im-very-gamer-blog

[kavehater]

Man I just give up.

[thesunloveschips]

Obsessed - Part 1 (Azriel x Reader)

Summary: In a world of boys, he’s an obsessed billionaire stalker. (Should I write a part 2?)

Warnings: stalker Azriel, lots of smutty fantasies, delusional reader.

Click here for Obsessed (Masterlist)

****

Azriel knew that he was one mad bastard. How else would he have killed his half-brothers, his sperm donor (he refused to refer to that fuckface as a father), and that bitch of a step-mother to take over the one of the largest conglomerates in the world?

He never lost sight of his goals. 

Revenge? Check.

Securing wealth and assets? Check.

Taking care of his mother? Check. 

He’d come a long way from being the illegitimate child tortured when his father and half-brothers had nothing else to do to leading the largest conglomerate in the country. 

He was tactical, ruthless, and currently madly obsessed with a woman dancing in the club like this was her moment.

From his perspective, this was the moment their lives would be irrevocably changed. 

She was like the flame of a candle with a warm glow he was now desperate to covet. She glowed only for those who observed, not for those who simply looked. 

And he was observing. Studying every inch of her like she was his personal research project. 

Her body moved way too mesmerisingly. His cock was aching now. That dress was so nicely fitted on her curves. Such a pretty dress. He noted the dress so that he could fuck her in it in the future in honour of the day their paths crossed. 

Her eyes were closed or half-open for a long time but they were now properly open. Round eyes took in her surroundings as she drew her friend closer with a hand on her waist and looked at another club goer who had invaded their space. The man apologised and moved away. 

While this woman was guarding her friend, said friend was glaring at a man behind her who was getting too close. The friend tapped the man over his woman’s shoulder and was probably screeching at him. 

When the man began frowning and saying something back that did not seem like an apology for invading personal space, Azriel stood up, buttoning his blazer, and walked over. 

The crowd was barely a bother as he immediately reached them. He glared at the man from behind his woman and her friend and the man turned away and quickly moved. 

She looked at her friend and then noticed him standing behind her. He bowed his head and fished out his phone. He quickly typed in his message and showed it to them.

I’ll ensure that he’s removed. Enjoy your night. 

He simply put his phone in his pocket and bowed his head once. Y/n said something that he couldn’t hear but from the way her lips moved, it was most likely a word of gratitude. He nodded and returned to his area on the floor above. He whispered his order to one of his bodyguards and the two women watched as the man was escorted out of the club. 

The women looked at each other and laughed. And then she gathered her hair behind her head and held it there for a few seconds. Probably to let it cool after all the sweat. 

Her neck looked like a canvas. 

His canvas. 

And he’d mark her soon.  

Once he was seated again, he received his iPad from one of his men with a report of his woman. 

Y/n. A very suitable name. He’d moan or groan that name every night. 

Aged twenty four. He was twenty eight. This could definitely work.

A few basic details about her family. Soon, his own name would be added in her biodata under the category of spouse. 

But then he caught sight of another picture with a name and the relation to her as her ex-boyfriend. 

He was now curious. 

Azriel looked at Y/n, happy and dancing with her friend and so beautiful, she made him feel something pleasant. Was this happiness?

And then he looked at his iPad and frowned. He looked at her and then at the iPad again. 

Why would someone so beautiful, perfect, wonderful, intelligent woman, ever date this. . . this. . . whatever this was? 

He sent the name of this ex-boyfriend to his contact for more information and then scrolled. 

Height, weight, medical history, social media, and. . . A notification popped up with the report on the ex-boyfriend. The more he read it, the more he frowned. 

Azriel looked up and found Y/n now joined by a few more people with whom she laughed and drank. She was so. . . he didn’t really know how to articulate his own feelings but even reading her biodata made him feel pleasant. He was calm. 

But then he looked at the report of her ex-boyfriend.

His woman probably had some vision problems because why would this magnificent woman ever date this rat?

The more he read about their connection, the more he felt the familiar black rage rising in his chest like a behemoth. 

So the lowlife had made her cry. Spoken nonsense about her. Spread rumours. And had made her feel like she was less than the woman she was. 

Oh. 

Oh.

Well, well, well. 

Somebody needs to drown in the sewer he originated from. 

He’d take care of that soon.

Y/n’s own report revealed that she was there in the club to celebrate the birthday of her best friend’s youngest sister. 

Her best friend seemed like a reasonable woman. Nesta Archeron, her childhood friend who was more of a sister and also, her dancing companion. He glossed over more details of Nesta and Y/n’s friendship and finally set the iPad next to him. 

Beautiful was probably an understatement to describe his woman. 

Now there were two new details regarding Y/n. 

She was his. 

And he was hers. 

****

Y/n had hauled her luggage out of the apartment and somehow reached the airport. She was anxious and excited for her new semester. Her last wild party was back when Feyre turned twenty one. She danced and drank and enjoyed every bit of it. 

And she had the salivating memory of the sexiest guy she’d ever met. 

Y/n had easily woken up around eight in the morning with no headaches. But a night with alcohol usually made her a little slow the next morning.

Nesta was also awake and they were brushing their teeth. Y/n spat the foam and then turned to her friend. “Remember the guy who just popped and ensured that the creep would be kicked out?”

Nesta hummed, looking as suspicious as she could with a toothbrush in her mouth and a layer of foam on her lips. 

“The ways. . . I would fuck him, Nes. He could ask me to kneel and I’d do that and thank him.”

Nesta spat some foam before speaking. “He was way too hot.”

“Hot is an understatement.” Y/n washed her mouth and then resumed. “He looked like a god.”

“Does he speak though?” Nesta splashed some water on her face before grabbing the bottle of face wash.

“Why is that relevant?” Y/n was already rubbing the face wash on her cheeks. 

“You want him to groan while he fucks you, right? You don’t want a saintly priest silent in the sheets.” Nesta had made a very valid point.

“I would not be opposed to a priest if they were that hot.” Y/n remembered that she’d seen an Instagram reel about a novel where a priest was. . . indulging. She hadn’t read the novel but the reel remained on her mind. 

“Yeah.” Nesta sighed. 

“He was probably an illusion.”

“What?” Nesta nearly shouted. 

“We were drunk and dancing and the lights were all bam! Could’ve hallucinated seeing a guy that hot since it’s been far too long since we got laid.” Y/n sighed.

“Railed. We deserve to be railed, not laid. Laid is for the romantic sweethearts who dream of fluffy blankets and cupcakes. Railed is for people like us.” Nesta was a strong advocate of getting railed and right now, Y/n really wanted to get railed. 

“When you go for that semester exchange.” Nesta began seriously. “And see if there are hot guys there. If you do find them, make sure he has a hot brother or a hot best friend.” This was a mandate. 

“Yes, ma’am." This was what happened when two girl best friends were delusional after reading so many smutty romances.

A man who looked like he’d fuck the life out of her. Y/n always thought those were only fictional men like Dante Russo, Aiden King, or Zade Meadows.

But there he was. She'd met such a man.

And no, Y/n wasn't blessed with the good fortune of being railed by that man whose sex appeal was so high she was beginning to ache by just remembering him.

She knew exactly what all she wanted. 

She wanted to be taken against a wall. To be eaten out. To have her head pushed onto the bed while being fucked from behind. 

She wanted it rough.

To be handled.

And when she was satisfied just enough to make up for months of not having sex, she'd take charge. She’d ride that man so well. 

A sudden impact reminded her that she was still standing in the middle of the airport with her luggage, waiting for an early morning flight, on an empty stomach, simply fantasising about getting so gloriously fucked by the man with whom she’d just collided. . . what?

Y/n looked around and realised that she’d collided into someone who immediately grabbed her to save her from a fall. She also realised that this was a man. A very familiar man from the club. The one she’d been fantasising about. 

With the amount of dirty thoughts that kept popping up, Y/n was sure that an exorcist would fail to get rid of the lust within her. 

In better lighting, Y/n took in his tan skin, thick eyebrows, that huge body, curly black hair, and his powerful gaze.  

This was it.

This was the face. 

This was the face. 

The one that she wanted between her legs.

She’d spread nice and wide for this man. 

“Excuse me? Are you all right?” His voice. His voice! Oh, this deep voice. Perfect. 

The thought of him groaning her name made her stomach tighten. 

Oh gods, she hadn’t had sex in so long and now an insanely attractive man was simply helping her and she was ready to fuck him right there in the middle of the airport. 

“I’m fine.” Y/n responded. “Have we met before?” She definitely sounded desperate. Y/n was ready to be hit by a plane like the pigeons in those old cartoon shows who’d crash into the window of a plane and make a funny face.  

“Yes.” He did not smile but his features definitely softened. The intensity in his gaze turned into something beautiful. “I hope you didn’t have any trouble after that man.”

“No.” She responded, a little shy. “We were fine. We enjoyed the night. Thank you for interfering.” 

****

Azriel had tracked the flight in which she would be travelling for her exchange program and booked himself a ticket. That was seven days after he’d laid eyes on her for the first time. 

Among the many things that he’d discovered about his woman during those seven days, there was nothing that explained why she was standing in the middle of the airport, dazed as if she’d seen something mesmerising. 

Under the airport lighting, he saw her. He’d reached the airport long before she did and had been standing near the row of counters which were catering to the airline they would soon be flying in. 

Azriel saw this woman walk over to the queue. She yawned and looked around. She wore her earphones and looked and smiled like she was stopping herself from laughing. 

He’d noticed that she had long hair but under better lighting, she was her curly hair and how long it was. It seemed like she’d taken good care of her hair.

That was good. 

Hair was very important. And her hair was thick and long. 

He pictured her hair wrapped around his fist while she sucked his cock. He would be sitting and she would be on her knees. 

Another image appeared with her straddling him as he sucked her breast while she rode him. A masterpiece. 

Y/n laughed a little at something else on her phone. 

It was her turn and she submitted her documents, checked in that humongous suitcase that he’d be helping her with once they landed, and received her boarding pass. 

After a while of heading towards the food court, she stopped in the middle of the airport, eyes on some decoration that was not as fascinating as her attention on it made it out to be. 

What was she thinking?

Azriel didn’t like this. 

He hadn’t seen her for seven days and now, she was not even paying him any attention. 

So he decided to take matters into his own hands and pretended to look at his phone as he ‘accidentally’ collided onto her. 

She’d recognised him. 

His woman remembered him.

He was definitely satisfied. Or not. 

Azriel just realised that he hadn’t orchestrated the collision in a manner that would allow her breasts to come in contact with his arm or chest for a second. 

A missed opportunity. 

What a sad life.

“My name is Azriel.” He extended a hand. She took it and shook his hand. Soon, it’d be his cock. Those nails would dig into his arms and back when he fucked her. Patience.  

Azriel was dressed in all black. High neck, trousers, and a blazer he held on his arm which was strategically placed in front of him so as to conceal the crotch area just in case he was aroused. He was. 

“I’m Y/n.” And then she covered her mouth as a yawn escaped her. “I’m sorry. Early morning flights are always tiring.” 

Baby curls were right beneath her ears and she gave him a sleepy smile. And for the first time, he understood how influential Y/n was. Because if he were to see that face first thing in the morning, he’d never leave his bed.

The morning sex would be so glorious. He could wake her up by eating that pussy. Her legs would be trembling on his shoulders while he feasted on her. 

“I understand.” He replied. “A good breakfast helps.”

“Haven’t had any.” She lifted a hand and waved it once. Of course, he knew she hadn’t had breakfast. His men who’d watched her apartment from the one across the street had reported no activity in her kitchen. 

“Do you have some time before boarding? We could have breakfast together.” Okay, now he was just desperate. This was embarrassing. But he wanted to spend time with her. 

“Boarding starts at five twenty. We have. .” She looked at her watch. “Lots of time. Where do you want to eat?” She looked up at him, those eyes eager. 

