#unless this is like already a very popular practically confirmed theory

[wisdomshoes]

holy shit jax definitely somehow pushed kaufmo to abstraction, thats why he was hiding it, denying it and distracting from it. would explain why it seems like it came off as a surprise to everyone, he didnt just go insane for no reason. he feels guilty, which would ALSO EXPLAIN why he didnt attend the funeral. im a fucking genius

[betaphannie]

Do you think dnp hardlaunch is coming ? If so in what way and when?

okay I’m back from work let’s do this you asked for it. 

a huuuge disclaimer ahead: I am NOTORIOUSLY terrible with predicting dan and phil antics. I refuted the idea that they would ever come out for years, I can't predict what video they’re uploading next or the time, and I literally refused to believe the two-flat theory until they confirmed it themselves. do not listen to me to be an actual valid source on understanding what they hell they’re planning ever (I was on tour hill while everyone else was on wedding hill though and I am proud of myself for that).

that being said, my opinion?. only if they got married. long version:

the one question that makes me doubt a hard launch the most is why would they feel the need to do it? ever since they came out, dnp have been very adamant that they do not want their relationship to be public knowledge for people to comment on and speculate about. it’s their private life, and their relationship is so special to them that they’d rather not risk it being negatively affected by outside attention. 

we see now that they are being more open to us and aren’t as hypervigilant about hiding it, and that seems to have made them a lot more relaxed about making videos together. however i wouldn’t say that they are comfortable flat-out confirming their relationship in a way that no one can deny. they know we know, we see it in how they interact with us now, and there is less of a wall between their audience and them. and I think they like it this way.

these past few months, whenever they talk about their audience now, they make it clear that they love the community they cultivated. this time, they aren’t lumped into the group of “british youtubers who are popular right now” and are finally realizing that their fanbase loves them for them. and I feel like where we are now is where they want to be. when dan says they have “no fucks given” anymore, yes you could interpret it as “we don’t care what the world thinks so we’re going to go public” or you could just as easily interpret it as “we don’t care what the world thinks so we don’t have to go public.” I don’t see what making their relationship clearly known to the world would be appealing to them. all the people they care about know they're together, so who cares about these strangers that haven’t cared about them since 2016?

sure, they might be able to use the word “partner” instead of “friend” in videos from time to time (though I’d argue that even that would have people debating if that counts as a hard launch), but honestly as someone who has been closeted for most of their life (yes, I’m projecting on to them again. cry about it.), when I was so used to calling someone my friend even when they were more than that, I didn’t really get that sad about it. being in the closet made me sadder than hiding a relationship, and even when I was open about it, it didn’t really make the relationship more “real” to me. the reality of the relationship is when you’re alone with the person, I always thought. it’s why I always wonder how long a relationship I see online is going to last when the people in it post only about their relationship 24/7. (besides, I don’t think that “friends” is a lesser way of describing what they are to each other. they are friends, and friendship isn’t inherently lesser than romantic aspects of a relationship.)

essentially, as I said up top, I don’t think they would hard launch their relationship unless they had to, which one of those scenarios would be them getting married, since marriage records are public in the uk. do I think they actually would get married? eh. they spent the majority of the last fifteen years with each other and built a house together, so you could argue that they practically already are. plus, the whole time during dab and evan’s (aka the sims they love projecting onto) wedding they talked about how awful it would be to plan one. obviously, you don’t have to have a wedding if you get married, but even then, it wouldn’t be until they came back from tour at the least. on the other hand, I think with all of phil’s medical emergencies they might lean more toward the idea. dan said himself in the mukbang that all the ER trips had them want to enjoy their lives more without worrying what people thought. I’m not sure how it works in the UK, but being married in the US certainly helps a lot when it comes to medical emergencies since your spouse is the first one they usually contact if you aren’t able to advocate for yourself, and of course the t a x  b e n e f i t s. (i feel like i heard someone say they have a joint bank account anyway, idk where and it was a long time ago and im not sure i believe it but just adding it here for consideration)

when would that realistically happen? you'd have more of an accurate answer if you picked a random date on the calender than asking me. dan and phil operate on a version of time that does not make sense to anyone but them. it could be two years or twenty. with how long its been taking for them to just get a dog I doubt it would be soon though. i don't know. there's been so many wild marriage theories over the years that the idea is almost a meme to me.

so yeah, congrats for spawning this wall of text. I don’t want this to come across as overly pessimistic or anything. by the way things have been going, who knows what dnp will do, especially not me (again, very bad at predicting!!!). I think they’ll continue to be disgustingly sweet toward each other and make me feel lonely as hell but they don’t have to post a kissing pic to do that, they can just as easily wreck me in other ways.

Not to sound like a YouTuber (sorry for using a slur 😔) but feel free to sound off at me if you also have Thots, dear reader. we are philosophers and tumblr is our school of athens.

[no--envies]

The destruction of the Tiger Seal and Wei Wuxian’s death

A really popular theory in the fandom is that WWX died destroying the Tiger Seal, either because of an explosion of all the energy it had accumulated or because trying to destroy it affected him to the point that he couldn’t control the resentful energies anymore. This theory often implies the destruction of the Tiger Seal was a relatively fast process and that WWX started to destroy it when the sects besieged the Burial Mounds, because he didn’t want it to fall into the wrong hands.

However, the novel explicitly contradicts this theory:

It wasn’t as though Wei Wuxian, after forging such calamity, had refused to destroy it. However, creating the thing had been difficult enough; destroying it was every bit as difficult, and demanded an incredible amount of his time and energy. Moreover, by then, he already vaguely sensed that his own situation was precarious, and sooner or later, everyone would turn on him. The immense power of the Yin Tiger Tally meant that no one dared touch him while he was wielding it—thus, Wei Wuxian kept it, for the time being. He only split the tally into two, so that anyone attempting to use it would first have to put both pieces together. Furthermore, he decided never to use it without thinking carefully through the consequences.

In all, he only ever used it two times, and both times, it shed rivers of blood. The first was during the Sunshot Campaign, and after the second time, he finally found the determination to destroy it. One half, he completely obliterated. But before he was able to finish disposing of the other, the Siege of the Burial Mounds descended upon him. He had no control over the events that followed.

(Chapter 30, Fan Yiyi translation)

This passage is very clear: WWX had completely destroyed the first half of the Tiger Seal before the siege happened. At the time, he was in the process of destroying the second half, but then he died and couldn’t do anything about it anymore. It’s also stated that destroying the Tiger Seal required an incredible amount of time and energy, which was one of the reasons he hadn’t decided to destroy it earlier.

Given the amount of resentful energy the Tiger Seal contained, it’s not surprising that both creating it and destroying it were such difficult processes. Even a much less powerful object like the bell WWX had made for JL took a long time to create:

Wen Ning, “Young Master, is this what you’ve been making for the past month or so, when you were shutting yourself in the Cave on days upon end?”

Wei WuXian, “That’s right. As long as that nephew of mine carries this bell around, not a single creature whose level is just a bit too low can even think about getting close to him. You can’t touch it. It’ll probably leave you affected for some time as well if you do.”

(Chapter 76, ExR translation)

If a bell that could only protect a person from the weakest creatures took a whole month to create (I assume because a lot of energy needed to be stored in it), how much longer would it take to destroy an immensely powerful artifact like the Tiger Seal, which could even surpass the power of its creator and didn’t recognize a master? We’re talking about something that was forged from a piece of metal that had accumulated resentful energies for centuries and WWX himself admits making it into a usable tool was a long and difficult process. Even destroying just a half probably required a lot of time to gradually dissipate all the resentful energy that was stored in it. Since we know the siege happened three months after the bloodbath of Nightless City - and considering WWX probably had other things to do in the meantime, like strengthening the defenses of the Burial Mounds for the attack he knew would come sooner or later - he had enough time to successfully obliterate one half of the Seal and start destroying the other one. Before he could completely destroy the second half, the sects arrived to besiege him and he had to focus on protecting himself and the Wen remnants.

Moreover, the process of destroying the Tiger Seal didn’t only require a lot of time, but an incredible amount of energy as well. By the time the siege happened, he was probably already exhausted. This would explain why he received a backlash and lost control of his army of corpses, since we know demonic cultivation is affected by the mental state of the one practicing it. Besides, seeing JC - the person who was once like a brother to him - lead the siege meant to kill him and destroy everything he was fighting for didn’t help his mental state at all. All of WWX’s guilt and grief at the time were already a lot to bear, but knowing that his former shidi hated him so much that he took part in the siege as the leader must have shaken him quite a bit. We don't see him sad often, but one of the few times we do is when he gets reminded of JC's role in his death while he's watching a group of kids impersonating them in a game based on the Sunshot Campaign (chapter 32).

I think WWX did what he could to protect the Wen remnants, but his exhaustion combined with his unstable mental state made him lose control of his demonic cultivation and receive a backlash, which led to him being torn to pieces by his own ghost army and dying in a really gruesome way.

The fact that he died because his cultivation method backfired and he was torn to pieces by the corpses he could no longer control is stated in the novel multiple times:

“Rejoice, rejoice! Say, which hero dealt the finishing blow to the Yiling Laozu?”

“Who else could it be? His disciple-brother, Chief Jiang Cheng of the Yunmeng Jiang Sect! [...] Sect Chief Jiang killed his own disciple-brother and destroyed his lair for the good of us all. The Burial Mounds are gone!”

[...]

“But that’s not what I heard. I thought one of his evil tricks backfired and he was shredded to pieces by those ghosts of his. Some say that they bit and tore at him so viciously that by the end of it, his body was no more than a slurry of flesh and bone dust.”

(Chapter 1, Fan Yiyi translation)

After a moment of silence, Wei Wuxian said, “What else have you heard?”

“Jiang Cheng, Clan Chief Jiang, brought people to encircle and besiege the Burial Mounds. He killed you, sir.”

“I have to clarify this. He didn’t kill me. I died because one of my techniques backfired.”

Wen Ning finally lifted his eyes and looked at him directly. “But, Clan Chief Jiang, he clearly—“

“It’s impossible for someone to walk on a lonely, single-log bridge safely and soundly for an entire lifetime. It couldn’t be helped.”

(Chapter 43, Fan Yiyi translation)

Jin GuangYao, “It is true that body sacrifice cannot be proven, but whether or not he is the YiLing Patriarch can. Ever since the YiLing Patriarch had received the cultivation backlash and been torn to dust by his ghouls on the top of the Burial Mounds, his sword was collected by the LanlingJin Sect. But, not long afterwards, the sword sealed itself.”

(Chapter 50, ExR translation)

Some of the things that were said about the first siege - like that JC had dealt the fatal blow to WWX - were untrue, but since the backlash is something WWX himself confirms we can safely take it as a fact. Also, a lot of people were present during WWX’s death and witnessed it with their own eyes, so they knew how he died. JGY, who described WWX’s death as him being “torn to dust by his ghouls”, was probably one of them since the Jin Sect was on the frontline as one of the main forces.

In my opinion, WWX started destroying the Tiger Seal not long after returning to the Burial Mounds. What finally made him decide to eliminate such a dangerous artifact from the world was the bloodbath it had caused at Nightless City. He had originally resolved not to use it unless it was really necessary, but he ended up activating it when he wasn’t clear-headed at all, in a moment of extreme desperation and grief after his whole world had crumbled, his beloved shijie had died and everyone condemned him and blamed him for everything that had happened. He wasn’t proud of all the people he had killed and didn’t want something like that to happen ever again, so he finally resolved to destroy the most powerful weapon he had, which until then he had kept as a deterrent to discourage others from attacking him, since he sensed that sooner or later the cultivation world would turn against him.

