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imustbenuts · 4 months

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Seadall, localization, food, EABS culture, and discussion of Eating Disorder. Trigger Warning.

tl;dr: Seadall is pandering to an East Asian Beauty Standard, technically does not have eating disorder, but is bordering on Disordered Eating, and both the writers and localizers know it.

Our first official male dancer of FE has a bit of a obsession over controlling his diet to a concerning degree. But is it actually an Eating Disorder? No, I don't think so. From my pov, this has everything to do with his job, a Dancer and the dreaded East Asian Beauty Standard (EABS).

EABS idealizes the fair skinned (asian colorism rAAAAGH), the lean and thin. Any level of fats or flaps are no good and is considered undesirable, or worse, a sign of one's gluttonous and even slothful character. IRL, that sentiment has become less pervasive, less judgemental and less awful than 10 years ago, but it's still around. Hell, it's in our Fire Emblems! Average out the body shapes of all dancers or even characters in FE and you'll see what I mean.

(are you in hell yet.)

This EABS is especially prevalent in 1 genre of media that comes pouring out of Japan and Korea... The Pop Idol scene. In Japan, the idol industry can be traced back to the 1960s, and though it has propped up the EABS, this standard's roots goes FURTHER back to even pre-colonialism era, to China and the Tang Dynasty where willowy female bodies were ideal. (That's 618-907AD.)

And when I say EABS, I will include the surrounding countries outside of Japan too. Similarities in culture and all that. Hence East Asian. (Don't be mistaken though. South East and South Asia also has to deal with this shit.)

But hey. I'm still talking about female EABS, right? Where does Seadall fall into this?

Uhhhh. Jumpscare. Surprise K-pop.

(ps i dont know k-pop as well so idk who these ppl are im sorry waaaaug)

Dancers and the Idol Industry

It's easier to see on the female side, but uh, that specific body shape is often achieved through extreme dieting. The body fat % is so low that the dancer's lower ribcage can be seen. Before shooting the dance or a performance, these idol's agencies will notify them to slim down to a certain goal, like say drop 2kg (4.4 lbs) or 4kg (8.8 lbs) in x time, and this is typical. Guys here are no exception.

Weight is manufactured. Looks to some extent (plastic... surgery....). The clothes too, are intentionally picked. Exposing the belly is common since it's the quickest indicator of skinniness.

But hey, I actually lied about the dieting part. It's not really dieting as it's actually straight up starvation, tbh. To lose that weight, the dancers/idols will often eat as little as some protein shake, a few fruits and maybe potato for fiber. Yes, it's as hellish as it sounds, and no, these people are unable to fully function with a calorie intake like this. Source for this claim will be in a video at the bottom of the post by youtuber chaebin n out, titled "How K-POP Destroys Your Body". So.

W̵͓͍̏͝e̴͉̾ḽ̷͈͐ĉ̶̠̝͋ö̶̤́m̷̲̒ê̶̬ ̶̧̅ṭ̷̘͑͑ö̵͇́ ̸̛͖̑h̵̳̿͝ė̶͕͉l̵̜͖̇͗ḻ̶̑!̴̪͊̉

Ok, but that's K-pop. What about J-pop?

Japan, where FE rolls out from, have J-pop, which is slightly different. J-pop idols also suffer from EABS but afaik it's not as extreme. Many contemporary J-pop idol groups like Atarashii Gakko!(left) and Babymetal(right) also Do Not make thinness a major selling point with their costuming. This is usually done through hiding the midriff, where belly fat most easily forms. (EABS is still in effect though, don't be mistaken! There could be just as extreme cases out there I'm not aware of ;_;)

So it seems like people kind of agree that obsessing about weight and developing body image issue is messed up.

Hopefully now I've established what is going on irl for Seadall's influences, and what is considered normal or extreme. Relatively anyway. (I hate EABS so much hhggr)

Let's detour to...

Food! Staples! What's normal?

An average meal in Japan consists of a variety of veggies, tofu and a serving of protein, which results in lower fat intake. Also, RICE is a major staple in these meals, so assuming the writers are approaching it with the best intentions, and how Engage's normal might appear to native Japanese audiences, JP Seadall's worry only seems to be on oily food intake and is not overly concerning to me.

In fact, here is an example of a staple set meal (teishoku) I ate over there last December. Yum yum:

Overall a very lean meal. So it's likely Seadall eats something similar-ish and not just greens.

Another important point is that in (East) Asia/Japan, oily food is seen as unhealthy and contributes greatly to cholesterol. This aversion to oily food is driven somewhat by EABS and... Health. I also promise most people are actually chill about this. ...Most people! Meat is yummy! Gyukaku and Ikinari Steak is popular and popping! That's why Seadall likes it after all.

So this is where Seadall's writing starts to contrast. For the most part in the EN version, he only worries about meat. In JP, it's technically oily food, which meat falls under, and he's worried about putting on weight.

Why the extreme worry tho...?

The logic for why all these matters so much to him is this: if a dancer is surrounded by other dancers who are reinforcing this EABS (mirroring the standards of the real world), then their only choice to stay relevant and keep their job is to commit to the same dietary choice and uphold the same EABS, or even have a EABS outperforming the standard.

Because a Dancer's job, or rather, Seadall's job is to pander to people's ideals of beauty. Hence his supports where hair and skin and food becomes a topic.

If he fails the standard, according to the J-pop and K-pop industry, he kind of fails at his job. Is it fair? Fuck no, but no matter what opinion we may think of the standard as outsiders, it remains that there is a LOT of social conditioning and manufacturing going on leading to... all of that. I scream too. I scream a lot, internally.

So what does Seadall look like to someone in this East Asian sphere...?

To the writers credit, they do push for Seadall to indulge more food that makes him happy for at least his mental well-being through the other characters.

This also happens to fall in line with Engage's low key theme of cherishing the moment.

With all I've explained, Seadall might come across as warning to those who over-worry about oily food consumption and trying to pander to an EABS to... chill the fuck out. That it's ok to just go eat some delicious yakiniku if you want to! Go off! If a female character who is concerned with this comes across as too vain, then let's have a guy do it and hope the point lands for the (potentially female) players.

And with all these missing context, it's very easy for one who isn't clued into this sphere assume that Seadall has some eating disorder or that the writers are advocating it. I don't think that's happening here at all. The localizers likely are aware of this missing context and have toned it down several levels for EN release. Wise move, tbh.

(progressiveness can be relative btw. something to keep in mind @_@)

So, is Seadall coming close to some kind of Disordered Eating? Possible. From what I see I think the writers are trying to push Seadall away from it, and trying to stop it from becoming a full blown Eating Disorder. Personally, again, I don't think he has an Eating Disorder.

However! Your Mileage May Vary. I only hope for my opinion and understanding to help inform others, not override it. What's normal for me isn't for everyone, and vice versa, but it's important to remember where Fire Emblem originates from.

And here's the last thing I promised: the video essay if you really want to dive into it:

youtube

And that's about it.

Hope this was interesting! Thanks for reading. 😄

EDIT: the Chinese net sphere is the exception to all of this, EABS is especially bad there

#seadall fire emblem #fire emblem engage #seadall #localization discourse #eating disorder #culture #seadall fire emblem engage #trigger warning

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absolutebl · 2 years

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Hi!,...

Oh God! Just like I can't do small talk,...I guess I can't ask a question without giving any lengthy explanation.

Because,...for some strange reason,...I find asking question directly without giving any background/context to the person to whom the question is asked, as very rude. It's like asking Siri to play "Ah Ah Ah" without clearly mentioning that you want "Love Nwantiti" to be played.

But this time,...I will genuinely make an exception. I think so. Lol!

***

Having watched BL drama series only from Thailand, The Philippines, Taiwan, and even Japan,...I have developed an interest in all of it barring South Korea. To me in fact,...the bromance in KDramas looks more real and interesting in comparison to the actual BL dramas. There are tons of KDramas where the "bromance" between two heroes are a complete delight to watch, but when it comes to BL dramas from South Korea,...the fact that homophobia still exists,...and how someone from the BL industry can be treated very badly in that country comes to my mind, and I'm unable to enjoy the shows. The one and only exception here remains "No Regret", which I watched almost a decade back that too for Kim Nam Gil,...but honestly feel in love with the style of Korean movie making.

There is no doubt about the fact that Korean filmmakers are world class. Having said that,...the fact still remains unchanged, that cyber-bullying by K-Netizens, Homophobia, and other forms of discrimination exists in the highly competitive Korean entertainment industry.

When I compare the Korean entertainment industry with that of Thailand, The Philippines, Japan, Taiwan, or even China,...I find it to be extremely ruthless to the point that no matter how successful and authentic one maybe,...they are dispensable. And that is concerning to me.

***

So,...my question to you are as follows: [Forgive me if any of question is repetitive. I'm sure it's not, but sometimes the context may be similar, and that's the reason certain questions may sound repetitive.]

For someone interested in watching Korean BL Dramas for the first time, which one would you suggest? And why? [I know the answer will be very subjective, but still I'd want you to answer it given your knowledge about Korean BLs.]

Given how competitive the Korean entertainment industry is,...how far do you think BL as a genre will survive and thrive in South Korea in the years to come?

How will you compare the South Korean BL dramas with that of Thailand, The Philippines, Taiwan, and Japan?

Does the South Korean BLs have an edge over the others? If so,..then in what aspects?

How will you compare the style of story-telling, cinematography, and direction of South Korean BL drama series with that of Thailand and Taiwan?

Although the quality and richness of South Korean BLs seems to be way more better than that of Thailand or even Taiwan in terms of the Technical aspects,..why is it that the Thai BL still attracts way more attention than that of South Korea?

Do you think the South Korean BL industry will flourish and reach its "Golden Period" like that of their KPop or KDrama industry?

Thanks!

xoxo

Arjuna

I love your questions, they always make me think. I’m a bit under the weather at the mo, so this might not make total sense... Forgive me?

Korean BLs First Time

For someone interested in watching Korean BL Dramas for the first time, which one would you suggest? And why?

If you want to just dip your toe in and sample, A First Love Story is on Strongberry’s YT channel, watch that. It’s two parts totaling less than 20 minutes and it’s wonderful. Korea actually excels in short form.

Not a short? Given your concerns? Probubly Semantic Error. It’s the most like their take on Thai BL. It’s also the best example of their style in terms of length, filming, acting, “the sanitized bubble” etc...

Then probubly To My Star, and finally Blueming. TMS is the most grown up BL we have gotten from Korea, and it’s a good way to learn how Korea’s style is different once it leaves a university setting (no seme/uke for one thing). And finally, Blueming because it has the most queer lens. (My favorite is Color Rush but I don’t think that’s quite what you are looking for.)

Given how competitive the Korean entertainment industry is,…how far do you think BL as a genre will survive and thrive in South Korea in the years to come?

Hum, I don’t know, honestly. I think right now KBLs are profitable so they do them, but like any fad, this too shall pass. And under those circumstances Korea will be one of the first to drop BL and Thailand will be one of the last.

How will you compare the South Korean BL dramas with that of Thailand, The Philippines, Taiwan, and Japan?

Well I do have a blog post for this.

Does the South Korean BLs have an edge over the others? If so,..then in what aspects?

Yes. Visuals, production quality (including sound and wardrobe), money, acting pool, sound tracks, reach, and, I think, language. (Because of Kpop, international audiences have a comfort level with Korean these days). In general, the only country that can compare in these regards on a global scale is Japan.

How will you compare the style of story-telling, cinematography, and direction of South Korean BL drama series with that of Thailand and Taiwan?

Korea’s weakness is story, because of the short length of treatment and a propensity to “leave out the good bits”. Color Rush probubly has the best story, and Light On Me is the most traditional BL story. Korea is better on story when they set in high school or university, things get messy when they enter the workplace and the adult sphere.

Also Korean BL comes off as generally stiffer and more staged than those to the south. There is a level of domesticity and physical comfort that’s absent from all Kdramas, not just KBL. Both Japan and Korea exemplify this for cultural reasons. Put simply, people just do NOT casually touch each other.

This can feel off putting to those of us from a more touchy-feely social structures. Thailand, Vietnam, the Philippines, and Taiwan are much more relatable and the relationships presented can “feel” more genuine as a result. This is not a critique, it’s just culture conflict. Much like how close people stand in line, or how often you use your hands to speak, or how loudly you talk. These things are different in different cultures.

I tend to think of Kdramas as having a lot more in common with, for example Austen films. Like even the most contemporary ones are a touch historical, mannered, and restrained.

Because there is a lot more of it, it’s WAY more accessible, and the dramas are longer.

Also, and I’m not sure how to put this, but beauty standards are different. Korea’s obsession with bleached whiteness and plastic surgery can actually be off putting. The makeup is sometimes so pale I genuinely think the actors are ill. I honestly believe, despite how Korean beauty standards (and prejudices) have comes to dominate Asia, that outside of Asia, Thai men are often considered hotter. Please remember that film = a superficial industry. I’m trying to relay a trend concept here, not a personal opinion.

Do you think the South Korean BL industry will flourish and reach its "Golden Period" like that of their KPop or KDrama industry?

I think they are actually in it right now (2022). I don’t know that we can expect more or better than we are already getting from them, unless they dip into the well and start adapting from older Japanese yaoi, or get enough money and go for some full length (16 ep) works. Both of those would be politically tricky. Especially as Japan has been ramping up production too.

(I don’t want to go negative but there have been reports on Thai production teams being/acting quite homophobic too, so it’s not just Korea. You can watch either of the documentaries on BL to learn more.)

