#strongly connected graph example | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

k-mbti · 2 years

Text

How to Spot Each Myers-Briggs® Personality Type in Conversation

How to Spot an ISTJ in Conversation

ISTJs think before they speak. You’ll notice that they quietly reflect before responding. Their conversation is very sequential and you can usually follow their thought process easily because they are concerned with making sure everything is as linear and factual as possible. They will use concrete details and a lot of comparative words in their speech, such as “looks like”, “is similar to”, or “remember when”. They can easily recall past data and experiences and will pull from that to add authority to what they’re saying.

When an ISTJ speaks, their main goal is to relay facts and experiences; they’re not likely to exaggerate or add a lot of physical movement. They’re not trying to be the center of attention. In fact, they can be quite mysterious. They don’t tend to use a lot of facial expressions or body language, because the emotion related to what they are saying is all experienced internally rather than externally. Most of their feelings and reactions are very private so they can appear somewhat stoic even if they feel very strongly about something.

ISTJs tend to feel ill at ease when they’re asked to discuss their feelings or emotions. They especially dislike being asked or expected to respond emotively to something they are unprepared for. They tend to keep their feelings private and being put on the spot like this is stressful for them.

How to Spot an ISFJ in Conversation

ISFJs, like ISTJs, think and reflect before they speak. They don’t want to be rushed to respond because they want time to go over the facts and their personal observations before making a judgment. They speak in sequential order, making sure everything follows a linear and chronological timeline. It is usually easy to follow what they are saying, and they will use plenty of concrete details and examples to make it easy for people to understand what they are experiencing in their minds. They use comparative words in their speech, such as “tastes like”, “reminds me of”, “is just like”, or “remember when”.

When an ISFJ speaks, their goal is to relay useful information to people. They often empathize with the individuals they are speaking with and will say things to show solidarity, like “I understand how you feel”, or “that makes perfect sense”. They are usually polite and responsive facially when someone is speaking to them. It is very important to them that the person they are speaking to feels heard.

ISFJs may feel ill at ease when dealing with a lot of criticism or theoretical, long-range forecasting. They like to work with facts they know and experiences they can trust, so predicting based on new, untested theories can tire them. They also tend to take criticism personally and can get very stressed in confrontational or debative environments.

How to Spot an ESTJ in Conversation

ESTJs think out loud and need to process their ideas externally. It tends to sound like they’re stating facts and judgments when really they are just throwing out ideas and thoughts in order to work out a conclusion for themselves. They like to hear other people’s responses to their ideas and thoughts because this helps to stimulate their own ideas and conclusions. They tend to talk to themselves if they’re alone. Extraverted Thinking, their dominant process, doesn’t function as well in an internalized state so you’ll find ESTJs speaking, making diagrams, graphs, or charts to try to “get out” their thoughts and solve problems.

ESTJs sound factual, realistic, and confident when they speak. They are good at remembering facts and details and tend to compare present to past to see if something is trustworthy, reliable, or inconsistent. They don’t change subjects a lot unless it’s through a logical connection. They can appear tactless, especially when they are young because they hate to sugarcoat things and believe so strongly in being as honest and straightforward as possible.

ESTJs tend to enjoy friendly debates because they enjoy competition, and debate allows them to think out loud and enjoy a mutual give-and-take in conversation.

ESTJs tend to feel ill at ease in conversations that require them to be patient or delicate with other people’s feelings. They may see it as a waste of time or confusing because they are usually very direct and open with their principles and intentions and can inadvertently hurt the feelings of people with different values or beliefs. They tend to come across as opinionated in their values and so others might see them as being bossy or judgmental when they are forthcoming.

How to Spot an ESFJ in Conversation

ESFJs use a lot of “we’s” and “us’s” in their speech. They want to get on the same page and find common ground with the person they are speaking to. Their priority is to maintain harmony between people, so they are very careful with their choice of words and when they say them. These types don’t want to offend anyone and they are usually good at being politically correct. They are good at taking care of the group, introducing people, and ensuring everyone is comfortable. They will even make fun of themselves if it will help someone to feel more comfortable. They want to relate to other people and make sure they don’t feel alone, so they’ll compare similar experiences and say things like “I completely understand!”, “I hear you!”, or “I can relate”.

ESFJs are good at picking up on the emotional temperature of the room they are in, and they will try to diffuse conflict as quickly as possible. This can irritate some types, who enjoy friendly debate or argument but are legitimately not in a conflict situation.

ESFJs tend to move group processes towards closure and there will usually be a timeline for their social interactions. They don’t want to impede on someone else’s time so they are conscientious about what the appropriate lengths of time are to stay during a social engagement. They arrive on time, leave on time, and notice when people seem tired, distracted, or busy.

ESFJs use concrete details and facts in their speech and they are usually concerned with the concrete needs of the people around them. For example, they will remember to ask if someone needs a glass of water or if they need someone to hang up their coat. They tend to actively serve others in group situations; giving practical, tangible solutions to people’s problems as much as possible. They usually appear empathetic, friendly, and in control.

ESFJs can feel ill at ease in conversations that revolve around debate or critical analysis. They tend to dislike conversations that have a risk of offending others or creating a rivalry. Detailed technical conversations can also bore them if there is no human component involved.

How to Spot an ISTP in Conversation

ISTPs will usually sound very concise, factual, and direct when they speak. They do all their analysis internally, so you won’t usually hear their thought process out loud. You will hear their conclusion or decisions once they have been fully formed. They aren’t likely to ramble on about half-baked ideas or theories because they do all that processing on their own and in private. They will often pause while they are speaking to search for just the right word; they are very particular and precise about their vocabulary and phrasing.

ISTPs can come across as opinionated because they are so aware of what’s real, what’s factual, and the precision of their own logic. They’ve taken their time to form a conclusion, they’ve checked the facts, and so they feel there is no more to discuss or debate. They are usually very skilled at seeing logical pros and cons, practical realities, and detailed sensory data. They appear reserved, private, yet extremely attentive to their surroundings.

ISTPs tend to feel ill at ease when they are asked to express their finer feelings or emotions. They may appear more stoic than they really are, or if they are extremely stressed they may appear uncharacteristically emotional.

How to Spot an ISFP in Conversation

ISFPs appear open-minded, empathetic, and easy-going. They have very strong values, but they tend to keep them under wraps unless they know someone very well and have established a great deal of trust. They don’t say a lot of “shoulds” or “should not’s” and don’t like to push their viewpoints on other people. They try to respect everyone’s individuality and are not fond of “preaching” at others or imposing their beliefs.

When an ISFP’s values are mocked or belittled in some way, they may just get up and leave or they may suddenly become more animated and passionate in their tone of voice as they defend their values and ideals. This tends to come as a surprise to others since they normally appear so reserved and soft-spoken.

ISFPs speak in the present tense and focus a lot on what’s happening now or what happened before. They have a quiet, gentle authenticity and believe in being honest and authentic as much as possible. They take regular pauses during a conversation to thoughtfully consider the emotional impact of what is being said and the authenticity level of the individual they are speaking with. They don’t like to draw a lot of attention to themselves and can become suddenly quiet if they find themselves unexpectedly the center of attention.

For all their gentle repose, ISFPs have an often surprising sense of adventure. They enjoy talking about tangible experiences (vacations, concerts, activities, projects). They can be quite impulsive and thrill-seeking, always trying to expand their memory-book of experiences. They will enjoy sharing these experiences with others.

ISFPs can feel ill at ease in conflict-ridden or debative environments. They also dislike it when other people make them the center of attention or put them on the spot. When they are younger, largely theoretical topics tend to bore them (although they develop more interests in mid-life).

How to Spot an ESTP in Conversation

ESTPs appear friendly and lively in conversation, accenting their words with physical gestures and engaging expressions. They have a quick-wit and an upbeat tone that is contagious. They usually have a strong sense of humor and are able to instantly make witty comebacks to just about any comment. They appear lively and charismatic.

In language, ESTPs are very literal and realistic. They are usually good at storytelling as a way to engage with the people around them and make them laugh or smile. They easily pick up on the body language and mannerisms of the people around them as well.

In decisions, ESTPs have an objective, analytical perspective. They don’t tend to “think out loud” as they make their decisions, instead, they will internally analyze things and speak once they’ve come to a conclusion and considered the facts.

More than anything, ESTPs enjoy sharing experiences with people. They are more concerned with action than talk, but when they do speak they enjoy swapping stories, practical life tips, life experiences, and tales of their adventures and escapades.

ESTPs tend to feel ill at ease when they are asked to express their emotions and feelings in detail. They are usually only comfortable doing this with someone they’ve known for a long time and trust a great deal.

How to Spot an ESFP in Conversation

ESFPs appear warm and enthusiastic in conversation, balancing energy and physical charisma with a soft and caring demeanor. They usually have a “buzz” of liveliness around them and tend to use a lot of physical gestures and mannerisms in their speech. Their tone tends to be upbeat and engaging. They usually focus on the present moment when they speak, seeing the future as ever-changing and unpredictable.

Like ESTPs, ESFPs are usually excellent storytellers. They know how to tailor their story to the desires and attention-span of the people they are speaking with. Their keen awareness of body language and mannerisms lets them know when someone is getting bored or distracted, so they know when to cut a story short or spice things up to make it more interesting. They are very “real” and authentic people and will refrain from anything that seems phony or insincere.

ESFPs speak in a very literal, sequential style. They like to share their experiences with other people and talk about future experiences they can enjoy. Life is full of possibilities and opportunities to the ESFP, and they love discussing all the things they can experience; foods they can taste, concerts they can hear, anything tangible that they can immerse themselves in.

Young ESFPs tend to feel bored during long, drawn-out theoretical discussions. They also can feel ill at ease around people who are very critical or pessimistic. They have the drive to create a cheerful, optimistic atmosphere and can feel drained when they are with someone who is complaining or being critical for a long time. They also dislike being rushed into making a decision about something.

How to Spot an INTJ in Conversation

INTJs speak using a lot of metaphors and symbols to describe things. Their preferred focus is the future, and they enjoy discussing meanings, implications, and visions of the future with others. They often veer from being slow to speak to very wordy and passionate as they try to convey their insights. Their thoughts are often difficult to express in words because their perceptions are so abstract and mysterious and less filled with the tangible, concrete data people are used to hearing. It can be especially frustrating for INTJs to be misunderstood by listeners, only to have a sensing type explain the exact same thing and be understood perfectly because they are using more concrete language. That said, INTJs can have extremely strong communication skills as they combine their intuition with their thinking process. They often astound people with their ability to strategize and come up with logical long-range solutions to problems faster than nearly any other type.

As intuitives, INTJs tend to jump way ahead of the current environment, focusing on such far-off future realities and predictions that they lose the listener in the process. It is often around other intuitives that INTJs are able to discuss their insights more freely. Around sensing types INTJs tend to rely more on expressing themselves through their auxiliary function, Extraverted Thinking. When in this mode, they appear very direct, analytical, and concerned with logical correctness. Sometimes they can appear tactless or abrupt as if they don’t care about anyone else’s opinion. They are usually very sure of themselves and their analysis.

INTJs can feel ill at ease when they are coerced into discussing their emotions and finer feelings. They are usually very private about their own feelings and values and only feel comfortable sharing them with people they have established a lot of trust with.

How to Spot an INFJ in Conversation

INFJs tend to speak using a lot of metaphors and symbols to convey their meaning. Their preferred topics of conversation revolve around future visions, insights, predictions, and possibilities. They are usually warm and empathetic and aim to establish rapport with the person they are conversing with. They will try to get on the same page with them, saying things to show solidarity like “I understand”, or “I hear you!”. They are usually tactful and well-mannered.

INFJs can veer back and forth between being socially smooth and friendly to mysterious and vague in their speech. When they are establishing rapport with others they are using their second-preferred process, Extraverted Feeling. However, their preferred process, Introverted Intuition, is much harder to tap into in a way that people will understand. INFJs may seem halting or rambling as they try to convey their deeper insights and visions of the future. They may be hesitant to speak because they are so often misunderstood and the language they have to use is so abstract and confusing to listeners. INFJs are quick to observe if their listener is disinterested or confused by what they are saying, and will often switch back to other topics. This can be a little depressing for them if they don’t have someone who is interested in sharing their more fascinating insights and can follow along with their more abstract train of thought.

INFJs can feel ill at ease in highly critical or negative conversations. They prefer harmonious interactions and can be so concerned with how everyone is affected by the criticism or debate that they get stuck playing mediator or peacemaker or else leave the conversation entirely.

How to Spot an ENTJ in Conversation

ENTJs appear confident, business-like, and visionary in their speech. They tend to think out loud, and this is because extraverted thinking, their dominant process, needs to externalize thoughts, write them, or diagram them in some way in order to process them effectively. They may sound as if they are stating hard and fast judgments, when in fact they are just stating ideas and thoughts in an effort to form conclusions. They enjoy sharing their thoughts, and especially enjoy analytical back-and-forth feedback and debate with others. They can enjoy debating or arguing to reach a conclusion or to test their own opinions and theories.

Many ENTJs talk to themselves as a way to process their thoughts. Others diagram, take notes or chart their thoughts on notepads, whiteboards, or anything available. At times, ENTJs can be confusing for other types to understand (particularly sensing types) because their thoughts veer into the metaphorical or abstract. They might jump around in time or talk about predictions that are so far ahead of the current timeline that it loses people. They can move from one subject to another at such a rapid pace that their thoughts may seem random and disconnected, when in fact there is a connection, and it usually is tied to a long-term vision or goal. They are usually very single-minded and sure of themselves in their vision for the future.

ENTJs can feel ill at ease when discussing their emotions and feelings. They are usually very private about their emotions or see them as entirely irrelevant. Over time and with age and maturity this tends to be less of a problem.

How to Spot an ENFJ in Conversation

ENFJs have a very warm, tactful, and engaging communication style. They use a lot of “we’s” and “us’s” in their speech because they are always trying to convey a feeling of unity and camaraderie with the person they are speaking to. They prefer in-depth discussions, especially if they have anything to do with theories, the future, or the feelings and needs of people. They are very attuned to the moods and emotions of the people they are with and will alter the conversation accordingly. In fact, they react so quickly to other people’s moods and body language that the listener may not even realize how quickly and adeptly they are tailoring the conversation to suit the needs of everyone involved. They don’t want anyone to feel left out, confused, or bored.

ENFJs are very passionate about their values and can be very persuasive in promoting a value they feel will benefit others. When they are sharing their beliefs and ideals they tend to be enthusiastic and inspiring.

ENFJs are known for having strong communication skills, but at times they can be confusing for more sensing types to understand. This is because as they express their thoughts they may veer into metaphor and abstract word usage, or they may jump so far into the future in their thoughts that they lose the attention of the listener. As they tap into their intuition, ENFJs can become more hesitant and reflective in their speech, taking frequent pauses to determine what metaphor or symbol would best describe the vision they have in their minds.

ENFJs can feel ill at ease in highly critical environments or environments where they have to use a lot of impersonal, technical analysis. They prefer to discuss topics that will positively impact people or topics that have to do with theories and future implications.

How to Spot an INTP in Conversation

INTPs need time to pause and consider before speaking. They don’t tend to “think out loud” because the majority of their thought process is internalized. When they do speak, they’ve probably been mulling the thought over internally for a while before deciding it’s accurate and worth saying. They try to be as precise with their words as possible, and they take frequent pauses to find just the right word to use to fit the context of what they are saying.

INTPs thoroughly enjoy logical analysis, and they rarely, if ever take a black and white approach to a subject. They are always categorizing data into finer and finer subjects and volumes and organizing those volumes in their mind. This results in them sometimes looking very withdrawn and maybe even bored, but they’re really just trying to figure out what category to place the new data they’re receiving from the conversation and how that data fits with the rest of the information they have stored away.

INTPs take a long time to come to closure on ideas or plans. They want to explore possibilities and options as much as possible and so they can come across as tentative or wary, especially if they are pressured to make up their mind about something. They may have difficulty making up their mind, because as they explore possibilities and options they keep finding more and more possibilities and options to think about.

INTPs feel ill at ease when they are asked to express their emotions and feelings by people they don’t know very well. They also hate feeling pressured to come to a decision quickly about anything.

How to Spot an INFP in Conversation

INFPs tend to have a reserved yet empathetic nature when they speak. They are highly imaginative and creative people and enjoy discussing theoretical possibilities and ideas for the future. They enjoy topics that veer around helping people or animals or improving the world in some way. They are true idealists, and they enjoy “dreaming out loud” with other people who share the same desires for improvement.

While INFPs are deeply moved by their values and beliefs, they are also very private about them. They are rarely “preachy” and they keep their feelings and emotions close to the chest, only sharing them with a very trusted few. They don’t like to tell other people how they “should” live their lives and they strongly believe in respecting each person’s individuality. That said, if one of their core values is mocked or violated they can become suddenly passionate or else completely silent, choosing to leave the conversation entirely.

Overall, INFPs have a gentle, modest nature. They don’t like to be put on the spot and rarely like being the center of attention. This doesn’t mean they are inherently shy, they just prefer private one-on-one conversations to speaking in front of large groups most of the time. As always, there are variations from person to person.

INFPs tend to feel ill at ease in conversations where one party is trying to impose their beliefs or rules on another. They also dislike having to delegate or give criticism in most situations.

How to Spot an ENTP in Conversation

ENTPs have a characteristically creative, energetic, and logical language in communication. They enjoy brainstorming and throwing out ideas that inspire people and lead to a discussion on further ideas and possibilities. They don’t generally like discussing the nitty-gritty details of their ideas, but would rather discuss the broad scope and big-picture implications of their ideas. They see connections and patterns instantaneously while they speak, and may jump from one idea to the next in a way that seems random and confusing to some listeners. They may so quickly touch on a subject and then jump to another one that they bewilder types who were needing more details or specifics.

ENTPs are very logical in their decisions and assessments. They like to analyze things, categorize them, and consider where they fit in the grand scheme of things. They like to find creative connections between ideas and data they see in the external world. In their mind, everything is connected and has relevance in the big picture. They may pause occasionally to consider the logic of the various connections they’re making.

ENTPs tend to enjoy a lively debate. They find the process of getting to the truth of a matter invigorating. They don’t stick to their guns regardless of the evidence, however. They are usually willing to change their opinion if they are given better, more accurate information. To them, a debate isn’t unfriendly or “mean”, it’s just a way of sorting out truth from falsehood with someone else.

ENTPs tend to feel bored in conversations that revolve around small talk or nitty-gritty details. They like to focus on big-picture future goals and find day-to-day concerns stifling.

How to Spot an ENFP in Conversation

ENFPs have a liveliness and inspirational nature in conversation that tends to be contagious. They enjoy brainstorming and discussing numerous possibilities for the future. They love topics that revolve around personal growth, improving the world, or questioning pre-established theories and rules. They tend to jump from one idea to the next, sometimes leaving other people confused as they try to keep up. They have a very imaginative train of thought and can form creative connections between random bits of data instantaneously. They may feel like these connections are obvious to other people and briefly mention them in the discussion, only to be met with confused glances.

As feeling types, ENFPs generally appear warm and empathetic. Even so, they are usually private about their own feelings and personal relationships unless they know someone very deeply and have established trust. They want to inspire people and help them see creative avenues for the future, but they don’t want to delve into their personal life right away and will feel irritated if they are pressured to do so.

