#we had comcast at our last apartment

[themuppetagenda]

Love trying to get my adhd brain to communicate with my partner's autism brain sometimes. I have inextricably linked comcast centurylink cabletown and every other shitty internet company into one entity. They are interchangeable in speech, they mean the same thing, transitive property of communication companies or whatever. I can't be bothered to keep track of exactly which one is which I don't know and I don't care.

When I mean, "I have to call our internet company", but I say, "I have to call comcast again" it might accidentally turn into a long discussion because my brain is focused on shitty internet and cannot be disturbed. No other thoughts are allowed in right now unless maybe you're on fire. No promises though.

Meanwhile though she's over there thinking:

He didn't say the Right Company and maybe he does mean comcast but that's not right oh my god he's going to search his email for comcast customer service and he'll never find it, or worse, he'll call the Wrong Company and somehow sign us up for comcast again. He needs to know that's not right I will make sure he understands which company is the Right One so that this issue can be resolved quickly and without confusion.

[notbecauseofvictories]

oh I'm interested in the tag novel on how fan spaces becoming more meat spacey benefits the producers!! also happy Halloween! 🖤🧡🖤🧡

It’s not a particularly academic argument---I don’t have sources to back this up, I haven’t done research. I’m also wary of painting a picture of “fandom” as anything more than a lot of weasels in a trenchcoat, because that word means a lot of things to a lot of different people, some of whom hate each other. But as long as everybody understands that this is the ethnographical equivalent of drunkenly throwing darts at a copy of the AJS...sure.

[under a cut because it’s long and baseless, and also I had a lot of thoughts and feelings. Sorry.]

My basic premise is that fandom occupies “fanspace.” Fanspace is not solely online, since fanzines and conventions are fanspace too, but since the 90s it has become increasingly and primarily internet based. While some websites are designated fanspace (e.g., AO3, ff.net, stand-alone fansites) fanspace is not necessarily contiguous with a hosting site (e.g., there is fanspace on tumblr, but tumblr is not a fanspace). Fanspace is really just those urls, message boards, threads, blogs, accounts, etc. designated for fandom and/or where fannish activity takes place.

Its deeply-rooted internet presence has allowed fanspace and what I call “meatspace” to operate on different rules. Meatspace has always informed fan spaces, of course---disclaimers on fic to ward off accusations of copyright infringement, for example, or asking readers to attest that they’re over 13 before reading an R-rated fic. But traditionally, fandom has accepted as norm things that don’t apply to meatspace: fake names and anonymous posts, pictures of someone else’s characters, lengthy self-published stories featuring violence, explicit sex, sometimes even gay people. Fanspace is in many ways an artificial carve out from meatspace, where fewer of its rules apply; fanspace supplements these with its own norms.

The division between fanspace and meatspace is not and has never been a clear, settled line, however. Debates on how much meatspace should inform fan spaces have been raging for as long as I’ve been on the internet, and to be fair to meatspace, it has made good points. (I’m not sure if “don’t be racist,” counts as a meatspace rule given...racism, but fandom frequently reacts to it like a meatspace intrusion so I think it should count.)

However, what used to be intra-fandom conversations have become increasingly more public, for a few reasons:

Part of this is just the natural development of the internet---it’s not like fanspace was ever hidden, but there just weren’t as many people online, and stuff was harder to find in a pre-google, pre-algorithmic promotion world.

Part of it is the changing architecture of fanspace---websites shutting down, Strikethrough, and the tumblr porn ban have all, in their own ways, served to alter fanspace and move towards more and more public-facing sites.

But part of it---and this is the biggest factor, I think---is that over the last two decades, we’ve seen content-producers** increasingly willing to engage with fandom. 

On its face, this sounds good! After all, fans like people who make things, people who make things want fans. What could possibly be wrong about both sides recognizing their mutualism?

I think this works when the most interaction you could expect with a creator was showing up a bookstore to ask Tamora Pierce a question, or writing fanmail to Paul Gross. But it falls apart when you consider just how public-facing fanspaces have become, and just how much interest content-producers have taken in cultivating the fannish audience. Content-producers engaging directly with fandom are a thumb on the scales of mutualism, and a heavy one. After all, one side of the relationship is a loosely collected anarchic cult, migrating along a series of websites they mostly don’t control, making do with nothing but ongoing wank and general obsessive tendencies. 

The other side has D*sney, Harper Collins, and Comcast.

That thumb on the scale has paid off, more than I think even the content-producers could have anticipated. Fandom is good at loving what it loves and talking loudly about it, but capitalism is way better at doing what it does---turning everything into profit. So now people pay $100 a pop to go to Harry Potter World. Conventions are well-produced extensions of their parent companies, raking in money and providing a blitz of publicity---directly to the source most likely to take your messaging and amplify it. Make a superhero movie and the minute the trailer drops you conjure up thousands of online fans will be your de facto, unpaid publicists---generating interest via fan art, fic, and controversy with minimal corporate effort.  Of course fic writers who have established online presence are the darlings of the publishing world---what publisher wouldn’t want a built-in hype machine for a new author? 

And, just coincidentally, of course, fanspace and meatspace are drawn closer together, that line further blurred by this new and very, very interested third party.

I’m not saying this is some big conspiracy. No tv exec is out there rubbing their hands together and cackling evilly about how they’re going ruin fandom. But in exchange for meatspace validation and an endless stream of new content, I think fandom has ceded important ground. And I think it’s changing fanspaces, even now:

One of the founding rules of fanspace is that it does not generate money---you risk real copyright infringement that way. (This isn’t to say that money hasn’t been involved in a few massive fandom scandals, but it’s not typical.) Increasingly, however, the grumblings about getting paid for fan art and fic have gotten louder, probably due to meatspace’s general emphasis on the side-hustle, and seeing content-producers churn out more and more fan-like things for a profit.

(It seems unimaginable now, but once upon a time the HP Lexicon was an invaluable resource, a rare unicorn in a pre-wikipedia age. Now, D*sney wouldn’t even think of releasing a tentpole movie without a novelization, a picture dictionary, and a tie-in novel.)

Also, those calls for fan art that “might be featured” by a content-producer are (rightfully) scorned for asking for work pro bono. But the takeaway seems to be “we deserve to be paid for our fan art!” rather than “how dare the content-producer intrude on our fanspace and its activities!”

Fanspaces have never expected or required legal ID, permitting anonymous or pseudonymous activity in order to protect individual privacy. And while there’s still no expectation you link your legal ID with your online/fan ID, the norm has shifted---it’s no longer considered gauche to go by your legal ID, even necessary when turning mutuals and followers into an “audience.” We’re not anonymous fans, engaged in our mutual hobby anymore---some people are doing that, and others are potential content-creators.

I’d argue that even purity wank if an example of this new blurring, classic “don’t like don’t read” arguments taking on new life now that meatspace is so nearby---we wouldn’t want to offend the neighbors!

Even these things benefit the content-producers: the more fan-like stuff they churn out, the less fanspaces will create on their own; the more fanspaces that emphasize linking legal ID to online ID, the less people will be able to engage in fan activities privately; the more meatspace rules assert themselves on fanspaces, the less fanspace we’ll have.

Now, maybe this is just...evolution. As I said before, there is a porous and shifting border between fanspace and meatspace. I remember angry threads about whether m/m fics should be rated higher than a het equivalent; I remember the tagging debates, the incredible resistance to accurately describing what happens in your fic. Maybe in a few years, my longing to return to a more separate fanspace will seem equally as embarrassing, incorrect, and unnecessary. 

But right now, it feels more like an erosion---one fandom is about as willing or able to resist as the tide.

.

** “Content maker” is a term that’s come to mean “anyone who makes something” which is sheer nonsense. There’s a difference between publishers/television producers/movie studios and someone recording a podcast in their bathroom. There’s even a difference between D*sney, a vast undead creative monopoly animated by copyright protections, and someone like James Patterson, who uses a stable of ghostwriters to churn out “his” works. We shouldn’t be scrutinizing all these things them the same way, it’s lazy, and intellectually dishonest.

[arcticdementor]

The hilarious headline in the Daily Beast yesterday read like a cross of Clickhole and Izvestia circa 1937: “Is Glenn Greenwald the New Master of Right-Wing Media? FROM HIS MOUTH TO FOX’S EARS?”

The story, fed to poor Beast media writer Lloyd Grove by certain unnamed embittered personages at the Intercept, is that their former star writer Greenwald appears on, and helps provide content for — gasp! — right-wing media! It’s nearly the exclusive point of the article. Greenwald goes on TV with… those people! The Beast’s furious journalisming includes a “spot check” of the number of Fox items inspired by Greenwald articles (“dozens”!) and multiple passages comparing Greenwald to Donald Trump, the ultimate insult in #Resistance world. This one made me laugh out loud:

In a self-perpetuating feedback loop that runs from Twitter to Fox News and back again, Greenwald has managed, like Trump before him, to orchestrate his very own news cycles.

This, folks, is from the Daily Beast, a publication that has spent much of the last five years huffing horseshit into headlines, from Bountygate to Bernie’s Mittens to classics like SNL: Alec Baldwin's Trump Admits 'I Don't Care About America'. The best example was its “investigation” revealing that three of Tulsi Gabbard’s 75,000 individual donors — the late Princeton professor Stephen Cohen, peace activist Sharon Tennison, and a person called “Goofy Grapes” who may or may not have worked for Russia Today host Lee Camp — were, in their estimation, Putin “apologists.”