Azriel looked around. The washrooms came into his view. Since the cleaning staff were not here this early, he easily had fifteen to twenty minutes to eat her. The fire exit was another option. There were a few blindspots there. Or maybe underneath the escalator? 

“That place has some good coffee and spaghetti.” 

Coffee? Spaghetti? Azriel blinked at her and then looked at the places Y/n was pointing at. 

Oh. 

Oh. 

 She was talking about food. 

All right. 

Food. 

“Sure.” He looked at her. She looked a little happier at his agreement. “Shall we?” 

Y/n eagerly nodded and they headed over to that food outlet. 

A nice breakfast included some coffee Azriel’s soul needed, spaghetti, and a very happy albeit sleepy Y/n telling him about her masters program. Details he’d already known but was pleased to hear from her. He would hear more of her voice and understand more about her feelings regarding what was happening in her life. 

“What about you? You don’t look like a student.”

“Correct. I work at Umbra.” He didn’t add that he was the chairman and the controlling shareholder but that was fine. “I’m on a business trip.”

“Oh.” Her mood deflated. 

“What happened?” Umbra was a big name. Wasn’t working there something to show that he was financially secure and didn’t have any debts thereby bringing him closer to the future of being her husband? Wasn’t that enough to convince her that he had enough money so that she wouldn’t have to worry? 

He’d known enough about how Y/n wanted a library of her own in her own home. Sure, the penthouse in the city was not purchased with her in mind but he’d already cleared out a room to be used as a library. 

And the flat he’d purchased in the city they’d be flying to also had a room ready to be her library. He’d give her his card so that she could decorate it to her heart’s content. 

“Nothing.” She looked up at him wide eyed. 

“It’s not nothing.”  He pressed gentler than he’d ever been.

“Well, I really don’t know what career I want to move ahead in.” 

Oh. That was a genuine concern. Of course, he had the money in case Y/n never wanted to work. Or if she wanted to take a break before she started working. 

So they talked. They talked about her field which he had learned as much as he could in seven days and had a discussion that lifted her spirits. But Azriel knew it wouldn't take long before she fretted over it again. 

At least Y/n didn’t have to worry about being alone in that huge pit of despair over careers and futures. He’d be there to support her in any way she needed. 

“I’ll be off to the washroom, hm? Give me a few minutes.” Y/n stood up and walked away with her phone. The rest of her luggage was still at the table with Azriel. 

How nice it was to be trusted with her luggage. All after meeting her for the second time and conversing with her properly only once. 

He frowned. Was Y/n always this easily trusting? This could be dangerous. He should assign someone to follow her so that even if she trusts someone else like this, she wouldn’t be robbed. 

Azriel, having resolved that this was the only woman he’d ever marry and have any kids with, smiled faintly when she returned from the washroom. And the two of them headed over to the boarding gates.

[fandxmslxt69]

*cha chas in*

Ok...let's do some book recs, since I'm on a book kick!

Tropes I love-

Arranged Marriage

Grumpy x Sunshine

And There was One (1) Bed!!

He Falls Harder

Not a trope, but gorgeous writing

Things that give me the ick in books, including triggers: female protagonists who aren't like other girls , cheating (there are a few rare exceptions like White Horse, Black Nights by Evie Marceau, either way, if the main couple cheats on or with each other especially if one party already has a loving supportive partner/spouse, I will burn the book down and rate it one star), suicide, when cats or dogs die.

HI :DDDD

im FINALLY getting out of the reading slump so LETS DO THIS EEEE!!!

first of all LOOOOOOOOOVE the tropes you're into!!! those are my prime ones too!!!

My first rec would be any Ana Huang book - she's a well known romance author and her books are what really got me into romance!!!!! For specific tropes like marriage of convenience/fake dating & grump x sunshine, I would mostly suggest:

Twisted Lies. Fake dating. Billionaire. TW: there's a subplot of the female lead being stalked, the male lead is...of a questionable moral ground lmao.

King of Wrath (its her second series). MARRIAGE OF CONVENIENCE. grump and sunshine hehehe <33 (HE'S SOOOO GRUMPY IT MAKES ME FERAL???) again, billionaires. looots of "dont touch my wife >:(" hot sex is a must in all Ana Huang books and she DEFINITELY delivers in this one???? again, morally questionable male lead

There's also Lauren Asher who has 2 finished series, and is currently one book (with the second coming SO SOON) into her third!!! Her first series is an F1 romance series so if you're into that, def check it out. but for the tropes you like, I would go for:

Terms and Conditions (book 2 of the Dreamland Billionaire series). Marriage of convenience. you cannot get more grump x sunshine than this one!!!!! DONT TOUCH MY WIFEEEEEEEEEEEE. so so so good and juicy and its soooo freaking!!! i cant describe it!!! but its so beautiful and the characters are amazing and the romance is just PEAKKK.

if you're into something more dark (like...dark.) then:

Twisted by Emily McIntire: first of all ALL her books are DELICIOUS - this book specifically is part of her Never After series, which is currently 5 books (with the 6th on the way!!) based on Disney/Fairy Tale stories, but its like...what if the villain got the girl??yknow??? its NOT retellings, it just uses concepts and vibes! For instance, Twisted is Aladdin "based", using concepts like the magic lamp, character dynamics and overall vibes!! its a DARK. i must make it clear, DARK!!! marriage of convenience enemies (toxic kind) to lovers vibe. its DARK. so the romance is a little messed up but its SO FLIPPING GOOOOOD

All her books are great if you want to look into them. 10/10 10/10

ONE BED TROPES???

The American Roommate Experiment by Elena Armas. She does have a book before that but its not very good so ignore it. THIS ONE. THIIIIIIS ONE!!!!!!! its not fake dating...EXACTLY....BUT. our lead girl wrote a hit romance novel (under a fake name) and is CERTAIN she'll only ever be a one hit wonder bc she cant seem to write a second one to secure herself a contract deal!!! her best friend's cousin needs to crash somewhere and so she offers her place (actually her best friend's place bc her place is damaged or smth) turns out this cousin happens to be the guy who was SUPPOSED to be her date to her best friend's wedding!!!!! but he ditched. anyway they get into an arrangement where she lets him stay with her, he helps her to "rekindle the flame" and get back into touch with romance via....practice dates (WE ALL KNOW HOW THOSE GO???) anyway SOOOO CUTE SOOO FLUFFY hot smut, 10/10 5 star book. one bed trope bc they. share a bed.

i need to note that in all the previously mentioned books, he ALWAYS falls harder. ALWAYS. and i love most of these bc the female leads are SO relatable (delusional (like me), know a gorgeous man when they see one, funny as hell)

anyway yeah thats what i've got!!! all those authors are AMAZING and have books to satisfy any trope you are hungry for, so if you pick up any of these recs and actually enjoy them, i hope you read more of their work <333

[fortressofserenity]

Actually normal

When it comes to creating an audience surrogate character, sometimes this is accidental since such a character like that could simply be an ordinary person reacting to extraordinary people and circumstances. At other times, the audience surrogate character is relatable to just a few people. So this character wouldn’t be relatable to anybody else, no matter how likable or charismatic they are. April O’Neil from the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles comics falls into the former category, if because she’s often just an ordinary human woman interacting with more outrageous, larger than life figures. This also makes it harder to give her a consistent ethnicity, given anybody would act the same as she would if they were in her position.

If you’re a human being interacting with either anthropomorphic animals, therianthropic humans or humans losing their humanity in one way or another then you’d easily be April O’Neil, as she’s one of the few recurring human characters to remain a normal person for this long. Admittedly this is based on my recollections of the TMNT comics I’ve read and the TMNT cartoons I’ve watched, but it seems to me that April O’Neil is one of the truest audience surrogate characters to exist in fiction. If because anybody could easily be her if they were to interact with talking animals and people who lose their humanity like Baxter Stockman, which is why she worked too well as an audience surrogate as to not have a consistent ethnicity.

She doesn’t even have a consistent hair colour, especially outside of animation where in the comics she had dark hair and in the 1990s movie she seemed to be blonde. Felicity Smoak most likely falls into the latter category, especially as time went on where she not only dated Oliver Queen but also got to marry him. That actually makes her less relatable to other people in the sense that not everybody gets to marry the cream of the crop, everybody else just dates and marries those who’re good enough and within their reach. If anything, the average woman is more like Cathy Guisewite’s Cathy than she will be with Felicity Smoak, Cathy is neither extraordinarily talented at something nor is she ridiculously incompetent.

She’s neither rich nor poor, her boyfriends aren’t particularly the most glamourous or at least the most sexualised, Irving could be intended to be tall, dark and handsome but he ended up being rather desexualised for some reason. But that also makes him more attainable as a spouse and lover because not everybody gets to marry smoking hot billionaires, that one could make a good argument for Irving being one of those boy next door love interests in comics. Even among celebrities and athletes, women marry men who are interesting and charismatic in some way, but they aren’t particularly sexualised a lot either. Irving could easily be one of those men in a way.

It seems when it comes to crafting a true audience surrogate, if April O’Neil’s any indication they are often a lightning in a bottle. They also work best when they’re actually ordinary people, that they come off more relatable and grounded this way too.

[wuxiaphoenix]

Current Events: Downstream of Culture

When you look at a lot of the mess going on in current society, at the base of it all, what we have is a relationship problem. As in, people do not learn how to properly do relationships. At all.

Yes, I know, I’m speaking from the viewpoint of someone who needs notes and a flowchart to even start to understand the network of social connections in any given place or situation. On the other hand I think that puts me in the same position as an early epidemiologist trying to figure out disease transmission. I can’t use what “everybody knows”, I have to write down the facts as I see them and see if they make any sense. And that is how Dr. John Snow knew how to ignore the “miasmas” and take the handle off one specific water pump to stop a cholera epidemic.

So what I see is that, at least for the past several decades, people have not been taught what a good relationship is. How to be a good parent. Sibling. Boss. Employee. Random entrepreneur getting by. Most especially, how to be a good spouse.

Arranged Companions: Marriage and Intimacy in Qing China, by Waijing Lu, is a Kindle sample I stumbled on researching Northeast China around the Ming-Qing transition. One of the bits it lays out is that in Confucian thought, marriage is the beginning of all human relations, and the arrival of civilization. And the cornerstone to a marriage is that you must treat your spouse with respect. “As an honored guest in your house,” as one commentator put it.

When was the last time you ever heard someone in general conversation, or any Hollywood production, talk about respecting someone you’re in an intimate relationship with? Or want a relationship with? There’s plenty of lust displayed, and “will they or won’t they”, and sometimes genuine affection and communication... but how often do you see respect? How often do you see listening, acknowledging when someone has better skills or ideas than you do, or even quiet disagreements over what’s the best course of action, without devolving into a Dramatic screaming fight?

Granted, screaming fights make for easily filmed drama, but who wants to live that way? I mean, just look at Tony Stark in the MCU. Billionaire, genius, philanthropist, and he still gets no respect.

(Seriously, “I would cut the wire” is a legit answer to Captain America’s question. As General Patton himself said, you’re not supposed to die for your country, you’re supposed to make some other poor bastard die for his country.)

People model their behavior on their heroes. When people who are supposed to be heroes do not show each other respect, we have a Problem.

How to solve the problem? The only thing I can think of is twofold: bring back all the old stories we can find, where people do respect each other, and write more like them. Because without respect, civilization crumbles.

And while Mad Max is a very dramatic world, none of us want to live there.

[lilaetleloup]

the signs that point to a manipulator VII

28. he sees himself as a predator

And I still consider him otherwise...

But this said, he is not totally wrong. He lurks here, in the bushes, hunting the empath without conscience or remorse for the pain he could cause. He needs to eat energy! And to him it is only nature’s order that the strong are the hunters when the weak are the hunted.

