Tumgik
#and it's been four years since I posted another set based on color and environment for this franchise
madd-information · 3 years
Note
Have you watched Kati Morton's new video about Maladaptive Daydreaming? What do you think about it?
[intro]
For years, I believed maladaptive daydreaming to be a form of dissociation, but it could also be added to the DSM as its own diagnosis, since it does have its own set of unique symptoms. Either way, at this time maladaptive daydreaming is not listed in the DSM as a diagnosable mental illness.
I was concerned because her last couple videos on the topic were very confusing to watch and seemed to conflate MD with the inner-worlds of DID.  It looks like she has done some more research on it and is going to make a more informed video. This is great and I deeply appreciate that she’s taking the time to do a proper dive into this. 
The closest diagnosis would be DPDR, or depersonalization derealization disorder. And this is the diagnosis given to those of us who struggle with dissociation. [explanation of DPDR]
Gonna need you to source that Katie, I’ve never heard an MD researcher say something like this.  When they talk about MD they call it a behavioral addiction with OCD features which is related to dissociative absorption (different from derealization and depersonalization, these two dissociative experiences are not particularly significant in MD, though they can happen.)
These experiences are extremely common. It's estimated that half of all adults have had at least one episode of DPDR. 50% of people. That is a huge amount of people.
Cool but not sure it’s at all relevant to the video topic. 
Also, it's important to mention that in 2016, four researchers put together the Maladaptive Daydreaming Scale, or MDS. This is a 14-item self-reported scale, meaning that you as the patient answers 14 questions based on your own maladaptive daydreaming experience.
It’s a 16 item scale now, it was changed very early on and has been 16 for years.  This is a very small and forgivable knitpick, just fyi. 
The MDS focuses on the content of our daydreams, how intense the urge to continue daydreaming is, and how much it impairs our ability to function in our lives, and the benefits and costs of our daydreaming. I am not personally familiar with this scale, nor have I used it in my practice, but I've linked the research article in the description if you wanna learn more about it.
A good description, and here’s that link again for anyone who wants to read about the finer details of this scale. 
When it comes to maladaptive daydreaming, it isn't just feeling out of body or environment. We can create very intense and detailed daydreams with plots, characters, and very lifelike issues and storylines. Some people will get the plots for their daydreams from their real lives, while others can create a utopian place unlike their current experience.
Yep, decent overview of content, though content doesn’t matter that much.  Also, use of “we”.  Is Katie Morton an MDer or was this a creative choice?  I don’t know, just a passing thought. 
We can find ourselves staying in these daydreams for various amounts of time. And some of my patients have reported staying in them for hours. And many of you have let me know that you struggle to get out of them at all, spending days in this other life that we've created.
Yep, good overview, but more importantly she’s listening to her patients and the feedback of MDers in her audience.
...there are many causes for this, and the first I wanna address is trauma triggers. If we've experienced a trauma in our life, things that remind us of that time or situation can pull us into a flashback, cause us to dissociate, or in many cases push us into our maladaptive daydreams.
When our brain and the rest of our nervous system feels overwhelmed and unable to deal with what's going on in the moment, it can pull us out of our current situation through dissociation. I always talk about that, like our brain pulling the ripcord. And it can also utilize maladaptive daydreaming. It's a way to cope or get through an overwhelming situation when we don't have other skills to help calm our nervous system down. So we just rely on what we know, and that can be daydreaming or dissociating. It's almost like this coping skill protects us from having to feel traumatized again and so it takes us away, you know, drops us into a much safer and happier place.
Trauma is always talked about first when people do overviews of MD.  She’s not wrong but just to add more information;  about a quarter of MDers report trauma, the other 75(ish)% don’t.  It’s a significant number but trauma is not the only pathway to MD.  Sometimes people walk away from these videos feeling like “well, I don’t have any trauma, maybe I don’t really have MD”.  That’s not a comment on what Katie has presented, she does go into other things below, just adding on.
Another cause or trigger can be high levels of stress or anxiety. We can slowly feel ourselves become more and more overwhelmed until our brain pulls us out of our reality and into a new one, aka our maladaptive daydreams. In short, we can want to stay in these daydreams to feel better and safer, but it can get in the way of us functioning in our life.
Yep
[audience anecdotes]
...Which is why even the term maladaptive daydreaming is used. Maladaptive means it's not providing adequate or appropriate adjustment to the environment or situation. So the daydreaming is only holding off the bad things. It's not actually making anything better or helping us process any of the upset. It's really just a temporary check-out, which can be helpful sometimes, but if it's happening all the time or making it hard for us to focus at work, school, or with our friends and family, we should find other, better ways to cope.
Exactly.
Which moves us into how we can better cope so that we don't get sucked into our daydreams for hours, days, or even weeks. And first up is mindfulness. Now, I know that term is overused now and super annoying but in order for us to know when we even need to use other coping skills, we have to know when the daydreaming urges are happening. So often we aren't aware of what we were feeling or thinking until it's too late and we're already pulled into our daydream. And at that point it's more difficult or even impossible for us to pull ourselves out. Therefore, we have to start being more aware of what we're going through.
[continues explanation]
Perfection.
And so next is figuring out ways to calm our system down. This can take the form of a distraction technique like going for a walk or organizing a part of our home, coloring, watching a show, playing a video game, you name it. These calming things could also be more process-based, things like journaling or talking to your therapist or a friend about it, or even using an impulse log. [Continues with calming things]
Good examples, MD researchers specifically recommend keeping a log.
We're also going to have to find some coping skills that we can use when we're starting to feel overwhelmed and wanting to go back into the daydream. Maybe we hold an ice cube in our hands, clap our hands, count the number of things in the room that are blue, brown, black… whatever works for you, do it.
Good stuff. 
And it's okay for something not to work. We just have to try it to know and then move on to something else.
Important point to make, happy to see this. 
Once we have a few things that work, write them down in your phone or on a post-it note so that you can see it and be reminded when you need it. We will also need to come up with some ways to pull ourselves out of the daydream. And I know this is gonna be harder and we may even wanna call upon helpful and supportive people in our lives to assist us.
Good advise. 
We could, because it's our daydream, right, we could put a big door in our daydream and we can choose to go through it and pull ourselves out, or have people in the daydream that remind us of our real life and tell us to go back.
A good suggestion.  Q, on the Parallel Lives Podcast (I can’t remember which episode off the top of my head), did something like this by turning to his characters and saying “ok, take 5 guys, we’ll pick it up at xtime”, and many people have found that to be a clever and helpful method. 
Now, I know this is really, really hard… which rolls into my final tip, which is to work with a therapist to heal from the trauma or to learn how to better cope with the anxiety or stress we're feeling. Working to heal or process through the reason our maladaptive daydreaming exists in the first place will ensure that we don't need it anymore.
Absolutely seek professional support if you can. 
... if we heal the issue we're struggling to cope with, the urge to use those unhelpful coping skills will go away altogether.
[outro]
I think this last point will frighten a lot of MDers.  It’s probably the brevity of the video that didn’t allow her to really expand on this, and I certainly don’t want to put words into her mouth that she may not have intended.  Don’t be afraid of losing your MD.  “Curing” Maladaptive Daydreaming does not mean “I’ll never see my world again.”  You’ll always have the capacity to daydream like this, you were born this way, but it *doesn’t* have to be maladaptive. Like overeating, you will never not eat, you will fix your relationship with food. 
Good video overall, brief but accurate and includes the standard helpful advise. 
40 notes · View notes
weeklysparksofjoy · 4 years
Text
8.9.20 - 8.16.20
Tumblr media
What a whirlwind of a week. This week was my first week off for summer break. I had finally wrapped up my internship and spent a week soaking in the pleasures of life, aka just video games since it’s quarantine time. As a result, this week was filled with fun leisurely activities and naturally, house cleaning. So look down below for what really sparked joy during my period of respite and of fulfilling homeownership responsibilities. 
Items
IKEA Karlby (1): Given the current times, a good work-from-home place is a must. It was time to upgrade our cheap $34 Linnmon tables. This was our desk table for 3 years! 3 years! We had silver legs instead of the bright blue ones featured on IKEA’s page, but still, this was literally the cheapest table we could get from IKEA. Now that I will be starting my doctorate program and my boyfriend is working fully remote, plus something called COVID, it was time for us to get a proper office set-up. Enter the Karlby. Yes, it is a countertop. It’s a beautiful, 60 lb., long slab of sort-of wood that gives me enough space to lay 3 monitors on it, if I pleased. If you remember last week’s post on the IKEA Alex , those are the base for our desk. We have one underneath each end of the Karlby and all we had to do was put a non-slip adhesive on top of the Alexes and that was it. No drilling necessary to put two and one together. Essentially, our set-up looks like this (thank you random person from the internet for the photo). It is beautiful and freeing and space to breathe. 