ENFPs tend to feel bored in conversations that revolve around small talk or excessive concrete details. They are much more concerned with ideas than daily experiences and more focused on the future than the present moment.

#mbti #conversation #speaking #mbti all #myers briggs #enfj #enfp #entj #entp #esfj #esfp #estj #estp #infj #infp #intj #intp #isfj #isfp #istj #istp #fave

44 notes · View notes

gendercensus · 3 years

Text

On plural inclusivity and "plural they"

In the Gender Census feedback box and elsewhere I have frequently been asked:

to make the annual Gender Census survey more inclusive of plural participants, and

to add "plural they" to the checkbox pronouns list alongside "singular they" in order to be inclusive of plural participants.

It's a rambling topic, so I'll address them in sections in that order.

INCLUSIVITY RE: PLURAL PARTICIPANTS

I've been inviting plural people to take part in a short survey about the Gender Census, asking questions that help me get a feel for the issues involved and asking about whether people feel included in the survey (and why or why not). At the time of writing there have been 139 responses, I will leave it open for ongoing feedback, and I'm unlikely to be publishing the spreadsheet of results in full because the responses are off-topic and very personal. However, I will refer to some individual responses as well as my personal experience discussing inclusion with plural systems.

Here's a graph based on the responses so far:

I'm asking for direct feedback about this issue because over the past few years plural folks have been one of the more consistently vocal groups in the feedback box of the survey and elsewhere, which would usually be fine, but I've been finding it very overwhelming and confusing. I think that's because the advice/demands/questions have been unusually inconsistent, often to the point of being in direct opposition to each other, and the result is that I have no idea what to do.

Before now, most plural people have understood that it's quite a nuanced issue. When asked I would explain that if they felt that filling it in once for the whole system made more sense they should do that, and if individual system members felt strongly that they should participate alone then they could do so.

This year it got to the point where I had to make a decision and write unambiguous, easy-to-follow guidance about how plural people should fill in the survey, because I had one system submitting dozens of responses and giving the exact same three points of feedback, paraphrased, over and over - making it look like many unconnected people felt strongly about these particular issues, when in reality it was all this one system. I decided that, to be as fair as possible, plural people should fill in the survey once per body.

When I posted about the "once per body" policy on social media I received very little direct feedback, which leaves me in the position of not knowing whether that's because I did it right and you have no complaints or because you've all jumped ship! The statistics and comments from the plural feedback survey are very helpful in this regard:

It seems that plural participants, on the whole, are fairly understanding about it all, often supportive, and are still able to participate. ("Unknown" and "no strong feelings" together are a much higher proportion than I expected.) Some positive feedback included appreciation for the ability to select as many gender identities and pronouns as one wants. Common arguments against the policy include feeling that system members are not treated as people in their own right, which is understandable; the Gender Census is designed to present practicable data about nonbinary people for use within a system that assigns one identity per body, socially and bureaucratically. A "once per body" policy makes sense when prioritising nonbinary people, but adds to the list of crap that only plural people have to struggle through when they're not the main focus of the research.

I was surprised that only a couple of people pointed out that some systems have amnesia between members, and so some systems may participate more than once per body unintentionally. (I understand that this is unavoidable, and I certainly wouldn't be upset about it. Sometimes non-plural people participate more than once by accident, too! On the scale we're talking about, I'm unlikely to even notice it happening.)

Back when I first started to get requests to make the Gender Census more plural-inclusive, my first move was to ask people what exactly they felt excluded by. Responses to this have been continuously nebulous, to the extent that I don't think I have ever made any design changes to the annual survey at all as a result. I also asked what they would do to improve the survey and help them to feel included, but this has yielded very few viable ideas for how to move forward, just because so many of the ideas that people suggest are mutually exclusive.

As an example, I spoke to one member of a system who expressed, understandably, that their experience of themselves as plural inextricably affected their experience of their gender(s), and after some discussion they concluded that the two were so intertwined that it made the most sense for it to be included in the identity question, e.g. a checkbox called "plural" alongside nonbinary, genderqueer, trans, etc. I explained that I don't arbitrarily add things to the checkbox list, but it would be counted if it was typed into a textbox underneath, and if it went over 1% I would consider adding it to the checkbox list. They became increasingly angry. The only way this situation would make sense for them moving forward was if I added "plural" as an identity checkbox option immediately. Conversely, just a couple of weeks previously I had spoken with a member of a system who was very vocally distressed at the idea of plurality being conflated with gender, and wanted to make sure that I never added "plural" as an identity checkbox option.

As another example, in the plural feedback survey when I asked people how they felt about the "once per body" policy, a member of one system was against it and said "it feels like this policy doesn’t recognize us as separate people", but a member of another system was in favour and said "we're encouraged by our therapist to think of ourselves as dissociated parts of a whole. So we're all one person, just not directly connected like a singlet [non-plural person] would be. From that perspective, it makes sense to keep us as one person in the gender census, no matter how many genders we have." It's not possible to reconcile these two perspectives.

From the very beginning up until now, the unifying theme for feedback from plural people and their allies is "please be more inclusive of plural people." That's a really good start! After that it becomes a plate of tangled spaghetti.

Here are some themes I've managed to tease out, and my thoughts.

"Each system's alter should be able to participate in the survey individually if they want to." Some systems have literally hundreds of alters, and several systems have acknowledged in the feedback survey that this is probably both impractical for many plural people and unfair on singlets.

"We're okay with taking part once for all of us in the system, but we're just checking all the boxes that apply to at least one of us, and some of those are explicitly disliked by at least one of us. This is uncomfortable." I think that's... probably okay, actually. Other subcategories of participants whose identities fluctuate that strongly (e.g. a genderfluid person who is sometimes very male and sometimes extremely not male) or whose pronouns are context-dependent are also in this predicament. Participants often express a desire to rank their identity terms by importance, accuracy, fluctuation or frequency. The survey aims to collect broad and fuzzy data about a very large group of people, to monitor trends and let people know what language we're comfortable with on the whole. This survey just isn't looking for that kind of nuance.

"We're okay with taking part in the survey once for everyone in the system, but there should be a way to separate out responses about different alters within that one response." It's literally impossible to program the survey to have infinite subsections for each alter, but if it were possible, what would I do with the data? I think the most likely approach would be combining into a list of identities etc. "per body". The participant would feel better for being able to enter different words for different alters, but it would be more work for them, and it would be more work for me to process responses from plural people just to have them be counted like those from non-plural people.

"There should be a 'plural' checkbox in the identity list so that we can express that our gender is influenced by our plurality." I consider adding terms to the identity checkbox list when they're typed into the textboxes by over 1% of participants. There are some situations where I'll make an exception to that rule, but it's unusual and this isn't one of them. Whether you enter a term using a checkbox or a textbox makes no difference to how well-represented you are in the results.

Maybe just a question that asks if you're plural, with a checkbox? What would this checkbox do? Plurality is beyond the scope of the survey, along with things like height and eye colour. It would allow curious people to analyse the responses using plurality as a variable, but I wouldn't include it in any analysis in an annual Gender Census report.

That last one is particularly interesting, because it's what I actually did in the supplementary survey. I wasn't 100% sure in advance whether or not I would need that information for the singular vs. plural they issue, so I included an "I am/we are plural" checkbox just to be on the safe side. As far as I could tell, the survey was no more or less materially inclusive than the annual Gender Census survey. There were a couple of interesting patterns to report in the statistics, but the main things I noticed were:

Feedback saying that the survey wasn't inclusive of plural people was non-existent.

Several people thanked me in the feedback box for making the survey plural-inclusive.

Several people promoted the survey on social media by using its plural-inclusivity as a selling point.

Again, the supplementary survey didn't take a different approach. There was no particular difference in language, there was no indication that whether or not you're plural would be integral to the reporting of the results or even used at all, the only difference was the existence of a checkbox that let participants declare their plurality.

That's all it took to cause a complete U-turn in feedback. A checkbox that doesn't relate to gender or connect to any of the other questions in any way, and isn't particularly statistically useful based on the supplementary survey. It doesn't make the survey more inclusive, it just acknowledges that some participants are plural, and gives them a way to declare it.

Whether or not participants are plural is beyond the scope of the Gender Census, which aims to collect broad data about how we as nonbinary and otherwise genderly-interesting people want the world to see and describe us. It just doesn't make sense to include questions about plurality in future surveys. But I'm honestly amazed and a little confused, because until the "once per body" policy was added it seems that there wasn't actually anything about the Gender Census that prevented plural people from participating, at least not more than anyone else whose genders change significantly over time.

SHOULD "PLURAL THEY" BE ADDED TO THE CHECKBOX PRONOUN LIST?

This is something that participants often ask me to do in order to make the survey more plural-inclusive, so I decided to seriously consider it.

The first draft of the supplementary survey asked over 1,000 participants about this issue, but I had to scrap those responses and then redesign and restart it because, even though dictionaries are fairly clear on what exactly "singular they" is, a lot of survey participants who are not dictionaries seemed to be in disagreement (or confusion) about what singular they and plural they actually are. I have been unable to find any academic or reference articles online using the phrase "plural they" at all.

Here are some of the things people have told me recently:

"Singular they" is when you use "they" with singular verbs, e.g. they is a teacher.

I can't say that I use "singular they" pronouns because I always say "they are". "They is" just sounds wrong to me.

"Plural they" is when you use "singular they" pronouns to refer to a system/someone who is plural.

"Singular they" and "plural they" are grammatically identical except for the name.

"Singular they" and "plural they" are functionally the same and should be combined into one option called "they" in the annual survey.

Let's start by stating what we do know for sure.

THEY VS. SINGULAR THEY

For the record, "singular they" is defined by its purpose and context, not the specific words used.

Wiktionary says:

they (third-person, nominative case, usually plural, sometimes singular, objective case them, possessive their, possessive noun theirs, reflexive themselves, or, singular, themself)

It then goes on to specify three use-cases:

third-person plural, referring to two or more people

third-person singular, referring to one person

"indefinite pronoun" - people; some people; people in general; someone, excluding the speaker. E.g. "they didn’t have computers in the old days."

So we've got "they" (groups), "singular they" (individuals), and "indefinite they" (an "other" that is ambiguous in number).

Again, I have never found anything academic or, er, dictionarical (lexicographical?) that calls any of the forms "plural they", so my first job is to find out whether what Gender Census participants are calling "plural they" is the same as what the dictionary just calls "they", which is defined as the set used to refer to two or more people. For the purposes of this article I will call it regular "they".

WHICH WORDS MAKE UP SINGULAR THEY?

Even though most dictionaries will state which words make up singular they, and it's usually they/them/their/theirs/themself, if you change individual words within the set or even around the set it is still called "singular they" if it is used to refer to only one person. This might happen due to regional or cultural variations. So whether you say "they is a writer" or "they are a writer", whether you say "themself" or "themselves", if you're talking about only one person, it's still singular they.

In the annual survey, singular they is consistently chosen in the checkbox pronoun options by the most participants, usually more than twice as popular as the next most popular option. (I use the dictionary-provided set, and I've checked it's still the most commonly used in several polls and surveys along the way.) In the annual survey, singular they is presented as:

singular they - they/them/their/theirs/themself (e.g. "they are a writer")

WHICH WORDS MAKE UP PLURAL THEY?

I had never heard of "plural they" before people started asking me to add it to the checkbox list in the feedback box of the annual Gender Census survey, but it seemed clear from the name that it is meant to be contrasted with singular they, and I wondered if perhaps everyone else had been calling regular "they" (for referring to two or more people) "plural they" this entire time and I just hadn't noticed.

It was specifically presented to me by participants as a pronoun that a plural system could claim, and that a plural system might prefer over singular they. This tallied with my initial assumption that "plural they" may just be regular "they" referring to groups, since a system is a body containing two or more distinct individuals, so if they wanted to be referred to as a group then singular they would be inappropriate and regular "they" would fit.

I went to the pronouns spreadsheet of the 2021 Gender Census, and took every pronoun set that was named and copied it into a new spreadsheet. I ran a query to list all sets that contained both the words "plural" and "they" in the name field. There were 71 results, out of ~44,500 total responses. I ran another query to find out what these people were entering in the reflexive field, and here's what I got:

themselves - 61 (85.9%)

theirselves - 3

them - 2

themself - 2

themself (plural) - 2

theirself - 1

So I think it's safe to say that the set that people are calling "plural they" uses "themselves" as the reflexive, which is consistent with dictionaries' reporting of regular "they".

I conclude that most people do mean regular "they" when they refer to "plural they". "Plural they" seems to be they/them when used to refer to two or more people, including the plural reflexive "themselves".

As in "singular they", if you change individual words within the set or even around the set it is still called regular "they" if it is used to refer to two or more people. This might happen due to regional or cultural variations. So whether you say "they is writers" or "they are writers", whether you say "themself" or "themselves", if you're talking about two or more people, it's still regular "they" (or plural they).

IS PLURAL THEY GETTING SMUSHED INTO ANOTHER PRONOUN/GROUP?

I recently explored the (apparently unintentional) overlap of Spivak (e/em) and Elverson (ey/em). In case you've not read it, here's a brief overview: I found that it might be that Elverson (not on the checkbox list) is many times more popular than Spivak (on the checkbox list), even though it isn't being written into the pronouns textboxes often enough for it to reach the 1% threshold. Since the two sets are identical except for that one letter in the subject form, it is very likely that many of the people who use Elverson (ey/em) pronouns are choosing the Spivak checkbox option in the annual survey because they don't realise the spelling is different, or they think that they are minor spelling variants of the same set. I concluded that in order to get a fair count of both sets I will need to list both in the checkbox options next year, even though Elverson hasn't been typed in by over 1% of participants yet.

It's possible that the same thing is happening with singular and plural they. I ran a couple of Twitter polls, asking people whose pronouns are they/them which set they prefer, and presented answers like this:

a) Singular they, referring to only 1 person: they are themSELF

b) Singular they, referring to only 1 person: they are themSELVES

c) Plural they, referring to 2+ people: they are themSELVES

Here's the results, with 927 usable responses:

The results of this poll are really useful, because it allowed people to choose between singular and plural they AND themself and themselves, in combination. We can see that of the people who call their pronouns "singular they" (referring to only one person), the majority prefer "themself" as the reflexive, but a respectable proportion prefer singular they with "themselves", even when presented with the option of "plural they" (referring to two or more people).

(I have a policy of providing the most popular word choices in checkboxes, so I will continue to provide a they/them checkbox option that says "singular they - they/them/their/theirs/themself", but since singular they is consistently the most popular pronoun this is something I like to keep checking in on.)

If we apply these proportions to the 2021 Gender Census responses and imagine that everyone whose pronouns are they/them chose "singular they - they/them/their/theirs/themself" regardless of how accurate that is, this would mean that 3.7% of all respondents would check a "plural they" box, which is well above the 1% threshold for adding something to the checkbox list. Why not add it to the list, the way I'll also be adding Elverson to the list? This graph may help:

I generally consider it unwise to make big decisions based on Twitter polls, because the sample is much smaller and more biased than a standalone survey. Twitter requires membership, Twitter membership is skewed younger, and younger members are more likely to use Twitter often and see polls when they appear.

However, even I can't deny that there is a very clear mandate here for Elverson to be added to the checkbox list. When given a straight choice between the Spivak, Elverson, both, and neither/something else, participants were over six times more likely to choose Elverson over Spivak. (For context, Spivak got 4.3% in the 2021 Gender Census as a checkbox option.) Even if this poll were somehow put to the entire Gender Census participant group, it's hard to imagine a scenario where the results shift enough that Elverson gets a lower percentage than Spivak.

4.7% of a smaller sample of younger Twitter members just isn't enough to push me to add something to the checkbox options. I really hope that everyone whose pronouns are "plural they" takes the time to type it into next year's survey as a pronoun distinct from "singular they", so that if they do end up being over 1% of participants I can add "plural they" to the checkbox options.

IN CONCLUSION

As far as I can tell, the Gender Census doesn't particularly exclude plural participants. Systems are still able to take part, so it is at least as inclusive as any other survey of a similar nature, maybe even more so thanks to the ability to choose multiple gender identities and pronouns "per body".

There isn't sufficient evidence to support adding "plural they" to the list of checkbox pronouns at this time, and systems can be represented in results by typing any plural-inclusive terms and pronouns that are not on checkbox lists into some of the many textboxes provided, as any other participant would be expected to do.

The "once per body" participation policy is uncomfortable for a significant number of plural people. However, due to the intensely varied experiences of plural people, any policy on that issue that I impose would make some plural people uncomfortable - and it turns out that I chose the "side" that plural people are more likely to agree with. The survey isn't intending to collect or convey the more nuanced information that plural people (and others) have said that they would like to provide.

A separate question that specifically asks participants whether they're plural makes systems feel seen and acknowledged, but is beyond the scope of the project and doesn't add value to the data or analysis.

So, I will not be making any changes to the Gender Census at this time, based on the information I've gathered so far. However, I welcome further feedback in the plural participants' feedback form, which will remain open, anonymous and private.

Edit: Follow-up.

#plurality #multiplicity #meta #FAQ #plural they #pronouns

69 notes · View notes

yasminmwong · 4 years

Text

Concept 3: Alarming Data

Inspiration

For this cover, I wanted to represent the books outpouring of data, facts and figures that had been collated and carefully researched. The book was originally based on an article for the New York magazine and was expanded to become a non-fiction book. The book isn’t a story, it’s an essay, a collection of data, put together in one book to show exactly how much evidence there is that climate change is happening, and fast.

My original ideas on this were based around incorporating data on climate change as part of the imagery. I found a few examples of data visualisation that had been used by NOAA AND NASA and decided to use these as the jumping off point for conception.

In terms of design style, I was drawn to the works of designers like Roy Cranston.

I really liked the way he played with the typography shapes and sizes, changing the paths the type was on to compliment the shapes in the visual. I wanted to incorporate the shapes of the data in the cover and relate it to the typography.

Experiments

I began experimenting with the different graph shapes that might work for the cover. The line graph was the most commonly used in my research of this data, although some featured bar graphs and other representations. When playing about with the different orientations, I felt like the lines were the the ones I wanted to use.

I felt pretty strongly about representing real data on the cover, as much as the inside uses facts and figures. I took the shapes of the lines from real data on the rising levels of CO2, sea-levels and global temperature.

After I had sketched out these graphs, I looked at the different ways the type could interact with them.

I tried creating some lettering that might work alongside the graph data lines as well. I initially thought it would be good to create letters that looked like the ocean current visualisations. I used an old paintbrush and ink to get the line effect I wanted. I was happy with the end result, but thought overall it seemed too playful to suit the cover of this book.

I also looked at using charcoal and paint to create some more textured letters. I liked this but felt with the rigidity and clean lines of the data I wanted to represent, it felt disjointed. Taking a look at the style I wanted to emulate, I decided it might be better to use a sans-serif typeface.

After playing with the different ways of layering the line graphs, I took the patterns into illustrator and starting working with the selected type face. I enjoyed playing about with the blending tool in illustrator to create something visually impactful, but I felt it took away from my original concept, and although interesting to look at, it was hard to interpret what was happening. I decided as well that instead of creating shape with the title itself, which I wanted to be bold and clear - I used quotes from the book relating to the data to represent.