But the laws of the jungle are antithetic to civilization and progress. Political parties founded exclusively by his kind always talk about going backwards, to a time when it felt good living at others’ expenses. With his Neanderthal mind, dooming the weak to an early grave, he is a hindrance to progress. Because the physically weak or the person born on the wrong side of the railroad, can easily be the smarter, the inventor, the creative mind, the genius, the spiritual guide, the wise... the one who will have humanity go forward with him.

If we succeeded in getting out of the Middle-Age it is in spite of the manipulator. Not thanks to him.

And it’s no coincidence, to my mind, if, since he has made a huge comeback these last thirty years, we turn back to the good old days of economic servitude and pandemic. Because too many manipulators in power means a massive return of corruption, incompetence, entitlement, lies and exploitation.

The manipulator sees us as preys and underestimates us. Underestimates the courage and abnegation of those who can fight for a cause bigger than themselves or who fight for those they love.

A difference between the manipulator and the predator, though, is that the manipulator prefers to stay in the shade, when the society isn’t favourable to his kind. Whereas a tiger doesn’t hide his stripes. In North Korea or other China, on the contrary, I imagine it’s party time everyday for a manipulator. And I can’t fathom the hell it must be for the minority of empathetic people there.

But if I’m right about the world’s evolution, this hiding won’t last long. And the sooner the better, because if 100% of manipulators know their “eat and be eaten” game, a very few percentage of good people are aware of the fight and what is at stake. Most of the time, this minority is composed by ex-victims.

Quite easy and no sport, then, to hunt when the antelope doesn’t know her life is on the line.

Once you know where to look, on the contrary, it’s often child play to detect them.

29. he has a paranoid tendency

Well of course, just imagine! We all have this tendency to put our own way of thinking is the other’s mind. And this makes us, empathetic people, more prone to naivete, jumping bambis in the sunset and in the crossfire of automatic guns.

But this makes him paranoid. Others want to rob him, have no conscience, will betray him, will cheat on him...

The world is full of bad guys, he knows it. And the manipulator only sleeps with one eye open. Or can’t sleep at all.

30. he doesn’t like rules

Rules are for the weak, he thinks. If he can despise or rape them, it’s fine. If he can change them in his own interest, it’s better still.

There are too many times when he must pretend to respect the rules. And it’s exhausting.

31. he is greedy and confuses success with financial success

Of course! For him everything turns around looks, power and money. And what is dangerous is when the way he feels become the dominant philosophy. I guess there is only a certain amount of manipulators a society can bear at its head, in companies and politics, before we spiral down in a vicious circle. Because the manipulator will change the mentalities to favour his kind, making it easier for others manipulators to climb, who in turn will aggravate the mentalities...

For ten years, I have this feeling that the world is going faster and faster in manipulation land. Which means darker and darker. And I fear we’ll have to touch the bottom before it gets better.

This overwhelming mentality contributes to the fact that so many good people feel bad, can feel like  they are failing if they concentrate on being a good parent, or a just teacher or a faithful spouse. Hit again and again by these golden and superficial lives on the social media, most good people can get depressed.

The manipulator is also greedy. His overinflated ego is always whispering him he deserves more. And this answers the question I had, as a good naive empathetic person: why would a billionaire choose to paint his tenth swimming pool with god instead of raising wages?

Because he deserves it and the others don’t deserve anything more than the bare minimum to survive and be able to work for him.

So of course, to avoid the possibility that poor people get to the pitchforks and attack his bunker, he’ll give to charities, elegant way of talking with his social peers about the wellness of the peasants around appetizers. And also, to save taxes. And the rich manipulator will always prefer this way of giving money, which allows him to control where it goes, preferably in causes more glamour and selling than repairing roads and will also allow him to build a nice philanthropic image for himself. Also, it will help sustain an economic system that favours him. Because in reality, a good economic system, in a rich democracy, is the one where everybody pays his just amount of taxes and everybody can earn a fair wage, one that you can live on. Where, in fact, nobody should need charity.

Also, the internal vacuum of the manipulator is a bottomless pit that encourages him to get always more. The manipulator isn’t Iron Man, the philanthropist superhero but Pac Man: always hungry, never satisfied.

And he doesn’t care if the planet would die of it. Because as the delectable Duchess of Windsor would have said: “one is never rich enough”.

32. he divides and conquers

He is a master of triangulation, this art which consists in using a third person in the toxic relations he has with you. He will use this other person against you, having told him lies where he is the victim. Or have you understand that this person thinks you are wrong. And have you hate him in the process.

On his chess board, he is the king or the queen and others are pawns.

His hot-air-balloon ego is fragile and he is a coward in confrontation where the adversary isn’t weak and could fight back He will, in this case, send somebody else to do the dirty job.

In some extreme cases, the manipulator can cut you totally from your friends and family. He’ll act like it’s you and him in a fortress, having you believe that everybody else is mean. Enclosed in the tower, the victim is more powerless than ever.

(to be continued...)

[crummy37-blog]

5 Simple Statements About bill gates biography Explained

Inside of Gates home, there is a enormous aquarium that includes a living-space trend environment. The aquarium supplies spectacular sights of amazing and scarce marine animals.

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5.) We often overestimate the transform which will come about in the next two several years and undervalue the alter that could manifest in the next ten. Don’t Allow you be lulled into inaction. – Bill Gates

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Titled "Turtles Each of the Way Down," Inexperienced's novel follows the story of Aza Holmes, a high school student in Indianapolis. Holmes and her ally embark with a quest to locate a lacking billionaire in hopes of obtaining a $100,000 reward for information on his whereabouts.

Bill Gates and his daughter ‘liked’ this thriller romance novel—and he advises which you study it also

In the event you dive in the swimming pool, you may pop again up by an out of doors terrace. A glass wall separates the indoor pool from out of doors, with adequate area beneath to swim concerning The 2.

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Bill Gates has a few small children together with his spouse Melinda – two daughters and a single son. On the other hand, each of the a few kids remain extremely younger and unmarried. Thus, Bill Gates does not have any grandchildren.

7. “I really experienced a great deal of dreams After i was a kid, and I believe a lot of that grew out of The reality that I had a chance to examine a good deal.” – Bill Gates

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“I was Fortunate to become associated and have to lead to a thing that was significant, which can be empowering those with software.” Bill Gates

There is also a pivoting bookcase that exhibits a key entrance to your bar, Positioned deep In the mansion’s library. The mansion has quite a few parking garages that take as much as 23 autos. One of the garages modifications into an indoor basketball courtroom with the thrust of a button.

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Bill Gates also appreciated his childhood, and he ongoing to get involved in athletics jumps with reports actively.

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twenty.) I really had plenty of dreams After i was A child, and I feel an excessive amount of that grew away from The reality that I had a chance to read a whole lot. – Bill Gates

0,” continues to be Probably the most awed estates inside the Seattle spot, and forever rationale—there’s just so much to absorb. Here's sixteen from the home’s most notable options.

forty one.) Efficient philanthropy needs a large amount of your time and creativity – exactly the same type of emphasis and techniques that developing a business enterprise necessitates. – Bill Gates

A nationally rated Expert clearly show jumper, Jennifer appeared to be in sound variety with the occasion, which runs through Saturday with a beachside competition ring arrange behind the luxe Setai Lodge.

We also are foremost the trouble to harmonize how various corporations keep track of family planning sources. The new information methods will use regular metrics and provide dependable data in the national and sub-national levels.

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Bill Gates has 3 youngsters with his wife Melinda – two daughters and one son. Having said that, many of the three young children remain very young and unmarried. Hence, Bill Gates does not have any grandchildren.

Although some guys photographs are uploaded on her social media marketing, but they are just be pals and nothing outside of. In addition, she also hasn’t exposed excessive on her lifestyle by means of her Instagram when other famed billionaire’s kids are vulnerable to uploading traveling, relationship and flashing their high-class lifestyle.

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Individuals who manufactured it, even though, have been welcomed by options far higher than they had known at home in England. A lot of of such people went on to help make vital contributions to your rising nations of Canada and The usa. Evaluation of immigration data signifies that a few of the initial North American immigrants bore the title Gates or simply a variant listed above:

This organization afterwards merged into a new organization which happens to be now known as K&L Gates. He retired inside the yr 1998 from your agency, PGE.

Click on the Adhere to button on any writer web site to help keep up with the most up-to-date material from your favorite authors.

Within the ceiling you’ll look for a quotation from “The good Gatsby” that reads: “He had arrive a long way to this blue garden, and his aspiration have to have appeared so near that he could barely fall short to grasp it.”

From the site post, Phoebe provides her very own "mini-evaluate" from the e-book and explains the plot strike home for two reasons: She struggled with OCD For some time and she sees herself inside the billionaire's son Davis.

bill gates family Options

We must surprise them that these substitute ways of performing energy can arrive alongside and come together in an financial way.

As no any websites have confirmed about

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her marriage, we can easily assume that she has no any ideas on acquiring married soon. This is focused on Bill Gate's daughter Jenifer.

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                           Microsoft   Only some individuals know, that Microsoft is not really Bill Gates´ only source of cash flow. Furthermore, he will be the operator of Cascade Investments and shareholder on the John Deere & Co tractor producer and stakeholder from the Canadian Railway Modern society. Right now (January 2018) Bill Gates´ fortune quantities to all over 89 billion $. Assuming that Bill Gates had a daily financial institution financial savings account having an curiosity price of three %, he would receive about $seven.three million dollar per day. Each hour $304.000 will be added to his fortune and each minute his checking account displays a additionally of $5000. And also every single next of your working day Bill Gates would make $84. Having said that, In spite of all that wealth, Bill Gates does not ignore Individuals, which have not been Fortunate of their lives. His Bill & Melinda Gates Basis will take treatment of a number of jobs in third world nations. A person branch of the activity could be the funding of study in the sector of Malaria, Aids and Tuberculosis. With a total funds of 30 billion $ the Bill & Melinda Gates Basis is regarded as being the biggest social Firm of the globe. Up till now it truly is believed, that Bill Gates has invested 30 billion $ for charity and social jobs throughout the world.

بیل  گیتس What Does bill gates quotes Mean?

“It doesn’t relate to any certain faith; it’s about human dignity and equality,” he suggests. “The golden rule that each one life have equal price and we must always deal with men and women as we would like to be taken care of.”

Nation leaders who try to safeguard their citizens from your harms of tobacco should not be deterred by threats of high-priced authorized challenges from huge tobacco firms.

