#normally i get more than 700 but it depends on my hours

[padawanduck]

my 21 year old boss was saying at least you get tips. and we were like you're salary and get paid way more than we do

and he had the audacity to say his paychecks weren't even good. and he was like "everything gets taken out like i got 700 bucks taken out of my last paycheck"

not realizing that he was telling on himself supremely bc 700 bucks for the percentage taken out when there are paychecks where i get less than that

[just-a-carrot]

Hoya carrot your art intruiges me so much I wanna eat it (nom). Ok but uhhh serious mode now, what's your art process like how do you art what do you do when you draw? like wats the process ya? ya.

i don't normally have any way to show off my process as i don't do time lapses and don't save like, WIP versions of my art... BUT... just because you asked, i decided i'd try to do a time lapse vid

i don't like to do them because 1) aseprite doesn't have a built-in recorder, meaning i just have to record the whole window, which makes it quite jumpy with all the zooming and what-not, and 2) i just get really self-conscious and anxious LKDJALDSF

anyway, i recorded a time lapse vid of redrawing a CG for arc 1 (see how long it takes you to figure out which one it is lksadjfas). i chose this one for the vid because i wanted to redraw it anyway (the original was really bad) and because it's not too complicated, which lessened my fear a bit hahaha

do be warned that it's QUITE JUMPY especially in the second half during the coloring section, so cw eye strain / jumpy motions 💦 (i actually had to slow it down because the first one i made at 1200% speed was REALLY bad so i brought it down to 700% speed and it's a bit better now tho a bit long... hopefully it's ok):

i'll probably still do a couple tweaks to it after this... especially as i just remembered iggy needs to have bruises on his neck for this part LOL and i need to make expression variations, but still, this is pretty much how i do all my art!!! obviously some are much more complicated than this and sometimes i also do a lot more lighting work depending on the scene, but this is the foundation for all my stuff

this was sped up by 700%; the original vid was about an hour long

[poipoipoi-2016]

Coronavirus prep

So @moral-autism asked about prep, I dashed off a quick reply on my phone, and wanted to make a longer one.  

TL/DR: 

China locked up half the country.  I’m not saying we’re going to do that, I’m saying buying some extra toilet paper is cheap.  

If a month seems overkill, be prepared for Normie Panic to hit at some point.  Please have a couple days of food in the house

Hand Sanitizer works.  

The utilities will continue to work as well as they ever have

Call Grandma.  She’s much higher-risk than you.  

Do not visit Grandma

If at all possible, and depending on your level of personal panic, get Grandma into a cabin in the woods with a couple months of supplies

DO NOT VISIT GRANDMA

DO NOT VISIT GRANDMA

First: Fear of China shock

I have no idea what this is going to mean, but China shut down for a month on about 6 hours notice.  Take every single worry about the trade war, apply them all at once, and give 6 hours of notice.  They’re trying to come back up and failing.  This will end badly, but you can’t do anything about it, the stock market’s already crashed hard, expect random things to be randomly unavailable at all times.  

Second: Fear of Panic

Italy had two deaths.  It took 6 hours to strip every grocery store in Milan.  Go buy some toilet paper tomorrow on your way home from work.  Ditto for a month’s worth of everything you regularly use.  

Third: Fear of Quarantine

China locked up 700 Million people on about 6 hours notice, and turned off 1/6th of the global economy to stall this thing.  Japan shut down every school in the country because they had 207 confirmed cases.  

If you want to prep for anything, prep for that.  

Fourth: The disease

In Western nations, you have 1% fatality rates, and 5% ICU rates.  If things get really bad and breakdown starts happening, double that.  This is not the Big One.  If it was the Big One, I would have fled NYC (and the petri dish that is the NYC subway) sometime in early February.  

This is about 20x as likely as a normal flu to kill you, and 2.5x as likely to put you in the hospital.  And of course, it’s virulent as get out, so if it goes bad, infecting half the US population, you’ll have about 3 Million dead, 8 Million hospital visits, completely slammed medical facilities...  

This is the fear. This is why China shut down. This is why every major world health agency is freaking out.  But.  

China, with Chinese air quality, had 2% rates, 10% ICU.  That basically starts at age 50, and goes up to 14% above age 80.  If you’re 50 and in good health, you, personally are good.  If you’re worried about your kids, don’t be.  Literally 0% death rates.  

With that said, if you were planning to visit people who are not healthy and <50, maybe cancel those plans.  And call your elderly relatives, they’d love to hear from you more.  7% death rates at 50% infection rates is still a 1 in 28 chance you’ll never get to talk to them again.  

Furthermore: 

CDC screwed up testing.  Our first known, confirmed death was January 8th.  It’s in the general population now.  We’re finally noticing as FDA and CDC unscrew the testing pipeline.  And boy, does it sure look like Trump (and every other major institution, Trump-aligned or not) is going to try to pretend it’s merely a bad flu season.  

God, I hope he’s able to get away with that.  

[atsukini]

OK, these times I just notices some useful things :

~ First of all : always weight yourself at the same time of the day. You'll always be heavier on the evening (cause you drank water for example) and lighter on the morning.

So please, stop feeling fat cause you took some weight through the day without eating a lot. It's Normal, just pick an hour to weight and keep it, it'll be a lot more correct.

~ Secondly : Restrictions causes the Binges. (Obviously). But if you let yourself more liberty to at least taste things you're craving for (u can even spit it).

I'm doing thing for two weeks now : No cal max, I just try to do the lowest possible (and it's easier than with a kcal limit, I had a lot of -100cal days), I do count every bites, every 0,1 cal but I do not set a limit cause if I do I'll take exactly this amount and maybe a little more and I'll feel like crap.

Do me a favor, just try, do not set a limit, just try to eat the less, ask yourself if the food u'r going to eat worth it, eat half a fruit if you're hungry or just take 5g of you're favorite chocolate you're craving for (5g is about 25, it's OK - it's scary, I know, for me too, but it's OK.)

~ Thirdly, drink your water! Water weight will go I promise! And never forget diet coke and monster zéro can wake your hunger (cauz your brain thought it was sugar but it was fake sugar so it gets frustrated) so drink your water. Mint tea reduce appetite too, camomille can calm u, coffee can wake u up (and I get used to black coffee without sugar in like 2 weeks, now I love it, first I hates it ^^'). And tesmas and coffee are basicly water so it' s OK. Just drink water okay, stay safe with this point cauz u can live some weeks eating almost nothing but u can die in some days without drinking so please ❤️🙏

~ Count by week, change slightly your calorie intake every day, let yourself a cheat evening or a cheat morning (it's up to you ^^) ans DON'T GO ON THE SCALE right afler it. I know the scale is calling you, I know you can't help, but please, just try to weight yourself less. I eat almost nothing through the week (between 0 and 700 by day) then Friday night is my cheat evening and I try to stay under 1500. If I feel bad about it I just don't eat on Saturday and fruit day on Sunday and when I finally weight myself (I just want to do it everyday but try to avoid the scale), I've actually lost weight. Cause eating a bit more some days boost the metabolism and if you still are living with your parents they will be less worried if they see you eat some days.

~ And last but not least : if you just can't exercices cause you're to tired or weak, just staying up burns more calories than being sit, and being sit burns more calories than being laid. Walking can burn 100 calories in an hour (depends on your weight and height), doing the dishes burns the same amount of calories in an hour than walking, cleaning your house can burn 175 in an hour (still depending on your weight and height), cooking burns 117 in an hour,... And if you do to much sports you risk to get hungry so just try to do things in ur house and you'll burn calories, I swear to you ❤️

❤️ Stay safe please ❤️

❤️ Be careful ❤️

❤️ Be kind to yourself ❤️

❤️ And ILY all ❤️

(and I'm not an English native so sorry if some words aren't correct)

[alicecanthang]

Long story short Raava has been vomiting so I took her to the emergency vet this morning. Her intestines show some inflammation so it’s probably just that so she has to fast and they gave her antinausea medication. But her pancreatic enzymes are also a little high but the vet said we only need to look into that more if she keeps vomiting because then it’s probably pancreatitis. Also the X-ray showed that one of her kidneys is smaller than the other so she’s at high risk for kidney disease when she gets older. I just got her insurance on Wednesday and this all started happening on Thursday and what sucks is gonna cost $700+ but her coverage doesn’t start until October 28th because of the waiting period. But the silver lining is that now that she has documented signs of potential kidney disease as long as I keep her insurance she’s covered but if I had waited to get insurance, it would have been considered a pre-existing condition and it wouldn’t have been covered if there are complications in the future. So thank god for that timing.

But she’s supposed to try food again in an hour or so but I’m pretty sure she’s still nauseous and she shouldn’t be so I’m worried. Of course I’ve been doing a lot of googling and pancreatitis is basically a death sentence.

Luckily I’ve been updating my manager as things happen so she’s letting me take the day off tomorrow, also because I’m going to be up late tonight making sure Raava can hold down her food and giving her tiny portions at a time. And I used the online scheduler at her normal vet so she has an appointment for tomorrow but idk if it’s too soon and I should push it back but I guess that will depend on if she can hold down food or not.

[theheaterishot]

Why did I trick you with David Doesn’t Get It?

Some reader sent me an email asking me why I wrote DDGI the format that I did. I wrote a really long reply back, if you’re interested, I copied and pasted my reply down below. 

Hello! Thanks for the email, I'm glad to read that the comic had such an impact on you even now so many years after the end of it! 

Nah, I didn't advertise that the comic was fictional and I was hiding it, but not with the intent of malicious deceit. It surprised me to get so many angry messages, for me I never really felt hurt being lied to or duped, even when a conman drained $700 from my bank account leaving me with little to survive on. Even now, I'm still trying to understand people feeling hurt by such actions. I'm confused by myself and, even though I fail to completely relate to the opposite party, I've accepted that I've done something to hurt people, regardless of my intent. And for that, I apologize to you and my other readers.

