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gla55t33th · 1 month

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anymore angel vox? :3 how does he interact with other characters! /nf!

i am currently in Sketch Hell as i would describe it so ill be reblogging later when i can Draw but. Ramble under the cut

Firstoff i made the design because of a handful of fics which i read and stupidly forgot to save . Namely the one where he died for alastor, angelic interference, and the one where they made a fuckup on the books. (Ill get back when i find their names) . I just wanted to make the design for the sake of it and try to make his looks fit heaven and also my interpretation of vox, so hes intended to look almost like a character youd see on an old tv show but a bit more suave. I also wanted a space age head because i mean thats The Period of innovation and while there were certainly similar designs while he was alive its more symbolic of progress than actual progress. Then my brain started doing its thing and when i start thinking about anything for more than five seconds i get a bunch of pins and red string and become a full blown theorist who needs to connect everything to worldbuilding or ill die

so. I started a fic and if you find it you find it :]

ANYWAY! CLAPS MY HANDS

my angel vox.

Point the first! this isnt a vox goes straight to heaven, its canon divergence. Vox dies, goes to hell, and at the peak of his messy hell career he dies again and goes to heaven. Vox is not redeemed.

2. Vox is powerless. Heaven equalises people. It has rules, a lot of rules, and these are sown straight into their reality which cant be broken. He does however have free will and a silver tongue.

3. I think vox and sera would get along surprisingly well when it came to it. Sera is a 'tough love' sort of character, and does believe shes doing good in spite of it all, and is willing to do lesser evils. Vox cares about nothing but numbers and outcomes. This means that if they share a goal a lot of their approaches would also be shared, and i think theyd be fond of that.

4. Vox despises heaven. Just the fundamental concept of it. He does enjoy a struggle and he does enjoy pain, thats the point of being alive to him. Or well. dead. Its an uphill battle but its his uphill battle to fight. Also he just needs something to keep him occupied at all given times or he might just snap #adhd

4a. He also hates the residents, mostly because of very well earned trust issues how its not fun to talk to any of them. They just say whatever theyre thinking, no song and dance, no fine print, and vox loves fine print and searching for hidden meanings.

5. Emily is nice and almost tolerable but he would absolutely throw her off a bridge if it benefited him without second thought. He hates how much of a bleeding heart she is, but that seems to be a trait of everyone up there

6. Vox's relationship with himself is a complex mess. It always has been and heaven made it worse. Not only did it revert his body to how it was when he first fell but Angel Edition, hes barely mechanical anymore- and while being a good part machine was all part of hells punishment at the start for various psyche reasons (as well as how inconvenient it was) he had grown to worship and love his inorganic nature, and how much better it was than his faulty body . I have headcanons about that but that falls under spoiler territory for Said Fic. But heaven handing him back his flesh and blood is a massive massive violation of his boundaries and the moment he stops and actually starts thinking about what the hell has happened hes gonna break

7. The vees think vox is dead dead. Angel!vox would... have a strained relationship if he were to meet like that. On one hand, hes vox! Their vox! But like this he can't be his usual overlord self and while he trusts them enough to view them as friends, he wouldn't be able to face them as partners like this; business or otherwise. Hes horribly powerless and they need him on his A game.

8. Alastor (angel!vox punches the ground and eats drywall)

#hazbin hotel vox #hazbin hotel #Vox #Does this make sense? WHO KNOWS! SLEEP DEPRIVED RAMBLINGS OF AN AUTIST

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dantexxorihara · 9 months

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I feel like life could be less hectic/difficult. If society drove the idea of passion instead of survival. For me the only thing that drives me is money or work. Because I need it to exist. but because I'm existing for the sake of making money only to exist because the need of money. Kind of becomes a catch 22 kind of loop. Because if i could exist without the need of money. Then currently my life would lack any sort of purpose.

I think if money and a stable existence was easier to achieve for 90% of the population. It probably would give rise to more wide spread chaos. And what I mean by that look at how Elon musk is living. he has literally anything a person could want and could literally just retire and fade into obscurity.

And he isnt happy but arriving at the level of achieving what most people don't even achieve in a single life becomes an empty achievement. Life isn't about reaching goals but striving for passions and understanding.

Makes me think life is intentional intricately challenging not to learn the lesson of hard work. Because hardwork only gets you so far as well as theirs not a spot at the the top for everyone who works hard. They need you to spite to the people who just couldn't "work" as hard as you. But we're equal right?

But it's all to qualm humanity urge for something to "work" towards. because without something to focus on. We naturally seek a challenge or purpose or reasoning and end up producing chaos.

They don't leave it up to people finding their passion for participation in our society. Because regardless if you like what you do or not you're either going to be part of the system or you're going to run the system. In fact it's in their plans to distract people from finding passion. They need more workers not innovative minds. I can no longer blame people for not playing anymore or just choosing to leaving the game altogether.

#dante speaks #thoughts to the ether #society #I'm tired #Ranting #Venting #Does anyone else understand?

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cosmosees · 4 months

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technology very rarely feels like its being innovated for usefulness anymore half the shit i see is just novelty for noveltys sake. like you know those dual screen flip phones right? theyll be pretty damaged just by regular use because- shocker- a glass screen isnt meant to bend and they didnt put normal hinges on it because they wanted it to be one big screen. for the aestheticism of it

#cosmo.txt

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bigwiglesbrain · 3 years

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“ao3 is a genuinely innovative platform that lets you filter out any and all content that you don’t want (as long as the authors tagged right) which is an important ability for any archive or writing website to have, and is the easiest way to access fanfic as of right now”,

and “ao3 hasn’t done anything with the money donated and has been in beta for years, someone really should investigate this”,

and “ao3 houses pedophilic, racist, and homophobic content and NEEDS to get its shit together and ban/delete authors and works that do this, and should 100% be held accountable for these actions and people who are uncomfortable with ao3 absolutely have a reason to not want to engage with the site” are all ideas that can and absolutely must coexist.

#innovative isnt the right word i just got home from work sue me #broken up for accessibility #you can reblog :)#i encourage it actually bc i am so so tired of ao3 drama #for the record: i agree with the side that ao3 should be held accountable for the disgusting shit that #they leave on their site without consequences the most. while i use ao3 i adamantly discourage donating to them until they do something #about it and even then we should know what theyre doing with our money bc its certainly not fucking updating the site #and the first point …. really is not …. as much of a gotcha people think … if anything it makes me suspicious of you!!! ao3 isnt some #godly site its a fanfiction archive. yes its the most popular fic site yes its tagging system is one of the best ive ever seen but its not #as if its the most amazing site in the world like people make it out to be. its still in beta for gods sake.#sorry for going on a rant i am just tired of people treating the situation all black and white bc its not. yes one side has more nuance and #has many better points than the other its still a gray situation like yk. almost all conflicts are

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sanstropfremir · 2 years

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you said before that there is more emphasis for 4th gen to do harder dance routines as their performances whereas for 2nd gen they had to be entertaining. and i know brave girls isnt technically 2nd gen but being one of the older groups at mama, gawd was there such a difference in energy. they were so fun!!! this might just be me being old because there was a recent article that pointed out there were a lot of good dancers from 4th gen but no one with star power (as opposed to the previous gens) and netizens were mad, saying that this is something only 2nd gen listeners will say (lol). like i wanna give these newer groups the benefit of the doubt - they're still relatively new and haven't had much experience performing in front of an audience (esp aespa) but idt they will last long enough that they would be able to develop themselves with great (or interesting enough) stage presence. majority of 3rd gen groups didn't make it even though when they disbanded they were at their peaks.