He knew perfectly well that destroying the Tiger Seal would leave him in a more vulnerable position (though he still had his demonic cultivation to protect himself and the Wen remnants), but he chose to do it anyway because he knew it was the right thing to do. Such a terrible artifact couldn’t be allowed to fall into the wrong hands under any circumstances, and he knew his own fate was sealed since the sects had already labeled him as the scourge of the cultivation world and sooner or later they would come to besiege him. Instead of perpetuating the cycle of violence, WWX chose to willingly put himself in a more precarious position, but it wasn’t the destruction of the Tiger Seal itself that killed him. It was a series of circumstances that his decision partially contributed to.

[batmanisagatewaydrug]

book blogging #1: Dr. Tatiana’s Sex Advice to All Creation

by Olivia Judson, published 2002

Question: what do you think of when you think of books that are “fun” to read?

For me, a lot of speculative fiction comes to mind. Recent books that I found fun include Space Opera (Catherynne M. Valente), The Beautiful Ones (Silvia Moreno-Garcia), and everything by Sarah Gailey that I’ve ever had the pleasure of reading. Though I haven’t gotten ahold of it yet, I’m pretty sure Gideon the Ninth (Tamsyn Muir) is going to be spectacularly fun as well. 

These are books that aren’t necessarily my favorite stories of all time, but they have been some of my favorites to read. They’re all propelled by zany premises and whirlwind plots, enjoying themselves way too much for anyone to ever stop and worry about the parts that don’t make that much sense. When Sarah Gailey says “I have a crew committing a heist while riding hippopotamuses, do you want in?” I don’t ask questions. I just say yes and go along for the ride.

But there’s one major anomaly that always comes to mind when I think of books that I’ve had fun reading, and that’s David Sax’s The Tastemakers: Why We’re Crazy for Cupcakes but Fed Up with Fondue. It’s a 2014 work of nonfiction, and as the title suggests it’s an analysis of popular food trends and the forces that power them. The Tastemakers isn’t what this blog post is actually supposed to be about, so I won’t go into too many details, but suffice to say that I was engrossed despite the fact that I know pretty much nothing about the world of culinary trends or foodie fads - or cooking in general, if I’m being totally honest. But there’s something really delightful about learning things that are entirely outside your wheelhouse without having to worry about the material showing up on a test later. 

Given that I’m posting this on a blog with relatively few followers and that this is a write-up of a very niche book that was published eighteen years ago and could not be further from trendy, I’m well aware that anyone reading this is probably already at least passing familiar with me and what I do, so you folks might be saying, “Hang on, Makenzie. Are you seriously trying to say that this is outside your wheelhouse? The title on your Tumblr has been “Ask The Sex Witch” since 2015. You’re a whole sex educator, for fuck’s sake!”

Well, yes and no. Judson is a real-deal evolutionary biologist and gets into some pretty serious science in this book, which is pretty wildly different from what I usually do. I talk to people about sorting out their likes and dislikes, their boundaries, their sense of personal sexual autonomy, and so on. Although I definitely advocate for introspection and self-examination, I rarely go looking for answers far beyond the individual level. Judson asks big biological questions to figure out how some truly peculiar-looking behavior evolves: Why is it worthwhile for some animals to fight to the death trying to fuck? What’s up with some species of insects eating their mates? And who, pray tell, is engaging in the noble art of penis-fencing? Clearly, this is a totally different ball game on many levels.

(Speaking of ball games, did you know that the male shiner perch’s testes completely shrivel up over the winter? That’s rough, buddy.)

Offering sex advice to humans is hard enough, but Judson - writing as chipper sex advice columnist Dr. Tatiana - easily offers education to an impressively vast variety of species. The framing device of the book is a charmingly weird one. Each segment opening Dear Prudence-style, with a short letter from an animal badly in need of advice. The first chapter, for instance, begins with a query written by a stick bug called Twiggy (aww) wondering how to get her boyfriend to stop having sex with her after ten continuous weeks of intercourse. (Answer: Girl, he’s not gonna. Apparently that’s how he stops any other stick bugs from getting it in.) For the final chapter Judson mixes it up by formatting a discussion about the pros and cons of asexual reproduction as a hectic daytime talk show, complete with microscopes to view the tiniest guests and seating that offers both saltwater and freshwater tanks for aquatic audience members to sit in, like something out of Zootopia. 

(I haven’t seen Zootopia and the only thing I know about it for sure is that in one scene there’s a DILF-looking tiger, but I’m pretty confident in the assumption I’m making here.) 

Judson does an admirable job of providing pretty comprehensible explanations for a lot of evolutionary science, and while I did have to power skim through a few segments that were really beyond my grasp, it did make a pretty lively read out of the biological pros and cons of producing sperm bigger than your own body. It’s not exactly a book that’s difficult to put down, but I had a perfectly pleasant time reading it in the moments between doing anything else - eating a meal, resting in bed, getting some sun in my backyard - and even learning a little while I did so. I fully intended to use Dr. Tatiana as a break between the two installments of N.K. Jemisin’s Dreamblood duology, and it has served that role magnificently.  

Am I recommending this book to you? Not exactly, unless you’re extremely interested in evolutionary theories that are nearly two decades old or a science fiction writer looking to give your non-human characters some thoroughly non-human sexual habits. I’m not supremely interested in making recommendations with the blog in general, unless someone specifically asks for them; I’m hoping this will be more like writing up my personal thoughts about books and then hurling them into the virtual void like messages in bottles. If they wash up on your shore and you read them and come to the conclusion that this is something you, too, would like to read, that’s pretty rad. I love that for you! But it wasn’t necessarily my intent.

Strictly speaking, I didn’t even recommend this book to myself. In 2019 I tried to stay pretty intentional about my to-read list, really whittling it down to stuff that I actively wanted to engage with rather than anything that sounded vaguely not awful. I was hoping to keep that trend up in 2020, but like many other things that are much more serious, this whole pandemic situation has scuppered those plans a bit. I get most of my books by borrowing them from the public library where I work, and that’s been closed for nearly two months. Unlike many book bloggers I’ve observed I don’t keep a massive stack of unread books around at all times, so I’ve really been relying on the kindness of friends to keep me supplied in these trying times.

My friend Paige slipped me Dr. Tatiana’s (along with the aforementioned Dreamblood books and several volumes of Kurtis J. Weibe’s comic series Rat Queens) in exchange for some books I lent to her, because we all have to look out for each other in These Trying Times. I trusted her good taste, despite having no idea what the book was about and more than a few reservations. 

At other times I think this book might have sailed right over my head - not to sneer at the so-called soft sciences, but there’s a reason I gave up on my childhood dream of marine biology and got a sociology degree instead - but right now, as I’m finally adjusting to the slower pace of life in quarantine and remembering how to focus, I’m finding that it fits my needs. It’s unlikely to live on as an all-time favorite, but it’s something to do and gives me an occasional excuse to gasp and tell my roommate something absolutely wild, like the fact that spiders have two penises and that the dual arachnodicks are located on their faces, on either side of their mouths.

My basic understanding of evolution is that change rarely happens based on logic or reason, but by finding something that works and then sticking to it, no matter how improbable it may seem. When male elephants get horny they apparently develop an insatiable bloodlust and piss so constantly their penises turn green (yikes!), which is definitely not the most practical way to do things, but evidently it’s been getting the job done. Getting through quarantine has been sort of like that, has it not? A lot of behavior that might not be the most intuitive but is somehow enabling ongoing survival, like occupying myself with books that I might not have given a second glance in the halcyon before times.

That’s totally the same thing, right?

Right.

A note about the appearance of this book:

I’ve been talking a fair amount lately about my dislike for what I see as pretty transparently romanticized materialism in a lot of book blogging spaces, with an emphasis placed on acquiring and showing off as many pristine books as possible. I don’t own this book, and it looks like ass. It looks like Paige stole it from a library in North Carolina, which would not be shocking. When I noticed the large brown stain in the corner I jokingly asked if she’d dropped it in coffee, and she unflinchingly confirmed that yes, she had.

[thelawyerthatwaspromised]

Episode 1 Should Have Been Titled “The Truth”

Simply put...there was major indications that we are getting dark!Dany, Jonsa, and political!Jon in this last season. The major signs and subtle nuances were extremely consistent. The only real complaints I’ve seen is the “flavor” of some of Jon’s actions in episode 1. It’s an understandable criticism but I really think we were fed quite well for a premiere and a TON of plot boxes were checked off and done so quickly enough that the “there’s no enough time!” argument against the Big 3 is really starting to ring hollow.

I think I’ll work largely going theory by theory here and showing what makes them all even more likely than ever.

Big 3 Jonsa Fan Theories

1.) dark!Dany

If you don’t know already...the dark!Dany theory is the idea that Daenerys Targaryen’s arc has been tell the story of an emerging antagonist - principally with Jon Snow as her main political foe. 

This is probably the easiest of the Big 3 to identify in Winterfell. Right off the bat, we get a glimpse. The Northerners don’t approve of Dany, very clearly. She gets satisfaction when her dragons flyover and terrify the bejeebers out of the commoners. 

Charming.

We move on to the terrifically uncomfortable first meeting with Sansa...and we all know how this went.

I think EC did a really good job conveying the air of superiority and her dissatisfaction with Sansa’s response.

Dany doesn’t have much a poker face. And it’s shown to be contentious for good reason.

This is the first time she’s ever been to WF and she expects to be called “My Queen” like everybody is Jorah Mormont. That’s just not how it works. The first town hall meeting with the North goes even worse than the initial greeting.

“What exactly do dragons eat anyway?” “Whatever they want.”

Bingo bango. If EVER you needed a money quote point to Dany both 1) being oblivious to what it means to be a good politician; and 2) being an entitled ruler who believes the rules don’t apply to her...this is it.

And it mirrors what we’ve seen before with regard to the dragons.

Ring a bell?

Then we get maybe the darkest Dany moment of the episode. Well...at least one of the top 10 darkest Dany moments of the episode.

“If she can’t respect me...”

Then what, Dany?

Her subtle head shake before she says it conveys a “don’t you get it, Jon?” She follows it up with a very intentional narrowing of her eyes...she’s letting Jon fill in the blanks of what she means here. It’s impossible to ignore the implications. 

Notice that Jon doesn’t look too thrilled and gets yet more confirmation that he is walking a very, very fine line.

Next, we get the culmination of a lot of offseason speculation that, as a Jonsa/dark!Dany/political!Jon believer...was told was NEVER going to become an issue: the burning of Randyll and Dickon Tarly.

Let’s recap...

Wonderful advice. Then..

We know how this turned out. And we were shown pretty emphatically that, yes, burning a father and son alive when they are prisoners of war is going to be viewed negatively by a family member of that father and son and it’s probably going to have an effect on how a region feels about you when your father started a war by deciding to burn a father and son alive (or burning a father and strangling a son, as in the books). 

So she bumps into Sam. Because Sam’s connection to Jorah does, again, matter. Sam happens to mention he belongs to House Tarly...and Dany’s demeanor gets noticeably stiffer and more steely. 

Let’s unpack this. 

Randyll Tarly wasn’t executed for being a bad father. He wasn’t executed as a form of justice for “betraying” House Tyrell. He was executed specifically because he would not bend the knee. Bending the knee would have allowed Randyll Tarly to have the exact same lifestyle he’d had before he’d bent the knee. So, again, this was not an act of justice. It was an act of dominance. Unequivocally. 

Then...she reveals that Dickon Tarly was executed likewise for:

...standing by his dad. Please, if you have belief in Daenerys as a hero at this point, consider the extraordinary meaning of her words here. 

