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tasmiq · 2 years ago

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Inspirations from Ramadan culminating to Eid al-Fitr in 2023

Swimming in a sea of daily devotional milestones, I could only offer shorter Jumu'ah Khuthbah in Ramadan! These were...

Day 1 of Ramadan 2023

#1. I like to ask the question “what’s bothering you?” from myself and others, when I see a gloomy cloud hovering above.

And for almost every answer to that question, you can see the solution vividly- “Be grateful”.

And it’s true - gratitude can help us see all of our problems in a completely different light. It can help us focus on finding solutions rather than complaining. It helps us stay positive and happy, even in tough situations. It helps us work even harder in life so we never take anything for granted.

Gratitude is the only mindset that lies at the heart of patience, happiness and hard work.

Due to gratitude, you are compelled into service, Subhana'Allah, as expounded by our Tariqa:

#2. On that note of gratitude, this Ramadan also represents my willing fast of Ada, my Physiotherapist, who I recognise as a Godsend. When she first told me, I was able to set aside my nafs and affirm that she had to leave.

What's more, I keep being shown the immense resonance we share:

- we never tire of heartful chat, to the point we are both confused by sexual fluidity!

- her hubby is born on the same day as you twins!

- even our monthlies timed in the end!

#3. Being made to recognise the critical role of Rabita, I was able to transform my patriarchal judgement of our former leaders, who are our knots on the rope to Allah!

They wouldn't have been able to be where they are, without key womenfolk that buttressed them there as our collective leaders!

Reflecton on the 8th and 2nd day of Jumu'ah in Ramadan

#1. Shaykh Nishaat echoed haqq when he said that spiritual energy is tangibly felt in the body during the action of Rabita (heart connection). In Ramadan, it becomes apparent that our spiritual selves need a body to rest upon.

Our emotional and spiritual sides need to be nurtured in the body. Therfore, we are blessed to materialise physical, emotional and spiritual synchronicity through the practice of fasting in Ramadan!

#2. Then we were blessed with a Ramadan Saturday Sohbet where Shaykh Taner and Anne related that Allah created us in a way that we can make mistakes to learn from. However, it is "cheaper" to learn from others' mistakes!

Fasting is an exercise of exhibiting our behaviour when we're hungry. Allah gives us the opportunity to tame our nafs because our focus should be Allah through connection, devotion, and being grateful!

However, what's tricky is when our nafs can divert us with an obsession with enumerating our devotions, especially in Ramadan! However, we have to do our devotions intently and with love as a yearly opportunity to refresh our imaan.

#3. Another constant illuminary of ours, Shaykh Abdal Hakim Murad, related that Allah is As-Samad (The Eternal and Independent) and Al-Ghani (Self-sufficiient One), and Ramadan is our opportunity to experience that! Through our free will that chooses to refrain from our usual comforts, as opposed to performing an outright action, Insha'Allah! 💓🤲

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Jumu'ah Khuthbah: 14 April 2023

We have entered into the final 10 days of Ramadan, Alhamdulillah, for the renewed purpose this Ramadan has brought.

Undoubtedly a richer Ramadan to previous years. Ya Shakur for Shaykh Taner and team's English translated version of the holy Qur'an, which has made it so!

#1. Shaykh Nishaat spoke of gratefulness in one's state of being, beyond one's mind. The practice of gratefulness opens a myriad of experiences with Allah, where one is made to experience all things good; such as greater kindness, humility, softness, generosity, etc

Just as my surrender of my former Physiotherapist has been rewarded with another mighty interesting and soulful Therapist, leaving me swimming in an ocean of deep gratefulness!

#2. In a learning circle, your Rehbir Abbu reflected how a congregational Zikr channels concentrated spiritual energy, akin to a magnifying glass transferring the sun's heat / energy to another surface! Through the practice of Zikr, we also enact Allah's name in our actions.

#3. I came upon an undeniable verse in the Qur’an, as an accident survivor, Subhana'Allah and Ya Shakur! Shaykh Nishaat, at one point, mentioned that I am having a raw and real relationship with Allah in the very moment.

And also in your own selves (are signs). Can you not see them? - (Al Dhariyat 21)

Jumu'ah Khuthbah: 21 April 2023

#1. Today, we enter Ramadan Jamat ul-Vida, which is the last Jumu'ah before Eid ul-Fitr. This day holds a lot of significance during the month of Ramadan! Shaykh Nishaat reminded us of this on another Jumu'ah that was highlighted as Laylatul Qadr (the night of decree or power when the Qur'an was revealed).