honestly part of it is me being old too, but also it's not like i haven't spent literal years training in performing arts so i'm allowed to have opinions in this instance.

obviously there is a sort of 'golden oldies' rose coloured glasses that second and third gen fans have, because the groups that have stuck around are the ones that had the staying power, and it hasn't been long enough for the fourth gen groups to get whittled down in the same way. i do agree with you that not all of them are gonna be able to hack it because truly, there isn't as much innovation in presence and power as younger fans think there is. and that article is right, fourth gen is lacking in people with real star power. and i know i've said this a lot before too, but star power absolutely requires training. to be good on variety and good at being an entertainer is a skill, and when these companies are running their idols like overworked racehorses just for dance training, who's got the time to teach them how to be good variety guests? and with the whole 'authentic' content thing, groups can just produce their own shows for youtube or for vlive and never actually have to set foot on a studio set where they actually gotta be funny or they'll get cut out of broadcast. vlives and ig lives and company produced youtube contents are great and really fun, but with the way that kpoppies are built nowadays, there's almost NO stakes with this type of content. idols probably still feel the pressure that they have to be entertaining but there's always gonna be that core base that will gas up anything they do regardless of how actually good it is. it's the whole thing i talked about with skz and kingdom; if you don't let things flop, artists have no way of tangibly improving because they don't know that they're doing anything wrong. and improvment comes from failure.

another take that's probably nuclear grade but i don't care at this point: artist and celebrity are mutually exclusive. if someone is deeply dedicated to being an artist, of any kind, they are not interested in being a celebrity. they may be fine with being a celebrity by proxy, but they are never doing the work in pursuit of the fame, they are doing the work for the sake of the art. take dance, for example. there are very few celebrity or famous dancers that are actually considered top of their fields. or contemporary artists; many of them actively balk social media. most truly good actors are deeply weird people and/or 'ugly' and would never make it into the hollywood sphere. i think people have generally forgotten because of his ubiquity and impact on the industy, but taemin was notorious for being horrible on variety shows. and honestly he still is; he's a weird gremlin who does and says weird shit constantly and has a very clear boundary of what people are allowed to see of his life, which is nothing. there are some idols that are good celebrities and good artists, but it's like one of those triangles where you can only pick two; you have to sacrifice on something. key is an excellent artist and a great variety star; is he as good a dancer as taemin is? no, but that's fine. that's not the type of artist he is, he's not interested in pushing the limits of his dance abilties, he keeps them sharp because they are a tool in which to help him achieve his other goals. but with these fourth gens, fans have inflated ideas of what their idols are capable of, because they're expecting them to be master of all trades, when the actual saying is 'jack of all trades, master of none'.

#kpop questions #god i feel like im repeating myself over and over again screaming ITS OK FOR IDOLS TO BE NOT GOOD AT THINGS #everybody has different skills!!! there's a reason why perfomance is collaborative!!!!#i wanna beat this into kpoppies heads SO bad #this is not me condoning the practices of variety because holy shit it was SO awful to idols for SO long #but sometimes the best way to learn is to run the fucking gauntlet #tbh imo key uses his celebrity AS an artistic tool but also he's absolutely an outlier and there's very very few people that are doing this #like off the top of my head? damian hirst? maybe banksy? it's a very difficult line to walk and a lot of people are not successful at it #like maaaaaaaaybe kanye but also that's got a whole other part to it #extremely unpopular opinion damian hirst is actually one of my favourite artists #i respect him and absolutely do not respect him at the same time. its complicated #taemin meta #key w #text #answers #TBH this is also probably a hot take but like.......some of these fourth gen boys are gonna burn themselves out #trying to be the next taemin or kai when the reality is that they wont ever get there. but then they also wont have any other skills #because of the way that companies are training them #like kai and taemin both managed to get entertaining but it took YEARS for the both of them and it only happened #bc their groups were insanely popular and cemented themselves as industry staples. they basically had no option to be off camera #and even then theyre still very weird people #honestly my hottest take of this is that i don't actually care if idols are good dancers. i would rather them be good performers #theyre never going to reach the level of a professional dancer and that's fine. focus on the thing that makes your industry unique babes #this is my thing about enhypen. like yes their choreo is good but like. name me a single one of them. who are they #like the choreo for drunk dazed is good!! but its SO boring to watch!!!!#ok im done ranting i think. well probably not but i should stop

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nothoughtsnoya · 2 years

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realized ive never made a real actual ushiasa post here outside of stupid posting so. Here Is My UshiAsa Manifesto

i genuinely believe that asahi and ushijima would balance each other out and complement each other in a really interesting way while also having a fun parallel and thematic question around what it means to be The Ace at the core of their relationship. i mean my main thing in the simplest terms is that i think asahi really benefits from being around straightforward people, and ushijima really benefits from being around people who are willing to take the step to realize that his bluntness isnt malicious, its just. bluntness.

to explain a little more, though: asahi is the kind of person who hyper analyzes and overthinks everything; on one hand, it feeds into his anxiety and makes him second guess everything, but on the other, it makes him really good at trying to figure out what exactly the people around him are thinking, and it means that when he isn’t anxious out of his mind, he really takes the time to think about what he wants to say and do.

ushijima, conversely, doesnt consider very heavily what other people might be thinking, or how his words might be misconstrued, because why would they be when he says exactly what he means? frankly, that’s kind of on other people for reading into subtext he really isnt adding, but it also results in him not initially understanding a lot of what other people do and say, because he expects them to be exactly like himself—straightforward and no-nonsense. but when he's around people who either are like him or at least understand his nature, he's able to really connect.

the interesting thing comes in that, well, i dont think they would necessarily get along at first. asahi would be doing exactly what he shouldnt—reading too far into ushijima’s words, and assuming they’re somehow malicious—and ushijima wouldn’t understand or like asahi’s flightiness and anxious rambling. but i think given some time and interaction, they would actually benefit a lot from being around each other. once asahi could realize ushijima only ever says what he means, and really isn’t rude, he just holds strong beliefs and defends them with full confidence, he’d probably really appreciate knowing for certain that he doesn’t have any reason to overthink it. and once asahi gets comfortable, i think ushijima in turn would appreciate that asahi takes the care to really think about what he wants to say, as well as being observant enough of him and other people to be able to kind of act as a second perspective in a way that isnt hostile or condescending. even if ushijima doesn’t necessarily agree with everything, i think that he would find asahi interesting rather than inscrutable. they'd be able to take each other seriously, not belittling or dismissing each other's quirks, but because they aren't, like, the same, they also wouldn't take it all too seriously; they'd just be able to kind of spot each others weaknesses while acknowledging their strengths, if that makes sense. maybe not even weaknesses and strengths, just. differences. points of view. that kind of thing, you know? just… being able to pick each others brains about their differences, without that confrontational aspect.

and when it comes to volleyball…

i mean, their takes on each other wrt to volleyball would largely depend on when they started interacting, but. i think in general, ushijima kind of represents what asahi thinks he should be as the ace, and asahi represents a strength in the midst of chaos that ushijima really respects. you could say its as simple as the core conflict between karasuno and shiratorizawa as a whole—simple, pure power vs innovation and evolution—but i think it goes deeper than that, too. while ushijima cares about pure power for powers sake, it isn’t necessarily just, like, a pride thing. it kind of is, but it also has to do with a core belief that a team is as strong as its ace, and a desire on his part to be the last resort, the paragon of strength, the pillar his team can rely on no matter what. and that driving force, that need to be strong for the sake of the team, is what asahi tries so hard but feels he fails at. But on the other hand, asahi doesn’t actually fail at it—he just doesn’t have the confidence to see that. but to make up for it, he’s able to adapt with the rest of the team and keep growing and growing so he doesn’t get left behind. I think ushijima would be able to see asahi’s simple, pure strength and help him see it for himself, and I think asahi would be able to show ushijima a different kind of strength without being so directly confrontational about it as, say, oikawa or hinata.

