselves.

UNWTO recommends a number of proven methods for managing crowds in destinations, such as encouraging tourists to visit beyond the central sights, diversifying tourist activities, reducing seasonality and, importantly, addressing the needs of the local community. The focus should not be, it says, on simply stopping tourists arriving.

Earlier this year, Barcelona started cracking down on unlicensed Airbnb rentals, doubling the numbers of inspectors checking properties. Of around 16,000 holiday rentals in the city, 7,000 are believed to be unlicensed.

Messages against tourism in Oviedo, northern Spain. Photograph: Alberto Morante/EPA

In Venice, the mayors office has also been attempting to tackle the problem. In June it said it would introduce a ban on new tourist accommodation in the city centre, and people counters have been installed at popular sites to monitor overcrowding.

Italy has also been cracking down on anti-social behaviour in other tourist hotspots. In Rome, this means a ban on people eating or paddling in the citys fountains and drinking on the street at night. Similar measures have been put into place in Milan which introduced a summer ban on everything from food trucks to selfie sticks in the Darsena neighbourhood.

In Dubrovnik, another city where cruise ships unload thousands of visitors at a time, the mayor has introduced cameras to monitor the number of visitors in its Unesco-listed old town, so that the flow of people entering can be slowed or even stopped once a certain number is reached. Meanwhile, the mayor ofpopular Croatian party island Hvar has pledged to put an end to debauchery by mostly British tourists by slapping them with huge fines.

For Duncan McCann, researcher at the New Economics Foundation, there are a number of factors underlying the recent tensions, including the rise of Airbnb, an increasing number of tourists making short city breaks, and the burden of cruise ships. Both city breakers and cruise ship passengers are far more likely to remain in a city centre rather than explore further afield.

The perceived threat of terrorism in north Africa has also led to an increase in tourists holidaying in the Mediterranean over the past two years.

These shifts are really putting pressure on these locations, increasing the numbers and reducing the spread of the tourists, says McCann. Once you factor in the layout of a lot of these continental cities old, and with a network of smaller streets people start to get the sense that theyre being taken over.

He adds that this plays into the wider politics of the continent, with economies not seen to be working for people, and politics not saddressing the problems.

Though tourist numbers have increased, I am not sure they have increased enough in five years to cause this much agitation, he says. What has really changed? A lot is that politics isnt out for the ordinary person any more. Until that is addressed I dont think well see this protest movement subside.

Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/travel/2017/aug/10/anti-tourism-marches-spread-across-europe-venice-barcelona

[viralhottopics]

Everyone Wants to Make Smart RingsBut No One Knows What For

About halfway through the trailer for the 2011 movie Green Lantern—it’s presumably in the movie, too, but that’s impossible to verify because no one ever saw it—an otherwise ordinary Ryan Reynolds slides a big, blocky ring onto his middle finger and becomes a superhero. “The ring,” says an apparently important dying purple man, “It chose you. Use its power to defend our universe.” It’s the other one ring to rule them all.

Sonia Hunt’s goals for her smart ring are, let’s say, slightly more mundane. She’s the president of Neyya, which sells a chunky ring meant to be worn on your index finger. It’s meant most squarely for traveling, presentation-giving execs tired of re-wiring entire office buildings just to get their PowerPoint remote to work. The Neyya ring works via Bluetooth, and all you have to do is discreetly swipe on its glassy face to scroll between slides. It does lots of other things, too, like control your music and alert you toimportant incoming calls. But its primary superpower is in the boardroom. It’s the PowerPoint Punisher. The Keynote Knight.

Neyya is one of a number of companies that has decided there is no “wrist” in “wearable.” They’ve skipped smartwatches and fitness bands, and set their sights on your fingers. In a sense, smart rings are everything we want wearables to be. They’re jewelry first and gadgets second. They’re subtle in a way looking at your Apple Watch cannever be subtle. They’re easy and natural to use, and they become a part of you the way your wedding banddoes. Until truly great natural-recognition gesture tech catches on and we get RFID chips embedded in our forearms, rings could be the closest thing to truly seamless technology. If they work right.

If.

First, smart ring-makers must grapple with the same existential question facing the Apple Watch, Google Glass, and every other shrunken computer we’re being asked to put on our bodies: What is it for? Ring-makers have it even harder, because they can’t just slap a touchscreen on your wrist, connect it to an app store, and hope developers answer the question. Rings are definitionally smaller and simpler; you don’t have much room for anything other than a battery. Even those who can do everything realize they shouldn’t.

Josh Valcarcel/WIRED

There’s an unspoken arms race happening on crowdfunding sites as entrepreneurs vie to see who can make the most tricked-out ring. Mota’s SmartRing shows you all your notifications and has a replaceable battery! The Smarty Ring does all that andcontrols your music! Aring Pro is like having Siri on your fingers! Logbar’s Ring lets you text by writing in mid-air and scroll through Netflix queues with grand gestures! Putthe Nod on your finger and control your drone! Only a few of these are real products. Most are vaporware. One (Logbar) was convincingly declared the “worst product ever made.”

