#longevity.

[cogecaratulascover]

The Untapped Benefits of DVD and Blu-ray Media in the Streaming Era

Introduction: In an era where streaming dominates the way we consume media, it's easy to overlook the enduring benefits of physical media like DVDs and Blu-rays. While streaming services offer convenience and on-demand access to a vast library of content, there are several advantages to owning DVD and Blu-ray collections that are worth considering. In this article, we will explore the unique benefits that these fiscal media formats still offer in the age of streaming.

Seamless Access: One major advantage of owning DVDs and Blu-rays is that they provide seamless access to content without the need for a stable internet connection. While streaming platforms depend on a reliable internet connection, physical media ensures that you can watch movies and TV shows anytime, anywhere, even in remote or low-connectivity areas.

Superior Quality: Although streaming services have made significant strides in improving their video and audio quality, there is still a noticeable difference when compared to Blu-ray. Blu-ray discs offer uncompressed audio and pristine high-definition video quality, providing a true cinematic experience that streaming platforms struggle to replicate. For movie enthusiasts who appreciate superior visual and audio quality, physical media is the way to go.

Preservation and Collectability: DVDs and Blu-rays allow movie fans to build an impressive collection of their favorite films and TV shows. Physical media provides a sense of ownership and allows for displaying and showcasing one's collection. Furthermore, DVDs and Blu-rays often come with exclusive bonus content such as behind-the-scenes footage, director's commentaries, and deleted scenes, enhancing the overall viewer experience.

Reliability and Longevity: Streaming platforms occasionally remove titles from their catalogs due to licensing agreements, leaving viewers disappointed when their favorite shows or movies suddenly become inaccessible. With DVDs and Blu-rays, there are no concerns regarding titles disappearing suddenly. Owners can watch their favorite movies and TV shows at their leisure, without any interruptions, and can share them with friends and family without limitations.

Enhanced Extras and Special Editions: Physical media often brings with it a range of extra features and special editions that streaming platforms may not offer. Collectors and film enthusiasts appreciate the extra content, which can include documentaries, interviews, and visual enhancements. Special editions with limited-edition packaging or added memorabilia can also enhance the overall viewing experience and make physical media more appealing to fans.

Conclusion: While streaming services have revolutionized the way we consume media, the benefits of owning DVD and Blu-ray collections should not be overlooked. Seamless accessibility, superior quality, physical ownership, and enhanced extras are just a few of the advantages that physical media has to offer. For avid movie lovers, investing in DVDs and Blu-rays ensures that a rich and diverse collection is always at their fingertips, irrespective of streaming trends or licensing agreements. So, next time you consider binge-watching your favorite show or diving into a movie marathon, remember the enduring benefits that DVDs and Blu-rays can provide in the streaming era.

[theshitpostcalligrapher]

decided to get started on the fanfiction oh/OH. print design. This one is getting released November 6. Selected chrysanthemums because of their meaning and cus they're pretty

there are

SO MANY FUCKING PETALS

i am going to BED

[typhlonectes]

[separatist-apologist]

Genuinely, and I mean this kindly, but learning to recognize bait and not engaging with it will change your fandom experience.

[essektheylyss]

I think Keyleth should go romance Verin because it would be VERY funny for she and Caleb to be virtually in-laws.

[unbfacts]

[aratribow]

I LITERALLY LOVE YOU SO MUCH PLEEASE DRAS MORE OF JING YUAN AND YANQING IM BEGGING YOOU THEYRE SCRATCHING THE AUTISITC PART OF MY BRAIN IM BEGGING I LOVE YOUR ARTSYKE SO MUVH

OMG LMAOOOO I CAN FEEL THE LOVE RADIATING FROM THE ASK OP <3

have some floof food from me then, since ur such a sweetheart:3c

M an ABSOLUTE SUCKER FOR JY GIVING YQ THE LONGEVITY LOCK and the fact that it's a custom for parents to give to their child just MELTS MY HEART LMAOO