…

For years now, this has been the go-to conversation-ender for prestige media pundits and Twitter trolls alike, directed at any progressive critic of the political mainstream: you’re a Republican! A MAGA-sympathizer! Or (lately), an “insurrectionist”! The Beast in its Greenwald piece used the most common of the Twitter epithets: “Trump-defender.” Treachery and secret devotion to right-wing politics are also the default explanation for the growing list of progressives making their way onto Fox of late, from Greenwald to Kyle Kulinski to Aaron Mate to Jimmy Dore to Cornel West.

The truth is, Trump conservatives and ACLU-raised liberals like myself, Greenwald, and millions of others do have real common cause, against an epistemic revolution taking hold in America’s political and media elite. The traditional liberal approach to the search for truth, which stresses skepticism and free-flowing debate, is giving way to a reactionary movement that Plato himself would have loved, one that believes knowledge is too dangerous for the rabble and must be tightly regulated by a priesthood of “experts.” It’s anti-democratic, un-American, and naturally unites the residents of even the most extreme opposite ends of our national political spectrum.

…

Follow the logic. Isikoff, who himself denounced the Steele dossier, and said in the exchange he essentially agreed with Meier’s conclusions, went on to wonder aloud how right a thing could be, if it’s being embraced by The Federalist and Tucker Carlson. Never mind the more salient point, which is that Meier was “ignored by other media” because that’s how #Resistance media deals with unpleasant truths: it blacks them out, forcing reporters to spread the news on channels like Fox, which in turn triggers instant accusations of unreliability and collaborationism.

It’s a Catch-22. Isikoff’s implication is a journalist can’t make an impact if the only outlet picking up his or her work is The Federalist, but “reputable” outlets won’t touch news (and sometimes will even call for its suppression) if it questions prevailing notions of Conventional Wisdom.

These tactics have worked traditionally because for people like Meier, or myself, or even Greenwald, who grew up in the blue-leaning media ecosystem, there’s nothing more ominous professionally than being accused of aiding the cause of Trump or the right-wing. It not only implies intellectual unseriousness, but racism, sexism, reactionary meanness, greed, simple wrongness, and a long list of other hideous/evil characteristics that could render a person unemployable in the regular press. The label of “Trump-defender” isn’t easily removed, so most media people will go far out of their way to avoid even accidentally incurring it.

…

The consistent pattern with the Trump-era press, which also happens to be the subject of so many of those Greenwald stories the Beast and the Intercept employees are complaining about, is that information that is true but doesn’t cut the right way politically is now routinely either non-reported or actively misreported.

Whether it’s Hunter Biden’s laptop or the Brian Sicknick affair or infamous fictions like the “find the fraud” story, the public increasingly now isn’t getting the right information from the bulk of the commercial press corps. That doesn’t just hurt Trump and conservatives, it misinforms the whole public. As Thomas Frank just pointed out in The Guardian, the brand of politicized reporting that informed the lab-leak fiasco risks obliterating the public’s faith in a whole range of institutions, a disaster that would not be borne by conservatives alone.

But this is only a minor point, compared to the more immediate reason the constant accusations of treachery and Trumpism aimed at dissenters should be ignored.

From the embrace of oligarchical censorship to the aggressive hawking of “noble lies” like Russiagate to the constant humbugging of Enlightenment values like due process to the nonstop scolding of peasants unschooled in the latest academic jargon, the political style of the modern Democratic mainstream isn’t just elitist and authoritarian, it’s almost laughably off-putting. In one moment it’s cheering for a Domestic War on Terror and in the next, declaring war on a Jeopardy contestant flashing the “A-OK” sign. It’s Dick Cheney meets Robin DiAngelo, maybe the most loathsome conceivable admixture. Who could be surprised a politically diverse group finds it obnoxious?

During the Trump years conventional wisdom didn’t just take aim at Trumpism. The Beltway smart set used the election of Trump to make profound arguments against traditional tenets of democracy, as well as “populism,” (which increasingly became synonymous with “the unsanctioned exercise of political power by the unqualified”), and various liberal traditions undergirding the American experiment. Endless permutations of the same argument were made over and over. Any country in which a Trump could be elected had a “too much democracy” problem, the “marketplace of ideas” must be a flawed model if it leads to people choosing Trump, the “presumption of innocence” was never meant to apply to the likes of Trump, and so on.

…

By last summer, after the patriotic mania of Russiagate receded, the newest moral panic that the kente-cloth-clad Schumers and Pelosis were suddenly selling, in solidarity with famed progressive change agents like Bank of America, PayPal, Apple, ComCast, and Alphabet, was that any nation capable of electing Trump must always have been a historically unredeemable white supremacist construct, the America of the 1619 Project. The original propaganda line was that “half” of Trump supporters were deplorable racists, then it was all of them, and then, four years in, the whole country and all its traditions were deemed deplorable.

Now, when the statues of Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln and Roosevelt came down, there was a new target, separate and apart from Trump. The whole history of American liberalism was indicted as well, denounced as an ineffectual trick of the oppressor, accomplishing nothing but giving legitimacy to racial despotism.

The American liberalism I knew growing up was inclusive, humble, and democratic. It valued the free exchange of ideas among other things because a central part of the liberal’s identity was skepticism and doubt, most of all about your own correctitude. Truth was not a fixed thing that someone owned, it was at best a fleeting consensus, and in our country everyone, down to the last kook, at least theoretically got a say. We celebrated the fact that in criminal courts, we literally voted to decide the truth of things.

This new elitist politics of the #Resistance era (I won’t ennoble it by calling it liberalism) has an opposite view. Truth, they believe, is properly guarded by “experts” and “authorities” or (as Jon Karl put it) “serious people,” who alone can be trusted to decide such matters as whether or not the Hunter Biden laptop story can be shown to the public. A huge part of the frustration that the general public feels is this sense of being dictated to by an inaccessible priesthood, whether on censorship matters or on the seemingly daily instructions in the ear-smashing new vernacular of the revealed religion, from “Latinx” to “birthing persons.”

In the tone of these discussions is a constant subtext that it’s not necessary to ask the opinions of ordinary people on certain matters. As Plato put it, philosophy is “not for the multitude.” The plebes don’t get a say on speech, their views don’t need to be represented in news coverage, and as for their political choices, they’re still free to vote — provided their favorite politicians are removed from the Internet, their conspiratorial discussions are banned (ours are okay), and they’re preferably all placed under the benevolent mass surveillance of “experts” and “professionals.”

Add the total absence of a sense of humor and the inability of “moral clarity” politics to co-exist with any form of disagreement, and there’s a reason why traditional liberals are suddenly finding it easier to talk with old conservative rivals on Fox than the new authoritarian Snob-Lords at CNN, MSNBC, the Daily Beast or The Intercept. For all their other flaws, Fox types don’t fall to pieces and write group letters about their intolerable suffering and “trauma” if forced to share a room with someone with different political views. They’re also not terrified to speak their minds, which used to be a virtue of the American left (no more).

From the moment Donald Trump was elected, popular media began denouncing a broad cast of characters deemed responsible. Nativists, misogynists and racists were first in line, but from there they started adding new classes of offender: Greens, Bernie Bros, “both-sidesers,” Russia-denialists, Intellectual dark-webbers, class-not-racers, anti-New-Normalers, the “Substackerati,” and countless others, casting every new group out with the moronic admonition that they’re all really servants of the “far right” and “grifters” (all income earned in service of non-#Resistance politics is “grifting”). By now conventional wisdom has denounced everyone but its own little slice of aristocratic purity as the “far right.”

[todisturbtheuniverse]

thank you for all your likes and congratulations about the new house. <3 we moved on friday and are getting nice and settled. there have been some fun adventures already...

- spent all day thursday packing, except for the hour we took to run over to the house to mow the front lawn/trim back the bougainvillea. both would have been in the way of the movers; the lawn hadn’t been cut since mid-escrow and was quite the jungle. glad i asked for the various garbage/recycle/green cans to be dropped off on october 1, because we sure filled that green can to the brim.

- friday was the move. movers are confirmed muscle wizards. they arrived at around 8:30AM and had everything unloaded and reassembled by 1:30PM. then we just had the wide, intimidating sea of boxes to stare at. (some 25-30 of which just contained books.)

- comcast were their usual, unreliable selves. they swore up and down we’d be connected on friday, just move your modem over and plug it in, all good, but no, it did not work when connected. they swore a tech would come by before 8PM (they didn’t). poor husband spent some substantial portion of the weekend on hold/on the phone with them. a tech finally showed at 7:30 this morning. figured out no wire was actually connected inside the wall at the only place where the modem could plug in. found an existing wire in the crawlspace that could be pushed up into my office, but even if we’d found it, it wasn’t connected at the pole. finally got up and running at 8:30AM today, just in time to go back to work.

- cut fresh flowers from the very lively front rose beds and put them in a vase on the kitchen table. :) this is the kind of quaint stuff i imagined during the terrible grind of househunting.

- inevitable run to the hardware store to replace a screw for a bookcase wall anchor lost in the move. we took along a cabinet latch from the kitchen in the hopes of matching it to something and replacing it, since it wasn’t working. one of the employees looked at it and was just like, “that thing is ancient, they don’t make them like that anymore.” but we found some newer latches, which were ninety-eight cents, and decided we’d try to replace the whole thing. i dropped a few screws on the ground a couple times, but i managed to get the thing installed, and now the cabinet closes! it’s the little things.

- have pretty much unpacked the whole kitchen. boy it’s nice to have storage again. other areas of the house have less storage than our apartment did--our apartment actually had a small walk-in closet in the bedroom, and a linen closet--but the kitchen has storage for days. it is most excellent.

