#which should ideally be of similar note to like. any other piece of personal identity junk

[mantisgodsdomain]

Now that we are being followed by people, we need to make some thoughts and opinions clear so that people are not later Shocked And Disgusted or whatever by thoughts we have held for many years. We think it's weird and also bad to treat queer people like they're a different species from cishet people, and we think that treating things like Having A Sexuality makes a character better than if they have a different sexuality is bad no matter what way you put it.

We also think that, if in your setting queer folks are widely accepted and straight isn't a "default", it may be worth noting that, say, a straight woman might need just as much self-discovery to work out she's straight that a lesbian does nowadays. In the same manner that, in Ace Attorney, Larry Butz needs to tell Phoenix that no matter how many photos of handsome men he shows him, he's tried, he's just not attracted to men,

[dragonrajafanfiction]

Caesar and the MC should be Best Friends - Hear me out

This sounds really strange at first to hear. But the game did a terrible job of summarizing the story and showing the characters. The MC should be Best Friends with Caesar, check out why, below the cut.

Act One: The Premise (The MC will be referred to as Female because my character is female and I’m too lazy)

The MC has been trained to fight and use her abilities since she was a child. She’s been competing against others for the privilege of being the best as well. By the time she’s arrived at Cassell, she’s seen horrors that not even the Cassell Trio can boast of seeing.

Caesar in the meantime is planning his wedding. But Nono is AWOL. He’s getting no feedback from her and it leaves him just shooting in the dark for what ‘sounds cool’ For all of Caesar’s big talk, he realizes that he’s not really reaching Nono’s heart and he’s feeling a bit lost.

In the game: You save Nono in the game. 

Why you would grow closer to Caesar: This is not easily reconcilable with the novel’s opening scenes, so if we stretch and pretend you arrive before Nono goes on her Walkabout, that would make one HECK of an impression on Caesar. He would have seen immediately that you are a step far above Luminous. Being a self-described ‘maniac’ he would not have been shy about approaching you and telling you you’re 10x what Luminous is.

Caesar is mischaracterized in the game to a great extent. While his misogynstic leanings and need to be ‘tHe LeADer’ is played up probably for laughs, he’s not that over the top. Here’s how he’s portrayed in the Novel.

Anjou put the two of them (Caesar and Chu Zihang) together and actually wanted them to sincerely cooperate? The move was similar to keeping lions and tigers in a cage, with Lu Mingfei stuffed between them like an innocent red panda. But Caesar decided to do his best, because this time he is the team leader. The success or failure of the task related to his honor, and for honor, he can bear anything. Along the way, he repeatedly warned himself to be generous, to have a leadership style, to be a corporal... Take Chu Zihang as a corporal to "victory", Caesar's heart is much more comfortable. This time he is immersed in the pink mood of preparing for the wedding, and he is feeling very charitable, even to Chu Zihang this serial killer looks more appealing.

There’s no way Caesar would ignore you as the MC. You would be of utmost interest to him. Far more interesting than Chu Zihang and Luminous. He takes responsibility for you as part of the team, he owes you one for Nono, and wants to see you succeed, probably more than anyone else there.

Act 2: Your arrival in Japan

The game skips the whole opening sequence introducing you to Chisei and Sakura. In the novel, those fancy Kimonos were given to you by Anjou and yes they all come with umbrellas. The whole scene is supposed to be funny. Chisei is mistaken for a tour guide, Lu Mingfei compliments Chisei’s Chinese in his own broken Japanese and fantasizes about cute maid cafes, Chu Zihang freaks Chisei out with his golden eyes by accident. So I imagine the MC stumbling and falling trying to walk in Geta.

But things get serious when the police show up and you realize that you’ve entered the country illegally and are now about to get arrested. The MC might voice that this make sense “Because I don’t have a passport or any identity. There was no way I’d ever get into the country.”

After Chisei loses the police, you’re taken to your rooms to stay for the night.

I wrote a little piece about this ‘here’

Why the MC and Caesar would grow closer: At the end of this scene, Caesar is completely isolated, drinking in his room and texting a silent Nono. This scene would change with you as the MC there. This would turn into an opportunity for you to bond. Perhaps you would notice him texting, talking about his love of Nono. You could touch on your past with him for the first time, or not, depending. He’d probably say something enthusiastically fiery and confidence building. He wants you to trust him and trust in yourself. For all his flaws, Caesar is very LIKEABLE and easy to understand. You don’t get into positions of power like his without some level of Charisma.

Act 3: The Mission Details

In the Game: This whole scene goes missing. 

In the Novel: You take a whirlwind tour of Genji Heavy Industries. It’s an engineering marvel that is practically embedded in the central infrastructure of Tokyo (The building is seriously impossible and amazing but that’s for a nother post.). 

You sit down with Masamune for tea. Immediately, something jumps out at Caesar.

“Are you Japanese?” Caesar gave Masamune Tachibana an examining look..

"I'm only half Japanese and the other half Russian." Tachibana said.

Caesar frowned, which made him think of the soviet icebreaker Lenin involuntarily.

"I've been in Japan for many years, and a lot of people don't see that I'm half Russian, Mr. Gattuso.” Tachibana said, inquiringly.

"Accents, your accents have Slavic characteristics, and you'll distinguish between hard and soft consonants, which are typical Russian pronunciations." Caesar said, "You're not just Of Russian Descent, You've Lived In Russia." 

This is Lu Mingfei and Chu Zihang have no say in the matter since their two mother tongues are Chinese. But Caesar was aware when he heard the first words of Tachibana Masamune. He grew up as a different kind of man who could speak English, French and Spanish fluently in addition to Italian, and he could tell the language characteristics of every language spoken in Europe.

Even the wind demon villain Lang and yuan child in this seat are showing a surprised expression, it is clear that other owners do not know this matter.

Why this would bring you closer to Caesar: Not only would you pick up on the exact same thing, but he would speak with the same Russian accent as the MC. Languages are regional, Russia is a HUGE FREAKING COUNTRY. It would be no mistake that the Russian accent - Tachibana’s Russian accent - would match the MCs regional one.  Depending on how much your MC would have told Caesar, Caesar would have picked up a whole lot. Why you were awakened now, why you were sent on this mission... but that’s not even all!!

Later on, Chisei shows up after Tachibana leaves. He’s given you more information on the Lenin and why its sinking seems suspicious. But then he says this.

"Yes, the Lenin passed through the nameless port of northern Siberia, took a precious dragon embryo, and the port was destroyed in a fire. No one knows where the embryo is going to be shipped, the final destination may be Japan, or it may just pass by, but apparently it failed to reach its destination and the dragon embryo fell into the depths of the trench. Embryos have been hatching slowly over the years, but we haven't been aware of them. ”

Now depending on how much your MC might tell Caesar at this point he may or may not notice more parallels between the story of the Lenin and your story. You’re a hybrid, from Siberia who survived not just a fire but a bombs and getting shot. Heck imagine being the MC listening to this and realizing that this mission is intimately connected with you. In the game this happens way late, but in the novel it’s right at the start!

Why this would bring you closer to Caesar: At this point none of this would have been shared between any of the others. This is something only Caesar and you would know, shared knowlege that would likely mentally bond you two as allies.

The next scene is just more obvious bonding time. They all discuss likes and dislikes, their personal goals, dreams, loves, and ideals. The MC would still have Caesars favor but Caesar would fall more and more for Chisei’s charms. He’s bored and wants to see some ‘real gangster’ stuff. So Chisei obliges and takes Caesar to an operation between two rival gangs fighting over turf. 

This would be the first time you’ve seen Caesar actually get serious for once intimidating some gangsters in a comic store. But after that’s all over, he immediately gets interested in the comics. This is very important to note that Caesar is rarely serious about anything. And if he is it doesn’t last long. He tells a long story about wanting a PS2, staying up all night to play Star Ocean when the housekeeper smashed his console. So he purchased 200 consoles, gave the housekeeper an axe and every time he smashed a console he replaced it immediately and kept playing. Finally, they let him play video games 2hours a day after his riding lessons.

This is important. Caesar is pushy and insistent and confident because he HAS to be to be himself and defy his family.  This is is something even Chu Zihang can respect and he makes up with Caesar after, realizing that Caesar’s way towards him wasn’t personal, good or bad, he’s always acting out towards his family.

With you, Lu Mingfei and Chu Zihang closer than ever, it’s time to actually go on the Mission.  So lets recap: Caesar the Leader has pulled the team together, taken you off on entertainment, on adventures, and now just now, on the way to the mission. cooked for everyone while speedreading the the instruction manual for the Lenin.

Why would this bring the MC closer to Caesar? Uh, maybe because he seems pretty freakin’ competent? Almost effortlessly so? As Chu Zihang so succintly puts it:  “Sometimes I admire Caesar. Whenever and wherever there are goals, he’s rarely afraid and never discouraged. In a group of people he will always be the one who inspires fighting spirit. People can choose how they live, Caesar is the kind of man who asks himself to live like a hero." The MC who has never felt so helpless in her life, could have easily been inspired by Caesar. That maybe she CAN get back to the Lenin, figure out who killed her friends and give him exactly what he deserves.

[tomasorban]

THE CLONES OF ENKI (excerpt)- By J.R. Jochman from "Forgotten Ages"1979

THE LULU CLONES OF SUMER

Perhaps the most startling revelations of the advanced nature of ancient research into the manipulation of the building blocks of life come to us from Sumerian inscriptions, dated between 4,000 and 5,000 years old. Several legends speak of a time when "god-men" ruled the world of prehistory; and in order to work the mines of the land of Apsu -- identified with southern Africa -- the Sumerian deities decided to create a Lulu, or primitive worker, who would do the actual digging and other hard labor. The god Enki was placed in charge of the task to "bring about the work of great wisdom", and he, with the Mother Goddess, Ninhursag, began to fashion the Lulu. The place where the creation took place was called the Bit Shimti -- the "house where the breath of life is breathed in".

Upon entering the house", Ninhursag first "washed her hands" as any lab worker would, and called to her lab assistants to prepare the first ingredient: "Mix the core of clay, from the depths of the Earth in Apsu -- and shape it into the form of a core; I have knowledgeable young gods, who will bring the clay to the right condition."

The Akkadian term for clay is Tit (molding clay); but in its earliest spelling, ti-it, it also meant "that which has life". In the Hebrew, Tit means "mud", with its synonym "bos" related to "bisa" (marsh) and "besa" (egg). These connotations, clay-marsh-egg, hint at stages of development in the creation of the cell. First, the substance began as a clay. In 1974, Dr. Graham Cairn-Smith of the University of Glasgow's Department of Chemistry, announced a new theory on the origins of life. Dr. Cairn-Smith was not satisfied that the first threads of nucleic organic material floating in the primaeval sea could have come together by chance, but must have needed a structural catalyst within which the threads formed into the first complex DNA patterns. Clay, he believes, was the ideal catalyst.

Clay has a crystalline structure that has the ability to retain and "print" a pattern upon new material. As Dr. Cairn-Smith noted: "Clay consists of stacks thin, interlocking plates containing aluminum and silicon atoms that can be arranged in random patterns. These patterns can undergo changes as new [5]clays 'print' near old layers. This is a system capable of development by natural selection, by trial and error -- the first stages necessary to produce molecules and arrangements of molecules that would eventually form the more complex systems of early life forms."

THE BLUEPRINT OF MAN

More recently, in 1977, Dr. James Lawless of NASA's Ames Research Center, together with Dr. Edward Edelson and Lewis Manning, of the American Chemical Society, succeeded in demonstrating that clay containing nickel will attract amino acids; and the concentrated amino acids will then link up to form chains similar to protein. Dr. Cairn-Smith stated, "In simple terms, clay therefore could have been the basis of life: the Blueprint of Man." (Which reminds us of Elihu to Job, 33:6, "I also am formed out of the clay." RHC)

The next stage of the "clay" development, according to the Hebrew-Akkadian word connotations, was that it became like a "marsh" -- that is, the clay material was mixed with simple organic material, as one find in marshland ooze. In the Sumerian texts, this is seen in the Mother Goddess Ninhursag's command that chemicals called "bitumens of Apsu" be used to "purify" or "impregnate" the clay. Bitumen is a petroleum substance made up of very complex hydrocarbon chains -- the basis of organic chemistry. What is described, in essence, is that organic chains were mixed in the clay, and the clay patterns began to "print" the chains into more complex structures, such as DNA.

That this shaping process was directed can be seen in the "young gods" or lab assistants shaping the clay into a specific mold, bringing it into the "right condition". Enki, the text states, further ordered the assistants to "bind upon the mixture the mold of the gods" -- or, carefully design the organic material into the genetic codes of a human-like creature. The result, in the last stage, was the formation of an egg or cell.

THE BREATH OF LIFE

The next major step, once a cell was produced, was to give the cell an "essence" or code of life. This was done by adding blood. The text reads: "I will prepare a solution. Let one god be bled… his blood. Let Ninhursag mix with the clay-egg."