For the background, I tried a variety of different textures. I thought a ground texture might work to loop it back to this idea of ‘Earth’ but similarly to the charcoal, it didn’t feel like it connected as well. I instead went back to the graph paper I used originally. I soaked it in water to make the grid lines bleed a little, to give just a hint of the chaotic events suggested in the book.

Reflection

My final piece was something I was really proud of. I wanted to create something that didn’t directly link to climate change events itself, but much like the book alluded to the overwhelming data that alerts us to a need for intervention. The type I choose was the sans-serif Bhanschrift which, although dark and bold, was written in lowercase. I felt that this was better than all uppercase because the book does not feel like it is shouting ‘This is your fault!’ so much as it is stating matter of factly ‘We need to do something” - clear and concise. I paired this with the ‘Letter Gothic Standard’. The style seemed to go well with the data theme, having a slight monospace feel as well as looking like traditional typewriter font.

By using the quote from the book to sit along the lines of information from NASA’s website, I felt I was able to create something visually intriguing, representative of the book, as well as snippet of what’s inside. Using the background of gridlines keeps in theme, but by adding subtle hints of colour and bleeding to the ink, kept the imagery from looking flat, and also linked to the colour palette of other data visualisations.

I think although I choose to do with a font, I would have been interested to find a lettering style that suited the cover. The way the lines of data are drawn may have allowed for a hand written type, although having them different creates a contrast.

#PBC_HNCGD1 #bookcoverdesign #the uninhabitable earth #penguinbooks #sketchbook process

3 notes · View notes

thessaliah · 4 years

Text

Imaginary Scramble: a lazy collection of plot bullet points underneath the shallow harem pandering

Disclaimer: I didn't like Imaginary Scramble, but I tend to dislike forced harem-like events like this one. Admittedly, I expected something better than this, after hearing it was like Ooku, an event I disliked and had enormous issues with but still had a plot relevance I can't deny with the appearance of Beast III/L. Imaginary Scramble, on the other hand, seems like it doesn't introduce anything new or relevant (other than “evil god” lore which shows they are about accurate to Lovecraft as Greek Pantheon was when Nasu turned them into the parts of an alien Robot Megazord). There are plot hints echoed in the event structure but none of them are new. It was like reinforcing what we already know in a very obnoxious and fanservice way. Most of these was covered with more class and effective parallels in Epic of Remnants (ok, fine, Agartha was an exception in the classy aspect) and previous Lostbelts or events. But I was asked about them a while ago. I'll cover that now, from what I remember. Just keep in mind this is my interpretation, and I haven't re-read (nor I plan to because I disliked the story) so I could commit mistakes or bypass other hints:

First plotpoint: We're trapped in a Wolf Game.

Fate/Requiem collab event involved playing the game, where the objective was to find the "wolf" among the flock (that was Marie Alter in the end). This event was written by someone who wrote a VN version of the Wolf game. This event started to push that strongly from intro with Sion's phrase about how opposing foes might become crewmates to later chapter, with Raikou's warning about how the external forces are a distraction to internal enemies. It did that, but was it necessary? Not at all, when Person of Chaldea already blatantly warns you at least of a person you shouldn't trust in the Storm Border. But it reinforces maybe that the idea of an internal enemy is multilayered:

The most obvious layer is the "traitor/suspicious person plot" brought up by the Chaldea Man, that seems to be, twist pending, Sherlock Holmes. But it doesn't stop there. Like the Wolf Game in Requiem and this event, there could be multiple players that end up being the wolves (Yang Guifei, Clytie=Van Gogh, Hokusai). Sion could very well another suspicious element, or Gran Cavallo, or Munierre, that aren't the Person of Chaldea's concern (if they knew of his presence or not).

The other layer is the general plot: the enemy that was played as an "alien invasion" (an eternal force) seemed to be a mask for Chaldea own resources and members, the Crypters first, and then Olgamarie and possibly her father or their entire family who created Chaldea.

Second plotpoint: The enemy side is not a harmonious hive but rather everyone has their own agenda and will sabotage their peers which gives Chaldea a chance of victory.

In the event, there is an explanation of how some evil gods faction are in harmony and others are in conflict, and even those end up backstabbing each other for resources. The Foreigner in question also goes against them for her own goals. I've spoken of this before, unlike part 1 which had a hive with was 99% after the same goal and smoothly carried it out, part 2 is a cluster of shaky alliances between multiple players with agendas who are wary of each other. In part 1, Goetia was supportive of Tiamat's release, but in part 2, the Beasts regard each other as potential competition and rivals even with the professional contract between two of them. Not just among the Beasts, but also between the Apostles (for example, when Rasputin saves Kadoc after Douman injures him), and between Crypters (Beryl being the best example). And Crypters toward the "God" (Kirschtaria, Beryl, potentially Daybit) or the Apostles (Pepe vs Douman). This inner dispute was able to disrupt Beast VII's optimal manifestation and Kirschtaria's Human Order Reorganization far more than Chaldea's actions. It would have been better for this event to have existed before Atlantis and Olympus, because it seems superfluous to remind us the enemy has factions and agendas when the main story chapters already highlight them.

Third plotpoint: the nature of reality, dreams, and fiction, and how it connects to the plot.

The story takes place in the Imaginary Numbers Sea, but also within a dream inside it. Guda never left their bed and was asleep all the time as were everyone they saw. One of the most important lines is about how if a real object is in contact with a fictional world, it could absorb it and affect it. And vice-versa. While it could also be a hint about the potential connection of Chaldea's computer simulations, the lostbelts, the Tabula Rasa, Chaldeas, and Specimen E story. I think we don't have the full picture of it to affirm it as a certainty, what we can affirm is how this affected Kirschtaria's body after he 'dreamed' of those simulations where he went through the part 1 Singularities seven times over. He was the 'real' person in the fictional world.

Fourth plotpoint: a hero can't turn away from a pitiful person.

I put "person" instead of girl as the story does, because Guda has tried to help pitiful people regardless of their gender since Goredolf's rescue scene. This has to do with the "hint" of Mash's and Guda's resolution to save Olgamarie, like they tried to save those Foreigners. And in a "direct sequel", of Charlotte Corday in Atlantis and Europa (=Hera) in Olympus. It's possible a similar scene to what happened with Yang (appealing to what lingers of the human self) takes place. This said, I don't think the method of creation of the Foreigners is going to be similar to Beast VII dilemma. Abigail in Salem was a better foreshadowing with her background too of a sheltered miko girl. The foreshadowing exists, but it was redundant like most of the things the event brought to the table.

Fifth point: Patchwork Servants (Phantoms)

Rather than a foreshadowing, this was a continuation of what was introduced in Shinjuku. The ability to mix or combine Saint Graphs, sometimes resulting in hybrids (Hessian-Lobo and Nemo) and sometimes with a more dominant base (the one providing the body) with sprinkles of others (Moriarty, Clytia = Van Gogh). Could this be related to the Person of Chaldea? Perhaps, but he wasn't called a Servant, and I think Carter and Raum, or Surtr and Sigurd cases will serve as a more solid set up. Also because Lev, Goetia, Solomon and Roman should have shared or similar Saint Graphs (like Enkidu and Kingu, or the Oda Sibling connection) to be proper patchwork Servants that look completely unrelated to each other. I don't rule out the possibility, however, I'm looking at this more connected to Sherlock Holmes' secrets because was introduced in the chapter where James Moriarty faced him.

I still think he could be a Beast, and the opposite L or R to the Fox because she acknowledged him in a special way. Going by this event ‘three enemies of the same class’ it could work as: Yang (Holmes) who was on your side to sabotage the other two who were cooperating/sabotaging each other (Tamamo Vitch and U-Olga). Something like a lower scale of what happens in the main story with the Beasts.

#fate grand order #fgo spoilers #lostbelt spoilers #imaginary scramble #meta #speculation

14 notes · View notes

risksilica5-blog · 4 years

Text

Le chalet Cryo.

Facelift surgical Procedure

Content

Why choose Cryopen?

Mini Facelift surgical Treatment.

Why Cryo?

just How Is A Facelift treatment Performed?

Femiwand vaginal Area tightening therapy Edinburgh.

Facelift threats as Well As problems.

Early use of the expression seems to be a lot more usual in Australia/NZ and UNITED STATES than England. The earliest clear reference I've found is for 'Goody Goody Gumdrop Ice-cream' which was marketed by the Baskin-Robbins ice-cream parlour shops in their early years, which was late 1940s/early 1950s in U.S.A.. Somewhere else it is recommended that Reward Goody Gumdrop Gelato first showed up in the USA in 1965. There likewise appears to be a typical use the expression for ice-cream consisting of gumdrop sweets in New Zealand. Using the reward gumdrop expression alike speech would almost certainly have pre-dated its usage as a branding tool for ice-cream.

Is ThermiVa FDA approved?

ThermiVa, a non-ablative radiofrequency application, has been cleared by the FDA for use in dermatological and general surgical procedures for electrocoagulation and hemostasis. A non-invasive, non-surgical, non-hormonal treatment, ThermiVa uses temperature-controlled radiofrequency energy to gently heat tissue.

This is an adaptation of the earlier expression to be 'all over' something or a person definition to be obsessed or absorbed by. A similar expression to the 'affordable match' metaphor is 'around him/her like a breakout' which is flexible in terms of sex, and again likens individual interest to something certainly 'on' the sufferer, like a suit or a rash. I'm keen to find the earliest use of the 'affordable fit' expression - please tell me if you recall its use prior to 1990, or far better still can recommend a substantial renowned very early priced estimate example which could have established it. Chambers Thesaurus of Etymology differs a little with the OED in recommending that charisma replaced the earlier English spelling charism around 1875. The preference of the 1953 Much shorter OED for the words charism as well as charm recommends that prominent use charm came much behind 1875. Chambers says the Greek origin words are personal appeal and also charizesthai, from charis as well as pertaining to chairein, meaning rejoice. According to Chambers once again, the adjective charismatic appeared in English around, from the Greek charm, indicating favours given.

Why select Cryopen?

Words likewise appeared early in South African English from Afrikaans - more evidence of Dutch beginnings. This table meaning of board is just how we obtained words boardroom also, and the popular very early 1900s furniture piece called a sideboard. See likewise the expression 'sweep the board', which additionally refers to the table meaning of board. Numerous recommendations have actually been mentioned in Arabic and also Scriptural writings to suggest that it was originally based on Center- and also Far-Eastern custom-mades, in which blood rituals symbolised bonds that were more powerful than household ones. ' The blood of the commitment is stronger than the water of the womb' is an explanation priced quote by some analysts.

Mini Facelift surgery.

If anybody recognizes of any type of certain references which may support this concept and also to connect it with the Black Irish expression please inform me. This usage is more likely to be a misunderstanding and misuse of an earlier definition of the 'black Irish' expression, based upon black significance angry. for the birds - useless, unstable facts, unacceptable or trivial, implying that something is just for weaker, unintelligent or minimal individuals - American origin according to Kirkpatrick as well as Schwarz Thesaurus of Idioms. Decharne's Thesaurus of Hipster Jargon actually recommendations a quote from the Hank Janson novel Chicago Chick" 'It's insane man,' I informed him, 'Genuine insane. Strictly for the birds.'" - yet doesn't state whether this was the original usage. Maker's Dictionary of Expression as well as Myth definitely makes no mention of it which suggests it is no earlier than 20th century. The term alludes the small minds of birds, as well as expressions such as 'bird-brain', as a metaphor for individuals of limited intelligence. amateur - non-professional or un-paid, or much more lately an insulting term meaning unprofessional - the word stems from the same spelling in Old French 'amateur' significance 'enthusiast', originally meaning in English an enthusiast of a task.

Earliest use of break definition good luck was primarily U.S.A., very first videotaped in 1827 according to Partridge. boss - manager - while there are misconceptions suggesting beginnings from a particular Mr Boss, the actual derivation is from the Dutch 'baas', implying master, which was taken on into the United States language from Dutch inhabitants in the 17th century.

Incidentally Brewer also suggests that the Camel, 'ruch', became what is currently the Rook in chess. It seems that playing cards were initially called 'the Books of the Four Kings', while chess was called 'the Video game of the Four Kings'. Maker likewise mentions a reference to a specific Jacquemin Gringonneur having actually "repainted as well as guilded three packs for the King in 1392." Unassociated yet remarkably, French jargon for the horse-drawn omnibus was '4 banal' which equated after that to 'parish stove' - what a fantastic expression. Bottom likewise mentions a kick up the backside, being an additional technique of propulsion as well as ejection in such conditions. Partridge/OED suggests the luck element most likely originates from billiards, in which the initial shot breaks the initial development of the spheres and also leaves either possibility or difficulty for the challenger. This feeling is supported by the break meaning break or leisure, as in tea-break.

To commemorate the introduction of this innovative therapy we have a special deal which integrates mesotherapy with Hifu for simply an added ₤ 50.

Great lines and creases on the face and also drooping skin around the jowl area.

Doctors can target as well as deal with small amounts of tissue, reducing damages to nerves around the prostate responsible for preserving urinary system continence and sexual function.

Normally some improvement can be seen within 3 to 4 weeks adhering to therapy, with more improvements establishing for approximately six months.

Below are some of the various means you can reach the facility, depending upon which direction you're involving go to from.

Why not contact us to book in-- we make sure you'll love the outcomes.

The HIFU modern technologies we utilize target the 4 layers of skin that influence physical appearance; particularly, the epidermis, dermis, subcutaneous fat, and surface muscular aponeurotic system.

Rates for Levura HIFU Treatment will certainly vary according to the size of the area being treated and the intricacy of the therapy.

Getting to the clinic by aircraft, train or car couldn't be easier.

The center is comfortably situated on the A365 here in Melksham, which makes us unbelievably easy to find.

resting duck - very easy target or something that is prone or defenceless to assault- an allegory from shooting field sporting activity, in which a resting or hatching duck, would certainly be an easier target than one flying in the air. Oddly there is extremely little etymological referral to the extremely typical 'sitting duck' expression. doolally - mad or crazy - initially an armed forces term from India. Soldiers at the end of their term were sent to Deodali, a town near Bombay, to wait to be delivered residence. The hot climate, aggravation and dullness triggered odd practices among the delayed soldiers, who were claimed to be dealing with 'doolally touch', which was the complete expression. In the late 1600s a domino was a hood, attached to a cape used by a priest, likewise a shroud used by a female in mourning, as well as later a domino described a cape with a mask, put on at masqueredes. This was from French, stemming initially from standard spiritual Domino references in priestly language.

Can you become a virgin again?

Regardless of your situation, there's nothing you can do to grow your hymen back. A virgin is someone who's never had sex. But people define “sex” and “losing virginity” in many different ways. Bottom line: the definition of virginity is complicated, and it's really up to you to decide what you believe.

Interestingly the old Indo-European origin word for club is glembh, very similar to the origin word for golf. expat/ex-pat - individual living or working abroad - the contemporary 'expat' (as well as increasingly hyphenated 'ex-pat') expression is commonly believed to be a reducing of 'ex-patriot', yet this is not real. Around 1800 the migrant word came to be made use of as a noun to indicate an expatriated person, but still after that in the feeling of a banished individual, as opposed to one that had willingly moved abroad. The early use the expatriate word described the loss of citizenship from one's homeland, not a short-lived or relatively easy to fix situation. Making use of migrant in its contemporary interpretation seems to have actually begun around 1900, as well as was popularised by Lilian Bell's unique 'The Migrant', regarding rich Americans living in Paris, published in 1902. Purely talking for that reason, the proper type is deportee, not ex-pat.

Can guys tell if a girl is virgin?

It's possible, but not guaranteed that he won't know. Will he be able to tell you're a virgin by looking at you naked? No. In fact, some experts say there may be no way to tell if a woman is a virgin, even with gynecological tests.

Why Cryo?

In 1968 the pop group 1910 Fruitgum Firm had a little UK graph success with a song called Goody Goody Gumdrops, and also there is no doubt that the expression was strongly developed in the UK, U.S.A. and Aus/NZ by the 1960s. There is some association with, as well as certainly some impact from the 'Goody Two Shoes' expression, in that the meaning is essentially buffooning or putting down a gain of some type. Golf is a Scottish word from the 1400s, at which time words gouf was also made use of. Related to these, kolfr is an old Icelandic word for a rod or blunt arrowhead. All these derive eventually from Proto-Germanic kulb, in turn from the old Indo-European word glebh. The primary point of view recommends that words golf perhaps entered Scottish language from Dutch, where comparable words were made use of specifically describing video games involving hitting a round with a club.

how Is A Facelift procedure Performed?

dead end - dead-end road, a road shut at one end/blind alley - this extensively utilized English street indicator and also term is from the French, meaning the same, from cul and also cavity. By the way, calling someone a 'cul' in French equates to the disparaging English term 'arse', given that cul also means the bottom or behind of an individual. I am informed also that cul de cavity is regarded as a rather repulsive expression by the French when they see it on British street signs; the French use instead the term 'deadlock' by themselves dead-end street indicators. The orginal usage originates from the French créole, from Portuguese crioulo, related the Portuguese verb criar, to increase, from Latin creare, indicating produce. The name 'Socks' was instead pronounced the winner, as well as the feline properly named.

How long does it take for ThermiVa to work?

ThermiVa treatments are gentle, relaxing and feel like an internal, warm massage. How soon will I notice results? Results vary from person to person, although some patients have reported immediate improvement, you can expect the benefits to be noticeable in about 2 weeks after treatment.

Femiwand vagina tightening Up therapy Edinburgh.

A supposed John Walker, an outside staff of the firm Longman Clementi as well as Carbon Monoxide, of Cheapside, London, is one such individual referenced by Cassells vernacular thesaurus. scam - deceive deliberately - the hoodwink word is initial recorded in 1562 according to Chambers. It simply stems from the actual meaning and also make use of to describe covering the eyes with a hood or blindfold.

It particularly connects to individual enthusiasms and also feeling of fulfillment or fate. The fulfillment of personal objective - past academic and adult conditioning. A basis of analyzing whether you've maximized your life, when it's far too late to have an additional go. As at September 2008 Google lists 97 uses of this word on the whole web, yet most/very a lot of those seem to be typing errors inadvertently signing up with words life and also wishing, which do not count. I'm open to tips or insurance claims of first usage and also source. Occasionally you can see the birth or early advancement of a brand-new word, prior to virtually any person else, as well as definitely prior to the thesaurus. If you are reading this in 2008 or perhaps very early 2009, after that this is perhaps one of those events.

Words mews is in fact from Falconry, in which predators such as goshawks were used to capture rabbits and various other game. Falconry came to be exceptionally preferred in medieval England, and was a much-loved sporting activity of aristocracy till the 1700s. Mew was initially a verb which defined a hawk's moulting or losing plumes, from Old French muer, as well as Latin mutare, suggesting to change. Mew then came to be a name for the hawk cage, and also described the technique of keeping a hawk shut away while molting. The imperial stables, initially established in Charing Cross London in the mid-1200s, were on the site of hawks mews, which triggered the word mews to transfer to stables. lifelonging/to lifelong - something meaningful yearned for every one of your life/or the verb sense of longing for something for your whole life - a lately progressed portmanteau word.

