#will post comparison shots to 2023 soon..

[stayatsam]

Back in the Saddle (Courier 6)

[accio-victuuri]

it’s time for some yuguyao/the longest promise clowning… i feel like we will get a couple from this timeframe so i wanna be able to archive as much as i can. 🦢

consider this post as part 3. one & two linked.

• something from lrlg ( please come back to us soon ) and thought to be connected to how shiying reminds xz of lan wangji too. yibo was again speaking to someone so it may seem as random convo that time.

you are like a fairy

what do you mean acting in my true colors? ***

neither you nor him ( laughing )

well send it to me

it possibly points to xz telling wyb that he is acting in his ( wyb ) colors, white as in gusu lan. i’m just so fond of the speculation that zz sees wyb’s color as white. even removing the whole lwj connection — him seeing wyb as the color white, something so clean and innocent just gets me. most of us associate him with green, and rightfully so because that’s what wyb prefers. however it’s so gg to tie wyb with a color that represents purity, and i guess that’s how he sees wyb. a really good boy who’s clean and honest like the color white. 🥹🥹🥹

• another example of them not scheduling things at the same time. I don’t know how long this will hold out but so far they are doing it so well. Yuguyao aired 7.2 and for VIPs, it will end on 7.20. Then on 7.22 there will be a YH concert in Macau and on 7.28 premiere of One & Only. a jampacked July for sure but it’s so good how they don’t overlap!

• i don’t really wanna go into detail anymore about the echoes of CQL that we see in YGY. most likely because this was filmed in Hengdian as well. and Shiying really looks like he will fit right in to Gusu Lan. There are already 2 hot search tags for that comparison/parallel ( 7/3/2023 )

While I can’t fault people for noticing and i agree that it sets the scene for interesting edits in the future, I feel that this kind of topic is prone to being misunderstood and may be used by Antis. These are two different stories. Shiying is not WWX. The way GG acts as Shiying is different from WWX. I would hate for passerby to have the impression that GG can only act a certain way in costume dramas.

but shiying and lwj as friends is my headcanon now. no one can stop me.

• going by the shiying x lwj parallel, here they are in a 2019 interview where wyb says he hopes that ZZ will play a role that is contrasting to WWX. and well it came true, it’s Shiying.

( no but this is so funny, he was once wwx who was silenced. and now he plays a role that can use a silencing spell 😂😂😂 )

• not really a cpn but a fact. i always say this — they have the same values and that’s why they get a long. they also take their careers as actors seriously. they are not idols who decided it’s cool to be an actor and just go along with their traffic. nope. they wanna deliver the best. the parallel between btf and ygy scene wherein the bts scenes emphasized an incident where they both were asking to do one more take. they want to have the perfect shot and it doesn’t matter how tiring it is.

• and my fave, interpreting old candies in a new way. this post from way back of an umbrella have always been linked by the fandom to shiying ☂️

The use of 23 ( Ai Zhan ) the 3 “Go” and emoticons are also 3 ( Zhan Zhan ). The shooting time of YGY started from 20210329 so this day fits the timeline.

What’s more interesting is that the umbrella is in the bucket with water. Is it implying the bathing scene of Shiying? And it happened that WYB allegedly went to visit the set again at that time, because in the fake material room on 6.27, LRLG said very clearly, "Go back to Mr. Wang to pack things" and the conversation between the two also said "I'll be with you when it rains" Have a meal"! And "God also wants to eat" isn't it a clear reference to our great priest shi ying?

sources: one / two / three / four

END.

[wdnrbm]

Safi'jiiva Remake Part2: Safi'jiiva Head Trophy, 1:50

WIP shots - In my opinion, Safi has the simplest color of all monsters which is ironic because Xeno'jiiva is impossible in terms of making physical models.

Size comparison with my recent works

A bit of story: I started printing Safi in 2020, not long after its debut. Due to 3D-printers limitations, I decided to make it at 1:50 scale which resulted in a huge 1 meter wingspan model (see my old post about it for more detail). I couldn't paint back then so I printed a bunch of heads and commissioned a few model painters in order to find the one who would paint the full model. Only 2 returned and the full model didn't turn out as good as I hoped. Fast forward to now (late 2023), I remade it, painted by myself and fairly satisfied with it except it's much smaller. I always wanted to remake the 1:50 version but it'd take so much work and space. Then recently, someone commissioned me, and due to lack of space (understandable), asked for just the head. And here it is.

I still have a little more of Safi stuff to show, Soon™

[acaplaya-musings]

Voiceplay Visuals - Jingle Bell Rock

Voiceplay weren't originally planning to release any proper full-length video for December last year (2023), just a Mini or two, as they were busy in November due to a special performance with the band Chicago. They asked their Patrons for song suggestions for Minis, and then put the three most popular suggestions into a poll for people to vote on. Jingle Bell Rock won out with 55% of the votes, but then a Patron provided a suggestion of doing it "Mean Girls style". Initially the guys were confused, (as was I when I first read the video title when the Premiere appeared) - was there some different musical styling that they weren't aware of? But they soon realised that "Mean Girls style" was referring to the iconic dance scene from the 2004 movie. And so, on the 16th of December, 2023, we got a proper video, not just a Mini, with plenty of absurdity and "Voiceplay brand of dumb", courtesy of Layne! (Layne was in charge of both the arrangement and the video, and is also co-credited for creative direction along with Tony).

Now please don't kill me, but I've never actually watched Mean Girls (*GASP*). However, I know a fair bit about it just from it being popular on Tumblr and the internet in general, and I know this specific scene in the movie quite well, as my dad and I would watch the clip of it every year in December. I have also rewatched the original scene before starting this post, because I'm gonna be doing screenshot comparisons! For one thing, this isn't a super long video, so I'm not worried about image limit, and for another, VoicePlay put a lot of effort into recreating this scene as closely as possible (albeit with some, er, aesthetic alterations 😜), so I wanna prove it, because why not!

Anyway, that's a fair bit of introductory stuff already, so I'll leave my other notes/commentary/thoughts for during the actual video talk bit. Let's get into this!

Making a shot from this little opening bit as the thumbnail was one heck of a choice ngl. Maybe they couldn't be bothered finding a better shot from the video, or maybe they just wanted to keep most of the video as a surprise for viewers, idk, but I was so confused from the thumbnail-title combo when the premiere appeared!😂

Also if you don't already know from the video description, this was all filmed on Tony's iPhone! (Doesn't mean it was all handheld though - tripods/stands for phones exist!). It was because VoicePlay were without a cameraguy for like 2-3 months, because their old one moved states.

So instead of doing any sort of "sexy santa/santa's helper" costumes like in the original, Layne decided that he and the others would be dressing up as characters from Christmas movies! Cesar as Buddy The Elf (perfect casting and also gets off easiest in the outfit department, lol), Layne as The Grinch, Geoff as Oogie Boogie (duh), and Eli as Santa/Sandy

(Also fun fact: the Oogie Boogie costume is the same one that Tony wore for his very brief appearance in VoicePlay's Kidnap The Sandy Claws video! (Also it's pretty hot to wear apparently, and Geoff had to tie his hair back to get the head/hood fitted properly, before he ended up asking for a wig cap, rip))

Also if you don't know the original scene, the original line after "but I'm always on your left!" is "that was when there were three of us, and now the tallest go in the middle", but here, the tallest (Layne/Grinchy and Geoff/Oogie Boogie) already are in the middle, so it's switched out for "now the fat one goes in the middle" (also watch for Eli's/Santa's quick surprised reaction to that line, lol)

(Also not a visual thing, but if you haven't picked up on it already, the announcer doing the "please welcome to the stage" bit is also Layne)

I know I didn't mention it in all my rambling at the start, but yes, shoutout to Adriana Arellano who is also in this video! (And blonde now!). This is her fifth full-length collaboration with the group, and second for a Christmas video! (Third if you count the Frozen 2 Medley).

Also do you recognise the set? Again? I'll say more later, but those curtains were almost definitely added in post-production I'll tell ya that!

Can't recreate the OG scene without an audience, and so we haveone! That just happens to also include the VoicePlay guys themselves! (Geoff must've been sharing his cloning machine around! 😜😆

Huldra has a video on her channel I believe saying who's who in the audience here, but they're also all credited in the description, so I'll list them here for you!

Standing up at the back: Michelle Arellano (Adriana's mum)

Back row: Eli, Ashley Jacobson (Eli's wife), Asher Jacobson (the baby that Ashley is holding; Eli's new son who was born in November last year!), Eileen McCarthy (don't know who she is), and Gayle Stein (Layne's mum).

Middle row: Franchezca Buiser (in shadow behind Cesar) (production assistant for Kathy/VoicePlay), Cyndi Stein (the blonde one behind Layne) (Layne's wife), Christina Arellano (Adriana's sister), and Adriana

And of course in the front row: Cesar, Layne, Kathy, and Geoff!

(Oh and "The Grinch" waving to Layne and him waving back (in the O.G. scene it's Gretchen waving to Jason) was definitely a cute touch)

Cyndi absolutely killed it playing Amy Poehler's part in the scene here, but wow already the similarities are stronger than I realized!

Totally the same picture! 🤣

So long as everyone had a good time, amirite? 😁

Pfft, Geoff acting shocked/scandalised, as if he hasn't done more than that in his Way Down video! 😆

Cesar is having the best time, and we love that for him honestly <3

Cyndi also really got into it! Stan! (She and Layne really are perfect for each other huh - same energies!)

Not a recreation of any bit in the original, but I love the little moment of Eileen and Gayle looking at each other in what can at best be called "great shock/surprise" 😂

Firstly, I love how they managed to include Ariana as a lead singer while still keeping with the original "plotline", by having a 'reveal' that Adriana was just lip-syncing to the boombox track, (still her vocals of course), which is revealed when it gets kicked and starts glitching.

Second of all, I love Cesar's attitude of "when in doubt, Remain Cute". Iconic 😂👌

Lol rip, had to happen! (And in the BTS video, they actually kinda show how this bit was done!)

Somehow I feel like Cyndi had the most fun out of anyone in this video shoot 😝

At this point I might as well make note of something you'd be forgiven for not immediately realizing - or perhaps not at all! And that is the fact that they're not actually on a stage! They made it look like one with the use of clever directions and camera anglings for the audience shots, but yeah no that's the same set VoicePlay used in 2022 for Christmas Don't Be Late, and the same set Geoff used that same year for Way Down, and it's totally flat! No stage!

And that's about all I have to say for Jingle Bell Rock actually! (No I'm not including the end bit - I do have some standards! 😂). That brings us up to date with VoicePlay's Christmas videos, but we're not even halfway into my 12 Days of Christmas In July miniseries! Next up, a couple of bonus VoicePlay Visuals posts, and then we'll be jumping over to Geoff's solo stuff! See you again soon!

[hxneyfaerie]

Sweet Beginnings Tag

thank you for the tag @tedsies !

“This tag is all about looking at your past. All you need to do is to find one of the first screenshots you ever took (preferably also published), and post it beside a recent one! And tell everybody when you took that first picture! Oh, and don’t forget to tag your posts! #sweet beginnings tag”

march 2023

not too long ago, when i began the Gentile Legacy with Celia 🥹 this isn’t the first shot i’ve ever taken, but one of the first i’d taken and edited with the intentions of posting to simblr. i miss this legacy, i may have to revisit them soon…

october 2023

one of the most recent shots i’ve taken! i think i’m definitely more conscious of my aesthetic, and i’d like to say my editing skills have improved too. i tend to play with the Hudson Legacy more now, and i’m enjoying Kori’s life 💗

bonus shots

here are comparisons of my oldest and most recent edits as well. the aesthetic has definitely shifted, but i miss the old style too. it was a lot more… exciting.

i tag anybody who wants to do this, and also @xpeachynotes @sharoonia @femrebelle @d4isywhims @aries-sims <3

*there’s no pressure to do this if you don’t want to*

[figr0llmouse]

A theory about that HCA quote at the beginning of the film

Warning: Slight spoilers

Many people who have seen The Little Mermaid live-action remake were quite surprised by the inclusion of the "But a mermaid has no tears, and therefore she suffers more" quote in literally the first shot of the film (myself included). And some have put forth their own interpretations and explanations for why it was put there by the filmmakers and how it fits into the (new) narrative. Well, one theory came to me these past few days, and I thought, why not share it here?

