#there isnt' a lot of research done on this particular topic

[grinchwrapsupreme]

sitting here scanning through research papers about thymomas trying to figure out if Wilson could have had cancer the entire series because i’ve got problems

the answer is yes by the way

[arromantica-lucha]

i got a lot of thoughts about loveless by alice oseman and if this post seems very one sided well thats just how it read to me. my opinion isnt the end-all and i value how everyone interpreted and was affected by this book. this isnt a closed topic lets talk about it

gripes with loveless by alice oseman

took a while to actually explain that ace and aro are two separate identities and still not that well. it makes aro seem like a subset of ace which is entirely false. its cool there was an aroallo character involved but still

the book title 'loveless' is a real term and identity and the entirety of the book kinda shits on it by enforcing the ideal that its still okay to be aspec cause platonic love can be experienced and any type of love is required or at least better than "not feeling anything and being alone forever"

it was weird for her friends to forgive her over gestures that had nothing to do with apologizing before georgia actually apologized and explained but that may just be more of a personal thing that i didnt like. likewise the story being about platonic love it kinda sucks her deepest connection is with her roommate and not the people shes known for years and wronged

kinda sex negative. i mean rooney says she doesnt dislike casual sex but then that whole thing becomes the reason she hates herself and a reason to cope with being "unloveable" and its kinda lame. you can tell that story without making it seem like casual sex is just a means of devaluing yourself. and you can be sex repulsed and still not do that. it just feels unfair to aroallo people especially who are told they are monsters for enjoying and only wanting casual sex when this book is supposed to be about aromanticism too

(can we also be done with harry potter references??? lets stop hurting trans and jewish people thanks)

basically particular identities' stories shouldnt come at the expense of others and other ways of life. its great and important to write different experiences because no one is gonna relate to them all but no one has to replace romantic love with ANY type of love to feel good about themselves and be human. loveless and aplatonic people shouldnt have to read something that uses rhetoric against their identities within a book about aspec people

things i like about loveless

i didnt relate to it personally but the experiences felt very genuine. internalized aphobia, being hounded by aphobic comments, finding it hard to portray love even in a fictional or artistic sense, etc.

I appreciate the references to race and intersectionality that come with being queer even if they were minimal. so few times is it actually acknowledged that there is privilege when it comes to being understood, coming out, being accepted, etc. the references to that were nice to see because too often intersectionality being brought up is brushed off and blatantly ignored or people pretend like they understand

it was written by someone who is aroace even if there are some things that can be less isolating within the aspec community with the language being used. someone being open about their identities and how they choose to define them in the mainstream world is how we get more peoples voices in there

it has helped people discover their own identity though id still recommend further research on the actual identities being named and ones not named. these stories are the first introduction of aspec identities in mainstream and that hopefully means itll start to expand to other identities within that community that have not yet had representation

this should be the start of developing more rep. the first takes are not gonna represent everyone and its a good thing it exists to tell a few peoples story. but that doesnt mean it should be free from any criticism because thats how we make them continuously better. i hope to see an aroallo character soon. i want the term loveless to be properly used in media and expressed for what it is. i want to stop pretending like ace is the umbrella term for all aspec identities. i want amatonormativity explained as the sociological term it is that harms all life not just aromantic and polyamorous people. i want a polyam aspec character and polyam characters in general. i want disabled and ethnic aspec characters where the intersectionality is just as important to the narrative. i want a whole lot more and to stop prentending like any of that should be unreasonable

[dirk-has-rabies]

Gender variance and it's link with neurodivergency

Okay so this is it going to be another long one

All quotes will be sourced with a link to the scientific journal I took it from

Okay Tumblr, let's talk gender (I know, your favorite topic) my preface on why this topic matters to me is: I'm autistic ( diagnosed moderate to severe autism) I'm nonbinary trans ( in a way that most non-autistic people don't understand and actually look down on)  and I went to college for gender study ( Mostly for intersex studies but a lot of my research was around non-binary and trans identities) I will be using the term autism as pants when I have experience with however when ADHD is part of the study I will use ND which stands for neurodivergent and yes this is going to be about xenogenders and neopronouns.

autism can affect gender the same way autism can affect literally every part of an identity. a big thing about having autism is the fact that it completely can change how you view personhood and time and object permanence and gender and literally all types of socially constructed ideas. let me also say hear that just because Society creates and enforces an idea does it mean that it doesn't exist to all people it just me that there is no nature law saying that it's real and the “rules” for these ideas can change and delete and create as time and Society evolves and changes.  gender is one of those constructs.

Now I'll take it by you reading this you know what transgender people are  (if you don't understand what a trans person is send me an ask and I'll type you up a pretty little essay lmao,  or Google it but that's a scary thought sense literally any Source or website can come up on Google including biased websites so be careful I guess LOL) anyway to be super basic trans people are anyone who doesn't identify as the gender they were assigned at Birth (yes that includes non-binary people I could do a whole nother essay about that shit how y'all keep spreading trying to separate non-binary people from the trans umbrella)  some people don't like to use the label and that is totally fine by the way.

now autistic people to view the world in a way differently than allistic (neurotypical) ppl do.  we don't take everything people teach us at 100% fact and we tend to question everything and demand proof and evidence for things before we can set it as a fact in our brains. This leads to why a lot of autistic people are atheist (although a lot of religions and this is not bashing on religious people at all I am actually a Jewish convert)  this questioning leads to a lot of social constructs being ignored or not understood At All by a lot of autistic people and personally I think that's a good thing.  allistics take everything their parents and teachers and schools teach them as fact until someone else says something and then they pick which ones to believe. autistic people study and research and learn about a topic before forming an opinion and while this may lead to them studying and believing very biased material and spitting it out as fact it can also lead them to try and Discover it is real by themselves.

because of this autistic people are more question their gender or not fall in a binary way at all as the concept of gender makes no sense to a lot of us. “ if gender is a construct then autistic people who are less aware of social norms are less likely to develop a typical gender identity”

no really look: “ children and teens with autism spectrum disorder ASD or Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder ADHD  are much more likely to express a wish to be the opposite sex compared with their typical developing peers” That was posted in 2014. we have been saying this stuff forever but no one wants to listen. the thing is gender variance (being not cisgender or at least questioning it)  has always been closely hand-in-hand with autistic and ADHD people I'm even the doctor who did that study understood right away that it all made sense the whole time: “ Dr. Strang said they were initially surprised to find an overrepresentation of gender variance among children with ADHD. However, they later realized that prior studies have shown increased levels of disruptive behavior and other behavioral problems among young people with gender variance”  SEE YOURE NOT WEIRD YOURE JUST YOU AND YOURE NOT ALONE IN THIS!!

5% autistic people who did the study were trans or questioning. it was also equal between the Sexes fun fact. that may not seem like a lot till you realize that the national average is only .7% that's literally over 700% higher than the national average. That's so many! and that's just in America.

 in Holland there was a study in 2010 “ nearly 8% of the more than 200 Children and adolescents referred to a clinic for gender dysphoria also came up positive on a assessment for ASD” they weren't even testing for ADHD so the numbers could be even higher!

now I want to talk about a  certain section of the trans umbrella that a lot of autistic people fall under called the non-binary umbrella. non-binary means anything that isn't just male or just female. it is not one third gender and non-binary doesn't mean that you don't have a gender. just clearing that up since cis people keep spreading that. non-binary is an umbrella term for any of the infinite genders you could use or create. now this is where I'm going to lose a bunch of you and that's okay because you don't have to understand our brains or emotions To respect us as real people. not many allistics can understand how we see and think and relate to things and that's okay you don't have to understand everything but just reading about this could be so much closer to respecting us for Who We Are from you've ever been and that's better than being against us just for existing.

now you might have heard of my Mutual Lars who was harassed  by transmeds for using the term Autigender (I was going to link them but if it gets traction I don't want them to get any hate)  since a lot of people roll their eyes at that  and treated them disgustingly for using a term that 100% applied correctly.  Autigender  is described as " a neurogender which can only be understood in the context of being autistic or when one's autism greatly affects one's gender or how one experiences gender. Autigender is not autism as a gender, but rather is a gender that is so heavily influenced by autism that one's autism and one's experience of gender cannot be unlinked.” Now tell me that doesn't sound a lot like this entire essay I've been working on with full sources…..

xenogenders and neopronouns are a big argument point on whether or not people “believe” in non binary genders but a big part of those genders is that they originated from ND communities and are ways that we can try to describe what gender means us in a way that cis or even allistic trans people just can't comprehend or ever understand. Same with MOGAI genders or sexualities. A lot of these are created as a way to somehow describe an indescribable relationship with gender that is so personal you really cant explain it to anyone who isnt literally the same as you.

Even in studies done with trans autistic people a large amount of them dont even fall on a yes or no of having a gender at all and fall in some weird inbetween where you KINDA have a gender but its not a gender in the sense that others say it is but its also too much of a gender so say youre agender. And this is the kind of stuff that confuses allistic trans people and makes them think nonbinary genders are making stuff up for attention, which isnt true at all we just cant explain what it feels like to BE a trans autistic person to anyone who doesnt ALREADY know how it feels.

In this study out of the ppl questioned almost HALF of the autistic trans individuals had a “Sense of identity revolving around interests” meaning their gender and identity was more based off what they liked rather than boy or girl. That makes ppl with stuff like vampgender or pupgender make a lot more sense now doesnt it? We see that even in the study: “My sense of identity is fluid, just as my sense of gender is fluid […] The only constant identity that runs through my life as a thread is ‘dancer.’ This is more important to me than gender, name or any other identifying features… even more important than mother. I wouldn't admit that in the NT world as when I have, I have been corrected (after all Mother is supposed to be my primary identification, right?!) but I feel that I can admit that here. (Taylor)” and an agreement from another saying “Mine is Artist. Thank you, Taylor. (Jessie)” now dont you think if they grew up with terms like artistgender or dancergender they would just YOINK those up right away????

In fact “An absence of a sense of gender or being unsure of how their gender should “feel” was another common report” because as ive said before in this post AUTISTIC PEOPLE DONT SEE GENDER THE WAY ALLISTIC PEOPLE SEE IT. therefore we wont use the same terms or have the same identities nor could we explain it to anyone who doesnt already understand or question the same way! Participants even offered up quotes such as “As a child and even now, I don't ‘feel’ like a gender, I feel like myself and for the most part I am constantly trying to figure out what that means for me (Betty)” and also “I don't feel like a particular gender I'm not even sure what a gender should feel like (Helen)”

Now i know this isnt going to change everyones minds on this stuff but i can only hope that it at least helped people feel like theyre not broken and not alone in their feelings about this. You dont have to follow allistic rules. You dont have to stop searching inside for who you really wanna be. And you dont have to pick or choose terms forever because just as you grow and evolve so may your terms. Its okay to not know what or who you are and its okay to identify as nonhuman things or as your interests because what you love and what you do is a big part of who you are and shapes you everyday. Its not a bad thing! Just please everyone, treat ppl with respect and if you dont understand something that doesnt make it bad or wrong it just means its not for you. And thats okay.

[the-necessary-unnecessary]

This might be a weird question but how do professional female athletes deal with their periods? I know every women is different so some might not find their period to be a problem but what about those who have bad cramps and other symptoms? Does the coach keep track of players’ periods and play them accordingly? I heard that during important competitions some delay their periods on purpose, is that healthy in the long run?

This isn't weird at all, in fact it's a very interesting topic which is neither discussed or researched about enough! Different athletes in different sports suffer varying consequences of periods. High demand sports which start at a very young age and demand your body to stay 'child-like' much after you could have hit puberty seem to suffer the longest lasting consequences with periods either never beginning or stopping completely, with all the growth and hormone side effects this can bring with it. All types of gymnastics are notoriously worst for causing this.

But all sports, regardless of average age and physical demand, are certainly influenced by women having their periods. With this either changing the game or the sport changing period effects or sometimes both.

1) They can be a factor in the likelihood of players getting serious injuries. There have been links of ACL injuries happening around periods as, although there's not been enough research done to prove this connection, they seem to be affected by fluctuations in hormone level. Bone injuries are also more likely as oestrogen helps develop strong and dense bones. Illness likelihood also factors in here.

2) Varying Hormone levels can affect atheletes' performances with side effects like cramps, headaches, heightened emotions etc. Varying hormone levels can put athletes off their best, affecting things like biomechanics, laxity of ligaments and muscular firing patterns [source]

3) The physical consequences of periods can undoubtedly affects athletes' performances also. Cramps can render athletes unable compete/train, with a lot of other symptoms causing similair problems too.

There's still issues around how periods are monitored and over how/if alterations in how they play or train should be made

The majority of research on how female athletes should train is based on what has worked for men, which does not take into account menstrual cycles alongside other factors like physical differences, other hormonal ones etc. Leading on from this, there's also not enough research into what changes should be made to make training programmes more beneficial for women.

There's not enough education given on menstrual cycles with some saying that up to 70% of professional athletes have not received this. By flagging these issues as “normal” or having male coaching staff that are more likely to overlook such factors, one becomes more prone to the issues above. This is something that Dawn Scott in particular has tried to pioneer raised awareness in within women's football, getting experts to give teams and players educational talks about effects and methods of prevention.

In team sports like football where there can be over 25 women training at a time, it is near impossible to individualise sessions as many players may be at different stages of their cycle. This is a practical difficulty and so coaches may alter a few things but cannot map out 25 slightly different programmes per day.

Everyone is affected differently by their periods. As you said some may not be affected by monthly symptoms, but others will go through days and days of pain and very noticeable hormone variations. It's both hard to cater for and also can have massive effects on their performances.

However, there are starting to become ways to monitor periods and to try and maximise what one can get out of every player

Tracking apps. Each day an athlete may be asked to fill in an online questionnaire on an app, asking how they feel, whether they're on their period, and even stuff like the colour of their urine. This allows for daily close monitoring and for any small modifications to training eg. Not participating in more injury prone exercixes or allowing for more rest if period side effects are present. It also helps tailor diets to suit for cycle.

