#with 2014 High Hopes an EXTREMELY close second (for the same reasons)

[zeroaddzero]

Hottest Bruce era you can only choose one no overthinking - go!

Gotta go with Born in the USA - specifically late 1985. I am not immune to a goofy guy with big muscles

[fantastic-bby]

Books & Poems I love

Hello, I am just dumping my favourite books and poems here because I like them and I want people to read them too bcs they're cool. Disclaimer: I haven't read some of these books in a REALLY long time, so the explanations might be a bit off since this is mostly what I remember from when I had read them. All will be under the cut and I hope someone out there finds these as enjoyable as I do!

Books

1. Huntress by Malinda Lo

Nature is out of balance in the human world. The sun hasn’t shone in years, and crops are failing. Worse yet, strange and hostile creatures have begun to appear. The people’s survival hangs in the balance.

To solve the crisis, the oracle stones are cast, and Kaede and Taisin, two seventeen-year-old girls, are picked to go on a dangerous and unheard-of journey to Tanlili, the city of the Fairy Queen. Taisin is a sage, thrumming with magic, and Kaede is of the earth, without a speck of the otherworldly. And yet the two girls’ destinies are drawn together during the mission. As members of their party succumb to unearthly attacks and fairy tricks, the two come to rely on each other and even begin to fall in love. But the Kingdom needs only one huntress to save it, and what it takes could tear Kaede and Taisin apart forever.

I cannot express how much I adore this book. It's so well-written and the entire book feels like such an adventure to read. I have to warn everyone who will read this that it is quite violent. I also love the WLW inclusion which is carried throughout the story. It's also mentioned in the beginning that Kaede does not want to marry a prince because she could never marry a man. It's filled with lots of romance and it's fantasy because I'm a sucker for fantasy reads.

My sister had bought this book for me after I had lost my first copy and my cat peed on my second copy. The first time, I had bought it from a Big Bad Wolf sale in about 2014. The second, I ordered it through Kinokuniya, but I'm pretty sure you can get it off of Amazon as well.

2. Teardrop by Lauren Kate

Never, ever cry . . .

Seventeen-year-old Eureka won't let anyone close enough to feel her pain. After her mother was killed in a freak accident, the things she used to love hold no meaning. She wants to escape, but one thing holds her back: Ander, the boy who is everywhere she goes, whose turquoise eyes are like the ocean.

And then Eureka uncovers an ancient tale of romance and heartbreak, about a girl who cried an entire continent into the sea. Suddenly her mother's death and Ander's appearance seem connected, and her life takes on dark undercurrents that don't make sense.

Can everything you love be washed away?

This is also a book that I've read multiple times. I've even read the sequel, Waterfall, but I don't think I actually got around to finishing it since I bought it right before my exams. Another love and fantasy novel, it covers a lot of grieving and pain that Eureka goes through after losing her mother and at one point, she actually wishes it was her that had died during the accident.

Her relationship with Ander is quite sudden since he just shows up out of nowhere and just happens to know practically everything about her. I, personally, enjoy this book out of the amount of angst that it's filled with. It's very well-written and I still have the first copy that I bought at the same Big Bad Wolf sale that I had gotten Huntress. I think I had gotten the sequal at Kinokuniya as well (?), but I'm not entirely sure because it's been a really long time.

3. Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi

No one knows why Juliette's touch is fatal, but The Reestablishment has plans for her. Plans to use her as a weapon. But Juliette has plans of her own. After a lifetime without freedom, she's finally discovering a strength to fight back for the very first time--and to find a future with the one boy she thought she's lost forever.

Another very angsty book. It centres around Juliette, a girl who, for some reason, kills everyone she touches. It's also written in First POV and in the format of a journal. It feels more personal because some of the lines are striked through to show a thought that Juliette had in the moment of writing that she decided to replace with a different approach instead.

The beginning is basically Juliette being locked away in some sort of a prison because of her 'gift' and she writes to keep herself from going crazy, but then one day some guy is put into the same cell as her. It's another romance novel and also a kind of superhero novel It also gets pretty... ahem... seggsy... at one point, but it's a good read.

I've read the entire series aside from Restore Me. I have it, but I haven't gotten around to reading it yet. Shatter Me is also from the same Big Bad Wolf sale as the other two lol. Juliette is also trapped in a love triangle at one point, but I won't get into it. It also gets a bit violent, but slightly less graphic than Huntress is and is also another 'self-discover' kinda book. (can you see a theme here that I read lol)

4. Winter's End by Jean-Claude Mourlevat

Four teenagers escape from their prison-like boarding schools to take up the fight against the tyrannical government that murdered their parents fifteen years earlier. But only three of the friends make it safely to Jahn's restaurant, the headquarters of a secret resistance movement, where they discover the astonishing power that one voice can have in the fight for freedom.

As the battle rages, the three friends are in a race against time to save their companion, who has been forced to participate in a deadly, ancient game for the amusement of his captors. Will this new generation prevail, or are they destined to meet the same grisly fate as their parents?

This is also extremely angsty. It's also pretty violent as well, so that's a warning for whoever will read this. Once again, well-written, nice flow to the story and I just really like this book. There's a lot of uncovering in the book that makes you go HUH because the four students end up uncovering a lot about their government and the secrets that involve the four of them.

It has a very heavy dark tone to it, which I really enjoy. It's a bit different from the other three which is less fantasy and more of a dystopian book. It's a very heroic, determination feeling that follows the students as they journey throughout the book. Also something that follows the students are a group of dog-men... things... that I'm pretty sure I actually had small nightmares imagining when I had read this in around 2013 or 2014.

Poems

Disclaimer: Half of these were poems I did essays on in high school aside from L. These are my illustrations of it and they're the ones that stood out to me when I had first read them.

1. Daffodils by William Wordsworth

I read this in high school when I was taking English Literature. It's a poem that Wordsworth wrote after his wife had passed away. I love the way it's written and William Wordsworth is one of my favourite poets. It's filled with the feeling of being lost and rediscovering the joys of the small things in life. There's a lot of imagery that refers to the flower, daffodil, and overall, it's just a a very soft themed poem.

I think the reason this poem stood out to me was because I was feeling a bit lost at the time I read it (the end of highschool) and I was desperately trying to find something I could relate to in some way.

2. Winter by Andrew Young

Another one that contains a lot of imagery. It's a poem about the beauty of Winter and how, while it's seen as a dark and gloomy season, it has hidden beauties that you can see if you're able to look past the initial image of it.

This poem in particular, I'm pretty sure I have a soft spot for in my heart mainly because of the soft spot I have for Winter in general.

3. London by William Blake

This is a more dark toned poem. It covers what old London used to be like with the raging poverty at the time. A lot of child labour and sex workers that would struggle with making money when they would accidentally get pregnant.

It's quite a depressing poem that I like because of the dark undertone and I, personally, really enjoy William Blake's works.

4. L by Bernice Chauly

L is a poem about how her daughter had cut her hair right after going to the hairdressers. While Chauly's daughter is crying when she yells at her, Chauly is reminded of when she had done something similar when she had just turned five years old. She thinks back to it and remembers that, at the time, all she wanted was to see her late father.

This is also more heavy set and it makes me think of the way children must feel when they lose their parents at such young ages.

[kisipie]

‘Just Sorry?’ A Mini Series (Chapter 12/??)

Author’s Note: After an extremely long hiatus I’ve finally updated this series. Thank you to everyone who has kept an interest in this story. It really means a lot to me. Enjoy the read~  Warnings: Following chapters will contain violence, mentions of drugs usage, sexual situations, daddy kink, rough sex and angst.  Previous Chapter: 11

“Jaebum….Jaebum…Come on you can’t be serious right now I have to study”. 

“But it’s been weeks since we’ve been alone.” 

I know it’s been weeks but I really have to pass this nursing mid term. If not whose going to patch you up after your next fight with Yongguk?” 

The soft giggle coming from the girl across from Jaebum made him want to grab the nearest pillow and fling it at her. But he couldn’t resist seeing the sparkles that seemed to dance across the young woman’s eyes as he looked at her. 

Reina. 

The only person in this world who knew Jaebum better than he knew himself. The pair had crossed each other’s paths the first night of spring back in 2014. The newest member to Yongguk’s team had been invited to the leader’s annual spring bash. Not only was the party a great way for the men to be entertained but it was also easier for the leader to find out who could keep a level head when things got too tense. Gambling and alcohol was one of the party’s main activities and with those two came many arguments that soon turned into physical altercations. Jaebum wasn’t much of  a gambler nor a drinker. But he did allow himself a couple of drinks to loosen up. As the brunette sat back and scanned the clubs scenery he couldn’t help but to notice a particular girl standing a few feet away at table with a group of what seemed to be her close girl friends. Her hair was curled with auburn highlights in at one moment black hair but when the flashing lights hit it Jae could tell it was definitely a deep brown. Instead of the classic tight dress he saw most girls wearing at the club, se had chosen to wear a oversized denim jacket over a fitted sharking  sliver crop tank top and black fitted jeans . Her lips were glossed just enough to be seen through the darkness of the room and her eyes were decorated with a simple black eyeliner. The brunette must have been staring too long because he noticed one of her friends nudging the girl at her side to signal that she was being checked out. Eyes locking with hers; Jaebum was given a welcoming smile and nod by the other. Using that as a sign to go over and talk to the enticing stranger, he politely waited for the right moment to tap her shoulder and engage in a conversation. “I haven’t seen you around Yonnguk’s Clubs before. Must be a newbie huh?” The girl spoke first as she extended her hand out. “I’m Reina…And you are?” Taken back by not having the first introduction. Jaebum quickly collected himself and pulled his lips back into his confident smile as he shook her hand “I’m Jaebum…Ah, but I hate the word newbie. It makes me feel like a freshman in high school or something.” Gaining a smile from Reina as a response. He moved closer to her as his shoulder brushed against her bare one. Just a slight touch but it was enough to make Jaebum’s hairs raise from sudden goosebumps. “Well I’ll let my cousin know that. But I can’t assure you that’ll work; he’s a real dick” Renia laughed at her own words and looked over towards the bar to see Yongguk with his arm around a girl who she was sure he didn’t even know what her name was. Rolling her eyes and taking a quick sip of her rum and coke Reina looked up at Jaebum not surprised to see the shock in his face. “Yeah I know…. A real cockblock right?” She joked which made the other laugh even though he was still quite thrown off but the new found information. “So you’re the cousin he always tells everyone to look out for. He did mention your name before but I should punch myself for not putting two and two together. Jaebum responded but the interest he had in the young woman didn’t go away one bit. Being even more confident in his movements he placed his drink next to hers as he extended his hand out. “Now  I definitely have to see what the fuss is all about. Care to show me some dance moves?” Reina looked the other up and down for a few seconds before looking over at Yonnguk once more. Instead of his attention being on the girl in his lap as he was now seated comfortable in a booth. His eyes were on his cousin. Cocking his eyebrow up surprised to see her with one of his newest recruits, he usually didn’t like the thought of Reina dealing with someone he worked with but Jaebum was different than the rest. Only being with his team for 9 months. Jaebum had already been pulling in double of what Yongguk’s senior members were pulling for drug dealing. That’s what happens when a young rich teenage boy with equally wealthy friends decides to give the fast life a chance. Yongguk never really understood the reason why a kid with such a bright future would want to cross paths with him but all he knew that if Jaebum kept bringing in revenue like he was doing the past few months Yongguk might have a prodigy in the making.. Getting a quick nod of approval from her cousin, Reina smirked and accepted Jaebum’s dance proposal. Within seconds the two were on the dance floor. Bodies pressed close against one other, Jaebum knew he had to find out more about her. Reina had a confidence about her that made him shiver. The pure fire he could see through her eyes could burst anyone into flames if she desired and that made him hooked. “I would like to spend more time with you” Reina whispered into young man’s ear as she pressed her ass so she could feel his bulge that she knew was already there. “Just let me know a time and place beautiful.” Jaebum responded to her moves as his hands wrapped firmly around waist. Pulling her into him as they swayed to the beat, he leaned close against her neck just enough to inhale the scent what seemed to be something floral with a hint of spice to it. A mixture9 of some sort. Not daring to kiss her skin, he wanted her to tell him what to do. She was definitely in control and they both knew it. “How about within the next twenty minutes in my apartment?” She turned to look at Jaebum and smirked when he stopped his movements but his hands stayed wrapped around her frame.  Leaning in to have his lips brush briefly against hers, he could feel his dick hardening at the thought of getting her alone.