I hope this makes sense? I’m going back to bed now.

#thai bl #korean bl #asked and answered #film industry

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thenightlymartini · 1 year

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Your older headcannon #9 from May 11th 2015.

Could I request you write it again/revamp it? Because my brain has been running circles around the idea for hours, and I can't quite explain it, but the possible situations + reactions of others has been taking up space in my thought processes.

I was almost dreading what I wrote in that one since I forgot and many of the earlier ones I was thinking about either revamping or deleting because they were either super cringey or I no longer support these really old headcannons. Also didn't realize I started this blog back in 2015, and I thought I started this only maybe less than 5 years ago. Not even 30 yet, and I already feel old.

Honestly, though? I think that headcannon was probably one of my better ones, but does need some serious revamping.

For reference and short summary of what that headcannon was, it was basically about the two Koreas swapping personalities because they overheard America and Russia making comments about how they are exact opposites.

CW: mentions of Korean War, mentions of the politics and cultural issues/feelings surrounding Korean unification slightly/partially toxic actions, miscommunication, hurt feelings, censored curse words

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One of my personal headcannons for the two Koreas is that, way back when they were younger and representatives of Silla and Goguryeo, they would often swap places, more than just personalities, when China or Japan either did something that ticked them off or rubbed them the wrong way, just to make revenge sweeter. Sometimes they would swap places entirely for joking or prank purposes, too. They were more identical looking back then, since I doubt SK's modern hairstyle was that common back more than a millennia ago, so it was far easier to do these swaps and they were extremely good actors, thus making it far more convincing.

As time grew on, and China and Japan getting wiser to knowing when these two swapped, it became less and less common, possibly even stopping altogether about a few decades before Europeans came bashing on East Asia's doorstep. Obviously, the war between each other soured relations to the point where any fond memories they had together became bitter or they would suppress them both out of spite and pain.

Fast-forward to the later half of the Cold War (maybe around late 70s early 80s, though I haven't thought that part through yet), and the Koreas run into each other and they start a petty argument just for the sake of not being able to stand each other. Before they get super heated, they hear muffled voices arguing in a room just beside them that they can both clearly tell were Russia and America. As much as they couldn't stand each other, even starting issues that almost caused WW3 themselves, they both knew leaving their boyfriends to fight was not a good idea and it was a far more pressing matter than what they were currently arguing over. These two are also about 80-90% of America and Russia's emotional and impulse control, as these two typically can pull the two super powers apart with relative ease and lack of fear whereas others are too scared to intervene, mostly because they realize they are much older than their boyfriends and typically have to be the more mature ones at least 90% of the time when it comes to conflict resolution.

Their anger and annoyance dissipates when North Korea, just before going to open the door, stops dead and quietly motions SK over to listen in. This is when they start hearing their boyfriends arguing over the Koreas, basically the gist of it going "well my boyfriend is better because ___", "no, mine's better cause he's not ___ like yours", and so on. It makes both Koreas slightly prideful and get fuzzy feelings knowing their boyfriends are that into them that they will stand up for them and boast about them, but they are also slightly miffed at the fact that they still got dragged into one of their arguments that is clearly going to become a reason for nuclear war if there is no intervention, and that there was a slight implication (from the Koreans' point of view) that the differences was going to make unification much more difficult or the drastic differences were the result of the split. Thankfully, America's 10-20% own impulse control kicked in and he storms out (shortly after the two Koreas scrambled into hiding) and Russia leaves, too.

This is when the gears in both of the twins' heads start turning because they seem pretty miffed at the idea that they are so different now it is so easy to tell them apart. Granted they definitely changed physically, but their personalities couldn't be that different since they could easily impersonate the other before. So in a combination of wanting to teach their boyfriends a lesson in not dragging them into their arguments, being hurt that their boyfriends think that unification wasn't going to work or not happen at all, as well as a personal challenge in impersonating the other, they both just give each other a look that still clearly communicated what the other was thinking. I headcannon that these two were so close that they had borderline telepathic connections and could communicate through each other's minds and thoughts, but only due to close bonds and sharing the same people (which of course becomes extremely hard to initiate, much less with clarity, after the war because of the shattered bond and the division, so very few times are they ever able to understand what the other is thinking without context or physical indicators).

Now, when they think this will be easy, they realize later after practicing a little that their acting skills have become super rusty and it was a lot harder. Of course these two are too prideful to ask the other for help, so over the course of the rest of the world meeting (maybe a few days to a week) they are covertly trying to glean information from the other on how to recreate the personalities, sometimes communicating indirectly or just observing the other as discretely as possible. Eventually one of them caves, probably SK, and directly talks to the other that once they get their act together they really need to time the personality change correctly, as if one started earlier than the other the jig was probably going to be up. So it was decided the first day of the next global meeting was going to be when they would initiate their plan, starting with subtle changes before ramping up to full personality change, which was about a few months out.

Once it begins, the more subtler changes were mostly about one needing more impulse control and the other learning to let go. SK had to be more aloof and generally have a better poker face to one of a mix of tiredness and annoyance, while NK had to be more talkative and nonchalant. This change immediately set off a few alarm bells in Russia and America's minds, but America first thought either SK had a bad night's sleep or just was mulling over something that was irritating him, while Russia simply thought NK was just having a better day or so happened to sleep a whole night through without night terrors or insomnia.

As time progresses, they change more and more and that's when America and Russia start seriously thinking something is up. The instance America realized something was wrong was in front of Canada, England, France and Japan when SK got super snippy with him and reject a lot of physical touch. 3 of the 4 previously listed nations simply questioned whether America did something to piss him off. Russia notices something off when Cuba and Vietnam start getting tense over some sort of argument and NK is, essentially, playing oblivious rather than being the referee between the two, much less playing dumb to double entendres and back-handed compliments, while China seems to have a knowing smirk.

Japan and China clearly know what is happening and see right through the charade. They've been the targets of this prank too often to not realize when it is happening. But, they are much more inclined to stay silent about it because it is far more intriguing to watch this play out when the intended target is not themselves. There's also curiosity as to what exactly Russia and America did to warrant this particular prank, but they are much more amused and find it to be great entertainment. It's almost like an inside joke among East Asia, including Mongolia, since it has happened so much, so most of East Asia knows what's happening but are under a silent agreement to let this play out. Vietnam eventually is clued in by China, but she also finds it really amusing to know Russia is being targeted and stays quiet.

This charade comes to halt quite quickly on both ends due to their shared issues with essentially causing their respective boyfriends distress. America eventually tries to talk to SK about what is going on, fully believing he did something to upset the other, which results in SK, still maintaining the act, escalating the issue into a fight that ends with America in tears because he doesn't understand what happened. SK calls off the charade right there because he realized he f!ed up big time and he went far past fun and games. Russia basically was trying to be tactful but ends up shooting himself in the foot metaphorically speaking because he is trying to tell NK that he is concerned because he is not acting like his usual self, not that he minds the other being sweet or playful, but he is concerned with the sudden change. Course, Russia gets so tongue-tied and nervous that he becomes super distressed, resulting in NK calling off his end of the charade realizing he was essentially tricking Russia who really trusted him.

Trying to explain what happened and how both Koreas agreed to a personality change was so outlandish that not only did America and Russia find it super hard to believe, but also the Koreas had to call each other for the first time outside of political obligations, where they find out about the other's respective calling off of the charade, and agreed all 4 of them needed to have a sit down about this. The last day of the meetings, both Koreas sit the superpowers down and have a long talk showing how the whole thing came about, including why they decided to do it. Specifically addressing the fact that they both had the thought process their boyfriends were implying that unification wasn't going to happen and how that seriously hurt their feelings, but also admitting they themselves went too far with the prank by hurting them. Things thankfully smoothed out, though both NK and SK had to spill the beans on how often they actually swapped places when they were younger, which baffled America and Russia at how often it actually happened.

This ties into one of my more recent posts about New Years Resolutions, particularly SK making the same one each year in wanting and trying to have a better relationship with NK. This was the moment that decided for SK on wanting a better relationship because both he and his brother are not only on the same page for once since the beginning of the 20th century, but that both genuinely want reunification for the benefit of the people rather than politically. A lot of what is unsaid between the twins also influenced this decision, such as the regret, the sadness, and the general understanding that both of them were hurting just as much and not as one-sided as previously thought.

Bonus

Japan and China had started a betting pool about when the charade would be up among the East Asians (to which Japan won cause China thought the game would last far longer due to both America and Russia's obliviousness). They most certainly snooped on the private meeting between the 4 of them to find out, and now it has become an inside joke between the two of them. They did leave when it started getting about personal topics, though; they knew when certain conversations needed to stay private. It didn't stop them from having their own existential thoughts on the situation of the peninsula, along with their own roles that helped result in said situation.

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the-firebird69 · 2 years

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Watch "The Italian Job (2003) Official Trailer # 1 - Mark Wahlberg HD" on YouTube

youtube

And he's speaking like bane and he's talking to Sharon Stone and he's saying isn't it weird it's my gold and you think it's his because you believe it is his and it's coated and someone says it probably trying to use it for something and maybe not even changed his form it's true too it can be used as a sensor very well and it's current shape and inserted into an array that's what they intend to do with it. And they want to leave the markings cuz sometimes people can see those and that's what he wants to say. But besides that he says this if you want to harm me you might have to try a little harder and messing with my gold and I need to survive with and the cost of the rental is far less than that gold so she's not laughing you got to be kidding me I'm hanging on to you no matter what so she started laughing and she got it and we'll see you don't so the sharper than you are and you don't believe it but they are a lot of young people are but miss out because they go too fast. And the sun was thinking about the gold he's thinking about it's markings and what it meant and how in the world is he supposed to ever touch it that's one of his investments and it just sat there growing it's about 18 tons of gold there it's with a lot of money and he doesn't know what he would do with any money either he slipped a poor life his whole life with no money practically. So we're going to help him out with that. Today he handled once again his one piece of luggage that he carried through mainland China then Japan and Korea and parsley Vietnam and Cambodia and it was modified to carry Lily's equipment and it was heavy quite a bit heavier than what he was carrying around and the shoulder strap was not present and it had stuff added to it and inside it but he knows it's like the same material it's very tough and lasted a long time and when wasn't worn and it was a new material he helped invent for luggage so you decide to send them on a trip as a penalty for being smarter than them and he penalized them the whole time and they missed it and their plan is messed up and they miss that. Now I said that's coming up as Utah because I am touching it and I do know what it is and he folded the handle and put it together just like he did in Asia and people saw him do it and started getting afraid they said this guy is doing it right now is the money in it right now they checked and said no and they checked on who they are and the status it says deplorable people started helping. Now you're upset about what they're doing and I've said how they're treating him and if they hadn't spend all his money and ran them around like an animal and with pissed off about how you been treating him for years and he's extremely pissed off of you and you're stupid. It just does begin the Utah saga it does happen shortly after one time and obey which is coming up and probably just a few days.

The other thing is the gold is taking the Alabama. And to kick off the event you need to evacuate the Midwest and that is helping tons are coming down it's a matter of fact huge armies and mac daddy is holding Tommy F off but the ship is still there heating place up that's creating a high pressure which will push the storm off and he is stopping him from rotating it and pretty soon they're going to attack the thing and push it away and it will go to South Africa. You suckers are beginning and they're gigantic and there's nothing that will stop it it is humongous we're very pleased with our son's performance and extremely pleased with Hera's

Thor Freya

Okay okay so you got it right so stop saying that

Hera

Don't say anything in anger you regret you are Stephanie sagal

Zues

Haha lol right lol you made up the name you

Hera

I love you

Zues

I love you too

Hera

#Youtube

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thelovelyghostwriter · 3 years

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Non-anime Asian TV Shows that I liked

This is just a short list of some Asian TV shows I liked, list is not exhaustive. Thank you @cautionworksstuff for encouraging me to do this since you wanted to know more about other foreign TV shows other than anime.

When I say non-anime, it means shows that are not Japanese animated series.

1. Kingdom [Netflix] (South Korea)

This series hits HARD. It’s an original Korean Netflix series. Now, there’s a lot of shows/movies that are named “Kingdom”, so let me clear about this one: this is the one that is set with a Zombie apocalypse during the Joseon period.

It follows the story of the Crown Prince who is being framed for treachery by his evil stepmom (the Empress) and her clan, as soon as his father died. In the midst of that, a disease outbreak happens that turns everyone into zombies, and the Prince struggles to avoid being defeated by the corrupted government officials as well as to save his people from the zombie apocalypse.

What makes this one stand out from series/movies like The Walking Dead are two things: 1) the political setting - while there is a zombie outbreak, it’s also the battle for power, 2) the historical setting - the guns used here are very limited, and the science/medicine explained behind this outbreak is not like “oh due to biotech experiment gone wrong”, 3) unlike Walking Dead, they actually explained the cause of the illness, the cures and the weaknesses.

They are going to come up with a new one-episode spin-off(?) this month.

2. Girl from Nowhere (Thailand)

This is also available on Netflix. This series follow a character named Nanno, who goes to various schools as the new girl. In the second episode, she’s revealed to be some sort of immortal entity that goes on to expose the sins and wrongful acts of parents, teachers and students. She then punishes them as some form of karma. Beware, some episodes are downright disturbing and only for mature audience.

I don’t have a confirmation of this, but according to Wikipedia and actress Chicha Amatayakul, the character Nanno draws inspiration from Junji Ito’s Tomie, and the similarities are very obvious. From the way the people react to her, the hairstyle and the even to the beauty mark near the eye, the similarities are very obvious.

