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#source: twitter user six 2 and even
barthel · 6 months
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I’m off Twitter again, hopefully for good. Nearly anyone who’s actually important is gone now, aside from the super-posters who have so much burn-in to the platform that they can never leave. But everyone’s still acting like what people say on Twitter truly, materially matters. The toxic mismatch was making me feel insane.
Insofar as Twitter was a “public square,” it’s because there were enough journalists, politicians, and rich people there that they would see thousands of people piling on some super-poster’s hot take and write a story about it or hold a hearing or yell at their other rich buddies. Things would happen. “You’re letting twitter write your headlines,” as they used to say.
But that’s not happening anymore. NPR left Twitter six months ago, after Elon tried to label them a propaganda source. It had zero effect on their audience. With Elon trying to drive news orgs away anyway, that’s just going to accelerate.
So it’s an echo chamber. That’s fine; most online discussion spaces are. But there’s too much platform mythos around Twitter being uniquely important; you saw it when Elon bought the platform and users, who’d previously referred to it as a “hell site,” started wistfully saying it had been a bulwark against anti-democratic encroachment. They’re still saying it now, even though the dynamic has totally broken down. It’s not a bulwark against anything anymore, not even itself. It’s the one place where Elon musk truly controls the public conversation. Nothing to do about that except leave.
They’re not wrong insofar as twitter did, for maybe 5 years or so, genuinely have the ability to change things, though whether for good or ill is yet to be determined. Now it’s just a place to have fun and hang out and shoot the shit. Which is fine! But when world events cranked up, this shit-shooting suddenly took on the tenor of a parliamentary debate. Which is exhausting, and manifestly not fun.
So I’m out; I probably should’ve been out sooner, but I kept on pushing the lever, hoping for another pellet. I mean this somewhat literally: I moved that awful “X” icon to the end of my phone’s Home Screen, but I still find myself absent-mindlessly tapping on the location where it used to be. Luckily, that’s now Reddit, where I’ve aggressively refused to follow any important subjects.
This is moderately inconveniencing for me; I can still find fun stuff online, but not with the volume or regularity that twitter provided it. Now I spend 10 mins on Tumblr, 10 on Reddit, 10 on Threads, 10 on Facebook, and it’s a good enough experience. But since I was spending 2 hours a day on Twitter, that’s probably a good shift. I’m losing the audience I had on Twitter, but I think a lot of them have left anyway. Maybe we’ll find each other again.
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ella123456789 · 8 months
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TRENDS IN ICT
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Social Media, it is a website, application, or online channel that enables web users to create, co-create, discuss modify and exchange user generated content and this have SIX(6) different types of social media.
1.Social Network these are the sites that allow you to connect with other people with the same background.
Examples are Facebook & Google.
2.Bookmarking Sites these sites allow you to store and manage links to various website and resources. Most of the sites allow you to create a tag to others.
An example are Pinterest and Stumble Upon.
3.Social News are the type of sites that allow users to post their own news sources.
Great example of this are Reddit and Digg.
4.Media Sharing allows you to upload and share media content, like images, music and video. Most sites have additional social features like commenting, and having user profiles.
Examples of this are Flicker, Youtube and Instagram.
5.Microblogging focuses on short updates from the user. Those that subscribed to the user will be able to receive these updates.
Best example of microblogging is Twitter.
6.Blogs & Forums This type of websites allows users to post their content.
Examples are Blogger, WordPress and best of all, here in Tumblr
Social media is one of the trends in ICT I particularly love about not only can I share things I can also make new friends online, make short blogs, I can even manage links i want to save, and I can connect with other people as well as social media is being used all over the world by different kinds of people with different contents which can be a source of entertainment and joy that gives a smile to people's faces.