honestly i guess i just really really really like the idea of ushijima seeing asahi as, like, the only member of karasuno who's normal, and then having that idea turned on its head and needing to reevaluate what it means to be Strong. and asahi seeing ushijima as everything he ever wanted to be, and then actually interacting with him and seeing the human behind that and coming to understand him as just, like, some guy who really, really, really likes volleyball instead of some untouchable monster on the court, and that making him reevaluate how he thinks.

also. final and arguably most important point for my case:

I Just Think They Are So, So Cute Together

#ushiasa #ushijima wakatoshi #azumane asahi #haikyuu!!#ummmm.#ushijima x asahi #i feel soooo silly using an 'x' tag in 2021 but like. what am i gonna do. its a rarepair with characters who dont even interact #anyway. i like them a wholeeeee lot #obv this is very silly and just for funsies but i just. have many thoughts and i luv luv luv thinking about unexplored character dynamics #like. am i stretching? yes but literally when am i not #anyway tldr i think asahi and ushijima would (after a period of awkward strained interaction) find a lot of comfort in each other's company #because once they understand each other just a little bit the way they communicate and think about the world would complement each other #and under all that would be a little flame of competition and rivalry that would push them both forward #and i love them soooooo so so much <333333 #FINALLY getting close to finishing the next chapter of my fic for them so i. ofc. decided to write this instead #but its fine we're getting there i prommy <///3 #its not even that good of a chapter after all this time i really Really need to just get it out and move on.#AUGHHHHHH i hate writing. anyway thats not what this post is about this is supposed to just be ushiasa propaganda #one thoughts #slightly edited a couple points since this was posted just to make myself clearer btw #bc there were some things i think i didnt quite word right to express what i meant.#mainly about them both genuinely finding each other Interesting and approachable if that makes sense lol

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oflgtfol · 2 years

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like, i acknowledge that i’m biased here, but i think astronomy research should always have funding. astronomy has always paved the way of technological innovation that can be applied to many normal things in your daily life, and it provides an alternate perspective on ground-based scientific issues (ie, NASA’s vested interest in observing climate change from space, despite climatology seeming to not have any sort of intersection with astronomy). and of course there’s always the far-off (or maybe not so far) threat of an asteroid impact to where we need an escape off earth in order to ensure the survival of our species…. but honestly even besides all the tangible results i just think it’s important in a, spiritual? cultural way? in the same way that libraries not only provide tangible resources for their communities, the fact that libraries exist at all are a strong sign that we as a society value knowledge enough to invest in these institutions for no other reason than that knowledge is important. which is such a strong value to have, and if you say that it’s not worth the cost then you’re frankly out of your mind. anyone would look at you like youre crazy to say that knowledge isnt an important value to uphold. LIKEWISE, investing in astronomy research is important for the exact same reason - yes, it has tangible results for society at large, but it’s also important to fund for no other reason than that knowledge is important. astronomy helps us better understand not only the vast universe around us, but also even the small world we live in. it is knowledge for knowledge’s sake and you’re out of your mind to say that isn’t an important endeavor!!!

BUT. that does not mean we should be funding astronomy over other public programs like, i dont know, making sure people have fucking food and shelter. astronomy is so so important in a spiritual, cultural, historical, scientific way, but ultimately it DOES produce less tangible advantages than spending more directly for the public good. you wouldn’t spend money on books before food, right? so funding libraries, astronomy research, etc before actual like, food programs would be insane

but the thing that gets me is that the two can coexist. the government spends comparatively SO LITTLE on scientific funding, especially for astronomy, that any arguments that the space program is a waste of money that could go towards the public good is always in bad faith to me. especially because astro funding pretty much is only ever going towards like, three telescopes. three telescopes, for the entire damn US astro community to use, and that the entire worldwide community will ultimately benefit from too! three measly telescopes is all we ask for and it is a drop in the bucket compared to the *COUGH COUGH* MILITARY BUDGET. when you complain about the public space program as something that diverts funds from public good programs it is always deeply suspicious to me because you’re basically arguing to defund libraries instead of taking like five pennies out of the inflated military budget to basically solve hunger in the US

…….. but then you have these private companies that do go so above and beyond in a gross way. they aren’t looking to fund three measly telescopes. no, they want to fucking colonize mars entirely. it’s huge. it’s egotistical. and it is so wildly expensive. and those same funds could go towards basically solving hunger damn near worldwide but instead they’re going towards these absolutely INSANE endeavors that we are in no position to pursue yet as a whole species. fucking colonizing mars when we haven’t even landed a person on the moon in decades. and then you have people who conflate funding astro research (the realistic research such as like, constructing new telescopes) with funding fucking planetary colonization, and they argue that the two are the same and the two are both equally worthy of funding at this point in time - nay, they even say that planetary colonization is MORE important than the realistic telescope approach!!! and it’s just so . ugh

TL;DR astronomy is SO important to fund and arguing otherwise is deeply suspicious to me. but also you have to recognize WHAT astro research is being funded. it’s so important to fund the projects that are actually doable at this point in time, such as telescopes and preliminary exploration such as landing on the moon or mars temporarily. any funding that goes towards permanent settlement other than earth IS in fact, that gross waste of money that people love to accuse the humble little telescopes of being

#this is a rant. idk if it makes sense #basically spending billions towards NASA and NSF - good ! yay!#spending billions towards like spacex and elon musk’s boyhood dreams of colonizing mars - BAD !!!!#BUT WAY TOO OFTEN people have it the other way around #like realistic astro research that has scientific merit valuable to society as a whole - BAD !!!#funding elon musk’s boyhood dreams - GOOD !!!#like. UGH. WHAT IS WRONG WITH U #brot posts #astro posting #this is a huge post i should probably reread for clarity but its so huge that i simly do not want to #i wrote it all in one 10 minute frenzy. im gonna keep it that way

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andymull · 4 years

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WWE Wrestlemania 36 - Preview & Predictions

Heeeeeyyyyy heeeeeeeyyyyyy its Wrestlemania....fighting to survive....

............. Coronavirus, social distancing, injuries, sickness, poor booking, late booking changes, trying to get people to pay $60 on PPV instead of free on the Network, etc etc etc

Brock Lesnar (c) vs Drew McIntyre: WWE Championship Match

I really really feel for Drew here, probably the most out of anyone on the show with the lack of an audience as well as the lack of crowds being able to watch in Scotland in bars at the Hooked On Wrestling events, as they would have been SUPERB for both atmosphere and something they would show constantly on tv after the win.

But no, sadly instead of holding this off till later in the year we still have to proceed and deal with it, gutted.

I feel this match could go 25 minutes long and be one of Brock’s longest matches for awhile, in them asking Brock to make Drew look THE STAR in beating him and beating him well. Plus, they cant have both this AND the Goldberg match go less than 5 minutes.....can they?

Wish they would have gone OTT with this and had it filmed at Lesnar’s ranch and be falls count anywhere, Drew turns up saying nothing will stop him from winning the title so he’s there to claim his prize on Brock’s turf. Then gone made fighting around the farm, oh well there’s other matches on this show that will seemingly be booked to shit.

