#still cheaper than america by a LOT

[bibleofficial]

ALSKALSKLAKSLAKSLA ‘SALUTE TO LUIGI’

[reasonsforhope]

"It is 70 years since AT&T’s Bell Labs unveiled a new technology for turning sunlight into power. The phone company hoped it could replace the batteries that run equipment in out-of-the-way places. It also realised that powering devices with light alone showed how science could make the future seem wonderful; hence a press event at which sunshine kept a toy Ferris wheel spinning round and round.

Today solar power is long past the toy phase. Panels now occupy an area around half that of Wales, and this year they will provide the world with about 6% of its electricity—which is almost three times as much electrical energy as America consumed back in 1954. Yet this historic growth is only the second-most-remarkable thing about the rise of solar power. The most remarkable is that it is nowhere near over.

To call solar power’s rise exponential is not hyperbole, but a statement of fact. Installed solar capacity doubles roughly every three years, and so grows ten-fold each decade. Such sustained growth is seldom seen in anything that matters. That makes it hard for people to get their heads round what is going on. When it was a tenth of its current size ten years ago, solar power was still seen as marginal even by experts who knew how fast it had grown. The next ten-fold increase will be equivalent to multiplying the world’s entire fleet of nuclear reactors by eight in less than the time it typically takes to build just a single one of them.

Solar cells will in all likelihood be the single biggest source of electrical power on the planet by the mid 2030s. By the 2040s they may be the largest source not just of electricity but of all energy. On current trends, the all-in cost of the electricity they produce promises to be less than half as expensive as the cheapest available today. This will not stop climate change, but could slow it a lot faster. Much of the world—including Africa, where 600m people still cannot light their homes—will begin to feel energy-rich. That feeling will be a new and transformational one for humankind.

To grasp that this is not some environmentalist fever dream, consider solar economics. As the cumulative production of a manufactured good increases, costs go down. As costs go down, demand goes up. As demand goes up, production increases—and costs go down further. This cannot go on for ever; production, demand or both always become constrained. In earlier energy transitions—from wood to coal, coal to oil or oil to gas—the efficiency of extraction grew, but it was eventually offset by the cost of finding ever more fuel.

As our essay this week explains, solar power faces no such constraint. The resources needed to produce solar cells and plant them on solar farms are silicon-rich sand, sunny places and human ingenuity, all three of which are abundant. Making cells also takes energy, but solar power is fast making that abundant, too. As for demand, it is both huge and elastic—if you make electricity cheaper, people will find uses for it. The result is that, in contrast to earlier energy sources, solar power has routinely become cheaper and will continue to do so.

Other constraints do exist. Given people’s proclivity for living outside daylight hours, solar power needs to be complemented with storage and supplemented by other technologies. Heavy industry and aviation and freight have been hard to electrify. Fortunately, these problems may be solved as batteries and fuels created by electrolysis gradually become cheaper...

The aim should be for the virtuous circle of solar-power production to turn as fast as possible. That is because it offers the prize of cheaper energy. The benefits start with a boost to productivity. Anything that people use energy for today will cost less—and that includes pretty much everything. Then come the things cheap energy will make possible. People who could never afford to will start lighting their houses or driving a car. Cheap energy can purify water, and even desalinate it. It can drive the hungry machinery of artificial intelligence. It can make billions of homes and offices more bearable in summers that will, for decades to come, be getting hotter.

But it is the things that nobody has yet thought of that will be most consequential. In its radical abundance, cheaper energy will free the imagination, setting tiny Ferris wheels of the mind spinning with excitement and new possibilities.

This week marks the summer solstice in the northern hemisphere. The Sun rising to its highest point in the sky will in decades to come shine down on a world where nobody need go without the blessings of electricity and where the access to energy invigorates all those it touches."

-via The Economist, June 20, 2024

[katzske]

Thoughts on Earthspark Season 2 (first half)

Spoiler Free:

I must admit I’m dissatisfied.

The animation and rendering definitely looks cheaper. Sometimes it feels like frames are missing, animations not polished, scenes not fully rendered. 2d and 3d poorly blends. It’s quite noticeable unfortunately. Characters also do the TFP Megatron stare now.

That being said, time was taken to revisit old models of characters and give them a new appearance. (4 i’ve noticed) It makes sense given a lot has changed during one year time skip.

The writing often feels either like exposition dumping or naruto filler episodes. I was never at the edge of my seat even during the climax. I ended up skipping through episodes due to the lack of relevant plot information.

Something ES managed to maintain were carefully composed shots that make great still images. While that’s nice for screenshots and redraws, I also feel like it’s the only unique aspect of ES’ animation style that remained. The rest, as previously mentioned, has lost quality.

Character Details I’ve noticed and want to talk about (spoilers ahead)

half of season 2 part 1 is filler. optimus trailer episode, great america with cosmos, a pachycephalosaurus-truck fighting mushrooms, hashtag taking ten years to dispose of hard drives…. each episode did have a few minutes of either cute or important moments. but the majority is a waste of time.

I was hoping that we would learn more about the decepticons. now that they’re free, what are they up to? how are their dynamics? how did season 1 finale change their perception on things? would they try to convince the terrans THEY are the good guys? nothing like that though.

There is no satisfying character development for starscream. ES Starscream was perfect to explore a more neutral version of him, who does not do bad things out of pleasure, but due to necessity; following his desire to be free. In the show he mentions he wanted to get rid of his oppressors (in his eyes autobots and humans), but a real “bruh” moment was when he told Hashtag the only reason he opened up to her last time was to tell her “take care of yourself first”. It completely disregards the fact he came to help in the season 1 finale after reflecting on Hashtags words. It also aggravates me that the writing could have been a very easy fix. “hey i’m not being selfish by destroying this town. im doing this for the decepticons, we have lived under the control of the autobots and then of humans. this needs to stop, we deserve freedom and i will do anything it takes.”

the show managed to establish some friction between starscream and shockwave but for deception standards it was very tame. overall i think it was written okay; he purposely let the Terrans escape with the fragments, and he bailed on Starscream once he went bonkers. I hope that he gets to be a Decepticon leader in the second half; i don’t think we have seen that in any TF TV show before. i also like that his antennae and eye color give away his emotions now.

i feel like the autobots are treated even worse than the decepticons this season ngl. they merely exist; and when they do have the spotlight it’s often for comedy.

why the fuck did shockwave not wait for hashtag to just dump the hard drives and leave. if someone walked up to me yelling “give me your trashbag” as i’m trying to dispose of it i’d be weirded out too lol.

i hope the chaos terrans don’t return. aftermath imo was, plot wise, redundant. spitfire at least was interesting and had an impact.

i wish there were more interesting fights like in season 1 instead of, oh no they’re hitting the trailer with sticks, oh no we are an abomination of dinosaur and vehicle for what feels like 15mins straight. i miss seeing soundwave slay.