“Let’s go then.”

___

“So you’re in school for nursing? That’s pretty fucking cool” Jaebum spoke out as his left index fingers slowly traced the soft outline of Reina’s spine. Messy strands of hair sticking to the girl’s forehead, her hands held a pillow against her naked chest as she laughed. “Cool?! I’ve been losing my hair stressing over school work. That’s what I get for wanting to be a good person” She joked but the slight redness of her cheeks gave away that she was happy for the other’s compliment. “Thank you though. It’s my second year in this program and I still feel like I have so much to learn. Which I do. I  mean- I want to learn as much as I can to help someone.” She went on and attempted to fix her hair but the strands went right back against her face. “I’ve wanted to be a nurse since I was 12. It’s the only thing I could actually see actually working out for me.” A soft smile made it way to Jae’s face. He couldn’t help but to picture a young Reina on career day stating her goals to her classmates with the same determined look on her face that she wore now. “Well I know you’re going to be a great nurse. I can sense it” He replied as he allowed himself to stare at the other a few more seconds than needed. “Thanks” Reina replied before the two sat in a comfortable silence. With that silence, there  was a shift in the air that Jaebum felt.  An excitement of the unknown that waited for them once the sun made it’s way back into the sky. Jaebum knew he didn’t want the encounter with Reina to be a one night thing and he could only hope she felt the same. Sneaking a glance at the girl, his eyes traced over the lines of her neck, the soft curves of her cheeks and the plumpness of her lips as he recalled the first kiss they had shared only a few hours ago. Before he knew it, the sun was making itself known to the world as the birds nearby welcomed it. Taking it upon himself to start getting dressed as Reina was still trying to fix her hair; Jaebum was about to grab his shirt before her voice stopped him. “So….Breakfast?” He heard her say but he couldn’t  tell if she was nervous or just tired. However,  once he looked at her. The same excitement and curiosity or what the future could hold was sparked in her eyes just as it was with him. Placing his shirt back to where it once was, he nodded and leaned in to kiss her forehead. “Breakfast” Silence Unlike most people in the house, Jackson loved to be alone for at least 2 hours throughout the day. It allowed him to center his mind and body after a long day of work and to also mentally prepare for the following day. Being the right hand to Jaebum could be mentally draining at times. Especially now that he would be working with Yongguk. The blonde knew everything he needed to know about the leader of group X and didn’t like any of it. Especially what went down between Jaebum, Reina and him.  When Jackson first agreed to work with Jaebum, he already obtained all the evidence he needed about the other. It was amazing the knowledge a little asking around the right people in Seoul could get him. Jaebum went from drug dealing with the gang ‘X’ for three years to building his construction company that seemed to grow into a powerful million dollar company within a year. Of course such a quick growth raised a few eyebrows with authorities but with the power of Jaebum’s uncle being the head of Seoul’s Police Department. He was able to turn a blind eye to the brunette’s risky past in order to keep the family’s name clean (And a yearly donation of $100,000 to the department didn’t hurt). Even with all this information,  the blonde agreed to keep Jaebum’s company reputation intact as along as he was able to advise the young CEO on future business deals from what first started off to be for China but soon turned into him handling both China and South Korea’s deals. It was a lot of work but the pay and friendship that came with working with Jaebum and the five other young men was something he wouldn’t change for the world. He truly gained six brothers within the Im Company However, these days things were different. Never would he thought Jaebum would work with Yongguk again. Not after everything that’s happened between the two. But here he was looking over the camera just like Jaebum had done before to make sure none of the X boys had done anything stupid. Everything about this situation was unethical but when was observing workers sneaking drugs into the company’s warehouse was? He had already went through the plan with Jaebum after they briefly spoke a few days ago . The deal was simple. Yongguk would use Im Warehouse to store 10  grates of cocaine that would be sold within the month to a few of his business partners. Jackson suggested that Jaebum get the names of the buyers but the other refused. It was to be a one time thing only. No need to know everything the gang leader was doing. “I can’t fucking believe I’m doing this right now” Jackson cursed but kept his gaze on the computer not wanting to miss a single second of what was going on. ‘X’ members Jongup, Daehyun and Zelo had one more grate to unload. If an ordinary person was to watch the screen they would tell the blonde he was crazy for watching his employees work so hard for over an hour from his home office but Jackson knew better. One wrong step and the whole company would be shut down. Thankfully everything was happening after hours and it was only the three men in the warehouse to witness the grates being stored. Once the items were placed in a dark corner of the warehouse that would get confused with the other inventory. Daehyun wrapped them in several layers of plastic and placed a paper that read “PURCHASE ON HOLD” which was a sign for other employees not to move until instructed. A soft sigh of relief left Jackson’s lips as he watched the ‘worker’s exit the warehouse to most likely report back to their boss. Pulling out his phone, his right thumb tapped against the device as free hand grabbed his jacket then turned off the computer. 

[Text: Jaebum] It’s done. This better be the last time. I mean it Jae I don’t like this at all.

With the text sent, Jackson could only hope his best friend knew what he was doing. If not, things were only going to get worse. But he couldn’t let Jaebum’s greediness jeopardize the plans he had in store. Especially for him and Y/N.

[taylorswift-mine]

My Taylor Story

@taylorswift you probably will not see this, but nevertheless I try again and hope you will understand my story (originally published on Medium.com): I am a self-proclaimed Taylor Swift superfan who wants to share his remarkable story with others. I have only shared this full story with one other person and have struggled with how to communicate it, but here it goes. Since my elementary and middle-school days I had suffered from body image issues, thinking that I was too heavy and needed to lose weight. For three years I would revamp my diet, count calories, weigh myself almost daily, and slim down. Deeply entrenched feelings of self-worthlessness would ensue. I had to receive perfect grades — nothing less than a score of 96% on an exam would suffice — and if I wasn’t “perfect” or “near-perfect” I was undoubtedly worthy of draconian punishment. I would look in the mirror and was nearly disgusted with myself. In April 2009, I was formally diagnosed with anorexia nervosa, also joining a special group of the mere ten percent of anorexia nervosa patients who are male. For four months, I participated in out-patient care with other high-schoolers suffering from anorexia and bulimia (and yes, as the only male). In the midst of my eating disorder treatment, I was beset by a string of other diagnoses: depression, anxiety (hello, Ativan!), and Asperger’s syndrome. Unfortunately I was very close to ending my own life that summer. During times of tumult many of us can turn to music to find comfort, and for me, Taylor Swift’s “You Belong With Me” became an instant hit. Being in high school made relating to that song fairly natural. I recall the conversation at our clinic’s lunch table the day after Kanye West’s infamous interruption of Taylor’s winning of the MTV Video Music Award in September. What struck me most about Taylor was the fact that she was so pure and unsullied. She was so innocent (excuse the song reference). Contrast her and her personality to the rest of the mainstream world of entertainment and there simply was (and is) no comparison. While most music stars exuded raunchy, troubling behavior in an overtly coarsened culture or went from child star to drug addict, Taylor stood alone among role models for the younger generation. Although my eating disorder was officially under wraps by the summer of 2011, what remained was myriad fundamental issues — mentally, emotionally and socially. While my body weight was normal and I was no longer malnourished, nearly all of the underlying causes of my eating disorder still lingered: depression, anxiety, a near total void of self-worth, and social awkwardness. I would spend some lunches sitting by myself at school and walking around school thinking people abhorred me. Inwardly, I still felt as though I deserved to feel miserable. While I share what may be a conventional, ubiquitous story about how her music helped me through a particularly trying time in my life, my story runs much deeper. Like so many twenty-somethings, I fell in love with Taylor’s music, especially her “Speak Now” and “RED” album. Although I never attended either of those tours, I deeply yearned for such a chance; unfortunately, that desire never came to fruition. Unfortunately for me, I began to experience another problem stemming from my eating disorder, which turned into an all-out addiction. Since I had previously met the criteria for Asperger’s and still juggled severe depression, it remained difficult for me to make friends. Complicating matters, the fact that I was (and remain) an extreme introvert did not play to my benefit. Meeting new people could be daunting but was even worse with my feelings of worthlessness. In what is all too common an occurrence for today’s younger generations, on November 2, 2013, suicidal thoughts engulfed me again. Thinking my days were numbered, I was nearly convinced that suicide would win the fight for my life. On a brisk night soon thereafter, I prayed to the Lord at school. I prayed for a friend, a girl whom the Lord would send to me to comfort me and somebody to whom I could relate and talk. Little did I know what would happen next. During Lent of 2014, I experienced the all but mandatory “there is no God” phase which people experience especially in young adulthood. Among various thoughts, I thought, “If there is no God, then there can be no love. Nobody loves me.” The night before my birthday, I turned on “Saturday Night Live.” Now, “SNL” is not a show that I watch and I had not watched it for some time. It just so happened that Ed Sheeran was the musical guest. During host Seth Rogen’s monologue, Taylor Swift made a surprise appearance. (Clearly Taylor was there in support of Sheeran, although this possibility had not crossed my mind.) Suddenly I felt a sense of comfort. At the time I didn’t know what had happened. But by the grace of God my disbelief phase was very brief. It took me a few weeks to process what had happened, but I realized that I had received a sign from God. Over the next nine weeks I would receive communication ad infinitum from the Lord through Taylor, mostly through her songs, especially through her landmark 2010 hit, “Mine.” Specifically, the signs conveyed the message, “I am here. I exist” from the Lord. To this day “Mine” is my favorite song not only since I enjoyed it but for this reason as well. How did I know that these signs were from God and what were the signs telling me? For starters, songs of Taylor’s would come on the radio — admittedly not too uncommon — but at totally unexpected times. Her songs also came on in various stores. They would also begin almost right after I entered the car or the store. One thing that I had learned about the Lord was He works on His own timetable, not ours. Surely the Lord had to have known where I would be at all those times. What was more, the continuous nature of the suspected signs was too suspect for them to be mere coincidence coming from Taylor Swift. I also saw her in newspapers and on television, all at times when I happened to be in the right place. “Mine” proved especially to be an important song to me: In overcoming my second addiction, I remembered the words of Taylor Swift in “Mine”: “Hold on. Make it last. Hold on. Never turn back.” Seeking out more information, I spoke with my psychologist who had helped me since my eating disorder days. I asked her for counsel on whether I was truly receiving divine signs. Confirming my signs, she told me, “Because that’s how He [God] knows how to reach you.” Indeed, part of the reason that Taylor was the perfect medium through which the Lord sent me signs was the ease with which I would recognize the signs — and, having as much righteousness and being as selfless a person as she is, Taylor fit the mold. In terms of further explaining how I knew these signs were divine, I would tell others that I just knew. My countenance confirmed it time and again. Furthermore, I would experience a feeling of joy deep down. This emotion was the most beautiful, enthralling feeling I have ever experienced. The Lord cared enough to communicate with me, His son! (And He cares about you, too.) I have dreamed of meeting Taylor Swift and speaking with her at length for a good 5+ years. I have desired to share my story with her and to thank her for what she has done for me (i.e., “changed my life,” in the words of my psychologist). I wish that there was some way I could repay her. I am currently working on a memoir of my eating disorder, recovery, and mental health experience. This TSwift story is going to be expanded upon in more detail and given its own chapter. I am so, so blessed that God sent her and her music into my life. What an amazing gift it has been. I recall the byline of one Swiftie’s Instagram account: “If you ever get sad, just remember that you were born to live in the same time period as Taylor Swift.”

