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rons-hermiones · 3 years

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Come Find Me

by rons-hermiones

Summary: Unplanned, Hermione is forced to spend Christmas at the Burrow due to her grandmother falling very ill. After being ignored by Hermione for weeks, Ron is determined to show her how much she means to him. Just before he gets the chance to tell her, Bellatrix Lestrange shows up with other plans for Hermione. Can Ron get to her before it's too late? (Ron/Hermione Half-Blood Prince AU)

Rating: M for language & dark themes in later chapters.

Chapter Thirteen

With unsure nods, the pair vacated the kitchen and back into the living room. There was a mix of weeping family members and those out doing something. Searching the area, thinking of where Hermione could’ve gone.

Ron soon decides he’s done being in the mourning category. He needs to remain strong and vigilant, for no one else but Hermione.

“Someone needs to get Dumbledore here.” Ron’s shaky voice says, commanding all eyes to him.

“Albus?” Arthur asks curiously, his eyes a little glassed over as he rubs Molly’s back.

The youngest Weasley brother nods, “You-Know-Who he wanted,” he inhaled, trying to keep his voice leveled, “he wanted Hermione.”

Eyes widened in shock. Bill’s mouth hangs open as Lupin furiously paces the room, tapping at his temple.

“What would that bastard want with Hermione?” George grumbles lowly, but it’s loud enough for everyone to hear.

“We don’t know,” Harry finally spoke, “that’s why we need Dumbledore. Now.” His tone left no room for argument.

“I’ll do it.” Lupin tells the group, stalking off to the kitchen.

Everyone was rather astounded by the proclamation, they were expecting Remus to push Ron or Harry to divulge what happened.

“I got it.” Tonks announced, suddenly appearing from the back door.

Everyone whirled around to face her, “her wand, I have it. It’s Hermione, isn’t it?” The woman’s voice became softer.

Ron stepped forward and gently took it from Tonks hand.

‘Not so brave without our wand, are we muddy?’

He shivers as the cold wood caresses his hand.

“She hasn’t got a wand,” Ginny moaned behind the veil of hair she had been hiding behind, “she’ll die.”

“Oi Ginny!” Ron said angrily, no one had ever seen him this mad before, his sister flinched.

“Don’t you say things like that.” Molly told her daughter, hugging her to her chest.

They were all interrupted by a soft rapping on a nearby window.

“Dumbledore already?” Charlie said aloud.

Instinctively, Ron pocketed Hermione’s vine wood wand and drew his own. Arthur lurched to the window, ready to strike, when he stopped.

Breathing a sigh of relief he turned, “it’s your owl Harry.”

“Hedwig?” He asked suspiciously as he stalked toward the bird.

Tied to her leg was a rolled up piece of parchment. Giving her a nice pet first, he soon untied the contents and noticed it was addressed to Hermione.

“Who is it?” Bill asked.

He sucked in a breath, “it’s for Hermione, it’s from her parents.” His voice dropped at this.

Molly suddenly let out a small cry, completely forgetting that her own parents were to be told that their child, their only child, was gone.

“What’s it say?” Fred piped up from his spot on the arm chair.

Harry’s eyes fell on Ron’s, “I’m not sure if it’s my place to open it.”

Wordlessly, he passed the envelope over to Ron, whose mouth was agape at being trusted with such a thing.

Ignoring the gazes from his family, he peeled open the thing and let his eyes fix on the page. He skimmed every other line as certain sentences stuck out.

Merry Christmas!

We’ll send your gifts as soon as we’re home.

I hope you’re being kind to the Weasley’s.

We’re sorry to tell you this way, please don’t be too upset.

Grandma Jean passed last night, on Christmas Eve.

It was peaceful.

She thought of your grandpa.

She thought of you.

Don’t disappear on the Weasley’s.

Stay where you are.

We’re fine.

You have Ron and Harry.

We love you.

See you soon.

He let the parchment flutter to the ground. He hadn’t had it in him to read the entirety of it, but what he read was enough.

The phrases like ‘don’t disappear’, ‘stay where you are’, and ‘see you soon’ reverberated around in his head.

“Ronnie, what is it?” Bill probed gently from his spot next to Fleur.

He swallowed the bile in his throat, “her grandmother, she passed. She’s gone.” A few gasps filled the room, “their daughter, she’s, she’s gone too. How are we gonna tell them? How am I gonna tell them? It’s all my fault.”

Despite not knowing what entailed, no one, besides Ron himself, blamed him for what happened.

“Ron,” his mother swiftly budged in, ready to console her son.

However, he was having none of it, he didn’t deserve it, “her parents they don’t know about any of this.”

Late at night in fifth year, he found Hermione in the common room. She was working mercilessly over a piece of parchment as tears pooled on the pages. When he asked what was wrong, she finally let it out and admitted she’d been living a lie. Telling her parents Hogwarts was lovely and the only thing on her mind were exams. No dark lord, no death eaters.

For a brief moment, he wondered if Harry knew too.

“Not about You-Know-Who, not about Cedric, the department of mysteries, not even about prejudices against Muggleborns.” He admitted to everyone in the room.

And by the look on Harry’s face, this was news to him.

“Did you know?” Ginny dared to ask Harry.

At this, the chosen one shook his head. Suddenly feeling guilty, Harry had been wallowing so much in his own problems he failed to be there for Hermione, who was fiercely loyal to him.

“Why would she lie about that?” Fleur butted in, not judgmental, but just trying to understand.

“She was scared they’d take her out of Hogwarts.” He told everyone, Tonks nods in understanding, her dad being a Muggle.

“Because of me.” Harry said without missing a beat.

“No,” Ron protested.

“Yes, she wouldn’t be in this position if it weren’t for me. She wouldn’t be gone, she wouldn’t be lying to her parents.” He stated, sure that was the case.

“You’d also be dead without her.” His best friend stated with conviction. Ron was already lost in self wallowing, the last thing he needed was for Harry to drown in it too. “We both would be.” He couldn’t help but add, despite the situation being so close to home.

“Ronnie,” Fred’s voice, sounding the most gentle he’s ever heard, broke through the air, “can you tell us what happened? Please.” He pleaded. After all, everyone here cared for Hermione too.

A few times Ron opened and closed his mouth, not really knowing what to say. After fumbling like a fish for two minutes, he settled for something, “I’m not-“ I’m not strong enough.

But, the words never came, a crack sounded outside, and for a sickening moment he imagined Bellatrix Lestrange to waltz through the door.

Instead, he was meant by his fathers shouts, “it’s Dumbledore!” He exclaimed, opening the back door.

In a moment's notice the Headmaster's looming six foot frame is towering in his doorway and at the sight, Ron knows somewhere within him he has to manage to be strong enough.

“Albus.” Molly said, relieved at the sight of him, “we’re sorry to do this to you on Christmas and all.” She stood wiping at her eyes.

The old man didn’t have the heart to tell everyone here that Christmas had long gone, it was nearing two in the morning.

“Of course Molly. I’ve had Remus go collect Alastor and Kingsley. Nymphadora, do you mind getting Minerva for me?” He asked kindly, annoyingly calm if you ask Ron.

Dumbledore, being one of the only people to get away with calling her that, Tonks just nodded to him as she stalked out to the backyard.

Ron gulps, it’s just now hitting him how serious this all is. The Albus Dumbledore, the most powerful Wizard living, someone with their own bloody chocolate frog card is in his living room. But there’s no time to marvel at it or even feel shocked, because he knows why he’s here.

He’s here because Hermione’s gone.

Next, the white haired man found a spot on the sofa and surprisingly plopped down. “Now, I need to know everything if I am to help.”

Ron’s still reeling from telling Harry and because of the owl from Hermione’s parents. And by the looks of it, Harry’s feeling the same as he stands stock still and paler than usual.

Thankfully, Bill notices the boys expression and takes over as much as he can, “it all started we were all in here, opening gifts, and then,”

“I was in the garden, we-,” he swallows the lump in his throat, “we were in the garden.” Ron almost whispers.

A little awkwardly, unsure what to say, Bill just nods and goes on, “we were opening gifts and we heard a crack, apparition.” Dumbledore nods at this.

“Two cracks.” Charlie interrupts, earning a slanted look from Bill.

Doing his best to not get frustrated by the multitude of people butting in, he ignores it. “So we went outside. We heard her first...” he trailed, not wanting to say it.

“It is crucial you tell me everything that happened, everything that was said.” Dumbledore reminded at his uncertainty.