One difference though, I must say, is that Nanno is an extremely charming character as compared to Tomie. You will really root for her and can’t help but like her presence, even if she’s a little scary. When I read Tomie, I didn’t exactly felt the same magnetic pull as Nanno did for me. Season 1 was really good. Season 2 was more brutal but I think Season 1 was slightly better.

3. Trese (Philippines)

This was actually based on a Filipino comic series, with the same name. I had actually waited for this series to be animated. This series features Filipino supernatural beings. I had always wondered how it’ll be like if there was a cool anime about Filipino mythological creatures, such as the manananngal, aswang, tikbalang etc. I think their designs and stories are interesting and not very talked about in the media.

I had once complained about this. We have so many interesting Filipino mythological creatures, but why do we focus on mostly drama series on love and family, and not come up with a horror series featuring them?

This one’s available on Netflix as well, and it’s in three audios: English, Filipino and Japanese. I do recommend the Filipino audio because the pronunciation of the creatures are better. But that might be just me listening to my native language.

Although, just a tiny criticism - there are only six episodes so far. All in less than 30 minutes. This was an issue for me and also my family who had watched it because we felt the pacing was too fast. They didn’t explain what the creatures were, what they do, which can be confusing for people who are not familiar with the mythology. Yeah, I really think it’s because the pacing was fast due to the small number of episodes. If they slowed down, it would be great. Hopefully we get more episodes the next season.

4. Meteor Garden (Taiwan) [2001] OR Boys over Flowers (South Korea) OR Hana Yori Dango (Japan)

This was adapted from a manga called “Hana Yori Dango” (Boys over Flowers). It has been adapted in numerous shows, with Japan doing the first live action film in 1995.

The one that I had watched is the Taiwanese drama version, Meteor Garden (2001 version). There was also a Korean drama adaptation called “Boys over Flowers”. I didn’t watch that one but quite a number of my friends did. There was also the Japanese adaptation, as well as Thai and Chinese adaptation of it. I can’t say for sure which one is the best because I only remember watching the Taiwanese (2001) version and it’s close to my heart. The Taiwanese (2001), South Korean and Japanese drama versions are often being compared. I’ll let you guys decide based on this information.

I don’t remember much from the plot, although it was this drama was very hyped back then.

This was the summary on Wikipedia:

It tells the story of Tsukushi Makino, a girl from a middle class family, whose mother enrolled her in an elite high school to compete with the families from her husband's company. While at Eitoku, she encounters the F4, a gang of four young men who are children of Japan's wealthiest families, and who bully anyone that gets in their way.

5. The Little Nyonya [2008] (Singapore)

Saving the last for the one that resides a special place in my heart, and perhaps for a lot of people in Singapore.

Words cannot describe how much this was well-liked in Singapore. I remember everyone praising this. This was hands-down one of THE BEST drama ever produced in Singapore. I remember coming home, waiting at I think 8pm? Just to tune into local TV and then watch this show for a good 40minutes. I know they did a remake in China, which I didn’t watch, but I highly recommend the Singaporean version (since it’s the original and the setting is in Singapore/Malaysia anyway).

This series really introduced the Peranakan culture to the Singaporean audience. I like to think this story has two parts where it follows the story of a Nyonya (Peranakan Chinese woman).

The first part’s setting is during WW2. Huang Ju Xiang, a woman born into a Peranakan family and her mother was a 2nd wife. Because of her mother’s status, she’s been ostracised by her family and is tasked to do the household like a servant. She meets a Japanese man and yeah, since it’s in the midst of WW2, their love story was kinda “forbidden” too. The first part is actually my favourite.

The second part follows the story of their daughter, Yue Niang Yamamoto. This story is longer and Yuening has to face the same type of ostracisation her mother had endured by the Huang family.

#kingdom netflix #girl from nowhere #nanno #trese #meteor garden #boys over flowers #the little nyonya

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peekbackstage · 3 years

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Hello. At first let me thank you for your blog. I mean your posts and opinion as an insider is so interesting to read, it’s like you let us see a little more in this entertainment industry. After reading some posts I can now clearly see why so many stars live hard life, often have anxiety and even suicide thoughts. I mean their life seems to be fully controlled until they become really “someone” in this industry. Does it mean that until it happens they will do anything their company want and have nothing to do. I mean even if they get hate, they should pretend like they don’t care and can’t even say something against haters. My question is so random, I’m sorry. I also wanted to know, why so many singers and idols go acting even if they know many will hate it, they know they will get comments like “idols don’t let real actors to play”. I’m not sure about c-ent as I’m new. But I saw many such comments and reactions in Korean media. So why do they do it? Will they earn more money than being a singer or? Why not to try acting then? Why do they try to become idols? I mean there are so many talented singers and trainees who want ro sing. But eventually we see that many people who debuts as idols soon or later give up singing and try acting. I was just wondering. Thank you in advance, sorry if my question is too obvious. And better late than never. Happy New Year :)

Disclaimer: The following post is informed by my own experience working in the music industry. Chinese industry practices might vary.

In Asia, the world of entertainment tends to be pretty tightly regulated. It’s generally pretty difficult to get a foot in the door and even more difficult to actually “make” it. This post is going to mostly discuss Korea and Japan’s industries, as I am most familiar with those two markets.

LET’S TALK A BIT ABOUT IDOL HISTORY!

(Skip this entire section if you aren’t interested in history.)

In 1962, Johnny Kitagawa, the CEO of the entertainment company, Johnny’s & Associates, launched Japan’s first boy band, Johnnys. While this group saw some minor popularity, it paled in comparison to the group that is often considered to be Asia’s “first” idol group, Four Leaves, who debuted in 1967.

Four Leaves was a project composed of bishounen (pretty) boys who sang and dance but didn’t play any instruments. They were hand-selected and trained by Johnny Kitagawa himself, who largely focused on the artists’ personalities, attributes, and physical characteristics.

Four Leaves’ success was so great that Johnny’s sought to replicate it, creating the first idol (aidoru in Japanese) training camp system which is the foundation of all idol companies these days. Just like idol companies today, Johnny’s selected young bishounen boys who were admitted via an audition process, and then placed them in a dorm together. There, they would train as Johnny’s Juniors (aka trainees) until they were ready to debut.

By the 1980s, Japan had quite a few idol management companies (jimusho) that wanted to replicate Johnny’s success. By that time, the idol industry had matured, and the training camps had become extremely rigorous, Olympic-style singing, dancing, acrobatics, etc. all for the sole purpose of improving stage performances. By the time SMAP debuted in 1988, the system was already in place. But what SMAP did changed the game entirely: they launched their own variety show, effectively putting themselves into every Japanese household and endearing themselves to every single Japanese housewife.

This caused their popularity to skyrocket, which in turn led to the creation of the ecosystem we now all know: the all-encompassing idol who sings, dances, and acts in tv shows, variety shows, plays, and films. Brand deals and endorsements also really took off during this time, especially with the most popular member, Kimura Takuya.

(It must be noted that SMAP became very popular not only in Japan, but also all over Asia!)

By this point, South Korea was taking notice, and by the 90s, debuted their first generation of idol groups, which included the likes of H.O.T. and Shinhwa, who all went through more or less the same style of training that Japanese idol jimushos put through trainees through.

It must be noted that during this time, South Korea was pretty invested in trying to find the right secret sauce to also debut their artists in Japan, given the mature idol market there. S.M. Entertainment succeeded in doing this with their second generation artists, BoA, Super Junior, and TVXQ, by partnering with Avex Entertainment in Japan. (They even went as far as debuting a visual kei idol group, TraxX, which was actually produced by Yoshiki from X-Japan, to capitalize on the entire visual kei market in Japan.) JYP followed suit with Se7en and Rain, and YG Entertainment debuted BIGBANG and 2NE1.

During this period of time, it must be noted that the big talk of the town was surprisingly not pop internationally - it was actually Jrock, which had a big surge of popularity in overseas markets between 2007-2009. (Hence S.M.’s desire to debut a visual kei idol band in Japan.) The Hallyu wave hadn’t really started yet, but within a matter of a few years, Kpop was suddenly the hottest new thing just about, well, everywhere.

In fact, it was so popular internationally, that by 2013, Kpop had become the #1 biggest contributor to South Korea’s GDP. It was so important to South Korea that the Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism established KOCCA (the Korean Content Agency), which began heavily investing in the export of all things “Hallyu,” but especially Korean music. International industry conferences worldwide suddenly started to see the rise of Korean showcases, which took place literally everywhere. KOCCA was determined to export their idol culture all around the world.

To capitalize more on international success, companies such as S.M. Entertainment and JYP began to incorporate Chinese members into their groups. This was specifically to give them a foot into the massive Chinese market, which, until the Hallyu ban in 2017, had a massive demand for all things Kpop.

It was around this same time that TFBoys in China debuted. The industry largely considered them to be the first real homegrown mainland Chinese idol group that rose out of a similar training system used in both South Korea and Japan.

HISTORY LESSON OVER!

Why did I feel the need to explain all of this history, you wonder? Couldn’t I just answer the question in a straightforward way?

Well, not really. It’s pretty important to understand that oftentimes, in the industry, idols aren’t seen as true artists - they are actually seen more as manufactured cultural products. The more products there are (i.e. music, acting projects) the more money there is, which in turn leads to more opportunities. When they are just starting out, idols never get to pick what activities they actually participate in - especially if they haven’t yet established themselves as very successful artists.

And even when they are established, oftentimes, an idol company will push an artist to try expanding/broadening their various creative outputs with acting. Why only sell music, when you can make money through tv and film?

Add in the additional benefit of not having any risk at all involved in said tv/film project and it’s win/win for the company - because they aren’t putting up any money upfront to produce and market the project.

Companies want their idols to pursue acting gigs because it increases the market share for the artist and more opportunities for their artist to create new fans who might discover the artist through the drama or film. This tends to be a big part of the idol ecosystem, though it must be noted that not all idols do go down this route if their company determines that their music products might generate far more money than their acting products.

This is especially true for rappers in particular, whose solo musical releases might not generate as much fanfare (or as much money) as an acting gig - especially in South Korea, where there is already a very mature, established Korean hip hop genre with plenty of very established hip hop artists. (There’s also a very popular hip hop competition show, Show Me The Money, that regularly features celebrity Korean hip hop artists.)

Sometimes, it just makes more sense to take acting opportunities, as they can generate better income than music.

Talented singers sometimes might also choose to go the acting route for the same reason - also because opportunities keep coming across the desks of their managers, who sometimes talk them into the projects. Other times, it may simply be that once an idol tries their hand at acting, they realize they have a real knack for it and end up wanting to pursue more acting projects.

In any case, there isn’t a single, universal reason why idols choose to go from singing to acting, but there is a universal reason why all idols inevitably do make the switch: money.

And for companies in particular, acting projects their artists star in are 100% pure profit with zero financial risk.

In any case, quite a few artists started out in music, tried their hand at acting, and then continued to do both. We see this especially with artists such as Vanness Wu, IU (Lee Ji-eun), and BLACKPINK’s Jisoo, who are all still active in both acting and music.

I hope this massively long post was informative and also helped answer the question, “Why do idols go from singing to acting?” (I also hope I helped explain the way the idol ecosystem works and how it all started!)

Thanks for the questions and for reading.

Edit: Oops, I totally forgot to answer the question, “Why do some people become idols?”

The answer is pretty simple: it’s really hard to get into the entertainment industry, and many people see idol factories as a straightforward roadmap into a career in entertainment. While it isn’t the only way into entertainment, it often is the path many artists do ultimately choose to take.

#Anonymous #ask #history of idols in asia #jpop #kpop #cpop #idols #music industry #entertainment industry #acting #peek answers

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multimetaverse · 3 years

Text

Riverdale 5x03 Recap

Jellybean was born and raised in Riverdale though?? She only moved to Ohio after her mom left FP

Good on FP for doing what’s best for his daughter but probably should have told Alice beforehand that you’re skipping town

We’re ending this era of Riverdale as it began with Tom Keller as Sheriff. Hope he has a scene with his son tonight!

Jughead saying those kids almost looked innocent asleep was pretty messed up of him. 1) those are clearly homeless kids having to sleep in a fucking gym and 2) as bad as the voyeur vids were they still pale in comparison to the crimes that high school kids have been involved in over the years

Oooh man that Luke Perry is just brutal

It’s crazy to think of how far the show has come since that first scene of Cheryl and Jason Blossom in all white heading down to the river

Alice might be the most tragic living character on Riverdale, her life has just been wrecked over and over and over

It’s awful how realistic the army recruitment booth inside the school is. The Saved by the Bell reboot had a great joke about military recruitment of teens (it’s a much better show than Riverdale and I highly recommend it and it’s already been renewed for S2)

It’s nice that they brought Weatherbee back for the final high school eps

LOL at the Red Circle shade

The yearbook as a device to look back at some of the show’s history is clever. Also reveals how clearly chapter 79 which was supposed to be the S4 finale was also being written as a possible series finale

It’s very odd that Archie’s poor grades of all things are what the writers just to be realistic about. Nice of Weatherbee to let Archie walk with his friends though

Ladies and Gentlemen that could possibly be the last Varchie sex scene we ever see

Considering the US only abolished conscription after the Vietnam war, I don’t think those 4 students back in 1945 had much of a choice in joining the army. Although they lucked out with the timing since the war with Japan would end within months while they were still in basic training

Not Archie lying to both Jughead and Veronica about his post high school plans

FP telling Jughead he’s old enough to be on his own is rich considering Jughead was basically homeless and on his own in S1

Good on Cheryl for getting her red robe

Finally Tom Keller gets a scene with his son!

