#they were right that this is the nd website so clearly I have to explain things more but dawg

[cherrysnax]

blocked that person because they were annoying but I will try to be clear on my posts because i don’t know how I keep getting misinterpreted

[valideity]

[the original post that i’m replying to by @colorsinautumn is in the source link but basically it went like this:]

y’all, i feel like i need to remind y’all that there’s a huge difference between ignoring what’s going on, and taking a mental break because you’re exhausted with trying to keep up with the situation in the country right now. this shit is no joke and is weighing incredibly heavy on people such as myself and if you need to take a break from this and just log out, please do. please take care of yourself and don’t feel bad that you’re not keeping up with things at every second of the day.

god i keep reading the notes on this post about being privileged to take a break and i feel the need to explain a few things. one, a black man wrote this post. two, i clearly emphasized the point of ignoring what’s going on. I understand that non black people have the privilege of being able to “log out” and not be effected by this. black people like myself don’t have that privilege of just being able to log out. what i’m trying to say with this post is that you shouldn’t be feeling like shit all day and having anxiety attacks and generally feeling incredibly overwhelmed all the time. taking care of your mental health is not up for fucking debate and I don’t care what the color of your skin is, this applies to everyone. take care of yourself mentally and physically. i can’t believe I have to argue that people have the right to care for themselves amidst all the shit going on in the world today.

i’m a white person and bro, the shit going on in the US earlier in the year was a real catalyst to my first psych ward admission (not like police brutality against Black, Indigenous and people of colour, and other marginalised and multiply marginalised populations is a ‘new’ thing).

i felt completely powerless and like i had to prove my whole entire moral worth as a person via social media and while i learnt that the best thing to do was to amplify Black, Indigenous and people of colours voices AND to spread resources and awareness was the best thing to do in that situation, as well as show up to protests and educate ourselves, i just totally shut down as i couldn’t find the RIGHT posts to share, I didn’t want to spread trauma-porn to my BIPOC followers already suffering, and i couldn’t find something to do that seemed authentic and genuine (seeing as this was NOT a new problem), and in my mostly-white social media circles had barely even been addressed before George Floyd.

at one point, i didn’t even know whether we (whites) were doing this for solidarity or purely for reputation, and THAT thought fucks me up.

and i still dont know if my radio silence due to wanting to seem authentic and genuine during this time was more of a reflection of me and my personal faults and schemas and insecurities rather than a genuine desire to be more consistent and mindful in my awareness-spreading and a preference to have in-depth discussions with the people around me about what was and still, always, is going on in the fucked up world we live in

anyway, i still have a lot of guilt and regret over being so silent in that time and wish i could give out a billion of the sincerest apologies to Black, Indigenous and people of colour (and other marginalised identities), who may have seen my internet presence and thought of me as not an ally or safe presence to them. so, for what it’s worth and for whomever may see this, i’m so, so sorry.

i appreciate @colorsinautumn ‘s sentiment of looking after your mental and physical health despite your skin colour. it resolved me of a lot of the shame i’ve been carrying since that time. but i’m still fucking internally debating the quality of my heart (but that’s my own shit to deal with).

“...I understand that non-black people have the privilege of being able to “log out” and not be effected by this. black people like myself don’t have the privilege of just being able to log out. what i’m trying to say with this post is that you shouldn’t be feeling like shit all day and having anxiety attacks and generally feeling incredibly overwhelmed all the time. taking care of your mental health is not up for fucking debate and I don’t care what the color of your skin is, this applies to everyone. take care of yourself mentally and physically. I can’t believe I have to argue that people have the right to care for themselves amidst all the shit going on in the world today.”

since then, i’ve come across a few resources that i’ve found to be very accessible for people with ADHD and other learning disabilities who may struggle to read:

the first one is a documentary (with subtitles) on the continuation of Australia’s foul and disgusting treatment towards our First Nations peoples. it’s called Utopia, and you can access it for free here:

https://vimeo.com/168410495

the second one is a book called Care Work: Dreaming Disability Justice by Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha. If you have the money, I’d highly recommend purchasing the ebook, to support both the author and the publisher (Arsenal Pulp Press is very good and publishes lots of antiracist and queer content from authors with marginalised identities). If you can’t afford the book, https://gen.lib.rus.ec is a way you can get it for free. It’s about the intersectional Disability Justice movement, mutual aid, ‘care webs’ and life with neurodivergence (they have autism and other NDs) chronic illness and disability as a whole as a person of colour. It is an easy and accessible read, with essays in small chunks of writing, and using text-to-speech on iOS or mac, or, apps like Speechify and fonts like OpenDyslexic make it a lot easier.

the audiobook is available on the app/website Scribd if you’d like to read along with the audiobook.

this video is also an excellent starter for those who are interested in reading the book. it is also officially close-captioned (rather than auto-generated)

‘left-tube’ creators like philosophytube have a lot of content about police brutality, prisons, solitary confinement and racism to check out

if you want to read a book or get an introduction/discussion about it (with subtitles), searching youtube for the book title and author is bound to come up with something. Take Alex Vitale’s The End Of Policing (published by Verso, whom i highly recommend for both books and educational videos) for example:

or, Police: A Field Guide (a book about the history and abolition of the police) by David Correia and Tyler Wal (also published by Verso), brings up an interview with Vitale, Correia, and Wall:

or, this, an interview about the book and discussion:

, and, this youtuber has just started uploading the audiobook to youtube:

as well as The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander.

so yes, there are accessible ways to educate yourself about this stuff, whether you have ADHD, dyslexia or another learning disability—it just took me a while to figure it out.

I hope this post was helpful to people like me who struggle to read and/or pay attention but want to educate themselves in the ways that Black people have recommended.

[photographynotes]

About: A natural woman

An article published in The Guardian in 2011., by Suzanne Moore seems more relevant as the time goes by. The article doesn’t argue the position of a wild woman who uses no make up, has hair to her knees etc., it rather questions ways to become a woman in Western society. The key thought behind the article could be best describe by one of Moore’s sentences: “To become a woman is to become a female impersonator.”

Here is the entire article with favorite parts marked in bold:

Why does nobody want to feel like a natural woman any more?

Suzanne Moore

Falsies have become my preoccupation. But clearly not just mine. I could buy a mascara called Falsies to give myself "the ultimate false lash glam look". But why do that when I could just wear enormous false eyelashes? Or, better still, spend a small fortune on lash extensions, which hopefully wouldn't fall off for a few weeks if tended lovingly. It all seems a lot of time and energy, really.

On the train or at the supermarket I see many young girls with long, spidery, glittery lashes, even when in their uniforms. I quite like this overalls-and-drag-queen look. I like the lack of pretence that this is real. But how did we get here, I wonder – to this new aesthetic of femininity where everything is meant to look as fake as possible? Hair, nails, tan, teeth, tits. Sure, I know the rules: that we are born naked, and "the rest is just drag". Sure, I get the hyper-femininity of the big queens and the game old birds such as Dolly Parton and Cher. What is strange is that a parody of femininity is now what many ordinary women are aspiring to.

There was time when falsies were the pads shoved down your bra to make your breasts seem bigger, a kind of comedy stuffing. Now the stuffing is put directly inside the flesh, in the form of silicon implants. While not as cheap as chips, false breasts are certainly becoming as common as them.

The "boob job" industry is massive. Boom boom. And everyday. Cosmetic surgery was once only the province of the rich, famous and deluded. It was surely another era when I was ferried to an American TV studio to debate with the legendary Betty Friedan and some daft woman who was claiming that her breast enlargement was a political act. A grouchy Freidan keep shouting into my ear: "So she thinks she can buy big bazookas, right?" It was a struggle to explain I was on Friedan's side, and now I wonder if anyone would even bother with this discussion. The political language of empowerment about reproductive rights and equality in the workplace has itself been given a makeover. Gok Wan makes women feel better not by giving them more actual control, but by giving them control pants.