(One would think, on reading Jochman's article on Sumerian Clones that the secret of making them had been blocked in Cuneiform script for 5,000 years, but Polish Rabbis of the 16th Century were adept at making servant Golem. Read this revealing quote from Gershom Scholem's "On the Kabbalah and Its Symbolism":

"After saying certain prayers and holding certain fast days, they make the figure of a man from clay, and when they have said [6]the Shem Hamephorash over it (that is, breathed the breath of life into it, by ritual chanting) the image comes to life. And although the image itself cannot speak, it understands what is said to it and commanded; among the Polish Jews it does all kinds of housework, but is not allowed to leave the house. On the forehead of the image they write Emeth, that is, truth. But an image of this kind grows each day; though very small at first, it ends by becoming larger than all those in the house. In order to take away his strength, which ultimately becomes a threat to all those in the house, they quickly erase the first letter, Aleph, from the word Emeth on his forehead, so that there remains only the word Meth, that is, dead. When this is done the Golem collapses and dissolves back into the clay or mud that he was  . . .They say that a Baal Shem in Poland, by the name of Rabbi Elias, made a golem who became so large that the rabbi could no longer reach his forehead to erase the letter E. He thought up a trick, namely that the Golem, being his servant, should remove his boots, supposing that when the Golem bent over, he would erase the letters. And so it happened, but when the Golem became mud again, his whole weight fell on the rabbi, who was sitting on the bench, and crushed him."

(This delightful tale illustrates the dangers of using creative thought for selfish purposes. It was a warning to Cabalists of that day in Europe. It is a warning of this day to students of mind control and mind dynamics courses; and we use it in our latest talk on Psychic Self-Defense, Part III, "The Dweller on the Threshold", BSRF No. 24-M. Scholem does not include the secret of bringing such a man-made creation to life, charging the clay figure with freshly shed blood or sperm. The technique is described in detail by Franz Bardon in his book, "Initiation Into Hermetics". But Jochman tells us that the Sumerian adepts had their own variation on the technique and carried it several steps further.)

THE ESSENCE OF THE CLONE

The Akkadian texts make it clear that what was being sought in the blood was Napishtu, or an "essence" related to Shi-im-ti, the "breath-wind-life". The key is in the name of the god from whom the blood was finally taken -- Te-e-ma. According to translators W.G. Lambert and A. R. Millard of Oxford University, the name means "personality", with the further connotation "that contained within which binds the memory". This is nothing less than a description of the gene, the element which gives the cell life, and directs the cell to begin the process of reproduction.

The inscriptions tell of the delicate operation by which the god Ea "purified the Napishtu" and offered the solution to Ninhursag, who carefully held the clay-egg-cell. But it was Enki who performed the crucial injection: He blows in" the "breath-wind' into the cell, and gave it life. The injection was successful for the cell began to multiply.

IMPREGNATION OF THE BIRTH-GODDESS

The next and final step involved artificial impregnation. Ninhursag "cut off 14 pieces of the clay-egg-cell" -- she selected 14 cells out of the newly-dividing creation. There then follows a description of the coming of 14 Birth-Goddesses to the operating table: Everything is detailed, from the shaving of the pubic hair, the preparing of the scalpels and surgical instruments, and finally the operations themselves. Within each, one of the 14 selected cells was placed in the womb, and the cells began to grow into living beings.

At the beginning of the tenth month after the first operation, Ninhursag directed surgery to remove the mature creatures. The texts tell what follows: " . . .she opened the womb, Her face brightened with joy. Her face covered with a mask, she removes. That which was in the womb came forth. She cries, I have created! By my hands I have made it!" One cuneiform picture has Ninhursag showing one of the new humanoid babies to the god Ea. On the left side is a minor "god" surrounded by laboratory flasks, bringing a carefully sealed container to a boil on top of a stool-like holder, showing where the child had come from.

Once the experiment proved successful, it appears the process of artificial impregnation was repeated again and again, the cells being used all from the original cell created by Enki, Ninhursag, and Ea. The result would have been the production of a multitude of Clones -- creatures that looked exactly alike. A scene depicted on a rock carving found,in the mountains of Elam near Sumer shows a seated god holding a flask from which liquid is pouring -- a familiar representation of Enki, A goddess is seated next to him -- Ninhursag -- and about the pair are lesser deities, very likely the birth-goddesses who partook in the great experiment of creation. Facing the birth-goddesses, Enki and Ninhursag are row upon row of dwarfish, long-haired man-like creatures who look like a multitude of identical twins -- as if they had been produced from the same mold.

Who were these dwarfish creatures? Perhaps the answer may be found in the reason for the creatures' creation: They were to become "primitive workers" in the mines of Apsu. It is not without significance that this area has turned up some of the oldest prehistoric mines in the world -- as well as forms of ape-men that have become a puzzle to anthropologists: Australopithecus robustus and agile, Zinjanthropus and Homo Habilis. These forms, instead of being so-called "ancestors" of man, are actually the result of genetic creation by unknown experimenters in the past. Perhaps someday we will find the secret when the Bit Shimti is unearthed -- the laboratory-house where enigmatic "gods" manipulated the "breath of life". . .

[zmwrites]

tag: 20 first lines

I was tagged by @teasenpaiwrites! Thank you!

Rules: List the first lines of your last 20 stories (if you have less than 20 stories just list them all). See if there are any patterns. Choose your favourite opening line. Then tag others!

I was tagged in a similar game LITERALLY forever ago by @scmalarky PRE-BLOG MOVE, which makes it the oldest tag game sitting my drafts. It came with the following rules:

Rules: list the first lines of your last ten published stories. note if there are any patterns yourself and see if anyone else notices any! tag ten friends!

I put it off bc to date I’ve only published two stories over on Wattpad. So doing the first lines from the last twenty projects is somehow...easier? I suppose? 

I’ll be putting the opening paragraph or so of each piece, and will only be using WIPs that I actually started at the beginning. Anything that doesn’t start at the actual beginning will be skipped.

Anyways, this is going under a cut bc I know it’s going to be ridiculously long. In order of ‘last modified by me’ as per Google Docs:

Remnants

Radka had been a seamstress in a previous life. Trained from childhood on the most delicate stitches, the most intricate embellishments. She had worked for royalty, sewing crystals and spun gold into skirts for the biggest social events of the year. Her steady hand and attention to detail had earned her a job in the palace by fourteen, and a spot on the queen’s personal seamstress team by fifteen. But that was years in the past. The girl she had been then, demure and innocent, wouldn’t recognize the woman she had grown up to be.

Open Seas

Theresia Bowen sat in the back of one of her family carriages, forehead pressed against the window as she watched the countryside fly past. The sky stretched on forever above her, interrupted only by the occasional wispy white clouds, and the spring sun had melted the snow from the hills to her left. The grass was still struggling to grow but was scattered in patches across the mud. To her right, the sea rolled and waved to the horizon. Ships dotted the deep blue, their sails bright and full with wind. Most were trading ships, a few navy, and the smallest of them all were pleasure ships. It was how she knew they were close to her destination.

Indigo Wars

Violet Colby sat cross-legged on her narrow bed in the room she shared with her two sisters at Osbrick Estate. The name was a holdover from the property’s previous life as a stately home, though not much else had carried over. The walled compound was nestled in the eastern sands of Edristan, less than two kilometres west of the capital city, with sun-bleached buildings that housed several dozen orphans and foundlings.

Pine Hollow

It was a miserable Monday morning, with dark, heavy clouds masking the rising sun and a steady rain pounding the town of Pine Hollow and the surrounding area. The dirt trails through the dense forest were slick with mud, the tire ruts becoming puddles and the puddles becoming proper ponds. It was as far from ideal body hunting conditions as possible without snow, but Virginia Crane had a job to do and she wasn’t about to let some adverse weather stop her.

Rochester WIP

The wedding was supposed to begin in five minutes and the bride was nowhere to be found.

Evelyn Rochester, for her part, was not surprised. Her sister Dorothea had claimed a headache a week earlier to get out of a family outing and had been gone by the time they’d returned. A small chest and a collection of her clothing had been gone as well. Their parents had made inquiries to some family friends but no one had seen Dottie, and at twenty-six she was allowed to do as she pleased, so they’d been left to wait to see if she’d return.

Just Jane

Jane rolled over in the narrow bed, pressing her face into the pillow as though it would make it any easier to sleep. Even as she breathed in the warm, sweet scent of the bed owner’s favourite perfume—myrrh, rose, styrax, and marjoram—a new sound made her ears prick to attention.

UNSS Spectre

The spacecraft glided through the void, following its prey silently. It was using its minimum operating power, leaving the two inside to perform their duties without overhead or emergency lighting. Only the glow of their instruments illuminated the interior of the craft. 

“Cloaking device operating as normal,” Ensign Graecyn Ramsey said. She didn’t need to provide verbal updates since Captain Mezei could see everything that she could see and there was no one else aboard the tiny stealth class craft, but it was habit and she couldn’t seem to stop herself.

Fissures

Katherine Delacroix was seething. It was hard enough trying to get a gaggle of thirteen to eighteen year old girls to focus under normal circumstances but having the #1 most eligible bachelor of the school just hanging out at the back of the auditorium was making it nearly impossible. To make matters worse, the attention paid to the blond was bruising the egos of the boys in the group and she was painfully aware of how desperately the musical needed them not to quit. They already had a female Cogsworth and Le Fou; they didn't have enough girls with deep voices to play Gaston or Lumiere or, god forbid, Beast.

Snapshots

“Are you still looking for a roommate?” Misha asked, voice muffled slightly by whatever she was doing on the opposite end of the phone.

“You mean since you stole my last one? Yes,” Micah replied. He was stuck in traffic on his commute home from work, something his twin sister Misha knew, which was why she’d called when he had no excuse not to talk to her. It wasn’t that he didn’t like talking to her, he just wasn’t much of a talker.

“You’re gonna have to get over that,” she said.

The Tournament

The coin spun in lazy circles on the table, defying every law of physics. Izora Graham watched it with one hand held in a claw-like position over it. She didn't need to but it made it easier to cover the coin should anyone watch it too closely. The bar was still fairly empty so early in the evening and she was tucked away in the back booth away from the few early birds sitting at the counter, however any displays of magic would bring unwanted attention. Especially something that could be useful to any of the Upper Houses like her telekinesis.

Noyama Contest

Earthens had spread across dozens of galaxies once they’d perfected faster-than-light travel, and hundreds of solar systems within those galaxies. PT-759 was one of the galaxies they’d colonized only to find that it was already inhabited. It had ended up working out alright though, as the native species had radically different planetary needs and also happened to find Earthens downright adorable.

Naetov was a smaller planet at the edge of Federation-controlled space in PT-759. It had a few key cities where government funding was funneled to keep them perfect for non-Earthen tourists. Those cities were clean and friendly, open spaces and carefully maintained flora making up the downtown cores, streamlined designs and shiny surfaces giving the impression of a planet on the cusp of significance.

Gossamer Girl

It was the first day of winter and things were already looking bad. Even though the cold weather had held off for an extra two weeks, the harvest had been poor. A mold had festered in their southern field during the wet spring and had spread quickly. They’d razed the infected sections as soon as the fungus had been discovered but it had already destroyed a large swath of plants. They’d lost nearly a quarter of their usual yield and the troubles had only spiralled from there.

Knotted Strings

The room was just a bit too cold to be comfortable. The walls were wood panelled with some sort of reddish wood that matched the flooring. Rows of chairs with collapsible desks filled most of the lecture hall, with the front of the room dominated by a whiteboard and a table. The professor, hawkish in appearance, was perched on a bar stool facing the students and overlooking the table.

Tess lounged in her seat at the table at the front of the room, notebook open on the table in front of her and pen moving deftly across the page. She watched her competition critically as he spoke. His argument was solid enough to cast reasonable doubt on her case, or it would have been had he bothered to address a small piece of evidence she found to be damning. He finished his conclusion to a spatter of applause and returned to his seat across from her. 

“Well done, Mr. Wynn. Miss Kinney, would you like a few moments to prepare your rebuttal?” the professor asked.

“No, I’m good,” Tess replied. She sat up, scribbled a note in her book, and then pushed the book across the table.

Oh, Ophelia

Alexis lounged in the shade next to the pool, sipping a daiquiri and considering her next move. She’d been using the same identity for nearly fifteen years and the neighbours were starting to get suspicious. With all the new beauty products and surgeries available to people of her wealth it was easier to convince people she was nearing forty when she was in the body of a twenty-three year old, but now she had to deal with people asking for her skincare routines and her doctors and the identity wasn’t worth all of the research she was having to do. She was getting sick of Malibu anyways, what with the yearly forest fires that got closer each year. She missed the deep-rooted history of Europe, the memories she had in all of the major cities, the people like her who were still living in their castles and manors pretending like the world hadn’t left them behind.

Bloodlines

Ten of Wands. The Tower. Two of Swords.

Morrigan Keeling sat on the floor of her bedroom, chewing the end of a pen and staring intently at the tarot cards spread in front of her. It was a simple three card spread to indicate how her day was going to go: a card to describe herself, one to indicate what was going to greet her, and another to show the outcome of the situation. She’d gotten into the habit of doing it every day while living at home, and even five years after moving out she found it a relaxing routine to start the day.

The day’s cards, however, were not very relaxing.

PerDeA

The backseat of the car was dark, only illuminated for short intervals by the orange glow of the streetlights. Two figures sat across from each other in the shifting light. In the backwards-facing seat on the driver’s side was PerDeA. Her dark hair was pulled tightly into a ponytail, lips slightly parted as she stared unblinking out the back window. Shoulders square, back straight, chin up, hands folded neatly in her lap, her breathing perfectly rhythmic; she would have looked human if not for the faintly glowing cybernetic blue rings superimposed over her black eyes.

Westhaven

Her eyes were open but she couldn’t see anything. There were mechanical sounds ‒ beeping, whirring ‒ all around her, and voices too far away for her to understand. The sharp smell of antiseptic and the softer detergent scent beneath it.