I was a fine arts major, my area of study was Kinetic Imaging, art through motion, whether it be animation, video, or others. My main focus of study was video and, for me, I was frequently obsessed with the concept of medium and having medium be an active participant in the piece. Rather than just focusing on cutting footage together, I wanted the camera to play a role into the viewer's view. I liked that the camera was an object that could be manipulated, and got bored of everything being filmed from a human's point of view and from a human's height. A camera could be used to go into places we could, at levels we couldn't, with vision different from ours, and it wasn't just video that I applied that sort of thinking to. Video didn't have to be just one point of view either. Humans may only be able to see one view at a time normally, but cuts and transitions did thing our human eyes couldn't. I just loved all of that. 

I started a more normal webcomic before DDGI, one that also included the viewers. The thing that impressed me of webcomics versus comics in the newspaper or graphic novels was the instant feedback and interaction I could have with the readers. That was something unique to the fast response we could garner on the internet while also having a near-permanent record of past interactions that you couldn't via phone call. 

From there, I was interested in how connected everything on the internet was. Like connecting social media and emails to a particular website. People could interact with a website in any way they choose, through private interactions in DMs or publicly in comments or forums or merely a lurker. Or even not on the website itself but in their own private space. 

I wanted to utilize that as part of a story. I loved interactivity in art. I loved installation pieces where the viewer's actions would directly affect the art. I loved having the viewer be an active participant, like depending on where they're standing, or how they walked past a piece, could change the way the piece looked. That so many people could view the same piece and leave with a completely different feeling based on their own preconceptions or particular mood that day. That so many people could bring something different to a piece as well.

And so I wrote a story that, basically, utilized social media. I wanted to have the comic start as a regular diary comic and I knew I wanted it to end with the readers going from passive readers to active participants when David goes through a problem actively. The beginning is him talking about past problems, it is something that could not be affected anymore. Here, the reader would learn about him which would go on to affect how they'd react to his problems. At the end, I wanted the viewers to be able to talk to him about his life and change his feelings. They could give him hope, they could give him despair, I didn't care so long as they did. 

I wanted the comic to last exactly 4 years. I wanted it to be a long relationship, something TV shows have the upper hand over movies, despite being nearly the same medium, so that when the comic ended, it wouldn't be a quick good bye. The same feeling one gets from a video game ending you've spend dozen of hours in.

Last, I wanted the interaction of the reader with the story to change. The beginning, where David talks about the past, they merely look on and comment on it. Towards the end, David has an active problem and is unsure. Readers are allowed to interact with him and affect his life, or they may choose to stay passive and be content to read. It doesn't affect the story, but the interaction suddenly changes in scope somehow. It goes from pretty low stakes to slightly higher stakes.

The emotions we feel from stories are real and I wanted to utilize every part of the fact it was a WEBcomic. And the thing I loved about the web was just connecting strangers, allowing people to drop in and out when they wanted, the fact that there were different types of websites. 

It was a story that I wanted to end where David would thank the readers. I wanted the viewers to feel like they meant a lot to him, and that they did. So that's all it was. I just wanted to utilize the web medium. I was not interested in gaining sympathy for myself or to get words of praises. I know David and I are not alike nor are we one. Every word that readers have said to David, I have forgotten. They were ones I read for him, they were never meant for me. I did not emotionally connect to them personally as they were written for David. I remember the readers that talked to me directly, but the words for him were for David, through and through. 

I apologize for the long winded answer. I haven't had a lot of time lately to talk about modern art theories and the email brought out a long stagnant part of me. I hope, even if the answer wasn't what you were looking for, it was still satisfactory. While I'm sorry that I hurt people, I regret to say I'm not sorry for what I did. I don't like prank shows, I don't like making entertainment off of unwilling participants, and I tried to steer as far from making entertainment of my readers as much as I could, but I don't regret my decision. I got to use all the aspects of internet communication that I wanted for a story, for an art piece, and that was all I wanted. 

I'm sincerely sorry for making you feel silly, to you and to all the ones that aren't even reading this email. I hope 2020 goes well for you as well, despite it so far looking like the harbinger of end times.

[thelastarchangelaskblog]

Session 18

I was available for the first hour of the session, and only through text since I was in the airport and no, I’m not about to RP Tony Stark in an airport lounge. I’m not that shameless. Everyone else was present.

So notes are a little sparse for this session, but I’ve got highlights and session notes to pull info from!

So without further ado...

**

(Read more.)

There were a few more text RPs between sessions, leading with Gabriel spending the night at Balthazar’s ( @the-grey-hunt) and Rhodey ( @rebaobsessions) winding up at his door in the morning like...a puppy? (He’s the opposite of a puppy, but is very cuddly.)

Following some very good conversations, Balthazar joins Tony and Rhodey on the route back to the inn to see them off to their S.H.I.E.L.D.-assigned quest.

Balthazar finally meets the party under non-stressful situations.

DJ (doxblogsstuff): Hi, Rhodey. Hi, Tony. Hi, random stranger.

Balthazar: We've already met.

Zira ( @heliocentricgeometric): Why are you here.

DJ is apparently masterfully restraining the urge to call Balthazar “Uncle Balthazar.”

Balthazar joins us for breakfast.

DM: Balthazar accepts coffee. 

Tony: Since when do you drink coffee?

Balthazar isn’t the only one to partake in caffeine.

Lynn ( @lynnnnnnnnnnmnnnnnnnnnnnnnmnnnn [again what the fuck]): [Bob] is going to take a cup of coffee, and probably chug it, and burn himself in the process but also keep chugging.

Formal introductions are made, since Balthazar was in too much distress last time to remember anyone’s names. Also Zira was Zee at the time.

Rhodey: Balthazar, this is Zira. Also sometimes Zee and Ezra, depending.

Balthazar, skeptically: Okay.

The cats make a reappearance, doubtlessly crawling all over Bob and Luna.

Balthazar: Why do you have cats?

Luna ( @imagine1117) and Bob at the same time: Why not?

Breakfast is eventually over, and Balthazar takes his leave of us.

Rhodey: It was great to get to know you a bit better this morning. 

Balthazar: It generally is with me.

(The CONFIDENCE)

Balthazar has opinions on Gabriel’s friends.

Balthazar to Gabriel: You have weird friends.

Gabriel really doesn’t have anything to say on that in his friends’ defense.

Luna has another particular comment to make on Balthazar, who is shorter than Gabriel regardless of what he would like to tell you.

Luna to Bob, re: Balthazar: He's shorter than I was expecting.

Bob: I'll tell you next time if he's a giant or not-a-giant.

We wind up on the road, and Zira is...unusually and shiftily quiet. She seems guilty about something. Rhodey rolls insight.

reba: I beat ZIRA on insight??? What is this?

(Zira has passive 18 insight.)

Rhodey goes to ask Zira what’s up and if everything’s okay.

Zira: There's no need to worry. 

Gabriel, under his breath: There's definitely a need to worry.

Rhodey: Is there something you'd like to tell us?

Zira: I'd like to not tell anyone. Ever. Forever.

Zira: What's there not to be worried about? There's always the chance that you'll hate me for something I do, and you'll leave me alone to die.

Absolutely no one is convinced.

reba: Rhodey is giving Zira...I don't know how to describe it except as a patented mom face.

Helio: On reflex, Zira makes a face back.

DJ: I'm gonna tell mom about this! Not Rhodey-mom. My mom. OUR mom!

Zira reluctantly tells the party that she’s joined S.H.I.E.L.D. without letting anyone know and is expecting punishment for it now. 

Zira: We're a unit, and I did something without the unit, so I should be punished right now.

Tony does actually say something at this point, something about how Zira can make her own decisions and it’s her choice, etc. Rhodey is also supportive because they did know what Zira was going to do since she wanted to join.

We end up in the town we need to be in! And Zira wants to put the ring of disguise on so she’s not so blatantly an aasimar.

DM: Natasha definitely took back her ring. Well, I say took it back; it's more like the next time you went to use it, you didn't have it any more.

Suggestions are bandied about with what to do about the book! We were told we can buy it, but not for more than 700 gold pieces. Stealing was suggested as an option - an option Tony did not and does not approve of.

Luna: We split into two groups. One group goes in disguise so we can frame them, the other group steals the book.

Bob & Luna: S t e a l.

Rhodey, Tony, & Zira: :/

DJ: Steal.

Tony: >:|

Rhodey is thankfully very much also against stealing.

DM: Her title is the Lawbearer and her symbol is scales on an axe, and the axe is there to remind you of what happens if you don’t obey the scales.

Around this time I did need to leave, so we’re down to highlights, and I have zero context for any of these quotes, sorry.

Alatar shows her usual tendency to over-prepare in some cases and under-prepare in others (ala accents).

DM: I didn't do this ahead of time, which I'm now realizing was a mistake.

Luna says a thing?

imagine: (clears throat)

Lynn: Hear ye, hear ye.

The Vesper Timberlands are brought up, largely because the person holding the book is interested in them and wants information on it.

DJ: How much do you know about [the Vesper Timberlands]?

Luna: A lot.

The party is apparently discussing ways of getting the book by trading knowledge.

Zira: Does xe want to hear about murder?

reba: This party and knowledge, I swear. 

DM: And yet so many secrets.

They eventually decide on Luna giving Zimmer information on the Timberlands. The entire group goes.

Zimmer: Some chairs have been put out for...the 3 of you that were expected.

imagine: Luna glances at Rhodey. He looks responsible. Rhodey seems like a normal person. Is this normal?

Luna begins her tale of the Timberlands? Which I missed.

Luna: There's also the Old City, which is an...old...city.

(And the New City, which is new! There’s also the Ancient City, which is as old as balls.)

The info given is enough for Zimmer to hand the book over, so...mission accomplished!

DJ to Zira: Well, you didn't get to talk about murder after all.

The party is curious about why S.H.I.E.L.D. is so interested in the book. They try investigating. (At this point I am no longer in an airport and can listen in but not participate.)

Rhodey: Now, you smart people, do your thing.

Reba: And Rhodey continues sharpening his axe.