“Bellatrix,” Harry’s shaky voice said, “she was saying how she killed Sirius.”

Everyone, Bill included, waits for Harry to continue the story on, but instead the dark haired boy offers the eldest Weasley a nod.

“Greyback was with her too.” Bill added, “She didn’t say much honestly, nothing out of the ordinary. Recognized the lot of us, Tonks, Lupin, Harry, called us blood traitors, remembered Hermione from the ministry.” At the mention of her name the room tensed, “then she casted incendio around the Burrow and skipped away, literally.”

Neither Ron or Harry made a move to fill in the gaps.

Bill sighed, “Harry, he ran after her, Hermione followed, so did Ronnie. By the time they were all gone, the fire, it blocked the path.”

At the admission, the chosen one's eyes bulged, “it’s all my fault. She ran after me.”

“Harry,” Ron tried weakly.

Sensing the lack of energy, Fred surprisingly jumped in, “if one of you went all three one of you would’ve. You know that just as well as I do.”

“Mr.Weasley is correct, now I know this may be difficult but I’m going to need one of you to please tell me what occurred. This is the only way I’m able to help your friend.” The old man eyed Ron and Harry who had found themselves standing side by side against the window.

“I can’t say much, I was running before I stunned Greyback. Hermione and Ron were with them longer.” Harry was able to speak, mustering any courage he had left.

Ron stared blankly at his headmaster.

“Ron.” His mother said gently, “please.” She sounded like she was crying.

Sucking in a shaky breath, he hoped to some higher power this would be the last time he ever told this story. He knew he would be reliving it for the rest of his nights, whenever he fell asleep.

“I didn’t hear Bellatrix say much, not the first time at least,” this made the room shudder, “all I could see was her wand pressed to Hermione’s throat, Greyback was eying her like a meal, so I tried to disarm her.” His voice dropped, “it didn’t do anything, I couldn’t use any spells, I couldn’t hurt Hermione.” Ron’s eyes grew glassy, “then Harry came.”

Seeing Ron needed a minute, the dark haired boy jumped in, “I stunned Greyback. He fell to the ground. It surprised Bellatrix, Hermione was able to get away. Next thing I knew, I was running.” His eyes flicked back to blue ones.

“So were Hermione and I. She started going-going,” he’s stuttering, “going on about how Lestrange told her that You-Know-Who, he’s been talking about her.”

Small gasps filled the room, even Dumbledore’s eyes grew wide, “about Miss Granger?”

Ron nodded stiffly, “she was certain they wouldn’t kill her, said they needed her for-for something. Bellatrix, she said she wasn’t here for Harry.”

It was Harry’s turn for answers. His eyes pleaded with Dumbledore for any piece of wisdom, practically begging to know what game they were playing at. However, for once, the old man didn’t seem to know any answers now, they laid with Ron.

The youngest Weasley brother sensed his responsibility and thought of Hermione, using her to be strong.

“We stopped by the old oak tree to catch our breaths, we knew we had to go after Harry, but before we could we heard the two of them. She thought we were Harry, when she said as much, Greyback asked why it had mattered, they were on strict orders not to kill him.”

“Why?” Harry’s voice broke, he needed to know. Bellatrix had ample opportunities to end it but she hadn’t.

Dumbledore shook his head, “I can’t say for certain Harry. It sounds as if Voldemort,” the Weasley family shivered at the name, “wants you for himself. Tom has always been one for theatrics, anything for an act of defiance. What I can’t understand is why they didn’t attempt to apparate you.” He voiced aloud.

Slowly, the Boy-Who-Lived nodded in acknowledgment, but certainly not in understanding.

“What happened next Ron?” The man asked softly.

He cleared his throat nervously, “Bellatrix, she said if she found me, that she’d-she’d kill me.” Nearby, Molly moaned in pain, falling into Ginny, “that I was just another blood traitor. But for Hermione, she said-” he shut his eyes tightly, “said she’d be a perfect gift for him.”

They all knew who ‘he’ was. Fleur was trembling as the story continued, Ginny had the urge to clamp her hands over her ears, Charlie was fully engaged, and the twins nervously eyed the floor.

“Said she was the brilliant one and all that, that she must know something and they’d get it out of her.” He released a breath, “Merlin, she’s so stupid, so stupid.” He began to cry.

“Ron, you need to tell them. For her.” Harry reminded in an equally as broken whisper, clapping a hand on his shoulder to give him strength.

“She knew they wanted to kill me and she knew they didn’t wanna kill her...” he trailed, wiping at his eyes.

“No.” Fred said aloud, before he could help it, dropping his head in his hands, putting together what happened.

“She casted the stunning spell on me and a disillusionment charm, there was a crack and she was gone.” Ron said it rushed, sloppily, unable to even get through it before collapsing against the wall.

Molly stood up, sat down and embraced her son.

“Did Bellatrix perform any spells or curses on Hermione?” Dumbledore asked the sobbing boy.

“Albus.” Missus Weasley scolded.

Ron shook his head numbly, “expelliarmus, that was it.”

The old man paced around the room before directing his attention to Harry and Ron, the latter now calming in his mother’s embrace.

“Did she know something?” He asked flustered. Harry’s never heard the professor sound so rushed, so panicked. It worried him to the core.

Frantically, Potter shook his head, “I don't know, maybe, no? I don't know.” He’s panicking now too.

The white haired man turns his attention to Ron, “she wouldn’t have to me anything, she wouldn’t.” It broke his heart even more, it’s just now hitting him that Hermione’s gone and he can’t remember the last thing he said to her. Just what he wanted to say.

“Has she been fixated on anything? Talking, asking, reading?” He lists off, Harry hasn’t heard him use this tone since his name was pulled from the goblet of fire.

The boys look at each other and think, but nothing comes up, they can’t even see straight.

“That book.” Ginny states in a crisp voice, “she’s been reading the same book for weeks. Writing notes on it.”

He rounded to the young girl, “what book?”

Ginny shook her head unknowingly, “I don’t know. She puts it away whenever anyone comes around.” Her voice is uneven, but it’s evident she wants to help anyway she can.

“The cover is black, there’s gold trim. There’s no title, very old looking.” Fleur speaks for the first time, recalling their time under the tree.

“Do you know where it is?” He seemed determined to find it, Harry sensed realization in his eyes.

Fleur shook her infadictly, Ginny shrugged, “her trunk?” She suggested.

“Please take me there.” He said to no one in particular.

Over his large frame, Ginny’s eyes found Harry’s, she nodded at him, signaling it was his duty.

“Follow me.” Harry stood from the floor and rushed to the steps.

Dumbledore’s robes flew behind him as the old man climbed the steps with fervor. When he reached Hermione’s trunk, he flung it open unceremoniously and ripped through its contents like a mad man.

Harry had half the heart to scold him and be more gentle with her things. And he was just about to say as much, until the headmaster stopped moving.

In his old, shaking hands, was that old thing that had been attached to Hermione for weeks.

Harry had asked her about it a few times, she just said it was for ‘light reading’ and brushed him off. He chose not to mention it, reading was ordinary for her.

Next, a brown journal was being pried open by Dumbledore. By the looks of it, the pages were spelled as he whispered a counter incantation to it as the witches neat scrawl filled the pages.

“Hey, it’s just her diary! That’s private.” He scolded.

And for the first time since they got up here, Dumbledore turned to him, eyes wide as saucers.

“This is no diary Harry.”

#ron x hermione #ron weasley #ron and hermione #rons-hermiones come find me #hermione granger #romione #romione fanfic #hp #hp fanfic #sixth year

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amagicbeyond · 5 years

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confessions of a season 8 era shipper

So I'm not going to call myself a member of the "old" guard, but maybe a middle one. I started watching Supernatural after seeing enough gifsets of Cas and Dean's reunion in 8x02 to intrigue me into starting with season 8. (I was also nursing my first child and spending a lot of time on the couch, so in between new episodes I ended up going back to start Cas' arc in season 4, and eventually back to the beginning... basically I really effed up the watching order but I got there in the end.) Something about the intensity of that scene, the open joy on Dean's face, the colours... it got me. It still does.

Season 8 was endgame territory. I say this because for much of the season there was no indication of a renewal and every likelihood that it could be the last after a lackluster season 7. The quest narrative of the trials to close the gates of hell, the ramping up of the destiel relationship (including a scripted “I love you”), all of this was barreling towards a potential ending of the show. It was an interesting time to join the fandom, with fresh eyes and unjaded heart, reading meta written by people who’d been watching for years which only seemed to confirm what I was seeing on my screen: the unfolding of an intense relationship between an angel and a man that was following all of the cues a romance should follow.