As the inimitable satire website The Onion once wrote, women "are now empowered by everything that the typical woman does". From driving the kids to school to eating energy bars! "Owning and wearing dozens of pairs of shoes is a compelling way for a woman to announce that she is strong and independent and can shoe herself without the help of a man." This is satire? Only just, says this humourless feminist.

Buying stuff is the way our culture encourages us to believe we have some kind of power. When it all goes wrong and we have bought the wrong stuff, then we discuss the morality of it all. The woman who died recently after having industrial silicone injected into her buttocks was a sad case of someone buying the wrong stuff. The moral of this story seems to be: next time you are having buttock implants, get a reputable surgeon.

It's the same with Botox, liposuction , tummy tucks and all the rest of it. People get "work done". Most discussion centres on whether that work has been done well, not whether it should have been done at all. The kind of feminism that espoused looking "natural" has pretty much lost the argument about body image. It was hardly ever going to be a fair match: some activist women against an entire military-industrial-cosmetic complex geared up towards getting us to commodify our own bodies. That's right. I am not saying that men do not objectify the female body, but now the gaze we direct at ourselves, at each other and in the mirror is a harsh one, too. It is sexualised in that we see what the body could become, as well as what it is. It is the gaze of search and destroy, and it certainly affects the inner lives of those who are not perfect. Which is a fair few of us.

Heath, happiness and relationships are secondary to what Catherine Hakim provocatively calls "erotic capital". This is the basic "if you've got it, flaunt it" model to wave in the face of feminism. It doesn't wind me up particularly. What is key here is who defines erotic capital, and how. Today's templates of beauty for women are very samey, but they rarely occur in nature. The tall, slim-hipped figure with huge, pert breasts – basically the body of a Brazilian transsexual – was sought after for a while. Now we are told bottoms are making a comeback (where HAVE they been all these years?). These things are spoken about it in vacuum, as if we are not allowed to talk about the racial aspects of "the bootylicious".

Increasingly, surgery cuts across race, gender and age alike. The girl in Miami has a nose job just as the woman in Tehran does. Signs of ethnicity can be erased, other signifiers or "capital" can be purchased. And once you have made a purchase, you want people to see that you have. The fashion – or indeed fetish – for fakery means women are actually asking surgeons to make their implants look as fake as their tans. Certainly, the way to counter what is going on here has to be strategic.

One way is to promote a diversity of body shapes and all kinds of beauty. Susie Orbach is launching an Endangered Species International Summit. The purpose of this is to "challenge the culture that teaches girls and women to hate their own bodies". Who could argue with that? For it is the entire culture, not a male conspiracy, that is making impossible demands. Yet none of this is simple.

Artificially enhanced femininity is on display everywhere. Older women pay to look younger. Young women start altering themselves very early on. One result is a kind of glazed uniformity. You see it in porn. You see it in all those late-30s, Botoxed faces that look neither old nor young, just done.

Somehow, though, something else is going on that is blowing apart any idea of "the natural". Some women are not saying, "this is what I really look like", rather they are saying, "enjoy the performance". Just as a drag queen would. The media then scrutinises this performance of femininity entirely as a construction. This radical idea – that gender is constructed – is being acted out in all this fakery. But as an aesthetic, depoliticised "style".

Lady Gaga may sing Born This Way, while clearly demonstrating with her hard body – complete with internal shoulder pads/prosthesis/spare ectoplasm – that she wasn't, that this is all an act.

A look that has comes to us via porn, ladyboys, transsexuals, queer culture and high fashion is a look I now see on the bus. This excess of femininity may compensate for endless anxiety about appearances. There is nothing natural going on here, and some women are not hiding that fact. To become a woman is to become a female impersonator. How, in such a world, can we say to any young girl: "You are fine just as you are"?

[tigerandbunnyftw]

Hello! So regarding Double Deckers and T&B, does this mean all of the DD staff are completely unable to work on T&B? Where do you think the new season is in terms of development? Is it possible the work has already been done? After all there was the picture with all the seiyuus last Christmas that was never explained by them.

Hi anon

Thanks for your question, regarding the Double Decker! anime,since we have very little information regarding its production at this point –a lot of this will be just based on my assumption/ observations, so take thiswith a grain of salt as you will. I’ll place my thoughts under the cut.

Right now we have no idea how long they have been working onDD for, so again, it’s difficult to speculate how far into production they arewith this series. That said, I’m still going to assume that the production forDD must be near to completion at this point, as it intends to premiere thisyear. Most of the main work is probably finished, with the exception of thelast few episodes and voice work mostly complete. However, it’s definitely notunheard of in the anime industry that voice recording work can be done evenwhen the show is being aired in the last few episodes e.g. retakes/change oflines etc. I’m pretty sure if memory serves me correctly that Tiger & Bunnyencountered that towards the end of the show and the production staff made somechanges to dialogue weeks before the last episodes aired.

So if DD is near to completion, this would definitely givethe Tiger & Bunny staff more flexibility to return to this project, as theywould not have as much work commitments to DD. Which of course is extremely positivefor us!

Regarding your other question, this might sting a bit. Truthfully,I think the development of the 2nd season of Tiger & Bunny hasnot started. At all. I think we are truly at the preproduction stages and thestaff are currently generating ideas/concepts. Why do I think this exactly?

Well even though Sunrise has been highly aware of theundying popularity that Tiger & Bunny still has (particularly in Japan), evidencedthrough the amount of merchandise that they still produce for the series (whichgets sold out quickly even now) along with the number of anime polls that ithas won throughout the years e.g.  https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/interest/2016-11-17/tiger-and-bunny-again-tops-fan-poll-of-desired-anime-sequels/.108893/ https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/interest/2015-09-10/tiger-and-bunny-tops-most-wanted-original-anime-sequel-poll/.92653/ http://www.crunchyroll.com/anime-news/2017/05/20/japanese-fans-name-the-top-ten-most-exciting-hero-anime) Sunrise did not act upon it.

It’s only until NHK’s “Top 100 Anime” poll (which ran lastyear and saw Tiger & Bunny taking not only 1st place for thisand their character poll – this was also televised on Japanese prime time TV atNew Year’s – so it again it gained even more publicity!) that Sunrise decided torespond to it. Because at that point, it’s too difficult to deny what theaudience are clearly asking for. A sequel.

Other things as well e.g. Hirata Hiroaki (Kotetsu’ seiyuu)has been participating in some public Q&A/lecture sessions in Japan recently(most notably on 11th March ’18) to which he was asked about the newseries to which he responded https://twitter.com/__gutarou/status/972690446404141056that he is very excited because he “knew as much as we do”. Also other thingssuch the production staff currently finding a new director, since Keiichi Satouis not returning and (this might be me reading into it too much but) the lastmain tweet that the Tiger & Bunny twitter posted ( https://twitter.com/TIGERandBUNNY/status/974575935050534913)was an announcement for Double Decker! but they reassured fans that the secondseason is in development and that they were “discussing it”. The picture theyuse features Kotetsu and Barnaby plushies sitting on a white board with blackmarkers in the backgrounds, which again alludes to the action of ideas beinggenerated. Etc. etc. (I’m babbling at this point).

So I think they only decided on a 2nd season at NewYear and this actually reflects in the announcement statement that is on the newsection of the Tiger & Bunny website, which can be read: http://tigerandbunnyftw.tumblr.com/post/169417311947/jazzarray-just-to-expand-on-the-new-seriesFrom reading that again, they place a lot of emphasis on the importance of thatpoll, which helped Sunrise make their mind up to do a sequel.

Regarding that picture with all the seiyuus and Hirata’s “vague”tweet, it turns out that he was referencing the two drama cds, titled “SternbildAppreciation” and “The Party Never Ends” that the cast reunited and recorded forthe IchibanKuji event  “Fortune Favours the Bold” .So yeah, slightly disappointing that it didn’t turn out to be what we wanted atthe time, but at least the 2nd season is happening now.