Jy and yq found family MY BELOVED

[crabsnpersimmons]

boys! it's my birthday! what would you cook up for a birthday boy eager to eat whatever some handsome bots can whip up? no dietary restrictions, anything the wonderful chefs can think of :D

ough happy belated birthday, Bash!

the boys have prepared a birthday meal for you:

some details on the menu:

the longevity noodles egg noodles that are commonly eaten in Chinese cuisine for celebrations and birthdays. it's often called "birthday noodles" for that reason. they are long noodles to symbolize a long life, so it's recommended to not cut them shorter. they are often served with eggs, that symbolize birth. they can be eaten in soup or stir fried or with a sauce.

the fairy french toast is a fusion of Australian fairy bread (white bread spread with butter/margarine and covered with colourful, round sprinkles) and Hong Kong style french toast (two egg-fried toasts, sandwiching a sweet filling like peanut butter, jam, condensed milk, etc.) fairy bread is a common treat at children's parties, and french toast is a staple at Hong Kong cafes.

the longevity peach ice cream float is a peach soda topped with peach soft-serve ice cream and a mini longevity peach bun. longevity peach buns are based off the peaches of immortality in Chinese mythology. the buns are served at birthdays (especially for the elderly) and are usually filled with lotus paste or red bean paste.

[batsplat]

Wait what’s the tea on Valentino’s sleep patterns 👀👀 (fellow insomniac / recent motogp fan always looking for more representation)

oh yeah, if you're looking for representation for poor sleeping habits you've very much come to the right place. his sleep patterns are pretty remarkable you have to say. way too nocturnal for a professional athlete, reliant on naps to get through the race weekend, all power to him for somehow making that work and winning all those titles. pretty sure I've read somewhere that he's still known for doing sim races at ungodly hours these days, just how he lives his life

tbh I can't remember off the top of my head where I'd actually read about his sleeping patterns, but I've cobbled together a decent selection of quotes from the usual sources. the most interesting stuff he's said on the topic is in his autobiography - where he goes into rather a lot of detail about his preference for the night. given that it's quite a lengthy passage, I've chucked it under the cut. he frames his nocturnal inclination as not only suiting his natural body clock better, but also as a way of escaping the rest of the world - of being able to move around in peace and silence and anonymity. plus, he liked to spend his nights in the garage to... *pinches bridge of nose* have some special personal time with his bike, when it was just the two of them. take that as you will

before that, let's just start with a few more general descriptions of his sleeping patterns. from early in his career, jerez 1998 (from oxley's vr files):

The camper only holds two people, but that's okay. I don't like my dad to sleep with me, because when it gets to ten o'clock he starts saying: "Vale, Vale, got to bed!", but I can't go to sleep before one or two. We did share a motorhome in '96 and it made life very, very difficult for me.

and about brno 1999 (from oxley's vr files):

On weekends when I'm not racing, I never go to bed before six or seven on Sunday morning. If it's a party, maybe even later, but going to bed at six in the morning is quite normal for me! Even when I was 14 I used to go to bed at 4am. Quite often I'd be riding around the local minimoto tracks until after midnight! If I go to sleep at 11 or 12 I just lie there, my eyes wide open. Maybe I would be good for 24-hour racing!

and then a few years into his premier class career, valentino says the following (x):

'I have a lot of energy after 2am,' Rossi agreed. 'I like to sleep in the morning. I have some problems at the start of the day.'

we've also got a description of crew chief jb's influence in terms of making sure valentino wasn't slacking off by sleeping in (from oxley's vr files):

Burgess' talents aren't restricted to getting the best out of a 500. The Aussie has been in GPs for decades and knows how to extract the best from riders as well. He expects 100 per cent commitment both on the track and in the pits, and when he doesn't get that, he gives 'em hell. Some other crew chiefs won't do that - they're too overawed by their riders' superstardom. JB laid down the law last summer when late-sleeper Rossi turned up late for practice. Rossi suggested that in future one of the crew should be despatched to his motorhome each morning to make sure he was out of bed. No way, said Burgess, I'll be there to give you your wake-up call. Rossi's not overslept since.