I was armed with purpose in seeking Allah's forgiveness with gratitude for connecting the deepest with His words in the Qur'an, through Shaykh Taner and team's translated and chronological version.

#2. Shaykh Nishaat mirrored an undeniable truth where in Ramadan, we are given the opportunity to sharpen our focus on Allah! That's because we are in this life for a short time, as realised through the sudden parting with your Uncle Fazeel and Uncle Moeayne...Allah bless their beautiful souls 🤲

Given our short term in our worldly lives, we shouldn't worry about the things that we can't control! The question comes down to whether we have spent our time feeding our nafs or with Allah?

#3. This is the deepest I have gone into the Qur'an where I meet an unending sense of awe and further future inquisition. In my 19th Juz, did I even go into poetic Ramadan hal (ecstasy) 🥹🙈

Signs

A blessed life partner was he designed to be

An undeniable faith affirming love story

All praise and gratitude to Al-Musawwir, Who shaped ours with Divine Love

When he intimated that our connection was deeper than the norm

A large tree mystically sprinkled fine flowers

Beautifully nestled upon the emancipation gained in one another

When looking onto the horizon...

A dolphin leapt into the air

Akin to it, one mustered courage to take the leap of faith

How can one possibly deny the Divine favours?

That rose above potentially destructive truths

Instead, opening the floodgates to devotion

The happenings thereafter were further signs

A rocky road to Sufism

Shared parenthood and even a near-death experience

Looking to Divine Scripture for affirmation of faith

When our love story is just that

Divine gratitude to the Source of Love

#Youtube

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bestworstcase · 5 years ago

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cliff notes bitter snow lore

aka notes i can’t reasonably cram into a story

GEOGRAPHY

the seven kingdoms trading alliance. sometimes also referred to as the pact. spans most of the western half of the continent. galcrest and ingvarr control the northwest, koto the central plains, corona and pittsford the western coast, bayangor the southeast and neserdnia the far south. with the exception of landlocked koto all member states are seafaring countries, with corona and neserdnia having the most prominent naval cultures. ingvarr is known as the fist of the seven kingdoms due to the renowned strength of its standing army; the other nations are economic powers rather than military ones. neither corona nor pittsford has a standing army.

corona large kingdom on the west coast of the continent. a prosperous trading nation. fishing, agriculture, silver mining, lumber are major industries. roughly bisected by the pingora mountain range which extend east into blavenia, corona’s eastern neighbor. south of the pingoras is the region where saporia used to be; much of the former border follows the general line of the mountains. there are pockets in the south where saporian is still spoken over coronan and much of central-south population is bilingual.

major cities include herzingen (the capital, built on an island, basically canon!corona), anbruch (an old fort near the former saporian border that grew over time; varian’s village is one of many satellite settlements whose farms support support anbruch’s population), alcorcia (a port town in the south, notorious for being a hotbed of separatists and pirates), and carcathune (the old saporian capital, still half in ruins).

other nations tend to be smaller and weaker, both militaristically and economically speaking. equis is the strongest nation outside of the seven kingdoms and a persistent thorn in the pact’s side due to longstanding rivalry with corona, robust navy, and financing of privateers. it lies on the northwest coast and shares its southernmost border with corona.

blavenia, eldora, and marne vie with koto for control over the central plains. eldora and marne are neighbors and have been closely allied for centuries, blavenia has a loose alliance with equis based mostly on the grounds of rivalry with corona and the enemy of my enemy principle. arianna was minor eldoran nobility prior to marrying into the coronan monarchy, and vardaros is a major eldoran city.

the hlessian league is a major alliance shared by nations in the northeastern region of the continent. it is controlled by arendelle, seland, and skaron—the triad of kingdoms that occupy the hlessian penninsula for which the league is named—but includes a half dozen smaller nations as well. trade agreements are in place between the seven kingdoms and the league but they are also frequent rivals in trade with unaffiliated nations and tensions are always sort of high

quintonia is a small sovereign duchy wedged between ingvarr and koto which controls an important mountain pass, making it a gateway for trade. it has been invaded many times but is currently a member of the hlessian league, which gives it a measure of protection. presently ruled by the duchess rosalia morcant.

aphelion is the name of the “dark kingdom.” it’s on the far eastern end of the continent and very far away from corona. it lies in the gigantic caldera of an ancient supervolcano and in modern times is almost completely abandoned due to the desolation caused by the moonstone. many aphelionese refugees live in neighboring volkan (a large empire that stretches to the eastern coast), zamora (a small kingdom to the north), or antares (a powerful city-state situated to the west, not far from the great tree); others dispersed even farther to the west, and there are thriving aphelionese communities as far west as the hlessian penninsula.