[amberprice4everbrazil]

Chloe de Lis lied to Rachel and the Lis comic.

Well, I just saw the fourth issue of Life Is Strange Dust Comic, the conclusion I got is that Chloe de Lis lied to Rachel, and this spawned Rachel that we see in Lis, which is hated by many and extremely misunderstood.

The evidence in Lis, Bts and Lis comic that Chloe lied to Rachel, are:

1.       The conversation of Chloe and Sera in BtS.

Chloe: Do not you think the truth is more important?

Sera: The truth? What’s so good really, Chloe?

Chloe: I can not lie to Rachel. I will not do that. She trusts me and I do not want to ruin it.

Sera: If you love her, you will lie to her. You can do whatever you want, Chloe. You have the power. What you have to decide is whether you will protect Rachel, or cause her even more pain. So please tell her that I’ve never been here. Let her have the peace she can. Without me.

In BtS supposedly tried to explain the behavior of Rachel in the first game through the history of its mother, but that did not make sense.

Why there are three endings in BtS:

A) One where Chloe tells the truth, but Rachel did not know Sera.

B) Another where Chloe tells the truth and Rachel knows Sera (to get this there are two ways, you can ask for Rachel’s bracelet and deliver it to Sera or you convince Sera in her dialogue with Chloe, the latter being the most difficult).

C) If Chloe tells the truth, Rachel know Sera, and the Rachel de Lis would not exist, because Sera would be an example for her not to engage with drugs and not the other way around. Sera did her rehab and was clean. Another thing Rachel does not even smoke in BtS.

2.       They stayed in Arcadia Bay. Rachel was always able to get away on her own, she told at the kissing scene that she had the money for it (“Allowance money” or her father’s bribe, as she herself said. What James hid, in addition to Sera), but as we saw on BTS, she wanted to get away with Chloe. So why did not Rachel de Lis escape by herself? As Chloe lied to her, she continued her relationship with her family initially, a relationship that was one of Rachel’s reasons for wanting to flee, was reestablished by Chloe’s lie, and this we see in the epilogue where Rachel dines with James, Rose and Chloe and she seems happy, the momentary stability this brought led them both to wait longer to get more money to flee in the future, but what could happen if Rachel found out later that Chloe lied to her. What would happen to Rachel’s relationship with Chloe, and her relationship with her parents? Chloe the only person in the world Rachel could trust, see what Rachel tells Chloe in the scene in her room, after discovering that her father lied about her biological mother in BtS: I think you’re the only one in the world who I can trust. Yeah, I believe she later discovered Chloe’s lie, and it destroyed her relationship with her parents, especially her father, who possibly stopped giving her money, or she did not want to be supported by him any more , leading her to run out of money. The initial money Rachel had could have been spent by her and Chloe during their momentary peace of fun, or she could have spent that money to pay for the dormitory in Blackwell, of course, if she could not get a scholarship for it since his grades were high. At last she clearly wanted to move there because of her broken relationship with her parents, because there would be no other reason for it, after all she had a house in the city, and the dormitories were only for people who came from other cities and had no a home in Arcadia Bay. The reason she did not run away on her own after discovering that Chloe had lied to her was possibly because she had no money or could not let Chloe, which seems to be so, why there is a lot of evidence in Lis that, though subtle. Maybe she forgave Chloe, but their relationship did not remain the same, but I think she still wanted to get to run away with Chloe. Rachel was in love with Chloe, in BtS we see this, in option, something more or friendship, if you choose the “friendship” option, you can see Rachel’s sincere disappointment. She asks the question: Oh, is that all? And before she sets fire to the oak, Rachel says with the same disappointment what was happening between them was something special, even if to Chloe everything is just friendship. In this case, I even like the “friendship” option. Because here you can see very well how Rachel related to Chloe (you can still choose a kiss in the second episode). And even if Chloe did not speak directly about her feelings, Rachel herself shows it. Chloe was probably Rachel’s first love. In addition, Rachel de Lis owes money to one person, carved from a tree near Prescott Dormitory in Blackwell, we see the following inscription “Rachel Amber owes me money. Pay Bitch”

3.       Rachel did not have a good relationship with her parents in Lis, they did not search for her, they acted cold, they did not believe something wrong could have happened, Chloe tried to persuade them but failed, why she did not have a good relationship with Rachel’s parents either.

4.       The strongest evidence that Chloe lied to Rachel is in Life is Strange Dust comic, which implicitly demonstrates that Chloe de Lis, lied to Rachel and feels guilty about it, Chloe in reviewing her in an alternate reality demonstrates this in your speeches and expressions, you can see in the image. She says: Rachel I … Rachel waits! Rachel! I’m sorry, Rachel. It may be that Chloe feels guilty for not being able to save Rachel, but besides, I think she feels guilty for never telling Rachel herself the truth and their relationship has gone wrong because of it, so they do not run away and Rachel died in the Dark Room. Of course, the fault of Rachel’s death was not Chloe’s, but her lie may be one of the things that, which led to Rachel dying in this reality. Because at the end of the fourth edition of the comic, there is a reality where the two managed to escape and are together in Santa Monica in 2014, this reality must be the reality where Chloe told the truth, and both fled early from Arcadia Bay. Thus Rachel did not die in the Dark Room. Rachel’s personality in BtS shows that she would flee Arcadia Bay much earlier with Chloe, after Chloe tells the truth. See the BtS cut off dialogue in the hospital scene, if you choose the Tell Rachel All option, the conversation is as follows.

Chloe: Your father … he’s working with Damon.

Rachel: What?

Chloe: They found your mother. She kidnapped him. There’s almost been killed.

Rachel: No. That’s not … that’s not true.

Chloe: I was there. I saw all this. It was so awful. But it’s true.

Rachel: No.

Chloe: I’m so sorry.

Rachel: No. No, no, no!

Rachel is shocked and upset, and James and Rose presumably hear her and enter the room, worried. The two of them go to her, but Rachel reaches for James. Chloe gets up and tries to hug Rachel, and she resists at first, but lets Chloe comfort her. Rachel starts to cry and looks angrily at James, who looks very sad and distressed.

Anyway, Rachel deserved more in the comic, they should have explained her behavior in it. Rachel deserved more on Lis and Bts as well.

Lis is about, overcoming the problems of real life and redemption. Everyone has a second chance:

Max had a chance to redeem himself after years of ignoring Chloe;

Chloe had the chance to redeem himself, to be a selfish person;

David had a chance to redeem himself from being a violent stepfather;

Frank had the chance to redeem himself from being a pedophile and an idiot;

Victoria had the chance to redeem herself, to be a bitch;

Nathan had the chance to redeem himself from being a broken and psychopathic teenager;

EVEN THE JEFFERSHIT’S BITCH WILL HAVE AN OPPORTUNITY TO RECOVER IN THE JAIL!

But how was Rachel’s image? It was that of a traitor, a liar and manipulative, because hardly anyone notices that she is the doe that guides Max during the game to do justice to her and Chloe that they would die in the hands of psychopaths. That her disappearance makes Max and Chloe have more contact and be together during that week.

At least the end of the comic she is alive, at least this they gave her, the opportunity not to die in a plastic bag in a dirty hole in a pile of crap!

One I say one thing to you, Rachel is a misunderstood character because it was poorly developed.

In Lis, we spent the fucking game looking for Rachel, who is clearly important to the story and to Chloe

What do we know for sure about Rachel since the first game? The development of Rachel’s character is the biggest shit I’ve ever seen in a video game and the story of the character. She was hardly a character in the first game to begin with. She was a plot item. But even the plot items can be explained, but not Rachel, why?! Oh, I remember, because DONTNOD wanted her to be the mysterious character. Fuck that! With that they turned her into a negative character.