[meeks-just-wants-to-scroll]

here’s my RDR2 oc, his name is Yrjö Mäkitalo and he is a Finnish man who came to America to make money and send it back to Finland where he can support his wife and sick son. He also is sexy and has PTSD, what more could someone want?

more info under cut:

Name: Yrjö Mäkitalo (few call him by his Finnish name since it’s hard to pronounce / people butcher his name. He is given nicknames by everyone against his will. He hates it but doesn’t mention it because it just makes social interactions in the early days easier.)

gender: cis male, he/him

Nationality: Finnish Immigrant. Has been in American for at least 5 years.

Age: late 30’s, early 40’s

Job: Deputy of Saint Denis police. Used to have a job in Finland also as an officer, thought it was more so behind a desk. He lost his previous job from taking bribes. ((He is still a corrupt officer and he knows that)).

Personality: quiet, impassive, secretive, and intimidating under the right lights. This is not what he is known as to his family in Finland. They know him as a loving husband, a protective father, a hard working officer who did what was right. The downfall of his life which lead to immigrating to America took a lot out of him. He doesn’t talk a lot about his personal life for fear people will discover a more painful way to hurt him than merely killing him.

Misc:

- his wife used to braid his hair. His son gave him the blue and white beads in his hair. He braids his hair himself now.

- when both parents were very young, they had a daughter. She was little when she got caught in a house break in. It was dark and Yrjö shot her while trying to get the intruders. He still lives thinking about that mistake and now he hesitates before taking shots in the dark, or sometimes he just irrationally fears someone unexpected will get hurt when he shoots.

- his son was born a couple years after his daughter died. His grief made him extra protective and paranoid about his son dying. His son was sick when he left for America. Yrjö sometimes wonders how his boy is doing, if he is still staying in bed with lethargy and sickness. He sends letters and money to his family in Finland. He gets letters back sometimes, all in Finnish.

- he has a bullet scar on his left clavicle from when he hesitated to shoot a criminal because he looked like what Yrjö imagined his son would look when older. The bullet could have got him in the heart but it missed and injured his collar bone, putting him out of commission while his arm healed. That medical bill and temporary lack of wage was a major impact on him being able to provide for his family. It made him reflect how he had to be less reckless with his life.

- sleeping is hard for him. He thinks a lot about why he is here, whats the point of being in America if he dislikes it here and he can never make enough money go send back *and* ship back to Finland. He lives in Rhodes, he doesn’t like it much but it beats the city and it’s cheaper.

- his biggest irrational fear is that someone will know cutting his braid and stealing his beads would hurt him more than a stab to his heart.

- he got into some business with loan sharks in the first years he was in America in the west. He couldn’t convince people to give him a high rank job, even with his years of experience, and so he was a low ranking police goon. To make ends meet he went to organized gangs loaners who’d happily put him in debt, knowing he had no friends or family in America to help him escape. The loan sharks threaten to find a way to get to his family if he doesn’t repay them.

- he knows Finnish, some Swedish, and is fluent enough in English to work and live. His accent is present because he never tried very hard to integrate into American culture. If possible, he’d rather speak Finnish (or Swedish). 

[whitegownsandflowercrowns]

The thing that’s really getting me sad is that hate won.

I know that a vague “hate” is not even Top 20 scariest things about a Trump presidency, but let’s say that we get the best possible outcome and he spends the next four years doing virtually nothing. That’ll be better than what a lot of us are anticipating, but it’ll still get me that at the end of the day, hate won.

That for seventy million Americans, none of it was a dealbreaker. “Grab em by the pussy […] when you’re a star, they let you do it” wasn’t a dealbreaker. Mocking Christine Blasey Ford wasn’t a dealbreaker. “There’s a floating island of garbage…I think it’s called Puerto Rico” Black people supposedly carving watermelons for Halloween, “they’re eating the dogs” none of that was a dealbreaker. Running a campaign based largely on transphobia wasn’t a dealbreaker. Mocking Serge Kovaleski’s disability wasn’t a dealbreaker. Hell, if none of that mattered, then saying that John McCain, who was disabled after experiencing torture as a prisoner of war, wasn’t a war hero should have mattered. But absolutely none of it was enough. I do believe that he could quite literally shoot someone in the middle of a crowded street and not lose a single vote.

It’s that knowledge that at the end of the day, we hate each other. That’s what’s been driving me up the wall. At the end of the day, people will support a vile man for cheaper groceries. At the end of the day, people will either decide that 20-something women are liars or that it doesn’t matter if they’re not.

It’s not like the writing hasn’t been on the wall for a while - the r word making a comeback, increased gender wars on social media, Andrew Tate radicalizing young men, a certain group of Christians getting offended over the Olympic opening ceremony, increased anti-Arab and Islamophobic sentiment, increased homophobia and transphobia, but it’s just so disappointing to watch it all come to a head. It’s going to be cool to be cruel - I say that like it hasn’t always been, but it’s just going to keep getting worse.

Again, I know that this is nowhere near the worst possible outcome of a Trump presidency, but that’s what’s been shaking my core about America these past 24 hours. Absolutely none of it was a dealbreaker, the cruelty is the point. If you voted for him and you can’t understand why anyone is mad at you, why they’re saying they can’t be friends with you anymore or want nothing to do with you - read this again.

[liquidorcard]

HEY Y'ALL IT'S MIKAILER WITH AN "ER" WHY IS THAT SO HARD TO GRASP!?

---

Did I get your attention, Mikaila? I hope so, let's see.

Mikaila, I don't like you. You've done shit that's soured my opinion of you. I'm acknowledging that now to get that out of the way. I'm not here to be two-faced about this or blow smoke up your ass.

But as one idiot who stayed in a toxic relationship to another-- I'm not making fun of you because I think I'm better. I know. Being in a relationship like that brings out some ugly shit. You resent and fear people will never forgive you. You don't know if you will forgive yourself. I'm not making fun of you because I think I'm better than you.

And it feels kinda good, being treated badly? In a weird way? When you're used to it? When you feel you kind of deserve it? It did for me too. My abuser did some fucked up shit to me. I don't know how to describe to you the strange feelings I'm left with now. Sometimes I think I finally hate her, sometimes, as pathetic as it makes me feel, I still miss her. It's a rot in you that never really goes away, but you learn to live with it. I understand that agony. I understand that anger of how fucking unfair it is.

You know my opinion of Lily. You're not going to trust me that I'm not saying all this just to get you two to break up to hurt her. Fair. Very fair, not going to pretend like it's not. But if Lily loves you, nothing I'm about to say should be an issue. She should want what's best for you, right?

Here's the rub Mikaila, it's been a few years now. I know you want out of your situation at home, but it doesn't seem like Lily's going to be able to help you with that at this point. I'm sure Lily's given you plenty of reasons as to why, and it's time to listen to her.

If you're heart's set on coming to Canada, your best bet is getting a job here. Or even, going to school. Art degrees (Here in Canada) aren't as expensive, provided you go to the right school. Even taking out a student loan for just one year to figure your shit out. I know you're in quite a bit of debt right now and don't want to get into more, but. You gotta do what you gotta do.

Here's the college I went to. Yes, your work is sufficient to potentially get admitted. Believe it or not, art school's get that illustration is a learned skill. Artists start from all different levels:

Look through the admissions requirements to see if you have the academic records to be admitted. If not, you could also consider upgrading through online classes aswell.