When we the audience read that quote, it is most likely assumed and taken for granted that it can only apply to the story's protagonist, the little mermaid Ariel herself. But I disagree; within the context of the story told in the 2023 remake, I feel that it not just applies to Ariel but also to all the mer-characters in the film, and it reveals a rather interesting implication about what living as a merperson in that ocean must feel like, in comparison to living on land.

Before I explain my "thesis", let's go back to the quote. It emphasises the importance of crying/shedding tears as a way to alleviate stress and suffering. I think we can all agree that having a good cry after having a bad day really helps us feel much better. Now imagine you are a mermaid/merman living in the world of the 2023 film, and you are deprived of crying and tears whenever you feel distressed, and cannot express your emotions in a healthy way. Feels horrible doesn't it? Many fans on Tumblr have already posted and shared gifsets of Ariel shedding her first tears of happiness at the end of the film when she says goodbye to her father and tying it to the HCA quote, symbolizing that her suffering throughout the film is no more. As for other characters:

King Triton:

Throughout the film we are told that prior to the film's events, King Triton's wife and mother of his daughters had died in a conflict between merpeople and humans, which causes him to develop a deep paranoia and hatred for humans, and for him to be over-protective over Ariel. That plus the grief he carries over losing his wife would spill over in the scene where he and Ariel argue right before he destroys her grotto. Now I do not have a visual example right now, but there is a shot where we see Triton's facial reaction when Ariel refuses to stop interacting with the human world, and his eyes are wet. He either doesn't know how or cannot express his anger, sadness and frustration with Ariel in a way that is beneficial for both of them, so his only resort is violence. Which brings me to:

Ursula:

If King Triton can be viewed as an emotionally turbulent character, than Ursula even more so. In the 2023 film, she is not only Triton's estranged sister but a pariah of the ocean, where it is implied that she might have been the cause of the conflict mentioned earlier. When we first meet her, she goes into a self-pitying monologue about her fifteen-year banishment and how she vows to take revenge on her family for punishing her. She is clearly mentally troubled by her predicament and this would come to a head when she accidentally kills Flotsam and Jetsam at the climax of the film. As soon as that happens, we see a shot of Ursula's face (excellent acting choices made by Melissa McCarthy here) on the verge of tears, her lower lip trembling before turning into seething rage. It makes a lot of sense that all the perceived injustices she suffered and ruminated on through the years without a healthy outlet and the death of her beloved eels would finally push her over the edge.

In a way it can be argued that by fighting for her freedom and happiness, Ariel manages to escape the rather bleak path that engulfs Ursula and almost gets Triton, had Ariel not saved his life. It is also worth noting that when Triton decides to turn Ariel back into a human, we see him crying for the first time.

[guiltyofbitchcraft]

So a few weeks ago, some friends and I were talking about the state of DC comic titles and how it feels like most of the titles they're releasing are Batman-related titles and that, based on our vague awareness of solicitations, the trend didn't appear to be ending any time soon. This, of course, made me curious and sent me on a fact-finding mission to find out specifics. Not even just about the state of batman related books but of DC in general. So I have deep-dived into looking at all current titles and upcoming titles for DC (and a little bit of Marvel too just to see how they're stacking up against the competition). I'm sure most of the information has been talked about before, it's not super hard to find, but here's what I found out.

A few disclaimers:

-For the sake of simplicity, I considered any title "current" if it had started before or had not ended until after January 1, 2023 (mainly cuz I planned to post this on the first day of the year but I...didn't. Oops.)

-For upcoming changes to titles I'm only going to look out as far as March as that's how far out current solicitations are.

-While I did all this research myself and I double-checked my work, there is absolutely a chance that I made a mistake as I am only human. So if you see something that you are confused about or know to be incorrect, just let me know!

-My knowledge of current marvel canon and titles is very low. I'd like to get back into Marvel soon but I have not yet. So I could not do a deep dive comparison of the companies in the way I wanted to simply because my information on Marvel right now is very limited.

Alright then, having said all that, let's get started:

Ongoing Titles

DC only has 18 ongoing titles currently, 3 of those are Looney Tunes, Scooby-Doo, and Mad Magazine so not part of the DC universe. Meanwhile, Marvel has 41. 8 of those are not part of the Marvel Universe, they're either Star Wars or Alien vs Predator.

Of DC's current ongoing titles, 12 of the 18 are within the Batman/Gotham franchise. 4 of those titles directly include Bruce Wayne. The only other "families" that have titles are Superman (who has 2 but 1 of those is Batman/Superman: World's Finest), Wonder Woman (1), and Flash (1). There are only 2 ongoing team titles right now and those are Batgirls and Batman Incorporated.

Of Marvel's current ongoings, the two largest "families"/franchises I could find are the X-men (with 9 titles) and Spider-man/Symbiotes (with 5). Keep in mind Marvel also has over double the number of ongoings. They also have around 12 ongoing team titles (although 2 of them are ending in February)

DC has announced 8 new ongoings that will come out throughout the year however only 1 of them (Superman) is going to start within the next 3 months (February). DC is also ending 2 of their ongoings in the next 2 months (Batman: Urban Legends and I am Batman) so for the month of March DC will only have 17 ongoings.

Limited Series (and one-shots)

DC is currently publishing 32 limited series. About 17 of those are Elseworlds or otherwise do not take place in main continuity (8 of those are Black Label). So DC has about 30 titles taking place in main continuity right now and half of them are limited series.

Marvel currently has 25 limited titles, 4 of which are Star Wars.

Of the 32 current limited series, 16 of those titles are Batman/Gotham related. 8 of those books have "Batman" in the title. However, it is in the limited series that we do get our first non-Batman/Gotham related team comics: JSA, WildC.A.T.S, and Titans United: Bloodpact. Although I don't believe Titans is in main continuity.

Throughout the next 3 months, 18 of DC's current limited series will end and 10 new titles will start. 2 of these new series are Batfam/Gotham related, 2 of them are Superman related, and 2 of them are Milestone comics. Marvel is also ending 18 limited series in the next month, but they're also starting up 21 new limited titles.

By the end of March, Marvel will have 28 limited titles and DC will have 26, so Marvel will actually have more limited titles out than DC (although who knows how long that will last/if it will last at all as we don't know what either of them will start publishing in April yet.)

Both companies are also publishing a lot of one-shots in the next 3 months (DC mainly because most of their Lazarus Planet event will be published through one-shots). DC will publish 17, and Marvel will publish 14

I thought about trying to also list statistics about how DC is doing diversity wise but this may not be the best post for it. Something more directly focused on that topic would probably make more sense. Especially because just because a title features a woman, or a queer person, or a person of color, or a disabled person, or so on, doesn't always mean they're doing it well.

I also am not including creator statistics either because I just found that trying to track them through titles the way I was doing is not the most accurate way to find out how much work they're all doing (especially artists).

But yeah. I have no idea if anyone finds this interesting the way I do but if so here it is. If anyone wants to know where I got my information from I used solicitations, the database on leagueofcomicgeeks.com, and the lists of Marvel and DC's current publications that are on Wikipedia. DC is 100% oversaturating their content with Bat-related titles, and that doesn't appear to be changing for the next few months. Definitely not a surprise there. However, before I started digging I did not realize how few ongoings they had, especially compared to their limited series. And of course, all of this is subject to change, especially after March because that's when their Lazarus Planet event will wrap up. Not to mention it still appears like they are going to announce more titles for their Dawn of DC initiative. Either way, I just hope they start doing better and start taking risks (especially risks that don't involve Batman).

BTW I didn't just do this little research project to shit on DC, I am a DC fan myself. I just am generally disappointed with what they've been doing as of late, and with what they haven't been doing.

[ravenwitch45]

Talking About 2022 On Tumblr

Okay so the general, post your year in review isn't working for me so we're gonna do this my way with screen shots I guess. Let's start!

Wow, that's more then I thought, okay then. Also @susie-dreemurr @novelist-becca @autismdino @ladylepidoptera and @sillyguyhotline thank you filling my feed and reblog list with worthwhile posts, at least I feel that. Thanks guys.

I answered over 400 asks!? I did not expect that at all but okay. Pretty sure a good bit is from @hazbinhotel97 so thank you I suppose. Thank you for asking all those stuff as well as all the others who asked me stuff. BTW to the Anon who requested that fic, which is the last ask in my inbox I have all the dialog written out just need the flavor text now so it will be coming soon. Thank you for your patience.

Also surprised Helluva boss has over double the posts tagged then Owl House, thought I was pretty balanced but apparently not. Heheh don't worry I might make a few freaks outs in january.

Frankly not even sure how gifts work so okay then?

Ah so the grand finale. I have pretty good idea of the first and second here but we'll see. Let's see what posts of mine a ton of people liked apparently.

Apoligies for the awkward shot but hey, the bottom of the top having nearly 500 is pretty good I think, and to think it was partially based off of a spongebob meme XD and the other is just me showing paralells of some of my favorite ships. Of course it is.

Another ship comparison with 800!? Wow and the other had 1500? Wow, being in in active fandoms I'm guessing. Either way I'm glad so many liked it. And last but certainly not least...

Knew it. Raeda really got a boost from Them's the Breaks Kid huh? It's honestly weird not to see the found family post here. It's from last year but it was my first big post and I remember it so grandly it's weird not seeing. Idk just a feeling.

Okay so that's it. But let me dedicate this section to the most important part of the blog. You. My followers which there is now 148 of you!? Wow that is... surprising. Though some may be bots but still. Thank you all so much for following my posts, and liking all my silly stuff.

And Specifically I want to to give some specific thanks to a few. @leakypipes for being with me through "The Great PFP Scandal of 2022" as I'm calling it, if you know you know, and doing their own thing which is inspiring. You go buddy.

And to @slycooperfanclub I owe you to come on the discord server again soon. Hopefully soon. Sorry for the absence my friend.

@bisexual-governmentspy as I'm fairly sure one of my first followers. So thank you for sticking with me for so long.

@hazbinhotel97 again for all those asks. Thank you.

@whatteam-blackgrlz for some really interesting asks that were fun to do as well as well as a good chat time to time.

@rodeoblitz who I just... I have had an absolute blast being your friend bud. Lucky to have you, truly I mean that.<3

Again. Last but certainly not least @aieismaschine my lovely boyfriend who swept me off my feet in the last quarter of the year. Always enjoy talking to you love. Love you dear<3

And to everyone else. Just thank you. Tumblr has been a generally great time despite all the drama, creepy pikachu men and weird as hell ads. And it was a good time because of all of you, not just my followers but everyone who liked, reblogged or replied with positively. Or just saw something from me and took a time moment to think, to smile or laugh. I'm happy I can do that. And I'm certainly sticking around. Love you all.

Can't wait to see all that 2023 brings <3

[andmaybegayer]

Last Monday of the Week 2023-03-06

Gamers only play competitive first person shooters when they're extremely distressed

Listening: It was BandCamp Friday this week, so new music! Already posted my album list here so I won't dump it again

For a single song, here's Machine by Dangerfields

Watching: this bizzare 3D anime a media archival guy on YouTube has. I watched it on my phone in stereoscopic crosseyevision which worked surprisingly well but I did have to take a few breaks. The original format used the interlaced lines of SDTV to display left and right, synchronized by active-shutter glasses.