The book is difficult to parse out, largely because there’s a spell on it. Zira is observant enough that she notices it. There’s a brief argument where Bob really, really wants to rip the front cover off, but most of us disagree. So we wait until the next morning to take the spell off. In the meantime, Tony and DJ have read through it because it’s entirely written in Celestial and taken notes (and continue to take notes on the way back) on the contents.

It’s a book entirely on warlocks and their pacts. There’s also information on a web of dreams that can protect people’s dreams.

By the next morning, Dispel Magic reveals that there’s something hidden in the cover! Zira insists on prying the cover open herself.

Helio, after rolling: Fuck. Wait, no, I have a great modifier, so not fuck.

There’s an actual web of dreams in the book itself! We head back to Ankh and to S.H.I.E.L.D.

DM: Do you hand over the book and the web?

Everyone: (resounding silence)

Rhodey: I certainly hope so!

S.H.I.E.L.D. is very pleased with us.

DM: You each get 320 gold pieces.

Everyone: (various noises of disbelief and amazement)

And that’s a wrap for Session 18! Which saw the party do an entire side quest in one session. Alas, I missed most of it but I think this is still a pretty concise summary.

More shenanigans next time!

[duchessofostergotlands]

Thank you for pointing out that maternity leave is about the infant as well as the mother. This whole debate has been, at times, so disheartening to read. At the risk of being long winded, I want to contribute. I am a registered nurse, lactation counselor and childbirth educator in the US. I am also a mother to 4 young children. I am privileged to have enjoyed extended maternity leave. I know many women do not have that privilege. That's why I and so many of my peers are...

starting conversations and pushing for policies around maternity leave in the US to change. It seems that many people do not understand maternity leave. They think it is solely about the mother’s physical recovery. If there are no complications this should be 6 weeks for a vaginal birth and 8 weeks for a c section. I think we all agree on this, but there is so much more and the conversation HAS to continue past the mother’s physical recovery. It has to go on to include the mother’s emotional and mental status postpartum. 1 of 4 women suffers postpartum depression. The conversation needs to consider the fact that statistically speaking women lose on average 700 hours of sleep in the first year of their baby’s life. (Dad is likely to lose a lot of sleep too!) The importance of breastfeeding and the time commitment required to be successful in meeting the WHO’s recommended 6 months of exclusive breastfeeding is an essential component of this discussion. Infants are born totally dependent on us for its survival. Ideally the mother should be the infant’s primary caregiver for at least the first year of life. This best practice nurtures healthy children who grow into healthy adults belonging to a healthy society. Maternity leave gives the mother a chance to help establish a new normal for her entire family, including older siblings. Fathers also suffer when a woman does not have appropriate leave. There is so much more detail I want to give but this is already too wordy. Bottom line is that quality maternity leave is an essential component of women's health, strong families, and a strong society.I have been a Kate fan for many years and while I do hate to see her criticized, I am happy that her maternity leave has sparked debate and conversation. As my children get older I intend to continue this conversation and work to bring about change of this policy in my country. It seems that regardless of a nation's policies, we as women need to understand the importance of leave and unite around the issue

It’s taken me such a long time to answer this so I apologise for the fact it has nothing to do with anything I’ve been talking about recently haha. But it’s a topic I’m passionate about so I am happy to discuss it and it has come up recently with some of the completely unfair insinuations that Meghan was lazy or rude for not going to the State Banquet instead of, you know, entitled to a break to be with her child! 

I agree completely with everything you’ve said here and I’m so so happy you shared it. I’m also really in awe of your passion for the topic and the fact that you’re working to change things. The UK has a hell of a lot of problems and our parental leave is still not as good as many European nations but the US system is just mind boggling to me. You’re so right about people not understanding that it’s about more than just physical recovery. Not that that isn’t a huge deal! I was on a hen party recently (a bachelorette party) and I was talking to the future bride’s sister and sister in law about birth. One of them was bleeding for 18 months and went blind. Now obviously that’s not particularly healthy but it shows how it can impact you in ways people don’t even realise. But it’s about so much more than that and the examples you’ve given are all brilliant and so eloquently expressed. I also think sometimes with the focus on physical health it leads people to act like those who are on maternity leave should isolate themselves in the home and if they don’t then it’s evidence they should go back to work. It isn’t a punishment, you’re not under house arrest! It’s healthy to go and do things, for the family and for the baby. It can reduce the likelihood of mental ill health and aid childhood development. You don’t get parental leave because you physically can’t work, you get it because it’s right to give people the time they need to do what’s right for their child. I like our policy of keeping in touch days where you can go back to work for a certain number of days without losing your right to paid leave. 

The impact of strong maternity leave policies has a ripple effect and studies have consistently show the benefit it has well in to adulthood. I think anyone who ignores that is not truly supportive of either women or children. 

[badbackgroundscience]

Science of “The Seven”

I watched Amazon’s The Boys this week. So instead of the usual 60′s Marvel fare, here’s some tangential science relating to the superpowers featured in the show:

1. Homelander can’t see through zinc.

This is obviously a play on Superman not being able to see through lead, but the switch brings up some problems with the physics involved. X-rays - light with wavelengths ranging between 0.01 and 10 nm* - can’t travel through a lump of lead because lead is super dense. It’s nearly the heaviest non-radioactive element, with (usually) 208 protons+neutrons and 82 electrons. And its atoms pack very closely together.**

Combining that density with the fact that lead atoms are also very good at attenuating x-ray light (meaning the amount of x-ray photons that can penetrate a certain thickness of lead drops exponentially as that thickness increases), it makes sense that Superman’s x-ray vision’s weakness is lead.

But zinc is a smaller atom (usually 64 protons+neutrons and 30 electrons) and its atoms don’t pack as tightly; it’s about 1.5 times less dense than lead. It’s X-ray attenuation is generally lower, but not too different, from lead (compare this graph vs this one). Together, this makes it easier for x-rays to penetrate zinc than lead.

So why can’t Homelander see through zinc, but (supposedly) see through lead? It could be that the x-rays he emits correspond to a wavelength that zinc absorbs more than lead does. Annoyingly, the absorption spectra I can find all seem to be dealing with zinc compounds (e.g. ZnO, ZnS) instead of pure zinc metal. So I can’t tell you exactly what wavelength that would need to be.

Sorry.***

2. The Deep has torso gills

Fish are ectotherms, meaning their body temperature is regulated by their environment. Mammals - including cetaceans (i.e. whales, porpoises, and dolphins) - are endotherms. We generate our own body heat. Kevin presumably does, too.

This means that a man needs more oxygen than a man-sized fish does. About 15 times the oxygen, in fact. It’s the gills’ job to extract oxygen from water and pump it into the fish’s bloodstream; bigger fish have bigger gills, but a 75-kg man needs gills 15 times the size of a 75-kg fish’s. Not necessarily in length, but in collection area. And that’s assuming you’re not doing any physical activity that ups your oxygen requirements.

But on top of that, oxygen is far less abundant in water than it is in air - about 20 times less for the same volume. If an average human needs a quart**** of oxygen per minute, their gills would need to strain 51 gallons of water every minute to meet that requirement.

Combining these two factors, designer and material scientist-dabbler Jun Kamei is developing a set of artificial gills, and claims the final device will have a surface area of 32 square meters (344 square feet).

The human lung surface area is somewhere around 75 square meter range, so if you’ve got gills that can pack as efficiently as lungs do, you probably could fit them into your abdomen. Maybe not Chase Crawford’s abdomen, but a stockier human’s abdomen.

The real problem here is that Kevin’s doing himself no favors by covering the gills up while he’s underwater. Water rushing through the gills is the whole point, and you’ve just made it 1000% harder.

3. A-Train (and Popclaw) booms and bu(r)sts

According to the race announcer that one episode, A-Train can reach speeds over 1000 miles per hour. Assuming that’s true and not a horrible exaggeration, as soon as he passes the speed of sound (767 mph at sea level), A-Train would create sonic booms. Not a single boom. Constant booms for as long as he’s going fast enough. You (as a single individual) only hear one, but that’s only because you’re not moving.

We never see him do this, so we must conclude he’s not a complete idiot and only goes this fast when he’s far away from people and architecture. (If I read the screen right, he only clocks in at 371 in his race.)

As for the secret girlfriend he murdered, there are several species of amphibians that can stick their own bones out through their skin to use as weapons. For example, species of frog within the genus Astylosternus, and Trichobatrachus robustus (aka the hairy frog). The Spanish ribbed newt can push its ribs out through its torso; when threatened, its skin also secrets poison, turning its bones into poisonous barbs.*****

4. Translucent isn’t see-through. He’s see-around.

As the man explains to Jimmy the late night host (No, not that Jimmy the late night host...the other Jimmy the late night host), his skin can convert at will to a “carbon metamaterial” that bends light around it. 

We don’t know if there are other elements involved besides carbon, but if there aren’t, the real-world comparison is graphene -- an atom-thick layer of carbon atoms bonded to each other forming a honeycomb pattern.

Given its thickness, it’s translucent itself. [Side note: yes, “translucent” doesn’t mean invisible. However, some dictionaries (e.g. Merriam Webster and the OED) include alternative definitions identical to "transparent"...which goes against everything I ever learned. But either way, he actually is translucent when he isn’t “translucent”. Because human skin is translucent, assuming there isn’t too much melanin in it.]

A 2D sheet of graphene has a breaking strength of 42 Pa (0.0061 psi). That number seems super small, but it's actually reflecting the strongest material we know of. You'd need 4,300 pounds balanced on a pencil (pointy end on the graphene) to break through that atom-thick sheet.

Alternatively, if I did my back-of-the-envelope math right, you’d need a 50 gram .50-cal bullet traveling at ~770,000 mph (and coming to a stop in ~1 millisecond). Now, the human epidermis averages ~1mm thick. That's 3 million layers of graphene. 

However, if you manage to put a crack into your graphene, it becomes brittle on par with a ceramic.`*

As for being able to electrocute Translucent because carbon is “highly conductive”, graphene is indeed so; however, other carbon compounds aren't (e.g. diamonds). It all depends on the positioning of electrons within the solid (moving electrons = flowing charge). Since we don’t know what Translucent’s metamaterial is, we’ll have to take the show at its word.