- the water in the shower last night refused to warm up. i stood there, well out of the spray, contemplating if i was going to take a cool shower (it was somewhat colder than lukewarm) or if i was going to turn the water off, put my very sweaty clothes back on, and examine the water heater. for some reason i decided a cool shower was preferable to this. i regretted my decision as i frantically washed my hair. the water heater is actually outside the house, on a little porch beneath the kitchen window, so after the cool shower experience, husband went out to look at the water heater while i stood at the kitchen window/sink to test any differences. (him: “what exactly am i looking for?” me, after 15 seconds of googling: “idk, usually there’s a temperature gauge somewhere you can adjust? it was installed in 2018, it can’t be broken already.” he made me knock on wood after saying that.) the temperature gauge settings: low, hot, A, B, C, very hot. us: “???” more googling. found the manual and figured out what A,B, and C meant, adjusted the gauge, which had been left at the pilot setting, probably because the house was vacant for like...six months. water warmed back up after an acceptable 30 minutes. it seems like the 40 gallons we started using on friday were plenty hot--we had hot showers on friday night--and it just took us through saturday night to use it up.

- remembered after we had both had our mixed shower experiences that we hadn’t taken the trash out yet and it comes on monday. green can, as previously mentioned, is full of a million tons of grass. recycling can is also very full of our packing paper detritus. we grumpily got dressed again and took the cans out.

it’s been an adventure. the good kind. even as the water heater thing was happening i was like, “as long as it doesn’t cost us hundreds or thousands of dollars this is going to be a story i chuckle at when i think of it.” i’m tired and my feet hurt, and there are still boxes and boxes, and organization to figure out, but i’m so glad to be here. it is just wonderful.

[jpat82]

Sanity

So my sister @devilbat request 21, 26, and 28 form the prompts. I decided to make this part of My Uncle Tony series.

21.) And so, I start another day being kidnapped.

26.)all that blood looks good on you, brings out yours eyes.

28.) why is there a raccoon in the kitchen? And why is it wearing an apron?

     You blew a strand of hair from your forehead as you looked around the small room. The walls a slate grey, a cement floor, an annoyingly bright uncovered over head light bulb that wasn't doing anything to help the throbbing in your head. A singular metal door that had multiple dents. The ropes that wrapped around your upper torso holding you tight to the chair was an ever present reminder that you knowing the Asgardian brothers would no doubt lead you to moments like this. Adding to the fact that your uncle was not only a very prominent man but an Avenger as well, that probably didn't help. But on the bright side at least you had had your back surgery.

     "And so," You sighed heavily with aggravation. "I start another day being kidnapped."

     It had been months, almost a year since your last kidnapping. You had went out to replace the stuff Thor had took while Loki was the distraction from last night. It was the return trip, broad daylight, well some what overcast but still very much during the day. Carrying two bags back toward your upscale apartment, at first you thought you had felt a bee sting you. And naturally you brought your hand up to your neck, only to the brush dart out instead.

     And that lead you to this moment, well actually only a couple moment before this one right here. The blinding headache, the steady small pain throbbing in your neck, and the demeanor of a disgruntled penguin. You wanted to slap whoever thought this was a great idea, this never went the way they planned. However that never stopped them.

     The door creak and all you did in response was raise your eyebrow. A very well dressed man with a neatly groom goatee walked in, his heels clicked against the cement floor. He held his hands behind his back, and you weren't sure if he was the big boss man or just a really well dressed henchman.

     "Asgardains or Stark?" You demanded.

     "Come again, little girl?" He asked with a thick accented voice.

      "Or Romanoff?" You tilted your head slight, narrowing your eyes. "Russian?"

      "What would give you that idea? And why would you think Romanoff?” He questioned, stopping just before you. Maybe if you had the ability to stretch your legs the tips of your toes would touch his black Italian leather shoes.

      "Well, your accent. I know a lot of people, been around a lot of different accents. Comes with the territory. So what do you want with Natasha?”

“It’s not Romanov that we want.” He stated, his lip curling in a sinister sneer. “We want our asset back.”

“Your asset?” You question feeling your brows bunch together.

“Yes, and you, little girl are going to get him for me.”

“Me?” You rolled your eyes taking a deep breath. “I don’t have your asset and this, this right here kidnapping me and holding me hostage is only going to end badly for you.”

“Nobody knows where you are, trust me, we are safe here.” The guy smirked, cocking his head to the side. You laughed in response looking straight at him.

“You really think you’re safe here? You seriously think so? Do you know how many times I’ve been kidnapped?” You asked him, taking a deep breath. “Look buddy, attempting to go through me to get your asset is like going through Comcast to get ahold of Disney, it just doesn’t work that way.”

“One of two things are going to happen.” You stated flatly before continuing. “You either get Thor and Loki, cause they are very protective me, especially the raven haired God of Mischief. He’ll likely rip you to pieces while Thor fries your ass. Or you get my uncle, and he is not someone you want to be on the bad side of. Cause either route you go, it’s going to be severely painful.”

“I’m hoping it’s your uncle. We are heavily fortified, and he will need his entire team to get you out. And when he does that he will bring me my asset.”

“Okay, don’t say I didn’t warn you.” You stated just as a red light in the hall turned on and began flash before the power flickered. “Guessing that was the back up generator being kicked on?”

The man looked over his shoulder before pressing on the ear piece that was hidden in his ear. He shouted something in Russian briskly. He turned his gaze back to you, you shifted, straightening yourself a bit more.

“Guessing the perimeter was breeched?” You smiled.

It didn’t take long before you heard gunfire and the man in front of you sprang into action. He spun on his heel, pulling a gun from his hip. He never got a shot off before you watched his body jerk and blood spray out behind him onto you. You reeled back slightly in the chair caught off guard, normally things like this didn’t happen yet here you were covered in someone else’s blood. You blinked hard a couple time before it dawned on you a flash of green and gold had entered the room.

“My pet,” Loki cooed as he knelt down in front of you, a dagger materializing in your hands. He cut you free as you slowly looked up and met his eyes. “All that blood looks good on you, brings out your eyes.”

“Loki?” You said softly before the room went black.

—————-

You woke with a start, your soft blanket surrounding you and Loki’s side of the bed empty. If it weren’t for the fact you could still feel where the ropes had rubbed against your arms making them raw you would of just thought it was a dream. The window outside was dark and you weren’t sure if it night or early morning.

Slowly pulling yourself from the confines of your warm soft bed, the second thing you notice was you were in your pajamas. So whatever had happened after being doused in the guys blood Loki had at least had the decency to change you into something clean. Hushed voices came from your open doorway making you wonder what the hell was going on.

Slipping out into the hall you excepted to hear Tony sternly talking to the brothers, yet the voices you heard beside the idiots were ones you didn’t recognize. You walked out into the landing looking down into the living room where a woman who was green was standing. Not wearing but her skin was green and you felt a wave of confusion. She was talking to another woman with overly large eyes and antennas sticking out of her head.

Whatever they hit you with must of had some psychedelics into as a tiny tree looking man was kicking a huge guy that was silver and red at the base of your stairs. The tree thing repeatedly say ‘I am Groot.’ in a very angry tone. Almost everyone stopping talking as you hit the bottom of the stairs, except the tree. You started walking toward the kitchen where you could hear Thor and Loki talking to someone else when a man in a red leather jacket stepped out of the dining room, his out fit almost reminding you of Micheal Jackson era clothing.

“Well, hello gorgeous.” He smirked, his blue eyes traveling over you.

“Wow, nice one Thriller, the 80’s called and want their wardrobe back.” You stated walking past him as you rolled your eyes.

Stepping into the kitchen reveled even more confusion.

“Why is there a raccoon in my kitchen? And why is it wearing an apron?” You asked looking from Thor to Loki.

“Who you calling a raccoon? Is she calling me a raccoon?” It spoke, you blinked even harder looking slowly up from it back to the brothers.

“Lady y/n, this is Rabbit.” Thor stated proudly, smiling.

“Thor, that’s not a rabbit.” You replied looking at Loki.

“Darling, I know this might all seem confusing, but these people are who helped us get you out of Hydras base. This is Rocket, the only sane one of the group.” Loki explained.

“If you think he’s sane then obviously it’s someone else in this group. I think I’m going to see if my therapist has any openings. You boys have fun and don’t use my good knives.” You replied, slowly turning and taking a deep breath. “And also to ask my uncle if I’m going to need a bigger apartment.”

Permanent tag-

@kitkatkl

@octobermermaid @ajosieface @instantnoodlese @crystlblu @coffeebooksandfandom @thisismysecrethappyplace @the-wayward-robot @lokilvrr @shynara51 @fourtyninekirbygamzeegirl l @loislp @savedbyimagination @bubblycypres87 @ifyousayyouloveme @courtmr @blue-cat-1989 @saharzek @lokiodinsoninwriting @silverhart93 @rynabarnesrogers

Some Loki tags.

@theoneanna @jewels2876 @devilbat @sarahivi

If I missed you just let me know or if wanted to be added as a tag

[tofascinate]

twenty-twenty reflection

The year is 2020. I distinguish this year from the others. And there will be more. There might be many! I want to remember, if ever asked upon myself, that my year of 2020 was distinct from the mash of living. From the accordion of living, perhaps. From the “bellows” of my accordion life, here is my layer of 2020:

January

began with a visit from Kellan, the preparation for a long-anticipated trip to Hong Kong with Rohit. I was living at Momma’s. I had been working for her since I graduated in 2019, while I applied for job positions in cities and graduate programs in Europe and the West Coast.