Drew wins, they need to make sure he then moves into feuds with big names and wins clean each time to really invest it all into Drew and see what happens - MCINTYRE

Goldberg (c) vs Braun Strowman: WWE Universal Championship Match

What is there to be said here, Roman had to drop out because they stupidly had him around sick people with his health past, they decide to replace him with Braun who last month lost his title to Sami Zayn, not to mention they didnt even announce it till Smackdown last night without even mentioning Reigns by name after having HHH announce earlier in the week it would be done in an interesting way.............

This should go short with ideally Braun going over, have Bill take the lead hitting all his offense, big spear then as he goes to lift him for the Jackhammer he cant lift him and Strowman bursts out of it hits his finish and pins him clean while in monster mode.

Braun starts the big push from nowhere while at the same time this leaves it open for Goldberg to potentially come back for a rematch, as he didnt have anytime to prepare for Strowman and his game-plan for the bout. Not that I want Bill always around the title scene when he turns up but if they can get Braun going over him clean twice it really helps out a current full time guy under contract WHAT A CLEVER IDEA THAT WOULD BE!!! lol - STROWMAN

The Undertaker vs AJ Styles

I really have no desire to see Taker in a big singles match at Wrestlemania or any other big show ever again, let alone it being in a match with AJ who could have an awesome match with most others on the card. This match should really have turned into the OC vs Taker/Aleister Black if they HAD to go with these guys together, the rub that would have given Black would have been MASSIVE!! Imagine the innovative entrance they could have come up with for both guys together, truly letting Taker pass his aura across to someone new....just goosebumps thinking of how they would look....but nope.

Instead we end up with a feud built around shoot promos about Takers wife doing AJ’s Styles Clash finisher.....

The worst part is that I see Taker going over, not sure if it was confirmed but it was mentioned he’d have 2 others with him who most likely will turn the tide of the match, dont get your hopes up for Black here instead, im guessing its Kane and Big Show....seriously....please be wrong - UNDERTAKER

John Cena vs The Fiend Bray Wyatt

I really wish if they are going to bring back guys who haven't been on the road full time then PLEASE bring them back with a solid storyline that makes sense and that’s been built up for awhile to make sense.....not this. Truthfully they need to build these matches with the sole purpose of having the other guys who could/should have been the spot to be able to turn around and say, ‘you know what, this makes alot of sense and will be great so I cant hold it against them and moan’. Honestly that’s all it needs.

And secondly they really are lucky there wont be a live audience there for the match, the cheers the Fiend would have received over Cena would have drove them wild in editing after trying to build Bray as the crazy heel.

After dropping the title Bray NEEDS the big win here to keep his aura something they can use well, the more they have him lose the quicker that appeal will drop, and for me with Wyatt that doesn't mean he can take loses as long as he isnt pinned like others can ANY loss hurts someone who can teleport (?!?!) - WYATT

Edge vs Randy Orton: Last Man Standing

Edge is the guy in second place behind Drew for me feeling gutted there wont be an audience around for this, imagine coming back after years away and the thought you could never wrestle again through fear of dying then finding you CAN wrestle again.........only to be risking it all in an empty building.....FUCKS SAKE!

This should be great and given the time to have the emotional side of it pour out strong, we should be getting Edge taking a beating to the point that Beth will come out to support him then have her feelings develop to the point she will want him to stay down and stop the pain. Yeah this will be great - EDGE

Becky Lynch (c) vs Shayna Baszler: Raw Women’s Championship Match

I dont think the result should be in question here, Shayna HAS to win and go on a dominant run with the belt, ideally booking Becky to come back in contention for SummerSlam to rematch.......sadly everything's in the air with the world.

For me, and remember those words, Becky’s reign has been abit of a meh fest in-ring, apart from the Sasha bouts, and the extra focus on her has highlighted her ring work which really isnt the strongest part of her game (Not saying she’s terrible at all, but could she please drop the awkward leg drop from the ropes lol). At the same time alot of that is down to how she’s booked as management seem to go on a few months run of wanting the women to be the main focus, then quickly changing their mind and dropping it back massively. Also, the lack of depth with the women’s division's is a problem with them being split over the shows, same with the men to a degree and is the reason we see feuds get dragged and dragged for months, with less women it means we hardly get anything that feels fresh which needs to be key - BASZLER

Lacey Evans vs Sasha Banks vs Bayley (c) vs Tamina vs Naomi - Smackdown Women’s Championship Fatal 5 Way Match

What a mess this is, I have no desire to see Banks/Bayley again for at least another 5 years...........but id much prefer that to having Tamina suddenly dragged on tv and put into the title picture. I get that the roster like her and she’s probably a really nice person to be around and supports the other women massively when needed, but for a viewer she brings NOTHING and hasn't for YEARS, all she’s doing is taking up a roster spot that someone way more deserving could be in from NXT for example. And yes, ive seen the random accounts on Twitter hoping she wins the title............jeez

Wouldn't have a problem with any of the other women taking the win here, sucks that Dana had to pull out as she has really shown improvements the past few months and deserved her place here easily - BANKS

Rhea Ripley (c) vs Charlotte: NXT Women’s Championship Match

So we definitely are back to saying ‘women’s’ champion again are we? They dropped it the other month but seem to have quickly gone back to it.

Big match for NXT here getting a Mania slot, I really hope that Charlotte doesn't get the win and belt but her winning opens up more fresh options for the future on the women’s division on the show. As long as Charlotte doesn't keep doing her thing of wearing massive heels in-ring to show how much bigger she is to everyone else, for some random reason it annoys me and doesn't need to even be done.

I feel if Charlotte does win the title they will very quickly move another NXT star over to Raw/Smackdown to replace her or hype a new debut upto the draft which MAY be soon - CHARLOTTE

Kevin Owens vs Seth Rollins

The problem with having so many matches at Wrestlemania is that one like this goes so far under the radar its criminal, both guys are great and can pull out something special for the big show....not sure they get the time they will want even with a two night show. This feud will most likely continue so dont worry about who goes over - ROLLINS

Sami Zayn (c) vs Daniel Bryan: Intercontinental Championship Match

Exactly the same as the match before and even more so, a quality match that probably wont get the most time but will be a really fun ride to be on - ZAYN

Jimmy Uso vs John Morrison vs Kofi Kingston: Smackdown Tag Team Title Ladder Match

Yeah dont ask, they had to remove the Miz as he had Coronavirus symptoms but still wanted to do the ladder stipulation...

Honestly the tag division has to be up there for the most stale division in the company, similar to what I said about the women having the Uso’s and The New Day in a match in any combination is just soooooo over done.

Last month I predicted Morrison and Miz to retain and drop the titles tonight but now I hope they keep them, then drop them to Heavy Machinery as soon as they can - MORRISON

The Street Profits (c) vs Austin Theory & Angel Garza: Raw Tag Team Championship Match

Love the SP’s but this really isnt needed in the slightest, I guess the next few matches will be exactly the same. - STREET PROFITS

Elias vs The Baron King

Exactly - Elias

Aleister Black vs Bobby Lashley

Please have Black go over quick - BLACK

Otis vs Dolph Ziggler

At last a match that deserves its spot on the card, a long term story that’s been developed well and is building to more with the stakes changed down the road. Easily an Otis win with Mandy ending up in his arms for the big smooch - OTIS

The Kabuki Warriors (c) vs Alexa Bliss & Nikki Cross: WWE Women’s Tag Team Championship Match

Lets throw the titles we’ve forgotten about on the show too!! Feel for all the women that have been around the title scene here since the belts came into existence, so much promise over multiple brands that went NOWHERE! - CROSS/BLISS

Kick Off Matches

Drew Gulak vs Cesaro

I think Gulak sneaks the win out with his TECHNIQUE!!! - GULAK

Natalya vs Liv Morgan

I hope Liv picks up the win and they give her more tv time and focus, Nattie winning doesnt really do much for anyone apart from her - MORGAN

2 nights, lots of matches, lots of things not needed get ready to be mildly hyped!!!