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[unbiasedph]

The oligarchs likely to benefit most under Bongbong Marcos

Which business groups or oligarchs have the strongest ties to the incoming administration of President-elect Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr.? In Philippine politics, as is true in many countries in the Global South, most, if not all, major business groups will keep faith with the new administration in order to obtain permits or access to business incentives. However, some business groups will be closer to the administration than others. First, the initial cabinet appointments give some clues as to the ties of some oligarchs. Marcos Jr. has announced that Manuel "Manny" Bonoan, president of San Miguel Corporation (SMC) Tollways, will become the secretary of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH). Real estate is one of the largest sectors up for grabs and Ramon Ang, the ninth wealthiest Filipino, is president of San Miguel. However, Inigo Zobel, the 21st wealthiest Filipino, is the president of Top Frontier holdings, which owns 66% of San Miguel. Inigo, a well-known friend of Marcos Jr., and his cousin Enrique Zobel, the fifth richest, is also a shareholder in Ayala Corp., one of the wealthiest companies in the Philippines. Bonoan's appointment can be interpreted as replacing the Villar family, who benefited immensely during the Duterte administration. Manny Villar, a former presidential candidate and the richest Filipino, chairs Vista Land & Landscape and owns the largest stake in real estate company Golden MV Holdings. Cynthia Villar, Manny's wife, switched from Benigno Aquino III's political coalition to that of Rodrigo Duterte in 2016. In return for their support, Duterte appointed Manny and Cynthia's son Mark as DPWH secretary. Just as Mark Villar used state power to disproportionally benefit his family's real estate business as head of DPWH, Bonoan will likely forward the interests of the Angs and Ayalas in the real estate and construction sectors. Marcos Jr. has yet to appoint secretaries in the departments of Environment of Natural Resources and Energy, two of the country's most lucrative departments. Other oligarchs have been out in the open, appearing at Marcos Jr.'s May 9 victory party. Greggy Araneta, the spouse of Irene Marcos, a Philippine senator and the President-elect's sister, holds executive positions in multiple companies across a range of sectors: Filipino conglomerate Dito CME Holdings, formerly known as ISM Communications, real estate developer Alphaland, LBC Development Bank and Asia International Travel. Other close Marcos associates include Kevin Tan, son of billionaire Andrew Tan, is the CEO and Vice President of local real estate giant Megaworld, with dozens of real estate ventures across the country. Sabin Aboitiz of Aboitiz Equity Ventures holds substantial investments in power, real estate, banking and biofuel. Some of these individuals have a strong relationship with the outgoing Duterte administration. For instance, Rodrigo Duterte has repeatedly praised the Aboitizes and Ayalas, despite his tirades against some families like the Lopezes and Ongpins. Others have issues with some government agencies, such as the taxation case against Megaworld and the Aranetas have a case before a special appellate collegial court known as the Sandiganbayan, which has jurisdiction over criminal and civil cases involving graft and corrupt practices. With Marcos Jr.'s victory, it is highly likely that these cases will be put aside, and the new president will most likely forward their business interests through favorable government contracts and policies. Expect other oligarchs who laid low under Duterte to now resurface, given their long-term relations with Marcos Jr. Roberto Ongpin, the 22nd wealthiest Filipino and former Trade Secretary under the President-elect's father Ferdinand Marcos Sr., is likely to benefit from the Marcos administration. It was Duterte who branded Ongpin an oligarch when he took away the online gambling privileges of PhilWeb, Ongpin's gaming company, and opened the sector to foreign companies. This resulted in the online gambling boom between 2016 and 2020, enriching the real estate and construction business groups whose families include the Sys, Ayalas, Villars, Consunjis and Gongkongweis. Since laying low, Ongpin has shifted his focus to luxury resort investments and is slated to make a comeback. The Atok Big Wedge, Ongpin's company, is developing a 500-megawatt wind farm power project on Patnanungan Island, which is close to his business resort in Balesin. This wind farm is three times bigger than the Burgos' wind farm, which was developed by the Lopez family during the previous decade. Marcos Jr. is bound to be supportive of Ongpin since Ilocos Norte, the Marcos dynasty's home province, holds one of the largest wind farms in the Philippines. In addition, Louise "Liza" Araneta Marcos, the incoming first lady of the Philippines, is a good friend of Ongpin. Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and his wife Louise, left, in front of the Supreme Court in Padre Faura, Metro Manila, in April 2018. © Reuters Finally, outside the wealthiest Filipinos and other known oligarchs, mining and tourism interests under the control of powerful politicians are likely to flourish under the new administration. For instance, Gibo Teodoro, a former secretary of defense under Gloria Macapagal Arroyo (2001-2010) and a candidate who ran and lost under Marcos Jr.'s Uniteam senatorial slate, is the chairman of Sagittarius Mines, which owns Tampakan mining. Since 2010, the provincial government has banned Sagittarius Mines from conducting open-pit mining in Tampakan, the largest copper-gold mining concession in Southeast Asia. In May 2022, provincial officials voted to overturn the ban and open the concession once again. Marcos Jr. can also help Sagittarius Mines find foreign investors to expand Tampakan. Christina Frasco, the former mayor of Liloan municipality, has been announced to be the secretary of tourism. She is the daughter of Gwendolyn Garcia, the current governor of Cebu province and one of the most influential in the Visayas islands. Because many of Cebu's cities and towns rely on tourism, it is likely that Christina will support tourism-related policies that primarily benefit her mother's province. Source Read the full article

[sexydeathparty]

Rishi Sunak Hits Out At 'Smear' Over Wife's Non-Dom Controversy – But Its Not Clear Who To Blame

Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak alongside his wife Akshata Murthy.

Rishi Sunak has defended his wife after it emerged she holds the tax-reducing non-domiciled status – but who is to blame for the leak appears to depend on the newspaper you read, as a Westminster briefing war was in full swing.

The chancellor said his spouse Akshata Murty – who is estimated to be worth hundreds of millions of pounds – had done nothing wrong in choosing a financial arrangement that means she is not legally obliged to pay tax in Britain on foreign income.

He blamed Labour for the “awful” smears against his family.

Sunak told The Sun newspaper that Murty was entitled to use the so-called “non-dom” arrangement as she is an Indian citizen and plans to move back to her home country to care for her parents.

The fashion-designer daughter of a billionaire married the chancellor in 2009 before he became an MP.

And here's our splash tomorrow... https://t.co/YvkYcOwfFqhttps://t.co/K2raVoUScbpic.twitter.com/UZtEGFjCLq

— Harry Cole (@MrHarryCole) April 7, 2022

But there were other reports his allies have accused No. 10 of being responsible for the briefings.

The Telegraph reported that unnamed allies of the chancellor claimed the prime minister’s office were behind the leaks – an allegation No 10 and No 11 strongly denied.

A No 10 spokeswoman told the PA news agency: “It is categorically untrue that No 10 is behind the briefings.

“The prime minister and chancellor are united.”

The front page of tomorrow's Daily Telegraph: 'Sunak allies claim No 10 is undermining Chancellor'#TomorrowsPapersToday Sign up for the Front Page newsletterhttps://t.co/x8AV4Oomrypic.twitter.com/omtZgEmAzE

— The Telegraph (@Telegraph) April 7, 2022

The Times carried briefings claiming Sunak was the victim of a “political hit job” and a “co-ordinated attack”.

“He thinks it’s a total smear,” one ally said. “It feels like there’s a full-time briefing operation against him. This is a hit job, a political hit job. Someone is trying to undermine his credibility.”

A well as weighing up the Labour vs No. 10 claims, the paper revealed Sunak had told only a few people in government about his wife’s tax status – and that included senior officials at his former berth the housing ministry, as well as the Treasury and the Cabinet Office.

Friday’s Times: Sunak fears revelations over wife are ‘hit job’ #tomorrowspaperstodaypic.twitter.com/hystcsYIku

— Helena Wilkinson (@BBCHelena) April 7, 2022

Murty is reported to hold a 0.91% stake in Infosys, an IT business founded by her father, with The Guardian reporting that the share is worth £11.5 million per year to Sunak’s wife.

The paper also reportedMurty had potentially avoided up to £20 million in UK tax by being non-domiciled.

With Murty born in India and her father also from the south Asian country, UK government rules allow her to list India, rather than the UK, as her permanent residence, meaning different tax rules on foreign earnings apply.

Guardian front page, Friday 8 April 2022: Sunak's wife may have avoided £20m in UK tax pic.twitter.com/xUeaE2eMub

— The Guardian (@guardian) April 7, 2022

The chancellor said it was “unpleasant” to read attacks on his wife “especially when she hasn’t done anything wrong”.

“She hasn’t broken any rules. She’s followed the letter of the law,” Sunak told The Sun.

The chancellor said his partner “pays full UK tax on every penny that she earns here in the same way that she pays full international tax on every penny that she earns internationally”.

Asked during the interview whether he thought his family were victims of a “Labour smear campaign”, Sunak said he did.

But Labour hit back, with a party source telling PA: “The chancellor would do better to look a little closer to home.

“It’s clear that No 10 are the ones briefing against Rishi Sunak and, after his failure to tackle the cost-of-living crisis, you can understand why.”

Related...

12 Key Questions For Rishi Sunak Over His Wife's Non-Dom Status

Rishi Sunak Accused Of Vetoing Plan To Increase Energy Bill Rebate To £500

Boris Johnson Dodges Questions Over Rishi Sunak's Wife's Non-Dom Status

from HuffPost UK - Athena2 - All Entries (Public) https://ift.tt/23OoUj8 via IFTTT

[dailynewsprime]

These Stars Have All Decided To Skip Parenthood

"If we had kids we could not be doing this." Stars Having youngsters is not for everybody. While some individuals dream of marriage, infants, and a white picket fence, for others, it could not be farther from their excellent. And currently, an growing quantity of each {couples} and people are deciding that youngsters simply aren't for them. Even celebrities are selecting to choose out of turning into mother and father, whether or not it is because of an extremely busy schedule, medical points, or as a result of they merely do not wish to. Stars like Seth Rogen, Alison Brie, and Ellen DeGeneres have all gotten candid about their views on parenthood - they usually're all fully content material with their choice. Find out which celebs have determined to not have youngsters… Getty Why Paris Hilton Is Now 'More Interested' in Having Children Than Becoming a Billionaire View Story 1. Seth Rogen Seth Rogen and his spouse Lauren have been married for nearly a decade however have determined that they will not be welcoming any youngsters sooner or later. The couple defined that with out youngsters, they can dwell life on their very own phrases and get extra work-related objectives achieved. While Seth was uncomfortable discussing the subject, he says he is now open about it. "We have so much fun. I don't know anyone who gets as much happiness out of their kids as we get out of our non-kids...We're f------ psyched all the time. Read the full article

[themotivationjournals]

A Message To Anyone Who Thinks They Are Falling Behind In Life

So, how many sleepless nights have you spent staring at the ceiling? 

You met Roger, that old chum of yours, who slapped your back to exclaim:

“Hey! Still at the same company/residence/driving the same car……?” Whatever took his fancy.

He has moved up the corporate ladder after switching jobs six times, and now drives a fancy car. 

His children are studying abroad, and he owns a villa in a plush location. Great for him!

Does that really matter? Is that what you wanted in life? Is that what he really wanted, or did he get carried by a wave?

If you feel like you might be falling behind in life, read the following advice very carefully. 

Hopefully it will convince you that you’re doing just fine as you are.

1. Where Is Your Zero Set?

Do you remember the question you were most frequently asked in childhood: “What do you want to be when you grow up?”

Your answers varied with time. You were in awe of the power that your teacher wielded over the class, and wanted to be like her. 

You were envious of your neighbor, who got to ride in his father’s BMW, and you wanted to be rich enough to buy that car. You were willing to take up any business/profession to achieve that goal.

You saw the pics on the Wall of Fame, outside the College Principal’s office, and wanted to be on it. 

You knew this could help in gaining admission to the crème-de-la-crème of educational institutions. 

You needed that branding to achieve success in life. Then the business and corporate world changed your perspective, and shifted all paradigms once again.

Your Zero has shifted at all these points in your life. Zero is the point from which you start measuring growth in life, on a linear scale. 

You spend your life terrified of falling on the negative side, but who created this point, and allowed it to control your life? 

Chances are that this Zero is an inherited or imposed monstrosity. 

You have given it sanctity, with your unquestioning acceptance of the same.

Such a basepoint will always exist, but it could also be at the center of a circle. Growth can be non-linear:

2. What Is Your Score On The Circle Of Life?

Rate yourself on each of these arcs, and allow yourself to grow from the center to the periphery. Your Zero becomes a centripetal force, creating pressure on the diameter, and accelerating growth. 

As one area of your life improves, it creates momentum in every other segment of the circle.

Now ask yourself how Roger has fared on each of these arcs.

3. Choose Your Role Models Wisely

Social media has stories splashed around of college drop-outs becoming billionaires, or running the hottest startups in the country. It is the media’s job to showcase such successes. 

Yet, has anybody checked the statistics about the proportion of such people who made it? 

And what other attributes did they have, other than being a ‘drop-out with a brilliant idea’?

A lot of time, effort and money goes into gaining admissions to the premier educational institutions. 

Why waste that investment for a pipe-dream? Why assume that the drop-outs always do better than the pass-outs? 

Think carefully before you make rash decisions; make sure they are the right ones for you and don’t choose a path based purely on what other people have done. 

What’s worked for Roger might not work for you.