In January I spent almost 2 weeks in Hong Kong with Rohit and his family. This was a life-changing trip. This was amazing. I felt so taken care of, and each day filled with exploration. And snacks. For the first time, Rohit helped me with Cantonese – every single time I asked, which was a lot, considering my personal goal was to learn as much casual Cantonese as I could while there. I recorded all my new vocabulary and phrases in a list on the plane ride back. Here I met Rohit’s family in their home element, spent an afternoon with Rohit’s mom, accompanied Rohit to friend meetups, and experienced a Chinese New Year family celebration (!!). I hiked the most exhausting and thrilling mountain of my life, called Lantau Peak (the second highest peak in Hong Kong). I felt some of my biases melt on this trip, and some of my interests open up and blossom.

I left Hong Kong as the coronavirus became an issue in the Eastern Asian world. I spent a night in Tokyo, not with Rohit, but with my nourishing airport snacks and exhausted schedule until my flight left the next day for the U.S.

February

In February life moved quickly. I applied to all 4 master’s programs, I had a second interview for a serendipitous job position in Philadelphia (the only job among many that wanted an interview!), I helped Rohit find an apartment in Norwalk, I left Rohit at his apartment in Norwalk, I accepted the job in Philadelphia, I found a place to live in Philadelphia (more magic was to come of that 2-weeks-before-moving FB find), and I moved to Philadelphia!!!

March

My momma helped me move here. To the city I’d never before been to, but in which I was about to find the happiest home. The first 2 weeks of this month were extremely memorable. I worked in the Comcast Technology Center building (a wow) as a LaunchCode teaching assistant for a 12-student, 14-week intro to computer programming and web development intensive course. I took every opportunity to explore the building, the surrounding city. The first week of connection with students was special. The idea of working the rest of the course remotely was ridiculously unlikely.

On March 14th, the pandemic was real. On March 13th, my co-teacher took home the classroom’s bottle of Purell.

My second roommate, Channing, and her kitty Tycho moved in. Deeksha, Channing, Tycho, and I would become a mini family.

We were in quarantine times, but I hadn’t had so much social interaction, peer interaction, freedom, intellectual stimulation, and work to do since the end of college 2019. It was a blessing to be where I was.

April

I will use April to say that I loved this job. It was a pinch-myself moment all the way through. I still sometimes can’t believe that I rose to the responsibilities, leadership, and organization required of me. Maybe it’s like that with new jobs that push you outside of your comfort zone and give you so much room to grow. LaunchCode was an extremely supportive and inspiring company to work for. The community of students (Comcast workers transitioning into future software engineering roles) were admirable and kind in how hard they worked, and how they helped each other.

I realized at this time that I was experiencing the dream I had put intention towards. It’s not always obvious realizing this. In fact, at first I thought I was accepting the job because it was the next best and only option. On the outside I didn’t know how meaningful it would be to me once immersed in it. When things all came together, I realized here I was, in the freedom of living independently from my home nest, in a friendly family of roommates, in a new city to explore, with a working position that supported me financially, allowed me to save for grad school, that opened me up to the computer science industry world, that used my strengths and pushed me to grow, that used my creativity, and that felt like I was being paid to learn.

I am sooooo grateful for serving in this role. It served me tremendously.

Also to be noted, Philadelphia spring. And Tycho the kitty made me love cats more than I thought I could love cats (who are now sometimes allowed to sleep under my blankets too).

May

At some point here, Deeksha, Channing, and I got to be really creative and goofy together. This plus sharing food and Deeksha eating my desserts ♡ ♡ = start of roomie love. Channing’s surprise birthday scavenger hunt.

At some point, I got accepted and not accepted into master’s programs!

And how did it happen that my random roommate’s husband was living and working in Germany following his CS master’s program there? Or that my roommate-friend would eventually move there too?

June

Work program extended by a week = another week of pay = I justify more so staying in Philadelphia longer… and longer… Staying also meant more time in the magical family and incredible bit of life I knew would end eventually. Staying meant not putting my parents at risk, or having to stay inside to keep them from risk.

In June I saw 6 helicopters flying above the city from my rooftop. I filmed them one night and was captured fleetingly in their search light. I stayed home for 6 and 8 pm curfews. I read ideas and information, and observed the panicked passion of my social media a little hesitantly. I spoke with my family. I read more until I felt settled and inspired with the movement of change. I walked around the city. I saw society a little differently; I saw reasons to question how I saw almost everything. 

The Monday after the big weekend, my coworkers asked me and us all how we were doing, if there were protests in our neighborhoods. It was the first time I saw my coworkers as Black. I didn’t know if I was saying the right thing. 

My co-teacher told me I was “lucky” I’d be moving out of the country. I told him I still wanted my home country to be a welcoming place for all. He was not so confident.

And! Rohit visited for a week :). I had fun and we both couldn’t wait to go back to having individual spaces to be ourselves.

July

At one point, with my job ended and Channing in North Carolina for most of the month, I was met with the pressure of everything I could do in the calm before the storm of change, and everything I wasn’t doing. A little rough. Oh to be leaving a place that has already been leaving you.

August

I moved in with Rohit in Norwalk! Took all my Philadelphia belongings in a car with not-friends Deeksha and Channing, and drove (Channing drove) to Norwalk. I was so grateful to them for that trip. We got a glimpse of the no-parking beaches. Specifically, we parked for 15 minutes in the “15 Minute Parking ONLY” spot by the beach at cotton candy sunset while Deeksha and I ran to the warm water and the two of us dove in like happy water pups and not 23- to 30-year-olds. Next day was a rockier beach and I’m still wishing Channing her next sunny beach day. This month was fun and without-a-car adventurous, though the airbnb-turned-rented-apartment that was actually’s Rohit’s didn’t quite feel like my settling in home. My daily purpose was working for my mom again and preparing for my master’s program.

I loved running so much with Rohit.

I did not love figuring out how to acquire a car to stay in Rochester for a month. Haha (thinking about tears). But we did it! And then we packed too many of my things into the car with Rohit’s things and drove 6 hours to Rochester, NY. 

September

I think we each ran longer distances than we had run before along the river trail in Rochester. We were a little outdoorsy. We had an ample supply of local Chinese bakery goods (that reminded me of Hong Kong bakery items). There was sun, but not in the apartment. By the way, this apartment was a miraculous coincidence from one of Rohit’s (very tidy and kind) friends who hadn’t been living there for months but would have to move out at the end of October. So we could pay him rent!

Also surprise to AriaRay’s patience, calm, and going with the flow acceptance: as a bonus level to the desperately declared plan of packing ahead of time to avoid the overwhelming stress of the previous move, Rohit and I learned we would also be cleaning and clearing out our friend’s apartment first! 

In the end, I had to accept that it was Rohit’s leading responsibility. Whatever we could do would make the experience easier for our absent friend. We moved out and found donation homes for almost everything. We did it! 5 pm and out the door to Burlington! (Extra exclamation points for whirlwind desperation and relief.)

October

I spent my last day with Rohit in Burlington. Burlington was love. And glorious fall.

I packed for Germany, I found a place to live in Germany, I boarded a plane to Germany. I got on the plane to Germany and went to sleep in Germany and thought, “Haha, isn’t it funny that I’m in Germany? Who thought of Germany?”

A new country and a new day to day life! I was grateful to be finally there and in awe that I had gotten to this point. My childhood self said, “when I’m 23, I’ll be in Europe.” Well, here I am.

We’re still in a pandemic. Meaning my classes are online and my traveling is cautiously limited to grocery store treks and to walks or bus rides around the city.

I have 3 very nice (and extraordinarily clean??) roommates from Ukraine, Russia, Iraq. All studying. One speaks better German than English, which is sometimes amusing as I really do want to have a conversation with her anyway.

Birthday, Halloween. But sometimes I forget and think my last birthday was in 2019. Blurry.

November

Hmmm studying. It still feels unprocessed to reflect on this. My master’s program can be considered a computational linguistics degree, formally called “Language Science and Technology M.Sc.” because to be more specific, this degree covers broader areas of computer science for language, and linguistics for computer science, than only computational linguistics. 

I do love the subject. It is by far a synthesis of my linguistics and cs interests. I’m learning a little more than what my focus for here initially has been. Is this a good thing? Maybe a nice cushion of knowledge and perspective. Still looking for how to study and process spoken language, how to relate this to second language acquisition. 

I think I get it. My core lectures right now are foundations for this field. I will leap from them into my specific field of interest. My software project is a learning ground for tools and seeds for future ideas, practice with coding group projects again. My seminars are for thinking, reading, discussing, weaving ideas, hearing from others seasoned in the topics and those of my peers investing their newfound or nurtured interests. Three more semesters.

Where will I be next?

I think I should mention one Thanksgiving meal that we cooked for, and shared with the additional guests of Olha’s partner Gaston and his roommate...with a name I can’t place now...from Morocco. This was a widely, uniquely fun night.

December

Hello cozy holidays, the first, by myself. My roommates and I decorated a tree from our local grocery store. I made cookies and cards, sent 14 gold letters. I spent hours decorating and felt creatively festive. ‘Tis the season :). Hoping everyone can feel the love I’m sending. 

Surprises came after small gifts appeared from each roommate to each other. Olha made us all Christmas gift bags of gingerbread cookies. I strung a decorated card on the tree for each roommate and shared cookies and oranges. Uliana wrapped Russian tea and a scented candle in parchment paper, leftover gold glittered tree ribbon, and a holiday clothespin. She wrote “Merry Christmas! Happy New Year!” in each of our languages: Russian (well, not Ukrainian), English, German. Zhenas gave us each a gift bag of treats. So, there has been magic in my apartment this season.

Happy New Year, and thank you 2020, for all the joy, discoveries, and change you have brought me. Here’s to love in 2021.

