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#17 principles of success
determinate-negation · 5 months
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the misinformation about hamas is unreal even on the pro-palestine side. their current charter even lays out terms for a possible two-state solution (which the israeli government dismissed before it was even finished being written) and in three separate paragraphs they outline that they will not persecute anyone on the basis of religion, race or gender and do not have a quarrel with the jewish people, only the zionist entity of israel. but everyone keeps saying READ THEIR CHARTER! THEY WANT TO GENOCIDE JEWS! i read the whole thing? the only thing they said about jews was that they don't have a problem with jews and they even acknowledge the european antisemitism that lead to the zionist entity...
yeah. i recommend anyone to check out this article and read their charter themselves
The Zionist project does not target the Palestinian people alone; it is the enemy of the Arab and Islamic Ummah posing a grave threat to its security and interests. It is also hostile to the Ummah’s aspirations for unity, renaissance and liberation and has been the major source of its troubles. The Zionist project also poses a danger to international security and peace and to mankind and its interests and stability. 16. Hamas affirms that its conflict is with the Zionist project not with the Jews because of their religion. Hamas does not wage a struggle against the Jews because they are Jewish but wages a struggle against the Zionists who occupy Palestine. Yet, it is the Zionists who constantly identify Judaism and the Jews with their own colonial project and illegal entity. 17. Hamas rejects the persecution of any human being or the undermining of his or her rights on nationalist, religious or sectarian grounds. Hamas is of the view that the Jewish problem, anti-Semitism and the persecution of the Jews are phenomena fundamentally linked to European history and not to the history of the Arabs and the Muslims or to their heritage. The Zionist movement, which was able with the help of Western powers to occupy Palestine, is the most dangerous form of settlement occupation which has already disappeared from much of the world and must disappear from Palestine.
Most vital, and despite maintaining the right of Palestinians to strive for and achieve their liberation, Article 20 then asserts:
Hamas considers the establishment of a fully sovereign and independent Palestinian state, with Jerusalem as its capital along the lines of the 4th of June 1967, with the return of the refugees and the displaced to their homes from which they were expelled, to be a formula of national consensus.
Hamas thus consents to recognize an Israel along its 1967 lines, before Israel annexed territory in two successive wars and pursued further violent land grabs in Syria’s Golan. Ironically, this leaves Hamas policy closer to international law than the relentless Israeli projects of border and settlement expansion.
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abyssthing198 · 4 months
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Twst Percy Jackson/Camp Half Blood au:
Basically everyone at NRC and RSA are either demigod’s or some sort of staff (like satyr’s) at Camp-Half Blood
Some have been at the camp for years while others, like Ophelia, are first year campers
The Great 7 and their RSA counterparts are famous demi-gods from the camp
Crowley is in charge of the camp, filling Dionysus’s role as the camp director
I think both Ambrose and Trein replace Chiron, with his roles/jobs being split between the two, simply because I cannot choose between the two
The other staff members are the rest of the camp staff members.
Set in earth though, not twisted wonderland
If you want your OC’s to be in the au, tell me who their godly parent and how old they were when they got to camp or role in the camp is (like being a Hunter of Artemis or being a sayer guide). The Cabin/God list is under the cut off and I’m gonna post who’s in what cabin later.
@writing-heiress @marrondrawsalot @the-weirdos-mind @anxious-twisted-vampire @yukii0nna
The Cabins
Cabin 1: Zeus (god of the sky, lightning, thunder, law, and order)
Cabin 2: Hera (goddess of marriage, women and the family, and protector of women during childbirth)
Does not have any demi-god children and never will on principle of not cheating on her husband
Cabin 3: Poseidon (god of the sea/water, earthquakes, and horses)
Cabin 4: Demeter (goddess of harvest and agriculture)
Cabin 5: Ares (God of War)
Cabin 6: Athena (Goddess of wisdom, warfare, and craft)
Cabin 7: Apollo (God of the sun, poetry, healing, music, prophecy, archery, and a dozen other things)
Cabin 8: Artemis (Goddess of the moon, the hunt, the wilderness, nature, childbirth, and several other things)
Also wont have any kids as she is a virgin goddess, but the Hunter of Artemis use the cabin as a safe place to rest.
Cabin 9: Hephaestus (God of fires, volcanoes, forges, artisans, and other things)
Cabin 10: Aphrodite (Goddess of love and beauty)
Cabin 11: Hermes (God of trade, wealth, luck, thieves, speed, and travel)
Cabin 12: Dionysus (God of theater, wine, insanity, and parties)
Cabin 13: Hades (God of the underworld and the dead)
Cabin 14: Iris (Goddess of Rainbows and messenger of the god)
Cabin 15: Hypnos (God of sleep)
Cabin 16: Nemesis: (Goddess of retribution and vengeance)
Cabin 17: Nike (Goddess of Victory)
Cabin 18: Hebe (Goddess of youth, forgiveness, and the cup-bearer of the gods)
Cabin 19: Tyche (Goddess of success, fortune, luck, and prosperity)
Cabin 20: Hecate (Goddess of witchcraft, the night, light, ghosts, necromancy, and the moon)
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walkswithmyfather · 7 months
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Psalm 103:19. “The LORD has established His throne in the heavens, And His sovereignty rules over all.”
Genesis 39:2. “The LORD was with Joseph, so he became a successful man. And he was in the house of his master, the Egyptian.”
Genesis 39:21. “But the LORD was with Joseph and extended kindness to him, and gave him favor in the sight of the chief jailer.”
“Piece by Piece” By Charles F. Stanley:  “We may not see the big picture of our life, but God does.”
“Does it sometimes feel as though your life is a mess of scattered puzzle pieces? Each situation seems to be an isolated event with no connection to what happened previously or what could occur in the future. Some pieces are beautiful moments of joy and blessing, but others are dark and painful. Perhaps you wonder why God allows these events or why He doesn’t intervene and relieve your suffering.
We can’t see what the picture will be once the puzzle is assembled, but God knows exactly how to fit everything together. When our situations look hopeless, this is our comfort: that a holy, perfect, all-knowing God is sovereign over everything in our life (Psalm 103:19). Nothing is random or meaningless when we belong to Him.
The story of Joseph is a great example of God’s omnipotent hand working in and through every situation (Gen. 37, 39-50). And by reading it, we learn four essential truths about the Lord and His sovereignty.
God is always with us. Joseph was hated by his 10 older brothers because he was the favorite son. When an opportunity arose to get rid of him, they sold him to a caravan of traders and told their father he’d been killed by a wild animal. This dramatic turn of events could easily have caused Joseph to feel forgotten by God. But throughout his various trials, one thing was constant—“The Lord was with Joseph” (Genesis 39:2, Genesis 39:21). 
Like him, we never walk through any situation alone. At the moment of our salvation, the Holy Spirit comes to live within us and seals us as God’s children (Ephesians 1:13). He’s with us in every circumstance whether we feel His presence or not. This is a truth we can count on because the Lord always keeps His word.
God has a purpose for everything. Joseph was only 17 when his ordeal began, and it didn’t end until he was 30. That’s 13 years of unexplained hardship and suffering, but the Lord knew exactly what was required to prepare Joseph for his future role as governor of Egypt, a position that made him second in authority to Pharaoh. 
What seemed like random and unfair events were the very things the Lord orchestrated to achieve His purpose. He used a father’s favoritism and brothers’ hatred to move Joseph from Canaan to Egypt. As a slave and prisoner, Joseph learned the skills required to wisely rule over a prosperous and powerful nation. God used Pharaoh’s dream and its interpretation not only to rescue His servant from prison but also to provide enough food to preserve a nation and save Joseph’s family from starvation. 
Although the events you experience may not be as dramatic as these, the principle still holds true. The Lord has a divine objective for everything that happens in your life. He’s promised to cause all things to work together for good to those who love Him and are called according to His purpose (Romans 8:28). You may not see a reason for what He’s doing in your life right now, but you can know this: His purpose is superior to any challenge you face.
God’s perspective is eternal and omniscient. When Joseph looked back at all the difficult events of his life, he assured his brothers of the Lord’s sovereign hand at work—even in their mistreatment of him. (See Genesis 50:20.) But what Joseph couldn’t see was God’s eternal purpose being worked out. Ultimately the hope for all humanity was tied up in these events because Jesus Christ was a descendant of that little group of Hebrews who were transplanted to Egypt and sustained by Joseph.
God is working awesome things of eternal value in our lives, but we can’t always understand, because our perspective is limited. The apostle Paul tells us that “momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison” (2 Corinthians 4:17). When the troubles of this life weigh us down, we need to shift our focus from the temporal to the eternal (2 Corinthians 4:18). 
God’s timing is perfect. Perhaps the most difficult part of Joseph’s troubles was their duration. At one point, after correctly interpreting the cupbearer’s dream, Joseph saw a glimmer of hope and asked to be remembered to Pharaoh. But after two long years, he was still a prisoner. 
Why did God delay Joseph’s release just when he’d begun to hope again? Haven’t we all wondered that at one time or another? It looked as if the Lord was about to intervene, but then nothing happened. It’s easier to bear pain if we know the end is near, but when trials seem endless, we must rely on the wisdom of God’s timing. He knows exactly what He wants to achieve in our life and how long it will take. 
Instead of wrangling with the Lord over which pieces should be in the puzzle, let’s learn to accept that He alone knows how all the events of our life fit together. We can trust Him to choose the right pieces, even the dark ones, and place each one exactly where it needs to be, according to His good purpose.”
[Adapted from the sermon “Walking Through Dark Valleys” by Charles F. Stanley]
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unicornjoking1111 · 9 months
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Neville Goddard success story (not his but someone else's)
“Ann was a member of the world’s oldest profession, that of being a lady of the evening. She often came to my meetings, but this day we met on the corner of Broadway and 72nd Street, where she told me this story. One day, while walking by a hat shop, she fell in love with a beautiful hat in its window with a price tag indicating a cost of $17.50.”