“Initiate optical system,” a muted female voice instructed. Between one breath and the next she started processing visual information: bright white lights above her, the featureless ceiling beyond, her own nose and eyelashes. She couldn’t move her head to see much else. Walls that matched the ceiling so well it was hard to tell where one became the other, bits of the bed she was on with its bleachable white sheets and side rails.

“Increase tactile responsivity by fifty percent and disengage the motion inhibitors.”

Pro Patria Mori

She sat on the narrow bed with her packed suitcase next to her. Her blonde hair was pinned back, her blue eyes fixed on a spot next to the door, her hands folded neatly in her lap. The winter chill clung like burrs to the house, helped by the heavy spring rain that beat against the window in a staccato rhythm. Outside, trees bowed under the charcoal sky. The old house creaked and groaned around her, the wind whistling and wailing as the storm continued to batter the country estate. She waited.

At any moment there would be a knock on the main door of the house. Godfrey, the aged and shuffling butler, would answer. Standing on the other side would be some men in crisp uniforms, holding up her picture and asking if he knew her. She had seen them in town the evening before, and it wouldn’t take more than a day before someone pointed them in the right direction. They looked like military men but there was something different in their manner, something sharper. Godfrey would lead them up, and up, and up, until they reached her third floor apartment. The butler would introduce them, she would smile politely, and she would leave with them without a fight.

The Clocktower

Astra hated Capperham. The way it sprawled its squalor from border to border, from the sea in the west to the battlements in the other three directions. The harbour reeked of dead fish and unwashed human, the slums of sickness and stale beer. Even the neighbourhoods of rich merchants and factory owners lay under the thick smog of black soot the mines and mills spat out day and night. The grit and dirt was part of everything, so deeply ingrained that even the most rigorous scrubbing couldn’t make something clean.

Stars Incline Us

The Christmas gala was in full swing. The entire ballroom was full of people Pippa didn’t know, all wearing fancy clothes that probably cost more than her rent. Her own dress was aubergine and a simple V-neck, form-fitting enough to be attractive but loose enough to not draw too much attention.

She and another girl who didn’t seem to know anyone at the event were chatting with Antero and Mr. Rabinoff near the edge of the dance floor. Antero was already antsy to leave despite the dinner having just ended, but Mr. Rabinoff had trapped him in a debate he was too proud to back down from. The other girl was from legal and either found them hilarious or had had a little too much to drink because she kept giggling, leaving Pippa no choice but to laugh along while adding the occasional remark to the back and forth between the men.

That brings us all the way back to October 2016. Which tells me that I need to start at the beginning of more stories haha. If anyone has questions about any of these, please feel free to ask. Also, if you read all of that, you are a saint and a hero and have my eternal friendship.

I tag @the-writing-avocado​, @radiowrites​, @pigeon-hold​, @sleepyowlwrites​, @akindofmagictoo​, and anyone else who wants to share their projects!! As always, no pressure (to play or to read this whole post lmao).

[cashmereleopardscarf]

Black Navy Print Cashmere Leopard Scarf In Blue

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[jutrazkoeomla-blog]

Good Loving and Great Sex - Keeping Sex Alive

I think we presently realize each other all around ok to have the option to talk about SEX. This point all alone however could fill different volumes of books so I'm simply going to raise a couple of considerations I have about the subject.

Right off the bat let me state that while being sexual is critical in characterizing the accomplishment of a relationship it isn't the be-all or cut off the entirety of an association. The same number of relationships get by without sex, or with some variety of sex, as there are relationships that have intercourse as a focal segment.

Let me say something additionally regarding that: As I was exploring for this theme I was shocked to take note of the assortment of ways couples manage their sexual relations. There are the individuals who have no sex at all to the individuals who use pornography, sex toys, swinging marriage, which is imparting to other couples, or rehearsing open marriage, where one or both engage in sexual relations with other individuals separate from the marriage.

The basic thing here is that it ought to just be about whatever turns you on remembering that whatever turns you ought to likewise turn your partner on; that whatever you utilize in this piece of your relationship is OK by both of you. It must be talked about and settled upon by both in a transparent manner otherwise it should essentially be off limits zone.

Let me feature the supreme significance of this by a model. Numerous couples grumble that after a timeframe in their relationship sex can become a piece ho-murmur. They might be up to speed in work, kids or other responsibilities and therefore have little vitality left for meeting up sexually by the day's end or toward the week's end not to mention making it extraordinary or diverse for one another.

On the off chance that this is the manner by which it is for you, it's critical to talk about it, and talk about it before somebody comes to accomplish something you may come to lament, such as engaging in extramarital relations. In this conversation the couple might be astonished to find that they are both inclination a similar way.

If so a few choices should be made. It may be that you are basically not good sexually. If so then you have to talk about how this may be helped. It may be that it's an ideal opportunity to bring something different into your sexual play. The potential outcomes here are boundless and may incorporate presenting some sex toys that are currently effectively and carefully accessible in sex shops or off the web. Sex toys could be basic things like massage apparatuses or dildos or could be recordings or, on the off chance that it works for you, dream actualizes.

Something different that could be brought into the relationship, however I state this with an alert, is another individual or another couple to either share the sex demonstration with you or with whom you each might invest energy independently from one another.

My alert here is that when you welcome others into your sexual relationship you may likewise be welcoming the "green looked at beast", called desire, or a further disintegration of the absence of closeness that may as of now exist between you. The limits should be investigated and consented to by both of you before leaving on any additional educational plans exercises.

For some basic methodologies in keeping the sex alive in your relationship attempt the accompanying:

* Make sure you have standard date evenings to allow you both to spruce up and be loose with one another.

* Practice playing with one another or pretending as though you've quite recently met just because. Send love letters and purchase blossoms or cook your partner's preferred feast.

* Meet around after work one night and book a hotel room. In the event that you have to get the children looked after children. They will be OK thus will you as you get back home the following day revived and reenergized.

Simply recall, more than anything, sex ought not be viewed as an apparatus to clutch somebody or as something either individual must do in light of the fact that they are in a relationship. All the more critically possessing sex ought to be an energy for play; a chance to be uncover your internal identity, to explore different avenues regarding new things just as being a chance to simply be with another individual in a personal and adoring manner without hold or whatever else disrupting the general flow.

[thejackmeister-mongolhistory]

Hey man, can you tell us anything about the Cuman's masks and their significance in Kipychak/Cuman culture? Who was allowed to wear them, did they offer good protection in combat and did they intimidate their enemies? Thanks so much for your all your content on steppe civilizations, its one of my favourite historical subjects.

Hello! I must apologize for the late response, it’s been a very busy period for me, wasn’t able to find time to sit down and write this, and had trouble finding useful information for you.

First off, I have to preface that my specialty is not so much in the archaeological side of things: I am much more familiar with written sources than I am surviving archaeological sites and materials, so I can’t give as much of a detailed answer as I would like to. Further, a lot of that material really going into detail on these subjects is hard to access in English, as the studies themselves are done mostly in Russian and Eastern European languages. If by chance someone more knowledgeable on this area comes along and reads this, I encourage you to add your opinions or reach out to me and I will update this accordingly. 

I can however, hopefully provide some bit of context for you. I did do a video on the Qipchaq-Cumans some time ago ( https://youtu.be/uHP0QZd1tAA ) if a bit more historical background is desired, or you are interested in more sources on them, which you can find in that video’s description.

The Cuman-Qiphaq mask is perhaps the most well known aspect of their culture, an anthropomorphic iron (?) mask famous for their exaggerated mustaches. Below is a drawing of one found at a burial in modern Ukraine, I believe. While the mustache is the most famous component, some pieces also have been found with (adorable!) small ears (of bronze). The mask was on a hinge (seen at the top of the forehead, below), allowing the wearer to lift it up for easier breathing and visibility. 

In regards to cultural questions, those are hard to answer in general on the Qipchaq-Cumans, due to the nature of the sources. All of our written sources on them come from outsiders (Rus’, European, Byzantine, Persian, Arabic) who looked down on them, and generally didn’t care enough to provide us with those sorts of useful details (the sources I know best are mid-13th century on, past the height of the Cumans’ influence, so I must add that as caveat). The Golden Horde which ruled those Cuman tribes who stayed on the steppe or weren’t destroyed in the Mongol advance did not leave us any useful writings, mainly due to in part to a 20 year succession struggle capped off by a devastating invasion by Temur (Tamerlane!). So we’re left making inferences from archaeology, few sparse comments from contemporary writers and other Turkic peoples.

The masks were not uncommon. While I don’t have exact numbers, they’ve been found in Hungary, Ukraine, and Russia from Crimea to Ryazan across the Volga River, to name burials I know of off the top of my head. Even more, they weren’t isolated to the Cumans, as the Rus’, the Mongols of the Golden Horde, other Turkic peoples and in post-Mongol Iran similar masks are known to have been worn. 

We have also Mongolian (i.e, from Mongolia) and Tibetan masks of similar design: this particular specimen below is Mongolian, generally dated 12th-14th century, of iron and what has always fascinated me about it, is that is seems to have had a hole for the man’s actual mustache to go through. Partly though, I suspect it could have been a placement for a separate, elaborate fake mustache which hid ties hold the mask onto a larger helmet. 

This iron Mongolian war mask is often remarked as unique because it is a surviving mask specifically for war: more common would be ritual masks  of similar appearance, but of leather, copper, paper-mache. Essentially, materials which did not offer protection in battle, and were designed solely for ritual purpose. Mongol shamans generally covered their face when interacting with spirits during ceremonies, to help protect their identity from them. Presumably, the Cuman-Qipchaqs, also mainly animists or shamanists, also had similar masks.  Therefore, we must wonder if these iron-mustached masks were a ‘reference,’ of sorts, to them: perhaps intended to evoke the same energies, both towards spirits and their foes. 

Fighting such a person in combat would certainly be unnerving, making them appear, to an extent, unhuman, the masks hiding their emotions, while the exaggerated mustache would help accentuate the masculinity of user.

The Cuman-Qipchaqs, among other medieval Turkic peoples, erected balbals to mark graves which featured stylized human features. Below, you will see Qipchaq balbals. Note the similar mustaches present. I suspect the mustache style was an aspect of the ‘ideal Qipchaq-Cuman.’ Adopting such a mustache for your battle mask would, in effect, allow the wearer to show he was living up to expectations of himself as a Cuman, even if he himself lacked facial hair.  

In regards to the protection offered by the masks, unfortunately I cannot answer that. I don’t know if any studies have been undertaken to compare their effectiveness to contemporary helmet, nor do I know the width of the iron of any of the masks. Cuman warfare, like the Mongols, was more reliant on their archery prowess and mobility, avoiding close combat until absolutely necessary, or the enemy had been suitably weakened by arrows. 

The masks which survive archaeologically though, are found in association with heavily armoured individuals: maille shirts, lamellar, with swords, greaves etc. These were wealthy individuals to afford such full sets of armour, armed and armoured for close quarters combat, or at least, protected in case  danger should befall them in particular. Because of this, it is generally assumed that, if not the chiefs of tribes,that they were at least powerful individuals, the Khan’s bodyguard (side note: I don’t know if the Qipchaqs used the title of Khan, but it is common modern convention to give it to them) and retinue. We don’t know if there was any barrier to anyone wearing such a mask except for the cost, but on the steppe any such skillfully forged equipment would be hugely expensive, and thus limit its ownership to the wealthier members of society. This would also add to the intimidation aspect: you weren’t just fighting a fellow wearing a mask with a mustache on it. You were fighting a heavily armoured and armed individual, almost certainly on horseback, likely with a bodyguard who was trained and experienced. Altogether, I do not think it would be a pleasant experience for the poor chap going up against him.

Hopefully this provides you some useful detail! Please do not hesitate to ask if you have more questions.

-Jackmeister

[unfortunate-rp]

Congratulations, CLAIRE! You have been accepted as your original character, KITTY OSWALD. Please be sure to complete the steps listed on the NEW MEMBER CHECKLIST and send in your account within the next 24 hours.

Well, young lady, have you been good to your mother?

OOC INFORMATION

Name: Claire

Age: REDACTED

Pronouns: she/her

Time zone: cst

Activity Level: 8 (I will endeavor to be on at least once every day.)

Tumblr account (for contact purposes): REDACTED

How did you find us?: search through the tumblr rp tags

Triggers: none

Anything Else?:

IC Information:

Name: Kitty Oswald

FC: Chloe Bennet or Phoebe Tonkin

Date of Birth: September 5th

Age: 24

Character Quote: “She was like the moon – Part of her was always hidden away.”

Pronouns: she/her

Sexual Orientation: Bisexual Biromantic

Occupation: waitress at Hungry’s Diner, mechanic, car thief

Affiliation: Civilian

Neighborhood: Downtown, apartments above Black Cat coffee

Personality: (charismatic, resourceful, pragmatic) (Stubborn, tempermental, vindictive)

Biography:

Kitty Oswald was born in the Hinterlands. A place which here is synonmous with prison, or with hell. There were three things she loved about her home. Her mother, her uncle, and a blue toolbox with chipped paint. The first of these boarded a train two week after her tenth birth. The second taught her work a car. The third she took with her when she left home at eighteen. The identity of her father was a mystery her mother never revealed and rarely spoke of. After her passing (as they would come to call it) she became the responsbility of her Uncle Otto.