Today's metaphorical expression as well as definition 'to trick' established in the early 17thC from the earlier use of words to indicate 'hide' in the late 16thC. Her change is qualified by her having just a single shoe when inadequate, and also being provided a pair of footwear, which marked the beginning of her brand-new discovered as well as obviously enthusiastically self-proclaimed pleasure. The expression could be from as much back as the mid-1800s, given that 'goodie/goody' has been used to describe yummy food since then, which would have lent extra relevance to the significance of the expression. Also, words gumdrop as a name for the range of chewy sugared gum desserts appears to have gotten in American English speech in around 1860, according to Chambers. Nevertheless it's more probable that prominent use of goody gumdrops began in the mid-1900s, among kids, when mass-marketing of the sweets would have increased.

youtube

After treatment.

Charisma, which most likely grew from charismatic, which grew from charm, had mostly trembled its spiritual associations by the mid 1900s, and also progressed its non-religious meaning of personal magnetism by the 1960s. Even more information concerning the origins as well as interpretations of personal appeal is on the personal appeal web page. Maker's view is that playing cards were developed from an Indian video game called 'The 4 Rajahs', which follows the idea that the roots of playing cards were Eastern. In The Four Rajahs game the having fun items were the King; the General (referred to as 'fierche'); the Elephant (' phil'); the Horsemen; the Camel (' ruch'); and also the Infantry. Likewise Brewer claims that the Elephant, 'phil', was exchanged 'fol' or 'fou', indicating Knave, comparable to the 'Jack'.

What are the side effects of the Mona Lisa touch?

Some of the potential side effects associated with this procedure include:General discomfort. Mild spotting or bleeding. Brown, pink, or watery vaginal discharge. Inflammation, redness, or swelling. Irritation, itching, tenderness, or a burning sensation with urination.

Chambers in fact contains a whole lot even more information about the variations of the diet words relating to food especially, for instance that words dietician appeared as late as 1905. It is interesting that the original Greek definition as well as derivation of the diet - training course of life - relates so strongly to the modern concept that 'we are what we eat', which diet regimen is so very closely connected to how we feel as well as behave as people. The modern-day diet regimen word currently resonates plainly with its real original definition.

youtube

The images of a black cloak and also mask eye-holes subsequently gave the motivation for the dominoes video game to be so-called - in both languages the video game was originally called domino, not dominoes. Surprisingly, the name of the game showed up in Italy also later on, around 1830, from France, full circle to its Latin origins. So, while the lord as well as master origins exist and also no doubt aided the adoption of the name, the exact organization is to a black cloak as well as mask, as opposed to lordly supremacy or the winning objective of the game. Words came into the English language by concerning 1200, and 1450, from the Greek, via Latin, then French. The diet meaning assembly was likewise affected by Latin dies significance days, relating to journal as well as timing. cellulite treatments produced the German tag as it shows up in the words for assembly, Reichstag, Bundestag, and Landtag.

What is a FemiWand?

Vaginal Tightening with FemiWand® is a non-invasive, non-surgical treatment designed to restore and repair vaginal tissue without the use of anaesthetic or numbing creams. FemiWand® is a High-Intensity Focused Ultrasound treatment that utilises powerful ultrasound energy.

The terms 'cookie collapsing' (pertaining to breasts as well as sexual intercourse - use your imagination), 'cookie duster', as well as 'cookie crumbs' (Bill Clinton's ruin) extend the the sex-related connotations into even more salacious region. The paradox is naturally that no-one would have been any the smarter concerning these significances had the Blue Peter monitoring not sought to shield all of us. Using words idea - as a metaphor based upon the round of thread/maze tale - referring to addressing a secret is initial taped in 1628, and also previously as clew in 1386, in Chaucer's Legend of Good Women. The allusion is to the clingy as well as apparent nature of an inexpensive suit, most likely of a tacky/loud/garish/ unappetizing layout. When it comes to adulation there may also a suggestion of toadiness or sycophancy.

1 note · View note

bombardthehq · 4 years

Text

Hallucinations as top-down effects on perception Powers et al, 2016, read 27-28.06.20

a review of the state of the literature of top-down effects on perception in neuroscience; and then applies it to hallucinations (we're reading for the first part, but we'll take the second too)

They say 'present-day cognitive scientists' argue cognition does *not* influence perception. They cite: Firestone C, Scholl BJ (2015): Cognition does not affect perception: Evaluating the evidence for 'top-down' effects [in sense do they use 'perception'? perhaps more like Roftopoulos restricted sense? also: this shouldn't be seen as argument against the penetrability of 'perceptual belief' in Lyons 2011]

but 'work in computational neuroscience' challenges this view, & they also think hallucinations pose a challenge to 'srict, encapsulated modularity' [Fodor]; they'll illustrate it with 'phenomenology(!) and neuro-computational work'

MODULES OF THE MIND

Fodor shout out! they give a summary of his modular parsers - "for example, theearly vision module takes in ambient lightand outputs color representations" - which are cognitively penetrable only in a very strict, delineated way.

Fodor's modules are annoying for scientists because they're pooly defined, so difficut to falsify. Some 'ultra-cognitive neuropsychologists' even claim that the brain 'hardware' is irrelevant to the 'software' they're interested in & resist empirical evidence!

a strict modular approach requires 'functional segregation', with different parts of the brain doing different things inaccessibly to one another, but evidence supports an 'integrationism' of the brain [we saw this with the knots "Vetter & Newen" were tying themselves into]

the authors prefer "predictive coding" [like O'Callaghan et al], which they use to model the integrated mind via "functional and effective connectivity data" [a whole new language of buzzwords to learn!]

PREDICTIVE PERCEPTION IMPLIES COGNITIVE PENETRATION

while perception that corresponds to truth would be adaptive, perception that allows misbelief could also be adaptive if the misbeliefs are adaptive

we might, per Hume & Heimholtz, 'perceive what would need to be there for our sensations to make sense'

so the brain uses both bottom-up information and top-down inferences, as Heimholtz argued [fascinating - who was that guy?]

it uses the top-down inferences to 'compute precision-weighted prediction errors' to arrie at 'an optimal estimation' - cite a bunch of 'predictive coding' & 'attention' papers

top-down has a long history in neuroscience, from the 80s

Friston K (2005): A theory of cortical responses -- the origin of 'predictive coding'

contra Fodor, some studies claim that 'early visual processing' ('perception' in Roftopoulos) is influenced by 'non-perceptual information' ... "semantic priming increasesspeed and accuracy of detection by minimizing prediction error" ... " Word contexts result inambiguous shapes being perceived as themissing letters that complete aword" ... a bunch of others

THE BURDEN OF PROOF: ESTABLISHING TOP-DOWN INFERENCES IN PERCEPTION

they go over Firestone & Scholl's criticisms of the 'new look' research

they say that they're plagued w/ problems that can be avoided by following these guidelines:

1. Disentangle perceptual from decisional processes 2. Dissociatereaction time effects from primary perceptual changes 3. Avoid demand characteristics 4. Ensure adequate low-level stimulus control 5. Guarante eequal attentional allocation across conditions.

these issues are inherent to tasks where perception guides a behaviour decision (so research would have to be done without that)

but a 'Bayesian formulation' doesn't permit this distinction; 'Signal Detection Theory' appears to, but it also allows cognition to influence perception.

"Top-down processes can even alter the mechanical properties of sensory organs by alteringthe signal-to-noise ratio" [wow]

they will argue that top-down influence is clearest 'when sensory input is completely absent'-- 'when experiences are hallucinated'

HALLUCINATIONS AS EXAMPLES OF TOP-DOWN PENETRATION

Hallucinations can be consistent w/ affective states; guilt & disease when depressed, etc.

hallucinations are fairly common in even 'non-clinical' cases; they occur in 28% of the population -- hallucinations may be 'an extreme of normal functioning', not a 'failure of modularity'

they give some support for hallucinations being top-down: "prior knowledge of a visual scene conferredanadvantage in recognizing a degraded version of that image" & patients at risk for psychosis were 'particularly susceptible to this advantage'; similarly, patients who were taught to associate a difficult-to-detect noise w/ a visual stimuli began hearing it when shown the visual w/out the noise -- esp. patients 'who hallucinate'

experiences of uncertainty increase the influence of top-down

they feel that studying penetrability via hallucinatory experiences gets around the problems Firestone & Scholl identify; neuroimaging might do it too

now they'll try to integrate this understanding of halluciations as top-down w/ 'notions of neural modularity and connectivity'

BRAIN LESIONS, MODULARITY, CONNECTIVIT AND HALLUCINATIONS

They propose that "inter-regional effects" mediate top-down influence on perception

these are often discussed in terms of 'attention'; 'predictive coding' theory conceives of attention as 'the precision of priors' and 'prediction errors'

a bit of statistics jargon for modelling we don't care about, although they make the interesting equivalence between 'change over time' (uncertainty) and 'predictive relationship between states' (reliability) [difference & repetition baby!] -- the gist is that all this stuff is a promising, plausible explanation of some difficult areas of the data but ['precision weighting'] is still waiting on more empirical trials

so someone walking home after watching a scary movie might have 'precise' enough 'priors', ie. a strongly-weighted 'background theory' (in Fodor's terms), to actually see the shadows on the street as being darker than they are... & if they were precise enough, strong enough, they'd really hallucinate

their support: a single case where a lesion caused hallucinations; 'functional connectivity' between the lesion location ad othre regions; 'effective (directioal) connectivity' in patients w/ Audo-Visual Hallucinations

they'll use these to argue that 'top-down priors' influence perception, contra strict encapsulation

1. lesion-induced hallucinosis

with 'graph-theory' fMRIs of the brain are parsed into 'hubs (sub-networks)', with a subset of regions connecting those sub-networks ('connectors'). see:

lesions are more likely in 'rich-club hubs', regions that mediate long-range connectivity between connected information processing hubs

the limbic system is a rich-club hub & has been implicated in 'the global specification of' precision weighting

it is not, however, part of *early perception*; they'll instead show "regions like orbitofrontal cortexpenetrate perceptual processing in primary sensory cortices giving rise to hallucinations"

~this part gets very heavy on the neuroscience & is beyond me - but the gist is that they're able to look at which hubs do what & how that gets disrupted by lesioins. It appears that there are definitely such things as modules like Fodor's parser, responsible for different faculties, & which parts of the brain these are found in is well settled - its just that these seem to be cognitively penetrable bc of how they behave with lesions. However, these are not 'proof' of it, just 'candidate' explanations for penetration

2. lesion effects on graph theory metrics

re: connectivity, lesions are more disruptive, & can be disruptive of the whole brain, when they occur in between-module connectios (rich club hubs); & they alter connectivity in opposing, un-lesioned hemispheres [this is a challenge for 'cognitive neuropsychology' - the sophist-like 'cognitivists' from before]

"We suggest that the rich-club hubs that alter global network function ... are also the hubs involved in specifying global precision and therefore updating of inference in predictive coding" -- & thats how early perception is cognitively penetrated (ie. 'higher' priors re: precision are mediated by the same stuff that mediate 'predictive coding' in early perception) [note this is a 'suggestion', but they do give a study in support]

there *may* be a connection w/ schizophrenia and lesions in these areas, but it hasnt really been shown yet; but some neuropsychiatrists do work off of this

"In our predictive coding approach informational integration (between modules) is mediated via precision weighting of priors and prediction errors, perhaps through rich club hubs" -- but "the exact relationshipbetween psychological 9modularity and modularity in functional connectivity remains an open empirical question."

ie. percetion is cognitively penetrated because 'predictive coding' (used in early perception) is mediated by a 'precision weighting' of 'priors and prediction errors' via rich club hubs

3. directional effects

'Dynamic causal modeling' (DCM) is a way of looking for 'directional' connectivity in fMRI data

one study examining 'inner speech processing' found very little connectivity "from Wernicke’s to Broca’s areas" in schizophrenic patients w/ auditory hallucinations (vs. schizophrenic patients without them) -- suggesting 'precision of processing in Broca's was higher than in Wernicke's'

they say that this data is consstent w/ informaton from 'higher' regions penetrating lower regions

[Wernicke's area is involved in comprehension of written & spoken language, while Broca's area is involved in the production of language; the idea here is that the patients who experienced auditory hallucinations woud also, when processing language, rely more on the higher level functions of Broca's area for precision weighting and much less so on the earlier perception of Wernicke's area]

'predictions' are top-down (ie. 'flow from less to more laminated cortices') while 'prediction errors' are bottom-up (the opposite) [what are 'prediction errors'? maybe like an 'error warning'?]

a lot of neuroscience stuff about the insula, priors, and lots of things I dont understand, which I dont need to note; the conclusion is tat they speculative that rich club hubs are "well placed to implement changes in gain control as a function of the precision of predictions and prediction errors." [ie. rich club hubs are the 'court' and 'court of appeals' of the brain, 'hearing' prediction & prediciton errors & itself 'sentencing' gain control changes]

another paragraph of studies showing similar things, this time with 'bi-stable perception', percepts that switch dominance 'on their own' (without a change in sensory input) -- this happes more in schizophrenics, but currently hasnt been looked at w/r/t hallucinations specifically

DISCUSSION & FUTURE DIRECTIONS

a summary of the above

their argument is that the data is inconsistent with 'an encapsulated modularity of mind'

w/r/t hallucinations, it looks like the top-down 'gain control mechanisms' ... 'sculpt' perceptions even in the absence of sensation

perception is cognitively penetrated insofar as it minimizes 'overall long-term' prediction error; so the knowing how the Muller-Lyre illusion works doesn't act on my perception because 'the illusion is Bayes optimal' - seeing in this way is more *overall long term* precise

there is some contradiction about schizophrenics & their tendency to perceive illusions - sometimes it works less, sometimes more. Thye say that this cannot be generalized & ought to be treated case by case; there is a *hierarchy* of perceptual systems and 'informaton processing can be impaired at different levels of the hierarchy'

so illusions might fail at a lower level in the hierarchy while hallucinations are generated at a higher level

they discuss work they did w/ ketamine; it doesnt normally cause hallucinations, but they found that it did in the MRI scan which is 'perceptually denuded (dark, still, rythmically noisy)'

ketamine enhances 'bottom up noise'; they argued then that sensory deprivation induces hallucination via top-down priors. "This is similar to the paradoxical effect of hearing loss and vision loss on hallucinations."

higher level precision increases to compensate for lower level prediction errors

so the increased bottom-up feed of ketamine creates prediciton errors when sensory deprived & this produces halluciations -- the priors top-down predictively organizing the error-filled bottom-up feed

so in general, hallucinations are produced by 'the dynamic interaction between priors and prediction errors'

they hint at some arguments that are strongly consonant with our own experiences of schizophrenia. Fist, that it is possible to 'conjure up' hallucinations at will. Secondly, that there are two types of hallucination - those 'with insight' (accompanied by a sense of unreality), and those 'without insight' (which feel as real as any other percept). We have always argued both of these things. [We have always argued that schizophrenia involves a kind of top-down *compulsion*, ie. I *have to* conjure this...]

2 notes · View notes

seddm · 5 years

Text

STARCO OVERVIEW - Season 2 (part 1)

SEASON 1

SEASON 2 (part 1) (part 2)

SEASON 3 (Incoming)

SEASON 4 (Incoming)

MY NEW WAND (2x01a)

Ignoring all the questions that naturally come with a season premiere opening on Star videochatting in the bathroom while Marco is taking a shower - questions that usually lead to “why the shit did they need four seasons to start smooching”, My New Wand finally introduces the idea that Star might feel something more than friendship for Marco. We aren’t told what she wrote in her diary (even if we know now, thanks to the Book of Spells, and it’s essentially a slightly more consciously skewed toward romance version of Marco’s “I felt like this since the beginning” in Here to Help),

but the structure of the scene and the “diary of a teenage girl which can’t be seen by her bestie” clearly directed the attention of the viewers in a very defined direction. One subtly highlighted by the super inconspicuous shape of the key (sure, lots of Star’s spells and elements are heart shaped or themed, but in this specific case having the concepts such as “heart” “key” “secret diary” and “crush” all in one shot is suspicious at the very least).

As usual, UNCONSCIOUS FEELINGS: Star was generically embarrassed about Marco reading her diary, because that’s something any teen girl would do. She wasn’t consciously crushing on Marco yet at this point, at most she sometimes felt things like “wow he’s cute” and stuff like that on top of an incredibly strong relationship. It’s akin to what Marco experiences in Blood Moon Ball, but since Star is more “aggressive” with her feelings, and since Marco is going to get serious with Jackie, she’s going to consciously include “romantic attraction” in the recipe of her friendship with Marco about half a season earlier than him.

Another important element in the episode is the introduction to dipping down, a proper version of what Star did in Storm the Castle. Long story short, as Moon tells Star, the key to dipping down are strong emotions.

Wanting to save Marco when Toffee kidnapped him, being embarrassed about him reading her diary here. I’m not saying that Marco is the only key to Star’s maturing, obviously - and later on she’s going to dip down even more for reasons not directly connected to him, but this early in the show he always is, one way or another, the focal point of her character arc, and Glossaryck knows it and uses him to teach his problematic student in unorthodox ways - it’s clear that he’s the one who closed Marco in the closet in this episode, and directed him toward Star’s diary, well knowing that it might have helped her get a first feeling of what dipping down is like. He literally says that finding Star’s secret is the way to have her reach the chunks, which is what he used with her as a metaphor for channeling magic through dipping down.

So strong emotions = dipping down --> Marco = source of very strong emotions for Star. Not the only source, but definitely the main one, especially in S1 and S2. This is an important point for Star’s whole character arc: it’s true that in S3 and S4 there are going to be less meaningful Star - Marco interactions, and that they’re both going to have many more moments of growth while interacting with other characters, but that’s the whole point of it. At the beginning of the series both dorks are walking disasters; by interacting together, by complementing each other and their shortcoming, they slowly mature into something better, individuals who are now ready to start stepping (slowly, very slowly, their journey won’t be complete until the end of the series) into the real world and take on it. So while I’m the first one who got frustrated and saddened by the relative lack of Starco moments in later seasons (relative is the keyword) it’s also important to keep in mind that it never meant that their relationship became less important and relevant, just that during their first months together they left a real and tangible effect on each other, leading to meaningful growth that allowed the writers to believably open up roads to different kind of interactions and “plot devices” for growth. This is what I mean when I say things like “meeting Marco is what allowed Star to defeat Toffee”. Obviously there are several degrees of separation, and several moments of growth / plot for Star that didn’t even involve Marco, but without their meeting she wouldn’t have matured as fast, she wouldn’t have had the opportunity to confront herself with a friend who was ready to help put some order in her super messed up life life. From the Book of Spells: “When we are together he sees the chaos in the world and sort of embraces it”. This is a direct quote from Star’s diary, something the writers of the show wanted to point out before S4 while referring to early S1 Star.

Marco has been, since the beginning, the first and most important key to Star’s development (even if not the only one), the “force” that first allowed her to start her journey toward maturity and become the kind of person who could go from being “a skimmer” to being proud of being “a dipper”. And in this S2 premiere we get a very direct taste of it, with Glossaryck using Marco as a bait to help Star learn.