Ridgid Shop Vacuum and Toshiba Dehumidifier: Now, for a not as freeing item, but a stress-relief item that I am just truly grateful for. I love storms. I love the sound of the rain hammering against the glass. I love the color of the sky. I love the nostalgia of childhood rainstorms. What I had not yet experienced until this week was what comes with rain - possible flooding. Maryland was hit with rain for almost a week. It was flash flood warning after flash flood warning. Being in the new house, we were tricked into comfort that our sump pump was in working condition. It had only been a month since we moved in and it had passed inspection. It had worked. But let this be a life lesson, after any storm, just check your basement to be sure. We had moved our old Linnmon desks into the basement to make room for the new desks when we stumbled upon the shallow pools of water. Long story short - we had to replace the sump pump. But the basement doesn’t slope down towards it, so we still had standing water. I ran a quick google search after my failed attempt to mop all the water towards the sump pump left us with only a little bit less of water and found that pros recommended a shop vacuum. We rushed over to Home Depot to get there 30 minutes before closing time. Initially, we planned to rent the shop vac for a third of its selling price, but who knows what might happen in the future, so we just bought the thing out right. We purchased the Ridgid 12 gallon wet/dry shop vacuum and watched that thing just inhale all the water from the floors. I had essentially wasted 30 minutes of my life mopping that mess and should have just purchased the shop vac instead. This was such a relief. I was worried we’d have to hire more professionals to clear the flooded waters, but nope, this made it so easy. Sure, there was a bit of water left, but when coupled with the Toshiba 50-pint dehumidifier, which we bought during the same trip, the floor was clear of a single drop of water the next morning. We felt guilty placing the sleek dehumidifier in our unfinished basement, but it fulfilled its role with 5 stars. As a first-time homeowner, the flooding was rather stressful - from worrying about safety to waiting on available professionals, but these two items let me sleep soundly after a long, hectic day. Last, but not least, I need to thank Len the Plumber for sending us a technician within the specified time window (unlike Roto-Rooter) and for the tech replacing our sump pump so quickly! This was definitely a learning experience and although it seems more like a spark of gratitude, I do have to say a clean environment sparks joy for me!   
Weed B Gone: Another spark of joy from a clean environment came from our backyard. When we moved in, our backyard was completely ridden with weeds. There was not a blade of grass to be seen. Nevertheless, the weeds were probably about a foot tall. Fast forward a few weeks, where us naive millennials had neglected to care for this problem while continuing to move out of our old apartment and into the new house, and we have ourselves 3-feet tall weeds. I lie not. They were up to my hip. Anyway, they were a major stressor and a persistent nag in the back of my mind. Thus, I got to work and sprayed some Weed B Gone after identifying the majority of the weeds as crabgrass. Alright, so the label says it works immediately - that’s a lie, but it did work in a couple of days. Each day, I would stand by the back door and gloat over the sight of the increasingly limp weeds. Within a week, they were yellowing and hanging over the patio. Once again, this week I found joy in cleanliness and in accomplishing a stress-inducing task.
Video Games
Darkest Dungeon (2): I promise I did not spend my entire week off cleaning. I actually spent most of it playing Darkest Dungeon. I normally hate single-player games, but this one was so fun. I was so addicted to it that I played it almost every day. I really enjoyed building my team, figuring out how to defeat the enemies, and just learning the inside tricks for dungeon interactions. It’s not difficult to learn and I would definitely recommend the game for others!
TV Shows
Star Wars (3): The Clone Wars: My boyfriend and I began watching all Star Wars content in chronological order back in June and we finally finished all of The Clone Wars. I really enjoyed watching The Clone of Wars even though it’s touted as a children’ show. Those final four episodes of season 7 were so beautifully done and had us rooting for Ahsoka the entire time. As a side note, we actually watched Revenge of the Sith in 4(?) different chunks. We followed a guide that showed us where to stop, so that we actually heard some lines repeated in the movie and in The Clone Wars, which was pretty cool. We didn’t follow this guide, but this one is more precise than the one that we used. If you are remotely interested in Star Wars, I recommend you give this challenge a try. It was a lot of fun and touching to see the character development. Also, this may be heinous to say - but the writing in The Clone Wars was better than the prequels’.
Videos
Chloe Ting: I’ve been doing Chloe Ting’s workouts for over a month now. I’ve wrapped up the 4 weeks summer shred challenge and am currently in the middle of the 15 days intense core challenge. I have to say that her videos have successfully transformed me into a daily workouter (I practice Yoga with Adriene during rest days). I actually find myself needing to workout daily, like if I know that I have a busy day ahead, I will figure out how to fit a workout in - no excuses. The truth is I look forward to these workouts and to reflecting upon my progress. I find myself becoming stronger, completing exercises I couldn’t execute the first time around. Even though my weight has actually increased, I feel great and more confident. 
Makoccino (4): Last, but not least, this week I made more time for art - something I haven’t done for a long time. I think after high school I was such a workaholic, bouncing from club to club and job to job, that I didn’t give myself to have fun by myself. Makoccino’s videos helped me take the step forward and purchase the art supplies to get started in my watercolor painting journey. I began with her beginners video, which was super easy to follow and although my painting still turned out to look like a product of those wine and paint classes, it still encouraged me to continue further. Watercolor painting is so relaxing and seeing the end product is just so satisfying. 
That concludes this week’s sparks of joys, but just to highlight a pattern throughout these posts, joy comes in different shapes and sizes. Joy is often intermixed with other emotions that may sometimes obscure it. If there is anything this practice has taught me is that identifying joys in life on a consistent basis requires patience and a willingness to tease apart the whirlwind of emotions inside us.
Special thanks to Cassie for designing the image! Check out her work on instagram: https://www.instagram.com/meta__morphosis__design/
2 notes · View notes
maryeellison · 4 years
Text
Exactly How Does Horticulture Soothe Stress?
One of my favorite tasks is working in my yard; it is additionally a vibrant place to meditate, frequently checked out by numerous winged and four-legged creatures. Remaining in nature, touching the dirt and producing a living landscape is recovery in such a way that resembles absolutely nothing else. The very scent of the dirt, the textures of the barks as well as foliage of eco-friendly plants, the aromatic blossoms, all are an artwork that is calming to the spirit. Horticulture is an imaginative job, done in magnificent 3-D. The pallette you need to collaborate with consists of textures, colors, shapes, appears and also scents. You can grow for wild animals, or for butterflies. Rain yards are a lovely method to deal with drainage from the roof covering, while reenergizing the local groundwater level as opposed to sending out rain down the city drain system. Provided, all this might not work for you if you don't like horticulture. Even if you like the concept of horticulture, as well as possibly have some experience or helped your mommy or grandma in the garden when you were a kid, it is necessary that it not be a task. The most convenient very first blunder is to take on as well much, as well as locate that as opposed to being a tension relief you are worried since the objectives you set are impractical. Rather than end up with a stressful obligation that has actually come to be overwhelming, it is much better to enjoy a potted plant or a single container garden on the patio area, or a hanging planter or 2 by the pathway to welcome you with their joyful color, than to stress out over a large yard that has gone to weeds due to absence of readily available time. Maintain it simple, begin small ... Or even, begin tiny, even indoors with a little terrarium, or a potted team of cactus. One plant that I think about crucial to keep in your home is an aloe plant. It is durable, does not mind indoors as lengthy as the moisture does not obtain as well low, and also is a wonderful medicinal herb for minor burns, scratches and also swellings. One more fun concept, especially if you enjoy to cook, is to keep a little home window natural herb yard. To find out more on expanding your very own kitchen herbs, look into the Organic Gardening website with a wonderful website on expanding herbs indoors. A yard is a way to connect with nature, to slow down as well as remain in the minute, and restore a sense of self in the sound as well as rush of the modern-day urban atmosphere. Leave the phone and various other noisemakers as well as disturbances inside. Obtain a break from computer displays, TELEVISION displays, hand-held gadget displays as well as unwind your gaze to take in a larger sight. If you've ever before experienced chastisement in school from indulging in the easy satisfaction of looking out the home window at gorgeous clouds, you understand what I suggest. My thing is all-natural locations remediation; I am a member of a not-for-profit group that is functioning to set aside all-natural areas for wild animals environment. We restore these locations as close as possible to their pre-settlement problem, with native plants as well as tidy waterways. Naturally, as soon as the native plant neighborhood returns, the wild animals shows up in wealth. You might take pleasure in producing an ecological community in your yard that not just features indigenous plants, yet will certainly bring in wild animals such as jeopardized butterflies, dragonflies, and birds. The National Wild animals Federation site has excellent info on exactly how to produce wildlife environment in your yard or community. Again, be sensible as well as take points in tiny bites; this is a process. If nothing else, nature motivates us to reduce, take our time to appreciate. Take on too much and also we soon fall into stress and also stress and anxiety over approximate, ultimately unsatisfying objectives that we have established for ourselves. You recognize what Pogo stated, "We have actually satisfied the opponent as well as he is us". If you stay in an apartment or condo as well as don't have yard area, you may want to take into consideration participating with the local neighborhood yard - or begin one. The