Pills. By tracking your period you can be clued into when you're due and so take a painkiller the day before it's supposed to start. This gets you ahead of possible symptoms like cramps and so hopefully minimises the impact of them. Also, if they're very bad, players might be more likely to be recommended to go on the contraceptive pill even if they're not likely to get pregnant since this also regulates hormone levels and stops one's period entirely (note: this has varying levels of success on different people and can play even more with hormones especially when you have to be at your peak performance level, so pills aren't always used too widely)

Education. Through raising awareness of one's menstrual cycle an athelete is more likely to not treat it as a taboo subject, becomes more receptive to voluntarily tracking and allowing her team to access the information, increases awareness over how she should look after herself to minimize the effects, and also benefits male coaching staff. This will mean they're less likely to shy away from the topic themselves and/or generally ignore the nuances of it during trainings.

Individual plans. In team sports such as football this is a lot harder to achieve, but manager Emma Hayes has been one of the pioneers to speak out about how they are doing just this at Chelsea. Again, tracking player's cycles allows one to do this. Nutrition is the easiest to individualise, but also factors like having sessions for particular things at different points in the cycle eg. taking into account that in phases 1 and 4 coordination may be lost.

All in all, it's only recently that women in sports have stopped being treated as just 'little men' and their different needs and nuances have begun to be taken into consideration. I hope some of this helped to answer your question, periods are still quite a rocky unresearched terrain so there really isnt a definite answer to a lot of period-related things. But, with the help of pioneers like the physical performance coach Dawn Scott and, in others sports, teams like Team GB Hockey who have been tracking periods since the 2012 Olympics, then slowly but surely we are making progress in this field!

[pluto-art]

- PINKY AND THE BRAIN - EXPERIMENTS -

Below the cut is a personal project on the much more morbid side. Animal lab experimentation is always something I’ve found equal parts horrible and fascinating. Once in a blue moon, I’ll do research on the subject out of curiosity and/or for storytelling purposes. Even as a kid, I found this of interest, and when watching Pinky and the Brain I was always a bit disappointed that we never saw more of what the characters actually went through in the lab during the day. Granted, there’s a reason as to why this was never shown, as a child audience had to be kept in mind, yet still I pondered about it....

Over the last few days, I’ve been churning out compositions based on internet findings -- old and new experiments that rats and mice are put through, many of them humane, some of them very much not. It was an eye-opening journey for me artistically and otherwise, discovering what I’m comfortable drawing and what I never want to sketch again, as well as learning more about this realm of the scientific world.

WARNING: SOME GRAPHIC CONTENT BELOW THE CUT. If needles, patients dealing with the effects of cancer, and general portrayals of pain bother you, I wouldn’t bother venturing onward. I not only drew out experiments that the characters might have gone through, but also describe all of my findings in detail and provide video footage to go along with it. While I didn’t go full-on vivisection or anything, some of this might still be disturbing, so I’m taking extra precaution.

All of the images below are “color-coded” and graded. The experiments start out fairly tame, then get worse... and worse... and worse. The backgrounds reflect this, going from fairly light to quite dark.

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Experiment #1 - Tail Flick Test

A fairly harmless experiment. The subject is mostly restrained, leaving only their tail exposed. An intense light beam is projected onto the exposed appendage, with the animal flicking their tail when the pain/heat becomes too much. This test is utilized in basic pain research and to measure analgesic effectiveness.

I wanted Brain to wear an expression of deep apathy -- he’s done this a million times and will probably do it a million times more. At this point, he doesn’t even care anymore.

For the background, I simply copied an environment in one of the videos I found.

Video example: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BzrA1tDTfkQ

Experiment #2 - Rotarod Performance Test

Another experiment that’s generally harmless. One or multiple subjects are placed on elevated rotating rods so as to measure such things as endurance, balance, grip strength, and more.

I imagine Pinky would enjoy this test, as he’s familiar with running on a wheel and actually enjoys more strenuous activities. Brain, on the other hand, would only participate via sheer force. He’d also be more prone to fall after a shorter period of time, getting tired faster than his cage mate.

Video example: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v56MtrmWAs0

Experiment #3 - Shot (General)

Nothing special. Just Brain about to get shot.

This is all highly exaggerated, of course. A mouse would simply be held firmly, not strapped down, for a simple injection. Also, I can’t imagine why they’d be shot in the face, although Meg told me that scientists tend to draw blood samples from a mouse’s cheek. Need to look that up. I wasn’t at all going for accuracy here, but rather how it might feel -- how scary it would be.

Experiment #4 - Sciatic Nerve Constriction

An experiment in chronic neuropathic pain, due to the central or peripheral nervous system sustaining damage. Under anesthesia, the animal’s sciatic nerve is exposed via skin incision. The connective tissue between the biceps femoris muscles and the gluteus superficialis is cut. The nerve is then loosely tied with four chrome gut ligatures so to occlude, but not arrest, blood flow. The wound is sutured, the animal is given 24 hours to recover, and then both hindpaws are tested for pain sensitivity. Sounds terrible, but it’s certainly not the worst of the experiments I researched.

I have no idea what’s going on with the coloring in this. Again, going for feel more than accuracy, but the hues are way too calm.

Information link: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22433911

Experiment #5 - Writhing Test

Particularly cruel test in which acetic acid is introduced into the system, inducing severe internal pain. The typical response includes writhing, abdominal retraction, and stretching of the hind limbs. Despite the test being withdrawn in 2004 for unethical reasons, it is still employed by some.

This was my favorite one to draw. Although the lighting and shading are not the greatest, it made for an interesting experiment. I did not intend for the lines to be so bold, but it kind of turned into an almost comic-style illustration. I ended up playing around with it a bit and like the result enough to post it.

I would not watch the video below if you are squeamish. It is difficult to swallow. On another note, you may find the “Empathetic Behavior: Emotional Contagion in Mice” section in the second link of interest. For cage mates in particular, if one or both mice were injected with the same acid, and allowed to observe one another, an injected mouse would writhe more if its partner was also in pain. I can’t help but imagine Brain and Pinky in this type of situation....

Information link #1: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3543562/

Information link #2: https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/biochemistry-genetics-and-molecular-biology/writhing-test

Video example: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ib63O4F856w

Experiment #6 - Transgenic K5ras Mouse / Nude Mouse (Combination)

Experiment in which cancer is induced in the system. Nude mice are bred for a number of tests, and are used for this one, as well.

My least favorite to draw, but my favorite to color. One particular experiment I found showed a tumor in every follicle on a mouse’s muzzle. Was trying to go for this look, albeit exacerbated.

Information link #1: https://www.cell.com/current-biology/fulltext/S0960-9822(98)70203-9?_returnURL=https%3A%2F%2Flinkinghub.elsevier.com%2Fretrieve%2Fpii%2FS0960982298702039%3Fshowall%3Dtrue

Information link #2: https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2012/08/weirdest-lab-mice/

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Bonus:

This is based on a test that I found absolutely hilarious. There’s a certain chemical, called W-18, that’s been on the drug market for... some years. The potency of it is supposedly insanely high, although this has never been proven. It’s basically a research chemical (created at a university in the 80s) with analgesic properties that were shown to be “painkillers or blockers of the painkilling effect of morphine in mice”. Mice, not humans. To quote a specific article:

“... when they first injected some of these chemicals into the animals at a dose similar to aspirin, the mice stood up for about a minute and fell over unconscious. They remained unconscious – for five days. But they weren’t dead. They were still breathing. And when they woke, they seemed fine, other than being really hungry and thirsty.”

They literally keeled over from the supposed potency of it. From what I recall, they don’t even know exactly what it was doing to their system, other than the fact that it knocked them out. I just find it funny that they were completely fine after awakening days later.

Although the pure smell of it wouldn’t cause such a reaction, I liked the idea of it in picture form and so depicted Brain simply taking a whiff before passing out.

Information link: https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidkroll/2016/04/30/w-18-the-high-potency-research-chemical-making-news-what-it-is-and-what-it-isnt/#2c45a5dd4757

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Experiments researched, but not implemented:

- Tail dipped in ice cold water (mentioned here: cold water) - Morris water maze - Porton Down nerve agent test(s) (the worst; not even sure how I’d depict this)

The Porton Down tests sounded so indescribably cruel that I simply couldn’t bear to put Brain or Pinky through either of those, much less draw them out. It was the most horrific of the experiments I found, second only to a story about a French physiologist in the 1700s/1800s who performed, I believe, vivisection on live, six-week-old puppies. There’s a limit and that’s my limit. Even the cancer-based composition above was difficult to create. I legit felt dirty drawing it.

Researching these subjects was incredibly interesting, and I came across a few articles that touched on animal experimentation and the question of whether or not it’s ethical. Should such practices continue? It’s more complicated than a simple “yes” or no” answer. Some tests are fairly harmless, whilst others border on the inhumane, and some are downright cruel. Some people say that, without testing, there would be a lot less medicine on the shelves to assist in relieving and curing our ailments, whilst others argue that 90+% of the time the testing done is unnecessary, the results yielded by the subjects dissimilar to those that would be shown by humans and, henceforth, stating that the inaccuracies are numerous. This particular article offered up what I thought was a pretty genuine and interesting debate on the matter:

Pain in Lab Animals: How Much is Too Much?

In an interview with Dr. Jeffrey Mogil, a neuroscientist, he mentions that:

“You have complete control over everything in mice. Within limits, you can do whatever you want as long as you minimize pain and suffering of the subjects.“

Full interview: https://www.integrativepainscienceinstitute.com/latest_podcast/sex-differences-in-pain-and-pain-inhibition-with-dr-jeffrey-mogil/

While many establishments do follow the Animal Welfare Act, other laboratories still implement unethical practices. Also, the rules for what constitutes as acceptable in regards to tests that can only be performed without painkillers or anesthesia administered is... nebulous.

Thankfully, there is a number of lab testing equipment on the market specifically designed to be more humane and less stress-inducing to its subjects. These restrainers, for example, allow the animal to “walk in” without having to be physically forced backwards into a container:

Restrainers

Here is another example of testing that is relatively pain-free:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4401362/

It’s simple and inexpensive while still allowing scientists to perform tests.

Below is a video showing how a type of rotarod works, one that doesn’t place the rods too high and provides a cushion underneath in case the subjects fall:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T38fDS2i13k

This tail flick analgesia meter comes installed with a cut off timer to avoid damage to the animal:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JgaStZt143o

So there are options. How often are such options utilized in the field? I have no idea, although there are laws that should be followed and, from the sound of it, generally are adhered to. Not everyone in this business is cruel. Though you do have your occasional psychopath who performs very morally questionable operations behind closed doors, I believe that this is a great exception to the rule, and that there are a lot of laboratory workers who genuinely want to inflict as little pain as possible upon the animal. Just an opinion. I don’t have tons of evidence, but it seems like most people are sane. Lol.

Most of the experiments I inflicted upon Brain because, I think, Pinky is so pure that I have a hard time imagining him sustaining any kind of extreme pain that would genuinely hurt him. Also, he borders on being freakin’ masochistic, finding pleasure in a lot of painful situations, whereas Brain does not. Brain has been through a lot, mentally and physically. It seemed more... “appropriate” to put him in these situations, as terrible as that sounds.

All of that having been said, I never want to do this kind of exercise again. While a lot of it was interesting, and some of it even fun, parts of it were legitimately painful. The cancer one.... I felt horrible....

[drkoestersmithrpg]

Iron Man And The Avengers

To say Peter had spent some time finding out what Tony Stark would be like in bed, well…

…that would be like comparing the Avengers breaking up to the breaking up of the Beatles.

Peter had gone about researching Tony Stark’s sex life the way he had gone about researching sex. (Well, to be fair, he spent a lot of time researching the latter by having actual sex with other boys, whereas he researched the former by asking questions.  Let’s just say Peter researched each with a great deal of enthusiasm.)

Natasha was, by far, the best source of information.  

Which is how Peter learned that Tony giggled during sex.

Now he lay on his back looking up at Tony’s magnificent ceiling, remembering that particular piece of information and comparing it to the actual event.  Tony was lying beside him on the bed.  Sometimes moving his hand to touch Peter’s hand, sometimes stroking a shoulder.  They spoke quietly about many random things.  They had been talking for almost an hour.  It was very calm and peaceful (also the most amount of time Peter had spent naked with another man, and he was enjoying it.)

Tony had answered multiple questions that night, questions about sex and porn and the odd things a person could learn on A03 when Peter blurted out the question.    

Tony gave him a strange look.  

“Remember how I said I had spent a lot of time researching sex?  Well I….might have spent a lot of time….researching you.”

Tony looked perturbed.

“Kid….that was a long time ago.  I was a different person back then – I mean I literally had an internal organ removed inbetween….”

“Was this, like, the ‘all 12 cover models of Maxim’ days?”  Peter asked gently, referring to an earlier topic of conversation.

Tony groaned and covered his face.  “Kid, that was a rumor.  That I planted.  I’m not saying I didn’t try, I got about 3 models in, I mean I was literally that guy.  You know…I don’t know, do you still have over-achievers in high school?  I was the overachiever of Straight White Guy. Emphasis on Straight.  

“I can’t – I can’t even explain to you what it was like.  My whole life was pretending – looking good for the cameras and posing for the covers of magazines.  Magazines with articles I never read, I just wanted to know I looked good on the cover. I mean I knew about the weapons we were making; I knew that well.  But the rest – I pretended I didn’t care about the business because I was too busy caring about cars and girls and – but shit, I didn’t care about anything.  And that was frightening.  Terrifying.  And those girls I did take home…

“Hey….what’s that word you have for the art or the science project or the podcast you make in high school that you have to live with after, the ones that make you cringe?”

“Cringy?”

“Yeah, that.  That’s a good word.  I banged some beautiful women in my time, Peter, and I can’t begin to tell you how cringy it was.  I ran from them, I hid from them, I literally had employees send them home so I didn’t have to talk to them afterward.  So, cringy?  Giggling was the least cringy thing I did back then. Back before.”

“Before Iron Man?”

“No, Iron Man happened in a cave in the Middle East.  I would say, back before Obadiah.”

“Obadiah….I don’t remember this part.”

“Obadiah was my backup. I was happy to look good for the camera, to be the face that sold the magazine cover, as long as Obadiah actually ran things.  I could look intelligent and actually be a complete screwup.  He was like a surrogate father, one that really didn’t care if I fucked everything up.  I mean I don’t think he would have even cared if I took men to bed – hell he might have known – he was my rock.  He was my hiding place.  And then he tried to kill me.”

Tony spoke for a while as Peter tried to picture it, tried to picture a man that wasn’t, yet, the man that was lying beside him.  