She grew up with greasy hand, overalls, and a pragmatic head. Work came first, then homework, then dinner, and occasionally (on third sundays and fourth thursdays) there was ice cream. She tutored well under Otto’s instructions, leaning how to fix a car up like new and how to mess up the job just enough that the customer returned one month later. In that junkyard with her uncle, she blossomed. Blossomed is a word that here means grew into a headstrong, occasionally visious, and confident young woman. One that had outgrown the hinterlands. So on her eighteenth birthday she got carrot cake (courtesy of a neighbor), stamps, and a bus ticket to the city.

Ambition was for others. Kitty spent her years waitressing, occasionally searching for her parents, and avoiding drama. She took up rent in a one bedroom apartment, adopted herself a (vicious) cat, and spent her days in Hungry’s Diner. Her nights were spent in a much less noble profession of procuring stolen vehicles for her uncle to sell or breakdown into parts. And, in bed some nights, she could not shake the sensation that she was missing something, something obvious, and it was just out of reach.

Connections:

Daughter of Jefferson Oquassa

This is a fact that is unknown to both father and daughter. They had not even met until Kitty was nineteen and came in Kakao. As a chocolate fiend, she is always splurging at the restaurant and has made passing acquaintance with the owner. If anything his staff finds her a bit annyoing as she loves the food, but does not make enough to tip them well.

Acquaintaince of Farrah Abassi

A regular customer at Hungry’s Diner, Kitty enjoys bantering with the woman and can sense that she’s not your typical late night guest. She makes sure to keep the woman’s coffee topped off and finds time to sneak across the booth and snatch a few minutes of easy conversation with someone who wasn’t born with a silver spoon in their mouth.

Friend of Cassidy Cantrell

Originally a professional arrangement to garner insights into the families in the city and possibly her own heritage, Kitty has grown actually fond of Cassidy. They share a similar thirst and stubborness that endeared her to the woman. When she needs someone to bounce ideas off of, Cassidy is her go to gal.

Headcannons:

She is allergic to bees and once got rushed to the hospital after being stung. Doctors say if she is stung again she could die in less than a minute.

She doesn’t know how to swim. Growing up in the Hinterlands there was little options for swimming lessons. This is a fact she hides and is ashamed to admit.

She can do long division in her head and like her mother has a head for numbers. Multiplication, calculus, whatever it might be she can do without paper or pen. From the age of ten, she managed the books for Otto’s Auto Sales.

Plans: I’d love for Kitty to be recruited into the VFD and have her flirt with the ideals of the firestarters, even join their ranks. She is the daughter of two VFD volunteers, raised literally at their doorstep and I think it will take time for her to find her footing in that world. Eventually I’d like her to be swayed into the status of a volunteeer and to become Jefferson’s protege.

Roleplay: Kitty, despite her pragmatism, is a bit of a loose cannon. She’s smart talking, confident, and yet more vulnerable than most. She has built herself up on quicksand and when the time comes she will find out about her family and her history. I hope to bring someone that evolves over time, that grows and strengthens from being able to access her truths and flex her muscles.

Writing Sample

OO,

            Midnight. Orion’s Observatory. Bring chocolate.

                                                          Secretly,

                                                                 JO

She’d found the note pressed between two random pages in Uncle Otto’s books. It was yellowed, worn at the edge, and still bore the marks of being folded twice. At twelve, only two years removed from her mother’s passing, she’d held the message reverently. She’d traced the long dried ink, and felt along the creases. The date on the bottom, written in the man’s spidery scrawl was exactly 365 days before she’d been born. As Oona Oswald had been fond of pointing out, there are no coincedences only people to blind to see the connections.

She’d slipped the note into the back pocket of her overalls and then into a drawer in her bedside table. Uncle Otto would be none the wiser. The books, the numbers, the mathematics of a business were beyond him. He lived for greasy hands, sticky fingers, and warm bathes in the evening. He was always saying his big sister Oona had passed, always collecting sympaty, and never explaining more. In this context, passed meant less death and more packed suitcase, train ticket, and no goodbyes. She’d stuck around long enough to fill Kitty’s head up with something other than gasoline and then made for the hills.

Never one for attachments that Oona Oswald. And yet she’d kept that message.

She rolls back into the Hinterlands that weekend with minestrone soup, oysters, truffles, and vehicle relieved of her plates. (and her previous owner) The shop looks empty, with crows perched on the rusted sign, and dirt encrusted on the front door. But she sees a pair of legs in jeans and mismatched boots poking out from under a car. As she idles to a stop in front of the garage, her Uncle slides out squints in the yellow evening sunlight. She slips out from behind the wheel, gifts in hand, and nods a greeting.

“Uncle.”

“Not much Hinter left in you is there?” He spits and stands. Six years since she left to go live in the city. They haven’t been kind years on him. He’s greyer, fatter, wrinklier. “You look like a posh city girl.”

She snorts. She doubts any of the uptown girls she sees could pop open a cars dashboard and jumpstart it in less than four minutes. “And you look like a rotting piece of fruit,” she bites back.

There’s a pause. She stares and him, he stares back and then …in a flash he tips his head back and laughs. The Oswald laugh. Head tipped skyward, neck bent back, hands on hips, one leg tilted forward. A family trait shared by them all, and offered only sparingly. “Kitty, Kitty, Kitty.”

She steps forward, wraps and arm about his shoulders and squeezes. “I’ve brought you gifts you old bastard.”

“You got it all?” She nods. “Soup?” She nods. “Oysters?” She nods. “Chocolate.” Eye roll and a nod. When have I ever forgotten something. “And what about the wheels.”

She tilts her head back. “The owner won’t miss her. She’s got four others just like it.”

“What about her heart?”

She smiles. He means her engine. She took a look last night after stashing the car in an empty parking lot three blocks from her apartment. One hand on the warmth of the battery and she could tell just how young the model was. “Young,” she says. “Strong. Expensive.”

Maybe she should feel bad about stealing cars for her Uncle’s shop, but she doesn’t. Next month when she rolls in for her monthly visits he might have gutted the beauty and tossed her parts into many different cars scattered about the junkyard. He sees dollar signs in every part and she can rattle them off in her head with just as much ease. And yet, she’d much rather take her apart, get at her mechanics and then stich her back together. Uncle Otto would say that’s the city’s influence, making her soft. Or her father’s blood.

“Christmas in July.”

She nods, looking to her boots and the dirt below them. “I spoil you rotten.”

He guides her gaze back to him with a hand beneath the chin. “You ain’t still looking for him are you?”

“No.” But that’s a half-truth. The thing with having a mystery in the place of a parent is that you are always looking for them. Even when you’ve given up, even when you’ve put the puzzle pieces down they are still there. Here’s what she knows:

His initials are JO

He lives/lived in the city

He once snuck into Orion’s Observatory with her mother at midnight.

That’s not much to go on. When she first moved out and into the city she looked up every James O'Brien, Jeffrey Ocasto, and Joseph Owens in the phone books. Now the urge comes to her like a rising tide. She’ll look at some gentleman in uptown with a suit and top hat and think, is that him? It’s not. It never is. It never will be. But still …

“Or for her?”

She huffs under her breath. “She can be eaten by the Lachyrmose Leeches for all I care.”

[maramalene]

Notes on Pagter’s workshop and talk

Being part of the four-person workshop with Søren Pagter was educational and inspiring, as was listening to his two-hour talk a few days earlier at the Danish Egyptian Dialogue Institue, arranged as part of Cairo Photo Week. 

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Through his approach of giving feedback on our images, Pagter inspired me to be ambitious in my selection process. In fact, I felt inspired towards a certain mercilessness, with regards to what images make it to the final project and which to discard along the way. Instead of holding on too tight do your darlings, your project develops into a stronger piece the more darlings you kill along the way. When you discard a mediocre image, you pave the way for creating a new, stronger image to take its place; through this process of creating and discarding, recreating and refining, you will transform the entire project into something stronger. 

For example, Pagter said about a couple of images (the veil images) that he liked them very much but that they could become even better. He asked me to consider more carefully where I locate images, and what kind of setting details I include and exclude. Some images are suitable for adding details about the surrounding environment but in the case of the veil images, the veil’s fabric/texture, its expression and movements, are so delicate that this delicacy are easily “swallowed up” whenever too much else is happening in the image. He asked me to re-shoot the veil images on a simpler background. “Your photographs will be staged anyway, so you should attend more carefully to where and how to stage them.” 

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Both at his talk and in the workshop, he emphasized the importance of a ‘project frame’. A project needs to have a frame that outlines the project’s main idea/concept or purpose. This frame needs to be rather stringent and specific, and so from there, you can begin develop its “branches.” 

At his talk, he showcased brilliant student works from DMJX’s photojournalism school. One of them were made collaboratively by two Danish students - their frame was simple: they wanted to travel along the Danish coastline and document its human life there. When having decided on this basic idea, their branches developed by whatever they would come across at the coastlines - a young girls’ soccer team that would ran into the water when they won a game; a Prostestantic Christian mass held by the shore; a wedding photography shoot in the water; a friend’s group of retired elders that would swim in the ocean in the Winter season each Saturday.

Pagter said my images were beautiful and my project interesting. He said that watching the images felt like entering my room, and being part of an intimate space. He asked me to focus on me and my relations with other people. Not other person’s relations to each other. Therefore, if I want to include other figures in my project, it needs to be my looking at them, instead of trying to (re)present or (re)construct their (imagined) “point of view.”

As mentioned, Pagter inspired me to choose and discard my images carefully and ambitiously. Most of the images that he discarded (or, suggested that I discard) were on grounds of them wandering too far away from what he considered to the be “frame” of my project. For example, he discarded an image that seemed like a different style, different color, a different “feel”: most of my (good) pictures, according to him, are kind of “quiet”, intimate (in cool blue and purple tones or warm deep red), whereas this one was more “assertive” and “roaring”. He discarded another that were in an elevator, not in my room, and thus seemed to fall too much outside of the intimate setting of “my home”. 

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Pagter also reflected on the importance of presentation and sequence. Sometimes, when a photojournalistic project is “documentatve”, and e.g. working as a testimony to a certain issue or as a glimpse into a life of a particular place, environment or setting, you may want to order your images in a sequence that builds a particular narrative: “here we arrive at the orphanage”, “here we walk into its welcome hall”, “here we have a first encounter with some of its children”, “here we see them have lunch”, “here they shower”, “here they are going to sleep” etc. 

In other instances, as my project, you do not have any particular narrative to build that can guide your sequence. Instead, it must be principles such as color, shapes, and “feel” that guide how you decide to put the parts together, how you create balance and harmony, and how you make it into a coherent whole. For my current selection of images, he suggested the sequence below (after having discarded a bunch), while providing comments on his decision. Hearing his thought process on this was 

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Pagter mentioned that whenever he either develops a project himself or provide feedback on another’s, he likes to have one single image that should kind of “guide” all the other images to come. This central image, ideally, should visually emotionally represent the “heart” of the project, and encapsulate all the others, perhaps in a much similar way that “the frame” conceptually provides “a heart” for the project. 

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Overall, meeting Pagter was inspiring, and being invited to and part of the four-person’s workshop felt exclusive and intimate. Receiving direct feedback on my  project by a person with talent and decades of experience in the field was truly something else, something I’ve never had the opportunity to before. Listening in on his reflections and feedback, both on my own and other’s images, were educational, in how it illustrated a skilled person’s line of reasoning, logic, and attentivenessss. It exemplified some of those specific things that you should (or could) attend to when experiencing and evaluating photography; and also, points to what to attend to when you yourself have to make careful and critical considerations, and choices, about your own work in progress. 

This experience feels like a significant inspiration in the process of cultivating my own approach to and sense of photograpy into a creative craft in visual art and storytelling. 

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Hearing Pagter say “When I look at your images, what I see is basically a project about you - and that is okay!” - that meant something to me. He didn’t disregard it as overly selfinvolved and irrelevant, boring, to others. My project has been “identity confused” in terms of how photojournalistically documentarian and “realist” it should be; how turned towards the outer world I should make it, while my own positon/point of view is made invisible or neutral. Not only did Pagter SEE my work in progress for what it is: It is an intimate universe that is personal and mine alone. He also encouraged me to work along these already existing lines, explore this universerse, and to further develop this particular “feel” of “a girl in her room” - with her intimate relations and interactions, the quietness, the introspective, subjective and reflective, and the vulnerability. It felt as if he gave me a much needed assurance (that I didn’t realize I needed): What I most want to do, and what I always end up “leaning towards”, is: Okay! And can in fact, potentially, develop into something intriguing and brilliant to others too. 

[amwritingmeta]

13x14: Commander Cas and Dean the Foot Soldier

I know this sounds like the title of a delightfully smutty sub/dom piece of fan fiction, but it really isn’t. (sorry) (or maybe it is!) (no infringement intended)

So, I wrote a bit about Cas quite possibly being set up for self-liberation this season by already being shown to have severed his ties to Heaven.

To boil it down: what I took from 13x14 is that he’s being shown to instead have begun to serve Man, aka humanity. The fact that we’ve seen him be disillusioned by and actively rejecting Heaven throughout the season naturally serves to underline this for us. I mean -->

Let me be perfectly clear and immediately tell you I don’t see this shift of servitude - moving from Heaven to humanity - as a positive one at this moment, not how I read that final scene of 13x14, because Cas is absolutely still being governed by his grace into this narrow-minded duty bound Mission Mode he’s on. “The only thing that matters” and all that.

He is still failing in breaking free and asking himself what he wants, rather than doing what he believes is needed of him.

Now, here’s the thing, Cas has been self-assured since he came back. 