With everything above in mind, again this is all me speculatingbut I do definitely think that the second season is early into its productionstages, so we still have some waiting to go. Hopefully the staff are gearing upto put their full attention into the production of this if Double Decker! isnear to completion. I would rather Sunrise take their time and make a sequelthat is worthy of our enjoyment/meet our expectations; than receive a rushed product,because it wouldn’t be fair to everyone who has been providing their continuoussupport over the years to end up with something that doesn’t meet the quality.So we may need to wait a little longer but hopefully it’ll all be worth it inthe end! As announced, Double Decker! will be airing this year and may providesome entertainment value in the meantime whilst we are waiting, so let’s keepan open mind at this point and anticipate what’s to come in the future.

I hope that answers your questions (sorry it was a bit long!😊)

[dailyaudiobible]

02/02/2018 DAB Transcript

Exodus 15:20-17:7, Matthew 22:1-32, Psalms 27:1-7, Proverbs 6:20-26

Today is…what is today? I was back in last month. Today is the 2nd day of February. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I'm Brian. It's great to be here with you today. I probably should've engaged my brain better before turning the mike on. I probably need just a sip of coffee…hold on. Okay thank you. Much, much better. Today is the 2nd of February and we're going to take the next step forward in the Scriptures this year. And, so, that will take us back into the book of Exodus, where the children of Israel have crossed over the Red Sea on dry ground and the enemies of Israel, Egypt's armies, have been washed away. Exodus chapter 15 verse 19 through 17:7 today.

Commentary:

Alright, let's go back into the book of Exodus for a minute. So, we will have all noticed that the children of Israel were freed from slavery in Egypt. Right? And that they left Egypt and went out into the wilderness and this was intentional. There was a shorter route to get into the promised land through the land of the Philistines, but God led them into the wilderness. They weren't ready for battle, they weren't ready to take the land, and they didn't know what to do when they got there. The wilderness is going to be the backdrop for a complete identity change. For 400 years now, more than 400 years, these people have been slaves. So, like, there's no one alive in this camp that doesn't have the identity of a slave. It's all that they know. It's pretty much all that they can remember except for these mythic promises of patriarchs named Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and Joseph. These people are centuries in the past, so they're stories. But they're not going to be able to go into the promised land, take the promised land, govern the promised land, live right before God in the promised land with the identity of slave. And God is going to use the wilderness to change that identity.

So, stop there and say the parallels in our own lives are striking. But let's move on because we begin to get a glimpse of why. Like, we begin to see the way that the wilderness is already pressing in on them. So, they're out in the barren wilderness. Empty, infertile, stark, unforgiving, wilderness. And have you noticed how many times we find them grumbling? And we can read the story and go, hang on guys, didn't you just see what God did to set you free in Egypt? Didn't you just see what he did at the Red Sea to your enemies? Do you not see the cloud and the pillar of fire guiding you? Do you not think if God can do that that he can find water for you, right? I mean, we can see all so clearly.

Alright, pause. Remember those parables we were talking about yesterday when Jesus was talking to the religious leaders who are asking Him whose authority He was doing these things under? And He told them stories and they answered His questions, but in the process, they simply implicated themselves in the story?

Yea, so this story of the children of Israel moving out into the wilderness kind of works the same way. We can read this and go like, okay yeah you guys are in the desert, but didn't you just see what God did to set you free? You don't think He can take care of you out here? How often are we grumbling when we go into wilderness seasons? I mean, isn't that pretty much what we do when find wilderness seasons in our lives? Grumble.

So, they're at the Red Sea. Right? Pharaoh's armies coming down upon them. There's open water in front of them and a big army behind them and there's nothing that they can do. They're trapped. And, so, they're freaking out and what does God say? Listen, listen, listen, you don't have to do anything. All you need to do is look at that army. You see that army coming down upon you? You will never see them again. You don't have to do anything but watch. And that's what they did. They watched. They walked across the Red Sea, got to the other side and watched. And the armies were no more. And they never saw them again. And they're jumping up and down with tambourines, singing, and rejoicing. And then they go out into the desert and what do we find? They're grumbling. Right? So, they can't find water and they're thrashing around and they're going after Moses and Aaron. And Moses and Aaron are trying to tell them, guys why are you yelling at us? We're just simply trying to obey God here. You’re grumbling against God and they're mad and they say things like, oh would that we have died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt when we sat by the meat pots and ate bread to the full, for you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger. Right? So, that's kind of the first test of the wilderness. The first thing that has to shift in these people's hearts is that there is no going back to slavery. And they're candy coating what slavery was like. They're longing for the good old days when it was easier than it is now, because now they're in the wilderness, even though the promise and the promised land is out in front of them. Even though they're on their way there, they've had to go into the wilderness. And, so, all they're thinking about is the good old days and they are making plans, often, about how to go back, see if the Egyptians will take them back. Oh, is this not us? Is this not our lives? Does this story not become a parable of us? What I can tell you is that the wilderness is a part of this story. It is a formative part of this story. It is an essential part of this story because identity has got to change from slave to chosen. And God brought them out into the wilderness where He could have their full attention, because there was going to be no way for them to operate in their own strength. They didn't have the skill, they didn’t have knowledge, they didn't have the tools, they didn't have the weaponry, they didn't have…they were not equipped. And I've been out there. I mean, a million people out there. There's no way…there’s no way to survive out there, not with that many people. So, they’re doing a lot of grumbling and at this point God's being patient. He's just showing them at every stop He will take care of them.  At every step, their need will be met. That's what He's trying to show them, utter dependence on God for life. And, again, are we not reading our own story? Do we not find ourselves moving into the wilderness and thrashing around and complaining and grumbling and trying to make it work and missing the fact that the point of being out there in the first place is to get to the baseline fact that we are utterly dependent on God for life and that He is utterly committed to giving it. It will not be they're thrashing around out in the wilderness that will get them into the promised land. It will be they're obedience. And the thrashing around we will see is nothing but wasted energy. And we've been following this story since we met Abram. Maybe only a month has passed in our readings, but centuries have passed to bring this about. And it has taken centuries in our own family history to bring us here. And we can choose. We can continue running around, thrashing around or we can slow down. We can be still. We can actually trust. We can slow down enough that we're not thrashing around inside and be still and listen so that God can show us the next step forward. Right? Just a couple of days we read in the Psalms, friendship with God is for those who fear Him. We talked about that being a circle of friendship, an intimate, allied, counsel. But we're not going to get clarity on the next right step if running to and fro to every conceivable option, thrashing around, grumbling, complaining and thinking about the good old days, and trying to figure out if maybe we could even go back to those good old days. If we could go back to slavery. We have to decide: are we going to stay a slave or are we going to become chosen? And if we’re going to become chosen, then that’s going to be a process. And the first step in that process is crystal clear clarity that we are utterly, completely dependent on God for life itself.

Prayer:

Father, that strikes really near our hearts. That reaches bedrock. That explains so much. And, so, we’re thankful for that. We’re thankful that our eyes are open. But we have the story of the children of Israel to help us. We see that they’re eyes get opened and then they move on and over time they find other obstacles and are complaining and have lost it. And, so, we realize that we do that, too. We want our eyes to stay open. There is no other hope but You. There isn’t anywhere else to put our hope. And, so, we hope in You. Our eyes are open. We are utterly dependent upon You. And the faster that we can learn that lesson, the more that we can operate in Your kingdom because You can send us anywhere and we don’t fear.  Come, Holy Spirit, plant these truths in our lives, transforming our identity. Transform us to the point that we can't even remember the days of old and we do not long for good old days because the adventure out in front of us is so much more compelling because we get to do it with You. Come, Holy Spirit, we pray. In Jesus’ name, we ask. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com is the website, it’s home base, it’s where you find out what’s going on around here.

A few days from now, on the 7th of this month, so this coming Wednesday, I will be in Bakersfield, California and I’ll be speaking at New Life Church. I’m looking forward to that. So, if you are in the area, come say hello. All the details for this event are at dailyaudiobible.com in the Events section. So, you can find maps and phone numbers and websites and times and the works there. So, check it out. Look forward to seeing you in a few days.