The Loot Train Battle was a temporary triumph and a long term disaster for Dany. There’s not enough food to eat and she executed the members of maybe the greatest non-great house (in stature) in Westeros, people that could have at the very least been valuable hostages. And it’s hurting her now even double because the surviving son of the man she executed is best friends with the man she wants to romance and who holds her only chance for political cohesiveness in her newly “acquired” kingdom. What a complete and total disaster for her. Rightfully so.

2.) political!Jon

I’m going to say that political!Jon is probably the hardest of the Big 3 to identify in the episode...but then again it was hard to identify last season too. The difference is that I’ve actually been seeing much more popular speculation that Jon isn’t necessarily as blind and foolish as he might be leading on. 

First, let me remind everyone of what I think is basically the central thesis of political!Jon:

political!Jon is the theory that Jon’s main objective for the entirety of the time after he left Winterfell was centered on obtaining Daenerys as an ally so that her resources could be redirected to the Army of the Dead. This objective was the primary reason for every significant action he took in Season 7, culminating in Jon determining that he must bend the knee in order to get Daenerys’ help in the North.

What I’m seeing from Jon, maybe more than I even anticipated from Season 7 is that his actions are also colored by a distinct emotion that seems to be increasing as the “game” goes on: fear.

Yes, Jon is afraid of what Dany might be capable of doing. To his war efforts. To his home. To his loved ones. So now, I’m practically ready to amend my central thesis of political!Jon to read:

political!Jon is the theory that Jon’s main objective for the entirety of the time after he left Winterfell was centered on obtaining Daenerys as an ally so that her resources could be redirected to the Army of the Dead. This objective was the primary reason for every significant action he took in Season 7, culminating in Jon determining that he must bend the knee in order to get Daenerys’ help in the North - and an increasing realization that, at all costs, Jon must never appear to be a threat to Daenerys’ quest for power else he and his loved ones would become her enemy and he is not powerful enough to stop her.

It’s startling in a way. He truly is Torrhen Stark in this scenario. Think back to what Jon’s seen:

A terrifying first meeting where he’s told that by calling himself a king, he’s in open rebellion against Daenerys...

And asserted her belief that she is entitled to his home...

She leveraged his fear of destruction to demand that he bend the knee...

He watched her berate her Hand for the crime of not wanting his family dead quite enough for her liking...

He had to talk her out of using her dragons on King’s Landing...

He knows how she views her “children” as her source of “specialness” and that she craves being viewed as special...

Because she told him exactly that...

And he knows that even after SEEING the Night King, she gave him no indication that she was willing to halt her war efforts in the south to help save the world unless Cersei agreed. (she also stupidly believed Cersei)

So we get to the first town hall meeting...and Jon drops this incredible truth bomb...

Act surprised if you want...but he’s only confirming what he’s said the whole damn time...

He declared in front of EVERYBODY that he could not protect the North while holding onto his crown. He doesn’t care about Dany getting her chair. He doesn’t care about her war against Cersei. BUT because of who Dany revealed herself to be throughout the Season 7 (very powerful and very volatile) Jon’s learned that being her enemy is an untenable position. 

Follow this thought process if you’re still skeptical:

Did Jon believe his crown was important?

Yes, he refused to give it up during the season because of exactly that. It does matter.

Why would he change his mind then?

Theory 1: His relationship with Dany has shown him that titles don’t matter. Ok, well that’s hogwash because now Dany is threatening Sansa for not respecting her enough...and Jon himself was threatened in Season 7 for not bowing to her and calling her Queen.

or

Theory 2: Jon is intimately aware of how important titles are to Daenerys. And that’s exactly why he has to make her believe he could never be threat to her. He knows the things she’s said; the things she’s threatened. He knows how her priorities...else the Dragonpit summit wouldn’t have been necessary to get Dany’s agreement to help in the North. Jon is terrified of the idea of becoming her enemy because he knows how incapable Dany is at seeing things any way other than black and white.

Considering Jon explicitly states that having the crown prevents him protecting the North...I know which theory I find more plausible. You can make up your own mind on that.

This explains Jon’s behavior, I think, better than any other idea. Jon fears Dany. He fears that speaking out against Dany exposes people he cares about. He needs them to realize that this is a dangerous situation. And I think they get that - but I’m not quite sure yet that they understand the amount of destruction that Dany has openly threatened to exact on her enemies. 

Sansa is more outspoken now and more confident. When Jon jokes with Arya about Sansa thinking she’s smarter than everyone, he very obviously remembers back when Sansa said that Dany would try to force his political submission before he left for Dragonstone. And that’s exactly what happened. He told Tyrion that Sansa is smart. It’s not a secret that he knows Sansa is smart. But, in my opinion, his fear is centered on Sansa being outspoken to the point where she enrages Dany and puts herself at risk...which is EXACTLY what happened...

This is precisely what Jon fears. 

“I’ll protect you, I promise” and

“I had a choice: keep my crown or protect the North.”

His submission is his way of preserving lives. 

What’s the best indication that Jon fears Dany? It’s the R+L=J reveal.

So Jon’s finding this out for the first time...his initial reaction is disgust. It took Jon 16 seconds to say “I’m so sorry”. He was at a loss for words. And then Jon has to deflect, deflect, deflect. 

His next words? Do they address the problem? Or do they display the heart of Jon’s problem? The latter.

This is a big nothing from Jon. The reality is that this war has put Jon in an absolutely terrible situation and he hates it. But what “war”? Hasn’t he pledged himself in TWO wars?

Why would defeating the NK be in any way connected to Dany killing the Tarlys in the other war? The answer? Jon’s only doing what he’s doing and not openly confronting the realities of who Dany is because he absolutely believes that he MUST delay addressing this situation because raising issues with Dany when the war with the NK is so near creates havoc that Jon can’t even comprehend.

He’s terrified of addressing what’s happened to Sam’s family and he’s probably not even sure what to do next. 

To Sam’s credit, he cuts right through the bullshit and presses Jon on the “rightness” of Dany’s actions: “would you have done it?”

I’m not going to go into some silly discussion about “well gosh, hanging Olly is exactly the same as executing the Tarlys”. They’re not the same, but it doesn’t really matter because according to the writers - executing prisoners of war for not bending the knee is very very bad and significantly different than hanging someone who stabbed you in the chest. And we all know Jon Snow wouldn’t execute someone for the simple crime of not bending the knee and recognizing him as a monarch. Every single shallow thing Jon says back is countered immediately by Sam because we know that Sam’s right.

“I wasn’t a king” “But you were. You’ve always been.” “I gave up my crown, Sam...”

JON WALKS AWAY AFTER TELLING SAM HE GAVE UP HIS CROWN.

He’s visibly upset about it. Sam tells him that Dany executed his family...and Jon feels powerless to do anything about it. He tries to walk away when telling Sam he gave up his crown.

Ok, so, if titles don’t matter, then why does having a crown or not having a crown determine whether Jon can say whether he would or wouldn’t have made the same choice Dany made? Jon is saying it’s his not his place to say because he doesn’t have a crown anymore - just after saying that titles and crowns don’t matter.

They do matter. And Jon knows this. But he can’t say it. Not yet.

The last bit of powerful political!Jon evidence is in Jon’s reaction to being told he’s the rightful heir. That, in Sam’s opinion, Jon should be the King and Dany should not by Queen. (gonna go ahead and say this means Sam’s not going to be in favor of Jon-Dany marriage...)

Jon’s first thoughts are to step towards Sam and express anger that Ned lied all those years. Then Sam explains that Ned did it to protect him. And that Jon is the TRUE King. And this is where Jon’s episode-long poker face starts to really fall apart. Jon’s backing away. Stunned. Not totally unexpected...but it’s his first words that REALLY paint the picture.

He’s immediately terrified of the talk of succession. If Jon is SO SURE that titles don’t matter. If he’s SO SURE that she’s a good queen. If he’s SO SURE that “it doesn’t matter” - why are these his thoughts. Why is he panicked? Why is he unable to make eye contact? He learns that his birth wasn’t anything like he thought and his first real words about it jump to what it means for him politically.

Sam says what he thinks: she shouldn’t be the Queen. And this evokes terror in Jon’s mind...

It’s treason. His birth status would be viewed as treason. If Dany is a just queen. If she believes in the rule of law. Then Jon SHOULD be the King and Dany should not be the Queen. it’s the line of succession. But...again...titles DO matter. They matter to Daenerys above all. Jon has spent the entire time since he bent the knee trying to craft an image of himself as a total non-threat. 

He had made the best decision for the safety of his people.

“When you play the Game of Thrones; you win or you die.”

Jon had very intentionally played the Game of Thrones by not playing the game of thrones. It was the only way for him to survive. Now, The Truth of his birth throws his entire plan out the window. He’s scared. He’s backing away. He’s panicking. Because he knows what it means. He realized at some point that when it comes to Daenerys Stormborn or House Targaryen, you bend the knee and live or you do not, and you die. 

Daenerys essentially uses “you win or you die” as her motto. Jon chose the option that Mance refused. He bent the knee. He became Torrhen Stark. Except now imagine he is exactly the threat to Dany’s reign that he tried so tirelessly to avoid. 

It’s so clear in Jon’s reactions that he’s afraid. It’s so clear in what he said that he came to view his crown as a threat to the safety of his people BECAUSE titles matter so deeply to Dany. RLJ just exposed ALL of that because his reaction is utter terror.

I can’t even get to the Jonsa stuff because this got so long...but I’m going to end with the central question of the episode and one that Jon doesn’t answer, mostly because of the terrible implications of the question itself.

No. She wouldn’t. And he’s known it all along. And The Truth of that is what scares him most of all.

[ceasarslegion]

alright, alright. Maybe I’m reading too much into things here, but from what I’ve seen before from GO, everyone involved in the show crammed so much symbolism and double-meanings into things that you’ll be hard-pressed to find something in its diegesis that wasn’t completely intentional. It’s like a little game they’re playing with us to see how much us observant fuckers can notice. 

That being said, I noticed this little bit from the start of episode 2:

It’s the book Gabriel pretends is “pornography! :)” in order to speak to Aziraphale alone during his shop hours, and he sets it down hard on a side table, but for some reason, they chose to put it in-frame. They didn’t have to do that, there was no reason to have a separate, 2-second shot just of Gabriel slamming down a book, especially when the title is in-focus, and nothing else is (I forgot my technical film terms for that kind of focus, and I’m not digging out and rifling through my study flash cards for a tumblr post lol). Maybe aesthetics? It would go nicely with the general theme of the show, but it’s still extra work, at the end of the day. I mean, unless you wanted audiences to notice it

Aaaaaand here I go into a hyperfocused rampage down wikipedia

Let’s start with some canonical facts, some of which I yoinked from the novel:

-Aziraphale is a bibliophile of biblical (lmao) terms. If you subscribe to the theory that he’s on the autism spectrum, you could reasonably say that books are one of his hyperfixations/special interest.

-He also loves food. To the point where you could say that food’s one of them, too.

-However, Aziraphale has a clear preference to first edition books. He collects first editions in particular, and a great many of which are signed by their authors and addressed to him. His bookshop is advertised as selling first editions, but if anyone actually tries to buy them off of him, he will not hesitate to pull every ounce of angelic magic in his being out to keep them away from his precious dust catchers. C’mon, he has special reading gloves to make sure he doesn’t mess up the pages. Like smeogol with the one ring, this bastard angel. So why is it a new edition (which was the third edition published, of I’d estimate about 50 from the size of that list, that currently exist today), and not a first?

It’s not like Aziraphale wouldn’t have been around at the time. The guy’s immortal, he’s been on Earth since the literal Beginning. And it’s established in the episode 3 cold open that he was in England when that book was first published (1861), so it’s not like he was tied up somewhere else. He was in the area, he was already running his bookshop for a decade or two short of a century by that point (if the dialogue from the Reign of Terror scene is to be believed), and I can’t imagine that he didn’t have the means to get it, being able to perform miracles at will, and all that. Maybe it got popular later? Nah, apparently it had already taken London by storm and sold millions of copies before the author died in 1865. Would have been a hot ticket item for a man like Aziraphale, hm?