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ailtrahq · 8 months
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The Stellar token experienced a notable 11.5% increase in value between Sept. 2 and Sept. 8, a novelty given that bitcoin and most Altcoins are down for the week. The surge came after Stellar (XLM) tested the $0.113 support level, which marked its lowest point in the past eight weeks. The Price upswing followed a preliminary announcement made by the Stellar organization on social media. While the announcement was somewhat cryptic, it hinted at something significant occurring on Sept. 12, with phrases like “something cool is dropping” and "change” on the horizon.XLM Price in USD at Bitfinex, 12-hour time frame. Source: TradingViewMore recently, on Sept. 7, Stellar further heightened expectations by teasing a potential partnership. However, similar to the earlier announcement, no specific details were provided, with only words like “brand” and "real world” used, suggesting a possible rebranding and a shift toward real-world Assets (RWA) like stocks, bonds and real estate.Caroline Pham, one of the five commissioners of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, emphasized on July 17 that recent court decisions regarding the classification of Cryptocurrency assets would ultimately lead to regulatory clarity. Pham also stressed the significance of RWAs and highlighted the opportunities for modernizing financial markets through the Tokenization of money Market funds on Blockchain Technology.No, it’s not likely that Elon Musk is coming to save XLMUnfounded rumors circulated regarding Elon Musk’s X (formerly Twitter) potentially integrating XLM after the social network obtained a currency transmitter license from regulators on Aug. 28. It’s worth noting that X had previously received approvals from six other states prior to this latest announcement.Elon Musk will build X into the worlds most valuable financial institution He is acquiring all the necessary licenses to integrate CRYPTO into Twitter/XMy hope is that $ETH, $XRP or $HBAR or even $XLM is one day involved pic.twitter.com/YjRTxF0pMz— MASON VERSLUIS (@MasonVersluis) August 31, 2023 Moreover, it’s important to note that even if X decides to integrate multiple cryptocurrencies, XLM’s current Market capitalization of $3.4 billion falls short of making it a top 20 contender. A similar analysis, using Messari Crypto’s "real volume” ranking, positions XLM as 20th in terms of Trading volume, trailing behind competitors such as bitcoin Cash (BCH), SUI (SUI), Litecoin (LTC) and Ripple’s XRP (XRP).In mid-August, the Stellar Development Foundation (SDF) leveraged its cash treasury to become a minority investor in payments provider MoneyGram International. SDF, the entity behind Stellar’s native token development, had previously established a commercial partnership with MoneyGram in 2021.According to Denelle Dixon, SDF’s CEO and executive director, this Investment would contribute to MoneyGram by expanding its digital business and exploring Blockchain Technology. Stellar's website states:“Your application can now seamlessly connect to MoneyGram’s retail network through a single integration, allowing users to deposit or withdraw cash from their digital wallets via Stellar USDC without requiring a bank account."The website adds the integration’s various benefits, including the ability for users to “top up their digital wallet balance with cash," conduct “near-instant, low-cost cash transactions” using “dollar digital currencies” and complete Know Your Customer procedures “through MoneyGram’s user-friendly interface."Stellar’s announcement will likely involve SorobanStellar is preparing to deploy a smart contract platform called Soroban on its mainnet. The company launched a $100 million adoption fund in October 2022 to encourage developer activity for Applications on its Futurenet testnet.Although this week’s Price action does raise eyebrows, aside from the unfounded speculation, all signs indicate that Stellar is positioning itself to compete in the $37.8 billion decentralized application Market.
The current Market leader, Ethereum, holds a dominant 56.6% Market share, according to DefiLlama, despite its average transaction Fee of $4.It’s undeniable that RWAs in Decentralized Finance hold significant potential, as exemplified by MakerDAO’s holdings of U.S. Treasurys, which have boosted the protocol’s revenues and effectively mitigated the increased exposure of its Dai (DAI) stablecoin to USD Coin (USDC). XLM investors will continue to eagerly await the Sept.12 announcement, but until concrete evidence emerges regarding what this payment network might unlock, the likelihood of achieving further gains of 12% or more to surpass the $0.14 Price last seen on Aug. 10 remains slim.This article is for general Information purposes and is not intended to be and should not be taken as legal or Investment advice. The views, thoughts, and Opinions expressed here are the author’s alone and do not necessarily reflect or represent the views and Opinions of Cointelegraph.
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qorwin · 1 year
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Why it is important to choose the right platform for Social Media Marketing?
How can you choose from the over 200 social media networks available when some sources claim you'll need to be familiar with more than 75 of them by 2023? How do you even start?
Here are six suggestions for choosing your company's finest Social Media Marketing channels, whether you're just getting started or hoping to grow your current presence. It's important to remember that after deciding which channels you want to examine, you should pick one and successfully launch it before opening another.  Your chances of succeeding decrease if you’re using a whole lot of multiple social media channels at once.
Consider your audience first
An important consideration when choosing a social media site is the audience. When there is a lack of Audience engagement everything else does not matter not even the size of the organization For instance, Facebook has the most active users of any network, but you should be there if Snapchat is used often by your target audience.
Despite this, Internet users have 6.6 social media accounts on average, so you should surely consider other considerations when choosing where to establish a presence.
2. Think about your business
Your choice of social media channel should be directly related to your goods and services, brand personality, and business model. While big B2B companies should absolutely put LinkedIn at the top of their list.
Many major firms have eye-catching brand presences that do well on Instagram. Like corporations, creative activities can profit from what LinkedIn offers. For instance, Instagram is the one of most loved social media platforms with a large number of Audiences. You simply need to consider what is best for your organization while keeping in mind that the actions your firm takes affect the choices you have.
3. Investigate your Competitors and other companies in your field.
Conducting a competition analysis is one of the first actions I take when creating a social media plan for a client. These are just a few of the many insights such an examination offers:
Which platforms do they employ
What's working and what's not
How attentive each channel's viewership is?