RELIGION AND MAGIC

magic in general

comes from powerful beings; call them gods, call them demons, call them natural forces of the cosmos, whatever, the point is that if you want to do magic you need the direct patronage of an entity like zhan tiri or you need to perform rituals to temporarily draw the attention of one. gifts, bargains, curses. as a general rule gaining the permanent patronage of such a being requires hard work, dedication, and sacrifice, but can grant you tremendous power; rituals and bargains take less work and are far less risky, but they’re also temporary and most useful for the creation of enchanted artifacts, which last much longer and are a common means of splitting the difference between patronage and ritual.

due to the nature of magic and the necessity of some form of mutual exchange between practitioner and power, magic often features worship or religious elements to some degree.

coronan heliolatry

sun cult built around solar worship and the myth of the sundrop. the cult had a lot of power in corona’s early history but it has declined in prominence significantly over the centuries mainly because the actual sundrop was never found. values healing, truth, growth, and peace. in modern times its biggest influence on coronan culture is death rites, which involve cremation on funeral barges that are sailed into the east at sunrise. frederic yoinking the sundrop and feeding it to his wife caused something of a schism because on the one hand now the coronan princess is a vessel of the sun but on the other the king just killed an avatar of the sun what. that said most coronans are secular or if religious at all might go to temple for, like, midsummer and the harvest service and perhaps mutter a prayer on occasion.

the saporian ternary

back in the day saporia was a theocratic oligarchy controlled by the three cults of the divine ternary. unlike the coronan sun cult the cults of the divine ternary are still a prominent part of daily life for saporian coronans, though none of them are sanctioned by the coronan government and thus they seldom if ever practice openly. the deities of the divine ternary are:

char malách, the sacred terror, god of wonder [pronounced “kahr mal-AHK”, the ch is a phlegmy k]

his sphere is beauty, imagination, the arts, ambition and inspiration. he is associated with the sun and stars, fire, stone, metal, jewels, creativity and craftsmanship; also earthquakes, volcanoes, and wildfires. he never takes a physical form and is often depicted as a twisting, liquescent, burning spiral. his devotees are artisans, architects, artists, and outside of the cult they’re best known for having a yearly holiday where they make art for the specific purpose of setting it on fire.

his cult is called the temple of splendor (chalán hechá) and its members are sometimes referred to as the terrified (aráloshem)

cathay, the bone hound, goddess of woe [pronounced “kath-AY”]

her sphere is the dead, grief and loss, obsession and madness. she is associated with eclipses, rust, desolation, neglect, abandonment; pestilence and famine, war and treachery. though she is widely feared she is not considered evil, but rather more akin to a shadow cast by a bright light; she represents the natural opposite of the living world. she always appears as a large skeletal hound with dirt packed between the bones and hackles of rusted metal.

members of her cult are called barrow-makers (sholámar) and some of her priests practice a form of necromancy that involves self-mutilation and the reanimation of corpses.

zhan tiri, the lady of the woods, goddess of ways [pronounced “zahn tiri,” with a long a.]

her sphere is nature, wildness, passion, cycles and change. she is associated with the sea, the sky, soil and storms; growth, decay, and renewal; beginnings and endings, life and death, the cycle of the seasons, choices and consequence, freedom and will; trees, thorns, and flowers. her physical form is protean in the extreme and often chimerical, straddling the border between animal and plant, and in varying states of decay; her iconography varies accordingly but she’s almost always depicted with large, curling, ramlike horns.

members of her cult commonly refer to her as “our lady” (crezathan), and she has a host of other epithets: the black goat, the mother of thorns, web-spinner, flower-maker, sun-eater, lady of the woods. her cult is called the thorn syconium (cáshacathán) and has been working for centuries to weaken the boundaries between this realm and the dimension into which lord demanitus bound her a thousand years ago.

the saporian word for god/deity (zátocha) translates literally as revenant; the beings of the ternary are said to have grown from fragments of a greater cosmic power which was destroyed during the creation of the world. they are also euphemistically called the gentry (zatem).

the moonstone cult

before the desolation began a thousand years ago, the moonstone and the black rocks were a linchpin of aphelionese culture, with the moonstone being worshipped as a protective and transformative force. its cult developed a branch of magic that involves siphoning, channeling, and binding with the use of rituals and talismans. two of the incantations lord demanitus recorded in his scroll—the withering spell and the invocation of the moon—originated with the moonstone cult, and he later used them as a basis for the composition of the healing spell and the invocation of the sun.