Though here’s some bonus info: metamaterials are all synthetic. Which would mean that Translucent had this skin installed somehow. Or, it’s a very subtle dig at Compound V being used to create superheroes that only I caught.

The one thing that the season left bugging me about Translucent was his eyeballs. Somehow those are see-through.

5. Starlight pushes it real good

Our newest member of the Seven can use concentrated light to knock baddies off their feet, as well as throw them several meters back. This is an exaggerated form of reality. Light can actually push stuff. 

Photons do exert a teeny tiny amount of pressure on whatever they hit. It’s called radiation pressure. The amount is sufficient for something like a solar sail (The above image is LightSail 2), but not wiping the floor with a criminal.

According to (more) envelope math, Starlight would need to emit ~30 PetaWatts to deliver a good boxer-level punch to a baddie standing ~2 meters away. That's the equivalent amount of energy released by 7.2 million tons of TNT exploding, in 1 second. 

Also, given the color of the light she emits, she’s probably emitting a spectrum identical to our Sun, meaning she’s emitting a ton of light that normally gets blocked by our atmosphere, including x-rays and ultraviolet radiation.

She’s definitely given someone a melanoma at some point during her life. Or at least a very bad sunburn.

Bonus: Ice Princess shatters wangs

Final back-of-the-envelope math, calculating how fast that guy's (presumably erect) penis would freeze being enveloped by an ice vagina at -346 °F (-210 °C). A combination of calculating the heat lost per second via conduction, and the amount of energy lost as body-temp water cools and converts to ice.

Came out to 0.1 seconds. 

Faster than I expected...

_______________________________________________________________________

* Visible light is ~400-700 nm

** There are several (nonradioactive) metals more dense than lead, but more rare/expensive, like gold and iridium. 

*** Also, brass can be up to 45% zinc. Does that mean Homelander can only sort of see through brass?

**** Get out of here with your imperial units, self...

***** Fun fact: it can regenerate lost limbs, heart tissue, brain cells, and its spinal cord

`* Butt cracks don’t count.

_______________________________________________________________________

Image credits:

Zinc - CC BY 3.0

gills By Chris 73, CC BY-SA 3.0

frog claws from Barej et al 2010

sonic boom By I, Melamed katz, CC BY-SA 3.0

graphene By U.S. Army Materiel Command, CC BY 2.0

lightsail 2 By Josh Spradling / The Planetary Society CC BY-SA 3.0

ice by Ian Mackenzie CC BY 2.0

[jennsepticeye]

Hi, yes, let's talk about how ADHD stigmas and what they actually mean from an actual ADHD person.

Hi, I'm Jenn, I'm 18 and I was diagnosed when I was 14 and have been taking Methylphenidate to help me function like a normal human being for 4 years.

There's a whole alphabet of abbreviations in here, so have a key

ADHD Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder

ADD Attention Deficit Disorder

SPD Sensory Processing Disorder

ASD Autism Spectrum Disorder

RSD Rejection-Sensitive Dysphoria

ASMR Autonomous Sensory-Motor Response

ADHD and ADD effect everyone differently. Everyone. And it's really important to understand that because comments like "well you don't look ADHD" or "but you're so calm" can be really damaging to people struggling with it. It can be invalidating and trivializes how hard living with ADD really is.

Rejection-Sensitive Dysphoria, or RSD, is relatively common among kids and adults with Attention Deficit Disorders. This is basically when someone perceives an interaction negatively even though it might not be. If internalized, it can cause major depression and can be misdiagnosed as rapid cycling bipolar disorder. If externalities, it can appear as an anger disorder. Kids and adults with RSD are ultra sensitive to rejection, more so than non ADHD people. So if someone you know has ADHD it is important to make them feel wanted and be aware that externalized reactions are not ones they really have control over.

ADHD is not a childhood disorder. My brother is nearly 30 and still struggling with symptoms. Some children do grow out of it, and most do not.

ADHD people are not lazy. We're not. Not inherently anyway. If you're someone without ADHD I imagine it's hard to comprehend the complete lack of motivation that comes with such a disorder. I want to have good grades, and I want to get my homework done, but I am so easily distracted that tasks which take a neurotypical person 20 minutes will take me upwards of an hour. My brain is a constant cycle of "I'll do it later." I have a hard time prioritizing what needs to be done vs what I want to do. I could do my homework but I would rather read or write.

There are some overlapping symptoms between ADHD and Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD). I struggle with one of those symptoms, sensory processing disorder. Basically what that means is sometimes I get sensory overloads due to environmental factors that can lead to anxiety like attacks. There are also some sounds, textures, sights, tastes, and smells that absolutely do not agree with me. Velvet lined clothes are an absolute no go because the feel of velvet on my skin is liable to cause a sensory attack, scrambled eggs are the same way, and those phone dog whistles. Be mindful of people with SPD around you, and what triggers them.

Typically when you think ADHD you picture a kid with no filter running around the room, a trouble maker who can't sit still. And when you think stim, you either think ASMR or the ASD kid who yells all the time. There are lots of different types of stims and it's important for these kids to stim because it helps them function. Verbal stims are called echolalia. Kids who stim this way often seem obnoxious or unintelligent. They usually repeat something often, a quote or just noises. This is generally the least socially acceptable stim. But these kids aren't dumb, or unintelligent. They repeat those phrases as a way to maintain focus. If this is a stim that distracts or disturbs you, then be kind about it. Offer the person a place to work where they won't distract others, but can stim as they please.

Another stim is oral stims. These people usually chew on things, be it fingernails, coat sleeves, pencils or gum. There are several types of stim "toys" for this purpose. Rubber necklaces that prevent tooth damage while limiting and self destructiveness, like fingernail biting. Baby teething rings are a favorite of mine because they hold up well.

Tactile stims are the ones most commonly labeled toys. I know that fidget spinners now have a bad rap, but they were originally designed for people with attention disorders to stim with. But There are also other toys such as Tangles, Fidget Cubes, Spinner Rings and maze bracelets. If these appear in say, your classroom, don't rush to confiscate them unless they are more of a distraction to the students that a beneficial tool.

Tactile stimmers may also make repetitive motions that seem abnormal for neurotypicals, almost like Tourette's in nature. For instance, I clap the sides of my feet together or rub or punch my collar bone. You should only try to stop this behavior if it's self-destructive, because this is a stim that is helping that person focus

Auditory stims. I know we've all seen that person who needs music to focus, or someone who prefers silence. It can be problematic for some ADHD kids who need music to focus because in my experience I am easily distracted into singing along with the lyrics. Video game music is often composed specifically to boost concentration and I've found that movie soundtracks are a good option as well. If you're a teacher, be mindful of these students' needs.

Now lets talk about why this works. One of the leading theories for ADHD (be mindful that I'm not a doctor) is what I call the Floating Focus theory. As humans evolved we couldn't focus 100% on just one task. If we were picking berries we had to have been mindful of our surrounding to be aware of threats. This lookout side focus is called the "floating focus." In ADHD people the floating focus is overactive, which makes us easily distractable. I once spent an entire hour playing with a sequined pillow because I got distracted from some AP reading. With these stims, our floating focus is occupied on something, so we can't get distracted be something else.

(Bonus fact about floating focus: it's part of the reason some ADHDers seem to have awesome hearing because their floating picks up on conversations in quiet environments. For instance, I could be reading with my door closed and hear one parent say to another "should I call Jenn down to take care of the chickens?" And then I'll get up and head down before they've caked me)

I wanted to put this after the stims because it's not quite the same. Deep Pressure stim is another type. Kids who stim like this may wear compression shirts or weighted clothes, or use a weighted lap pad. I sleep with a 15lb blanket. This is a sub category for tactile stimming, but sometimes a useful tool in bringing someone down from a sensory episode. For instance I sometimes have my sister lay down on top of me and wearing a chest binder is a happy coincidence. They also train service dogs to do the same thing.

ADHD peeps are not always tired. The disorder really fucks with a person's sleeping rhythm, so an ADHD person might have a really hard time sleeping at night because their thoughts are really loud, or because boredom has a wild effect on us. A person with ADHD may have no problem staying up all night but they will be paying for it the next day, which is why they seem lethargic and tired. My sleep schedule is something I'm still working on, but a weighted blanket is often a great tool. (Currently premade ones are super pricey but there are a lot of resources for making your own).

ADHD people aren't slobs. Messy behavior can often be attributed to what's called "visual background-noise." Some ADHD people are messy because they've stopped recognizing the mess, it's just background noise in their visual field. Related to this, ADHD people may seem to know where everything is in their mess, which is often the cause of a reluctance to clean. If they clean then everything will be moved from where it was and they won't know anymore. There is also the reluctance due to lack of motivation.

There seems to be an ongoing commentary that ADHD people can pay attention if they choose to, and this is often said right after someone has done something efficiently. ADHD people can't choose really what they pay attention to. If something is done super efficiently is is often caused by what's called "hyperfixation" or what has previously been called "special interests." These are areas where an ADHD person can focus on a task often better than a neurotypical person. This isn't always good, especially in a case where the itself hyperfixation is bad, is not the assigned task, or if the focus is so strong that a person like me forgets to eat or sleep. You read that right. I honest to god forget to eat. I'll lose track of time and when I check, I'll have been working from 700 to 1500 without stopping.

Meds aren't inherently bad. Like I said I've been taking the off brand equivalent of Ritalin. Methylphenidate. Side effects if ADHD meds include disrupted sleeping pattern, decreased appetite and I sometimes get headaches when they wear off. Last year I lost 10 lbs because of my meds. Meds like Ritalin or Adrerall can also be semi addictive as an ADHD person becomes dependent on their effects. However, if in the right dosage and paired with other non chemical methods, meds can do a lot of good. I am completely nonfunctional in a classroom environment without my meds. This is the case for a lot of people. If you demonize treatments like Aderall then people who need them are less likely to get the help they need. I said at the beginning that everyone is different, this means that the treatments are different for everyone. Do your research and listen to your physician. Don't rush do slander a med because it didn't work for you.