It's about some journalists following up on a terrorist plot or something, there's a lot going on, one of them is a. Robot? Maybe? It's a bit hard to keep on top of the subtitles because they are not in 3D so they appear twice below the image when you're cross-eyed, I think I still have like 10 minutes to go. Fun exercise. It was uploaded in a 3D format so you can just watch it normally or use a VR headset to view it. I lost my Google cardboard thing, so.

Reading: Re-read 17776 and 20020, it's been a moment. 20020 is incredible, 17776 was already good but it had to spend so long setting the scene that it couldn't do as much storytelling. Unbidden my comparison to this came as "Avatar S2 Vs S3"

Man I hope 20021 gets out soon. Great how it can get you so deeply invested in this multi-millennium fake football game. The introduction of the Illinois Chess bit to show that everyone has gone equally crazy about their interests over the past 18000 years is a nice touch.

Playing: Knocking out a couple matches of Valorant swiftplay most nights after the power comes back. The first to 5 is so much faster than first to 13, makes it possible for someone like me to actually enjoy the game when I don't have friends to banter with so I can level up at an acceptable speed. Trying to get Neon because nyoom.

Between everyone having power outages at different times it's nearly impossible to arrange proper matches with my friends, which sucks. I recently found out that they changed how aim rollback works to basically exclude my entire region from rollback netcode so I guess I have to start leading my shots.

Making: Quilt continues apace, now with actual quilting and not just patchwork. This is most of what I'm doing between finishing work and like, seven in the evening these days.

My cousin bought a very fast new car a few days ago and I spent the afternoon photographing it on a rooftop parking lot the other day. Haven't had a chance to go through and do full processing but here's a couple sample images.

Tools and Equipment: Had to spend an hour scouring the house looking for my parents passports so here's a pitch for getting a waterproof bag and keeping all your important personal documents in it and putting that in your bug out pack and putting that in the same place all the time. This avoids many issues.

[mathsbian]

As a nice direct comparison (under a read more cause I’m not trying to speak over the fat people on this post, I just have experiences that show the difference in care very well):

Three years ago, I (24, 5’4”) weighed just 130lbs. I had a healthy pudge around my stomach and a healthy amount of muscle in my arms, thighs, and butt. Then I started having a lot of financial issues because of being disabled and unable to work. It affected my ability to get food. I also can’t cook anymore, which makes feeding myself even more difficult on such a tight budget. So I’ve been slowly starving the last three years.

In 2022, I lost access to my parents’ insurance plan and had to get on Medicaid and also had to find an entirely new care team. I have cognitive issues and was struggling to use the Medicaid search system to find providers who still took Medicaid, actually were taking new patients, and who’s contact information was still up-to-date. The PCP I was assigned had a phone number listed on my card, but when I called I was told no such doctor worked at that office. It took me a year and a half, til fall 2023, to get back into regular care. And I hadn’t physically seen my previous PCP since 2020 because she kept putting me on Telehealth appointments. So when I went in for my intake at my new PCP’s office, it was the first time I’d been weighed in 3 years. I was 95lbs.

The nurse weighing me made an offhand comment about wishing she could be that tiny. But then we got into the exam room and she was able to look over my history more easily and asked about the drop in weight and reacted with appropriate concern when I told her I lived a sedentary lifestyle and was not trying to lose any weight. The doctor was also concerned. At my most recent appointment, for my annual physical, it was snowing and I didn’t take off my boots or coat when I got on the scale. 99lbs. The nurse’s reaction? “Oh, he’s going to be pleased at the higher number and it’s almost all due to the heavy clothes you have on today, that’s disappointing!”

Thin privilege is real. If I’d weighed 230 and dropped to 195 without trying, in all likelihood, they wouldn’t have nearly any of the same concerns they have for me now. The difference is I look sick and too thin. They immediately checked my CBC and liver function and iron levels and all kinds of stuff. I saw a neurologist soon after who tested me for heavy metal exposure and vitamin B deficiencies. I’m on multiple supplements and a monthly B12 shot. It’s helped quite a bit. I’m not so shaky anymore. Knowing what vitamins I was struggling to get has helped inform my choices at the grocery store, and encouraged my partner and I to branch out with the veggies they cook with.

None of that would have happened if the doctor hadn’t expressed concern and had me do multiple blood tests. And I don’t know for sure that he would have cared if I’d been 100 (or even just 50) pounds heavier to start with.

It’s disgusting. I’m not doing anything to be this thin. Fat people shouldn’t have to spend all their time counting calories and exercising in order to get the care they deserve.

(And I know what it’s like to have problems ignored in favor of recommending exercise. My pediatrician ignored my mom’s complaints about my fatigue levels until I was no longer her patient due to not being a minor anymore. My mom had to force her to test me for mono and lupus and Lyme disease and whatever else, and when everything came back negative every time, she would smirk and say “See? She’s just out of shape and needs to exercise, and carrying a 25-30lb backpack back and forth while running between classes at her giant high school doesn’t count.” One year with the PCP I had to leave on Medicaid, I went in after spending a weekend unable to move due to intense pain. She asked about fatigue and family history of fibromyalgia and almost immediately diagnosed me, after confirming I didn’t have RA markers in my blood.)

I work at a daycare with infants.

One of our baby girls is fat, in the 99th percentile for her age. She is super cute and sweet. Lately, she has been sick with various breathing issues, so she has been reluctant to take her bottles. Normally, she’ll take 4 ounces of formula at lunch and 8 ounces in the afternoon. Today, I was lucky to get to her take 5 all day.

There was a substitute covering a lunch break in my classroom today. We emphasized to her that we need to keep trying to get the baby to drink her bottle until she finished it. She said, “Why are you guys so worried about taking her bottle?”

My coworker replied, “That’s where all her nutrients are. She needs the nutrients and the water.”

To which the substitute replied, “But she’s so fat. She doesn’t need it.”

Thin privilege is a small, pretty baby getting better childcare because the caretaker doesn’t think she’s too fat to be allowed to eat.

[qnewsau]

Victorian minister brutally sledges Perth's Gay Games bid

New Post has been published on https://qnews.com.au/victorian-minister-brutally-sledges-perths-gay-games-bid/

Victorian minister brutally sledges Perth's Gay Games bid

Victoria’s tourism minister has fired a shot at Perth as Melbourne and the WA capital both compete to host the 2030 Gay Games.

Every four years since 1982, the Gay Games has drawn thousands of athletes and spectators to host cities worldwide for a tournament of inclusive sport.

Perth and Melbourne are on a shortlist of seven cities in the running for the 2030 event. The shortlist also includes Auckland, Cape Town, Denver, Taipei in Taiwan and Edmonton in Canada.

Victoria’s Sports, Events and Tourism Minister Steve Dimopoulous said on social policy and LGBTQIA+ equality, Melbourne was the clear leader.

“We are far ahead of any other city in this country. We are far ahead of Sydney, which often gets the glory in terms of the Mardi Gras,” he said.

Dimopoulos added of Melbourne’s WA rival, “I love Perth, but seriously – it’s Perth. There is no comparison, Melbourne is a global city.”

The minister said Melbourne and Victoria has “the best venues, the best workforce and the best arts and culture, hospitality”.

“We are a city that people want to come to,” he said.

Political fight over hosting the Gay Games

But the Victorian government has faced a political backlash after Melbourne made the shortlist for the event.

Victorian Liberals slammed the Gay Games bid. They pointed to the Labor government pulling out of hosting the 2026 Commonwealth Games last year at a cost of $589 million.

Steve Dimopoulos claimed the government was approached about hosting the event, rather than actively pursuing a bid.

“This is something that is in the early stages. This is something that the Gay Games themselves have curated a list of cities around the world that they are interested in,” he said.

It’s understood Melbourne Gay Games advocates, including local councillors and tourism executives, met with Dimopoulos’ team about the Gay Games proposal earlier in the year.

Dimopoulous said the government is “always interested in talking to people who want to have an event in this great state”.

Shadow Tourism and Events Minister Sam Groth told News Corp, “After wasting $600 million on the Commonwealth Games debacle, how can any Victorian have confidence Labor can deliver this event?”

Deputy opposition leader David Southwick added, “Before we do anything, I think Victorians deserve to see what’s the business case.

“Victoria was the internationally recognised events capital of the world — and now we couldn’t deliver a chook raffle.”

A Victorian Government spokesperson responded, “As Australia’s major events capital, we’re always looking at new opportunities and events for our calendar.”

2030 host city announced in November 2025

Meanwhile, Pride WA, who is leading Perth’s bid, said the city is excited and ready to host. The state has more LGBTQIA+ sports clubs than ever before.

This month, the Federation of Gay Games confirmed each shortlisted city had submitted “bid books” outlining their preliminary hosting proposal.

Soon, representatives from the cities will present their bids in-person at the Federation’s AGM in Washington DC in October.

The FGG will announce three finalist cities in December 2024. The host city will be announced in November 2025.

Hong Kong and Guadalajara, Mexico co-hosted the last Gay Games in November 2023. Sydney was the last Australian city to host in 2002.

The next Gay Games will be held in Valencia, Spain in 2026.

For the latest LGBTIQA+ Sister Girl and Brother Boy news, entertainment, community stories in Australia, visit qnews.com.au. Check out our latest magazines or find us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube.

[phoenixwatchesmovies]

What I'm Watching: June 2023

Oh yeah, I...uh...suppose I haven't done this yet...

Sailor Moon Crystal

I remember I got about halfway through the first episode of this several years ago and just... didn't go any further. The OG was one of my favorite things as a kid, and Crystal didn't hold a candle to it. I decided to give it another shot, tho, and I gotta say. I was wrong. I have a couple gripes with it, to be frank, like occasional awkward camera work, some random shots that just don't make any sense, and wonky lines in the transformation sequences that I couldn't unsee. My nitpicks are more a matter of preference and comparison, such as Crystal's bright and clean look versus the original's richer tone. They're both beautiful, but I like best what I know best. This one sticks to the manga and thus has a shorter run, so it moves at a much quicker pace. Compare the 13-episode seasons to the 200 episodes of the original, and I don't think I need to elaborate on that point. Also, goshdarn holy shit, I'm still into Sailor Moon x Tuxedo Mask, but I'll be damned if I wasn't also gunning for Usagi and Haruka this time around. By the time I finished the series, I was bummed there was no more, so that counts as a win. And yep, I cried a couple times.

Sailor Moon

Now be serious, how was I supposed to watch the reboot and NOT make my way back to the classic? This was my entire childhood, and it's still my jam. Admittedly, the structure works better for younger audiences, but who cares. Given that this is my second rewatch as an adult, I'm pretty secure in saying I'm still here out of genuine enjoyment and not simple nostalgia. I mentioned above that this one is about 200 episodes long, and now that I'm reading the manga as well, it's clear how much was added to bulk up the show. I can think of three additional subplots off the top of my head just in season one. We also get a lot more moments to get attached to the characters, though, so I don't see this as a problem. I'm still working my way through this, so it's not time for final thoughts yet.

We're The Millers

Don't really have much to say about this one. It's fine. Road trip stories tend to be entertaining, so I wasn't disappointed. I'm mostly amused to bring this full circle and actually watch the movie, as the closest I've ever gotten to it until now was everyone else watching it without me while I was passed out drunk in the bathroom. Good times.

A Nightmare On Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge

Boy oh boy, do I have Thoughts™ about this one, and they'll be in their own post as soon as I stop procrastinating.

***

And that's it for June. And now that we're halfway through July, I don't guess it'll be very long before I'm back here. Toodles.