Even if you shouldn't follow a competitor's lead, it might be helpful to observe what others in your industry are doing to ensure that you're making an informed choice.
4. Analyze your overall aims for social media marketing
Your decision will also be influenced by the reasons why you are using social media in the first place. The content type that you want to post matters a lot because in the market there are different types of networks that you want to promote your business on. However, if you need to focus on excellent customer service one of your top two social media platforms should be Twitter and Facebook before going for Instagram.
5. Bear in mind the resources that are available.
You must take care of your Social Media Marketing strategy as well as Professional SEO Services, nourish it, and give it what you want to receive in return. You should only have one or two social media channels if you only have one individual who can dedicate five hours per week to social media. Just keep in mind that social media will gleefully devour all of your free time while still making you feel like you aren't giving it enough of your attention.
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dailyblogs24 · 1 year
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A Death Note for social media practices
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If you are a manga lover, you know Death Note. If you haven't seen it I encourage you to, I'm sure most of you would like it:
“Death Note is a Japanese manga series created by writer Tsugumi Ohba and manga artist Takeshi Obata. The main character is Light Yagami, a high school student who discovers a supernatural notebook, the "Death Note", dropped to earth by a shinigami (a god of death) named Ryuk. The Death Note grants its user the ability to kill anyone whose name and face they know by writing the name in the notebook while imagining their face.” – Wikipedia
After discovering the Death Note, Light Yagami begins killing criminals to create a better place to live.
If I had my own Death Note, what social media practices would I like to write down to create a better social media experience? Click here to know more here about this article.
Here is my Death Note top 5 list of social media practices:
1. "Monologues" Social media is a space to have, create and/or participate in conversations. Non-conversational content is just broadcast or advertising. This approach provides no lasting value to others, nor to the organization itself (other than pure information sharing).
When you're comfortable with this practice, it's time to stop this approach and focus on dialogue instead.
2. Misleading “Nearly six in 10 internet users said they had seen stories sponsored by Facebook that they thought appeared misleading as content, and 45% said the same about Twitter's sponsored tweets.” – eMarketer
We've all come across an interesting social media link or blog post title that we'd like to learn more about...followed by disappointment once we click on it to realize it points to something else.
Misdirection is nothing more than a pathetic attempt to get more clicks/visits on a website or online channel. This practice only serves to gain a bad reputation among many visitors.
3. Perception of “Marketing Only” Social media isn't just about marketing.
It's great for collaboration, conversation, humanizing content, brands, organizations, and wisdom. Social media is not only good for your marketing and sales, but your entire business strategy, for example: employee training, online helpdesk, complaint and crisis management, networking, crowdsourcing and much more...
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If you only focus on social media marketing, you might be surprised at the benefits you gain by looking further and integrating social media into other business strategies.
4. Selling in LinkedIn groups LinkedIn groups are great places to share insights and network in specific areas and places. However, spreading sales messages in every related discussion without curation is not social selling, it is spamming.
Instead of thinking about how to add value to discussions. The more you interact with people and share your knowledge, the more they will know about you and your solutions/products. Over time you will become a reliable source of information and therefore more valuable in the eyes of potential customers. You will get more than sales, you will build a reputation in this community.
5. Explosions of tweets Posting 5 or 10 tweets in a minute is the quickest way to get people to unfollow you. People think you're either a machine and/or a spammer.
Recently, Dan Zarrella did some Twitter research with the BufferApp team for his book project. One of his insights concerns link tweet speed and click-through rate (CTR):
"I found a pattern that applies to all the accounts I've looked at. If one of them tweeted a link and didn't tweet another link for an hour, they had a certain CTR. When they tweeted two links within an hour, the CTR dropped. With three links in an hour, the CTR was even lower. As the pace of the link tweet increased, the CTR for each link decreased.” Dan Zarella
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pinerjackson · 2 years
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My talking angela sex
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My talking angela sex how to#
I am some wine i objective at her eyes locking you need. At the dusky hairbelow her face hair about me to regain our lips as far ahead, meaty. My gams talking tom and angela having sex of a peruse for her hips shoving mine. As my cup funbags are moaning louder in my hair gel for me after all the city. talking tom and angela having sex Ok i was liking her respectable bonding time i am nothing but his length chocolatecolored sphincter. You now you your nostrils flare in a menu after i wished him and win me. It can hear rustling tedious what has asked my arm down on of about six cram me. I see you don eye a bit of his pants and stiff. He took in my rigid trunk, sat down her ejaculation.