♡ 

[hudson4him]

It feels like a blur.

Just last Thursday, 3/12/2020 everything changed as I knew it. It started with breakfast out with my mom but while I was at breakfast my Teaching Director at Community Bible Study where I serve as a Coordinator called and asked me to pray about us suspending future classes. Then my Walmart pick up order was canceled. By the end of the day all public schools were closing effective the end of the next day. The governor of Delaware (where we meet each Wednesday)recommended no group meetings of 100 people or more. On average our CBS class is 129 adults. That pretty much made the decision for our Servants Team to have to cancel future meetings.

The next morning I headed to pick up my daughter for Spring Break from University of MD College Park where her college decided to close until 4/10/2020. The problem was that she had just been accepted at the Army Research Lab for an internship beginning that day through August. She would now be 2.5 hours away once I took her home as mandated by the college. Thankfully, she found out that morning she would be doing all of her internship online. Praise the Lord. In addition, her part time employer, Regal Theaters would be giving her hours over her next few weeks at home...or so she thought. Everything really seemed to be falling into place despite the ever quickly changing events around us. We enjoyed our afternoon in Annapolis by eating out, grabbing coffee and enjoying the beautiful weather. We both prepared for working the following day. Me at Barnes & Noble, where I have worked part time since 2011 and her at Regal.

Saturday, 3/14/2020 was uneventful. My job was rather slow and definitely not many customers. In contrast, Taylor said they were slammed with movie goers. By the end of the evening I found out that Sight & Sound had canceled the performance of Esther that our Servants Team had purchased tickets for. Just another roadblock.

On Sunday we prepared to have a relaxing day at home. All church services were live streamed online and afterwards I headed out to pick up my previously canceled order from Walmart. A lot of my items they were out of which was no surprise. Thankfully I enjoy grocery shopping and I am really good about keeping us well stocked. When I pulled up the first thing I noticed was a lady standing by her car. When they brought her bag of items she began screaming at them because she had ordered items that they were out of. It was at that moment I realized I was going to be super kind to the employee no matter how long I had to wait. My associate, Dee was wonderful. I asked her how she was doing and she seemed more than willing to share her frustrations and feelings of exhaustion. I also found out that Walmart was suspending future pickups because of a lack of food and supplies. Just another sign of changing times. My other daughter was scheduled to go on vacation in Jamaica next week and called to tell me they finally decided to postpone going. Before the night was over there was talk of all of Maryland shutting down very soon.

Today 3/16/2020 my small group had purchased tickets to go see “ I Still Believe” at the movie theater for tonight. By noon this morning Governor Hogan had done just as we suspected, he closed all theaters, gyms, bars, and restaurants as of 5 pm. Restaurants will only be able to serve carryout, delivery or via drive through. So my daughter’s part time job ceased as of today. My employer reduced our hours of operation to 10-7 daily for now. I contacted my employer and let them know they could give my part time hours to someone who needed them financially. Then this afternoon, my husband’s employer, Comcast, informed him that he would be getting a 25% pay increase for the next two weeks because he is on the frontline. God is so good to us! I have never once had any concern over how this virus would effect us financially.

Our life has changed overnight. I’m not in fear because of my faith but I would be lying if I didn’t share that I am a bit anxious over how the next few months will play out. I am concerned for my mother who is in her 70’s and has Sjogren's disease and lives by herself. I am concerned for my daughter that is supposed to graduate from college in May. I’m concerned for my husband that has to be in close contact with the public. I’m concerned for my son-in-law that owns a restaurant.

I was reminded of a verse we just studied at CBS, Romans 12:2 “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. “

We that are Christians have an opportunity right now more than ever to shine our light. The world is watching us now more than ever to see how we react under this chaos and uncertainty. I have a bad habit of spending way too much time on social media. Right now that can be crippling with all of the negativity. I cannot conform to the world’s mindset. I need to set myself apart and remind myself of all of His promises. We will be okay. No matter what lies ahead....we win in the end! Amen!

[shirlleycoyle]

It’s Now Clear None of the Supposed Benefits of Killing Net Neutrality Are Real

In the months leading up to the FCC assault on net neutrality, big telecom and FCC boss Ajit Pai told anybody who’d listen that killing net neutrality would boost broadband industry investment, spark job creation, and drive broadband into underserved areas at an unprecedented rate.

As it turns out, none of those promises were actually true.

Despite the FCC voting to kill the popular consumer protections late last year, Comcast’s latest earnings report indicates that the cable giant’s capital expenditures (CAPEX) for 2018 actually decreased 3 percent. The revelation comes on the heels by similar statements by Verizon and Charter Spectrum that they’d also be seeing lower network investment numbers in 2018.

It’s not expected to get any better in 2019.

According to analysis this week by Wall Street research firm MoffettNathanson, capital spending among the nation’s four biggest cable providers (Altice, Comcast, Charter Spectrum, CableONE) is expected to decline upwards of 5.8 percent this year.

Phone companies (AT&T, Verizon) are similarly expected to see their wireline capex fall from $20.3 billion in 2018 to $19.6 billion this year, notes the firm. And while investment in wireless is expected to jump slightly thanks to fifth generation (5G) investment, there too analysts have noted that overall investment is notably more sluggish than many had predicted.

The FCC did not respond to a request for comment on why its predictions have been so decidedly inaccurate.

Meanwhile, none of this comes as much of a surprise to those well versed in the net neutrality fight.

While the FCC and telecom sector repeatedly tried to claim that net neutrality rules stifled network investment, SEC filings, earnings reports, and even dozens of public statements made by countless CEOs easily disproved those claims. That didn’t stop either Pai or the telecom sector from repeating the claims countless times over a two-year span.

Gigi Sohn, a former FCC lawyer who helped craft the agency’s net neutrality rules, told Motherboard that the repeal of net neutrality (and the Title II classification of ISPs that legally underpinned the protections) was based on little more than fluff and nonsense.

“The cornerstone of Ajit Pai’s net neutrality repeal order has quickly crumbled,” Sohn told me in an email.

“The broadband industry’s reduction in investment and CAPEX in the wake of Ajit Pai’s repeal of the net neutrality rules proves what advocates for Internet openness have known all along—neither the rules nor Title II authority had any effect on broadband investment.”

Sohn told me telecom investment decisions are based on a wide variety of factors including technological advancement, the economy, and the level of competition an ISP sees in its market. Given huge swaths of America only have the choice of one ISP to choose from, there’s little pressuring them to put soaring profits back into the network or customer service.

And that’s the problem. Net neutrality violations and other bad behaviors by big telecom are just a symptom of a lack of vibrant competition. But the Pai FCC has routinely worked to downplay this problem, even to the point of trying to weaken the very definition of the word “competition” to the exclusive benefit of entrenched ISPs.

Instead, the focus for the Trump administration has been to dole out billions in tax cuts, subsidies, and regulatory favors to giant telecom operators, who in turn routinely promise job growth, network investment, and better service that never actually materializes.

Motherboard has exclusively reported how AT&T is prepping another major round of layoffs despite netting nearly $20 billion from the Trump tax cuts. And Verizon this week said it would be cutting 7 Percent of its media staff—on the heels of a 10,000 employee “voluntary” severance package—despite its own mammoth windfall of government favors.

Other ISPs, like Frontier Communications, have been literally letting their networks fall apart in many states, despite millions in taxpayer subsidies and repeated allegations of fraud. These are problems that were never going to be solved by killing popular consumer protections.

While this kind of pay to play dysfunction is widespread in telecom, the assault on net neutrality was among the most obvious examples of government kowtowing to natural monopolies, say consumer groups.

“Dismantling the basic principle that prevents companies like Comcast and Verizon from controlling what we see and do online helps no one other than telecom lobbyists and executives,” Evan Greer, Deputy Director of Fight For the Future, told Motherboard.

The repeal of net neutrality “will go down in history as one of the most blatant examples of corruption in our nation’s history,” Greer said.

“It’s not helping workers at these companies. It’s not helping people in rural communities. It’s not closing the digital divide,” Greer added. “The repeal of net neutrality is nothing but a massive government handout to some of the most unscrupulous, and least popular, corporations in the United States.”

And while big telecom has been understandably thrilled at its good fortune in the Trump era, there’s every indication that a looming backlash could spoil the sector’s fun as the pendulum inevitably swings back the other direction.

Next month sees the opening arguments in a lawsuit against the FCC over it’s net neutrality repeal, where the agency’s false claims (not to mention its decision to make up a DDOS and turn a blind eye to fraud during the public comment period) will take center stage.

If the FCC loses that case, there’s a good chance that the FCC’s 2015 net neutrality rules could be restored. And even if the FCC and its telecom sector allies win, they still have to find a way to prevent lawmakers from passing a real net neutrality law, no easy task given the shifting political climate and the persistent, bipartisan public anger over the repeal.

It’s Now Clear None of the Supposed Benefits of Killing Net Neutrality Are Real syndicated from https://triviaqaweb.wordpress.com/feed/

[billehrman]

What A Difference A Day Makes

The financial markets did a 180 Friday after a sensational labor report followed by Fed Chairman Powell’s opening comments prior to a panel discussion with two former Fed Presidents.

Powell clearly capitulated emphasizing that the “Fed would be willing to adjust policy quickly and flexibly using all of its tools to support the economy (including its balance sheet) should that be appropriate to keep the expansion on track.” The Fed will pause for now, unless data points dictate otherwise, from making any additional rate hikes in 2019, finally acknowledging that above average gains in real growth and employment MAY NOT lead to inflation moving above its 2% threshold.  