Enjoy

Bye for now

Andy

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orbemnews · 3 years

Link

High fees and pricey cowboy boots: Why crypto spending isn't about to go mainstream We’d spent lots of time discussing the various signs of market mania that had cropped up in the past year — including the rush into NFTs, the digital tokens feeding a boom in virtual art. My goals were simple: To spend far less than the $69 million ponied up for the first NFT artwork to sell at a major auction, and to get a chuckle out of my dad. In the end, buying him an image of a blue cartoon cat did not cost millions. But it was far more expensive than I expected. Why? Fees. Fees to buy the cryptocurrency ether, to transfer it to my crypto wallet, and to execute a purchase, which included an eye-popping mining charge due to congestion on the network. For my father’s sake, I’ll stay mum about how much I ultimately spent. I will say, given that the fees cost more than the NFT itself, it was more than I’d typically recommend shelling out for a quick laugh. Because I spend most of my time writing about finance, the episode also made me wonder: Between volatility and high transaction costs, do cryptocurrencies really have a future as a widespread means of spending? PayPal (PYPL) certainly thinks so. Last week, the online payment system launched a new “Checkout with Crypto” service. Customers with crypto holdings in their PayPal wallets will now be able to switch them to fiat currencies when making purchases. The company pledged “no additional transaction fees.” But even after addressing added costs, the massive run-up in the prices of popular cryptocurrencies like bitcoin and ether may make people hesitate to part ways with them. A video PayPal shared of CEO Dan Schulman purchasing a pair of ostrich boots inadvertently made this case. Schulman sold bitcoin at roughly $55,280 to buy a pair of $299 shoes. By Friday morning, however, bitcoin was worth more than $59,400. He may wish he’d just used his American Express. “I don’t think people are looking at it from a spending perspective. People are looking at it as an investment still,” Eleesa Dadiani, a London-based art dealer and crypto broker, told me. Dadiani had a simple message for people deciding whether to use bitcoin to buy items like a Tesla (TSLA): Don’t do it. “Why would you want to spend an appreciating asset on a depreciating product? It just makes no sense,” she said. Bill Zielke, the chief marketing officer at BitPay, which executes crypto transactions between businesses and consumers, agrees that fees remain a barrier. But there’s lots of innovation happening that could solve such problems, he said. “I think the industry is very aware that fees are something that has to be addressed for us to continue to see growth,” Zielke told me. On volatility, Zielke notes that customers can hedge their bets by holding multiple cryptocurrencies, or by liquidating some of their portfolio at an opportune moment. He acknowledged that there are still plenty of people in the crypto community who want to hold their coins — or HODL, in industry parlance — while they increase in value. But as bitcoin, ether and even dogecoin gain steam, Zielke said there’s been growing interest in translating gains into luxury purchases, from boats and watches to homes and planes. That makes him optimistic for the future. “As consumers continue to HODL, and that balance continues to grow, at some point they’ll … leverage it and spend,” he said. “And we want to be there.” Clashes over human rights complicate business in China Companies that want to do business in China have long made compromises in the pursuit of success. Now an escalating diplomatic dispute over human rights is underscoring the stark choice facing Western executives: put profit or principles first. The strains over Xinjiang — where US, EU and UK authorities have accused the Chinese government of repressing Uyghurs and other minority groups through forced labor, mass detention and sterilization — has ensnared a growing number of businesses and trade relationships in recent months, my CNN Business colleagues Jill Disis and Selina Wang report. Beijing has vehemently denied all the allegations, and says its camps in the region are “vocational training centers” designed to combat terrorism and religious extremism. But late last month, a landmark investment deal between the European Union and China was cast into doubt after officials traded sanctions over Xinjiang. Days later, H&M, Nike (NKE), Adidas (ADDDF) and other Western retailers were threatened with a boycott in China because of the stand they had taken against the alleged use of forced labor to produce cotton in Xinjiang. H&M was even dropped by major Chinese e-commerce stores. “We are working together with our colleagues in China to do everything we can to manage the current challenges and find a way forward,” H&M said in a statement Wednesday. Beijing has made it clear that multinational corporations have to follow its rules if they wish to operate in the country, and gaining favor can require anything from abiding by restrictive regulations to saying a few good words about China. Many companies have traditionally been willing to play along, given how enticing the giant economy is as a market for everything from cars and clothes to movies and luxury goods. But the escalating political blowback may make some of those relationships untenable, especially as lawmakers and investors step up pressure on Western companies to scrutinize their supply chains for evidence of human rights abuses. “These companies are just squeezed in the middle and there is no magic answer,” said James McGregor, chairman of consulting firm APCO Worldwide’s greater China division. Read the full story here. Up next Monday: ISM Non-Manufacturing Index Tuesday: Reserve Bank of Australia policy decision; International Monetary Fund economic outlook Wednesday: Reserve Bank of India interest rate decision; Carnival (CCL) earnings; US crude oil inventories; Federal Reserve minutes Thursday: US initial unemployment claims; Conagra (CAG), Constellation Brands (STZ) and Levi Strauss (LEVI) earnings Friday: China inflation data; US Producer Price Index Source link Orbem News #Boots #cowboy #crypto #fees #high #investing #isnt #mainstream #pricey #Spending #Stocksweekahead:Whycryptospendingisn'tabouttogomainstream-CNN

0 notes

dipulb3 · 3 years

Text

High fees and pricey cowboy boots: Why crypto spending isn't about to go mainstream

New Post has been published on https://appradab.com/high-fees-and-pricey-cowboy-boots-why-crypto-spending-isnt-about-to-go-mainstream/

High fees and pricey cowboy boots: Why crypto spending isn't about to go mainstream

We’d spent lots of time discussing the various signs of market mania that had cropped up in the past year — including the rush into NFTs, the digital tokens feeding a boom in virtual art. My goals were simple: To spend far less than the $69 million ponied up for the first NFT artwork to sell at a major auction, and to get a chuckle out of my dad.

In the end, buying him an image of a blue cartoon cat did not cost millions. But it was far more expensive than I expected. Why? Fees. Fees to buy the cryptocurrency ether, to transfer it to my crypto wallet, and to execute a purchase, which included an eye-popping mining charge due to congestion on the network.

For my father’s sake, I’ll stay mum about how much I ultimately spent. I will say, given that the fees cost more than the NFT itself, it was more than I’d typically recommend shelling out for a quick laugh.

Because I spend most of my time writing about finance, the episode also made me wonder: Between volatility and high transaction costs, do cryptocurrencies really have a future as a widespread means of spending?

PayPal (PYPL) certainly thinks so. Last week, the online payment system launched a new “Checkout with Crypto” service. Customers with crypto holdings in their PayPal wallets will now be able to switch them to fiat currencies when making purchases. The company pledged “no additional transaction fees.”

But even after addressing added costs, the massive run-up in the prices of popular cryptocurrencies like bitcoin and ether may make people hesitate to part ways with them.

