#this is the illiterate website after all

[btvs]

.

#m #i hate how the term antisemitism is being thrown around to describe situations that arent antisemitic recently #like being antizionist for example. bc the result of this is just ppl dismissing actual antisemitism entirely #anyone who is calling being antizionist antisemitic you are part of the reason there are antisemites who dont care about antisemitism #ive seen quite a few people recently use the genocide of palestinians to be antisemitic & this does nothing to help any issue #like posts with accusations of blood libel and running the world etc & then valid criticism is met with 'thats irrelevant right now' #as if pointing out antisemitism means you are automatically ignoring the genocide #its very frustrating because its understandable to be annoyed when anything is brought up to detract from the genocide of palestinians #i just dont think that this is one of the things that should be shamed for being brought up - its not detracting from the issue #saying that its a form of looking away from the issue is simply not true and ignoring antisemitism doesnt make you a better antizionist #it doesnt make you a better supporter of palestine #if theres a genocide going on and you use that to get your antisemitic conspiracies out you are part of the problem #im putting this all in the tags cuz its just a personal rant and i dont want anyone to take anything i said out of context #this is the illiterate website after all #i am fighting for a free palestine and a free jewish people separate from israel and zionism

[familyabolisher]

hi if u don’t mind me asking, could u please elaborate on your thoughts on the critique of contemporary anti-intellectualism (specifically on social media)? i’m legitimately curious and enjoy a lot of ur analysis and commentary i mean this in good faith :)

Broadly speaking, the philosophical concept of anti-intellectualism tends to critically describe the ideological + rhetorical relegation of intellectual production to an elitist practice fundamentally at odds with the interests of the layman; and, crucially, the treatment of these categories as fixities. I disagree with the propositions of that philosophical discourse as well, but that’s not always the form that the discourse takes on this website. On here, ‘anti-intellectualism’ is more of a vague catch-all used to describe anything from people who express frustration with the literary canon & mainstream schooling in ways that don’t coddle the sensibilities of people with literature degrees to people who come out with outright fascistic views on provocative art; it attempts to corral what are in fact very disparate positions and perspectives under the umbrella of insufficient ‘intellect,’ often shorthanded to ‘reading comprehension’ or ‘media literacy’ (or ‘[in]curiosity,’ a new favourite) without any materialist investigation into what we mean when we talk about intellect and literacy and a lack thereof or whether this is a politically expedient description of the dynamic[s] in question.

When I say materialism, I mean it in the Marxist sense, ie. as a counter to idealism—because what’s being described here is a fundamentally idealist (and therefore useless) position. The discourse of anti-intellectualism as it exists on this website relies on idealist propositions—people lack curiosity, they lack interest, they are ‘lazy,’ they are ‘illiterate’ where ‘illiterate’ is not a value-neutral statement about one’s relationship to a socially constituted ‘literacy’ but communicating a moral indictment, at its worst they are ‘stupid,’ ‘idiots’—these descriptors rely on an assumption of immutable internal properties rather than providing a materialist description for why things are the way that they are. These aren’t actionable descriptors; at best they’re evasive because they circumvent serious interrogation of the conditions they’re describing, at worst they’re harbingers of an inclination towards eugenicist rhetoric. The discourse casts those who are ‘illiterate’—which in this capacity means those who fail to perform conventional literacy, who lack a traditional education, who don’t demonstrate sufficient interest in classic literature—or the more unkind ‘stupid’ (which, frankly, is what people want to say when they say ‘illiterate’ or ‘incurious’ anyway, lmao) as socially disposable and places the onus of changing one’s behaviour (so as to not be cast as illiterate/incurious/stupid) on them rather than asking what conditions have produced XYZ discourse of social disposability and responding with compassion and ethical diligence; I hope I don’t have to explain why this is eugenicist.

The discourse also lacks an ability to coherently describe what is meant by the ‘intellectualism’ in question—after all, merely appealing to ‘intellectualism’ is a similarly idealist rhetorical move if you don’t have the material grounding to back it up—and indeed tends to dismiss legitimate critiques of intellectual + cultural production as ‘anti-intellectual.’ People love to talk about ‘literacy,’ but don’t like expounding on what they’re actually describing when they do so—the selection of traits and actions that come together to constitute a correct demonstration of ‘literacy’ are built on the bedrock of eg. an ability to thrive within the school system (a mechanism of social control and stratification), fluently speak the dominant language by which this ‘literacy’ is being assessed (in online spaces like Tumblr this is usually English), and engage with the ‘right’ texts in the ‘right’ ways where ‘right’ means ‘invested with legitimacy and authority by the governing body of the academy.’ Literacy is used as a metric of assimilation into hegemonic society by which immigrant and working-class children are made rhetorically disposable unless they demonstrate their ability to integrate into the hegemonic culture (linked post talks about immigrant families being rendered ‘illiterate’ as a tactic of racism in France, but the same applies to the US, UK, etc); similarly, disabled people who for whatever reason will never achieve the level of ‘literacy’ required to not have Tumblr users doing vagueposts about how you deserve a eugenicist death for watching a kids’ show are by this discourse rendered socially disposable, affirming the paradigms which already make up their experience under a social system which reifies ableism in order to sustain itself. (This includes, by the way, the genre of posts making fun of the idea that someone with ADHD could ever struggle with reading theory.) ‘Literacy’ as the ability to understand and respond to a text is difficult and dispersed according to disparate levels of social access, and a lack of what we call literacy is incredibly shameful; any movement towards liberation (and specifically liberatory pedagogy) worth its salt needs to challenge the stigma against illiteracy, but this website’s iteration of ‘anti-intellectualism’ discourse seems to only want to reaffirm it.

Similarly, the discourse dismisses out of hand efforts to give a materialist critique of the academy and the body of texts that make up the ‘canon’—I’m thinking of a post I saw literally this morning positing a hypothetical individual’s disinterest in reading canonical (“classic”) literature as an “anti-intellectual” practice which marked them as an “idiot.” (Obviously, cf. above comments re. ‘stupidity,’ ‘idiocy’ as eugenicist constructions.) People who will outright call themselves Marxists seem to get incredibly uncomfortable at the suggestion that there are individuals for whom the literary canon is not even slightly interesting and who will never in their lives engage with it or desire to engage with it, and this fact does not delegitimise their place in revolutionary thinking and organising (frankly, in many areas, it strengthens it); they seem determined to continue to defer to the canon as a signifier of authority and therefore value, rather than acknowledging its role as a marker of class and classed affects and a rubric by which civility (cf. linked post above) could be enforced. (I believe the introduction to Chris Baldick’s The Social Mission of English Criticism touches on this dimension of literary studies as a civilising mission of sorts, as well as expounding on the ways in which ‘literary studies’ as we presently understand it is a nineteenth-century phenomenon responding to the predictable nineteenth-century crises and contradictions.) People will defer to, for example, Dumas, Baldwin, Morrison, to contravene the idea that the literary canon is made up of ‘straight white men,’ without appreciating that this is a hugely condescending way to talk about their work, that this collapses three very different writers into the singular category of ‘Black canonical writer’ and thus stymies engagement with their work at any level other than that of 'Black canonical literature' (why else put Dumas and Morrison in the same sentence, unless as a cheap rhetorical ‘gotcha’? I like both but they’re completely different writers lmfao), and that this excises from the sphere of legitimacy those Black writers who don’t make it into the authorising space of the canon; and, of course, reaffirms the canon’s authenticity and dismisses out of hand the critique of loyalty to hegemony that the ‘straight white men’ aphorism rightly imposes.

The discourse operates on a unilateral scale by which the more ‘literacy’ (ie. ability to speak the language of the literati) one has, the greater their moral worth, and a lack of said ‘literacy’ indicates the inverse. This overlooks the ways in which the practice of literary criticism wholly in line with what these people would call ‘intellectualism’ has historically been wielded as a tactic of reactionary conservatism; one only has to look at the academic output of Harold Bloom for examples of this. People will often pay lipservice to the hegemony of the academy and the practices by which only certain individuals are allowed access to intellectual production (stratified along classed + racialised lines, of course), but fail to really internalise this idea in understanding that the critical practices they afford a significant degree of legitimacy are inextricable from the academy from which they emerged, and that we can and should be imagining alternative forms of pedagogy and criticism taking place away from sites which restrict access based on allegiance to capital. Part of my communism means believing in the abolition of the university; this is not an ‘anti-intellectual’ position but a straightforwardly materialist one.