[thetoxicgamer]

Tier 2 VALORANT has the passion and talent for a long future—if Riot helps it survive

The transition to franchising globally in 2023 has been critical for the VALORANT esports ecosystem. The VALORANT Champions Tour pits the finest players in the world against one another, with teams from the Americas, EMEA, and the Pacific aiming to compete against one another. But what about the best of the rest? There are only so many spots available in the VCT, and plenty more believe themselves deserving of a shot at VALORANT glory. And most of those extremely talented players remain outside franchising are competing regionally in tier-two VALORANT in the Challengers scenes.  Post-franchising, division two VALORANT is surviving, but mainly because of the passion of the players and the structure of managers like Krystian “TERP” Terpiński. As the lead manager of VALORANT Challengers East, he has to work around financial issues to just keep the league alive and help develop that talent into the tier-one scene. Without people like him running tier-two leagues across the world, players would not have the same path to pro that the VALORANT community wants. It’s no secret that a lot of tier-two leagues are struggling in esports, and VALORANT is no different in that regard. Of all the changes the franchised league has introduced, the opportunity for teams to get relegated and promoted gives hope to tier-two organizations that they can make it to the top with nothing but talent and consistency.  It is tough to maintain that hope, as organizations have to stay alive from start to finish for that dream to come alive—even if their success isn’t leading to financial benefits. “If you ask every regional manager what the biggest problem they face with the Challengers league, it’s money; the monetization, commercialization of the product,” TERP said. “It’s challenging because don’t allow particular sponsors, which is their right to do.” TERP is of the mind that Riot needs to provide assistance, mainly financially, if they want to keep the path to VCT truly accessible for everyone around the world. Sponsorships for the lower leagues are hard to come by, with Red Bull Polska as the East: Surge’s main sponsor. Also, it doesn’t help that the league’s financial situation has worsened following the ongoing Ukrainian conflict, which has affected TERP’s ability to obtain sponsorships for his league. “I’ve had 10 different meetings for sponsorships where the client says the offer looks nice, but they have to pass because of our proximity to the war,” TERP said. He also mentioned that Riot hasn’t abandoned the grassroots and tier-two scene for VALORANT, saying there would be meetings in the near future with Riot and the managers of all Challengers leagues soon, hopefully addressing these same issues. Walking into the Challengers East: Surge studio in Warsaw, Poland, it’s clear that the place is passionate about the game and esports as a whole. From the mass of pictures and trophies upstairs to the chandelier of esports jerseys from a multitude of games, the connection to both Polish and Eastern European talent is evident. At the same time, the small room with nothing but a green screen, two chairs, a TV, and a camera for the casters also shows that the league could be in a better situation, in comparison to the larger stage and desk that VCT EMEA has.  Alas, even with all the issues the second division of VALORANT is facing, the talent is there in droves. Due to the limited number of teams and roster spots, each Challengers league has their own talent that arguably could’ve made it to a franchised team. As for the East region, the top talent is spread comfortably across multiple teams, with a good spread across the top teams. “In my opinion, we have around 10 VCT-ready talents in our league,” TERP said. “Two that come to mind are alexiiik and benjyfishy, outside Acend.” Some other names mentioned were Katu and GRUBINHO from Anonymo Esports, former G2 Esports player Patitek, and runneR from Diamant Esports. While not facing the same situation as last year, one of the most popular recent East: Surge promotions is Fnatic’s sixth man kamyk. Lots of other players currently in the league have previous experience at the height of VALORANT, like Patitek and baddyG. Yet, with the closed trade and signing market, these players have to fight for Ascension while proving their skills for 2024. One of the leading teams is Acend, who VALORANT fans will recognize as the first-ever Champions from their run in 2021. The core is different, with only one player who stayed on from 2022 to 2023. The star talent of cNed, zeek, and starxo all moved onto franchised rosters for 2023.  Even then, the coaching of Nbs and improvement of MONSTEERR has seen Acend rise to first place across both Split One and Two. The team are clear favorites to make Ascension, and across all Challengers leagues, might even earn promotion to the Champions Tour for 2024. No matter which team from Challengers East makes it to Ascension, there was some unfortunate news for both East: Surge and EMEA as a whole. Both the Challengers league and the entire region as a whole won’t have LANs the same way other regions will. Due to financial constraints, the East: Surge finals won’t be on LAN. This will mean that players aiming to compete at future LANs will miss out on experience that could prove crucial to them and their teams’ development. https://twitter.com/KTerpinski/status/1661313223868465155 Afterward, when EMEA teams across tier two compete for their chance to make it to tier one, only the end of the playoffs are on LAN, at the same location as the EMEA franchised league plays in Berlin. For the EMEA Ascension LAN news, fans got angry at Riot for seemingly neglecting the region, while others like the Pacific region received their own unique Ascension LAN in Bangkok, Thailand. Plus, a couple of the Challengers leagues end relatively soon, leaving players and organizations with months of downtime before the Ascension tournaments begin. According to TERP, this is potentially the biggest issue with the Challengers schedule in 2023. “It’s hard to even count on the squads or teams to stay the same over this break,” TERP said. “The only hope are off-season tournaments, which need to be announced soon. This is super important to all leagues that have a long break like we do, because if not, teams will go away and both players and staff will lose jobs due to a lack of funds.” But with the right support and the talent within, tier-two VALORANT can work and help develop some of the newest stars in a growing esport.  Read the full article

[popopretty]

The Day I Picked Up Dazai - Side B (2)

Links to Parts: Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Final

This is the translation from page 11 to page 18 of Side B of the Dazai novel which was given out as free bonus for those who come to the cinema to watch the BEAST live action movie in Japan.

I HIGHLY recommend you to read Side A first before moving on to this one, especially part 2-5 for more context, better understanding, and easier comparison between the two sides. You can find the link to the tag with all Side A translations I have done in my pinned post.

Please also carefully read the notes below before progressing. - This post contains spoilers. If you plan to read the novel later yourself and think this would ruin your expectation, please stop here.

· I tried to keep the translation as accurate as possible, but as I don’t speak English or Japanese as my native language, I may make some mistakes or use weird words etc. This translation might not be final. I may come back and fix it later if I find any mistakes.

· This is a moviegoers-only benefit, so please be extra careful when discussing it about on Twitter. Use a #spoilers tag on your tweets or your fanarts. You can share the links to this post but don’t take many screenshots.

· Don’t retranslate it. [UPDATE MAY 9, 2023] You can retranslate it but please keep in mind that my translation is not perfect and some meanings will be lost through re-translation. If you are not sure about the meaning at any part, please let me know! Don’t repost this translation anywhere else out of Tumblr.

· DON’T GO TO THE AUTHORS’ OR OFFICIAL TWITTERS TO COMMENT ABOUT THE CONTENTS OF IT.

I’m sorry if that’s too much but honestly all I want is for everyone to have a good experience, for those who wants to read the novels to be able to read the novels, and for those who don’t want to be spoiled, to be safe from it as much as possible.

If you have read and are okay with all the above, please continue to move forward and enjoy the novel. Have a good day!

...

The time the police appear at my house, is one of those times.

“Excuse me, we are from S River Station. Someone reported seeing a man covered in blood collapsing in this neighborhood. Can we ask you a few things?”

Through the window designed for lighting on the door, I see male figures. Two of them.

I freeze. I am in the middle of boiling water to make coffee in the kitchen at that time.

“Excuse me. This is the police. Is anyone home?”

The unreserved knocking shakes the door again and again. I glance at the young man. The young man whose name I don’t know. He is not showing any human-like reaction even to the voices outside.

What will happen if they find him? I quickly think. In all probability, this guy has been involved in some kind of criminal activities. And he is also seeing and committing crimes like breathing… Someone from the other side, the side of the night. Otherwise, there is no way someone who had been shot all over his body like that would not have gone to the hospital. In other words, the cops will see him as a treasure, instead of an injured person. So that they can improve their arrest record.

On the other hand, I haven’t committed any crime so far. I just took care of an injured person I saw. It is the duty of a citizen to report as soon as they find someone with gunshot wounds, but if I tell them, “I didn’t realize it was caused by gun”, the cops will have no choice but to back down. Like, I thought he was stabbed or something. It is not that difficult to identify a gunshot wound, but there is currently no crime defined in the criminal law for failing to do so.

In other words, even if I sell this young man to the cops, I can walk away without any claim.

I walk to the front door. To talk to the cops.

I will come up with an excuse to send them away. I think so. If I am going to sell this young man here and now, I would not have treated his wounds in the first place.

But that stupid dedication of mine can’t be achieved. Something completely out of my expectation has happened. The young man rushes to the door.

He is ridiculously fast. Like a tightly shrunken spring being released in an instant. He slams open the front door and attacks the cops.

It is an unpredictable action for everyone. It never crosses my mind that he can possess such agility. He leaps with a speed no one can expect from an injured person, and jumps onto the shoulder of the surprised cop, before sinking his fingers into the man’s face.

The cop lets out a brief scream. He goes berserk and slams the young man against the wall near the doorway. But still the youth doesn’t let him go. He clings onto the cop in a piggyback position, and shoves the fingers on both of his hands into the man’s ears. He put all the strength in as if he is trying to rip his ears apart. From the young man’s throat comes a fierce roar of a beast. He pulls his fingers out. The fingertips are soaked in blood. He thrusts them in again.

The cop uses his free arms to grab his attacker’s body and falls into the room just like that. The wooden floor makes a cracking sound as it breaks.

The slightly younger cop who isn’t attacked finally pulls out his gun as if he just remembers it now. That is a swing-out double-action revolver. He aims it at the young man.

No warning is made. I see the future where that gun is fired.

I start to move too. I approach the cop and grab his pistol. I slide my thumb between the barrel and the firing pin. This way, the firing pin won’t be able to hit the primer and the bullet will not come out.

I look at the cop. He looks back at me angrily.

There is a light sound of something dropping behind my back.

Something metallic. I want to look back but I am in a bad position. My right hand is holding the gun. The wall is on my left. I cannot turn around. This is bad.

Something white is weaving at the edge of my vision.

I didn’t see the moment that thing was thrown. But it is probably the cop who threw it. Because I don’t stock such dangerous things at home. A gas grenade.

That is a black, cylindrical personal weapon. It emits non-lethal coma gas. It lasts for twelve seconds, and can emit 2.8 kiloliters of gas. This gas was once used as a substitute for anesthesia for surgery in the Great War. Those who inhale it will find their consciousness fading away. It depends on the concentration of the gas, but generally most will faint before they can even count to ten. If inhaled in large volume, it can be fatal.

I grab my mouth and nose with my hand. Then I try to find the young man. A gas grenade is not something city police officers can carry around on patrol.

These guys are not cops.

But something is moving at the edge of my vision. The younger cop has let go of his gun and thrown himself at me.

We tangle together and fall onto the floor. He hits my chest so hard that all the air left in my lung is pushed out.

The white smoke wriggles in and fills my vision as I roll on the floor. It is as if I have fallen into the bottom of a white sea. But I can only see that white for a short moment.

I cough, breathe in the gas and lose consciousness almost instantly.

***

There is a sound.

A cold and damp sound.

It is so familiar that it does not sound like a meaningful sound at first. It is a sound that will slip past your consciousness, like the sound of dead leaves rolling, or a train passing by in a distance, that kind of noise. However, it cannot be the same as those noises.

Because it is the sound of Oda Sakunosuke being beaten.

The sound is low and muffled. It does not sound dangerous. It sounds like a sand bag falling. But it is, in fact, a dangerous sound.

Dazai knows that.

Because he has been living with it soaking up to his throat for a dauntingly long amount of time.

“Before we start, let me tell you this.” said a voice. The voice of an aged man.

“I don’t like violence.”

The man is holding a blackjack as he speaks. Dazai sees that. Dazai is looking at the man. He is looking hard at him. Through those sharp and dark eyes behind the face hidden by bandages.

“I don’t like it when people use violence. I don’t like to use it either. So just think about this as business.”

The club is swung down. On the back of the tied up Odasaku. Dazai is staring at that.