I don’t ship easily. I have literally never shipped a ship that hasn’t sailed. I am very particular about my ships and their dynamic, and I am very particular about the way in which they proceed. I’m all about the Han and Leia, Ron and Hermione, Will and Lyra, Tripp and T’Pol, Percy and Annabeth, Fitz and Simmons, Ronan and Adam, Strike and Robin, David and Patrick (!!), to name a few. So when it came to Dean and Cas, I’ll admit I was a bit arrogant - I assumed they would sail too. I had a good record.

As season 8 turned into season 9, and then to 10, I watched a lot of people who’d been around longer than me burn out and for many, Charlie’s death was the final straw. I also watched new meta writers come in, with fresh eyes and unjaded hearts, and thrill over new developments in season 11, 12, 13. I didn’t completely burn out or give up on the show, but my own activity in the fandom slowed, in part because I was having children and doing a master’s degree and working full-time all at once, but in all honesty, it was also because I found I didn’t have much to say. I love Dean, and I love Cas, and I love them for each other, but the long-game holding pattern the show has been playing with them for several seasons now has just not been all that interesting to me.

That feels a bit blasphemous of me to say, but there it is. The mixtape was good but it wasn’t enough. The moment when Dean got through to Lucifer!Cas was *chef’s kiss*. Dean’s whole arc after Cas’ death? Nice. But these two men haven’t had an emotionally honest conversation in years. And even when they approximate one, they never skirt anywhere close to a conversation about them. They skipped past the place where this crucial conversation should have been (a million opportunities, but most recently after Cas’ return in season 13 at the very least) into #married life and while I derive some satisfaction from that dynamic, it sure as hell isn’t enough for me.

So. All that to say.

We are in endgame territory again. For realsies this time. And according to promo for next week’s episode, Dean and Cas are about to hit a roadblock. A bad one.

#married life is over. They’ve got my interest again.

At this point, I am not here to say that I think romantic destiel endgame is happening. I do think that tearing Dean and Cas apart at this point - the darkest before the dawn - tells us pretty clearly that Dean and Cas united, in some fashion, is endgame. I think that Cas’ deal with the Empty means that at some point in the future - before the end - Cas will be finally, truly happy. I think that there are ten years of reasons in the show they could go there with them. I think there are countless real world reasons they should go there with them. I do not know if they will.

I will be watching these next few episodes - and the early ones of the final season - very closely to see if they give me a better idea.

#so that's where I am #I look forward to finding out the ending to this story together #it's been a ride #spn #destiel #manifesto??#who knows #for the record I am going to hate every second of them fighting #and Cas does not deserve Dean taking his anger and fears out on him #but this kind of breakdown is exactly what is needed for these two to actually get some forward momentum #so be it #we shall suffer through #god I hope it's worth it

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aion-rsa · 3 years

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Star Wars Brings Back George Lucas, But Not How You Expect

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Remember George Lucas? He’s back… in figure form!

Yes, the filmmaking visionary who, with some help, conceived a ubiquitously-dominant film franchise, is set to be immortalized in plastic via the practice that put the Star Wars merchandising machine on the map. Indeed, Hasbro Toys has revealed a new George Lucas rendition, this one arriving in the 6” scaled Black Series line. While the gravity of such a tribute might be mitigated by the fact that it’s his fourth figure, this particular release commemorates one of his most crucial, pre-Star Wars, achievements: the 50th anniversary of Lucasfilm.

Of course, George Lucas has generally stayed on the sidelines ever since he cashed in his proverbial chips of ownership and once-definitive creative control over Star Wars for a cool $4 billion Disney-dealt payout back in 2012. However, as the franchise enters a period of transition after varied degrees of success from the Prequel Trilogy and two spinoff films, and widespread acclaim from old-school-aimed live-action television series The Mandalorian and upcoming spinoff The Book of Boba Fett, it does feel like things are returning to the nixed direction in which Lucas was steering things before the Disney era. Consequently, Hasbro’s latest toy gesture to thank the maker—depicted as a stormtrooper—is timely regarding the prospective shifting of franchise tides.

Check out the photos of Star Wars: The Black Series George Lucas (in Stormtrooper Disguise) just below!

As you can see, the figure further fuels its nostalgic nature by way of being packed in a now-common retro-styled cardback, which resembles—albeit on a bigger scale—the design of the vintage 3 ¾” Kenner action figures. It’s hardly unique for the Black Series, but nevertheless comes across as poetic, given the figure’s subject. In a method expedient to the manufacturing process, the body of the figure is flannel/denim-free, and instead reuses the recently-released Stormtrooper figure mold, which is the 6″ line’s current standard. Yet, the George Lucas face designed to reside beneath the white dome is all-new and reflects the face scan technology that has been implemented in recent years, resulting in this being the creator’s most realistic plastic depiction thus far.

Vickie Stratford, sr. director of product design at Hasbro, tells StarWars.com, “As a lifelong Star Wars fan, I have both the honor and privilege to bring characters from the franchise to life in product form every single day,”. “When the opportunity came to design the George Lucas figure, we were especially excited for this project. This figure is just one of the many ways we can honor his legacy for years to come and we hope fans cherish it as much as we did!”

The Book of Boba Fett: What to Know About the New Star Wars Series

By John Saavedra

Movies

Were the Star Wars Prequels as Cerebral as Mark Hamill Thinks?

By Joseph Baxter

Contrary to the figure’s retro theme, its depiction adapts a more-current, older/grayer version of Lucas. It’s a decision that might be perceived as odd, seeing as the figure commemorates the era of Lucasfilm’s formation, which occurred on Dec. 10, 1971, in the aftermath of Lucas’s first feature, sci-fi dystopia drama THX 1138. He would immediately follow that film with a thematically-diverging entry in 1973 early-1960s-set coming-of-age comedy American Graffiti, which—co-starring future Solo: A Star Wars Story director Ron Howard—was the first release under the Lucasfilm banner, co-produced by the Coppola Company and Universal. Of course, the next film on the company’s production docket, which arrived on May 25, 1977, changed the shape of popular culture. Thusly, the first Star Wars George Lucas/Stormtrooper figure to have manifested, a 2006 mail-away from the 3 ¾” scale Saga Collection, depicted a younger, black-haired, era-appropriate version of Lucas. However, the new figure’s depiction is nevertheless unmistakable.

As mentioned, the new Black Series release stands as the fourth George Lucas action figure overall. While that might seem excessive to those uninitiated with the figure collectors’ world, it is actually quite a low number, considering the surreally diverse myriad figures released since the never-interrupted 1995 modern era relaunch, and happens to be the first one in 6” scale. The first rendition arrived in 2002, exclusively offered at Celebration II, with Rebel pilot “Jorg Sacul,” an obvious anagram of George Lucas, whose true face can be revealed by removing the helmet—at least, for those bold enough to remove the figure from its packaging.

After that was the aforementioned 2006 mail-away Lucas/Stormtrooper figure, which bore a similar title to the new Black Series release. 2006 would also yield a 4-pack online exclusive for the now-defunct StarWarsShop.com, titled “Lucas Collector’s Set.” This set adapted the onscreen cameos of the Lucas family in 2005’s Revenge of the Sith, with George as blue-skinned bureaucrat Baron Papanoida, son Jett Lucas as Jedi youngling Zett Jukasa, daughter Amanda Lucas as senator Terr Taneel, and daughter Katie Lucas as Twi’lek senator Chi Eekway.

cnx.cmd.push(function() { cnx({ playerId: "106e33c0-3911-473c-b599-b1426db57530", }).render("0270c398a82f44f49c23c16122516796"); });

The Star Wars: The Black Series George Lucas (in Stormtrooper Disguise) figure initially went up for preorder on Amazon this morning, where it sold out shockingly quick. However, other online toy retailers have started to take preorders. So, if you’re fine with the raised average price of $26.49 (compared to, for example, Walmart’s Black Series price of $17.88), then you’ll likely have a fair chance to purchase the demonstrably-highly-sought figure one way or another.

The post Star Wars Brings Back George Lucas, But Not How You Expect appeared first on Den of Geek.

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#aion-rsa #Den of Geek

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swedna · 4 years

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The novel coronavirus seemed like a distant problem in Boisar, a small factory town about two hours from Mumbai, until Daniel Tribhuvan died.