A final core problem with the 'anti-intellectualism' discourse is that it's obscurantist. As I explained above, it posits the problem with eg. poor engagement with theoretical concepts, challenging art, etc., to be one of 'intellect' and 'curiosity,' idealist rather than materialist states. In practice, the reasons behind what gets cast as 'anti-intellectualism' are very disparate. Sometimes, we're talking about a situation wherein (as I explained above) someone lacks 'literacy'; sometimes we're talking about the reason for someone's refusal to engage with and interpret art with care and deference being one of bigotry (eg. racist dismissals of non-white artists' work, misogynistic devaluing of women's work, etc.); sometimes we're talking about a reactive discomfort with marginalised people communicating difficult concepts online as a 'know-your-place' response (eg. backlash against 'jargon' on here is almost always attacking posts from/about marginalised people talking about their oppression, with the attacks coming from people who have failed to properly understand that oppression; I've been called a jargonistic elitist for talking about antisemitism, I've seen similar things happen to mutuals who talk about racism and transmisogyny). All of these are incredibly different situations that require incredibly different responses; the person who doesn't care to engage with a text in a way that an English undergrad might because doing so doesn't interest them or they lack the requisite skill level is not comparable to the person who doesn't care to engage with a text because they don't respect the work of a person of colour enough to do so. Collapsing these things under the aegis of 'anti-intellectualism' lacks explanatory power and fails to provide a sufficient actionable response.

Ultimately, the discourse is made up of a lot of people who are very high on their own capabilities when it comes to literary analysis (which, as others have pointed out, seems to be the only arena where all this ever takes place, despite the conventional understanding of ‘media literacy’ referring as much to a discerning eye for propaganda and misinformation as an ability to churn out a cute little essay on Don Quixote) and have managed to find an acceptable outlet for their dislike of anyone who lacks the same, and have provided retroactive justification in the form of the claim that not only is [a specific form of] literary analysis [legible through deference to the authority of the literary canon & the scholarship of the nineteenth century and onward surrounding it] possible for everyone, it is in fact necessary in order to access the full breadth of one’s humanity such that an absence thereof reveals an individual as subhuman and thus socially disposable. A failure to be sufficiently literate is only ever a choice and a personal failing, which is how this discourse escapes accountability for the obviously bigoted presumptions upon which it rests. In this, all materialism is done away with; compassion is done away with, as it becomes possible to describe the multiplicity of reasons why someone cannot or does not demonstrate ‘literacy’ in X, Y or Z ways in the sum total of a couple of adjectives; nothing productive comes of this discourse but a reassertion of the conditions of hegemony in intellectual practice and the bolstering of the smugness of a few people at the expense of alienating everyone else.

As I’ve said countless times before, the way to counteract what we might perceive as ‘incuriosity’ or disinterest in challenging texts is to talk about these challenging texts and our approaches to them as often as we can, to make the pedagogical practices that are usually kept behind the walls of the academy as widely accessible as possible (and to adjust our pedagogy beyond the confines of ideological hegemony that the academy imposes), and to encourage a culture by which people feel empowered to share their thoughts, discuss, ask questions, and explore without being made to feel ashamed for not understanding something. The people who cry ‘anti-intellectualism’ because they saw someone on Tiktok express a disinterest in reading Jane Eyre are accomplishing none of this.

#ask

[thats-ill-eagle]

HELLUVA BOSS DEVIATING FROM ITS ORIGINAL PREMISE FUNDAMENTALLY DESTROYED THE SHOW

So, it has already been discussed many times in HB critical community that HB deviated from its premise after S1 and that anyone with an once of media literacy can tell that you can't describe it in any way other than horrible writing.

Now, I'm going to ask you this for a second - imagine that you haven't seen S1, the pilot or read the premise of Helluva Boss anywhere. Imagine that you watch all (available) episodes of S2 and are asked to write a premise about it on some movie review website. How would you briefly describe what happens in S2?

Oh, you can't or are having major trouble doing it? Don't worry, you are not media illiterate, my friend. That is the case because IT'S LITERALLY IMPOSSIBLE TO TELL WHAT HELLUVA BOSS IS SUPPOSED TO BE ABOUT ANYMORE.

There are many flaws that your writing could possess - inconsistent characterization, too fast/slow pacing and so on. However, they do not automatically derail your work. It is very much possible to recognize those faults, learn from them and do better in the future.

But the premise of your work is its literal BONES. You build up the plot and characters based on it. You just can't expect your show to be good, if you tear out its basis. Of course the pacing, character development and how plot points are wrapped up in HB is horrible - how can anything function without the very thing that holds it all together?

And I MEAN that the premise of HB completely disappears, not shifts or changes. Like, seriously, what the hell is HB supposed to be about now?

Stolitz?

Their interactions indicate zero meaningful development and are tediously spaced out to the point that it's hard to care about their relationship. It is made even worse by the fact that Stolas, just like in S1, still keeps pressuring Blitzo, despite him being clearly uncomfortable.

Blitzo making amends with people he hurt?

Even ignoring S1's nonexistent buildup of this plotline (Blitzo looking at photos on his phone doesn't count, since it's literally the ONLY moment that barely suggests it), there's no buildup in S2 either, when it comes to both Barbie and Fizz. It is certainly not helped by the fact that Barbie just vanishes after Unhappy Campers and Blitzo and Fizz's beef is resolved in a single episode.

Any other plotlines of S2, like Fizz's job, Crimson, Striker, or Stolas and Stella's separation are just too small or insignificant to be considered part of the supposed premise, INCLUDING the assassination business, which arguably takes up the least amount of time of aspects of the show listed.

It's no surprise that Helluva Boss is slowly crumbling. At this point, it's just a paralysed zombie who completely forgot what it once was. And it's damn sad to watch, because the show comforted me during some dark times and, despite Viv being an awful person, I truly hoped for HB to be great.

#vivziepop critical #vivziepop criticism #helluva boss critical #helluva critical #helluva boss criticism #anti helluva boss #helluva critique

[bakedbakermom]

can you tell use more stories of what it was like waiting/watching the x files when it was on air?>:)

i was late to the fandom - i stumbled across the episode Humbug during the hiatus between s6-s7 and was HOOKED. i was also, unfortunately, 13 at the time, and not allowed to use the internet nearly as much as i wanted. so i can't tell you about what the fandom was like before 1999.

HOWEVER i can tell you that the end of s7 was a nail biter, and the summer between 7 and 8 was filled with an unprecedented surge in fanfic as we all tried to imagine what season 8 would bring. (i wrote one that i may return to at some point, it was very apocalyptic.) there were a LOT of angry fans when robert patrick was announced as joining the cast, to the point where many of us felt like scully hitting him with water in Within was meant to be a catharsis for US.

what i miss most about those days, however, is how creative and connected the fandom was. there were web hosts out there like angelfire and geocities where anyone could make their own completely free website about whatever they wanted, with a simple wysiwyg interface (what you see is what you get, aka drag and drop) so even the most tech-illiterate among us could make something cool - and if you knew html (or had lissaexplains bookmarked) you could make something truly spectacular.

there would be surges of new fic and fanart after every episode (some more than others lol). you would find screencaps and videos on napster from those who had better tech than you. being 13 with a strict 10pm bedtime and no computer of my own, i couldn't hop on the forums after the episode like i wanted; instead i'd have to wait until monday afternoon after school to catch up on all the hot goss and new content, and i had NO irl friends who watched the show until high school (literally day one a girl named jenn spotted xf art on my binder and we were friends immediately). so you can imagine that by the time 3:00 rolled around i was positively VIBRATING with the need to talk about it.

there was one official forum and dozens of fan-made offshoots (walter's wenches, for example, started as a sub-board on the main forum and then became its own group) that felt like small towns. you could follow individuals or threads and get notifications for posts and updates. this was before social media, so it was all as anonymous as you wanted it to be.

i met several penpals on the official board that i stayed in touch with for years after the series ended and the board was shut down. one of them was a collector of xf memorabilia up in canada from whom i was able to buy several tapes of hard-to-find episodes (if you missed one, you had to hope for a rerun or a marathon) and merch (xf barbies my beloved) as well as extras like interviews and music videos and the celebrity deathmatch segment etc.