“Wanting it so much, she decided to apply this principle, so in her imagination she placed the hat on her head, and as she walked up Broadway she felt the hat on her head. She would not look in a store window and be disillusioned, and when she arrived home she imagined taking off the hat and placing it on the top shelf before looking in the mirror.”
“Ten days later a friend called and invited her to lunch. When she arrived, the friend handed her a hat box, saying: “I don’t know what possessed me, but I bought this hat and when I brought it home I realized I had made a mistake. I do not like it on me but I think it would look lovely on you, Ann.” Opening the box she reached in and brought out – not a hat, but the hat.”
“Then Ann said to me: “Why didn’t God give me the money to buy the hat, instead of giving it to me through a friend?” I asked her if she felt obligated to her friend, and when she shook her head, No, I asked how much she usually paid for a hat. When she told me $4 or $5, I asked if she had ever purchased a $17 hat before. Again the answer was No, and when she admitted to owing two weeks’ rent, I said: “If while admiring the hat you found a hundred dollar bill on the sidewalk, would you have bought the hat? I’ll answer for you, no you would not.”
“You would have paid your rent and perhaps bought some groceries, but you would not have purchased the hat. Tell me Ann, how much money must God give you to get you to buy a $17 hat? If he gave you a thousand dollars you wouldn’t have bought it, for you are not in the habit of buying such expensive hats, so God knows best how to give you the hat you desired.”
*this is a copy paste from a website*
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justforbooks · 7 days
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Marcello Gandini’s cars were made to stop the traffic. The Italian designer, who has died aged 85, created supercars for the super-rich, and such exotic machines as Lamborghini’s Miura and Countach, Alfa Romeo’s Montreal and Maserati’s Khamsin were guaranteed to draw crowds of admirers when parked outside the grand hotels of Monaco, Rome or London.
As the chief designer of the Bertone company, he also worked at the more modest end of the market, creating the little Autobianchi A112 and the original version of the Volkswagen Polo, and restyling the British Mini for the Italian Innocenti firm. For those wanting a miniature supercar, there was Fiat’s two-seater X1/9, a striking little wedge with its four-cylinder engine mounted transversely behind the cockpit, mimicking the location of the Miura’s mighty V12.
Gandini designed for the space age, renouncing the smooth curves that defined the aesthetic principles of his predecessors. To him the Miura, which first appeared in 1966 and which many consider the most breathtakingly beautiful car ever made, was a flawed compromise. “The audacity was made acceptable by the sweetness, by the flow of the design,” he said. “Nobody rejected the Miura. There was immediate consensus. Even more than it deserved. I was at the beginning of my career and I didn’t have enough autonomy to be able to do exactly what I wanted.”
The Countach, altogether more extreme, even outlandish, was closer to his ideal on its unveiling in 1974. Sightings on the streets of London gave rise to the rumour that the width of its huge tyres made it the only car in the world that could not be wheel-clamped by parking wardens.
“For me,” Gandini said, “it represented the dream. It took years before it was totally accepted. Some people liked it straight away, but most, including journalists, took a long time. So much so that it remained in production for 17 years.”
Born in Turin, Gandini was the son of a pharmacist who, after the arrival of five children, had abandoned his first career as a classical composer and conductor. It was hoped that Marcello would become a concert pianist. There were piano lessons from the age of four, continued when he went to a Salesian boarding school at eight. But as a child he dreamed of cars and when, during his days as a student, his parents gave him the money to buy a Latin textbook, instead he spent it on a book called Motori Endotermici (Endothermic Engines) by Dante Giacosa, the great designer of the highly successful prewar Fiat 500 “Topolino”and its 1950s successor, the ubiquitous Nuova 500. His course was set.
At the age of 25, Gandini approached the celebrated Turin coachbuilder Nuccio Bertone, who gave him a job in the design studio. Soon he would take over as the firm’s chief designer from the prolific Giorgetto Giugiaro, who had drawn up the Maserati Ghibli and various handsome Alfa Romeos before leaving to start his own business.
Sometimes Gandini seemed to exist in the realm of the “concept car”, prototypes that explored new ideas without restraint, displayed at motor shows in much the way that Parisian couturiers produce extreme designs for the catwalk. The four seats of the unique Lamborghini Marzal, for instance, were upholstered in silver leather, while its bodywork and fittings made use of a hexagonal motif. The famous vertically opening “scissor doors” of the Countach were first seen at the 1968 Paris Motor Show on Alfa Romeo’s one-off Carabo.
Gandini was said to be responsible for around 200 designs. Among them were two mid-engined classics of the 1970s, Ferrari’s Dino 308 GT4 and the Lancia Stratos. The dramatically wedge-shaped Lancia won the world rally championship three years in a row between 1974-76 in the hands of Sandro Munari and Bjorn Waldegaard, while Munari also won the Monte Carlo Rally three times in a Stratos.
A car, Gandini believed, was not a work of art – “but it has in common with art the ability to generate emotions”. He played down the significance of his innovations. “I didn’t invent penicillin,” he said. “These are just ideas that came to me.” After leaving Bertone in 1980 to set up his own studio, he worked on many projects, including industrial and interior design.
The father who had wanted him to become a classical pianist finally overcame his disappointment at Marcello’s choice of profession when he was taken for his first ride in a Miura. “Only then,” his son said, “did he understand that I knew how to make other notes sound – those of engines.”
Gandini is survived by his wife, Claudia, with whom he lived in a restored abbey at the foot of Monte Musinè, outside Turin, their son and daughter, Marco and Marzia, and three grandchildren, Lucrezia, Costanza and Pietro.
🔔 Marcello Gandini, car designer, born 26 August 1938; died 13 March 2024
Daily inspiration. Discover more photos at Just for Books…?
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mariacallous · 6 months
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oh hey you're a bitch who cares about Michigan,
https://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/politics/2023/09/29/michigan-republican-party-faces-financial-turmoil-bank-records-show/71003017007/
the Michigan GOP is broke as hell and is robbing their federal election account to pay the light bill and shit.
Lansing — The Michigan Republican Party had about $35,000 in its bank accounts in August, according to internal records that flash new warning signs about the dire state of the GOP's finances and raise questions about whether the organization is complying with campaign finance laws.
The documents, obtained by The Detroit News, cover from February when party Chairwoman Kristina Karamo took office through Aug. 10, about six weeks before the party's Mackinac Republican Leadership Conference and about five months into Karamo's term.
The party has regularly transferred money from an account that's usually focused on federal elections to other accounts to afford expenses, according to the records. And earlier this year, Karamo's 2022 secretary of state campaign loaned the party's federal account $15,000 after that account's balance turned negative. The transaction wasn't reported in disclosures from the campaign or the party's federal committee.
A listing of Michigan Republican Party account balances from West Michigan Community Bank showed $35,051 across seven accounts, with expenses for many of the scheduled speakers at the Sept. 22-24 conference on Mackinac Island not yet paid, including author Dinesh D'Souza and unsuccessful former Arizona candidate for governor Kari Lake.
At this point, 13 months before a presidential election, the Michigan Republican Party should have about $10 million in its accounts, said Tom Leonard, a former Michigan House speaker and former finance chairman for the state GOP.
The party had less than 1% of the $10 million target.
"These numbers demonstrate that the party isn't just broke, but broken," Leonard said. "Given (Democratic President) Joe Biden's unpopularity, Republicans can still have a successful cycle, but it's clear they won't be able to rely on the Michigan Republican Party."
Karamo and a Michigan Republican Party spokesman didn't respond to requests for comment for this story.
But the severe financial problems and Karamo's handling of them helped prompt Warren Carpenter, a businessman and former chairman of the 9th Congressional District's Republican committee, to issue a statement, emphasizing that he had no "formal involvement" in the Mackinac conference.
With only two weeks before the conference, Karamo's team had asked Carpenter, a former Karamo supporter and donor from Oakland County, to help with the event, which traditionally costs about $700,000 to put on.
At that time, Carpenter said he was told the party had $30,000 in its accounts but still had to pay Lake $20,000 for speaking, pay D'Souza $28,000 and repay a loan of $110,000 for actor Jim Caviezel's speaking fee. Carpenter said he advised party leaders to cut D'Souza from the lineup to save money.
Carpenter said his principles eventually inspired him to not want to be involved in the conference.
"After consulting extensively with my attorney, I have been strongly advised to cease all communications and interactions with the team leading the Mackinac Leadership Conference," Carpenter wrote in a statement to GOP leaders. "This decision stems from the unsettling possibility of how the Mackinac Leadership Conference is being administered could result in both personal and legal repercussions."
Carpenter resigned as chairman of the 9th District committee on Tuesday.
'Significant challenges'
D'Souza ultimately didn't appear at the conference after the party sent out an email promoting him as a speaker as recently as Sept. 17, five days before the gathering on Mackinac Island began.
Also, D'Souza was still listed as one of the speakers on the party's website on Friday, five days after the conference ended and he didn't participate. Regular attendees had to pay $125 to $275 to register for the event, a price that didn't include the cost of a hotel on Mackinac Island.
During the conference, Dan Hartman, the Michigan Republican Party's general counsel, said he couldn't say why D'Souza didn't show up at the event.
As for the party's finances, the Michigan GOP had previously been primarily funded by 17 people or organizations, Hartman said. The party is in a state of transition, and the past leaders had thrown up "significant challenges" for the new grassroots-driven team, he added.
"Now, what's happened is it's rank-and-file and volunteers," Hartman said of the party's new leadership.
Michigan GOP delegates elected Karamo, a favorite among the grassroots wing of the party, chairwoman in February. While past chairs have been former elected officials and business leaders, Karamo is a former educator from Oak Park who lost a race for secretary of state by 14 percentage points to Democratic incumbent Jocelyn Benson in November. Plus, Karamo has been openly critical of some of the state's largest GOP donors.