Important bonus: the face Star makes for a handful of frames after having seen a naked Marco being YEETed across her room.

MR. CANDLE CARES (2x02a)

I wrote a lot about this episode in multiple posts, so I’m going to be extremely focused on the Star - Marco stuff only this time:

Marco smiles like that when he sees Star getting out from the office, and it endlessly warms my heart.

Both Star and Marco are clearly not thinking about each other in romantic terms in the slightest during this episode, the former harshly denying the possibility of any feeling for her bestie, the latter not being ashamed in the slightest about talking about creative making out techniques to trick Tom into revealing himself. And yet just two segments earlier Star didn’t want Marco to read a part of her diary where she might have said something crush-related. Unconscious feelings, Heart and Mind not agreeing on something, it’s always the same deal, the whole show is going to play with this idea of extreme disconnection between what one might feel and what one might consciously know they want (concept directly introduced in Sleepover) as a way to justify the ever growing emotional intimacy between Star and Marco while taking their sweet time to actually deliver any romance related developments. We all have to accept it, or it becomes frustrating and impossible to read some of the passages in the series, especially during S3 and early S4, because we’d get lost in trying to plot the trends of their feelings on a graph and that’s a fool’s errand. When the show wants to tell us “A CHARACTER FEELS SOMETHING STRONGLY AND THIS THING IS IMPORTANT” they’re not subtle about it, and that’s vastly more important than anything else.

Marco stops playing to dreamingly appreciate Star and state how endearing he finds a part of her personality which might be frustrating to most (and it is to Tom, despite him also being attracted to it at the same time).

Appreciating your partners’ quirks is Love Story Writing 101, and this is going to be particularly evident in Curse of the Blood Moon (”I like every single thing about you”) and Here to Help (Star chuckling at Marco’s clumsiness). In this specific case it’s obviously premature to talk about “love” and it’s mostly a delicious bonus that presents a comparison between Tom and Marco, evidencing both their points in common (they’re both fascinated by Star’s personality and individuality) and differences (Tom is frustrated by this part of Star’s personality as well, since it doesn’t mix well with his controlling nature, while Marco learned to embrace it).

The important part, my favorite example to show people why and how Marco had an incredibly important influence on Star’s growth, especially during the first part of the series: Star spends most of the day panicking over Mr. Candle and then her mom’s words, she feels trapped in a role she didn’t want, lacking any freedom and prospect in life beyond her role as a future queen (interestingly she feels stuck in life, just like Marco in the following episode, but not out of lack of direction, but excess of it!). Then Marco gets home, talks to her for twenty seconds, and he immediately manages not only to calm her down, but he also gives her a new perspective on her life, and on her possibilities as a princess (and we know that she is definitely going to use her authority in her own way during S3), all of this while always following the style outlined by Blood Moon Ball: not a teacher or someone who tells her what she should do, just a friend nudging her in the right direction, telling her what she needed to hear. A Version 1.0 of his speech about finding your own happiness from Beach Day, in a way - the theme of free will and self determination was present since the beginning, even if at the time there obviously seemed to be less freedom in Star’s life, since she was supposed to inherit the throne, eventually.

Bonus points for the Alphonse The Worthy’s portrait from Blood Moon Ball moving his eyes to look at the two hugging, and for the demon highlighting with “point Marco” that he ultimately won the day when it came to wanting to be at Star’s side. Minus point for Star still acting coy at Tom’s compliment showing that she still had unresolved attraction for him.

RED BELT (2x02b)

The events of the episode itself aren’t particularly related to Starco, but it formally introduces Marco’s own “coming of age” arc, by telling us that he’s scared about being stuck in life, left without a goal or a purpose and without any meaningful connection. Needless to say that the “squire arc” from Sophomore Slump to The Knight Shift is going to address this, and that Star (as a person, but also as a mean to step into a bigger world) is going to be fundamental for Marco’s growth. While talking about the series premiere I mentioned that Star’s main role in Marco’s life is helping him become a better version of himself, stepping out of his comfort zone and managing to find his own path toward fulfillment and happiness, and Star is not just going to be extremely important for this, in different ways during the many different arcs, but she’s eventually going to be identified as THE single most important element. In The Knight Shift Marco is going to realize that he wants a lot of things from his life, that he wants to make experiences and slowly decide what he wants to do in the future without being scared about having to figure out everything here and now, lest being left behind, but he’s also going to realize that Star’s presence is essential to his happiness, that their relationship is the one lifelong post he feels like he has to commit, despite being just a teen with all his life in front of him.

So Red Belt doesn’t really have any relevant Starco interactions, but it introduces a part of Marco’s journey as a character that’s going to be incredibly connected to Star’s presence in his life.

As for the nightmare itself, don’t ask. It uses a lot of generic dream-like imagery to make things confusing and symbolic, with some elements from the first half of the season (Mr. Candle, the colors green and purple, associated to the magic subplot, the suit from Bonbon The Birthday Clown...). Maybe the Blood Moon being there was on purpose, a symbol for “you’re worried about having no goal in life, but your friend can be the key for you to gain maturity and fulfillment!”, maybe it was just “red belt, red balloon, spooky imagery... let’s put in the Blood Moon!”. Lots of things in visual media are done just for “rules of cool” or to give the scene a particular kind of mood that can help focus the attention of the viewers.

STAR ON WHEELS (2x03a)

This episode, in its extreme weirdness, is like an a super condensed recap of the important parts of Star and Marco’s relationship - with focus on the Star’s side of things, but there’s also some for Marco:

Star she gets excited about Marco teaching her something about Earth culture - riding a bike, which at the same time is also something new that could be compared to her getting her wand;

She overdoes and she messes up / can’t properly handle the situation;

Marco gets overwhelmed by this, but then learns to embrace the weirdness of Mewni / magic for Star’s sake (more or less like what happened in the first episode, or at least during her first encounters with Star and her world);

and Star has to come to terms with the fact that she’s in another dimension now, embracing part of it just like Marco did, and growing from it, and Marco has a big role in convincing her about it;

And while it’s at it, the episode includes other important themes (central to Star as a person in general, but in this case highlighted through her interactions with Marco), such as Star’s stubbornness and hostility toward doing and learning stuff when just told what to do,

and the resulting moment of learning and growth when Marco, instead of just “ordering her” what to do, gives her some of the trust that she desperately needs, and with it the confidence to actually try and succeed on her own (this all connects to the larger arc of Glossaryck teaching Star stuff in unconventional ways).

And since it never hurts we get reminded one more time how much Star resents being lied to and how important trust is to her.

Obviously the whole episode is extremely silly, the whole situation requires a lot of suspension of disbelief to work and the “emotional moments” of the episode are extremely hammed up - we get a heartwarming “I trust you.” moment when the situation at hand involves learning to ride a bike! But it’s still a good way to have in a slick 11 minutes long package a super-cut of (part of) what Star and Marco brought into each other’s lives, and how that affected them and their way to interact with the world.

FETCH (2x03b)

Wow look in an episode that directly introduces the “stop running from your problems” arc for Star we get told by Sta herself that having your own Marco is important to give you the support you need to feel less overwhelmed by life - and thus less prone to ignore problems, it’s almost like he’s important to her in that way and that in Lint Catcher the dubbin vows when she makes him her squire further drive home the idea that he’s her ideal companion.

STAR VS ECHO CREEK (2x04a)

Another episode about “running away from problems”, in this case Star physically runs away from her problems and tries to avoid consequences. And sure, at the beginning of the episode Marco tries to tell her not to run away and we could argue once again about the positive influence and role Marco has on Star, but we know about it already. What’s REALLY important and huge is that by the end of the episode Star, the same person whose greatest fear in S1 was going to St. Olga and thus losing her freedom, gets convinced while talking with her own subconscious that going to prison (= facing problems and consequences instead of running away carefree) is a better alternative to never being able to see Marco again. This is the same concept I talked about at the beginning of the post: it’s not like Marco is the ONLY important person in Star’s life, she obviously loves her family as well and in later seasons she’s going to interact with other characters as well, but at this point of the story Marco is the person who she actively cares the most about, and the one who better understands her (this is going to be a constant throughout the series, obviously), so almost all big moments of learning and self reflection for Star are somehow related to him. And while saying that Marco is the most important person in the world to Star (and vice versa) might not have been entirely correct by this point of the series (mostly because we lacked proper perspective), it becomes absolutely true by the end of it, as their choices in Cleaved highlight.

So yes, sure, logically speaking, and going beyond the simple plot of this episode, Star would have missed a number of persons if she spent her life hiding just to run away from her problems, but as far as early S2 experiences and subconscious goes, it all relates back to Marco, one way to another. After all we know that they both had an intense and special relationship from the beginning, and it’s going to keep being something unique that they don’t share with anyone else throughout the whole show, even when they’re going to date other people, even when there aren’t going to be as many episodes featuring both of them together.

Bonus gratuitously adorable shot. Marco didn’t love-love Star from the beginning, we know that, but Gloss damnit, did he LOVE her from the beginning. I know that the series might not have had the best of pacing and some choices concerning shipping planted doubts and frustration in many fans, but no other two characters in the series come even remotely as close to Star and Marco when it comes to unabashedly caring about the other to incredibly extremes. THIS is what Marco means when he says that he felt like this from the beginning, and THIS is what Star means when she says (albeit in her diary in the Book of Spells) that she never connected with anyone else in the same way. This has never changed in intensity throughout the show (if anything it grew), even if it got the spotlight of an episode way less frequently.

WAND TO WAND (2x04b)

Yet another episode about Star learning not to avoid problems and responsibilities as much, and another episode that doubles down of how important Star’s feelings for Marco (I mean “feelings” in the broadest possible term, not as in “still unconscious crush” only) are for her magic. I already said this like five times, but I really want for the point to come across: I’m not saying that everything Star does, learns, or everything concerning her magic, has to relate to Marco, Starco, or to her growing crush on him, nor that Marco is the only one who ever helps Star grow. What I mean is that during all of S2 Marco is the single biggest source of feelings for Star, and this includes good stuff and negative stuff, such as all the emotional turmoil cased by Jarco. But this all plays into helping Star mature, culminating in Starcrushed. The S2 finale constitutes the climax to Star’s “stop running away from problems” arc, culminating in her accepting her role as a princess and going off to face Toffee, but this goes hand in hand with confessing her crush to Marco. Star finds the determination to grow and take The Plot™ head on, thus eventually saving Mewni (multiple times), and this part of her character arc is inextricably connected to her “learn to admit your own feelings for Marco” arc. THIS is what establishes their relationship as utterly special, and what allows me to claim that Marco had a fundamental role in Star’s coming of age story, well beyond the limits of what he personally and actively did with and for her.

When the series shows us that Marco is the key to Star tapping into her magic and better learning to use it it’s not because of some lore or plot related connection between the two, or between Starco and Magic - we have seen that’s not the case: magic is connected to emotions, and Marco happens to be the single biggest source of emotions for Star. That’s what it’s all about.

The episode ends with Star using brooms to fix her messes instead of magic, which is yet again a nice moment of “Star embracing part of Marco’s world”, but it’s not really that important in the big picture since it’s not like Earth’s ways are inherently better, it’s just important for Star at this point of her arc.

STARSTRUCK (2x05a)

Marco being right about Mina and still not rubbing it in Star’s face at the end is very cute and sets a difference between most of cartoon relationships and Starco, but it’s not that important, this is a solo-learning episode for Star.

CAMPING TRIP (2x05b)

This episode is like a fanfiction come to life, in a good way. The idea of Star’s crush on Marco is not going to be directly introduced until Sleepover, but in this episode she still acts differently, we are shown a side of Star that definitely leans closer to thinking of Marco as more than a friend - and this contributes to the main plot of the episode, where River is presented as a dad going through a middle age crisis, worried about losing her daughter to some boy who’s going to take her way from her home. AND YET NOTHING IS CONSCIOUS YET. THAT’S HOW THE SHOW DOES IT. During the episode Star is unmistakably closer to Marco usual, “happier” to spend time with him, but that doesn’t change anything in their relationship in further episodes and that still doesn’t help her be any more conscious about her feelings until Just Friends. There’s absolutely no contradiction here because it follows the inner rules the show adheres to.

I love this scene. Eden’s delivery of the line is incredible, conveying the eagerness in Star’s voice, a different kind than what we are used to and that immediately suggested (even at the time the episode aired, when we didn’t have the luxury of hindsight yet) that something was different. Not as in “something inside Star changed”, as I said we are still far away from any epiphany, just that the writers and boarders wanted to show a specific side of Star’s inner sphere in this episode.

And it’s even more interesting in hindsight, because comparing this scene with the dance in Curse of the Blood Moon, Mama Star, and Here to Help, shows us that Star and Marco (in this case it focuses exclusively on Star, Marco is denser after all) have always been very close to acting on their feelings - the entirety of them, and that they were usually just distracted by other things (other romantic interests, being stupid and dense, fear of change). When they have a moment to be alone, just the two of them, free from any other concern and focused just in each other, they immediately start to inch closer to embracing all of their relationship.

Let me clarify:

In Curse of the Blood Moon Star and Marco finally actually fall in Love for the first time after having danced together for a minute or so. Obviously the episode itself was a moment of high stress and tension, but once inside the Severing Stone they didn’t have to think about anything else for a moment. “We do this and everything will be fixed, we’ll be free of these obnoxious, unwanted feelings that get in the way!”, and by thinking that they let their guards down for a moment and enjoy each other’s presence, focusing on nothing more for the span of a dance, and that’s enough to lead them to understand that they do like it, a lot, and that they’d want to always be like that and that they had been running away from something beautiful all that time.

In Mama Star as soon as the Magic washes away all of Marco’s concerns and emotional blocks, he immediately confesses his love to Star, baring all of himself and revealing that what he desires the most is always being at her side.

Here to Help presented us once again with a context of stress and high tension, sure, but while in the barn Star and Marco could focus on themselves and nothing else for a moment, forgetting all about Mina and Mewni and anything else, and we know how that ended.

So I don’t mean that Star was about to confess her undying love for Marco in Camping Trip, just that the situation that was about to unfold (before River’s arrival) would have allowed for Star to focus less about “Marco is just a friend and you don’t feel weird things for your friends”, and more on “being with Marco makes me happy”. Which is the very essence of what “With or without magic we belong together” stands for.

“Let me just subtly remind you that Marco and Star have a positive influence on each other and that their meeting is the meeting of dimensions and cultures” - The Show

The whole “River thinks Marco is Star’s boyfriend and that he stole her affection from him” is clearly played for laughs, but we still get an external character validating Marco’s efforts in helping Star out, and he also essentially approves of Marco being Star’s boyfriend. Which means absolutely nothing (with the exception of Wrtahmelior in Lake House Fever parents never ever butt in their kids’ relationships in this show, so their opinions have never been considered relevant when shipping is involved), but it’s still nice.

Bonus: Star is specifically animated looking at Marco in several occasions throughout the episode, way more then usual, “stealing glances” even. External link to the GIFs because Tumblr sucks and they’d make the whole post too heavy to load.

STARSITTING (2x06a)

In case you weren’t persuaded the first eighteen times I said that Star and Marco complement and help each other grow and be the best version of themselves, here’s an episode explicitly telling the viewer that. With a side of “dorks acting like parents” and a generous helping of “one day they’ll also understand they love each other” because there’s no way they didn’t want to tease that as well with the way these sentences are constructed.

Bonus points for Star complimenting Marco for his skills with babies. DAD MATERIAL. ONE THOUSAND BABIES.

BY THE BOOK (2x07b)

This episode doesn’t really have any important Star - Marco interactions (even if it sure has cute ones, team work is the dream work. That’s how the saying goes, right?), but it reinforces the idea that Star learns things only in unconventional ways, something that often involves Marco during S2.

GAME OF FLAGS (2x08a)

Ignoring for a moment that Marco gets invited to what’s a family event, and that Star eagerly pairs up with him as Them Vs Her Families (ok I know that it makes full sense given the plot of the episode and it doesn’t mean there are any “Star and Marco as family” undertones here, but let me dream a bit ok?), the important stuff comes at the end: just like he did in Mewnipedence Day (albeit in a more direct way this time), Marco opens up Star’s eyes to the reality of the situation, snapping her out from a tradition she accepted without ever questioning it. And she doesn’t just back down, she tries to change things, she steals the flags, risking her own health, to claim the hill for all of them and change for good the nature of the event, just like she’s going to try and change Mewni. Once again the importance of Marco’s role in Star’s arc is evident, and once again he’s not a “teacher” who tells Star what to do, and even less a “savior” who has all the right answers for Mewni. He’s just a concerned friend who knows what kind of person Star really is, and who can give her a new perspective on things that helps her mature her own, personal, unique views. Views that are eventually going to forever change Mewni.

MEETING OF TWO INDIVIDUALS, MEETING OF TWO DIMENSIONS. The show begins with Star and Marco meeting it ends with their dimensions being cleaved together, they BOTH brought a new perspective on life to the other! It’s more apparent for Marco, since his advice pushed Star in a direction that has big effects on the plot itself, but Marco’s life was completely changed by Star as well, if in S3 he’s able to move to Mewni to have his “French Summer” and then in S4 he understands that importance of being true to what you want to commit to it’s only thanks to the crazy princess who helped him get out of his shell and make his first steps into real life. THIS is the very essence of what the show is, of Star and Marco being the tools to each other’s growth and happiness!

SLEEPOVER (2x09a)

One might expect a long section about this episode, but I’m going to keep it short: forget about all the “but how does the Cube work?” “who did lie?” and stuff like that. The important messages of the episode are crystal clear:

- Star Butterfly has a crush on Marco Diaz. No matter how conscious or unconscious it was at this point, the show told us directly, not just through undertones and themes anymore, that Star had specifically romantic feeling for Marco as well.

- Feelings are confusing. You Heart might feel like it wants something, but your Head doesn’t know that and it thinks you want something else. This is what the series bases everything related to relationships and romance on. This is why Star can be utterly convinced that she likes Oskar, at this point of the series, while actually having growing feelings for Marco. This is why Marco can move to Mewni, leaving Earth and his old life behind, while still not realizing the full extent of why he felt such a need to be with Star, and so on. The whole series plays with the idea that Star and Marco’s feelings for each other keep linearly growing throughout the show, but don’t always consciously influence their actions and thoughts in the same way.

And that’s why by the end of the episode the boarders can nudge our arms and go “Hey, hey, see that Star is sad when Marco ignores her because of Jackie? Hey, hey, that’s the seed of jealousy, that relates to love! Look at that!”, but then in Naysaya Star can be super happy for Marco scoring a date with Jackie. Dumb teens who don’t know what they want.

This line seemed so mature and deep at the little, little did we know the writers would have squeezed every last drop out of this concept as a way to justify things like Star and Marco completely ignoring their supposedly burning desire from Booth Buddies until Curse of the Blood Moon and then again until Mama Star. No, bad Seddm, no salt and negativity in these happy posts!

Let’s close this part here so that the core messages have more focus and remain more clear, but I wanted to point out that Star really loves involving Marco and having fun with him. Which is something we already knew but it always feels good pointing it out.