In BtS, they excluded almost everything about her relationship with Chloe, which clearly showed that she was developed to be Chloe’s romantic coupl. What is the purpose of having a game that forces players to make multiple decisions, just to have the same final shit ?! There was no closing, no choice mattered, no hope, nothing. It was not bittersweet. It was just mean and annoying.

This is not about Amberprice vs. Pricefield, it’s just Rachel’s plot and character development, it’s about the message they passed on to lesbians.

They could give Rachel a proper story and an adequate explanation, not this painful and messy story about being harassed by a pedophile drug dealer, and killed by a pedophile psychopathic teacher.

Something bad happened to her that broke her even more and led her down a very lonely and dark path. There is a lot of evidence pointing to this in the first game. In addition, there is a possibility that Rachel was murdered only during episode 1 because of the doe and the stench of her pit, meaning she may have been in Jefferson’s hands for six months.

This game has a beautiful conceptual art, design and characters, an interesting setting of storytelling, a lot of potential, but fail miserably in delivering a meaningful story and plot, not giving us real power to decide! CHOICES DO NOT CARE IF THE END IS ALWAYS THE SAME! Life is still Strange, but besides … It’s fucked up, bad, because no matter how much you struggle to overcome your problems and be happy, you’ll end up dead or having to lose or sacrifice someone you love, especially if You’re a lesbian. Sounds good, right? This is the life that Lis and BtS show.

BTS, LIS and the comic are not good for to give hope to the lesbians. But, BTS is a more realistic game than the LIS, because in our reality, it is not possible to go back in time, which makes BTS easier to associate with reality.

If the characters were real people, Max would not talk to Chloe again, Chloe would die in a bathroom looking for Rachel, and since they did  take Rachel’s image as a traitor, LIS gives a very bad realist message about relationships between women.

As if relationships between women were impossible and failed, and it would only be possible in fantasy, where it is possible to go back in time, this is the message that LIS passes.

BTS should be the best lesbian game in history if they had put all the content, it would be sad and tragic in one of the finals, but at least we would have confirmation that Rachel and Chloe’s relationship was real and true, and that their relationship would continue if they had not been murdered by psychopaths, so the comic shows this in a reality, but still does not explain the story of Rachel.

Anyway, Chloe in Lis, the character that represents to the stereotype of a lesbian, had the image of muggle and selfish, abandoned by the best friend of childhood, betrayed by the girlfriend, killed by a psychopath, could only be saved in a reality fantastical where people are able to go back in time, and still later in this fantasy reality wants to return to girlfriend who betrayed her. Is that their message Dontnod? What it generates it in the mind of the inattentive person when she associates Chloe, Rachel, being lesbian and the reality, this: Being a lesbian is bad and sad, if this game were with real people.

So I thank writers AmberPrice, Pricefield and others who did not make Rachel a motherfucker in their stories, why Rachel and Chloe deserved more. We lesbians deserve more.

Sorry, for the spelling mistakes, I’m Brazilian, I do not speak English.

[ayemanolld]

The History of how can i get scholarship to study in usa

Study Abroad for African Students

Study abroad experience could have a profound impact on the person: from changing one's career route and social circles to improving international engagement.

Students from Africa, for several years, have been at the pursuit of high-quality education offered all around the world. Motivated by strong aspirations and livelihood opportunities, the African students are looking beyond what their home nation can provide.

Study abroad experience can have a deep effect on the individual: by changing one's career route and social circles to improving global engagement. A recent study conducted in the University of Minnesota has shown that international students become civically involved and, despite the expectations, are most likely to return to their home states.

Why Does African American Students Search Education Abroad?

Depending upon the character of a person and their career objectives, international students from Africa can study in prestigious African American universities or venture to go further and travel to the USA, Canada, UK, Germany, Ireland, Turkey, Dubai or many other destinations in Europe or Asia.

In the last decade, South Africa has seen that the second largest number of pupils in Zimbabwe, Nigeria, Libya, and other African nations.

Below is a brief overview of the entry statistics published in 2018.

What motivates African Study abroad students?

As the following graph reflects, students from the area are strongly motivated by career ambitions and the possibility of improved livelihood opportunities. The answers reflected in the graph are for potential undergraduate students, but the exact very same patterns hold for master's and PhD students as well.

Nearly three in four respondents indicate that progressing into a higher degree qualification is a significant element in their interest in pursuing an undergraduate degree abroad. Almost half see a foreign undergraduate degree as a method of advancing into their current career path, and a similar proportion see a foreign diploma as a requirement to enter their intended profession. Finally, almost a third (29 percent ) see study abroad as a way of improving their career prospects.

The graph illustrates clearly how weighted the poll answer is to these factors, relative to private or cultural motivators such as chances for exchange or personal interest.

Where to study abroad?

According to the Newest QS Applicant Survey, the US and Canada are the top destinations for African students to proceed with their research. Around 36% of pupils refer going to colleges in both US and Canada for undergraduate and master courses. The figures showed 31%, 25% and 23% of pupils then prefer the UK, Australia, and Germany respectively.

China is yet another popular destination that has seen a stride in the flow of African students to their very best universities. The amount of pupils from Africa took a whopping spike of 95,000 in 2014, and the country has since vowed 30,000 more scholarships to encourage more mobility from Africa. France has also been bringing pupils from French-speaking countries like Algeria and Cameroon.

The factors for students from Africa to opt for these countries is highly influenced by the caliber of instruction and over all the Financial Aid. Many universities in Europe also need less or no tuition prices.

The investment in a diploma from a US institution was viewed positively by global employers for decades. The breadth of the curriculum encourages students to explore topics far beyond their own major. This offers a broader understanding of the world along with a more open perspective.

Such skills and strategies are much valued by employers and also have developed a powerful entrepreneurial spirit among US graduates. The rapid growth of Silicon Valley in California is one particularly shining example of the advantages of a US Higher Education. Study in the USA and follow your own American dream.

Study In Canada

Canada offers a exceptional chance to research completely in English, entirely in French or on a bilingual program. With a population of roughly 10% of its southern neighbor, the USA, Canada has lots of space. Because of this, there are clear pathways to immigration post-study. Canada is renowned for its friendliness of its people, its safety, and its quality of life.

These points have made Canada an increasingly popular destination for research among international students generally. Approximately 20 percent of the Canadian population speak French as their native language. English, in 56%, is by far the predominant language throughout the country. It is important to remember if you are out of a French-speaking country.

Study Abroad agencies mainly work with associations in the English-speaking portion of Canada. This is only because we believe proficiency in English is now a vital skill for today's worldwide mobile workforce. If you plan to operate in Canada after graduation that a solid understanding of English is going to be essential. However, for people who do prefer to study in French, Seed is able to provide extremely inexpensive options too.

At all levels that the British schooling system has an superb global reputation for academic achievement. The UK is home to a number of the most famous schools, colleges and universities in the world.

It's the achievements of graduates of the UK higher education system which generated the nation's academic reputation.

Study In Germany

Germany is the economic powerhouse of Europe together with the continent's largest economy. The earliest research universities in the world were in Germany and several are still available now.

The United Nations Development Programme puts Germany as 6th about the Human Development Index. This is forward of more popular study abroad destinations the USA, United Kingdom, and Canada.

The German Government reports that there are around 375,000 international students enrolled at college . That's over 12% of the total amount of university students in the nation. Around 18,000 African students, each year choose Germany for university abroad.

The German education system is particularly strong in the STEM Subjects -- Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics. No surprise as the nation is home to famous engineering and manufacturing brands. STEM topics are popular course choices with African American study abroad students.

Study in Turkey

Turkey isn't just a gorgeous destination for travellers but also attractive to many foreign students. Research in Turkey can be relatively cheap in comparison with many other nations overseas. There has been huge investment in universities there in the past couple of decades. Because of this, Turkish colleges offer high-quality education and top-of-the-range centers, but in a really reasonable rate, to equip their students with the essential knowledge and skills required to excel in the professional world.

Public universities mostly offer applications delivered entirely in Turkish, though it is also likely to find some bilingual (Turkish and English ) applications and even some programs delivered in French select institutions. There are not any programs taught completely in English in public universities and so any African American student seeking to research in public universities will need to study the Turkish language initially and successfully pass the Tomer Exam (the Turkish equivalent to the TOEFL Exam).

Private universities offer a lot of programs taught entirely in English. We'll mainly focus our attention on private universities in this guide as we do strongly believe in the global work opportunities that are going to be offered to you in the event that you study in English.

Dubai is located in one of the seven United Arab Emirates and is currently home to specialists from all over the world. It is famous for its extravagant architectural projects, including the world's tallest building, the Burj Khalifa. Dubai has a famously fast-growing economy and is known for innovation. Of course, the luxury shopping adventures also make it a dream destination for many foreign students.

Ireland is a European nation famous for its civilization the world over. It's admittedly a known study destination for African students than its close neighbour, the United Kingdom. However, as we hope to show in this manual, there are tons of good reasons to think about Ireland for your studies.

The Irish men and women are proud of their civilization and thus work hard to maintain it. Ireland is an Anglophone country which makes it appealing for both African American students who speak English and those who wish to enhance theirs. Ireland is home to students from other parts of the planet too. The Majority of the students that study in Ireland come in the European Union, Switzerland, the UK, and North America.

Ireland has a younger population than many Western European nations and also a highly educated people. The nation is often referred to as the Celtic Tiger because of its strong financial performance over the previous 30 years.

Ireland has a pioneering and can-do spirit. Irish expertise in agriculture has helped turn arid lands in Africa into fertile farming. As well as an upstart Irish airline business, Ryanair, revolutionised air travel within Europe, becoming the largest European airline concerning passenger numbers pre-COVID.

Unlike the united kingdom, Ireland is a member of the European Union (though it is not part of the Schengen visa zone). In recent years, as a result of its highly educated workforce, Ireland has drawn multinationals, such as Amazon and Microsoft, to set up European HQs here. Since 1st February 2020 it's the largest Anglophone state over the European Union, which will be likely to make it an appealing foundation for additional international companies seeking to set up hubs inside the European Union's Single Market.

Ireland is a really safe and gorgeous country with great places to visit. With such rich history it wasn't a surprise Capital Dublin was designated a UNESCO City of Literature in 2010.

African Students in the U.S.

Now, not all of those students listed above are visiting the U.S., needless to say, and next week we'll discuss more about where else these students may be studying and how to contend with the other destinations African students are considering and choosing.

Source Country

Students Studying in the US

Nigeria

12,693

Egypt

3,701

Kenya

3,322

Ghana

3,213

Ethiopia

2,118

South Africa

2,040

Morocco

1,563

Nigeria leading the bunch isn't a surprise, as it has the highest GDP of African American markets, and thus has more students that can afford a U.S. schooling. The remainder of the list all have economies in the Top 8 across the entire world, except for Ghana, that isn't much behind at 11th.