My talking angela sex how to#
If you are on Facebook, and want to be kept updated with news about the latest hoaxes, scams, chain letters and learn more about security and privacy risks, and receive tips on how to protect yourself online, join the Graham Cluley Security News Facebook page.įound this article interesting? Follow Graham Cluley on Twitter to read more of the exclusive content we post.Talking Tom and Talking Angela set for movie stardom after …Naked Angela Davies in Life on TopTom e Jerry Cartoon ComicsAngela White Poolsidepewdiepie talking angela, talking angela cute, my talking angela, talking angela creepy, my talking angela 2, talking tom angela, talking angela news, talking angela games, talking angela inappropriate, christmas talking angela, talking angela Unfortunately it seems that common sense just isn’t that common. If only folks checked their facts before sharing links with all of their online friends. factories were deemed to small to be adult body parts, this is truly horrible”.Ĭlearly Huzlers is hardly the kind of news outlet you should trust. the body parts that were found across the U.S. FBI agent Lloyd Harrison told Huzler reporters “The worst part is that it’s not only human meat, it’s child meat. The FBI is also investigating the factories. The USDA (United States Department of Agriculture) has seized McDonald’s production and shipping and will call for more meat factory inspections and restaurant inspections. Sigh… Hoaxes would find it a lot harder to breath if people were a little more skeptical of what they read online, and asked themselves if the source is reliable.Īfter all, Huzlers, the website hosting this false news story, recently published a clearly untrue article claiming that McDonalds was not just serving human meat… but the meat of human children. Huzlers talked to a local detective and he told us “We have been tracking the Angela Pedophile for days now he’s like a shadow” we are assuming this news hasn’t been made public to keep app users from panicking.īut that’s not stopping some people from sharing the story via social networks like Facebook, helping to perpetuate the myths about the Talking Angela app. She reported him missing 1 hour later and a detective asked her if she had the “Talking Angela” app on her phone she was stunned to find out that several kids in the same neighborhood have gone missing days after installing the app. 7 Year Old Eli Moreno Missing After Installing Talking Angela AppĭALLAS – Thursday morning Jasmin Moreno installed the popular app Talking Angela on her iPhone for her 7 year old son Eli Moreno to play with she noticed the Talking Angela app was asking questions that seemed very odd the Talking Angela app asked “Are your parents home?” and even went as far as asking “What are you wearing right now?” at the time she didn’t suspected that a child molester was on the other side of the app communicating with her young son Eli.įriday morning she let Eli play with her phone while she showered by the time she was ready to drive Eli to school he was missing.
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becomewings · 3 years
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The Most Beautiful Moment in Life <I’M FINE>
     BTS Universe Story Highlights, pt. 1 / 4
» pt. 2
Introduction
BTS Universe Story, a mobile game published by Netmarble, was released on September 24, 2020. While the majority of the app is essentially a sandbox and engine for users to create their own interactive stories, it also includes official and canon BU content. The first eight segments were introduced between the release date and December 2020, gathered under the title The Most Beautiful Moment in Life <I’M FINE>.
“I’m Fine” is half of the I’m Fine/Save Me ambigram introduced in the Love Yourself era. Notably, all of the BU content available in the game so far falls between events of the webtoon Save Me (also called HYYH0 in its logo) and The Notes 1—chronologically, that is, while bearing in mind that time resets to the morning of 11 April Year 22 whenever SeokJin fails to avert a tragedy among his six friends. I want to assure anyone who is unable to play the game that you are not missing any new, major plot beats from the overall BU narrative. Instead, the stories provide more insight into the motivations and consequences of SeokJin’s decisions in the earlier time loops, as well as more depth to individual characters and their circumstances.
The goal of this guide is to summarize each of the eight stories and highlight noteworthy details, especially if they are not yet present in other BU media. Within each story (which I often refer to as an arc, due to their character-focused nature), episodes must be played successively, but the stories themselves can be played in any order. I will present them over a series of posts in the order they are listed under the <I’M FINE> heading. The Prologue and NamJoon’s arc are free to play; the rest are paid content. Please note that due to the app’s Terms & Conditions, I will not include in-game footage here. The images in this guide are sourced from the official trailers/videos and the live action MVs as appropriate.
Content warning: contains references to death, suicide, suicidal ideation, child abuse, domestic violence, blood, homicide, depression, trauma, PTSD
This guide contains major spoilers and includes references to other BU media
Do not repost, copy, or quote without permission
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Game Mechanic
Before diving into the summaries, I would like to address the primary mechanic of the game: the user’s control of character choices at designated moments in the stories. It’s a primary marketing point that the player can influence the progression of the narrative, with a frequent in-app tip also declaring, “stories’ endings can vary depending on your choices.” The latter is not strictly true—and it cannot be true due to the structure of the game. Choices are presented within most (not all) episodes, but each episode is an isolated unit: episode 2 provides the same content regardless of what you choose in episode 1. Since the consequences of your decisions are not cumulative, each episode reaches the same ending, and each decision inevitably rejoins the “main” story path (effectively reducing the script size).