4. Ambition-Achievement Balance

Living beings are defined by a very unique DNA structure, which is difficult to replicate. You have probably seen this image splashed around social media:

Sure, I cannot be a monkey to climb that tree, nor can the monkey attempt to be me, a fish or a penguin.

There is a plethora of personality tests available to give you a profile of your strengths and weaknesses. All may not be accurate, but an average of three to five will give you a fair idea. And this is not only for students and beginners. If you are dissatisfied with life, in general, this will tell you why and what is going wrong. Changing tracks has never been easy, but it is not impossible, either.

Look for changes within your organization, your industry, or even somewhere else entirely. Take up additional courses to strengthen your base and cover the qualifications gap. A new path may emerge, slowly but surely. The metamorphosis will not be devoid of pain, but the caterpillar will eventually emerge into a butterfly.

5. The Sunk Cost Fallacy

The biggest hindrance on your path is the investment that you have already made in reaching this point. You have built an identity, which your ecosystem expects you to continue.

Your parents have invested in your education. Your spouse has married a person with a certain professional and social standing. 

Your children are known as the sons and daughters of that person. In short, your identity is being defined by their expectations of you. 

Your bosses and mentors have determined a certain career path for you, which may or may not be to your liking.

If you change and grow as an individual, one can understand their discomfort in dealing with this new persona. 

They may feel that they do not know this person, and have to reframe the terms and conditions of dealing with you. 

But they are also the ones who made you feel inadequate where you were. 

Give them time and they will recreate the context in which to deal with you. 

Some will fall by the wayside, and some will learn to relate to the real you, not the garb that you wear.

Finances cannot be ignored. Take stock of where you are, and figure out how to best allocate your resources in order to accommodate your needs. 

You’ve probably come across cases where people earn money from a particular line of activity, save enough, and then invest it in something that they really love doing. 

Maybe your crossover happens a few years down the line, and not immediately. If so, this gives you sufficient time to prepare yourself, and the ecosystem, for the changes ahead.

6. Change Your Notion Of Sacrifice

The word ‘sacrifice’ is thrown around in so many different contexts. You sacrifice a holiday for your child’s exam, or for an office emergency. 

You sacrifice a career abroad, to take care of your parents here. 

There are ‘expected sacrifices,’ which all parents make for their children. Then there are ‘imposed sacrifices,’ such as those you make for the organization you work for.

How do you define this term? Exchanging a valuable piece of life, for something of lesser value? 

Exchanging what you like, for someone else’s likes and dislikes? Exchanging your individuality, for a socially comfortable slot? Exchanging your call in life, for money?

I have rarely come across a case where a so-called sacrifice has been a one-way street of giving. 

The giver has gained something in return: tangible, intangible, or partly tangible. It could just be the happiness you get from seeing your children grow in life.

It is only a question of how you define less or more. 

Understand the parameters, and build a scale for measuring the impact of your actions. 

You will see a value somewhere, in all your actions. 

Nothing has been in vain. You may have a thankless job, but you have gained experience, if not recognition.

7. Redefine Success

The only way to accept failure is to redefine success. Success is independent of others’ expectations.

Be careful of the words that you use to define success. Words frame our thoughts, and a borrowed terminology can muddle your thinking process. 

If this is the case, words become a tool for manipulating your thoughts, rather than a mode of honest expression. 

Stay as authentic as possible, and look at events and persons as they are, at this moment, without applying filters. 

Make a vision board, talk openly to people you trust, explore new opportunities to help you discover what you truly want from life. And stay clear of expectations and role-plays.

This awareness will clearly show you where you stand in the Circle of Life. You will feel ‘centered’ in your unique individual persona. 

You need to press the Reset button, to start life at the desired point.

[THIS ARTICLE WAS ORIGINALLY WRITTEN BE A CONSCIOUS RETHINK]

[paulbenedictblog]

%news%

New Post has been published on %http://paulbenedictsgeneralstore.com%

News Mike Bloomberg deploys his billions to make a point, from a $1 million couch to a presidential campaign - The Washington Post

News

Irked by the din of the helicopter engine and the smell of its gas, a disgruntled neighbor recorded Bloomberg’s comings and goings in 2012 and gave the video to a native ABC news station.

The Fresh York press corps pounced. When asked about the illicit weekend plug, Bloomberg mentioned he would now not reveal that particular person helipad, but his irritation became positive: “Don’t know why it’s this kind of fundamental deal,” he told journalists. “If that’s the news that’s fit to print in on the present time and age, it’s a unhappy day.”

Bloomberg’s wealth is the defining characteristic of his presidential expose, a huge asset and political target. He had an estimated find worth of $60.5 billion as of Jan. 29, basically basically based on Forbes, making him the ninth-richest person on this planet and the wealthiest by a long way to leer the Oval Residing of enterprise. He’s richer than the poorest 125 million People combined, a fact Bernie Sanders calls “execrable” and “depressed.”

If the 2020 election is a referendum on how People feel about cash, Bloomberg is both the final expression of the American Dream or one symbol of a inferior gadget. In both case, the reach he spends his cash is one clue as to the extra or much less president he will likely be.

“I will’t talk for all billionaires,” he mentioned all over a latest debate. “All I know is, I’ve been very lucky, made quite so a lot of cash, and I’m giving it all away to plot this nation better.”

He’s gifted $10 billion to a form of philanthropic causes. Apart from that, he’s poured extra than $500 million into the presidential drag this year. Campaign advisers explain Bloomberg will reveal “no matter it takes” to defeat President Trump — whoever is the Democratic nominee. At his present reveal rate, that would tag him $2 billion or extra.

But he hasn’t given it all away.

Over the previous 30 years, he’s got lavish properties, within most jets and a latest-art series — the lifetime of the One P.c of the One P.c. However the cash itself became never the level, basically basically based on interviews with Bloomberg’s company and biographers. They are saying he uses his fortune to shape the enviornment to his vision.

Rewind the clock to 1981. That year Bloomberg became compelled out of his job as a millionaire accomplice on the Wall Boulevard firm Salomon Brothers. It became a blow, but softened by a $10 million severance equipment. On his closing day of work, he gave his spouse of 5 years a sable jacket.

“I became terrified that Sue will likely be ashamed of my contemporary, much less visible assign and concerned I couldn’t enhance the family,” he wrote in his 1997 autobiography “Bloomberg by Bloomberg.” “A sable jacket looked to explain, ‘No sweat. We can peaceful reveal. We’re peaceful avid gamers.’”

But in the political realm, his assets had been infrequently a liability — and a blind region. As mayor, he spent many weekends golfing in Bermuda and refused to liberate his schedule to the media whereas he became there.

All the strategy in which thru a devastating blizzard in 2010, his administration’s slack response crippled many snowbound Fresh Yorkers. Bloomberg, who rushed befriend from the island for the storm, firstly pushed apart the impact on residents. “Town is going ravishing,” he told journalists. To attach his level: “Broadway presentations had been corpulent closing night.”

Bloomberg became 39 years outdated-current when he extinct $4 million of his severance to originate the Bloomberg Terminal, a tool that gave monetary institutions instantaneous analytics. "No one in 40 years has plot up with the rest such as what Mike has," says David Rubenstein, a fellow billionaire and philanthropist.

Primarily basically based on Forbes, Bloomberg presently owns a staggering 88 percent of the privately held enterprise, which had an estimated annual earnings of $10 billion in 2018.

He became and remains an unabashed capitalist, cheerful with what he built and the nation that allowed it to occur. Love most self-made males, he attributes it all to exhausting work.

The existence yarn the advertising campaign tells about Bloomberg is of a childhood spent in a working-class suburb of Boston, and an education at Johns Hopkins College and Harvard Industry School funded by student loans, followed by 15 years on Wall Boulevard. All that every ahead of he had his entrepreneurial conception.

It took Bloomberg, who declined to commentary for this yarn, 5 years after he founded his believe firm to plot his first fundamental steal, spending $3.5 million on a townhouse at 17 East 79th Boulevard, steps from Central Park. It became a assertion to the enviornment that he’d made it, and it remains his fundamental situation. The property is now worth not decrease than 10 situations the steal tag.

The 5-yarn Beaux-Arts limestone property started with 7,500 square ft. But Bloomberg purchased 5 of the six flats in the building subsequent door. He knocked down partitions to accommodate his frequent dinner parties, where he presides as a cultured host whereas serving fried chicken and coleslaw. (“Pretentious in their unpretentiousness.” described Fresh York magazine in 2005.)

Native journalists knew Bloomberg and his longtime accomplice, Diana Taylor, had been A-list purchasers of decorator Jamie Drake. (The then-mayor chose Drake to redo Gracie Mansion, even if he never moved in.) But when the dressmaker posted Bloomberg’s Lengthy island and London antique-stuffed townhouses on his web assign with out figuring out the proprietor, the media got their first sight: Feeble Masters work, a $1 million Georgian Chippendale sofa, an antique snooker desk, and the faux-leopard upholstery. It became opulent, tasteful and a minute bit over the tip.

“Michael needs to dwell huge, devour a 19th century railroad baron,” then-editor of Arrogance Excellent-searching, Graydon Carter, told the Fresh York Cases in 2001. “He sees himself as very fundamental devour the Carnegies or Mellons.” And Fresh York A-listers noticed him that stretch, too. Bloomberg became respected and embraced by the moneyed society of Fresh York — not like Trump, who became pushed apart as a nouveau riche tabloid mainstay.

In 2006, Bloomberg chose to find his fundamental foundation, Bloomberg Philanthropies, all over the corner from his home in two combined buildings worth an estimated $86 million, basically basically based on property records. There’s a apartment on Park Avenue, three properties in Upstate Fresh York and a apartment in Vail, basically basically based on monetary disclosures he filed as mayor. His Ballyshear Estate, a 1913 oceanside mansion in Southampton, sits on 35 acres with a backyard designed by Frederick Legislation Olmsted, who also created Central Park.

As a minimal half of the properties aren’t for his within most reveal and are basically for his relations, together with his two daughters, Emma and Georgina, and his grandchildren, basically basically based on his advertising campaign.

In any other nation, the self-professed Anglophile has two properties in London, where he stays when visiting Bloomberg LP’s huge space of work in town: a 3-yarn Victorian on Cadogan Square and a townhouse in Chelsea where author George Eliot as soon as lived. The Cadogan Square property capabilities sweeping staircases, marble columns and work by American artists such as Jasper Johns and Andy Warhol. Bloomberg, who calls London his 2d home, has an brisk social existence in town and is chairman of the board of trustees for the Serpentine Galleries.

Then there’s the controversial home in Bermuda. He purchased a modest seaside estate in 1998 and replaced it with a $10 million, 6,000-square-foot retreat, with neighbors such as the behind businessman Ross Perot and Silvio Berlusconi, the gentle prime minister of Italy. Bermuda is his current space to play golf, which he took up later in existence and has obsessively tried to triumph over.

He also owns within most jets — notably a Dassault Falcon 900B — and an Agusta SPA A1095 helicopter handpicked by Bloomberg.

“One among his company mentioned that he noticed cash as a tag to the rest of the enviornment,” says Eleanor Randolph, author of “The Many Lives of Michael Bloomberg.” “No longer so fundamental things he may possibly per chance lift, but as a source of energy.”

"Philanthropy and public carrier are my two huge loves after my daughters and my firm," he wrote in 1997, a year after he wrote his first multimillion-buck take a look at to Johns Hopkins College. "There are few folks as lucky as I certainly were. Counting on your perspective, I deserve it or I invent not. No matter which, I certainly comprise it."

As a trustee of the university, Bloomberg modified into tantalizing about the foundation of the reveal of wealth to connect lives. He’s given a whole of $3.3 billion to his alma mater, the top single recipient of his philanthropy.

“I never comprise met anyone in any occupation that got the foundation so swiftly,” mentioned Al Sommer, then-dean of the university’s School of Public Health. Bloomberg is now one of many most beneficiant philanthropists in The US, selling gun security, environmental security, education, women folk’s rights and successfully being care.