i miss late 90s/early 00s fandom so much.

also i was in catholic school and learned more about sex through fic than my school's pitiful sex ed would ever begin to touch on (did you know the penis goes in the vagina? because they never said that. did you know women can orgasm? because they never said that. etc)

#txf meta #fandom lore #fandom culture #txf fandom

[metalmaul]

haha yeah remember like way way back maybe 14 years ago or so when there were users on this website who made those "sometimes the curtains are just blue" jokes & caused all media literacy to die forever more haha yeah haha, hi! hi, i was one of those! i killed all literacy, whoopsie!!!! i guess i just simply never ever learned about symbolism or understood any sort of point of anything in media ever again. i know lol i can't understand color or anything ever it just whizzes right over my head to this very day!!!

so, here's some thoughts to share from my perspective. in my case personally, i liked reading back then. i even liked some books that were assigned reading in school & participated with enthusiasm about them in class. there are some people who didn't like reading in general, and almost every time that's actually because they struggle to read. it is something that is incredibly difficult for them to do & not just general laziness or being ignorant forever on purpose. when you hear "i don't like reading" or "i haven't read a book in years" you might not want to gun it to "idiot" because actually, haha, that word's origin also applied to some people that others thought were not smart or worthy of respect because of a certain disability & having greater difficulty than most people to do something they find basic. instead i would recommend thinking "I wonder why that is," because that total lack of sympathy actually just discourages everyone.

anyway, some assigned reading books did not appeal to me, which made me not want to read them but there was this whole "i have to" aspect to it that made me really like the whole thing less somehow. now, to address any commentary: i can absolutely respect if a book is historically imprortant & one of the best ever written, much like all things. music, films, and art are just the same. i do not deny it. however, knowing that cannot make me enjoy something that i just personally do not. conversely, i can recognize & acknowledge when something is terrible & it sucks, but that won't stop me from enjoying it if i do.

something else very important that i think a lot of people have not considered for quite some time: sharing a joke on the internet does not actually mean that you just go to class and say "fuck you. they're just blue." the thing about school is that they give you the choice of figuring some shit out even if you do not want to at all or failing. lots of people mad about this really forget that in school you do school & on the internet you might share a joke. perhaps it is a joke that is very illiterate, even. you like the joke because you maybe really don't want to talk about symbolism in some book you don't want to read in the building you aren't allowed to leave where you spend hours & hours day after day for years being told you have to do a stack of things that you really do not want to by several adults & at least 1/3 of the town's teenaged population is trapped in this same building as you & this all happens at a stage of life where your brain & libido & emotions are cranking up to "nuclear reaction explosion" & down to "should i kill myself?" levels rapidly back & forth all day for a few years & your parents happen to legally own you & your home life is really a custom mix of making life worse generally— for me personally, there was a villain that i knew in that life chapter who was doing cool things like attempted murder so maybe that had some influence on my permanent illiteracy idk... so the joke really just takes the sting out of that whole carousel of shittiness you're experiencing, because you really would like to just not have to think about shit that you don't want to for just a moment, y'know, like just a little. on behalf of all of us, our deepest apologies about the whole destroying all understanding of media forever. not intentional.

now, incredibly, i actually analyzed & thought about many pieces of media at length & with enthusiasm quite often after my brain had settled down from maximum overdrive & i got to own myself & i wasn't in high school & things of such nature. however, i had slowly been declining in my ability to read which had started in high school, but i don't think that was because of a joke i reblogged. i just leveled up in disability on many fronts & reading became, to my dismay, so challenging that i don't read books anymore. i would sure like to. i like short story collections because my brain & my eyes don't fizzle out quite as much if it's little bursts of story instead of a slow burning candle. i also do the best with graphic novels which are an incredible aid for me. the text being broken up & spread out, the illustration accompaniment because when that "can you picture an apple" meme went around, i became aware that i don't make pictures in my head! it did explain why through all my years of reading in hindsight i simply could not picture things in books the way other people did. as a child, i'd read a book & a friend would ask me how i imagine someone/something looked like & unless there was also a film or illustrations, i just didn't! i didn't know what lots of stuff looked like. i wasn't sure how anyone was doing that.

i think that's all i have to say on this topic. i can say i have become friends with some other people over the years who also shared this joke online & they have managed to also have a grasp of media literacy despite a joke they liked in high school. i personally feel like maybe we shouldn't assume that something you thought was funny as a teenager necessarily continued to be representative of the rest of your life. i would also like to offer the idea that media illiteracy has been a problem for a very, very, very long time, & i'm sure this is an issue with quite a lot of factors & might require a pretty complex plan to improve over time that i don't have a lot of faith will happen any time soon. it would require things like "more support" & "teaching children in different ways because no one learns anything the same way" & already I'm hitting lol nah we aren't doing that x2.

[whump-on-a-string]

Okay so Dallan. What’s his story so far? What’s his personality like? What are his interests?

I'll start with his story. It's just a bunch of vague events strung together though as I'm bad at writing or coming up with ideas. I just draw. :') Dallan is an OC from when I was a silly little minor in school randomly RPing stuff with my friend on pet website forums and PMs, so it's based on very old content and may be revised more in the future, but here are the main bits that are still relevant to the character's background.

When I made him, he was around my own age. But he is in his 20s now. Dallan is a very polite and proper man but also kind of a pushover. If someone were to steal an old lady's purse he'd go right after the thief and want to make it right and call it out. But if he's at his home/work he might hold back and not say anything as to not cause a disturbance to others. Chances are if he'd get yelled at or reprimanded by his higher ups he'll try and not say anything unless it's a pretty bad situation. He doesn't want to get fired. But some things might be worth getting fired for. He has a hard time speaking up for himself since his general job was to "speak only when spoken to" and basically be a ghost helping the house function. The occasional bullying from other staff didn't help him with his confidence much either. Physical and verbal abuse from his earlier childhood and household staff sort of manifested as a fawn/freeze response for him when he was young. It's much better now that he's older, grew taller and he has more of a spine. But he still has his moments now and again.

Who Dallan works for depends on the setting since he was intended for use in RP. But by default he usually works for Mr. Richard and/or Alexander Parish. Richard is a wealthy man, and Parish is the Doctor who tended to Mr. Richard's late wife. They're both close friends now. (I have more info on the two of them under the read more break.)

The only notable co-worker so far in Dallan's case is Alice. She's been employed by Richard and his family the longest, for 2 decades at least. She was only intended to be a side character, set dressing, but ended up becoming a bit of an antagonist to Dallan, and a threat to a guest who was recovering in Richard's home after an unfortunate stabbing event happened on the front lawn. (I think it was a hate crime against elves but the rp was so long ago I can't remember.) She's more of a fight/flee type in contrast to Dallan's fawn/freeze. Her childhood was also probably quite rough, resulting in a narcissistic personality as a means of defense. The death of Mrs. Richard was also very hard on her.

Dallan was completely illiterate when he was hired around the age of 11-12 much to Alice's dismay.

Another important part of Dallan's story was a character called "Wolf" who I misremembered as a half-elf. He was my friend's character, who carried and progressed most of the plot. Wolf arrived at Mr. Richard's home upon receiving a letter from his schoolyard friend Parish, to be introduced to Richard, and have a pleasant time at one of Richard's dinner parties. (Or he just happened to be in the area. I can't remember.) But Wolf had enemies, or was the victim of an anti-elf or half-elf hate crime and was promptly stabbed on Mr. Richard's front lawn, extending his stay at the man's house for a while. He and Dallan became good friends, and was also a sort of mentor to Dallan. Dallan also received a leg injury, but the reason/time/place is not set in stone given the nebulous connection to someone else's OC. It just matters that has or will-have a bullet injury to one of his legs. It's just an event that is canon to his character now.

Wolf gave Dallan a silver pocketwatch that's worth more than all of his belongings combined. It was a bit of a teasing gift, as Dallan had been late on several occasions while Wolf was visiting Richard's home. Now he had a watch to help him keep track of the time to stop being late. ...Hopefully. It's a key item and important to him. That said, the one who gave it to him may change or be elaborated upon more in the future. All that matters is that he was given a generous gift of a very nice pocket watch which he carries everywhere, and he values it very much. Do not separate. You will upset him.