“And that was a slap in the face because, I mean literally dying was a slap in the face too but, you have to understand I didn’t care about anything.  I mean taking - things apart was good, and inventing things was good, but after you take something apart, it’s done.  And after you invent something, it’s done.  There’s nothing on the other side of that.  And then one day I woke up and I really did care about something – I wanted to stop making weapons.  I thought I had done it, I had finally found something I cared about, and my surrogate father, naturally, had to stop me.  I’m not saying it didn’t break my heart when he tried to murder me, it did, but you can’t fault his logic.

“Maybe you’re right, maybe I did mean ‘Before Iron Man.’  Because Iron Man was really the first thing I had ever cared about.

“And then there was Pepper,” he was saying (but Peter had heard this part before.)  “And I wanted to be with her, but I had to be an actual human being for her, and that was a huge challenge.  More complicated than any suit I ever tried to design.  It took up that 90% of my brain I wasn’t using - she made me a better person, I mean you could say she made me a man.  She made me grow up.  

“But, of course, that is the job for a mother, not a wife.  So when I was grown, and her job was done, we agreed she deserved something better.  So we moved on.”

“Ok, so you were a giggler in the  ‘all 12 cover models of Maxim’ days?”   days, but it wasn’t just with women, you did it with men too….”

“Says who?”

“Um……Bruce?”  Peter suggested guiltily, and winced under Tony’s irritated glance.

“What can I say?  I’ve been researching this for a long time.”

“Bruce….narced on me? We’ll that’s disappointing.  And inaccurate – I don’t know what he’s talking about.”

“I believe his exact words were ‘Don’t ask me kid, we were mostly punch-drunk.  We had been working 22 hours non-stop, and there was a bed in his lab and he said it would help us sleep.  Only he didn’t sleep afterward.’”

Tony seemed to find that amusing.  “This is all true.  But he got to sleep, so I saw that as a win.  And I most certainly wasn’t giggling with him.  I have a lot of respect for Bruce.  We had a real connection.  But …he sort of had this thing with Nat and then he ghosted both of us so that was the end of that.  But if you need proof ask Rhodey…”

Peter’s eyes opened wide and he sat up suddenly.

“Wait….War Machine?!?”

Tony looked up at Peter, confused.  “I thought that was common knowledge.”

“Wait….Tony…..how many Avengers have you hooked up with?”

“Excuse me?  Rhodey and I go back – way back.  And for the record we did not join up with the Avengers, they joined up with us.   What are you….what?”  

Peter was sitting up now, looking more than a little alarmed.  It was ridiculous, of course, knowing that the number in reality was one number higher than the one in his head, but something had occurred to him very suddenly.  Something he didn’t like.

“Tony, how many Avengers have you hooked up with?”

He didn’t look irritated now.  He looked angry.  Slowly he held up a finger.

One.

“That’s not what you just told me.”

“That’s exactly what I just told you.  I hooked up with Bruce.  Rhodey and I were together long before the Avengers were even heard of – don’t insult us by calling us ‘And Avenger Hookup.’  And what the fuck does it matter to you what happened before you were born?  And four? What is four?” he said angrily, looking at Peter’s fingers.

“The Hulk.  War Machine.  And Black Widow,” Peter counted off.

“Nat?!”  Tony sat up sputtering.  “Are you seri – are you kidding me with this?  Where the fuck did you get that idea?”

“If you didn’t hook up then why does she know so much about what you’re like in bed?”

“And it was her job to know – she was sent by SHIELD to infiltrate Stark Industries and getting me into bed was one of her missions.  Which she failed, the way.”  Tony lay his back down to the bed with a angry smirk.  “And she’s not much of a super-spy if she really believed the ‘all 12 cover models of Maxim’ story.  That means I got the best of her twice.  I’m going to remind her of that next time I…”

He stopped and looked up at Peter, irritated again.  He covered well.

“You thought I hooked up with Nat and Bruce?  Well that would be quite an accomplishment and I would have bragged about it had I pulled it off.   But that’s just 3.  Who’s number 4?”

“Me,” Peter said in a quiet voice.

Tony looked up at him as if he had been punched.

“Kid…”

He was laying on his back, looking up into the ceiling as if he had never seen it before.  Peter was sitting, naked, beside him but only at this moment did he feel vulnerable.  Tony’s face was contorting so much Peter looked down at his body in alarm to see if he was hurt somewhere.  When he spoke he sounded like a man with no air.

“This….isn’t a hookup, Kid. Christ I thought you knew that.  I thought…”

His voice broke and he covered his face with one hand.

“I thought I made that clear.”

“Oh God Tony…”

Peter reached down and grabbed Tony so suddenly the man fought him off instinctively.  Peter’s reflexes were faster, of course, and he shrugged off Tony’s hands as if he were a child, pulling him into an embrace, putting his face to Tony’s scared chest and holding them in that position.  Tony found himself flailing, then finding purchase, then awkwardly stroking Peter’s hair.

“Tony I didn’t please don’t be mad please don’t be mad I didn’t….I don’t have…I didn’t make any plans for….I don’t know what comes next!”

“Shhhhh….baby it’s ok…..” Tony found himself saying, absurdly trying to comfort the man in his arms that had, just seconds before, make his heart skip a beat.  

[Peter says he planed it up until this point but has no idea what comes next because it never occurred to him that otny would want him to stay

Tony tell shim is going to be alright (isnt’ really sure it is going to be alright)

Petr has no word for this feeling – the feeling of hainv NO plan – and knowing its ok because Tony is there with him.]

[punk-zionist-vibes]

WARNING! LONG POST INCOMING. 🤧✨✨

(AND POSSIBLE CONTENT WARNING!)

Sections:

1. Disclaimer on mob mentality mindset behavior.

2. What the Countryhumans Fandom is.

3. Not everyone in the fandom agrees with each other. And more on "why your favorite fandom isnt actually toxic",

(Bonus: Double Standards against Countryhumans Specifically.)

4. Just because there are problematics and bigotted behavior in a fandom does not mean everyone in said fandom is a bigot.

5. Mob mentality mindset pt. 2,

6. The actual proper way to manage this (outro)

Hi I see a lot of posts like this and I want to make a response because I'm weary it's going to become a trend among younger users or impressionable scared to not come off as woke teens who use tiktok or twitter too,

Because while Tumblr can be awesome there are still confusing moralities in people and nobodys perfect nor figured out on whats going on all the time. We all make mistakes in judgement

So lets clarify first what this post means.

It is targetting a fandom in particular.

Humanized Countries.

Specifically Countryhumans.

What is The Countryhumans Fandom?

Countryhumans is a fandom of Humanized Countries, all with histories, backstories according to their Country politics, Orgins, and opinions according to their people with certain exceptions in personality as seen fit. This is done to every Country.

First, here are some dislcaimers to be known to those new to discussing heavy topics:

Portraying heavy subjects is not an agreeance of it. Pretending it is to shut them up from using cartoons or art in a fashion as Countryhumans is *capable of*, is a form of censorship that allows the privledged that do not suffer the ongoing issues of it roam free without ever having to feel uncomfortable. And therefor censors and erases voices of those who use Countryhumans, OCS, or even other Fandoms in general to sort of bring and shine light to minorities and their causes to make it easier to understand in some form of media that offers *representation*. Lets say,

Maus, for example is a good form of media representation. (Maus is a Comic series by a Jewish Author going through the damages of the holocaust in the form of mice. Would do more looking into it yourself however if I receive questions I am able to provide more sourced links over what I have talked about.)

So what is the problem here?

In theory, Countryhumans sounds capable of awesome things and bringing a community together for learning opportunities.

However, the Countryhumans fandom has never been perfect. Historical innaccuracies, hellspawn circles of strange, "Im cringe and embracing it cuz I just wanna have fun uwu" mindsets of also sex roleplay and its ""potential""(trust me I have been there and have those ex friends) in ""sexual exploration"",

When in reality it:

Disrespects millions of people who live there,

Puts no actual careful effort into proper research, and Violates everything the Country stands for,

Wastes the potential behind the concept of Countryhumans in the first place, and actually doing things correctly, using it educationally to spread awareness, or have fun politically and historically actually learning new things with accuracy that it is capable of.

(^^^ Same harm also caused by stereotypes.)

And pretty much is misinformation, sexualization(wrongfully so. There has to be limits and sexualization is a big problem.)

HERE IS ANOTHER PROBLEM WITH THAT,

Not everyone in the Fandom is like that. There are genuine, well spirited, educated, trying their best Countryhumans content creators and fans that have generally wanted in a sense, to bring educated, well mused, entertaining, and resourceful content with backed up entertainment sources and genuinity to textbook source material and more,

HOWEVER,

they get drowned out by stereotypers, sexualizers, and bigots who leave careless means of content without realizing the affects of how Countryhumans if to be persued out of concept should actually be treated with care and respect and carefully as history is complicated at times and should be portrayed accurately if we are going to make charicatures of it.

Many people tend to even as a (researchable) survival instinct focus more on the bad.

Further drowning out those who are trying to do well in this fandom.

While I appreciate the OP clarify "racists in the community in specific" I saw a post earlier in particular who may have inspired this post by calling EVERYBODY in the fandom racist, instead of realizing there are racists and non-racists capable of associating with the fandom and nobody who may enjoy Countryhumans are always so responsible or capable of stopping said toxicity so easy.

Which makes it feel the OP may ALSO come from a place of Bias.

That being said.

The anti Countryhumans fans actually also happen to be A LOT MORE toxic at times and thats very saddening because it doesnt really help drown out or wash away the toxicity within the fandom AT ALL, rather contributes to the unhealthy hostile environment of those who just want to research into humanizing Countries for the fun sake of learning, gathering a community in growth, and having a good time.

(We'll get back to this in the Bias factor discussed later.)

With the Bias factor showing up,

Countryhumans is not the only Fandom attacked, but its one that happens to be treated the worst in some cases.

Other Fandoms are Targetted. So what do I mean By That?

Well Interestingly enough, it was enough of a common phenomenon for somebody to make a video about it like THIS:

Saying all Countryhumans fans are racist are like saying

All Undertale fans are pedophiles who sexualize suicide because of that one creator who became popular who made "the sans AU" daycare,

Wasnt it funny that in 2017 people were heavily bullied for being in fandoms?

Oh wait.

This sort of all adds up doesnt it?

Its the common anti fandom behavior that appears because of something we'll also unpack in a bit, but that comes with the mob mentality part of things.

Another good example is saying stuff like "you're all cringe if you like this" or "DNI if you KIN THIS PERSON/ARE IN THIS FANDOM"

or saying all homestuck fans say slurs.

There may be problematic people in all fandoms and sure the fandom isnt for you in specific because all people have niche tastes and interests in specific places,

But we dont control the bad side of our fandoms. None of us do. Right?

You have interests, dont you, OP?

and anyone who stumbles upon this, all you users might feel insecure, or bullied for your interests, and that wasnt normal or ok to go through. The internet has a huge bullying problem I hope some choose to unpack in therapy.

But why would I say the Countryhumans fandom is more Attacked Than Other Fandoms?

A) it doesnt have a canon ground to stand on and is therefor in archeiac ruins (if you ask a fan in the fandon they wont tell you, but there IS secretly a bit of certain canon a lot of ppl abide by without saying it outloud but some of it has to be picked up as problematic and tossed away. If a general sense of community came forward to make canonic lore built on researched foundations, asking voices from Certain Countries, and so on, with corrections where needed and necessary; it could fix SO MANY problems the fandom has. And eliminate misinformation and the need so many have to be influenced by small creep groups within the fandom that dont represent the whole fandom saying its fine and uwu to do whatever.)

B) Countryhumans took all it knew from the influences of Hetalia and Countryball and if those source materials werent so bigotted and problematic to raise quite a few of its fans in the first place Countryhumans would have turned out a lot better but nobody wants to admit that since everybody sees Countryballs as ""classic"", not many actually care what Hetalias doing despite the whole anime being problematic to the point the fans avoided the canon to make their own at most, and everybody wants to propagate Propaganda against Countryhumans being scum specifically like they did to every fandom through the popularization of cringe culture because it makes them feel better?

C) Is the normalization of cringe culture and lack of understanding the depths of concepts being ok and others persuing it in a non problematic manner when others fail to not be bigotted and both being different side of the fandoms too complicated and gone too far for some, apparently? Is that the culprit?

Is it all of the above?

Yeah, it is. It is all of the above.

Speaking of bullying problem,

Lets get to the next section.

Mob Mentality.

Twitter is specifically VERY good at it but allow me to find like two videos on the subject.

Lets start with the Drama Cesspool of any Community.

Covered by the Experienced Ex-Mentality of a cringe psych who never gave anything they didnt like the benefit of the doubt to understand why others liked what they didnt and coming to terms with "to each their own",

This can be applied to Fandoms.

Fingers are pointed,

Everyone attacks something to look cool without looking at the complicated sides of it, and therefor apathizing and only paying attention to factors that support your view you get so caught up and stuck in the ignorance of only validating yourself you never pay attention to anything else.

It becomes a mob mentality. And those seeking validation who turn to you without any other sense of community might grow to hating stuff with you. Because you dont want to feel thrown out.

It goes to the mental gymnastics of demonizing, self patronizing justice, and never providing proper context to support yourself only and make others look bad.

Controlled context is censorship.

When I say propagated bias against fandoms is real I mean it. Especially how harshly DEFEANING the judgement of being hated for liking something you get.

The reason this Bias is higher against Countryhumans is how COMPLICATEDEDLY DIFFERENT that Fandom Currently IS.

Yet people see it through this unfair lens of this standard of things it doesnt have, while ignoring the good it DOES have.

Because that ignorance supports what they WANT to see, not the truth of what is fully happening. There can be problems without throwing it all away to work on, instead of also attacking everyone with anything to do with it.

And while I have nothing else to start with and have made my piece, I shall try to find that other video I cannot for the life of me and edit onto here soon.

In Conclusion for Now, However.

What do we Do now?

Support your local friends who are non-problematic in the Countryhumans Fandom.

However, DEFINITE DNI for problematic bigots within any Fandom; Including the Countryhumans Fandom.

That is all. Thanks for letting me hijack this post for a bit.

Onto the Afternoon News with you, Sarah. 🤧🎙

Hello friends! I've come to send a message.

RASCIST COUNTRYHUMANS FANS FUCK OFF!

Y'all don't realize all the invisible damage you've done. Like, romanticize violent history between two countries? BIG NO! I don't need you racist bruhs on my dash. Get off my dash.

Reblog this to send awareness.