Asked about the party's finances on Sept. 23, Hartman referred a Detroit News reporter to the state GOP's budget committee, but he said the party had the money it needed to get by. Dan Bonamie, chairman of the budget committee, refused to answer questions that same day when approached by the reporter inside the Grand Hotel.
During a closed-door state committee meeting on Sunday, the final day of the Mackinac conference, Karamo spoke about the health of the Michigan Republican Party's finances, according to a recording of the meeting obtained by The News.
"The party is not going bankrupt," Karamo told state committee members.
Murky finances
In July, Bonamie informed other Republicans at a meeting in Clare the party had about $93,000 in its bank accounts and was working on paying outstanding debt, according to a recording previously obtained by The News.
It's not clear in the bank records, which cover accounts launched by Karamo's team, how much debt remains. But the records do show about $90,000 in the accounts in early July when Bonamie gave his report.
In March, just after she became chairman in February, Karamo told a group the party had $460,000 in debt from the past leadership team.
Having debt is not unusual for the state GOP after a competitive election. But what is unusual, according to longtime Michigan Republicans, is the struggle the party in a key battleground state is having collecting money.
The bank documents show that multiple Michigan Republican Party accounts have fallen into the red at points this year, and Karamo's leadership team has frequently transferred money from one account to another to meet obligations.
In the past, the party has used its "administrative" account, which can raise money from corporate donors in secret, to fund the Mackinac conference, according to campaign finance disclosures. But this year, the party used its federal campaign account, which is usually focused on races for federal offices, such as Congress and president, and has to disclose its donors, according to campaign finance disclosures.
The biggest deposit in the "administrative" account this year was $10,007 on July 8, according to the bank records, which don't show where the money came from. The account's balance hasn't reached above $16,000, according to the records.
Ahead of the 2021 Mackinac conference, there were significant six-figure corporate sponsorships, former Michigan Republican Party Executive Director Jason Roe previously told The News.
Across April and May, the party's federal account paid the Grand Hotel $109,496 for the conference. The party disclosed the payments in federal campaign finance reports.
By Aug. 9, the party's federal account had a balance of $44,329, according to the bank records. But on Aug. 10, the party's federal account paid the Grand Hotel another $65,854, temporarily putting the account's balance at -$21,524, according to the records.
The party received $31,980 that same day from an unlisted source, pushing the account balance back up to about $11,000 on Aug. 10, according to bank records.
Moving money
The party's state bank account, which is usually focused on state-level races, had about $5,256 remaining as of Aug. 10, according to the bank records.
The account would be the one the party uses next year to get involved in campaigns for control of the state House. Currently, Democrats hold a narrow 56-54 seat majority in the chamber. Every seat will be on the ballot in 2024.
The Michigan GOP's state account had a negative balance as recently as June 14, according to the records. But the party quickly transferred $7,400 from the federal account to the state account, giving it a positive balance of $6,683.
Overall, the Michigan Republican Party transferred $31,400 from the federal account to the state account from April 12 through Aug. 10, the records show. Other than the transfers, the largest deposit in the account over the period was $250, the records show, indicating the party's fundraising is primarily happening through the federal account and then money is being moved elsewhere.
Karamo's "chair" account has received $11,400 in transfers from the federal account, according to the records.
The transfers from the federal account to other state party accounts don't appear to be detailed in the Michigan Republican Party's federal campaign finance disclosures.
As of June 30, the Michigan Republican Party reported its federal fundraising committee had $146,931 cash on hand. The bank records showed the federal bank account had about $66,278 at that point.
Using money in a federal party account for expenditures that wouldn't require reporting under federal law because they weren't related to federal politics would be an accounting "nightmare," said Mark Brewer, an elections lawyer and former chairman of the Michigan Democratic Party.
"You just risk breaking the law every time you do something like that," Brewer said of having to track financial totals while moving money in and out of the account.
In July, the Federal Election Commission asked the Michigan Republican Party why its financial tallies for the federal committee appeared to be incorrect. On Sept. 11, the party said it was working to address the question.
The Michigan Republican Party told the commission it "has gone through a series of administration transitions this year."
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topgunreacts · 3 months
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The love-denial reaches its peak between these two men who are bumping uglies on Uncle Sam’s dime
Excerpt from chapter 17
A few days later, PJ ordered Maverick to report to his office for some good news. Maverick didn’t know what to expect of such a summons, seeing as how he’d never in his life been called to a CO’s office to hear anything good period, much less something good about him. As usual, PJ wasn’t smiling, but he did tell Maverick plainly how proud he was of how far Maverick had come since the early days of confusion and pain. He merely wanted Maverick to know it in person. In fact, he was so pleased that he told Maverick to sit down in a chair and make himself comfortable. With a great deal of caution, Maverick sat, keeping his back straight in case this generous act had some sort of ulterior motive. But PJ’s happiness seemed completely genuine. He wasn’t rolling out the red carpet or anything, but Maverick could sense that the old man was starting to like him after all. A little.
“I’ve been keeping an eye on your labs,” PJ said, scanning the latest report. “Your body in particular is really gunning for the threshold, here. This isn’t the fastest synthesis development I’ve seen, but it’s up there. And Ice consistently reports that you’re being a supportive partner. I’ve given your team permission to amp up your training to prepare for the end of Phase One. You’ve done nice work, Mitchell. You turned it around.”
Maverick bit the side of his tongue to keep from grinning too hard, but it was a lost cause. “Thank you, sir.”
“Based on my prior experience with couples at your current level, I expect both of you will complete your trial during his next heat. Prepare yourself; once I give the order for the last of the training wheels to come off, you’re looking at your new normal. The bar for success will always stay just out of reach; if you want to grasp it, you’ll be jumping higher and higher each time. What was difficult for you yesterday will be tomorrow’s warm-up exercise. Are you ready for that?”
Almost two years ago, Viper had posed a similar question to a room full of Top Gun hopefuls. Maverick had answered with an affirmative then, too, but there was something about this one that felt more earned. Maverick didn’t feel that undercurrent of desperation for someone to acknowledge him. He felt comfortable. Steady. Nervous, too—but not so desperate anymore.
“Yes, sir,” Maverick said. “I’m ready.”
More at the link
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bestepisode · 28 days
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The top 8 episodes from each season will move on to the next round.
Vote on the second half of the season here!
Episode descriptions are under the cut.
Welcome to Republic City
Seventy years after the events concluding Avatar: The Last Airbender, Aang has died and the Order of the White Lotus discovers the new Avatar, Korra, in the Southern Water Tribe. By the age of 17, Korra has mastered the elements of water, earth, and fire, but has not yet been able to airbend. Kept under lock and key by White Lotus for her own protection, she is frustrated by her isolation from the rest of the world, and eagerly anticipates completing her training with Master Tenzin, the son of Katara and Aang, and the only airbending master. However Tenzin also serves on the council of the United Republic (a new fifth nation created by Avatar Aang and Firelord Zuko in the period between the two series) and civil unrest in the capital, Republic City, forces him to postpone her training. Unwilling to live under the strict confines of her life with the White Lotus anymore, Korra absconds from her compound on her massive polar bear-dog Naga and stows away on a vessel bound for Republic City, a bustling and rapidly modernizing capital of world affairs. After a clash with local triads, she is arrested by Lin Beifong, head of Republic City's metalbending police force and the daughter of Toph, until Tenzin bails her out and allows her to stay with him. Meanwhile, antagonist 'Amon' is identified as the leader of the anti-bender "Equalist" movement--the movement's numbers are swiftly swelling due to inequities between benders and non-benders and its extremist militant arm is beginning to kidnap benders whose fates are initially unknown.
A Leaf in the Wind
Frustrated by her continued inability to bend air, Korra visits Republic City's pro-bending arena against Tenzin's wishes. There, she befriends Bolin and Mako, two brothers on the "Fire Ferrets" pro-bending team. Filling in for their absent third member Korra initially suffers due to her inexperience, but wins the match using airbending principles. Tenzin, impressed, allows Korra to stay on the team.
The Revelation
Trying to collect money for their pro-bending fees, Bolin is recruited by the Triple Threat Triads, but they are all abducted by the Equalists. At an Equalist rally, Amon demonstrates his ability to permanently remove the bending powers of the captive gangsters, but Mako and Korra rescue Bolin before Amon can do the same to him.
The Voice in the Night
Republic City Councilman Tarrlok creates a task force to capture Amon, and eventually recruits the reluctant Korra. Mako gains a paramour in Asami Sato, the daughter of industrialist Hiroshi Sato, who sponsors the Fire Ferrets in the competition. After some success on the task force, Korra challenges Amon to a duel. She is ambushed and captured by Equalists, but Amon, not wishing to make her a martyr, does not take away her bending but implies that he will eventually do so. Shortly after, Tenzin finds her, deeply traumatized and terrified as a consequence of the attack.
The Spirit of Competition
Mako courts Hiroshi's daughter, Asami, much to the annoyance of Korra, who spends an evening with Bolin instead. Later, she kisses Mako, upsetting Bolin and the Fire Ferrets' chances in the championship. By the end of the episode, the Fire Ferrets forgive each other and advance to the championship match against the three-time defending champions, the popular and highly arrogant Wolfbats.
And the Winner Is...
Amon threatens to attack the pro-bending arena if the Council does not cancel the championship, but Chief Lin Beifong promises to protect the stadium. The Wolfbats win the match by bribing the referees to ignore foul play. After the match is over, the Equalists, having infiltrated the arena in force, neutralize Chief Beifong's metalbenders using electric gloves, and Amon strips the Wolfbats of their bending abilities before a shocked crowd. Korra and Beifong free themselves and fight the Equalists, but the Equalists escape in an airship and the arena is heavily damaged in the fray.
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boopshoops · 1 month
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Ya know what SIKE i'm just gonna answer all of these bc I wanna write smth
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Yuu Shi
1. I- I have so many. There is a whole playlist dedicated to her, but if I had to pick ONE in specific, it'd be Thank God I'm Not You.... and Aishite Aishite Aishite as a close second with the bonus that her voice claim sang a cover of it- and Siren as a third. Im indecisive.