Again though, your best bet is to try to find employment. The cost of living isn't great here right now, but it isn't great anywhere. I doubt you'll be able to find cheaper rent in America.

Once you're here or wherever you end up, away from the chaos of your home, you might find it a lot easier to get your head around, establishing some better independence and becoming a citizen by yourself. It's a shitty process, but not as bad as the one you guys have in the States. We stan an immigrant here.

You need to look out for you, Mikaila. It's not selfish. It's not a matter of whether you "really deserve it or not." Nobody's going to save you. You're emotionally spent because of your parents, You're emotionally spent because of Lily. And it feels kind of nice how much Lily needs you. But you can't help her until you help yourself - and again, if we're all wrong and Lily really loves you, she shouldn't have a problem with you finding your way.

My own mother once told me I was "born sad." I've never not hated myself. I ate up any little bit of love and validation no matter how many bitter, razor pills that came with it too. That's just how it is for some of us.

But you know what Mikaila? Fuck em. Fuck all of them. Fuck everything. Fuck me, Mikaila. You've got one life. One body. One you. Whatever you think of her, someone's gotta fight for that poor bitch. Why not you fight for you?

Everyone's a stinky meat bag stripped down, Mikaila. Everyone's made a fool in the wake of the shit people like you and I have been through. Not everyone's going to be able to forgive everything, but everyone's not wholly past forgiveness.

I'm no better than you Mikaila. Nobody is. Some of us just get to know the worst sides of ourselves better than others.

I don't like some of the things you've done, girl. But I see you. I get it. Tell us all to eat shit. Fix your life. Don't rely on Lily to make you feel whole or to save you. To make you feel worthy. No person can do that. She could be the reincarnation of Mary Mother of God herself, and you couldn't expect that from her. Be your own advocate. If your relationship isn't toxic, it can survive you becoming a more whole you.

This asshole is rooting for you. Give me an excuse to undoomer "Mikailer." My girl needs a win.

[shihalyfie]

This is a very niche question so I'll get if you can't answer, but have you seen any talk about Discotek's remastered Digimon Blurays on the Japanese side of the fandom? I feel like it might be the only time that America has gotten the superior Digimon product, and it's interesting that Toei hasn't made use of the much nicer footage even in advertisements.

(This is another question I can answer quickly, so I'm dropping by to hit this one. Again, I'm so sorry about radio silence, I'll be coming back as soon as possible!)

The answer is unfortunately short for not very good reasons: assuming Toei is even paying attention to what Discotek is doing in the first place -- and knowing them, they probably aren't -- the Japanese side doesn't want people to know about this. In general, the home video market in Japan has everything at extremely high prices, so the fact that it's actually cheaper to import a Blu-ray disc even with shipping is not something they want to encourage (this goes for everything, not just Digimon). This is the actual reason most localized versions of Blu-ray releases are worse than their Japanese counterparts; in many cases, the parent companies will actually ask the localization companies to actively make the footage worse to discourage Japanese fans from importing.

So now that Toei and Happinet have sold multiple boxes that cost several hundred dollars' worth of yen each with the old footage? They've put out reprints fairly recently (all of which are still significantly more expensive than the Discotek versions), so suddenly switching the footage would put a huge dent in the reprints' sales, and on top of that, you can imagine a lot of people who spent those hundreds of dollars' worth of yen on the old boxes getting really upset about it, because they'll feel cheated.

So as a result, Toei is at an advantageous position by pretending the Discotek Blu-rays don't exist in the first place. There is no better version with better footage; this is the best they have available, and those who have the existing Japanese Blu-rays have no need to worry about anything! And so for the average Japanese person, I imagine the only thing they're going to hear about is, at best, that the American side got their own localized release (from what I understand, they don't even have any idea how inaccessible the original Japanese versions have been outside Japan), so it's not going to be a big deal...

[themandjetofra]

The Nejeru and the Presidential Election in America

Hey everyone, I know I’ve been a bit dead recently. Sorry about that! I haven’t had much new art to share lately, though I’m hoping to work on a drawing of Ammut sometime this weekend. Honestly, I think I’m done trying to stick with weird blog format. It just feels too forced and doesn’t align with what I want this space to be lol.

Im not going to give you the "Oh, not to get political, but..." stuff here. Yes, yes to get political. I am going to get political because, frankly, this is my blog, my space, and I can express my thoughts freely. If you don’t fw with that, you’re more than welcome to leave. I genuinely can’t stand Trump supporters. This isn't the place for you.

Yes, both Trump and Kamala have massive flaws, but let’s face it, American presidential elections have always been choosing between two evils. But the fact that an actual felon managed to win just blows my mind. It’s appalling to think that people are willing to overlook his blatant disrespect toward women and the LGBTQ community (both of which I’m a part of). Sure I might lose my rights, but at least gas will be cheaper... /s

This election has been a heavy blow to me, and honestly my soul. I’ve been pouring my heart into prayers and spells, asking the Nejeru for guidance. And yeah, I’ll admit, it stung a lot when it felt like my prayers fell on deaf ears to them. I’ve spoken to others in my faith and even folks who follow other ancient pantheons, and I’m not alone in feeling upset and betrayed.

So, I had to take a step back. I needed to breathe, to distance myself from everything���my work, my faith. But that doesn’t mean I lost my belief in the Nejeru. They’ve been there for me countless times, and I know that. Instead of letting my frustration consume me, I chose to reflect on it. Why couldn’t they intervene this time? Or, maybe, why wouldn’t they? And after some time to think, I eventually reconnected with my faith.

One thing I know is that we need to see the Nejeru in the context of their origins— Ancient Egypt. If you didn’t know, every Pharaoh was essentially a dictator. Even under divine guidance, bad things still happened. Some years, the Nile didn’t flood. Sometimes, things just went wrong. The Nejeru aren’t like the God of Christianity or Catholicism. They’re not “all-powerful.” If they were, they wouldn’t need a pantheon of over a hundred gods to manage different forces. They’re incredibly powerful, yes, but there are limits to what they can influence.

A major factor is the concept of free will, something that was deeply important to the Nejeru. They believed in allowing humans to make their own choices, to live their lives as they wished, even with rules in place. As Ra said in the Coffin Texts (1130): "I made every man like his fellow; and I did not command that they do wrong. It is their hearts that disobey what I have said. This is one of the deeds."

No god controls our souls. They don’t dictate our choices. Sure, they may judge us after death, but what we do in this life is entirely up to us. I highly recommend checking out “The Dispute of a Man with His Ba”, a translated story that implies much about free will in Ancient Egypt. When it comes to elections, that is free will. The Nejeru aren’t going to intervene in a democratic process where individuals are making their own choices. Whether people are misinformed or not, it’s still their decision. The outcome, as frustrating as it might be, is not something that the Nejeru can or should control. Doing so would mean infringing on the free will of millions of people. So, please, do not put the blame on the Nejeru. They’re not responsible for the choices people make. But we can lean on them for guidance through these hard times. Take care of each other. Take care of yourselves, check in on your friends, and remember, you are not a burden to anyone. Let’s focus on how we can support one another through this. Sending love and strength to you all.