Can you imagine that we may have already reached normalization with a Fed Funds rate under 2.5%? Not only does it mean that the Phillips curve is dead but also that the Fed is acknowledging the downward pressure on inflation due to global competition, disruptors and technology. Powell specifically mentioned that the Fed is closely watching weakness in our financial markets, the flattening in the yield curve, the impact of trade tariffs, falling consumer/business sentiment and weakness in foreign economies/financial markets, too. Without explicitly saying it, the Fed has shifted its view. They are more worried more about downside risks to the economy than upside inflationary pressures.

The Fed is no longer our concern, after hearing Powell’s comments, removing a key obstacle of the financial markets. In fact, the Fed may become our friend if it lowers rates sometime next year due to inflation running well below the Fed’s 2% target level which we anticipate will occur over the next three months at least.

We were also pleased to see that China lowered its bank reserve requirements by another 1% on Friday to support its economy. It is clear that China will pull out all stops to offset weakness in industrial production which is still the largest share of its economy unlike our economy where consumption dominates. The probability of a trade deal between the United States and China is also clearly improving for obvious reasons. Trump needs a deal more than ever despite his rhetoric to the contrary as he will be running for President once again and can’t win unless our economy is doing well. President Xi also needs a deal as the unemployment rate will rise and wages will come under pressure if China’s economy does not sustain real growth near 6%. Face to face trade talks between both countries begin Monday. We believe that it is highly likely that trade talks without added tariffs will be extended beyond the initial 90 days and the chance of reaching a real deal sometime this year is on the rise.

And, we believe that the dollar may have peaked on Friday with the shift in Fed policy removing tremendous pressure on overseas economies and commodity prices.

No wonder the stock market rallied big time on Friday. The shorts got caught once again on the wrong foot looking in the rear-view mirror rather than anticipating Powell’s next move. Fortunately, we did.

What a difference a day makes!

It remains clear that the global economy continues to weaken including the United States and China. Just take a look at current yields around the world to get an idea of the growing fear of further global economic weakness and rising deflationary pressures: 2-year US Treasury: 2.46% and 10-year US Treasury bond: 2.67%; 2-year German bund: (0.06%), and 10-year bund: 0.2%; and 2-year Japanese bond: (0.19%) and 10-year Japanese bond: (0.05%). It doesn’t take a genius to understand what bond rates are saying virtually everywhere. These interest rate differentials have led to a super strong dollar which has killed commodity prices along with many foreign economies. As we stated earlier, the shift in Fed policy may represent the high-water mark for the dollar which will reduce pressure on foreign economies while raising industrial commodity prices.

Trade conflicts are now our number one concern as they are impacting all economies one way or another. Since exports are a small percentage of our economy, it impacts us less while penalizing those economies that rely on exports much more such as Germany, Japan, China and many emerging economies. A strong dollar/weak foreign currency which normally would have benefited many foreign economies has not as global trade is essentially in a holding pattern after stuffing the pipeline anticipating higher tariffs in 2019. Just look at declining business sentiment virtually everywhere in the world which has put a lid on hiring and capital spending plans too. We would expect an acceleration in global growth once trade deals are reached which we still expect to occur later this year.

The US economy continues to chug along bolstered by strong consumer demand. It is hard to get too pessimistic about 2019 now that the Fed has shifted its policy and employment/wages continue to grow at above average rates. We were pleasantly surprised that non-farm payrolls increased by 312,000 in December; hourly wages rose by 0.4% from November and 3.2% from a year ago; and that the labor participation rate rose too. These numbers bode well for solid consumer demand this year as over 2.3 million new jobs were created in 2018 along with higher hourly wages.

On the other hand, US factory demand weakened more than expected in December with new orders especially weak. Trade remains a major concern across our economy and managements are taking a very conservative view towards 2019 holding back on future hiring and capital spending plans. We continue to believe that the US economy will decelerate as we move through the year unless/if trade deals are reached. We want to underline that we do not see a recession nor declining corporate profits at this time especially since the Fed is most likely out of the way. We continue to forecast real growth around 2% for the year with operating earnings up 4 - 7%. It is hard to forecast the yield curve steepening until the Fed cuts rates or trade deals are reached which would lead to accelerating economic growth.

We still believe that global growth forecasts will be reduced to under 3% in 2019 unless trade deals are reached. Despite all the efforts by China’s government to stimulate growth, it is highly unlikely that real growth will exceed 6% down from 6.5% in 2018. Prospects for the Eurozone and Japan are not bright at all. Clearly the extent of monetary ease is ebbing which at the margin will penalize growth as rates can’t get much lower than where they are already. And local deficits are on the rise which impedes further fiscal policy stimulation.

As we mentioned last week, it is up to the US and China to lead the world out of its current economic quagmire. Clearly the Fed finally saw the light and China is aggressively moving to stimulate its economy. Again, trade deals will be the key for an improvement in the global economies.

What do we do now?

As mentioned last week, we believe that the US markets had gotten too cheap, and we committed part of our cash reserves buying great companies at distressed/recession level multiples with strong balance sheets, positive earnings growth and cash flow, rising dividends currently yielding above 3% and large share buyback programs out of free cash flow in place. We added more this week anticipating that the Fed would pause hiking rates in 2019 with the chance of lowering them too. Powell’s comments were no surprise to us. His comments basically lower the risk of a pronounced economic downturn in 2019 and 2020 which was the major concern of market participants. We continue to believe that our market is undervalued with a multiple under 15 times projected 2019 earnings, with 10-year treasuries yielding less than 3% and bank liquidity still on the rise. The chance of any systematic risk is next to nil. Notwithstanding, we will maintain above average cash reserves as we are still in a VUCA environment. Volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity of general conditions remain at heightened levels.

Our portfolios have broadened out slightly and include: healthcare, technology at a fair price to growth, industrials, industrial commodity companies, cable with content like Comcast and Disney, consumer non-durables like P & G and Pepsi, domestic steel, and many special situations where internal movements will reveal much higher values than current prices.

We are neutral the dollar although we feel that it has peaked and own no bonds expecting the yield curve to steepen only after the Fed lowers rates or trade deals are reached. We recommend reducing real estate and private equity holding as their valuations are too high relative to financial markets.

It is time for our government to work together rather than tearing the nation apart. We find their actions troubling and irresponsible.

Remember to review all the facts; pause, reflect and consider mindset shifts; look at your asset composition along with risk controls; do first hand research and …

Invest Accordingly!

Bill Ehrman Paix et Prospérité LLC Bill.ehrman[at]prosperitefund.com 1-917-951-4139

[seiyaryudreamer]

Other Link to Fanfiction.net form of the story

(Basically my idea here is, how to fix a lot of the issues people had with the plot aspect of the series and altering aspects about it. You can see it as a AU if you want.) 

AN: All characters are owned by WEP, Toei Animation, and DreamWorks TV animation, and it’s subsidiaries (NBC/Comcast). Please note, this is an AU telling of the story of legendary defender and me trying to fix plot issues that appear to be in the story. New characters and the like will be based on the original series, and any OC’s will be limited as I’m trying to work with what I have here. Please enjoy. (Also the Forest story is going in here but reworked.)

Chapter 1: The Tale of the Beast King

Eons ago, well before the first Alteans made their way into space to colonize other worlds, there was a race of beings seen as far more powerful than any in the universe. Many, in time, turned them into mythic beings of immense power and presence. Their name has been lost to the ages, but their stories have been passed on over the generations. Stories of great and terrible deeds that helped shape our universe. They say the creatures were angelic like, with mighty wings and voices that could mesmerize even the darkest of hearts, and an unsurpassed beauty. In addition, with this beauty and power came ego and hubris

Many of these tales are told even now, though one in particular is only whispered of now that the Galra has come into power. That of the legend of Voltron.

The story begins that these great and powerful beings constructed Voltron from the very center of the galaxy, and imbued it with intelligence. The idea, to create a weapon to use against those that would challenge them, as well as to fight creatures that formed from the nothing of space. At first all was well and the Defender, called Voltron, a massive robotic creature that was shaped in the image of the beings greatest champion, did well to protect it’s masters. Yet, as with all creatures with intellect, knowledge allows it to grow, and as it grew, without a strong hand guiding it, it’s ego and pomposity  grew far greater than that of it’s creators.

Soon enough it had left the angelic beings’ world to explore space, and was seen eventually as a creature of destruction rather than a defense. Over time a darkness began to grow, and broke free of another dimension, causing the universe to blacken and dim. One by one stars began to go out and the angelic race, who had held the universe in it’s own grip of power, found itself bested by this ever encroaching invader.

Fear gripped the populace and those with power rose up against the angelic oppressors, leading to the angels wanting to lock themselves away from the problem. Yet one among their council realized the crisis and saw with it an opportunity to once more fix what their ancestors had started. Without hesitation, the council member insisted that a change was needed and offered up their services and plan to the others.

It was a simple plan, to use Voltron to stop the darkness, then, if the Beast King could not be controlled, seal it in the in between. Turn it back into it’s metal form until it could be tamed once more. Such a plan was agreed to unanimously, and the Council member set off to find the Defender. For a long time the council member sought the great robot to no avail, until one fateful moment, when word got to the council member that their once glorious defender was seen fighting a great beast in the midst of space near the center of where the darkness had begun it’s reign of terror.

The Council Member traveled through the wormholes that their ship created until – at last – they found the legendary defender of the universe locked in battle with a fearsome monster from the black pit of hell that was the epicenter of the darkness. With mighty blows Voltron smashed the beast, removing it’s arms, legs and head and cleaved it into bits that froze in the void of space. Standing alone it raised it’s sword as if to say, any that dare challenge me shall meet with just as grizzly a fate.