While another 47 nations in Africa aren't listed above, virtually all of them are sending students to the U.S. and other nations for tertiary schooling.

It may seem, by taking a look at the above list, which Nigeria is the crystal clear place to spend your recruiting efforts. But remember, with greater student numbers comes more competition from other schools overseas.

Do not discount the rest of the countries with fewer students already traveling into the U.S., as those might be untapped markets that would give you more bang to your recruitment buck. As we said in a prior blog article about Africa, the less traveled route represents the competitive route. Consider how fine it would be to be among the top-ranked universities in a college fair.

According to this 2018 report from IIE only 4% of overseas students in the U.S. were from sub-Saharan African nations. (The statistics for people from northern African nations is combined with those in the Middle East, which account for 2 percent.)

Who are these students and what are they studying?

African students bring an invaluable perspective and drive to campus, says WENR in this slightly older post.

Based on Africa.com, the jobs with the most growth in Africa's expanding economies are those in agricultural technology, agricultural management, telecommunications, structural engineering, civil engineering, electrical engineering, structure, actuary science, and geophysics. Tourism and health care will also be on the upswing.

If your organization has a solid program in these areas, there are some frequent flyer miles to be earned and students to be recruited.

Can they afford it, though?

But while the language barrier might not be a significant challenge, a financial one definitely is. The cost for one year for an American school greatly surpasses the average yearly family income for some African nations.

What incentive is there for universities to offer larger financial aid bundles to these international students? Word of mouth to get you personally. Bear in mind that college-aged population thrive? That is a lot of mouths and the subsequent generations will probably be learning about education choices from those who went before them.

WES predicts that,"Given that the price of successful recruitment efforts and the need to set up both dollars and recruiters , such networks of alumni can provide an abundance of rewards with relatively few dangers."

Prerequisites to Study Abroad

The requirements to study abroad for many international students would count on the nation, the college, and also the program. However, there's a typical set of files necessary to apply to all universities.

Transcripts from Schools

Recommendation Letters

Statement of Purpose

For Undergraduate programs, students would have to pass the typical global entry exams like SAT based on the country you are applying to. The African American matric qualification alone may not qualify one to the necessary level.

For postgraduate programs, you'd require completion of degree certification and would be required to write the country and course-specific entrance exams.

The minimum standard requirements for Universities will change across the nations. Also based upon the medium of instruction, students will have to take language tests to demonstrate the level of proficiency.

Aside from this, to get a student visa, you would also need to show Confirmation of enrollment, proof of sufficient funds and meet the medical insurance requirements.

Writing a comprehensive entrance essay or personal statement puzzles many foreign applicants. The majority of non-native English applicants do not feel confident in their application papers. That is why many of them use this platform to order essay online:

All the countries mentioned above are focusing on widening their educational prospects by enticing more international students. As a part of it, many scholarships are offered by the many organizations to encourage pupils. Listed below are a couple of notables ones for pupils from Africa.

Mastercard Foundation Scholarship: Canadian and American Universities have booted up the Mastercard to offer a $500 million initiative to offer scholarships for 15,000 students, especially from Africa. The University of Toronto, McGill University, the University of British Columbia are among the top colleges offering the scholarship applications.

Australian Development Scholarships (ADS) for African Pupils: An initiative from the Australian Government to provide fellowships and financial help for 1,000 postgraduate students from Africa.

The Beijing Government Scholarship (BGS): Provided by the Beijing Municipal Government that supplies a full tuition fee for international students studying in Beijing.

French Government (Eiffel Excellence) Masters and Ph.D.. Scholarships: Scholarships of Masters and Ph.D. students from developing countries majoring in technology, science, economics, law, and political science.

VLIR-UOS Training Scholarships in Belgium: Offered for pupils from African nations with preference given to girls who take available master and training programs in English.

Language Language Proficiency

Students will need to provide evidence that they have achieved a certain amount of English language proficiency.

These will be the commonly accepted tests.

IELTS Academic Module

TOEFL

VU English EAP

These tests must be taken no less than two years prior to beginning the course.

The majority of African students prefer to choose a degree in technology or business studies. In European nations notably languages, art, and human northeastern university canada sciences are also popular topics followed by legislation and political science.

Students from African countries are wanting to go abroad to countries offering them better standards of living. The ability to keep in the nation after finishing the training course is also becoming a significant deciding factor. Nonetheless, it is also common for pupils to return their expertise to their home states and contribute to strengthening their market.

Every country has something to offer, and it is ideal to pick the course based on academic and individual tastes.

Information sources and financing for Study Abroad

Almost six in ten prospective students look to education agents for assistance in identifying and exploring options for study abroad. However, the QS survey clearly indicates that most pupils make significant use of online channels as well, especially organic search, institutional sites, school choice websites, and social websites. Between 80% and 100% of survey respondents stated they make extensive use of all of these online tools.

The other striking feature of student mobility from the region is that the dominant role played by third party funders, particularly in the kind of government or company scholarships. As the following picture reflects, personal or family financing plays a major role for many students from the region.

The standing of funding resources illustrated here reflects the prominent part of third party funders (and also the significance of affordability variables ) that we've observed elsewhere for key markets in the area, especially Nigeria, Kenya, and Ghana.

The agent recruitment channel is still developing in Africa. Many of these service providers are small operations and brand new to the job. They are determined and eager to sign new contracts -- unlike most of their colleagues in China and India who have become extremely discerning about which universities they will support. We've fulfilled a number of agents in the African nations at the ICEF Miami workshop and highly recommend this opportunity to meet and evaluate the options.

Contrary to the recruiting agent systems in China and India that are highly developed and have grown to a challenging community of super bureaus with many unstructured (and often uncontrollable) sub-agents, you will find opportunities to develop valuable relationships with many of the agencies that are growing in Africa. This recruitment station is a site topic all of

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Arteta’s Midfield Choices The Key As Arsenal Face Tottenham Hotspur In Uncharted Territory

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Arteta’s Midfield Choices The Key As Arsenal Face Tottenham Hotspur In Uncharted Territory

LONDON, ENGLAND – DECEMBER 03: Mikel Arteta the Arsenal Manager before the UEFA Europa League Group … [] B stage match between Arsenal FC and Rapid Wien at Emirates Stadium on December 03, 2020 in London, England. (Photo by David Price/Arsenal FC via Getty Images)

On Sunday afternoon, Arsenal will travel the few miles down the Seven Sisters Road to Tottenham for one of the oddest North London derbies in memory. Not just for the Covid backdrop and the tentative return of 2,000 socially-distanced fans to the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, but because Arsenal go into the game fourteenth in the Premier League PINC and Tottenham first.

It wasn’t supposed to be like this. It wasn’t supposed to be like this when José Mourinho pulled on his Tottenham pyjamas last November, reputation dented by the tumults he engendered at Chelsea and Manchester United and abhorred by a substantial portion of the Spurs fan base for his perceived negativity in demeanor and tactics. And it certainly wasn’t supposed to be like this when Mikel Arteta surfed back into town just under a year ago, riding a wave of hope that he might be Pep Guardiola Mk. II.

Yet here we are. And the polarized context only adds to the tension. Arsenal are desperate for their first derby away win since a single goal from Tomas Rosicky gave them victory at the old White Hart Lane in 2014. Three points would take them within five of Spurs and give confidence and morale a much-needed boost after heated, clear-the-air talks midweek.

LONDON, ENGLAND – JULY 12: Jose Mourinho, Manager of Tottenham Hotspur looks on ahead of the Premier … [] League match between Tottenham Hotspur and Arsenal FC at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on July 12, 2020 in London, England. Football Stadiums around Europe remain empty due to the Coronavirus Pandemic as Government social distancing laws prohibit fans inside venues resulting in all fixtures being played behind closed doors. (Photo by Michael Regan/Getty Images)

Spurs, meanwhile, are looking at the bigger picture. As José Mourinho said in his press conference on Friday, “Because now we are in such a good position it is a little bit different. Because we want the points we are not just like: ‘We want to beat Arsenal because to beat Arsenal is the only good thing we can give to our fans.’”

Recent North London derby games have been riveting, perhaps the most entertaining rivalry in the world in pure footballing terms. We have seen four or more goals on six separate occasions over the past decade. But the current circumstances and the two men now at the respective helms point to this meeting being significantly cagier.

Mourinho’s perpetual penchant for bus parking in high-stakes derbies was on show last weekend at Stamford Bridge and even playing at home, with fans urging them on for the first time since March, it is unlikely he will throw caution to the wind.

Arteta, for his part, has proved a far more cautious manager than many expected when he first took over from Unai Emery. His most important mission upon arrival was to fix Arsenal’s leaky back line and, aside from a 3-0 drubbing at the hands of Aston Villa four weeks ago, that he has done. Especially in the games against the big six in which Arsenal have come out on top – the FA Cup semi-final and final wins over Manchester City and Chelsea and the league games against Liverpool and Manchester United – Arsenal have been reactive in the extreme, happy to sit and soak and strike on the counter.

Arsenal’s Spanish head coach Mikel Arteta (C) gives instructions to Arsenal’s English striker Eddie … [] Nketiah (L) and Arsenal’s Gabonese striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (2L) on the touchline during the English Premier League football match between Arsenal and Everton at the Emirates Stadium in London on February 23, 2020. (Photo by Tolga AKMEN / AFP) / RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE. No use with unauthorized audio, video, data, fixture lists, club/league logos or ‘live’ services. Online in-match use limited to 120 images. An additional 40 images may be used in extra time. No video emulation. Social media in-match use limited to 120 images. An additional 40 images may be used in extra time. No use in betting publications, games or single club/league/player publications. / (Photo by TOLGA AKMEN/AFP via Getty Images)

Yet when such an approach is unsuccessful – and in recent weeks Arsenal’s results have been poor – it is an invitation for criticism. Arsenal’s creative struggles have been much discussed, with talismanic striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang not finding the net from open play since August.

For that reason, the biggest questions prior to this derby surround the Arsenal manager’s team selection. After employing a lop-sided 3-4-3 formation for much of the early part of his reign, with Aubameyang on the left of the front three and Alexandre Lacazette playing through the middle, Arteta has recently moved towards a 4-2-3-1 with Aubameyang central and Lacazette left out in favor of an additional midfielder.