- spheenx

💗

[starlightoath]

*sips tea* Do y'all see and hear that? No one's storming the capital. No one's inciting an insurrection in the midst of a tantrum. No one's claiming they didn't lose in spite of the official vote counting. Unlike MAGA, who did all of those things!

Just a graceful loss! Because unlike the child that won by 1.5%(it wasn't a landslide), Kamala had the dignity and maturity to concede and accept her defeat with dignity. *takes another sip* Crazy how it was the shortest campaign in history and 48.4% of American voters voted for her. Imagine what she would have done with a whole year.

Ah Ah! I was only 49.9%. Not 50%. We're definitely not rounding. Even then, a lot of citizens abstained. *pours another cup of tea* So, let's see. Unqualified cabinet members based on how popular they are. Restrictions on bodily autonomy of women now, intentions of placing restrictions on all people. Transphobia that's dealing direct damage to reproductive healthcare and mental healthcare. Denial of Healthcare to people who need it in direct violation of "Do no harm" under penalty of arrest. Not to mention dismantling of government paid insurance with only "concepts of a plan" to replace it(which is just another way of saying it won't be replaced). Intentions to delegalize same sex marriage. The person who put America even further into debt, who we know is in bed with Putin and China, is back into office. The same man that was convicted and found guilty of 34 felonies including multiple cases of Sexual assault. The very same man who's throwing a tantrum because one of our greatest presidents died and flags will still be at half mast during hus inauguration. Racism, sexism, and bigotry "backed" by the government. Oh! And those terrorists, sorry, that's bad optics, right? "Christian Nationalists" having government positions in direct opposition to the Founding Fathers Direct intent of "Separation of Church and State." Also cultists, whoops again, "The MAGA Party," having even higher influence because they're in central government positions! Oh! The price of living will increase too! Trump also said that his promise to decrease egg prices was a lie.

But hey. At least Trump voters are happy that they can be hateful in public. At least they can feel justified in attacking marginalized groups knowing Trump is in the office! At least they know no more—Oh wait! Immigrants are cheaper labor than native citizens, so immigrants will still be coming to their country!

*sips tea*

Ladies, Gentlemen, and Others!

Guys, Gals, and Nonbinary Pals!

Presenting Act 2 of Trump's America: The Burning Shit Show in the Midst of a Dumpster Fire!

Don't worry, Folks! I'll be enjoying the show from a safe distance!

[miru-has-thoughts]

How To Watch Professional Wrestling (2023)

Hello people of earth, Jupiter, and wrestling Tumblr! I’ve seen many posts here asking about where to watch professional wrestling. After a few weeks of research and speaking with my buddies who work for various television networks, and those who navigate the interwebs, I have compiled a list on where you can watch your favorite wrestlers without breaking the bank in this economy!

I’ll first talk about the legal ways. 

WWE (for those in the states)

-For those in the states, to watch WWE live, you can get traditional cable, satellite or a streaming service with live tv that includes the USA network. (Fox is a free channel so every live tv service has Fox). I would suggest Youtube TV b/c you get a lot of bang for your buck, but it can be expensive if you do not watch a lot of channels. The other alternative is sling tv, which if I remember is much cheaper than YTTV (about $40). 

-Regular Hulu offers Raw and Smackdown, but it’s available next day.

-The other place you can get your WWE content is Peacock, though the problem is there is no live content and the episodes are uploaded after a month. Peacock is only useful for PLEs and to watch the back catalog of WWE ($5.99/month).

-There is an option to livestream the USA Network on their app and website HOWEVER, you do need a TV provider to access so it defeats the purpose. 

*What I will say is this option is useful for those who live in the West, have cable/streaming service and want to watch Raw live.

WWE (International)

-Most countries have the WWE Network but it is very similar to Peacock in that there is no live content

* This is b/c of broadcasting rights with other stations that stops WWE from putting Raw and Smackdown up straight away like the PPVs 

-WWE also has deals with broadcasting channels around the world, but they more or less work similarly to Peacock.

SO, for the U.S folks, the best way to watch WWE legally and for cheap would be to purchase Sling TV and Peacock to get the full experience that will run you ~$45-55/month.

International folks would benefit from getting a VPN and doing the same (Sling + Peacock)

….

AEW (stateside)

-Again the best way to watch AEW is cable/live TV. The best options here would be Youtube TV and Sling. 

-There is a TBS app, but like the USA Network app, you need a subscription to cable/live tv, and honestly the app lags and is very faulty. Would not recommend. 

-For PPVs, you can purchase from traditional cable providers/satellite ($50/PPV)

-The other one is Bleacher Report (Ditto).

-You can also watch at certain Bar/Restaurants and Movie Theaters which could be a cheaper alternative to buying the PPV, though not every place in the U.S offers this, so make sure you check with your local Dave & Busters, Tom’s Watch Bar, and movie theaters.

(AEW International)

-Now we are in murky waters as AEW has given the rights to a few apps for different parts of the world (besides watching it by cable)

-Canada has TSN, Latin America is getting stuck with ViX, others have DAZN, and the rest are still on Fite TV.

-All these options have faults. TSN is expensive with cable and if you want to watch Collision you need the TSN app and that’s expensive as well. 

-ViX, while the cheapest option of all mentioned, is a joke of an app. Those that have used it reported it’s difficult to find AEW on the app. You HAVE to watch it live as there is no VOD, no back catalog, and the commentary is only in Spanish.There is also no PiP, in fact they don’t even air the fight when they throw to commercial, it just goes to a “we’ll be right back screen”.

-DAZN is expensive, misses shows, starts late, and is buggy. It’s also inflated with commercials before, after and in the middle of the show and the video quality is garbage.

-For anyone with Fite, you get the live stream but you have to wait 30 days for the VOD. Though you do have access to the back catalog.

*This is due to AEW’s deals with the streaming platforms above.

-Fite UK really is the old faithful as you can pay for AEW+ to watch live, get  VOD next day, have access to the back catalog and no PiP.

-PPVs can be purchased and watched through traditional satellite/cable provider

-YouTube (Canada, Mexico, Germany, Italy, France, UK, South Korea)

-PPV.com (Canada, Australia, New Zealand, UK and Ireland)

-SKY Germany

-SKY Italia

-DAZN (UK, Ireland, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Netherlands, Mexico, Brazil, France, Sweden, Norway, Finland, Denmark, Poland, Portugal, Thailand, Taiwan, Malaysia, Singapore, Bulgaria)

-You can also buy through Fite (pretty much anyone)

…

Ok, so now you have all this info but you still don’t know what’s best for you? I would say if you want to watch both WWE + AEW, go with the live TV option. If you just want AEW, get yourself a VPN and go with Fite UK. This applies to Americans and International folks!

For PPV, the best option is Fite as when you purchase it, you have it for life and can replay it as much as you want. You also have the luxury of being able to watch on 2 devices simultaneously, so if you can’t fork out the money for a PPV, perhaps buddy up with someone, pay half and watch together on separate devices. 

-PPVs on UK fite are £13.99 each (about $16 American) and fite NZ are $20 American.