A video PayPal shared of CEO Dan Schulman purchasing a pair of ostrich boots inadvertently made this case. Schulman sold bitcoin at roughly $55,280 to buy a pair of $299 shoes. By Friday morning, however, bitcoin was worth more than $59,400. He may wish he’d just used his American Express.

“I don’t think people are looking at it from a spending perspective. People are looking at it as an investment still,” Eleesa Dadiani, a London-based art dealer and crypto broker, told me.

Dadiani had a simple message for people deciding whether to use bitcoin to buy items like a Tesla (TSLA): Don’t do it.

“Why would you want to spend an appreciating asset on a depreciating product? It just makes no sense,” she said.

Bill Zielke, the chief marketing officer at BitPay, which executes crypto transactions between businesses and consumers, agrees that fees remain a barrier. But there’s lots of innovation happening that could solve such problems, he said.

“I think the industry is very aware that fees are something that has to be addressed for us to continue to see growth,” Zielke told me.

On volatility, Zielke notes that customers can hedge their bets by holding multiple cryptocurrencies, or by liquidating some of their portfolio at an opportune moment.

He acknowledged that there are still plenty of people in the crypto community who want to hold their coins — or HODL, in industry parlance — while they increase in value.

But as bitcoin, ether and even dogecoin gain steam, Zielke said there’s been growing interest in translating gains into luxury purchases, from boats and watches to homes and planes. That makes him optimistic for the future.

“As consumers continue to HODL, and that balance continues to grow, at some point they’ll … leverage it and spend,” he said. “And we want to be there.”

Clashes over human rights complicate business in China

Companies that want to do business in China have long made compromises in the pursuit of success. Now an escalating diplomatic dispute over human rights is underscoring the stark choice facing Western executives: put profit or principles first.

The strains over Xinjiang — where US, EU and UK authorities have accused the Chinese government of repressing Uyghurs and other minority groups through forced labor, mass detention and sterilization — has ensnared a growing number of businesses and trade relationships in recent months, my Appradab Business colleagues Jill Disis and Selina Wang report.

Beijing has vehemently denied all the allegations, and says its camps in the region are “vocational training centers” designed to combat terrorism and religious extremism.

But late last month, a landmark investment deal between the European Union and China was cast into doubt after officials traded sanctions over Xinjiang.

Days later, H&M, Nike (NKE), Adidas (ADDDF) and other Western retailers were threatened with a boycott in China because of the stand they had taken against the alleged use of forced labor to produce cotton in Xinjiang. H&M was even dropped by major Chinese e-commerce stores.

“We are working together with our colleagues in China to do everything we can to manage the current challenges and find a way forward,” H&M said in a statement Wednesday.

Beijing has made it clear that multinational corporations have to follow its rules if they wish to operate in the country, and gaining favor can require anything from abiding by restrictive regulations to saying a few good words about China. Many companies have traditionally been willing to play along, given how enticing the giant economy is as a market for everything from cars and clothes to movies and luxury goods.

But the escalating political blowback may make some of those relationships untenable, especially as lawmakers and investors step up pressure on Western companies to scrutinize their supply chains for evidence of human rights abuses.

“These companies are just squeezed in the middle and there is no magic answer,” said James McGregor, chairman of consulting firm APCO Worldwide’s greater China division. Read the full story here.

Up next

Monday: ISM Non-Manufacturing Index

Tuesday: Reserve Bank of Australia policy decision; International Monetary Fund economic outlook

Wednesday: Reserve Bank of India interest rate decision; Carnival (CCL) earnings; US crude oil inventories; Federal Reserve minutes

Thursday: US initial unemployment claims; Conagra (CAG), Constellation Brands (STZ) and Levi Strauss (LEVI) earnings

Friday: China inflation data; US Producer Price Index

0 notes

rhymesplitta-blog · 6 years

Text

Its My Turn

Time To Shine

Well, today is a very important landmark in my life I do declare myself.

This Holiday season has spawned an unprecedented and unparalleled drive within me that I can not ignore. You know that feeling you get in your gut when you know something isnt too good to be true but so good it should have been realized and actualized long ago ? Today I had that exact epiphany, the sudden urge and need to launch my brand, a promotional company for the sake of my loved ones and family members, and the reason ?

Literally time, the season, the series of events spanning over 2 months to lead up to this very moment, I know I've put this off in my life far too long on this very day. I was no longer taking a back seat to my dreams, and im not going to fight for anything, im grabbing the wheel and im taking control of my ideas and im determined, and succeful so far in manifesting anything that comes to my heart (first, which is then filtered through my mind to register if this is raw emotion or truly possible) From personal experience, my fauth in God, The heavenly father above, and on 3ree the Holy Warrior Tree being a warrior for the heavens for which we all desire to embrace. The world is in dire need of innovation, and people helping people more.

What better way then to help young entrepreneurs age (25 to 45) reach their short term goals by helping them build their respective brands and labels to the right attention from their target and key audiences and networking solutions to ensure a steady liftoff for any business they desire to run.

I consider myself a visionary, a dreamer, an intellectual, but im also a actions speak louder then words kind of Man. The words are there to solidify the action within a man which ultimately defines his true intention and demeanor. From much study, men are either 1 of 3 ways. One, Some men are willing to sacrafice everything just to see their family and communtities happy, maybe even lay down their own lives to ensure their safety. These are Honorable Alpha males and yes I consider myself one. There is no greater rich then to be rich in spirit, in health, in mind, body and soul, in tune with mother earth, these men are a rugged but loving and kind hearted, and tend to be very straight forward, but also very respectful. The other 2 types of men, are not worth mentioning because they cannot compare to the mental strength of a neglected, faithful, and strong intellectually driven male such as myself. (Gotta give credit where its due) With future posts and updates on my Perspective Incorporated Business and my self labled brand. I hope to being attention to real art, new faces, something different for your taste buds.

Im a SouthCentral Los Angeles Native

Im level headed and very easy to communicate with so feel free to leave a comment or message me about any business youre trying to get lifted off the ground.

Personally would like to deal with Musicians And artists, Video gamers and automotive enthusiasts. But im open to everything.

I will be sure to keep everyone up to date with my brand, thank you for reading, you can find me on any social media sight.

Happy Holidays hope to see more of you out in the world ! Thanks and dont forget to follow the page for artistic content and topic discussions

Merry Christmas to all❤🎄❤🎄❤🎄❤🎄❤🎄❤🎄❤

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mywildloves · 7 years

Text

Long post is long but not boring. I mean thats up to your subjective opinion I guess.

This afternoon was nuts.

I started feeling rundown and nauseated around noon. I had appointments until 4 and I wasnt asking my boss if I could reschedule them and leave right then and there, I was asking if I could leave when I was finished with my last appointment. That would have been at 4pm, as I said. My day is supposed to end at 5:30.

He told me that between my kids being sick, and the time I take off to go to therapy, Im using too much time and it isnt looking good for me. That made me Hulk level angry, and instead of arguing back, I politely said Id stick around until the end of my day, and then I walked away. And as I walked away he told me that in that in that time I had to be productive. I couldnt just wait the clock out.

I could have stomped him in the back of his knees and kicked him in the face when he dropped if he wasnt my boss.

Im telling you I dont feel well and in addition to telling me I shouldnt leave beause it doesnt look good, to then have the balls to tell me I had to “be productive” on top of it? When am I not productive when Im there? Im working on a method to make SEM images look 3D. Like with the red and blue glasses? Its easy to do in Photoshop, but somewhat time consuming depending on the complexity of the image. I thought it could work to highlight certain features of an image… and it looks awesome. And he agreed. And thats not productive? That’s innovative!