Omfg I can’t handle this Archie cover of Green Day

Yaas Penelope lurking in the bushes. I’m gonna miss that Queen, hope she gets out of jail soon enough

RIP Falice. It will never cease to amaze me that right when the obstacles that should have stopped Bughead such as their parents being in a relationship and their shared half-brother are swept away that Bughead is being broken up

Well good bye for now and maybe forever FP Jones. You were the best of the surviving fathers which is admittedly a hell of a low bar

Pop’s is rightfully restored to Pop Tate

Kevin mentioning Josie and the Pussycats threw me

I guess from now on we’ll always see Jughead without that stupid hat, that’s weird

These grad scenes have been surprisingly poignant but they fall flat when they include the wider group. How many lines have Kevin, Fangs, Reggie, and Sweetpea even had lately? Has Kevin done anything of note since Hedwig? We’re a long way from when he was Betty’s best friend. And what has Reggie been up to? I noticed his dad wasn’t at grad, is that because he’s dead? Is there ever gonna be a follow up on Reggie smashing his dad’s car?

Don’t have a great feeling about this vow

Archie sure knows how to kill the mood. The worst thing about Archie’s speech is its accuracy. The US military really does offer a path to a middle class existence especially for kids with no other options. The life outcomes for people without high school degrees are grim and Archie really is grasping the last, best way to try and turn around his life

This Choni breakup is so sad

The CW is wildin out letting Betty take off her bra for sex. What a bizarre transition from tearful confession to sex. Perhaps the last Bughead sex scene we’ll ever see

Just realized that Vegas will very likely be dead by the time we pick back up in 7 years

These scenes would have more impact if the show had focused on the Archie/Jughead and Veronica/Betty friendship

Wow bringing the old car out for one last drive

These flashbacks are sad, especially the Luke Perry one

God I hope Nana Rose survives the 7 year gap

Jesus Christ, so Jughead had a home he could have stayed in but decided to squat at Archie’s instead??

Poor Jughead being the only one to keep the vow

Well this really is the end of an era. Riverdale will never be the same after this episode. From the promos we know that Veronica is married to a controlling wall street douche, Archie is wounded overseas, Betty is an FBI agent, and Jughead a writer. The crisis that brings them all back is Hiram dissolving the town of Riverdale for his nefarious ends

Veronica marrying a man who shares some traits with Hiram is not surprising though the fact that she’s married is interesting, both in that there’s no way that marriage will last and in how her husband is jealous of her past with Archie, it’s an easy way to start heading towards Varchie again if the writers choose. There’s no way that Betty would be get in to the FBI with a serial killer father and half brother but we’ll see what new killer the writers can come up with. It looks like Jughead is a tortured artist. I appreciate the costume designers for making Archie’s military uniform so retro that it looks like he’s being shipped off to Korea to stop it going the way of Red China

Looking back it’s extremely bizarre that they did what they did with Barchie. It really served no purpose since they all would have gone their separate ways anyways

Well looks like Cheryl hasn’t been successful in thwarting Hiram. I would imagine that much of Veronica’s story after the time gap is her wrestling with whether to take on her father and to claim the Lodge legacy for herself once and for all. Archie had always been her guiding light in that regard and we’ll see if can play that role in the future

This 7 year gap brings the characters ages up to 25 which is much closer to the actor’s actual ages which will help in that regard. But time jumps are tricky and 7 years is quite a gap, double the length of time that these first 79 eps have lasted. Sadly, Riverdale was renewed for a 6th season but realistically the bulk of the series has now passed and whatever adventures the gang gets up to as adults will get far less time dedicated to them. Some sort of time jump was probably always necessary if the show lasted as long as it had but I’m skeptical that Riverdale can pull it off. Until next week Riverdalers

#Riverdale #Varchie #Bughead #Barchie #Archie Andrews #Veronica Lodge #Jughead Jones #Betty Cooper #FP Jones #Riverdale Recaps

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thelightofthingshopedfor · 3 years

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Goddamn it Kyra I wasn't even interested in the Lego Lokis before, but now that you've so rudely posted pics of the options I'm probably going to have to buy some. So, couple questions: I'm not familiar with the website you linked to (it doesn't help that I'm on my phone lol) - do you get them from that site or just Aliexpress? I've kind of poked around there but I don't think I've ever actually bought anything - do you have links to those ones you bought or any tips for finding them on the site? (or like. using the site in general without getting scammed or something? Idk much about it other than stuff being low priced lol).

😇😇😇

putting the rest behind a cut because oops this got long

OKAY SO the cool thing about knockoff Lego figures is that a) there are a ton of them, so you can probably find multiple versions of most characters, and b) they're super cheap, so if you do end up getting ripped off, you're probably only out a few bucks. plus if you don't get ripped off, you feel like a genius, because authentic Lego minifigs tend to cost way more than they should (and if you get them online, you probably don't have a good way to know that they're authentic) and here you are getting something just as good or better for way less.

the site I was getting pictures from is HeroBloks, which I only just discovered myself a couple days ago; it looks like mostly it's good for tracking your collection (and learning more about bootleg Lego minifigs in general, maybe--I didn't really realize until now how many different companies there are making Lego-like minifigs) rather than buying, with individual pages including sale links that are only mildly useful. like, the extremely sad TVA Loki has an AliExpress search link that apparently just searches for "blocks," which is the least helpful search term imaginable; the eBay link uses "xinh+xh1745+loki (tva)" as the search term and that's definitely better, although it doesn't actually turn up anything. maybe that one's too new to be widely available yet, I don't know. (I hope that's the case. I need him and his sad little face to come and live with me.)

anyway--eBay is a possible source. searching for "loki minifigure" gets me results for several of the new ones I’ve been seeing, and they all seem to be shipping from Japan or South Korea. the problem is they're all selling for $4.99 plus $7.49 shipping each, which is...more than I want to spend on something I know is a knockoff of some kind when I don't know anything about the quality control and I'm not guaranteed to get what's in the picture. (here's another listing asking $40 total for all 8 figures I bought yesterday, which is actually a better price, and I'd probably end up doing that if I hadn't found them elsewhere, but that's because I have a problem.)

this is why I like AliExpress, because the risks are slightly higher but the prices tend to be much lower, even with shipping prices having gone up a bit over the last couple years. as I understand it, the site is basically just a huge marketplace for tons of different sellers in Asia, like if eBay only allowed fixed-price listings and it was based in China. the vast majority of the site reads like it went through Google Translate, because it probably did. you can find...basically anything there. I have no idea if any of it's authentic. (I also don't know anything about how or where any of the knockoff stuff is made, so...there is that.) I would not, for instance, drop $300 on a Hot Toys Loki from here, even though I absolutely would have the option to do so, for the obvious reason that I'm not going to risk that much money on an item that might be a cheap knockoff or could arrive broken. there is, in general, a solid possibility of breakable things arriving broken, because decent packaging costs more. cheap shipping will be slow (by which I mean like...up to 90 days), and most purchases either won't have tracking at all or won't have accurate tracking, so this is absolutely not a place to buy anything you want to get quickly. you also don't want to just buy something and forget about it, because there are (variable but generous) time limits past which you can't get a refund if you don't receive your items. the site's UI is...mostly functional. you often have to get a little creative with your search terms to find what you want (and sometimes you won’t find what you want through searching, but through looking at related items on the pages of things that aren’t quite what you want or are what you want but aren’t a good price). you will, absolutely, come across a lot of stolen art on things like pins, t-shirts, stickers, and phone cases, which you might not realize until you see something you recognize from a fanartist you like, and obviously that sucks. listing photos are nearly always stock photos, so in many cases they won't tell you anything about the item you're actually getting. you know the Wish app, and all the crazy things people get from that? you can find all the same stuff on AliExpress, at similar levels of quality.

however, if you approach it keeping all that in mind, it can be a great resource. I can't make any guarantees about the site's safety, but to the best of my knowledge it's secure and I've never had any weird charges show up after buying something. it's also my understanding that Alibaba, the parent company, is more or less the Chinese equivalent of Amazon in terms of the amount of business it does, which would probably be pretty tough if customer data were routinely being exposed to thieves, you know? I've also successfully gotten several refunds for items that never arrived, which actually hasn't happened all that often--but knowing that it can happen and that the return period expires, I’ll check back on the site if it seems like it’s been an unusually long time and I’ll make a reminder for myself of the deadline so I can contact the seller in time if necessary.

so the way I shop there is, I don't buy expensive or fragile things in general, because I recognize there's a nonzero chance I'll get a cheap knockoff, or something that was broken in transit because the seller tossed it in a box with no padding and called it good, or sometimes nothing at all. but like eBay, the sellers and items have ratings and reviews from customers, so that helps avoid some risk. items with lots of reviews tend to include at least a few customer photos, which are great for getting a better idea of what the thing you're buying actually looks like. I took a bit of a risk last year buying a Hot Toys (or the equivalent, I actually have no idea) Steve Rogers head for about $20, for instance, but I wasn't super worried about it because the customer photos looked good, the seller I used had a lot of sales and a lot of good ratings, and it was still a lot less than I would've paid for an authentic Hot Toys Steve Rogers head--and in fact he got here just fine and he looked fantastic. I also spent about $20 for a knockoff Iron Studios Loki statue, because in that case it was like...yep I’d love the real thing, nope I’m not willing to spend hundreds of dollars on it, yep I am willing to spend $20 on something that doesn’t look quite as nice but still looks good enough for me in the customer photos. well, and I’ve also bought knockoffs I knew would look bad, because they were cheap and I want all the Lokis and I have enough of an addiction that all the Lokis does in fact sometimes mean “even ones that look really bad” to me.

anyway, uh, Lego-type minifigs. this is an especially good area to go knockoff, because--okay, apparently I can’t link to a page of HeroBloks search results for some reason, but it’s the best resource I’ve found for this type of thing that isn’t just authentic Lego figures. but if you go there and do a search for “loki” you’ll get a bunch of results and you’ll see that they come from like...9 or 10 different brands. Lego specifically has only four Loki options: Avengers Loki in black, Avengers Loki in gray for some reason (which, frankly, looks like a cheap knockoff but isn’t), movie-inaccurate Ragnarok Loki with the blue outfit and the full helmet, an ugly Classic Loki, and a mostly green Loki from I guess the first Thor movie (and then I think they’re going to release a TVA Loki, a Sylvie, and a Throg). all those other results--all those different outfits from every single Loki appearance, and different variations on those outfits, nearly all of them more screen-accurate and/or detailed than the Lego versions--are technically knockoffs. they’re better and you can buy them for way less. (I mean, a lot of them are new so I don’t have them yet, but I do have frost giant Loki, better Ragnarok Loki, better Avengers Loki, opera Loki who actually has another face that’s half-Jotun, and at least one chrome-helmet option, and they all look basically like the photos. so I think I can reasonably expect most of the new ones to look basically like their photos too.)

for reasons that I don’t understand aside from a vague guess that it’s copyright-related, AliExpress pretty much no longer shows full pictures of Lego-type figures in their listings--instead, you have to pick just based on the heads. this is a problem when lots of heads look very similar to each other! luckily, the listings also typically have the actual serial numbers for each figure, as do the HeroBloks listings, so you can cross-reference them to see what you’re really getting. for instance let’s take this listing because it’s cheap and it offers most of the Loki figures that are currently available. say you’re interested in one of the horn-less Lokis. there are...let’s see, five of them, but you have no idea what they actually look like aside from slightly different facial expressions and maybe weapons. however, the first one listed says XH1359 for its color...and what do you know, 1359 is the serial number for this Loki by a company called Xinh. okay cool, how about the last one? the “color” is listed as WM2182--and yes, HeroBloks has a listing for a Ragnarok Loki from World Minifigures with the serial number 2182. (I just ordered all 8 of the new World Minifigures ones yesterday, so again, I can’t personally guarantee yet that they’ll look as good in person as in the pictures--but I think they probably will, and more importantly they cost a whole dollar each.) and if HeroBloks doesn’t have a particular figure, you can probably find something useful just by googling the serial number.

I specifically bought from this listing yesterday because they currently have a bit of a sale going and a deal for free shipping if you buy 10 figures, and I wanted a couple duplicates, so it worked out to be the cheapest option. the same store has another listing for a bunch more Marvel characters, including a couple more Lokis I already had, so it should be pretty easy to get the free shipping so the figures are less than a dollar each and you’re only risking about $10. if you’d rather try one or two and see how it goes, it looks like this listing is probably the cheapest, with figures currently going for a little over a dollar each once you add shipping (although it’s totally possible shipping is more for me because Alaska).

that’s...probably already way more information than you really wanted, but I hope at least some of it makes sense. feel free to ask other specific questions if they come up--I might not be able to give answers exactly, but I can probably tell you what my experience has been, which is better than nothing.