Dazai is standing in the corridor of the bunker, where it is completely dark. The distance between him and Odasaku is more than ten meters. Because of the darkness and the distance, Odasaku and the other guy cannot see Dazai. In fact, they wouldn’t even notice Dazai if he came within an arm’s reach. That is how much Dazai has melt into a dense shadow and become one with the darkness himself.

Dazai is looking. He is simply looking hard at Odasaku being beaten.

The club being swung down. Odasaku groaning.

Seeing that violence doesn’t even make his eyes move. His eyes are as still as those of a dead man, not showing the slightest flicker of emotion.

However, every time the club goes down, Dazai’s fingers twitch. His joints automatically jump and his muscles tense up. And every time, thin white streaks rise to the surface of his fingers. His fingers bend as if they are grasping something invisible. It is as if he himself is being beaten.

Dazai has become one with the darkness. That is why no one is able to find Dazai.

However, the elder torturer reacts to the killing intention he emits, which pulsates with every downswing of the club.

“Who is that?”

The man turns around toward the darkness. He can’t see anything. The darkness is deep and dense as mud.

He stops the torture and walks out, to check if anyone is there. Because he cannot help it. Because his experience is giving him a warning.

He finally reaches the place where Dazai was.

However, there is already no one there.

There is only darkness. As if no one was there from the beginning. It’s as if darkness has taken the form of Dazai, and has finally turned back to the original darkness and disappeared.

The man is confused. There is only the unchanging, endless darkness that has been there since the beginning of time.

...

[billehrman]

Is Change of Policy in the Air?

Is Change in Policy in the Air?

Investors are skittish as they are seeing the sharp breaks in cryptocurrency, SPACs, and highflier prices in just a few weeks’ time. It is essential to step back when market volatility increases and review your core beliefs to see if any changes in your thinking have occurred, necessitating a shift in your portfolio construction. We continue to focus on four main items: the coronavirus, monetary policy, fiscal policy, and current economic data points both here and abroad to formulate our investment policy.

After careful review, we see no reason to shift our stance.  We recommend using this weakness to add to your economically sensitive stocks while reducing holding in the highflier technology names, SPACs, and all bonds.

News on the coronavirus gets better each week. More than 1.51 billion doses have been administered worldwide, vaccinating 25.6 million per day, while 277 million doses have been administered domestically, now vaccinating at 1.81 million doses per day. We remain confident that there will reach herd immunity domestically over the summer and before next winter overseas. We no longer need masks inside domestically, and Europe will open to visitors during June. We expect billion of doses available next year if we need booster shots that are still unknown. By the way, Pfizer’s vaccine can now be stored in traditional freezers, which will boost its reach worldwide.  Retailers and businesses are fully opening domestically, which will increase economic activity here—all very good news.

Fed policy remains the focus for investors; they are trying to anticipate when a shift in policy will occur. We do not understand why investors appeared surprised by the recent Fed notes, which detailed many governors wanting to start discussing a change in bond purchases as the economy picked up steam sooner than most expected. The governors should start having that discussion but let’s put that into its proper perspective. The Fed, especially Chairman Powell, has said that there would be no shift in policy until we return to prior employment levels prior to the pandemic. That means that nearly 9 million more jobs need to be created, which won’t happen overnight, especially with extra jobless benefits of $300/week still out there. Many states are abolishing this additional benefit, but it will exist for most America until the fall, which hinders people wanting to go back to work as they would earn less than currently. Secondly, we all expect inflation to run well above 2% for several more months due to shortages, supply line issues, and year over year comparisons. We expect inflation to calm down by the end of the year as new capacity comes on stream. Does the Fed expect them to wait until at least mid-2022 to shift policy if inflation is still running hot?

We want to make a few comments about how the Fed will shift policy once the time comes. We first expect them to dial down its $120 billion monthly purchases to $80 billion for a few months seeing what happens then. Suppose all goes well, then reducing it by another $40 billion and so on until the total bond purchase is zero. That does mean that the Fed will no longer be active in the bond market. We expect them to roll over their $6 trillion holdings as it comes due, maintaining their total exposure at $6 trillion. We still do not see a Fed rate hike until sometime late in 2022 at the earliest, so don’t jump the gun and worry about it just yet.

The President and the Republicans are still haggling over the infrastructure bill and how to pay for it. We expect a traditional infrastructure bill close to $1.4 trillion over eight years paid for by raising the corporate tax rate to 25% beginning in 2022, a higher tax rate on the very wealthy, user fees, and traditional project financing. While the market will front-run the actual benefits to the economy and specific companies, we do not see much impact until the very end of 2022 or early 2023. The moderate Democrats are very concerned about elections next year, keeping this plan more centrist than far left. That is good news.

Economic data both here and abroad keeps getting stronger sequentially: jobless claims hit a new post-pandemic low at 444,000 last week; leading indicators rose 1.6%; coincident indicators increased 0.3%; lagging indicators rose 1.8%; services rose 2.4%, and mortgage delinquencies hit a multi-year low. Shortages are holding down/postponing auto and housing sales from what they otherwise could be, which will only boost economic activity down the road. Walmart and Target’s earnings reports and comments spoke to the strength of the consumer, which is two-thirds of the economy. In contrast, reports from all industrials and tech companies support our view that inventories are woefully low, and it will take many months or even a year to rebuild to normal levels.

Economic growth in the Eurozone and Japan have begun to improve on the strength of their exports. Growth overseas will lag the U.S by around 3 or 4 months as they get their arms around the coronavirus. Still, we remain confident that we will see an unparalleled synchronous global economic expansion beginning before year-end and running for many years. All monetary bodies want their economies to run hot, remembering past deflationary pressures if they remove accommodation too soon.

Investment Conclusions

A successful investor must be willing to step back during market corrections and put emotions aside. After careful consideration of all the facts, we see no reason to shift our view. We believe that we are getting our arms around the coronavirus both here and abroad; the monetary policy will remain accommodative globally, and additional stimulus is on the way worldwide too.

We are investing where both cyclical and secular trends are wind to our backs. Areas of emphasis include global industrials, machinery, capital goods companies; industrial and agricultural commodities; financials; transportation, technology tied to 5G; and special situations. Continue to avoid bonds, SPACs and highfliers.

The investment webinar will be held on Monday May 24th at 8:30 am EST. You can join by entering https://zoom.us/j/9179217852 in your browser or dialing +646-558-8656 and enter the password 917-921-7852.

Remember to review all the facts; pause, reflect, and consider mindset shifts; look at your asset mix with risk controls; turn off cable news; do independent research and…

Invest accordingly!

Bill Ehrman

Paix et Prosperite LLC

Paixetprosperite1@gmail.com

917-951-4139

[paulbenedictblog]

%news%

New Post has been published on %http://paulbenedictsgeneralstore.com%

Usa today Crane season, corporal punishment, Common Core: News from around our 50 states

Usa today

Usa today Alabama

Mobile: A vote by the Mobile Metropolis Council has moved the northern Gulf Flee one step nearer to resumption of customary Amtrak carrier for the predominant time since Typhoon Katrina. Members voted 6-1 to approve a grant software for restoring passenger practice carrier to the metropolis, data outlets file. The practice would link New Orleans and Mobile twice each day with stops in Mississippi in Pascagoula, Biloxi, Gulfport and Bay St. Louis. Mobile would be requested to pay about $3 million over three years starting in 2023, and the notify would be requested to lend a hand. The states of Louisiana and Mississippi possess already committed hundreds and hundreds. The Southern Rail Fee said it's a long way applying for virtually $8 million in federal grant money for the project, and Mobile’s dedication was wished to pass forward. True practice carrier is peaceful likely years away, officials said.

Usa today Alaska

Kaktovik: An in a single day fire destroyed the appropriate college on this North Slope village early Friday morning, Anchorage tv location KTUU experiences. The college, segment of the North Slope Borough School District, was a complete loss, Kaktovik Mayor Amanda Kaleak says. Kaktovik resident Melvin Kayotuk captured video of the fire. “We wakened then heard the college was on fire,” Kayotuk says. The legit reason within the back of the fire hasn’t been certain. Pipes had frozen within the college, Kayotuk says, and heaters were attempting to thaw them out. “I genuinely feel unhappy for our children that are long gone comely now,” Kayotuk says. “They went to play a ball game in a single other village, and they’re going to advance back house, and they’re going to make not possess from now on college.” No injuries were reported. Kaktovik is an Inupiat village of 250 on the Beaufort Sea about 75 miles northeast of the Canada border.

Usa today Arizona

Phoenix: Legislators are proposing a new legislation to dam airports across the notify from raising fees on gallop-sharing companies, treasure Uber and Lyft. Fetch. Travis Grantham, R-Gilbert, says Home Invoice 2817 rolls back the fees on rides to and from airports to the an analogous ranges as on the ruin of 2017. That would sever back present fees and block an amplify that Phoenix Sky Harbor is planning for gallop-sharing companies, says Grantham, who is sponsoring the measure. Phoenix already charges a rate of $2.66 for gallop-portion corporations picking up passengers on the airport. But the metropolis had planned on a new rate of $4 for deciding on up passengers in addition to $4 for dropping off passengers. The cost would then amplify by 25 cents as soon as a year, reaching $5 every map in 2024. Uber threatened to reside working at Sky Harbor if Phoenix implemented the brand new fees.

Usa today Arkansas

El Dorado: Officers on Friday shot and injured a individual that authorities yell struck a deputy with his car exterior the sheriff’s space of labor and threatened to shoot officers internal. The El Dorado Info-Occasions experiences loads of deputies were placed on paid administrative leave whereas the Union County Sheriff’s Place of job and Arkansas Remark Police investigate the incident. Union County Sheriff Ricky Roberts instructed the newspaper that officers approached the individual that was within the car car automobile parking space of the sheriff’s space of labor after he made the threats. The person drove toward the arriving advance officers and struck Chief Deputy Charlie Phillips, Roberts said. Deputies fired on the person and struck him within the arm, causing him to atomize actual into a sheriff’s space of labor worker’s car within the lot. Roberts declined to release the person’s establish but said he had been treated and was in custody.

Usa today California

Sacramento: Gov. Gavin Newsom desires to reside physical education tests for college students for three years resulting from concerns over bullying and the test discriminating against disabled and nonbinary college students. The pass also comes after annual test results uncover a rising share of college students scoring not healthy. H.D. Palmer, spokesman for the Department of Finance, said the notify has got complaints that the brand new examination’s measurement of physique mass index is discriminatory to nonbinary college students. A measurement calculated from weight and height, BMI screenings require college students to capture “male” or “feminine,” he said. Annual notify experiences of the effectively being test since the 2014-2015 college year uncover a real decline within the portion of college students scoring healthy, primarily based entirely on a evaluate by the Linked Press. College students’ rankings possess particularly dropped within the class of the effectively being test that measures “aerobic capacity.”

Usa today Colorado

Denver: A invoice that targets to spend immunization charges and construct it extra advanced for folks to opt their children out of vaccinations is predicted to be introduced rapidly on the Capitol, and Gov. Jared Polis says he’ll strengthen it. The proposal – certain to warmth up the dialogue on immunizations, keeping public effectively being and folks’ rights – would require folks who wish to opt out to acquire a signed doc from a clinical educated or behold a net based video, produced by the Colorado Department of Public Health and Atmosphere. Factual now, folks simply post a acquire to a child’s college. The proposal would not save away with non-clinical or private perception exemptions. Polis’ space of labor said because it stands, he backs the measure. “The governor is inspired by the conversations he has had with the invoice sponsors and appreciates their exhausting work,” said an announcement from his space of labor.