[oilsteven80-blog]

Becoming Alien: The Pioneering Vision of “Star Trek”

JANUARY 12, 2019

IN THE ’60S, Martin Luther King Jr. told Nichelle Nichols, the actress who portrayed Lieutenant Uhura in the original Star Trek series, that her show was the only one he let his kids stay up late watching. His rationale: The positive depiction of an African-American woman. Thirty years later, Star Trek: The Next Generation was the show I was allowed to stay up late watching. Crammed next to my father in an old easy chair, I was mesmerized. The portrayals of brave, competent women conducting scientific experiments and exploratory missions nudged me toward imagining a career in science. But unlike the majority of scientists for whom Star Trek was an inspiration, I didn’t choose physics or engineering or computing. I chose evolutionary biology. My fascination for Star Trek life forms sparked my curiosity about how life on our world works.

A biology professor at Duke University, Mohamed A. F. Noor might have had a similar experience. Indeed, in his new book, Live Long and Evolve: What Star Trek Can Teach Us about Evolution, Genetics, and Life on Other Worlds, he thinks the series has a lot to teach us about the evolution of life on our planet. He’s not actually the first to make this point. Two other books, both published in 1998, explored aspects of this same topic, but they were overshadowed from the get-go by physicist Lawrence M. Krauss’s 1995 best-selling The Physics of Star Trek. This is not surprising: the show was still associated at that time with space and feats of engineering — and so with the physical-sciences-focused, Sputnik-infused mid-20th-century “golden age” of science fiction. Now, however, life itself is our most rapidly changing frontier, and for this reason, Noor’s book is timely in a way the other two books weren’t.

To be sure, dissecting the alien life forms featured in a campy science fiction show that began over 50 years ago seems like an odd intellectual exercise. But, to Noor, Star Trek presents golden opportunities to transmit important knowledge painlessly, even surreptitiously, to those who might not want to learn about biology — and in particular, evolution. In short, the series is a tool for imaginatively grappling with a fraught field (one that many Americans misunderstand, willfully ignore, or even denounce if they’re creationists).

Life on Earth is itself becoming alien; we can now tinker with the basic code of life, edit our genes, and create three-parent babies, and much more is on the horizon, like the creation of children from the genomes of two mothers. With these feats in mind, it’s worth revisiting what the human imagination dreamt up and dramatized decades ago. After all, we know that science fiction inspires real technology down the road — which means today’s Star Trek may very well help produce the next generation of scientists, including its experimental biologists, seeding their imaginations. It’s also worth asking what challenges the show faces, particularly now, in this time of frenetic innovation.

Noor doesn’t tell us if Star Trek influenced his own career path, but it’s hardly a stretch to suppose it did. Exploring its universe in granular detail, he draws from the vast trove of non-animated Star Trek series and movies, including the current Discovery, which amounts to over 700 episodes in all. At Duke University, he teaches a basic course on the biology behind popular science fiction in general, and plans to teach a course based on his book starting next year. Clearly, he understands its power to attract students, including those who might otherwise shun STEM and bio-related subjects.

“My aim with this book is to pique [the public’s] interest in biology,” Noor writes, “by leveraging a different medium in which they may be already interested: science fiction.” With a light, accessible style, he juxtaposes Star Trek scenarios with near-alien examples of life on Earth. Some examples include: How the thumbs of pandas develop from an enlargement of the wristbone, which he explains as a case of convergent evolution with primates; and, considerably more startling: How a species of all-female Amazonian fish mate with males of other species, but then produce young who are clones of the mother, a rare phenomenon also seen in mole salamanders. How did this come about in evolutionary terms? Follow the clues: the fish are an all-female hybrid species; and, before creating clones of themselves, they invariably copulate with a male, leading researchers to understand that they actually require sperm to kick-start the cloning process. The downside: Asexual reproduction is often a one-way ticket to extinction, since a disease or disorder that can kill one clonal fish can kill them all. The upside: The fish can reproduce quickly and at a lower energy cost. Earth-based biology, you see, can seem as odd as Trek biology, and that’s without even taking into account what’s happening in the lab. Noor wants his readers to understand that science, like fiction, is rife with intrigue.

The first of six chapters includes thought experiments on how life might function in extremes of temperature, moisture, and radiation, and explores non-carbon options for building life. Is silicon, often portrayed in Star Trek as an alternative scaffold element of life, a realistic option? Noor thinks not. According to him, the element’s tendency to bind to elements other than itself means it’s unlikely to create the long chains necessary for life. By contrast, on a high temperature world, silicone — repeating units of silicon and oxygen — might function even better than the carbon chains we ourselves are based on. That’s a heady thought, though such creatures would likely be primitive, and only found in extreme environments like those occupied by “extremophile” bacteria in our own world.

While Noor occasionally gets bogged down by scientific information, he expertly weaves plot lines of individual episodes into his explanations. We gain an understanding in the middle chapters of what the hominid “family tree” might look like if humans and Vulcans had descended from a recent common ancestor, as well as the likelihood of hybrid offspring, such as the half-human, half-Betazoid counselor Deanna Troi being sterile in the manner of mules. These speculations feel quite topical: interbreeding hominids are in the news right now, with recently identified Neanderthal-Denisovan hybrids joining previously discovered human-Neanderthal hybrids in the prehistoric genetic melting pot of the genus Homo. Also entertaining are Noor’s musings on the long-term survival of Tribbles, those fuzzy critters made famous in the 1967 original series episode “The Trouble with Tribbles,” given how inbred they likely are. Though the prognosis is better than if the little fuzz balls were straight-up clones, Noor tells us that they must generate staggering numbers of offspring in order to produce a few who aren’t carrying damaging mutations, which tend to accumulate with each round of inbreeding.

How reasonable is it, asks Noor, to suppose that Shinzon, a clone created of Captain Picard in the 2002 movie Star Trek: Nemesis, is dying from cellular breakdown related to his sped-up aging, a side effect of the cloning process? Can he only be saved by an infusion of Picard’s blood? Noor takes this opportunity to show us how DNA is transcribed into RNA and to explain RNA’s relationship to aging. “Specific genes’ RNA production changes with advancing age, and these changes can be manipulated,” he writes, giving the real-world example of caloric restriction diets reducing age-related changes. “Such manipulation could be done with targeted drugs as well, and if such a manipulation were done poorly or incompletely, the procedure could result in Shinzon having severe health issues.” The plot can be seen as one of many cases of science fiction anticipating reality, given current research interest in anti-aging supplements to combat Alzheimer’s, and even alleged interest in infusions of young donor blood for anti-aging purposes by technocrat Peter Thiel and others. Noor, for his part, is at a loss to explain why an infusion of the much-older Picard’s blood would help the young clone.

If all this sounds familiar, it’s because it is, even if the details aren’t always quite right. Star Trek writers are taking inspiration from what’s happening in earth-bound labs — or among some Silicon Valley types. It has always had science advisors to help steer the ship — the famous biochemist Isaac Asimov, for instance, filled this role in the late 1970s, at one point presciently advocating for a sentient robot in 1979’s Star Trek: The Motion Picture. To be sure, concerns of plot and entertainment more often than not trump getting the science right. But still, actual science inspires the writers and producers. Noor chooses to highlight the good science, using the poor science as an opportunity to explore misconceptions, or think of what conditions might make it plausible. A prime example: The laughable The Next Generation episode “Genesis,” which gets the basics of evolution wrong when Lieutenant Commander Data’s cat “devolves” into a modern-day iguana. Rather than look down his nose at the error, Noor patiently explains that evolution isn’t unidirectional or goal-oriented: all living things currently occupying the planet are equally “evolved,” and no present-day animal could have evolved from another present-day animal.

The final chapter of Live asks how science fiction might have an impact on real-world science. Noor makes the case that science fiction’s positive depiction of basic research helps the public appreciate its worth at a time when it has become a partisan issue. He could of course cite plenty of examples from our current regime, but he chooses to return to Sarah Palin’s mockery of basic research spending in a 2008 election speech: “You’ve heard about some of these pet projects, they really don’t make a whole lot of sense and sometimes these dollars go to projects that have little or nothing to do with the public good. Things like fruit fly research in Paris, France. I kid you not.” He then describes Wolbachia, a bacterium discovered in fruit flies during basic research that, upon infecting a mosquito, reduces its ability to transmit such devastating diseases as dengue fever and Zika.

As Noor puts it, “In the long run, basic research on a curious [phenomenon in] a fruit fly may well lead to disease control strategies that will save millions of human lives.” In much the same way that portrayals of women and people of color in Star Trek influenced young minds like mine, portrayals of science may influence the broader public at a time when research is vulnerable to political haymaking. According to a 2015 Pew Research report, nearly a quarter of all adult Americans feel that government funding of basic scientific research is “not worth it,” and those numbers are rising. The survey found what you’d expect: people with more knowledge about science are significantly more likely to see the benefits of research funding. The Star Trek fan base is overwhelmingly made up of those with post-secondary education; this is clearly about correlation and not causation, but the point still holds: good science fiction reinforces viewers’ interest in science.

Noor notes that Star Trek, despite some inaccuracies, does “a better job of embracing evolution than biology courses in several high schools in the United States.” The incomprehensibly massive timescales involved in evolutionary change make it all too easy, he thinks, to ascribe certain highly adapted aspects of modern organisms, such as the strong but lightweight bones of birds, to an intelligent creator. He hopes to disabuse at least a few people, but of course Noor is preaching to the choir: intelligent design proponents are hardly likely to pick up a book explicitly about evolution. He’s casting too wide a net and should focus on the indifferent or uninformed non-creationist rather than active opponents. The Pew report found that nearly three quarters of those with a religious affiliation reject evolution as a natural process, with white evangelical Protestants particularly hostile to the concept. This group won’t be swayed by an imaginative TV show. Maybe their kids will be, but it’s the dramatized story itself that will nudge them toward science, not Noor’s book.

Two more points are worth mentioning. First, the level of science-speak in each series reflects public understanding of science during the time it aired. Noor includes a graph of the proportion of episodes in each series using the words “DNA,” “genetic,” and “genome,” to show how they escalate with increases in research in those areas. “DNA” and “genetic” crop up often in Next Generation, which aired in the late ’80s and early ’90s, while “genome” did not appear until Voyager, which began in the mid-’90s and ran into the next century. In short, the series reflects the science of the times and, more importantly, helps make certain concepts feel familiar rather than alien or threatening.

Second, in these science-infused times, the current series, Discovery, has tried to keep up, basing a rather strange plot line on hot-off-the-press research suggesting that tardigrades are able to withstand extreme conditions because they incorporate massive amounts of foreign DNA into their genome. Before the episodes even aired, this finding was disproven — it had resulted from sample contamination. Noor is characteristically kind on this point, praising the writers’ efforts to stay current rather than chastising their poor science. The plot in question is so far out, however, that Noor is almost at a loss for how to address it, starting with a hesitant, “This idea is … creative?” before launching into a generous attempt to explain what the writers may have been trying to convey. As he told Duke Today, “It’s always easy to use science to say, oh, that’s stupid. But I try to challenge people to try to find a way that maybe it could work.” In other words: Embrace science, but don’t forget to use your imagination.

Noor may be preaching to the converted, but Trekkies remain a big group. Discovery has won enough viewership to warrant a second season. A new program focusing on Next Generation’s Captain Picard is in the works, and the new series of films continues to command massive budgets. In short: Trekkies are alive and well, and they are Noor’s audience, even if he intends a more general one. Since only a true Star Trek lover will ever pick up this book, a bit more geeky frolicking by way of meatier descriptions of actual episodes wouldn’t have gone amiss. After all, Krauss’s best seller The Physics of Star Trek does just this. Noor doesn’t quite have Krauss’s playful style, and his discussions don’t move as smoothly between hard scientific facts and the fantastical adventures of the Enterprise crew. His book is thus unlikely to be a best seller, but, this said, for the Trek fan, it will add to her understanding of evolution, and perhaps, dare we hope, bump up support for endeavors like fruit fly research in Paris.

¤

Erin Zimmerman is a plant biologist turned science writer and illustrator. She holds an MSc in fungal genomics and a PhD in molecular systematics. Her work also appears in The Cut, Undark, Working Mother Magazine, and elsewhere.

Source: https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/becoming-alien-the-pioneering-vision-of-star-trek/

[vocaloidkin]

canu be kin w vocaloid if ur white?? its wrong to id outside ur race and i am getting the Strong Kin Feelings and i wsnt to make sure they dont have a specific race thank u

i mean... i personally have never found any reason as to why it would be wrong to “id outside ur race” in the first place. no one can choose their past lives, and usually people dont choose who they bond with on that kind of level (if it isnt a past lives thing). if for you its possible to drop your kintypes, and you chose your kins, then i would say yeah, go ahead and not id outside ur race. but generally its like... not a choosing thing.

not to mention the fact that there are a lot of minorities who have no representation in the first place... so that would kind of make it impossible for them to NOT id outside their race.

anyway, if youre really that worried about it i’d say this: if its the robot version of the character, then it would matter what language it speaks/where its supposed to originate from. like... miku and seeU would be off the table, but prima or oliver would be considered “white” (altho, cyber songman would of course be black). if its a version of a character from a song or an au, consider where that particular world is set. if everyone is japanese in it, then consider everyone japanese and vise versa. if its set in a fantasy world where race doesnt work the same as it does here then, personally, i think its perfectly okay for you to id with them. but thats ultimately up to you and what youve concluded about this topic.

i also should say that: i’m white too. ive come to my own conclusions by reading what poc kin have to say on this matter. ive been in this community for i think 5 years now, so ive definitely done my research. but of course i will never know this issue from the perspective of someone who isnt white, so youre free to take my advice or find someone else to ask about this.