*If you cannot afford a VPN, the two free VPNs I recommend are Proton VPN and Urban VPN.

OK so now you have the legal ways of watching wrestling, but now you’re probably saying, “but Jei! This is great and all, but I don’t have money!”. Well my friend, this is where I give you a lifejacket and show you how to navigate the deep waters of the interwebs, and by the time you finish reading this, you will know how to be a damn great pirate!

-What you will DEFINITELY need is a good ad blocker 

-International folks, use a VPN that can connect to a US server.

Websites that have live streams, back catalog, PPVs, and wrestling from many promotions:

- Wrestling Network

- Wrestling Live

- PWrestling

- Watch Wrestling

- All Wrestling

- Watch Wrestling 24

- Watch Wrestling Up

*a lot of these have pesky ads you have to deal with and sometimes streams break in between, but since it’s free… Well, beggars can’t be choosers. Some will ask you to sign up, they are not asking for money, but if you are not comfortable sharing info, choose another site.

-Also while searching some of these sites, I came across a list from a website called Techlazy, and a person named Nagama Ansari compiled a list with more sites and gives an overview on sites I mentioned and others. I’ll link it here.

Well folks, if you made it this far, congratulations on successfully being able to navigate legal and pirated waters. In all seriousness, if you made it this far, I want to thank you for finding this helpful. I recently came back into the wrestling fold and the people in this community have been nothing but positive and friendly both in person and in real life. The best way I can give back to all of you is by using my knowledge working in television and journalism as well as using my network to help make it easier for all of you to enjoy what we love without worrying about paying a fortune to watch what you want.

Also, I am one of thousands of people getting screwed over by television monopolies and streaming services, so this is my petty way to get back at them! 

[mariacallous]

Less than an hour before JD Vance and Tim Walz took the debate stage on Tuesday, Elon Musk hit pause on his usual shitposting of pro-Trump memes to send a more serious message to his nearly 200 million X followers.

“If you live in Pennsylvania and haven’t registered to vote, you only have 20 days left to do so!” he posted.

“Arizona’s voter registration deadline is only a week away!” he said in a second post a few minutes later.

Musk also included voter registration links for residents. By Wednesday morning, X’s metrics showed that those posts were viewed more than 30 million times, and the links received 1 million views each. Basically: A lot of people saw them. A lot.

It might not be 2008, Obama-style ground game, but it sure is something.

At the beginning of this election cycle, the Ronna McDaniel–led Republican National Committee was planning on building out a vast network of canvassers across the country, but plans changed suddenly when the Trump campaign took over the committee this spring. Instead of putting out the ground game themselves, they’ve dedicated their resources to combating whatever voter fraud they expect to encounter next month. Lately, the RNC’s been holding what they call “Election Integrity Zoom Seminars” instructing supporters on how to spot issues while poll watching.

And the Trump campaign’s been happy to outsource its get-out-the-vote efforts. The Musk-backed America PAC has taken the lead, hiring a few hundred canvassers in battleground states. Turning Point’s political operation is doing work in Arizona and Georgia.

Still, many GOP strategists fear it’s not enough, according to recent Politico reporting, and say they’re worried that Trump’s “paltry” ground game and get-out-the-vote efforts could cost him the election.

In the Politico report, Trump’s political director, James Blair, defended the campaign’s decision to invest less in IRL voter registration, saying that suburban voters, which have often been the focus of canvassing, are already more likely to vote. They just need, Blair says, to be convinced to vote for Trump.

As of this year, 42 US states allow online voter registration—including every contentious battleground state. Digital ads with easy call-to-action buttons linking out to any of these registration sites is definitely cheaper, and easier for the campaign and voters alike. Between Musk’s calls to action, Trump’s own missives online, and all of the campaign’s online initiatives with right-wing creators and influencers, voter registration is quite literally only a click away.

Perhaps even as a gift to Musk, Trump has effectively returned to X over the past few weeks, leveraging the largest online megaphone he’s ever had. On Tuesday evening, Trump posted a link to his campaign’s page asking for volunteers. As of Wednesday afternoon, it’s pinned at the top of his account. This could be the mark of a desperate candidate, but it could still prove to be very effective.

If the polls are correct, this election will be incredibly close. Trump’s base will likely turn out like they did in 2016 and 2020. The challenge is convincing nonvoters to turn out and boost the former president’s numbers. Many of these unlikely voters are young men; men aged 18-24 vote in far fewer numbers than older generations. To find and persuade them, Trump has worked with tough-guy and dude-bro podcasters and influencers whose audiences tend to be the exact people the campaign is trying to reach. Instead of one volunteer with a clipboard getting maybe a few dozen or even a hundred people to register in a day, these guys precisely reach millions of the voters the campaign needs.

In 2008, Barack Obama’s campaign transformed how elections are fought and won with its massive field operation across the country. At the time, traditional methods like phone banking were revolutionary. Now, no one answers their phones. If you’ve been reading this newsletter, you know the Kamala Harris campaign has done plenty of similar work online to what we’re seeing from the Trump team and Obama’s ‘08 campaign. The main difference, really, is that they’ve also invested in relational organizing, and are betting on the fact that a combination of random volunteers speaking with strangers, influencers posting to millions, and friends and family members reaching out with talking points will win November. Basically, Harris is casting a wide net while Trump goes all in.

Rather than hanging out at college campuses and grocery stores, it looks like the Trump campaign is betting on the internet to help them reach low-propensity voters. With millions of followers, and that sweet algorithmic luck, the Musk and Paul brothers could very well be Trump’s ace.

[sovietpostcards]

I’m not sure if its late for questions but I suppose it can’t hurt to try. Where are typical places to go on vacation for Russians? For example, Americans often go to visit islands in the Carribean, southern states like Florida, and places in South America like Mexico. I’ve heard Australians often visit Indonesia. So what are popular vacation destinations for Russians? Is vacationing common or is it a thing only rich people really do? Like my family has only been on a couple actual vacations, mostly we go camping locally because its much cheaper.

Common domestic vacation destinations are the South of Russia (it's a small area and it's always crowded) - Sochi, Anapa, all towns and villages along the Black Sea coast and Azov sea coast. Kislovodsk and the whole Mineral Springs area - known for, you guessed it, its mineral springs. Kaliningrad - a small piece of Europe jammed between Lithuania and Poland where you can go without a foreign passport. Definitely Crimea - a top holiday destination throughout the years, so much coastline for the vitamin D deprived Russians.

Of out-of-country destinations, I can name Turkey (often cheaper than Sochi), Abkhazia. For the Asian part of Russia, I hear they go to China and Korea a lot as it's cheaper than flying to Europe/Moscow.

Taking vacations is a privilege I'd say. A lot of people can't afford it. For many the best possible destination is their grandparents' village. Still, a lot of people try to take at least one vacation in the summer and make some memories. 30% of Russians have a valid foreign passport (for travelling out of the country), so that kind of travel is way less common.

[the-bjd-community-confess]

Hello, this is your Oldie Chinese Diaspora Anon™️ I came across this Anon (https://the-bjd-community-confess.tumblr.com/post/757452685040631808/im-surprised-acbjd-isnt-an-official-dealer-for ) and their question-to-the-aether, and I think I know the answer. It’ll most likely answer a few other questions that have been floating around here as well. At least I think so, anyhow… I’ll try!