Yet on Thursday night in the 4-1 win over Rapid Vienna in the Europa League, Arteta paired Alexandre Lacazette with Eddie Nketiah in a more traditional front two. Lacazette dropped off to help work the ball forward and Nketiah operated as the spearhead of the attack, with Reiss Nelson and Nicolas Pepe cutting in to provide incision and invention from either flank. The central presence of Mohamed Elneny and Ainsley Maitland-Niles, meanwhile, provided the stability and dynamism to allow both full-backs to push up.

LONDON, ENGLAND – DECEMBER 03: Marcel Ritzmaier of Rapid Vienna in action with Ainsley … [] Maitland-Niles of Arsenal during the UEFA Europa League Group B stage match between Arsenal FC and Rapid Wien at Emirates Stadium on December 3, 2020 in London, United Kingdom. A limited number of fans are welcomed back to stadiums to watch elite football across England. This was following easing of restrictions on spectators in tiers one and two areas only. (Photo by Marc Atkins/Getty Images)

Maitland-Niles in particular was a refreshing sight. Asked what he brought to the midfield, he gave a Sunday league assessment of an elite display: “I had a bit of legs in the midfield, got about, tried to tackle, win the ball back, get up and down the pitch and give us a bit more dynamics, so it was good.” It was indeed and provided a bit of life to what has at times been a painfully ponderous midfield.

The fact that the game was against such weak opposition must be considered, but the performance on Thursday will have given Arteta food for thought. Might he opt for the same formation against Tottenham? If so, which players will he choose to fill the midfield and forward roles?

If Thomas Partey is fit he will certainly return, and Mohamed Elneny’s discipline and focus makes him exceedingly useful against better teams. But Arteta would be a brave man to play only the two of them and deploy Aubameyang and Lacazette as a two-pronged attack.

LONDON, ENGLAND – NOVEMBER 08: Thomas Partey of Arsenal during the Premier League match between … [] Arsenal and Aston Villa at Emirates Stadium on November 08, 2020 in London, England. (Photo by David Price/Arsenal FC via Getty Images)

With just two central midfielders – whether in a 4-4-2 or a 3-4-3 – Arsenal risk being overrun. Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg, Moussa Sissoko and Tanguy Ndombele have formed a formidable central trio for Tottenham this term and with Harry Kane, who can become the derby’s outright all-time top scorer on Sunday, also prone to drop in and make it a central quartet, Arsenal could be outmanned.

To avoid that possibility, Arteta may opt for another midfielder. Dani Ceballos and Joe Willock could both play as a box-to-box No.10 option or if Arteta really is looking for stability, he could bring in Garnit Xhaka or Maitland-Niles alongside Partey and Elneny. As Arteta himself said when praising Maitland-Niles’ versatility after Thursday’s game, the Hale End academy graduate can “play as an attacking midfielder.”

If he does go for that three-man midfield option, it would make the central areas congested, but could free up Arsenal’s full-backs and wingers to contribute more offensively.

Finding that balance between defensive security and creativity is the main theme of this second act of Arteta’s reign. How he approaches the task could not only define the outcome of Sunday’s derby but his long-term future at the club.

From SportsMoney in Perfectirishgifts

[mandlavlgn]

How to Get More Results Out of Your northeastern university sat

Study abroad experience can have a deep effect on the individual: by transforming one's career route and social circles to enhancing global engagement.

Students from Africa, for several decades, have been at the pursuit of high-quality education provided all over the world. Motivated by strong aspirations and livelihood opportunities, the African students are looking past what their home country can provide.

Study abroad experience can have a deep effect on the individual: from changing one's career route and social circles to improving international engagement. A recent study conducted at the University of Minnesota has demonstrated that international students become civically involved and, regardless of the expectations, are somewhat likely to return to their home states.

Why Does African American Students Seek Education Abroad?

Based upon the character of a person and their career objectives, international students from Africa can study in prestigious African universities or venture to proceed further and travel to the USA, Canada, UK, Germany, Ireland, Turkey, Dubai or a number of different destinations in Europe or Asia.

In the last decade, South Africa has witnessed that the second biggest number of pupils from Zimbabwe, Nigeria, Libya, and other African countries.

Below is a brief summary of the admission statistics published in 2018.

What motivates African American Study abroad students?

As the following chart reflects, pupils from the area are strongly motivated by career ambitions and the possibility of improved livelihood opportunities. The responses reflected in the chart are for potential undergraduate students, but the same patterns hold for master's and PhD students too.

Almost three in four respondents imply that progressing to a higher degree qualification is a significant factor in their interest in pursuing an undergraduate degree abroad. Nearly half see a overseas undergraduate degree as a method of advancing into their current career path, and a comparable proportion see a foreign diploma as a requirement to enter their intended career. At length, nearly a third (29 percent ) see study abroad as a way of enhancing their career prospects.

The chart illustrates clearly how weighted the poll answer is to those factors, relative to personal or cultural motivators for example chances for exchange or personal interest.

Where to study abroad?

According to the latest QS Applicant Survey, the US and Canada are the top destinations for African American students to proceed with their studies. Approximately 36% of pupils refer going to colleges at both the US and Canada for undergraduate and master courses.

China is yet another popular destination that has witnessed a stride at the circulation of African students to their top universities. The number of students from Africa took a whopping spike of 95,000 in 2014, and the nation has since pledged 30,000 more scholarships to promote more mobility from Africa. France has also been attracting students from French-speaking countries like Algeria and Cameroon.

The reasons for pupils from Africa to choose these countries is highly influenced by the standard of education and over all of the Financial Aid. Many universities in Europe also need very less or no tuition prices.

Study in USA

The investment at a diploma from a US institution was viewed positively by international employers for decades. The breadth of the program encourages students to explore topics far beyond their major. This gives a broader understanding of the world and a much more open view.

Such skills and approaches are much valued by employers and have also developed a strong entrepreneurial spirit among US graduates. The rapid development of Silicon Valley in California is just one particularly shining example of the benefits of a US Higher Education. Study in the USA and follow your own American dream.

Canada offers a unique opportunity to study completely in English, entirely in French or onto a bilingual program. Having a population of approximately 10 percent of its southern neighbor, the USA, Canada has plenty of space. Because of this, there are clear pathways to immigration post-study.

These points have made Canada an increasingly popular destination for research among international students in general. Approximately 20 percent of the Canadian people speak French as their native language. English, in 56%, is undoubtedly the predominant language across the nation. It is important to remember if you are from a French-speaking country.

Study Abroad agencies mainly operate with institutions in the English-speaking part of Canada. This is because we consider proficiency in English is an essential skill for the globally mobile workforce. If your plan is to work in Canada after graduation a strong knowledge of English will be essential. But for those who do like to research from French, Seed can provide extremely affordable options also.

At all levels that the British schooling system has an excellent global reputation for academic achievement. The UK is home to some of the most famous schools, universities and colleges on the planet.

It is the achievements of pupils of the UK higher education system that generated the country's academic standing.

Germany is the economic powerhouse of Europe with the continent's biggest economy. The earliest research universities on the planet have been in Germany and several are still open now.

The United Nations Development Programme puts Germany as 6th about the Human Development Index. This is forward of popular study abroad destinations that the USA, United Kingdom, and Canada.

The German Government reports that there are approximately 375,000 international students registered at college there. That's over 12% of the total amount of college students in the country. Around 18,000 African pupils, each year choose Germany for university abroad.

The German education system is especially strong in the STEM Topics -- Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics. No surprise as the country is home to famous engineering and manufacturing brands. STEM subjects are popular class choices with African American study abroad students.

Study in Turkey

Turkey is not only a beautiful destination for travellers but also attractive to a lot of international students. Research in Turkey can be relatively cheap in comparison with many other nations abroad. There has been enormous investment in universities there in recent years. As a result, Turkish colleges offer high quality education and top-of-the-range centers, but in a really reasonable rate, to equip their students with the necessary knowledge and skills needed to excel in the professional world.

Public universities mostly offer applications delivered entirely in Turkish, even though it is also likely to locate some bilingual (Turkish and English ) applications as well as some applications delivered in French at select institutions. There are not any programs taught completely in English in public colleges and so any African American student seeking to study in public universities will need to study the Turkish language first and successfully pass the Tomer Exam (the Turkish equivalent to the TOEFL Assessment ).

We will mainly focus our attention on private universities in this manual as we can strongly believe in the worldwide work opportunities which will be offered to you if you study in English.

Dubai is located in one of the seven United Arab Emirates and is currently home to specialists from all around the world. Dubai has a famously fast-growing market and is known for innovation. Obviously, the luxury shopping experiences make it a dream destination for many foreign students.

Ireland is a European country famous for its civilization the world over. It's admittedly a known study destination for African American pupils than its close neighbour, the United Kingdom. However, as we hope to show in this guide, there are tons of good reasons to think about Ireland to your studies.

The Irish people are proud of their culture and thus work hard to maintain it. Ireland is an Anglophone country that makes it appealing for both African American students who already speak English and those who wish to enhance theirs. Ireland is home to students from other parts of the planet too. The Majority of the students that study in Ireland come from the European Union, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and North America.

Ireland has a younger population than most Western European nations and also a highly educated people. The country is often known as the Celtic Tiger because of its strong financial performance during the previous 30 decades.

Ireland includes a pioneering and can-do spirit. Irish experience in agriculture has helped turn arid lands in Africa into abundant farming. As well as an upstart Irish airline business, Ryanair, revolutionised air travel within Europe, becoming the largest European airline concerning passenger numbers pre-COVID.

Unlike the UK, Ireland is a part of the European Union (even though it is not a part of the Schengen visa zone). In the past several years, thanks to its highly trained workforce, Ireland has attracted multinationals, such as Amazon and Microsoft, to set up European HQs here. Since 1st February 2020 it's the largest Anglophone state within the European Union, which will be likely to make it an attractive foundation for additional foreign companies seeking to install hubs within the European Union's Single Market.

Ireland is a very safe and beautiful country with fantastic areas to go to.

African Students in the U.S.

Nownot all of those students listed above are visiting the U.S., of course, next week we'll discuss more about where else these students may be studying and how to contend with another destinations African students are considering and picking.

Source Country

Students Studying in the Usa

Nigeria

12,693

Egypt

3,701

Kenya

3,322

Ghana

3,213

Ethiopia

2,118

South Africa

2,040

Morocco

1,563

Nigeria leading the bunch is no surprise, as it has the highest GDP of all African economies, and consequently has more students that can afford a U.S. education. The remainder of the list all have savings in the Top 8 across the continent, except for Ghana, which isn't far behind at 11th.

While the other 47 nations in Africa are not listed above, almost all of them are sending pupils to the U.S. and other nations for tertiary schooling.