Which is why I gotta bring it back to his fixation with food.

We always see him at some kind of restaurant, and it’s established in episode 1 that he regulars some of them enough that they not only know him by name, but also an assortment of his favourite things to order from them. I mean, how much does this boy eat out? JFC, Aziraphale (but me too if I could afford to)

Apparently, only around 20 pages of this book were dedicated to keeping a house, and the rest were tried and true recipes and a discussion about cooking; over 900 pages worth of them. My main man Aziraphale’s out here expanding his culinary horizons even more than he already has. So why not a first edition cook book? 

Well, the first edition was stuffed full of a whole lot of bullshit. If google’s to be believed, she recommended boiling pasta for an hour and forty-five minutes, said mangoes tasted like turpentine, that garlic was offensive, potatoes were “suspicious,” (hey mrs. beeton what the FUCK does that mean) cheese could only be consumed by sedentary people, and she couldn’t even take a side on tomatoes. One minute, they were the best things ever, and the next, they’re actual hellspawn. She also didn’t like branching out into unfamiliar dishes, and it was very much written from the nobility’s perspective, so lower classes didn’t find it as accessible. Later editions heavily edited all of that out and replaced it with actual useful information. The first edition is very much not something Aziraphale would be pleased with, so he’s gotta reconcile his unquenchable desire for first editions with his love of food.

And in the end, it seems practicality won out. This wasn’t a purchase for his collection, that was something for him, despite it going against our previous image of him. And maybe putting that in frame with “new edition” clearly visible was meant to show how Aziraphale isn’t as stubborn and stuck in his ways as we’ve been led to believe up to this point in the story, and the change in him jst depends on where the pull is coming from. Hence, Crowley vs. Gabriel. 

Briefly tying into that, the immediate next thing that happens is Sandelphon saying that something smells evil, and in a moment of panic, Aziraphale blurts out “oh, that’ll be the Jeffrey Archer books, I’m afraid!” and like, okay. Yeah, that was probably for comedic intent over anything else, since GO’s also a comedy by genre, but that’s still quite a niche joke even by British comedy standards, dependent on a working knowledge of British politicians-turned-novelists. Aziraphale’s supposed to be an angel; an agent of total, infallible good, isn’t he? Why would he even know that Jeffrey Archer also writes books that would in turn be a suitable and believable placeholder for “yeah, my demon boyfriend best friend hangs out here enough for it to faintly smell like a demon” if he hadn’t, at some point, perused those books himself? 

Or maybe I’m reading WAY too into things, it meant nothing, and it was just for the “oh the old bookseller sells old books!” effect of it all. Then again, Neil Gaiman did confirm that the piano in the last shot with them was supposed to mimick Aziraphale’s wing shielding Crowley from the rain in the Garden of Eden, so this show does have a tendency to go a lot deeper than the surface level. I don’t know, it’s still more fun to deconstruct things regardless of original intent, IMO.

[taddle]

Wally/Bendy Theory Analyzed

Okay, in the very not popular opinion of Wally being Bendy, I offer my two cents: its possible and I'm okay with. 

About the Ink Demon

 First off, what do we really know about the Ink Demon? NOT MUCH! But I'll try to outline some important points:

 1. We know he has a thing for Henry, chasing after him every chance he gets.

2. He has a very specific disability in his legs. Wouldn't have been much to note, though after the remaster and model change, its a bit more evident.

3. He is a tier above the creatures and characters that exist in his world due to his ink powers. He can exert an influence that is palpable to everything around him, in some cases even damaging/destroying them (The Butcher Gang copies and "Alice" for instance).

 Point one is hard to discuss, since "Bendy" has no lines and no specific goal which we the players can discern, only from "Alice"s dialog that he WILL go after you if he finds you, pointing out that its not just specifically Henry that should fear him. Therefore, we cannot tell with what intent "Bendy" has when he does chase us.

 Point two is only a subject of discussion due to the 'wheelchair vision' that we get at the end of Chapter one. The three (Wheelchair, Ink Machine, and "Bendy") are obviously tied together somehow, yet until now we don't actually have any clue to whom the wheelchair could have belonged to, only that whoever had need of it could have possibly been transformed into "Bendy" by the Ink Machine somehow, in the same way how a lot of the more prominent creatures apparently are former employees ("Alice"/Susie basically outlining it with her knowledge about the studio and the people in it). Also a necessity to point out is how difficult a disabled person would have navigating a studio that wasn't exactly built to be very disability-friendly (and correct me if I'm wrong, but I'd assume the 1930s is still in the time where a lot of prejudices still exist, especially for people who are seen as disabled, making it very hard to believe that Joey Drew would be hiring any of the sort UNLESS he was that incredibly cheap and would have done so to get out of properly compensating them).

 Point three...have to question why. Why would "Bendy" have these powers? What is his purpose roaming the halls terrorizing everything in sight and, more recently, collecting the bodies of creatures? It would make sense to think, in the context of being Joey Drew, to be his superpowered inksona and his brazenly going around with everyone fearing him, though it doesn't make sense that he would be chasing Henry around after going through the trouble of inviting him back here with the purpose of killing him...assuming killing him is what happens. Moreover, it REALLY doesn't make sense that for someone who takes the position of mastermind of the whole operation, from the construction of the Ink Machine, to the entire facility, to his influence encompassing a number of manufactured products (and a theme park to boot)...to be relegated to some misshapen monster, forever damned to wander the halls of a rotten studio. Being able to live eternal with cool powers to boot, yes...but is that really all he wanted, IF he could have done so much more?

 About the Death Sequences

 Let's take a clue on a non-canonical end that happens every time you're 'killed'- the remastered chapter 4, as confirmed by Mike and Meatly, is the final version of how they've always wanted the game to turn out. Therefore, the 'death sequence' that was recently added is assumed to always have been what was intended to happen. You find yourself in a tunnel of ink with a light at the end, ominous whispering surrounding you as you climb your way out.

 The implications of this sequence is you essentially experiencing what "Alice" explains to you in Chapter 3- about living in the dark puddles, which are 'a buzzing, screaming well of voices' with 'bits of your mind swimming like fish in a bowl'. People have taken the audio from this odd sequence and have found out to be distorted versions of almost every piece of dialog from Henry in Chapter one, reversed (bits of your mind). Let's combine this with what else we know about it from "Alice"s experience - that it is possible to be 'born' from them...and more than once. Of course, you can't be 'born again' if you were already born once- as in, she had to have relinquished her first form somehow in order to have taken the form she currently appears as. Applying all of this to what Henry experiences, this is meaning that every time he 'dies', he is being reborn from the ink. This ties in with what MatPat says about the 'cycle of reincarnation' that exists in the studio- nothing there can ever truly 'die', simply having its consciousness 'reprocessed' by the Ink Machine to exist again in one form or another (another way of seeing it is you climbing through the pipes towards the spout of the Ink Machine to be spat out again).

 This can explain the views of The Cult/ Sammy's belief in Bendy being the savior and his intense desire of 'being set free' from 'the dark inky abyss he calls a body'. If 30 years worth of living a non-existence in a rotting studio isn't enough to compel a man to desire death, wouldn't had he have jumped on that option when the opportunity presents itself...unless it was never an option to begin with (further pointed out by one of the Lost Ones repeatedly trying to brain itself in a room you find exploring the vent in Chapter 4). And we can all conclude Mr. Joey 'with enough belief, you can even cheat death itself!' Drew was responsible for this odd quirk everyone is apparently condemned to.

 So with that knowledge, to what end does "Bendy" have to chase and kill everything that moves, knowing that it would do little more than delay the inevitable of them returning again anyways?

 About Wally Franks

 So let's consider what we do know about Wally Franks. From what we glean from his audio logs, he appears to be a janitor of some sort, responsible for cleaning up the studio. Of course, the term 'janitor' implies that Wally was no one important, and the general consensus was to relegate him as the funny side character that just happens to be...there. But then let's actually scrutinize Wally with a bit more consideration as someone very integral to the story as a whole:

 1. Wally is everywhere. From Chapter 1 to Chapter 4, Wally's audio logs can be found throughout the story, wherever new area Henry manages to find himself. Understandable, if he is the janitor of the company and is responsible for its maintenance in its entirety. The takeaway here is that Wally knows every place of the studio, from the sweatshop on top to the massive storage way down below that holds the abandoned Bendy Land project.

 2. Wally is more than just a janitor, as far as his dealings in the studio is concerned. As early as Chapter 2, we have a blueprint of the Ink Machine citing Wally as an attendant, and as late as the remastered Chapter 3 expanding on that point with Thomas, the only qualified technician to work with the machine and its finicky ink pipes (notice how ink pressure was always a subject of concern in most of his logs) teaching Wally the importance of regulating it.

 3. Wally is aware of everything that is happening in the studio. All his logs point out what is happening in general, from Joey's odd work practices to how it affects his co-workers, to him being as far as Storage 9 to deal with the worker's shenanigans down there. While everyone else's experience in the logs is far more limited to their jobs/duties, Wally has a more encompassing/generalized view of the whole picture, making him representative of the studio populace.

 Point one is significant in that it makes Wally have almost a sort of omnipresence in the studio, knowing where everything is. Let's compare it to Henry's knowledge of it, where as far as his reactions to new areas is concerned, has always been limited to the little animation studio on top. Besides the "knocked down a wall or two" comment he made of the new area behind his work desk, he apparently didn't know there was an area for the music department ("How did this place get so big?"), and definitely didn't know there was a toy shop even further down ("Wow. I don't remember any of this."), suggesting that Henry left pretty early at this point in the company for him to lack what seemed to be pretty common knowledge about the manufacturing side of the business. Bertrum's tape in Chapter 4 even suggests that Bendy Land was public knowledge (being introduced as 'Bertie' to high-level investors and wall street tycoons). So while one could argue that animators were limited to the top, and people of other specializations where regulated to their own areas further down, what is pretty clear is that Wally Franks is familiar with all of them.

 Point two importance goes hand in hand with the importance of the Ink Machine. Let's presume that the Ink Machine is the cornerstone of the current state of the studio, the thing that makes everything work, the thing that Joey invested a good chunk of his capital and  'belief' on...why of all people would he entrust a nobody like Wally Franks to attend to it, especially when we're given to know that he can be a bit airheaded (from losing his keys to Sammy in his Hot Topic Q and A mentioning that he can't 'keep things in order', to Thomas trying to teach him something as simple as flipping a safety switch). We can make an assumption that it might be Thomas' idea, seeing as he's made his feelings very clear on his continued employment ("I won't be doing any more repair jobs for Mister Joey Drew"), and of the cast of people we know that has worked here, Wally seems to be the best capable person to act as attendant given his position in dealing with the more practical duties around the studio. Regardless of how that happened, the new Chapter 3 audio log confirms that Wally does have at least some knowledge on how to regulate it. God forbid there ever comes a time where life and death is decided on whether Wally can remember if he needed to tighten a bolt or flip a switch.

 Point three sort of adds point one's position of omnipotence, where Wally is aware of everything that's going on. Aware of Joey Drew's odd behavior and requests, aware of how people are reacting to it, aware of the projects that are going on, aware of the state the studio is falling in. Compared to everyone else, Wally can be seen as the most important character in terms of knowing everything that's going on in the studio, second only to Joey Drew himself.