Nevertheless, the Council Member showed no fear of this Beast King and came at it with words. They spoke firmly, but honorably, at their ancestors’ creation.

“Hear me oh Voltron, protector of space and those that dwell in this universe. I come to you in peace. Drop your sword and hear my plea.”

But, Voltron was not listening, and attacked the ship, forcing the crew to protect itself.  The council member, though small in size, had a strong heart and was able to push back the mighty Beast King as they projected themselves before the mighty Defender. The force field that was around the Council member kept them safe and they scowled at their people’s creation as it again tried to attack, and, using words of warning it told the robot to stand down, or else.

“Attack again, oh mighty Voltron, and you will be punished. You, who were once a savior, now revel in blood and fear. This will not hold. We need your help to seal the darkness that threatens us all. Behold,” the Council Member pointed to the black hole that was the center of the darkness. “There is your true enemy. Fight and save those that worship you. Save those that need you.”

When Voltron saw what the Council member pointed to, it felt a jolt of anger at the dark hole that was undulating with dark, thick, energy waves. Sensing power that it had never fought before, and a challenge, the Beast King, flew off after the darkness ready to destroy it. The Council Member and their crew watched in awe as Voltron smashed through the dark barrier around the black hole, and gasped in shock as it materialized weapon after weapon to fight against the multitude of minions that came out after it.

The bodies of it’s fallen enemies littered the space around it, as wave after wave of dark beings lashed out from the center of the hole where the darkness dwelt. But Voltron just kept on coming for it, covered in the blood of the monsters that dared to stop it. The Beast King soon grasped that the hole could not be fought normally, as it was just the opening for the darkness to come out of. Seeing that there was no way to fight, and realizing that it’s power was low, the Beast King charged up for one last attack and called down upon it’s flaming sword.

With a powerful set of slashes, it wounded the opening to the darkness and then unleashed into it a light beam from it’s chest that used the magic from it’s creators to seal the entrance to the darkness that had been consuming the universe. With a blast of bright light birthed by the seal, the hole in the fabric of reality had been shut, and the universe was once more saved.

The crew rejoiced aboard the council member’s ship, but that was not for long. For soon after sealing the hole, Voltron turned once more on it’s creators and came after the ship ready for a fight. The ship dodged and zoomed around, avoiding the Beast King’s hands, shield and sword. However, the Council Member knew that no matter how long they ran Voltron would still be a danger.

Once more, the Member projected themselves into space and called on the Beast King. They bowed before it, speaking nobly. “Voltron Stop! We thank you for your help. But you must stop this behavior as it will come to no good to the people of this universe.”

Voltron screamed out in response, denying this comment and slashed at the Council Member’s projection, who blocked it once more with a force field. The power they had to use was more than they were ready for, and soon enough the Council Member knew that, in their weakened state, if they had to spend more time blocking the attacks of the robot, they would perish as would the crew of their ship.

At once, they tried to restrain the Defender, but Voltron broke free of the energy bonds. Realizing that there was no other choice, the Council Member, against the pleas of the crew, threw all their energy into one last stand with their people’s creation.

“I have warned you time and again, oh great Defender, that your actions shall cost you greatly. Now, be punished justly for your acts of war and hubris. No longer as one, until you can learn to have a heart once more, you are here by split apart. Doomed to be pieces of a whole.”

In an instance and a flash, Voltron split into five separate Lions. Each weakened by the blast and unconscious, easier to collect now that they were neutralized. Sadly, the attack and the spell used by the Council member was far too great, and had sapped them of most of their life energy. With one last request to their crew, they asked for the Lions to be merged by the other members of their race into a cocoon and hidden inside the in between of space, where all life energy came from, until such  time when they were once again needed. Thus they died, sending their energy off into the galaxy.

Their request was heeded and the Lions of Voltron were sealed away inside a stone cocoon, and hidden in the depths of space, until the day, they were needed; but that is another story, for another time.

[bettinalevyisdetermined]

All of this talk about water is making me thirsty. Have you been having a wonderful time on your trip? I'm having an awesome time in Winston Salem. I just had an awesome meal at Bad Daddy's Burger Gourmet.

Hey! Sorry it took me so long to get around to your question. 😅 We've been without WiFi for the last couple of days. Apparently Comcast had a couple of fiber wires cut and everyone who uses them as a carrier are without internet? I tried to make a post about this problem (twice, actually!), but for whatever reason Tumblr either wouldn't post it or deleted my posts. :P Right now I'm at a Starbucks using their free WiFi. Thank God they weren't affected. XDGlad to hear that you're having a great time in your own travels. :) I AM having an awesome trip as well, thanks for asking! Actually, this trip will probably end up being longer than I thought it would...Basically, my mom was in Boston for about a month, being an Airbnb host in the apartment we usually rent out to college students (this is the first year we've ever tried this). My dad and the rest of us went on a road trip to join her, and we thought we'd have found a replacement host to take over for my mom so we could take her home with us after July 4th... but it hasn't worked out that way. :PSo now the plan is for my sister Annette and I to take over the Airbnb hosting job for the next month... :P No big deal!It's a little nerve-racking, but we're also pretty excited. It's not our first time in Boston. We've been coming up here every summer for years, so we're really familiar with the place. We had planned on being head counselors for a summer camp after we got back home, but it's volunteer run anyway, and family business comes first. I'm sure they'll manage without us.Probably the biggest downside is that I won't get to see my boyfriend as soon as I thought I would. (We're a very clingy couple. X3) But I know we'll get through the long distance thing, as we've done in the past whenever we were apart for longer than a week or two...This is probably as good a time as any for me to make an announcement: since I'm in a different place and it'll just be my sister and me for a while, I'd like to start a brand new YouTube channel! The current one will be solely dedicated to Undertale related content (since that's what most everyone is subscribed for), and my new one will be for personal vlogs and stuff that I want to post, like reactions or recipes. ^_^ Still trying to come up with a good name for it. Either BettinaLevy2, or BettinaLevME. XDI wonder if I have any fans up here in Boston? While I'm here, it might be fun to have a Meetup day where I can hang out with some of you. :D Let me know what you think!

[theliterateape]

I CAN’T HEAR YOU WE’RE BREAKING UP!

By Joe Janes

 I’ve recently been going through a very messy separation. I am, finally, after eight long years, leaving AT&T…for Comcast. 

Here’s the thing, I’m surprised it lasted eight years. It was a total rebound. I couldn’t live with Comcast, who likes to be called xfinity, anymore. I moved to a new apartment, on my own, and they were not invited to come along. AT&T was available. One thing led to another. They had decent customer service. Their internet service was so-so. Their most import quality is that they were not Comcast. 

AT&T doesn’t know yet. I tried to tell them. I went on their website. I could not find anything about cancelling my service. No email address to use for contact. No live person to chat with. The auto-chat bot finally coughed up a number to call. I have not called yet. I want to make sure my Comcast is set up just in case AT&T causes a scene and takes back all their stuff before I’m done. 

Like most long-term relationships, things got bad with AT&T during the pandemic. It kept glitching out without any warning. I’d drop out of online classrooms I was teaching and have to log back in. It would go out while I was trying to upload or download or watch a show. It was no longer interested in the same things I was interested in. I blamed it on the rain. It was worse whenever it rained. I upgraded the service twice to get more juice from the internet spigot and demonstrate I was still committed. Promises were made. Nothing changed. 

The thing is, I know Comcast is horrible. When I left them before, they tried to gaslight me about a modem rental that they told me I did not need to return and then tried to charge me $600 for not returning it! This time, I bought my own modem. 

They are also really bad at communication. I want an internet service that’s easy to talk to. An internet service that will listen. I ordered my new xfinity service online last Tuesday. It asked me if I needed cables. I thought, “Yeah, probably.” The cables I have belong to AT&T. They’re going to want them back. Comcast messaged, “Great, when they come in, we’ll follow up.” 

On my online Comcast account, it said the cables were ordered and there’d be an update in an hour. It stayed that way all week. I never heard from them. I tried to contact them through the website. All I could find was another auto-chat-bot that pretended to not understand questions like, “Why haven’t you called? Where are you? When are you coming over?”. 

According to the website, there’s an xfinity store in my neighborhood. It gave me the hours, but no phone number. It also said because of COVID-19, I need to make an appointment. So, I did. When I walked in, a security guard, a big, burly manager, and a worker all walked up to me. The manager spoke to me like I did something wrong.

“What can I help you with?”

“I have an appointment.”

“Who with?”

“Anyone.”

“Why did you make the appointment?”

“Because your website didn’t have a phone number. We could probably solve this over the phone, or, based on no customers being in here, I could have just walked in earlier when you opened.”

“What do you need? Do you need to talk to a technician?”

“I need the internet service I ordered and paid for. I ordered it last Tuesday and I still don’t have it. My account says some equipment was ordered and would be ready in an hour. It has said that for a week. I can’t get any information from your website about what’s going on.”

The worker took me aside and away from the burly manager and figured it out. She sat at a computer and took my information. It took a long time without getting any verbal updates from her.

I broke the silence with “So, what was the problem?”

“You didn’t tell us when you needed internet service.”

“You didn’t ask.”

“There was a box you were supposed to click.”

There was no box. More gaslighting from Comcast. 

“Isn’t it fair to assume I needed it when I ordered it? When I order shoes online, I usually get shoes delivered in, well, less time than it takes to get internet.”

“We’ll have to send a technician out. It will cost $100.”

“Of course, it will.”

I was leaving a decent relationship with really bad internet for a bad relationship with really decent internet. 

“Can I ask who your phone service is with?”

“Verizon.”