His Employers, Workday, & Hobbies

Mr. Richard is pretty strict and stern, but he has a good heart and cares about all of his staff. Richard lives in a small mansion. It doesn't have ALL of the staff a greathouse usually would because his property is small and doesn't need as much upkeep as a larger one. He has no children, and his wife passed away so it's just him and his staff. He's a social butterfly though so he hosts dinners and parties frequently, as being home alone isn't his favorite thing to do. Any friend of Richard will regularly get invites delivered by mail. One of his close friends is an elf named Alexander Parish, who is a doctor. They met while he was helping care for the health of Richard's late wife and they all became very good friends. Parish still visits Richard regularly for personal reasons instead of just for business. Most of Dallan's daily activities consist of cleaning, trash collecting, window washing, polishing cutlery, blacking boots, etc. So most of the duties from the "lowest rank" almost to the "highest rank" but he does not help with finances or , For Richard's parties he's responsible for holding doors, taking coats, and if needed: help the scullery maids serve food and drink,

Alexander Parish is your local friendly (albeit expensive) doctor. He also performs some surgeries, and uses his own magical skills to help clients heal better. His magic can't mend bones or reverse inflicted wounds but it can speed up the healing process or help fight off infection, but it all depends on the severity and his energy at the time. It's a small extra tool and not a replacement of proper medical care. Dallan works for Parish permanently only in the event of Richard's death, otherwise he only works for the doctor upon his master's instruction to do so. (Which is somewhat frequent.)

Workday:

Most of Dallan's daily activities consist of cleaning, trash collecting, window washing, polishing cutlery, blacking boots, etc. So most of the duties from the "lowest rank" almost to the "highest rank" for servants since it's very small staff but also a small property. He does not help with finances or anything involving numbers and letters as he's terrible at reading & writing because he's rather uneducated. He can read now, just not very well and his handwriting is chickenscratch. For Richard's parties he's responsible for holding doors, taking coats, and if needed he helps the scullery maids serve food and drink. The wages aren't too bad & he doesn't have to pay for food or his room so he's pretty content with the setup. Other than that he'll do chores for the day and then turn in for the night.

Hobbies:

Any hobbies he has are pretty unknown since he usually is just working for most of the day, but he really likes to sit back with something warm to drink and relax in the garden, or go visit the beach on rare little vacations on the weekend. He'd probably be interested in picking up some kind of arts & crafts if he had the time for it though. He really likes dogs though so he also would enjoy walking around the neighborhood hoping to encounter someone walking their pet so he could pet them and give them little treats (with the owners permission of course). Horses also interest but terrify him. Dallans favorite work-related hobby would just be getting sent out of the house to run errands so he can enjoy the trip.

His only known fears are "monsters" and drowning/suffocating. He'll probably pass out once he learns that vampires and werewolves are REAL in his world. And he sticks to shallow water at the beach.

Yeah that's all I've got for now. Thanks for making me finally get all of this out of my head lol.

#Dallan #OC #Original #Text #Ask

[ophiespeaks]

Illiteracy in higher education.

i usually don’t post about my personal life on here but i had an interaction so confusing that i wanted to share it into void. if i talk to any of my friends about it it’s too personal and i feel like i’m making fun of this person specifically so internet anonymity is the better option.

So, I essentially work as a writing tutor at my university. People come in and have me look over their academic work and I point to sentences or paragraphs and tell them what I think needs improved or explain to them why a concept works and that sort of thing. I had someone come to me applying for grad school (Yippieee!!) and they asked about a specific type of paper/assignment that can be included in a grad school application that I’ve personally never worked with before. Instead of being like “sorry dog i’ve never applied to grad school” and calling it a day, I decided we would collaboratively look for sources with the information they needed. They watched me almost confused as I scrolled down the first few results and clicked on a website from something like the university of Illinois. they then asked me why i scrolled. almost absentmindedly, i kind of just gave a brief explanation while looking for an example paper, something like “oh, it’s an edu.” They were confused. So, i ramble-explained that .edu, .org, and .gov are all semi-reliable sources when compared to a .com. with further prompting i explained some of the nuances. for example, a .com is commercial, it can be owned by anyone who wants to or in some cases pays for the website to stay up/keep the url. meanwhile i explained edu is educational-sites only, like college homepages, .org is an official organization that has to have some level of verification and documentation that they’re a real company, and .gov is an offfical government site. this person then asked me what does the difference mean in terms of including them in things like essays and research. essentially, I just explained that while .coms are often correct based off of a lose honor system (people wouldn’t visit their site if they were wrong about stuff), they’re almost always secondhand information just conglomerated into one site. (think of wikipedia, for example.) Versus anything published on a .org is probably organization findings, or on a .edu it’s probably professor/instructor research and grad school datasets conducted at the university, a .gov is officially released government information which includes a wide variety of things. but, at its core, the three others are more likely to provide primary sources, finding the original study, data, quote, etc.

i didn’t think too much about it at the time but I’m actually going crazy over it now. I thought that I was incredibly tech illiterate. but— applying for graduate school and not knowing the real difference on why you’d use a .edu over a .com was insane to me. after further thought into this subject I honestly don’t even blame this individual. i genuinely think education, both public and university, are FAILING to teach people not only basic english skills, but basic online navigation.

this person was only 3-6 years older than me. university professors ask you to use APA formatted citations with academic sources and don’t even bother to read your citation list, calling it good enough if it looks correct when they skim over it. not to mention the citation list was almost absolutely generated on perdue owl’s APA 7 generator site. this lack of attention and honestly care of these instructors to teach, combined with the idea of “no child left behind” being implemented is currently allowing adults, some applying for GRADUATE school, to miss crucial aspects of academic writing. what’s worse is this person is studying language. i really don’t blame them— you don’t know what you’re never taught. i’m more upset that the institution had this person go through four years for their bachelor’s degree and somehow never taught them why you should try and use other urls/websites than a .com for an academic source. of course, there are exceptions to this rule, obviously. and, again, .com sites can absolutely be correct. but the fact that i had to explain this to someone applying for graduate school makes me not think that this PERSON is ignorant, but that the education system has failed to teach them the proper channels and methodology for what they’re doing.

this lends to a much bigger issue that I’m seeing in my workplace. that is, English-native speakers not being able to write…anything. illiteracy is no joke. and i work with people with learning disabilities and such pretty frequently— that’s not what I’m talking about. in fact, those writers are often more receptive to feedback and are actually easier to work with than someone who just wants me to “proofread” their essays. I’m not talking about writers with learning disabilities. however, I’ve seen honors-colloquium english students come in with some of the most unreadable garbage i’ve ever seen. and i don’t mean that to be an asshole. i mean, literally, i don’t even know what they’re writing about for half a page because i can’t understand their sentences. common mistakes i see, listed in no particular order:

1. Typing something out how it sounds. A correct sentence would be “David and I walked down town, looking for our lost dog.” I’ve seen a similar sentence that actually said “David an I walked downtown, looking four hour lost dog.”

2. Missing Punctuation. I mean genuinely no punctuation, anywhere. the entire essay is a run-on sentence. (I tutor only at the college level, for reference.) This also includes contractions not having the necessary apostrophe. I’ve seen “im,” “weve” “hasnt” more times than i want to admit.

3. Sentence structure. As in, no one knows how to write one. I get sentence fragments all the time. “Jumped on the bed and sat down.” While you can start on a verb, it most commonly has to be in gerund form (-ing words, in this case, Jumping.) Also, this sentence has no real subject, making it just feel wrong inserted into a larger paragraph. Who’s jumping? Your guess is as good as mine.

4. Right word, wrong type. “Your” versus “You’re.” “There” “Their” “They’re.” This sort of thing. Apostrophe “re” (‘re) signifies “are,” as in “You are” or “They are.” For the other two: There is where we go, I’m headed over there. Their has an “I,” so we’re talking about people, as in, The car is theirs. Another one much more uncommon that personally upsets me when I do see it is “Through,” “Threw,” and “Thru.” We’re going through the tunnel, and she threw the bottle behind her. Threw is a verb, an action word, whereas through is a preposition, adverb, and/or an adjective. “Going through” is an adverb, for example. Thru is a drive thru. You’re picking up a McChicken and a coke.