But Bloomberg has mentioned he believes within most philanthropy can invent most attention-grabbing so fundamental. In 2001, when he became 59 years outdated-current, he decided to speed for mayor.

All the strategy in which thru that first advertising campaign, journalists questioned the billionaire about why he hadn’t released his tax returns. Bloomberg chafed on the demand, as if his substantial wealth will not be in contrast to that of the a lot of candidates. “They don’t plot the rest,” he shot befriend. “They receives a charge precisely what they — ” and then he stopped himself. “Ignore it. Subsequent ask.”

(The ask of his tax returns has plot up over again in his presidential expose; he’s promised to liberate them within weeks.)

As a lifelong Democrat who registered as a Republican to speed for mayor, he spent a file $74 million to gather the space of work in 2001, and even extra — $85 million — in 2005 for a 2d term. He obtained in a landslide over his Democratic opponent, whose advertising campaign spent most attention-grabbing $9.5 million, basically basically based on advertising campaign finance records.

The monetary crisis of 2008 gave the billionaire a compelling cause to foyer for any other four years, which required town to exchange its term-limit guidelines. By the atomize of the advertising campaign, he had spent $109 million of his believe cash. The tab for his three mayoral campaigns became the most any particular person for my fragment spent to gather elected space of work.

But he became also making a present billions, some of it anonymously. Bloomberg serious about town’s infrastructure, public art projects and public successfully being. He banned smoking in Fresh York Metropolis bars, unpopular when it took space till it became roundly embraced.

Between 2001 and 2010, he donated nearly $200 million to the Carnegie Corporation, which in flip funded little programs all over town.

“Someone who got those grants knew they came from Bloomberg,” mentioned Joyce Purnick, author of “Mike Bloomberg: Money, Energy, Politics.” Critics accused him of the reveal of the philanthropy for his believe political ambitions — at that level, a third term as mayor.

After leaving space of work in 2013, there became discuss he may possibly per chance pick into a lifetime of philanthropy, provocative and golf. As an different, he went befriend to his firm, ousted the executive executive and took befriend watch over again.

“The different, in my case, is staying home and speaking to Diana about emotions,” he joked at a panel discussion in 2014. “If that doesn’t gather you befriend to work, I don’t know what would.”

For about a years, he kept busy with his enterprise and philanthropy, then became an increasing form of drawn into politics. He considered but rejected coming into the 2016 presidential drag, despite entreaties by fellow billionaires such as Rupert Murdoch. But, unnerved by the election of Trump, he gave extra than $100 million to congressional candidates in the 2018 midterms. When the president pulled the US out of the Paris native weather settlement, Bloomberg pledged to veil the U.S. contribution, which amounted to $4.5 million in 2018 and $5.5 million in 2019.

In early 2019, Bloomberg launched Hawkfish, a digital voter identification and messaging firm that he deliberate to present to whoever modified into the 2020 Democratic nominee for president. At the time, he became jubilant with the field, and he permitted gentle vp Joe Biden as the likely front-runner and even mentioned advisers for his advertising campaign, solutions that had been disregarded. But Biden’s lackluster first debate and his dejected fundraising terrified him, as did Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s space on Medicare-for-all. He terrified that the massive Democratic field wasn’t embracing insurance policies strategically and that Trump would beat them in key battleground states.

“That fearful him, and that’s when he decided to enter the drag,” mentioned a Bloomberg adviser.

His drag is so a lot devour his existence: sweeping, successfully-funded, luxurious in contrast with every varied Democratic rival. Entry-level staffers for his advertising campaign are paid $72,000 a year, with three catered meals each day, experiences the Fresh York Cases. The advertising campaign has issued Apple laptops and contemporary iPhones for the thousands of oldsters hired to work in 125 offices all over the nation. Even his rallies are extravagant: open bars, groaning buffets and a whole bunch free swag.

No matter it takes to beat Trump.

“It grates on him that a man not nearly as successfully off, not nearly as natty and not nearly as philanthropic modified into president of the US,” defined any other buddy. “He thinks he’s better than Trump in all those categories — so why shouldn’t he be president?”

That, in actual fact, is the $2 billion ask.

[ramajmedia]

Ready Or Not Game Rules & Ending Explained | Screen Rant

Warning: This article contains major SPOILERS for Ready Or Not.

Let's dive into Ready Or Not's ending and the complex rules of the film's deadly game of hide-and-seek. Directed by Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett (Devil's Due), Ready Or Not stars Samara Weaving as Grace, a beautiful bride marrying into the fabulously wealthy Le Domas family. But immediately after saying "I do", Grace learns from her new husband Alex (Mark O'Brien) that she must play a game at midnight as part of their eccentric tradition for anyone new joining the family. The game turns out to be a violent version of hide-and-seek as the Le Domas clan hunts Grace throughout their opulent mansion as part of a bizarre ritual.

In the film's final act, an injured, bloody, and desperate Grace's attempt to flee the Le Domas mansion is foiled when she's captured by Stevens (John Ralston), the butler, whom Grace then kills when she causes a car crash. Unfortunately, Grace is tricked by Daniel (Adam Brody) and she's finally subdued and brought back to the mansion to complete the family ritual: she has to be sacrificed to the mysterious Mr. Le Bail, the Le Domas clan's original benefactor, in a Satanic ritual before dawn or else the family fears they'll all instantly die. In a series of twists and turns, a guilt-ridden Daniel frees Grace and tries to help her escape, but he's shot and killed by his own wife, Charity (Elyse Lesvesque). As Alex watches his brother die, their mother Becky (Andie MacDowell) tries to murder Grace but the bride fights off her mother-in-law and pummels her to death. When Alex sees Grace has killed his mom, he turns on his new wife and forces her into the ritual sacrifice. The remaining Le Domas family then perform the ritual right as dawn beckons.

Related: Screen Rant's Ready Or Not Review: Schlocky Horror Comedy At Its Finest

However, Alex can't go through with stabbing Grace in the heart and he instead impales her shoulder, breaking the ritual. As the family is aghast, they realize it's now dawn and they're all still fine. Their joy doesn't last, however, as each Le Domas family member spontaneously combusts, bursting into bloody chunks all over the room as a delighted Grace, covered in blood and body parts, laughs. Alex, however, thinks he's the sole survivor until he, too, explodes after Grace demands, "I want a divorce!" Grace is left as the only person who survived the night - and deservedly so.

A gleefully entertaining black comedy crossed with gruesome survival horror, Ready Or Not is layered with a complex set of rules and mythology that is revealed throughout Grace's ordeal with her in-laws from hell. Here's everything that the Le Domas clan believed about their insane traditions and how and why they kill people marrying into their family. Here's a full explainer to Ready or Not's ending.

Ready Or Not's Game Rules Explained

Before getting into the ending, we must first establish Ready or Not's game rules. According to their tradition established by their great-grandfather Victor Le Domas, anyone new marrying into the Le Domas family has to play a game. This is the only way to truly be accepted into the family and prove that they are "one of us". At midnight, the new bride or husband sits with the rest of the Le Domas family in a special Family Room (which is forbidden to anyone else). The newest addition then places a blank card into a special box given to Victor by Mr. Le Bail; the box will then "choose" what game the family will play.

In most cases, the box will inscribe a board game on the blank card to play but, every once in a while, it will choose hide-and-seek, as it did with Grace. When this happens, a creepy song will suddenly play on the phonograph marking the start of the game. The entire Le Domas mansion is placed on lockdown. Because there were no security cameras when this tradition was established, the cameras are deactivated to make the game "fair". Grace then has until the count of 100 to hide, after which point the family arms themselves with weapons and go on to seek her. The weapons used by the family must only be the traditional weapons kept in the Family Room. In addition, the husband/wife, in this case, Alex, must remain in the Family Room during the game (though Alex immediately escapes in order to help Grace).

Grace has to stay hidden until dawn to win the game; conversely, the Le Domas family has to capture - but not kill - her, despite the lethal weapons they wielded. Grace had to be kept alive and brought back to the Family Room for the final part of the ritual, a Satanic incantation/human sacrifice before dawn, wherein Mr. Le Bail would magically appear in his chair. If the Le Domas family failed to win hide-and-seek, they believed they would all gruesomely die - which is indeed what happened. And, as in-laws Charity and Fitch Bradley (Kristian Bruun), the husband of Emile Le Domas (Melanie Scrofano) discovered, once they're officially married into the Le Domas family, they're also subjected to the penalty of losing hide-and-seek.

Le Domas Family Backstory: Is Mr. Le Bail Really The Devil?

As Tony Le Domas (Henry Czerny) explains in the family history, the Le Domas Dominion (as they prefer to be called) began in the 19th century. Victor Le Domas was a merchant sailor and, during one of the long sea voyages, he played a game of chance with the mysterious Mr. Le Bail. Victor won the game and received the magic black box that became the vessel for how every game is chosen when someone new marries into the Le Domas family. Le Bail also somehow gifted Victor with the ability to earn his vast fortune from board games and playing cards - to the point where the family's vast wealth allowed them to own four professional sports teams.

But the rules the Le Domas family lived by in order to maintain their dominion were also stifling; other Le Domases, like Aunt Helene (Nicky Guadagni), had to sacrifice their new spouse on their wedding night after hide-and-seek. Some of the Le Domas family didn't believe the curse was real, yet they still went through with their terrible rituals out of fear that they could lose everything they had, including their lives. The Le Domases just wrote it all off as the price they must pay in order to maintain their wealth and status.

Ready Or Not strongly implies that Mr. Le Bail is the Devil and Victor Le Domas made a deal with him to become insanely wealthy. Not only is their ritual sacrifice Satanic, but it's centered around Mr. Le Bail magically appearing in his favorite chair - which he briefly does. Grace sees him flicker into the room for a moment after the entire Le Domas family perishes.

Why Alex Le Domas Betrayed Grace

The most duplicitous character in Ready Or Not turned out to be Alex Le Domas. Alex was the prodigal son who left the family for two years, but he eventually returned with Grace, whom he intended to marry. Alex knew Grace, who grew up in foster homes, was desperate to be a part of a real family, and marrying into the insanely wealthy Le Domas Dominion was a dream come true for her. However, Alex didn't tell her about the family tradition and what it could entail until after hide-and-seek was already underway. Alex was never forthright with his bride unless it served his own needs, and his biggest fear was that she would leave him.

Even though Alex was trying to save Grace for part of the movie, he was really struggling with his true nature as a Le Domas and his loyalty to his family. Because Daniel was "the weaker brother," Alex was looked upon as the son who was destined to take over the Le Domas Dominion from Tony - this is why the family was so desperate to have him return to the fold (whether or not Grace survived hide-and-seek). However, Daniel turned out to be more heroic when he succumbed to his conscience and tried to save Grace from the Satanic ritual, even though it meant betraying his family and being killed by his own wife, Charity.

Ultimately, when Alex saw that Grace had killed his mother, he snapped and turned on his new wife. However, Alex could have been gambling: he didn't stab Grace in the heart to complete the ritual because he might have believed that the curse was true, meaning that his family would all die but he wouldn't, so he and Grace could be the lone members of the Le Domas left alive. But Alex is a Le Domas through-and-through, and he also died horribly because they all failed to sacrifice Grace. And it was because Grace survived hide-and-seek (plus she demanded a divorce) that she lived; by the family rules, she proved she wasn't a Le Domas.

What Happens After Ready Or Not's Ending?

At the end of Ready Or Not, the police arrive to find quite a sight: Grace, her wedding dress completely covered in blood and guts, sitting on the steps of the Le Domas mansion, which is burning down. Obviously, Grace would have a lot of explaining to do, but if all of the evidence is destroyed in the mansion fire, she may not be able to prove the insane truth that this billionaire family hunted her and tried to sacrifice her in a Satanic ritual. However, the question of whether Grace signed a prenuptial agreement before marrying Alex also isn't addressed: if Grace didn't (and it's possible Alex didn't ask her to), then this means she could also walk away from her ordeal in Ready Or Not as a billionaire completely in control of the Le Domas Dominion - a reward Grace deserves for what she endured.