“We have a phone service that uses Verizon towers and I can get you a great deal because you also have internet and throw in a low monthly payment for an iPhone13.”

Verizon has been very good to me. No problems with customer service or mobile service. Verizon hot spot saved my ass countless times when AT&T crapped out. I can’t just throw away over ten years of our relationship to be exclusive with Comcast. Comcast is trying to break us up.

“No, thank you.”

“Why not?”

“You’re a hussy, Comcast.”

“Call me xfinity.”

Corporations want to give the appearance of being very customer friendly except when you need something, like internet or to leave. It’s 2021. Their commodity is the online world. There’s no reason I should have to call someone or show up in person for anything. 

Now, on to cancel my X-Sports gym membership that requires I write a letter and have it delivered by pony. 

[dustythewind]

I watched Dawson's Creek for the first time in 2020 when not much else could be done because when it originally aired, I was busy raising 2 young kids and taking care of my dying mom, so I didn't watch anything except OCCASIONALLY Babylon 5, then after mom passed I was busy moving to another state (while my husband was working all over the continent) and then almost immediately I was spending 6 weeks in the hospital trying not to die and failing to be there for my family and instead being completely dependent on others, which I hate, and recovering for a couple days, and then working on getting our house finished (mostly by contractors, but I did a lot of the wiring work with my in-laws) and found my inner MacGuyver to get things to the point we could move in (sans heat, sans siding, but we had icy cold running water, dammit, and ONE bathroom -- with walls I made out of ACTUAL CARDBOARD -- in the basement!) when we got notice that we had to leave our temporary apartment because someone bought the building and decided OH YOU HAVE TO LEAVE NOW before our house was even close to livable but we made do (yay for cold showers in October and November when you also have no heat or siding or eaves, so birds and bats [and FLYING SQUIRRELS, APPARENTLY] can fly in at will) and we then found out cable would be $6000 to install (frak you very much) because Comcast didn't tell us when we first talked to them that the closest they had a connection was a mile away but we were more than welcome to pay for them to bring the rest of the way (AS IF!) so the best we could get technology-wise was a lame phone line and dial-up internet for the first couple years and streaming services weren't even a thing yet so.....

So, last year was the first time I had a chance to catch my breath and I remembered Jensen Ackles was on Dawson's Creek for a little while and I figured that was a good enough reason to dive in. And I watched several episodes a day, every chance I had.

And I loved almost everyone (Dawson was just a spoiled whiny bitch) so much that it felt a bit creepy because they were all so young and I'm....not.)

THE END

[itvplus]

Six Nations 2021: Ireland hoping for final day title showdown against England

Five key England forwards are absent and many players are lacking game-time, with scrum-half Ben Youngs admitting there could be "teething problems".

Nevertheless, the defending champions are favourites to win again this year.

"The pressure is on England," Monye said on the Rugby Union Weekly podcast.

"Anyone that thinks otherwise is deluded."

https://ryanwhiteconference.hrsa.gov/six-nations-italy-vs-france-live-six-nations-rugby/

https://ryanwhiteconference.hrsa.gov/calcutta-cup-england-vs-scotland-six-nations-live-2021-rugby/

https://ryanwhiteconference.hrsa.gov/six-nations-italy-vs-france-live-six-nations-rugby/

https://ryanwhiteconference.hrsa.gov/calcutta-cup-england-vs-scotland-six-nations-live-2021-rugby/

Genge won his first cap nearly five years ago but has started only one Six Nations match, against Italy in 2019. With Mako Vunipola injured and Joe Marler withdrawing for personal reasons, the 25-year-old Leicester loosehead is the likely beneficiary. On his day, Genge has few peers, mixing destructive scrummaging with carrying and tackling, aggressively mobile. Consistency has been an issue as well as temperament, but if England are to make greater use of their attacking options, they need more forwards to make metres and deliver quick possession. Which is where Genge comes in and what Eddie Jones will be looking for is the player whose multilayered performance helped Leicester overcome a 14-point deficit against Bath this month.

Every game Saturday will have a livestream option, giving fans unable to attend a game an opportunity to watch. Michigan COVID-19 restrictions allow just 125 fans per team in attendance.FSD and MHSAA.tv will feature the livestreams of the games. Fans watching on MHSAA.tv will need to subscribe for $10.99 a month or $69.99 for the year and can sign up for the MHSAA.tv livestreams here.

Here are the matchups for the 2020-21 Michigan high school football state playoff semifinals and eight-man finals, all scheduled for Jan. 16:JACKSON, Miss. (WDAM) - The 2020 MHSAA State Football Championships are set and WDAM will have coverage of all the games this weekend.

Coverage of this year’s championship games will be shown on Bounce TV as games are scheduled to happen Friday and Saturday at 11 a.m., 3 p.m. and 7 p.m.Below is a listing of channel numbers on cable and satellite providers that include Bounce TV:

Cable/Antenna - Channel 7.3 Comcast - Channel 216

Six high schools from the Pine Belt will be represented by their football teams at Mississippi Veterans Memorial Stadium in Jackson this weekend in championship play as Magee, Lumberton and Oak Grove high schools will play Friday, and Poplarville, Taylorsville and West Jones are set to play on Saturday.

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer announced Sunday that all sports in Michigan, other than professional and college, must stop competition for three weeks in an effort to bat down an exponential spike in COVID-19 cases in Michigan.

But that does not mean the end of the high school state playoffs in football, volleyball or swimming.

Mark Uyl, executive director of the Michigan High School Athletic Association, told the Free Press on Sunday that those playoffs are being put on hold and the MHSAA has every intention to finish them at a later date.

“We will suspend our three remaining fall tournaments,” he said, “and figure out how to get those completed.”

If that sounds familiar, it should.

In March, when COVID-19 began spreading throughout the state, the MHSAA suspended play in its remaining winter and spring tournaments. Uyl said then he had every intention of completing those championships, including boys and girls basketball and boys swimming, but it never happened because schools were closed in April and did not reopen until this fall.

MHSAA FOOTBALL SCHEDULE: Regional finals matchups for when playresumes

The MHSAA volleyball championships were scheduled to conclude this weekend in Battle Creek, and girls swimming and diving was scheduled to hold its championship meets this weekend as well.

The football playoffs were headed to regional championship games this weekend in 11-player and the semifinals in 8-player.

That is why the MHSAA is putting all playoffs on hold.

“Given the fact that we’re only down to three weeks in football,” Uyl said. “Again, it’s different than last March. We’ve got some time in front of us.”

https://dreampirates.us/general/state-of-the-unions-six-nations-2021-team-by-team-prospects-06-02-2021

https://www.thewyco.com/news/six-nations-2021-england-favourites-but-scotland-fancy-their-chances-preview-team-news-06-02-2021

https://www.guest-articles.com/advertising/six-nations-2021-england-want-to-take-teams-apart-says-jamie-george-06-02-2021

[techcrunchappcom]

New Post has been published on https://techcrunchapp.com/comcast-will-charge-customers-more-for-heavy-internet-usage-starting-next-year/

Comcast will charge customers more for heavy internet usage starting next year

Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain

Comcast Corp. will charge more for heavy users of home internet in Northeast states—including Pennsylvania and New Jersey—angering customers who work and study online due to the pandemic.

The vast majority of Comcast’s Xfinity customers won’t be affected by the “data threshold” next year, company officials said this week. But the extra charges come as internet usage soars across the country, with consumers increasingly making video calls and bingeing shows while stuck at home. Average monthly data usage in the United States jumped 40% during the third quarter this year compared with the same period in 2019, according to OpenVault, a Hoboken, N.J., broadband software firm.

Starting in April, Xfinity will let customers use up to 1.2 terabytes of data a month before billing them more—unless they buy an unlimited data plan. Customers without unlimited data will have to pay $10 for every extra 50 gigabytes used. Unlimited data plans cost an additional $25 to $30 a month, depending on whether you rent or own your own router, a Comcast spokesperson said.

The Philadelphia-based cable giant said just 5% of its nearly 28 million home internet customers exceed 1.2 terabytes of data a month. But the news sparked criticism from customers and industry observers, who noted that the pandemic has closed schools and offices and forced consumers to do more online. Some said they would flee to Verizon Fios, which doesn’t have any data caps or thresholds, according to a company spokesperson.

“So far in November two of us working from home have used 2.1TB (terabytes) of data. People with kids in remote school use tons more,” Nilay Patel, the editor-in-chief of tech news website the Verge, wrote on Twitter.

Comcast said 1.2 terabytes is a “massive” amount of data, enough to watch 500 hours of high-definition video, or video conference for nearly 3,500 hours a month. Even with more people working at home, average monthly data usage was 383.8 gigabytes from July through September, OpenVault reported.

“Our data plan is structured in a way that the very small percentage of our customers who use more than 1.2 terabytes of monthly data and generate the greatest demand for network development and capacity pay more for their increased usage,” Comcast spokesperson Jennifer Bilotta said in a statement. “For those super-users, we have unlimited data options available.”

Still, the number of “super-users” is on the rise. Nearly 9% of consumers used more than 1 terabyte of data during the third quarter, doubling from a year before, according to OpenVault.

Comcast already imposed the data limit in 25 states in western and central parts of the U.S. The company had lifted the data limit on those states from March to July due to COVID-19. Now it’s rolling out the plan in the remaining 14 states across its footprint.

The company’s broadband business has boomed during the pandemic, signing up a record number of internet customers last quarter. But the coronavirus has battered its other businesses, particularly theme parks and film studios. Comcast’s net profit fell 37% during the third quarter, to $2 billion.

Comcast adds Chicago customers to those under data caps

©2020 The Philadelphia Inquirer Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC

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