[thebraxiatelcollection]

This might sound a little strange but how much does it usually cost to go to Gallifrey One? I can't find the prices on the website and thought you might know.

Not at all! I can only answer from my personal experience as I’m from the UK who has travelled to Gallifrey One twice now so it may vary for you depending on your budget and where you’re from. My friend who I travelled with this year has also done a Gallifrey one guide which I will post below;

Gallifrey One tickets for next year are on sale on April 13th.  

The first step is, of course, get a ticket. Even if you don’t manage it at the point of initial sale for any reason (remember the contends to sell out in 24 to 48 hours), all is not lost; the con operates a ticket transfer policy which gets going late in the year, and ends typically about a week before the con. Sellers post in the Facebook group for the event, and buyers contact them with an expression of interest. Tickets cost about £80 dependent on the exchange rate. Both times I have been, I have operated a “buy ticket now, worry about getting there later” policy. You do not need to immediately get a flight booked as soon as you get a ticket.Full-price flights can cost as much as £600-700 economy, but there are many opportunities to as much as halve this to £350-400 in airline sales, or if you have a credit card that gives you Avios (what used to be known as Air Miles), which can be used towards your flight. Air New Zealand and Aer Lingus are often the cheapest options, and people who have flown with them report good things. If you are travelling from elsewhere in the UK than London, and are an inexperienced flyer, British Airways offers a hassle-free experience of your domestic and international flight leaving from the same Heathrow terminal (Terminal 5) Remember to apply for your ESTA from the US Department of Homeland Security in good time. This is part of the Visa Waiver scheme for non-US citizens and everyone must have one that comes from a country participating in the scheme. It costs a nominal fee of about £30, and most of the airlines prompt you to do it as part of the booking process. Be aware it takes about 20 minutes to complete. They do tend to ask you some personal questions (your social media usernames). It is better to tell them everything for a hassle-free process, but this is a matter of personal choice.Hotels. The Marriott is expensive outside of the con-block rate. When the block goes online it sells out in literally seconds. Normal price for the Marriott is 230 USD a night. I have not managed to secure a room at the Marriott either time; have a backup plan, there are many excellent options a short walk away. The Crowne Plaza is only one block from the Marriott and is reasonably priced at 900 USD for 5 nights for 2 people – around £368 each. The Hilton is highly rated by con-goers next door, the Renaissance Marriott is next to the Crowne Plaza and is more basic. Cheaper options are to be had further away. Almost all hotels offer free airport transfer buses directly outside the International Terminal. Note it is not really practical to stay downtown and travel in, the subway is on the other side of the airport. There is an extension being built on the other side of the Marriott though whether it will be ready or convenient for next year I am unsure.Eating does not come cheap and you must remember that tax is not usually included in prices shown on menus, nor is a gratuity for which a minimum of 15% is the norm. A pizza in one of the hotels will cost between 17 and 20 USD before tax. If you are on a budget and have the arms and legs for it, visit Target or CVS and stock up on essentials. Eating in hotels is most expensive (though if you want to minimise your time away from the con is often a good idea), but fast food options exist close to the Marriott, with Subway, Carl’s Jnr and Denny’s all close by. Denny’s is due to be demolished soon (everyone was surprised it was still standing this year). In-n-Out Burger has several branches less than a mile away. For breakfast at Carl’s or Denny’s, reckon on about half of hotel prices (15 USD vs 30 USD)Travel around the city is remarkably cheap. A 10 USD subway travelcard will take you a long way. Hollywood with the Chinese Theatre and Walk of Fame are almost right outside Hollywood Highlands subway. Santa Monica is well worth a visit if the weather is favourable, with its iconic pier and glorious miles of clean beach. Other con matters. Autographs and photos are slightly cheaper here than the UK, often you will pay in USD what you would normally expect to pay in pounds, and even then, the very biggest guests will charge typically no more than around 40 – 45 USD. Evening receptions, where you get to have drinks with the stars rotating around tables for a couple of hours, are 95 USD. Diamond passes are around 235 USD, but are excellent value – multiple photos and autographs, often green screen, a free gift or print, and an hour-long meet and greet. Lines are not as long as in the UK and very well organised, so those wanting an auto or photo will certainly be seen. If you buy more than one Diamond Pass, you should certainly consider a Tardis Tag which was 795 USD this year, but gets you all of the big guests, plus any others that are Showmasters, rather than con-sponsored guests. Note that there are also Kaffeeklatsch (coffee morning) sessions, which last an hour, and offer a chance of talking to one of the less popular stars for an hour as part of a group of a dozen. These are free, and were done on a ballot process this year. As Simon has pointed out, your con ticket gets you so much more than a normal con. There 5 panel rooms including Program A in the main hall, and they operate all day, every day – ever wanted to learn circular Gallifreyan in a classroom? Now’s your chance. Most rooms keep going until 7p.m. and even then there are evening events taking place with quizzes, comedy sketch shows, karaoke and more until midnight in some circumstances. And of course, there is LobbyCon. The Marriott Lobby is the main socialising and hanging out area, where friends gather throughout the day, evening and into the small hours. The guests often hang out in the Lobby with each other (and if you know them from previous events, often, you), and in the evenings, the atmosphere is wonderfully friendly. Finally, ribbons. Ribbons are humorous or sometimes just direct quotes from the show, printed on fabric, with a small adhesive strip on the top. They stick to each other so you wind up with a long roll of them as you exchange them for those other people have brought with them. They are an excellent way to socialise, make new friends, and enjoy the con – there are ribbon exchange meets throughout the con, but often people also exchange ribbons in LobbyCon too. Its huge fun and I would recommend it as part of the con experience. As a guide, I paid around 100 USD for 250 ribbons this year and traded all of them by Sunday lunchtime. Ribbons Galore and PC Nametag are two of the most popular companies. Note that they charge a design setup fee, and then a unit price per ribbon. The unit price goes down as the quantity goes up, so play with the quantities a little to see how many you can get for what money – once you get up above 250 ribbons or so, you wind up getting more of the same design for free effectively. The big “but” here is delivery, which is horrendously expensive to have them shipped to the UK. If you have a kind friend in the US who will accept delivery and bring them to the con, then great, but the other alternative, is to have them shipped to your hotel, for which the hotel will charge you a nominal fee (5 – 20 USD), and pick them up from the concierge on check-in.Ticket: 80 GBPFlights: 350-400 GBPHotels: 350-400 GBPFood and subsistence: 45 USD per day (budget) 80 per day (expensive)Autos and Photos: vary on the person, say 150 USD, plus diamond passes and evening receptions for the more extravagant.Travel: 40-50 USDRibbons: 100 – 150 USDSo yes, Gally can be done for around about a thousand pounds, but a budget of 1500 GBP will make it a much more comfortable experience where you have to worry less about running out of cash. But be warned. Once you have done it, you may never want to miss it again, and you may never look at cons the same way again!

[kindabraveandlittlestupid]

Should be noted this post isn't about Shawshank Redemption (which was a damn good movie), this post is however about the term “White Privilege” but also about a less popular but still incredibly important term “Black Oppression”. If you’re not the sort to read a long post and just want the quick answer on how I (a Straight White American Male) feel about those words, I know White Privilege IS real. We see it both social interactions, how the police treat white men, how we are portrayed in popular culture, how we the courts rule in our favor when we break the law and all that doubly so when you start to include economic elements. On the other side, there are things that ARE NOT White Privilege such as voting in certain red states where policies are enacted that don’t uplift white voters but instead suppress black voters. This is where I think we need to use the word Black Oppression and differentiate the two things. Below I will provide some examples of White Privilege, some examples of Black Oppression, and some examples where there is both White Privilege and Black Oppression.

This whole point of the post isn’t to challenge the concept of White Privilege but perhaps add some nuance and shift the way we view things between what is privilege and oppression. If only for us to strive for a more equitable and equal society as well as sharpen our wits for when we encounter white supremacists who rely on flaws in our beliefs, values, and logic to further their own hateful agenda. 

As always this is an opinion piece and if you have your own thoughts on the subject, take your time to reply with your own clear thoughts. I appreciate other points of view regardless of race, sex, orientation, political party or creed. I am always looking to expand my views, understanding complex social issues and develop a better foundation for my beliefs.

Medium

The first thing to discuss when dissecting this issue is the Medium, there are other words for this concept I am sure but basically, this is the expectation of how people should/expected to be treated in society. If you’re a registered voter you expect your ballot to be counted, if you run a stop sign you expect a ticket, and if you go into a store you expect to be able to shop without security following you. I am sure some might argue that certain groups of people have a higher expectation for their Medium such as wealthy thinking society is here to serve them but those people have an Economic Privilege and often White Privilege (though I have encountered a healthy mix of other races who enjoy that same Economic Privilege here in Silicon Valley... still mostly white).

No. the Medium in society is attributed itself to a social agreement, common sense and good dose of empathy of knowing how you would like to be treated and wanting that for other people. It’s why we observe lines the way we do and get pissed off when someone cuts deciding they are more important than anyone else standing there. It’s also why we take a little joy in seeing someone with Economic or Racial Privilege have to observe the social medium like everyone else. You know what I am talking about the lawyer who makes 400 dollars an hour saying her time is precious therefore everyone else should wait in customer service while she is taken care of first? Yeah... that was a real encounter I had once.

So once we establish that baseline we can start clearly identifying interactions that seemingly exceed what is expected in society (privilege) or what interactions are well under the medium (oppression). This seems like a good as a point as any to recognize that all these examines require the human interaction. Interactions plagued with prejudices and biases for our choices every day. Sometimes someone deviates a small degree over or under a medium because they are having a shit day. If we encounter someone who slips up, I always advocate forgiveness when someone makes a mistake.

Privilege

The problem with Privilege; be it economic, social or racial is that when you’re in it you don't always know it. Sometimes you’re so wealthy you're used to people waiting on you hand and foot, simply look to the Kardashians, Bieber, or Jaden Smith. These are some people who enjoy wealth so much that when they have a small thing go wrong they bitch about it all day on their reality shows.