#loki #action figures #lego #marvel cinematic universe #conversations #scintillatingshortgirl19

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spacetimewithstuartgary · 3 years

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Symmetry Magazine The search for the sterile neutrino By Mary Magnuson Back when it was theorized, scientists weren’t sure they would ever detect the neutrino; now they’re searching for a version of the particle that could be even more elusive. In Germany in 1930, a group of scientists held a conference on nuclear physics, and they invited Wolfgang Pauli. The Austrian physicist was known as the originator of the Pauli exclusion principle, work that furthered scientists’ understanding of matter and would eventually earn Pauli a Nobel Prize in Physics. Pauli couldn’t attend the German conference; he had a conflict in Zurich. Instead, he sent the attendees a letter that would turn out to be one of the more significant correspondences in physics history. In it, he predicted the existence of what would eventually be known as the neutrino. Scientists have since discovered and studied the properties of the theoretical particle. But big questions remain, including whether an undiscovered type of neutrino could be hiding from researchers’ detectors. An undetectable particle In his letter to the conference attendees, Pauli detailed ideas he’d had about beta decay, a process that had been troubling the nuclear physicists. In beta decay, an unstable atom releases energy in the form of a particle (called a beta particle). Scientists studying beta decay found that the energy of the beta particle was not enough to account for the total energy the decaying atom lost. Pauli had an idea about where the missing energy could be. He posited that an atom undergoing beta decay actually emitted more than one particle; it was just that the second particle had neither charge nor mass and was therefore undetectable by the technology of the day. That was the problem, though. If the particle were undetectable, there would be no way to test whether Pauli’s theory was correct. Pauli lamented that proposing the existence of an undetectable particle was “something no theorist should ever do” and kept the letter informal rather than write an official paper about an idea he was too uncomfortable to fully claim. But the idea of an energy-carrying “ghost particle” resonated with many researchers, including Enrico Fermi. A few years later, Fermi figured out a complete theory of nuclear beta decay incorporating the new particle, which he christened the “neutrino.” Fermi theorized that the neutrino interacted through an unknown force, now known as the weak force, which interacts only at extremely short range. Not all scientists were as pessimistic as Pauli about detecting the neutrino. Physicist Walter Baade even made a bet with Pauli that his undiscoverable particle would one day be found. In the 1950s, physicists Clyde Cowan and Fred Reines at the US Department of Energy’s Los Alamos National Laboratory designed a detector to catch neutrinos. It would detect the particles passing through and occasionally interacting via the weak force. To ensure they’d nab a few, they planned to set up their device near the most extreme collection of unstable atoms undergoing beta decay that they could create: a nuclear blast. Aside from the technical challenges it would take to study a nuclear explosion, it turned out that a nuclear bomb would also produce a lot of background radiation that would make it difficult to isolate the signals from the neutrinos. So Cowan and Reines changed their plans. Instead, they set up their detector in South Carolina next to a nuclear reactor. While the reactor produced neutrinos much more slowly than a bomb, the detector eventually picked up enough signals to confirm the existence of neutrinos. Pauli bought Baade a case of champagne to celebrate the discovery. More than meets the eye Scientists had detected the undetectable particle. But there was a lot left to learn about it. In the 1960s, astrophysicists Raymond Davis and John Bahcall measured neutrinos coming from the sun with an experiment installed in Homestake Gold Mine in South Dakota. They detected only a third as many of the particles as they expected. In the ’90s, researchers at the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory in Canada and the Super-K experiment in Japan determined the cause of the missing neutrinos. The neutrino could “oscillate,” or shift between the three different types or “flavors”: electron neutrinos, muon neutrinos and tau neutrinos. Oscillation implies mass, so the discovery also let them know that neutrinos were not massless like they had thought. Scientists had worked out theories about how neutrinos should oscillate, but those theories were put to the test in an experiment at Los Alamos called the Liquid Scintillator Neutrino Detector. LSND studied a beam of neutrinos—specifically, muon antineutrinos—to see how many of them oscillated to a different type over a short distance. Its results indicated more of them than anticipated had transformed into electron antineutrinos. Scientists wondered: Could this elevated number of oscillations point to the influence of an even more elusive ghost particle? One that did not even interact through the weak force? Was it time to bet another case of champagne? In 2002, a similar experiment at Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, named after Enrico Fermi, followed up. The MiniBooNE experiment operated at a different energy level and used a different experimental methodology than LSND; it recorded an excess in electron neutrinos as well. The results could possibly be accounted for if neutrinos were oscillating in strange ways—say, to more than three flavors. Because it would interact even less strongly with matter, scientists called the hypothetical missing neutrino flavor a “sterile” neutrino. There doesn’t have to be just one type of sterile neutrino, says Harvard physicist Carlos Argüelles-Delgado. In the Standard Model of physics, for example, many particles and phenomena come in sets of three; maybe the sterile neutrinos do, too. Conflicting anomalies Argüelles-Delgado works on the IceCube experiment. Run by the University of Wisconsin and based in Antarctica, IceCube looks at neutrinos emitted from the sun or other astronomical phenomena, such as supernovae. Although sterile neutrinos aren’t its focus, IceCube is one of several experiments offering input into the current search. So far IceCube has mostly just tightened constraints around what sterile neutrinos could be, Argüelles-Delgado says. “IceCube has not found any conclusive evidence of oscillations that are compatible with MiniBooNE,” he says. “And we have found no conclusive evidence for a sterile neutrino. However, we have found hints of sterile neutrinos… We have found something that hints towards the right direction.” Another experiment that has provided valuable information to the search is MINOS, which from 2005 to 2012 studied a beam of neutrinos produced at Fermilab, sampling the particles both close to the origin of the beam and far from it in a mine in Minnesota. The experiment did not find anything that might suggest the existence of sterile neutrinos. With LSND and MiniBooNE seeing different results than IceCube and MINOS, Fermilab particle physicist Pedro Machado says it’s nearly impossible to find cohesive evidence for sterile neutrinos. Also contributing to the conversation are a group of experiments that harken back to the first detection of neutrinos: reactor experiments such as Daya Bay in China, Double Chooz in France and RENO in Korea. To date, they haven’t found any reliable evidence to back up MiniBooNE or LSND, says Virginia Tech physicist Patrick Huber. But they have been involved in their own conflict between theory and experiment. In 2011, a group of theorists recalculated the expected number of electron antineutrinos that reactor experiments should have seen. They found that their prediction did not match the experimental measurement. Since the discovery of the possible anomaly, researchers at Daya Bay, as well as theorists and other experimentalists, have continued working on their models and studying the decay processes that produce these antineutrinos. Experiments on the horizon All of these different experiments offer input into the question of sterile neutrinos, but they offer it at different angles—using different methods and examining different sources of neutrinos. In the near future, scientists may get answers from experiments that try to match the perspectives of the original instigators of the sterile neutrino debate. At the Japan Proton Accelerator Research Complex, an experiment called JSNS^2 plans to check the LSND observation. “We aim to confirm or defeat the existence of a sterile neutrino with the same experiment as LSND,” says Takasumi Maruyama, a J-PARC researcher on JSNS^2. “There are lots of experiments, but we have to understand what's going on with the same neutrino source and same neutrino interaction. “So 20 years after the LSND results, I think it’s a nice time to follow up on the LSND experiment.” At Fermilab, an experiment called MicroBooNE aims to reproduce MiniBooNE’s measurements in more detail. Researchers expect initial results later this year. MicroBooNE also is a part of a larger experiment involving a series of three detectors known as the Short Baseline Neutrino Program at Fermilab. The three detectors will paint a detailed picture of neutrino behavior by examining oscillations at three different distances from the source of a neutrino beam. The ICARUS detector, which is the farthest from the source, will start collecting physics data this fall. Construction of the Short Baseline Neutrino Detector, which is the closest to the source, is underway. Huber says he imagines sterile neutrinos will remain hidden, possibly until even more precise, future detectors can be designed and built. It could be that they will never be found, either because they don’t exist or because Pauli’s predicted particle has an undetectable side to it after all. Argüelles-Delgado says that, whether or not upcoming experiments are able to find sterile neutrinos, science will benefit from the search. “In particle physics when there are hints, you have to pursue those hints,” he says, “because some hints will end up being challenges that just enable you to improve your detector technology and techniques—and other hints will do that and also let you discover new physics. So you always win.” Illustration by Sandbox Studio, Chicago with Corinne Mucha

#space #science #Astronomy #physics #news

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forkanna · 3 years

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[AO3] [WATTPAD]

"Come on, don't be mad," Rise insisted for the hundredth time as they waited for the train to come through. They had been there for a few minutes, bags in hands and feet impatient. At least they a few CDs apiece, and a poster that Rise hoped would do for Chie's gift, even though it was Bruce Lee's Enter The Dragon instead of Sonny-Sammy-whoever.

"Why not? My feelings are just as valid as yours."

"And it wasn't my fault! Like, you heard me try to tell him I didn't want any attention!"

"False modesty. I mean, I bet you say shit like that all the time, just so you look like a precious little princess."

The train going the opposite way whipped past, and she watched Ai's pink dress flutter for a moment until the din died down. Then she said in a quiet voice, "You want to be left alone? I will leave you alone. I just don't think that's what you really want."

"You were going to ditch me anyway. What does Risette want with some small-town teen queen when she's Japan's teen queen? It would happen sooner or later."

"Do you want me to apologise for your friend getting star-struck?"

"He was my friend first. And I mean, not that we're close, just that he's someone I-"

"Because I won't."

Ai blinked a couple of times before turning to look at her properly. "What did you just say?"

"I'm not going to apologise," Rise repeated firmly, her own features severe and intense now. "Remember me telling you I didn't even submit my first idol contest application myself? I never asked for all this. I have enjoyed it, sure — who wouldn't? But it's not 'my fault' people go crazy for celebs. Besides, I even tried to tell that guy not to make a big deal, to just let me hang out with my friend, and he kept fangirling anyway. My input clearly doesn't matter, so I am taking zero responsibility for him being an otaku. Do you understand?"

The other girl looked completely thunderstruck. In fact, she had no words. The train arrived shortly afterward, and they both got on without speaking, grasping for overhead straps as the doors slid shut.

It wasn't until they got off at the Yasoinaba station and Rise had started striding for the steps, feeling like a failure, that she felt her hand grasped from behind. She turned to slap whatever creep had grabbed her, but the creep was Ai, so she decided not to hit her. Yet.

"What?" No answer. Ai was too busy staring down at the space between their shoes. "Come on, it's getting late… I can still work a shift at Marukyu if you let me g-"

"I'm sorry!" she burst out, then cleared her throat to try again. "I apologise, Rise."

"What?"

"Shut up, don't make me say it again. I overreacted and I already feel stupid."

Cranking up the bubbliness to eleven, she gushed, "Oh noooo, I don't think I heard you at aaaaalllllll. What was that, Ebi-chaaaan?"

"Sh-shut UP!"

"Do you wuv meeeeee?" This time, Ai did yank her hand away and begin to stomp off down the steps, leaving a giggling Rise to chase after her.

"Like you said, have fun at Marukyu."

"You were a meanie," she told her, still laughing just a little. "I think I get to tease you a little."

"I don't like it. And I have explained why."

"Yeah. Your grade school classmates weren't teasing you, though. They were mocking you."

"Same fucking difference."

Jogging to walk side-by-side with her, despite Ai occasionally picking up speed to try and outstrip the idol, she went on, "Not really. Friends tease. Bullies mock… or sometimes hurt you physically. Did you ever get hurt like that?"

"Well… yeah, I did. But it's been a while. I mean, certainly not since elementary."

"Well that's good. I'll try not to tease you too much, but like, it's not going to work if I can't tease you. Because friends do that, and leaving that out would make this kinda fake. Right?"

Ai raised an eyebrow and glanced over at her. "I… do not follow that logic at all. You're weird."

"I'm not," she giggled, leaning down to smile up at her. "C'mon, it's fun. And I promise-promise I'll try to keep an eye on it so I don't make you feel really bad, and you might even get used to it. And that might help you with that 'everybody's tone is mocking' thing you feel."

"So let me get this straight. You think by teasing me, you're doing me a favour by desensitising me to people being jerks?"

"Right!"

"And that's 'friendship'? Putting me through that gauntlet?"

"Yup! I'm pretty great, right? My generosity is limitless!"

Finally, the grumpy girl laughed as they got to the bus stop, plopping down on the bench with their bags next to their feet. "Whatever. You're insane."

"Maybe. Or maybe I'm amazing and it just looks insane."

"Two sides of the same coin."

"So… I didn't wanna ask in front of 'the expert', but what was all that in the CD store? You two were off in your own little world there."

Ai's face was already flushed from being annoyed earlier, and all that power-walking. But it definitely didn't get any less rosy as she fidgeted, playing with the hem of her dress. "That's… it's stupid."

"Might be. But we're friends, we have to share stupid interests and stuff."

"You're really starting to be a pain with this 'friend' thing all the time." But Rise was patient. And eventually… "It's… something left over from my mother."

"Your mother?"

"Yes. She, um, she used to really love those old city pop singers; had so many records. Her fave was Mariya Takeuchi; just had really fond memories from her childhood, and she used to play them for me all the time."

A sinking feeling settled into the pit of her stomach. "Your mom… is she, u-um…?"

"Hm? No, she's alive. Probably." Ai looked extremely conflicted for a moment before heaving a deep sigh. "She moved out at the beginning of last year."

"Moved out? Like… a divorce?"

"Not officially. Yet. But it seems like it's going to be a matter of time." When Rise opened her mouth to reply, she was quick to cut her off. "Look. After my dad got rich overnight, I wasn't the only one who changed. We all did. But my mother seemed to resent it, even though we were all different afterward — including her hypocritical ass. Said she couldn't stay in the house with her b- with us, because we were like strangers now. And I…"

Rise gave her a few seconds to finish the thought. When she didn't, she reached over with her free hand to take up Ai's in a gentle grip. That seemed to encourage her to continue.

"It's my fault. For changing too much, for no longer being the child she raised. And I got so angry with her, said a lot of things I can never take back… I drove her away. Like I tried to do to you. So you see? Might as well ditch me now before I treat you like shit one day."