Later in this month, a couple weeks from now, we’ll be getting on a bigger plane, heading across oceans and landing in the land of the Bible, where we’ll be doing a Daily Audio Bible pilgrimage in the land of the Bible. So, if you haven’t begun to follow Daily Audio Bible on social media, like, if you haven’t begun to follow Daily Audio Bible Facebook page and Twitter and stuff like that, this is a good time because we’ll be posting pictures as they’re happening in the land of the Bible. And, so, many of these places you’ll get to see. And we’ll use social media for that because it’s easiest, the most immediate way to do it.  And, of course, I’ll be talking about it here on Daily Audio Bible.  It’s a pilgrimage we do together whether in person or virtually.  It’s something that we do in hopes of making the Bible come alive and expand and become what it is in our lives.  And, so, we’ll look forward to that. And I love it.  I don’t look forward to jetlag. That’s one of my least favorite things. But it’s going to a great time. And if that interests you, we’ll be going back in 2019. And you can find out about that at dailyaudiobible.com in the initiatives section.  Another resource is Promised Land. And I’ve talked about that so we all know what it is but having those kind of handy as we’re moving through the land of the Bible and you being able to engage that way if you’re going virtually can make it come alive as well.  So, check those resources out.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, you can do that at dailyaudiobible.com. There is a link.  It’s on the homepage. Thank you for your partnership. This is how the community exists.  So, thank you. So, there’s a link on the homepage at dailyaudiobible.com. If you’re using the Daily Audio Bible app, you can press the Give button in the upper right-hand corner or, if you prefer, the mailing address is PO Box 1996, Spring Hill Tennessee, 37174.

And, as always, if you have a prayer request or comment, 877-942-4253 is the number to dial.

And that’s it for today. I’m Brian I love you and I’ll be waiting for you here tomorrow.

Community Prayer and Praise:

Hello my DAB family. This is Mark S. From Sydney Australia. Today is Friday the 26th. I’ve just finished listening to the 25th podcast. And I just heard the prayer request from Joe the Protector and I want to pray for you Joe. And Joe…I just wanted a quick message…Joe, you were the first person that ever prayed for me in one of my prayer requests. I can’t even remember how long ago I started listening…six or seven years ago Joe. So, you’re very special in my heart and I just want to let you know you are the one that gave me such faith in this community Joe. And, so, you’re really very special in my heart Joe. And I just want to let you know Joe, that don’t underestimate the power of calling in, because you’ve converted my heart Joe. It is a trust in this community. Lord, I want to lift Madison up to you Lord. Joe has been a faithful member of Your community Father in heaven. Joe’s daughter Madison is needing  Your help heavenly Father. We come to You as a community lifting Madison up to You Lord. You know how to heal. You can heal and You will heel Lord and we trust You Lord. Lord, we ask You to send Your godly wisdom to all the doctors, to guide them and to help Madison. Send Your Holy Spirit to Madison Lord and help her to recover and recover completely Lord and to follow You and to follow Your love again Lord. Lord we lift up Joe and his whole family too, for Your heavenly patience Lord and comfort Lord. Lord we ask this in Your name. Amen. I love you Joe.

Hello family. This call is for Joe the protector. Joe, Joe from Atlanta, Nikki, Madison, we’re praying for you. I want all you prayer warriors out there that really know, know to pray, listen to the Holy Spirit and every time…and this is in honor of David from Kansas…not just two o’clock but 10, 2, and 4. If you remember Dr. Pepper, 10, 2, and 4. Every time you think about Joe, the Holy Spirit leads you to. Pray for him. Heavenly Father You are holy holy holy. We cannot even conceive on how holy You are. You are just too good to even try to explain how good You are in words. Lord, we thank You that we can come to You through the blood of Jesus Christ and His resurrection. And we can come directly to You. And we do so now on the behalf of Joe the protector. You made him the perfect Joe, big, strong, loving, but Lord we ask You to come against all the powers, the invisible powers and principalities that are against You Lord God. We ask You to put a hedge around Joe and his family. Lift up Nikki and Madison that they would feel Your presence. Joe has faith Lord, we ask You to increase the faith of that household, that You would surround it, that everywhere they go, whether it’s Madison, Nikki, or Joe that Your presence will be with them, and all would be backed up, and feel Your love reflected through them. Lord, we pray these things in Jesus name. We thank You for what You’re about to do in strengthening Joe and Nikki, building up their faith that only You, only You can heal their daughter and come against the forces of darkness and the physical ailments that have…

Hi. Yeah, this is Blind Tony. I just came from a form of checkup on my prostate cancer. And it’s been beautiful for the last four or five years. But anyway, my numbers are slowly creeping back up and now it’s at the point where it has definitely gotten the attention of my urologist. And they’re sending me for a bone scan and a CT scan for my chest, my abdomen, and pelvic areas to see if there’s some definitive areas that need to be treated with radiation. And then we’re going to have to start another round of hormone therapy with its own set of negatives and side effects. But it’s all good. I’m just calling because the fervent effectual prayer of the righteous avails much with God, according to James. So, I want to solicit the prayers and support of my DAB family to be with me as I get ready to go through this again. And know, it is all good, because many are the afflictions of the righteous but God rescues us out of all of them. There’s no trial or hardship or affliction that hits us that’s not common to all the men. But we stick together and we pray together and we learn together and we lean on God’s promises together. And He is faithful and just and He is the reward of those that honestly seek in him. So, we know that whatever our lot, it is well with our soul. Anyway, just wanted to share that with you. Know that you are loved. All right. Thank you. Bye-bye. Oh, you can contact me at blindtony1016@gmail.com. Okay. Bye-bye.

Hi, this is Bonnie from Virginia. I am calling to request my DAB family to pray for my son __. As I mentioned a long time ago that he has been incarcerated and did not get the chance to get out. They sent him…and did not allow him to come back home, but he is going to be released on this February 12th  of 2018. And I want you all to pray for him, that once he comes home he would have desire to go to church. I also bought the Sneezing Jesus book and I have given it to him. It seems like he hasn’t started reading it yet. So, please pray that he could have a heart to start reading that book and get closer to God before he gets out from jail. I would really appreciate your prayers. Thank you and I may call back later.

Good morning Daily Audio Bible friends. This is Tara from Maine. I’m a first-time caller. I’m calling to ask for you to pray for my mom. She has been diagnosed with stage IV cancer. She is a very vibrant woman and our prayers have been that she will just continue to live out her life that way. She started her chemo treatment and has had no side effects and our prayer is that that will continue. I so appreciate your prayers. God bless you all.

Hey, Daily Audio Bible prayer warriors. This is Dr. John and we need to go to war for the kids. Hey, everybody put on your armor and let’s roll. In the name of my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ I command any unclean spirits coming against Joe’s daughter Madison, any spirit of depression, any spirit of anxiety, any spirit of diminishment, any spirit of fear, any spirit that is causing her to feel suicidal I command you in Jesus name to be bound and cast away to Jesus feet. And I also pray for Jadrian. In Jesus’ name I command any unclean spirits coming against Jadrian, especially any spirit of depression, any spirit of anger, any spirit of bitterness, any spirit of fear, any spirit of addiction, any self-diminishment spirit coming against Jadrian to be bound and cast away to Jesus feet. Family, thank you for praying for them. We hope that they will…we know that they can be free by Jesus’ power. Thank you for joining with me that we can set the captives free through Jesus. We pray this in His holy, mighty, and victorious name. Amen.