[otpofotps]

did i grow up in 2016? have i made progress? is this what i came to japan for?

i honestly don’t know how to answer that and i don’t think im in the right place to answer that right now. but let me elaborate on the dinner with the kouhai, finally, because it led to….a lot. of internal ramblings…. some of which became external.

so this kouhai says lets get dinner and im like sure! but inside im like ummmmm but its not like we talk often or much at all and i only told one person about the upcoming event and he was like yeah idk maki sounds like a date and im like yeah ikr. but it was wishy washy like, it was also very plausibly not a date and just him wanting to get friendlier with a senpai. i have trouble understanding that maybe only because its never something i would do. this…is only the beginning of things that i do not see myself agreeing with the kouhai on.

so the dinner happens and it was like…. ooooookay. for me, it was just one of those things. if the cards were clearer i could’ve played it better. but i didn’t know the line and he didn’t make it clear and i fucked it up. because how presumptuous would it have been of me to treat it like a date and flirt? not that i know how. but i played it off super platonic because im incapable of putting myself out there like, hey maybe i have romantic intentions towards you. i just cannot do that mentally. its a hard knock life but its mostly just me making it hard. if he had made it clear it was non platonic i guess i could’ve done better. but…. then there was the other problem

we talked. obviously, duh, thats what dinner is, but because of the societal position we are in (as in our commonality is ipse) then like…yeah obv we are going to end up talking about ipse, and japan, and so many other things i’m uncomfortable talking openly about. guess what, i am not 100% satisfied. or even like 50%. but he was like its been a good year, hasn’t it? and im like, internally, dude, what in the fuck do you want me to say to that. you’re a kouhai and i’ve had a years longer worth of experience in japan and my answer is no, i’ve not had a great year. i didn’t want to say that. i didn’t want to say that to someone who still has a lot of potential to do whatever he wants in japan. it is entirely possible for him to achieve/maintain happiness in japan. but we are not the same people. and my experience of ipse is probably very different from what yours will be.

so talking to him brought out a lot about what i was thinking applying to japan and what i think now. this dinner happened like second to last week of december. fitting or just a downer for the end of the year, can someone else clarify for me because oh dear god it did get worse from there

it became incredibly, amazingly, horrifyingly clear how different we are. in almost everything we talked about that i had an opinion on, he had the opposite. and worse, he reminds me a lot of this particular person in my department that i have decided from here onwards i hate… i cannot remember what i call him here. maybe [y]. they have such…similarities.

it scares me because ive spent an entire year understanding why i don’t trust people like [y]. i hate being like oo emotions scary the world is bad and cynicism is the answer im not one of those people. but there is always a part of me that distrusts certain people. most people (all people?) maybe, until i feel some certain tick where i feel like suddenly i can show that i am emotionally invested in our friendship / whatever. it feels so dumb typing that out. but its something i need to confront. this text post isnt the time…. but [y] has been such a justification for why i do this. because people like [y] exist. people that i feel like i can be friends with and then go and humiliate you or make fun of you or imply your friendship means nothing to them. this sounds like [y] fucked me up or something and i promise he didn’t, i’ve always been like this, but it sucks that [y] is someone i still have to deal with, and i really don’t want to see the only kouhai i have a connection to become someone that i never can invest feeling into a relationship with.

so yes. i do not see myself being able to smoothly befriend the kouhai. or like…whatever, you know. but then the Key conversation happened which led to…some drunken ramblings that unfortunately i don’t recall very well but i’m sure my friends do.

so. god….. it was just such. i overreacted. but tbh its not a topic to have been talking about on a potential date not date. basically, it went like “well i came to university in japan because i want to marry a japanese person” (him)

and just like that i just. was like ….no. i cannot explain what took over me but i was just like. no. “you chose the country of your university based on who you want to marry? aren’t you like 18?”

“well…yeah.”

not that the conversation really exploded after that but for me at that point…it was not a good evening. the rest of that conversation was basically “so you wouldn’t base your career decisions depending on your spouse?” (him) “fuck no” “…thats…unusual…” “really? i feel like thats something you could expect from rikejos” (i am so dumb please don’t punch me) “not really?”

for him, he probably meant that not as a wife in japan obligatorily follows husbands career path trajectory and abandons her own career if necessary, but as in partners will consider their partner (non specific genders) in times of career choices. i took it as the first one because i am so dumb, and girls and feminism and japan and marriage is really, really, apparently /really/, touchy subject for me.

so i was touchy and a little miffed for really no real reason, and then a week later i drank too much vodka and went on a rant about this specific conversation and girls in japan, and how that’s not who i want to be, i want to have a career, blah blah blah i am really the worst. not because i have strong opinions about something that is certainly a valid topic to have strong opinions about but i put down other types of woman. i basically said something (on the vodka fueld rant) about how i don’t want to be a housewife, how im meant for more than that. and it breaks my heart that i said that (my friend told me later). because that’s not who i want to be. that’s not feminism. feminism shouldn’t be that being a housewife is a shameful thing or lesser thing. feminism is the right to CHOOSE. you want a career as a researcher? go ahead! you want to stay home and take care of the home? go ahead! its about not being reduced to stereotypes. its about that there shouldn’t be the assumption that the wife is the one who does the household chores. its that society assess the value of a job based on the money it brings to the house, but how can we ever assess the value of the housewife.

i am shamed and sad that i said things that i didn’t realise i believed. or maybe i knew, but i didn’t want to know, and hid my eyes from it.

and not that its entirely the dinner’s fault, but it certainly did bring it (my later drunken rant on [y], the kouhai, and girls in japan) out.

so yes. 2/10, the dinner was an interesting but not entirely positive (as of yet) experience.

[themoneybuff-blog]

Nine Secrets of Successful Homebuyers

A popular real estate website recently compiled a list of the six habits all successful homebuyers have in common. As someone whos approaching the one-year anniversary of owning my own home, I found the topic fascinating. Not because I possessed so many of the habits outlined. But for the opposite reason. When I purchased my house, I winged it, for the most part. I didnt do a lot of research about the home buying process. I also did not shop around extensively for mortgages, which was mistake number one. Nor did I shop around for real estate agents (lesson learned!), or tour a long list of houses. Though I looked at dozens of properties online, I only did two or three actual walk-throughs before settling on the home I purchased. Reading about the habits of all successful homebuyers, which were mostly financial habits, made me wonder how much different my outcome might have been had I seen the list ahead of time and adopted the behaviors outlined. I also felt the list was far too narrowly focused and left a lot out. While I didnt possess all of the attributes mentioned, I brought other skills to the table that werent included, which helped me successfully purchase a home in Southern California, one of the most competitive and high-priced real estate markets in the country. All of which inspired me to solicit opinions from a broad group of real estate agents from across the country to do my own survey of what makes a successful homebuyer, beyond just the financial habits. Heres what the agents I polled had to say. Secret #1: Successful homebuyers are goal-oriented. One of the top-selling real estate brokers in New York City, Sheila Trichter of Warburg Realtyhas 25 years of experience working in the Manhattan market, another one of the priciest and most competitive places in the country. According to Trichter, the most successful buyers know what they want and they pursue that goal with their actions. That means, Trichter explains, that such buyers are actively working toward their goal regularly, beginning with familiarizing themselves with the market and then staying on top of new listings. They should be regularly looking and know what the market is like, said Trichter. That doesnt mean they need to be on every single real estate app every day, but they need to pay attention. And the more specific a buyer they are, the more they have to pay attention, because things come and go. This skill even applies to first-time homebuyers, says Dana Bull, a Boston area realtor who specializes in helping those new to the buying process. The most important thing I see in first-time buyers, in particular, that makes them successful is their ability to plan and strategize, said Bull. Buyers who get what they want, or recognize a great deal when they see it, are usually those who have spent a lot of time researching the market, including touring a home even if they think its not for them so that theyre completely aware of whats out there, what its selling for, and where the opportunities may lie. Secret #2: Theyre organized, too. Having your act together as a homebuyer takes on many forms, says Snezhana Conway, of Washington D.C.-based Snezhana Homes Group of Keller Williams Capital Properties. Buyers who are organized from the very beginning are attending the homebuyers seminars to learn about the homebuying process, theyre collecting a file of their favorite home styles and amenities, and theyre organized with their personal finances such as tax returns and pay-stubs, said Conway. Being organized also means ensuring your credit score is mortgage-ready well in advance of the purchase, and carefully determining what sort of home budget youre comfortable with, says real estate agent John Myers, of Myers & Myers Real Estate, in Albuquerque, N.M. Having your finances in order makes the homebuying decision much easier, said Myers, noting that this habit allows purchasers to clearly understand exactly how much they want to spend and to stick to that budget. Secret #3: They avoid excess debt and pay bills on time. Another critical note on personal finances: Your credit score will have a huge impact on the mortgage youre able to qualify for, potentially costing (or saving) you tens of thousands of dollars over time. And most lenders want to see a low debt-to-income ratio. So successful homeowners understand that this is not the time to start opening a variety of new credit cards, running up balances, or making late payments on your bills, said Trichter. Running up a lot of debt will make it more difficult to buy a home, explained Trichter. So, successful homebuyers dont go into every store that offers 10% off on a purchase if you get their credit card and open an account. All those [new] credit cards lower your credit score. You dont want to be a person with a credit card in every store in town, thats not really keeping finances in order. And they dont close credit cards, because that lowers your credit score. Secret #4: They stay realistic. Successful homebuyers have sensible expectations and clearly understand what their home needs are. This is not fantasy, this is a reality, said Trichter. Sure, you want to dream and have your home be wonderful, with bells and whistles. But only the bells and whistles you can afford. To that end, its important to define exactly what it is you want and, more importantly, what you actually need, says Michael Schaffer, broker and owner of Denver-based Reason Real Estate. This effort should also include narrowing down the geographic area youll consider to a realistically manageable area. It should not be the entire major metropolitan area, said Schaffer. This way you wont be so overwhelmed with the listings that you wont be able to give adequate consideration to any of them. Ultimately, buyers who understand the concept of balance and keeping their homeownership goals practical will usually make the most rational decisions throughout the buying process, added, Amanda Martin, of Fort Lauderdale-based The Real Estate Shoppe. Secret #5: Theyre not afraid of a certain amount of risk. As with any major financial decision, buying a home presents a certain amount of risk. And while you absolutely need to do your due diligence, Trichter says, successful homebuyers dont dwell on what-ifs or allow doubts to paralyze their decision-making. There are plenty of risks. And people shouldnt take undue risks they should be sure they can afford the house, and that its not sitting on a swamp, Trichter said. But there are certain people who say What if the sky falls in? What if theres a terrorist attack? What if the banks fail? Buying a home involves some risk, and you need to be comfortable with that. Secret #6: Theyre careful about choosing a real estate agent. Dont make the same mistake I did and choose the first real estate agent who comes along. In my case, that decision turned into a nightmare worthy of another story. If I had to do it again, I probably would have listened to the recommendations of good friends who provided glowing reviews of Realtors they had worked with, because my personal belief is that a recommendation from a friend whos had a good experience is invaluable. Gary Lucido, president of Chicago-based Lucid Realty, says a real estate agent should have certain key attributes. Get a really smart Realtor. Not the top producer. Not a self-proclaimed neighborhood expert. Not someone with signs all over the neighborhood. Not a neighbor, relative, or friend. But someone who is resourceful, knowledgeable, and responsive, said Lucido. Secret #7: They shop for a mortgage early. Mortgage shopping should be done early in the search process, not after youve laid eyes on the home you absolutely must have. For one thing, getting preapproved helps you know for sure how much house you can afford. And in a competitive housing market, youll generally need a letter of preapproval from your lender if you want to stand a chance in a multiple-offer situation. Plus, shopping for a mortgage before you absolutely need one will give you time to find the very best rates. Once you have a contract, you need to move quickly to get your mortgage, and you dont have time to shop around, said Lucido. Embarking on mortgage shopping early also allows buyers time to thoroughly educate themselves about the various types of financial products available, noted Luke Babich, co-founder of the nationwide referral brokerage Clever Real Estate, and a licensed real estate agent in Missouri. Secret #8: They set aside enough time for house hunting. The market moves fast, and buying a house isnt like picking out a new coffeemaker on Amazon. So if youre serious about your search, Conway says, its a good idea to budget time every week or weekend to see homes. Schedule the time in advance with your real estate agent, she adds. No last-minute frantic calls to try to squeeze showings in. Secret #9: They think long-term. When searching for a home, think about where you might want to be in five, 10, or 20 years, and how this purchase might help get you there, says Bull. A great buy thats not a long-term fit might be perfect for now and make a fantastic rental down the road or allow you to sell high and upgrade, said Bull. Having that vision helps buyers make informed decisions. The Bottom Line This is by no means an exhaustive list. But nearly all the Realtors I spoke to agreed that there are indeed some fairly consistent habits among home buyers who are ultimately the most successful. And while having your finances in order is a tremendous help, being organized, informed, prepared, and engaged during a home search will also play a vital role in making your homebuying experience a good one. These habits are important because a real estate transaction can take all the time you have and can be at times stressful, said Conway. And by starting smart and making the right choices, you can eliminate or reduce those instances of fatigue, failure, or heartbreak, including missed dream homes, broken contracts, unethical Realtors, and not being ready to buy financially and emotionally. Read more: https://www.thesimpledollar.com/five-secrets-of-successful-home-buyers/

[callmemoprah]

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[we-johnnygonzalez-blog]

5 Real Examples of Advanced Content Promotion Strategies

Posted by bsmarketer

Content promotion isn’t tweeting or upvoting. Those tiny, one-off tactics are fine for beginners. They might make a dent, but they definitely won’t move the needle. Companies that want to grow big and grow fast need to grow differently.

Here’s how Kissmetrics, Sourcify, Sales Hacker, Kinsta, and BuildFire have used advanced content promotion tips like newsjacking and paid social to elevate their brands above the competition.

1. Use content to fuel social media distribution (and not the other way around)

Prior to selling the brand and blog to Neil Patel, Kissmetrics had no dedicated social media manager at the height of their success. The Kissmetrics blog received nearly 85% of its traffic from organic search. The second biggest traffic-driver was the newsletter.

Social media did drive traffic to their posts. However, former blog editor Zach Buylgo’s research showed that these traffic segments often had the lowest engagement (like time on site) and the least conversions (like trial or demo opt-ins) — so they didn’t prioritize it. The bulk of Zach’s day was instead focused on editing posts, making changes himself, adding comments and suggestions for the author to fix, and checking for regurgitated content. Stellar, long-form content was priority number one. And two. And three.

So Zach wasn’t just looking for technically-correct content. He was optimizing for uniqueness: the exact same area where most cheap content falls short. That’s an issue because many times, a simple SERP analysis would reveal that one submission:

(image source)

...Looked exactly like the number-one result from Content Marketing Institute:

(image source)

Today’s plagiarism tools can catch the obvious stuff, but these derivatives often slip through the cracks. Recurring paid writers contributed the bulk of the TOFU content, which would free Zach up to focus more on MOFU use cases and case studies to help visitors understand how to get the most out of their product set (from the in-house person who knows it best).