Second thing was that my mom called and offered to pick me up from work (which is now a $17 round trip ride across the bridge) because there was a thunderstorm and she had time.

*Wait. Wait. What?*

Yeah. That happened.

But the third thing gives me tons of anxiety. She (my mom) keeps talking about buying a house like a two family with her and my grsndmother upstairs, and us downstsirs for the yard and such, or maybe two condos, and I dont have the heart to tell her that Id rather die consumed in molten lava and/or quicksand than live with her.

I hate her. Shes a major trigger and Id have to see her every day. And my kids would grow up with her constantly being there and no no no no. No. No! Im trying to keep them as far removed from being with these people as possible.

Children are 5x more likely to develop Borderline if a direct relative has it. Moi. Theres a genetic component, and Im trying ad hard as I can to make sure that nurture beats the fuck out of nature. So no.

Still, shes making an appointment with some financial mortgage type dude for like next weekend and she wants me to come. I have to think of a way to get out of this entire situation without completely severing ties. For the kids’ sake. They love their yiayia.

Adulting fucking sucks. The end.

#any mention of physical harm to another person is purely fictional and only happens in my mind #ive got issues but im not an actual psychopath #i mean i did try to choke out this guy at a concert once #but thats just one incident #and he was scared of me #hahshahshs

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cryptnus-blog · 6 years

Text

Blockchain Tech Isn’t Mature Enough Yet: Russian Central Bank Official

New Post has been published on https://cryptnus.com/2018/05/blockchain-tech-isnt-mature-enough-yet-russian-central-bank-official/

Blockchain Tech Isn’t Mature Enough Yet: Russian Central Bank Official

Get exclusive analysis and cryptocurrency insights on Hacked.com for just $39 per month.

A senior official at Russia’s central bank has contended that blockchain technology needs to improve in security and scale and is currently not ‘mature’ enough.

Bank of Russia deputy governor Olga Skorobogatova was speaking at the annual St. Petersburg International Economic Forum during the weekend when she made several pointed remarks on blockchain technology. According to a local report, the central bank official claimed the decentralized technology is yet to ‘mature’ and hasn’t been used on an industrial scale, except with cryptocurrencies.

In translated remarks, she stated:

“In the world there is still no big industrial solution on distributed ledgers, except for bitcoins…This is mainly due to the fact that the technology is not mature enough…it still requires a lot of improvements both from a security view point and in terms of scalability.”

Skorobogatova split blockchain applications into two broad camps. Blockchain platforms that provide online functionality like electronic letters of credit would benefit from the likes of R3’s Corda and Ripple, she said. The second category involves offline platforms that offer the functionality of smart contracts with the official citing Ethereum and the open-source Hyperledger software as examples.

The lack of implementation of the technology on a larger industrial scale, the official claimed, was due to the fact that businesses and executives are yet to understand the value of transitioning and adopting blockchain tech.

Still, “technology for the sake of technology is pointless” Skorobogatova argued before predicting that the world will come to a “practical understanding” of the innovative technology in 2018. Companies will then be able to determine the applicability of blockchain tech at industrial scale, she continued.

The Bank of Russia has been exploring blockchain technology for a number of applications including cryptocurrency.

While the statements are noteworthy from an official who leads the central bank’s own ‘blockchain working group’, Skorobogatova has previously been critical of the idea of instant disruption brought on by the technology. “The myth of blockchain that everything is ready and you can move, reduce costs and give up the [need for a] bank, it turned out to be a myth,” the official said in late 2016.

However, Skorobogatova was the first Russian central bank official to publicly nod toward the possibility of a blockchain-based national cryptocurrency. It could take a public-private hybrid blockchain to develop a national digital currency, she said in April 2016. Last year, Russian president Vladimir Putin ordered authorities to begin work on developing the ‘Cryptoruble’, effectively Russia’s national cryptocurrency which will serve as legal tender.

Despite the recent remarks, the Bank of Russia has developed and launched regulatory platform aimed at fostering and developing financial technologies including blockchain. Last week, it was announced that the central bank platform will be used to carry out an ICO trial, the sale of blockchain-based crypto tokens, this summer.

The Bank of Russia has also tested a financial messaging system as an alternative to SWIFT among domestic banks with an ethereum blockchain prototype called ‘Masterchain’. Just this week, central bank chief Elvira Nabiullina revealed that the authority had developed its own SWIFT alternative as a solution for if/when sanctions are imposed on Russia.

Featured image from Shutterstock.

0 notes

neo-losangeles · 7 years

Text

http://www.thevocal.com.au/loudest-room-isnt-correct-rise-twitters-pop-sociologists/#.WNCDbxq9GSs.twitter

Devyn Springer Devyn Springer is an Atlanta artist, writer, and activist who is currently studying the African diaspora and art history at Kennesaw State University. Approx 8 minute reading time My grandmother used to always tell me, “the loudest one in the room is not always the smartest, and the one saying the most words is not always saying the most truth.” Then again, a year ago, days before publishing my first book, a mentor of mine reminded me, “the person whose book has the most pages does not always have the most knowledge on the pages.” Taking these two statements to heart and analysing how they exist in different spaces, I instantly thought of social media, specifically Twitter.

Over the past few years the world has witnessed a paradigm shift in the ways Twitter is used, with the platform rapidly transforming into a tool used for education and sharing of news. Following the death of young Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, we saw a rise of people utilising Twitter as a means to educate and inform people on different topics. And while this was not new to the popular social media platform, it did begin a new trend of what I call the “pop sociologist,” or folks who dedicate much of their existence on Twitter to educating people on various topics of race, gender, class, activism, history, etc.

As someone dedicated to delivering dialogical and liberatory education, the possibilities of educating individuals on Twitter are endless, but not without limits. There are trends in several popular Twitter ‘pop sociologist’ accounts that at times can do more damage than good.

The concept of an audience, or building a following, plays a central role in motivating individuals to produce content which can be seen as damaging. A trend has set in which promotes the idea of “watering down” or discussing topics on very basic, 101 levels for the sake of gaining a large following. While it is important to start with basics whenever discussing a topic, it is important to understand the problematic nature of never progressing educational content beyond this basic level.

Tweets are often made in thread form – a tool which allows you to string together several tweets and easily pack lots of information together – for the sake of going viral, not for the sake of educating individuals. This alludes to the intent of many Twitter ‘pop sociologists,’ and doing this allows for content to go viral which lacks critical engagement with the subject, dialectical analysis, and historical context. It is the difference between discussing how non-Black people of color often have anti-Blackness in their communities and discussing how non-Black people of color have anti-Blackness in their communities due to a specific historical context and integration into a systemic context which leads them to this. The latter would be less popular because it discusses a historical context and lends itself towards a solution-based analysis, while the first would go viral for its simplistic nature. When statements that lack nuance, depth, and historical context go viral, this often allows for the misrepresentation and misuse of content and theory. Tweets that allude to theory, but do not explicitly source, discuss, and cite, allow generalisations and blanket statements to become the norm, which is a problem.

Another problem we often see is the deliberate altering or rendering of form and content within tweets for the sake of whiteness, or rather white comfortability, to garner more retweets. Content is often pacified and de-politicised in order to not upset white followers, and what this creates are several accounts nearly appropriating radical language for a white audience. Examples of this are several “pro-Black” accounts that create content about Black politics from a very liberal and respectable perspective. Individuals who perform a radical or leftist politic, but obscure true leftist content with neoliberal ideals.