The Neyya began as a similar do-everything kind of device, hitting Indiegogo in 2014 as the Fin Wearable Ring. It didn’t look like jewelry. It was more like a super-futuristic brace for your thumb. Put it on, and you could use your fingers as a game controller, a mouse and keyboard, a remote control for your car, a personal authenticator, and much, much more. It was created by five friends, all engineers in India, fascinated bygesture technology. “Their interest was in creating something that you’re able to wear and control just on one finger,” Hunt says. Every imaginable feature was fair game.

Fin raised more than $200,000 on Indiegogo and another $2 million in venture capital. Then ithad to become a real company, with a real product. When Hunt and other seasoned pros came in, they started a true product development cycle. “You’re kind of ripping apart your own product,” Hunt says, “to see if it’s the right one for the market.” They realized that for all the cool technology, Fin wasn’t a good product. Its battery didn’t last long enough. It didn’t look good enough. Your index finger is actually a much better place for it. And try as they might, users could never figure out how to use the thing.

After months of research and testing, the ring they came up with was so different it needed a new name—so Neyya was born. Just before it launched, news leaked that Apple had applied for a patent for a shockingly similar device. “A need … exists,” the application says, “for a more discreet, safer, more efficient, or more ergonomic way to interact with touch pads or touchscreens. ” Now, patent applications don’t mean anything in terms of actual products, but “that was huge validation to us,” Hunt says. “That we did the right thing, we were thinking about it the right way.”

Drawings from Apples smart ring patent application. US PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE

John McLear, on the other hand, has been thinking about rings in a completely different way. A developer and former WordPress employee, he started working on the NFC Ring as a simple authentication tool. He raised nearly 10 times his initial Kickstarter goal with a fairly simple promise: Your ring can unlock your phone or your front door, work as a bus pass, and even share information with other people. NFC is ridiculously simple to implement, and since it requires basically no power, you never need to take it off. It looks slightly nerdy and definitely masculine, but it looks like a ring.

The ultimate goal of every smart ring is the same as any other wearable: hide the technology invisibly within the jewelry. Only a few come even close, and only Ringlyreally gets it right. The Ringly ring is obviously meant for women, and is quite nice looking. I may not be the target market, but I like how the big hexagonal semi-precious stone makes me feel like a 1970s mafia don when I wear it on my pinky. The only obvious tech is a small LED on the underside of the stone, which I set it up so that calls from anyone on my VIP list cause the ring to vibrates four times and flash a subtle pink light. An email brings two buzzes and a yellow light. It’s meant to keep me from missing important things while also slowly weaningme of the need to check my phone every time it buzzes. Ringly CEO Christina Mercado says it’s farmore useful for her. Her phone is never in her pocket, she reminds me. It’s in her purse. “Its something I have to point out to guys,” she says, “because you know, you have pockets. You feel your phone vibrate—I dont!”

Mercando never intended to make “a wearable.” That phrase seems to unsettle her just a bit. Her goal, she says, was to make attractive jewelry that happened to be smart and useful. She wanted to make something she’d want to wear anyway—but never tried to make something she’d wear all the time. “You have to think of it more like clothing,” she says, “where you dont just buy one pair of shoes. You buy shoes that we wear to the gym, we buy shoes that we wear to a cocktail party, we buy shoes that we wear to work. And I think, you know, wearables are going to take the same path.” Mercado says she’s heard from designers and manufacturers of every stripe wanting to integrate her tech into their jewelry. Even companies that make class rings are interested. (Class of 2021, your rings are gonna be crazy.)

The wearable-as-notification-machine idea is a popular one—beyond fitness tracking, it’s really the only compelling use case anyone’s come up with. But how do you communicate information without a screen? Ringly, along with more traditional wrist-bound wearable companies like Misfit and even Apple to some extent, is playing with a combination of lights and buzzes. But Neyya’s Hunt doesn’t buy it. “I just can’t even remember, like, if my mom’s calling me and it’s vibrating three times and flashing pink,” Hunt says, “or my dad’s calling me and it’s vibrating five times and flashing blue.” It was too much. “My Apple Watch, it has so many apps synced up with it,” she says. “We just didn’t want to get into any of that.” Neyya purposefully doesn’t do that stuff—if there’s no way to do it well, Hunt says, don’t do it at all.

So Neyya, like many other smart rings, has settled on a reduced set of features. Long-term, it has the same change-everything goals as so many other wearable companies, which want to use step-tracking and notifications to begin to change how we use and understand technology. But right now, for reasons both technological and psychological, the best wearables are the specific ones. Use this wristband while you run; let this light track your sleep and help you wake up in the morning; put on this ring before you give the quarterly update. Then take it off.

Read more: http://ift.tt/2kuViZW

from Everyone Wants to Make Smart RingsBut No One Knows What For