regional neighborhood or community yard can also provide, if you desire, an opportunity to appreciate the benefit of social interaction. Gardening supplies a sense of accomplishment - that is, if we've not overwhelmed ourselves with too much to look after. Not only that, but there is fantastic satisfaction in growing our own vegetables, fruits and fresh herbs. There is no fruit or veggie in the grocery store, nonetheless much money is paid, that will certainly compare with your home-grown, lovingly looked after veggie. Regardless of that it might be a straightforward container-grown cherry tomato. For a fantastic article on the very best tomatoes for container expanding, take a look at what Colleen Vanderlinden needs to state, based upon her individual experience. There is even a motion called "geo-sense" horticulture coming out of Europe. The concept is to make home gardens to give stress and anxiety relief. The practice has deep origins, according to a post by Dr. Leonard P. Perry, Expansion Professor at the College of Vermont. The ancient yards of terrific worlds of Egypt, Persia and also China were designed to bring nature into their city atmospheres. Dr. Perry's article has concepts to include into your yard to make it a setting - a small environment - that is designed for tranquility. In typical Japan, the yard was an expression of Zen ideology. In a post on the Japanese Garden internet site, Dr. Koichi Kawana discusses the philosophy behind typical Japanese yard design. The Valuable Gardener web site is another excellent internet site explains the conventional Japanese Garden, and its underlying Zen approach. The yard, whether it is a huge plot or a simple mini ecosystem in a container, embodies numerous points; spiritual philosophy, connectedness with nature, a living imaginative development, being grounded with our hands literally in the dirt, expanding and also offering ourselves and also liked ones with our very own exceptional food. All these things are the bounty that nature supplies - openly provided, asking for simply a little touch of loving hands. If you appreciate horticulture, tell us about your experiences, and also whether or not you find gardening to be loosening up. Do you discover it an obstacle to discover the moment you wish to work in the yard? Have you been challenged by trying to do excessive? Just how do you balance the satisfaction with the job required to keep your garden healthy? Are you an "au natural" garden enthusiast, or do you favor a neat and also organized layout? Does it appear to bring you closer to nature, or perhaps to an introspective, spiritual experience? A number of us that consider horticulture organically, appear to have images of bearded human warriors who will dedicate their entire life to working on their veggie yards. This maybe a fantastic method for somebody to live, but for the ordinary person, this possibly rather difficult. Especially when you work in the factors such as having job, and having a home mortgage to pay off. When you grow food, several see it as an ability, simply put the tend to linked it with either a lot of work, or a type of art. Suppose there was a technique that was very easy to utilize, as well as gives those who lead a hectic life, an opportunity to expand vegetables in their yard. Alternate horticulture, may simply be the option to those that may not have the moment to expand a veggie garden. This is a practical, contemporary method of making as well as creating a vegetable story. There are a few changes that you will need to make in order to utilize this gardening approach. These approaches will ultimately alter the means you do your gardening and also grow your vegetables. The method alternative horticulture is various is for one, you will need to grow a great deal more plants right into your yard to fill the rooms. The 2nd component is, you will certainly never ever have to collect any dirt. The third component is, you will need to boost your degree of composting that you will make use of in your garden, because composting is a vital part in making this type of gardening work. Once you take on these approaches, you will certainly start to discover remarkable changes within your yard. One of these adjustments that you will certainly discover is that the garden will start to take a type of its own. Your weeds will stop appearing as well as ruin your garden, and also your plants will certainly start to live for a lot longer. Your plants will certainly likewise call for less water, thanks to transforming your garden into an alternative gardening system, as well as you will probably be collecting practically everyday of the year. Knowing exactly how this works, is all based on science, and also the technique utilized as by environmentalist. What you will certainly discover, when implementing the strategies made use of for this style of horticulture is that utilizing scientific research in your technique of building and also producing plants, is the best way to create as well as grow plants. This method has actually been adopted by producing a community that is comprised of plants that are edible. This plants that are now in this environment will react and act in the same way as it carries out in its own all-natural environment. As soon as you begin alternative gardening, you will certainly notice that there is extremely little job to do in your place. You will certainly be doing little work to preserve your garden, as your plants are getting all the products as well as nutrients that it requires, as a result of the way you have set up your plants. You will likewise become even more of a viewer than a gardener, as the veggie garden is doing all the help you.
1 note · View note
oscopelabs · 5 years
Text
3D, Part 1: James Cameron and the Broken Promise of the Third Wave by Vadim Rizov
Tumblr media
[Note: This essay is the first in a two-part series on 3D. Part 2, coming soon, will discuss the unexpected peak of 3D as an artistic form. —ed.]
It’s not fair to say that James Cameron ruined projection standards by pushing for a digital changeover—the industry impetus was already under way—but Avatar left less of an impression as a movie than as technological advocacy, resulting in unintended, still-lingering side effects. Cameron dreamed of 3D cinema arriving, finally, at what he viewed as its overdue narrative fruition; he couldn’t have imagined compromising projection standards or undermining film archiving in the process. This is a two-part essay: The first is a grim recap of the Third Wave of 3D, which has unfolded over the last decade. The second will advocate for a secret classic of 3D cinema at its inadvertently experimental peak.
****
Tumblr media
The not-too-reductive standard narrative goes like this: 3D was popularized contemporaneously with widescreen in the ‘50s as half of a two-pronged initiative to lure audiences away from their TV screens by giving the theatrical experience something unavailable at home. By decade’s end, widescreen was normalized; ’60s and ‘70s one-offs excepted, 3D wasn’t. 1980’s Comin’ at Ya! kicked off its second wave, which had a similarly short lifespan. In both runs, 3D failed to transition from passing gimmick to standard filmmaking option, mostly due to the diminishing thrill of seeing things flying at you, but also due to technological flaws that made the results physically difficult to watch. This history’s a bit of an oversimplification: like sound, color, and widescreen (all of which were experimented with long before they became standard options), 3D had test-run incarnations well before its ‘50s boom. Still, this story is largely accurate. So what makes the third wave different?
Cameron’s ideal 3D would be to create totally immersive worlds, refusing to throw objects at viewers the way the first two 3D waves had done. These effects were presumably cheap grabs for attention, while Cameron was focused more on depth rather than breaking the proscenium. In a (troublesomely unattributed) quote from 2009, a collaborator summed up his approach: “There’s a scene early in [Avatar] where something jumps out of the screen. Jim said, `I just did that so that they would know I know how to do it. But then I stopped doing it because that’s not what 3D is; 3D is bringing the audience completely into the environment of the movie.’” Narrative disruption was not on the agenda; Cameron’s films have always followed conventional dramatic arcs, and Avatar has a particularly unchallenging (“archetypal”) story. This meant yoking 3D to digital projection, which would straighten out the format’s numerous problems once and for all by eliminating both the visual eyestrain and eyeline problems of watching 3D, either polarized (the default standard until digital) or in anaglyph (the infamous red-and-blue glasses format that became a stand-in image for the format, despite being relatively rare) and the double potential for error caused by an incompetent projectionist. Cameron had spent years preparing audiences—and, more importantly, the industry—for a digital conversion. In 2005, he, George Lucas, and Peter Jackson appeared at ShoWest, the trade theater convention to boost for 3D and, by association, digital projection. “I’m giving you guys plenty of warning,” Cameron said. “You’ve got two years to get ready.” His timeline was off, the larger idea was not: In 2009, 16,000 screens worldwide were digital-ready. The next year, that had shot up to 36,000.
Tumblr media
It’s not clear digital projection is the optimal way to see Avatar; the late 3D advocate Ray Zone saw the film five times in multiple formats in its first run, concluding not only that film-based IMAX 3D (with two 70mm projectors running simultaneously) was the correct way to see the film, but that “One hint that IMAX 3-D 15/70mm was the native 3-D format for Avatar was that the new large platters would only hold two hours and forty minutes of 15/70mm film—the exact running time of the film.” Nonetheless, Avatar’s overwhelming success sped up a slow-moving push to digital conversion, which the industry had been inching towards for some time. George Lucas had some digital screenings of Phantom Menace, but locally, I remember digital first rearing its head at the arthouse—specifically Austin’s long-closed four-screen Dobie Theatre, an independent that had by then been bought by Landmark Theatres. The arthouse chain went in early for digital projectors, a bright future ushered in Windows Media Player 9. (From a press release at the time: “The film is a milestone in digital origination — a genuine work of art that takes full advantage of new technology. Windows Media 9 Series will show it in all its glory.”) “We can hear the techies in the crowd oohing and ahhing already,” The Austin Chronicle’s Marc Savlov wrote. “It'll only be a matter of time before the entire industry goes digital and the notion of scratched and blotchy film and frazzled frame adjustments will seem very quaint indeed. Progress, baby. We live for it.” My first screening in that format was Russian Ark, Alexander Sokruov’s one-take Hermitage film that would have been impossible to realize on celluloid, with its inherent time limits on how long each reel can be. That projection (the Dobie was only one of four US theaters to play it that way in the film’s initial run) made sense: digital in, digital out.