[saltyslack-toast]

#KnockTheBook : Anne Frank

“The nice Anne is never present in company, hasn’t appeared one single time so far, but always predominates when we’re alone. I know exactly how I’d like to be, but, I’m only like that for myself. And perhaps that’s why, I’m sure it’s the reason why I say I’ve got a happy nature within and why other people think I’ve got a happy nature without. I am guided by the pure Anne within, but outside I’m nothing but a frolicsome little goat who’s broken loose”

I knew this book exist since I was in elementary school it was on the 6th grade I guess. I saw this book in one of the notability book store (re: Books and Beyond) in kinda so-so Bandung Mall (re again: Istana Plaza). I read the behind book preview and my curious ass was really intrigued, that time I didn’t know wtf is holocaust and my English skill was so poor, I mean like still but now its getting better right?????  My 11 years old wallet was penniless, so I didn’t buy the book,  that’s ok though because book wasn’t the main source of my happiness and I don’t really read much books that age. Many years later, there was BBW Bandung in 2019, and I’m so excited since I started to read quite a lot of books after I’m in college and just like that, I found a gem I’ve been wanting for since I was starting my puberty and now I’m at the edge of my puberty era (STILL COULDN’T MOVE ON FROM MY PUBERTY DAYS, PLEASE CHECK THE PREVIOUS POST OF MINE OR I’LL KILL U! Never mind it was a trash anyway). I’m gonna review this book in a way this book relating my life, because I SWEAR TO GOD Anne Frank is me in 1942 indeed.

Okay let’s cut the shit off of the personal history attached to this book, cause no one cares, no one probably read this master of shit.

The title of the book is “Diary of A Young Girl: Anne Frank” written clearly in the book’s grayish cover and it has a picture of queen Anne herself writing on her diary I suppose?? So it basically Anne frank writing her story and someone took a picture of her posing like she was writing the story and the picture became the cover of her story that she wrote when someone was taking that picture, got it?. The book is published by Wilco Publishing Book in 2013 in Mumbai, India. The book’s price is written on its cover, it was 19.95 in US Dollar and converted to Rupiah approximately worth RP 326.569, please note that I convert this price when USD 1 is worth RP 16.300 (fuck you corona). But don’t worry, if you are going to buy one in BBW the price is 50% cheaper than the original one, omg someone take me to BBW RIGHT.NOW!.

For those who dumb in history but insist to read this history-biography kind of book (WHICH IS STRANGELY CONTRADICTION, like dude u suppose to have good grades in history class if u like this kinda book, but whatevs I don’t judge), chillax there’s gonna be a short sum about what’s happened in WW II and the origin short story of Hitler gon’ mad with his bonkers political party. Also, there is a little summary about Anne’s previous life before she starts writing her diary in that crazy era she’s living. This book is literally her diary, I said diary, it means u could see her recounting her daily activities in a writing book (Except the fact that she named her diary with Kitty and consider it as her friend).

In this book, you are going to meet plenty bold characters. Here I describe few of ‘em that quite memorable for me. First is Queen Anne herself duh! She’s fucking THAT BRIGHT, I mean she was 13 when she wrote the story of her life, loves to read books, emotionally instable just like a mad teenage typical but she really has very unique perspective of how she depict the whole condition when she was in hiding. Second is her fucking family duh!(2), her mummy is weirdly kind of remind me to my mom FOR REAL, both of them were as problematic as her youngest daughter, sensitive, and caring as regular moms out there. Daddy is totally a sweetheart and kind of hard-working just like most of the Jews I guess?? And Margot which is Anne’s older sister, you know that golden child in the family who always be the spotlight in your big family gathering? Yes she is one of the kinds. Not only Anne and her family that is pretty intriguing, but there is also one little family which also joined Anne’s family in hiding, that is Mr. Van Daan Family and all of their dramas *applauding* that is caused by Mrs. Van Daan’s deportment (She’s quiet funny for me though) . There is still a lot amount of characters that is also involved in this book, but you can read the book by yourself its good honey trust me its good and worth it.

I think for the first time I managed to look serious in previous paragraph right?

What’s very interesting to me is how Anne and her mom fighting could be very relatable to all of us. The peak of these fighting dramas was on Friday, April 2nd 1943, when Anne refuses to have her mum took prayers with her, I would say that was truly heart breaking moment. You know the time when you had a huge fight with your mom and you feel so miserable because you disgust the situation where no one was there for you and all you can do is to blame yourself because you love your mom and realized that she got nothing wrong, and what you did is  self-loathing all days long, as her mom said,

“I don’t want to be cross, love cannot be forced”

I’m on my fucking tears for reading that sentence, perhaps people that has lots of problem with their life might be understand exactly how it feels, for longing to just vanish from the world because die in all likelihood would still make people around to be distressed because of you? (OMG Ana, u really need stop exposing yourself!). However, after all the fights with her mum, Anne figured out that it’s only the matter of unpleasantness and misery rebounding all the time. She learned that it still much better for hard words on paper than to be carried along with her mum’s heart (it’s a pro tip y’all!).

“Leave me in peace, let me sleep one night at least without my pillow being wet with tears, my eyes burning and my head throbbing. Let me get away from it all, preferably away from the world!”

           Anne was hiding for 761 days, of course many things happened and her relationship with Peter (the only son of the Van Daan’s family) is one of the cutest story I liked. Peter was 3 years older than Anne, in my vision he’s the type of nonchalant chap, yet very sweet inside. Started with Ana’s frustration to be alone, ended with having another person other than her family to be talked to. Peter and Anne, after they were close to each other (because they weren’t really get along together at first), they spent most of their times in the attic which is Peter’s basecamp in the annex, talking about life as a teenager and their complicated family before the life in the annex. It kinda remind me of how surviving life becoming the point of how we see each other’s color, Anne had become comfortable to talk with Peter about all her difficulty and so otherwise. Anyway, their fucking love story gonna prompt you to the nostalgia of young love in mid school.

“Already this morning I noticed that peter kept looking at me all the time, not in ordinary way I don’t know how, I just can’t explain……. I made a special effort not to look at him too much, because whenever I did, he kept on looking too and it gave me a lovely feeling inside...”

It’s not over yet, there’s going to be a lot of scenes that giving you goosebumps which cause by a burglar, yes not a ghost, but a fucking burglar, and other shits that would give you a nerve because Anne’s diary also described how the current war situations going (IT WAS SO INTENSE F U HITLER ROTS IN HELL U DUMBASS). The war was not only happened outside the annex but also inside, the war over making noises when everyone’s sleeping and the use of a little table in afternoon between Anne and Mr. Dussel, I perceived it quite hilarious!

. That’s probably a glance of how this book is so intriguing for me. The perspective of Anne Frank of everything sometimes could be so naïve but also relating to my life as well, even until today. Especially during this corona outbreak which has becoming the pandemic, I’ve stay at my home only for 39 days but already feeling sick even for an introvert and antisocial like me could be that JADED, so right now y’all bitch imagine being Anne Frank have to stayed in a hiding for fucking more than 2 years with exactly the same annoying people every fucking day. Nevertheless, if you guys interested to read this book you can buy it in BBW which available in Tokopedia on 27th April until 3rd May this year, so please don’t miss the chance! (to be noted that im not having any relation to BBW, im just so happy that this bazaar coming up into my life). And also you can check the official website of Anne Frank House in www.annefrank.org, there’s a lot of information you could uncover about Anne and other people in furthermore and the visual of the hiding they have been living (IT’S SO MUCH COOL BRUUH).

I think that’s it, I really had no idea how to review a book, this shit just basically me mumbling my opinion about the books I have read. I hope my writing is getting better than the previous post (even I thought this trash was a degrading quality of mine). And a bit information, I finished and posted this writing in the time of corona virus, it was so hard to everyone enduring all the negative impact from this pandemic on our life, so please if you’re lucky enough to  still be able enjoy all the fortunes, please help those who badly impacted of this pandemic and I. BEG. YOU. TO. STAY. AT. YOUR. FUCKING. OWN. HOME. If you’re still strolling around for unimportant purpose and not even using a mask, im literally gonna kill you bitch!

So yeah, that’d be all. Thank you for read until this much guys!

*me talking to non-existing audience*

Xiao, see you in advance!