a “mind trap” is one of the better known types of talismans used by the moonstone cult. its common name in coronan/english is a poor translation of an aphelionese word that more accurately means “spirit anchor,” and the talismans play an important role in aphelionese necromancy, which involved summoning spirits and binding them as shades in the physical plane. a living person who binds themself to a spirit anchor is able to call on the moonstone’s power to perform staggering feats of magic, but this was seldom done because binding your soul to a rock leaves you vulnerable to anyone who manages to get their hands on it. they’re difficult to make and only a single soul can be bound to each stone, making the practice even rarer. their reputation far exceeds their actual use and is founded mostly on the misunderstanding that a single talisman can “control the minds of anyone who’s sworn loyalty to the moonstone” a la canon.

lord demanitus got his hands on one of these talismans while researching the moonstone and did basically the magical equivalent of hacking it to turn it into a phylactery so he could lich it up. this.. provoked the moonstone and ultimately lead to the desolation, with the entire kingdom of aphelion being reduced to solid rock and dust.

speaking of that...

DEMANITUS, ZHAN TIRI, AND THE DROPS

the sundrop

primarily a healing/restorative power. it can generate light and heat, heal injuries, cure illness, push away death, reveal truth, and inspire hope. its magic also casts a shadow, of a sort, generating a dark, purely destructive and corruptive force.

the healing incantation draws on the restorative powers of the sundrop. over time, prolonged use results in a physical dependence on the sundrop’s magic, as the “shadow” of it sinks deeper and deeper into the body.

the invocation of the sun channels the raw power of the sun itself through the sundrop. its effect is most pronounced during the daytime and strongest in summer, when the sun is closest. using it also consumes/burns the physical body of the user until the channeled power is released, which can be fatal in reckless hands.

the moonstone

a warden whose purpose is to contain the shadows of the sundrop; it does so by forming them into the black rocks, rendering them inert. its magic is oriented around change, transformation, and movement. it also reflects the magic of the sundrop in a far less potent form; where the sundrop heals, the moonstone can grant the strength to simply keep going far beyond the point where a person should have collapsed, for example.

the withering incantation enlivens the sundrop’s shadow, drawing it out of the black rocks or siphoning the life out of everything nearby when used by the moonstone or sundrop respectively.

the invocation of the moon, like its counterpart, channels the raw power of the moon through the moonstone. it’s strongest at night and when the moon is full. it’s also less dangerous than the invocation of the sun, because it draws on the strength of the user’s will rather than body, though incautious use can shatter the user’s mind.

both drops

fell when the world was a newly-formed ball of magma. they worked in concert to cool and stabilize the globe and are effectively the progenitors of all life. the moonstone’s black rocks run through the core of the world, and the roots of the sundrop encompassed the whole globe.

when frederic pulled the sundrop out of the earth, he essentially killed it. the heart of its power flowed into rapunzel and stayed there, but the roots began to die and rot. the sundrop’s shadow grew stronger as it faded, leading to the wild growth of black rock as the moonstone struggled to contain it all. gothel keeping rapunzel in a tower made it worse by separating the sundrop from the earth.

demanitus’s belief that the sundrop and moonstone “long to reunite” is a little mistaken; they were already united before frederic uprooted the sundrop and upset the natural balance they shared. unlike in canon, the drops have little interest and no ability to recombine into a greater power and return to the cosmos; they built this world together and have made it their home. they do, however, want the sundrop to be released so it can regrow and heal.

zhan tiri and the ancient power

jinarche, the celestial light, is a primordial entity associated with order, light, and stasis who either created or is the cosmos. when the primordial stasis was disrupted by the appearance of hunger, jinarche was torn apart, unleashing darkness and chaos into the world. as she died, hunger devoured her, feeding on her power; corrupting it but being likewise corrupted; this force became zhan tiri. other pieces of jinarche became the sun, moon, stars, and the molten embryo of the planet. the sun/moon drops were created by the sun and moon to restore balance. various other powers developed over time out of leftover bits of jinarche and the interactions between earlier forces. the cosmos is a flourishing ecosystem growing in the carcass of a dead god, basically.

zhan tiri’s basic nature, accordingly, is Hunger. but on top of that there’s a messy amalgam of a personality she developed over her billions of years of existence in a you are what you eat sort of way.