For starters, let me introduce you to something called the Universal Postal Union (Union postale universelle, UPU. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universal_Postal_Union). For something so archaic, it is actually the largest reason why a lot of things that we complain about are the way they are. Anything shipped and mailed internationally follows the rate set up by the UPU. According to these international rates, it’s much cheaper to send anything by mail from Asia to Europe or North America. And it’s more expensive to send from South Korea than it is from China. This is why it makes sense that dealers based in China are able to offer free shipping – shipping is cheap enough originating from China that the dealers can absorb that cost. This is also why dealers based in China rarely deal for any company that are not Chinese in origin. It means the dealers will have to eat twice the amount of shipping (from country of origin to China and from China to final destination). It’s usually too cost prohibitive to do something like that, unfortunately.

This also reminds me of the question posted by an exasperated Anon a while back (https://the-bjd-community-confess.tumblr.com/post/748048371225346048/its-hysterical-that-divas-doesnt-understand-how ). Now, here’s a bit of a disclaimer: this specific dealer had shafted yours truly as well. After waiting for 2 years for a body with jointed hands, I was informed earlier this year that it was lost in transit. It’s a most dissatisfying result to a very long wait, and even if I was refunded the whole purchasing price, it was still left me with some distaste. I just wanted to make sure that nobody thinks the OCDA™️ is taking sides or deliberately speaking ill of either side of the conversation. Please understand, that is never the intention.

America-based dealers, like the ones mentioned in these conversations, are dealing with the unenviable position of paying two different shipping fees. They are also at a great disadvantage when it came to the UPU rates – shipping from the US is among one of the most expensive around the world, not to mention tariffs and import taxes. This is why Canadian collectors are usually disadvantaged when buying from US collectors. Even in the case where the overall distance between seller and buyer is shorter, as long as a package crosses national lines, the tariffs become significant.

Commercial shipping is, unfortunately, a little more complicated than someone shipping directly to the end-user after all. Trying to save on shipping becomes something that dealers try to do. One way of doing it is to take in the price difference and defray it on to the buyers, which is another reason why certain dealers have astronomical shipping/handling charges. Using land/water shipping is also a little cheaper than flying. But here is where the other conundrum lies – When a container tilts or falls into the water it’s considered lost. Recovery is a herculean task and it usually means the cargo in there is considered junked anyway (more information here: https://maritime-executive.com/editorials/what-happens-when-containers-are-lost-at-sea ) For smaller companies (BJDs are classified as micro-companies), they need to share containers with other people. This is something that’s actually badly controlled in China due to corrupt bureaucracy (so, once again, without taking sides, the OCDA™️ can vouch for what these guys said in this post to be true: https://www.facebook.com/BJDivas/posts/pfbid02tL96kt9R6vw546CZhe4V8EW7Fx7qqhx9NGzWjozVtbnqadR8yank69spfYjtMkn1l ) What they didn’t mention is what happens when a container falls over. While each container is insured, the value of the cargo is based on “What’s the declared content” and not “everything inside”. Imagine if a container that is filled with mostly clothes and it keels over, the insurance payout is relatively low due to the nature of -most- of its cargo. In that case, both the shipper and the receiver (the Dealer, in this case) incurs huge losses – a loss that cannot be defrayed on the final customer because they never received what they paid for.

As the child of parents who were importers and wholesalers, these intricacies of international shipping were something of a constant nightmare for us. You can imagine my surprise when I realised that the Chinese dealer ships to me for free… I was used the family business ordering enough stock to fill half a 50’ container about 6-12 months prior to it arriving. It’s the part of doing business that folks don’t really spend too much time thinking of, but it can really be at somewhere between 1/10 to 1/4 of the final MSRP. (If everything went well, of course. Because that’s not always possible for many, many reasons.) All of this need money, which means for a micro-company, the shipping is even more expensive. This is why while the labour cost in China is indeed quite low, the reason for the high price is -not- because of that.

Of course, the OCDA™️ would like to stress that while shipping is very difficult, it doesn’t fully absolve the dealer mentioned by the Exasperated Anon. There are a lot more things that could be done in terms of communication and streamlining the process. There’s just nothing for it. I’d like to extend my sympathy to anyone who feels that they are wronged by this dealer; heaven knows, I am one of you, too.

~Anonymous

[maggie-004]

(Un-) Lucky coincidence - 3

Jenna Ortega x Fem reader

Summary: After helping Jenna Ortega, Y/N invites her to stay at her apartment when Jenna's hotel reservation is canceled. Jenna accepts the offer, and they bond over music and their shared vegetarian lifestyle while enjoying Chinese food and planning Jenna's stay in Austria for another 1 and a half weeks.

Words: 2155

“Oh, cool cool, I’m here with my car soo uhm do you need a ride?” I asked Jenna, trying to not freak out. “Uh yeah that would be great. Where do you even live, like do you have a house or-“, “What a house, you’re funny, no I have an apartment nearby. Houses here in Innsbruck are very expensive, if you wanna buy a house, that’s not the size of an shoe box you’ll have to pay at least 5 Million euro. Even to buy an apartment is really expensive. Mine costed around 500.000 euro.” I nearly cried out of laughing “Come on let’s go to my Car, and maybe close your mouth on the way there, Innsbruck is a very expensive city” I laughed at how shocked she was, it really is normal around here. “Yeah let’s go, sorry. I am really shocked right now your apartment is just a little less worth than our house in Coachella and my apartment in LA is way, WAY cheaper than yours” Jenna explained while we went to my car. “Oh really I thought America is more expensive than Austria.” I said while unlocking my car.

“apparently not, I really thought Austria would be very cheap, well I thought wrong. Oh is that your own car or is it your parents?” “No it’s my own, I love this car” I proudly said while getting in to my Ford mustang Mach-e. “Wow I thought you were a nursing student, by the way how old are you?” Jenna glanced at me while I connected my phone to the car.  “I’m 19 (feel free to put in your age) how old are you?” I asked Jenna. “Woah how do you have an own apartment, a car like that and your job at the age of 19? Oh yeah I’m 20 but I’m turning 21 this year” she said and smiled at me. “Oh you’re not old yourself, you know for what you’ve reached so far. Well I started to study at 16, I skipped a few classes and I wanted to move out from my old home so I started to save money and I do make money besides school so yeah that’s pretty much it.” I just explained when we drove off, I played some music and I could see from a side eye that Jenna was enjoying it. “wow so you are the youngest in your class, at least I suppose? And how do you manage to make money, well enough money for all that while still going to school. I know that my sister, Mia she is 2 years older than me, is now nearly done with nursing school and she barley has time to work a part time job and make enough money for anything like this. Oh yeah before I forget to ask, where do you find those remixes we’re listening right now” She asked me and started to get into the music even more. “Oh she’s a nurse as well? That’s so cool, but it’s true. When you’re in nursing school you don’t have enough time to make some Money, except you are lucky enough, like me, to make your money doing something you love, for me it’s DJing. I have my YouTube channel and I have now nearly 5.5 Million subscribers, that’s where you can find those remixes by the way. That’s how I make my money. I’ve never shown my face though so I live a normal life. I collaborated with one of my best friends I met online her name is Antonia aka. RevedTV, I really got a lot of subs from her community. All in all I’m just lucky” I explained smiling because that really is just luck and it’s so cool to receive so much good karma. “Okay, wow yeah I don’t really know what to say here, I’m flabbergasted. Congrats on that and you got to tell me your artist name, I really want to listen to more of your remixes.” Jenna said, and to be honest that made me so proud of myself because everyone knows that Jenna is addicted to music and that she has a certain taste of music, I think she has a really good taste in music, but I got ripped out of because we were already pulling up to my garage.