The 35-year-old tutor started feeling feverish in April, while bringing his father home from a chemotherapy appointment in the Indian financial capital. When a test confirmed Tribhuvan was infected, the local health system’s reaction was shambolic. After he checked into a public hospital, the first thing they did was try to pawn him off to a private facility in Mumbai. The ambulance turned around halfway when they discovered he couldn’t pay. Back at the public hospital, a doctor didn’t see him for three days, and when an elderly man occupying a bed nearby died, his body wasn’t collected for 12 hours. After a week, Tribhuvan’s blood-oxygen levels were dangerously low. He died on May 17, becoming Boisar’s first confirmed fatality from Covid-19.

“I think he would have survived if the system was good,” Samuel Tribhuvan, Daniel’s older brother, said in a recent interview at Boisar’s local administrative office, inside a rundown building that also houses a liquor store and a portrait studio. “This is the worst place where we could get the coronavirus.”

Tribhuvan“I think he would have survived if the system was good,” said Samuel Tribhuvan. Six months after the start of the pandemic—as the developed world tries to restore some semblance of normalcy—the virus is arriving with a vengeance in India’s vast hinterland, where 70% of its more than 1.3 billion citizens live. The country is now adding more than 80,000 confirmed infections per day, with about 71,000 deaths so far, numbers experts say are likely being under-counted. On Monday it galloped past Brazil to become the world’s second-biggest outbreak, a sobering preview of what could happen once the coronavirus spreads in earnest across other poor, densely populated places from Nigeria to Myanmar. With such a vast reservoir of potential hosts and minimal ability to contain infections, it seems inevitable that India will at some point overtake the U.S. to have the most cases globally.

Chart The result is likely to be a human and economic catastrophe, risking untold numbers of deaths and the reversal of years of rising incomes and living standards—developments that helped lift millions of people from grinding poverty into something like the middle class. The broader effects won’t be confined to the subcontinent.

With a gross domestic product last year of almost $3 trillion, India is the world’s fifth-largest economy and a crucial node in global supply chains. Despite the troubled state of its own medical system, it is by far the largest producer of both vaccines and the generic drugs that healthcare systems around the world rely upon. And with Asia’s economic giant, China, turning increasingly inwards, companies from Wal-Mart Stores Inc. to Facebook Inc. had been investing heavily in India, betting on its rising consumer market. India’s trouble containing the virus, therefore, could weigh on any global recovery from the coronavirus—either epidemiological or economic.

With infections gathering pace, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is facing criticism for not doing more to help the state and local-level officials on the front lines of fighting the virus, who face an excruciating choice. Failing to stop its spread could mean the collapse of already-fragile healthcare systems, potentially leaving thousands to die untreated. But the distancing measures that most experts see as essential to doing so will worsen an economic contraction that’s already among the world’s most severe, making it even more difficult for India to resume its progress toward broader prosperity and hampering the global recovery. That could ultimately cause just as many deaths, whether from malnutrition, other infectious diseases, or even suicide.

Chart As the virus spreads throughout India, “the most immediate thing that will happen is people will die,” said Vivekanand Jha, executive director of the Indian branch of the Sydney-based George Institute for Global Health. “The second is that the people who have not died will lose their livelihoods.”

Mumbai PoliceThe result is likely to be a human and economic catastrophe, risking untold numbers of deaths and the reversal of years of rising incomes and living standards. When Modi announced, on March 24, that his government would institute the broadest coronavirus lockdown in the world, many experts were impressed. Officially, there were only about 500 cases in India at the time, mainly in large cities and traceable to travelers from abroad. Stamping out the virus—or at least keeping it from spreading into the vast and vulnerable countryside—by decisively interrupting daily life for the entire nation seemed like a laudable goal.

But the dense slums that house large numbers of the urban poor proved particularly hospitable to the spread of the highly contagious pathogen. Meaningful social distancing was often impossible, while infections could spread widely before coming to the attention of healthcare workers. Government efforts largely failed to match the scale of the problem, with testing and contact tracing typically one step behind the virus. While officials procured ventilators, constructed field hospitals, and even converted train carriages into makeshift isolation units, hospitals in Mumbai and New Delhi were still overwhelmed. Patients were turned away for lack of beds and bodies were left unattended in corridors, conditions that developed-world cities like Milan managed to avoid at even the worst points in their outbreaks.

Meanwhile the economic toll of the lockdown, which Modi extended repeatedly as new case numbers remained stubbornly high, was mounting. GDP contracted by almost 24% between April and June, throwing more than 120 million people out of work. Unlike in the U.S. and Europe, there was little financial support available. The Reserve Bank of India’s index of consumer confidence collapsed in May, and then plunged to an all-time low in July, the most recent survey. For some, the situation was desperate. Five weeks into the lockdown, which was enforced by police and barred most people from leaving their homes except for groceries and medical care, a survey of rural households by Oxfam found that half had cut back on the number of meals they ate, and a quarter had been forced to ask others for food.

BusGDP contracted by almost 24% between April and June, throwing more than 120 million people out of work. The biggest impact was on the millions of people from rural areas who staff factories, sell snacks, shine shoes, and do odd jobs of all kinds in India’s major cities. Dependent on daily wages to survive, many found themselves with no place to sleep and nothing to eat after their jobs disappeared, leaving them little choice but to return to their home towns. With trainsns and buses halted by the lockdown, some had to simply walk, forming columns on highways that were reminiscent of Partition, the bloody separation of India and Pakistan in 1947—and almost certainly spreading the virus across the countryside.

Faced with such desperation, Modi had little choice but to end the lockdown in early June, even as infections continued to rise. The “unlock,” as it came to be known, saw even more of these migrant workers return to their villages, seeding the new outbreaks now being seen in ever more remote parts of the country.

India has a large and innovative healthcare industry, but private operators are focused on big cities and the wealthier patients who live in them. In rural areas, medical care falls to the creaking public health system, which is often absurdly under-resourced.

Built on the side of a dirt highway in the Khair sub-district of Uttar Pradesh, one of India’s poorest states, a two-story community health center serves as the main source of care for a population of about 225,000. The modest facility has no intensive care unit, and when Bloomberg News visited early this month, its six oxygen cylinders had all been designated for use in ambulances. About 60 Covid-19 patients were in home isolation in Khair at the time; if one of them took a turn for the worse, the best the clinic could offer would be a ride to the nearest city, an hour’s drive away. “The district administration is trying to create new centers,” said Shailendra Kumar, the clinic’s manager. But for now, the increasing number of infected people in Khair can only hope the virus doesn’t hit them hard.

Uttar Pradesh has more than 200 million inhabitants, making it India’s most populous state. But its rural health system is the most understaffed in the country, with just 2.7 doctors for every 100,000 people. (The rate in the U.S. is a little under 10 times higher.) The numbers elsewhere aren’t much better. Only 40 percent of India’s physicians work in the countryside, even though it’s home to more than two-thirds of the population.

In the district that contains Boisar, the town where Tribhuvan died, “we do not have enough manpower to cater to this population,” Abhijit Khandare, a state health officer, said in an interview at a local community center. “We pulled manpower from other villages” to deal with spikes in Covid-19 cases, he said, “but now the other villages are affected too.”

power lineIn rural areas, medical care falls to the creaking public health system, which is often absurdly under-resourced. In an attempt to fill the gap, local officials are even pressing teachers into service as healthcare aides. Schools remain closed due to the pandemic, but they provide a ready source of educated workers who are known in the community, an important factor in gaining trust. Last week, about 50 of them gathered in a brightly painted Boisar meeting room for a day of training. They were told their primary job would be to execute a strategy pioneered in Dharavi, a Mumbai slum where the virus was successfully brought under control in June.

The teachers would be going door-to-door through the district, asking whether anyone in a home had symptoms and referring those who did for testing. In addition to breaking chains of transmission, the goal is to get infected people treated early, avoiding the common problem of severely ill patients arriving too late for doctors to be able to help. The group had spent the day seated on plastic chairs in front of a panel of public health workers, being instructed on how to read an oximeter and social-distancing strategies for people who live in tight quarters.

Rural IndiaFear of impoverishment is starting to outstrip fear of Covid-19, a trend exacerbated as migrant workers return to the cities. While masks have become commonplace across India, physical distancing largely hasn’t, despite regular government campaigns and official reminders. In the countryside, markets where farmers and merchants gather to do business are still packed with people, and day laborers pile together into the back of small trucks to travel to job sites. Tea stalls and corner stores are doing little to prevent crowds forming.