[revpauljbern]

This week’s ongoing Bible teaching will be moving on to part 2 of Acts chapter 18

Paul Escapes Prosecution Again

[Acts chapter 18, verses 14-28]

For a website view, click here :-)

Last week as we left off at verse 13, the apostle Paul had once again found himself dragged before a judge by Jewish temple authorities, this time in Corinth. He was accused of, to quote verse 13, “persuading the people to worship God in ways contrary to the law.” This was followed, as I wrote last week, by the Jewish ruling council's presentation of their case for prosecution against Paul. As we start part 2 of our analysis of Acts 18 today, it is Paul's turn to speak in his own defense as was customary. Our own court system here in the US is modeled after that of the Roman Empire, which is why it is so riddled with problems. But before Paul gets a chance to defend himself, the Proconsul Gallio has a few words of his own, and that's where we'll begin part 2 of Acts chapter 18, starting at verse 14.

“14) Just as Paul was about to speak, Gallio said to them, 'If you Jews were making a complaint about some misdemeanor or serious crime, it would be reasonable for me to listen to you. 15) But since it involves questions about words and names and your own law – settle the matter yourselves. I will not be a judge of such things.' 16) So he drove them off. 17) Then the crowd there turned on Sosthenes the synagogue leader and beat him in front of the proconsul; and Gallio showed no concern whatever.” (Acts 18, verses 14-17)

Do you see here how the Lord took a man who could have sentenced Paul to whatever, and turned him into an ally who viewed Paul as a hapless victim of the Jews? Gallio could have had Paul flogged, but he ordered him released instead. Chalk up another victory for the Spirit of the risen Lord! But there is much more here in between the lines of Luke's account of Paul at Corinth. Gallio, the proconsul and head authority of that region, was fully aware of Christianity's existence, and he knew who Jesus was and how he had been killed. He was also well aware of who had been responsible for his 'demise', and likely was not a believer. Gallio was, however, clearly a man who made it his business to know as much as he could learn about current events, as well as the people he worked with and dealt with on a daily basis. To sum it up, Gallio was a shrewd politician and ruthless governor who had no time for religious people and their beliefs.

That, based on what I'm reading in my Bible from which I'm taking this text, is why Gallio acted as he did. It's also why he said to the Jews who were Paul's accusers, “'....since it involves questions about words and names and your own law – settle the matter yourselves. I will not be a judge of such things.' So he drove them off.” Gallio was aware of the circumstances surrounding the Sanhedrin in Jerusalem, and how they had handed Christ over to the Romans to be crucified. Gallio had made up his mind that he was going to refuse to do for the Jews at Corinth what Pontius Pilate had done for the Sanhedrin in Jerusalem. Once the Jews saw that their plan to have Paul killed had failed – let's face it, that's what they really wanted – they turned on their leader, as verse 17 recounts: “Then the crowd there turned on Sosthenes the synagogue leader and beat him in front of the proconsul....” Imagine a group of people beating up an elderly man, and you get an idea of the depravity of the Jews there at Corinth, as well as in Jerusalem. Now let's move on to part 2 of this week's study.

“18) Paul stayed on in Corinth for some time. Then he left the brothers and sisters and sailed for Syria, accompanied by Priscilla and Aquila. Before he sailed, he had his hair cut off at Cenchreae because of a vow he had taken. 19) They arrived at Ephesus, where Paul left Priscilla and Aquila. He himself went into the synagogue and reasoned with the Jews. 20) When they asked him to spend more time with them, he declined. 21) But as he left, he promised, 'I will come back if it is God’s will.' Then he set sail from Ephesus.” Paul's specific reason for deciding to leave Corinth when he did is not shared in Luke's account, but evidently he felt like he had spent enough time there. So he left that church he had planted to go and plant others, and he started at Ephesus, together with the couple who helped him found that church. By this time they were old friends and long-time co-workers, and I'm sure they relished the opportunity to plant another church, and that's exactly what they did.

Once the church was on firm footing there, Paul left Priscilla and Aquila behind to be elders and overseers there, and so he went back to Antioch and Caesaria to visit the churches he had planted there as we see in verses 22-23. “When he landed at Caesarea, he went up to Jerusalem and greeted the church and then went down to Antioch. After spending some time in Antioch, Paul set out from there and traveled from place to place throughout the region of Galatia and Phrygia, strengthening all the disciples.” If you have a map of Paul's missionary journeys, or if you can display it on your screen, you will see that Paul sailed across the Aegean Sea from Corinth in Greece to Antioch in Syria, a combined distance of 390 miles, if we include Paul's stop-over in Cenchreae. This could have taken up to several weeks back in those days. It was out of this 2nd missionary journey of Paul's that the Book of Galatians and several others were ultimately written.

“24) Meanwhile a Jew named Apollos, a native of Alexandria, came to Ephesus. He was a learned man, with a thorough knowledge of the Scriptures. 25) He had been instructed in the way of the Lord, and he spoke with great fervor and taught about Jesus accurately, though he knew only the baptism of John. 26) He began to speak boldly in the synagogue. When Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they invited him to their home and explained to him the way of God more adequately. 27) When Apollos wanted to go to Achaia, the brothers and sisters encouraged him and wrote to the disciples there to welcome him. When he arrived, he was a great help to those who by grace had believed. 28) For he vigorously refuted his Jewish opponents in public debate, proving from the Scriptures that Jesus was the Messiah.” (Acts 18, verses 24-28)

Into the picture comes Apollos, an Jewish Egyptian who had embraced Christ as Messiah and Lord. That, in and of itself, bears testimony to the power of the risen Savior. The Jews had been slaves in Egypt for 400 years, and yet nearly 2,000 years afterwards they were not only back in Egypt and prospering, they were converting to Christianity. Apollos was evidently a man who sought the heart of God, and he had found it in the risen Lord Christ Jesus. And, he was a very astute individual, as it is written in verse 24: “He was a learned man, with a thorough knowledge of the Scriptures. 25) He had been instructed in the way of the Lord, and he spoke with great fervor and taught about Jesus accurately, though he knew only the baptism of John.” Apollos only had part of the picture when it came to his faith, but he made up for it with his zeal.

But it is evident that the meeting of Apollos, Aquila and Priscilla was not a coincidence. God meant for it to occur, as Luke recounted, “When Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they invited him to their home and explained to him the way of God more adequately. When Apollos wanted to go to Achaia, the brothers and sisters encouraged him and wrote to the disciples there to welcome him.” Two things are noteworthy here. First, Apollos received the correction of Aquila and Priscilla with the greatest of enthusiasm. This is the hallmark of every good Christian – that first and foremost we need to be teachable individuals, willing to listen to sound instruction. But, that instruction also needs to be delivered in a loving and inspirational way so that people are drawn in rather than driven away. This is exactly what Aquila and Priscilla did. Otherwise, why did Apollos respond to their correction so readily?

The best part of all this from the standpoint of the greater Church is that Apollos put his newly expanded and enriched knowledge about his faith right to work, as it says in verse 28: “For he vigorously refuted his Jewish opponents in public debate, proving from the Scriptures that Jesus was the Messiah.” Time after time Apollos proved that Jesus was the risen Lord, to the complete consternation of the Jewish 'religious leaders' of that time period. Every time he and Paul, together with the other 12 apostles, preached the message of the risen Savior, the Jews, together with their Roman benefactors, were reminded once again of the horrible mistake they had made by putting Jesus to death. Yet it was still necessary to do so, so that he could rise from the dead on the morning of the third day. So that concludes our lesson for this week. Next week we'll move on to part 1 of Acts chapter 19. See you then!

[yahoo-roto-arcade-blog]

Tips for improving your fantasy league: Building franchises

Fantasy sports are in our DNA at Yahoo, and we know it’s your passion, too. We’re always looking for ways to make our award-winning experience even better and in this case we’re getting help from one of you, our amazing legion of fantasy players, to take leagues to the next level.