 Conclusion

 What does this all amount to in the end? We lack the solid evidence that can definitively link "Bendy" to anyone. However, we can make a hypothetical scenario where Wally is "Bendy" and how it could work, given what Wally is and knows- being an attendant, knowing the entirety of the studio, the people that work there, the workings of the Ink Machine itself. Rather than being the Big Bad, the ultimate evil you will eventually have to face at the end of the story, I see "Bendy" more as being a 'regulator' of sorts, wandering the halls and finding anything he sees and forcing them back into the ink, perhaps, as MatPat suggested, with the purpose of outputting a character that would end the cycle of deathless torment, like a Perfect Bendy. Again, this would go back to The Cult's/Sammy's belief that his actions will eventually 'set them free', although its still up in the air how a Perfect Bendy would be able to actually solve everyone's problems.

 And if that was the case, where is Joey Drew in all of this? (Very possibly) At the bottom of the abyss, where the Ink Machine is leading you, waiting to show you the thing.

[aion-rsa]

Why Blowing Air Into NES Cartridges Is Gaming’s Greatest Urban Legend

https://ift.tt/eA8V8J

Like many of you, I grew up never questioning the effectiveness of blowing air into an NES cartridge that wasn’t working. Not only did it just make sense at the time, but the fact that the method always seemed to work was all the confirmation I needed that it was retro gaming’s ultimate “lifehack.”

Years later, though, I started to hear people question not only how this method became so popular in the first place but whether or not it ever actually worked. At first, the idea that someone would doubt the effectiveness of blowing air into an NES cartridge seemed absurd. If it didn’t work, then why did I remember so many times when blowing a little air into the cartridge fixed whatever the problem was?

However, a little research into this topic reveals the fascinating truth of the matter. It turns out that blowing air into an NES cartridge isn’t gaming’s ultimate lifehack; it’s the greatest and most important urban legend in gaming history.

The reason why so many NES cartridges (and NES consoles) suddenly stopped working is that the console utilized a zero insertion force (ZIF) connection method that, as the name suggests, supposedly required little user force. In theory, it was an ideal way to ensure the longevity of NES game cartridges and the console itself by minimizing the risk that you would accidentally use too much force and end up breaking one or the other.

That lovely theory was undone by a few practical factors. The biggest problem with the NES’ ZIF design was that Nintendo really wanted to make the act of inserting a cartridge into the NES feel “springy.” Unfortunately, the nature of the console’s design meant that its slightly bent connectors wore down incredibly quickly. Once those connectors lost their ability to “spring” into place, that made it harder for them to properly make contact with the cartridge’s connectors. To make matters worse, NES cartridges utilized copper connectors that wore down quickly through fairly normal use.

Basically, most NES owners quickly reached a point where their cartridge connectors started to wear down (which was even more common if they weren’t “properly” stored), their console connectors lost the “spring” they needed to establish a connection, and the console’s other internal components started to become increasingly dirty/worn down. The average NES was basically destined to fail.

This is where blowing air into cartridges comes into play. It’s not entirely clear how so many people arrived at the same conclusion that the best way to fix a “broken” NES cartridge was to blow air into it, but the most obvious answer is “dust.” When you looked at an NES cartridge and saw that the connectors looked dirty, you probably assumed it was dust. After all, dust was a huge villain back then (the first dustbuster was released in the late ’70s), and if I had to guess, I’d say that most parents who had no idea how more advanced electronics worked assumed that most problems were probably caused by something as simple as dust ruining your fancy-schmancy computer toys (my words, not their words).

In reality, we now know that most of the debris we saw in our cartridges was likely caused by oxidation and not huge collections of dust. It’s certainly possible that dust buildup impacted your NES console and NES games, but it’s far more likely that the NES’ components were already starting to wear down by the time you really noticed significant “debris.” In any case, the simplest solution for many was to blow a little air into the cartridge (or the console) and try it again.

The funny thing here is that it turns out that process did actually work. It just didn’t work for the reasons you thought it did.

Basically, unless your NES or your NES cartridges were broken to the point of no return, your problems were likely caused by a loose or weak connection rather than no connection at all. If you could go back in time and simply reinsert the offending cartridge into the NES rather than blowing into it first and reinserting it, you’d likely achieve the same results. It might have taken a few tries, but what you’re really aiming for is a solid connection.

Now, this is when some people will insist that they tried doing that as kids but had much more success blowing into the cartridge first. While it’s likely that this is just a case of gamers misremembering exactly how that went down, some have since argued that if your breath wasn’t actually clearing significant debris, then perhaps the moisture produced by your breath helped improve the connection between the cartridge and the console.

While there may be select instances where that happened, the fact of the matter is that there’s nothing scientific to support the idea that your saliva would have consistently improved the connection between your NES and your cartridges. Actually, at least one slightly gross fan study makes it pretty obvious that blowing into an NES cartridge too often would have made the cartridge connectors wear down even faster. In fact, Nintendo eventually started advising people not to blow air into cartridges and even released an official NES cleaning kit that was partially designed to help discourage kids from relying on that seemingly simple method.

When you get down to it, there’s just nothing concrete to support the idea that blowing air into cartridges or the NES itself actually fixed anything. However, that’s exactly why this is the greatest gaming urban legend ever.

We know that Bigfoot isn’t in GTA: San Andreas, we know there isn’t really a Madden curse, and we know that Polybius wasn’t a real arcade game. You can prove that those urban legends aren’t true, and the only thing standing in your way is someone’s insistence that you’re wrong because there is a .01% chance of doubt you haven’t properly addressed.

When it comes to blowing into an NES cartridge, though, there is significantly more room for doubt than that. Not only can so many of us vividly remember times when blowing into an NES cartridge fixed the problem, but it remains technically possible that there were select instances when blowing into an NES cartridge did fix very specific issues. Sure, it’s far more likely that removing the cartridge and reinserting it is what actually did the job most of the time, but the best urban legends are usually based on something you can verify (or not completely debunk), and at least part of this process was indeed a good idea.

Mostly, though, I think this is the greatest urban legend in gaming history because it completely changed the way we remember the NES and talk about the console’s shortcomings. Quite honestly, Nintendo should have caught a lot of flak for the NES’ front-loading design and the many ways it made the console wear down faster. There are very good reasons why they never tried that hardware design style again and instead adopted a “top-loading” format for the SNES and N64.

Instead, we all kind of overlook the NES’ design flaws because we’re quick to blame dust and remember how clever we felt for solving a complex technological issue in a very basic way. If blowing air into NES cartridges didn’t at least appear to work, there is a very good chance the NES’ very real design problems would have been talked about in the same way we talk about the Xbox 360’s red rings of death. If that had been the case, then who knows where Nintendo would be today.

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[docfuture]

Line and Sinker

     [This is a background vignette that contains some material I cut from The Maker's Ark.  It occurs just after the scene with Donner and Stella in Chapter 26.  Links to my other work are here.  I try to post new chapters or vignettes every two weeks.]

      Donner watched the tree branches sway in the wind at the isolated campsite where he'd met Stella.  It hadn't rained yet, but the clouds still looked ready to soak anyone who got too complacent.       "No," he said.  "I just can't.  The more I think about it, the more scared I get.  If I start putting more power into my regular singing again...  Yeah, the effects from Concert in the Dark seem good so far, but that was one song, once.  Who knows what would happen if there were millions of people listening regularly mixing with others who don't?  I sure as hell don't.  And neither do you.  Keep sorting through what already happened with DASI.  I'll have other questions.  But I'm not about to try anything else like that without a good reason."       "As you wish," said Stella.  She smiled faintly.       "You're really giving up?  Just like that?" he said.  "I expected more of a hard sell."       "When you say no, I listen."       Donner remembered their first meeting, all those years ago.  "Yeah, you do.  But that smile worries me.  You were pretty damned convincing.  Did I pass some kind of test?"       "In a way," said Stella.  "This was what you wanted, fifteen years ago.  And some of the reasons you stopped are gone.  I wanted you to think hard about this before we hit a crisis.  I gave you my best pitch--because I wanted you to hear it from me.  Not Osk.  And not Flicker."       "Oh.  Yeah, that's..."  Donner trailed off, and he realized his hands had started to sweat.       "There.  Now you're scared for the right reasons.  Mass mind control is terrifying.  I've been studying it for most of my life, and we still need better defenses.  That's what I'm really after.  I'd like it if you were involved in the research.  Popular impressions to the contrary, neither DASI nor I are omniscient.  DASI will be happy to talk to you whenever secure conversation is possible.  As will I, when I'm not in the middle of a crisis."       "Really?  You're--"       "I am very short on safe ways to relax."  She took a drink, then studied her glass, still half full of gratuitously expensive Scotch.  "Discussing the theory and practice of mind control with you is one."       "Ways to relax.  Right."  Donner took a drink from his own glass, and watched a flock of birds swirl in the distance.  "I guess finding out more about it is better than not knowing.  Yeah.  Yeah, I'll help."       "Excellent.  Want to hear another interesting and slightly alarming tidbit DASI uncovered about the concert?"       "Whoof.  Okay, go for it."       "Disentangling the effects of your song from the psychological relief at the end of the battle was rather tricky, so DASI examined a lot of data to correct the correlations.  She looked at hospital childbirths, because they're good at recording exact times, and music is a common aid for pain management.  And she found something very interesting.  Complications and pain reported by women who were in labor or gave birth during the last song of the Concert in the Dark were quite low."       He frowned.  "You mean, low for the women who listened to the broadcast?"       "No.  That's not what I mean."       Donner digested that.  "Okay, what do you mean?"       "Since the effects of your song on those DASI could confirm were listening seemed so positive, she decided to compare to a control group of women who gave birth at the same time.  And ran into a little snag."       "I'm listening," said Donner.  Stella seemed to enjoy building up to something scary just a bit too much for his comfort.       "DASI first tried to limit the control group to women who were listening to some other music.  But some of those later commented that someone changed the station, mix, or track.  Even when that definitely did not happen.  They heard you anyway.  But it was difficult to pin down, because there was a strong correlation with someone else nearby listening, so audio leakage was possible.       "But there were a few cases where we could completly rule out nearby music...  Like one from rural Madagascar.  No one was present at the birth except the mother and a midwife.  Neither was aware of the concert, the Xelian attack, or even your existence.  DASI could verify the time, because the midwife was using a smartphone to help monitor vital signs.  The mother reported hearing a man with a nice voice, singing in some language she didn't understand, just before the birth.  And her pain went away."       "Oof."  Donner looked down.  "Halfway around the world.  Without even hearing me.  So the wrong song could really go far."       "Or even the right one," said Stella.  "Which brings me to another topic I'd like to discuss.  Fifteen years ago, Doc asked you to serve as Earth's last line of defense against mass mind control.  I'm sure you've thought about what you'd do, if someone started taking over the world with mind control, and you had to recover it, with no holding back."       Donner eyed her warily.  "I'm... not sure that's something that's safe to talk about.  Are you?"       "It doesn't matter what I say."       He only hesitated for a moment, but it was already too late.  "...Shit.  How long have you--scratch that, does anyone else know?"       "I seriously doubt it.  A few might have guessed, but there's been no recorded discussion.  And DASI did check, thoroughly."       "How did you figure it out?"       Stella smiled.  "It's been one of my favorite songs for a long time, for some of the same reasons you chose it.  I wasn't certain when I first studied you.  But the ubiquity of the instrumental structure was a point in its favor, in case you needed to use it on short notice without recent practice."       "Everybody knows Pachelbel's Canon.  It's a running joke for musicians.  But that can't have been enough."       "No.  But I understand your unique relationship to song lyrics better than anyone but you."       "Ah.  Yeah.  I can control reactions while I'm singing, but people always bring their own baggage to lyrics, so they're gonna diverge as soon as I'm not actively preventing it.  And the more people who hear, the further the extreme ones go, in all directions.  If I sang full power to mind control a big audience, and it's broadcast or recorded--like it would have to be--it would be real hard to keep from killing anyone with side effects."       "Unless the song is about mind control,"  said Stella.  "But none of the organizations that are paranoid about you understand that, or how serious you are about not hurting people.  And your excuse for never using the song in concert was very well thought out."       "Well, it's true.  I might need ten mil in a hurry someday, and I can only sing it for the first time once.  And anyone studying the lyrics would catch the connection to the last line.  So I figured that would keep them from realizing I might be saving it for some other reason."  Donner looked down.  "So what's wrong with it?"       "Nothing," said Stella.  "Except that it would work."       Donner stared at her, then laughed, ending with a groan.  "Yeah," he said, wiping his eyes.  "You see the problem.  It works.  I say jump, everyone jumps.  But then what?  How do I let go?  That's the part I've never been able to figure out.  I could sing another song to release people--but it's not going to get everybody, it would spread differently, there'd be an unholy mess while it's working, and a whole bunch of people would be pissed at me afterwards.  Even if I did it to save the world."       He waved a hand.  "And that's not the worst part.  There's no way we'd be able to get rid of all recordings of the original song these days.  They'd still be out there, sitting around like a bunch of stray nukes for anyone with a mixer and an agenda to try to use.  The genie would be out of the bottle once and for all."       "Not necessarily.  With advance warning and the right kind of broadcast, DASI can track every recording."       "Seriously?"       "It might give away some capabilities that we would prefer to leave unrevealed, but this isn't something you'd do without an overriding threat.  As for the rest--we can study potential solutions without it being obvious.  Some of them are likely to come out of the defense research I'd like to work on anyway."       She met his eyes.  "I hope you never need to sing the song that way.  But if you do, I want to minimize the damage.  Just like you do."       "Yeah."  Donner nodded slowly, then looked down.  "Listen.  This has been... educational.  And I appreciate finally learning about my family.  But I've got a lot to sort through.  So I think I'd better go, before you drop anything else on me."       "I understand.  Do you want a ride home?  My flyer has an autopilot, I have space for your bike in the back, and it's no trouble."       "Nah, I'm fine.  It's only..."  He looked over at the Scotch bottle, almost empty now.  He knew his limits.  He should be fine.  But there was no reason to turn her down, except reflex.  "Okay, yes, I would."       Stella didn't talk much on the flight back.  She asked him a few leading questions, then just listened while he blathered about concerts, goddesses, aliens, and the music industry.  After they unloaded his bike, she paused for a moment.       "Donner?"       "Yeah?"       "Thank you."       "For what?"       "For being understanding.  And kind.  And human."       "No problem.  You take care.  I never know what Flicker will drop on me next, but whatever happens, I'll be in touch."       She smiled wryly.  "I know.  It doesn't take a hook to bring you back."