she’s drawn to the sun/moon drops (and vice versa) because the drops are remnants of jinarche and zhan tiri is a cursed reincarnation of jinarche, sort of; a cosmic parasite that became. if she were to acquire both drops that would essentially sort of... burn out the corruption / fuse them all and flip them to just being jinarche for all intents and purposes. the drops do not want this to happen. zhan tiri also does not want this to happen but her solution is to acquire human vessels for the drops, like oven mitts.

demanitus imprisoned her in a void dimension a thousand years prior to the story and since then she’s been reduced to the cosmic equivalent of shoving her fingers through cracks under the door. her cults and those few disciples who escaped being killed or bound by demanitus have been busily weakening the boundaries ever since, with the ultimate goal of eroding it enough for her to break free completely.

demanitus

was the scion of minor coronan nobility and grew up during the peak of the sun cult’s power. became obsessed with the legend of the sundrop and determined to find it. was nineteen when he met a saporian scholar and learned just enough about the divine ternary to get himself into trouble by following the logic of: these people call their weird demon patron flower-maker -> she must have something to do with the sundrop flower -> i will summon her to help me find it What Could Go Wrong

(everything. everything could go wrong)

zhan tiri wasn’t opposed to helping at first because: oven mitt, but demanitus, being a youthfully stupid nineteen year old aristocrat, treated her like a servant instead of a powerful being he was petitioning for help so she was like; knock it off you brat, and ripped half his face off.

cue bad decisions tango. after he seals zhan tiri for the first time (in the mountain beneath his family home, the dummy) he tries to settle down to raise a family but eventually the spreading corruption and his horrorterror eldritch vision gets to be too much so he fucks off into the night to become a vagrant warlock/artificer. gets obsessed with the moonstone and sundrop again. the drama with his trusted pupils betraying him and unleashing zhan tiri again happens when demanitus is in his sixties and his quest to figure out a way to get rid of her Forever puts him on the path that leads to him making himself a lich and triggering the desolation of aphelion.

he has a big book of eldritch lore that he wrote over the course of his first century which he passed to his eldest grandson when he “dies,” to ensure that corona is protected by his legacy even when he’s not around. this gets handed down from parent to child for generations until it eventually ends up in the hands of his distant descendant, xavier.

the disciples

sugracha il pchela, tromus matthiaos, and calanthe gothel were demanitus’s pupils and the only ones he trusted enough to bring with him to his ancestral home while searching for the sundrop. this backfired on him spectacularly when sugracha stumbled through the half-rotten magical bindings that kept zhan tiri imprisoned beneath his house, ended up haunted and sort of obsessed, and dragged matthiaos and calanthe down with her. sugracha and matthiaos were and still are extremely loyal; both of them like the power, sugracha sees zhan tiri as something of a muse, and matthiaos has a more classic scholar-patron relationship with her. calanthe on the other hand wanted immortality, decided the price zhan tiri demanded was too steep, and dipped as soon as she found the sundrop.

#rta #tts #bitter snow #[rambles about lore for nine pages] this is fine

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limopolh · 2 years ago

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Petpet gif maker

PETPET GIF MAKER PRO

PETPET GIF MAKER TRIAL

PETPET GIF MAKER SERIES

after using it, I assume it’s more of an experimentation to see if you want to invest. CONS: free version is pretty useless/limited. We will definitely search for Tom Hardy MySpace. Hi! We are so happy to hear that you are enjoying the app and for taking the time to share your feedback with other people. Now, can you please add a video chat feature? Also, please do yourself a favor and google Tom hardy MySpace. IN SUMMARY: MyTalkingPet is a QUARANTINE GAME CHANGER. much like how tree trunks down want to wish my mother a happy Mother’s Day, but I make them do it with MyTalkingPet. gurl! Have you seen Upgrade!? That poor paraplegic doesn’t want to fight all those people, but science made him do it.

PETPET GIF MAKER SERIES

wait guys MyTalkingPet IS magic so like, you know?), a tree stump, Danny Trejo, a busted box of tissues, a pillow (my pillow my talking pet?!?), the Cocid19 molecule, the MyTalkingPet logo wearing a sombrero, my purse (who desperately wants to go outside btw), Iko Uwais from The RAID movies (gurl, if you like violent action movies get on this series), an Instagram comment from the director of The RAID series (Gareth! Huw! Evans! You are a genius, my man), the baby dinosaur from that ‘Not the mama!’ Dinosaur show from the 90s, more Tom Hardys & slogan Marshall Green (who I like to refer to as Tom Hardly, but like, he’s a great actor in his own right. Some things I’ve made talk so far: Tom Hardy’s weird MySpace pics (gurl look it up, they are ICONIC!), a timer, a glowing orb (it’s an led light, not, like, a magical orb. I am not exclusively talking with friends via anthropomorphic MyTalkingPet creation. GURLLLL MTP IS MY QUARANTINE OBSESSION!!! You can turn off auto-renew at any time from your iTunes account settings but refunds will not be provided for any unused portion of the term. Subscription automatically renews unless auto-renew is turned off at least 24-hours before the end of the current period. Your account will be charged for renewal within 24-hours prior to the end of the current period. Payment will be charged to your iTunes Account at confirmation of purchase.