5. Misunderstanding nuance. This is almost exclusively seen in essays for english courses where they’re reading a book, sometimes something like a play or they watched a movie, but usually it’s a book. This is less “technically” wrong and more…media illiteracy than anything else. For example, I had someone write an essay on why they thought it was stupid that Gatsby was narrated by Nick Carroway. I wanted to hold their hand while I explained why, in fact, it was a purposeful and deliberate choice from Fitzgerald to make Gatsby the focal point but NOT the narrator. That it wasn’t an oversight because the author was stupid. I love literature analysis. But there’s a difference between having a different interpretation of a piece versus just fundamentally misunderstanding it. One of my favorite topics I’ve ever written about is the queer-coded nature of Carroway and Gatsby and symbolism in the novel, which might not be the author’s intent and most likely isn’t the same read that EVERY individual reading Gatsby had. There’s a difference between adding interpretation versus straight up just…not understanding a big part of it.

There’s absolutely more examples but to avoid redundancy (another huge issue in essays I read, but I digress), my point is that schools have failed us. Covid, no child left behind, etc. have ensured that everyone passes so long as they turn their work in. Not just that- completing an assignment is a 100% A+ in most cases. A professor is questioned and hated for giving a bad grade to a bad essay because the student has been Pavlov’d into thinking that turning in essay = A. they aren’t getting better because there’s no upper grade for them. if they can get a perfect grade turning in word vomit, why would they ever give a shit? why would they ever try to get better? but then, they encounter the one professor who doesn’t give easy grades. who wants their work to excel, who wants them to produce something of substance. and not only do they suffer greatly because of educational mishandling outside of their control, but then they blame the PROFESSOR, who only wants better for them. it’s a cycle that keeps everyone hating each other instead of hating the real villain of all of this. The American Education system.

I’m gonna get off of my soapbox because I could genuinely be here all day. Also, if I made any grammar or punctuation errors here and you think pointing it out is some epic “OWNING,” i assure you it is not. because the difference is that this is an unedited tumblr text post that is still written better than 75% of the essays that come across my desk.

#ophie speaks #shut up ophie #not shifting #writing #english #college #essay #essay writing #editing #writblr #tutoring #tutor #education #education system

[confluence-and-drift]

So I've had a super stressful few days and hence I can't help but groan as I notice that there's a letter inside my door that I missed earlier, an official looking one. Ohshit.

Thankfully, it turns out to be good news. Long term followers of this blog might remember how Dundee City Council fucked me over by charging my council tax for an entire year and a bit after I moved out of there because my asshole landlord pretended that I hadn't told him I was leaving and was charging that + rent and sent the court summons to the vacated property. My ex, who also lived with me at that address in 2015, was the one who told me all of this as her wages started getting docked. That was the first either of us heard about it all.

Unfortunately she was only able to get her lawyers to overturn the cost against herself, as I moved out on a different day and me being someone unable to afford costs and since all I could do was prove I lived elsewhere ("We can give you the discount for dwelling in multiple properties as this does not prove you did not also live here in Dundee" Fuck off ¬_¬ ), it was another unearned debt to my name that I just had to put up with because of capitalism and legal aid cuts. So back to today's letter. It's from Dundee City Council, who at some point seem to have decided that pursing me for the amount wouldn't get them as they indeed didn't have proof that I lived there it turns out you do indeed need to prove that someone was resident at a property and not prove someone was NOT resident at a property. That or my landlord had to officially declare the truth as part of some kind of paperwork. He was a semi-illiterate adult (I swear I'm not joking. Nothing is more alarming than realising this about someone you need super-important paperwork from. This is another reason why I couldn't prove I moved out, because the dumb fuck didn't seem to understand the need for paperwork, nevermind supply me the right kind) so maybe the fuckwith failed at defrauding the council of tax he should have owed them, and now Dundee City Council looked at their records and noticed that my account is in credit to the value of all of the payments I've made to it ever since I realised I couldn't fight them without thousands of pounds extra to my name for a solicitor, and are asking me to send them a bank account so they can refund this credit.

And...it's a substantial amount. Not huge, as due to my financial circumstances I got away with making fairly small payments, but it's been many years since 2016-2017 when I first got this bad news and now here I am. This amount, if I do end up getting it should be super super helpful, though I still don't know if they'll pull out some last second excuse to claw the money back, so who knows. I'm just about to go to their website and fill in my details. Wish me luck!

#personal #text post

[primnroses]

The poll is void and it makes no sense because people aren't following the rules they just want sakura out of it and tell us we're cheating when everybody is cheating equally.

The poll is only being followed suit in Japan. Look at the Top 10 results:

Check the list yourself at the bottom of the page in the official poll website.

And now look at the third databook's poll collecting all the previous manga votes in one single result:

This is the real page of the poll to demonstrate I'm not making this up:

The Top 6 is very similar except that instead of Kakashi, the top character is now Itachi; Iruka has left the Top 10 and he's currently 17th, also he switched with Minato; and Sasuke is below Sakura right now.

Also, Kakashi is still the most voted character in Japan just as usual.

I find it normal that neither Rock Lee, Neji Hyūga and Iruka Umino are in the Top 10 anymore because they have gradually lost popularity from being dead or absent in the current line, but they're all in the Top 20 and overall popular.

Other than that, the pattern is the same. Japan has demonstrated to be the only country that is voting for their favorite characters and not for a character to win a spin-off.

Also, I've repeated this so many times but I'll do it again: A spin-off from Kishimoto is only to motivate fans to participate in the poll. It's a reward for the fans of the most voted character, just like the 20 illustrations will be a reward for the 20 most voted characters.

About the alleged cheating, I think everybody is using bots and they're using them for nothing. The official site posted the rules when the poll started.

*Votes are limited to one per person per day. Using multiple devices to vote more than once is prohibited.

*Any votes that are a result of fraudulent practices or that are deemed erroneous will become void.

*The user will be responsible for any data fees incurred.

And THEN after the first Midterm, they posted this again to clear any doubts:

The original tweet.

The Japanese profile also tweeted the same thing.

The original tweet.

So YES they are fully aware of the bots and fraudulent votes, that's why they created a system to fight them.

I may also add that the poll is tracking your IP and your cookies at all times. It tracks the IP of the device you use to vote and the IP of your internet connection which you can't hide.

They're aware of everything. A while ago some users, including me, couldn't share their votes on Twitter and the official page tweeted about it telling us to deactivate ad-blockers and that they'd fix the issue. This is the tweet.

Believe me, a bunch of anime fans won't troll a system with professionals checking every single vote.

Why is Sakura more popular than Sasuke? In Japan she's one place higher and tat surprised me. I might be wrong, but on Twitter, I always find that Sakura merch is always sold out the first so it might have something to do with that. In the West, they're not voting enough or they're switching their votes to other characters.

Sakura's fandom has many collaborations with artists and kpop fans, on top of being one of the most organized and devoted anime fandoms. We're voting every day and encouraging the fandom to vote every day if they forget. Sakura Haruno has always been popular.

The anime community will always fight Sakura Haruno like she's some kind of obscure and malign force that needs to be eradicated for the sake of mankind, or that she doesn't have any fans that could rise her position in the poll. It won't matter how many times the official page has to say that they filter all the bots, the anime community is illiterate and will continue saying we're cheating because they're trying to convince themselves and trying desperately to prove their own point.

If the west wants to stop voting for their real favorite character to vote for those character that will inevitably ensure Sakura Haruno doesn't peak, be my guest. That's the real cheating for me.

Just as always it's Anime Community vs Sakura Haruno.

I'm happy with Minato winning although he has never been a fan favorite in Japan (and I'm not sure how popular he was in the West before), it's the result of people thinking there will be a backstory for him despite never been said.

I'm happy with Kakashi because he is, and will always be, a fan favorite. He's been popular since day 1 and even if he got a complete story of his life and 2 novels, the poll says "vote for your favorite" and Kakashi is a favorite. Same with Itachi or Naruto.

People don't want to vote for Naruto because "you know the story is called Naruto right we're tired of him" and that's not the point AGAIN vote for the one you like the most. I find all that a bigger cheating problem because it's straight up ignoring the point of the poll and I'm sure they won't do it anymore. Vote for your favorite character ALWAYS.

To sum up: Bots are void. Every fandom is cheating and for nothing because those practices are nullified. Support your favorite character.