and from 2001, in valentino's own words:

Q: Tell us about your sleeping habits, JB has had to wake you a few times for practice... VR: I never go to bed before 1 o'clock, and there's no limit on when I go to bed, but even when I go to sleep very late I always wake up at 8.30, though when I do wake up I always have a big confusion for the first five minutes, then after that I remember: "Oh fuck, I'm at world grand prix!" So I have a shower and then I'm okay. I never get up too close to riding time because the 500 is a dangerous bike so it's necessary to be awake when you climb aboard. Back in the afternoon after practice at four or five o'clock I'll sleep for another hour.

only semi-related but valentino's also talked about... you know, this generational shift - where the sport has become more professionalised, which is reflected in certain lifestyle changes (from barker's rossi biography):

"The next generation is always stronger. They are more professional, they put more effort in, they make a perfect life, they eat in a good way, they don't drink, they go to sleep early, they train every day from the morning to the night... I come from an era where the riders drank beer and smoked cigarettes!"

also plenty of talk of jet lag obviously... doesn't struggle with it too much headed westwards because he says he basically lives on american time anyway. the other direction is tougher, but in his youth he decided that he might as well try to continue living on italian time. so he essentially went racing at 5 in the morning (about phillip island 1998, from oxley's vr files):

I don't have a problem with jet lag, I always sleep. Last year in Indonesia I stayed on Italian time for the whole grand prix - so I was racing at five in the morning! But the difference is too great to do that in Australia.

how on earth are you racing motorcycles like that. mind you, he won that 1997 indonesia race

so yeah. king of disordered sleeping. given the nature of motogp schedules and how they do kind of require you to actually get up in the mornings, congrats to him for being remotely functional during race weekends. crazy how he even won the odd race

and here's the autobiography passage:

My day, usually, begins in the afternoon. It’s as if I exist inside my own personal time zone. I live at night, because I love the night. Now, this might make you think I do goodness-knows-what in the wee hours, or that I don’t live the life of a professional athlete. It’s true, I don’t live the life of an athlete in the traditional sense — early to bed, early to rise and all that — but this does not mean that I’m not careful about what I eat and drink or that I don’t train. In fact, I train a lot, both in the gym and on the bike. It’s just that I go to the gym in the afternoon, rather than the morning. Equally, when I’m training on the bike, down at the quarry, I always go in the afternoon, never at nine o'clock in the morning. My body has a certain type of metabolism. It is used to living according to a different body clock. That’s why, even if I’m travelling all over the world, I don’t experience jet lag and I rarely go to bed before 3 a.m. It’s much more likely that I’m just tucking into bed as people are leaving for work. As I say, I have a special relationship with the night. I like moving in it, living in it, thinking in it, relaxing in it. The night fascinates me, because it’s the period of least confusion. The world calms down, it goes quiet. And, besides, I’m Valentino Rossi. I’m wanted... I'm a fugitive. Yes, I’m always running away from my _ beloved countrymen. The Italians. I’m proud to be Italian, I'm proud of our merits and I regret our shortcomings. Italians are exceptional people. In every way. Even when they start loving you. Because that’s actually when problems can arise — if it’s you that the Italian falls in love with. Italian people are warm, empathetic, spontaneous. But they can also be excessive, oppressive and disrespectful. I don’t know who said that Italians will forgive everything except for success. Whoever it was, they were right. Because it’s absolutely true. After the 1997 season, I could tell I was becoming popular. Year after year, that popularity turned into fully fledged love. They’re in love with me now and, as a result, since the 2004 season, I’ve been a man on the run. And there’s no escape, no end in sight, because wherever I go they find me. There are simple things, the little pleasures in life, which I simply can’t engage in when I’m back in Italy. I can’t go to the bar and have a cappuccino, because I would not be able to drink it. To be fair, I can do it in Tavullia, but that's the only place. If I go more than a few kilometres in any direction from the centre of town, that's it, everything changes and I become, once again, a hunted man. I can’t walk into a store, look at something and decide what I want to buy. In fact, I can’t stop anywhere, not even at a petrol station. If I stop, I’m screwed. Somebody will recognise me (Italians are exceptionally good at recognising people), make a lot of noise, call other people and then, before I know it, I’ve been swallowed up by the crowd. If I schedule a meeting with someone, we have to meet in a secret, out-of-the-way location and, even then, we can't linger. I can't go to a restaurant if there are too many people inside. And if I do go, I can't go at a normal time, say eight o'clock. I have to go later, much later, when people are leaving. And I can't sit where I like, I have to hide away in a corner, in the shadows. As for places like cinemas or the beach, forget about it. They are just always off-limits.