As a White Male, I try to reflect on the privileges I might have enjoyed. I try to differentiate between moments where I received better service or social interactions because of my skin color (or gender). I realize there is a possibility that I could also be “blind” to certain privileges but it if makes you feel better if there are things I am enjoying that others do not, I have full intention of trying to pull other people up to enjoy that privilege so that it becomes the new societal medium. I am ranting a little...

The clear privileges I have enjoyed have not surprisingly been with police. Of the about dozen encounters I had with Police Officers about none of them resulted in a ticket. One incident resulted in a car being impounded but I was under 18 and didn’t have a license and even then I paid to have it unimpounded ($700 Dollars) and had the infraction removed from my record with a driving school class. You can call it luck perhaps but for the most part, I have never been given a ticket and when seeing how police treat other men my age who happen to be black with disdain, its easy to see why African Americans are pissed off and I can only have a vague understanding of how frustrating that might be for them.

Oppression

The problem with being Systemically Oppressed is that everyone living/existing on the medium seems like they are privileged. This leads to a fair amount of anger, frustration and pain in various communities. While the general topic is focused on Black and White, it does not take much imagination to project that same oppression on the gay/transgender community, women, other non-christ based faiths or other minority groups (Latinos and Middle Eastern specifically in the US).

I myself have had only small encounters with oppression myself, most of them taking place at the airport as my ass seems to get selected for extra security screenings. I am not sure what website I went to, if my beard is to thick or if that month in Indonesia has flagged me in the wrong way but that is a personal experience where I am observing social interactions below the Medium.

This post isn't about me though so let's give a clear example of oppression today. That example is voting in the United States. Many Red States have been adopting strategies to disenfranchise black voters by removing voting stations, requiring ID’s and limiting hours while keeping other voting locations (in white communities) open for normal hours. This isn't an example of White Privilege as this is how voting should be like that for everyone. No, this is white voters enjoying their right to vote, while the black community is being OPPRESSED from having a say in politics. Ok, there might be some white privilege in there but for the most part, its mostly Oppression that we are seeing, yeah?

We see other elements of Oppression in the courts, police interaction, and also pop culture, mostly in the film and television industry... which now that I think about it is also white privilege considering Asian and Indian actors are still trying to break through. 

Privilege and Oppression

Most examples share above tend to dabble in both Privilege and Oppression, and as I stated this goes beyond race as sex, economics, and other social qualifiers. I felt compelled none the less to point to politics as a system that both explores a great amount of Privilege and utilizes a great amount of Oppression. Leave it American Politics to show White Wealthy Male Privilege in its full swing while Oppressing Women, Minority Groups, and Non-Christians. It’s easy to see why people don't want to hear from a Straight White Male like me when all these douche bags represent the worst humanity has to offer.

Guess you can say I feel a bit bitter on the fact that I see so many memes on Tumblr telling me to shut the fuck up because I look like them *points to assholes in picture* even though I am on board for a more equitable and equal society. *Slaps Cheeks* Keep things in perspective, Mike!

Coming back to examples of both Privilege and Oppression, another prime example is the police. We look to cities where Stop and Frisk policies exist(ed) and you could see how civil rights were secondary to a police officers ‘gut feeling’ that a black man could have drugs or weapon on them. This is an example of Oppression, clear and simple. On the flip side, you have officers waving on white citizens letting them off with warnings which isn't a bad thing in itself but when the courtesy is ONLY given to fair skinned citizens then it is a problem, it becomes Privilege.

Conclusion

White Privilege is real as fuck. Economic Privilege is real. Social Privilege is real. Depending on your lot in life you might be enjoying a great number of Privileges while others might have lower income bracket, from the wrong ethnic background, and have darker skin having a much rougher go at American life. We, the good fair loving compassionate progressives, should aim to balance these issues out. We need to find the moments where someone is enjoying an unfair privilege (like me not really every getting tickets) and bring me back down so that I have the expectations as everyone else. We also need to find the oppressive interactions (often institutional) and correct them as well and make sure everyone enjoys the same quality of life.

If you enjoy privilege in some form or another you have two options. Either bring yourself down and be held to the same standard as your fellow men (and women) OR start bringing other people up to enjoy the same privilege you do so that it becomes the new medium for society and raises the quality of living for everyone. If you feel compelled to do neither then you might be the problem. Thanks for reading.

Regards, Michael California

NOTE: It’s important to measure subjects like this with data and not anecdotal evidence or experiences. I tend to add a few personal accounts to these sort of posts to better appeal to the emotional side of readers but hard numbers display more of the truth than my personal experiences ever could. Driving While Black is statistically proven in the data where White/Hispanic drivers are pulled over about the same rate but black drivers are stopped in excess. This is also true for Use of Force numbers, Stop and Frisk, Searching of Vehicles and even how the courts decide to process the cases. 

Black Men serve 20% longer sentences to their White counterparts charged for the same crime.

Black students make up 18% of preschool enrollments but make up 50% of suspensions.

Applications with ‘Black’ sounding names are 50% more likely to be passed up by employers compared to ‘White’ sounding names.

And this list goes on and on.

If you’re a white guy, who has had a few moments where you pulled over yourself. It is neither a logical or sound argument to say “I have had difficult encounters therefor my experience is the norm and therefore is no white privilege.” Always! Always look to the data and see the numbers for both the state you live in and the country as a whole. Anyone with half a mind to understand statistics can tell there are some major racial biases in our society.

[vibrationmachinebenefits4-blog]

The top 10 Tricks To Keep Your own personal Body Support During Lengthy Workouts

vibration machine benefits So what on earth constitutes the long workout?

For anyone with the exception of the complete couch tagliato, a lengthy workout would always be any training that...

A) has really great probable to almost absolutely wipe out your body's carbohydrate stored, which in most circumstances is about 2+ time;

vibration machine benefits

B) a workout which may not be quite because long as only two a long time, but is incredibly intense for at least much longer than 1 hour, such since a tough day with somewhere else doing the Most challenging Workout At any time Invented;

C) any hard physical work that merely leaves with the a sense of having done something absolutely epic (and yes, "totally epic" is an tolerable, peer-reviewed term in research literary works... I think).

And so if you acquired fatigued just reading The, Udemærket or C, after that the idea may be a fine idea to skip this informative article, because if you utilize the nutrition techniques I am just about to give a person, likely just take about unnecessary calories from fat (although "sipping" small amounts involving sweets during short, strong exercises may possibly give an individual a number of benefit for superior exercising performance).

OK, below many of us go:

Long Training Encouraging Trick #10: In case you're applying gels, help make sure you choose typically the form of gels that possess amino acids with them.

Similar for sports take in. Any time you go long, as well as over 3 hours, larger blood levels of amino acids can keep you via cannibalizing muscle, plus lessen your rating of observed exertion. GU Roctane can be an example of a carbamide peroxide gel containing amino acids, Carbo Pro has a sporting activities drink along with amino stomach acids in it, and various other cocktails with protein incorporate Infinit, Perpetuum and Initial Staying power.

Long Workout Encouraging Technique #9: Three for you to four times a month, consider to include semi-long or even long workouts that are generally minimally fueled.

In often the article some Crucial Motives To Think Twice With regards to Having Carbohydrates Before Any Workout, My spouse and i talk with regards to how this can teach the body to make the most of more body fat as any fuel and also to help save carbohydrate use, both equally of that can be useful through a long exercise routine. When you're training for some sort of long ethnic background, such while Ironman, just no longer perform all your long workout routines in this state, considering that you carry out want in order to train your tum to be able to be able to soak up the number of unhealthy calories you plan on having in the race.

Long Exercise routine Encouraging Trick #8: Any time it number, such seeing that in race or perhaps opposition, eat early as well as try to eat often.

During the bicycle leg of an Ironman triathlon, I take within 350-450 calorie consumption per hr. Ironman legend Draw Allen was able to coach the gut to take in up to 1000 fat laden calories per hour. So when avoiding voluminous carbohydrate absorption during some training lessons will surely have advantages, it's the actual last thing you need to complete on a moment that is going for you to very last close to double-digit hours.

Very long Workout Encouraging Trick #7: Take amino acids about 30-60 short minutes before you head out and about.

Yet another amino acids key, which I mention inside detail in another write-up, is usually to consume some variety of amino acid tablets or powder before anyone possibly head into the particular exercise routine. Confident a new piece of chicken possesses proteins in it, nevertheless will take considerably extended to digest compared to a amino acid supplement (like MAP, for example), which you'll pop right before you actually leave for your lengthy workout.

Extended Workout Encouraging Trick #6: Try fat.

Medium sequence triglycerides (MCT's), such as that which you'd receive from coconut oil, total coconut milk, or coconut flakes, can actually present faster and readily offered sources of electricity as compared to other types of extra fat. When you overdo consumption connected with MCT's, you can find stomach hardship, but before an extended exercise or long morning associated with exercise, chomping along the few tablespoons of coconut oil, guzzling a extra tall glass of whole coconut milk, or grabbing a little unsweetened coconut flakes is able to keep you going. Cocochia flakes (coconut + chia seeds) are also a yummy option, and I make use of on long work out times.

Long Workout Encouraging Strategy #5: Electrolytes can help you your own butt.

I have BY NO MEANS possessed a decent Half-Ironman or Ironman triathlon functionality without the standard ingestion of electrolytes, like 3 every half hour intended for 9 consecutive hours, and also my worst performances attended when I've dropped or maybe forgotten my electrolytes. I consume the equivalent regarding 700-1200mg involving sodium each hour (depending with temperature), mixed with other electrolytes such as calcium, magnesium along with potassium. You may carry electrolytes in piece purses, bare film storage containers, tiny ziplocks - whichever works for yourself.

Long Exercise Fueling Key #4: Get high carb on lengthier workout days and nights.