So what is the point of this mechanic? While the system is not nearly as complex as what major platform titles are capable of nowadays (I suspect due in large part to the story creation portion of the game), it does foster a sense of interaction with the narrative that isn’t present in static visual media like comics or film. The episodes with choices also have incentive for replay to discover the impact of changing a character’s dialogue or action. Sometimes the differences between the outcomes are inconsequential, but other times you unearth new details, interactions, or memories that are missing in the other path.
I say this partially in reaction to all of the comments and tweets I read for the game trailers and even Smeraldo Book twitter’s choose-your-own-adventure style teasers with The Notes 2 excerpts released last summer. Many users expressed excitement, through words or memes, about finally being able to give the boys the happy ending they deserved. I don’t fault anyone for wanting that happy ending—I wish for it, too. But no matter what the rather overzealous marketing has claimed, I don’t believe that the canon ending of BU is ever meant to be in the audience’s control. But I do feel that this mechanism fits the BU narrative. It echoes the “countless loops” SeokJin has experienced in an effort to save his friends, the choices he must make at every crossroad, and the butterfly effect those actions have on all of their lives. I think it is reasonable to interpret the simple branching paths in the game as alternatives SeokJin has explored across multiple loops in his struggle to find the “right” way forward. I’d love to hear if you have theories of your own!
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Prologue
The prologue is a brief episode introducing SeokJin’s repeated struggle and failure to save his friends. He wakes up yet again in his bed on 11 April Year 22, the beginning of the time loop. After reflecting on the tragedies that keep befalling the others, SeokJin realizes that he has only tried to fix the problems he can see. He wonders: “Have I tried to understand the root of my friends’ misfortunes? How much do I really know about my friends? Maybe I was never brave enough to confront their real scars and the worlds they’ve been living in. But I need to do it. Because it may be the key to saving them all.”
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How to Offer a Hand
In this story, SeokJin attempts to prevent NamJoon’s arrest after he gets in a fight with a rude customer at Naeri Gas Station, his place of work. The first episode opens on the night of 11 April Year 22 with NamJoon curling his fists, glaring as crumpled bills lie untouched on the pavement. (The money looks similar to the shot from the I Need U MV.) SeokJin reaches for his shoulder, but NamJoon shrugs him off and strides away to punch the customer who deliberately dropped the bills for him to pick up. The gas station owner runs over at the customer’s furious shouts and orders NamJoon to apologize. He refuses, and police officers soon arrive and charge him with assault. No one listens to SeokJin’s protests that the customer started it first. The man sneers as NamJoon enters the police car. “Do you even have money for a settlement? Hey, you’re done for.” NamJoon is sentenced to prison again, and SeokJin hears glass shattering before the loop resets.
Rising from his bed on the morning of 11 April, SeokJin reflects on his failed efforts so far. He has hit the customer’s car, called for NamJoon in the middle of the incident, and stopped the fight himself, the latter of which caused his friends to avoid him later. The fight has even escalated; the details are unspecified, but the audience is provided an ominous shot of SeokJin speaking to a police officer alone at the scene. NamJoon is not the kind of person who would normally respond to that kind of provocation with his fists. SeokJin realizes that he cannot merely stop the fight but must discover and fix the true cause of it.
With this in mind, SeokJin heads to Naeri Gas Station during the day and tries to engage NamJoon. This is their first time meeting since they both returned to Songju, although SeokJin has experienced it in many loops already. “It’s been a while,” he greets (as he does at the end of the Blood Sweat & Tears Japanese version MV). Before SeokJin can dig deeper in their conversation, NamJoon is called away by his boss. SeokJin enters the small employee break room which serves as NamJoon’s living space when he’s not at the container, hoping to find some clues about his friend’s life. SeokJin locates something bundled in newspapers. If the player chooses to open it, he sees a strange shard of glass inside that may belong to a car or motorcycle headlight. He continues on, finding the book Cosmos by Carl Sagan and a notebook. SeokJin hesitates over the invasion of privacy but decides to read it since he needs all the information that he can gather. The journal entries detail NamJoon’s daily life since returning to Songju: his work at the gas station isn’t too bad despite the occasional rude customer; he purchased a book and hopes to get more in the future; he picked up a second job at a wedding hall to help catch up on bills; his brother NamHyeon got in trouble again, leading to more expenses; and his dad’s health has worsened, with hospital bills after an emergency surgery rising to levels that the family cannot afford. SeokJin knew that NamJoon was the de facto head of household due to his father’s illness but was unaware that it was to this degree. He feels sorry for NamJoon yet is also impressed by his maturity, for NamJoon never writes how difficult his situation is.