For example, the act of getting himself out of the Empty clearly filled him with confidence. He’s found his way back to himself without the depression, but he still has quite a ways to go to prevent himself ending right back in the position that brought on that depression in the first place: a lack of sense of identity.

And what is he doing in 13x14? He is (by necessity) revisiting well-trodden ground to, hopefully, learn the lesson once and for all and truly face what it is that keeps holding him back, keeps messing him up. 

He’s come back with a sense of self, for sure. I mean, he’s not happy that Dean is so happy in 13x06. In fact, he’s frowning up a storm, clearly not exactly pleased that they go on a joyride case right after he’s come back from the dead, not understanding what Dean’s happiness is actually all about, not getting for a second that Dean was broken and it’s his return that’s healed Dean right up. (totally my reading btw - not official real meta)

But it makes sense, right? By 13x13, Cas is so fucking fed up with being taken for granted. With having his strings pulled, if you will, just like he was in S11, where he expressed his anger at his lack of control, not understanding that this lack of control is directly fucking linked to that one thing he actually believes GIVES him control: his damn grace. 

(I am sorry) (I am just not anywhere a fan of that grace anymore) (it is toxic) 

In 13x12 he begins to take action, and he takes it for himself, right? He got himself out of the cage in the Asylum by pissing Lucifer off. Then he got himself back to the brothers in 13x13, learning they never even suspected something had happened to him. I would think that with all the shit going down Cas can’t quite help but move from this attitude of his -->

into this other one -->

I mean -->

Oh yeah. Because 13x14 is so much about lining him up alongside Lucifer that it kind of explodes my mind.

Why?

Because what is one of Cas’ deepest fears, informative of so much of his behaviour, even though he continuously beats against it because his internal need (to be human) is much, much greater than this fear, so much so that his individual arc is pushing him to conquer it?

One of his deepest fears is that severing his ties with Heaven means that he will automatically turn evil.

Consciously and logically he should know this isn’t what will happen to him.

But Lucifer being cast down from Heaven, all the evil Lucifer represents, all the evil Lucifer has done, infects Cas’ choices with the fear that if he chooses a path even remotely similar, it will lead to only one single destination, which means hating and hurting humanity.

It’s an internal obstacle so huge that it’s almost insurmountable.

As long as Cas, subconsciously, remains believing it’s the truth.

And this belief is exactly why the narrative would ever line him up alongside this fear and practically tell us he’s actually becoming what he dreads the most.

Because the reason he’s becoming what he dreads most is due to?

Well, his choices this episode are framed around the fact (if my reading is right) that he believes himself to be acting for the good of humanity now, right? So when an order comes from humanity, well, then that makes that order just, right? Yes, that’s right, because Cas isn’t following his own innate humanity here, he is following Dean “humanity” Winchester’s “order” of whatever it takes. 

He is taking Dean’s words and fitting that order to his own line of thinking BECAUSE HE STILL HAS HIS GRACE.

We’ve seen him do this with Heaven’s orders as well, because he was unable to justify him choosing Sam and Dean again and again any other way than if that choice was directly linked to his orders from Heaven, which he interpreted as being the same as him being put on Earth in order to protect the Winchesters. This self-deception was put an and to by Hester at the end of S7.

Why is he doing it now? Because he knows now that he wants to belong on Earth, he’s come as far as to not kid himself anymore about this, but he’s still making up excuses for why exactly that is. Of course he wants to protect Jack, but Jack has become yet another tool of self-deception. A mission to justify every choice Cas is making is in order to protect and not because he deep down wants to let go of the old and begin anew.

Now, mirroring him with Lucifer the way that they are clearly doing in this episode tells me that what Cas is doing now, and this path he is choosing, is not the right way, is not the better way. 

He is acting as the solider out of this life-long dread of what it would mean for him to not be the soldier.

He is acting out of fear.

Moreover, he is serving humanity, he is making choices believing himself acting for the good of humanity, but he is still guided by his belief that he is needed, first and foremost, as the weapon. 

And, to me, what the narrative is saying is that he will never find the right way, the better way, if he holds onto his grace.

His GRACE will be his downfall, keeping him chained to duty and old fears and blinding ideals.

All of this said, I want to also look at what’s good here. What gives me a lot of faith that, of course, he’s being setup for the narrative to teach him one big lesson and, hopefully, it’s for the final time.

Because by the end of the episode he has stepped into the role of captain, of commander. 

He is stating what is the only way they can win, the only way they can survive, and he is shown to (believe himself to) be in complete control of the situation. He’s even explaining his actions away, and does a good job of it, because he has to, since Dean questions those actions with something as simple as -->

It’s so very significant, that What’s wrong with you?, mostly because I’m hoping it will work at the back of Cas’ head so that he actually starts asking himself that at some point.

Because that question isn't twistable into humanity needing protection, like the other significant thing Dean said to him this episode was: whatever it takes.  This What’s wrong with you? is wholly delivered by Dean to Cas, a personal query, concerned and worried.

The intriguing thing, to me, about this final scene, however, is how forceful Cas is, how self-assured he is that he’s right, and how he ultimately convinces Dean of it. We see Dean be won over, and in 14x15 he is absolutely on board with this plan of Cas’ being the right one.

It’s so good - and it’s SO BAD.

Because Cas isn’t meant to lead them - to my mind, Sam is meant to be the leader figure in TFW. And I’m sure I’m far from alone in thinking that!

(13x15 hammered this home even more and I’m squealing) (squealing I tell you!!)

It’s true that Cas isn’t a born follower. He’s never quite felt like he fit in Heaven, right? He’s “never done what he’s told”, meaning he’s questioned orders, and subconsciously questioned his place, for a very long time. And he commanded his own flight of angels in Heaven, but they were always acting under someone else’s orders. He has leadership in him, especially once he’s balanced out, I’ve no doubt of that, but I feel he never really wanted or truly desired the weight of the leadership cape on his shoulders. He put it on out of necessity. 

My take is that he would make a good team member, because we know he’ll question an order if he disagrees with it, and a team dynamic needs people who think for themselves as much as they can adhere to someone else’s leadership, but he’s not meant to try and see the bigger picture all on his own, especially not while that grace of his is blocking him off from his humanity.

But Dean nodding his head in agreement, ready to follow Cas’ lead in this, not to mention their previous exchange of --> 

Dean: What exactly gives you the right?  Cas: Nothing. I took it. 

--> sends such S6 echoes my way I barely know where to look:

And all the heartbreak and pain and grief and horror that followed on the miscommunications of this season, based in this need to carry all the weight on ones own two shoulders.

And it makes me immediately think of how this defining 6x20 exchange, coming off the back of one messed up season filled with mistrust and suspicion and half-truths, bye the end of S9 is tied back to, when Dean watches an angel kill himself with an angel blade, declaring he’s doing it for Castiel, who is now the chosen commander of his own army of angels. (and let’s note how Dean is absolutely not able to look at Cas as a commander in any way, shape or form)

Dean: Cas, I know you try to be a good guy, okay, I do. You try. But what you’ve got here - this is a fricking cult. The last time you had this kinda juice you did kill humans, and angels, and you did nothing but lie to me and Sam about it the whole damn time.

This mistrust isn’t informative, because I would say it’s influenced heavily by the Mark, but it does show a wound that cuts so deep it still hasn’t fully healed, which I rather love. Cas undid Sam’s wall by the end of S6 -  a means to ending the brothers interfering and getting themselves killed, but still - this isn’t something Dean can easily get over, no matter how unshaken the foundation for his trust in Cas still remains. Cas is known to make bad decisions believing them to be for the greater good. (While the brothers make bad decisions for the sake of what’s good for them, for family.) (so yeah - strike that balance, boys)

Yes, well, when you give up an entire army for one guy...

My point is that we have a S6 exchange of Dean trying to convince Cas to step down, to trust him implicitly and do as he orders him to do (though Dean looks at it as a request) - Cas shooting this need for control down by pointing out that Dean’s just a man while Cas is an angel.

We then have this S9 exchange where Dean reveals that Cas’ actions while toeing the line of megalomania has left his use of power questionable. Add to that the fact that Dean states more than once how he absolutely cannot look at Cas as any type of leader figure. Control freak Dean wouldn’t, would he? No matter how much trust and faith he has in Cas’ actual capabilities, he will deny this to his dying breath because he must be top dog or bust.

Now in 13x14, yes, Dean questions Cas and rightly so, but he steps down, he listens to Cas’ convincing argument, Cas tying it back to what Dean has said twice this season, and this whatever it takes mentality being something Dean can relate to whole heartedly. It’s what he already believes in. He sees the truth of Cas’ words and chooses, this time, not to rip the argument apart and force the upper hand. Instead, he stands down. Cas got them the answers they needed, Cas knows what they have to do. Dean will follow him.

I mean, if this reading is anywhere near correct, this gives me many, many feelings.

If Dean is relinquishing his leadership to Cas, though, this is one big leap forward for him and it means he’s actually ready to open himself up to other things. But I won’t pick Dean apart here because this post is already way too long, my peeps! 

And btw I don’t expect Dean to not lead or take any responsibility or go from needing absolute control to not needing it at all in just one episode.

Baby steps.

But if this is the first baby step. Oh, boy with the final leg of his journey already!

Also, siding with Cas in his destructive scheme to save the world? No good. But if they’re setting us up for the narrative focusing on Dean and Cas, while Sam is pushed to the side because he needs to be brought into the final leg of his journey as well, which should begin with him breaking with the codependency, then bring it! It’s such a gorgeous setup!!

Tagging a few peeps who might find this of interest @elizabethrobertajones @bluestar86 @tinkdw @margarittet @super-sootica @godshipsit @charlie-minion @paperwhitenarcissus @thedogsled @amyoatmeal @sactownbrowns3 @thetwistedwillow @naruhearts @weathergirl83 @casistooadorableandithurts @fuckedupasusual @woahthisguy

[pentagondigitalagency]

The Importance of Design in Marketing for Businesses

The Importance of Design in Marketing 

In addition to the fact that good designs help stand out to your advertising materials and exercises, it can likewise upgrade the nature of your message. To put it plainly, awful design makes for awful promotion. For more explicit occurrences of how design impacts your showcasing, look no farther than the models beneath. 

Set up Brand Identity, Look, and Feel 

At the point when you think about the world's most notable brands, you can immediately picture their logos, exceptional shading plans, and even text styles. This isn't something these solid brands fortunately discovered; a ton goes into building up the ideal logo, finding the ideal shading plan, and settling on the correct text style decisions with visual computerization. 

Mental examinations have been directed to perceive how individuals see various shadings, and advertisers utilize those standards in their marking to help pass on quality or an alternate message. Certain tones can make fervor or bitterness, increment craving, or even make a sensation of warmth or coolness. On the off chance that you need to pass on your item or administration is top of the line, for instance, brands will regularly utilize colors like dark, gold, or silver. 

Notwithstanding the shading plan, a great deal of work goes into building up the ideal text style for your design. Choosing the correct typefaces, size, and style is urgent for building up your image personality, and everything about the text style is firmly considered from a designer angle, similar to weight, kerning, driving, point size, feeling/style, and so on The textual styles you use are an impression of your organization, much like the garments you wear to a significant deals meeting. A few text styles are more tantamount to suits, while others are more similar to night robe. 

Raise the Visibility of Your Campaigns 

With endless organizations going after the internet, having uncommon design is probably the most ideal approach to separate yourself from the group. Moreover, if your design smells out and out, you truly get no opportunity of being seen (or paid attention to). 

As people, it's in our temperament to adjust our surroundings and become acquainted with things that don't stick out. In the event that individuals saw everything about each easily overlooked detail, there'd be data over-burden. For designers, it's essential to envision your showcasing the manner in which your objective persona sees it, so you can more readily figure out what might help it stick out, and avoid designs that make it unappealing to them. 

Standing out enough to be noticed is only one piece of the condition, be that as it may. When you have your persona's consideration, you need to keep their consideration, and great design causes you to do that. 

Have you ever observed a focus on promotion on Facebook or other online media advertisements and tapped on them? In the event that the workmanship heading looks great and the point is applicable to me, it will grab my eye, and I'm considerably more prone to click. At the point when the photograph, design, or theme is immaterial or highlights a tiresome picture, in any case, I'll presumably continue looking over. 

Drive Conversion and Ultimately ROI 

Extraordinary design can do a great deal to improve your showcasing endeavors, and it accomplishes something other than help your substance stick out and look great. Utilizing the correct design can help impact more transformations and, eventually, draw in likely clients and improve your ROI. It's been demonstrated that photographs of individuals can help increase sympathy, for instance, as specialists have discovered that individuals feel a more profound association with pictures with others than those without. 

Photographs of ladies, infants, and appealing individuals have additionally been demonstrated to increment visual reaction rates (sorry customary individuals), and photographs of articles can likewise help increment trust (e.g., itemized item pictures). Whenever joined with transformation openings, important, all around put photographs can help increment changes on your offers, and in the end more clients. 

4 Insider Tips for Better Design 

Before you hop into new design objectives for your organization, there are a few things you should realize that can assist you with maximizing your venture. From our own insight, here are four design tips that can assist you with accomplishing results. 

1. Great Design Takes Time

On the off chance that there's one thing you detract from the notes over, it's that acceptable design choices aren't simply made by some coincidence; they're made at night-time of concentrated examination and cautious arranging by your design group. 

There's much more to the design cycle than simply causing a logo and attempting various varieties until you have one you like. Great designers acquaint themselves with the brand by examining client and prospect interviews, SEO technique, and substance. 