#NARUTOP99 #naruto #sakura haruno #kakashi hatake #sasuke uchiha #itachi uchiha #naruto uzumaki #minato namikaze #inbox #my naruto post

[cator99]

something strange is unfolding today... woke up to an email that simply said "You have work today Tyler." No... I don't believe I do..... I've checked my schedule in astonishment at least a dozen times this weekend due to the fact that I'd only been scheduled to work monday, thursday, and saturday (and the saturday shift barely counts, its only 4 measly hours). Sure enough, when I go to check my schedule on the website now, it says monday, tuesday, saturday. Hmm. I called customer support for the scheduling app and explained the situation, and they said they would check the scheduling history and get back to me via email to let me know if and when it was altered- since I can't see that on my end. Also very odd- I was sent my paycheck last night at 8pm. Payout doesn't ever happen until tuesday night, at the absolute earliest. Usually, it's sent out sometime on wednesday. Am I straight up losing my mind? Maybe I'm actually just insane and don't know how to read, which I suppose is a possibility. But I've never, not once, misread my schedule thus far. I've never missed a shift, except for that one tine my boss screwed up my schedule so I thought I just had the day off... Is this another case of that?? Did she mess up the schedule, go to fix it, realize that in order for me to show up she would have had to have informed me of the change by at least 24 hours, which simply wouldn't do as she needs me NOW, and decide to just pretend it's my fault? It wouldn't be the first time. She is not one to ever admit fault or apologize even when it would be appropriate, and loves to instead just shift the blame... and if there is an instance where it's made clear she screwed up, well, she would rather sweep it under the rug... If my boss is right I will simply concede and accept whatever happens with as much dignity as I can maintain while being made suddenly aware that I am, in this very moment, illiterate and unreliable. If she is fucking with me... well I don't know but I've got a lawyer one phone call away who was practically begging to keep talking to me last night. I'm sure she would be elated if I asked her to meet up for coffee to discuss the situation... She is single now, after all.......

[jellimac-sims-stories]

Simfluencer

Jellimac

---

Chapter 2

I love that I live in the city now. Each day brings a new influence. The people, the food, the art, and the architecture. Everything is so different from Oasis Springs. It's exactly what I was hoping for. Every day is so inspiring! Or it could be that there are a lot of things around with an inspiring emotional aura. Either way, I’ve been nonstop painting since I got here. 

What I don'tWhat I don't love is that my pieces don't seem to sell. I tried selling a few of my older pieces to make room for new ones at the flea market outside my building my first weekend here. Only one sold. I left feeling really disappointed. It took me a few days to get over it. Probably doesn't help that I’m trying to sell art outside of the art museum. 

My art style is mainly pop and abstract but only my realism paintings have sold for any significant amount. Back home I used to mostly sell paintings from references of people’s vintage cars from Moonlight Falls and Roaring Heights or landscapes of Glimmerbrook and Old Town. I thought the move out to the city would help me get a new perspective and hopefully new customers. That's all anyone ever talks about when they want to become a famous fashion designer or artist, you know. Going to the city. Becoming inspired in some new way. Gain new customers and become so famous that your pieces sell for motherloads. I`d like to say that money isn’t my motivator but a little padding in the bank wouldn’t hurt.

Jonah is basically the only person who had ever purchased my original pieces. He’s posted about it on his social pages and his fans did like it. Not as much as they liked his shirtless pictures but I did get a few followers from his posts. He’s also donated a few of my pieces to his fans. For him, it's a good way to gain more fame. His fans do seem to love the paintings but I'm sure if it's only because they got them from him. Did I forget to mention that he's a major celebrity? The only one in Oasis Springs. He’s really made a good name for himself and I appreciate all that he does to get mine out there as well.

I’m not completely internet illiterate; I already have an insta, twitter, and a website, but Jonah has been bugging me to make everything more streamlined so after several texts back and forth one afternoon we set everything up. I am now the proud manager of a social media empire named Cosmickitty; since that was already my nom de plume. 

I took my new empire for a test drive. A few photos of my new downtown area, photos of my work around my apartment, inspirational quotes, and some cute selfies shamelessly self-promoting my other pages on each platform as I went. Over the next few days, I watched as twitter followers followed my insta and insta followers followed by twitter. Notification of new followers and likes came chiming in. I guess maybe this wasn't such a bad idea. 

I had almost fifty followers by the end of the first week. The pics of the city got a few likes and the selfies too mostly from tattoo pages saying they like my ink or asking if I could model for them. A few of my posts of me painting got the attention of the other artist flea markets in the area. KryticZeuz invited me to sign up for the flea market in the Spice Market. Thinking it couldn’t be worse than the last flea market, I snagged a street gallery wall for an upcoming weekend and I tweeted that I’d be there. 

The Spice District has a totally different vibe from the Arts Quarter. Honestly, I feel that this should be the Arts Quarter; murals everywhere, everything is so colorful from the building to the food to the people. Looking around I can’t help thinking that I probably should have moved here instead but I knew I wouldn’t want to run into Josh’s ex-girlfriend who lives here. I can’t even begin to tell you how much I don’t like that woman. 

The flea market here was very different from the one near my apartment. Less art and more handcrafted or collected items. The table next to me was full of crystals. I bought a rare alexandrite from Selvadorada while I waited for buyers to come up to my stall. I was beginning to have the same experience that I’ve had in the past in terms of selling but then this one guy came up to my selling wall that I didn’t expect. He didn’t even look like the type to shop at a flea market. He was a few shakes away from tall, dark, and handsome. Yeah, he was tall but lean and perfectly dressed with chestnut brown locs that had the sort of style that is meant to look messy on purpose. Way too sophisticated for my style. 

It’s a borderline heatwave this Sunday but there he was looking fresh and cool in his suit as he perused my art pinned up for sale. He looked as if he’d just come from some important meeting about something really important for someone really important with some important people. He had that sort of air about him even with his suit jacket open and a few buttons on his dress shirt unbuttoned. I took a deep breath, told myself to not be intimidated, and queued up my best sales pitch as I approached him, “Hello sir. I'm glad you've come by my display today. Is there any piece in particular that you'd like to know more about?”

“I like your figure painting but I'm afraid I like pieces that have much more...interesting subjects,” his voice was much deeper than I would have anticipated and I caught a hint of a southern drawl...

Can't wait for more? Read the whole story on my AO3

#simblr #the sims 4 #the sims #fan fiction #fan fic #reading #writing #ao3 #read on ao3 #maxis match #simsfluencer #jellimac sims #jellimac #jellimac sims stories

[def-ace-ing-it]

I’m not usually one to comment directly on social issues but I need to talk about the reduced literacy and degradation in understanding the words of others.

I’m a student tutor at a college, and i have increasingly found that students seem to be unable to understand exactly what my job is really meant to do. This fall semester, I’ve had a number of students who signed up for a session completely online, where they send me their paper and I give feedback without any in-person contact, and assumed that not only was the session in person, but also that I was at the main campus. Now, I may be able to understand some of this, but the problem is that the only way to find where to sign up for my sessions is in an isolated section of a website specifically for my regional campus. Even if they’ve managed to skip that stage, on the website to sign up for tutoring help, it says my specific campus’ name, which is completely different from the main campus. My sessions also have three options for people, in-person, online but face-to-face through Google Meet, or completely online, this is an option you have to choose between to even sign up, but people seem to completely miss it.

I could maybe brush this off as just a few isolated incidents, if this hadn’t also happened with a faculty member. This professor signed up in place of a student, and asked me for my personal opinion on if this particular student would do well in her class based off one assignment.

There are multiple things wrong with this: 1) I am not allowed to do that, as I am both an undergrad and not a student counselor, so my advice is not something to even be considered; 2) this was likely shared without the students knowledge, and this response was clearly a very traumatic event in the student life, which I did not feel very comfortable reading without knowing if the student had even agreed to this; and 3) the professor clearly didn’t read how to submit for an online session, as she copied and pasted the paper into the description box for the assignment.

I have seen video after video of Highschool teachers showing how their student are becoming increasingly illiterate, with being unable to spell without relying on auto correct. Add in the inability to have nuanced takes (such as understanding that some narrators are unreliable and should not be used for weddings, as I have seen people use a quote from Lolita of all things for their vows), and not being able to tell what is political propaganda and this is becoming a serious problem. I’m no expert, so I don’t know how we would even begin to fix this, but there has to be something done about this, otherwise I’m starting to suspect that this is going to spiral into something far, far worse than we can imagine.