Still, the stakes of first digital conversion were relatively small; Avatar’s success upped digital’s presence significantly while coupling it to 3D. This is the part that’s different: where previous pushes for 3D worked with (extensively) modified versions of existing film hardware, this time the medium’s perfection accelerated the wholesale rethinking of film production and exhibition. Striking and shipping 35mm prints was expensive, as was paying qualified projectionists, and said prints would get beat up; the longer you waited to see a film, odds were the worse it would look. And “qualified” projectionists certainly weren’t the baseline standard by any means: I remember going to see Talk to Her improperly projected in 2002, the frame misaligned so that the bottom of the frame showed as a sliver at the top from start to finish. (Here’s a much more dramatic projection fail story from back in the day; probably everyone has at least one.) As with any new tech rollout, unforeseen problems followed: smaller theaters crowdsourced funds for new projectors or risked going out of business, digital files proved anything but foolproof in practice, a push for digital archiving placed the history of film at risk as new storage formats proved highly unstable relative to well-preserved film. (This last sentence is a heavily compressed version of what David Bordwell tracked at length in his highly recommended “Pandora’s Digital Box” series.) More succinctly, this is the first time 3D introduced a specific ghost in the machine: every time you go to a multiplex to see a movie that looks way too dark, the odds are good someone left the 3D lens on, and no one’s around who can fix it or who would even care to. What started as an attempt to perfect 3D had the inadvertent effect of undoing 2D digital projection standards.
Tumblr media
Again, none of this is directly James Cameron’s fault. He’s just the one who helped push through a change faster than it might have been implemented otherwise. Avatar’s blockbuster breakthrough was followed the next year by Alice in Wonderland, which harvested a billion-plus dollars worldwide, making the case that it didn’t matter whether 3D was native or, as in Tim Burton’s film, post-converted. Not a year later, Jeffrey Katzenberg—another 3D booster—was already worried “the bloom was off the rose” because cynical types “thought they could just deliver a kind of low-end crappy version of it, and people wouldn't care, or wouldn't know the difference.” Five years later, Katzenberg was blunter, quoting (intentionally or not) Easy Rider to convey the extent of his disappointment: “we blew it.” 3D’s never had as big a year since 2010: its revenue has declined every year since, and production of 3D films has gone down. The technology stuck, but 3D’s potential as a normative storytelling tool remains once again questionable until further notice.
Setting aside the grim trajectory of 3D’s current wave, which has seen revenue (and audience demand) for the format decrease, it’s worth reflecting on Cameron’s original idea that 3D would add “depth” to the familiar, instead of a better brand of comin-at-ya effects. For years, whenever people would ask which 3D movies I liked, I’d say Yogi Bear. This is (not entirely) a smartass answer: obviously Goodbye to Language would be a better response, but Godard sought to dismantle all 3D’s rules one event shot at a time, and no one will (be able to) follow up on its visual inquiries. Pina made visual sense (the performers are dancing outside, depth is important), Hugo looked neat, and Tron: Legacy was a cool lightshow (though that had more to do with sheer color overload and Daft Punk’s super-loud score as rendered on the biggest speakers theatrically available, and a 3D expert friend swears it has some of the worst use of the medium he’s ever seen); otherwise, my 3D sampling has mostly been review assignments of bad-looking movies. The worst are the post-converted monstrosities. A real low here was the new Pete’s Dragon, which Disney screened in 3D: it looked extremely dark, which was predictable, but worse, a bunch of shots which were clearly shallow-focus, had all been rendered as three to four separate planes of depth, casting blurry background areas in semi-sharp relief, each shot an unintentional diorama. It was sort of possible to tell what the compositional intent was, but impossible to really envision it.
Tumblr media
So Yogi Bear is peak 3D. Why not? At a cost of $80 million, Yogi Bear renders a depth-filled Jellystone Park entirely on par with Pandora, with all of the depth and none of the tacky colors. Both movies tell stories, both benefit from depth to spatially reconstruct a largely external environment: the differences are mostly details. In an interview Google will no longer let me find, but which I swear I remember, Cameron said only 19 shots (or thereabouts, let me hedge) in Avatar featured zero CG. These are, I presume, the shots of Jake Sully back on base; to me, they’re easily the most memorable parts of the movie, capturing the full depth of a set (and its metal walls) in a way that’s way more compelling than a fully rendered fake ecosystem . What if Cameron was wrong and 3D is, fundamentally, not just a way to enhance immersiveness but one which, when deployed in the non-CG constructed world, can recode the nuts and bolts of narrative filmmaking visual language itself? In Part II, I’ll look back at the much-derided second wave of ‘80s 3D to make the case that 1983’s Treasure of the Four Crowns, a little-regarded Raiders of the Lost Ark knock-off, is one of the format’s greatest, most progressive and inadvertently suggestive moments.
Tumblr media
9 notes · View notes
sketchiedetails · 6 years
Text
Finally got around to finishing Devil May Cry 3. It’s definitely a step up in every conceivable way from the first Devil May Cry and is a real gem. This is gonna be general writeup of the gameplay and I’ll make a separate post for some of the story bits I enjoyed. (Some spoilers ahead, but nothing major)
DMC 3 reminds me a lot of Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater. Both are prequels that set up important plot details for their previous entries, and both games take the core mechanics of their series and expands them exhaustively.
youtube
DMC’s combat is all about mixing up melee and ranged attacks against hordes of enemies, with special emphasis on fighting with style. The game grades your performance based on the damage you deal to enemies, the damage you take from enemies, and most importantly, the variety of your attacks. Some attacks may boost up your style ranking at first but if you repeat them over and over again they bring in diminishing returns and eventually they barely make a dent in the meter. So you have to switch up your attacks by either going back and forth on ranged and melee or by switching out the weapons themselves. This was already established in DMC1 but now in 3 there’s a visible meter under the style that provides direct feedback on whether your combo is going strong or treading water.
The controls have been slightly overhauled from the first game to account for more actions. Each button is assigned to a specific action now (Square and X kinda shared duties as the guns and action buttons in the first game) with Circle as the new Style button. Dante can switch to several styles before each mission and whenever he encounters a divinity statue. There are four in the beginning but you can unlock a few more as the story progresses. Switching between equipment is faster than it’s ever been and it’s incredibly easy to start a combo with one weapon and fluidly switch it up into another weapon. The Styles add some variety to the combat by offering different actions - Trickster lets you dodge attacks and move easily across the arena, Swordmaster gives you more melee attacks for your Devil Arms, Gunslinger is the same but for firearms, and Royal Guard lets you absorb the damage of incoming attacks which you can then unleash afterwards.
youtube
The one thing I don’t personally like about the Style system is that in order to upgrade the styles you need to constantly use them, and it takes a lot of investment. Unfortunately, I became far too reliant on Trickster as a safety net as I hadn’t really thought it was worth it to give up my dodging ability. I’ve heard that Royal Guard is lowkey the powerhouse Style because it’s the source for massive damage output and I’ve seen videos of high level DMC3 play where players just melt bosses in like two or three attack cycles with Swordmaster. I wish it were possible to upgrade the style with souls like the rest of Dante’s equipment, but it’s a feature I honestly need to more thoroughly explore.
The game’s main locale is the demon tower Temen-ni-gru, but DMC3 does a great job providing variety with the environment. The early game starts at Dante’s office and the city streets leading towards the Temen-ni-gru, and the story has tons of ascending and descending the tower from different angles. The interior levels provide a mix of gothic architecture that was iconic of the first game’s manor setting, but the rooms vary up the color range here and there to avoid visual monotony. At some point the tower starts shifting around and you end up returning to areas from past missions but with a change in their structure.
The boss variety has greatly expanded compared to the first game and it’s a welcome improvement. Dante still faces demons and trades verbal barbs with them before having a proper fight, but now some of the fallen demons will transform into Devil Arms which Dante can use in battle. DMC1 only had 2 Devil Arms (not counting Sparda), and 3 has 5 for Dante to use. Each Devil Arm gets their own little spotlight once they’re revealed.
youtube
Speaking of bosses, Devil May Cry 3 definitely has one of the best rival bosses in gaming. All of Vergil’s encounters provide some of the best challenges in the game, and each encounter builds off of previous fights so that you can take the lessons you learned from those past fights and apply them to future encounters. You get to be good friends with the distortion sound effect Vergil makes when he’s about to cleave space.
youtube
As good as Vergil’s fights were, however, I wasn’t too fond of some bosses. Leviathan never felt “good” to fight for me, and I was kinda disappointed that the penultimate boss was an amorphous blob instead of a duel fight.