As if she hadn't already. But saying that was not productive, so she focused on the subject at hand. "Hey… I don't think that's right." When the other girl began to sigh, she pushed on, "No, listen. She's your mom, right? She's the adult — her and your dad, I mean. Of course if she's telling you she doesn't like how you have changed because you're growing up, like, you're gonna get mad. She's supposed to be the one who can figure out you're just mad and you'll get over it, or whatever."

"That sounds great, but I don't think it works that way in the real world."

"Maybe not this time, but it's how it's supposed to work. So don't go around hating on yourself for something she needed to do better."

Finally seeming to realize her hand was being held, she turned to blink at her new friend, brow furrowed. "I don't… know… I guess I wasn't expecting you to be this… genuinely…"

"Awesome?" she attempted with a small smile as the bus arrived. "Pretty? Hot as hell?"

"Nice. Even to a huge bitch like me."

Once they had both paid their fare and chosen a seat in the back, Rise whispered, "Listen. We're going to have to get used to each other. But we should probably get to know each other if we really want a shot at that." She chewed on her thoughts for a moment as they rode into Inaba. "Mmmm, did you know I actually really like helping out at Marukyu?"

"Hadn't really thought about it." After a second, she relented, "Okay, I guess I thought it was just some kind of PR stunt. But don't read too much into that."

"You're fine," she giggled as she snaked her arm around Ebihara's elbow, ignoring the fresh twitch it earned her. "But yeah, it's probably weird, but I actually really enjoy frying up the ganmodoki myself. Getting my hands dirty, helping clean up, straighten up, checking on my grandma…"

Though Ai had been ramrod straight like a tin soldier ever since they linked arms, she slowly began to relax the more she listened to Rise. "Well yeah, I guess I get that. She's family and you probably missed her while you were off dazzling the world."

"The world? Please. I mean, I do have a handful of fans in Korea and China, but none any further than that. I'm not that special."

"You are. They just can't see it past the language barrier."

"Awwwww…"

"I regret everything," she grumbled. But of course, Rise was still giggling as they slipped off the bus and onto the sidewalk, a lot closer to their sleepy little city.

"Hey, can I come over and listen to my CD at your place? I don't have a CD player anymore."

"Then… why did you buy- never mind. You probably have even more disposable income than I do."

Rolling her eyes, she bumped Ai just enough so that they both stumbled the tiniest bit. "Dork! I only accepted because he was so happy to be doing us a favor. And I figured hey, I might as well pick something I wanted instead of just a couple of random CDs I didn't care about. These are souvenirs now."

"Ah yes. Souvenirs of the time you had to put up with a raging harpy."

"Wow! Like, you really only have two modes, don't you? 'Meanie' and 'Depression Fest 2012'."

But apparently, that had been the wrong thing to say. Rise was just trying to tease like she always did; it was part of her job. The more she teased, the more she played, the more fun people had. The more fun they had, the better mood they were in. The better their mood, the more likely they were to capitulate to whatever the terms were — those of her manager, or herself. And it had all worked out, because she wanted friends so badly and everyone around seemed to become her friend when she treated them that way. Even if the friendships didn't last.

But this time, it silenced Ai so completely that she found herself checking on her every few seconds as they walked along. What did she say? Had it really been that much worse than anything else so far? Eventually, she wound up stopping to pull her into a gentle hug.

"God… it's not- you don't have to do that."

"I'm sorry. You know I'm playing with you, right? Just playing! But if I'm really hurting you…"

Ai shook her head and dropped her bags so she could cling to her, burying her face in those mauve locks. "Shhh, you're fine. I… you don't have to do this. Any of it. But you're not screwing up as bad as you think you are, I'm just a bitch. Sorry for all these constant reminders."

"It's okay." Especially because Ai was so warm. This hug nearly undid all of the pain and strife they had put each other through over the course of a scant few total hours they had spent in each other's company.

And Rise didn't seem to be the only one who thought as much. Those arms tightened on her back, practically clinging to her as they soaked up each other's warmth. Why did this feel so right? They were all wrong for each other as friends, if all their bickering was any indication, yet a simple hug was like a dream come true. Ai smelled so good, expensive perfume mingling with soft skin just on the other side of that dress.

Even though the lace on Ai's choker was tickling her nose. Eventually, that made it twitch, and then she giggled as she shivered in an attempt to suppress a reaction.

"What?" Ai asked, confused.

"The lace tickled. You wear that thing all the time and I don't know why." It prompted a quiet sigh from the taller girl, so Rise skipped backward, hands in the small of her back. Maintaining a high energy level for their day might distract her from whatever demons she was battling internally. "C'mon! I'll race you to Junes!"

"Wha- hey, wait a minute, what about our bags? You don't expect me to carry all this!"

Maybe part of her motivation for taking off running and leaving Ai to carry all of their purchases was to instill a little more humility in the prissy girl. Or maybe she just wanted to do something carefree. Either way, her friend did scoop up the bags before taking off running after her.

~ o ~

"NOOOOO, give it back!"

"We've had enough of this weird thing!" Chie cackled as she ran away with Teddie's bear mascot head, holding it aloft while the blond boy himself chased after her. Rise leaned back in the food court chair and laughed her head off. Yes, she knew the head meant a lot more to him than just part of some costume; they all knew that, except for Ebihara. But he had been up to his usual mischief, saying he was going to "score" with Yukiko simply because she let him have some of her french fries. He obviously spent a little too much time listening to Yosuke.

"You guys are too much," Kanji sighed, face-palming as he leaned heavily against the table. But he didn't do anything to stop Chie and Yosuke throwing it back and forth, either.

"I have to say, this is a bizarre group of people to have come together," Ai commented as she sipped at her smoothie. Maybe she still wasn't ordering a ton of junk food, but she had insisted that a smoothie was really "cheating on her diet" considering that before she had met Narukami, she probably would have ordered a diet soda and no more. Their bags were stashed under their chairs until they headed home later — except for the poster. That was safely tucked beneath Yukiko's chair, once all the excessive bowing and thanking was over with, and Rise had refused to accept any money from her. She was just happy to help out her friends.

"I suppose so," Naoto conceded with a sage nod, hand at her chin as always. "From the outside looking in, it would seem strange to anyone."

"So how did you all meet, then? Bizarre multi-grade class project?"

There was definitely a pause. None of them were quite sure what excuse to come up with; only that they had to think of something to tell her that didn't involve supernatural hijinks. That would only send the average person running for the hills.

"Remember the Midnight Channel?" Yukiko began.

"Yukiko!" Kanji blustered. But she forged ahead, undeterred, and Rise felt her thighs clench beneath the tabletop. Moment of truth…

"Well, that murderer who killed Miss Yamano and the others? We knew he was somehow using the TVs to announce his next victims. Not only that, but my own kidnapping made it impossible to ignore for all of us; myself, obviously, but Chie and the others couldn't just wait for someone else to put a stop to it once our friends were becoming targets. We started investigating on our own since the police didn't seem to have any leads. And when Naoto-kun came to town and began to work with the police directly, we all sort of… found each other, thanks to that common goal."

Wow. Ai wasn't the only one dumbfounded; the others at the table found themselves impressed that she had come up with such a believable almost-truth on the spur of the moment like that.

"Th-that's amazing," Ai finally said, still blinking rapidly to try and dispel her shock. "I didn't know the rest of you were also detectives."

"Not very good ones," Rise provided with a little awkward laugh. "But all of us putting our heads together, we were finally able to figure out it was that creep Adachi. The power of teamwork!"

"Hey, you don't have to keep calling her 'Naoto-kun'," Kanji suddenly said with a slight frown at Yukiko. "We know she's a chick now, don't be disrespectful."

While Yukiko was looking regretful and beginning to bow to offer an apology, Naoto smiled and patted the tall boy on the bicep. "It's fine. In fact, I'm much more comfortable with that than I ever could be with something feminine like 'Nao-chan'. Just doesn't suit me."

Even as Rise was calling out "NAO-CHAAAAAAAAAAN" in a loud, carrying voice and throwing her arms around the stoic girl, prompting some flustered shovings, Ai was smiling across at the junior detective prince. "Naoto-kun it is. Obviously we want you to be comfortable."

Both the sentiment and the smile were so unexpected from Ai Ebihara that everyone stopped to look at her. After a second or two, she cleared her throat and went back to sipping at the dregs of her smoothie.

"Thank you, Ebihara-san," Naoto finally managed as Rise dropped back into her seat.

"Of course. See? I'm not a cunt all the time."

"Never said you were," Rise cooed as she pinched her cheek.

"HEY! Didn't I tell you to stop getting so physical with me? My face is the real money maker and so help me…"

Things only devolved from there. Kanji was apologizing profusely for presuming too much, Naoto was trying to assure him she didn't mind either, Yukiko had lapsed into another uncontrollable giggle-fit when she noticed Chie and Yosuke had started throwing Teddie himself back and forth. And Ai… was laughing and smiling. Not much; she still looked a little out of place there, not quite sure how she fit into the group of friends.

But she was starting to. Sometimes, a modicum of progress was the best you got.

To Be Continued…

#we'll face ourselves #forkanna writes #saphir de lune #persona 4 fanfiction #p4 fanfic #jess the writer #ai ebihara #rise kujikawa

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thenightlymartini · 1 year

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I had an idea!

I know New Year resolutions aren't a thing everywhere, but because the New Year for a lot of places just started I thought it might be cool.

What is one resolution that each of them keep, and one that they drop?

You know, I honestly can't remember if I've done something like this before. I'm also not the most adept at searching Tumblr archives, much less lots of behind the scene stuff, so if there was a way for me to figure that out I just don't know about it.

This also gets a little tricky since I know Chinese New Year is more prominent in both Koreas, and I definitely know very little about it other than small bits and pieces I've seen on blogs, fanfics, and Tik Tok. Basically next to no knowledge. As such, this is mostly going to focus on New Year customs I'm familiar with, because I don't feel comfortable talking about Chinese New Year due to my lack of knowledge.

Also this is going to be long, so be prepared.

CW: light mentions of the Korean War and the separation, alcoholism, issues with weight loss, a swear word or two that is censored

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Kimchiburger: America introduced this concept to SK fairly early on after they began to build a friendship, and SK found it kind of amusing but also kind of a cool idea. Amusing mostly because, since he's lived so long, he knows it's mostly just going to be the same thing every year and most of these resolutions don't actually get followed through with, but cool as in it kind of is like setting up goals for oneself and sort of makes people try to better themselves.

America obviously makes one for getting into better shape or lose weight, which usually just doesn't keep for long because his diet is very weird and his expectations are extremely too high or too low. Like he under or overestimates how much work it will take or how much he will actually lose, much less what is actually healthy for his body type. SK has to remind him that at least he tried and it will take time, though he will love him even if he does gain weight.

As far as the one he keeps, America made one about trying to be less ignorant of other's customs. He cringes at every memory where he unknowingly and/or accidentally did something rude towards others purely surrounding customs, as well as constantly wonder if being belligerent and his ignorance caused unneeded tension between him and others when they could have potentially become friends. Thus, he makes it his goal to learn as much about other cultures as he can, even those within his own country, no matter if they are minorities or majorities. SK helps him with this a lot when it comes to Korean culture and pointing out the differences between cultures, such as eating etiquettes between Japan, South Korea, and China. SK would also invite the Philippines over to help out with pointing out sub groups in each country and how similar and different certain customs are across multiple countries.

SK tried making new year resolutions when he first heard about them from America, and he always makes the same one every year nearing the end of the 1980s, no matter if it is kept, even if only with marginal results, or drops catastrophically: Have a better relationship with NK. He knows he has very little control over it, considering politics, but in an ideal world where it was just he and his brother influencing their relationship, he would do anything to start mending it. They were bonded together and had each other's backs through thick and thin for centuries if not millennia, only for it be shredded to bits in the span of half a century. There was a time for a few decades where he truly despised NK, just because the wounds kept reopening and the resulting emotional rollercoaster was extremely chaotic, but his anger and feelings of betrayal have been tempered enough where regret and sadness have slowly started to form with some logical reasoning behind it. He's also starting to realize that the longer they are separated and at odds with each other, the less likely reunification will be possible, not only from practical and logistical standpoints like economy, military, and what not, but even from a cultural perspective where he's beginning to see that their own languages are slowly starting to split and certain cultural norms don't hold up as well between them. SK actually was terrified slightly when one day he and NK were in an argument and he was having a hard time understanding him.

Rusnk: From what I understand and have researched briefly, I believe New Years is a bigger deal in Russia than Christmas is, considering Christmas came back after the Soviet Union fell.

Russia loves New Year's. Not necessarily for the idea of "new year, new me" that is common in America where it's a clean slate, but just because a new year means a chance to try again, to learn from the previous year and do better. The idea of making a resolution is still a fairly newer concept introduced, but he likes the idea of them. One in particular that he made that he kept was try to find the good, beauty, or happiness in even the littlest of things. He's lived so long with bitter cold and such a dark history, often by his own hand too, that he's forgotten that not everything in the world is a cold, cruel place or is meant to break him. Even if it is only in a few things or even one thing for an entire year, he finds it as an accomplishment. He's recently started to see snow as more than just brutal winter and has started to see the beauty snow fall can be and the happy times winter can bring, like children making forts or snowball fights, gathering around warmth for celebrations and family time, the way silence doesn't have to be deafening or oppressive and that it can bring peace of mind. It helps that NK likes to indulge in these kinds of things on occasion, and often times will compose poetry with Russia as a means to help organize thoughts and see the better aspects of things.