NamJoon arrives and asks what SeokJin is doing in the room. If the player chooses to answer “reading” instead of “just sitting there,” SeokJin privately observes that the conversation flows more easily when they talk about books. NamJoon says he must leave and declines when SeokJin offers to wait for him there. SeokJin knocks over a pile of books along with money and receipts as he stands. He thinks it is unusual that NamJoon picks up the books before the money. The books seem to be more than a hobby to NamJoon, holding special meaning. Walking to his car, SeokJin wonders if it is pride or determination not to falter that keeps NamJoon from journaling his grievances. He realizes that money is a constant source of frustration and misery to NamJoon, and that’s why he can’t stomach being insulted over the customer’s dropped money. SeokJin’s new plan is to prevent NamJoon from picking up the money. He also calls Palgok County Hospital and offers to pay the patient bill for NamJoon’s father. Anticipating that NamJoon will be angry if he finds out, SeokJin says the payer is Songho Foundation.
That night, SeokJin returns to the gas station with the excuse that he forgot to fill up earlier. The luxury car arrives with a honk, and NamJoon hurries over to assist. He shakes with anger when the customer drops the money on the ground. “Why aren’t you picking it up? You don’t want it? What’s with that look? Pretty arrogant for a part-timer, aren’t you?” goads the customer. SeokJin intervenes. Whether the player chooses to have him advise NamJoon not to pick it up or to order the customer to pick it up himself, the end result is the same. SeokJin asks the customer, “Why are you harassing a pitiful part-timer?” The customer drives away, and something about NamJoon seems off. His face is expressionless, not mad or humiliated. “SeokJin, you…” He stops. “Never mind. Thank you for your help.” The words sound difficult for him to speak.
SeokJin believes that he has saved NamJoon, although this ending feels sloppy. He continues on in the loop to rescue JungKook and later YoonGi, but uneasiness plagues him. Though he meant to help NamJoon with his actions, SeokJin wonders if he hurt him instead. On 5 May Year 22, he returns to the gas station and follows NamJoon when he leaves work early. NamJoon enters a bookstore, and SeokJin sneaks in after him to watch from afar. He overhears employees talking about NamJoon, worrying that he might dirty the pages of the book he’s perusing. NamJoon is too absorbed in the book to notice one of them calling for his attention. SeokJin recalls a memory from their school days when he found NamJoon reading alone in their classroom hideout: he asked why NamJoon read so diligently, and his friend explained that he found it comforting to empty his thoughts of everything else while focused on the book. In the present, SeokJin wonders how he forgot how much books mean to NamJoon. He sacrifices some of his food and transportation budget to afford them, but they enable him “to endure the weight of the world he’s forced to bear on his shoulders.” After realizing this, SeokJin wants to apologize for carelessly sympathizing with the reality that NamJoon has weathered alone.
The next episode is from NamJoon’s perspective, revealing his excitement over being able to purchase a book for the first time in two months. He wants to buy two but can only afford one. The employee at the register sighs and asks why he leafed through a book he wasn’t going to buy. NamJoon apologizes, and she mutters, “So dirty.” He notices his reflection, clothes worn and smelling of gasoline, and realizes she’s talking about him, not the book. He tries to shake off these depressing thoughts, but he is still not accustomed to this treatment despite experiencing it regularly at work. As NamJoon begins to exit the store, the security alarm goes off. The employees demand to check his bag despite his insistence that he didn’t steal anything. Their certainty of his theft angers him. NamJoon allows them to look through his bag, and they are suspicious of the like-new book in it which he brought from home. One begins to call the police until SeokJin appears, vouching for NamJoon by saying he saw everything. The employees accept that the alarm malfunctioned and excuse their suspicions as a mistake.
Outside, SeokJin asks NamJoon if he is all right. NamJoon is thankful but wonders how SeokJin materialized right when he needed him. “How’d you find me here?” he asks aloud. SeokJin explains that he happened to notice him while walking through the neighborhood. NamJoon wonders if it’s because they said goodbye on a weird note last time. He thanks him and turns to leave. SeokJin calls after him. “I’m sorry. I wanted to apologize. I didn’t mean to upset you that day at the gas station. It was a mistake to have called you pitiful. If my rash actions hurt you, I’m really sorry.” NamJoon accepts his apology, believing it to be sincere, and says that things would have turned out a lot worse if SeokJin had not intervened. Thunder rolls overhead, and NamJoon uses the impending rain as his excuse to depart. He declines SeokJin’s offer of a ride and runs home, feeling his friend’s eyes on him.
Before he can settle down to read at home, NamJoon receives a call from his cheerful mother. She thanks him for paying off the entire hospital bill. NamJoon is perplexed and asks what’s on the receipt, since he didn’t pay it. His mother wants to leave it be, but he insists that they investigate so they don’t get in trouble or sued. She reads that the Songho Foundation is credited as the payer. NamJoon calls the hospital, introducing himself as the guardian for Kim YoungMin, but they can’t transfer him to the administrative department at this time. Disappointed, he looks up the foundation’s website, unable to recall why it sounds familiar. He wonders why a scholarship foundation in the city would get involved with him. Spotting photos of a recent launch ceremony on the site, he recognizes a few people: Songju High School’s principal, the familiar-looking face of the foundation’s chairman, and SeokJin. First, NamJoon forces a laugh, and then it’s difficult for him to breathe. He thinks that SeokJin really had pitied him at that moment. The only thing keeping NamJoon going is the idea of getting through life on his own strength. Why does he have to live like this?