2. Cater Diamond! They share a similar sense of humor, and they go back and forth pretty easily, somewhat similar to her and Ace. However, Yuu Shi actually enjoys interacting on social media, texting, and spamming with horrid jokes or memes. They share similar family issues as well.
3. Vil Schoenheit. She disagrees with him regarding a large majority of his principles he stands so firmly by, but she also relates to him greatly. She looks up to him and wants to rival him simultaneously. Whether she is successful in that regard enters spoiler territory.
4. Bugs, spiders, and snakes. Shit gets wild with Jamil.
5. Music is her best class :D She used to attend a performing art school, so she is very familiar with all the assignments and is usually called on as an example.
6. Art. She can't draw for shit. The long process of improving at it also makes her want to crawl into a hole. Not good at something immediately? Abandon it! Thats her unhealthy motto.
7. Pop Music Club. I feel this is rather self explanatory(#5). Plus she really needed an electric guitar to borrow since she lost her own. Music in general helps keep her sane at NRC.
8. Leona Kingscholar. She wants to kick his ass so bad. She DESPISES him. Mostly out of fear, but she would never admit it. The first interaction with him in the botanical gardens really scares her.
9. Of the canon staff members it would be Mozus Trein actually. She finds history to be a rather easy subject, and she really likes his cat. There's really not any other reasons. She isn't a big fan of authority figures (if she isn't one of them).
10. Octavinelle! Pomefiore is a close second, with beauty being of high importance to her, but she doesn't go to the same lengths to maintain it.
11. Hooo she would never admit it, but most likely Riddle. She just wants him to break out of whatever chains his mother shackled him in. Maybe it is because she is projecting, or maybe it is because she actually has a soft spot. Maybe both.
12. Bean day >:) No magic? Sign her the fuck up. Any more details and I'd go into spoiler territory.
13. Again, Leona Kingscholar. She would get her shit wrecked in a fair fight.
14. She places pretty high in her class once she gets the hang of how the world functions. She has similar grades to Azul or Jade.
15. She holds a lot of secrets away from the other characters. The most obvious one is her real name.
16. Shameless TCOAV chapter one plug LMAO
17. She finds them bothersome. She dislikes how jumpy they make her feel, and even when they are kind she is apprehensive around them. Yuu prefers to avoid them.
18. The magic, for sure. Not only just the magic itself, but how it affects the environment around her. It was a serious culture shock at first.
19. No.
20. Hm. :)c a tie between book two and three. Wink wonk.
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geographerdose · 1 year
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Celestial Screenshots Destined for Fame, Part 2:
Elizabeth Taylor
All of the information used in this article was taken from her Wiki page/biography. I am a student of astrology and thus all that I have learned in that course deserves the instructor’s credit, along with all the astrologers before him from Vettius Valens to the translators of ancient texts. I thank you for passing on this knowledge and am grateful to receive it. To protect his privacy and name (because what if I’m completely butchering these concepts, lmao) I will keep it to myself. I believe in the importance of giving credit where it is due and thus that is my intention here. I also believe in the right to privacy and thus that is my secondary intention.
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🔫I am watching Goodfellas and Henry Hill mentions his soon-to-be wife’s eyes reminding him of Liz Taylor so I did a Google and naturally pulled up her birth chart.
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🧚‍♀️The first thing that stuck out to me was the reception between Virgo and Pisces. Of course, I do not know if reception “counts” with the outer planets but the principle remains unchanged. And since Neptune rules Pisces, I think it might have some impact. My notes in the photo explain my reasoning.
🐣Since this is at the fourth/tenth house, it speaks again to the success at a young age. Particularly with the Sun there and the fact the Sun rules Leo, which is the sign her AC ruler Jupiter falls in.
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🌸The Venus opposite of her MC stuck out to me immediately upon pulling up a chart, chart— she was well known for her beauty plus she was a child actor (Venus is also associated with youth).
🪷This placement signaled finding career/success at a young age in her case.
🧸Child actress is indicated in her fourth house as well since the Sun is there.
🪩I feel like in a way, she was meant to be famous due to her AC ruler falling in the sign of Leo.
👸🏻I also find it interesting that she has a “fame” degree conjunct Eros in the fifth house of creativity. Venus has the power to do more good here as well, esp. for her chart since it’s a night chart.
🏵️Also her MC falls in Libra, which is ruled by Venus right? Venus in Aries @ 17…. 🦁♌️
🤓As I read her biography on Wikipedia (credit:photo below) and saw her spouses, I thought:
“wow, this looks like my resume, lmao, 🤣🥹. I wonder if her seventh house is ruled by Aries too (like my tenth house is)”
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🐯WELLLL… turns out…
{{And this is why I love astrology
And also how I learn it
Through personal relation and connection}}
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👩‍❤️‍👨Her seventh house is Gemini, ruled by Mercury which falls at 6 Pisces CO-PRESENT with Mars at 1 Pisces! Mars/Aries/Scorpio=1️⃣
🌋Mars rules the Tower in tarot and so any place in your chart ruled by Mars (Aries+Scorpio) is likely to see a lot of upheavals and frequent change.
🎬 andd four changes of topic is my limit, for the readers sanity ✌🏻
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Arctic Monkeys’ Interview on Ruta 66 Magazine, October Issue 2022
Translated by RatioMonkeys on Twitter
I ain’t quite where I think I am… are you?
The matter requires complete confidentiality, so it doesn’t leak into the treacherous ocean that is social media. The interview with Alex Turner will be in London, towards the end of July. The Car -code title: Suffolk Punch- won’t be published until October 21st. If listened in another device other than the original, the copy will self-destruct. Agents in the service of Her Majesty will descend upon the journalist from Ruta 66 at the slightest indiscretion. Shhh…
And here I am, before Town Hall Hotel, in Bethnal Green, taking one last puff of a cigarette before deciding to enter and face the frontman of one of the most successful British bands since 2006, when they released their debut album of a title that already indicated its idiosyncrasy, Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not. That was not the first step, but the conclusion of two dazzling three years in which their fans, and the internet multiverse, had put them on the pedestal of valuable substance, a young rock band that, paradoxically, believed in the old principles: composing big songs, gathering those songs on a vinyl that enhanced them, playing them before crowds that would sing them at the top of their lungs.
“When I am in London, I stay here,” says an educated, youthful Alexander David Turner, recently showered, in designer jeans, summer jacket, comfortable boots. “In 2007, when I still lived in Sheffield, we created one of the Arctic Monkeys’ records here, in Shoreditch. Since then we always stay in the neighborhood, and in fact, I lived here for a couple of years. There is a nice park…”. Out of place as the international star that he is, the frontman of the Arctic Monkeys resides in L.A., as another northern English attracted by the Californian sunshine and the epicenter of spectacle. “I am not there as much as I was a couple of years ago”, he explains. “Well, I was in there months back. I am looking for a place to stay…”
The suite in which we are in, as the entire hotel, exudes a timeworn classic style that cushions luxury: 70s furniture of varnished wood that doesn't hide its scratches and fading but spotless vintage rugs. Sitting before coffee and scones, during the first hours of the morning, we enter the scene. Alex, amiable and shy, far away from the public image of a difficult interviewee or god-like singer, expresses himself in a choppy manner, as if his reasoning were questioning the words that he pronounces. At 36 years of age, he is seemingly cultured and has his own opinions. The sixty-something chronicler sighs with relief.
The Car is a brave album, without great outbursts, a trip that starts flat and that discovers its peaks and valleys as it goes. This tendency started in Tranquility Base Hotel + Casino, where you started writing on the piano…
Certainly, the previous album started taking everything in a direction that… [thinks]. Well, the truth is I don’t think you can go backwards in music. And even if the listener expects a big smash, I think I’ve probably made the effort for it not to appear anywhere, because that’s the way I think it should be. But you don’t have to feel it like something that’s unnatural, on the very contrary, I think the album sounds open, even more than the previous one, where we started to open ourselves more.
When you released Tranquility Base, some fans demanded you on social media to go back to the studio and re-record it with guitars. But an artist must take risks, and I don’t see any other band from your generation that has evolved so much.
I hope so! If I think about our attitude when we were 17 and we played in a garage, you know, a group of guitars, drums and bass, I see that it all had to do with the instinct of “what can we do with this”. When you start you barely know how to play guitar, but you hear this voice that tells you that this is what comes out when you play altogether with your mates. It all relies in a sort of presentiment. And I think this is still true in everything we’ve done so far, that voice that comes from somewhere and keeps talking to you, that sort of instinct that forces you to move in a certain direction.
So, basically, you follow your instinct…
Absolutely, yes. I certainly do at a creative level. And it’s not always the easiest, to follow your instinct, either on the creative field or on your life. Your mind interposes between what you really feel and what you think you should do. But it’s also true that, when you do pop music, sometimes it’s easier to follow your instinct.
From the outside, people may think that when you started you were wild, heavy, and now more sophisticated. But you have to remember that it’s not only about volume, but also about feelings, and these can be as effective as a guitar riff…
I completely agree with you. Sometimes even more, I think. You have to recognize that… [mumbles]. Because if now we tried to do the kind of music we did ten years ago, it wouldn’t seem like the right thing to do. We can turn the volume up for five minutes, but you don’t have the same kind of inspiration in that sound as if you go to the next place that you reach when you write the rest of the song. You can always go back to the big dramatic effect, I think it’s something I still seek, but hoping to do it in a different way. (*Translator note: Most of this paragraph doesn’t make sense in the original article in Spanish either. It looks like he said a bunch of nonsense and they transcribed it word by word*).
You can always go back to that initial energy, sure.
Yeah, of course, I hope so… Recently we’ve been rehearsing altogether for two weeks, playing old songs out loud, and we had a great time. You know, lifting our guitars up in the air and making a lot of noise. We still enjoy ourselves with our loud guitars and we could take this into the recording studio. Perhaps someday we will.