One that he definitely drops is trying to cut back on his liquor intake, not necessarily due to liking liquor that much, but mostly cause it is so hard to do and political matters and emotional trauma don't make it any easier. He tries, at least around NK, to not drink that much mostly because the other tries to drink with him and it is an absolute disaster when the Korean does. He's also noticing the effects the amount of liquor he normally drinks is starting to have on his body, despite being an immortal. Probably died of cirrhosis of the liver a few times before he knew what it was in his time as a nation. He's realizing he has an addiction of sorts, but doesn't have the knowledge, constant support (NK can't always be by his side 24/7 and he lives alone majority of the time), and massive amounts of will power to either consistently drink less or kick it entirely. He still makes this resolution each year because he is learning from the previous year of what has worked and not and is getting better each time.

NK is far more inclined to Chinese New Year, but indulges in the Western New Year once in a while, mostly because Russia loves it so much. He's very much a pessimistic pragmatic when it comes to resolutions, since he believes people mostly do them as a front and don't actually mean to follow through with them, and that a new year is just "new year, same sh!t". He also doesn't care for them cause they are a Western tradition, but did some mostly to humor Russia.

One he did keep was just doing more creative things, like practicing his instruments or writing or drawing, mostly because he's realized he hasn't had time as of late to do any of them for several years and missed them to an extent. Thankfully, part of Russia's resolutions helped to keep his, since he and Russia write poetry together when Russia is struggling to see the good in things on a particularly bad day. He also likes to play his violin with Russia when the other has his own out. They actually work quite well together once they get through the rusty phase.

One he actually thought he was going to keep turned out to be the one he dropped, which was just trying to say one nice thing to people, whether daily or just whenever he actually saw any other nations. He figured out quickly that his attitude and temper make that really difficult for himself, and when they aren't a factor he botches it and will accidentally insult someone or stumble over his words because his social skills are near zero when not in a professional setting.

Commieburger: America loves making resolutions, but is bad at keeping them unless he has help, while NK is the pessimistic pragmatic that sees right through the sugarcoating and calls bullsh!t on them. The only reason America got NK to made a resolution at all was through compromise and a deal. America broached the subject with the idea of a shared resolution between them, that way both of them work at it together and progress will be made in their relationship. NK mulled it over for a bit, but gave in when he thought about how this would benefit them in the long run.

Their two resolutions were to be able to read each other better so they were more likely to be on the same page more often, which they did end up keeping, and the other was lessening petty arguments, which they debate over if it technically was kept or not.

A lot of their miscommunication, after some discussion, mostly stems from either not understanding intentions, word choice, or just a lack of accurately reading the other. Like, America often thinks NK is in a foul mood when really he's either just deep in thought about something or he's actually neutral (his resting facial expression doesn't help). NK had a hard time figuring out if America was actually boasting or was trying to hide his insecurities or nervousness with the hero complex. The resolution was open-ended on how they would achieve it, but it allowed both of them to generate ways that would hopefully work. NK was prone to doing round-about ideas, such as playing chess to analyze ticks and expressions of the other to get a general idea of certain behaviors or ticks he sees occurring in other situations, since he knows he sucks at directly communicating when it comes to opening up or just with emotions in general. America is more direct and will just ask on occasion, at least giving NK a heads-up that he's trying to ask about more minor stuff so as to not make the other too uncomfortable. Usually he does this while treating NK to food or drinks he made that he knows the other won't turn his nose up at, since NK is more agreeable when there is food involved. It actually worked better than anticipated when America realize he was no longer walking on egg shells with second guessing if NK was in a good mood or meant any of the things he says, especially with verbal ticks or slight expression changes or physical ticks. NK, in turn, became more aware of when America was trying to put on a show and became better at understanding the sources of these acts while being able to temper the other's fears or nerves.

Now, the petty arguments. America makes the point that what people would call "petty arguments" tend to be more debates between them, and, since major arguments are now only happening once in a blue moon or under very specific circumstances, shouldn't count as petty arguments and that they did keep that resolution, too. NK still sees them as arguing, considering they both get pretty riled up when defending themselves, rather than civil debates. He also believes, due to have been around the block a few times as far as age goes and has experienced far more in terms of nationhood in comparison to America, that he knows the difference between light arguments and civil debate and is very steadfast at keeping that stance, thus this was a flop. Ironically, this topic in of itself results in one of those petty arguments/debates between them that will still be talked about years later.

#hetalia #kimchiburger #commieburger #rusnk #anon asks #aph america #hws america #aph russia #hws russia #aph north korea #hws north korea #aph south korea #alfred f jones #ivan braginsky #im sang kyu #im yong soo

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universal-casey · 4 years

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With the Soviet Union successfully taking over the US, what is the Japanese military like. In the modern day of our universe, Japan's domestic military exists and is owned by the Japanese government, however it's international military is owned and operated by the American government due to treaties it made after WW2. Does Japan still exist, and if so, how is it fairing military wise. (I have 2 more questions)

Okay, so I don’t know a whole lot about the Japanese military, but after some reading I have come to a couple conclusions. One: battles with America and Japan were fucking brutal. Americans took Japanese soldiers’ body parts as TROPHIES. Japan wasn’t much better, either.

Two: Japan had the best (and first) aircraft carriers in the world. So Japan was still quite a force to be reckoned with. Went to shit when your aforementioned US takeover of Japan happened. They slowly built it up over time though

Three: Hehehe I can easily fit this all into here. So right at 1991, Japan started to loosen up its extremely pacifist policies to allow it to be less of a backburner army. Japan’s army had always been used kind of as a “we need backup against the Soviet Union” kind of thing. But she was humiliated when she couldn’t do anything to help in the Gulf War, so she began to request America give her some more military power back. He granted it, and her military wasn’t America levels yet (especially since she didn’t have any nuclear weapons due to trauma), but it was far better than the placeholder it used to be.

When America was overtaken in 1991, Japan saw an influx of fleeing Americans (mostly from the military), and noted that she needed to be ready for an attack. She exponentially increased her nuclear power and made enough nuclear weapons to rival America’s stash. And while Soviet managed to sneak past America’s defenses thanks to America thinking he was about to win the Cold War, Soviet found Japan holding down her fort with an extremely watchful eye and a mass of world-ending weapons in her hands.

So while Japan lost a massive chunk of her military power due to America being out of the picture, she has enough nuclear power to keep Soviet at bay, despite being practically surrounded by China, Korea, Vietnam, Russia, and America. (just gave myself a drawing idea)

Japan does still hold pacifist policies, not wanting to get too close to the way her mother ran things. But she is slowly building her military, enough to give her more strength, but not enough to make Soviet see her as an active threat. So she’s essentially in Germany’s boat, agreeing to help Britain but only through pacifist means. The old gang’s getting back together, but as pacifists!

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mbbsadmissionworld · 4 years

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studymbbsinphilippines

ABOUT PHILIPPINES

The Philippines, also known as the Republic of Philippines is situated in Southeast Asia in the Western Pacific Ocean. Its capital, Manila, is famous for its waterfront and centuries-old Chinatown. Philippines was a colony of USA for around 50 years and thus the country follows the American system of education.

Philippines is a founding member of the United Nations, World Trade Organization, Association of Southeast Asian Nations, the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum, and the East Asia Summit. The country also hosts the headquarters of the Asian Development Bank.

The Philippines has shown a great transition in economy from agriculture to the one with services and manufacturing. In addition to membership in the United Nations, the Philippines is also a founding and active member of ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations).

As a founding member of the United Nations, the Philippines has been elected many times into the Security Council. The country is also an active participant in the Human Rights Council and in peacekeeping missions.

The tropical climate of Philippines is usually hot and humid. The temperatures usually vary from 21 °C (70 °F) to 32 °C (90 °F) with January being the coolest and May being the warmest months of the year.

When it comes to study abroad destinations for MBBS, Indian students has a few countries in the list. MBBS in Philippines is one of the preferred destinations of Indian students. Similar to studying MBBS in China or European Countries, the Medical Council of India provides approval for many medical colleges and universities. Here is the brief outlook on studying medicine in Philippines.

WHY MBBS IN PHILIPPINES?

Philippines offers American system of medical education and the Primary Medical qualification is M.D. degree(MBBS). This qualification is globally recognized including the Medical Council of India.

The medical universities are approved by the World Health Organization. In addition, these are also listed and approved in the list of IMED and ECFMG medical education directories. It provides student an internationally recognized medical program. Also, students are eligible to appear in the international medical exams, namely USMLE.

When you check MBBS in Philippines review, you can see that about 8000 foreign students are admitted in MBBS every year. The standard of education by these medical universities in Philippines is on par with global standards. Every year, thousands of doctors move to different countries for higher education and practice.

Check out the MBBS in Philippines quora comments or MBBS in Philippines review, where climate is most favourable for the Indian students. The climate in Philippines is very similar to Indian climate. So, it is easy for the Indian students to adapt to the environment in a foreign country. Philippines MBBS syllabus covers all aspects covered in a MBBS degree offered across the globe.

Do you know that more than 10000 international students enroll in Philippines Medical universities and out of which more than 50% are Indian students? Philippines universities and colleges are known for its quality and sending thousands of doctors and engineers every year to work in USA, UK, and other developed western countries. It has 2299 higher educational institutions and 40 medical colleges. According to American Physician Statistics, one among ten Physicians in the USA studied at Philippines medical university.

Philippines medical college fees would range anywhere between Rs 12-20 Lakhs for the complete medical course. Even though some of the medical colleges/universities in Philippines have low fees, one should not choose the Philippines medical college only on the basis of the tuition fees. The quality of medical education as well the facilities would also be less when the fees is less.

ADVANTAGES OF STUDYING MBBS IN PHILIPPINES

The MD in Philippines is recognized and approved as an equivalent course to the MBBS by the MCI (Medical Council of India) who has established and maintain uniform standards of medical education.

· Philippines medical universities are widely renowned in many countries for the superior standard of education and also have listed in the WHO, IMED and ECFMG medical education directories.

· Professors in the Philippines universities are coming from different countries, including USA and India who are highly qualified and experienced in the allied field.

· Philippines medical colleges are regulated by the Philippines ministry of education and that is why Philippines colleges do not have any capitation fees as well as no donations to be paid for enrollment.

· Another advantage of an Indian student is the climate of the Philippines. Philippines climate varies from 23 °C to 32 °C throughout the year, which is very alike to the Indian climate helps Indian students in settling with no trouble. The other advantage of the similar climate is, people having the same pattern of disease which aids to the Indian students who want to practice in India.

· There is no any donation required to enroll in Philippines medical college, unlikely to Indian medical colleges.

· Philippines follows US education system that opens numerous opportunities to make a career in English speaking countries inclusive of UK, USA, Australia, Canada, etc.

· The English medium of instruction diminishes the barrier of learning the native language and helps to concentrate only on the study.

· All the medical colleges in Philippines emphasis on practice over theorygive you greater extent of practical experience that helps you during practice.

· The entire faculty of the Philippines medical colleges is co-operative and ready to help you in every query.

· As the MBBS degree of Philippines is recognized by MCI, you can practice in India after completing the MCI registration formalities.

· The MBBS degree of Philippines is recognized by every major country, that proffers you great career opportunity of working in the US, Canada, Australia and other developed countries without any extra course.

· The living cost at Philippines is very less compare to other along with there is very mere difference in Philippines currency and Indian currency that makes Philippines more affordable.

· We have a large number of messes and team of Indian chefs to make all the Indian dishes available for Indian students at affordable rates.

· India and Philippines both have a tropical climate that helps you to quickly adjust to the Philippines climate.

· Listed on the 12th as the most populous country in the world, hence you will have greater opportunity to practice with a varied and large number of patients.

· You can easily communicate with patient and a local as the Philippines is the 3rd largest English speaking country where almost 94% of Filipinos speak English.

· If you are planning to migrate at US, there is good news for you. The student can crack the USLME parts I and II in Philippines only under the guidance of medical professors.

· Philippines is also renowned country for MD, the students coming from US, UK, Germany, France, Australia, Japan and South Korea is an evidence of it.

· If we look at the data of past years and today, the number of Indian students enrolling for MBBS in Philippines are drastically increased shows its worthiness.

· Excellent flight connectivity from India offers easy commutation throughout the year

· Philippines embassy is very liberal, that means it is easy to obtain a student visa and quick processing of documentation.

· To study MBBS in Philippines approx 20,000 students enroll every yearthat shows prominence of the Philippines is not only limited to the India.

· Universities of the Philippines not only prepare for medical practice, but also prepare students for the MCI screening test.

INDIAN STUDENTS LIFE IN PHILIPPINES

Students who study MBBS in Russia need to manage the extreme weather conditions in Russia. More importantly the diseases which they learn in cold climatic country like Russia is not relevant in Indian context, where the climate is sub-tropical. The percentage of students who clear the FMGE (MCI screening test) from these two countries Russia and China range between 15-20%. But in case of students from Philippines medical colleges, the passing percentage for Foreign Medical Graduate Exam(FMGE) is well above 50% because of similar disease spectrum.

Happiest hostel life

Shopping and Entertainment

Travel

Best college life

Protective Environment

Philippines Food & Accomodation

Philippines medical colleges provide excellent hostel accommodation for students coming from abroad. The rooms are furnished with every modern amenity. There is the provision of good hostel system with fully furnished rooms, quite study environment as well as recreation center.