They produced marketing guides and weekly webinars to transform initial attention into new leads:

They also created free marketing tools to give prospects an interactive way to continue engaging with their brand:

In other words, they focused on doing the things that matter most — the 20% that would generate the biggest bang for their buck. They won’t ignore social networks completely, though. They still had hundreds of thousands of followers across each network. Instead, their intern would take the frontlines. That person would watch out for anything critical, like a customer question, which will then be passed off to the Customer Success Manager that will get back to them within a few hours.

New blog posts would get the obligatory push to Twitter and LinkedIn. (Facebook is used primarily for their weekly webinar updates.) Zach used Pablo from Buffer to design and create featured images for the blog posts.

Then he’d use an Open Graph Protocol WordPress plugin to automatically add all appropriate tags for each network. That way, all he had to do was add the file and basic post meta data. The plugin would then customize how it shows up on each network afterward. Instead of using Buffer to promote new posts, though, Zach likes MeetEdgar.

Why? Doesn’t that seem like an extra step at first glance? Like Buffer, MeetEdgar allows you to select when you’d like to schedule content. You can just load up the queue with content, and the tool will manage the rest. The difference is that Buffer constantly requires new content — you need to keep topping it off, whereas MeetEdgar will automatically recycle the old stuff you’ve previously added. This saved a blog like Kissmetrics, with thousands of content pieces, TONS of time.

(image source)

He would then use Sleeknote to build forms tailored to each blog category to transform blog readers into top-of-the-funnel leads:

But that’s about it. Zach didn’t do a ton of custom tweets. There weren’t a lot of personal replies. It’s not that they didn’t care. They just preferred to focus on what drives the most results for their particular business. They focused on building a brand that people recognize and trust. That means others would do the social sharing for them.

Respected industry vets like Avinash Kaushik, for example, would often share their blog posts. And Avinash was the perfect fit, because he already has a loyal, data-driven audience following him.

So that single tweet brings in a ton of highly-qualified traffic — traffic that turns into leads and customers, not just fans.

2. Combine original research and newsjacking to go viral

Sourcify has grown almost exclusively through content marketing. Founder Nathan Resnick speaks, attends, and hosts everything from webinars to live events and meetups. Most of their events are brand-building efforts to connect face-to-face with other entrepreneurs. But what’s put them on the map has been leveraging their own experience and platform to fuel viral stories.

Last summer, the record-breaking Mayweather vs. McGregor fight was gaining steam. McGregor was already infamous for his legendary trash-talking and shade-throwing abilities. He also liked to indulge in attention-grabbing sartorial splendor. But the suit he wore to the very first press conference somehow managed to combine the best of both personality quirks:

(image source)

This was no off-the-shelf suit. He had it custom made. Nathan recalls seeing this press conference suit fondly: “Literally, the team came in after the press conference, thinking, ‘Man, this is an epic suit.’” So they did what any other rational human being did after seeing it on TV: they tried to buy it online.

“Except, the dude was charging like $10,000 to cover it and taking six weeks to produce.” That gave Nathan an idea. “I think we can produce this way faster.”

They “used their own platform, had samples done in less than a week, and had a site up the same day.”

(image source)

“We took photos, sent them to different factories, and took guesstimates on letter sizing, colors, fonts, etc. You can often manufacture products based on images if it’s within certain product categories.” The goal all along was to use the suit as a case study. They partnered with a local marketing firm to help split the promotion, work, and costs.

“The next day we signed a contract with a few marketers based in San Francisco to split the profits 50–50 after we both covered our costs. They cover the ad spend and setup; we cover the inventory and logistics cost,” Nathan wrote in an article for The Hustle. When they were ready to go, the marketing company began running ad campaigns and pushing out stories. They went viral on BroBible quickly after launch and pulled in over $23,000 in sales within the first week.

The only problem is that they used some images of Conor in the process. And apparently, his attorney’s didn’t love the IP infringement. A cease and desist letter wasn’t far behind:

(image source)

This result wasn’t completely unexpected. Both Nathan and the marketing partner knew they were skirting a thin line. But either way, Nathan got what he wanted out of it.

3. Drive targeted, bottom-of-the-funnel leads with Quora

Quora packs another punch that often elevates it over the other social channels: higher-quality traffic. Site visitors are asking detailed questions, expecting to comb through in-depth answers to each query. In other words, they’re invested. They’re smart. And if they’re expressing interest in managed WordPress hosting, it means they’ve got dough, too.

Both Sales Hacker and Kinsta take full advantage. Today, Gaetano DiNardi is the Director of Demand Generation at Nextiva. But before that, he lead marketing at Sales Hacker before they were acquired. There, content was central to their stratospheric growth. With Quora, Gaetano would take his latest content pieces and use them to solve customer problems and address pain points in the general sales and marketing space:

By using Quora as a research tool, he would find new topics that he can create content around to drive new traffic and connect with their current audience:

He found questions that they already had content for and used it as a chance to engage users and provide value. He can drive tons of relevant traffic for free by linking back to the Sales Hacker blog:

Kinsta, a managed WordPress hosting company out of Europe, also uses uses relevant threads and Quora ads. CMO Brian Jackson jumps into conversations directly, lending his experience and expertise where appropriate. His technical background makes it easy to talk shop with others looking for a sophisticated conversation about performance (beyond the standard, PR-speak most marketers offer up):

Brian targets different WordPress-related categories, questions, or interests. Technically, the units are “display ads, but they look like text.” The ad copy is short and to the point. Usually something like, “Premium hosting plans starting at $XX/month” to fit within their length requirements.

4. Rank faster with paid (not organic) social promotion

Kinsta co-founder Tom Zsomborgi wrote about their journey in a bootstrapping blog post that went live last November. It instantly hit the top of Hacker News, resulting in their website getting a consistent 400+ concurrent visitors all day:

Within hours their post was also ranking on the first page for the term “bootstrapping,” which receives around 256,000 monthly searches.

How did that happen?

“There’s a direct correlation between social proof and increased search traffic. It’s more than people think,” said Brian. Essentially, you’re paying Facebook to increase organic rankings. You take good content, add paid syndication, and watch keyword rankings go up.

Kinsta’s big goal with content promotion is to build traffic and get as many eyeballs as possible. Then they’ll use AdRoll for display retargeting messages, targeting the people who just visited with lead gen offers to start a free trial. (“But I don’t use AdRoll for Facebook because it tags on their middleman fee.”)

Brian uses the “Click Campaigns” objective on Facebook Ads for both lead gen and content promotion. “It’s the best for getting traffic.”

Facebook's organic reach fell by 52% in 2016 alone. That means your ability to promote content to your own page fans is quickly approaching zero.

(image source)

“It’s almost not even worth posting if you’re not paying,” confirms Brian. Kinsta will promote new posts to make sure it comes across their fans’ News Feed. Anecdotally, that reach number with a paid assist might jump up around 30%.

If they don’t see it, Brian will “turn it into an ad and run it separately.” It’s “re-written a second time to target a broader audience.”

In addition to new post promotion, Brian has an evergreen campaign that’s constantly delivering the “best posts ever written” on their site. It’s “never-ending” because it gives Brian a steady-stream of new site visitors — or new potential prospects to target with lead gen ads further down the funnel. That’s why Brian asserts that today’s social managers need to understand PPC and lead gen. “A lot of people hire social media managers and just do organic promotion. But Facebook organic just sucks anyway. It’s becoming “pay to play.’”

“Organic reach is just going to get worse and worse and worse. It’s never going to get better.” Also, advertising gets you “more data for targeting,” which then enables you to create more in-depth A/B tests.

We confirmed this through a series of promoted content tests, where different ad types (custom images vs. videos) would perform better based on the campaign objectives and placements.

(image source)

That’s why “best practices” are past practices — or BS practices. You don’t know what’s going to perform best until you actually do it for yourself. And advertising accelerates that feedback loop.

5. Constantly refresh your retargeting ad creative to keep engagement high

Almost every single stat shows that remarketing is one of the most efficient ways to close more customers. The more ad remarketing impressions someone sees, the higher the conversion rate. Remarketing ads are also incredibly cheap compared to your standard AdWords search ad when trying to reach new cold traffic.

(image source)

There’s only one problem to watch out for: ad fatigue. The image creative plays a massive role in Facebook ad success. But over time (a few days to a few weeks), the performance of that ad will decline. The image becomes stale. The audience has seen it too many times. The trick is to continually cycle through similar, but different, ad examples.

Here’s how David Zheng does it for BuildFire:

His team will either (a) create the ad creative image directly inside Canva, or (b) have their designers create a background ‘template’ that they can use to manipulate quickly. That way, they can make fast adjustments on the fly, A/B testing small elements like background color to keep ads fresh and conversions as high as possible.

(image source)

All retargeting or remarketing campaigns will be sent to a tightly controlled audience. For example, let’s say you have leads who’ve downloaded an eBook and ones who’ve participated in a consultation call. You can just lump those two types into the same campaign, right? I mean, they’re both technically ‘leads.’

But that’s a mistake. Sure, they’re both leads. However, they’re at different levels of interest. Your goal with the first group is to get them on a free consultation call, while your goal with the second is to get them to sign up for a free trial. That means two campaigns, which means two audiences.

Facebook’s custom audiences makes this easy, as does LinkedIn’s new-ish Matched Audiences feature. Like with Facebook, you can pick people who’ve visited certain pages on your site, belong to specific lists in your CRM, or whose email address is on a custom .CSV file:

If both of these leads fall off after a few weeks and fail to follow up, you can go back to the beginning to re-engage them. You can use content-based ads all over again to hit back at the primary pain points behind the product or service that you sell.

This seems like a lot of detailed work — largely because it is. But it’s worth it because of scale. You can set these campaigns up, once, and then simply monitor or tweak performance as you go. That means technology is largely running each individual campaign. You don’t need as many people internally to manage each hands-on.

And best of all, it forces you to create a logical system. You’re taking people through a step-by-step process, one tiny commitment at a time, until they seamlessly move from stranger into customer.

Conclusion

Sending out a few tweets won’t make an impact at the end of the day. There’s more competition (read: noise) than ever before, while organic reach has never been lower. The trick isn’t to follow some faux influencer who talks the loudest, but rather the practitioners who are doing it day-in, day-out, with the KPIs to prove it.

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[theconservativebrief]

Philanthropists need to take a step back from the American education system before it ruins them, they ruin it, or both.

Major philanthropies like the Gates, Walton Family, and Broad Foundations are spending hundreds of millions of dollars annually in an attempt to transform American K-12 education. Gates alone reported spending nearly $390 million in 2017; the Waltons spent more than $190 million. That’s a non-trivial chunk of the $67 billion all US foundations spent on all projects that year.

Such contributions have come under fire in recent years. The big foundations promote a particular set of K-12 education policies — including increased accountability for teachers, more school choice, and higher-stakes testing — that are profoundly controversial, and that teachers unions and skeptical education researchers have spent years questioning and resisting. The foundations’ use of billions in spending to change public policy on education raises troubling questions about democratic accountability and the role of money in politics (questions given new prominence when a major conservative education funder became US secretary of education).

Those are both valid lines of critique, but they’re not the ones I’m going to pursue here. (I am frankly more sympathetic to the Gates/Walton/Broad education reform agenda than a lot of my left-leaning friends.)

My beef, rather, is that improving the American education system, while important, is neither a neglected cause nor a tractable one. It is a system on which hundreds of billions of dollars are spent annually by diffuse governments whose policies are difficult and expensive to change, where matters of importance are intensely contested, and where interest groups tend to fight each other to a standstill.

And it’s a system where, even after investing millions if not billions in research, we still don’t have a lot of confidence as to which interventions are helpful and which are not. The views of key actors, notably the Gates Foundation, have tended to shift rapidly on those substantive questions.

If every issue in the world were as crowded and hard to make progress on as education in the US, then I’d understand why foundations like Gates and Broad keep chugging. But that’s not the case. There really are areas that are very, very important, and where progress is easier, because the political fights around them are less crowded and intense. Many of these foundations are already investing in a few of these causes.

That, if anything, makes their continued focus on US education more baffling. They know there are better causes. They should lean into them.

The framework for judging causes based on importance, neglectedness, and tractability (INT, for short) is not new. It originates with the Open Philanthropy Project, a San Francisco-based nonprofit focused on finding high-impact giving opportunities, and its predecessor organization GiveWell Labs.

Open Philanthropy and its sister foundation Good Ventures, which is funded primarily by the groups’ president Cari Tuna and her husband, Dustin Moskovitz, use the framework to guide most of their hundreds of millions of dollars in charitable contributions. The nonprofit 80,000 Hours, which offers career guidance to people looking to make a social impact in their job, uses the framework too, and the Oxford philosopher Will MacAskill has a useful breakdown of how it works in his book Doing Good Better.

It’s hardly perfect, but I find it very useful. A good baseline test for any philanthropist is that they work on issues that are genuinely important — but that’s not enough of a filtering mechanism. A lot of stuff is important! Comparing relative importance is certainly possible; I think arts education is wonderful and important, but few would dispute that, say, funding field trips to art museums for rich US boarding school students is less important than making sure kids in extremely poor countries like Burundi, Afghanistan, or Haiti get quality instruction in math and reading.

But importance comparisons are often tricky and subjective, especially within given cause areas. If you’re interested in local US poverty alleviation, should you fund a soup kitchen or a homeless shelter? If you want to give to global health causes, should you donate to charities handing out insecticidal bednets to people in sub-Saharan Africa or to charities doing mass deworming projects?

That’s where thinking about neglectedness and tractability can help. Even when choosing among equally important causes, you probably should choose the cause that is more neglected, that has less money and fewer resources mobilized behind it than others. The basic reason is diminishing marginal returns: The first million dollars you spend on something is likely to have a much bigger impact than the second million, so it pays to look for causes where you’re closer to the first million spent than the second. Keeping neglectedness in mind can also prevent duplicating work that would’ve been done by another organization.

For instance, mass immunization campaigns targeting common diseases like polio, measles, and yellow fever are super-effective ways to prevent disease and save lives. And precisely because of that, the GAVI Alliance, UNICEF, and the World Health Organization spend billions every year on immunization programs, from a variety of funders ranging from governments to big foundations (Gates alone has donated billions to this cause). It makes sense for other funders to look at that situation and think, “They have this covered — why don’t I try something else?”