2. With Design, You Get What You Pay For

In case you're hoping to give your website or brand a total makeover, putting resources into a decent designer is consistently worth the additional expense. An accomplished designer will help kill a great deal of the mystery in question and will delve directly into your image and personas to build up the most ideal alternatives. 

Regardless of whether you put resources into preparing or employing a designer inside, or recruit an independent designer or office, there are a lot of approaches to draw in an appropriately prepared designer that will really assist you with accomplishing the outcomes you're searching for. Design isn't simply something anybody can do, much the same as bookkeeping isn't something everybody can do, regardless of whether they have the best possible programming programs for it. 

3. It's Always About Design

Indeed, a ton of design decisions depend on their style. Notwithstanding, as Steve Jobs stated, "design isn't exactly what it resembles and feels like. Design is the means by which it works." When designing a website, for instance, the first — and generally significant — thing you design for is client experience. Looks are auxiliary. There are a lot of instances of websites that look unbelievable, however are confounding to explore. 

4. Zero in on Your Target Audience

Discussing personas, your intended interest group should be your essential design motivation. At the point when they visit your webpage, you need to consider what it looks like and feels regarding style, and how they may explore and connect with your website from various landing focuses (blog, landing page, greeting pages, and so on) You need to utilize symbolism, shading, and textual styles that are speaking to them and backing your image's message.

For more reference:

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[nnamegenerators]

How To Pick A Great DJ Name

Amusingly, the vast majority of us pick our DJ name on a lark before thinking anything will actually happen to it, and then after are left with to a great extent accidental outcomes. Regardless of whether you are picking your DJ personality for the first time, or re-branding a more established moniker, this article aims to assist you with settling on a significant choice simpler. In regular DJ Name Generator, we get into the study of DJ names, branding, and give realities; not simply soft recommendations.

REAL NAME VS. NOM DE PLUME

For what reason would it be advisable for you to pick a fake DJ stage name or moniker in any case, why not a real name? It's an interesting balance – a "fake" DJ name permits you to make a character around the real word itself. Skrillex, for instance, has an edgy sense about his name – and it nearly puts on a show of being sound to word imitation of the sound of his music.

In the business world, concocting an company name regularly has a similar situation: do you name your company something descriptive "Mike's Racing Tires" or something more conceptual and suggestive like "Racerz"? In a 2008 piece on Mashable about naming startups, Nina Beckhardt, leader of The Naming Group, an organization whose employees have crafted names for Walmart, Target and Puma, notes:

As DJs, remember that you have similar options. Three, to be exact:

Descriptive: Suggests or depicts the type of DJ you are 

Factual: Your real name 

Abstract: Non-English words and hybrids are normal

Abstract offers the most potential from a branding and adaptability standpoint, which we will cover all the more later.

In the DJ Mag 2011 list of the best 100 most popular DJs, we see a lot of the both types of DJ names. 42 of the DJs on the list utilize their real birth names (or an abbreviated form), while 58 of them utilize a one of a unique name. In the best 10, only three DJs utilize their real names: David Guetta, Armin van Buuren, and Markus Schulz.

There is no hard science that we've discovered that discloses to us which style is additionally appealing to expected fans, so you may need to go with your gut here.

DJ SEO

The main thing (as far as promotion and securing your personality) to consider when picking a name is the means by which it will appear on a search engine. Is it unique? Will you really own it? Will individuals hear it and then effectively have the option to Google it? As discussed in our recent article on the present status of online DJ promotion, you would in a perfect world have control of the entirety of the significant DJ sources with your DJ name as your username. Has any other person taken them? Here is a decent checklist to follow while considering a name:

Is the .com domain accessible?

Is the Facebook custom URL accessible?

Is the Twitter handle accessible?

What are the top organic search results for that name?

Are there some other DJs listed under that name?

That last point is significant. If another person is utilizing a similar DJ name and you become successful with it, quite possibly's they could return and try to sue you for confusing the general population. Their argument would resemble this:

The most surefire approach to stay away from this issue is by leading a basic Google search, and afterward if you are truly serious, a brand name search.

Trademarking your DJ name is going the additional mile from a legitimate viewpoint. This isn't generally simple, and the process that you'll have to continue in the US with the United States Patent and Trademark Office can be dubious. While each circumstance is unique, and we're not legal advisors nor would we be able to offer legitimate guidance, we discovered this supportive comment from Pamela Koslyn, a Hollywood Business Attorney, in an Avvo conversation on artist trademarks:

You may have seen that finding a memorable simple, single word DJ name that is not taken may be a challenge. That leads most DJs to begin utilizing longer names and different words – but will this hurt you?

Taking a look at the DJ Mag list to check whether the famous players have any trends in name length, the information tips a smidgen all the more intensely towards names with at least two words in them, with 68 of the names on the list being more than single word.

A couple of the names on the list have less than three syllables – Deadmau5, Skrillex, Felguk, Arty and Axwell are snappy names to state, yet it doesn't appear to offer a specific advantage over the other longer to articulate names that make up a large portion of the whole list.

THE SOUND OF A NAME

Is there a connection between what names sound like and how well they perform? Is there a social predisposition against specific names? In his notorious book "Freakanomics", economist Steven Levitt recommended that individuals subconsciously get on prompts in the sound of a name and form inclination for that individual. Could similar be true for DJ names?

We looked into this a couple of years back and discovered a few patterns in the best 10 DJs list of 2010.

All the more as of late, Steven Levitte brought up a fascinating study on his Freakanomics blog that recommends individuals with simple to pronounce names will in general ascend higher in associations.

"Studies 1–3 exhibit that individuals form more positive impressions of simple to-pronounce names than of hard to-articulate names."

Indeed, even with all the marketing trends throughout the most recent 100 years, one strategy for communication is by all accounts reliably in a way that is better than some other type of advertisement: verbal. At the point when a fan loves your music and educates another person regarding it, the chances of your sound turning into a viral is solid. Help things along by making it truly simple for fans to remember your name and tell others concerning you.

Would it be a good idea for you to call yourself DJ So And So? Numerous individuals do – and this surely is a strong method of distinguishing what you do. Unfortunately, that could in all likelihood be a bad thing.

Just a single individual in the top 100 has "DJ" in their official name (DJ Feel). Sure, we are for the most part doing whatever it takes not to land top 100 spaces yet that is a strong indicator that it is certainly not needed. Branding yourself as exclusively a DJ could likewise be a really childish move.

THE BRAND IDENTITY

I know you simply care about the music, but we should confront facts: if you succeed, your DJ name will turn into a brand, and it will have a ton of value. Brands can be substantially more valuable if they are flexible and very well crafted, so here are a couple of things to consider:

1. Name Flexibility: Don't categorize yourself!

2. Brand Fit: Does your name fit the style and vibe?

3. Visual Appeal: People will see your name, in all likelihood in written form (ideally in lights) – so in what capacity will it look as a logo? What will that convey?

The main thing to remember here is brand flexibility. If you start off as "DJ AfroRhythm" and afterward three years in choose to move into turning into a techno maker, your choices will be exceptionally limited. I was as of late perusing Richard Branson's biography and he put it best:

Brand fit is somewhat more subjective, and here and there repudiates flexibility yet it's as yet significant. Certain names will fit in a Genre and scene, giving a superior opportunity for success. Skratchcr8zy, for instance is most likely not the best name for negligible techno craftsman – or any artist so far as that is concerned. The flier trick is a decent one once again.

VARIATIONS ON A THEME

Coming up with something from scratch is tough – so start with something you like or definitely know, and take a stab at modifying it.

Alter your own name: This is a typical road for some DJs that feel incredible about their name, but tweak it a little for a more original look.

Alter a famous name or brand: We've seen a great deal of this as of late in the electronic music scene, utilizing a familiar name and exchanging it around. Two effective examples of this are Mord Fustang and Com Truise, yet there are a lot of other astute approaches to get back to a name that individuals as of now have relationship with.

FOCUS GROUPS: FRIEND-SOURCING A NAME

Generally, our self image isn't generally predictable with the way the rest of the world sees us. In a perfect world your name would be predictable and authentic to the way your fans (and possible fans) see you and your music. Authenticity is extraordinarily significant in a world crowded by counterfeit organizations selling over-hyped products that contain no real worth. If your self image is a rockstar batboy yet your real character is a geeky thoughtful person then "BillySlash!" likely won't keep going long.

Ask your friends what they'd call you, and remember nicknames (only the great ones) that those nearby presented on you in earlier days. After the alternatives are trimmed down to the most ideal decisions, run them past your dearest friends and ask them things like:

How can this name cause you to feel?

Does this name fit me?

What kind of music do you consider when you hear this name?

How might you spell my DJ name?

If any alternative scores high on all marks, chances are that it's a strong candidate. Return a couple of days after the fact and check whether they remember the name you let them know. If it sticks, you may have a winner.

DIG DEEP

The absolute best names come from significant references or personal points in absolutely unrelated spots. For example,"The Doors" comes from "The Doors Of Perception", a well known book by Aldous Huxley that inspired Jim Morrison (and myself!)

Don't be afraid to get abstract. Forget what you anticipate that a DJ should be called and go towards things that inspire you and added to who you are today. By the day's end, there still is nobody single equation for an extraordinary melody, and we're confident that similar remains true for an incredible DJ name. with DJ Name Generator.

[aftertheworldends-blog1]

My Two Cents On Writing Trans and Genderqueer Characters Without Focusing On Their Bodies

a.k.a. Upping your game in the sci-fi&fantasy inclusivity challenge

(a tale of a genderqueer author figuring it out zerself)

Let’s start with this: my world has no gender binary assumptions. It is a futuristic speculative version of our reality, so the history of the binary is there; therefore, people have an understanding of man and woman, but also an understanding of bi-, tri-, multigender, genderfluid, etc.

Gender norms have been tossed and nobody gives a damn about them anymore. But most importantly, they have an understanding that the body of a person doesn’t define them.

 So, how do you describe FULL gender diversity in a world which doesn’t focus on bodies or gender stereotypes.

Quick answer is: you don’t.

 If you are going to be respectful towards the gender of your characters, then you mustn’t fall into the trap of doing the opposite of what you’re advocating for.

The thing is, that in a world like mine, any and every of my characters could be trans and it wouldn’t matter. There are trans characters I have introduced who have not been explicitly outed, unless you have stumbled upon my online list of transgender and genderqueer OCs.

Here are some of the mistakes authors (and most specifically cis authors) could and have made in order to “reveal” a character as trans:

- have them be misgendered or their identity otherwise disrespected

- have them be the object of a hate crime

- have them “play the role” of who they were assigned at birth

- talk about their bodies

 Let’s get this question out of the way:

But Rori, I write romance/erotica and I want to describe my character’s bodies!

Here’s an actual trans reader and writer who has a brilliant piece about this topic. (Warning: the author is very straightforward so beware the 18+ content, plus use of the *q-word*.)

Their strongest point is: detailed description of body-parts could jolt a trans or gender-nonconforming reader out of the story. If you intend to cater to trans readers, and intend to be respectful towards trans characters, maybe lay off the genitalia talk.

I guarantee reading trans authors would give you better ideas how to handle this, but here’s a quote from a yet-unpublished story from my world:

“My hotel has excellent room service,” I say.

She just nods and kisses me again. As I press against her, working my hips so my desire would show, I could tell by the similar reactions of her body, that these first minutes of exploring each other have been as good for her as they have for me.

~ ‘I Think I Know What Love Is’ by Rori I

 Parts 2&3 of the article above talk more about how to avoid trapping your characters in a box and I think it has something valuable to say about describing a body for SF&F authors as well. (It references “Ancillary Justice” in particular ^^)

  Back to topic.

Mine is not a yes or no solution. There have been trans authors who have successfully included negative experiences of being trans in their stories. (A. Sieracki and Austin Chant come to mind.) But they are trans authors – they don’t need my list of things you could do to respect your OCs. Those are their stories.

 (Quick thing: I identify as genderqueer yet exclusionary attitudes still have me pausing on saying “our stories” even if it shouldn’t.)

 So how do we make space for trans people in writing—or most importantly, how do you represent trans people well—when you shouldn’t be making the mistakes described above.

Well, here’s a thing: you don’t have to have done anything to your body, or to be presenting a certain way, to be trans. Trans people come in all shapes and sizes.

People who use pronouns alternative to “she” or “he” have been by far the easiest.

My solution was to have everybody introduce themselves with their name and pronoun, which supports the idea that there are NO assumptions and no gender norms in my world. This way, I have already introduced a few characters as fluid, and one character who uses “zie” and is multigender.

As for the rest:

Unless you don’t want to focus at all on the character, there are ways to talk about their trans identity without stereotyping.

 1. A change of pronoun.

An example from my world would be when a character (Sergeant Sophronia Ulu) decides she will begin using “she/her”; the others acknowledge that change, and then move on to other things. You could write similar off-hand mentions to demonstrate that such a change is addressed but not obsessed over in your world.

Note: you don’t have to have the character be misgendered to show the change. The character can open the conversation with the news of their new pronouns, or you could have in-world signs that a character uses a certain pronoun.

Nowadays, some people use bracelets or buttons. Even in a fantasy universe, there could be a way to represent that – a symbol sewn into the clothes, a certain type of crown or other jewelry.

I warn you though that this method should still not be used to represent the person’s body. Don’t say “this person had sewn a fox symbol on her clothes, meaning she’d used magic to become female”.  Say “the fox was a symbol of womanhood” or “the fox on the jacket/tunic/whatever directed me to using feminine pronouns”.