GIFT OF THE CARD (2x09b)

“Starco Teasing: The Episode”, also known as “How to have your main characters act like soulmates while still keeping everything in the episode frustratingly platonic only”.

From Star going [soft gasp] at how incredibly Marco looks in his ballet shoes

To the plot device of the episode being a gift for their anniversary... as friends, to everything else in the episode.

Ok this is clearly part of the gag but it’s also damn cute.

Star and Marco actually pour their hearts out with no recriminations here, and while it’s not something weird at all for this kind of scenes, where the characters think they’re going to die but the viewers are fully aware that it’s just the setup for a punchline, it’s still cute and a good example of the bases of their relationship.

The fact that this scene is not played for laugh, and that Star genuinely appreciates Marco saying it instead of going “OH SO YOU WERE JUST TRYING TO SAVE YOUR BUTT”, goes in the big pile of “Why do I like Starco more than any other fictional relationship?” pile.

Never mind how horribly frustrating Marco’s “let’s die in each other arms so people will know that we were friends, yep, just friends, that’s the first thing everyone would think!” is: this is an alpha version of Cleaved, Star and Marco think that they’re going to die and that there’s nothing more they can do, and their reaction is to hug and hold hands, just wanting to be together in their last moment. The whole episode doesn’t really have high stakes and it’s clearly a silly, over the top adventure, but the emotions the dorks show are very real, and exemplifying of how in love (used in the broadest possible meaning, not with a strictly romantic connotation) they were already at this time.

And this is what Star decides to get excited about, not having survived. Again, a gag, but it still fits well, it’s not played for laughs with malicious intents or to mock their friendship.

PIZZA THING (2x12b)

Nothing major nor new since it’s something we saw as early as in the second segment of the series already, but Star has learned to enjoy a “calmer” way of having fun compared to what she was used to on Mewni, thanks to Marco’s presence, being more than happy to watch TV on the couch instead of going partying around, sometimes. Also the whole concept of “Friendship Thursdays” is adorable.

NAYSAYA (2x13b)

“How can Star be this eager to help Marco out with Jackie and cheer for him when in Sleepover she was s-” HEART AND MIND DISAGREEING SHE DOESN’T KNOW WHAT SHE WANTS she genuinely likes helping Marco and making him happy and won’t fully realize until Just Friends that this just means pushing him in the arms of someone who is not her, shut up!

With this out of the way, this episode features The scene showing just how much Star helps Marco getting out of his comfort zone, taking risks that go well beyond kicking monsters and going into other dimensions and becoming a better version of himself, one who can achieve his own happiness (Jackie is a small part of this, this concept of “achieving happiness” is going to be much more relevant in S4 and Star’s role in it for Marco - and viceversa - is literally going to be the main attraction during the series finale).

Hey look, Marco’s biggest fear is being alone (as in, feeling alone as an individual, without meaningful connections, not being literally alone) and without a goal and a meaning in his life. And for a time he’s going to delude himself in thinking that Jackie and school can be that, but then in Sophomore Slump he has to slowly accept and realize that Star is the only one who can give him that!

Wowie it’s almost like they deeply changed and influence each other’s lives.

BONBON THE BIRTHDAY CLOWN (2x14)

I’m going to put this as a disclaimer at the beginning of this part so that I don’t have to explain later: during this episode Star clearly displays feelings and behaviors that can only be explained by having a crush on Marco and feeling an intense need to be with him. But the episode begins with Star cheering on Marco with Jackie, and is followed by several other episodes of Star being none the wiser about her feelings for it, and definitely not showing them. Why? How? Heart and Mind disagreeing; denial; being scared of change; blaming all her uneasiness from the night on having lost Glossaryck thus overwriting the other feelings until Just Friends; a combination of everything, you pick your poison.

This is a minor note, but both Star and Marco regret having forgotten about their already existing plan with the other for the prom, with Marco’s “Jackie High” lasting about half a second before he once again goes “Oh no Star, no hurt Star!”. It’s just a setup for the episode and doesn’t really play any role, but it’s a welcome breath of fresh air compared to the easy drama most shows from past decades would have immediately built up from this kind of situation.

Star is super happy to greet Jackie, right now her mind still hasn’t put 2 and 2 together, she still hasn't processed “If Marco is going to a promo with Jackie as her date, he can’t possibly be romantically involved with me”. It’s all still a very unconscious process now (she won’t properly think “I want to smooch him but I can’t” until Just Friends), but it’s a painfully clear case of “You don’t know what you truly wanted until you lose it”, as evidenced extremely clearly both visually and by the subtle as a hammer on your teeth song (this scene here, Just Friends, Lava Lake Beach, song get used as a way to highlight and give exposition to the characters’ feelings multiple times in the early days of Starco).

Darned if I knew That I'd find you In the last place I thought you would be What could I do 'Til I saw you waiting for me? Ooh-ooh-ooh, ooh-ooh-ooh, ooh-ooh-ooh And if I catch your eye It feels like I could fly Out from my lonely world into yours

Following that, Star spends most of the episode feeling weird: she looks at the picture on her phone and feels bad and tries to find a reason for that, something to blame for the new feelings she’s experiencing.

For a moment, when she uses the All Seeing Eye spell, she might have understood, or at least made a direct connection between Marco being on a date with Jackie, and her feeling like that. But the epiphany escapes her grasp after an instant, due to her magic going awry, and after that Ludo’s rat immediately gets there and she has other things to worry about.

Going back to Marco’s side of things for a moment, a quick consideration about what’s clearly a Jarco moment, a moment of connection between the two of them: we get a character external to the Star-Marco dynamic acknowledging Marco’s tenacity and perseverance, a quality that early Star lacked (”looks like I’m just a skimmer”) and that’s going to become an important part of her later on (”I am a dipper”, never giving up with the Monsters and Eclipsa in S3 and S4). One of the most clear examples of how Marco’s good influence helped Star change for the better, and this is the first time he gets outright praised for it.

After the kiss Marco sees the Blood Moon, and he’s immediately reminded of Star and goes to check on his phone, noticing the missed calls and getting worried. Was this part of the curse? Was the Moon trying to hinder Jackie and Marco’s relationship? Absolutely fucking not, as Marco said the curse is bullshit and was never a thing. In the context of this specific episode it’s symbolic, nothing more: Star is always in Marco’s thoughts, we know it and no one can deny it, the Blood Moon was merely a visual way to remind him of her, and to tell us viewers that even while kissing his long time crush, Marco still keeps part of his being focused on Star. He could have seen a little girl playing with a magic wand or hear someone say “the stars are beautiful tonight!” and it would have had the same effect. There’s nothing magical here, and if there’s it’s not important; it’s not even a good thing for Star, since Marco and Jackie’s arrival at the graveyard is actually what makes Star lose control of her magic, losing the fight.

Marco saving Star is a cool and sweet scene, and sets a clear parallel with Wand to Wand (and we even have confirmation from the storyboarder that it was on purpose, not that it wasn’t clear enough already) that neither of them would ever let the other go, but there’s not much to be said about it, their commitment to each other is pretty straightforward and it’s obviously to be expected in dangerous situations such as this.

Also, it’s not a full parallel: in this case the moment of danger doesn’t end with a hug, but with Marco going to check on Jackie (after having helped Star up obviously, he’s still and will always be worried about her after all).

And yet, despite this, by the end of the episode Star entirely blames her sadness on having lost the book and Glossaryck. She’s still clearly hurting over Jackie and Marco, but the situation at hand gives her an easy way out, an excuse to latch on to “cover” her feelings for her bestie with a thick layer of “no no it’s definitely just this” (wow just like in Curse of the Blood Moon!). And thus the epiphany that she almost had while spying on them is delayed until Just Friends.

Neither Star nor Marco are clearly aware about it obviously, but it’s hard not to see that “I’ve lost Glossaryck” line as “I’ve lost you” as well. Fun times.

To conclude, going back to something from the middle of the episode (didn’t want to digress earlier): this scene with Glossaryck asking Star if he can burn a page from the book and Star telling him to do whatever he wants is another side to the “you don’t know what you wanted until you lose it”: Star barely cares about the Book, symbol of her duties as a princess, but in a handful of minutes - and for future episodes - she’s going to be terribly hurting over having lost it. As I said multiple times the arcs of “Star learning to stop running away from her problems and accepting her responsibilities” and “Star recognizing and accepting her feelings for Marco” go hand in hand, and are both integral to her development and character arc. And, as we are going to see in the season finale, neither of them can truly reach its payoff without the other.

Bonus to make the whole episode a little less painful: while helping Star and Jackie up Marco might give Jackie more focus, but his tone of voice is way more kind and warm and delicate with Star, showing an incredible amount of care. Clearly this doesn’t entirely match Marco’s priorities in this moment, but it’s a welcome gift from Adam (and Daron I guess, since she’s always present during the recording sessions and certainly directed him to deliver the line in that specific way).

#star vs the forces of evil #star butterfly #svtfoe #starco #marco diaz #seddm ramblings

104 notes · View notes

dalishious · 6 years

Note

K so I get part native Canadian, I’m part Native American, but like why deny that blackwashing is a thing? I watched the whole video you linked, I’m just not convinced. Like it’s not fair even if there’s a history of whitewashing. If we’re trying to go for equality, there should be actual-ass equality

Exactly, there should be actual-ass equality. Which there is not, which is why “blackwashing” is not a thing.

Take a look at this graph from this 2017 report:

This is indeed almost identical to the 2016 report:

And the 2015 report:

From one Indigenous person to another, then, how does it feel to you to almost never see yourself on screen? (And I do mean never. The ‘other’ percentages of those graphs broken down further show native peoples rep is 0-1%. Which is why supporting independent film festivals is so important.) How does it feel to you when that number is decreased even further when non-native actors take native roles? That is why whitewashing is so bad on a statistical level, let alone the racism in deciding a white person is better to play a native person than an actual native, of which said roles are often either straight-up about or strongly connected to the character’s nativeness, as further discussed in the video previously linked. [Here it is again for context]This is no different when whitewashing other minorities.

Now, lets for a second pretend that Nick Fury in the MCU isn’t based on the Ultimate comic verse Nick Fury, who is Black. Since people love to use him as an example of quote, “blackwashing.” Take away Sam Jackson’s portrayal of Nick Fury in the first and second Avengers films, and you have a main cast that is entirely white. (Since Wanda and Pietro were also run through the whitewashing machine.) All white men, and one-two white women. Looking at the first film alone since with the added whitewashing things are even worse in Age of Ultron, yeah, this sure would have been accurate to the comic books, (again, pretending this is 616 Fury and not 1610,) but why would you want to be accurate to something that could instead be improved upon? Why would you look at a lack of racial diversity and decide to prioritize keeping the status quo, rather than challenge it?

TL;DR: “Blackwashing,” “brownwashing,” etc. does not exist because it is a false equivalency to whitewashing. It is a false equivalency to whitewashing because white people are not even in the slightest loosing representation when a white character is played by a racial minority, whereas when white people play minority roles, they are taking away from what is already very little representation for us. If we lived in a world where these statistics were not so drastically disproportionate, then there would be something to talk about. But if you are really wanting to support equality, you should focus on equitably supporting those who actually need it, not white people.

Wela’lioq wjit nike’ (thank you all for now).

(If you’re going to reblog anything in this discussion, please make it this. In fact I’d really like to see this reblogged.)

#whitewashing #racism #racism in fandom #not da #Anonymous #ask

493 notes · View notes

stagesense65-blog · 4 years

Text

What Is Actually The Most Ideal Java Course On Udemy In 2020?

What Are Actually ICT Business?

When individuals read about IT business they typically think about big organizations with a large office building and also team of IT experts. They have pcs in the place of work and also business could be carried out, nonetheless, a lot of services demand a way to connect to the web. This is where ICT business come into play.

They aid generate the world wide web to ensure your company may hook up to it and may aid keep it operating. You can find these companies in your area or even online as well as depend upon the form of company you operate will definitely figure out which one you must hire.

The other factor is what sort of technology your provider will certainly demand. There are ScheidingsCenter.nl of kinds of technology that you might need to have. Many individuals are actually amazed at the number of companies are actually required, it can be very unexpected.

For example, somebody who needs to improve their websites every number of full weeks or even regular monthly may require a web designer who manages to keep the web site. You can additionally acquire various forms of plans to monitor e-mail, internet content, and software updates.

When you begin investigating what are actually ICT business, you will definitely see that there are actually two primary kinds. These are the organizing companies and reseller hosting companies.

In addition, there are various forms of platforms that they utilize. Holding providers will certainly be actually the style who are actually mostly web hosting however they will certainly additionally be able to provide the technological skills for their clients to purchase storage in addition to documents holding options from them.

Meanwhile, reseller holding is when somebody re-sells their storage or even room, nonetheless, often times they are a reseller of open market and also specialist. This is when you will certainly have the capacity to do a swap and also sell solutions to others for an earnings.

What are ICT firms is actually a wide topic that goes far beyond simply holding. It is a long as well as complex topic that performs unsuitable on just one webpage.

For informatie van Scheidings Center , this write-up will definitely explore each of the following subjects, Throwing and also Reseller Hosting. bron: ScheidingsCenter will help you understand why there are various kinds of hosting and how to choose the right organizing supplier for your demands.

First, you need to ensure that you will definitely have the capacity to pay for the companies of the host that you pick. This is a very fundamental part of throwing considering that you need to have to have the right amount of storage space or the correct amount of data transfer for the amount of web traffic that you need to take care of on a daily basis.

Furthermore, make certain that you can do the duties that you require all of them to perform. Frequently you will definitely find that some multitudes supply certain features that you require however you will certainly need to spend extra for the very same factor on another provider.

Ultimately, you need to have to understand what sorts of innovation that your host must provide. Some hosts provide conventional organizing, which has basic software application that is required for the lot to operate.

What Is Software Program Screening Instruction?

Software program testing is a strongly focused and specialized activity, and the jobs of software program screening may vary substantially. There are actually many different kinds of program screening as well as each demands its very own instruction. As an example, if your firm creates an item for a buyer market, then you would need to have additional knowledge in product development than if you were actually partnering with a for-profit facility.

Software program screening is a little like a stargazer; the stargazer requires to become trained in astronomy as well as telescopes in order to comprehend and also follow complicated scientific concepts and concepts. It is quite important to know these points due to the fact that they possess extensive effects on all aspects of the software, not only the practical and also imaginative ones. An astronomer is a great enhancement to any sort of staff, as well as a good software designer needs to have to be well versed in astrochemistry.

What is software application screening instruction? Exam developers need to contend the very least one year of experience just before they start their very first project. There are a number of different amounts of education and learning that exam engineers can acquire, as well as each level takes less time to finish. The best method to calculate what degree you await is actually to take a quick course that will offer you a feel for what it is like to carry out a test and also how to execute effectively as an exam developer.

To end up being an exam designer, you will certainly require to know exactly how to utilize Microsoft Excel. Knowing how to create graphs, information evaluation, as well as record format is actually one more need, and also you are going to also need to be aware of Microsoft word. After you have actually completed a training course in this area, you can start composing and also providing bug reports.

What is software application screening instruction? Among the best important parts of software program screening is actually an extensive know-how of the software application's use. A huge part of program testing is discovering bugs as well as knowing the process of writing and submitting bugs is actually really important. Each of the infections are accumulated and studied, and also the quality control team can easily after that recognize which infections are actually a priority.

What is software application testing training? Yet another essential part of software program testing is being able to communicate your findings properly. Although this is only a component of the work, you will certainly need to have to have a good understanding of how to create an insect record, the correct method for handling the bug, as well as the effective format for allowing and creating an insect document. Any type of insects found in the beta stages should be actually disclosed promptly, as well as it is essential that the insects are actually forwarded to the creator.

What is actually program testing training? While there are actually several different institutions that educate you to come to be a software application tester, one that absolutely makes experts that recognize the importance of premium is the Program Testing Principle. This institute provides accreditation for employees of various providers in the software screening field. There are lots of colleges out there that provide education, yet this principle provides a high-grade plan, one that is genuinely worth the expense.

What is software application screening instruction? A wide variety certainly exist, as well as it is actually critical that you discover a course that will definitely show you everything you need to have to recognize in order to come to be a premium software tester. Regardless of the firm that you work for, you will definitely need to recognize whatever concerning quality assurance testing.

youtube

Tips on How Do You Evaluate Software Functionality?

Most of individuals that use computer systems devote a considerable amount of opportunity on their personal computers. In reality, many of individuals that use computer systems spend a sizable volume of your time facing the pc monitor; therefore, it is actually essential for you to discover the fastest way of just how perform you examine software performance? This is actually a fantastic concern as well as is actually something that you need to have the ability to receive a response to. If you manage to carry out a number of examinations prior to you put up any kind of program on your pc, after that you are actually absolutely going to spare on your own a great deal of trouble when you make an effort to install program on your computer.

The first exam that you should have the capacity to perform is that of double-checking. You should understand how to check out and also view whether your pc has actually been successfully affected through infections. So as to do this, you ought to open up a web browser as well as see some websites that would certainly enable you to accomplish this; the website ought to have a homepage that features a variety of pop flies, web links, as well as guidelines.

The 2nd test that you must have the ability to execute is one that are going to allow you install numerous courses and also see how properly they perform. You need to be able to install a lot of different plans that are actually available online as well as likewise one program that you have actually downloaded and install. After you have done this, you need to manage to match up the a variety of functions of the various plans that you have installed; this will definitely help you to learn which program is actually far better than the other. There are actually some plans that you have actually downloaded that are actually of substandard premium; therefore, you should certainly not be spending for something that you do not require.

What is actually the Program Testing Part in Today's Organisation?

Every person needs to comprehend what is actually the software application screening part in today's service. Although we all comprehend that there are actually no best people, the function of software application testing can be the ones with the most various benefits for each and every provider, from their viewpoint. The job of the function relies on the business that hires for it.

Nevertheless, the duty may seem to be little and unimportant. Nevertheless, as the dimension of business increases, it is going to be actually easy to make the part bigger than its own original measurements. With the boosting number of firms that might operate as a software application screening job, it is now much easier to use a private to check their products before they hit the marketplace. Several of the business also possess corporate testers that are their beneficial members.

Companies now know just how important their software has come to be to their firm. They need to have to make certain that their items manage beautifully. Consequently, they need to discover as well as work with the greatest as well as qualified person to examine their products before they are actually released in the marketplace. These testing designers are actually required for making certain that the products await consumers.

A significant reason why the role of program testing is essential is as a result of the human mistake that can take place. If you do not ensure that you hire the best individual for your provider, you could find yourself devoting your cash and also putting in a lot effort in the incorrect division. Maybe due to lots of reasons like working with the wrong prospect, working with the incorrect individual due to lack of skill, not tapping the services of a suitable candidate for the function, and also the incorrect individual for the function as a result of lack of experience. As discussed earlier, the function of the software screening developer can differ in dimension. The duty can also be actually classified as a tool, tiny, and also sizable.

It is constantly well to try and work with merely those who are actually experts in their area and also therefore trained people. It is constantly most ideal to decide on the correct provider along with the best kind of adventure in the field that the applicant is actually securing. The capability to separate the correct staff for the function is actually the absolute most significant role of the software testing designer.