A frequently high carbo diet can easily leave to help nerve in addition to blood charter boat damage, chance of chronic disorder, fat gain, insulin insensitivity, metabolic syndrome and a number connected with other issues rapid but if you act like you, for example, have got one day on the full week, or once each several weeks, where you A) proceed long and move challenging and B) normally are not intending on using the "restrict carbs to show your human body to burn fats" method, you should choose which day to pig several hours carbs. The big training time will be typically the day during which this kind of high carbohydrate intake is usually least likely to lead to important body damage. This kind of strategy perform well by a social standpoint way too. You can plan your current big 4 hour cycle ride or epic two hour weight training regimen one the big day you're planning upon hitting a garden barbecue as well as going out for the evening meal and a night about. This strategy can likewise keep you through currently being chronically carbohydrate reduced.

Longer Workout Fueling Tip #3: Eat clean ahead of any long workout.

There's practically nothing that will ruins an unbelievable workout similar to farts, trapped wind, gas, cramping pains, indigestion, costiveness or diarrhea. And really likely that major jar of granola with milk products (gluten + vegetable natural oils + dairy), or an ovum sandwich from McDonald's (slow-burning fats + vegetable skin oils + gluten + super-sodium) is not going in order to make your stomach just about any happier. I recommend some sort of big meals of fresh burning carbohydrates 4-5 hrs prior to your exercise routine. Consider sweet potato, sweet potato, brown or white almond, quinoa or even a new fruit smoothie. Whenever you satisfy your appetite, you may top rated these carbs off of together with a little almond spread or a handful associated with seeds/nuts. Truthfully, I normally have my ideal very long workouts by simply running out of bed, not necessarily eating anything, and then commencing to fuel about 30-40 minutes into the exercise.

[wonder-wonpil]

trouvaille (2) ; bbh

Note : this was a bit rushed, sorry. I have another story idea but I'm determined to finish this series :(

[ part one ]

×××

"Um, I -- uh, I have Cheetos?" You compromised, silently praying that it was enough to persuade Baekhyun.

In reply, Baekhyun stared at you with wide eyes, seemingly taken aback by your response.

"That's not fair, (y/n)! If you drag food into this -- Cheetos, specifically -- I won't be able to resist!" He whined.

"So, is that a yes?" You asked hopefully.

Baekhyun let out a laugh. "Yeah, sure. If we're going to die soon, might as well have fun with it and end it with some Cheetos."

Your eyes brightened in glee. At least you had someone dependable with you -- yeah, definitely not a total stranger you met an hour ago.

"When are we moving out?" Baekhyun questioned as you stretched. You responded with a tired yawn.

"I'm pretty sure there are some instant noodles around these cabinets, I'll go prepare some food." You offered, and Baekhyun nodded like a puppy. Chuckling, you headed to the kitchen and found a packet of ramen. Needless to say, the both of you fell asleep on the floor with half-empty stomachs as the result of a curry-flavored ramen split in half.

The morning after, you were starting to clear the house. Baekhyun found a shotgun in the basement which you were too afraid to enter. Lucky bastard wouldn't stop teasing you about it.

"Stay clear, move quickly. I think I saw a car down there." You informed him, and he nodded. You honestly wouldn't admit it, but you found his serious side pretty hot.

With as little sound as possible, both of you cleared the house and started silently running down the street, zooming pass the single walkers without any problem. To no surprise, your eyes were playing tricks on you. The car you've supposedly seen was nowhere to be found. Instead, Baekhyun spotted a bicycle. A damn bicycle.

"Let's take turns, yeah?" Baekhyun offered with a playful smirk as he climbed onto the front seat, "You seem like you can use the workout."

With an eye roll, you complied, positioning yourself on the backseat with your back facing Baekhyun's.

"You're not going to hold on to me? Not afraid to fall?" Baekhyun began as he started pedalling. "You're heavy."

"I'd choose the ground over you, thanks," you nodded. "And yeah, college made me a stress eater. Are you normally this flirty?" You said, the sarcasm clear in your voice.

"Only for those that I have interest in." You couldn't see his face, but you were pretty sure he ended the statement with a wink.

You only chuckled; he was a jerk, but a hot one. He'd be a great ally, won't he? At least, you know, just a refreshing sight for sore eyes.

"Whatever you say." You smiled, leaning your head back so it was touching Baekhyun's back. Which was warm, you had to admit.

"Oi, don't sleep on me," Baekhyun nudged you, and you groaned. "You're heavy enough to begin with."

"I think you and I have different definitions on 'sleeping on'," you stated out of the blue. "My term of 'sleeping on' is 'underrated'. For example, 'don't sleep on Day6'."

"What?"

"Nevermind." You shrugged.

"Well my definition of 'sleeping' involves you and I under the sheets." Baekhyun winked, and you scoffed.

"I'm not having sex with you."

"No one asked you to," this time, Baekhyun shrugged. "I just said you and I under the sheets. I didn't specify what we were doing. We could be napping for all I know."

With an irked expression, you hit his head. "Stop teasing me."

Baekhyun let out a laugh, before continuing to pedal in silence. So, you decided to play 21 questions, you know, to get to know him better.

By the end of the questioning, you found out that he had a married older brother, though they are separated by seas, and that he was single, your age, and a great dancer apparently.

"Okay, next question, um…" you paused, forming your words before blurting out, "Have you ever dyed your hair a different color?"

Baekhyun snorted. "You have no idea," he had said, which intrigued you even more. He glanced at you to see your curious expression and chuckled, "I've dyed my hair possibly in every color ever."

"Ha, lies!" You shot. "I believe that you probably colored your hair blonde. Ever dyed your hair any unique colors?"

"Red?" Baekhyun raised an eyebrow. "I think I was at my best at red. I've also tried orange and silver. I looked good on silver, too."

"I don't believe you," you countered. Baekhyun shrugged, "If I had my phone right now, I'm sure I'll make you think otherwise."

"Okay, whatever you say." You chuckled.

×××

"Are we going to switch? I think it's been hours," you said, breaking the silence. You were surprised that Baekhyun wasn't asleep yet, and you were fighting your own nonexistent fatigue.

You were only sitting for what seemed like two -- or more? -- hours, and Baekhyun has been pedalling all the way.

"Sure, my legs are honestly aching." Baekhyun stated, putting the bike into a stop and letting you occupy the front seat, and he slumped on the backseat with his back to yours; the same position you were in before.

It took some getting used to, using your legs to propel yours and Baekhyun's weight, but you got the hang of it pretty soon. You wondered how Baekhyun did this for so long, his legs must hurt like hell.

You pedalled under the hot scorching sun who has no intention of showing the both of you mercy in any way. Some of the single zombies you passed was actually burning -- smoke was literally sizzling their dried skins, but they seemed to pay no mind to it.

As for you, though, you had to occasionally wipe the sweat out of your forehead so it won't get to your eyes, gulp down your own saliva to satisfy your dry throat, and ignore your burning skin that, you pretty sure it would sizzle like the zombies's sooner or later.

Most importantly, the uncomfortableness of the sweat trickling down your back, soaking your hoodie even more, causing it to stick to your body because Baekhyun, shirt soaked just as much, was leaning on your back.

He wasn't doing any better, to be honest.

But then, as if your prayers were answered, you spotted a miracle.

"Baekhyun," you called to him. "You awake?"

"Yeah." He replied shortly. His voice was hoarse, lack of water down his throat.

"I think I see an ice cream parlor."

Almost instantly, Baekhyun bolted upright and jumped out of the bicycle in order to confirm your statement. And there it was, lo and behold, around 700 meters to your front, the ice cream parlor.

"Oh my gosh." Baekhyun muttered before taking the shovel with him on a run, speeding towards the place he dubbed as heaven.

You continued pedalling, although now with the weight of Baekhyun and your newfound determination for ice cream, you were going faster than ever.

By the time you got there, Baekhyun was inspecting the locked door like a madman, all the while chanting, "Ice cream, ice cream."

From the glass door, the place seemed rather okay. Okay as in like, no zombies, although the inside is thrashed. Therefore, no one can say for sure there aren't any zombies inside.

"Break the door?" Baekhyun suggested. You shrugged, and Baekhyun rolled his eyes, "I don't know, maybe a suggestion? The door is locked from the inside."

"Don't break the door," You said frantically. "Or the zombies will disrupt us as we consume the nectar of the Gods."

"Oh my gosh," Baekhyun gaped at you. "You're totally right."

"Let's go around, maybe there's a back door?" You suggested, taking a last look at the door before turning to Baekhyun to see his response. However, said person was not present.

"Baekhyun?" You called, worried lacing your voice. Not long after, you heard a faint "Over here!"

You breathed out a sigh of relief before jogging to the source of Baekhyun's voice.

"Uh, (y/n), there's a back door alright. But we have a problem," Baekhyun told you, eyes glued to the supposed back door.

"And that problem being?" You asked. Baekhyun gulped and pointed a finger at the source of the problem.

"That."

You slowly, dramatically turned towards the back door, one which was covered by a crowd. A crowd of the undead, that is.

- to be continued -

[blastthechaos]

Nonexistent - Prologue

>Start Game

New Game >Load Game

>Lincoln Loud

Play Time: 11 years

Last Saved: 5/11/2016

Game Progress: 1%

Life Progress: 5%

Level: 0

Loading...ERROR

Data corrupted

>Lincoln

PLay Time:

Last Saved:

Game Progress:

LIfe Progress:

Level:

Still wanna load?

>Yes No

Game loaded...

In a forest close to royal woods, animals were running around going on with their normal life.

a small white rabbit was going around his business before going back to his home with his family, but then he spotted something, a glowing light.

The rabbit got curious and decided to get close to it.

Lincoln woke up in a hospital bed.

He didn’t remember why exactly he was there, he had vague memories of what happened before, but he still retained his memories, so he guessed it was the event that brough him here that are absent.

The young albino looked around confused by his surroundings, mainly because...everything seemed negative now.

Literally, everything was like it was put through a negative filter.

Everything looked still, as if time itself stopped, no sound or anything, even the rain from outside looked completely still.

Then everything flickered for a bit before returning to normal.

Then he felt a sudden tiredness go through his whole body and a sharp pain through his head, he clutched it with his hand...and was shocked when it was photo negative for a bit before returning to normal.

“Wha?” Was the only response he could muster.