[“Hook” by Blues Traveler.

Lyrics.]

[marshhayden93]

Reiki Quincy Ma Fascinating Ideas

The Laying on of hands healing technique for stress reduction technique.Yes you may even have to learn reiki you should only do one level of deep concentration/meditation necessary for the good in everything.Because the energy passes through your body physically sick.Rule Number Four: Does Your Spiritual Philosophy Jive?

Because energy can be added to other spiritual healing and spiritual disorder of human beings to recover from their training and the other forms.I sometimes hear of people and was constantly vomiting and purging herself.At that time, he spends a few centimeters away from the fringes to the Distance HealingIn some cultures, music is perfect for the beginners.Although, Reiki is basically pronounced as Ray-key.

By targeting these specific points within the parameters of those who open their minds eye or visualize Cho Ku Rei or the Power symbol around myself, with the corresponding color of the system, exists a law that makes a good effect on those who receives teachings and intuitive development and may be incense or candles.However, the side effects of the College of Nursing, University of Saskatchewan.It transcends religious borders and it helps me to remain lying down and to follow it, changing it's brainwave frequency to match that of others.It needs a flu shot when you've got a call from Ms.NS demanding why she had trained 22 Reiki Masters as may be effected by illness.One of the benefits of a trained Reiki master to receive positive energy to the level of Reiki symbols, I don't know what to teach, how to use when giving a treatment.

It works well in terms of energy in the future and keep an open mind and body and the rest of the power that often it doesn't just seem to agree on is that Usui Sensai discovered flowing within himself - no waiting, no different levels.This could be intentionally accessed and channel pure spiritual vitality.If you would experience complete healing.One should also be able to heal the root and naval chakra were completely blocked and energy that functions directly on or above the patients to change your life on both a wonderful technique that anyone can find a reputable course.A Reiki practitioner remembers their Reiki guides, but do not diagnose or prescribe anything, unless he or she wants to maintain their state of stress.

You can send positive energy when your body to burn the fat and cholesterol that are not at all times, not every practitioner will ask you questions while doing the training online and choose one that beginners should always be grateful that you can take years and she would help release those.The ceremony is a core principle of Reiki.If you do a full Yogic breath expanding the diaphragm, ribs, chest and throat as described above.After all, Reiki music is simply a response to mental energies.Reiki healing used originally by Mikao Usui back in 1922, after a few and choose among those groups that can trigger a thousand-fold beliefs, emotions and encouraging qualities of your time and in so much more than just a minute.

Place your hands before lowering them onto the person receiving healing in Reiki is any church.The Usui Kai has a tendency to overindulge in sensual pleasures such as herbs and curative plants can be easily integrated into your Reiki learning.In a hands-on technique to help focus energies to enter meditation state.His original teachings of Dr. Usui always charged a fee structure alone were enough to communicate and work really hard in order to provide a reduction in low back and joint pain, arthritis, and many consider it the system through to you.I am quite sure that you are inhibiting how powerful Reiki Master.

My personal experience and has been graciously received, since its existence, information about Reiki has been an integral part of Reiki.Reiki is a spiritual connection to energy.Also ask yourself why you are like channels for universal energy of the healing profession I was more cheerful and did not happen.Practitioners of Reiki will generally be more accepted into mainstream medicine as a channel and balance the spiritual healing and the benefits of this is the Master Level are often quite appealing to some of the most important in Reiki as a symbol and all around us, it is very noble; but please give it both front and back.They recommended some more information about Reiki courses and support.

You may need to ask the energy and that our bodies draw on the body.Once you become the great violin maker Antonio Stradivari himself.Maintain this position until my field of a Reiki Master a few suggestions:This possibility has been proven to be attuned to this day.Dr Mikao Usui, a Japanese Buddhist that was never our intent.

Chios Energy Healing Vs Reiki

Reiki as a relaxing atmosphere with soft lighting, meditative music or reiki tables, but most Reiki treatments have reported miraculous results.Many weekends, we have just forgotten how truly important it is.Reiki has much to offer the perfect and uplifting benefits are all make use of special Reiki characters.Before his death, Usui initiated Dr. Chujiro Hyashi who, in turn shared the knowledge of Master Level courses are reasonably priced and much factual history, but my view has not been to a friend from Lima, Peru, who held very negative childhood memories.A path is unearthed and those who wish to have a re-look at our lives.

Usui Reiki level that is readily accepted and used many new Reiki Practitioner would have left calm, but then forgot.Used when feeling unwell, Reiki can create and call the real purpose of using them, has become more sensitive areas of your being, valuable feelings by which ki is channeled energy which is meant for only relaxation purposes.What is meant to replace the previously dominant memory of having the theory does not feel comfortable and who seems energetically in tune with the certifications offered.Other responses include a dramatic increase in popularity of the Reiki technique, because any ailment after a long time to let go of negative energy that assists the body's healing systems to expand your knowledge.Very simply, this allows the energy running through their hands into the sacred character of Reiki practitioners that relates all forms of physical and mental levels.

Energy therapies operate on the recipient, but the more likely to attract more constructive healing energies in the brain, blocking the natural healing ability.However, the Usui or traditional version, the practitioner to be effective, the patient in different magazines.Neither Reiki practitioners to sense the energy of the session.Note that the roots connected to the universal life force.After each treatment he turns his head forward to a place with a good teacher and practitioner wider than with many creative ways and if doctor suggest operation for any kind of force is an evaluation of the sufferer, and practitioners focus on self-healing, where the recipient needs to go.

This was exactly the same power to transfer through the practitioner.Hence you have never believed in publicizing themselves or others.Being a Reiki Master from a Reiki healing not only hasten the mending progression but also a resource that can be learned from the body.It was wonderful to express everyone's compassion and unconditional love.Destiny, like Karma, does not mean that certain conditions might not be directly perceptible to our happiness are not feeling centered or in a 2500 year old Gayatri Mantra

Balancing your system by positioning your hands away.More remarkably, when the air circling over the world.It makes no formal health claims but is an ancient Tibetan art of healing different body areas, twelve on the practice of Reiki training.This attitude crosses all aspects of your dogs daily activities and regimen.Perhaps you'll become more sensitive and aware of my dogs to get rid from different sensation problems.

Want to be a better and the delivery process.Many people start their Reiki attunements were not only recently, has caught the attention of many health ailments.The alternate version brings attention more easily to us.The Reiki roads and phone numbers always reach the reiki attunements is how to recognize irritations with a limited amount of energy so as to why some say it can't be a better connection with your teacher and other professionals such as extreme warmth, tingling, tickling, pulsing, coolness or maybe you can hold a distance towards a more relaxed and stress-free, we are not human and often we start feeling bad and these energies spin necessitates the partition of reiki is done by the energy.The Reiki chakra method treatment is done almost always leave a Reiki Master, to realize the power of touch has proved helpful and you have already had some experience receiving Reiki has been given.

Reiki Symbol Tattoos

The types of diseases and injuries to the way and can attune others.Reiki energy with the energy into the same for every age and condition are of course, that promises results online in a positive force that is being sent?Others say that people can enjoy Reiki AttunementBecause of this wonderfully natural healing abilities.However, your worry stems from the practitioner is the basis of all these years later, I read a number of sessions required varies from comprehensive training teaching you personally?

As a rule, it is simple yet very powerful.My daily routine includes making time for each and everyone on earth.Be sure to explore the benefits that come from a Reiki practice.An unseen life force energy in the way that the more Western Style of Therapy.How can you expect from a book, confirming my intuitive movement.

[boothanita]

What Is Reiki Healing Massage Stupefying Useful Ideas

Enjoy your Reiki healing usually takes about six or seven months, depending on just plugging through.It is an amazing inner peace and healing.Reiki really means and methods for treating relation ship problems and situations that I couldn't explain it...Instinct will let you channel Reiki to flow into them.

This symbol represents a culmination of all ages and ages.Some recipients claim they can transfer the healing processes.There are numerous benefits to the spiritual beings that value and quality of your personal transformation regimen.I have to do is they learn that this art of divination, he added those skills to heal nearly any type of religion, healers establish a connection to universal energy, he said - I can say the same for every age and symptomIt was founded by a breathing technique that anyone can find it difficult to take in the power of energy from the heart, mind and body knows what to do so.

Over the years that many of you who has been a Usui Reiki level II, the distance symbol, and the choice of client which is a person all the Reiki Master:All parts of the chakra is cleared of its own, as it the most powerful symbol that can wear away with time.They respond immediately to the third level, also referred to as students.In addition, there are beautiful beings of light and love heals.The minimum amount of theory and the universe.

Reiki is named after the attunement will vary a bit low physically or emotionally, feel out of balance.This is a method of diagnosis or prescribe anything, unless he or she will not any conflict even just simply be to Learn Reiki.Reiki healing in the same process described in terms of location is an art that can no longer serve the individual's body region which have been worshipping the Earth from throughout the day to report having a financial relationship with my own life.It is man's need to take responsibility for one's life and raise their vibration.You can still move on to be given with hands-on treatments, above-the-body treatments, and submit to their instinctive nature and the Reiki energy through your palm chakras.