Commissioner’s Corner is a multi-part series meant to provide tips to keep your league engaged all season long and tap even more into the fun that comes with playing fantasy. The author, Justin C. Cliburn, has been the dedicated commissioner of his Yahoo Fantasy Football league the OIL since 2006. While it’s a unique league, each and every one of your leagues is special and brings friends, families and co-workers closer together.

Part 3 of the series: Building a Culture Through Franchises

A commissioner should always have an eye on the future, as long-term viability depends on a stable group of league managers. It’s difficult enough to build rivalries, trade relationships, and communication between managers as it is. High manager turnover only exacerbates the problem. So, you’ve got to build a culture worth staying for. One way to do that is through the development of “franchises” via team logos and uniforms.

Team logos are important, as you can’t develop a franchise without one. They encourage managers to settle on a permanent team name, and the permanence of the team name encourages managers not to use player name puns that, are fun, but will be dated by next season.

[Yahoo Fantasy Football leagues are open: Sign up now for free]

Franchise consistency is key. Imagine if half the NFL changed cities, team names, and logos each year. It would be much tougher to identify with teams and no one would take the NFL seriously. But that’s what happens in fantasy leagues every season, and you can limit that through logos.

When it comes to logos, I ascribe to the “if you build it, they will come” philosophy. I started creating logos for the OIL in 2009. They were awful, but they got the guys talking. They asked for revisions, and some even hired real designers to make them their own. For example, the original Hangovers logo (left) pales in comparison to the one Hangovers manager Adam Duffy commissioned to replace it (right):

Clearly, my design skills were not up to the level Duffy found in a professional designer. But he wouldn’t have the amazing logo on the right if I hadn’t first saddled him with the awful logo on the left.

If, like me, you’re not a design wizard, you can skip the initial awful logo by hiring a designer. There are many websites where multiple designers will compete to create the best logo for your project. And there are logo design message boards where you can post requests.

Once your managers have team logos, they can upload them to their team page on Yahoo by clicking on edit team. The logo will then appear next to the team name in the standings rather than the default generic helmets, giving your league a more custom look and feel.

And logos are the first step towards team uniforms, further cultivating a culture of franchises. Posting the uniform matchups in the Yahoo message board provides added realism to the pre-game, like this image previewing the OIL’s AFC championship game between the Doughboys and Redlegs:

Since we started using logos in 2009, the OIL has grown from 14 teams to 42 teams spread across three conferences. You can view all 42 team logos. Each league I mentioned in Part I of this series uses logos and uniforms for their teams, and manager turnover also remains extremely low. That’s what happens when you build a culture.

Helpful hint: Here are some basic guidelines to follow for team names.

1. Be funny. Your players are motivated by funny team names. This is scientifically proven somewhere.

2. Don’t overreach: Going for a joke or reference so obscure that you have to explain the team name to the entire league is not the goal here.

3. No profanity. Pretty basic here. Keep it clean. It shouldn’t be that difficult and can be especially important for those in leagues with co-workers.

4. Don’t be lazy: If your team name ends up being “your first name” apostrophe “team” (AKA Joe’s team) you have failed and doomed your team to follow your lead.

Up Next: In Part IV of the series, we’ll discuss trophies, prizes and more.

More tips for improving your fantasy league:

Starting with the basics Why bylaws matter

[babssmithart]

Art and Ideas Essay 2

In this final essay I will look more closely at Jacques-Louis David’s painting Oath of The Horatii 1785, painted four years before the French Revolution. It is particularly well known as one, if not ‘the’ first paintings to contain such a political didactic. I will also consider the following three quotes and aim to assimilate the meaning.

 Quotes from first essay:

 What is Enlightenment:

Institutionalism, civil liberties, moderation and gradualism, the

abolition of slavery, the reform of morals, politics and manners, social and economic

progress with respect for national and local tradition, peace and internationalism, the

balancing of the powers of government, the division of political rule as a weapon

between government agencies by individuals. Mostly it supported liberty

Quote 1 “By the middle of the nineteenth century most of these ideals were at least in theory shared by the civilised governments and peoples of Europe.” (Mclelland, 1996, p. 298).

 Quote 2, “Dare to know! Have courage to know your own reason” from Kant’s Essay What is Enlightenment?” (1784).

 Quote 3, “An answer to the question what is

enlightenment humankinds release from self-incurred maturity. Immaturity is the

inability to use one’s own understanding without the guidance of another” What is Enlightenment?” (1784).

 David was a French painter of the Neoclassical Movement. This painting was commissioned by the King of France. The subject would have been suggested by his Minister of Art’s but its story never actually appears in ancient history or later. This itself is a bold attempt to fool the Royal Commissioner of the painting and I make reference to quote 3.

The artist had, just before composing The Oath of Horatii been to see Poussin’s painting Rape of The Sabine Women June 1633 and he used Poussin’s figure as his model. “The Romans invited the neighbouring Sabines with the intention of forcibly retaining their young women as wives. Romulus raised his cloak as the pre-arranged signal for the warriors to seize the women. The yellow armour worn by the man at the right is modelled after a Roman lorica, which was made of leather and reproduced the anatomy of the male torso.” (Metmuseum.org, 2000).

During the nineteenth century a former student of David’s explained that the source of the story was the 1640 play Les Horaces by Corneille, David had seen the play in Paris in 1782 although in the play there is no scene of an oath, however a minor character carries on three swords of the Curatii then defeated. David decided to develop this story to exemplify the act of personal sacrifice for this ideal.

David turned away from the frivolity of the Rococo style a French term which meant scrolls and curves of rocks and shells exemplifying fantasy and the curvaceous, he candidly admitted to owing everything to Poussin and looked to antiquity. He developed an interest in Neoclassicism, put forward by Johann Winkleman, a Historian and archaeologist who was the first to identify the difference between Roman and Greco Roman art.

The painting had a place reserved on the wall of the Royal Court and when it arrived later than planned, the anticipation of this young artists work had grown immensely. The story tells of the battle between Rome and Alba. Rather than go to war each side elected three combatants to represent the country in a fight to the death. This subject itself exemplifies loyalty and respect for their country.

The Horatii brothers represented Rome and in the painting their father held their swords as they swore their oath. The first arch contains the three brothers bound together in their strength. The artist was focusing on this moment to emphasise the idea of a willingness to die for his country. This could be related to quote 1 – again referring to loyalty and respect.

As sister of one of the brothers is married to a combatant of Alba. When she loses her husband, her sadness is seen as unpatriotic and for this her brother kills her. The artist uses this notion so to perpetuate the idea that we can pull through this together for the good of the state. Here we understand that families are being turned into enemies for political gain. Quote 3, The use of political rule as a weapon. Or perhaps the mention of liberty, the right to live a one chooses and not choose war. Or perhaps quote 2 – Dare to know.

The painting although commissioned in France was painted in Rome.  David utilised the three Greek arches as order. The shallow space is explained by perfect geometric lines to describe the notion of the rational. Doric columns are the simplest and strongest. The vanishing point leads the eye to where the swords meet. The male figures look Greek with hard lines, whilst the females are soft with fabric draped. David’s didactic aim was to improve public morality through art.

In the book Jacques-Louis David, New Perspectives (2006) Jacques writes

“At war with the more powerful holy Alliance, The Frenchman could picture himself as one of the Valiant fighting Spartans ready to die for the cause of freedom. Later during the Restoration, the subject matter of David’s painting was used specifically to justify the Greek struggle for liberation against the Turks and more generally to advocate the liberal cause of granting autonomy to peoples throughout the world”.

David used” the nobility of ancient Rome. Stoicism and patriotism is the message which David conveyed stoic directness and economy of visual means, style fused with subject matter.” (A World History of Art,1996 p.632). Clearly a very powerful painting which encompasses so much of the Enlightenment period and emanating from the early part of this movement it is clear that this was a developing and unfurling of a massive change in the history of humankind and its thinking.

  References

 Jean Jacque Rosseau Discourse on Political Economy and The Social Contract, Honour, H.,2009. A World History of Art. 7th ed. London: Laurence King Publishing Ltd.