Does the rest of the band share this presentiment you talk about? You have been together for a long time and you are a solid organism, even when you are the main songwriter.
I think the answer is yes… Certainly they all share that presentiment and, even if it wasn’t like that, I’d say sometimes not only they share it, but also if they see that I’m unsure about whether to follow my intuition, they’ll most likely encourage me to do so, to go in the direction that I’m not brave enough to follow. I remember times during the recording of this album where I was the first one to let my mind get in the way and tell myself that perhaps we weren’t doing the right thing, but the rest of the band would always encourage me to follow that road. And I think this is one of the reasons why we are still together.
I don’t think there’s anything bad about being unsure either, otherwise you take the easy route, you do an album that sounds like the previous one, you sell music, you don’t create it…
Exactly. You are absolutely right.
How is your internal dynamic? What does each member contribute?
When we started and we played in the garage it was different, because the way we’ve recorded the last two or three records has been different. We don’t play all together in a room anymore, although we did it in the previous record, but this time the contribution of each of us has been more fragmentary. I remember that during the recording I spent some time with each of the band members, individually, one on one, to try to use some of their musical ideas, more twisted stuff.
For example…?
In the third song of the album, “Sculptures Of Anything Goes”, we worked together with Jamie, the guitarist, and he’d just acquired a Moog synthesizer. He was experimenting with that machine, creating a loop with the drum machine that inspired the song and he took it far away from the original idea. After some time, it went back to its origin and what ends up in the album is the sound of that idea summed up with the resulting song. Jamie contributes, apart from the stimulus, a will to grow, evolve and push the boundaries of our music. He’s the kind of musician who likes to experiment with the sound of an instrument, to manipulate it, rather than just playing it. That’s what he contributes to the group.
You’ve said that you like to write a song in the moment, without thinking about it too much, but in the last two records the process has been more elaborate. Isn’t that more tiring and mistaken than just to write it, record it and that’s it?
I haven’t worked with such immediacy for a long time. I like that idea of doing something that quick right now, today! [Laughters], but for some reason it hasn’t been like that. I think you just have the opportunity to do it a few times, perhaps during a long time, I don’t know… And I think I might do it again, but I believe that when you realize that you’re not doing it, it’s too late. And you think ‘I’ve done it for some time, but it has no use anymore’…
Obviously, there are no traces in “The Car” of those young Arctic Monkeys who brok through the British scene with fierce guitars and echoes from 1979 singing about teenage angst and living in the suburbs with big hits like “I Bet You Look Good On The Dancefloor”. Alex Turner has already said it: it´s their instinct, that force of destiny that made Alex Turner take another path on his side Project “The Last Shadow Puppets” , travel with the band to the Mojave desert and collaborate with Josh Homme for “Humbug”, finally take over America with “Suck It And See” or dress like a rockabilly for “AM”. The fact that he doesn’t conceive writing another “No. 1 Party Anthem” and that he portrays his burdens over silky funk, string arrangements and high-graduation ballads, is due to the fact that he knows that, in the art of songwriting, standing still equals to rusting, falling into irrelevance, failing.
You can sense from the lyrics that you’re trying to expose your intimacy without exposing yourself too much. I find it more gratifying than the obvious pop narrative: you offer all the pieces for the listener to construct what they imagine. Do the lyrics come out spontaneously or do they require a slow elaboration?
On one side, yes, they come out spontaneously. It’s something that happens in time and, as in other areas, a sort of writing style develops. Then, at some point, you find out what that style is and you can play with it. I like what you say about the pieces in the puzzle. I like the idea that the other part of that puzzle is the music, that the melody completes the lyrics, that you can feel that harmony between lyrics and music, a whole. The lyrics are just a piece of the puzzle, not something you have to decipher, but something that goes together with the music…
I am one of those who think that the listener is the one who completes the song. Big songwriters have confessed to me that they understood their lyrics decades after having written them. They’re a product of the subconscious…
I saw an article about Nick Cave in a magazine, about that wonderfull conference he wrote and developed, “The Secret Life Of The Love Song”, in which he talks about this. I found that idea fascinating. I think it’s absolutely true. Some of the things that come from that instinct we were talking about, from that poetic voice that we don’t completely understand and that we haven’t fully processed or thought, they find their way into your artwork. It happens a lot of times and you realize what it means long after; you remember the real life events that made you reflect and inspired you to invent it. I take the album’s lyrics with me [he takes them out of his jacket’s pocket] and I re-read them trying to make them make sense. We could compare them with the ones you brought [Laughters].
You seem to write about failed relationships, with poignant irony and a few drops of sadness; problems with your loved ones, with daily routines, with the outside world…
I think there is a certain level of search that never gets out of reach for the lyrics in some of my songs, although perhaps in this album it’s all more open to the outside…
You’ve cited poet John Cooper Clarke as an influence, are there any other authors that left a mark on you? What did you read while you were working on The Car?
There was a moment in time where I knew the answer to this question in relation to the songs that appear in our records. Right now, it’s harder to draw a line between what I was reading back then and what ends up on the album, but perhaps it’s there, I don’t know. When I started to write these songs I read Raymond Chandler, Phillip Marlowe’s novels, although I don’t see that on the album, but “The Long Goodbye” is mentioned at some point, the idea of The Long Goodbye appears. I was enjoying Phillip Marlowe…
In these lyrics, there’s a similar use of the sharp phrase in which Chandler was a master…
Yeah, and the attitude in Marlowe’s character. An attitude that I think is well represented in Robert Altman’s film, the way in which the character acts with his cat, I don’t know… Something I haven’t talked about is a book that perhaps is the one that holds the closest relation with the album, “In The Blink Of An Eye”, which talks about cinematographic montage, by Walter Murch…
Apocalypse Now… Coppola’s editor!
Exactly… Someone recommended it to me a few years ago, it’s a short book. I read it and found it very interesting. That work fascinates me, cinema montage, the way he describes it. At the beginning he explains his work at Apocalypse Now, the big amount of material they had and the long time they worked on the film’s montage, a lot of hours every day. What he tells is very interesting, how they did lots of cuts and undid them later. Do the maths, they worked for two years to end up with a single montage. There are a lot of things in that book that touch me directly, not only on a creative level, but also personal and beyond. Very interesting.
In The Car, was there a lot of material you had to select or discard?
Not on an Apocalypse Now level [Laughters]. But there was a bit of that. And to be honest I enjoyed the fact that the edition took us so long. We allowed things to exist, we edited them and then undid what had been done. There’s a thing he mentions in the book, a dinner with some friends of his wife. He explained what he did for a living and someone said: “So your job is to cut out all the bad stuff…”. At first he got offended, but then he understood that in some way it was like that, but that the hard part was to be able to see what was the bad stuff. The idea is that montage is not so much about gathering the fragments of something, but about discovering a path through the story you’re telling. There are a lot of things like that in the book.
Well, it’s also about the story flowing at its own rhythm. If a very good passage of what you have written doesn’t contribute to the progression of the story, it has to be discarded…
Yes, and sometimes it’s hard to cut it out. There are songs that contributed to this album but that are not in it anymore. There’s one I can’t take off my head, and I want to find the way to release it at some point, because I feel that it was almost like the pattern for the whole record, but in the end there was no room for it, it made everything feel, I don’t know, cumbersome.
Success is a double-edged sword and Alex Turner knows it well. Arctic Monkeys’ fans love to go to unheard lengths, but the band is always under suspicion by the specialized press. They have been in opportunistic politicians’ mouths who have compared them to the Beatles, and have been cautioned for banting at awards ceremonies, or merely for winning awards and showing up to receive them. They are still on their merry way, limited by that  Sheffield rookie band with a strong Yorkshire accent, who listened to The Smiths, Velvet Underground, Oasis and The Strokes, while dreaming of leaving that loop of performances in pubs and dancehalls, which occurred steeply despite being denied to appear on live television. The Car places them on another level characterized by risked maturity and songs with a sophisticated excellence which underlines the ever-rough entrance into the adult world, love hangovers, and life traps. It will be curious to see how they are received by the public… and by critics.
On a sonic level, the album has many layers, lots of textures that need to stand out or hide. Is it here where your producer James Ford, who’s worked with you for a long time, helps with decision making?
He’s someone I trust much better than myself [Laughters]. That relation has gone through a lot, we’ve worked together a lot, and that leads to a mutual comprehension that is unmatchable. He is a part of the whole process, but I think that, on the topic of what needs to be discarded, here we’ve done a better job than we ever did. We’ve been capable of allowing everything to be the way it should be and have its own space. This was, I believe, much harder to do in the beginning because there was this feeling that everyone had to play all the time, while now we all take some distance and it’s probably more effective, since it allows things to flow their own way.
Is it because of the experience you’ve accumulated over all these years?
I think that has something to do, but also because these compositions allow and also insist in that it’s done taking turns. I feel it’s almost as if they were written like that, to be developed slowly, and the rhythm they are worked at is very important. It’s also important to have a vision of the big picture.
Let’s talk about how your voice has evolved. David Bowie, of course, would be a referent. Jarvis Cocker, Brett Anderson… How have you been improving as a singer?
Yeah, they are all references, of course. It’s true that my voice has changed. There’s a physical reason, your own growth, which alters it. But I think that’s the less important part, for I feel your way of singing has to match what you are trying to express. It’s hard to explain this with words. I think the sound of the voice helps, along with the melody, to the totality of the song.
Now you use it as an instrument, which is what great singers do: Sinatra, Nina Simone, Bowie, Marvin Gaye…
Once again, it’s a part of that puzzle you were talking about. The way you interpret a song is everything; sometimes you can make it mean different things depending on how you sing it. Those great singers you mention are technically very good, but in the beginning I didn’t care that much about that, and I’m happy that it was like that because our music didn’t require it. But I reached a point where I wanted to be a good singer. Nat King Cole! That song of his, “Where Did Everybody Go?”, I think it’s connected to all of that.