Having said that, I do mix with people. I do it because I like doing it. It’s just that I wish I could do it as a normal person, because, deep down, I am a normal human being. This is part of the reason why I have to live at night. It would be that much tougher during the day, with all those people about. Plus, I don’t like the traffic, the chaos, the noise, all those people running all over the place, stressed out and out of breath. The night is different. Everything is softer, there are fewer people around and you are much more free. It’s like a parallel dimension. The world is different at night. Everything is different. That’s why I’ve assimilated the lyrics of a song by the Italian artist Jovanotti, “Gente. della notte” (“People of the night”). It has become my personal anthem. Jovanotti is one of my favourite singers and I find myself agreeing with him on most things. I love his work. What else can I say? The night is my reality. And I don’t change just because Grands Prix are scheduled during the day. My way of being and living is reflected in what I do during races. I don’t really change. Obviously, I don’t go to bed at dawn, but let’s just say that when I do, finally, go to bed, there aren’t many people around. Everything is better at night in the paddock. There is silence, the people _ have disappeared and, with them, the chaos. I can wander around freely, most of all I can enjoy the empty pit area and my bike. Yes, my bike. Because at night I often slip into the team garage. At some races I do it every single night, because I love being with my bike. My night-time activities can be traced back to the years racing in 125cc, and are directly tied to my passion for aesthetics and the stickers, which would later become my obsession. I don’t leave anything to chance'when it comes to choosing the colour or the stickers for my bike. That’s why I’ve always been central to any and all discussions when we were deciding the aesthetics of my racing bikes. I’ve done it always, with every bike, at every level, with every team. And, naturally, I still do it today. Nobody has ever been allowed to attach a single sticker to my bike, unless it was the logo of a technical sponsor. Until a few years ago I was totally inflexible about this. Now, Roby takes care of the number: he attaches it because then he needs to cover it in transparent paint. But apart - from -this, which is primarily a technical procedure anyway, I take care of everything else to do with the stickers. And this takes time and planning, which is why I started going to the garage at night. During the day it is packed with people. There are mechanics, technicians and others around. I would just get in the way, if I wanted to get near the bike just to check the stickers. As I got older and progressed from 125 to 250 and then to 500 and on to MotoGP, I maintained that passion for aesthetics and stickers, as well as the habit of dropping in on the team garage at night. I enjoy the bike during the day _ obviously, but my relationship with the bike is so special that I can spend hours with it, just looking and admiring it, making sure that everything is in order. Those are very personal moments which I find difficult to describe. The Japanese guys, both the executives but also the engineers never knew this, not the guys at Honda, not the ones at Yamaha. I don’t think they would really understand. They would probably view it as a waste of time, since I don’t actually do anything concrete. I never touch anything to do with the bike itself, beyond, obviously, the stickers. And yet I find it hard to explain to an engineer that I enjoy simply being near the bike, even when I’m not doing anything. It’s a complicated concept to explain: the risk is that people will think that you're crazy.