One of the things I greatly appreciated in DMC3 is that they completely scrapped the swimming mechanics of past games and didn’t have any shmup setpieces - it is purely a 3D hack n slash (shoot n slash?) action game. Also, the sound is mixed so much better in 3 compared to 1 since I can now hear Dante joking at the demons without the background music drowning him out.
The mission designs are pretty straightforward, yet they can still cause some confusion if you’re not paying attention. Progress is either through combat encounters, some really basic light puzzles, or more commonly fetch quests for keys and doors. As long as you’re keeping in mind where you need to go to progress, you’ll be fine. Sometimes I spaced out and wandered around the wrong places because some doors are still accessible on missions even if they’re not the critical path and they might even have some hidden fights that will help you boost your score for the end of the mission (that’s not a fault of the game, I was just glazing over the more quiet moments). The exploration definitely shows the game’s Resident Evil heritage.
Devil May Cry 3 is a solid action game. I remember playing it years back when it was brand new with a friend and getting chumped on by the second mission. I’m no pro at the game now, but I can guarantee A ranks for most missions. There are moments where I’ve felt like I hit a brick wall, but after taking a break and coming at the challenges from a different angle helped me out several times. DMC4 is up next and if I got time to spare before 5′s release, I might get through the other games in the series.
4 notes · View notes
your-dietician · 3 years
Text
'You have to just love it'
New Post has been published on https://tattlepress.com/sports/you-have-to-just-love-it/
'You have to just love it'
Tumblr media
Jazz Chisholm knows that baseball is difficult, that there remains a significant gulf he must cross to match his significant talent and overwhelming charisma to his production.
Right now, this is who Jazz is: A rookie infielder for the Miami Marlins whose stat line says his production is just above league average, but his swag suggests he’s anything but.
This is who Jazz could be: A dynamic, powerful, five-tool force, whose desire to disrupt the game could vault him atop the short list of burgeoning baseball stars with ever-elusive crossover appeal.
This is how he plans to get there: By sacrificing nothing – certainly not the vicious bat speed from his swing that ensures the home runs he does hit go very, very far. And certainly not the exuberance that vaulted him from the Bahamas to the big leagues, endearing him to fans and perhaps enabling him to join some of his athletic heroes – Kobe, LeBron, KD – as a wonder known only by one name.
And what’s the tune Jazz lives by?
“To this day,” he says, “I just always try to tell kids to be themselves. Don’t let nobody change you. You go out there and play the way you want to go play.
“That’s why I always do the crazy hair colors, I do my dances and I just have fun out there because I just want everybody to know, it’s OK to have fun on the baseball field.
“You know?”
If you don’t, you probably will soon.
Tumblr media
Jazz Chisholm looks on before a game against the Braves.
Mark Brown, Getty Images
‘Why not bring it into the game?’
Perhaps you found out on Opening Day, when Chisholm fulfilled a promise made to Marlins ace Sandy Alcantara. Chisholm, whose hair changes color with the ease of South Florida weather patterns, was planning a platinum blonde look.
Yet as spring training wound down and Chisholm – who debuted on Sept. 1 in the pandemic-shortened 2020 – had a shot to make his first Opening Day roster, Alcantara had a suggestion.
Make the team, he said, and you dye your hair blue.
“I said, ‘I got you,’” Chisholm recalls. “It was history from there.”
Chisholm came through, breaking camp with the squad and showing up for the opener with a tone resembling a Louie-Bloo Raspberry Otter Pop.
Perhaps you noticed a couple weeks later, when Chisholm hit his second home run of the season, a towering shot off Atlanta’s Charlie Morton, and then, befitting his significant basketball skills, debuted a euro step as he crossed home plate.
Contrived?
Nope. Just a part of his personality, reflexive as a fist bump or handshake.
“I will walk around the clubhouse euro-stepping on people,” he says. “I’ll be in front of someone and last second, I’ll give ‘em a euro, you know, like, ‘Get out of the way.’ It’s something I do all day, every day.
“So why not bring it into the game? Why not misdirect it going into home, and then step on it?”
Tumblr media
Chisholm has nine homers and 10 steals in 51 games.
Jasen Vinlove, USA TODAY Sports
It’s not like Chisholm is pimping home runs that scraped the top of the wall.
He is the only player this season to go deep on pitches of at least 100 mph, doing it first off the great Jacob deGrom on April 18 and then the Phillies’ Jose Alvarado a month later. He is, in fact, the only player with two such homers since pitch-tracking began in 2008.
Listed at 5-11 and 184 pounds, Chisholm – full name Jasrado Hermis Arrington Chisholm – seemingly manifested his skills by watching his grandmother play softball.
Yeah, Grandma could turn on one.
“The small person with the pop? Yeah, I think I got that from her, too,” he says.
Patricia Coakley, now 77, played on the Bahamian national softball team, and played the sport long enough for Jazz to see her compete both in slow- and fastpitch formats. He saw himself in her, from the aforementioned quick bat to the tenacious baserunning approach to her play at shortstop.
And so when Chisholm was barely old enough to hold a bat, he called dibs on the position, fully intending to never leave.
“I just loved seeing her play shortstop. I fell in love with watching her, too,” he says. “It was always like that from when I was probably 4 and 5 – just run straight to shortstop.
“Grandma’s a shortstop, I’m a shortstop.”
 Clearly, he picked an excellent role model, though there weren’t many others locally. Just eight players from the Bahamas preceded Chisholm to the majors, with infielder Andre Rodgers – who played from 1967 to ’77 – the only one to hold down anything resembling a full-time role. Antoan Richardson was the most recent, serving largely as a pinch runner from 2011 to 2014, and he’s now a coach for the San Francisco Giants.
Young Jazz focused on his grandmother’s exploits and fixated on televised games featuring Ken Griffey Jr., Barry Bonds and Derek Jeter.
And was convinced he’d play on their level.
“I always told myself that I was going to be a big leaguer, from a very young age,” he says. “It was not really tough believing I was going to be a big leaguer.”
Chisholm played plenty of ball stateside as a child, often in Miami, and attended a prep school in Kansas for a spell, eventually signing with Arizona as an international free agent. While he’s sanguine about his own rise, he’s humbled when he ponders his impact back home.
“Every time I go to the Bahamas I see a little kid telling me, ‘Hey, you made me start playing baseball,’” he says. “It makes me smile nonstop when I hear that.”
They have a dynamic hero to follow, even if he’s an unfinished product. Chisholm is on pace to hit 20 home runs and steal 20 bases this season; he clubbed his ninth home run of the season Thursday night in a loss to the Washington Nationals, pushing his batting average to .258 and his OPS to .766.
With just 276 plate appearances behind him, Chisholm has room to grow. That makes him a good match for Miami, which acquired him from Arizona for pitcher Zac Gallen in 2019. “I love the people out here,” he says. “This is just the life that I feel like I was here to live. My kind of place.”
Tumblr media
Chisholm celebrates a home run against the Mets.
Andy Marlin, USA TODAY Sports
Fresh fish
The Marlins are 31-43 and lagging in the NL East, a pitching-centric club with a lineup that looks emaciated even within this season’s historically grim league environment.
Yet for a franchise dogged for decades by ham-handed ownership, they have a decidedly fresh feel.
They have a quietly beautiful ballpark still not yet a decade old, yet new owner Bruce Sherman bears none of the blame for bamboozling the city into a hideously bad stadium deal. In Jeter they have a CEO with star power but also patience, and the forward-thinking mentality to hire the first woman as a major league GM, the highly-regarded Kim Ng.
Alcantara and rookie lefty Trevor Rogers are worthy aces, with the injured Sixto Sanchez also capable of holding that role. At Class AA Jacksonville, pitching prospects Max Meyer and Edward Cabrera join outfielder J.J. Bleday, all consensus top 100 prospects nearing the big leagues.  
In Miami, Chisholm defers to veterans such as Jesus Aguilar and Miguel Rojas, who when healthy nudges Chisholm to second base. From a baseball standpoint, Chisholm says he goes to great lengths not to “get cocky with the veterans.”
Yet they share a desire to keep things loose, from the clubhouse to the kicks; Rojas has long used social media to amplify his shoe game, while Chisholm has donned footwear celebrating concepts as disparate as Miami Vice and Oreo cookies.
Earlier this week, he debuted a gold chain that commemorated a remarkable leaping catch against the Tampa Bay Rays.
“The Miami Marlins’ whole roster right now – you look at what they’re wearing on their feet, even down to the coaches sometimes, it’s just straight heat, I’m not going to lie,” says Chisholm. “Everybody is just into that stuff – having the swag, having fun on the field.”
 It all may seem a bit excessive for a second-division club, yet the Marlins also made the playoffs in 2020 and swept the Chicago Cubs out of them. Manager Don Mattingly says the veteran tone set by the likes of Aguilar and Rojas “helps your club create an atmosphere that guys like playing in.” He is confident Chisholm will develop greater consistency both in routine and performance, calling his development arc “pretty normal” for a first-year player.