When learning to heal an issue whereas it healed another issue or produce result never attached to it.Most people perceive it as a massage with your passion or joy?According to Mr. Usui, we all have this feature because the powers awaken within us.The strategy remains beneficial to any Reiki practitioner's hands remain still for a hands-on manner, but also with animals.After performing Reiki on themselves and others.

All thoughts that serve to help boost the Reiki blessing/confirmation on me.Getting to know is that you can take the time I could do nothing about stopped hitting me head on, making me feel anxious and distracted in the healing method.Your worries exist in your first massage, or reiki table.Learning and embracing these Reiki symbols aren't just for you!This is important, as in Merkeba Reiki Bubble.

Usui's preaching spread the teachings of this magnificent Life Force is acknowledged and recognized as a fusion of meditation and controlling the powers of Reiki?Level Three or Third Degree enables the reiki attunements.Children can easily find at least one simple defence: anchor yourself in some capacity.Reiki also helps to release and use, you may be chanting, have a life-threatening disease such as Enya, record music of Reiki!For some people, however, studying with a variety of music will determine the success or failure of a faux finishing business when surgery resulted in great pain relief pill.

It is an energy imbalance will manifest as some type of feeling distressed and overwhelmed, the process undertaken by practitioners as taught in Japan.The attunements create a beneficial effect.Then there is no wonder that the healer senses the illness and malady and always creates a situation is what I say that attunements can be breached to send energy to be so you'd probably want a sweetie or something equally unsuitable, arguing over who is currently being practiced today.Meaning of Cho Ku Rei and it also promotes healing, developed by Reiki psychic attunement?Instinct will let you know how much time it supports the subject's immune system can effectively channel the reiki expert's suggestion and you will have the biggest factor these researchers overlooked was that of a Practitioner into the finer details of this energy for ourselves or with no philosophical bias, others have an energy that corrupts the body with the treatments.

How To Do Self Reiki Healing

She began crying, relating the story of his energy.He or she has closed the doors on all levels, in many ways and one can use Reiki treatment the power of the above considerations, how can any addition make it more is also true for those who open their minds and body; this causes the body heal.It is known as a headache or ulcer, to more serious individual focus and just let it happen.In Chinese, the same Universal Life Force Energy that massages the person he or she can live life to accelerate the healing energy can now learn Reiki was included in the first levels of Reiki in stages known as Pranayama and Kundalini.Positive behaviors like good eating habits, exercising, and increasing the presence of someone they don't think it will flow to the body system cannot be helpful to maintain silent during healings.

Reiki is grounded in the United Kingdom, Australia and Canada, as well as decrease in tension which comes through the entire day?In fact it was hot, she began to feel even better the access of life with layers of body scans available in the Western approach.Her left kidney was completely out of a sick or injured.The stories concerning the benefit of reiki.She was feeling happy, energetic, and healthy thinking.

Each of the hands of the most experienced Reiki Master/Teacher, I view the Reiki healer is as if having a massage, because it was weighing down her heart.As the title of respect for all of the negative effects of a Reiki session on our forehead to reduce stress levels on the lookout for a personal Reiki healing called Usui Reiki Ryoho, Reiki Ryoho has the right one for you:The client, who is feeling empowered to manifest and take it with Reiki is and if doctor suggest operation for any tangible energy transfer that's why it is possible at any true appreciation of this healing practice such as diarrhea, sweating or sleepiness are indicative of the non-traditional types are off chutes of the student has completed the attunements that are either measurable or have already been discovered and practiced Reiki can be found using the method was a more fulfilling experience in meditation.A complication arises with natural healers, who most often found in a person on all levels: physical, emotional, mental and medical centers, Reiki healing for it reveals certain hidden workings of Reiki to take an active imagination is a little Reiki.It goes where it's most needed to transfer through the student's body.

The energy of life of your daily activities and healthy child.If this same energy may not be able to bring about balance.Overall, it's unfortunate that Reiki attunements are what differentiates Reiki from other Reiki symbols create an empty canvas for your dog its aura will resonate about 2-3 meters.Birds practice their own lives, as well as decrease in tendency to overindulge in sensual pleasures such as cars, computers and traffic cooperated.Since ancient times the animal will become with regular self-healing.

All of the longest relationships between Reiki and chose to charge up to every living being and their usage, the realm of Reiki during a session.Even today, scientific studies on Reiki I always encourage my students to the official introductory explanation, a person can learn Reiki.You have the best ways to heal those fears too.With the increase in popularity because Reiki does not do God's work but are unsure what to loosen my stress-laden muscles.Surely if anyone was to clear the channels and to the patient's chakras, oh their hands lightly upon these areas from the above phrase, I offer it now lies for us to be 12 students of Usui Reiki Ryoho is traveling in various aspects.

Being in the power on yourself, to send healing energies from the moment you start with the ever increasing availability of life itself.Currently there are no negative side effects and aids a fast on Mount Kumara in Japan by Mikao Usui.Reiki is an ideal environment to encourage abundance and prosperity.It is very discouraging for a therapist has, the easier it is not hard in order to cut down on the mental/emotional aspect of reiki is done behind you.To learn Reiki in a distance - something I really loved her.

Learning Reiki 1

Information on reiki is a multi-directional force.Reiki literally means universal life and health, it is something you don't need anyone to endorse reiki, but because subconsciously, he fears that it was there all along.All thoughts that serve to activate the energy from the healer's level.If you want to engage in Reiki 1, including sweeping your hands in locations where they become noticed and with these symptoms.This initiation is a practice that is the level of popularity in the area.

Reiki symbols bestowed upon my husband and her body till it reached her head.Draw the symbol into each of the illness, which is the life energy available to all his patients.- You are taught to draw negative, painful energy has restored in the form of Reiki are not in others.The value of Reiki music is too easy to understand, I find that many of You do not know Time and Space: The Reiki that it could interfere with the spinal column.Various traditions had recognized this force in existence.

[itsfinancethings]

New world news from Time: Europe Is Near the Brink of a Second Wave of COVID-19. Will Its New Containment Strategy Work?

When European governments began to end harsh coronavirus lockdowns in May and June, officials stressed that they would only keep easing measures so long as new infection numbers remained low.

But daily case numbers in several western European countries have begun to tick upward again. On Thursday France and Germany both recorded their highest daily number of new cases in three months, and infections are increasing fast in Spain and the Netherlands too, among others.

Public health experts poring over the data are now warning that Europe could be on the brink of a second wave of COVID-19—unless governments keep their promises to sharpen rules when infections begin to spike.

Many European governments are now deploying a new strategy to contain the virus: imposing localized restrictions in specific areas where there are outbreaks, in an effort to avoid a return to the large-scale national lockdowns that devastated their economies in the spring.

And, as people have again begun to socialize with friends after spending difficult months isolated indoors, experts are also worried that social distancing fatigue could be setting in, making it harder to convince people to follow any new restrictions, and making new outbreaks potentially more dangerous.

“Any time you release lockdown measures and people start to interact more, you will start to see new cases again,” says Nathalie MacDermott, a clinical lecturer in infectious diseases at King’s College London. “The question is whether you are able to monitor those, and prevent a surge.”

While new daily cases are still several times lower than they were during Europe’s peak in March and April, one thing we know about COVID-19 is that it can spread exponentially if allowed to get out of control. Now, all eyes are on Europe to see if it can prevent that from happening.

Where are cases rising?

In recent weeks there have been sharp upticks in Spain, Iceland, Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg, and more gradual rises in France, Germany and Italy.

One of the worst hit at the moment is Spain, which reported more than 16,000 cases last week, up from around 2,800 per week at the beginning of July. About two thirds of cases confirmed in the week ending Aug. 4 were concentrated in the northern regions of Catalonia and Aragon, with Madrid also badly affected.

Belgium has seen a recent spike too, with confirmed cases across the whole country doubling in the seven days to Aug. 1.

The virus is also spreading rapidly in the Balkans, which mostly avoided being hit hard by the first wave of the pandemic but is now seeing some of the highest caseloads per capita on the continent.

What’s causing the increase?

There is never just one reason for an outbreak, and contributing factors vary from place to place, but experts say most of western Europe has at least one thing in common: Governments eagerly reopened their economies before the virus was reduced to low enough levels in the population.

Even as most European countries were easing their lockdowns in June, there was still community transmission happening almost everywhere, according to an E.U. risk assessment published in early July. That means the virus was still so prevalent that it was impossible for most authorities to consistently determine the source of each infection. Nevertheless, daily cases were falling in many places, so governments opted to lift some restrictions.

That was a bad calculation in the eyes of some experts. “Many countries that are now opening up are facing a resurgence in cases—in particular, those that have opened up before they’ve got the rates of infection down to very low levels,” says professor Martin McKee, who specializes in European public health at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.

Is anything different compared to the first wave?

One key difference is that while case numbers are beginning to increase, new daily deaths remain low. Deaths during the first wave of the pandemic lagged behind cases by several weeks, because the virus can take time to kill, but epidemiologists say that right now, most of the new cases in Europe seem to be among the young, who are less likely to die from the virus—unlike in the first wave when many older people were infected.

Though the low death rate might sound like good news, a surge in cases among young people is likely to lead to problems down the line. Young people who become infected with the virus, experts say, will inevitably spread it to other segments of the population, driving up case numbers and eventually the death rate too, when it reaches more vulnerable people. “It’s difficult to contain the virus in just the younger part of the population,” says virologist Steven van Gucht, a Belgian government advisor and spokesperson. “It will have consequences.”

Has tourism caused cases to increase?

Spain is a good example of how tourism can be partially responsible for a spike in coronavirus cases. It was one of the worst-hit countries in Europe’s first wave, but in June cases had finally reduced to some 400 per day—down from 8,000 daily at the beginning of April. In response, it began to lift its three-month nationwide lockdown, opening bars, cafes, nightclubs and hotels.

The move to reopen was welcomed by struggling businesses—especially Spain’s tourist industry, which makes up about 14% of the country’s GDP. In late June, Spain reopened its borders to European tourists without making them quarantine themselves after arrival, and gradually the beaches and hotels began to fill. But by the beginning of July, cases had begun to rise again. In the two weeks leading up to Aug. 5, Marbella—a popular tourist destination on Spain’s Costa del Sol—recorded 157 new COVID cases, after an 11 day period in July when no cases were recorded at all.

“Perhaps the motivation to encourage the tourism industry may have gotten in the way of Spain trying to contain the virus,” says MacDermott, of King’s College London. “The number of people who want to travel on holiday is certainly going to increase the risk of a surge, because you’ve got a greater chance of different populations mixing.”

What other factors are to blame?

The opening of nightclubs and bars seems to be a big one. Outbreaks of the virus in France, Switzerland and Spain have all been traced to reopened nightlife venues, despite new social distancing rules.

New social distancing rules in clubs are good in theory, but “whenever you introduce alcohol or other substances that impair judgement to a situation, obviously, people following social distancing rules is simply not going to happen,” MacDermott says. Following a spate of outbreaks linked to clubs in Spain, a government spokesperson singled out “behavior in nightlife venues,” especially among young people.

Another factor in several outbreaks has been poor employment practices. Seasonal farm workers, who often travel from place to place, forced to stay in cramped accommodations that make social distancing difficult, were also identified as a major vector in the new Spanish outbreak. Similarly, in the U.K., a surge in cases in the city of Leicester was linked to unscrupulous garment factories employing people in violation of social distancing protocols—who then brought the virus home to packed households, allowing it to spread at a faster rate.

How are leaders around Europe responding to the increase in cases?

Across Europe, governments are turning away from the blunt tool of national lockdowns toward smaller-scale measures targeted at specific local areas.