To understand this, we can look at how several Black queer intellectuals exist on Twitter. People like myself tend to stay in our lane, continually talking about the things we are well knowledged in, keep our content heavily experiential based, and never seek to make ourselves an authority of any certain politic. Contrasted with several other users, you can immediately notice individuals only talking about certain things when they are trending topics, often appearing to present themselves as authority on topics and politics in order to gain social capital.

And within the context of Twitter, the idea of creating yourself as an authoritative figure on a subject is important to note because it often positions one’s politics as anti-dialogical, or above criticism and approach, and stifles critical engagement. By positioning themselves as some social justice authority through various means of accumulating social capital, individuals present themselves as uncheckable and infallible. This is an individualised rendering of a popular mechanism of neoliberalism; to position your politics, your identity, and your positions as binarily true. To position your self with a false sense of authority is to disrupt the organically engaging, dialogical, and uniquely communicative nature of Twitter.

What does this mean in the larger context of Twitter and what does it mean to exist in a manner that might be inherently damaging, even if done with pure intentions? And what solutions can be theorised and put into practice to effectively use Twitter for education? For starters, it means accepting the notion that if you want to dedicate your account to education and advocacy, you are taking on a responsibility to also progress and sharpen yourself over time. This is a process that the social justice oriented individual should be invested in already, but as our great elders like Paulo Freire, Walter Rodney, and Assata Shakur have taught us, the responsibility of education is not one to be worn lightly.

It also means the one dedicating to using Twitter to educate people having a clear line of introspection, as well as a pedagogical approach rested on engagement. Of course no one person is required to engage in any capacity if they don’t wish to, but on some level critical engagement is critical and vital to the education process. A model for this pedagogical, or educational, approach would be one that not only welcomes but insists upon engagement, constructive comments, questioning, and even at times critique; which Twitter is the perfect platform to allow this sort of pedagogy to blossom. The educator, like the activist or the artist, can be anything but neutral, and we must begin to see Twitter as an extension of a liberated classroom if we are to continue to attempt to use it as such. Tearing down the walls of promoting certain individuals as ‘authority’ of a certain politic due to their following and social capital is harmful to this pedagogical approach, because it allows individuals to deny introspection as well as critique.

And we have to ask, is Twitter even the best platform for the role of education? Surely, as a realm for social interaction and entertainment it is of fantastic use, but is it possible to ever properly use it pedagogically? I believe it can be, or it often is, but when done correctly with good intentions. Certainly many can agree that only so much depth and nuance can be packed into 140 character tweets, leaving out large portions of theory and context often, however with innovations in Twitter’s threading, linking, and photo/video uploading features, this is rapidly changing. While Twitter is not (and should not be viewed as) a space to build an entire personal political analysis from, replacing books, personal study, and research, it can be a great medium to exist as a starting point for analyses. We have to begin to see it as such – a starting point – and develop the craft of using Twitter to educate around that notion.

Much of my own nature on the platform exists in this same space, having dedicated the majority of my presence on the site to educating folks on different topics I’ve studied and devoted time to, so this exists not just as a critique to strangers but a self-critique and reminder as well. A reminder that if I am going to use what tools the master has given and attempt to subvert them to build power, I need to also hold myself accountable to using the tools as best as possible.

We saw the rise of the “pop activist” in 2016 and the entire construct was critiqued to hell and back, and rightfully so. But may I suggest the “pop sociologist” or “pop expert” is an equally problematic and at times harmful construct that we need to examine, dissect, and mould into something better? Can we turn the ‘pop sociologist’ into a pedagogical figure where false authority doesn’t replace dialogical critical engagement, a large following is not more important than the actual depth of content being produced, and knowledge is not pacified and distributed without historical context for the sake of appeasing a following?

As Paulo Freire informs us in his book Pedagogy of Freedom, “whoever teaches learns in the act of teaching, and whoever learns teaches in the act of learning.” Therefore those dedicated to using Twitter as a platform for educating others must never feel they are above being educated, because it is a crucial part of a healthy pedagogy. One that involves the ‘pop sociologist’ to move beyond analyses formed solely on social media and into a praxis of education rooted in theories of liberation. Twitter can be a powerful tool for education and pedagogical activism, as we’ve seen already, but only if we continue to harness its power in the sharpest, most emancipatory ways possible.

Leaders who do not act dialogically, but insist on imposing their decisions, do not organize the people–they manipulate them. – Paulo Freire, Pedagogy of the Oppressed

#text

0 notes

mavwrekmarketing · 7 years

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A team of impetuous 20-something-year-old startup founders may not automatically reach out to the AARP to bring its products to market. Ignoringthe aging population isnt the sharpest move, however. With its Innovation Champion Award, AARP wants to highlight that those over 50 have sacks of disposable cash and arent afraid to spend it as long as the value is there.

Historically, people would retire at 65 and then have another 10 years to live or so, says Anne Marie Kilgallon, vice president of Enterprise Strategy and Innovation for the AARP. But things have changed a lot since then. These days, people live into their 90s, and these bonus years are important.

Ageism is a real thing, and it swings both ways. Remember, oh, about 100 words ago, when I flippantly referred to startup founders as 20-year-olds? You probably didnt even notice, because that sort of thing happens all the time. Young people are selfish and impulsive and old people hate technology are truisms that hold true less and less often. This is one fight AARP is picking with its Disrupt Aging campaign and a part of that is its new Innovation Champion Award.

AARP is really committed to this caregiving space, and we want to be one of the voices that drives innovation to this space, Kilgallon tells me. Thats what we do as a social advocacy organization. But the realistic truth of the matter is that we can only relieve the burdens placed on caregivers by embracing technology.

For most businesses, $10,000 is a nice chunk of change, but for the most successful of businesses isnt going to move the needle. AARP knows that, but for them, its more of a $10,000 spotlight pointing at an enormous opportunity than the cash incentive in and of itself.

Research shows that 70 percent of U.S. disposable income is controlled by an aging population, Kilgallon explains, so there are tremendous business opportunities here. We just want to help companies find those opportunities and help solve some of our key challenges in the process.

The key challenges are reflected in the companys awards categories, which are daily essential activities, caregiver quality of life, health and safety awareness, care coordination, social well-being and transition support. The companies up for awards will be judged on a number of criteria, not least of which is whether the businesses are viable.

We love technology, Kilgallon says, but stresses that her organization isnt pushing tech for techs sake. Winning technology needs to be affordable. It needs to have a business model that makes it viable. And it needs to be extremely well-designed. Gone are the days where the older generation eschewed all technology, but that doesnt mean the tools and services shouldnt be well-designed and easy to use.

If the $10,000 doesnt get your business senses a-tingling, the grand prize probably should: It includes traveling to Washington, DC to speak with top AARP executives about your business. A golden opportunity, of course, for a company that could benefit from AARPs amplification.

AARP is a social impact organization, Kilgallon explains when I push her on whats in it for them. Whats in it for us is that we want to shine a light on the incredible innovation that is happening in products and services. We hope that the winners solve real, concrete problems experienced by people aged 50 and older.

While there are fewer companies actively marketing to the silver economy, there are a few that do, and that do it well.

I have been keeping an eye on Honor. The way the company has rolled out is really interesting, and its a great model for how to connect care-givers to individuals in need of care, Kilgallon says. Caring Village is another startup worth looking at. They are all about the connection between family, care givers and care recipients.

Nominations for the innovation champion award open today.