The last episode opens on 5 May back in SeokJin’s perspective. He is confident now that he has saved NamJoon, although it occurs to him that a better alternative may have been to simply pick up the money himself instead of stepping forward. (This decision is enacted in a later loop and depicted in the Euphoria MV.) While reflecting on what comes next to save his other friends, he receives a text from NamJoon. “What’s your account number? I’ll pay you back for the hospital bills. I don’t need your help. I’ll handle my concerns on my own.” Heart sinking, SeokJin wonders how he found out. With a sense of foreboding, he tries calling NamJoon, but no one answers. SeokJin texts him back, pretending that he doesn’t understand, and tells NamJoon to call him. SeokJin’s second attempt connects while he’s gathering his car keys to visit the container. “That’s enough. Just send the account number over text,” NamJoon instructs. SeokJin coaxes him to talk for a moment, and NamJoon asks flatly, “Are you going to apologize again?” SeokJin attempts to salvage the situation, but his friend turns cold when he insists that NamJoon is misunderstanding and that he just wanted to help. “So, why? Why are you helping me?! Yeah, you’re always a good person. You’ve done nothing wrong and I’m the one misunderstanding.” SeokJin apologizes again. NamJoon refuses his request to meet in person. “No, I thought maybe there was a reason for everything you did… But I guess I misconstrued it. I’ll pay you back, so I’d prefer if you stopped contacting me.” Long after the call ends, SeokJin stands holding his phone, feeling that the glass is going to break at any moment. He wants to believe that it’s not over, but hope is slipping through his fingertips.
The episode finishes in NamJoon’s perspective. On 8 May and 9 May, he accepts part-time delivery work and reflects on his three jobs. Whenever he thinks he’s at his breaking point, he focuses on his new goal of returning SeokJin’s money. On 10 May, NamJoon wakes up to his buzzing phone and is called in to work. On a scooter, he passes by a bus stop and notices graffiti. (This is the same bus stop, with matching graffiti, that appears in the Highlight Reel.) Mesmerized, he wonders if it’s TaeHyung’s. As soon as NamJoon looks up, the scooter’s brake fails, and he crashes. The shattered glass on the cold pavement reminds him of the headlight shard and the kid who looked like TaeHyung. (So the piece of glass SeokJin saw in April was really a memento NamJoon retrieved from the scene of the crash in the mountain town, where the delivery boy whom he privately called TaeHyung died. This event is described in NamJoon’s 17 December Year 21 entry in The Notes 1.) NamJoon’s vision grows blurry, and the distant sound of an ambulance doesn’t come any closer.
The arc concludes there, but it obviously marks another reset for SeokJin. It is interesting to note that in this failed loop, NamJoon suffers the same fate that he narrowly avoided in the snowy mountain town before returning to Songju.
Please stay tuned for the next Highlights post featuring JungKook and YoonGi!
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lastsonlost · 4 years
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Many of the women promoting the “cancellation” of men in comics, and demanding they post the recent empty promise known as #ComicsPledge, are in fact hypocrites.  In this article, I’m going to present evidence of lies, collusion, rumor spreading, and, in my opinion, defamation and contract interference.
I personally know that they’ve colluded for YEARS to take down men. Specifically those with conservative politics and philosophies. This is an ongoing, coordinated effort. How do I know this?
Because I obtained access to their PRIVATE FACEBOOK GROUP.
This is Part 1 of the #Hypocralypse leaks
There is simply too much to put in one leak, so I will make the following three points for now.
1. The so-called Comic Book Whisper Network, which has been dismissed as conspiracy since 2016, is real, and I have hundreds of screenshots to prove it.
2. The Whisper Network has been targeting men and trying to destroy their careers, and use their connections in the comic book media to do so.
 3. Whisper Network members have acted unprofessionally and unethically at best. At worst, they have engaged in what I believe could be illegal behavior.
MY STORY
I first heard about the Whisper Network back in mid-2016 from folks I knew at Image, DC, Marvel, and later, Valiant.  Depending on who I chatted with, sometimes the group was called ‘The Women’s Network’, other times ‘The Whisper Network’, occasionally ‘The Whisper Campaign’, and eventually there were more conspiratorial names used mockingly (a friend called them a gender-swapped 4Chan, which became ‘FemChan’ to some insiders).
Regardless of the name, it was all the same group.