As for Chisholm, he’s prepared for the roller-coaster the game provides. His homer Thursday broke a 15-day streak without a dinger, a period filled with too many weak ground balls. It is a hallmark of the game he chose that he might go days without making an impact, when instead of euro stepping over the plate he’s making an abrupt right turn back to the dugout.
He cannot control his fate in a manner that LeBron can or Kobe could, and if he’s given just one pitch to turn and burn on, he may very well miss it.
Chisholm knows this well and chooses not to dwell on it. Like the island kid who just knew he’d be a big leaguer some day, Chisholm may be right when he believes this game will reward his undying love for it.
“It’s not frustrating,” he says of failure, “because you know how hard the game is. It’s just like, ‘Man, I’m just praying I get another one. Give me another one.’ It’s not really like, ‘Man, I missed my only chance.’ No, because you still got two more strikes to play with. And you might get the worst swing of your life off, but it can be a hit.
“This game can really mess with your mind – because you could be hitting the ball as hard as you want every day and not get a hit. And then you can go break four bats in one day and have four hits. That’s why you have to just love it. Because even though it takes away, it gives back.
“And it gives back big.”
Source link
0 notes
theramseyloft · 7 years
Text
Pigeon domestication: Feral Pigeons are not wildlife.
There were some inaccuracies in the first post on this topic, so I’m making a new one. A second edition, if you will.
One of my followers once asked me why it was that pigeons in wildlife rehab should be held when other animals should be handled as little as possible.
I misunderstood the crap out of her question! And it took three posts to realize I had!
Injured or orphaned Wildlife in a rehab center need to be handled as little as possible to avoid imprinting onto humans. They need to be able to survive on their own, and developing the habit of asking humans for hand outs will lead it to becoming malnourished at best and get it killed for being a nuisance at worst.
Mammals in particular may be killed on approach as fearless approach of humans by a wild animal is one of the warning signs that it might have rabies, which requires brain tissue to test for.
Pigeons are not wild animals. On principal, imprinting avoidance should not apply to them.
Furthermore, it causes them a lot of harm.
Pigeons are intensely social birds! Nestlings suffer from touch starvation as intensely as a human infant and can be mentally stunted or even out right stress to death from lack of interaction.
More urgently: We are simply not capable of teaching a domestic pigeon peep to survive in the wild.
Pigeons are social and observational learners, with cognition equivalent to a human 5 year old. Like human children, pigeon squeakers are TAUGHT how to be pigeons. 
Their social structure is VERY human like! Their father takes them out on foraging trips (because mom either has or is getting ready to lay the next clutch) and teaches them where to find food, water, and nest materials, what to eat, where to shelter, and how to interact with other pigeons. How and when to defer to the status of older established flock mates to avoid a fight and how and when to stick up for themselves to make sure they get their fair share of resources.
Songbirds and nearly all other columbids kick their kids out as soon as they are self feeding and they either make it or they don’t. Their parents will chase them out if they come back.
Feral Pigeons only leave their families if the flock has grown too large for local resources to support. 
Truthfully, orphaned feral pigeons do not belong in wildlife rehab at all. Pet shelters should be set up for them. 
Feral Pigeons are not wild animals. Imprinting avoidance should not apply to them any more than it should apply to an orphaned puppy.
Feral puppies don’t get raised among fox kits or coyote or wolf pups at a wildlife rehab and sent out for release “into the wild”.
Seriously. Take a moment to consider the following scenario:
A shelter gets an orphaned or injured puppy. They bottle feed it until it can reliably feed itself, heal it’s injuries, and clean out its parasites.
And then they return that just weaned, newly healthy puppy to the alley from whence it came.
How many of you, of you actually saw this happen, or heard the plan for the puppy’s release, would not be INSTANTLY concerned for its well being?
How many of your guts just clenched at the thoughts that flooded your minds of it getting hit by a car? Going hungry enough to have to eat garbage? Getting into something poisonous or sharp? Dying because it was left alone with no shelter or resources in a hostile environment?
How many of you, upon hearing that that puppy was going back into the street, would protest that it needs a home? That it’s a pet? That it’s helpless? That it’s most likely to die if it’s released?
What would your reaction be if that rehab brushed all of those aside by pointing out that there are adult strays eating garbage and dodging cars, and they’re fine?
How many of you would get upset? How many would protest that those strays aren’t healthy? That they are skinny, full of parasites, visibly sick, and limping from old wounds?
How would you react if that rehabber looked you dead in the eye and said “Those are wolves and they should be free.”
What if, at all shelters, only purebred puppies, or puppies with obvious fancy traits were put up for open adoption, and all mutts were “released” back onto the street, with all offers to adopt them turned down because they were born outside? What if you could only request to take home a mutt puppy if it lost the use of a limb and was deemed unreleasable?
This happens to pigeons every day, and they are no less domesticated than dogs are.
Dogs have been traveling with humans since the time when there were several species of human!
But pigeons have been with us since our settlements became permanent, and that relationship is nothing to sneeze at!
Do you know why doves have the religeous significance they do?
Because of the Wild Rock Dove, which is to domestic pigeons what the wolf is to domestic dogs.
Rock Doves are cliff nesters native to Turkey, India, the northernmost coast of Africa and southern Europe, who live only in very specific locations: Seaside cliffs on the edge of deserts.
They are grain eaters that need to drink a certain amount of fresh water every day.
If you were lost in the desert, finding a Rock Dove would save your life, if you could keep it in sight. 
During the day, it would lead you to water because it can’t go a day with out. 
At night, it would lead you back to safe, habitable shelter. After all, if there are predators or noxious gas in abundance, the Rock Doves couldn’t live there either.
It’s true that pigeons were initially domesticated for meat, but the Rock Dove’s bond to a specific home site and the unerring navigation that returned them reliably to it every night lead them to being domesticated more like dogs than any other livestock.
Pigeon holes are really easy to make. It’s just an even opening in a mud or stone wall deep enough for a fully grown bird to be completely sheltered and wide enough for two pigeons to build their nest and raise two peeps in.
Babies could be collected from the wild at around two weeks of age, feathered enough to thermoregulate and just starting to wean from pigeon milk to seed. At this age, they could be moved into the man made pigeon holes and hand fed until they could feed themselves.
It would be three to four weeks before they began to be really capable of flight, so the man made dovecote became the Home site onto which the babies imprinted to just as much as their handler.
If the keepers were smart, they brought home a group of babies, because rock doves are social with a cooperative family structure.
If taken at the right ages, that group formed a mini flock, just big enough to watch each others backs and their surroundings on foraging trips farther and farther afield. 
When pigeons take mates from another flock, the pair decides which family to join based on the security of the nest site and availability of resources, so pigeons from a man made dovecote always had the advantage of superior security. New mates came home with the tamed peeps and learned by observation that the human care takers were harmless protectors.
If the farmer was smart, they’d only harvest meat or eggs sparingly and at night so that the pigeons would not associate the human with being preyed upon.
Because pigeons could go out and forage for themselves and be trusted to return, the farmer didn’t have to feed them, and a person could not be too poor to own pigeons.
Not only were they live stock that fed themselves and brought more birds back with them, the guano of a well fed pigeon is one of the most nutritious fertilizers on earth!
If you want crops to grow in a desert landscape, moist pigeon guano worked into the ground will work wonders!
Pigeon guano eventually became so highly prized that people who could afford to hired armed guards to protect their cote!
We kinda ALWAYS knew about pigeon navigation, but the Greeks and Romans wrote a LOT about their use as messengers.
Messengers were not just any domestic pigeon! Speed and navigational accuracy were the traits their lines were selected for exclusively, so these were expensive specialty birds, especially beloved by the well-to-do and the military.
Every fort and palace had a cote for messenger pigeons so that they could recieve the most urgent of messages in situations where a human runner was just not fast enough.
Royal emissaries and platoons of soldiers out on a mission were sent with a supply of birds from that palace or fort so that if they needed to get a message out, they could send it by the fastest carrier over the straightest path.
Pigeons continued to be used in the messenger capacity until only about 50 years ago. 
During this time when every one depended on them for swift communication, EVERY ONE loved and revered pigeons!
Their diversity so inspired Charles Darwin that he did a TON of his genetics research using them as models! And pigeons were so beloved by Victorian England that his editors tried to twist his arm to write a book entirely about pigeons instead of what became the Origin of Species!
When Eugenics began to fascinate the European well to do and dog shows came to be, pigeon varieties also blossomed! 
There were pigeons all over the world at this point, and different regions had so many different ideas of what shape and color and pattern made a beautiful Pigeon! While some valued the appearance, others valued a unique areal performance or a more musical singing voice.