In part, this may be a function of complacency about the dangers of Covid-19. With case numbers exploding, Modi’s government has been emphasizing India’s fatality rate—which at about 1.75% is among the lowest in the world—as evidence that it’s managing the disease successfully. Experts are skeptical, however, that deaths are being counted comprehensively, and even if they are, the relative youth of India’s population compared with virus hotspots like Italy or Florida is a likelier explanation. Relatively lax attitudes to distancing could also owe something to the fact that, even in a worst-case scenario, the coronavirus is just one on a long list of diseases that can kill a person in rural parts of the subcontinent. Some 79,000 Indians died last year from tuberculosis, an infection that’s now relatively rare in the developed world. A mother dies in childbirth roughly every 20 minutes. Even leprosy is still an active problem.

Meanwhile, fear of impoverishment is starting to outstrip fear of Covid-19, a trend exacerbated as migrant workers return to the cities. The lockdown and economic slump means many poor families have suffered a double blow: the loss of remittances, plus more mouths to feed at home.

Until the lockdown, 22-year-old Manoj Kumar earned about 14,000 rupees ($191) a month making car seats at a factory outside Delhi, sending almost everything he earned back to his family. But Kumar’s job disappeared in March and now he’s back in his village, about 150 kilometers (93 miles) from the capital, in a one-room house with nine other family members. The only person with a job is his mother, who earns about 6,000 rupees monthly as a part-time health worker. To survive, the family has had to borrow money at rates as high as 30%.

“Everyone is scared of corona,” Kumar said, sitting cross-legged on the floor of his home, where the family had used rows of low red bricks to demarcate the kitchen and a tiny sitting area. “We live in fear, but how long can we go on like this?”

The impact of this kind of financial strain is beginning to ripple across society. Delhi is recording higher rates of petty crime, while one mental health expert estimated suicides may have soared by as much as 70% nationwide. Unwanted pregnancies have spiked, child labor is on the rise, and activists warn that the scarcity of opportunity is intensifying caste and religious prejudices. That all of these trends derive, at least in part, from the response to the coronavirus, rather than the pathogen itself, highlights the precariousness of India’s situation. It’s one likely to play out elsewhere as the pandemic’s epicenter shifts to poorer nations, where the challenges of containing the virus will dwarf those of countries like the U.S.—and likely drag on the developed world’s ultimate recovery as well.

“Our concern here is the large population with limited resources to combat it—but that’s also a concern for the rest of the world,” said K. Srinath Reddy, president of the Public Health Foundation of India in New Delhi. “No country is safe until every country is safe. The virus can surge anywhere and then spring up anywhere else because the world is connected.”

#Boisar

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apartmentforrentdistrict2 · 4 years

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Best Tips on How To Make Money in Real Estate

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awed-frog · 7 years

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Why do you think JK never made Snape care about Harry? I always expected thats where the story would go at one point but then it didnt at all... like at least a moment of effection or something

Several reasons, I think.

First, as I said in the other post, it was too late for Snape. He is the antihero, much more than Voldemort ever was, and he was set up to fail from the start. He would die with his unresolved issues deep in his soul - the guilt, the rage, the inability to trust and love another person (perhaps for fear of what that love would do to them, because look at what it had done to Lily). By the time Harry crashes into his life, Snape has find a modus vivendi - it’s dark and unpleasant and it keeps him in a lot of pain, but it’s all he knows, and we’re all afraid to let go of things that have kept us safe for years - even if those things are chains and cages. So, even at this moment when Snape would have the chance to start over and teach Lily’s child in the way he wishes he himself had been taught (the fact he was disagreeing with old textbooks at the age of sixteen shows quite clearly what he thought of the whole system) - well, that’s not something he considers. Consciously or subconsciously, he must have worried about what would happen if Harry refused him and mocked him, like James had done. What his colleagues would say if he suddenly changed his demeanour. What Harry himself would know about him - Snape doesn’t know how Harry grew up - what if Petunia had told him everything about ‘the Snape boy’, the weirdo who stalked her younger sister, the kid with the drunk father who was never quite clean and never quite tidy? I sort of believe that’s why Snape was so harsh on Harry during that first lesson - not only he saw James on his face and that hurt him deeply, but he was probably terrified Harry would know things about him - things only Lily could know, and what if she’d told Petunia, or if Harry had found her letters? So no, Snape never tried a different way, because the one he was walking - that was painful, but he already knew that pain he could bear. What if a new path brought him a pain he couldn’t bear?

(Which would have been the case, because if Snape had allowed himself to care about Harry, to love Harry, even, in this clumsy, childish, unfinished way that seems the only way he knows how to love people, how could he have let Harry die? He would have turned against Dumbledore, would have done anything to keep Harry safe like he’d done for Lily, and Dumbledore’s plans would have failed, and Voldemort would have won.)

Second, books need conflict, and since this was (allegedly) a children’s book, it needed conflict kids could easily get. The greasy, bullying teacher was a perfect character many kids could understand at once - and also an uncomplicated way to teach kids than life is not literature, and not all conflicts are resolved. If HP had been written in the Victorian era, then, why not, Snape would have had a dramatic change of heart and sobbed in Harry’s chest, begging for forgiveness; but personally, I like that JK Rowling chose to create a modern world full of real people, and this is how it works - Snape would probably have learned to get along with Harry, even to appreciate him - in time. And time is something he wasn’t given.

Third, what I really liked about including Snape, especially in the context of a war and the Order, is that this is how it works and we should tell children the truth: in difficult times, we need to make allies, and those allies will sometimes be - unpleasant. How much we’re willing to ignore, or forgive, when fighting side by side with someone - well, that’s mostly what defines groups and countries. Because the stupid thing is that we’re surrounded by war stories (mostly, movies about WW2, and enough) and yet those stories tend to be blissfully simple. Good guys on one side, bad guys on the other. Right. As if. In reality, what happens when you face a powerful enemy is that all of those who’re threatened by it need to decide if they can work together to bring it down. We’re never reminded enough of the fact the British government chose to do nothing against Hitler so that Hitler would crush trade unionists and the workers movements in Germany - they bet those left-wing groups would be much more of a threat than Hitler to Great Britain, and boy, were they wrong. Much in the same way, Communists and Anarchists tore each other apart in Spain, never realizing that Franco’s army would burn them all to the ground and impose a fascist dictatorship in the country that would last for decades. In Italy, on the other hand, Communists and Catholics worked together in the Resistance, and only returned to their ‘natural’ state of animosity after the war, when it could be expressed in Parliament, without guns and violence. So, well - the Order and Snape - I liked this idea that this man is on the right side of history, but he makes no concessions to it, because, on the whole, he’s not a nice man. He risks his life to save other people’s, but he will bully his students and he will actively dislike Harry and that’s not going to change.

And this brings me to another point: one of the most important messages of the book, to me, was what Sirius said to Harry, Ron and Hermione: “The world isn’t split into good people and Death Eaters”. This is a crucial teaching, and something that particularly young people, with their tendency to see things in black and white, should hear. It’s ironic it was Sirius saying that, since it’s debatable how much of a good person he was - I mean, don’t get me wrong, I adore him, but here’s someone who, like Snape, was never given the chance to grow up emotionally and is still blinded by the mindframe of his class (in Snape’s case, that was the deep-seated resentment of a working class kid, while in Sirius’ case, the careless, impatient privilege of the elite). Of course, Snape stood out in this category of people who’re supposed to be on your side but are still awful, and, again, the fact JK Rowling refused to redeem him by forgiving Harry for being is father’s son - that’s okay with me. It wouldn’t have felt right. It was too soon, things were too complicated between them, and - crucially - Snape never knew enough about Harry (never bothered to find out enough) to understand this was someone he could like. To him, Harry was always the child and and teen (I always read Snape as someone who was not particularly comfortable around either), the spoiled brat, the one who needed to get his way, who disregarded orders, never put any effort into anything, and would one day get his friends killed, just like his father. Because we know Harry, and we understand why he does what he does and we love him even when he’s not perfect, but to Snape, Harry was the guy who was so self-involved he didn’t even notice Hermione was time-traveling for one full year, the one who got to play Quidditich before everyone else just because he was ‘special’, the one who never bothered to study Legilimency just because he didn’t like being told what to do, the one who deliberately accessed Snape’s most private memories (and, come on, whichever way you look at it, that was a dick move) and probably laughed at what he saw for weeks afterwards (Snape never realized Harry was profoundly disturbed by those memories), and, finally, the one who almost killed a fellow student with his arrogant, reckless use of magic he didn’t know. So, as I said - Snape is still at fault here because he never bothered to get to know Harry, just decided to hate him on principle, but from is (warped) point of view there were reasons to objectively dislike Harry, and they didn’t have enough time together to correct those impressions of each other. I like to think Harry spent some time with portrait!Snape after the final battle, that they became friends this way, but who knows.