“Thank you” I just realized that Jenna was talking to me earlier, I kind of zoned out, I still got to tell her about my ADHD otherwise she might thinks I’m rude. “Sorry for not talking to you sooner, I kind of zoned out, you know I have ADHD just wanted to clarify so I don’t come off rude. Sorry”. “Don’t be sorry, that’s ok you don’t seem rude, I know how it feels to zone out, happens way to often to me too” She just giggled at me. “Oh thank god you can relate to the zoning out, hey believe it or not some people don’t zone out at all. It really shocked me to learn about that” I explained living through the exact same feeling as I did when I first learned about that. “Yeah no way, you’re kidding right?” she asked me “Nope. I’m not kidding I swear”. “Wow second time you made me speechless today, just for your information, normally that doesn’t happen to me and certainly not twice”, “ Okay and what exactly does that mean?” I asked her while we got in the elevator I live on the 3rd and 4th. I jokingly started to tease her “Do I make you nervous … nahh just kidding” I laughed and I’m not sure but I think Jenna blushed a little but maybe it’s just my imagination. We arrived at third floor and I unlocked the door, holding it open for Jenna “Milady, after you” “Thank you”. “You can keep your shoes on or how ever you like, feel comfortable, do you want a little tour so you see how we Austrians live” I asked her. “Yeah sure I’d love to” she said while she took off her shoes. “ Okay first room to your right is my guests bath, next to it the guests  room and a little storage room” “Mhm oh the furniture is soo cool” Jenna said. “Then you should wait until you see my room, anyways around that corner is my kitchen and the eating era, come on.” “Woah I definitely wasn’t  expecting an all-black kitchen it’s so cool and so big. Y/N you have a really nice furnishing style, I love it here.” Jenna said. “Thank you so much yeah I really took my time because I want to feel at home here so no compromises with anyone, you won’t believe me how many people said ´oh no black kitchen… don’t do this… don’t do that- bla bla bla` but as already said no compromises. Okay come on we have another floor to look at” I just said. “Another one? Wow cool you really hyped me for your room.” “Okay then come on, soo here is my bathroom, I really needed that freestanding bathtub and again a lot of black elements I love it looks so  fancy. Next to my bathroom I have my laundry room nothing special in here. But now my second favorite room, my studio. Here happens all my ´Musical magic´” Jenna looked stunned at me and I just had to laugh at her face and about myself, calling myself magical. “Well I guess we make it a third time that I don’t know what to say wow, this is all so cool, amazing is that your DJing controller?” Jenna asked me. “Yeah it is if you want I can show you a few things on it later” I suggested. “I’d love to, maybe you can teach me a little bit” she smiled like a little child when I nodded at her request. “Okay now come ooonnn I am so hyped to show you my room, I really love it so let’s gooooo.” “Oh my god you’re hyping me up so much don’t hype me anymore I don’t think I could that you know… emotionally” Jenna laughed.

“Well then we’ll make it short and painless. Here take a look.” I said with the biggest grin on my face, because I know we can add another speechless Jenna moment to our list. My room is the biggest of all my rooms, it has 2 black Walls on which my Californian King sized Bed is, also it’s slightly higher than everything else because it’s build on this platform thing, where I have two huge drawers, I know I don’t need bed this big alone but I really fell in love with it, I think its needless to say that I wouldn’t spent so much money on a bed I don’t need, but I got it as a gift from one of my advertising partners. I also have a lot of plants and little decoration things, Pictures and a few fan gifts, a big ass aquarium, way too big tv, but again it was a gift, my beloved Book shelf, next to it a tiny two person couch and a desk for schoolwork and editing. But now my favorite part, my walk-in closet. “So Jenna what do you think” I grinned. “Wow this room is amazing, how long did you spent to make it look like that, and that bed oh my god can I sit on it, it looks sooo comfortable” Jenna said. “Yea you can also lay in it if you want, it was a gift from my advertising partners. I think I’ve spent one and a half months on this room, but only because I didn’t accept any help in this room, I really wanted it like I imagined. So I build that platform for my bed myself and lowered the ceiling for the LED’s.” I explained “How’s the bed?” I laughed at how tiny Jenna looked in it. “It’s amazing but I am a little scared that I’ll get lost in it.” We both started to laugh like crazy. My stomach started to hurt out of laughter I threw myself on my bed next to Jenna and tried to calm down. Needless to say we pushed each other even more and only after 10 minutes we started to calm down. “Uhg now my stomach hurts, Jenna do you still want to drink a coffee” I asked her still giggling. “Yeah sure, can you help me up” “sure her you go, we gotta go downstairs for coffee, or are you hungry?” I asked Jenna now. “Well yeah are you?” she asked. “I am so hungry right now, do you wanna order something or should I cook?”, “Uh we can order something and I pay for it you know as a thank you” Jenna suggested. “Oh Jenna you really don’t have to that’s fine you’re my guest so please let me- “ Jenna interrupted me “Yeah and you helped me when no one did so please I insist.” “Okay thank you” I gave up I didn’t stood a chance. “What should we order?” I asked Jenna. “Well I’m currently chancing my diet for Romania so something vegetarian, do you like Chinese?”, “Oh I love Chinese food and btw I’m vegetarian too, had to change from vegan to vegetarian because of the nutritious, kind of sucks” I explained to Jenna whom nodded at what I was saying. “oh my god same, I was so devastated when I found out I had to change that.” We both ordered some spring rolls and those lobster chips the white ones. “So should we look for places you could stay, or do you maybe wanna stay here, I mean only if you want to and feel safe and everything” I offered her, not really knowing what she’d say and hoping to not scare her away. We sat in my 2nd floor and before she could answer the doorbell rang. So I had to run down and get the food. “Hey Jenna do you wanna eat in the living room or down here?” I yelled up. “ Uhm however you want” she yelled back. So I got everything we need form the kitchen and got back up. “ I think it’s more comfortable if we stay here. Well about my offer-“ Jenn a cut right in “Uhm I’d love to but only if you’re really fine with that.” Oh my god, I think my heart is about to stop. Jenna really is going to stay at my place. “Yeah totally I can set up the guest room, you can stay as long as you want. I really mean it. How long are you staying in Austria anyways?” I asked her. “for another 1 and a half weeks, we are going to start promoting Wednesday, so the rest of the Wednesday cast comes here tomorrow, and thank you for everything”