There are at least as many distinct breeds of pigeon now as there are of dog! I have heard that there are more, possibly even considerably more, but I don’t know enough about dog breed diversity to say for certain whether or not those assessments are accurate.
We have taken pigeons EVERYWHERE with us! And when we loved and took care of them, everybody benefited.
But about 50 years ago was when technology caught up with and surpassed the speed of pigeon borne messages, and pigeons were slower with more expensive upkeep.
As previously stated, the military were not the only people who loved pigeons.
But a LOT of the people who kept them after the military phased them out in the US were immigrants and people of color. 
It was a status symbol not to need gardens or farms or livestock, so pigeon coops became associated largely with poor neighboorhoods and immigrants. 
As pigeons fell out of favor, and more and more ferals started living on the closest thing to a comfortable environment: Buildings. 
As they were fed by fewer and fewer people and had access to less and less grain, it became more common to see the white streaked splatters of the pure uric acid that pigeons excrete on an empty stomach.
Uric acid eats stone, concrete, asphalt, and especially metal.
Feral Pigeons thus became linked to property damage, and the smear campaign that coined the description “Rats with wings” ( http://www.audubon.org/news/the-origins-our-misguided-hatred-pigeons ) and linked them with filth and disease was the final blow to the public’s esteem for this animal that has been our partner and companion through THOUSANDS of years of history.
That description of pigeons was all it took to turn thousands of years of adoration and respect into knee jerk revulsion. 
Add the fact that domestication favors year round reproduction, and 50 years later, the feral population of pigeons is staggering. 
Millions are spent to kill them off and drive them out using everything from poison to spikes to nets, tar, traps, and fines levied on the kind souls that recognize their hunger and feed them.
The Street Pigeon Project spearheaded in Germany has found that the most effective way to decrease the feral population and minimize the damage they cause to buildings is to, get this: Take FUCKING CARE OF THEM!!!
They built a big, comfortable rooftop loft with lots of nesting spaces, provided a good mix or grain, seed, legumes, and calcuim, and swapped out the eggs with fakes.
The unrestrained, non-coerced feral pigeons spent 80% of their time in that loft, only leaving to stretch their wings.
It was more comfortable than the awnings, eves, attics, and signs that had been the best nesting grounds available, so they left! 
With no need to range out to look for food, they didn’t go very far.
On full bellies, with good food, their poo wasn’t just pure uric acid anymore!
With eggs swapped out as they were found, reproduction decreased by 95%!
And the best part? It cost SO much less to house and feed the ferals than it did to try to exterminate them!
That’s not even scratching the surface of the OTHER benefits that could be extended from that project!
Pigeon eggs are edible! Even if the thought squicks out people and they can’t be regulated, animals can eat pigeon eggs too. They could be donated to wild life rehabs and animal shelters.
A street pigeon project could partner with community gardens to clean the lofts and keep the fertilizer they gather. THEY could also use the eggs to compost!
Cleaning the loft could also count as community service!
Pigeons did not invade cities. We abandoned them there, after they helped us coordinate building and connecting them.
They are, in every sense of the words, abandoned, forgotten sky puppies.
And they deserve to be treated with the same concern and compassion as every other lost pet.
Adult ferals would be more hurt than helped by capture, but they should have the option of a safe place to go to be fed and cared for, and weaned babies deserve to go to loving homes.
I know there are too many to home right now and that isn’t feasible for rehabs that get hundreds of them, but where rehoming isn’t an option, they should at LEAST be acclimated in a group with supplemental feeding until they find their way in the world.
Pigeons were made what they are by us. They were abandoned by us. 
Everything we complain about regarding pigeons are traits WE intentionally bred into them! And we inexplicably treat *them* like the invaders after abandoning them the second they were no longer deemed useful. 
We even forgot that the pidge we see every day on the street are domesticated birds! 
They are literally stray dogs with wings!
It’s time we remember that relationship and remind other people.
And please, please… be kind to the Sky Puppies. 
They deserve to be loved again.
5K notes · View notes
pearsonjayden · 3 years
Text
How To Make Grapes Grow Faster All Time Best Ideas
When these grapes they produce smaller amount foliage as compared to others.As a result, they are used for various reasons.Grapes need a steady supply of this new fruit bearing plants, you should determine whether your place will only permit the water retention capability of the whether the soil will often need to determine whether the grape cultivars and determining which ones can be valuable if you want to try to infect the grapes of their rocky, less fertile soil.In order to give additional support while it is however necessary to have a devastating impact on the underside of the following:
I like the still, moist air out from the leaves.Gently handle the berries start to appear, it is still the best tips on how to grow properly.Grape seeds can either be bought or a fence or along a trellis made of grapes.Like for instance, require long months of February and March.Grape plants can make a wonderful experience to remember.
If trellises are built to provide your grapes in terms of location.A suitable area for planting, good variety suitable for grape growing. Damageable pest control products like people in that area.Furthermore, this will give you an additional edge of saving money, homeowners then have a smaller scale.Once you have the tendency to grow upright.
Like numerous crops grapes will definitely make up for the vines, and having the aroma in wine but you should avoid planting and pruning for having a rich harvest.If you eliminate the presence of standing water or heavily saturated soils.Keep in mind that caring for the production of wine due to the overall quality of grapes.Grapes sold for the future success of your money in order to avoid drying up condition.Then decide on the history of viticulture when he developed and discovered the benefits of making a grape variety has also shown that adding fertilizer and the little effort put into the soil will need an adequate amount of water; however, it shouldn't be encouraged for there is ample sunlight.
For another, grapes need regular pruning.With it, you will need to know how to do is to soak the roots up to the lack thereof will not grow as well as allow maximum airflow and sunlight.Any non vineyard land like a parent to a copper color.There are more common and considered very much a part of the trellis with a little legwork and networking with the success of a cutting from would be the most vigorousWhen you plant are suitable to endure winter weather.
Of all the weight of a successful harvest.Everything start with the development of grape growing information to get your grapevines, or your grapes are going to reap the fruits to color, and again let it be in the fertilizer.On the other hand, a lopper or a grape trellis.These are the ideal location on your part.There are a favorite amongst not only good for grapes.
Keep the vines from harsh grape growing process is the perfect spot for grape vine usually ripen in areas with mild winters such as drainage, irrigation, pruning and pest control.Not only did the vines with the weight of the University of Ulm in Germany found that resveratrol is found in red grapes make red wine on the amount to use them for, how they are young, or the environment molds each individual's personality in a particular grape variety to grow.Your grape vines you choose is the ideal level for your good education let us be nerd a little.One grape type is the most attention and that will allow better air flow and sunlight.In extremely cold areas, you may want to take to grow grapes, it is for your trellis, you should start with.
Growing grape vines from December through February.Your baby grape sets it touches, ruining your harvest.It is done right the first foot or so then drive a rod into the process, it is easy to take before planting the vines.If your soil has been quite important as you plant it into position.There are lesser known fact that hybrid grapes depends upon the varieties of soil, and constructing a trellis.
Grape Growing In Texas
Concord grape which has a different ingredient.Learning how to grow concord because they are so large that they realize that cold air as flowing water.The next step in the profitable manner, it is planted on a trellis system should be planted in soil that is common in your grape vines.Another thing you can incorporate in the trellis.Flowering or blooming is the industry can change in different seasons and you can first understand how important the support structure.
Plantation of grapes hanging on the tastes of the schedule of pruning:The tips that were probably grown in order to successfully plant and comes either as seeded and are commonly used to make your own is now in your creative wits to gain growth, which is what you will be carrying out more work on this to make wines for personal consumption and they eventually die.So for making homemade wine, so if you really can't go wrong in this article is to maintain very high numbers before they freeze in the right knowledge and earnest effort.Pat the soil beds: You should know the reason why later.As they grow and for this project is not hard as you would like to start a grape vine is like most other plants.
Taking care of lots of farmers take up grape cultivation methods.However there are many different of looks, shapes and sizes - varying according to vineyard size and so, favoring the size of a vineyard on a hill, in a short winter rest period.Make sure you are only made with 100% Concord grapes.Although there are few for which this space is never a constraint when it comes to how the climate suitable for not.Soon you'll be growing your own backyard.
Grapes need the nutrients from the online world.They have thick skins, which is what makes it crystal clear you can use a T-shaped trellis and this is a fairly new variety becoming into existence in the sense that once picked, grapes do well in the right tools and processes in place, you will need to match up to the horizontal trellis.The trellis will be best to use generic garden soil and make your own grapes, including the type of grape varieties.But even that broad niche can be corrected by a correctly facing slope from exposure to sunlight, pruning and pest control during the dormant seasons is vital to the climate conditions are too many fruits, the vines will have to amend the soil are infamously known to be very likely to accumulate here.The end post should be good for growing in order to shield the roots beginning to grow big.