More to the point, even if that funder decided they ultimately did want to fund immunizations, they’d probably pay more per immunization than GAVI and other existing groups do. The existing firms are probably getting all the low-hanging fruit, forcing this hypothetical new funder to look for harder cases that are more expensive.

Tractability is the final criterion in this framework, and worth breaking down a bit further. For a cause to be tractable, funders don’t just have to know of cost-effective interventions that can help; they have to know ways to get those interventions adopted. If you, for some reason, supported reviving alcohol prohibition in America, there’s basically no way a temperance movement is going to succeed in the 21st century. Rather than wasting billions in an effort to revive the 18th Amendment, you should direct it somewhere it has better odds of effecting change.

So let’s apply this framework to K-12 education. It is not a neglected cause. The US spent $668 billion on public elementary and secondary schools for the 2014-’15 school year. That’s more than the US spends on the military (about $583.4 billion in calendar year 2015), and in terms of total expenditures is probably only outpaced by health care and Social Security/pensions among government priorities.

That is not a bad thing! Good education costs money, and a few particularly rigorous economics studies in recent years have concluded that spending more on education typically improves student performance, as you’d hope. And under some circumstances, the heavy government investment in education would make a philanthropic investment more advisable, not less. If you can spend a few million dollars on think tanks, lobbying, etc. and change government policies affecting billions in annual spending, that’s pretty damn good leverage.

But the cause of trying to shift K-12 education resources in one direction or another is also extremely crowded. Teachers unions like those organized under the American Federation of Teachers or the National Education Association are not the all-powerful behemoths that some reformers paint them as being (and the Supreme Court’s ruling barring them from collecting fees from nonmembers promises to weaken them considerably). But they did spend $35 million in campaign contributions in 2016, and they spend millions more on lobbying annually.

If you consider their collective bargaining activities a form of political spending meant to shift public policy, their investment increases substantially. That spending coexists with the hundreds of millions that foundations like Gates, Walton, and Broad devote to the issue.

This spending is not additive; it’s clashing. And that’s a problem, from the standpoint of effectiveness. The most careful study of lobbying in America yet conducted — Lobbying and Policy Change by Frank Baumgartner, Jeffrey Berry, Marie Hojnacki, David Kimball, and Beth Leech — concludes that one reason the political system is biased toward preserving status quo policies is that groups lobbying on a given issue typically “faced organized opposition with roughly similar resources.”

That is, policy doesn’t change because two evenly matched sides fight each other to a draw. So when there’s a policy change that, say, Walton Family Foundation-supported reformers want for schools in DC, and the Washington Teachers Union wants to maintain the status quo, the two are likely to mobilize considerable resources to achieve a result no different from the status quo.

That’s, in a way, a win for the Washington Teachers Union, but the same dynamic plays in reverse if, say, WTU wanted to implement a change to DC education policy and Walton wanted to hold the line. The result is each spending millions to maintain a policy status quo that leaves neither fully satisfied.

That’s just how democratic politics, of all sorts, tends to work. Passionate interests on each side of an issue mobilize and fight and the stronger coalition, whether measured in money or grassroots support, ultimately prevails. And despite its considerable virtues, it’s a pretty wasteful process, especially on highly controversial topics like education in which much of the public is heavily invested. For philanthropists especially, it’s doubtful that investing heavily in a crowded, high-profile topic will turn out to be the most efficient possible use of resources.

And then there’s tractability. The non-neglectedness of K-12 education in America itself makes the issue less tractable, for the reasons described above. But there’s also the problem that, despite massive investments in education research by Gates and other foundations, expert disagreement persists about what actually works. More than that, disagreement and shifting positions on interventions is common even within foundations.

Consider the small schools experiment. In the late 1990s and early 2000s, Gates, in conjunction with allied foundations like the Annenberg Foundation, Carnegie Corporation, Open Society Institute, and Pew Charitable Trusts, began offering well over $2 billion in grants to encourage school districts to break up large high schools into smaller schools. Gates was always eager to emphasize the schools were not merely small, but that breaking up schools into new institutions allowed those institutions to develop “high expectations,” “performance-based” cultures; The small size also allowed more personalized attention on individual students, or so the theory went.

The experiment, or at least Gates’s involvement, did not last very long. In 2005, an evaluation from the American Institutes of Research and SRI International suggested the intervention was falling short of expectations. His most vociferous critics alleged that the intervention was based on a basic statistical fallacy (inferring that small schools are good because they’re overrepresented among top high schools), a story that made its way into Daniel Kahneman’s pop science best-seller Thinking, Fast and Slow.

In his 2009 “annual letter,” Bill Gates conceded, “Many of the small schools that we invested in did not improve students’ achievement in any significant way … in most cases, we fell short.” The foundation mostly abandoned the small schools idea.

Its next project, the Measures of Effective Teaching (MET) project, pivoted from trying to promote a certain model of school to trying to figure out and promote a good model of teacher evaluation (the exceptional education reporter Dana Goldstein has an excellent paper looking at the MET investment in depth). Gates enlisted the well-respected Harvard education economist Thomas Kane, who conducted extensive randomized research concluding that evaluators could use a mix of standardized tests, student evaluations, and videotaped classroom sessions to identify teachers who cause more student learning to happen.

In addition, starting in 2009, the foundation began funding trials in three school districts and four charter groups, where they tested the new teacher evaluation methods they were developing. The hope was that using better evaluation methods would lead to more student learning or higher high school graduation rates.

No dice. A RAND Corporation report found that overall, the effects of the changes were minimal, at times even harmful.

“Several years into the initiative, there was evidence that it was helping high school reading in Pittsburgh and at the charter networks, but hurting elementary and middle school math in Memphis and among the charters,” Matt Barnum at Chalkbeat summarizes. “In most cases there were no clear effects, good or bad. There was also no consistent pattern of results over time.”

Allan Golston, who runs the US program at the Gates Foundation, recently suggested that the organization was ready to pivot again in response, saying, “We have taken these lessons to heart, and they are reflected in the work that we’re doing moving forward.” Even before the study’s release, Melinda Gates told the Associated Press that the program was a disappointment.

But over the past decade, as Gates abandoned small schools and pivoted to teacher evaluation work, a funny thing happened. Two randomized studies on small schools came in suggesting that Gates had been too hasty and they did improve student performance. In a series of reports released between 2010 and 2014, MDRC found that New York City students randomly sorted into small public high schools had higher graduation rates (71.6 percent versus 62.2 percent) and higher college enrollment (49 percent versus 40.7 percent) than those in traditional large schools.

Economists Atila Abdulkadiroğlu, Weiwei Hu, and Parag Pathak also evaluated the New York City small schools, exploiting the lottery used to determine enrollment in the schools, and found that they boosted college enrollment, reduced the use of remedial college courses, and improved test scores in math, English, science, and history. A few non-randomized studies reached the same conclusion.

But while he acknowledged the new evidence in a note last year, Gates has moved on from small schools. He operated at a swifter pace than that at which the evidence rolled in. It’s enough to make one wonder if the conclusion of the teacher effectiveness effort — whose RAND evaluation wasn’t randomized — will prove different as well, and subsequent research will redeem the approach.

Or maybe it won’t! Or maybe the small schools studies and their promising findings won’t replicate. My point isn’t to take one side or another. It’s merely to point at the Gates experience investing in education and ask: What good did they do here? They provided policymakers with some new evidence, for sure, but pilot programs might have done the same without costing hundreds of millions of dollars. But did we get closer to an effective school system because of the Gates investments? Did we move farther away?

Even if Gates does eventually settle on an approach to education policy that seems highly effective, will it be cost-effective relative to something dead simple, like handing out cash instead?

That might sound like a silly question, but the Brookings Institution’s Russ Whitehurst estimates that cash programs, like the earned income tax credit, do considerably more to boost student test scores than even education interventions generally known to be somewhat effective, like reducing class size or investing in pre-K. It’s a good benchmarking question to ask about any educational intervention, and it’s far from clear that there are improvements to US schools out there that exceed that bar.

Again, all of this sidesteps the question of whether the Gates Foundation could successfully spread effective policies once it identified them — and if it could do the policy spreading in a cost-effective way as well. Maybe it could! But it’s hard to do when you can’t even determine the effective policy you want to spread in the first place.

I don’t mean to argue that all of Gates’s spending has been wasted. He’s funded some good, important research. But when he announced another huge $1.7 billion education push in fall 2017, the obvious question was: How much of that money will bear fruit? And what are the odds that Gates will wind up abandoning this approach as well?

Gates’s lukewarm track record on US education hasn’t kept other billionaires out of the field. Quite the contrary: Education is only becoming more popular as a cause area.

The Chan-Zuckerberg Initiative, the charitable group founded by Priscilla Chan and her husband, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, has made education one of its top cause areas, pledging to “help every child access personalized educational experiences that can change the trajectory of their life.” Again, in theory and in a vacuum, an admirable and important goal; in practice, likely a quixotic one.

Indeed, a town in Connecticut wound up rejecting a CZI-sponsored personalized learning program when, New York magazine reports, “bizarre and sometimes inappropriate images appeared on their kids’ screens on third-party websites used as reading assignments: a pot plant, a lubricant ad, and then the coup de grâce, an ancient Roman statue of a man having sex with a goose.”

All charities face a learning curve, of course, and Cheshire, Connecticut, is alone in rejecting the program, while some 380 other school districts and charter schools still participate. But that raises its own questions: Why is CZI funding a program in hundreds of school districts without doing a small-scale, independently evaluated pilot to see, preliminarily, if it works? Why have Gates and Bezos signed on as funders for this program too?

The Bezos Family Foundation’s website, smartly, warns that “there is no silver bullet” when it comes to education — but is quick to add that “education is the silver bullet.” While pre-K is less crowded as a cause than K-12 education (or higher ed, which is its own whole mess of a situation), Bezos’s decision to spend billions funding his own line of preschools in the US without a comparable investment abroad betrays an implicit judgment that improving government services in the richest country on earth is higher-impact than doing that in, say, a poor country without universal education of any kind.

But to argue that foundations should pivot away from education, one must give them an alternative cause first. Gates is frankly the foundation about which I’m least concerned in this regard. Its record on global health is not spotless, but it’s far better than the foundation’s track record on US education. If you look at a promising cause in global health — wiping out malaria with the help of CRISPR, fighting smoking in low-income countries, trying to develop a universal flu vaccine — odds are that at least some Gates money is behind it.

But there are promising causes outside Gates’s scope too, that both his foundation and Bezos and Chan-Zuckerberg could pursue instead of giving deeper to education. To name just a couple:

As Flint, Michigan, has reminded us, lead poisoning continues to impose massive social costs in the US. One cost-benefit analysis suggested that $1 spent on lead abatement produces between $17 and $221 in social benefits. That’s just one study, but the overall evidence base for the intervention looks much firmer than most education interventions. I’ve found one lead-related study that Gates funded, but other than that, Gates, Bezos, and CZI are mostly absent on the issue.

Macroeconomic policymaking at the Federal Reserve influences trillions of dollars in economic activity globally but faces much less lobbying than policymaking in Congress, due in part to the frankly naive conceit that the Fed is “independent” from outside politics. As a result, there’s relatively little foundation money being spent ensuring that the agency that holds the fate of the global economy in its hands is making good decisions that prevent recessions and lower unemployment. It seems almost certain that the marginal lobbying dollar will do more good there than in education politics.

And then there are causes that have had next to no coverage. Suicides with pesticides are very common in the developing world and kill more than 100,000 people annually; banning certain highly lethal pesticides, as Sri Lanka has done, appears to dramatically cut suicide rates. I know of one highly effective group working on this problem, but it only works in a handful of countries, implying there could be room for more funders.

I’m pretty confident that those causes are more promising than K-12 education, but not 100 percent sure. I don’t have a large staff to do comprehensive cause selection research. Thankfully, billionaires’ foundations do! And given how difficult it’s proven to find good interventions in K-12 education, I strongly suspect those foundations can find more than enough projects elsewhere with a higher anticipated impact. They should start trying to do that.

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Original Source -> Billionaires are spending their fortunes reshaping America’s schools. It isn’t working.

via The Conservative Brief

[isabelledanao]

Where to study or review in Quezon City?

Let’s face it! The best place to study is at our own homes which includes the coziest amenities like your bed, unlimited free wifi, the oh so comfortable couch, the television, the refrigerator, shower and all that jazz. But in reality, we don’t exactly get much studying or work done. I am not saying that this applies to all but for me, this often happens and so I tried different methods like the Pomodoro technique, voice recording of lectures, note cards, and goal study plan. These methods actually work for some, and it does for me especially the Pomodoro and the voice recording of lectures that I play on repeat, but I will be talking about this in another blog. So back to the main topic, aside from these techniques I also found out that changing the setting or the environment where I study is particularly important as it enhance my chances of focusing on my studies or work, and so I present to you the places that I found conducive for studying here in Quezon City in no particular order.

1. Starbucks (#24 Matalino St., Quezon City - Behind Quezon City Hall)

Everyone knows Starbucks, but for me I really do appreciate this place. The coffee place itself is spacious with enough parking space and security. And in addition to this, I like the fact that the area’s environment is that of a professional kind or ambiance. Let me expound that–the people who go to this particular Starbucks are lawyers, doctors, government employees, nurses, “studious” college students (usually from UP), law students, medical students, businessmen and clients. Basically, when you enter the place, you don’t see a lot of people who are just chatting away their time. The place is honestly a “library” or “study hall” for students and professionals, that the people who come to this place to just chill is seriously out of their minds (just my opinion). In addition to all this, the best time to go there is around 6:30am till around 11am, but if it gets later than that you’ll probably have a difficult time looking for a perfect spot to do your work.

Along with this, the place has free wifi which is good for two hours, a clean restroom, a smoking area at the back, accommodating staff, the additional condiment area which always have shakers filled with vanilla, nutmeg, chocolate powder and cinnamon (I always add some to my drink - don’t judge!).

TIPS:

My tips in going to this place; bring a hoodie or jacket since the air-conditioning in this area is pretty intense (seriously!), and for the best spot to study is the couch near the door or the one at the far end. Those spots have outlets, and the one near the door is not too cold and not to warm (hahaha!), and also the security guard can always watch closely of my things when I need to pee or something (oops!).

I almost forgot, this place is open from 6:30am - 2:00am. 