Usa today Connecticut

Hartford: Preliminary testing has failed to establish two victims of the 1944 Hartford circus fire whose our bodies were exhumed from a cemetery, the notify’s chief clinical examiner said Friday. Dr. James Gill also introduced that anthropological examination and dental comparisons excluded a Vermont lady as being some of the 2 folks whose stays were exhumed. The our bodies were eliminated in October from two of five graves of unidentified circus fire victims at Northwood Cemetery in Windsor. A notify deem permitted the exhumations in hopes of figuring out whether one of them was Grace Fifield, a 47-year-ragged lady from Newport, Vermont, who was by no methodology considered again after attending the circus on the day of the fire. The fire on the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus on July 6, 1944, killed 168 folks and injured 682 others.

Usa today Delaware

Wilmington: College of Delaware President Dennis Assanis has instructed a legislative committee that an absence of certified college students is accountable for low in-notify enrollment on the college. During a listening to Thursday sooner than the Legislature’s Joint Finance Committee, Assanis was requested why less than 40% of the college’s college students advance from Delaware. “I'm not the one keeping back the children in Delaware to advance back into the college,” Assanis said. “We resolve better-certified college students who advance out of our K-12. Attributable to we don’t wish to set them actual into a firstclass setting and then lead them to having psychological effectively being issues.” Legislators quizzed Assanis regarding the college’s enrollment of Delawareans and underrepresented college students, teams the college has prolonged struggled to recruit. Assanis said a slowdown in inhabitants hiss and an absence of certified college students popping out of Delaware high colleges are responsible.

Usa today District of Columbia

Washington: The white nationalist team Patriot Entrance marched just about Union Space on Saturday afternoon, WUSA-TV experiences. Members of Patriot Entrance shouted “reclaim The US!” as they moved down the streets of D.C. The team ended its march at a Walmart within the Union Space location, as some onlookers referred to as them cowards, witnesses yell. Dressed in connected prolonged-sleeved clothing with hats, masks, sun shades and American flags, the team was trailed and surrounded by law enforcement officials who were there to de-escalate any factors that arose. The team, primarily based entirely on the Southern Poverty Legislation Center, is an image-obsessed organization that rehabilitated the explicitly fascist agenda of Leading edge The US with garish patriotism. The SPLC says Patriot Entrance specializes in “theatrical rhetoric and activism that will additionally be with out problems distributed as propaganda for its chapters across the country.”

Usa today Florida

Tallahassee: Fundamental Core is over within the Sunshine Remark. The notify Department of Training said in an announcement Friday that the controversial location of tutorial requirements “has been formally eradicated from Florida classrooms.” Training Commissioner Richard Corcoran said he's recommending that the notify Board of Training adapt Fundamental Core’s successor, Benchmarks for Very perfect Student Thinking. The Fundamental Core requirements were first proposed a decade ago by associations of governors and notify education chiefs, and they were embraced in Florida by ragged Gov. Jeb Bush. The criteria were adopted by 45 states and the District of Columbia but possess advance under criticism within the past decade. A broad coalition of conservatives, liberals, folks and lecturers discovered fault with Fundamental Core for diversified reasons. After taking space of labor final year, Gov. Ron DeSantis promised to acquire rid of Fundamental Core.

Usa today Georgia

Atlanta: The notify may presumably rapidly loosen security requirements for dams that take a seat above newly constructed homes, under a proposal unanimously handed by a notify Senate committee. Senate Invoice 319 would allow for homes and other inhabitable structures to be inbuilt a dam’s inundation zone – the placement that is at probability of be flooded if the dam fails – with out causing the dam to be recategorized and required to meet elevated security requirements. The structures would wish to be constructed to withstand a breach of the dam and receive certification from an engineer permitted by the notify Environmental Security Division’s Safe Dams Program. The invoice’s sponsor, Republican Remark Sen. Frank Ginn of Danielsville, said it may perhaps perchance perchance offer protection to dam house owners from having to capture from taking on costly upgrades or laying aside a dam. The proposal, handed Tuesday by the Senate Pure Resources and Atmosphere Committee, may presumably rapidly wobble to the rotund notify Senate for a vote.

Usa today Hawaii

Honolulu: A invoice sooner than the Metropolis Council proposes to sever back the prolonged-term carbon footprint of Oahu’s structures, however the measure has encountered opposition from the island’s gas utility and construction change, Hawaii Public Radio experiences. The adjustments to the building codes may be the predominant in larger than a decade. The U.S. Energy Info Administration experiences virtually 40% of energy consumed within the united states is ragged to energy structures. That has led many notify and native lawmakers to change building codes so as to sever back carbon emissions. Honolulu’s Invoice 25 involves provisions comparable to mandating extra setting pleasant insulation and lighting fixtures in structures. But other parts of the invoice possess generated opposition. The notify’s construction change opposes the invoice’s proposed ban on gas water heaters in new single-family homes and a requirement for further electrical car charging infrastructure in apartments and commercial structures.

Usa today Idaho

Boise: Passe gubernatorial candidate and Democratic notify lawmaker Paulette Jordan introduced Friday that she’s disturbing two-term Republican U.S. Sen. Jim Risch. “I’m running resulting from we would like a senator who will work to reengineer our authorities to prioritize American prosperity, offer protection to our precious land and assets, fight for affordable, quality effectively being care, and make sure a world-class education for our children,” Jordan said. In 2018 she changed into the predominant lady to change into the Democratic gubernatorial nominee in Idaho but lost within the customary election to Republican Brad Diminutive. The 40-year-ragged Jordan is a member of the Coeur d’Alene Tribe. She’s a ragged two-term notify representative with a prolonged history of working on the tribal council. Jordan said she’ll fight for the rights of rural Idahoans and Native Americans whereas specializing within the setting and justice.

Usa today Illinois

Peoria: A thrift-store fetch has precipitated its purchaser to fetch the person to whom it rightfully belongs – and may presumably not understand it’s even long gone. A sever payment-looking out Robert Ray spotted what was labeled a figurine in a Peoria Goodwill store. Upon nearer inspection, he known it was genuinely an urn, with ashes peaceful internal, The (Peoria) Journal Star experiences. Ray said he sold the $2.99 jar, embellished with a navy-style flag and eagle, with the blueprint of discovering the proprietor. He sold it in late December, comely a day or two after it arrived within the shop. Goodwill officials yell they don’t know the source of the donation. Ray hopes somebody realizes the urn is mistakenly donated and contacts the newspaper. “I’m shooting at middle of the evening and hoping the appropriate,” he said.

Usa today Indiana

West Lafayette: Purdue College will offer free tampons and other feminine hygiene merchandise within the campus’ lavatories in response to student advocates who possess been pushing for the pass for three years. College President Mitch Daniels on Thursday credited the College Senate, a college-led physique, for proposing the initiative in a resolution that described feminine hygiene merchandise as a traditional necessity that desires to be in campus restrooms freed from payment. The measure was location to be voted on later this month, but Daniels bought permission from the College Senate to pass forward and put into effect it. Alison Rickert, a junior studying neurobiology and physiology at Purdue, founded The Interval Challenge – an initiative aimed at offering menstrual merchandise to folks that need them both in and out of college partitions. She said Purdue’s resolution resulted from her and other college students advocating for the peril.

Usa today Iowa

Cedar Rapids: Staffers at a winter homeless safe haven are working with police to sever back issues which possess led to complaints from neighbors. Since the Fillmore Center opened in mid-November to present a warm space to sleep, police possess got 82 calls for carrier, primarily based entirely on The Gazette. Those calls encompass 41 for disturbances and 31 for clinical wants, in addition to others for theft, a warrant and other factors. Police said there possess been 10 arrests, including seven for public intoxication. That led to neighborhood complaints and an effort by crew to determine a firmer stance with rule-breakers and idea extra activities within the guts, that will house up to 70 folks. “I'm not certain what all helped the most, but now we possess considered a decline since we made all of these adjustments,” said Phoebe Trepp, of Willis Dady Homeless Provider, which staffs the safe haven.

Usa today Kansas

Lawrence: Douglas County legislation enforcement officials are present process working against and planning to coordinate investigations and prosecutions of sexual assault conditions after facing criticism final year for charging females with making faux sexual assault complaints. Douglas County District Attorney Charles Branson said final week that other adjustments planned within the county encompass a job force and persevering with education on handling trauma and sexual assault conditions, The Lawrence Journal-World experiences. In October, Branson brushed aside a case against a girl who was charged with filing a faux rape file, after a Lawrence police detective said in an affidavit that he belief the girl reported the rape resulting from she was inflamed the person enthusiastic was seeing one other lady. Advocates for sexual violence victims criticized Branson and investigators, saying filing such charges would construct victims reluctant to file sexual assaults. Two connected conditions were brushed aside in December.

Usa today Kentucky

Frankfort: The notify would ban the paddling of college students under a invoice that acquired Home passage Friday after a couple of notify lawmakers recalled being on the receiving ruin of disciplinary swats. The measure, which may presumably restrict colleges from using corporal punishment, cleared the Home on a 65-17 vote. It now goes to the Senate. Kentucky is amongst 19 states that peaceful allow corporal punishment as a acquire of college self-discipline. Republican Fetch. Steve Riley, the invoice’s lead sponsor, said corporal punishment fails to change behavior in a obvious map. One other GOP lawmaker, Fetch. Kevin Bratcher, said he was paddled in high college after being caught sneaking out with some classmates to bite tobacco. “All it genuinely did was construct us location up a guardsman the subsequent time,” said Bratcher, who voted for the invoice. The paddling, he said, was delivered by a longtime college main who is now his Home colleague, Democratic Fetch. Charles Miller.

Usa today Louisiana

New Orleans: The Mississippi River was under 15 toes at a key gauge within the metropolis Friday, main the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to full, for now, a “flood fight” protocol calling for each day levee inspections. The corps said in a data release that it was transferring from a “Allotment II” flood fight, implemented when the river hits 15 toes at New Orleans’ Carrollton Gauge, to a “Allotment I,” maintained as prolonged as the river is between 11 and 15 toes. Allotment I calls for twice-weekly levee inspections. And it requires special waivers for particular forms of construction or other work on or just about the levees. Allotment II is implemented when the river hits 15 toes on the Carrollton Gauge. It calls for each day inspections and no waivers for the prohibited work.

Usa today Maine

Bath: The notify has been the distance of larger than a half-dozen attacks on folks by foxes within the past few months, prompting one metropolis to determine a behold at trapping the animals. Foxes are customary in Maine and are continuously scared round folks, however the notify’s mid-float space has been the distance of assorted attacks within the past six months. One man, Norman Kenney of Bath, was attacked twice by a rabid fox on separate occasions and needed to undergo cure for the harmful disease. The Bath Metropolis Council voted unanimously Feb. 5 to utilize $26,000 to lay out traps to spend foxes. The metropolis is partnering with the U.S. Department of Agriculture on the effort, WGME-TV experiences. Maine will most likely be within the midst of its annual season for fox looking out. The season begins in October and runs till the ruin of February.

Usa today Maryland

Annapolis: Meals made of animal tissues cultured from cells exterior of the customary animal, or made of vegetation or bugs, may presumably not be labeled “meat” within the notify under a Republican-backed invoice within the General Meeting. The invoice is subsidized by Sen. Jason Gallion, R-Harford and Cecil, who referred to because it “fact in marketing.” Eleven other GOP senators are co-sponsoring the legislation. “Laboratory-grown meat will change into extra prevalent in due course, and this invoice will proactively reside these ‘franken-meat’ choices from being labeled as meat,” Gallion said at a invoice listening to Thursday. Meanwhile, Dan Colgrove with the Plant Based mostly entirely mostly Meals Affiliation instructed lawmakers that “we comely assume it’s pointless. ... These merchandise wish to be very clearly marked as veggie, vegetarian or plant-primarily based entirely. That’s acquire of the level, to present choices to meat merchandise.”