#literacy #media literacy #sorry if I was rambling #I just needed to get this out there. because it’s becoming a serious issue #I know this isn’t new. but I’m mainly venting here because this is frustrating #kats gone insane dont mind her

[ireviewuread]

How to Teach Children About Business and Finance Through Free Online Browser Games

Financial education is often overlooked in the education system, much like other crucial life skills such as home maintenance and tax filing.

This oversight poses a significant problem as children grow up to become financially illiterate adults. As a result, they face ongoing financial struggles, limited opportunities for economic growth, and vulnerability to scams and predatory practices.

Ted Beck, the president and CEO of the National Endowment for Financial Education, emphasizes the importance of financial literacy for children, as it is a skill that will serve them throughout their lives.

"We all need to know how to manage our money," asserts Beck, noting that while some fortunate students learn about it in schools, it is essential to ensure that all children are equipped to handle their financial futures.

Beck even suggests that parents should begin teaching financial literacy to their toddlers, as this skill should be progressively nurtured throughout childhood. An effective way for children to grasp the concept of money as a "medium of exchange" is through educational games and activities.

How to Teach Children About Business and Finance Through Free Online Browser Games

It's a well-known fact that children are drawn to video games because they find them exciting and rewarding. Building on this, you can motivate your child to learn while having fun by introducing them to free online finance and business browser games available on Mortgage Calculator.

These games provide an entertaining and interactive platform through which your child can develop essential financial literacy skills.

Free Money Games on Mortgage Calculator

Mortgage Calculator is a versatile website that caters to both adults and children. While adults can use it to budget for their mortgage, children can engage in educational play.

The website offers a wide range of interactive money games, covering topics such as grocery shopping, cryptocurrency, software development, and real estate. This diverse selection ensures that children can learn not only about financial literacy but also explore areas like software development and block coding.

No Downloads, No Ads, No Worries

The games available on Mortgage Calculator are conveniently hosted directly on their website, allowing your children to play them directly in the browser without any need for downloading. 

These games are completely free of in-game advertisements, ensuring that your children can focus on playing and learning without any distractions. Moreover, these games are also compatible with mobile devices, allowing you to enjoy them on the go.

Additionally, after careful analysis of the website, it can be confirmed that there are no advertisements present on the entire site. Therefore, you can rest assured that your children would not accidentally click on any unwanted ads while browsing the website.

Money Game – Grocery Cashier

I highly recommend children give Grocery Cashier a try, as it is an engaging finance game that immerses players in the role of a cashier at a grocery store. In this game, players are responsible for processing payments from customers, allowing them to practice and improve their basic mathematics skills, such as addition and subtraction while using a virtual cash register that doubles as a calculator to input the correct amounts.

To add an element of challenge, each customer has a time limit, which progressively decreases as the game progresses. This feature encourages players to think quickly and make accurate calculations within a limited timeframe.

I appreciate the fact that players have the opportunity to learn more about the game before deciding to play it. Additionally, the inclusion of basic tutorials in every game ensures that players have a clear understanding of how to play and maximize their learning experience.

Overall, Grocery Cashier not only provides an entertaining gaming experience but also helps children strengthen their mathematical skills and develop quick thinking in a simulated real-world scenario.

Software Development Game - Code Panda

Mortgage Calculator goes beyond financial games. It also features block coding games, a prominent part of modern school curricula. These games help children understand basic concepts of coding and improve their cognitive functions.

One such game is Code Panda, where children are encouraged to use block codes to guide a panda through a grid and reach the bamboo. With 32 unique stages available, the game offers ample opportunities for children to engage and delve deeper into the world of block coding.

By playing Code Panda and similar games, children not only have fun but also develop essential problem-solving skills and logical thinking. These games provide a hands-on experience in a playful environment, making it easier for children to grasp coding concepts.

STEM Game – We Bare Bears Develobears

We Bare Bears Develobears is one of my top picks from the game list. It's an engaging STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) game designed to educate children about the various elements involved in creating a video game.

What I particularly enjoy about this game is the inclusion of a diverse range of mini-games that enable players to progress through different stages. As you play, you'll witness the bears' environment gradually improving, which adds to the overall experience. Moreover, the fact that it revolves around my favourite cartoon characters makes it even more appealing.

I strongly believe that this game has immense value for children as it helps enhance their critical thinking and problem-solving abilities. By immersing themselves in the game, they'll acquire valuable skills that can be applied beyond the virtual world.

How to Teach Children About Business and Finance Through Free Online Browser Games

The education system often overlooks financial education, resulting in many adults lacking financial literacy. It is vital to expose children to money management at an early age.

Mortgage Calculator addresses this issue by providing free online finance and business browser games that combine learning with enjoyment.

The games on Mortage Calculator empower children to acquire practical knowledge and develop valuable skills beyond the virtual realm. Ultimately, they equip children for a financially secure future by enabling them to make informed financial decisions.

Start your child's financial education journey today by exploring the games on Mortgage Calculator and helping them build a strong foundation for a lifetime of financial literacy.

#Mortgage Calculator #money games #games #online games #tech #game #short games #finance games #coding game #block coding

[aeoki]

Primavera - Quiet Spring: Chapter 6

Location: Seisou Hall (Touri & Yuzuru’s Room) Characters: Touri & Yuzuru

< That night. >

Yuzuru: (Hmm. A private website run by a university professor? This may be useful.)

(“A Reflection of the Consumer Society and Valentine’s Day”... I see. Valentine’s Day was originally something that became ingrained in Japan after the war.) 

(It started as a custom from American soldiers and later became connected to business in Japan.)

(Hmm… But this is quite proper.)

(I had hoped to find some sort of clue for “Chocolat Fest” if I unravelled the origins of Valentine’s Day.)

(But as I delve into the political side, it makes things much more confusing.)

(If only there was an easier way to plan “Chocolat Fest” without using chocolate…)

(Or so I’m thinking. Is it rather obvious that I’m pondering about something?)

(As I wait for some sort of reaction from the Young Master, it makes it seem as though I’m a late bloomer of a young man who bears romantic feelings for him.)

Touri: Hey, Yuzuru, what’re you doing on the laptop?

You don’t really… surf the net, right? Homework?

Yuzuru: (He’s fallen for the bait.)

No. I’m not technologically illiterate so I have no issues using computers. I simply find that using a smartphone can be somewhat unsatisfactory.

I was doing some research for “Chocolat Fest”. I thought there must be something I could do to lend a hand.

Touri: Really? Yuzuru, you’d do that on your own accord…?

You said you’d just stay put and see how things go, but now you’re suddenly eager to do something?

Just what curious turn of events caused this to happen~? You were talking with Eichi-sama but did he also influence you to do this?

Yuzuru: Hehe. I suppose that’s part of it.

He seemed to be troubled over the plans for “Chocolat Fest” while I was talking with him at noon, so I wanted to be a little involved.

I was doing some research into the customs for Valentine’s Day.

It’s most definitely untrue that I received a request that the other members of “fine” are not involved in. So please, there is no need to worry about that.

Touri: Huh… So that’s why.

I’m sure Eichi-sama has his own things to handle but I guess it’s nice he doesn’t need to shoulder all of it on his own.

And he finally learnt he could rely on us in “Tempest”~

Yeah, it would only be a bother to Eichi-sama if I complained, right? I’m looking forward to it too, so I’ll help you research secretly.

Yuzuru: Hehe. You’re quite mature, Young Master. Thank you for your kindness.

Then, can you read the materials I had intended on reading for me?

Touri: Woah, what’s with this mountain of documents…!?

What’s this? The history of “Chocolat Fest” over the past ten years or so…?

Yuzuru: That’s correct. It’s a record of “Chocolat Fest”. The confectionery company is supplying sweets free of charge, so we have a duty to report the results back to them.

Thanks to that, it’s packed full of information on independent projects. I thought there must be one that doesn’t use chocolate, so I had it sent from the company.

There are a few areas of the record that have been omitted, but I still think it will prove to be rather useful in narrowing down and providing ideas for a new plan.

Touri: Hmm. Yeah, there’s bound to be a variety of different versions over the span of fifteen years!