Next: Ready Or Not Has Two Major X-Men Movies Connections

source https://screenrant.com/ready-not-game-rules-ending-explained/

[careerjugglr]

Elon Musk, Steve Jobs: Are we dealing with jerk tech CEOs like gods?

Recently Elon Musk, the billionaire founder of Tesla, required to Twitter once again with unusual remarks, saying how "weird" it is that the cave diver who rescued the Thai young boys didn't sue him after he called him a paedophile. The notion that the scuba diver might not desire to enter a legal fight with a mean-tempered billionaire seemingly hadn't occurred to him. (Though the scuba diver's legal representative is now reportedly preparing a libel match.)

This comes after what was mainly viewed as Musk's melodramatic New york city Times painted a dismal photo of her dad in her narrative Small Fry due out this week. In it, she exposes how he rejected her financial support and told her she smelt "like a toilet." That she's not horrified by his behaviour is more a testament to her than him.Despite tremendous financial security, success and individual comfort, these men acquired a track record for being petty and ungenerous whenever possible. They do not exhibit really numerous personality traits we relate to a great person.My granny would have said"they do not appear like very delighted people."I'm more inclined to fret about how unhappy they seemed to make everyone around them.Fans of Elon Musk and Steve Jobs appear to worship them more for their bad behaviour than their fantastic work.Source: Provided

Now, it's possible to be both dazzling and cruel, ingenious and un-self-aware, effective and parsimonious.Individuals can create

things we enjoy and still be bad people. But you wouldn't know that from their fan bases. It's not that they're grappling with the concept of their heroes being complex individuals, it's that they see these males as wholly aspirational.Their fans think that they are perfect and want to go to war with anybody who thinks otherwise.Tech website Mashable has actually stated that people who aren't Musk fans fulfill the" immutable wrath of Musk's fans online, which comes typically by means of some nonsensical defence of a billionaire's right to do whatever he wants and variations of the word 'bitch.' "Science reporter Erin Biba writes that "MuskBros, as we call them, make it their objective to descend on women who criticise Musk and tear them to pieces."And back in 2015, Beauty salon wrote that Jobs, who passed away in 2011, was a"messiah to jerks. "If that's real, there are a great deal of them.The website Cultofmac displays fans who have actually gotten Jobs 'name or face tattooed on their bodies. A "gown like Steve Jobs day "was kept in San Diego in 2011 to encourage people to dress like the late Apple founder.They didn't need the motivation.

Lots of followers have copied his style throughout the years that it became a joke on the show Silicon Valley with one character stating "Are you dressed like Steve Jobs?" And the other responding," Oh, am I? Well, I suppose Steve and I always have shared a similar aesthetic. "In 2016, popular culture website The Ringer wrote of Elon Musk that," not because Steve Jobs has a tech entrepreneur sparked such unabashed fandom. "The Elon Musk Quote & News page on Facebook, which sells T-shirts with captions like "Take Me To Mars Elon," has 313,000 members. That hardly compares with his 22.4 million Twitter followers. One fan tweeted that"it physically harms to see people attack [Elon.]"But, Musk runs a company where, inning accordance with a 2017 report in The & Guardian, employees in Tesla factories are passing out facedown from fatigue and other workers are being told to work around the bodies.Space X and Tesla Motors founder and CEO, Elon Musk has been in headings a lot recently. Image: Benjamin Lowy Source: Getty Images If you think your children or spouse are practically best, well, so be it. Love makes us a bit unreasonable. But it's extremely unreasonable to extend this level of hero praise to somebody you have not even met.True, Jobs made a device I utilize every day.

I also use my toaster practically every day. I do not hang out on Twitter discussing how the inventor of the toaster is an amazing genius who must have been allowed to treat anybody else however he wanted.Tech founders more deserving of honor appear to pass utterly under the radar. Microsoft founder Bill Gates has devoted his loan to curing malaria, and, now, combating Alzheimer's. He and his other half of 25 years, Melinda, appear happily

purchased their charity work.He's on Twitter, something that shocked me since he's seemingly never ever sent out a controversial, relevant tweet. His bio checks out"Sharing things I'm finding out through my foundation work and other interests."Many of his tweets appear

to concentrate on doing good around the world and instructors he admires. His most fiery tweet might be"I dislike mosquitoes "(he goes on to discuss it is due to the fact that they spread out malaria, possibly to reveal he's not the sort of guy who would just walk around hating a generally abhored bug for no good factor). When fans worship people like Elon Musk and Steve Jobs and desire resemble them, they're not saying that they want to make a gadget that the world utilizes. They're not even stating that they want to be really wealthy. They're saying that they 'd like to accomplish a level of wealth and power where nobody can evaluate them and they can behave as badly as they like-- just as Jobs and Musk have done.They don't desire to do great on the planet, like Expense Gates, they just wish to be able to state any dreadful thing they desire on Twitter.And the world quite truthfully doesn't need anymore of those people.

[harrisonkitteridge-blog]

Sherlock Season 4 – TL;DR: The Fanfiction is Better

SPOILERS AND PALATE-CLEANSING FIC RECS FOLLOW

Season 4 of Sherlock was always going to be a tough sell for me, because the moment they revealed “she’s a secret assassin!” I stopped buying the Mary Watson character. It’s what film critic, Mark Kermode, calls the “Meg Ryan is a helicopter pilot/Keanu Reeves is an architect” problem. Amanda Abbington was just not believable to me as a spec ops assassin, and she wasn’t equipped to perform the action convincingly. And all that was before the problems with the story were even revealed. After Mary shot Sherlock, every time she turned up on the screen, my stomach clenched, because, as presented, she was capable of anything – demonstrating profoundly antisocial tendencies: lying, manipulation, self-serving extreme violence, and disregard for human life. Her total rehabilitation was simply not plausible to me and probably wouldn’t have been even if its foundation hadn’t been the unbelievably ludicrous, glib assertion: “That was surgery.” (Not how guns and bullets work!) Watching her subsequent chumminess with Sherlock, whom she shot in the chest and killed (he flatlined), made me feel like I was being gaslighted. In my mind, it wasn’t good enough for her to say, “I only hurt Sherlock because I love John so much I can’t lose him!” Go down to any battered women’s shelter and you’ll hear similar stories of abusers’ rationalisations for beating up the person their property dared to smile at in the grocery store parking lot. Watching Mary joke and laugh with the people she’d victimised so horribly while continuing to marginalise John made much of The Six Thatchers almost unwatchable for me.

I understand that the undercurrent of intimate partner abuse in the Watson family was wholly unintentional, and it reminds me of the criticisms of 50 Shades of Gray. In both cases, two-dimensional characters (“Action Barbie” and “Sexy Troubled Billionaire”) there solely to serve the plot – not function as decision-making protagonists in their own lives – were the problem. (Yes, I just compared Sherlock to 50 Shades of Gray. At least 50 Shades of Gray had the excuse of a novice writer wrangling with the knottiness of a BDSM relationship as an excuse. Moftiss should know better.) Nevertheless, as much as I disliked the Mary Watson character, as much side eye as I gave her and John’s frankly dubious “love story”, I was appalled by Moftiss icing her so Sherlock could figure out he needs to check his ego. She was just there to sacrifice herself for Sherlock after his douchery got a bullet fired at him and to give John something to shake and sob about. The entire storyline of their “strong female character” was essentially a morality play aimed at teaching Sherlock about the dangers of hubris and a fulcrum to lever up the man-tear quotient. Then they turned their BAMF assassin into the benevolent spirit providing emotional instruction via DVD from beyond the veil. *vomiting emoji*

The Lying Detective at least provided relief from all the incoherent punching and shooting and rappelling of The Six Thatchers, even if it brought with it the lazy construct of the hallucinated spouse as an expression of grief (for real, though, the handling of the Mary Watson character and storyline is a masterclass in what not to do – so incredibly misjudged). One of the major issues I have with Moftiss’s writing is their careless, insensitive handling of serious mental health issues. Using auditory and visual hallucinations as shortcuts to say “I’m devastated by the loss of my wife” really rubbed me the wrong way. John wasn’t just talking to Mary in his head or forgetting she was dead, which happens to many people who lose a loved one suddenly. He was seeing her, hearing her – he couldn’t separate her spectre from reality. Those are not manifestations of grief; they are signs of profound psychological disturbance and distress that require urgent medical intervention, maybe even hospitalisation. They could have tied John’s extreme symptoms to sleep-deprivation from having to deal with Rosie at all hours of the night. The sleep-deprivation could have been exacerbated by insomnia brought on by feelings of guilt. But, no. They did it because real grief, presented the way a well-adjusted, middle-aged adult would experience it just wasn’t sexy enough. 

I never found the “high-functioning sociopath” line funny, but thought they might take it to an interesting place. What is sociopathy? How does it manifest itself? How would it manifest itself in Sherlock Holmes? Why does Sherlock label himself this way? Was he misdiagnosed (he’s obviously not a sociopath)? Was he self-diagnosed? I don’t think Moftiss ever genuinely considered how having a personality disorder would affect a character’s behaviour outside of giving him funny quirks and making him a bit rude. “High-functioning sociopath” was just there as a clapback to Anderson then as something gangster to say before Sherlock shot Magnusson in the face. They never thought it all the way through. By way of comparison, Arthur Conan Doyle described Sherlock Holmes as a law unto himself, as the final arbiter. He was also called “masterful” – able to impose his will on others. When he chose, he had “an ingratiating quality” and could easily earn people’s trust. He was also an accomplished actor and master of disguise, who was able to fool even his dear Watson. There is a grandiose, manipulative psychology at work there that is knitted together with a deep sense of fair play and commitment to justice. While sometimes churlish and short-tempered, he could be profoundly empathetic. He also had nervous breakdowns, what we call major depressive episodes today, and used hard drugs to self-medicate. Sherlock Holmes’s psychology is full of fascinating contradictions. Everything Moftiss needed was in the original text, but they never got beneath the surface. So, while they’ve hit on some of these traits, they’ve never been fully integrated into a complete character because I just don’t think they’ve made the effort to understand mental illness and related drug abuse. There’s actually an interview of Steven Moffat describing Sherlock as “clinically insane”. The fundamental misunderstanding of what that means is why The Final Problem ultimately failed.

The appearance of the evil, secret sister telegraphed that we were heading into telenovela territory, and I wasn’t surprised by the contrivance of the Maze of Moral Abyss, all those macabre labours for Sherlock, John and Mycroft to perform – a steroidal re-hash of The Great Game. It was like something out of a 90s action film – The Rock meets Die Hard With a Vengeance, and I watched it as such. I half expected Bruce Willis or some other 90s throwback to come bounding in, armed to the teeth, start flinging grenades and just command them to shoot their way out. Even so, The Final Problem was the best of the three episodes this season – at least them spending nearly the entire episode at Sherrinford meant that it was cohesive tonally. I still don’t quite know what to make of them choosing to ground the entire plot – all those games, all those deaths – in Eurus’s cry for help. It is possible to humanise a psychopath within the constraints of their diagnosis. They have inner lives that aren’t limited to the monstrous, but they’re not like us – the emo play is always a loser – you can only out-manipulate them. They have an internally consistent view of the world, and once you understand the rules they follow, you can predict their behaviour and outflank them (it’s the basis of criminal profiling), but you have to empathise with them. Do you see how understanding all that not only helps with characterisation but buttresses the plotting and would have avoided the anti-climax of the ending? Answering the question: “What does Eurus really want?” then having Sherlock, John and Mycroft connive a way to give it to her would have been much more interesting.