Usa today Massachusetts

Boston: Sensible some of the glorious unions within the metropolis has filed a lawsuit against Mayor Marty Walsh’s administration alleging repeated violations to the union’s collective bargaining agreement. The lawsuit filed by Boston Fire Opponents Local 718 names the metropolis and Fire Commissioner Joseph Finn and cites three conditions wherein a firefighter’s predicament was changed from injured leave to unwell leave or light responsibility, the Boston Globe experiences. This transformation forced firefighters to either work or dissipate unwell time. The union alleges that the metropolis acted “in an arbitrary manner and with out justification or location off” in altering three firefighters’ predicament. The union has requested within the swimsuit for a judicial ruling to reside the metropolis from taking connected action till the matter is solved thru arbitration. A listening to is scheduled for Wednesday in Suffolk Superior Courtroom.

Usa today Michigan

Lansing: A predominant resolve within the Michigan Republican Discover collectively whose Lake Michigan property is eroding urged that political donations would fall until GOP lawmakers make something to lend a hand, primarily based entirely on a memo. Peter Secchia, a Gigantic Rapids businessman, has been a Republican donor and activist for decades. His establish is on the notify occasion headquarters in Lansing, and he served as U.S. ambassador to Italy when George H.W. Bush was president. Secchia despatched a letter in November to Republican leaders within the Legislature, noting a $6 million property loss in Ottawa County resulting from terribly high lake ranges eroding the shore and perilous homes. “There appears to be like to be shrimp hobby within the Michigan Home of Representatives or the Michigan Senate,” Secchia’s memo said. “This lack of grief mystifies me. Our property values will diminish tremendously … hence, our donations will also diminish.”

Usa today Minnesota

Minneapolis: The American Civil Liberties Union of Minnesota referred to as Friday for an investigation into the conviction of a black teen who is serving life in prison, after the Linked Press uncovered serious flaws and inconsistencies within the police probe. Myon Burrell was discovered responsible within the 2002 shooting of an 11-year-ragged lady, who was killed by a stray bullet whereas doing homework at her eating room table. Sen. Amy Klobuchar, who was the tip prosecutor in Hennepin County on the time, has highlighted that case all some of the best ways thru her political occupation as an illustration of getting justice for victims. ACLU-MN Executive Director John Gordon says not glorious was there no physical proof tying Burrell to the scene, however the AP investigation also showed police made no try to talk to Burrell’s key alibi and discredited co-defendants who said he was not on the scene. Sensible one of them, Ike Tyson, has for years insisted he himself was the triggerman. Police also relied carefully on jailhouse informants, who were given diminished sentences for coming forward.

Usa today Mississippi

Purvis: A court docket ruling is ending an ethical fight over the voluntary merger of two college districts in south Mississippi. The notify Supreme Courtroom dominated Thursday that opponents waited too prolonged to file a lawsuit. In April 2017, the Lumberton Public School District and the Lamar County School District voted to consolidate. The idea integrated some territory and affected some college students in Pearl River County. The Mississippi Board of Training permitted the thought in June 2017, and the 2 districts consolidated in July 2018. Lamar County colleges officials agreed to handle Lumberton colleges open and possess Lumberton college students succor these colleges. The officials also employed Lumberton lecturers. Pearl River County officials filed a lawsuit to oppose the merger, arguing that college students who reside in Pearl River County must succor college in Pearl River County.

Usa today Missouri

St. Louis: Two local black educators possess fashioned a strengthen team to inspire extra black college students to pass into teaching and to present them a neighborhood to network with one one more. Darryl Diggs, a 37-year-ragged assistant main at Parkway South Excessive School, co-founded Dim Males in Training-St. Louis in 2019 along with Howard Fields, the main at Givens Elementary in Webster Groves. The men created the organization for other black folks, particularly men, to genuinely feel real in their educated roles in metropolis or suburban colleges. The team on Friday hosted the Remark of Dim Educators Symposium on the College of Missouri in St. Louis, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch experiences. About 1,300 folks signed up. Amongst the audio system was Kelvin Adams, superintendent of St. Louis Public Colleges, who says recruiting lecturers of coloration is a top precedence for the district, the set 79% of college students are black in contrast with 37% of educators.

Usa today Montana

Kalispell: A one-eyed hawk that went missing after a weekend windstorm knocked over its enclosure at a rehabilitation facility in western Montana has been discovered protected. Bird rehabilitator Kari Gabriel climbed the ladder of a Kalispell Fire Department bucket truck with a firefighter who ragged a acquire to take the chook in a tree Thursday, NBC Montana experiences. In a Fb post, Gabriel said Hawkeye was eating on her popular food – beef coronary heart. Gabriel realized Hawkeye was missing when she discovered her cage overturned Feb. 1. Gabriel, who runs a program referred to as the Montana Bird Girl, requested the public for lend a hand buying for the hawk. The chook was spotted loads of times, and after loads of chases Thursday, Hawkeye stayed in a single space prolonged enough to be captured. Gabriel took in Hawkeye after the chook was hit by a car in 2014. The hawk may presumably not be launched back into the wild resulting from she is missing an assume about and is partly blind within the opposite.

Usa today Nebraska

Lincoln: Sandhill crane watchers are preparing for a new season in central Nebraska after a prolonged cool spell and flooding final year that stored some folks from seeing them in person. Everything is heading within the appropriate direction this year for the Crane Belief to open as scheduled March 1, said Chuck Cooper, the team’s president and CEO. As many as half 1,000,000 sandhill cranes converge on the Platte River in central Nebraska from mid-February thru mid-April, primarily based entirely on the Gigantic Island Self sustaining. The cranes hover in from their winter grounds in Texas and New Mexico and reside for roughly per week or extra to fatten up on free corn within the surrounding agricultural fields. During their time here, the cranes roost at evening along the Platte River, congregating on sandbars for security from predators.

Usa today Nevada

Las Vegas: The notify Department of Motor Vehicles has eliminated the parallel parking portion of the riding abilities test. The test peaceful meets the nationwide requirements location by the American Affiliation of Motor Automobile Administrators even with out the parallel parking component, department public recordsdata officer Kevin Malone said. The adjustments took make Jan. 13. Nevada joins loads of other states – including California, Colorado and Florida – which possess eliminated parallel parking from their riding abilities assessments. “Testing of the parking abilities wished is met by the requirements of entering, and taking flight of, a perpendicular parking house and by other car alter requirements,” Malone said. The adjustments are expected to sever back the assorted of repeat visits by drivers who can wobble every thing but parallel parking, officials said. Some riding colleges possess since stopped teaching parallel parking until a student requests it, officials said.

Usa today New Hampshire

Concord: The notify Senate has handed a invoice that can perchance perchance let certified patients develop their possess clinical marijuana. The measure permitted by senators Thursday permits designated caregivers or patients to develop up to a couple veteran vegetation, three immature vegetation and 12 seedlings every. Though the notify legalized clinical hashish in 2013, rising the plant for private utilize is presently a felony offense. Fetch. Tom Sherman, a Democrat from Rye, said dispensary charges may presumably additionally be prohibitive for patients and caregivers, and that dispensaries typically don’t lift the form of clinical hashish patients wish to treat their stipulations. The invoice now heads to the Home. A connected invoice cleared the Home and Senate final year. Republican Governor Chris Sununu vetoed it, citing public security concerns.

Usa today New Jersey

Trenton: Lying on functions to acquire tax breaks must open corporations up to prosecution, and the notify must perform an inspector customary post to behold over the company handing out incentives, primarily based entirely on a file printed Friday by a legislative committee probing the credit score. Those were comely two of larger than two dozen options within the Special Committee on Economic Pronounce’s final file, issued after virtually a year of looking out into the now-expired tax incentives and keeping four public hearings. The Chris Christie-generation tax spoil program expired June 30, that methodology that new functions aren’t being regarded as, although beforehand permitted awards may presumably peaceful be paid out. The committee’s file comes a couple of year after Gov. Phil Murphy assign tax breaks within the spotlight, citing notify auditor and comptroller experiences that raised questions about how the awards were handed out as the rationale for the advent of his possess job force.

Usa today New Mexico

Santa Fe: The notify Senate on Friday endorsed a red-flag gun invoice precipitated by concerns a couple of mass shooting final year in El Paso, Texas, and suicide prevention efforts. The invoice acquired Senate approval on a 22-20 vote, with Republicans and four Democrats balloting against it. The proposal moves to the Home, which final year permitted a connected measure that languished. Democratic Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham has immediate the Democrat-led Legislature to present new avenues for legislation enforcement to reside gun violence and better real the safety of colleges. “The coarse probability protection expose is segment of an effort to present legislation enforcement each software,” she said after the Senate vote. The invoice as presently written would allow legislation enforcement officers to petition a notify district court docket to expose the non everlasting renounce of firearms.

Usa today New York

Albany: The notify will require producers to record the utilize of doubtlessly harmful chemical substances in children’s merchandise under a new legislation signed Friday. The legislation, which goes into make March 1, also creates a children’s product security council that will expose notify environmental regulators about which chemical substances to restrict and how. In the intervening time, New York prohibits the utilize of harmful chemical substances on a person foundation. But child security advocates for years possess pushed for further comprehensive guidelines over concerns that children may presumably additionally be extra sensitive than adults to minute amounts of chemical substances. The new legislation requires producers to fragment out the utilize of certain chemical substances including asbestos. It also creates a task for notify environmental regulators to ban other chemical substances down the avenue. Gov. Andrew Cuomo, a Democrat, signed the invoice into legislation Friday.

Usa today North Carolina

Raleigh: Hundreds of folks took to the streets Saturday in an annual march and rally designed to demand action on social and financial justice factors within the notify. The 14th annual Mass Just March on Raleigh drew strengthen from the notify NAACP, larger than 200 other organizations and their supporters. Participants marched to the ragged Capitol building for a 14-level “Folks’s Agenda” that involves laws that lengthen effectively being care protection, perform livable wages, redress racial wrongs and grant collective bargaining for authorities workers. The occasion started in 2007 with the leadership of then-notify NAACP president the Rev. William Barber of Goldsboro, who is now president of the nationwide organization Repairers of the Breach. From the handfuls of indicators and banners folks carried all thru the march, a transparent message emerged: Alternate begins on the ballotbox.

Usa today North Dakota

Fargo: Circulation over, meat. An agriculture study middle on the North Dakota Remark College campus is plugging vegetation as an quite lots of protein source. The Northern Crops Institute is planning a 3-day course this spring to present recordsdata on the basics of plant-primarily based entirely meals and uncover participants invent the appropriate merchandise. The seminar is focused on foodies, restaurateurs, food bloggers and “luminous grand any person with an hobby in it,” institute spokesman Grant Christian said. Many eating places and like a flash food chains possess unprejudiced not too prolonged ago bolstered their menus with vegetarian choices. That involves the introduction of meatless tacos, meatless burgers and meatless wings. The course is scheduled for Could 19-21 on the Northern Crops Institute. This would perchance presumably feature flowers comparable to soy, wheat and pulses and encompass arms-on working against in using raw substances and putting in place final merchandise.

Usa today Ohio

Columbus: Opponents of a invoice that can perchance perchance repeal the ban on using fireworks on inner most property are warning the legislation may presumably result in harmful penalties. Most modern legislation permits customers to legally spend fireworks in Ohio but requires they be taken out of the notify internal 48 hours of spend. Critics of the legislation possess worthy for years that it’s broadly overlooked. The invoice sooner than the Home Commerce and Labor Committee would repeal the transport requirement and allow folks to spend and utilize person fireworks in Ohio. Roughly 1 in 5 of the 10,000 serious person fireworks injuries as soon as a year are to the assume about, Sherill Williams, president and CEO of the Ohio affiliate of Prevent Blindness, testified Wednesday. Other opponents encompass firefighters, the Ohio Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics, and veterans serious about fireworks’ influence on vets littered with post-demanding stress disorder.