And finally, there’s no getting away from it: these are profoundly Christian books. JK Rowling’s faith shines through in the best possible way - and I say this as a non believer and as someone who doesn’t have a particular sympathy towards Christianity. There was, of course, the whole point about questioning God and raging at God and losing your faith, which basically was the theme of the entire seventh book and, even as a non religious person, I found that very moving and relatable; and Harry as a Christ figure, sacrificing himself to save humanity. But one of the most amazing things was something else: the whole ‘love your enemy’ message that was such an important part of the books and led to Harry winning and saving the world. Because here is where you really see how exceptional Harry was (especially if we consider he was a teenage boy): over and over again, he lets go of his pain and his anger and his fury, and chooses empathy instead. He never truly hated the Dursleys, despite everything, and saved Dudley’s life when he could have fled on his own. He spared Sirius’ life when he thought Sirius had killed his parents. He spared Pettigrew’s life when he knew Pettigrew had killed his parents. When he realized what Draco was actually going through, he felt pity, at once, for someone he’d solidly disliked for six years. In that train station, he managed to feel worry and compassion even for Voldemort, whose soul was an ugly, sad thing no one had ever wanted or loved. And, of course, he forgave Snape so thoroughly he ended up naming one of his sons after the man. I know some people were outraged by this, but I think they were simply missing the point. Harry is a Christian hero, and his special power is to do this incredibly difficult thing: to love unconditionally. To understand. To feel others’ pain (this was expressed, on a symbolic level, by his unwanted ability to feel his parents die). This is Jesus at his best, teaching us that it’s not the healthy man who needs a doctor; that loving someone when it’s easy to love them - that’s good, but it’s not enough. We rarely mention this part of the Bible nowadays (I guess ‘real’ Christians are having too much fun refusing to bake cakes for gay people to stop and reread the Gospels), but this was, and still is, a disturbing, revolutionary teaching. Because the thing is, you have the right to hate those who wronged you. It’s human, and it’s fair, and they deserve it. But ultimately (and this is where you see Eastern influences on Jesus’ thought), where does that hatred lead you? What good does it do? “What about my soul, Dumbledore? Mine?” Harry didn’t name his kid after Snape because his own pain didn’t matter; on the contrary, he did that not to redeem Snape, but to heal his own soul. Forgiveness, love, compassion - that’s the way forward. And it’s not just fiction, either - Harry chose to use Expelliarmus against Voldemort, and okay, but when Carlo Cattaneo, a philosopher and one of the leaders of the Italian 1848 revolution against Austrian occupation, saw a group of his own people about to lynch a collaborationist, he stepped in and told them, “If you kill him, you will be doing a justly thing; if you don’t kill him, you will be doing something saintly.” - the man was spared.

So, well, to wrap up this overlong essay - this last point, I feel, is crucial to understand why JK Rowling didn’t want Snape to have an easy way out. Harry needed to learn about trust and faith - as Lupin said, trusting Dumbledore meant trusting Snape, unconditionally - and Harry’s journey was not about being thanked and people changing his mind about him and recognizing he’d been a great guy all along; no, his journey was about learning to love even when it was difficult, even when it hurt, even when his whole soul turned into angry storms at the injustice of it. And Harry succeeded. He chose to bury Dobby rather than securing the most powerful weapon in existence, he chose to forgive Dumbledore for his many failings, and he chose - incredibly, saintly - to feel pity and compassion for a man who’d wronged him and tormented him for seven years, because, like his mother, he understood the way out is to love everyone, especially those who do not deserve our love. If Snape had been kind to him, had had a change of heart, Harry’s decision to forgive him would not have been as strong and meaningful as it was - and since this was Harry’s story, not Snape’s, Harry’s need to evolve as a character trumped Snape’s possibility of redemption.

#ask #hp #jk rowling #snape #severus snape #redemption #love #seriously #those books are so christian #the fact some churches banned them #really shows you how stupid people can be #sorry for this long answer #may have bared my soul a little here #don't mind me #i'll be here #sobbing in my corner #god i love those books so much

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nbafunnymeme · 7 years

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The NBA Is Softer Than Baby Thighs

LeBron James whined and whined about Draymond Green calling him the B-Word and retaliating against him, leading to a Game 5 suspension. Whats become of the L? “>

This past week, lost amid the miasma of Crying Jordan memes, Lil B hexes, and our collective clowning of Steph Currys Air Nurse 1swhich, lets be honest, had it comingcame the following oh-so-crucial development: LeBron James, a 6-foot-8, 250-pound athletic specimen the likes of which the world has never seen, was branded a bitch by two parties.

One was Golden State Warriors crotch enforcer Draymond Green.

The other was Smash Mouth.

Yes, that Smash Mouth: The group behind the theme song from Shrek (which they are apparently very defensive about). The band whose lead singer, with his wraparound shades and regrettable facial hair, resembles a cross between Guy Fieri and Chaz Bono. So what on Gods green earth emboldened a 90s footnote to question the masculinity of His Highness King James?

It began with a single step. Late in the Cleveland Cavaliers 108-97 loss to the Warriors in Game 4 of the NBA Finals, James got tangled up with Green, who fell to the floor. So James attempted the infamous step-over: whereby one player steps over another to shame them. Its not exactly J.R. Smith tweeting a photo of your ex-girlfriends booty, but a power move nonethelessand one that Jamess coach, Tyronn Lue, is all too familiar with, having been on the receiving end of the most notorious step-over in history: post-crossover, in front of his teams bench, during the 2001 NBA Finals, courtesy of Allen Iverson. It was, with the exception of Vince Carters dunk over Frederic Weisyou know, the beanpole Frenchman the Knicks drafted over local boy Ron Artestthe most embarrassing basketball moment of the early aughts. James tried that on Green, and it didnt go so well. His groin connected with Greens neck, so the Warrior delivered a shot to Jamess junk, prompting the two to get in each others faces.

After the game, TNT analyst Charles Barkley commended a chortling Green for retaliating, saying, At least I know he couldve played in our days, because let me tell you something: if a guy step over you, you got to get him. That is the most disrespectful thing that you could do to a player that you knocked down, is step over him. That tells me right there that he could have played back when we actually had real basketball toughness.

James reacted a bit differently: by unleashing a seven-minute locker room tirade and whining to ESPNs Chris Broussard about Green calling him a bitch.

He said Draymond Green called him the B-word and thats what got him going, said Broussard. And also, as many people have seen on the replays, Draymond tried to hit him in the private parts. And so those two things really upset LeBron James. He told me he cant remember being that upset on an NBA court. He said hes sure its probably happened before, but he cant remember the last time he was that upset. And mainly it was because of the name Draymond called him.

King James made such a fuss that he got Green suspended for Game 5, which the Cavaliers won handily. This is the new NBA, folks: LeBron James, the face of the league, complaining about being called a name to a reporter. Can you imagine Michael Jordan or Kobe Bryant doing the same?

Earlier this year, Kobe himself lamented how the NBAs gone soft. Its more of a finesse game, Bryant said. Its more small ball, which, personally, I dont really care much for. I like kind of smash-mouth, old-school basketball because thats what I grew up watching. I also think its much, much less physical. Some of the flagrant fouls that I see called nowadays, it makes me nauseous. You cant touch a guy without it being a flagrant foul.

Kobes statement was echoed by his former teammate Shaquille ONeal, who said, Mike playing against Detroit and the Bad Boysthat was the real NBA, calling the current iteration of the league very soft, as well as Gary Payton, who tweeted, I could never play basketball in this soft era. All of my contract money would go toward fines.

These days, almost every time a player intentionally fouls someone hard, theyre hit with a flagrant foul and face a possible suspension, as well as a fine of up to $25,000. The play stoppages, between TV timeouts for ads and foul calls, are constant. Its gotten so preposterous that ESPN even has an in-house referee analyst, Steve Javie, who litigates fouls mid-game.