PETPET GIF MAKER TRIAL

Any unused portion of free trial periods, if offered, will be forfeited if you start a new subscription before the completion of your trial. My Talking Pet offers free trials, which auto-enrol into the selected subscription if not cancelled during the free trial period.

PETPET GIF MAKER PRO

My Talking Pet Pro has no limit on saving and sharing videos, has no watermark on videos, unlocks special modes for hats, glasses and filters, and unlocks more animals to use in addition to your own photos. My Talking Pet offers auto-renewing monthly and yearly subscriptions to 'My Talking Pet Pro'. Advanced animation, your pet looks around in 3D iMessage integration, send your messages using your talking pet Have them tell you the weather forecast, news headlines, or even get them to remind you of your appointments Turn your pet into a digital personal assistant. Add hats, glasses, moustaches and more to your pet Change the voice from big dog to little cat or anything in between Record your own voice or choose from hundreds of hilarious pre-recorded clips Lots of animals to choose from even if you don't have your own pet Make them speak realistically and share it as a video on Facebook, or email it as a special greeting to your friends and family.

#Petpet gif maker

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obsessiveviewer · 6 years ago

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Bonus Ep 31 – The Wunderkind (The Twilight Zone 2019 S01E05)

In this bonus episode, Matt reviews The Wunderkind, episode 5 of CBS All-Access’ reboot of The Twilight Zone’s first season.

Tweet your thoughts on the podcast and the topics covered in the show to @OVAnthologyPod. You can also reach the show on Anthology’s Facebook Page, or email Matt(at)ObsessiveViewer(dot)com.

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Direct Download Link: http://traffic.libsyn.com/anthologypod/Bonus031.mp3

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Runtime: 1:06:56

Timestamps

Intro - 00:27

Housekeeping - 01:27

The Wunderkind - 07:33

Outro - 1:04:07

Show Notes

‘The Twilight Zone’ Renewed For Season 2 By CBS All Access - Deadline

CBS will release a black-and-white version of Jordan Peele’s Twilight Zone - The Verge

'Black Mirror' Reveals Cast, Premiere Date for Season 5 - The Hollywood Reporter

Black Mirror: Season 5 | Official Trailer | Netflix - YouTube

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Obsessive Viewer Presents: Tower Junkies - Our spinoff podcast dedicated to Stephen King’s magnum opus, The Dark Tower and related topics. iTunes - Google Play - Stitcher - Twitter

Shocktober in Irvington - Obsessive Viewer’s yearly event screening of short horror films from Indianapolis filmmakers to support the Irvington Historical Society

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Where to Find Anthology

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Find more episodes at AnthologyPod.com

#anthology #podcast #classic tv #scifi #science fiction #rod serling #the twilight zone

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kabulogluanimals · 7 years ago

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Why donating all the money in the world to wildlife conservation won't solve the root of the problem.

A few years ago, after I had read Redefining Man, It became clear to me that I would be forever obsessed with the fact that while we are struggling as a species, we cannot seem to fathom that some of our most important companions in this journey called Life on Earth are disappearing in front of our very eyes ( and, mostly because of archaic practices that cannot seem to be corrected ) due to overpopulation, misinformation, religion and just basic human kindness.