Dormitory rooms at hostel can accommodate 2 or 3 students in a room. Hostels offer the perfect environment for study. Students have access to 24 hour emergency medical services.After witnessing the migration of many Indian students towards Philippines, a lot of local Indian restaurants have come up that offer luscious Indian food. Otherwise, the availability of common kitchen helps the students to cook whatever they like to. Cooking Indian food independently is the best way to enjoy it. Study MBBS in Philippines.

Philippines Climate

There are four recognized climate types in the Philippines, and they are based on the distribution of rainfall. The Climate of the Philippines is either tropical rainforest, tropical savanna or tropical monsoon, or humid subtropical (in higher-altitude areas) characterized by relatively high temperature, oppressive humidity and plenty of rainfall. Study MBBS in Philippines.

Philippines Culture

The culture of the Philippines is a combination of cultures of the East and West. Education in the Philippines has been influenced by Western and Eastern ideology and philosophy from the United States, Spain, and its neighbouring Asian countries. Study MBBS in Philippines.

Eligibility for sudying medicine in Philippines

Aggregate marks of 50% in Physics, Chemistry, Biology

Should have passed in NEET

TOP RANKING MEDICAL COLLEGES IN PHILIPPINES APPROVED BY CHED AND LISTED IN MCI

Davao medical school foundation

Lyceum Northwestern University

University of Northern Philippines

Our Lady of Fatima University

UV Gullas college of medicine

University of Santo Tomas

Emilio aguinaldo college

South western university

St Lukes college of medicine

Ama school of medicine

University of Perpetual help system dalta

Cebu doctors university

De la salle University

Pamantasan ng lungsod ng maynila

Angeles University

Xaviers university

Bicol christian college of medicine

Iloilo doctors college of medicine

San beda college

West visayas state university

University of saint la salle

Silliman university

#mbbs in philippines #mbbsabroad #mbbs admission #mbbs2020 #study mbbs in philippines #best medical college

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scifigeneration · 4 years

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How big will the coronavirus epidemic be? An epidemiologist updates his concerns

by Maciej F. Boni

A security guard wears gloves while holding a basketball during halftime of an NBA game in Houston on March 5, 2020. The NBA has told players to avoid high-fiving fans and to avoid taking any item for autographs. AP Photo/David J. Phillip

The Harvard historian Jill Lepore recounted recently in The New Yorker magazine that when democracies sink into crisis, the question “where are we going?” leaps to everyone’s mind, as if we were waiting for a weather forecast to tell us how healthy our democracy was going to be tomorrow. Quoting Italian philosopher Benedetto Croce, Lepore writes that “political problems are not external forces beyond our control; they are forces within our control. We need solely to make up our own minds and to act.”

And so it is with the coronavirus epidemic. How big will this epidemic be? How many people will it infect? How many Americans will die? The answers to these questions are not written in stone. They are partially within our control, assuming we are willing to take the responsibility to act with commitment, urgency and solidarity.

I am an epidemiologist with eight years of field experience, including time on the front lines of the isolation and quarantine efforts during the 2009 swine flu pandemic. One month ago, I was under the impression that the death reports due to COVID-19 circulation in China were giving us an unfair picture of its mortality rate. I wrote a piece saying that the death rate of an emerging disease always looks bad in the early stages of an outbreak, but is likely to drop once better data become available. After waiting for eight weeks, I am now worried that these new data – data indicating that the virus has a low fatality rate – may not arrive.

Young passengers wear masks on a high-speed train in Hong Kong, Wednesday, Jan. 22, 2020. At that time, it was hard to know how dangerous the virus would be. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung) AP Photo/Kin Cheung

Case fatality rate and infection fatality rate

By Jan. 31 2020, China had reported a total of 11,821 cases of COVID-19 and 259 deaths; that’s about a 2% case fatality rate. Two weeks later, the tally had risen to more than 50,000 cases and 1,524 deaths, corresponding to about 3% case fatality (the rise in the case fatality is expected as deaths always get counted later than cases). For an easily transmissible disease, a 2% or 3% fatality rate is extremely dangerous.

However, case fatality rates are computed using the officially reported numbers of 11,821 cases or 50,000 cases, which only include individuals who (a) experience symptoms; (b) decide that their symptoms are bad enough to merit a hospital visit; and (c) choose a hospital or clinic that is able to test and report cases of coronavirus.

Surely, there must have been hundreds of thousands cases, maybe a million cases, that had simply gone uncounted.

First, some definitions from Steven Riley at Imperial College. The infection fatality rate (IFR) gives the probability of dying for an infected person. The case fatality rate (CFR) gives the probability of dying for an infected person who is sick enough to report to a hospital or clinic. CFR is larger than IFR, because individuals who report to hospitals are typically more severely ill.

If China’s mid-February statistic of 1,524 deaths had occurred from 1 million infections of COVID-19 (counting all symptomatic and asymptomatic infections), this would mean that the virus had an infection fatality rate of 0.15%, about three times higher than seasonal influenza virus; this is a concern but not a crisis.

The IFR is much more difficult to estimate than the CFR. The reason is that it is hard to count people who are mildly ill or who show no symptoms at all. If you are able to count and test everybody – for example, on a cruise ship, or in a small community – then you may be able to paint a picture of what fraction of infections are asymptomatic, mild, symptomatic and severe.

Scientists working at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, Imperial College London and the Institute for Disease Modeling have used these approaches to estimate the infection fatality rate. Currently, these estimates range from 0.5% to 0.94% indicating that COVID-19 is about 10 to 20 times as deadly as seasonal influenza. Evidence coming in from genomics and large-scale testing of fevers is consistent with these conclusions. The only potentially good news is that the epidemic in Korea may ultimately show a lower CFR than the epidemic in China.

A quarantined cruise ship in Japan at the Yokohama Port in Yokohama, near Tokyo, Feb. 9, 2020. Cruise and airline bookings are down as a result of the coronavirus. AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko

Impact of the epidemic in the US

Now that new COVID-19 cases are being detected in the U.S. every day, it is too late to stop the initial wave of infections. The epidemic is likely to spread across the U.S. The virus appears to be about as contagious as influenza. But this comparison is difficult to make since we have no immunity to the new coronavirus.

On balance, it is reasonable to guess that COVID-19 will infect as many Americans over the next year as influenza does in a typical winter – somewhere between 25 million and 115 million. Maybe a bit more if the virus turns out to be more contagious than we thought. Maybe a bit less if we put restrictions in place that minimize our travel and our social and professional contacts.

The bad news is, of course, that these infection numbers translate to 350,000 to 660,000 people dying in the U.S., with an uncertainty range that goes from 50,000 deaths to 5 million deaths. The good news is that this is not a weather forecast. The size of the epidemic, i.e., the total number of infections, is something we can reduce if we decrease our contact patterns and improve our hygiene. If the total number of infections decreases, the total number of deaths will also decrease.

What science cannot tell us right now is exactly which measures will be most effective at slowing down the epidemic and reducing its impact. If I stop shaking hands, will that cut my probability of infection by a half? A third? Nobody knows. If I work from home two days a week, will this reduce my probability of infection by 40%? Maybe. But we don’t even know the answer to that.

What we should prepare for now is reducing our exposures – i.e., our chances of coming into contact with infected people or infected surfaces – any way that we can. For some people this will mean staying home more. For others it will mean adopting more stringent hygiene practices. An extreme version of this exposure reduction – including mandatory quarantine, rapid diagnosis and isolation, and closing of workplaces and schools – seems to have worked in Hubei province in China, where the epidemic spread appears to have slowed down.

For now, Americans need to prepare themselves that the next 12 months are going to look very different. Vacations may have to be canceled. Social interactions will look different. And risk management is something we’re going to have to think about every morning when we wake up. The coronavirus epidemic is not going to extinguish itself. It is not in another country. It is not just the cold and flu. And it is not going away.

About The Author:

Maciej F. Boni is Associate Professor of Biology, Pennsylvania State University

This article is republished from our content partners over at The Conversation under a Creative Commons license.

#science #medicine #covid-19 #coronavirus

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fineillsignup · 5 years

Note

In the most recent chapter of the Instructress, Sima Zhao is worried about choosing a style name for Wen Yan. So in my understanding you were given a style name once you reached adulthood, and since, in story Wen Yang is only 19 and Zhao needs to think of a name for him before he turns 20. So was 20 the age when you legally became an adult in the three kingdoms period? If so could people who weren’t adults join/be drafted into the military? Sorry for asking another question again so soon.

Somebody: can I ask you a question about the Three Kingdoms—

Me, already on day four of my marathon lecture:

Yeah NEVER worry about bothering me with a question about Chinese history. I jump those straight to the head of the queue. I have questions in my askbox for Naruto meta from 2018.

Okay so you need clarification on a background issue first that is not widely known outside East Asian.

Traditional East Asian Age Reckoning

In the Old Days, in East Asia (at least China, Korea, and Japan, I can’t speak beyond that, but I’m guessing anywhere that uses a variation on the Chinese lunisolar calendar), birthdays based on the individual day of birth were not considered important in terms of age, even though they were very important for calculating one’s horoscope (right down to the hour of birth). So it’s not like people didn’t know what day and hour someone was born, they just… didn’t consider it relevant to how old they were? I know this is kind of hard to get your head around, but stick with me.

When a child is born, he or she is considered one year old. This is because time in the womb is counted and then essentially rounded up.

Then on the seventh day of the (Chinese) New Year, it is Renri 人日 “human day”, aka “humanity’s birthday”. Everyone gets one year older on Renri. T

Let’s look at the two extremes, with the understand that most people fall in between them.

A woman gives birth to a baby on the sixth day of the New Year. This newborn is one year old. The next day is Renri. The two-day old baby is considered two years old. On the next Renri they will turn three, then four, and so on, you understand how positive integers work.

The other extreme is a baby born on the eighth day of the New Year. Again, the day it is born, it is one year old. The next Renri rolls around roughly twelve (Western calendar) months later. This roughly one year old toddler is also two years old.

All of the ancient Chinese histories are written using this age system. So you need to subtract one year, minimum, from everyone’s age as written in the San Guo Zhi to get what their Western/modern age would be, and it could be that they are as much as two years younger than that.

So. Twenty is for men the age of adulthood, but “twenty” actually means “between 18 and 19″. So it wasn’t all that much different from our modern definition of legal adulthood. At this age, men would be “capped”, which was a coming-of-age ceremony where they would symbolically wear adult headwear for the first time and receive their “style name” 字. A style name is how peers address each other, because one’s given name is generally considered something that only people who have authority over you should use.

(How about women, you ask? More complicated, partly because ancient Chinese were constantly like “Women? Why would we want to write about women???” Confucian texts stated that the ideal marriage age for women was eighteen [16-17]; fourteen [12-13] was generally considered the minimum. A woman seemed to basically be considered an adult when she married, whenever that was for her. I can’t recall any women whose ages are recorded [most aren’t] who weren’t teenagers at first marriage, mostly 15-17 by Western reckoning.)

In my fiction, I stick to using Western numbers to describe people’s ages for simplicity of understanding, and I also mostly use given names to an inaccurate extent for similar reasons. Non-Chinese struggle to remember Chinese names to begin with, not simply “they’re not trying hard enough” (See note one below).

So I’m going for a kind of blend of modern West and traditional East here, inspired by how modern Japan handles it (see note 2). Wen Yang is 19, so he’ll be turning twenty next year, so the Renri of that year he will come of age. However, obviously, he’s been fighting as a soldier for years already. We’re told that Ling Tong received his dead father’s troops when he was fifteen, ie 13-14, and it certainly appears like he actually started leading them, if not immediately, then certainly well before age eighteen.

Common people were even less written about then noble women, but I’d bet any sum you like that a substantial number of the troops in the Three Kingdoms era on every side were teenagers, many of whom doubtless died before they ever came of age. Why, ancient China? Why are you making girls get married and boys die in war, they’re far too young for these things???

1. A typical Westerner will much more easily remember someone named Tom or Shaniqua or Jesus or Tatyana than someone named Mengde; the issue is that all of these names fit into “name boxes” that our brains, linguistically, are familiar with and understand. Pinyin representation of Chinese also strips out a lot of linguistic information that helps make Chinese names distinct from each other to Chinese speakers. A Chinese speaker looks at 曹孟德 and every character is associated not only with the sounds cao / meng / de but also tones cao2 / meng4 / de2 and meanings and cultural context: Cao, a very common surname; Meng, a common component in style names; De, virtue, which has a meaning connection to Cao 操, conduct. So for a Chinese speaker to remember that 曹孟德 Cao Mengde and 曹操 Cao Cao are the same person is objectively much easier than for a non-Chinese speaker to remember that. Non-Chinese would have as difficult a time keeping track of characters in a story where they were all named random syllables. You will eventually figure it out and remember, of course! But it will take longer and that’s okay!!! That’s just BRAINS, people!

2. Now in modern Japan, for example, when they adopted the Western calendar, they didn’t bother changing the age of adulthood; instead, in Japan, the Western age twenty is now the age of adulthood, including for the coming-of-age ceremony. Modern Japanese hold their Coming of Age Ceremony 成人式 for people who are turning twenty by Western calendar.)

#because we're ancient china #and life is a nightmare!#chinese history #three kingdoms #chinese names #style names #coming of age ceremony #east asian age reckoning #chinese culture #EXTREME pedantry #this is precious roy! buy my chinese historical fiction! suckers!#the instructress #historical accuracy? i don't know her #see the joke is that i do know her but i don't let it get in the way of a good time #i'm here for a good time not an accurate time #i should have a tag for asks

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