It didnt used to be this way. Players used to leave it all out on the floor, and games were more intense, more competitive. The stakes were higher. Were deprived of great moments, like in Game 2 of the 1985 Eastern Conference Semifinals when Pistons Bad Boy Bill Laimbeer threw a wild elbow that connected with Larry Birds chinonly to have Larry Legend come back and drop 31 points on him in the second half, his jersey stained with blood. Or that time Charles Oakley and Charles Barkley got into a brawl after a hard foul during a 1996 preseason game. Or the all-out war between Dennis Rodman and Alonzo Mourning in Game 4 of the 1997 Eastern Conference Finals.

In response to the oft-contentious 80s Pistons, aka the Bad Boys, the NBA instituted a number of rules changes that softened things up. In the 1988-89 season, they upped the number of referees from two to three, and in the 1990-91 season, penalties for flagrant fouls increased to two free throws and possession of the ball. Furthermore, if theres no apparent effort to play the ball, the player may be ejected which came with an automatic $250 fine.

Further rules changes were inspired by the 90s Knicks. With the start of the 1993 playoffs came a new rule: any player who throws a punch in a game will automatically be ejected, receive a one-game suspension, and be fined. Also, any player who leaves the bench area during a fight would be fined $2,500, and the team would be docked $5,000 for each of its players who leaves the bench area. In the 1994-95 season, the penalty for leaving the bench area during a fight was increased to an automatic one-game suspension and max $20,000 fine; hand-checking became illegal; and two flagrant fouls led to ejection.

The 2004 Malice in the Palacean ugly brawl where members of the Indiana Pacers, led by Ron Artest, went into the stands at Detroits Palace of Auburn Hills to fight unruly fansbrought even more changes. In 2005, teams began hiring former FBI agents to head their security, while fans booze was limited to 24 ounces and banned from being sold in the 4th quarter. If that werent enough, the league installed a mandatory dress code where players were forced to dress business casual before and after games. Nowadays, players treat the stroll from their vehicle to the locker room like a fashion runway.

Basketball boasts the most physically gifted athletes of any professional sport; sculpted bodies dancing through the air, crashing into one another. If the NBA hopes to remain must-see TV, however, it needs to rediscover the toughness and gamesmanship that made it so compelling in the first place. And the leagues best all-around player, LeBron James, must lead by example.

Read more: http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2016/06/16/the-nba-is-softer-than-baby-thighs.html

http://nbameme.com/the-nba-is-softer-than-baby-thighs/

#basketball #Cleveland Cavaliers #entertainment #golden state warriors #Google #LeBron James #nba #Stephen Curry

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takebackthedream · 7 years

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Unfair Trade, Uncertainty Killing American Aluminum and Steel by Leo Gerard

Kameen Thompson started his workday Sept. 15 thinking that his employer, ArcelorMittal in Conshohocken, Pa., the largest supplier of armored plate to the U.S. military, might hire some workers to reduce a recent spate of overtime.

Just hours later, though, he discovered the absolute opposite was true.

ArcelorMittal announced that, within a year, it would idle the mill that stretches half a mile along the Schuylkill River. Company officials broke the bad news to Kameen, president of the United Steelworkers (USW) local union at Conshohocken, and Ron Davis, the grievance chair, at a meeting where the two union officers had hoped to hear about hiring.

ArcelorMittal wouldn’t say when it would begin the layoffs or how many workers would lose their jobs or which mill departments would go dark. The worst part for everyone now is the uncertainty, Kameen told me last week.

“If ArcelorMittal said they would shut down on a date certain, everybody could move on to something else or prepare. Right now, we are in limbo. We have a lot of guys with a lot of time, but they’re still not old enough to retire. The only thing we can do is ride it out. But the uncertainty is very, very hard on them. It’s difficult not knowing who and what departments are affected and how long we are going to run,” Kameen said.

Uncertainty from Washington, D.C., is a major contributor to the idling of the plant. ArcelorMittal and every other aluminum and steel producer in America are in limbo as they wait for a decision on import restrictions that could preserve U.S. capacity to produce defense materials – like the light armored plate that’s Conshohocken’s specialty – and to build and repair crucial infrastructure, like roads, bridges and utilities.

Initially, the Trump administration promised a determination in June. But June came and went. As the months dragged on, imports surged. That threatens the viability of mills like Conshohocken. Then, just last week, administration officials said they would do nothing until after Congress passes tax legislation. That compounded uncertainty.

The Conshohocken mill may not survive the delay. Kameen, Ron and the 203 other workers there could lose their jobs because Congress dawdles or fails to act on taxes. America could lose its domestic capacity to quickly produce large quantities of high-quality light-gauge plate for armor.

After work at other, non-union jobs, Kameen began at Conshohocken at the age of 25. He finally had a position that provided good wages and benefits. “That gave me an opportunity to plan for a future and build a family,” he explained.

Ron, the mill’s training coordinator, is 45 and has worked at the plant for 22 years. “This was my first true job that I could sustain a family with,” Ron told me.

He has five children ranging in age from five to 26. He needs a good job with good benefits. He knows jobs like the one he has at the mill are rare, but he’s not giving in to gloominess. “I am just trying to stay positive,” he said. “That is all I can do right now.”

Both Ron and Kameen are frustrated by the Trump administration’s failure to penalize the foreign producers whose illegal trade practices have killed steel and aluminum jobs, closed mills across the country and threatened America’s domestic capability to produce metals essential to construction of critical infrastructure and vital to the defense department to safeguard the country.

Since the Trump administration launched the national security probes into steel and aluminum imports under Section 232 of the Trade Expansion of the Trade Expansion Act in April, imports have risen significantly. Steel imports are up 21 percent over last year. Countries like China, fearing impending penalties for predatory and illegal trade practices, dumped more than ever.

The administration has nine months to complete the Section 232 investigation. It could be January before the results are announced. Then the president has another three months to decide what to do. Instead of the two months the administration initially promised, the whole process could take a year.

A year could be too long for mills like Conshohocken.

“It doesn’t take that long to investigate this,” Kameen said. “We are losing jobs. They are dropping like flies. The administration needs to act now to prevent these unfair imports from killing more American jobs.”

Because of unfair and illegal imports since 2000, particularly from China, U.S. steel mills idled sections or closed, cutting the nation’s capacity to produce by 17 million tons a year and throwing 48,000 steelworkers out of jobs.

Now, there is only one surviving U.S. mill capable of producing grain-oriented electrical steel (GOES) required for electrical transmission.

The same decline occurred in aluminum, only it happened even faster. The number of U.S. smelters dropped from 14 in 2011 to five last year. That is the loss of thousands more good, family-supporting jobs. It happened because China expanded its overcapacity to produce cheap, state-subsidized aluminum, depressing the global price by 46 percent in just eight years.

Now, there is only one surviving U.S. smelter capable of producing the high-purity aluminum essential to fighter jets like the F-35 and other military vehicles.

While ArcelorMittal may contend that it can manufacture military-grade steel plate at its other U.S. mills, the loss of Conshohocken would mean a dangerous decline in U.S. capacity.

Capacity is crucial in emergencies. An example occurred in 2007 when U.S. military deaths were rising in Iraq and Afghanistan. In response, former Secretary of Defense Robert Gates ordered a 15-fold increase in production of mine-resistant, ambush-protected (MRAP) vehicles. That meant the number produced each month had to rise from 82 to more than 1,100. The Conshohocken plant produced much of the steel needed to achieve the goal.

Without that mill, the nation’s ability to gear up in such an emergency is compromised. Two weeks ago, 10 retired generals wrote President Trump warning: “America’s increasing reliance on imported steel and aluminum from potentially hostile or uncooperative foreign governments, or via uncertain supply routes, jeopardizes our national security.”

They also said of the Section 232 investigation, “Prompt action is necessary before it is too late.”

When Kameen started at the mill 11 years ago, he felt good about the work. Conshohocken was making a lot of armor for soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan, and that gave him the sense that he was doing something for his country.

Now, he’s concerned for his local union members, whose average age is 50.

As their president, Kameen, who is only 37, feels responsible to help each of them through the uncertainty and the difficulties ahead. “My members are looking at me for answers and leadership,” he told me. “So if I don’t stay strong and lead, then I’m the wrong man for the job.”

Every steelworker and aluminum worker in America is looking to President Trump for that kind of leadership. Their uncertainty could be relieved if the administration would announce the results of the Section 232 investigation now and act immediately to ensure the United States has the domestic ability to produce essential metals.