During the day everything happens so quickly, frenetically, neurotically. However, there is a sacrosanct moment when I need to step away and isolate myself. Once my commitment to the team is over, usually around 5.30 p.m., I retire to my motorhome, relax and take a nap. It usually lasts a couple hours and then I go out. There’s always something to do after dinner. Of course, the range of options depends on how many friends are around. I really start enjoying the paddock around ten o'clock at night. Before going to sleep I check on the bike again and then I go into the team motorhome, which serves as an office. Now that I’m at Yamaha, I have an office all to myself. That’s where I keep all my race gear. I do this for two reasons. My own personal motorhome is an absolute mess, nothing more fits in there and I probably couldn’t find anything amid all the junk. Plus, the office is where I change into my racing suit before going out on to the track. Thus, at night, after going to the pits to see the bike, I go to make sure that all my stuff is where it should be: gloves, suit, socks, boots . . . everything needs to be perfect, because I just don’t have time in the morning to hunt around for stuff. Thus, each morning I have to follow a very precise routine. I’m like a robot, everything is the same each day. Because the truth is that I need to be like clockwork. I just don’t have the time to think. Somebody generally comes to wake me up — usually it’s Jeremy, because he doesn’t trust my ability to wake up on my own! I then get up, wash my face (my eyes are still shut at this point) and try to stay awake as I ride the scooter from the motorhome to the pits. I then go up to the office and get dressed. There too everything is done mechanically. It takes the slightest hiccup to throw everything off, forcing me to be late to the testing.

"I find it hard to explain to an engineer that I enjoy simply being near the bike, even when I’m not doing anything. it’s a complicated concept to explain: the risk is that people will think that you're crazy" well -

[eatclean-bewhole]

I don’t want you to just lose weight. I want you to build habits that keep you heathy physically and mentally for the rest of your life.

[buckysbarnes]

JOE KEERY as GATOR TILLMAN “Linda” 5.07 • Fargo

[typhlonectes]

World's oldest aquarium fish 'Methuselah' could be decades older than we originally thought, DNA clock reveals

A new study has found that the famous Australian lungfish Methuselah, who first arrived in the U.S. in 1938, could be up to 101 years old.

The world's oldest aquarium fish, a lungfish named Methuselah, may actually be decades older than researchers originally thought and may even be over 100 years old, a new study finds. Methuselah is a female Australian lungfish (Neoceratodus forsteri) that resides at Steinhart Aquarium in San Francisco, California. She first arrived at the aquarium in 1938 after being sent to the U.S. along with more than 200 other fish from Fiji and Australia.  Aquarium staff have never been sure how old Methuselah is, but until now the best guess was that she is 84 years old, which makes her the oldest known fish in captivity. (In the Bible, Methuselah was a man who reputedly lived to be 969 years old.)...

Read more:

World's oldest aquarium fish 'Methuselah' could be decades older than we originally thought, DNA clock reveals | Live Science

[buffetlicious]

The pop-up Ji Xiang Ang Ku Kueh (吉祥红龟粿) stall in Sun Plaza never fails to attract us with their colourful range of kuehs. Mum picked up some Peanut Ang Ku Kuehs (front row) and Sweet Bean Ang Ku Kuehs (back row). These traditional glutinous rice snacks are sticky and soft, packed with fillings. Best eaten on the day of purchase or keep it in the fridge then steam it.

Me, I am intrigued by these blue and white lumps of glutinous rice snacks. The inside is filled with gula melaka sweetened desiccated coconut. I couldn’t find any information on it but the nearest I came across is Pulut Inti (Steamed Glutinous Rice with Coconut Topping). Taste wise, it is comparable but lose out on the banana leaf fragrance as it uses paper wrappers.

This Labubu doll craze is taking the whole world by storm. Even Ji Xiang Ang Ku Kueh is coming out with a set of seven Labubu Ang Ku Kuehs (S$60) with a choice of peanut, sweet bean or mixture of the two fillings. If you just want to buy one piece, it will cost you S$10.

Selected images courtesy of Ji Xiang Ang Ku Kueh.

[zalimaaa]

[unbfacts]