Also, don’t single out your trans characters. If they wear a symbol, have cis characters wear it too!

 2. Another way would be to have the character reference their trans-ness in some form themselves.

For contemporary stories, it could be as easy as saying, “I am trans.” If you’re writing SF&F and have chosen to be as ambiguous as I have, here is the way I’ve tried to approach it:

“Well— […] I was supposed to meet my doctor on Tuesday, after this team gathering thing. I missed my last two chances for doctor’s appointment because of work and because I was on a vacation. If this occupation lasts for weeks – which it might – I might miss my next hormone doze. F**k it, I shouldn’t have cancelled my appointments!”

“You can’t miss a dose at all?” Rutherford wondered.

“Well, I could, but I don’t want to, and it makes me nervous. With the implant, I have never skipped one since I was fifteen.”

~ Chapter 27, ‘Blacklight’ by Rori I

 This is not ideal and does make the character uncomfortable, but it doesn’t put them in harm’s way. Most importantly, it is an opportunity to show respect towards the trans experience:

[M]odern healthcare was attentive to patient’s needs and everybody with a hormone implant received regular dosage, pre-programmed and regulated by physicians during scheduled check-ups. Nobody had to worry about forgetting to take a hormone pill – the implant was so much part of them that they never had to think it was there, or so Gareth had been told.

“We’re on an Army base, Suarez,” Gareth reminded. “Somebody could have a look at your implant.”

~ Chapter 27, ‘Blacklight’ by Rori I

 It gives you the chance to make space for trans and genderqueer individuals, to make them a respected part of your world.

This is perhaps the most important question when you include any diversity in your story: how does my world accommodate this character’s needs and if it doesn’t why shouldn’t it?

And let’s make this clear right now: accommodating the needs of anyone, based on their identity, their ethnicity, their race, their physical or mental health, is not a troublesome burden which authors have had forced upon them because of PC culture.

If you however believe it is, you are simply better off not including diversity in your novel. Any identity must be treated with the respect it deserves or left alone.

Therefore, a world must have tools in place to address the needs of any individual it includes. If it doesn’t, there better be a good reason why.

 And here is my last bit of advice:

Talk to trans and genderqueer people. Seek out Beta readers who can help you with representing them correctly. Do your research. Read a lot of literature written by trans authors. Here’s a list of some you can start with.

And when you get all that feedback on your story, don’t take it as “good enough”. 

The implant idea you see described in the above excerpt came from a trans acquaintance. This didn’t mean it put a stop on how far I must go to accommodate trans characters.

 Finally, one more time, and I hope this helps: if any of these steps, ideas, hints, give you a headache and overwhelm you rather than inspire you to change your story-world, then I am afraid inclusivity might not be for you.

And that’s just how it is.

 As always:

Stay readin’!

Ro-ri

[friend-clarity]

Is Sex Binary?

Alex Byrne, Professor of Philosophy, MIT, Nov 1, 2019

The answer offered in a recent New York Times opinion piece is more confusing than enlightening

The answer has been known since the 19th century. As Simone de Beauvoir puts it in The Second Sex (the founding text of modern feminism), the sexes “are basically defined by the gametes they produce.” Specifically, females produce large gametes (reproductive cells), and males produce small ones. (Since there are no species with a third intermediate gamete size, there are only two sexes.¹)

In her New York Times op-ed “Why Sex Is Not Binary,” the biologist and gender studies theorist Anne Fausto-Sterling tries to set the record straight: “Two sexes have never been enough to describe human variety.” According to Fausto-Sterling, it has “long been known” that some people are neither female nor male (or, perhaps, both female and male).

Fausto-Sterling is responding to a leaked draft memo from the Department of Health and Human Services that proposes a legal definition of sex under Title IX “based on immutable biological traits.” The memo appears to be part of a regrettable attempt to remove some legal protections from people who are transgender. Although a transgender person is no less likely to be female or male than someone who is not transgender, activists for transgender rights often cite the alleged fact that “sex is not binary” to support the idea that being transgender is not a mental health condition, but instead is merely “normal biological variation.” That “sex is a spectrum,” or — as Fausto-Sterling wrote in The New York Times 25 years ago — that “there are at least five sexes,” are claims that are pressed into similar service. Fausto-Sterling’s article endorses and reinforces these ideas. But not only are the claimed biological facts far from established, this particular use of biology to guide social and legal issues is completely misguided in the first place. Transgender people, just like anyone else, should be free to live and work without being stigmatized, harassed, or disrespected. Whether sex is binary, a spectrum, or whether there are 42 sexes, makes absolutely no difference.

Let’s start with the biology. Fausto-Sterling’s approach to whether some people are neither female nor male is rather indirect. She explains the psychologist John Money’s many-fold distinction between chromosomal sex, external genital sex, pubertal hormonal sex, and others. She points out that these do not always align. For instance, there are people who are chromosomally male (XY) but whose external genitalia are female. Fausto-Sterling also notes that Money’s “layers of sex” are not themselves binary: there are sex-chromosome combinations other than XX and XY, and similarly for the other layers. But where are the original categories of female and male, supposedly the topic of Fausto-Sterling’s article? They seem to have disappeared, being replaced by chromosomally-female, genitally-female, and so on. Granted, there are some people who have XXY chromosomes, or just a single X, making them neither chromosomally female nor chromosomally male. But the question was not whether chromosomal sex is binary, it was whether sex is binary. That question has been evaded, not answered.

The categories of female and male are in fact implicit in Money’s taxonomy. To be chromosomally female is to have the sex chromosomes typical of (human) females; to be genitally female is to have the genitalia typical of (human) females, and so on. But what is it to be, simply, female or male? Forget Money’s many sex-related categories — what are the sexes? The answer has been known since the 19th century. As Simone de Beauvoir puts it in The Second Sex (the founding text of modern feminism), the sexes “are basically defined by the gametes they produce.” Specifically, females produce large gametes (reproductive cells), and males produce small ones. (Since there are no species with a third intermediate gamete size, there are only two sexes.¹) A glance at the huge variety of females and males across the animal and vegetable kingdoms will confirm that there is nothing else the sexes can be. For instance, the equation female=XX is confused for a fundamental reason having nothing to do with human chromosomal variation: females of numerous species either have different sex chromosomes (as in birds) or else no sex chromosomes at all (as in some reptiles). The XX/XY system is merely the mechanism by which placental mammals like humans typically become female and male; other animals and plants use different means to achieve the same end result. Whenever it is suggested that being female or male is a matter of having certain chromosomes (or primary/secondary sex characteristics), that is a sure sign that the discussion has gone off the rails.

There is a complication. Females and males might not produce gametes for a variety of reasons. A baby boy is male, despite the fact that sperm production is far in his future (or even if he dies in infancy), and a post-menopausal woman does not cease to be female simply because she no longer produces viable eggs. Female worker honeybees are usually incapable of producing eggs because their ovarian development has been inhibited by chemicals secreted by the queen. (In one species of bee, the female workers are all permanently sterile, even in queenless colonies.)

In the light of these examples, it is more accurate (albeit not completely accurate) to say that females are the ones who have advanced some distance down the developmental pathway that results in the production of large gametes — ovarian differentiation has occurred, at least to some extent. Similarly, males are the ones who have advanced some distance down the developmental pathway that results in the production of small gametes. Definitions in biology are never perfectly precise, and these are no exception. Still, they give us some traction in examining whether there are any humans who are neither female nor male. (It is not in dispute that some non-human organisms are neither female nor male, and that some — hermaphrodites — are both.)

Consider, for example, the “intersex” condition Congenital Adrenal Hyperplasia — one of many “disorders of sex development” (DSDs). XX individuals with this rare condition can have an enlarged clitoris at birth (sometimes very penis-like), due to high levels of androgen hormones in the womb. They have progressed some considerable way down the developmental pathway that produces eggs (they have the usual ovaries and fallopian tubes), and have not even started down the (male) sperm-producing pathway. They are sometimes assigned male at birth, but are usually raised as girls, and indeed many of them go on to have children. Whether they are raised as girls or boys, the scientific literature correctly classifies them as female. As might expected, there are some other rare cases (arguably 1 in 50,000 births or even rarer) that are hard to decide, but there are no clear and uncontroversial examples of humans who are neither female nor male. (A similar point goes for supposed examples of humans who are both female and male, although here things get more complicated.) The existence of some unclear cases shows that it would be incautious to announce that sex (in humans) is binary. By the same token, it is equally incautious to announce that it isn’t — let alone that this is an established biological fact. And even if some people are outside the binary, they are a miniscule fraction of the population, nothing like the frequently cited 1–2 percent figure, which draws on Fausto-Sterling’s earlier work.²

That sex is not binary is evidently something that many progressives dearly wish to believe, but a philosophically sound case for treating everyone with dignity and respect has absolutely no need of it. People with intersex conditions have historically been subject to ethically dubious genital surgery as children, or deceived about their medical status by (usually well-meaning) doctors. It would be a huge mistake to think that such surgery is unjustified because the patients fall outside the binary, and so should not be surgically fashioned to appear to be within it. The main arguments against surgery (there are risks with little compensating benefit, and patients are too young to consent) have nothing to do with whether the patients are female, male, both, or neither.

Further, the issue of whether sex is binary, although of academic interest, is of no relevance to current debates about transsexuality and the changing models for treating gender dysphoria. To those struggling with gender identity issues, it might seem liberating and uplifting to be told that biological sex in humans is a glorious rainbow, rather than a square conservatively divided into pink and blue halves. But this feel-good approach is little better than deceiving intersex patients: respect for autonomy demands honesty. And finally, if those advocating for transgender people (or anyone else) rest their case on shaky interpretations of biology, this will ultimately only give succor to their enemies.

Notes: ¹In this sense, sex is binary: there are only two sexes. However, the interpretation of “sex is binary” relevant to the present debate is different: everyone is either female or male, and no one is both. ²The source for the 1–2 percent figure is Fausto-Sterling’s co-authored 2000 paper “How Sexually Dimorphic Are We?”. That paper estimated the “frequency of intersex” at 1.7 percent. A neglected response by the philosopher Carrie Hull corrected “numerous errors and omissions” in the data collection and interpretation, bringing the figure down to 0.37 percent. Importantly, that figure is not an estimate of the frequency of “intersex conditions” as usually understood, but rather includes any failure to (in Fausto-Sterling’s words) “conform to a Platonic ideal” of femaleness and maleness. By this over-inclusive criterion, XYY individuals, who are practically indistinguishable from normal XY males, are counted as intersex. The true figure for intersex conditions (understood as those where the phenotype has both female and male elements — a small subset of DSDs) is closer to 0.018 percent, about 100 times lower than the figure supplied by Fausto-Sterling (see Leonard Sax, “How Common Is Intersex? A Response To Anne Fausto‐Sterling”). Incorporating Hull’s corrections drops that percentage to 0.015. The present point is that even people in this 0.015 percent usually fall within the female/male binary, and that no one clearly falls beyond it. (There actually are more plausible candidates for exceptions to the female/male binary than the classic intersex conditions comprising this 0.015 percent, in particular XY gonadal dysgenesis or Swyer Syndrome.)

[elibasila]

4: communication between things that are different simply because they are different

analyzing sensationalism in new video platforms, 

Background - 

When I first heard this prompt I immediately knew what I was going to do, and what I was going to talk about. Now ever since I was 9 or 10 I was watching Youtube and primarily got most of my information through the internet. Youtube however was not really the place (at least ten years ago) where I got most/or any sort of factual information as (for me and many other people) it was mainly a platform for entertainment. However, as the years went on and as the internet evolved and information adapted to these new ways of existing, new methods were used in order to get people to watch more. This would take the form of click-baiting, which is really just drawing an audience in with the promise of something while delivering another. This practice is heavily tied to concepts like sensationalism, yellow journalism, scandal mongering, advertising, etc. Things that basically try to get attention by appealing to the masses’ preference towards easily digestible media/entertainment. 

More specifically this prompt got me thinking of a certain phenomenon that’s been happening recently (I’d say about past 6 years give or take) mostly on video platforms like Youtube. You could say that this content falls into the category of ‘social experiments’, as they clickbait the audience into a video about two things that are so radically different from one another into interacting (especially if there’s high stakes/tension). Some examples of very prominent Youtube channels are Jubilee, Cut, SoulPancake all who produce content mainly relating to these concepts of sensationalism on video platforms that seek to gain more viewers for the purpose of making profit, as it’s also good to know that these channels have high production value to them. The most popular channels, especially ones that dominate concepts like these, bring in a lot of numbers and regularly push out a lot of content in order to keep their revenue steady and going, and if an opportunity arises in the form of a controversial recent event they are one of the first platforms to hop on it, in hopes of staying relevant/profitable. 

My intention is not to label these channels/videos or this type of content as inherently ‘bad’ nor am I telling anyone not to watch certain things because I said so. I would just like to analyze this type of content as a person who’s identity/experience is used as a source for profit/controversy, basically analyzing it as a minority who’s identity/experience is used as a debate topic (sometimes not all the time). While also keeping in mind of identities that I’m not a part of/experiences that don’t affect me as they are also used for these tactics just as much, if not more. 