Do you suffer the syndrome of fame and success? You don’t look like the kind of person that feels comfortable with that, and it’s visible in your songs.
Well, sometimes I’ve had difficulties with some aspects of it. For me it’s a weird situation, although I don’t get chased on the street. They might stop me in some places, but normally it all goes well. And on the lyrics, since they are getting more open, I think there might be some of that, perhaps I’ve let some ideas related to that in my songs, things that I ignored in the past, because, well, who cares. But I don’t think that’s necessarily true nowadays, you can find a way to put it into a song.
YOU ONLY CALL ME WHEN YOU’RE HIGH
“Don’t get emotional, that ain’t like you/Yesterday’s still leaking through the roof, but that’s nothing new/I know I promised this is what I wouldn’t do/Somehow giving it the old romantic fool seems to better suit the mood”.
That’s how “The Car” starts, on the first verses of “There’d Better Be A Mirrorball”, preceded by dry hits of stentorian Philly Sould, confirming that the young man that wanted to be like The Strokes today aspires to the melodic depth of a crooner. Recorded at the Butley Priory Studios, Suffolk, and on the French La Frette, produced and mixed by James Ford, the band’s seventh studio album continues in that new style -atmospheric, confessional, solemn, poignant- with which the Arctic Monkeys surprised their fans on Tranquility Base Hotel + Casino.
The funk riff and Bowie vibes from “I Ain’t Quite Where I Think I Am”, the futuristic soul anointed in Moog of “Sculptures Of Anything Goes” -co-written by Jamie Cook- or the sustained euphoria of “Hello You” keep the pulse of an album that delves between raw and sophisticated, intimate and spectacular. A lagoon of brilliant surface and fathomless depths navigated by half times that catch you gradually. “Body Paint”, with those McCartney vibes, sounds as vaguely autobiographical as the rest (“For a master of deception and subterfuge/You’ve made yourself quite the bed to lie in/Do your time travelling through the tanning booth/So you don’t let the sun catch you crying”).
Ominous ballads follow, like “Big Ideas”, or the insidious, chimerical “Jet Skis On The Moat” and “Mr. Schwartz”, both co-written by Tom Rowley. And without understanding how we ended up here, “Perfect Sense” farewells a subtle, enigmatic collection where we shuffled between the bitter outcome of his penultimate romance with an American model and the nuisances of being, oh, a celebrity: (*Note from the translator: here goes a lyric snippet from Perfect Sense, but it’s written in Spanish. It’s stupid because it’s the final bit of the song, but they didn’t put the original version anywhere. What follows is a literal translation*). “Sometimes I wrap my head around it and it makes perfect sense,  keep reminding me that it ain't a race when my invincible streak turns into the final straight, if that’s what’s needed to say goodnight, be it that way”.
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todaysdocument · 1 year
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“U.S. policy toward the Soviet Union will consist of three elements: external resistance to Soviet imperialism; internal pressure on the USSR . . . and negotiations to eliminate . . . outstanding disagreements.” National Security Decision Directive 75 (p.1), 1/17/1983. 
Collection RR-NSC: Numbered National Security Policy Papers
Series: National Security Decision Directives (NSDDs)
Transcription: 
DECLASSIFIED
Authority: D. VanTassel, NSC (F94-1102) 7/16/94
BY: [illegible], NARA, Date: 2/4/95
[strike] SECRET [end strike]
THE WHITE HOUSE
WASHINGTON
[STRIKE] SECRET SENSITIVE [end strike]
SYSTEM II
91001
CHRON FILE
January 17, 1983
National Security Decision
Directive Number 75
U.S. RELATIONS WITH THE USSR [strike] (S) [end strike]
U.S. policy toward the Soviet Union will consist of three elements: external resistance to Soviet imperialism; internal pressure on the USSR to weaken the sources of Soviet imperialism; and negotiations to eliminate, on the basis of strict reciprocity, outstanding disagreements. Specifically, U.S. tasks are:
1. To contain and over time reverse Soviet expansionism by competing effectively on a sustained basis with the Soviet Union in all international arenas -- particularly in the overall military balance and in geographical regions of priority concern to the United States. This will remain the primary focus of U.S. policy toward the USSR.
2. To promote, within the narrow limits available to us, the process of change in the Soviet Union toward a more pluralistic political and economic system in which the power of the privileged ruling elite is gradually reduced. The U.S. recognizes that Soviet aggressiveness has deep roots in the internal system, and that relations with the USSR should therefore take into account whether or not they help to strengthen this system and its capacity to engage in aggression.
3. To engage the Soviet Union in negotiations to attempt to reach agreements which protect and enhance U.S. interests and which are consistent with the principle of strict reciprocity and mutual interest. This is important when the Soviet Union is in the midst of a process of political succession. [strike] (S) [end strike]
In order to implement this threefold strategy, the U.S. must convey clearly to Moscow that unacceptable behavior will incur costs that would outweigh any gains. At the same time, the U.S. must make clear to the Soviets that genuine restraint in their behavior would create the possibility of an East-West relationship that might bring important benefits for the Soviet Union. It is particularly important that this message be conveyed clearly during the succession period, since this may be a particularly opportune time for external forces to affect the policies of Brezhnev's successors. [strike] (S) [end strike]
[strike] SECRET SENSITIVE [end strike]
Declassify on: OADR
[strike] SECRET [end strike]
cy 1 of 12 copies
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simlit · 9 months
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for the Character solidifying asks.. I am going to be the sneaky one and ask for all you haven't answered for Xiaoming (or as many as you feel like.. cause I need to know all!)
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1. How does your character think of their father?
Xiaoming’s father was incredibly strict, and pushed for excellence. Both Xiaoming and his mother were subjected to a certain set of standards which they were made to uphold. Xiaoming doesn’t hold deep sentimental opinions about most people, his father is no different. He respected him, though was not always capable of meeting those standards when he was younger, and was often punished. Regardless, he understands that his father was responsible for instilling a certain drive in him.
2. Their mother? How do they think of her?
Xiaoming respected both his parents, but it was not a household filled with love. His mother was kinder, but she was also the lady of a great house and he didn’t have a close personal relationship with her.
3. Brothers, sisters? Who do they like? Why?
Xiaoming is an only child.
4. What type of discipline was your character subjected to at home? Strict? Lenient?
As stated, it was incredibly strict. He was taught important values from a young age. His father was a traditionalist, so Xiaoming was expected to behave and perform as a son should. He was taught principles of filial piety, loyalty, perseverance, and of the importance of strengthening both his body and mind through dedicated studies and training. He was born to a wealthy, upperclass family, but he was not afforded any leeway because of it. His father wanted him to know humility and to have the wisdom to be able to survive without opulence.
5. Were they overprotected as a child? Sheltered?
He wasn’t given any sort of advantage, despite having money and means. His father specifically hired mentors who would offer exceptional challenges to his son.
6. Did they feel rejection or affection as a child?
Rejection, but I don’t think the opposite of that is affection. Nor do I think it’s necessarily a bad thing to have faced rejection. When Xiaoming performed well, he was told as much, an when he did not, he was told just as much lol.
7. What was the economic status of their family?
The Qiao Family were definitely upperclass, but not necessarily nobility. His father had been a general in the military and was celebrated for his great successes, so their name was well known even prior to Qiao Xiaoming’s notoriety.
8. How does your character feel about religion?
Xiaoming is a practicing Taoist. He observes the precepts in his daily life, and seeks balance and harmony through cultivation. He will very rarely break these tenets, and sees malevolent spirits and demons as an abomination of those values.
10. Is your character street-smart, book-smart, intelligent, intellectual, slow-witted?
Xiaoming is incredibly well-educated. He’s knowledgeable about many disciplines, such as religion, history and geography. He was taught mathematics and science, but he preferred languages and literature in academia. He can speak many different languages, and dialects, and has memorized many epic poems and can recite them at will. Most people are awed by his intelligence, and can tell he is “well-bred” from his manner of speaking.
16. What does your character do for a living? How do they see their profession? What do they like about it? Dislike?
His “profession”, if you want to call it that, I’m not sure if I would lol, but he offers his services as a cultivator and swordsman. This can be a variety of things, such as expelling demons, exorcising possessions, conducting further purification ceremonies, and mentoring young cultivators and aspiring swordsmen.
17. Did they travel? Where? Why? When?
He travelled more when he was younger, though not as much anymore. He finds he is most useful in small villages, helping those who may not have much means in life. He currently resides at the teahouse, which is located at a “conjunction” between the spirit world and the human world, so there is frequently demonic activity and wayward souls seeking his guidance.
21. What are your character’s manners like? What is their type of hero? Whom do they hate?
Xiaoming is incredibly proper. He is well-mannered and respectable in most all confrontations. Even if provoked, his responses are minute, as he practices an emotionless path of cultivation (see previous ask). He doesn’t have any heroes, per se, and would never feel hatred towards anyone or anything, but he certainly dislikes demons and malevolent beings who deliberately twist good people and sow chaos.
22. Who are their friends? Lovers? ‘Type’ or ‘ideal’ partner?
Xiaoming doesn’t consider anyone to be his “friend”, even if they might think of him that way. He has fine relationships with most people in the teahouse, but doesn’t let people get close to him on a personal level.
23. What do they want from a partner? What do they think and feel of sex?
He absolutely does not think of anyone in a romantic way. For one, his cultivation doesn’t allow him to, and secondly, he finds the idea abhorrent. Sex is absolutely out of the question lmao. He is 1000% a prude and yes, it drives Kaizen up the wall. Xiaoming would never seek, nor desire a relationship, though, you could consider his dynamic with Kaiz a “partnership”. Xiaoming dislikes most demons, and Kaizen is not an exception to that rule, but he is also incredibly powerful, and instead of burning all his qi vanquishing him, Xiaoming instead brokered an “arrangement” with him. Kaizen is not allowed to torment humans so long as he resides in the mortal realm, but he may reside at the teahouse and use willing participants (paying customers only) to satiate his sexual cravings under the stipulation that he releases them afterwards.