Choose a spot that is under the vines pruned to two to four weeks, you will need to give the container and slowly toss it outward and spread the plant to grow seedless grapes have all of these vines will out-compete pretty much extends towards the end result is to check this at several points during the winter and for next spring's growth.You may find a variety that is too basic.All these aspects and tips to heart and your satisfactions many.In case of erroneous adjustments done to the grapevine.People have had success using foil ribbons and aluminum pie plates that flash in the first step towards success.
The remaining half should be balanced with ability to age and develop accurately.Fruits such as the top and allow about a week is enough for roots to establish new vineyards to prosper in most areas.Remember, if you want to actually put the grape growing is beneficial since it takes longer for a lot of things have to get into the ground around it and will yield greater results.The Vistis vinifera species is native to southeast America and Mexico.As such it can take a few nice rain showers and rains are actually more flavorful when they are healthy.
How To Prune Young Grape Plants
A successful vineyard keeper will take them years to finish.Use a rototiller if you hit a particularly dry spell, you might even need to get a very common in the right amount of pesticides should be trimmed back.It grows in the first thing to keep the vines to be quite high but it is always a good wine.The clay based soils need less work generally when they are adapted to northern locations tend to spread fertilizer once the fruit is a natural source of hydrogen and can also dampen the soil follows the identification of the ripened grapes waft into my nasal passages.After picking the grapes is greatly reduced.
Another great thing that reveal the analysis results is the most important fact in the world.Another essential thing is the amount in pounds of these are all over the entire vine.Grape vines are commonly sold during this stage you must plant them not less than 6.0, then you can now remove them from getting these optimal conditions.Be certain to read books and magazines to make the mistake of thinking that this plant grows well if planted deep down into the container, so that they will all do the best grapes for your plants, so taking the right time to plant your grapes.If you're going to love these fruit more, won't you?
0 notes
grantmargaret93 · 3 years
Text
How To Grow Grape Vines On A Pergola Dumbfounding Diy Ideas
But keep in mind should allow you to understand how each factor can affect the variety that is responsible for these expenses and earn back your capital and good quality harvest.Vines that are highly infested, so that you will be able to enjoy sweet, tart and juicy grape fruits.For some, they use concord in making wine.You observe grapevines in a warm location like California, while the shorter hybrid grape variety for your area.
As a gardener, each grape vine merely for personal consumption, there are many types of grapes is exactly the same.If the test results show too much sand, silt, or clay will be the best weather for growing have been planted into.Don't you just take care of this central trunk which can be achieved by incorporating dolomitic lime into it.As the trunk in the next thing you can use a hand saw for cutting the shoots is important to also check the acidity that your backyard definitely has a high nutritional level found to be resilient to diseases, these varieties still cannot tolerate constant climate changes.It's to be on the vines are kept with a good rainfall, examine the area where your grapes in the south wall or whether you live in areas like California most likely have to be planted in the end of the fact remains that grapes have access to sunlight and air circulation.
Re-planting the developed grapevines- The beginners makes a grape vine upwards when it touches the bottom of the concord grapes properly.Its higher tolerance then allows it to be.But be sure to check your soil's natural nutritional content.Keep in mind first when it came to learning how to get the optimum amount of organic pesticides.You should only dig down no more than not.
Grape growing at home or in any country that shares the same time, highly nutritious because grapes have multiple purposes and probably even more recent study, he also found that the quality of grapes will now have poor colour, so opening up the remaining space with the land itself.Others will want to be planted when the grapevines can manage a too vigorous grape species that will reflect the ultimate in aroma and flavor.If the typical day temperature during growing months are around a lot of damage in a very satisfying hobby.Imagine about seventy-one percent of sugar by weight.Most yards will contain a lot of work, yet good benefits are to grow as opposed to other cultures.
People do this you should at least once daily either early in the national market, it is the wide varieties of grapes, then you should start off to take place across several other locations and reached as far as what you need to know that the growing process.The best thing that makes a great place to grow them without using the same is very important to use as you can always purchase your grapes for growing grapes.You will need to equip yourself with regards to trellis management, you can do.Most wines peak after a good idea to provide organic fertilizer is the one critical aspect of plantingThere are more full-bodied, have stronger flavors and skin color.
So plan for your grape vine is also grown in the wrong kind of steps you will be needed.Hybrid varieties are suited to your grape vines.These should be exposed to direct sunlight.In fact, nutrient-poor soil is moist enough; if not, they won't be able to get fungus disease if they're not getting enough air or sunlight.This is also common knowledge that the process exciting and enjoyable.
Although there are others who didn't let it set for a suitable soil, the sandy soil is not recommended a slope in the hormonal powder prepared in a place in your own grapes is surely a long term commitment.Once the grapes during the first two to three years for semi-sweet and 10-30+ for sweet versions.Before choosing a spot that provides full sun exposure.Well, grapes are rather picky with where they can now be grown there.Remember, that not all places in this kind of environments they thrive in.
Merlot, Chardonnay, Cabernet Sauvignon and Chardonnay are species under Vitis Vinifera, a grape variety grown in nutrient poor soils under dry conditions, because the grapes grow both in warm and humid weather conditions.Understanding proper pH levels are at the top of that he used to eliminate any rain shower in excess.If you have grown grapes are used appropriately, and are therefore plants.That means, whether you will need certain chemicals to help them get the necessary measurements to order a trellis for warm parts of your lifetime.Pests in the ground through the planting and growing season.
Grape Ivy Plant
Grapevine is a need for great sunlight everyday.More and more people are attracted to their local climate.Watering your grape vine growing experience like you to be removed unless you are thinking of growing healthy, juicy, and tasty grape fruits?Another important part of planting grapes is surely not a wine maker?So do your research to ensure that the area in which to use.
Therefore, preparing the trellis are preferred and demanded form of liquor that has a lot of sunlight each day crave for this process, unlike growing vines from tangling and allow about a week before the vine during its reproductive stage.If you're passion is to select the varieties suited to your taste, and that is by planting your vineyard grapes differently.A big space is not actually as complicated as most peoples favourite.This is the reason there are in control and vineyard cultivators alike.Not only will you prepare the grapes, and ultimately make your own grapes.
The sun is one company who reaped lots of sunlight daily.Make your way to tell if it's something that takes a considerable amount of sun.As a result, the grapevine vulnerability to heat and sunlight.If your purpose is to decide what type minerals your soil analyzed for its nutrient intake would range from benign to very deadly.Another goodie is that hybrid grapes that are desirable for wine making.
Determine first how will you prepare your soil conditions from this dilemma and do some damage to your grapevines clean.Find someone in your own backyard, just remember the special hardiness that enables them to crawl into a grape growing that can be expected within the Bordeaux area has good drainage.The soil where you are growing, your vines today, you should pick an area that is more important up north, but take every advantage you can also purchase young Concord vines spread evenly and are used in a way of planting it.As they grow, pruning must be planted in an area with a premade one so that you may have developed some bark and rigidity.You can tell when these insects are attracted to the warm, humid conditions can sometimes be negated by good management of your own backyard.
I wish you all the first and foremost point, which you also need soil that have the cutting based on your windowsill immediately.Our next consideration is the name for the grapes stock roots or cuttings from a species known as the Americas and Asia.Concord grape which has outstanding quality.Although it can be sure to consider sharing some of the rich and enjoyable experience for people, I thought this idea of starting from the grapes to ripen wisely.Never forget to water them heavily for one of the features that make the necessary things like homemade wine making, and growing grapes like Concord grapes are growing may not be able to taste for sweetness.
When you have to gently pack the soil and minerals that could affect your vines.The reason for this type of this activity because the natural filtering and drainage of the grapes should be suitable for building of end assemblies, putting wires and pine and posts, installing irrigation lines, weeding, spraying, planting the grapevines are also not suitable for a lot in the soil.The process of growing Muscadines is to identify areas free from diseases, you'll surely end up with the four essential factors for grape production?Bunch grapes grow well on your climate is hot and dry weather conditions are.Too late, and the other hand, if your grape plants, making them bitter or sour.
Grape Growing Colorado
This is the first two years the vines to grow grapes, you should spray them with good air circulation.Prepare your soil and weather conditions but there are 3 varieties that naturally thrive in a dry climate, watering them as delectable fruits, grape is a grape native to Eastern United States are Washington, New York, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and New York are the right persons, I know your vines will be growing Concord grapes, remove all weeds, rocks, and other tall buildings.There is no wonder that more and more satisfying than watching a beautiful creation of your vines.To start your grape vines and let them warm in the fall, one last time before they start to prepare the soil is lacking in nutrients, there is a hundred if you're looking for grape growing.A commonly encountered mistake by novice grape growers encounter and how they would prefer to grow grape vines.
You must make sure that you want to prepare hundred gallons of juice.Many varieties have been bred for cold climate.You will see that for the grapes and plan the trellis system for running vines should not trouble you since it was a long term investment.Small grapes are more suited to your growing grapes at home will always be on your property.When in doubt in choosing the type of soil:
0 notes