A/N: Wow these are getting longer, fyi English is not my first language. Still hope you like it :)

[daftpatience]

how would one get into fountain pens and inks ?? i’ve never liked using those 50 pens for a dollar types and only used fountain pens at school . honestly i’d love if you infodump at me about your favs pens, inks and how the tiktoks only show those glass pens with the swirls that slowly drip off ink and not any love for pens that hold ink themself

yaa sure!! and firstly i wanna say the reason you see a lotta glass dip pens on tiktok is simply because they are pretty and people think they are cool. dip pens have a lot of neat benefits of their own! dont let the bad app make u bitter abt em! (for example dip pens let you use a muuch wider range of inks made out of pigments that a fountain pen couldn't handle!)

but i digress. getting into fountain pens usually starts with an affordable one! (or a fancy hand me down if you're lucky!) jetpens & gouletpens are good shops to find fountain pens, and you may be lucky enough to live near a stationery shop that carries them, who knows!

generally good pens to start with are cheap enough that you won't feel too bad if it doesn't turn out to be your favourite but still a smooth writer. they should feel good in the hand and be refillable (since we are talking about avoiding disposable pens! but disposable fountain pens do exist.) generally these pens are in the $10-$30 range, but some cheaper pens like the platinum preppy and jinhao shark will surprise you!

especially worth taking into account with starting to get into pens is the nib size and filling mechanism!

nib size:

fountain pens generally come in Extra Fine, Fine, Medium, Broad, and Double Broad nib sizes, although there are other fancy ones like stub, flex, cursive, and left handed ones. (i am left handed and don't use them, so don't worry too much about that if you are.)

generally western nibs run a little broader than Japanese nib sizes, so keep that in mind when choosing a pen!

personally i find that finer nibs are more useful for me drawing-wise, and i enjoy broader nibs for writing (especially since i tend to draw in black and write in pretty colours i want to see more of!) this just applies to me of course ^u^

filling mechanisms:

fountain pens can come with ink cartridges (sometimes universal and sometimes proprietary) which tend to be a good choice for folks that like mess-free easy ways to reink a pen even when you're out and about. they do limit your selection of inks, though!

cartridge pens can usually be converted to piston fill/squeeze fill pens with a compatible converter, and some even come with one by default (like the jinhao shark!) some fountain pens (like TWSBIs) have a piston fill mechanism integrated into the entire barrel. (they have a very big ink capacity!) these converters/pens allow you to use any fountain pen ink you like, and also help make pen cleaning easier as you can take up and flush out water with it.

another type of fountain pen is eyedropper fill - where the entire barrel is watertight and you simply fill it with ink via eyedropper (or god forbid just pouring the ink from the bottle into it lol) these kinds of filling mechanisms are a lot messier and are generally done at home since you might not wanna bring ink bottles and paper towels along wherever you go, especially if they're big. some pens can be converted to eyedropper fill by making the barrels watertight with silicone grease on the threads & plugging any breather holes.

fun fact! ink cartridges are much more popular in europe, and bottled inks are more popular in america. idk why!

in terms of my favourite fountain pens, i very much like the TWSBI ECO/ECO T, LAMY safari, platinum preppy/plaisir, kaweco sport, and jinhao shark! they're all great and come in lots of fun colours and i want more twsbis so bad aaa

ok this is getting long but lets talk about inks!! im dying to talk about inks can we talk about inks

i already went over the difference between pigment and dye based inks here, so let's talk about what to think of when choosing an ink and also some of my favs!!

picking out an ink for your pen should consist of at least 3 factors!

make sure you are looking for fountain pen ink! (drawing inks & dip pen inks will clog a fountain pen!)

what colour do you want!!! (as a tip, light colours look even lighter when reduced to the fine line of a pen, and can sometimes be rather disappointing or hard to see. stick to broader nibs for those!)

do you need it to be water and/or highlighter proof?

most online shops let you filter to find what you're looking for, and most irl shops have sample cards for you to look through (while they may not show you about the waterproof part, generally the people working there should be able to tell you about it! most of the shops ive been to are staffed by fellow enthusiasts!)

aside from that you really can go nuts! there are inks with shimmer, inks that are suuuper bold and solid, some that vary in shade (and hue!) and some that develop a metallic sheen around the edge!

as for my favourite inks, i really like these and heres why!

pilot iroshizuku: they have some REALLY pretty colours. plus the bottles are big and very pretty!

Diamine: these inks come in some absolutely luscious colours (and TONS of sparkly shimmery options) and are known for being very consistently good performers across all their colours.

sailor: these inks are fancy and preddy and smell good to me wehehe

j. herbin: they make a green i really like >:) and also are popular for being good inks im pretty sure!

special extra shoutout to ferris wheel press: i havent actually gotten an ink from them i truly love yet (ive only ever tried a sample set of pastels and i like my inks darker) but their bottles are truly to die for.

ANYWAYS THANK YOU FOR COMING!! TO MY TED TALK!!! im fully info dumped out!!!! whee!

[bonesandthebees]

I am going to a LOT of places so erm buckle up

First gonna be visiting my aunt in Iceland YIPPEEE and then I'm heading to Denmark and then I'm heading to Germany and possibly Poland bc I'm polish and it feels very weird to go to every country surrounding it But Poland FJJFK (we'll see how much money/time I have, but I think it'll fit!!), and then Czech (Prague, holyfuck I didn't know how pretty it was until this year when I googled it on a whim while looking at train routes AND NOW IM OBSESSED I NEEEEED TO GO), and then Vienna, and then Amsterdam

It's. It's gonna be a lot HAHAHAHA a wholeee month of travel but I budgeted it out with my mom and I'm gonna be backpacking so staying in hostels which is a LOT cheaper and staying with friends sometimes tooo so I'll be saving a lot on the cost there

It's still crazy to me that it's even doable to just. Train to all these diff countries 😭😭

My brain kinda shuts down when I think about it but HDJFFKK I'm really excited!!! I think it's gonna be really really great:))

oh holy shit that's so much! that sounds incredible! god I'm so jealous I've always wanted to go to Iceland and the fact that you have family there makes it so much easier to have a reason to visit. actually I desperately want to visit every place you listed. definitely wanna check out Denmark, I've wanted to go to Germany, specifically Berlin, for years now, and I keep hearing incredible things about Poland. and Prague and Vienna too!!! those are all such cool places I hope you have an incredible time Icy

while I'm sure you've been doing your research I have a few tips for staying in a lot of hostels. sorry if you already know these but just wanna point them out if you haven't. firstly, bring a lock for the lockers. some hostels provide them, some don't. bring the cable lock kind rather than a typical all metal school locker kind of lock, it can fit in more types of locks that way. secondly, bring a travel towel. some hostels provide you with towels, most make you pay for them, so if you wanna save money buy a quick drying microfiber towel that you can fold down to be really small. it was a life saver for me when I was traveling. thirdly, bring some thin, cheap flip flops to wear in the hostel showers. this is just personal preference on my end but public showers can be gross.

it is insane that you can just take the train between so many countries. america if she had a good national railway...

I'm so happy for you though I hope you have an amazing time, that trip sounds like one of my dream trips