Usa today Oklahoma

Oklahoma Metropolis: A team that desires to change how the notify’s legislative and congressional district lines are drawn has refiled an initiative petition in hopes of bringing the peril sooner than voters. Folks No longer Politicians refiled a new version of its petition Thursday, two days after its customary petition was struck down by the Oklahoma Supreme Courtroom. In that ruling, the court docket said that the proposal itself was constitutional but that a shorthand description of the measure, referred to as a gist, didn’t adequately represent the proposal. The team desires to fetch about 178,000 signatures in 90 days to qualify for the ballot. The idea calls for an ruin to partisan gerrymandering of Oklahoma’s legislative districts by putting in place an self reliant, bipartisan commission to procedure district lines. The commission would encompass an equal quite lots of of Republicans, Democrats and participants unaffiliated with either occasion, selected by a team of retired notify Supreme Courtroom and appellate judges.

Usa today Oregon

Salem: The associated rate to hike and camp in three of the notify’s most smartly-most unique barren space areas acquired’t be as high as expected. The U.S. Wooded space Provider introduced Thursday that it may perhaps perchance perchance designate $1 for a day allow and $6 for an in a single day allow to enter the Three Sisters, Mount Jefferson and Mount Washington barren space areas starting this summer. That’s a plunge from the $4 to $11 per person, per day, that was proposed earlier this year and got an overwhelmingly destructive response from over 13,000 public comments. The allow system is supposed to restrict overcrowding and environmental anxiety in 450,000 acres of Oregon’s most elegant but fragile backcountry. Permits will wobble on sale at Sport.gov starting April 7 and be required from Could 22 to Sept. 25, even supposing some key questions regarding the system peaceful wish to be finalized.

Usa today Pennsylvania

Philadelphia: The final jailed member of the unconventional team MOVE was launched from prison Friday, primarily based entirely on an attorney who represented the participants in their parole appeals. Brad Thomson, an attorney for Chuck Sims Africa, posted on Twitter that the person had been launched. Africa was the final of the so-referred to as MOVE 9 to be paroled after being convicted of third-stage cancel within the 1978 shooting loss of life of Officer James Ramp in Philadelphia. The 9 participants of the anti-establishment, back-to-nature team were every sentenced to between 30 and 100 years in prison. The 1978 standoff with police came after officers tried to evict the team from its Philadelphia headquarters, saying they got noise and sanitation complaints from neighbors. The participants barricaded themselves internal and possess said they assume Ramp was killed by pleasant fire. Police contended there was gunfire exchanged from every aspect, but MOVE participants possess denied returning gunfire.

Usa today Rhode Island

Windfall: The Metropolis Council has introduced a resolution to rename a bridge to honor a local civil rights chief. The Windfall Journal experiences the Windfall River Pedestrian Bridge would be renamed after Michael Van Leesten, who died final year. Van Leesten helped co-discovered and served as CEO of the Opportunities Industrialization Center of Rhode Island, a nonprofit that affords job working against, occupation counseling and other functions for folks from underserved communities. “Michael Van Leesten was a plush buddy of mine and a ray of inspiration and hope to many,” Ward 3 Metropolis Councilwoman Nirva LaFortune said. “He was also a bridge builder and architect of connections, and that's the reason so many folks assume it'd be appropriate to establish the bridge after him.” Council participants voted Thursday to send the resolution to the Committee on Metropolis Redevelopment, Renewal and Planning for approval.

Usa today South Carolina

Charleston: College college students can lend a hand archaeologists procedure the partitions ragged to protect the metropolis larger than 250 years ago. College students from Clemson College and the College of Charleston will utilize ground-penetrating radar in downtown Charleston’s Marion Square to fetch precisely the set the fortification referred to as the Hornwork was constructed, the American Battlefield Belief said. The 30-foot-immense wall inbuilt 1758 stretched for three metropolis blocks and also had a ditch or moat. The wall was made of tabby, which was a combination of seashells, sand and lime, the organization said. The Hornwork played a main segment in Charleston’s defense over the subsequent loads of decades, including all thru the British siege of the metropolis in 1780 all thru the Innovative Battle. A pair of of the wall stays considered in Marion Square, and archaeologists possess an approximate notify of the fortifications, however the radar can lend a hand pinpoint precisely the set it was constructed.

Usa today South Dakota

Pierre: Democrats referred to as spoiled Friday after the Republican-dominated notify Home shot down their efforts to permit Native Americans utilize their tribal IDs to register to vote. The defeat precipitated loads of Democrats to stage accusations of voter suppression. Republicans yell their resistance is all about conserving voter registration real. “One of many best ways our balloting system is determined up does disenfranchise particularly Native American voters,” said Fetch. Ryan Cwach, a Yankton Democrat. In the 2018 customary election, tribal communities reported some of the bottom voter turnout figures within the notify. Native Americans construct up 9% of the notify’s complete inhabitants. Fetch. Shawn Bordeaux, a Mission Democrat who is a member of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe, said tribes within the notify possess improved the quality of their IDs in most contemporary years. They encompass addresses, holographics and other security features; are known by federal companies; and may presumably additionally be ragged to determine flights.

Usa today Tennessee

Lawrenceburg: A tornado that hit this southern Tennessee metropolis has damaged loads of headstones within the neighborhood’s 2d-oldest cemetery, the set the actor and ragged U.S. Sen. Fred Thompson is buried. Lawrenceburg Metropolis Administrator Chris Shaffer said officials acquired’t know what number of headstones were damaged by Wednesday’s EF-1 tornado at Mimosa Cemetery till loads of broad oak trees are cleared away, WTVF-TV experiences. WTVF says the trees narrowly overlooked Thompson’s gravestone. Sensible one of Tennessee’s senators from 1994 to 2003, Thompson was also an actor who appeared in on the least 20 motion pictures and the TV series “Legislation & Thunder.” He died in 2015. Local resident Jennifer Could instructed instructed WTVF she was riding nearby when she seen something diversified regarding the cemetery. “Strolling thru here and seeing this breaks my coronary heart resulting from these are relatives,” Could said.

Usa today Texas

Houston: The Texas Legislative Dim Caucus has introduced it’s working on a invoice that can perchance perchance ban discrimination primarily based entirely on hair textures and styles continuously connected to fling following the suspension of a black high college student just about Houston. Remark lawmakers, accompanied by black officials and advocates, introduced the CROWN Act at a press convention Thursday, the Texas Tribune experiences. CROWN stands for Discover a Respectful and Originate World for Pure Hair, and the measure would offer protection to against “unjust grooming insurance policies which possess a disparate influence on black children, females, and men” in offices and public colleges, CROWN Coalition imply Adjoa Asamoah said. The coalition is a nationwide alliance of organizations working to full hair discrimination. The invoice is a uncover of strengthen for college students treasure Deandre Arnold, who was suspended from Hill Excessive School in Mont Belvieu and acquired’t be in a neighborhood to succor commencement until he cuts his dreadlocks.

Usa today Utah

Provo: Residents getting married within the notify can now acquire their marriage licenses online, officials yell. The notify auditor’s space of labor has already launched the digital software task on its net space, KUTV-TV experiences. Most states require the couple to seem in person, maintain out bureaucracy and up-to-the-minute identification, a task some clerks possess referred to as labor-intensive. “You and your major other handed that to 1 of our clerks, who then retyped every thing you had comely handwritten,” clerk Amelia Powers Gardner said, citing the possibility of human error. Utah County factors about 10,000 marriage licenses as soon as a year, county officials said. The 10-minute online task requires both folks to utilize one smartphone or computer to maintain out a acquire and decide pictures of themselves and their IDs so the system can ascertain identities, officials said. The couple is then emailed a PDF doc with the marriage license, officials yell.

Usa today Vermont

St. Johnsbury: A guinea pig discovered on the aspect road was taken to the local police department for safekeeping, and firefighters and police are already clamoring to handle it if an proprietor doesn’t advance forward. The furry creature was discovered Wednesday by a pedestrian walking down Railroad Aspect road, Cpl George Johnson instructed the Caledonian Myth. Firefighter Phil Hawthorne said that if no proprietor comes forward, the guinea pig must change into a resident of the firehouse. Det. Daniele Kostruba also volunteered to determine the creature house as a pet. The animal, dubbed Harvey by dispatcher Karen Bernard Law 1st viscount montgomery of alamein, was given food, water and a box to handle in. Police requested that the proprietor of the guinea pig wobble to the public security building on Critical Aspect road to substantiate possession of the animal and decide it house.

Usa today Virginia

Richmond: Democratic notify lawmakers are advancing legislation to ban the sale of assault weapons and the possession of high-capacity magazines despite fierce opposition from gun house owners. A notify Home committee on Friday developed legislation backed by Gov. Ralph Northam to ban the sale of certain semiautomatic firearms, including standard AR-15-style rifles, and silencers and to restrict the possession of magazines that retain larger than 12 rounds. It’s the most formidable measure proposed by Northam and one which’s met the most pushback, including from participants of his possess occasion. Gun house owners packed the committee room Friday and erupted in advise when the measured handed. Capitol Police cleared the committee room of virtually every spectator after the vote. Heated debates over guns possess dominated this year’s legislative session, as Virginia has change into ground zero within the nation’s raging debate over gun alter and mass shootings.

Usa today Washington

Olympia: Lawmakers possess handed a invoice that can perchance perchance change a tax that’s supposed to construct it simpler for the notify to pay for the Legislature’s promise to construct college extra affordable. The Seattle Occasions experiences that initially, the 2019 package planned to utilize a change-and-occupation tax to pay for a measure making elevated education extra accessible, starting within the 2020-2021 college year. The new invoice, subsidized by Sen. Jamie Pedersen, D-Seattle, replaces the tax lawmakers permitted final year with a diversified version of the levy. Apart from to to worries that there wouldn’t be enough funding, lawmakers were concerned final year’s version was so advanced that there would be grief collecting it. The new measure, which has handed the Senate, now heads to Gov. Jay Inslee. If he indicators it, the legislation would decide make April 1.

Usa today West Virginia

Charleston: Gov. Jim Justice says he has committed $1 million in notify funds to lend a hand participation within the 2020 census, saying federal officials possess instructed him the notify is “within the back of” within the effort. “We would like to acquire cranking,” he said at a press convention Thursday with Census Bureau officials who inspired residents to note for non everlasting jobs helping with the count. An estimated 74% of West Virginians answered to the previous census in 2010, primarily based entirely on the governor’s space of labor. Justice said an absence of participation within the count has led to the notify missing out on “tens and tens of hundreds and hundreds of bucks” in federal grant funding. Justice said U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross has twice instructed him that “West Virginia’s within the back of” within the census.

Usa today Wisconsin

Madison: The College of Wisconsin Machine Board of Regents permitted tuition increases Friday for nonresident and graduate college students at six institutions. Increases will vary between 1.5% and 25% at UW-Milwaukee, Oshkosh, Platteville, River Falls, Stevens Level and Whitewater starting this autumn. The universities yell they need extra money to quilt instruction, raises, recruiting college, technology and dealing against clinical professionals. Republican lawmakers possess stored tuition frozen for in-notify undergraduates since 2013. Machine officials possess prolonged complained that the freeze has hamstrung them financially and possess tried to compensate by raising out-of-notify and graduate tuition over the years. The board permitted the thought unanimously all thru a meeting at UW-Madison. There was no dialogue.

Usa today Wyoming

Rock Springs: A public comment duration has started for a draft helpful resource management idea amendment and associated draft environmental influence commentary for wild horse management in southern Wyoming, land company officials yell. The Bureau of Land Administration has made the draft amendment and connected documents accessible for evaluate and comment till April 30, the Rocket-Miner experiences. The draft amendment would update wild horse management direction all some of the best ways thru the White Mountain, Big Divide Basin, Adobe Town and Salt Wells Creek herd management areas, officials yell. The analysis considers systems for the herd management areas, which encompasses about 4,400 square miles, company officials yell. The Bureau of Land Administration hopes to present protection to wild horses and burros on public land thru its wild horse and burro program, company officials yell.

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