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a-lbeit · 7 years

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april 2017 faves

this one’s fucking long lmfao

planning for spring break 2018: i’ve mentioned a couple of times that i plan to drive to mount rushmore and, more central to my plan, the badlands in south dakota during the 2nd full week of march next year, during the last spring break of my undergraduate career. i think about it a lot, and now that it’s less than a year away, i’ve begun to primitively map out a route for myself–where to stop overnight, how many days to spend doing what, estimated costs, and so on. i plan to drive through cleveland and stay there for a day so that i can visit the rock and roll hall of fame and museum, and then take another night somewhere cheap in between it and my ultimate goal of western south dakota. it’s been really enjoyable for me to look at the map of the us and think, wow, if this really works out, i’m going to do something that i’ve dreamed about for years–driving (halfway) across the country and going to a really beautiful national park. especially recently, i’ve become a bit enraptured with national parks in general (after the rise of the alt nps), and going to the badlands is probably the easiest one to reach that’s also really high up on my list of parks to visit (i’m more into the western ones than the eastern because i love the environment of the west–all those mountains and deserts). so, although nothing will even start to be concrete until at least the start of the fall semester, i’ve been loving sussing out how my plan will work–hiking in the badlands and driving along the designated scenic roads, and of course the journey itself. i love driving so much, and i’m extremely excited by the prospect of getting to drive along 24 hours’ worth of (mostly) midwestern highway, listening to wonderful music and fulfilling what is honestly a dream.

doughnuts from sainsbury’s: they’re sugar coated, you can get rings or jam filled or vanilla filled or chocolate filled, and you get 5 for 65p. they’re fucking good, especially when they melt in your mouth because they’re so fresh.

old crow medicine show: my parents kindly bought me a ticket to see ocms performing blonde on blonde in manchester right before i come back to the states, which i am SO excited for, and i’ve recently just really been appreciating the group as musicians. i’ve liked them for a few years, probably since about the beginning of 2014, and although i still don’t know too too much of their repertoire, the 25 or so songs that i do know are honestly pretty astounding. i’m in love with that kind of sound, and i think they do their craft perfectly. here’s a little side story from a few months ago: after watching inside llewyn davis right at the beginning of this year, i naturally watched the little concert documentary thing that goes along with it, another day, another time: celebrating the music of inside llewyn davis. one of the performances is by gillian welch and dave rawlings machine and i think someone else, as well–maybe willie watson, ironically enough–doing a medley of a song called “i hear them all” with “this land is your land.” for about a month, i thought that “i hear them all” was another one of those classic, standard folk songs like guthrie’s song is–you know, a song that is pretty universally regarded as important both politically and in regards to quality. particularly the lyrics “i hear leaders quit their lyin, i hear babies quit their cryin, i hear soldiers quit their dyin, one and all” were ones that certainly could have been written nearly a century ago by a contemporary of woody guthrie or maybe even guthrie himself, and that i was just a bit ignorant in my knowledge of old folk music. however, after looking “i hear them all” up to listen to the original, i learned that that song was written by old crow. a song that i really thought had probably been in existence for decades was actually written by a current band about 10 years ago. and that is the reason i admire them so much. they and artists like them are sort of carrying on that era of music, which is just nice to know and to be able to appreciate.

kitty the truck driver from “springsteen and i”: tbh i haven’t finished that documentary yet lmfao and this fave is really random but i was kind of struck by this girl named kitty who was included in the allotment of fan videos explaining their love for springsteen. she’s a young and, more surprisingly, female truck driver, which is obviously something that you don’t see too often. as someone who has thought about what it would be like to be a truck driver (and who has even had pieces of a desire to become one–getting to drive across the country for a living sounds truly incredible), i appreciated being made aware that people like her exist. naturally, representation is such an important thing, and it’s nice to know that if i ever did fully commit to wanting to be a truck driver, there are other young females who are in the same field. and, of course, hearing her anecdotes about why she loves springsteen was great, as well.

into the wild and wild: these two movies are similar and wildly different at the same time. they both deal with having to rely on nature for survival, but wild ends on a much happier note than into the wild. i’m going to talk about them individually because it’s easier for me that way. i watched wild first, and it was captivating throughout. i cried a lot and it was quite hard to watch at times. the incorporation of cheryl singing songs to herself was something that i especially enjoyed, and of course her strength and perseverance were admirable and inspirational. i don’t think i could ever go on a hike like that, but both the plot and the cinematography were really good at getting me into an outdoorsy spirit (not that that was even remotely the point of movie). i really think that that film is important for everyone, especially women, to watch, and i plan on reading the book soon (and i want to read the book that inspired into the wild, as well). as for into the wild, which i watched a few days after wild, i didn’t like the main character, chris/alex, as much at first, but he really grew on me, and i loved the more “mundane” (which i put in quotes because no part of that movie is mundane, but some parts are more so than others) parts of the movie--going with kristen stewart’s character to salvation mountain, talking with ron at ron’s house. now, to discuss the ending--the last 15 minutes or so were very emotionally draining, and i think that the outcome really affected me, but it was obviously crucial to include his deterioration, which was (objectively speaking) the most hypnotising part of the movie. i think the fact that the whole story can even be told is astounding, considering that chris died in a very remote location and very alone. that people found his body probably 2 weeks after his death is, i think, something of an act of god, an event that happened so that the world could be educated on both his stupidity and his courage. yeah, i think that into the wild is truly one of those stories that are only made visible to the public once in a blue moon. at any rate, both into the wild and wild were awfully impressive, and they’re probably going to be in the back of my mind for a long time.

the descendants: i’ve loved this film for years, having seen it with my parents when it was in theaters. they dragged me to it, of course, but after the showing, i secretly fell in love with it. i’ve seen it multiple times since. but about a week ago, i decided to watch it again (i don’t think i’d seen it for at least a year), and i haven’t really been able to stop thinking about it. i finished it at about 2:30 in the morning, i think, and although i don’t particularly enjoy talking about my sensitivity, i need to say that i cried for at least half an hour after i finished it. i don’t think it was really because of the plot of the movie, although it certainly does end on a melancholy, yet somewhat sanguine note that i’m sure did increase my emotional imbalance. the music in that film definitely captures the feelings of the film in a way that not many soundtracks have accomplished (side note: i love every song on that soundtrack and i could talk for longer about just the music), and i think it also was a part of why the movie affected me so much. however, i think this particular viewing got to me because the descendants takes me back to a really specific time in my life that i get very nostalgic for. i still had a few years in high school left, so i could still be comfortably a kid while getting more privileges (like being able to drive, although my parents certainly didn’t give me carte blanche with that, let me tell you). it reminds me of charleston a lot not only because i watched it at a good time in my life, but because of the hawaiian setting--being on the beach, having the characters casually dressed, and so on. it made me want to walk for hours on the beach just like the scene in the film where the whole family searches for brian speer and matt tells his kids (and sid lmfao) nice stories about the times he and their mother had and what a character she was. i felt homesick more heavily than i ever have (in the sense that i have never really felt homesick lmfao), and i wanted so strongly to be in charleston. i looked out my window into the heart of fucking camden and felt rather ungrateful, but i couldn’t help it. at any rate, the descendants made me actually long for charleston, which i never thought would happen, and it made me excited to go back. and, of course, the film itself is so perfect--the characters, the story, the cinematography--and i think that it really is one of my favourites of all time, if not my number one.

“racing in the street,” bruce springsteen: this song is very low-key and relaxed while maintaining a lot of meaning, and that goes a long way. i think i read that a lot of people, including bob dylan, say that this is springsteen’s greatest song. i don’t know if i would necessarily agree with that, but it really is a great track. the imagery in the lyrics and the mood changes (both in his voice and in the instrumentation) are so intoxicating, honestly, and you end up with another great story of a blue collar life. fave lyrics (there are a couple): “summer’s here and the time is right”--i know that this isn’t really what this lyric is trying to convey, but with summer being just around the corner for me, it really speaks to me in terms of the endless possibilities of what i can do with this vacation. “she stares off alone into the night/ with the eyes of one who hates for just being born”--i do think that this is one of the best lines springsteen has ever written. it’s eloquent as fuck, and the concept of hating for just being born is something almost universally relatable that isn’t very often said like that. "tonight my baby and me, we’re gonna ride to the sea/ and wash these sins off our hands”--i really like this idea of being purified by a body of water. it’s an ancient idea, and tying in a small journey (i.e., driving, perhaps with his damning racing car) in order to reach a better place isn’t novel, but it is a way for the character and his girlfriend/wife to be jointly better.

#faves #favorites #favourites

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