See photos here: https://www.zomato.com/photos/pv-res-6307735-u_ODkzMzkwMzU2ND

2. Quezon City Library (Quezon City Hall Compund - Just ask around)

The second place I want to recommend but rarely go to is the public library due to some cons that I experienced along the way, but is still a great place after being renovated. Let’s first start with the location and the time it opens; the place opens at 8am and is free which is a great thing but for me, I prefer to study at an earlier time rather than at a later period. Going back to the topic–as you enter, the guards will ask you to sign-in and leave your belongings at the baggage counter, give you your baggage number, sign-in and give you a sheet of paper to list all the books and gadgets that you will be taking inside, and then they will give you small clear plastic envelope to place your things which is not exactly useful. 

Finally, after the hassle since you can’t bring your bag inside, you will carry your things and look for a place to study. The library itself is not the National Library but you can easily find a spot. The amenities inside are the usual ones you can find in your school library but if you are there for research, I highly doubt that you can find a proper book inside for additional materials. Moving on, since I brought my laptop with me I was not able to use their computers that is for free and know if there is a limited amount of time to use them. 

After all that enchilada and some time, I encountered a problem--I forgot to charge my laptop at home, so I plugged in my laptop to an outlet. That’s when I found out a crucial thing which they failed to inform me. I actually have to pay 20pesos for every hour that I plug in my laptop, and they asked me to pay at the information or concierge thing. Another problem I encountered is that they were actually only operating until 12nn that day for inventory which they did not post on their website, and so I ended up leaving early and going to Starbucks. 

TIPS:

First, I can say that this place can be good if you are only going to study with your notes and books, and plan to save money for food. You can pack your own lunch and put it inside you bag or eat at their cafeteria. Second,  I highly recommend not bringing too much valuables that you can’t carry along with your books since you can’t bring your bag inside. Third, the internet connection is really slow so don’t expect a fast connection for any wifi service. Fourth, better contact the library a day before or around 8am and ask if they will be open the entire day since I experienced an unannounced inventory that day. And lastly, if you really need to plug in your laptop be prepared to pay for 20pesos every hour or just charge it earlier at home.

The library is open from 8am - 5pm (Weekdays) and 8am - 4pm (Saturday).

Tel:(632) 927-98-34 Fax:(632) 922-40-60 Email quezoncitypubliclibrary@yahoo.com 

Website (not updated): http://www.qcpubliclibrary.org/contactus.php

See photos and information: http://news.abs-cbn.com/trending/02/09/17/look-this-isnt-your-ordinary-public-library

3. Diligence Cafe (Elizabeth Hall, Katipunan Avenue, Quezon City)

This is one of the places to go if you are to go all out for studying and thesis. It actually offers the “Filipino College Student Essentials”. So first I will start with the services they offer; the place is particularly conducive for serious students who are in it for studying and not just a place to chill. They have free Fiber wifi, unlimited coffee & juice, tons of power outlets, napping services. It is also the best choice for overnight thesis work or exam review, but of course you have to pay for it. The rates start at 70pesos per hour and 350pesos per day. They open at 12nn - 7am, which is one of the cons I found since I prefer to study early in the morning but all in all, I like the place. The cafe is a unique concept which is highly recommended for college students and so I hope they open more branches soon. 

In addition to the inclusive services, they also offer shower services with shower kit (100pesos), locker services (40/day, 200/week & 700/month), meeting room (400/hr for 8pax), printing services (b/w starts at 3pesos & colored starts at 8pesos), and most importantly, FOOD which starts at 130pesos for a filling meal.

TIPS:

If you liked the place for the first visit and ultimately fell inlove with the place, you can just opt to apply for a monthly membership worth 2,500pesos per month (subject to change - check their Facebook page). Also, the best thing in this place is that if ever you tend to doze off too much, you can ask the staff for a wake-up call. 

By the way if you are going to bring any food there is a corkage fee and for any questions you can contact them easily through Facebook messenger (they reply immediately). Lastly, the best time to go there is not during your finals week of exam week since there will be a splurge of people. But do come at 12nn when they open.

Contact:

Cellphone (Globe): 0927-944-9980

Facebook: Search for Diligence Cafe

Instagram : @diligencecafe

4. Figaro (Scout Lozano Corner Tomas Morato, Sacred Heart, Quezon City)

This is one of my favorite places since I get to eat breakfast menus any time of the day. The place is particularly small and not many people often come. I also love the homey purple couch they have, and if ever you need to meet up with my friends or anything, the place is already in one of the food places to be–Tomas Morato. 

This cafe is small but you can make the most out of it. They have very accommodating staff and a clean restroom (the most important thing). Aside from that the place gets particularly cold in the evening so I suggest bringing a hoodie or shawl. For internet service or the wifi; the internet connection is pretty good and I have not experienced any problem so far. As for the coffee, it is not the best but it works in waking you up. The pasta selection that they have is actually really great and they also have some desserts though at times they only have one or two kinds.

TIPS:

Try the Chicken BBQ Skewers. The one they served me is not fatty and the rice is cooked really well. I think it costs around 200pesos. For pasta, try the Arrabiata, Pasta a la Carlo (a bit spicy and I think this is the expensive one), or the seafood one that they have (I forgot the name since they recommended it to me but it was not on the menu).

Lastly, if ever you crave for some Korean BBQ there’s one behind Figaro.

The place opens at 7am - 12midnight (Weekdays) and 7am - 10pm (Weekends).

5. Burger King (Matalino St, Quezon City - Near Mercury Drug Store)

Sometimes, I really try to stay away from coffee and tend to crave burgers especially from this one and so I sometimes go to this place. This Burger King location is pretty conducive for me in studying since the place is brightly lit and good for the days when I just can’t handle dim lights and when I am tired to the bone. But let me just remind you that the place is a fastfood chain and there will definitely be loud noise or chatting so bring your earphones or headphones. They open early in the morning (not sure of the time) and close at around 10pm (I think). 

Not to worry, they won’t call your attention for staying the entire day but you still have to order every now end then like, breakfast, lunch, snack/dinner or atleast two meals. They have rice meals like chicken, so burger is not always the choice.

TIPS:

They do not have the usual outlets but the USB type ones so I guess the place is a whole lot better when you need to review using your notes, books or tablet. I am not sure about the wifi but I think they do have. Aside from that, guard your belongings with your life, and the crew is not as courteous as cafe staffs or library employees so just ignore or complain to the manager about some catcalling incidents and frighten them with the Catcalling fine (hahahaha).

So there you have it, the five places I recommend to go to when you need to get some work or studying done. I still have some places to recommend but I need to go back and try the place twice or three times before I give my verdict. As of now I am currently in the process of reviewing and going to some places in Tomas Morato and the newly built Starbucks at Vertis North. Up next in my blog are the best study techniques that I have tried and tested and those that I am still currently using till now.

Thank you for reading! Study well and continue to stay focused. Remember that success follows as hardwork perseveres. This is Isabelle, signing out!

[fashionoutfit6]

PowerPoint Business presentation Assist: Do my PowerPoint Business presentation. Excellent Issues for Displays

PowerPoint Business presentation Assist: Do my PowerPoint Business presentation. Excellent Issues for Displays

Regardless of what your subject matter is, a PowerPoint discussion will assist you to talk to the audience. If you’re trying to find PowerPoint display assist and ideas we could tell you. There are several ideas on-line that may help you achieve your targets. Students can engage in the intellects we discuss on the webpage. Do you need to wow your tutor? Do you have a preference to get your visitors attention? Or maybe to deliver anything humorous for your associates and loved ones?

PowerPoint Demonstration Support: Subjects to make on

Very often individuals believe: immediately after we do my PowerPoint discussion I do not require to hassle about its topic, as the teacher will clearly like my perform. Even so a display is definitely an successful means of detailing, displaying and aiding the particular topic. Tells you, dialogues and conversations are crucial along with the electrical power level discussion need to help and support them. PowerPoint presentation subjects deviate according to the self-control, though the most considerably better versions are great artistry, historical past, sociable research projects, literature and clinical subjects. As an example, a history demonstration can be divided into times and contain exciting information and trusted details. An event could include appear to be and vision results. Naturally, you will need PowerPoint discussion assistance to create them, but you’ve have nothing to make an effort with situations are much easier than you suspect.

Literature is one of the finest possibilities, as you’ve an time to offer the existence of the popular writer or even the amount of the their books. By way of example, David Copperfield by Charles Dickens is usually a prosperous area of interest for discussion. You may also use a speech documenting of a number of elements from your text.

PowerPoint Discussion Support: Ideas to Bear in mind

It is recommended to consider: Soon after We do my PowerPoint business presentation what ought to i truly do to truly cause it to look and appear fascinating, and creative. This a part of our write-up offers you to useful tips:

Entice viewers awareness by efficient utilisation from the slide living space. Steer clear of overcrowding them and may incorporate only components, which instantly head towards the business presentation topic. Be cautious by using images they should surely satisfy the needs of developing your business presentation.

Try toremember: Right after We do my PowerPoint discussion, We have to stick to the theme surrounding the slides. This is certainly crucial.

Converse the reachable details evidently. Maintain the display glides apparent, skilled and constant.

Produce a apparent describe from the newspaper which means that your display is sensible and introduced evidently.

Know precisely what your visitors might find. Be certain your display noises and shows up good.

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If youve been required to set up an convention, it truly is time for you to give some thought to excellent issues for displays and select the main one which fits into the budget. A multitude of selections may well be a actual issue and youll must invest lots of time seeking the issue quite of looking after your demonstration.

Deciding on Very good Subjects for Presentations Rules

Through the use of two very simple policies, youll opt for your business presentation subject matter without hard work:

Choose the issue you are looking at. Area of interest comprehending in fact it is in depth comprehending can make the business presentation preparing course of action quick and easy , exciting.

Select a topic that’s simple to show by images they’ll certainly improve your message retention.

Choosing Good Matters for Displays Strategies

Fantastic issues for displays ought to adhere to the authors passion and exclusive interests.

Your best option should be to focus on holidays and passions. You simply will not confront any problems with images and pictures. When choosing a spare time action subject matter, make certain you tend not to use terms. Give it time to be clear for everybody. There’s you don’t require to let you know interests may be very diverse and thrilling.

The leading purpose of the presentation is usually to entice your readers focus and the ways to do that is you basically really should find your self.

Ideas of outstanding Subjects for Demonstrations

Teen cigarette smoking.

Prostitution is really a career by selection.

Out of the ordinary options.

Online as opposed to tabloids.

Social networking effects.

Need to you abolish desperate punishment?

Are vampires serious?

Does Our god actually are present?

Interesting specifics about Mars (much like a earth).

The goal of life.

In preparation the discussion youll accumulate your speaking in public knowledge and will manage stage fright. A fantastic display must energize the crowd to take into account around and examine your opinions.

Very good Matters for Demonstrations

Need to teenagers acquire hard cash for carrying out cleansing being an encouragement?

Just what exactly do you look at introducing separate classrooms for guys and ladies?

Exactly what do you really think about learners and professors befriending one another on Myspace? Do you know the possible difficulties?

Need to The usa get to be the metric program? Why or why don’t you?

Can it be much easier to shut institutions if virtually all its pupils perform improperly on standardized assessments?

Ought to lecturers placed on uniforms to university?

Could you go through an LGBTQ pleasant tale guide for your personal child?

Need to kids cartoons be analyzed and censored to get rid of the depiction of abuse?

Might be the depart every little thing and traveling mindset promoted by newspapers and weblogs bad or good for you in person?

What type of penalty is definitely the most suitable in institutions?

Must learners be brought to faith at school?

Need to an operating hubby assistance his full-time-new mother partner right after he returns home from perform?

Are you aware the most important the latest developments produced previously 5 years?

What’s the preferred estimate and why?

Should older school hockey software programs have a cheaper funds?

If your university year or so be much longer or quicker?

Recommendations on increasing the instructional system in the united states.

Strategies on enhancing the healthcare technique in the us.

Should mother and father command time that teenagers commit to the online or video games?

The result of beauty contests across the confidence and the body photo of women.

What’s the chance of Mars becoming lived on by people sooner or later?

Explore the essential confirming apply in healthcare.

Really should body organ donation after passing away be urged?

Discover more about your locations community folklore and cultures.

How do you locate the most crucial words if you wish to come to be acquainted with a words speedily?

Exactly where do superstitions originate from?

What’s dyslexia and how will you assist somebody struggling with it?

Why can feral kids hardly ever get used to right after becoming discovered by people and exposed to modern society?

Just where was the primary writing process developed and why?

How has social networks impacted your living?

Ought to cosmetic plastic surgery be restricted except if somebody has some significant bodily issues that cheaper the grade of life?

Ought to political research be incorporated in the senior high school graduation courses?

The best way ought to we be tolerant and admit variety concerning race, faith and political opinions?

Is globalization terrible or great for humankind?

Does Christianity have result on a modern-day men and women mindset and examine over the world?

Can euthanasia decrease suicide rates?

Really should mom and dad be prohibited from offering youngsters incredible companies?

Does texting become worse our vocabulary and composing proficiency?

Are GMOs harmless for the overall health? While they are blocked?

What’s the web website faith in addition to a cult? Just how do you put the secondly?

Explain quite possibly the most popular guy representing your state/area/city.

Is nuclear energy greater that solar power?

Should a 5-working day few days be improved to a few 4-morning week?

Are you aware the principal perils of building a human-like unnatural learning ability?

Need to blog writers be taken care of as newspaper writers and disciplined for offering improper facts?

Would it help in decreasing baby excess weight issues if school cafeterias function only wholesome food choices?

Gaming shouldn’t be abolished, simply because it isnt hazardous and encourages travel and leisure. Totally agree or disagree?

Must online coaching be handled as similar to the conventional sort of coaching?

Really should standard checks be taken away? If that’s the fact, exactly what are alternative methods of examining childrens comprehending?

Must car drivers be fined for polluting the climate?

Should sportsmen wages be limited?

Have you any idea the the best way to motivate apolitical visitors to political election?

Will the development of computer systems make produced textbooks fade away?

Just what are the most legendary varieties of censorship all over track record?

The outcomes notebook computer or personal computer mediated interaction for the operating and everyday everyday life.

Is daydreaming a useful or hazardous exercise for you personally?

Internet connection needs to be no cost world-wide. Totally agree or disagree?

Could it be ideal for a medical condition to finance colleges that popularize a unique faith?

The 3 most generally employed conspiracy concepts.

Just what are the benefits of video games?

Fantastic Issues for Reports: Assist

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