Practice through Research - 

Can Trump Supporters And Immigrants See Eye To Eye? Rich And Poor People Seek To Understand Each Other. Cops And Ex-Felons Seek To Find Common Ground. Pro-Choice And Pro-Life Supporters Search For Common Ground. Atheists and Christians Debate Truth And Belief. Should You Watch Porn? Can Sex Workers and Pastors Find Middle Ground? Can Black Lives Matter & Law Enforcement See Eye To Eye? Traditional vs Trans: Are There More Than 2 Genders? Men and Women Seek to Understand Each Other. Can Scientists and Religious Leaders See Eye to Eye? Can Voters and Non-Voters See Eye to Eye? Millionaires vs Minimum Wage: Did You Earn Your Money? Can Socialists and Capitalists Find Middle Ground? Should We Cancel Celebrities for Their Crimes? 

In order to show the patterns of how these channels (these examples are taken from Jubilee from their popular series Middle Ground) title their videos or really how they advertise them, as you can argue that the title of a video/piece of media is technically the advertisement for it as well. As you can see why I clearly thought of these types of videos when the prompt was brought up, as the premise of these videos are quite literately; communication between things that are different simply because they’re different. Although that’s the premise behind their concept, what actually happens within the video follows a pattern similar to this: The two opposing groups of people start out civil or mildly defensive, there are two sides and one is usually the privileged while the other is usually drastically underprivileged. It usually ends civil and with plastered on smiles/hugs and ‘thank you’s’ as these videos try to keep an air of well-mannered behavior on both sides. The two groups are given prompted questions and are able to decide if they want to speak on them, first with addressing their similar views and then introduce the others that disagree. Again most of these videos/discussions/debates remain pretty civil and level-headed as they do a great job of that, but a lot of the conversation is fraught with micro-aggression and jabs at the other side, similar to passive aggressiveness, which reads like a watered-down debate/discussion. These videos are usually around 10ish min, which to me is pretty short for the topics that they discuss/debate.

Notes On Watching -

I was thinking about was how much they probably cut out of those 10-20 min long videos, as most of those topics definitely deserve a lot more time to be properly discussed/analyzed (as I’ll go into later).   

In the same vein, when they talk about these very difficult and complex subjects they almost try to minimize the actual scale/affect these issues/relationships really have, which is in part I think due to the length of these videos, and the nature of their ‘brand’

These videos definitely aren’t for the people who’re the least privileged in these ‘discussion videos’, they feel like they’re for people who either don’t know anything about the situation or for the oppressor/privileged (when watching the videos that would discuss/use the identity/experience I am associated with)

This feels really forced, and very ingenuine at times, the people definitely dont want to be there

Sometimes definitely falls into the type of interaction that goes like: well I don’t agree with you/the way you live (read:I don’t agree with your existence) but I still love and respect you! - colorblindness - faith in humanity restored - wow I wish people (read: the oppressed) could be this civil ALL the time - tone deaf -

A sense of false progress, something labelled as progressive and active in the discussion when it’s really just the same things being said just packaged differently, and way more subtly   

Somewhat Conclusions - 

I feel that this type of media content isn’t as helpful/ insightful as it’s trying to be, and for the sake of being authentic their intentionally clickbaity advertisements make their attempts at genuine connection between people arbitrary. This especially comes into conflict when they talk about real people/minorities who have suffered through historic/contemporary discrimination and tends to water down these concepts in ways that only help the privileged/oppressors be able to ‘safely’ digest them. It airs on the side of the brand of corporate political/social justice that just . 

When watching these I try to remember what their intention is behind these videos as the only hint we get is their statement in their about section: “We believe in the power of empathy for human good”. Now this is a very noble statement, and a very idealized one at best, but these videos don’t invoke a sense of empathy in me, but rather a half-assed attempt at trying to show false progress between marginalized communities and oppressors to make the privileged feel better. And watching their videos that have to specifically deal with experiences/identities that I occupy doesn’t benefit me directly, it gives me the sense that nothing has changed except people are more polite now with their hate and/ ignorance, which is still as harmful as outright hatred/violence.

I propose that maybe this isn’t the best way to approach subjects like these, at least subjects that are extremely complex and ones that deserve careful, lengthy and well thought-out execution that I feel these types of shows lack. I can feel that these shows’ primary objectives aren’t to provide information/education to people, but that they’re mainly doing this for profit and banking on trendy/controversial/cancel culture (that’s not to say that maybe the creators/employees believe they’re doing this with pure intentions). I feel that if these types of discussions were to take place that the leading voices shouldn’t be from both sides of the issue, it should lead from the groups of people who’re historically/contemporarily under-privileged and marginalized, and mindfully include the opposing side’s views in carefully researched relation to the affected. I feel strongly that conversations about complex subjects should take place, but not necessarily in a place meant for monetization where these nuances are abused and minimized for profits’ sake.

[mostaforyou1]

15 Savvy Ways to show Bad Business Ideas Into Good Ideas

1   Use Consensus to Correct Course

Instead of shutting down a nasty idea sort of a dictator, using the much more powerful method of consensus leadership to assist create a more collaborative decision on the thought. instead of giving the thought an up or down vote, help your team seek a group of solutions that everyone (or almost everybody) can drag.

"The group setting also takes the sting out of shooting down their idea, and communicates to them that it's not the well-liked strategy during a diplomatic manner," says Bobbi Rebell, author of the way to Be a Financial Grownup: Proven Advice from High Achievers on the way to Live Your Dreams and Have Financial Freedom. "Very often when the bulk of the group is occupation one direction on a project, the outlier will fall in line- albeit they perceive their idea as better."

This is neither trade-off nor unanimity, rather it's arising with an honest strategy by weaving together the entire group's key concerns and best opinions. meaning a bad idea will likely drop off, but may additionally be adapted into a bigger solution that benefits everyone.

2  Get Additional Opinions

On an identical note, it isn't impossible that what you deem a nasty idea could be a workable idea from someone else's perspective.

"Get second, third, and fourth opinions," suggests Ajay Prasad, founder, and president of digital marketing agency GMR Web Team. "Asking for feedback and advice of trusted colleagues or employees will provide you with different perspectives that you simply can take into consideration and make the simplest decision. It never hurts to succeed in out for help, especially once you are really unsure of what to try to to ."

Similar to consensus-building, this may help your workers move toward a far better solution as a team. And here's what America's fittest CEO has got to say about creating a healthy work environment.

3  Assign a Mentor

If a team member can't seem to understand what it's the group, or the organization as an entire is trying to accomplish, assigning a mentor could be the move.

"If it's not appropriate to form the project a team effort, assigning a mentor who can tactfully guide them is often helpful," says Rebell. "It's also an honest idea to need periodic check-ins to permit for course corrections before a project is complete."

The mentor ensures the guy arising with bad ideas understands the corporate culture and may offer advice and guidance to assist his protégé to rise up to hurry. Whether this is a short-term solution or a permanent program, it is a good way to urge those that are lagging to catch up. And here are some more great leadership strategies you ought to know.

4     Clarify the corporate Vision

Often a nasty idea is rooted during a basic misunderstanding of the company's or department's overall vision. This could be a failure on the employee's part, but it's going to even be thanks to company leadership failing to obviously outline that vision.

"Having a clear-cut vision and mission for the corporation will provide a framework upon which to check ideas out for effectiveness or ineffectiveness," says Jacqui Barrett-Poindexter, owner of career consultancy CareerTrend. "If the thought doesn't strongly support the vision and mission, then it should be nixed." Now, if running a corporation possesses you stressed, here's the way to affect that at work.

5     Answer Their Questions

A bad idea can also be rooted during a lack of data on the part of the worker. If a member of your team suggests a stinker of a thought, it's going to work best to open up the ground to questions, and provides him the chance to ask more about what precisely the goals or details are for a specific project.

"Before sending them into retool mode, make certain to answer any questions the worker may have on why their idea wasn't a fit with the company's vision/mission and if needed, provide them with a transparent mission and vision in writing, from which to aim their idea," says Barrett-Poindexter. "Follow this with a goal time-frame to submit a refreshed idea with a strategic plan and outcome that's clearly focused on the mission, vision and resources budget." For more ways to run the simplest business possible, here's the way to find the right candidate for your next job opening.

6    Figure Out the Motive Behind the thought

On the opposite hand, it helps you because the boss asks questions and delves into where the bad idea is coming from. it's going to be a misunderstanding or it's going to be coming from an area of creative problem solving that you simply just had not been considering.

"Using a training approach together with your employees, colleagues or maybe your leader may be a good way to actually help people to think through their ideas and are available up with the simplest possible solution for the organization and its customers," says Carey-Ann Oestreicher, chief engagement officer for Potential Unlimited.

To understand the motive behind the thought, she suggests asking the worker the subsequent questions: "What is that the opportunity you've got identified within the idea?" "What are the pitfalls?" "What makes the danger well worth the reward?" "What other potential countermeasures did you think about if this concept fails?" "Why does one think this is often the proper idea to try?"

7     Come At It From a special Angle

"The best thanks to both determine the viability of thought and to correct course if it's a nasty idea is through questions," adds Michelle Tillis Lederman, author of Nail The Interview, Land the work. "Oftentimes once we tell someone why the thought is bad, they get discouraged and provide up. Instead, ask them how they might handle this aspect or issue that you simply realize may be a problem for his or her idea."

Instead, it'd be worthwhile to seek out how to return at the thought from a special direction. Maybe a suggestion doesn't work as a customer service strategy but might be effective as an indoor program. Or a thought that might likely fail as a long-term branding campaign, might actually work for a more short-term program. See if there's how to rethink a bad idea by coming at it from a special direction. And for more great leadership insights, here's some wisdom from some successful startup founders.

8      Simplify the answer

Sometimes, changing the thought isn't as important as changing its context. there's an honest chance that an employee suggesting a rotten idea is lost within the trees and can't see the forest. Reframe the matter you're trying to unravel and make it as simple as possible and that they should hopefully correct course within the process.

"Is the plan overly complicated? If so, it's probably a nasty plan," says Biren Bandara, CEO/founder of Leader School. "Overcomplicated plans with many moving parts have a better risk of failure, especially if the mechanic of the plan isn't clear."

9         Get Them to require the primary Few Steps Themselves

Often the simplest thanks to getting an individual to ascertain the error of his ways aren't to inform him it is a bad idea, but let him see it himself.

"Ask them to draft up plans, and enter deep detail of how the execution of their idea would work," says Valerie Streif, a senior advisor with career organization Mentat. "This allows them to understand on their own that it wasn't an honest idea without you wanting to be the person and shoot them down."

Ideally, they're going to see where they've made a logical mistake and readjust their thinking quickly. If not, Streif suggests: "Be upfront and honest about why it isn't an honest idea and explain your reasoning. this is often some time to teach!"

10  Turn it into a Teachable Moment

Speaking of teaching, a nasty idea is often a hugely valuable learning opportunity.

"Most people don't want to fail, and once they are putting forth a thought it's with the intention of being a productive a part of the team," says Irene Becker, founder, and chief success officer of Just Coach It-The 3Q Edge, who runs the 3Q Leadership Blog. "Fear shuts down cognitive ability, creates disengagement and a myriad of problems which will ultimately undermine results."

Instead of being annoyed at a bad idea, find how to embrace it as a flash to review the company's or projet's big-picture goals.

11    Find a Kernel of Goodness In It

We've already agreed that the phrase "there are not any bad ideas" is nonsense. But what's closer to the reality is that there are not any completely bad ideas. there is a good chance that even the dumbest-seeming idea has some merit if you probe it a touch.

"I recommend they assert, 'I'm unsure about the thought as an entire but there's an honest piece in there— I prefer X element of your suggestion. Let's work to expand thereon,'" says Frances Cole Jones, author of the way to Wow: Proven Strategies for Selling Your (Brilliant) Self in any Situation and president at Cole Media Management. "Or, 'I can't support your idea as an entire but you are doing have a legitimate criticism. does one have the other ideas regarding a possible solution?'"

12    Build On What Works

Once you've pulled out what actually works in a thought, find how to create thereon or take it in a completely different direction. That kernel of quality might help pave the thanks to something far more valuable for the organization.

"Unworkable and ineffective ideas might not add and of themselves, but, repeatedly are the precursor to making new and better ideas when brainstormed during a way that honors each and each person," says Jeannette Seibly, PXT Select Authorized, Partner with Wiley, Profiles International. "Always repose on ideas presented otherwise you will lose people and their 'good' ideas."

13      Make Dialog a part of the method

The strongest organizations are people who have incorporated a variety of ideas and where decisions are delayed for discussion and scrutiny.

"The best tactic to encourage staff to develop strong ideas is to form constructive dialogue and idea revision a building block of your organizational culture," says Rita Santelli, president of Savvy Inc., who also teaches Innovation Leadership at Georgetown University's School of continuous Studies. "Diversity of thought will help the team identify potential pitfalls and generate the needed fixes before the thought is implemented." Support and encourage your team to conceptualize together, and embrace a variety of various points of view.

14      Battle the "Idea Bubble"

Along an equivalent line, Santelli adds that "it can actually be very difficult to spot a nasty idea internally. once you are surrounded by your products, services, and coworkers all day, every day, you'll end up during a 'bubble of thought' where one perspective dominates. the simplest thanks to combating the "bubble" is to usher in the maximum amount diversity of thought as possible."

The bad idea may have grown out of 1 of those "idea bubbles."

15      Get More People Involved

On her blog, product discovery coach Teresa Torres offers her own suggestion for turning a nasty idea into an honest one: "The more you engage people within the idea generation and evaluation process, the more involved they're getting to be within the outcomes. They now have skin within the game. If you think that you've got a tough time wrangling feedback and requests now, this process will only increase that volume. Remember, it's worthwhile. More ideas, cause better ideas."