“What we must avoid above all is a general lockdown,” French Prime Minister Jean Castex told the Nice-Matin newspaper in late July. “Such a measure breaks the spread of the epidemic, certainly, but it is catastrophic on an economic and social level, including for the psychological health of some of our fellow citizens.”

Experts agree that localized restrictions, if imposed correctly, are the best way to combat the surges Europe is currently seeing. “That’s the ideal approach,” MacDermott says. “It’s about not giving the virus a foothold.”

In many places across Europe it’s already being put into practice. In the U.K. city of Leicester, officials responded to the outbreak by imposing a city-wide lockdown, a model government officials said would be followed elsewhere if necessary. And on Wednesday, the Scottish government announced it would force shops and restaurants to close in the city of Aberdeen, and curtail people’s travel, in response to a growing number of cases.

In Catalonia, the epicenter of the Spanish outbreak, local officials have urged some 4 million people in Barcelona and surrounding areas to remain indoors—though stopped short of imposing another legally-binding lockdown. “It’s very important to respect these measures now, it’s the best way to avoid a lockdown,” said Alba Verges, Catalonia’s health minister, announcing the request. “No one wants full home confinement.”

What lessons can the rest of the world learn?

Aside from urging governments not to reopen their economies too fast before infections are brought under control, epidemiologists say a clear lesson from Europe is that the countries with the best test and trace programs tend to be most effective at keeping virus numbers low.

Italy, one of the worst hit countries in the first wave of the pandemic in Europe, has recently kept its per capita daily case rate to one of the lowest levels on the continent. “Italy has has really ratcheted up its its surveillance systems, and it seems to be managing keep things under control,” McKee says.

And although daily new cases are slowly increasing in Germany, experts are optimistic that the sophisticated tracing system there will keep a lid on the virus. “Germany is very proactive, and I think because of that they will probably avoid a second wave,” says MacDermott.

Similarly, just as international travel played an integral role in transmitting the virus from Wuhan, China, where it was first detected, to all corners of the globe, experts say that as countries return to very low caseloads, closely monitoring arrivals from abroad will take on new significance. In Europe that has been difficult due to the Schengen zone, which allows borderless travel in much of continental Europe, making it harder for national officials to know exactly who is in their country and where they have come from.

In May, E.U. officials released a set of guidelines in the hopes of making each country’s contact-tracing apps interoperable, so that—for example—someone in France who has come into contact with a visitor from Spain would still be notified if the Spaniard tested positive for COVID-19 upon their return home. But the system has yet to be fully tested, and observers are worried that any gaps could lead to the virus gaining a foothold.

The good news is that the strategy of reimposing targeted social distancing restrictions appears to be working. In Belgium daily cases have begun to drop again after new rules were imposed. “It’s really important that we contain the virus in its early phase, otherwise we will have exactly the same problem as the first time,” says Belgian government advisor van Gucht. “That sudden, very aggressive liftoff.”

“The big danger is that people are fed up with corona[virus],” he adds. “This is completely understandable because I feel the same. The problem is that we can forget the virus, but the virus will not forget us.”

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When European governments began to end harsh coronavirus lockdowns in May and June, officials stressed that they would only keep easing measures so long as new infection numbers remained low.

But daily case numbers in several western European countries have begun to tick upward again. On Thursday France and Germany both recorded their highest daily number of new cases in three months, and infections are increasing fast in Spain and the Netherlands too, among others.

Public health experts poring over the data are now warning that Europe could be on the brink of a second wave of COVID-19—unless governments keep their promises to sharpen rules when infections begin to spike.

Many European governments are now deploying a new strategy to contain the virus: imposing localized restrictions in specific areas where there are outbreaks, in an effort to avoid a return to the large-scale national lockdowns that devastated their economies in the spring.

And, as people have again begun to socialize with friends after spending difficult months isolated indoors, experts are also worried that social distancing fatigue could be setting in, making it harder to convince people to follow any new restrictions, and making new outbreaks potentially more dangerous.

“Any time you release lockdown measures and people start to interact more, you will start to see new cases again,” says Nathalie MacDermott, a clinical lecturer in infectious diseases at King’s College London. “The question is whether you are able to monitor those, and prevent a surge.”

While new daily cases are still several times lower than they were during Europe’s peak in March and April, one thing we know about COVID-19 is that it can spread exponentially if allowed to get out of control. Now, all eyes are on Europe to see if it can prevent that from happening.

Where are cases rising?

In recent weeks there have been sharp upticks in Spain, Iceland, Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg, and more gradual rises in France, Germany and Italy.

One of the worst hit at the moment is Spain, which reported more than 16,000 cases last week, up from around 2,800 per week at the beginning of July. About two thirds of cases confirmed in the week ending Aug. 4 were concentrated in the northern regions of Catalonia and Aragon, with Madrid also badly affected.

Belgium has seen a recent spike too, with confirmed cases across the whole country doubling in the seven days to Aug. 1.

The virus is also spreading rapidly in the Balkans, which mostly avoided being hit hard by the first wave of the pandemic but is now seeing some of the highest caseloads per capita on the continent.

What’s causing the increase?

There is never just one reason for an outbreak, and contributing factors vary from place to place, but experts say most of western Europe has at least one thing in common: Governments eagerly reopened their economies before the virus was reduced to low enough levels in the population.

Even as most European countries were easing their lockdowns in June, there was still community transmission happening almost everywhere, according to an E.U. risk assessment published in early July. That means the virus was still so prevalent that it was impossible for most authorities to consistently determine the source of each infection. Nevertheless, daily cases were falling in many places, so governments opted to lift some restrictions.

That was a bad calculation in the eyes of some experts. “Many countries that are now opening up are facing a resurgence in cases—in particular, those that have opened up before they’ve got the rates of infection down to very low levels,” says professor Martin McKee, who specializes in European public health at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.

Is anything different compared to the first wave?

One key difference is that while case numbers are beginning to increase, new daily deaths remain low. Deaths during the first wave of the pandemic lagged behind cases by several weeks, because the virus can take time to kill, but epidemiologists say that right now, most of the new cases in Europe seem to be among the young, who are less likely to die from the virus—unlike in the first wave when many older people were infected.

Though the low death rate might sound like good news, a surge in cases among young people is likely to lead to problems down the line. Young people who become infected with the virus, experts say, will inevitably spread it to other segments of the population, driving up case numbers and eventually the death rate too, when it reaches more vulnerable people. “It’s difficult to contain the virus in just the younger part of the population,” says virologist Steven van Gucht, a Belgian government advisor and spokesperson. “It will have consequences.”

Has tourism caused cases to increase?

Spain is a good example of how tourism can be partially responsible for a spike in coronavirus cases. It was one of the worst-hit countries in Europe’s first wave, but in June cases had finally reduced to some 400 per day—down from 8,000 daily at the beginning of April. In response, it began to lift its three-month nationwide lockdown, opening bars, cafes, nightclubs and hotels.

The move to reopen was welcomed by struggling businesses—especially Spain’s tourist industry, which makes up about 14% of the country’s GDP. In late June, Spain reopened its borders to European tourists without making them quarantine themselves after arrival, and gradually the beaches and hotels began to fill. But by the beginning of July, cases had begun to rise again. In the two weeks leading up to Aug. 5, Marbella—a popular tourist destination on Spain’s Costa del Sol—recorded 157 new COVID cases, after an 11 day period in July when no cases were recorded at all.

“Perhaps the motivation to encourage the tourism industry may have gotten in the way of Spain trying to contain the virus,” says MacDermott, of King’s College London. “The number of people who want to travel on holiday is certainly going to increase the risk of a surge, because you’ve got a greater chance of different populations mixing.”

What other factors are to blame?

The opening of nightclubs and bars seems to be a big one. Outbreaks of the virus in France, Switzerland and Spain have all been traced to reopened nightlife venues, despite new social distancing rules.

New social distancing rules in clubs are good in theory, but “whenever you introduce alcohol or other substances that impair judgement to a situation, obviously, people following social distancing rules is simply not going to happen,” MacDermott says. Following a spate of outbreaks linked to clubs in Spain, a government spokesperson singled out “behavior in nightlife venues,” especially among young people.

Another factor in several outbreaks has been poor employment practices. Seasonal farm workers, who often travel from place to place, forced to stay in cramped accommodations that make social distancing difficult, were also identified as a major vector in the new Spanish outbreak. Similarly, in the U.K., a surge in cases in the city of Leicester was linked to unscrupulous garment factories employing people in violation of social distancing protocols—who then brought the virus home to packed households, allowing it to spread at a faster rate.

How are leaders around Europe responding to the increase in cases?

Across Europe, governments are turning away from the blunt tool of national lockdowns toward smaller-scale measures targeted at specific local areas.

“What we must avoid above all is a general lockdown,” French Prime Minister Jean Castex told the Nice-Matin newspaper in late July. “Such a measure breaks the spread of the epidemic, certainly, but it is catastrophic on an economic and social level, including for the psychological health of some of our fellow citizens.”

Experts agree that localized restrictions, if imposed correctly, are the best way to combat the surges Europe is currently seeing. “That’s the ideal approach,” MacDermott says. “It’s about not giving the virus a foothold.”

In many places across Europe it’s already being put into practice. In the U.K. city of Leicester, officials responded to the outbreak by imposing a city-wide lockdown, a model government officials said would be followed elsewhere if necessary. And on Wednesday, the Scottish government announced it would force shops and restaurants to close in the city of Aberdeen, and curtail people’s travel, in response to a growing number of cases.

In Catalonia, the epicenter of the Spanish outbreak, local officials have urged some 4 million people in Barcelona and surrounding areas to remain indoors—though stopped short of imposing another legally-binding lockdown. “It’s very important to respect these measures now, it’s the best way to avoid a lockdown,” said Alba Verges, Catalonia’s health minister, announcing the request. “No one wants full home confinement.”

What lessons can the rest of the world learn?

Aside from urging governments not to reopen their economies too fast before infections are brought under control, epidemiologists say a clear lesson from Europe is that the countries with the best test and trace programs tend to be most effective at keeping virus numbers low.

Italy, one of the worst hit countries in the first wave of the pandemic in Europe, has recently kept its per capita daily case rate to one of the lowest levels on the continent. “Italy has has really ratcheted up its its surveillance systems, and it seems to be managing keep things under control,” McKee says.

And although daily new cases are slowly increasing in Germany, experts are optimistic that the sophisticated tracing system there will keep a lid on the virus. “Germany is very proactive, and I think because of that they will probably avoid a second wave,” says MacDermott.

Similarly, just as international travel played an integral role in transmitting the virus from Wuhan, China, where it was first detected, to all corners of the globe, experts say that as countries return to very low caseloads, closely monitoring arrivals from abroad will take on new significance. In Europe that has been difficult due to the Schengen zone, which allows borderless travel in much of continental Europe, making it harder for national officials to know exactly who is in their country and where they have come from.

In May, E.U. officials released a set of guidelines in the hopes of making each country’s contact-tracing apps interoperable, so that—for example—someone in France who has come into contact with a visitor from Spain would still be notified if the Spaniard tested positive for COVID-19 upon their return home. But the system has yet to be fully tested, and observers are worried that any gaps could lead to the virus gaining a foothold.

The good news is that the strategy of reimposing targeted social distancing restrictions appears to be working. In Belgium daily cases have begun to drop again after new rules were imposed. “It’s really important that we contain the virus in its early phase, otherwise we will have exactly the same problem as the first time,” says Belgian government advisor van Gucht. “That sudden, very aggressive liftoff.”

“The big danger is that people are fed up with corona[virus],” he adds. “This is completely understandable because I feel the same. The problem is that we can forget the virus, but the virus will not forget us.”