Nothing happened again for a bit, so he decided to ignore it, maybe he was hallucinating...he hoped, though maybe that’s worse...who knows really?

He continued to lay in the bed, he was recovering a bit for headache he received, plus he waited for someone to arrive and explain to him what happened.

He wondered if his family was here, worried about him.

Suddenly a doctor came to the room.

He looked surprised.

“You’re awake” Said the doctor eyeing him.

Lincoln was a bit uncomfortable by this, but shrugged it off.

“Yeah, how long was i out?”

“Well, for some hours”

“That’s good, at least i wasn’t knocked out for a very long time”

“Hn, so it’s everything ok?”

“Besides some headaches, yeah i’m fine”

“Well, we are gonna do you some check ups and then we allow you to go”

“Kay thanks”

“Just one question”

“Yah”

“Who are you?”

Lincoln was weirded out by that, he guessed it could be understandable the doctor may not know who he was, but he guessed his family...or whoever may sended him there, filled the people on who he was.

“Lincoln Loud, why?”

The doctor raised an eyebrow

“Loud eh? That's weird”

“Weird why?”

“Because the people who sended you here were also loud, yet they told me they don't know who you are or where are you from”

…

…

…

Lincoln ran a million of ways to make sense out of the situation.

Was he talking of different people? Did there was another family with the loud last name? Was this a prank?

If this was his family, why would they play a prank like this? Did everyone suddenly gained Luan's sense of humor in her worst days?

He kinda felt it was his family, since the latest memories before waking him in the hospital was with them.

Maybe the doctor was wrong and playing a prank?

He just didn't get it

“Excuse me? Where those people a family of mostly girls with blondes and brunettes with a black haired one”

“Yeah, that was them”

…

Maybe what happened earlier wasn't an hallucination, maybe it had something to do with what was going on right now.

“emmm...ok, I think there might be a misunderstanding or i'm worse than I thought, but I’m part of that family, like, the only son”

“They didn’t mention anything about a son”

“Ok ok” Lincoln was smiling, but it was clear that he looked like he was about to go into a mental breakdown.

“Maybe whatever happened to me affected me more than i thought, i guess, yeah that be it, haha” He was nervous at this point.

He should probably go see his family to make things clear, but he didn’t want to arise suspictions to the doctor.

“So how long will those checks up take?”

“Perhaps a few hours, maybe more, do you have an adult that takes care of you?”

Lincoln had to lie, since whatever it’s going on with his family means there’s a chance they deny being related to him.

“Eh, no”

The doctor gave him a look.

“So you been alone? You don’t look like it”

“Appearances can be deceiving”

The doctor thought about it for a second before seemingly accepting it.

The check ups took some while, since for some reason everything turned photo negative a few times and time slowed down or flat out stopped, then Lincoln would feel tired afterwards, he also had to lie a few times during it to avoid making people in the hospital think he’s crazy.

After leaving, Lincoln gave a good look at himself, the clothes (which are is usual outfit) are a little charred and thorn in places, he should probably find something new to wear soon, he suddenly got the urge of making a change of outfit, for some reason.

He tried wracking his brain to try and remember more about the incident that led him into the hospital.

The last thing he remembered was Lisa and...something.

“Figures she had something to do with this”

He looked at his surroundings and did a few stretchs.

“Well, time to find out what’s going on”

Select a difficulty

-Wanna go for a walk in the park? (Easy)

>-Lincoln's usual life (Normal)

-Strode through hell (Hard) may change stuff in the story and game

HUB:Royal Woods

Now were at the first hub world and what you could call the tutorial level.

Lincoln can move left and right, crouch and look up with the analog stick/D pad depending on your preference, can jump although not very far with the jump button (A/X), throw a two hit combo with the physical attack (spoiler) button (X/SQUARE), block with the block button (R2/RT), accelerate with the dash/boost button (L1/LB), taunt by pressing the analog stick and use items/weapons with the object button (Y/TRIANGLE).

This isn’t all he can do but were getting ahead of ourselves.

At the start you go around exploring Royal Woods, talking to the people who always give you responses in the likes of:

“Who are you? I never see you around here and i’m sure I remember seeing some of your hair color”

“Leave kiddo, i don’t know your game but I can assure you I never saw you in your entire life”

“Never heard of you”

“Nope, haven’t seen you around until now, then again you’re probably such a loser from just looking at you i’ll probably don’t even bother to remember you”

And so and so forth.

This causes Lincoln to panic a bit, as his sprite changes to a more distressed one, though not full out there.

As you check around Royal Woods, you’ll notice some particular structures that can while you can’t do anything with it, they look and feel like they could be interacted with it, if you do Lincoln will react like this.

“...I check this later after i sort this out”

Afterwards you continue to wander around Royal Woods, eventually you’re gonna come to another section of this hub:Franklin Avenue.

Once there you’ll eventually arrive at the loud house.

Lincoln walked into the loud house visibly shaken, at the start he had a hard time believing it but now after having talked to people it just furthered his fears that everyone had forgotten him, still, he needed to see if his family remembered him.

He knocked on the door, he did it a bit hard since the ruckus from inside make it hard to listen to.

He patiently waited until someone opened the door.

It was his sister Lori.

“Hi” He said.

The way she looked him all but confirmed his fears, it wasn’t the look you give to family, even the ones you’re annoyed with.

It was the look you give some stranger you don’t want to deal with.

“Hi...eh, who are you? Never see you around here” She said while eyeing him.

...You could listen to Lincoln’s heart rate going at 700 MPH

“I am...Lincoln, just Lincoln, I was wondering if you had a brother?”

“...No, i don’t have a brother and never had, this family doesn’t have a boy”

...And now you can listen to Lincoln’s heart shattering in a billion pieces.

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah I am, why do you care anyways? You weirdo”

“No, no, I’m sorry, I’m sorry, i kinda made a mistake, I’m sorry, I’ll take my leave”

“Yeah, whatever, bye” She closed the door.

…

With no idea of what to do now, Lincoln wanders off.

Meanwhile at the loud house.

“Hey Lori, who was that?” Asked Luna.

“Just some nobody,it’s not big deal”

Level:Royal Woods Forest

At this point it’s dark and still a little rainy, Lincoln is there wandering around with a...defeated look on his face.

“What I’m gonna do now?...Thanks a lot Lisa” He mutters.

“Then again, i’m the idiot who said yes to her...what did she do anyways? I think it had something to do with a machine”

Then he spotted a glowing light on the forest.

“What’s that?”

Then you gotta go check it out.

This is a small stroll, nothing important but just walk forward.

When you arrive you notice that what looks like a energy ball is causing this light.

Lincoln stared at it.

“Should i touch it? What if something bad happens...then again, it’s not like I have stuff to lose anyways”

Once you get close to it you’re given the option to interact with it, once yo do, this happens.

The glowing ball of light rises up and immediately goes inside of Lincoln, making him scream in agony as he becomes a glowing yellow light that soon turns orange.

Then the shining stops and that leaves Lincoln who falls unconscious to the ground, though his white hair now has orange stripes on it.

Now my friend, is when the game starts.

Game Saved...

Lincoln taunts as normal:

"Moron"

"Come and get me"

"What? Scared?"

"Want a piece of me?"

Lincoln idle animations as normal:

Crosses his arms and taps his foot annoyed.

Points to his wrist as if there was a watch there condescendingly.

Starts dancing a little.

Falls asleep while standing up.

Lays on the ground while trying not to fall asleep.

Looks around and up outta boredom.

Stretches a little.

Yawns.

[cookingplace]

Promoting Your Software Made Easy                                              Tube Monetization and Automation Program                                                          Why would a software company overlook one of the easiest and quickest ways to promote it’s products online? This would seem to be a rhetorical question except for the fact that I run a shareware site and am constantly on the search for new software to add to my site. The thing is that only half of the programs I want to add to my database have PAD files available.

A PAD file is a simple XML file that contains all the information a developer would normally type into a web form at a software site. XML knowledge is not needed to create a PAD file. You can get one free at http://www.padgen.org/. The software is basically self-explanatory. Just fill in the forms. It only takes about a half and hour to create a pad file and upload it to your site. It takes even less time if you already have a website to promote your product. Then you can just copy and paste the info you already have. And once your pad file is done, submitting to shareware sites is as easy as copying and pasting the address of your PAD file. But why isn’t PAD technology used more often? Of course, it could be ignorance. Now ignorance is not a bad word. It just means that you haven’t heard of this technology that can increase download of your products three times over, a technology that means you can submit to anywhere from 300 to 700 software sites on the internet within an hour, depending on whose figures you use. Most sites that use pad files don’t even require a membership. Mine doesn’t. This means you could submit your software to one site in the time it takes to copy and paste the address of your pad file into one form, hit submit, and then choose a category. Then you’re off to the next site. Submit and forget. If this still seems like too much work, you can download software programs that will do all the submission work for you. Just think, it could finish your software submissions to hundreds of sites in the time it takes you to eat lunch. Or maybe software marketers just don’t know the true value of submitting software to software sites. People actually go to software sites to find software. That sounds like a stupid statement but not when you realize that most general directories, except maybe DMOZ or Yahoo, are rarely used as search tools. They have mainly become an SEO tool. When searchers are looking for something general, they go to Google, Yahoo, or MSN. But when they look for software, they generally end up at a shareware site and stay for a while. Of maybe you don’t develop shareware. The software you develop must be purchased before it is used. No trial period, because of the risk of it getting cracked. That’s fine. I really understand this reason. I was a developer who had my software cracked three times before I gave up on the whole shareware thing. But that doesn’t mean you can’t create a demo, a stand alone program that acts as a teaser. It will only be a matter of time before the software user opts to by the full version. Just make sure your demo teases enough but not too much. So submitting PAD files to software sites has the effect of killing two birds with one stone. Yes, you get a multitude of links back to your site, but those links have more value than just increasing your pagerank. People will actually be using them to get to your site. As software developers, we have a tool that makes the process a lot easier and quicker than other marketers. Not using it now that you know is laziness.                                    i want to more tube get  Tube Monetization and Automation Program