The following trait to do is to become familiar with the role. The function is utilized to examine the products and at times it could be utilized to check the solutions. When the parts are made use of, then the variations between both forms of testing parts can be found as well as this could be a large aid in your firm.

On the occasion that you work with a personal with some volume of expertise in screening as well as you are actually looking for a staff member, this is actually one of the most essential component. It is actually commonly claimed that a person measurements carries out not fit all. The right amount of adventure will certainly create the variation between effectiveness as well as failing of the item.

To conclude, what is the software program instruction specialist? This part is very important to the business as well as if you recognize what is actually the function of the duty, at that point you can try and also recognize the appropriate individual or staff for the part.

#Mediator nl #Mediator Blogs #Mediator Articles

1 note · View note

cindylouwho-2 · 4 years

Text

RECENT NEWS, RESOURCES & STUDIES, May 2 2020

Welcome to my latest summary of recent ecommerce news, resources & studies including search, analytics, content marketing, social media & Etsy! This covers articles I came across since the late April report, although some may be older than that. I will do my best to keep posting these at least once every 10 days if not sooner.

Have any topics you would like to see me cover in more detail? Drop me a line here on Tumblr, or email me through my website. I’m also on Twitter and YouTube if you prefer social.

TOP NEWS & ARTICLES

If you sell on Etsy, this is your reminder that the Offsite Ads program kicks in on May 4, and people who make under $10K a year on Etsy can opt out if they want to avoid the additional fees. I have a summary here.

Issues with mail delivery during the pandemic continue. Canada Post has suspended on time delivery guarantees and warns of December level volume. USPS is not shipping to 113 countries, including many APO addresses.

I am still interested in posting articles and lists of resources for small businesses and artists during the pandemic, so please pass on any good resources you know about. HubSpot did a page for Australia, and one for the United States. See my previous edition for a longer list.

ETSY NEWS

Mask sales have created a huge boom for Etsy, but also some busts. “Suddenly millions of people were logging on to Etsy, searching for masks nine times every second, the company calculated.The site was not ready for the rush….There are now 50,000 sellers on Etsy who have each sold at least one mask; 10,000 have sold at least 100. Etsy staff spent time calling the most popular sellers to weed out scams, but also to ensure well-meaning sellers were not over-promising.” There have been many threads from sellers whose shops were de-indexed due to both bots and to Etsy wanting to limit their sales until they catch up on open orders, creating a lot of complaints at a time when their customer service response is hugely delayed.

Some sellers report receiving listing credits for masks, although several who received money did not sell masks, and many others who did sell masks got nothing.

Another Seller Handbook post on what people are looking for while they are under lockdown (TL;DR: home decor, activities, bath & beauty) , as well as suggestions for how you can pivot your shop. They include the top search terms for each area; some examples: washable paper towel, garden, birthday gift, printable wall art, puzzle, board game, puzzle adult. “As shoppers transform their living spaces for multifunctional uses like working, exercising, and homeschooling, they’re looking for cozy comfort as well as fresh, on-season style updates that offer mood-boosting appeal….113% YoY increase in searches on Etsy for “home office...127% YoY increase in searches on Etsy for “indoor garden...“Face mask” was the top searched term for the last five weeks (as of April 23, 2020)” Finally, “In recent Etsy buyer research, one third of shoppers who anticipated purchasing on Etsy in the next three months reported planning to buy gifts.” [Although the article doesn’t mention this, I strongly recommend emphasizing somewhere in your shop that you can send the order directly to the gift recipient, if you sell giftable items but sales are down right now. I am getting a lot more requests for gift notes than usual, and more people are paying for tracking so they know when the gift arrives.]

A study says that 30% of Etsy sellers do not save for emergencies, and 74% want Etsy to help them when emergencies arise.

Two new features for users of Etsy’s USPS labels: free pick up requests, and easy customer return labels.

Etsy launched an exclusive collection with Joseph Altuzarra.

SEO: GOOGLE & OTHER SEARCH ENGINES

Moz just came out with an excellent guide to keyword research that you all should at least bookmark to come back to later, even if you don’t do keyword research now. The introduction contains a good definition of long tail with a graph; “Only about 20% of the keywords people search for will be popular "head" terms. The majority of keyword phrases will be less-frequent, long-tail keywords.” There’s even a downloadable 2-page cheat sheet on the basics at the end.

There may have been a Google search update around April 16, but I am mostly posting this article for the graphs showing search volatility in the past 1-2 months; those changes in the second half of March into early April seem to be mostly user-driven due to the pandemic, rather than algorithm changes.

Backlinks are not all created equal, and time is sometimes one of the factors in weighting them. [text and video]

This analysis of near 12 million Google search results turned up some interesting correlations with ranking. Not surprisingly, sites in first place have many more backlinks on average than the other sites on the same page. It was a bit surprising to learn that page loading speed didn’t correlate with ranking at all (that may change once everyone goes to mobile first indexing in the fall), nor did using the keyword in your title tag. “Pages in Google’s top 10 results contain 65% to 85% of the keywords that they’re ranking for in their title tag. However, we found very little (if any) correlation between keyword-optimized title tags and higher rankings on the first page.”

Google may delay its move to complete mobile-first indexing by September, depending on how sites are managing due to the recent disruptions.

Some businesses are moving the money they spent on advertising over to SEO, because there is a longer-term payoff vs. a short term impact from someone seeing an ad on a given day. Good SEO can get you ranking on many search engines for years, if you are lucky.

(CONTENT) MARKETING & SOCIAL MEDIA (includes blogging & emails)

Not surprisingly, the top times for social media traffic have changed during the pandemic; here’s an updated list.

Thinking of starting a YouTube channel? Here’s a beginner’s manual including screenshots on how to set it up, as well as tips on YouTube SEO & other marketing tactics.

Don’t know what to put in your email newsletters? HubSpot picked 17 examples they think are awesome.

Facebook rapidly revamped & expanded its video chat option to compete with Zoom & Houseparty, called Messenger Rooms. Note that “Room calls are not end-to-end encrypted, but Facebook says it does not view or listen to calls.” The are also working on the ability to charge people to watch live streams.

Twitter had a good first quarter but the stock still fell because it does not look like they are recovering from the pandemic effects very quickly.

ONLINE ADVERTISING (SEARCH ENGINES, SOCIAL MEDIA, & OTHERS)

As mentioned in my last edition, Google Shopping is now offering free listings on its US platform, and rolled out a bit early for some even though the start date was given as April 27. Your Etsy listings will not be shown in the free ads if you opt out of Etsy’s Offsite Ads program, and you are not allowed to add marketplace listings to GS yourself, but this may be something you are interested in for your website, if you sell to the US. Some tips on setting up Merchant accounts correctly for this here and here, and optimizing your listings here. If your standalone is on Shopify, they have instructions here.

As ad prices are dropping for some items on some platforms, it has become easier for small businesses to start campaigns, especially experienced online sellers who can now take advantage of the ecommerce boom. [I agree with this for the right types of items or service, but I don’t think it is going to work for everything.]

New to online advertising, and don’t know where to start? HubSpot has a good introductory overview here, with details on the main options available.

Google is offering ad credits to small & medium sized businesses as pandemic relief, starting in late May. Note that you need to have been running ads last year with Google to be eligible. .

Google Ad users will soon need to submit proof of identity & location, starting with US users. The move is to help prevent scammers and increase transparency. Early response to the announcement is mixed.

Facebook is no longer forcing advertisers to use its Campaign Budget Optimization, meaning businesses will continue to be able to set different budgets across all of their campaigns.

STATS, DATA, OTHER TRACKING

If you have an ecommerce site built with Wordpress, here’s how to track your email newsletter clicks through Google Analytics.

And for your ecommerce site, the best alerts to set up in GA.

Bing Webmaster Tools has a great feature that tracks traffic to connected accounts other than your website or blog - but Twitter has been removed from this list.

There are far more Instagram analytics apps than I thought.

ECOMMERCE NEWS, IDEAS, TRENDS

Many ecommerce platforms/website providers are being pressured to reduce the fake COVID-19 disinfectants on their sites, including eBay, Facebook, Shopify & Alibaba.

There is a new app that lets buyers shop with multiple businesses who run their sites through Shopify, called Shop. Among other things, it will feature businesses local to the user: “A recent survey of global consumers by Ernst & Young found that 34% of respondents are willing to pay more for local products amid the pandemic.”

Shopify’s stock is flying high right now, and it has become the second-most valuable company in Canada, in part due to the surge of sign ups after the start of the pandemic.

Since page loading speed is important to buyer conversions as well as SEO, if you have a Shopify site, you will want to read about which themes are the fastest & slowest to load. A few are ridiculously slow, & you will want to consider your goals if you are thinking of using them.

Jeff Bezos has moved back to managing Amazon operations due to the pandemic. “Bezos was also personally involved in Amazon’s decision to suspend third-party vendors from shipping non-essential items to Amazon’s warehouses, helping ease the load on workers so that they could more efficiently ship goods like baby products, groceries, pet supplies and personal care products. He also signed off on Amazon’s move to halt tactics it normally uses “to encourage customers to put more items in their shopping carts”.

Meanwhile, Amazon VP states that Amazon has done a lot for sellers during the pandemic, including suspending “repayment of all Amazon Lending loans for sellers in the United States and the United Kingdom until April 30.” I guess that is why their profit fell to only $2.5 billion in the first quarter of 2020 despite their gross sales being up 29% due to the pandemic buying.

Amazon’s pilot program for verifying new sellers by video calls is continuing; contrary to previous reports, they say they are not using facial-recognition technology, but they are checking photo ID against the video call.

eBay has extended its suspension of most seller performance standard rules until June 19 for sellers in the UK. They are also extending their free listing offers, and after banning mask sales are now apparently envying Etsy’s sales and are encouraging sellers to make fabric masks.They are also planning a way to confirm sales that involve local pickups [podcast & transcript].

eBay had lower 1st quarter results than they & others had predicted, so the stock went down. Here is the call transcript for those interested.

BUSINESS & CONSUMER STUDIES, STATS & REPORTS; SOCIOLOGY & PSYCHOLOGY, CUSTOMER SERVICE

The pandemic sales trends have switched from hoarding essentials to food & home comfort items. “As spring eased toward summer, cooking at home also began to include gardening. "We see continued growth in gardening," said Ventry. ... Growing herbs, he said, played well with the home cooking trend, too. "We saw similar trends from 2008 to 2010, during the recession."

Ecommerce sales are way up, perhaps 50% up in the US right now, and some of these people will continue their increased online shopping, so it is a good time to launch many types of new campaigns. (warnings - some “not safe for work” language)

HubSpot has been producing a weekly pandemic report on its customers core business stats, such as website traffic & sales rates. They speculate that we might be seeing a bit of an overall recovery as of last week.

MISCELLANEOUS

There are still more good work-from-home articles coming out that can also be relevant for those of us who have been doing this for a while now. Using a schedule to be more productive is a common topic. As is managing to be productive with kids around.

#SEO #search engine marketing #EtsyNews #statistics #Ecommerce #smallbiz #Onlinemarketing

1 note · View note

codezclub · 7 years

Text

C Program to implement BFS Algorithm for Connected Graph

BFS Algorithm for Connected Graph Write a C Program to implement BFS Algorithm for Connected Graph. Here’s simple Program for traversing a directed graph through Breadth First Search(BFS), visiting only those vertices that are reachable from start vertex. Breadth First Search (BFS) BFS is a traversing algorithm where you should start traversing from a selected node (source or starting node) and…

View On WordPress

0 notes

incarnateirony · 6 years

Text

“Stay in your lane.”

What fucking lane? This shit is a vat of crazy.

I literally just tried to map this shit out. It’s not exactly 100% scientific but.

Look I was just fucking around on paint so it’s not pretty, but if anybody seriously wants to do something similar now that you have ways to wrap your braincase around it, go all out.

I’d add that anyone within the TFW positive line can be a multishipper and may or may not also ship Destiel, but people hanging in that breakout bubble do adopt the anti rhetoric as mentioned and sort of want All Ships Treated Identically. For reasons that we’ll pretend basically have to do with being pulled into its orbit of dialogue without realizing it. Some “non shipper” zones might also have multi shippers sprinkled in there, but the shamey narrative seems to vanish once outside of the Wincest sphere.

But my point is, fam, this place is an entire warehouse full of landmines with overlapping vectors even within your own friend group. For example,

I would be in the “Sam Knew” zone: I’m Sam centric, but trying to be about 10,000 miles removed from the Wincest and Tinhat sectors, which gives me a very small playing area in reality. But oddly it’s one of the more center ground areas on the grid. True-Bibro adjacent before we start getting absorbed by the wanky Tinhat Zone. But in the Wayward and Destiel pool.

But because of my placement, I end up with, say, heavy overlap from the Cas sphere, and I tend to be one mutual over from “No Cas no care”. Or I’ll have strong Wayward fans as mutuals, which can put me one mutual out from CakeWoke. Or I have strong Dean focused Destiel Positive or shipping friends that put me one mutual out from extreme Dean fans.

There are no lanes, there’s just a crazy cobweb of spheres thrown into each other.

You’ll notice I pulled Sam’s sphere a little further out than the others, because of the push caused by the Tinhat Wincest vector, which makes it a little harder to float in the inclusive zone.

I’ll also leave a subnote that once you start entering single character stans outside of the TFW zone we start tilting into extreme sectors, but also some less EXTREME X FANS and the vicinity of actor fans which overlap back in.

I’ll also add a few prisms of Destiel feelings from what I gather in the lanes

Red being “generally positive and accepting”, white being “pretty solidly invested” and the other sphere labels already speaking for themselves.

I also had trouble mapping out where Cockles is since it seems to have saturated through a lot of non-anti areas almost at random. Like sure fam it’s mostly in the core Destiel aisles but I’ve seen it as far out as Wayward or any character branches or even just general TFW lanes.

Yes, this is largely anecdotal, but it’s not some “I had a few friends that said,” as much as “I’ve been watching dozens of thousands of people in this fandom for a long assed time and could probably name at least 5,000 accounts off the top of my head at this point” based on where I see them falling. Trying to make a color scaled chart like this manifest on a census would be fucking insanity.

But that one little super outlying sphere center-right is the one always telling itself that it rivals the center TFW positive or Destiel positive zones

And in reality this is more of what we see.

lmao tell me I’m wrong

Seriously though the “canon Destiel” is more of a crown of people that are there almost exclusively for it (hence being outside the TFW ring), whereas “people who see it strongly supported in canon but aren’t just here to grind on that alone” are more like in this egg

The adjacent zones are more “positive”, they don’t hate on shippers, enjoy the content, kinda-sorta see/understand but don’t feel it’s going anywhere but wouldn’t care if it did. You know the people. Pleasant Nonshippers that support people in the red egg.

Tell me I’m wrong while they brag up blocking 5,000-8,000 accounts and still manage to miss major Destiel fans like tink.

Update: people keep asking me for accessory things like “What about give Sam a Romance That Doesn’t Die”

Red: “Give Sam A-” casual. This can be Give Sam A Girlfriend, Give Sam a Dog, Give Sam a Velma, just GIVE SAM A *SOME FUCKING THING*

Black: Self explanatory

A FEW MORE CHART NOTES

I didn’t really give Jack a sphere because we don’t have a huge swath of JACK ONLIES, and he’s more dead center in the TFW zone, in a smaller ring, and can be shared across to almost any duo.

Lucifer/Pellegrino is sort of a free agent drifting around, a microcosm unto itself, with many external fandom influences I’m not gonna wank up this post with but can bubble into a few spheres on occasion.

I’ve not really seen, say, Rowena Onlies or Gabe Onlies beyond a fluke of each. If you’re fans of those, they tend to fall under the TFW sphere, as it’s also a general audience that loves most/everything sphere.

And even then most of these can be put into the chart.

Example: A Gabe fan that doesn’t like 99% of things, isn’t a Destiel fan, but is into Sabriel as a connection, be it platonic or romantic, would gravitate into Sam sphere, outside of TFW sphere

Regarding the absence of Megstiel: At the risk of pissing off that part of the fandom, I didn’t see it worth trying to vector into the chart. Some true Megstiel fans have even noticed and called out the number of people from the Tinhat Zone that come in and fake ship it just to cause horse shit. They would have a node, in the Cas zone, half in and half out of the TFW zone, likely settled largely in the same zone as “nonshipper Cas fans”. Rachel has a huge fanbase but Meg not so much considering how long she’s been gone and there’s really no way to reasonably vector that in. Once the faux shipping self-conflicting tinhats pretending to ship it get removed, it’s a small ship that mostly minds its own business aside from the ones that unknowingly bite the tinhat wank bait and feed into those narratives that have started to saturate it. Otherwise it would have to be sphered at both completely conflicting ends of the chart.

I mean. Y’all. Sabriel fandom is considered small and has over 11,000 fics on Ao3. Megstiel has 1,100. A viral Megstiel post gets maybe 100 notes. Like. This isn’t intended as shade, it’s just reality. A vector place outside of "half in Cas sphere, half in nonshipper Cas TFW sphere” as a blip is almost impossible once you remove the tinhats that argue points that simultaneously drags Megstiel.

Yes some people also multiship Megstiel too, but not many. That might ride closer to the Destiel line then, but it’s still very cas-line-centric.

Like let’s not try to play the game where everything is equal in volume just to make everybody feel better. If you have a few working brain cells, Destiel is the ship that’s freaking everywhere in this fandom whether you like it or not. Then the next biggest, which is still a fraction of performance on everything from presence, social trends, or fanfiction creation despite a many-year running head-start would be Wincest, then after that there’s a number of others, with shrinking presence much less expectation.

Those generally fall into bigger lanes. As Megstiel, or addressed various zones Sabriel might fall. Not all Sabriel is anti Destiel -- that was just an idea if someone was an outlier looking for where they fall. In fact, Destiel is the highest overlap hashtag with Sabriel when you pull Sabriel’s numbers. And so on.

Being Destiel doesn’t mean you only want Destiel. Hell, as shown by the chart, there’s plenty of Wincest multishippers in multiple lanes. But trying to graph in everyone’s special snowflake bubbles would be insanity.

Generally my reason for doing this is that there’s always the “NOT ALL BLAHHHHHHHHHHHHH” argument and, no shit sherlock, we know. This isn’t a fandom of lanes. It’s a ridiculous vector overlap chart that probably would need to go 3D to catch a proper model of what’s really fucking going on.

#supernatural #fandom #mine

98 notes · View notes

kaelin-bct-blog · 5 years

Text

Data Objects - First Attempts Within the Group

As I have not posted in quite a while, I shall be making one very long post in relation to the Data Objects assessment. So please bear with me while I do my best to explain my thought and iteration process.

First of all I would like to address my perception of this assignment. I have really struggled to DO anything with it as it has taken weeks for me to come to any kind of real understanding of what we are doing and why we are doing it. The introduction to this assessment was pretty vague and trying to find examples of Data Objects proved pretty pointless as there seems to be a lack of them out there in the world. Perhaps I simply did not look in the right places, but this made me even more uneasy about the project and it's lack of solid direction or ‘rules’ so to speak. Furthermore, the examples provided to us in the briefing seem to me to simply be reinterpretations and physical representations of graphs and various other methods of viewing data (which are fundamentally better for visualizing and communicating this kind of information). For the past three weeks the old adage, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” has been popping into my head. Why try to reinvent a more complex, less efficient method of interacting with data? The whole thing comes across as a bit of a ‘You obviously don’t understand ART my dear’ gallery owner, who then turns around wafting some awful perfume into your face and flouncing out of the room. Again, maybe that's just me seeing it through my own filters. Regardless of how I feel about it I must press on, quietly suffocating my frustration and annoyance with a pillow of anxiety as the due date draws ever closer.