It may seem, by looking at the above list, that Nigeria is the crystal clear place to invest your recruiting efforts. But keep in mind, with higher student numbers comes more competition from other universities abroad.

Do not ignore the remaining nations with fewer students already traveling into the U.S., as those may be untapped markets which would give you more bang to your recruitment dollar. As we said in a prior blog article about Africa, the less traveled path represents the competitive path. Consider how nice it would be to be among the top-ranked universities in a college fair.

According to the 2018 report by IIE only 4% of overseas students in the U.S. were from sub-Saharan African countries. (The statistics for those from northern African nations is united with those from the Middle East, which account for two percent.)

African students bring an invaluable perspective and drive to campus, says WENR in this slightly older article.

Tourism and healthcare are also on the rise.

If your institution has a strong program in these areas, there are some frequent flyer miles to be got and pupils to be recruited.

Can they afford it, however?

Now, while the language barrier may not be a substantial challenge, a monetary one definitely is. The price for one year at an American school greatly surpasses the average yearly household income for many African American nations.

What incentive is there for universities to supply larger financial aid packages to those international students? Word of mouth for you personally. Bear in mind that college-aged population thrive? That is a lot of mouths and the following generations will probably be learning about schooling choices from people who went before them.

WES predicts that,"Given the price of successful recruitment efforts and the need to set up both recruiters and dollars , such networks of alumni can provide an abundance of rewards with comparatively few dangers."

Requirements to Study Abroad

The needs to study abroad for many international students would depend on the country, the college, and also the program. But, there's a typical set of files required to apply to all universities.

Transcripts from Schools

Recommendation Letters

Statement of Purpose

For Undergraduate applications, students would have to pass the standard global entrance exams like SAT depending on the country you are applying to. The African American matric qualification alone might not qualify one to the required level.

For postgraduate programs, you would need completion of diploma certification and would be required to compose the country and course-specific entrance exams.

The minimum standard requirements for Faculties will vary across the countries. Also depending upon the medium of instruction, students might need to take speech tests to demonstrate the level of proficiency.

Aside from this, to get a student loan, you would also need to reveal Confirmation of registration, proof of sufficient funds and meet the health insurance requirements.

Writing a comprehensive admission essay or personal statement puzzles many foreign applicants. The vast majority of non-native English applicants do not feel certain about their program papers. That's why many of them utilize this platform to order informative article online:

Each of the countries mentioned above are focusing on widening their educational prospects by enticing more international students. As a part of this, many scholarships are provided by the many organizations to encourage pupils. Here are a few notables ones for pupils from Africa.

Mastercard Foundation Scholarship: Canadian and American Universities have partnered up the Mastercard to northeastern university registrar offer you a $500 million initiative to provide scholarships for 15,000 pupils, especially from Africa. The University of Toronto, McGill University, the University of British Columbia are one of the top colleges offering the scholarship programs.

Australian Development Scholarships (ADS) for African American Students: An initiative by the Australian Government to provide fellowships and financial help for 1,000 postgraduate students from Africa.

The Beijing Government Scholarship (BGS): Offered from the Beijing Municipal Government that supplies a partial or full tuition fee for international students studying in Beijing.

French Government (Eiffel Excellence) Masters and Ph.D.. Scholarships: Scholarships of Masters and Ph.D. students from developing nations majoring in engineering, science, economics, law, and science.

VLIR-UOS Training Scholarships in Belgium: Offered for students from African countries with preference given to girls who take available master and training programs in English.

English Language Proficiency

Students will have to give proof they've achieved a particular level of English language proficiency.

These will be the commonly accepted evaluations.

IELTS Academic Module

TOEFL

University of Cambridge Advanced

VU English EAP

These tests must be obtained no less than two years prior to commencing the course.

The majority of African pupils prefer to choose a degree in technology or business studies. In European nations especially languages, art, and human sciences are also popular topics followed by law enforcement and political science.

Students from African nations are wanting to move overseas to countries that offer them better standards of living. The ability to stay in the country after completing the course is also becoming a significant deciding factor. But it is also common for pupils to be back their experience to their home states and contribute to strengthening their economy.

Every country has something to offer, and it is ideal to pick the course based on individual and academic tastes.

Information sources and financing for Study Abroad

Nearly six in ten potential students look to schooling agents for help in identifying and exploring alternatives for study abroad. But the QS survey clearly indicates that most students make heavy use of online channels too, especially organic research, institutional sites, school selection sites, and social media. Between 80% and 100 percent of survey respondents stated they make extensive use of all these online tools.

The other striking aspect of pupil mobility from the area is that the prominent role played by third party funders, particularly in the form of government or corporate scholarships. As the following picture reflects, private or family financing plays a lesser role for many students from the area.

The standing of financing sources exemplified here reflects the prominent part of third party funders (and also the importance of affordability factors) that we have observed elsewhere to key markets in the area, notably Nigeria, Kenya, and Ghana.

The broker recruitment station is still developing in Africa. They're determined and keen to sign up new contracts -- unlike many of the colleagues in China and India who've become exceptionally discerning about which universities they will support. We've fulfilled a number of agents from African nations in the ICEF Miami workshop and highly suggest this opportunity to meet and evaluate the options.

Contrary to the recruiting agent systems in China and India that are highly developed and have matured into a challenging network of super bureaus with many unstructured (and often uncontrollable) sub-agents, there are opportunities to create valuable relationships with lots of the agencies which are growing in Africa. This recruitment station is a site topic all of its own and we will share it at a future blog post this season.

[magzoso-tech]

New Post has been published on https://magzoso.com/tech/social-media-platforms-that-thrived-or-died-in-the-decade-past/

Social Media Platforms That Thrived (or Died) in the Decade Past

“You are what you share.” These famous words from Charles Leadbeater’s renowned book ‘We Think: The Power Of Mass Creativity’ are extremely apt in today’s times. Your personal and professional resume gain extra weightage, based on the number of followers, and the number of eyeballs your social posts get. The last decade in particular, has seen the evolution of social media in tonnes of growth spurts. It saw TikTok become a household name, and Tinder became the new way for people to find partners. While some social media platforms thrived in this Internet era, some stumbled off the shelf.

The increasingly competitive market space and the ingrained fleeting nature of social media forced some platforms to shut shop as well. The biggest shockers were Orkut, Google+, Yahoo Messenger, and Blackberry Messenger or BBM, as users fondly liked to it. In the face of the competition, these didn’t manage to grab their audience’s attention long enough and were forced to close down. As far as social media is concerned, this was the decade of WhatsApp, Instagram, and TikTok.

We have compiled a list of big social media networking platforms that debuted in and reigned in the last decade, and a list of platforms that succumbed under pressure. Some of the platforms that died saw significant highs at the beginning, only to be shut down years later. This list is filled with nostalgia, heartache, and is a nagging reminder to a massive life reality check – nothing lasts forever.

Instagram 

Instagram is one of the biggest social media platforms in the world right now. The image-sharing app was launched in 2010 by creators Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger, and was acquired by Facebook in 2012. It enjoys over one billion monthly active users, and has 500 million users who use Instagram Stories every day. The app was also the second most downloaded free app on the App Store in 2018 (2019 stats still not available). Instagram allows users to share photos and videos, lets you follow friends and influencers, and even post 24-hour snippets called Instagram Stories. Currently, Instagram competes with Snapchat and TikTok in the social networking space.

Snapchat 

Snapchat arrived at a time when Facebook and Twitter were already extremely popular, and Instagram was gaining momentum as well. Launched in 2011 by Evan Spiegel, the photo and video sharing app now enjoys 210 million daily active users (as of October 2019). Snapchat played on the idea of disappearing messages, something that wasn’t tapped into before. This feature has since been aped by Facebook in all of its properties – including WhatsApp and Instagram.

Telegram 

Telegram is essentially a WhatsApp alternative, and has grown quite a bit of fan following since its launch in 2013. As of March 2018, the app enjoys 200 million monthly active users, and Telegram gets new features regularly via updates. It competes directly with WhatsApp that has taken the instant messaging world by storm.

TikTok 

Having launched in 2017, TikTok is touted to be the fastest growing social media app out there. It has almost 500 million active users, and was the third most downloaded app in Q1 2019 with 188 million downloads. This is 70 percent growth from Q1 2018. The app looks to fill the void that Vine left, but it offers a lot more. Influencing creators on TikTok are considered celebrities, and it is well on its way to world domination. The latest data from App Annie suggests that TikTok is continuing its explosive growth around the world, with the insights company ranking TikTok just behind Instagram in terms of monthly active users through the third quarter of 2019.

Pinterest 

Founded in 2010, Pinterest offers online discovery of information in the form of images, GIFs, and videos. As of August 2019, the platform has reached 300 million active users. Over time, the platform has attracted over 200 billion Pinterest pins, and over 4 billion Pinterest boards. Interestingly the gender parity is quite large, and 70 percent of Pinterest users are females.

Over time, Pinterest has attracted over 200 billion Pinterest pins

Tinder

Tinder, a unique dating app, was welcomed with open arms. Launched in 2012, it has now become quite popular amongst teenagers. Recent user statistics are not known, but a 2018 report states that over 57 million people use Tinder around the world, out of which 4.1 million Tinder subscribers pay for a premium Tinder Plus and Tinder Gold. Furthermore, Tinder is used in 190 countries, and is available in 40 languages.

Quora 

If you’re looking for answers, Quora is possibly the place to go to. From questions like ‘Which is the best way to learn programming?’ to questions like ‘Which is the best country to migrate from India and start a new life?’ – all of these are answered in detailed manner by varied users. This platform was launched in 2010, and is now a pool of some great answers. Quora’s userbase is constantly growing. It grew from 200 million monthly active users in 2017 to 300 million monthly active users in 2018.

Quora was launched in 2010, and is now a pool of some great answers.

Facebook Messenger 

Facebook Messenger was introduced as a separate app by the social giant in 2011, forcing users to download the app from the app stores if they wished to continue chatting to their Facebook friends. While user base stats of the app are not known, Facebook last year introduced AI bots for businesses to chat with clients easily.

Mastodon 

Mastodon, an open source decentralised social networking platform, is fast gaining popularity. Touted to be an alternative to Twitter, the Mastodon community has grown to over 2.2 million people. Unlike Twitter, where one corporation has full control over the rules and regulations, any user can create their own server of Mastodon and manage it.

Twitch 

Twitch is a live video streaming platform that was launched in 2011 and is prominently used for gameplay streaming. It is particularly famous in the US, and as of 2018, it enjoys 2.2 million broadcasters monthly and 15 million daily active users. The platform is owned by Amazon. As of October 2019, Twitch owns 75.6 percent of the streaming market, and YouTube is second with 17.6 percent.