Younger and naive as I was then ( a little less than now perhaps) I wondered if it had something to do with not being aware of all the efforts currently been done throughout many countries and extensive protection from people doing amazing work, and that was enough. That if we could just spread the word then, through managing resources and changing the current status quo, things would correct themselves eventually. We, (in my limited mind) would stop the savage mass extermination that happens every minute. It seems that I could not understand the complexity of the situation. How, nevertheless of the small, precise changes that are helping, there was still a bigger, intrusive problem eating us from the inside out in the way we deal with non planning or as I call it The procrastination of our time. Kevin Richardson explained it very well in a quote I can’t seem to find after I erased it years back and have been trying to find forever, but it went something like: believing we can just throw money at the problem, which can mean using canned hunting resources, as an example, for supporting non profits against poaching and fooling ourselves that represents some kind of help is simply as bonkers as it is irresponsible. The billions of dollars spent yearly on retrieval and destruction of ivory in Asia doesn’t compensate for the sales happening in front of our very eyes here at home in Central Park, or even DC. At the end of the day, wildlife trade is the third largest illegal industry worldwide. Big business that is hard to stop when the demand is so high I think should be tackled with caution, intelligence and the use of technology to our advantage. But there is another vital side, analysis of human behavior which I wish could be carefully molded through education. In a time where information is everywhere and you can’t trust what you read, I wonder how that could be possible even. When I look at specific examples of communities in Africa where each region that is next to each other, has a unique set of problems/needs, and nevertheless can’t even get it together to apply the same strategy, is when I feel it might be too late. Because we have built our reality as diverse as our thoughts. Our beautiful diversity becomes a handicap in not being able to at least agree on what is out of bounds for our future as a whole. Regulations as well as education, must work hand in hand with the monetary assistance we so eagerly request.

Where lies the answer? Nature is such a precious, magically renewable universe that always seems to surprise us. I wish I could be able to travel vastly through the most remote wilderness, and witness the places where these extraordinary creatures, ->our friends< still thrive, observe silently from afar, be selfish and breathe the fresh air enjoying them first hand knowing that my children might not have that opportunity in a not some distance future, instead of watching documentaries that leave me filled with worry or the horrible bombarding adverstisements non profits use and only promote a sense of fatalism. Which helps no one. At the end of the day, the future is open and unknown, and I dream of the human spirit challenging our ego and joining to start anew.

#wildlife #poaching #conservation #kabuloglu #future #aconversation

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char27martin · 8 years ago

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How to Work with an Editorial Calendar

Nearly all the writers I know are working on multiple projects. Maybe they aren’t drafting three novels at the same time, but they might be writing articles or blog posts, submitting short stories, or drafting one novel while editing another. And, most authors today, whether traditionally or indie published, are responsible for a significant amount of their own publicity, marketing, and scheduling. Time management can feel daunting and sometimes overwhelming, especially for creative types!

This guest post is by Tabitha Lord. Lord lives in Rhode Island, a few towns away from where she grew up. She is married, has four great kids, two spoiled cats, and a lovable black lab. She holds a degree in Classics from College of the Holy Cross and taught Latin for years at the Meadowbrook Waldorf School. She also worked in the admissions office there before turning her attention to full-time writing. You can visit her blog at tabithalordauthor.com where she hosts guest bloggers, and discusses some favorite topics including parenting and her writing journey. She released her first novel, Horizon, in December 2015. It won the Grand Prize for the Writer’s Digest Self-Published Book Awards in 2016.

My pre-writing career as the admissions director and Latin teacher at a private school helped to prepare me for the business side of the writer’s life. My days were filled with planning events, communicating with families, paperwork, writing ad copy, serving on multiple committees from HR to development, and teaching middle school Latin. Multitasking and switching “hats” from teacher to administrator to colleague became second nature, but my varied responsibilities definitely required a high level of organization, and meticulous attention to my calendar. Many techniques from that career are useful now as I try to structure my time in this more creative, yet equally demanding, field.

Here are a few tips on how I work with my calendar in order to meet deadlines, manage multiple projects, and find the space I need to imagine and create.

Start with broad strokes: Define your goals and major deadlines, and then back into the details.

I begin with a yearly overview. Looking at 2016 as an example, I had to complete the draft of a novel if I wanted to release it by summer 2017, I’d committed to working with a non-profit organization on an extensive series of human-interest stories, I had continuous submissions due for BCB (an online book review and interview site), and I was in the process of creating a new web-based business with a friend. There were also several conferences and conventions I wanted to attend. Once the major deadlines for all my projects were in place and travel dates blocked off, I was able to see which things needed the most attention, and when.

I have a habit of sitting down each Sunday to plan. During that time, I scan four weeks ahead and add more detail to my calendar. A month ahead of time, I know which blog posts are due and what interviews I have scheduled, and I can clearly see any approaching deadlines. I’m then able to refine my tasks and priorities even more for the short term.

On Sundays, I also create a detailed “to-do” list for each day of the coming week. I’ll mark off chunks of time for particular projects, and look at the overall balance of the week to make sure I’ve scheduled enough time for the most urgent things.

Structure your work life to honor your personal rhythms.