Initially, my Data Object (DO) when I was working solo was oriented around video gaming. Specifically I was interested in the differences between male and female gamers when it came to the reasons they played video games. I found a data set that looked at the primary drivers for male and female players (exploration, destruction, competition, etc) and started to think of an object that might suit such a set. After speaking with several people in the class there was the suggestion of dice, and I figured this fit in with the data set nicely. I set out making a ten-sided die that had different symbols on it, each one a representation of a primary drive for male or female gamers. The idea behind this was to create an object that would change how you approach video games, by using the die before playing something it would dictate whether you played the game with a focus on exploration, or on competition, etc. This I tested on games ranging from things like Batman: Arkham Knight and The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim which tend to be more open-ended in terms of player approach, to see if the DO did indeed change how I was playing and experiencing these games. In something like Skyrim it's very easy to see how focusing on exploration rather than destruction can very much alter the experience, but it becomes difficult to find elements such as community or competition seeing as it's a single player experience. After talking with Charles about ways in which to test the DO he suggested something like Minecraft as this has online play with community servers focused in different aspects of play (such as community building servers, or player versus player environments). Unfortunately I did not get an opportunity to test the object using this game as we had started the group phase.

I joined a group comprising of Callum Healey, Gohanne Galletes, Jarem Cabamongan, Khai Gan, Alyssa Kerrigan and Liam O’Reilly-Givert. Together we wanted to bring a mixture of people interested in technology, diet and fashion to see if we could make something truly unique. After much discussion we ran through a few ideas on how to combine our interests and talents. We discussed interactive fashion, or the idea of combining digital tech like LED displays to show information relevant to our data sets. There was even discussion about placing a clock on a shirt and seeing if we could somehow use that as almost a sort of pie chart. Or using the fabric of the shirt itself as a way to show different data. After struggling to find a connection between our interests we did some brainstorming, and after writing down all the key aspects of what we were looking to dissect we saw the underlying theme that we all agreed on, consumerism. Through consumerism we could touch on the fashion industry, fast food and diet (and there for things like BMI which was what Liam had been hoping to focus on) as well as technology and the role it plays in consumerism in the modern day. This seemed like a great way to have everyone in our rather large group of seven focusing on a singular theme in order to work on something as a unit.

We then needed to find a method of communicating our data as well as specific data sets related to consumerism as it manifested in those three spheres (technology, fast food and fashion). We decided to focus on a garment of some kind, as we believed it would give us a fair amount of creative breathing room so to speak.

In order to simply get started we used a dataset that had already been used by a team member for their original DO (Jarem). This was to do with technology usage in teens. This is where we started going back to ideas surrounding the shirt with a clock on it, or different fabrics to represent different parts of the data. My issue with this stage was the relevance of the data set to consumerism. It seemed there was a general panic involving this project and how little anyone seemed to understand it, so the reaction was to try and make something as fast as possible regardless of its relevance. While members of our group discussed these aspects I started brainstorming other ideas, with a heavy focus on interactivity. I realized that if we could make something that causes someone to have to interact with our DO it may do a better job of communicating the data set, or at least making it more interesting and memorable. I had a few ideas surrounding things like the use of temperature to communicate data, there was even the concept of creating our own data set using the graphs and info that most OS on peoples smartphones now record in relation to app usage. For example on Android you can go into your phone information and see the amount of time you spend on specific applications. Although it wasn’t a bad idea it again did not seem to connect very strongly with our desired focus on consumerism.

We were still struggling to gain traction on this project, so I decided to create a Statement of Intent in order to give us a better idea of what we wanted to achieve. Something we could compare our ideas to and make sure they were falling in line, so as to retain focus and direction. (PIC OF STATEMENT NOTES HERE). After breaking down the main components of what we all wanted to focus on I managed to come up with this.

“Our intent is to use a DO to communicate the harmful impact if fast paced consumerism on both the planet and ourselves as a species. In specific, consumerism as represented by the fast food and fast fashion industries, as well as the effects of modern technology on us socially, physiologically and/or mentally.”

#ctec501 #dataobjects

1 note · View note

zukalations · 6 years

Text

ESPECIAL TIME: As you like it - Ayanagi Shou and Miya Rurika

ESPECIAL TIME is a long-running invitation talk feature in GRAPH, where one sienne is given the opportunity to invite someone else.

Ayanagi Shou’s feature, where she invited Miya Rurika, was published in the February 2018 issue.

There is also an outtake from the feature that was printed in the back of the magazine.

ESPECIAL TIME: As you like it - Ayanagi Shou and Miya Rurika

Miya: Thank you for inviting me today!

Ayanagi: No, no, thank you!

Miya: I’m really honored. This came as such a surprise…

Ayanagi: A while back, for a different assignment, I had a chance to request someone to do a talk with, so I really struggled over whether to ask you, Miya-san. We had talked a little bit in the green room and during the TCA Special, but…

Miya: (listening to Ayanagi’s accent) Oh? You’re from Kansai!

Ayanagi: Yes, I am. Did it slip out? (laughs)

Miya: Yes, but you don’t really look like you’re from Kansai. Ah, sorry, go ahead!

Ayanagi: (laughs) I have the impression of Miya-san as a ‘cool beauty’ type.

Miya: Ahaha (laughs)

Ayanagi: Therefore, at the time, I thought ‘I would be so nervous if I had to talk one-on-one with her!’ and gave up on the idea. But the next day, I heard that Miya-san had also put my name on your list of potential guests, and that made me really happy. So when I was given this talk feature, even though I was a little scared…

Miya: (bursts out laughing)

Ayanagi: I gathered my courage and requested you as my guest!

Miya: Thank you, I’m really happy. Of course, since we’re in different troupes, even though we’ll chat briefly if we end up going to a show at the same time, or if we run into each other in the hallways of the rehearsal space, but we don’t really know much about each other’s ways of thinking and such.

Ayanagi: Exactly.

Miya: We’ve had chances to talk once in a while, but I think the first time must have been when you were assigned the role of Mercutio (main cast: Sagiri Seina) in the shinjin kouen of Romeo et Juliette. We definitely talked about something. But it was so long ago I’ve totally forgotten!

Ayanagi: (laughs) I remember Miya-san speaking to me when I was ken-1 or -2. You had come to the rehearsal room to talk to your classmate Renjou (Makoto)-san, and when I passed through you said something like ‘Oh, that girl’s so pretty~’!

Miya: Did I!?

Ayanagi: I was so surprised that Miya-san would say something like that about me that I went over to you without even thinking about it (laughs)!

Miya: (laughs) Right, I always thought of you as being really pretty. Therefore, when the gossip that ‘Ayanagi Shou is going to be Mercutio!’ reached me, I was so happy. ‘She’ll be so beautiful!’ I said (laughs).

Ayanagi: No way, no (laughs).

Miya: I wasn’t able to see that shinjin kouen, so I ended up devouring the stage photos that were published in GRAPH and Kageki.

Ayanagi: Ehhhh~ (laughs). After that, you played Mercutio too, in Moon Troupe. And also Bernard from The Rose of Versailles.

Miya: Right, right. We’ve played the same roles which gives us a bit of a connection.

Ayanagi: Right now, in A Passage Through the Light: Revolutionary Maximilen Robespierre, I’m playing a female role. I thought the female roles Miya-san has played up until now were very beautiful and fascinating, so I thought that this might be a good opportunity to talk about that.

Miya: But this isn’t your first time, is it?

Ayanagi: I did [a female role] once in Nijinsky…

Miya: Ah, I saw that on DVD! You were so pretty. How was it? I think it comes with a sort of complicated feeling that only otokoyaku playing female roles can understand. Therefore, I ended up wondering what your mental state was for this role. After all, for the first show of the New Moon Troupe, La Legende du Roi Arthur, I ended up playing a witch (laughs).

Ayanagi: Ah, that was so amazing~

Miya: It was at a time when the troupe was being reformed, and I was also dealing with feeling like I had to renew myself… Looking back on it now, there was a lot of value to it, and I learned a lot, but it was a bit disconcerting for a moment (laughs). Shou-chan, you’re also doing it for Daimon’s (Nozomi’s) debut show, so how does that feel?

Ayanagi: My last show was the national tour, Nozomi-san’s pre-debut. During that time, I felt ‘Being an otokoyaku is so fun!’ once again really strongly, and I was thinking ‘I’m going to go for it in the next Grand Theatre show too!’, so at the start I was rather conflicted about it.

Miya: Ah, that’s understandable.

Ayanagi: But my role in this show is that of a strong-willed woman who can be on an equal footing with any of the men. I can use some aspects of being an otokoyaku in that as well, so I felt ‘if I’m doing this I should make the best of it!’ and now I am having a lot of fun.

Miya: See, there’s a lot of meaning when an otokoyaku plays a female role. Sorry, I haven’t actually seen the show yet so I just have to imagine (laughs).

Ayanagi: (laughs)

Miya: I’ve played female roles about 4 times now, so that’s always been something that encourages me. But now that it’s like the 4th time, it sort of feels like a party trick and I find it really fun (laughs).

Ayanagi: A party trick! (laughs)

Miya: But it really widens your horizons, right? I’m the sort of person who feels like doing pretty-boy roles all the time is a bit boring, and a while back when Shou-chan played Takeda Kanryuu in Rurouni Kenshin I felt like you really came alive in that role. I thought ‘from now on she’s going to keep broadening her outlook and become a really interesting performer’.

Ayanagi: Takeda Kanryuu was definitely from a totally different category than any other role I had ever played. At first I couldn’t even picture myself doing it, but once the curtain went up on the first day I started to have more and more fun with it.

Miya: There’s the reaction from the audience, too.

Ayanagi: Right, I suppose I was swept along by that a bit, too. So I came to really like playing that role. I think this time around I’m also picking up new skills that will be useful later.

Ayanagi: Recently, when we were both in the TCA Special, you told me “you don’t have to fuss over me so much”...

Miya: Oh, I did, I did! We were always standing right next to each other, right. So we were always chatting during rehearsals, and even when we were getting to standby for the real performance, I knew that as long as I was next to Shou-chan I’d be in the right place (laughs).

Ayanagi: (laughs)

Miya: I’m really bad at getting places and times right, you see (laughs). But really, you were so attentive to me! Even if I was just making a casual remark you’d make sure it was clear ‘I’m listening!’ and you’d ask “Are you okay if I’m standing in this spot?”

Ayanagi: Was I really?

Miya: Yeah. Didn’t you think so?

Ayanagi: No~ I didn’t really notice…

Miya: I’m not saying it’s a bad thing, of course, but when you’re there at such an amazing event I wouldn’t want you to spend your time fussing over me just because I’m your senior. It would ruin the fun during the show, I thought.

Ayanagi: Ah~

Miya: I used to be like that a long time ago. My classmates would be in front giving it their all and I’d be holding myself back behind them, like, ‘is it ok if I just dance over here?’. But now I feel like that was a bit of a waste so I regret doing that, and I wouldn’t want you to do that either. Besides, aren’t you pretty senior yourself now?

Ayanagi: That’s true. So now I’m just stressed out internally. I’m not the type of person to be able to keep everyone else in line, you see…

Miya: Is that so! Even though you’re so precise about everything?

Ayanagi: I really struggle. I don’t have confidence in myself, so I can’t say anything to the junior actresses…

Miya: I also used to be really bad with that. After all, I’m so bad at keeping track of things that I had to rely on Shou-chan to end up in the right place in rehearsals (laughs).

Ayanagi: Now, now (laughs).

Miya: So how am I supposed to know what everyone else is supposed to be doing, you know? (laughs) So in situations where I’m the most senior member in a particular scene they’ll tell me to get everyone in order, but I don’t have my own placing and choreography down (laughs).

Ayanagi: I know that feeling (laughs).

Miya: So I have to get in to the midset of ‘I’m the most senior here, so I’ll put aside everything about myself and say what I have to say!’

Ayanagi: I see. Whenever I state my opinion firmly, right afterwards I’ll start feeling really insecure, so I’ll end by asking the people around me “~don’t you think?” (laughs)

Miya: I get that. I’ll also be like “~and that’s what I think, you know!” and push some of the responsibility on whoever is next to me (laughs).

Ayanagi: (laughs) I always thought Miya-san would be a really forceful, determined type.

Miya: Totally opposite! As a yokasei I was the type to hide in everyone else’s shadow all the time.

Ayanagi: Me too (laughs).

Miya: But recently, when I saw Shou-chan’s scene in the national tour of “D”ramatic S!, I thought you had a completely different atmosphere from anything before.

Ayanagi: Eh~!?

Miya: When it’s a scene that you’re the center of, don’t you feel like you need to pursue something more than just technicality, and leave something behind after you leave the stage? I thought your desire to convey that was really clear, and it was really amazing.

Ayanagi: That’s so much…

Miya: I felt like you really had the strength to bring everyone along with you as well. Therefore, I hope the junior actresses will keep following your good example too.

Ayanagi: Thank you! I’ll do my best!

Ayanagi: I’ve always loved Miya-san’s fashion! When there were pictures of Miya-san published in NEW GENERATION or things like that, I’d always be like ‘I wonder where those clothes came from?’ and investigate (laughs).

Miya: (laughs)

Ayanagi: And then after that, when I was in NEW GENERATION II myself, I thought ‘I’m sure I was mimicking Miya-san!’ and so yesterday I went and compared both of them at home. And it turned out I was wearing a belt from the same brand as Miya-san’s (laughs).

Miya: (bursts out laughing) That’s so cute~ It makes me really happy to hear things like that.

Ayanagi: Are there things you reference a lot for fashion?

Miya: Recently I don’t really read magazines. I used to really try to follow fashion, but as the time went on, I started to feel like what I actually wanted to wear was something different to that. Wandering around stores without looking at any information and then wearing whatever makes me think ‘This is it!’ is what really makes my heart happiest.

Ayanagi: Makes your heart happy (laughs)

Miya: Exactly (laughs). Therefore, recently, if I go to a fashion mall, say, I’ll visit all the stores that look like they have the sort of things I might not normally wear.

Ayanagi: Hmmm~

Miya: And then I’ll make snap decisions. I don’t agonize over anything. I’ll try something on and then I’ll be like ‘Yes! I’m buying this!’ (laughs). It takes me about an hour to make it through each floor.

Ayanagi: That’s so fast!

Miya: Well, I’m not able to go shopping very often. Only once a season.

Ayanagi: What, really!?

Miya: See, Shou-chan, you can drive, right?

Ayanagi: Yes, I drive sometimes.

Miya: I don’t have a license, so it’s a big deal to go out shopping.

Ayanagi: Well then, I can drive you!

Miya: Thank you (laughs).

Ayanagi: I just want to go along (laughs). I want you to help me with outfits~

Miya: I love picking out clothes for other people too! Let’s do it!

Ayanagi: In your precious once-per-season shopping trip (laughs).

Miya: Yeah (laughs). And in return we can use your car (laughs).

Ayanagi: Leave it to me (laughs). I always feel like you’re so good at putting together a lot of different clothing pieces.

Miya: Ah~ I do like thinking about that kind of thing.

Ayanagi: I don’t understand much about doing that, so I always just copy Miya-san (laughs).

Miya: (laughs) Well, you can ask me for advice any time, even if it’s not an assignment I have anything to do with!

Ayanagi: Thank you so much! (laughs)

Miya: Takarazuka otokoyaku are a bit restricted in clothing. But if you think about it even things that look like they wouldn’t work at all can be put together with other things and look like proper otokoyaku style. So I’ll often try going into even very girly stores.

Ayanagi: Oh~

Miya: That way sometimes I’ll find really interesting accessories, or ‘boyfriend’ style clothes. Do you like clothes?

Ayanagi: I do, I go shopping a lot. But if there are too many people around…

Miya: That’s exhausting, isn’t it. I’ll just go to get tea instead (laughs).

Ayanagi: I can’t go to tea by myself.

Miya: Eh!? Then, when you’re shopping by myself what do you do!?

Ayanagi: I’ll keep walking no matter how tired I get, and then I’ll have something to drink in my car on the way home…

Miya: I’ll go to sushi by myself.

Ayanagi: Ehhhh~!?

Miya: When I think ‘I’m too hungry to go any further!’ I’ll go get sushi. (laughs)

Ayanagi: That’s so cool! I’d be so surprised to see you eating sushi alone (laughs).

Miya: I really like sushi. I’ll eat it even if I’m alone (laughs).

Ayanagi: Well, if we go out together sometime…

Miya: Let’s get sushi! Since you won’t be alone (laughs).

Ayanagi: If I’m not alone then I can go (laughs). Breakfast during the national tour was really difficult. I couldn’t bring myself to go to the hotel’s breakfast bar if I was alone (laughs).

Miya: Eh~!? But what about going to the theatre cafeteria by yourself?

Ayanagi: No way, no way (laughs).

Miya: Huh!?

Ayanagi: Not even the Sumire Kitchen*.

Miya: What! But isn’t it harder to go to the Sumire Kitchen when you’re with someone else!?

Ayanagi: It is, but still…

Miya: I see… But not even going out to tea by yourself is a real problem. Why don’t you make that your goal for this year?

Ayanagi: I guess…

Miya: This year’s goal: Solo sushi (laughs)

Ayanagi: Hey, wait, sushi is too high-level (laughs).

Miya: Alright, tea then!

Ayanagi: I’ll do my best!

Miya: That’s so surprising~ My impression during Takarazuka Special was that you were a really independent person. But I’m glad to be able to discover new sides to you.

Ayanagi: Yes! Up until now I’ve been using you as an example to follow in a lot of things, but today I was finally able to talk in-depth with you.

Miya: Yeah! That’s great!

Ayanagi: Next time I’d really like it if you could help me with putting together outfits!

Miya: We can go shopping together. If we make that a reality let’s take a picture and have it put up in GRAPH (laughs).

Ayanagi: We can get tea and go to a sushi place (laughs). Thank you so much!

Outtake:

Ayanagi: Miya-san, your cat is so cute!

Miya: It’s great to have her there when I get home exhausted after a rehearsal. It really helps me get over that.

Ayanagi: I wish I could have a dog. When I have a day off I’ll go to pet shops.

Miya: To look at them? That’s so cute~! (laughs)

Ayanagi: But if I had one, I don’t think I’d ever leave my house again…

Miya: I get the feeling. But I’ll go home early, and rehearse there. I’ll go through the whole revue all alone. In front of my cat.

Ayanagi: (laughs)

Miya: Although she’ll just react like ‘What the heck are you doing now?’ (laughs) So recently I haven’t been rehearsing very thoroughly (laughs).

* The Sumire Kitchen is a cafeteria in the Grand Theatre that is open only to Takarasiennes and OGs.

#takarazuka #article translation #sienne: ayanagi shou #sienne: miya rurika

50 notes · View notes