The obvious pop cultural point of connection with The Final Problem is The Silence of the Lambs. We all were drawn to Hannibal Lecter – we couldn’t help liking him and felt conflicted about it. At the end of the film when Clarice says she knows he won’t come after her because he would consider it “rude” – now that’s interesting. What is Eurus’s “That would be rude”? My inability to answer that question gets to the heart of my problem with Sherlock – I don’t feel like I understand any of the characters or what is motivating them. Superimposing the tropes of storytelling onto the episodes and trying to read between the lines is the only way to make sense of them. They’ve been building to this Eurus confrontation for literally half a decade, and it still fell flat. They gave her whole backstory, and I still don’t understand her. By way of comparison, The Silence of the Lambs is 2 hours and 18 minutes long, and Anthony Hopkins appears on screen for only fifteen minutes, yet we all understood exactly who Hannibal Lecter was, what he was capable of, what he wanted and why. I’ll grant that The Silence of the Lambs is an unfairly high bar, but it provided a clear blueprint for the complex, charismatic, psychopathic serial killer pulling the strings. At the end of The Final Problem, Moftiss asks us to believe that the answer to Eurus’s “problem” was the love of her family. She obviously coveted Sherlock’s attention enough to murder poor Victor Trevor and set her elaborate stage, but anyone who understands even the basic contours of her psychology knows her shaking and crying in a burnt out house and needing a hug from her brother isn’t how that story ends.

I seriously wonder how much better Sherlock would have turned out if at some point in the last 5 years Moftiss had just googled Cluster B Personality Disorders and spent a few days boning up. They wouldn’t have made such a hash of Mary, and Eurus wouldn’t have been “Female Moriarty Who Lost Her Bottle in the End” – utterly anticlimactic. Or did they do the research, but they just couldn’t give a woman the minerals to be a proper villain?

To be clear: I wouldn’t have many of the complaints I’ve laid out if I hadn’t constantly been told Sherlock is the cleverest show on television. It’s not. It never was. The plotting of the first two seasons got it pretty close to being included in that conversation, but it’s no The Sopranos, no The Wire, no Mad Men. At this point, I’d say any workmanlike police procedural has it beat, hands down. Remember all those arguments about which was the better show, Elementary or Sherlock? Well, Elementary won. And that unsexy police procedural structure is why. The show has an identity, a solid foundation – it’s consistent. Moftiss can’t seem to decide what Sherlock is about, and that’s why so much of Season 4 felt like lurching in and out of a Jason Statham film, a Masterpiece Theatre offering and a Lifetime movie. At least The Final Problem managed to break that pattern. It was essentially the Sherlock Holmes origin story, and it took us back to the ancestral home, back to the first tragedy. Even just visually, we were clearly in Skyfall, which shows that Ralph Jones picked up exactly what Moftiss were putting down when he called them out on the “James Bonding” of Sherlock. (The literary beef that ensued was entertaining, and Jones bodied Gatiss with “The Second Letter” – the cipher in the cipher was the mortal wound.)

The argument about the Bonding of the franchise was really about a lack of depth – the flash of fight sequences over the substance of watching a precise but troubled mind at work – and Jones clearly made a valid point. Gatiss shooting back that Sherlock being a BAMF is canon didn’t address the heart of the criticism. I think the Daniel Craig Bond films are much better than anything on offer in post-Season 2 Sherlock. Even with all the camp, sneering baddies and always slightly ridiculous plots, they never got anywhere near anything as radioactively, intergalactically idiotic as “That was surgery.” In a Bond film, when someone is shot in the chest at close range, it’s TO SHOOT THEM IN THE CHEST SO THEY STOP EXISTING. If they manage to survive, it’s a bit of a turn-up. Guns and bullets don’t magically become surgical implements. Yet Sherlock used this physics-defying rebuke of basic human anatomy to convince intelligent, educated people to go along with the rehabilitation of Mary Watson (why they chose to make her silly storyline so important is baffling). They then doubled down on that narrative in The Six Thatchers, piling on a barrage of action that was essentially extraneous to the story. All to get us to the moment in the aquarium where Mary dives in front of a bullet to save Sherlock, who for some unfathomable reason decided to talk over any attempts to pacify Norbury and all but commanded her to shoot him. Then Mary was kind of a ghost but not really. Then they introduced a long-lost evil sister and an island prison. Do all that if you want; just don’t insult my intelligence by smugly telling me it’s clever then hide behind Arthur Conan Doyle’s skirts when you get called out on it. If from the beginning Moftiss had just owned up to having wanted to write a glossy, slightly absurd, mainstream actioner with soliloquizing villains, I would have gladly gone along with it. But I’ve continuously been told I’m watching The Usual Suspects or some other complex thriller with a sense of humour when it’s clear I’m watching Bad Boys 2 with British accents. Again: that’s fine in the name of pure entertainment; just know that insisting it’s clever feels like a straight-up troll. At some point all the cognitive dissonance had to become too much to bear.

So what’s the result of all this?

The fanfiction is better.

Even relatively inexperienced fanfic writers with a limited set of tools at least attempted to flesh out the characters and give them backstories and lives, fully formed personalities. It didn’t always work, but the effort was appreciated. The superstars of the genre used the hiatus to write stories that surpassed anything Moftiss gave us in Season 4, particularly in terms of character development. When characters’ motivations drive the plot, the story is not only more cohesive narratively, it’s more engaging and lasting because all the shocks and gasps are earned and move beyond cheap manipulation for the sake of entertainment. At the heart of the narrative success of the top-tier fanfiction is empathy. The writers got inside the characters’ heads and asked, “Who are these people? Where are they from? What experiences shaped them? What do they want? What are they afraid of? Whom do they love?” Moftiss seemed to reverse engineer everyone’s behaviour and emotional reactions by working backwards from the plot – everyone is just there to be manipulated, to be made to speak or act because the plot demands it, so those questions can’t really be answered. That labyrinth Eurus runs Sherlock, John and Mycroft through is a microcosm of the entire franchise. If I didn’t read fanfiction, maybe I could have gone along for the ride with Moftiss, but I knew there were fully realised characters out there whose hurt wasn’t manufactured, whose choices mattered beyond setting up a gag or a plot twist, who were protagonists in their own lives no matter how small their roles were.

Not even Sherlock escapes this poor treatment.

Here’s what exactly none of the plot-driven, post-Season 3 Sherlock fanfiction I’ve read failed to consider: Sherlock dealing with the fallout of having been captured and tortured in Serbia then being shot by Mary. Do you know why they all went there? Because being the victim of that kind of brutal violence tends to affect people psychologically, and those effects ripple into the lives of their friends and family. But in Moftiss Land, Sherlock being chained and beaten at the opening of the third season was just there so we could watch Mycroft crack wise while wearing a fur hat. Mary shooting him was meant to “Red Wedding” us, nothing more. There were no lingering physical or psychological effects from Sherlock having been tortured. It’s never come up again, not even as an aside. Really think about that and what it means about the quality of the writing, about the depth of the characterisation, about the empathy being deployed towards the eponymous hero. Sherlock is obviously the character Moftiss hold in the highest esteem, but Season 3 proved Sherlock is just a prop to them – their most beloved prop but still just a thing, a toy. The only real narrative through lines in Sherlock are the twists, and they’re the only elements that aren’t played right on the surface. Everything else is meant to be taken at face value. There is no subtlety, no subtext. There are Easter eggs and other markers laid down mostly for plot payoffs – a puzzle to solve – but no emotional depth, no narrative consistency. Sherlock is and always has been elementary – there were just too few episodes for most of us to suss it out sooner.

A few people saw through all the flash of Sherlock from the very beginning, and I tip my hat to them for being far more perceptive than I. (If they’re running around being insufferable and shouting, “I told you so!” they’ve more than earned the right.) The first two seasons were a fresh, shiny new take on the somewhat musty image of the great detective, and we all got to watch Benedict Cumberbatch take command and come into his own. But the real reason those early episodes were of such a higher quality was the low budgets: they handcuffed Moftiss. They couldn’t get all the helicopters, Aston Martins and rappelling super soldiers on their juvenile wish list, so the plot twists actually had to be interesting not just turned up to eleven. We all mistakenly assumed that character development that would match the level of the plotting would come later. What those early critics of Sherlock understood (and what has come to pass) was that the reverse would happen: the plotting would sink to meet the level of the poor characterisation. What most of us took for slight faux pas we could overlook, they realised were portents of the slide in quality we’ve all witnessed. They knew Moftiss weren’t to be trusted to dock the ship, and they were absolutely right. Once Moftiss were truly given free rein, the true heart of Sherlock was revealed, and it’s just confused but lacks the self-awareness to realise or do anything about it.

Being “the smart kids” is part of the hardcore Sherlock fandom’s identity, and I don’t see many of them being able to admit that Moftiss bamboozled them. (We all got took, guys.) The capricious characterisation, careening plot and disjointed editing have thus far been interpreted as intentional, as Moftiss hiding the ball, as further evidence of their diabolical cleverness – all the incoherence taken as a collection of hidden clues to be thoroughly investigated. Even though Season 3 made it clear the story was spinning out of control and Season 4 has seen it hurl itself off a cliff (but only just miss smashing its head on the rocks), much of the earnest analysis will likely continue. Many of the casuals are in it for the slick deductions and probably embraced all the high-octane thrills. (There will be an inevitable backlash, though – you can’t fool all the people all the time.) The excellent ratings of Season 4 mean the bean counters will want a Season 5, or at the very least more Christmas Specials. Enough of the audience is probably still on board to justify it financially. I can only hope Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman have enough sense to withhold their participation. The Final Problem wasn’t the unmitigated disaster I was expecting, but everything from Season 3 onwards has made it clear the show can’t live up to its early potential and that the problems with the storytelling are baked in. So, it’s best this latest Sherlock Holmes incarnation just come to a close before it becomes a career-devouring black hole.

Thank goodness the fanfiction provides someplace the characters can live on.

  Fics to Cleanse the Palate

TRUTH MAY VARY by @amalnahurriyeh

Seven years after Sherlock's death, John's life is normal.

And then it isn't.

I don’t usually rec incomplete work, but this is close enough to being done to be satisfying. If Season 3 onward had shown even a fraction of the emotional maturity of this story, we would be in a very different place.

Read on AO3.

 STRAIGHT BOY PAIN by @glenmoresparks

Sherlock is in pain. Billy Kinkaid, the Camden garrotter and best man Sherlock knows, diagnoses it. Ademar Silver, a male prostitute in south London, attempts to treat it. Lestrade, kindly Detective Inspector of New Scotland Yard, doesn’t notice it. Eventually, John Watson, healer and registered medical doctor, cures it.

And a beautician called Penny paints Sherlock’s toenails.

Read on AO3.

 FAN MAIL by @scullyseviltwin

“WatsonChick143 has been rather maniacal in her commenting as of late... she’s left comments on everything you’ve posted John, something so obvious can’t have escaped even your attention."

A fan of John’s blog graduates into stalking.

Read on AO3.

 THE YELLOW POPPIES by @silentauroriamthereal

Sherlock is threatened and assaulted in the hospital immediately after having been shot in the heart, first by Mary, then by Magnussen. As he recovers at Baker Street with John and plans the attack on Appledore with Mycroft, he fights to work through the trauma caused by these two visits. Set during His Last Vow.

Read on AO3.

And in an act of shameless self-promotion:

BEFORE HOLMES MET WATSON by Meeeeeeeeeeeeee!

What does it mean to be a detective with no cases to solve? Sherlock Holmes tries not to ponder this question as he distracts himself from his professional failings with bare-knuckle boxing at an underground fight club and vials of cocaine and morphine. John Watson spends his days in an operating theatre on an Army base in Afghanistan, doing his best to patch up the wounded and failing more often than he'd like. The dark, violent worlds in which both men choose to live complicate their romantic lives and cause them terrible suffering but set them on paths that are destined to cross.

Read on Wattpad or Tablo OR download the Ebook on my website.

I’m always looking for recs, so PLEASE ADD A FIC YOU THINK ISN’T GETTING ENOUGH LOVE.