Periscope 

Periscope is also a live streaming app that was launched in 2015 by Twitter. The successor of Meerkat, Periscope has managed to stand its ground in a space where many have faltered. Twitter doesn’t reveal usage stats of Periscope.

Minds 

Minds was launched in 2015, and it essentially runs on the same principle as Mastodon. The open source network rewards its users with tokens for their contribution and engagement. As of March 2018, Minds has over 1.25 million registered users and 105,000 active users.

Helo 

Helo is a newly launched social media app made for the vernacular speaking audience. The app has seen a sharp rise since 2017, and it has 50 million active users in India alone. While traditional social media apps are available in the universal language of English, Helo tries to offer solace to the large vernacular speaking audience. The app supports 13 Indian languages.

ShareChat 

ShareChat follows the same principle as Helo, and taps into the vernacular speaking audience as well. The Indic language-based social network ShareChat app has been growing steadily over the last two years. Launched in 2015, the app is now touted to be India’s largest vernacular social media platform with nearly 60 million users. ShareChat has some big investors like Xiaomi and Twitter, and latest round of funding was led by the latter. The Bengaluru-based chat app startup is today valued at over $600 million.

WhatsApp

Wondering why WhatsApp is at the bottom of this list? Because, it was launched in the latter part of 2009 missing this decade by a few months. While this list is all about the social media platforms that launched and grew in this decade, we couldn’t leave out WhatsApp as its evolution began in this decade, changing the digital social landscape of today. The app became the world’s most popular messaging app in 2015, and as of February 2018, it enjoys more than 1.5 billion users worldwide.

As of February 2018, WhatsApp enjoys more than 1.5 billion users worldwide.

Google+

Google+ was launched with a lot of promise in 2011, but succumbed to the competition from Facebook and others. The final nail on the coffin was a major security issue that was reportedly discovered, compelling Google to shut down Google+ in April this year. The company also claimed that its social platform wasn’t experiencing enough usage or engagement from its users with most sessions maxing out at 5 seconds.

Orkut 

Orkut was a household name in India in the latter part of the last decade, but the growing popularity of Facebook got users to migrate from Orkut, leaving it no option but to shut down in 2014. Owner Google said that other platforms had outpaced Orkut’s growth, and the website no longer exists. Google then pegged its hope on Google+, but sadly, that platform also fell off the shelf this year.

Orkut was shut down in 2014 by Google Photo Credit: TheNextWeb

BlackBerry Messenger

BlackBerry Messenger also shut shop earlier in May this year, blaming the difficulty of bringing new users to BBM as one of the top reasons. BBM was one of the most loved instant messaging applications of its time, but its popularity dwindled as competing chat apps like WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger gained momentum.

Vine

In 2016, Twitter announced that it was shutting down Vine, a popular video loop app that offered users the ability to make and share six second videos. The app couldn’t compete with the rising popularity of Instagram, and users who were once considered as Vine celebrities started posting videos on Instagram instead. Instagram can be considered as a big reason why Vine became obsolete.

Yahoo Messenger

If you’re a 90’s kid, there are high chances that you’ve used most of the apps mentioned on this grim list. While these apps don’t exist today, they were once an integral part of our online social life. Yahoo Messenger was once such instant messaging app that died last year. In its prime years, the service was the most used as it was an alternative to emails and SMS messaging. However, with the arrival of smartphones, Facebook, and eventually WhatsApp – Yahoo Messenger lost its steam and users started to switch.

Path 

Initially launched in November 2010, Path social platform served as personal journal of sorts that you could share with your family and friends. This platform gained over a million users once, but eventually died in 2018 due to lack of proper growth and increasing competition.

iTunes Ping 

Apple’s promising iTunes Ping social network failed to gain traction that it had hoped from the users. The music-based social network was launched in 2010, and was shut two years later. It is one of the biggest examples of Apple having difficulty in getting people to use its web-based services.

Meerkat

Meerkat, the once popular live-streaming app, closed in 2016. It was early on the scene by launching a live-streaming service ahead of Twitter and Facebook, but its fame was short-lived.

Yik Yak 

Yik Yak was an anonymous messaging app for college students that shut shop in 2017. The app rode to popularity after its launch in 2014, but soon became a breeding ground for hate speech, cyber bullying, discriminatory speech, and gun and bombing threat, all under the garb of anonymity. The company tried to bring in measures to curb the slur, while also maintaining anonymity, but it then started to lose user base, and had to wind down operations eventually.

Friendster 

Friendster was one of those social networks that helped kick off the social media era. It was founded in 2003, and soon lost credibility due to technology issues. There were problems in feature launches, and it soon drifted into irrelevance as Facebook gained momentum quickly. Interestingly, in the early days, Friendster investors reportedly had approached Facebook with an acquisition deal, which Mark Zuckerberg then refused. Zuckerberg later bought Friendster’s entire portfolio of social networking patents for reportedly $40 million. Friendster closed its doors on 2015.

Friends Reunited

Friends Reunited, another pioneer in the social media industry, announced that it would be winding down in 2016. The platform was launched in 2000, but couldn’t keep up with the likes of Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. In its closing announcement, the company’s founder Steve Pankhurst said, “It is clear that the site is no longer really used for the purpose it was built for … therefore, it is with a heavy heart, that we have decided to close the service down.”

Pheed 

Pheed was launched in 2012, and the social platform let you share texts, photos, and videos, just like the others. It managed to top the App Store charts in the social networking category in just a year after launch. Aimed at teenagers, it failed to gain the long-term momentum it hoped for. Pheed was sold to American Movil in March 2014, and in April 2016, Pheed was shut down and the technology was integrated to América Móvil platforms.

DailyBooth 

DailyBooth was a social network that allowed users to take a picture of them every day, and post it with a caption. The website would in turn generate a little flip book style video for its users. While the concept was intriguing, it never truly broke through to the mainstream, and had to close down in 2012.

Tbh app (Facebook-owned)

Tbh app, another anonymous social app, was launched in 2017, and in just a month it managed to rank number one in the US App Store. It was acquired by Facebook soon after, but its fame was extremely short-lived, as the social giant announced its discontinuation in July 2018 due to low usage.

Eons.com 

Eons.com was yet another social networking site founded in 2006, and this one tried to cater to the baby boomers and users over the age of 40. The site was shut down in 2012, after a business issue with the service provider was not resolved. To this date, the site remains shut.

[crimsxnflxwerz]

quick and dirty guide to serial killer aus

Okay, so I’m not going to go into a super long detailed explanation as to why every since serial killer au sucks, but i will gladly add some pointers. And if you wish, you can provide more tips/fix some of my statements, because I am far from a professional. I just know that if I see one more bad serial killer au, i’m going to scream.

1. Movies/TV Shows are not resources

I see this happen so much. Especially with the rise of Sherlock BBC and others like it, people think that if they mimic these traditionally “off-script” characters, then they will be fine. Sherlock is a high functioning sociopath, right? Wrong. First of all, high functioning/low functioning are out of date terms, don’t ever call people that. Second of all, Sherlock is neither a sociopath or psychopath.  Trust me, he just isn’t. You could argue that since he said “high functioning” that anythings on the table, but then you would imply that any neurodivergent could potentially be a sociopath/psychopath, and trust me, you don’t want to do that.

If you want to look into media for examples of played up sociopaths/psychopaths, then watch Nightcrawler (2014), No Country for Old Men (2007), Gone Girl (2014), or Misery (1990). They aren’t perfect, but they are closer to real life than some other depictions. Or, if you want to be really accurate, just watch a documentary on a serial killer. Also, that leads into my next point.

2. Do the fucking research

I’m not saying that stereotypes are wrong... but they’re wrong. Well, some stereotypes are based in truth, but most stereotypes are a direct product of a neutrotypical’s fear of the unknown. Yes, killing animals when you’re a child is a clear sign that there’s something wrong with you, but it’s not the only sign OR the most common sign. There are plenty of other signs, and they depend on the type of mental affliction. 

Those who are sociopaths tend to be cold or emotionally closed off, have an extreme lack of empathy, often question societal rules, use friends or aquaintences to test boundaries, and misplace or redirect blame and judgement. Sociopaths tend to be emotional abusers and manipulators, and they’re more common than you think. Out of all the sociopaths in the world, a very low percentage of them commit notable crimes, and an even lower percentage actually commit murder. And by low, i’m talking 1%, maybe not even that. 

Those who are psychopaths are more likely to be the “murdering animals at a young age” kind of people. They’re crimes are crimes of passion, they tend to be edgier, and sometimes they directly out themselves when they’ve committed a crime/murder, or purposefully leave enough evidence behind to get caught. Psychopaths are more likely to kill, but they’re also more likely to feel guilt and remorse for their crimes. While Sociopaths commit crime to further themselves in their career/life, psychopaths will commit crime because they feel a compelling and strong urge to. 

3. Assume most characters are neurotypical, that means you need to make changes to their personality.

If you’re writing a fanfiction about Hannibal and Will from Hannibal NBC, well they’re very obviously “off-script” or neurodivergent. They are seen in the show actively struggling to fit in with society, or completely rejecting society. If you’re writing a fanfiction about a character who is obviously neurotypical, like... Ash from pokemon or something, you need to change his behavior to fit the role. He can still be Ash, but you need to provide the context as to why he’s doing this... or acting this way. Not every serial killer has a “motive” per say, but most of them have a reason to act the way they do. Psychopaths might say that their victim did something to wrong them. Sociopaths may just use this as an excuse, and their real motive is replacing said person, or seeing them as an obstacle on a path they chose. 

4. People aren’t generally turned on by murder.

Okay, so the only reason i say this is because I’ve stumbled upon this scene too often: “wow, he just murdered my best friend, but hey he’s kinda hot....” I generally see this in the “person A is a serial killer, person B is studying the serial killer...” etc. Pretty much everyone is afraid of murderers. Yes, there is a very small... very very small minority with a fetish that extends this far, but your first reaction as a human being, even as a neurodivergent, is to run in fear if you are unarmed against someone with a weapon. Run and become armed, or call for help. My advice here is: if you can’t replace person B with yourself and rationalize the response/have it make sense, then just don’t do it. 

I think i’m done for now. If you have more tips, feel free to add them, if you see a mistake feel free to correct me. I’m not an expert, but I am tired of seeing the same shit when it’s so easily fixed. If worse somes to worse, just don’t write a serial killer au at all. Write something YOU know or that YOURE interested in. 

hope this helps lmao