25. What are their hobbies and interests?
Xiaoming enjoys reading, playing the guzheng, and meditating. He loves peace and quiet and being left the hell alone lmao.
26. What does your character’s home look like? Personal taste? Clothing? Hair? Appearance?
Both Xiaoming’s residence and personal appearance are much the same. He embraces modesty and humility, and does not have a great deal of material possessions, mostly only what he requires. He dresses just as modestly, and rarely shows much skin. He prefers to dress traditionally, and will most usually be seen with his hair up, even when alone or at home.
28. Who is your character’s mate? How do they relate to him or her? How did they make their choice?
We’ll say this answer is not necessarily “canon”, but more a hypothetical future. Xiaoming would play hard to get for a long time, as in, decades, if not centuries of rebuffing Kaizen’s advances. Kaizen is patient, but it would all come down to a certain trigger. If that reality comes to pass, Xiaoming might give in to Kaizen. Having spent years aside him as courteous companions, they do have a lot of rapport with one another. Kaizen has moments of seriousness, which Xiaoming finds respectable. That’s not to say some small part of him isn’t still disgusted by what Kaizen is, but when the “humanity” breaks through the demonic façade is when Xiaoming would find him most attractive. They get along well in those instances. Xiaoming can actually talk to Kaizen quite openly. He values Kaizen’s ability to feel his emotions, without Xiaoming having to overtly express them. Secretly, he rather admires Kaizen’s commitment, even if he thinks it’s absurd that the demon might have dedicated his entire life to something so trivial (him, lmao). But the fact that in doing so, Kaizen is able to “learn” some semblance of respect and empathy gives Xiaoming hope that demons can be redeemed, too.
32. How does your character react to stress situations? Defensively? Aggressively? Evasively?
Pragmatically. He is quite unshaken. Nothing frightens or surprises him, so he’s able to respond to any situation logically.
33. Do they drink? Take drugs? What about their health? 
Absolutely not. His beliefs prohibit drinking or recreational drug use. And his health is very important to him. He has a vigorous workout regimen and eats cleanly.
40. How is their sense of humor? Do they have one?
He has no sense of humor whatsoever lmao.
50. What are the prevailing facial expressions? Sour? Cheerful? Dominating?
Xiaoming is always very monotone and restrained. Because his cultivation path restricts him from being overly emotional, he rarely shows any sort of change in facial expression. His reactions would be incredibly slight, and only someone who spends extended amounts of time with him would notice them.
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chaotic-tired-bastard · 5 months
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Hello beloved mutual @nunaco!!! You keep on talking abt the colours of the dragons and the connection to their riders through that and it is just. so fascinating. So I've decided I'm going to dissect that!! The Fire Nation draws many elements from Eastern culture, largely Chinese and Japanese culture, so I'm going to talk abt Western (for a base to work off of, as I am American and would like to see if Western culture had any influence), Chinese, and Japanese colour meanings!! In this context, Western means American interpretations & culture. Also, fair warning, Sozin's parts are longer than Roku's because Sozin is a very convoluted character and he's my Special Little Boy™. Everything is beneath the cut!
This is going to be done alphabetically, so we're going to start with China- Roku first and then Sozin. In Chinese culture, red means/represents yang energy ("active" energy), fire, good fortune, vitality, long life, happiness, success, and is also closely associated with marriage! We can see an obvious thing that is applicable to Roku right off the bat: fire, as he was born and raised in the Fire Nation. The only other thing that would be obvious would be long life, as Roku lived to be 70. Hilariously enough, there are quite a few things that aren't as applicable to Roku, such as success and good fortune, for reasons of the Eruption scene and what happened with Sozin after his death. The marriage part is somewhat applicable, since he did get married to Ta Min (our queen❤). We're going to... ignore... the secondary meaning of vitality and focus on its primary meaning—that being "the state of being strong and active"—and its connection with yang energy. Yang energy is the "active" principle, and is represented by the white colour in the Yinyang symbol, which also symbolises the moon (Tui) in Episodes 19-20 "The Siege of the North 1/2". Roku's thing was that he was active, but not where it was desperately needed. He tried to maintain his neutrality, but in doing that he ignored the warning signs in the Fire Nation, from Sozin, until the warning signs were warning sirens and blaring right in his face. He acted far too late in every circumstance with the Fire Nation. He was too late to prevent the colonies in the Earth Kingdom from being established, and he was far too late to stop Fire Lord Sozin from starting the 100 Year War and slaughtering the Air Nomads.
Now, onto Sozin!! In Chinese culture, blue is interchangeable with green, as they shared a single character (青, qīng). Blue means/represents health, prosperity, harmony, spring, immortality, and advancement. There is one thing that doesn't fit with Sozin's character, and that would be spring, but the rest can be applied in multiple ways. Health can be applied to Sozin's character, as he lived to be 102 years old and had Azulon when he was 82, which would be very... unlikely for anyone to be able to do, to say the least. Prosperity and advancement can both be applied, as Sozin said in his proposal to Roku that the Fire Nation was experiencing a time of astounding good fortune and wealth, presumably because of his management or just good fortune. Advancement can also be attributed to him because of the industrial boom that the Fire Nation experienced with the beginning of the war and during it—we can see the Fire Nation with coal-based technology several times throughout the series, something that seemingly none of the rest of the nations have, including: Azula's train-car-thing in Book 2, Episode 8 "The Chase"; the drill used by the Fire Nation to break through Ba Sing Se's outer walls in Book 2, Episode 13 "The Drill"; and the tanks seen throughout the seasons, notably in Book 1, Episode 17 "The Northern Air Temple", Episodes 19-20 "The Siege of the North 1/2", and in Book 3, Episodes 10-11 "The Day of Black Sun Pt. 1 & 2". Immortality can also be applied to him in a way, as his legacy lived on through the 100 Year War,  since he started the war and committed so many atrocities (namely the Air Nomad Genocide), and the naming of Sozin's Comet. Harmony is probably the most accurate trait to associate with Sozin- harmony plays an important part in his actions and character, tipping the balance unevenly both in the world and the Avatar. Sozin's actions against the Air Nomads tipped the world out of balance, as well as him starting the 100 Year War, but also because of his personal relationship with Avatar Roku, he tipped the balance of the world in his favour ever so slightly, as Roku would be less harsh with him than others due to their shared history. This could be turned into a paper in of itself, but this is supposed to be about the colour symbolism, so that will have to wait.
In Japanese culture, Red means/represents strength, passion, self-sacrifice, and blood. For Roku, many of these meanings can be applied. Strength and self-sacrifice are both applicable hand-in-hand, as being the Avatar grants one insurmountable and unbelievable power, but you would also sacrifice your own life for the world and protecting those within it regardless of any feelings you may have. This is also interesting because Roku couldn't bring himself to fully sacrifice all of himself and his personal life; he had the clear opening to kill Sozin, who he had been friends with for years, and prevent the 100 Year War from starting and the Genocide of the Air Nomads, but he didn't. He couldn't bring himself to sacrifice Sozin's life for the good of the world, even when he explicitly went against Roku's warnings, and because of this the world suffered. Blood could be applicable in Roku's case as both the blood he could have prevented from being spilled if he had acted sooner, and the blood-brother-like bond that he is shown having with Sozin, though the depth of their relationship is often speculated to have run deeper than just brotherly love by many. Passion is the only thing that can only loosely fit with Roku's character. We do not see him acting very strongly in any emotion throughout the show except for the one scene in Book 3, Episode 6 "The Avatar and the Fire Lord",  when he attacks Sozin after confronting him about the Fire Nation colony that had been established in the Earth Kingdom against his direct warnings, and the scene at the end when Sozin leaves Roku to die at the hands of the volcano. Aside from those scenes, there are not many with Roku acting on or showing any explicit passionate emotion, like extreme love or anger.
In Japanese culture, the character for Blue also used to mean both green and blue, though nowadays blue stayed ao (青), the original character for both green and blue, and green is now referred to with the character midori (緑). Blue means/represents coolness, passivity, and fidelity. At first glance, passivity and coolness do not apply to Sozin's character at all, considering his confident, straightforward behaviour in his youth that we see in Book 3, Episode 6 "The Avatar and the Fire Lord", alongside his extreme rage when Roku ends their relationship to the point where he actually attempts to kill him in an inferno-type fire-blast. However, it is applicable when it is taken into account Sozin's plan of action for the war. He waits patiently and accepts it when Roku threatens his life- he redraws his forces from the Earth Kingdom and gives up the colonies that he had put there. He waits for Roku to die one way or another, as Sozin does not have the power to face up against Roku's Avatar Powers, and the Volcano erupting on his island was the perfect way to get rid of him without having to directly confront him, even if he didn't initially know it. After Roku's death, he waits for the comet, renamed "Sozin's Comet" later, and uses its power to kick off the war by genociding the Air Nomads in an attempt to kill the Avatar and prevent him from stopping the Fire Nation's assault against the other nations. Now, fidelity with Sozin's character was what was going to be saved for last because it's so fascinating and interesting as to how that fits in with Sozin's character. According to Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, fidelity means "strict and continuing faithfulness to an obligation, trust, or duty." Despite Sozin having a deep connection with Roku, being friends from when they were young, he demonstrates almost no faithfulness to him outside of when they were young. When Roku gives Sozin a somewhat warning on his wedding about his ideas to expand the Fire Nation, it's not an explicit order so Sozin goes ahead. However, when Roku flat-out tells him to not continue expanding and establishing colonies, he doesn't. This is most likely because of the death threat that went with this order, not because of their connection from when they were young, but either way could be argued so I'm including it (I personally believe that it was a mixture of both reasons). However, after all their time apart, when Roku's island starts suffering from volcanic eruptions, Sozin is there and ready to help. Because of Sozin's assistance, they manage the second eruption and prevent deadly repercussions from hitting the rest of the world. It takes Roku on his knees, begging for help, for him to realise that with Roku dead, his plans for expanding the Fire Nation would be free to proceed. Thus, fidelity fits with Sozin's character as both something that he has and also lacks, something that comes instinctually to him but also something that he will ignore and refuse when it benefits him and his plans.