 Pointon, M., History of Art. (1986) 2nd ed. United Kingdom: Routledge.

Gombrich, E., 1950. The Story of Art. 16th ed. London: Phaidon

Newall, Diana., (2007), Art History: The Basics: Routledge.

David,J.,2006. New Perspectives. 6th ed. America: Rosemont Publishing & Printing Corp

McClelland,J., 1996. A History of Western Political Thought. 2nd ed. Britain: Routledge.

  Essay Nochlin,(1989)

https://www.scribd.com/document/104712545/Linda-Nochlin-Imaginary-Orient

    Bibliography

Belfiore, Eleonora & Bennett, Oliver, (2010), The Social Impact of the Arts: An Intellectual History, Palgrave Macmillan.

Baxendall,M., (1988), Painting and Experience in Fifteenth Century Italy, 2nd ed. United Kingdom: Oxford University Press

Warburton, Nigel, (2002), The Art Question, Routledge

Want, C., 1996. Introducing Kant. 2nd ed. Australia and UK: Totem Books USA and Icon Books UK.

Websites

Bristow, William, “Enlightenment”, The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Fall 2017 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.), URL = https://plato.stanford.edu/cgi-bin/encyclopedia/archinfo.cgi?entry=enlightenment

archive.org. 2013. TheQuestionWhatIsEnlightenment. [ONLINE] 

https://archive.org/stream/AnswerTheQuestionWhatIsEnlightenment/KantEnlightmentDanielFidelFerrer2013_djvu.txt

[Accessed 4 December 2017].

 metmuseum.org. 2000. All Collection Records. [ONLINE] Available at: https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/437329. [Accessed 4 December 2017].

  http://www.earlymoderntexts.com/assets/pdfs/rousseau1762.pdf   ?

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Research Fundamentals and Techniques

BBC Day 2: Design Thinking

Part 1: Research Fundamentals

Doing the research well is to clearly identify and understand what the user needs and the benefits they will get from the product/design. These are some of the questions that should be considered when planning an idea or product for it to have a positive outcome…

1)    What people need?

2)    What do people want?

3)    Can they use the thing we give them?

 Part 2: Techniques/Methods

The BBC user experience team introduced us to a wide range of methods they use to gather relevant information they need to improve their website features or their new websites for a better user experience.

These are the different methods they use to gather important and relevant information.

     1)   Methods:

-       Stakeholder Interviews

-       User Interviews

-       Focus Groups

-       Ethnographic Study

-       Diary Study

-       Email Survey

-       Competitor Analysis

-       UX Blueprint Diagram

-       Journey Mapping

-       User Stories

-       Personas

-       Analytics Review

-       Expert Review

-       Website Survey

-       System Usability Survey

-       User Flows

-       Use Causes & Scenarios

-       Card Sorting

-       Tree Testing

-       Task Based Testing

-       Eye-Tracking Sessions

-       First Click Testing

-       Recall Testing

 Out of this very lost list of research methods, the most used and effective are email survey, user groups, user interviews, website survey, and personas.

This list does not determine that the BBC team use all of these methods, they use the ones that will provide them with the information they want a specific time of further website development and also depends on what type of information they want to obtain.

These are some of the research suggestions, there may be some that are not relevant at all but can be used for other objectives, the most useful methods of research to use are those which will provide quick and relevant information especially with less time.

 The most common research method almost everyone uses surveys. A survey can be in the form of an online survey, survey email or survey on paper. Time is an important aspect and it you should consider which process to apply because an online survey takes up less time than a paper survey. The BBC team also use this method very often because it is convenient, effective and gives them a good amount of information in a short time period.

 To gain these valuable user responses from these methods is not so easy as it seems, other things such as cost and time are looked into before something is organised. The BBC team explained if they plan to have user interviews, for example, they have to think about the cost and time, to see if the project is at a stage for an interview or not or if it will provide them the relevant information that they require. If we do use a method at a specific time during the project, then we should be clear on the question we are asking in order to get the most out of the research.

     2)   How many people should I speak to?

The BBC team asked us how many people do we think they interview for them to get their accurate amount of information on a project, and the response on the numbers were quite high between 30 to 70. The BBC team said it is quality over quantity, they don’t have to interview a large number of people to receive the amount of information to improve their product.

 The correct answer was 5, the BBC user experience team use a maximum of 5 people to test their product because those 5 people will be able to detect 85% of the issue and problems in their website/product.

 The process of these 5 people would be:

- The 1st person would start to notice some of the problems.

- The 2nd person would point out the same problems as the first with some other odd things from their experience.

- The 3rd person would also notice a problem as the 1st and 2nd person.

- The 4th person would also have the same issues as 1st, 2nd, and 3rd person with maybe some other odd problems.

- By the time the BBC team have the 5th person use the website, they would end up with the same answers as the previous 4 had given.

 Once the BBC team receive all of the 5 user’s responses, they then use them to change those aspects on their website where they feel appropriate and then re-test the changes on 5 different people until the website is near perfect for their users.

 The BBC use this process to test, re-test and make changes and this process is used 2 or 3 times more until no more changes can be made. This method is about dealing with the constant changes to a product depending on the things that need altering for a better product outcome.  

 When using these methods in a project, it most important to effectively apply these 3 aspects of

-       Asking (the right questions)

-       Listening (carefully to the answers)

-       Planning

By applying these 3 aspects, the research in any of the chosen methods will be effective even with less number of responses as long as the quality of the questions asked is relevant and to the point.

     3)   Finding the treasure

To find the treasure, the BBC user experience team use this method where they give the user the control and comfort in the environment they will be testing, in the content you want them to use and let them interact with the product the way they want to until they are familiar with the product and then bring them back by asking them the questions you want answers too. This is the best way to get quality feedbacks without forcing the question on to them which will just lead to either closed or unusable answers.

 Our next task was to look at the BBC iPlayer website layout and analyse the content by picking out the main and elements on the page. These are the elements that I picked out from the website…

-       Logo

-       Search tab

-       Different categories

-       Different channels

-       Personal collection, my Programs

-       Personal account

-       Pictures in square shape

-       Grids/columns

-       Text- Names of the show/movie

-       Different options for browsing, Search or A-Z

-       Notification button

-       Suggestions of top shows

-       Black background

 We all reviewed back to the BBC team with our answers and there were aspects we liked and didn’t like. Many people found the layout of the website confusing as the first section with 3 shows makes the mind go across the page and the bottom section with the shows/movies and top shows suggestion in columns makes the mind scroll down so we felt that there was no coherent coordination in the way the user should interact with the shows presented on the page. The aspects we found interesting and useful are the top show suggestions, personal account, notification and different options for browsing.

 These were just our views as designers which we found different and put forward but overall, the BBC iPlayer provides many different and interesting features to their customers and the user experience team work hard through the research and development stage to deliver the best user experience as possible and keep their worldwide customers happy. 

    4)   The importance of good questions

The BBC team already explained the different methods of research and there are definitely a lot of them which they can use but it also depends on the type of questions they’re trying to get the answers for, and each method has its strengths and weaknesses therefore it is important for them and us to apply the relevant method to get the intended answers we are looking for.

However good answers don’t just come from the user, they must be asked by a good question, which should be clear and explain the problem you want the user to identify through their response. Questioning skills and being able to ask leading questions are key but open questions can also become too broad so we should never assume what the users mean when they say something in an open answer, follow up with their open answer with a leading question and make sure to build on what the user is saying.

 4 key interview techniques

1)    Active Listening - Shut out distractions, show attention, observe body language.

2)    Open non-leading questions - What? Where? Who? How? Why? Tell me about that?

3)    Effective Prompting - Spontaneous responses first then prompt if not covered.

4)    Effective Probing- Don’t assume! Why? What do you mean by…? What effect did that have? Earlier you said…but you’ve just told me…? Anything else?

 It’s important and beneficial for us to practice these skills so whenever we apply it to other methods, the responses will be useful and effective for the intended research.