Step one is recognizing you have a rhythm. A friend of mine, who works a full-time job in a different field, writes during his train commute to and from work. He plugs in ear buds and hits an impressive daily word count. Another friend works late into the evening, when the house is quiet and everyone else is asleep.

Writing, in one capacity or another, is my full-time job now, and I’m learning a great deal about rhythm. For example, I’m productive with task-oriented items like scheduling social media in the morning, but I couldn’t solve a plot tangle before noon to save my life. Likewise, I have to keep things simple on Fridays because I’m pretty worn out, but I can often get some solid creative writing in over the weekend.

When I’m drafting a novel, I need several uninterrupted hours for my creativity to flow and to hit my daily word count. It’s tricky for me to work one hour without interruption, never mind four, but I know this is what I need to do. Draft weeks wind up with a unique rhythm, and I’m often hiding at Starbucks to make it work!

I’m also noticing a rhythm to the year. Summers are busy with cons and conferences, so I can’t plan to draft a novel, but I can write blog posts and short stories. In the fall, when everyone is back to school and out of the house, I’m ready to find those uninterrupted hours and renew my affection for chai lattes.

There’s no right way to schedule your time, only the way that works best for you. When I respect my natural rhythms, and organize my work life around them, I find I’m much more productive, and certainly much happier.

Leave space for the unexpected. Equally as important, know when to say no.

Your calendar will help you do this! When deciding to take on a new project, I think about two things. First, does the project resonate? Even if I’m excited and want to say yes immediately, I always sleep on it. Either my creative energy and enthusiasm will grow or it will dissipate. If I’m still interested, I have to assess the time commitment and consult my oracle … um … calendar.

In general, I’m tempted to say yes to everything, but one glance at my calendar, with my current commitments highlighted, sets me straight. Either there is time or there isn’t. And if there isn’t, and I still want to do it, I have to consciously reorganize my priorities and be honest with myself about what that means.

Use the tools available to you to increase efficiency.

Because I’m actively involved in the business of my career, it can be difficult to carve enough time and space for creativity. It becomes urgent to streamline the task-oriented side of my work. Using tools like Hootsuite or CoSchedule to manage social media and content is almost essential. There’s a learning curve, of course, but in the end, the time saved is worth the investment.

I’ve also learned to use Quickbooks for my accounting. I schedule time every month to review my records and financial transactions, and once per quarter, I make an appointment with my accountant. We spend a few hours reconciling the books and assuring that everything is in order.

Of course, I’d rather be thinking about how to extricate my main character from a deadly inter-planetary battle, but I have to attend to these things. If I plan them into my calendar rather than letting them sneak up on me or have them unintentionally hijack my day, I feel more in control of my time.

Schedule downtime and time for self-care. Put this in the calendar.

In my daily planner I make sure to block off time for the gym or a yoga class everyday. I hike one morning every week with a group of friends, I belong to two book clubs, and I get together with a group of neighborhood moms once a month for dinner. All told, this works out to about two hours per day to myself, and one night a week out for fun. In the grand scheme of things, it’s not that much time.

When deadlines loom or the “to-do” list is jam-packed, it might seem practical to bump one of these things. But, I find when I do this I’m actually less productive. I need time to clear my head, time to breath some fresh air, time to laugh with my friends, and time to let go of whatever I’m working on and get some perspective.

My downtime doesn’t come last in the list of priorities, penciled in only after all the “work” things, rather it holds equal importance. It has to. Much of the writer’s life is solitary. We’re alone in our own minds for a good bit of the day. This isn’t necessarily good for my mental health, so I have to be mindful to step away, seek out the company of others, and take care of myself.

Maintaining control over my time is the single most important factor impacting my productivity. When something unexpected happens—I’m sick, my kids are sick, my computer dies—I do what I have to do to get through, and as soon as possible, I sit down to re-work my calendar. My organizational habits may seem a bit obsessive, but I have more freedom to work once the infrastructure is in place. If I’m proactive as opposed to reactive with regard to managing my time, I feel less stressed, more productive, and in general, satisfied with my work-life balance.

The biggest literary agent database anywhere is the Guide to Literary Agents. Pick up the most recent updated edition online at a discount.

If you’re an agent looking to update your information or an author interested in contributing to the GLA blog or the next edition of the book, contact Writer’s Digest Books Managing Editor Cris Freese at [email protected].

The post How to Work with an Editorial Calendar appeared first on WritersDigest.com.

from Writing Editor Blogs – WritersDigest.com http://www.writersdigest.com/editor-blogs/guide-to-literary-agents/work-editorial-calendar

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