Wahoo, now finally onto the Western colour meanings with Roku!!! Red in Western culture largely means/represents love, passion, excitement, desire, heat, aggression, danger, fire, blood, violence, and urgency. The things that go along with Roku’s character would be love (his love for his wife uwu (and maybe Sozin??)), heat bcs he’s from the Fire Nation and the first thing that he bent (that we know of) was fire, desire because his desire to both be a good Avatar and friend to Sozin conflicted to the point where Roku basically doomed the world because he still wanted to show Sozin mercy due to their past connection. Finally, danger because he is literally the Avatar, one of the most dangerous things in their entire world—the Avatar has god-like power and abilities, you'd be crazy to not think the Avatar to be dangerous. The things that would be strange and/or unlableable would be excitement, as excitement is an emotion and could be used sometimes, while at other times it is unusable. It's like soggy or wet—it could be used sometimes, but not all the time. The things that I would say don’t fit with his character would be aggression, urgency, and violence, as Roku was known to be a very unaggressive/nonviolent Avatar and did not handle the Sozin Situation™ urgently enough to stop his imperialist expansionist ideas from running rampant and being inflicted upon the world.
And finally, at the end of this long analysis, we get to Sozin and how blue is interpreted in Western culture. Blue in Western culture usually means/represents authority, calmness/tranquillity, loyalty, masculinity, sadness, safety/security, and trust. The traits that go along with Sozin the best would be authority and calmness/tranquillity. He's the Fire Lord, since birth he had been trained to exude authority and regalness—it is literally his job to be authoritative. Calmness/tranquillity also is a big part of his character, as even though he is upset with Roku over the rejection of his plan to expand the Fire Nation, he doesn't confront him further about it, choosing to spend his time preparing to invade anyway. Roku and Sozin were still close friends at that point—at no point does it say that their friendship changed, faltered, or drifted after Sozin's proposal—so they must have been communicating frequently enough for them to still be good friends up to that moment. My point is, Sozin must have been able to keep his cool about the whole invasion thing well enough to hide it from Roku as long as he did. The only traits that I can't really pin down as a yae or nae for his character would be safety/security and masculinity. Now, to the ~juicy~ stuff! The traits that interact in interesting ways with Sozin's character would be loyalty, sadness, and trust. The loyalty and trust traits interact with him interestingly for the same reason—they used to be there, but faded away. Sozin used to be someone that Roku could trust, someone who was as loyal to him as he was to Sozin, but due to their positions and ideals they couldn't count on each other anymore. Sadness as a trait regarding Sozin, as I see it, is purely symbolic. It's about the sadness of his relationship with Roku deteriorating, the sadness of two close friends drifting apart/being torn apart by their choices and actions and mindsets. It's about the sadness that comes with seeing them betray each other, Roku "betraying" Sozin in a way in Book 3, Episode 6 "The Avatar and the Fire Lord" by rejecting his proposal, and Sozin betraying Roku by not only ignoring his orders on the expansion of the Fire Nation into the Earth Kingdom, but also leaving him on his island alone, choking on poisonous gas as his home comes down around him.
In conclusion, I believe that the meanings behind Roku and Sozin's dragons seem to be evenly influenced by both Eastern and Western cultural meanings. If I had to pick, though, I'd say the Japanese cultural interpretation of the colour red fits best with Roku's character, and the Western cultural interpretation of the colour Blue fits best with Sozin's character. There are so many other cultures that influenced the Fire Nation's design, but I wanted to keep this short-ish and within my ability, so I went with the two most prevalent influences that I could see, as well as including a Western viewpoint. I did my best to provide an unbiased opinion, which is kind of necessary when dealing with Sozin's character, and I apologise if I did not do so.
Could this also be the animators/designers wanting contrasting colours, blue vs red? Yeah, but ~colour analysis~
I hope you enjoyed reading this, and if you have any arguing/conflicting points I'd be happy to hear them! Just please don't call me a dumbass or be mean, because I am a sensitive sensitive little guy who WILL cry 🥺😞
Works Cited
"Color in Chinese Culture." Wikipedia, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Color_in_Chinese_culture. Accessed 16 July 2023.
"Color Meanings in Japan." Color Meanings, www.color-meanings.com/color-meanings-japan/. Accessed 16 July 2023.
"Color Symbolism in Chinese Culture: What Do the Traditional Colors Mean?" Color Meanings, www.color-meanings.com/color-symbolism-in-chinese-culture-what-do-traditional-chinese-colors-mean/. Accessed 16 July 2023.
"Color Symbolism in Different Cultures Around the World." Color Meanings, Jacob Oleson, www.color-meanings.com/color-symbolism-different-cultures/. Accessed 14 Sept. 2023.
El Shazly, Islam. "Colors Representations in Different Cultures." Globalization Partners International, 29 June 2022, www.globalizationpartners.com/2022/06/29/colors-representations-in-different-cultures/. Accessed 14 Sept. 2023.
"Fidelity Definition." Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/fidelity. Accessed 4 Aug. 2023.
Geeraert, Amélie. "Japanese Colors and Their Symbolism." Kokoro, 15 June 2020, kokoro-jp.com/culture/298/. Accessed 3 Aug. 2023.
"How Color Is Perceived by Different Cultures." Eriksen Translations, 3 Feb. 2020, eriksen.com/marketing/color_culture/. Accessed 14 Sept. 2023.
"List of Avatar: The Last Airbender episodes." Wikipedia, 18 June 2023, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Avatar:_The_Last_Airbender_episodes#Book_One:_Water_(2005). Accessed 3 Aug. 2023.
Svensson, Charlie. "The Meaning of Different Colors in Chinese Culture." That's Mandarin, 23 Apr. 2021, www.thatsmandarin.com/guest-blogs-media/the-meaning-of-different-colors-in-chinese-culture/. Accessed 16 July 2023.
"WESTERN Color Symbolism Chart." Putahaton, putahatondotcom.files.wordpress.com/2016/08/western-color-symbolism-chart.pdf. Accessed 16 July 2023.
"Yin and Yang." Wikipedia, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yin_and_yang. Accessed 16 July 2023.
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b-courageous1010 · 9 months
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100 Days of mindfulness: The journey to living intentionally
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Day 1: Defining my journey
Day 2: Building Better Habits
Day 3: Breaking Old Habits
Day 4: For the love of Note-taking
Day 5: Workplace, Mental Health, and Prioritizing Yourself  
Day 6: Not doing more than I need to
Day 7: Channelside Tampa
Day 8: Reflection
Day 9: Angel Number Encouragement
Day 10: Growing Pains and Learning Lessons
Day 11: Career Reflection and Year-end Evaluations 
Day 12: Understanding Self-concept
Day 13: DUST model of procrastination 
Day 14: How to Design Your Environment for Success: Make the cues of good habits more obvious
Day 15: The Principles of Mindful Productivity  
Day 16: Weekly Reflection and Week Ahead
Day 17: Imposter Syndrome
Day 18: Weekly Review Steps
Day 19: Digital Decluttering
Day 20: Shower Affirmations
Day 21: A Journey Back to Myself
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racheljoyscott · 11 months
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Rachel's Challenge Game: Start A Chain Reaction of Kindness
Rachel’s Challenge is a series of student empowering programs and strategies that help students and adults to combat bullying and reduce feelings of isolation and despair by creating a culture of kindness and compassion. The programs are based on the writings and life of 17 year-old Rachel Scott who was the first student killed at Columbine High School in 1999.
The Rachel’s Challenge organization conducts in-school programs including presentations and coordinated activities. The Rachel's Challenge game is an outgrowth of the success of the Rachel's Challenge programs. It can be used in conjunction with other Rachel's Challenge activities, as follow up, or independently. 
Rachel’s Challenge Game is based on the beliefs of a high school student named Rachel Joy Scott. Rachel believed in treating everyone kindly-new kids in school, kids with disabilities, and kids who were being bullied or teased. She not only wrote about kindness, she lived her life that way! She looked for the best in others and believed that everyone can make the world a better place. One of Rachel’s biggest ideas was to start a chain reaction of kindness. She challenged every person to do at least one kind act each day. This would start a chain of happiness and kindness that would spread to other people.
The game board prominently displays the four cornerstones of Rachel’s philosophy. Those cornerstones are: Kindness, Acceptance, Positive Influence and Journaling and Goal Setting. There is a deck of cards with questions representing each cornerstone, as well as a deck of Chain Reaction cards that invite players to do unexpected kind things to other players. As players move around the board, they pick question cards matching the color of the space they land on. After answering the question, the player wins a chain link. Players join their links fo create a chain of kindness around the game board. There are two bags of links in the game box – one with text and one without text. The younger players use only the links without text, while the older players use both. 
Card questions encourage players to discuss their experiences, thoughts, and feelings about important character issues. Players will be awarded one chain link for responding to the best of their ability. If players answer a true-false question incorrectly, the facilitator will explain the correct answer. Players will be given the chance to answer the same question again, this time correctly, to earn a chain link. The chain link earned will be the color from the category landed on.
Playing Time: Flexible from 30 minutes to 45 minutes. Players 2 to 5. Grades: 3 through 12
Learning Objectives:
1. Gain a deeper understanding of the principles of kindness & compassion, acceptance, journaling & goal setting, and positive influence.
2. Recognize the value of kindness and the role that each person can play in spreading goodwill toward others.
3. Think about how everyday words and actions can impact the lives of others.
4. Develop an increased sensitivity to others' differences and to practice acceptance.
5. Think about what it means to be a person of good character.
6. Inspire and empower students to develop their own permanent, positive code of ethics.
7. Become strong, positive leaders who demonstrate sound moral judgment.
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