Okay, then leave this side to me! We’ll come up with a lovely plan and make Eichi-sama happy with a surprise ♪

Yuzuru: Right. I appreciate your help, Young Master.

There is quite a lot to go through, so thank you…♪

(...Or so I say, but the more I smile, the more guilty I feel.)

(In any case, once I’ve passed the materials to him – as long as I’ve pointed him in the right direction – he would have fallen straight for the trap…)

(All that’s left to do is to act as I would normally and it should be fine. I wouldn’t even need to lie.)

(This is also to protect the Himemiya family’s education policy – I hope you’ll understand, Young Master.)

Touri: Hmm… So other idol schools were doing it like this, huh.

Make a life-sized chocolate using an idol’s figure…? This sounds like something someone thought of overnight!

Yuzuru: It’s an event the students hold at school, after all. There will be elaborate plans as well as odd ones.

However, I think there may be a hint within those reckless plans. Our current situation is different from normal… I figured we need an eccentric approach.

Touri: Yeah. It’s because the situation is different from normal that we have to come up with another way, right?

(...I knew it, something’s weird.)

(Sure, the situation is different from normal, but I can tell because I’ve been with Yuzuru for a long time.)

(Yuzuru met with Eichi-sama at noon and started to immediately come up with the plan for “Chocolat Fest’, right? I bet they were definitely talking about something.)

(Or am I just overthinking things…?)

(Either way, all I can do is help Eichi-sama out.)

(Even if he really did talk to Yuzuru about something, there has to be a reason why they’re keeping it a secret.)

(So I’ll place my trust in them for now.)

(...But, if it’s something important related to “fine”, then I won’t be fine with it. Anyone would understand why, right?)

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#primavera

[blakewoodink]

Things I used to do...

I hate wordpress.

I can't believe that I used to think wordpress was the most amazing versatile website builder of all time. It's just a monster with endless security threat that randomly stops working --thus causing your technically illiterate clients to freak out and call you at all hours of the day and night.

Then I'm stressed out, I have to put my normal life on pause and figure out why my PHP randomly stopped working. I actually pay for wordpress support because I just can't deal, only to find that my hosting company has now removed the option to actually call them by phone!

Of course all of this happens after I've already told my clients I'm retiring (because I literally don't know what to charge or who to charge for dealing with this shitshow,) but I'm still getting calls because they don't know who to contact to replace me. The result: The website is still down and I'm on an online chat with...maybe a robot? Who says that there is an issue with the database that I literally have never edited. And I hate myself for ever thinking I could be a front-end webdeveloper.

#wordpress

[roleplayerconfessions]

689803029405401088 I know that was going to be your last reply, and I'm not going to reply again either, because this is just going to go around in circles. But I want to add my input, because there are some things here I'm a little iffy about.

Some of the commenters mentioned people who don't roleplay at all. I think it's valid to be frustrated by that. I've seen people make five, ten, fifteen blogs, one after the other across months, across years, and literally never make a roleplay post. Ever. I'm not exaggerating here, sadly. And if they literally never roleplay, it's not a matter of "when" they roleplay. Because they never will. That can be a huge muse killer. It does make me wonder why people label themselves as roleplayers when they're only here to post like a fandom blog, when writing stuff comes implicit in the word "roleplaying". It's natural to expect a roleplayer to write something, anything. When someone writes literally zero words, and only posts fandom content unrelated to roleplaying, muse headcanons, etc, it's natural to wonder why they aren't a fandom blog instead. It's great to be into a character, but it doesn't always mean someone wants to roleplay them.

Personally, I'm a low-activity blog who has waited months, and years, for partners to reply IC and OOC. But I also want people who will, at some point, produce something. I can do a little, but I can't do zero. I'm a little hurt that this is being considered "possessive", which has such a huge negative connotation. People can roleplay one week an entire year and I'll be happy, but there is a huge difference between getting something and getting nothing. Not even being given the courtesy of knowing this will happen beforehand so I can avoid someone is crummy.

Roleplaying is roleplaying. Unless someone's personality makes a mess of things, it's fun and no-pressure no matter what level you're on, how you approach it, or what your style is. I grew up on proboards, gaia online, and other PBP forums, I know what roleplay was like (and still is like, on a few forums). But the whole "one-liners with asterisk actions" is not the only way to roleplay. Remember, a lot of roleplay communities separate roleplaying by illiterate, semi-literate (gaia online tended to fit those two styles), literate, advanced literate, and novella. All are acceptable. I thought it was strange how in your ask, you seemed to separate "serious" roleplayers (advanced literate, novella, long-term I guess?) from "the public/indie rpc", when those "serious" roleplayers are a part of that public/indie rpc. They're all roleplayers. We're all using the same aggregating websites to find partners and share our muses. Certain communities may have more of a bias towards certain roleplaying styles, like tumblr with frequent muse changeover and shorter threads, but it doesn't make the other styles less valid. Elsewhere, the way people approach things here are considered unpopular.

You seem to have conflated people who want to see any kind of roleplay activity, even if it's just a post or two every now and again, with people who are asking someone to post every week, or x times within a certain time frame, like, "hut hut hut, post or else". That isn't the case, at least for anyone who isn't a dick. I've waited enormous stretches of time for my partners to give replies, and I'm low-activity myself (as much as "low activity" feels like a dirty word, with social media insisting you have to be online and creating things all the time). I know that some people have more free time than others, and I'm sure many other people know this, too. This does mean, though, if I don't have tons of free time myself, I'm going to spend that precious free time interacting with people who are as guaranteed as possible to actually roleplay, and who show signs of that intention in some way.

People judge others based on the info they're provided with. People notice context clues, and they need some kind of indication. Maybe you have a bunch of long standing blogs, but the problem comes when people don't know that. If all someone ever sees is the short lived ones, because you never mention the long standing ones (for example), link to them, etc, they can't be expected to stick around because the information currently available to them is telling them something else. They shouldn't be expected to draw conclusions based on a lack of info. (So that's another reason it's good to communicate. "I keep both experimental muses and long-term muses", for example, says a lot without being lengthy or too revealing.)

Most people who want longer-term, consistent interactions really try to avoid short-term roleplayers, and not control people. If someone is a long-term roleplayer, it can actually be scary to describe what they're looking for in their rules. If someone says they only follow older blogs with more established muses in their rules, they're often attacked and told, "lol this is a hobby not a jobby are we supposed to fill out a CV while we're at it?". This is a hobby, yeah, and people who like longer-term things know that, so that kind of reception hurts a lot. Like I said above, "roleplaying" encompasses a lot of roleplaying types. There are so many kinds. Nobody is disagreeing that roleplay isn't for fun. And a lot of people HAVE fun "taking rp seriously". They like to push themselves as writers, and they like to have detail, which does require more involvement from partners (who should obviously enjoy it too, otherwise, they're just a bad match lol and neither mun should be roleplaying with the other).

Most long-term roleplayers tend to keep their distance (I know at least me and my partners do) from blogs that appear to be short-term or spontaneous. And because there are so few of us in the first place, honestly, we're not going to affect any real change in the RPC, or make any real ripple effects. I can count the number of long-term roleplayers I know on both hands. We're kind of just there, sitting in the corner. So the muns who you describe as being discouraged or feeling pressured and giving up, while their feelings are understandable, I don't think they actually feel pressured by us in particular, inherently, as long-term roleplayers. There's a much higher chance the pressure is coming from elsewhere. And I honestly haven't seen a single roleplayer's rules, or a PSA, suggest this is something that requires x amount of replies within x amount of time, or anything job-like, in years. It's quite the opposite.

But I'm running my mouth now. Like others said ad nauseum already, everyone just needs to communicate, and understand not everyone is built the same, or works the same (whether they are spontaneous or consistent). It can solve all of this. Unless someone is a legitimate ass (who will get angry no matter what, and believe me lol, I know there are a ton of people like that out there!), nobody cares how other people roleplay unless they lead people on. I want to close by saying I appreciate what you've said on this topic, and it's given me a lot to think about, even if this ask doesn't convey that.

In response to this ask about this submission.

#Submission Replies #Muns #Preferences #Consistency #Blogs #Muses #Fandoms #Communication #Bullying #Discrimination #Rules Pages #Writing Styles #PSAs