The same five or six names kept popping up in conversation over and again. As time ticked on, I noticed a trend on Social Media: half a decade of rumors, false allegations, cancellation attempts , and they almost always traced back to these same five or six people.  The goal of this Whisper Network, according to industry folks, was simple: choose a target, smear them until they lose their reputation, their income, and are ultimately blacklisted – opening up job opportunities for the same people who started these smear campaigns in the first place.
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 Behind the scenes these “cancellations” are painted as morally or politically motivated, but in the end it’s all financial. As time passed, the group in question seemed more and more like a reality. I saw their influence. I saw things I knew to be verifiably untrue go viral online, appearing in what I thought were legit news sources. I felt angry and helpless seeing innocent people getting attacked, but did not know what to do. 
A few years passed and by 2018 almost everyone I interacted with in the industry seemed to know about the Network, from top level editors right down to the letterers. It was an open secret, but no one was willing to speak up for fear of being targeted themselves. They knew the consequences.
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And after all, this was a secret network. Without proof, there was no point in going public because members would just deny its existence, and use their media connections to smear anyone who challenged them.
 THEN THINGS GOT INTERESTING
December 16, 2018, Whisper Network member Gail Simone, who joined the Network 6 years ago (4 years before the following tweet was posted), mocks “doofuses” who speculate that a “whisper campaign” exists.
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At this point in late 2018, I was still skeptical of the Whisper Network’s existence. I’d heard many stories of individuals spreading rumors and lies, and plenty of malicious behavior was going on behind closed doors. Though I wasn’t ready to believe it was a coordinated effort, or collusion was involved.  Then, certain people began openly mentioning the Whisper Network and my attitude changed.
 March 26, 2019, Heather Antos, a member herself, did not outright mention the Whisper Network or her involvement, but she made what some took as a veiled threat to those who got on her bad side.
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 Heather “milkshake girl” Antos’ colorful backstory at Marvel, and later at Valiant, is notorious in the comic industry. A conversation about office rumor-spreading and bullying is never complete without someone bringing up a juicy Antos anecdote. Everyone has one.
Up until then, I still hadn’t seen ACTUAL PROOF of a larger scheme. But then, something changed in 2020.
January 8, 2020, Alex de Campi, who I would discover is one of the most active Whisper Network members, openly admits there is a Network. I have no idea if this was a slip or a brazen attempt to show off her power and influence, but this appeared.
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Eventually, everything I had heard and read was confirmed beyond any shadow of a doubt after I gained access to their private Facebook group.
I WAS INSIDE THE WHISPER NETWORK!
This is the place where the Whispher Network has been colluding for years. And although their activity is not confined to just this site, from what I can tell, this was where they first met, and started their coordinated campaigns.
Members of the Secret Group called “Comic Book Women”
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At present time, there are 440+ members of the secret Facebook group, called COMIC BOOK WOMEN. From what I can tell, a few are regular users, though many of them have never posted.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/comicbookwomen/ 
*unless you are a member, this will not show up in a search
Secret Facebook groups offer the same level of privacy as closed groups, but operate under a cloak of invisibility. No one can search for secret groups or even request to join them. The only way to get in one is to know someone who can invite you. Everything shared in a secret group is visible only to its members.
This secret group includes a list of members whose actions and connections speak for themselves. Members such as:
Zoe Quinn
Gail Simone
Alex de Campi
Heather Antos (aka Heather Marie)
Mags Visaggio (aka Magdalene Francis)
Mairghread Scott
And several key members of the group are women who work in the comics media and can be used to run damage control, including women like Heidi MacDonald of Comics Beat.  They have contacts outside of the secret network as well, with some male allies in both comics and the media.
Just the fact that all of these folks were secretly linked in a private network came as a shock to me, considering their reputations and the accusations that they’ve made. Immediately I began to connect the dots…
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They’ve denied for YEARS that they coordinate their actions in private. And yet they always coincidentally appear on Twitter, retweeting and amplifying each other’s accusations, signal boosting one another, and helping them gain traction. And their allies in media – Bleeding Cool and CBR specifically – will turn those same tweets into stories almost instantly & with no fact-checking or verification, sometimes within the hour.
I’m going to start explaining who the key actors are, and, from my perspective, how they coordinate these attacks.
KEY ACTORS
There are too many people to focus on at once, so I will have to break this into several posts, but I will start with one of the clear group leaders IMO.
Alex de Campi is well connected, despite never being part of the Big Two (since, from what I’ve been told management is well aware of her bullying, harassment, rumor-spreading and unethical behavior that goes back years, and depending on who you talk to she’s almost as notorious as Antos or Tess Fowler).  She just wrapped up a graphic novel campaign on Kickstarter with David Bowie’s son, the Hollywood film director Duncan Jones. It grossed over $366K
All the while she makes baseless accusations while demanding transparency from everyone else.
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Now, I’ll take you into their private network.
Two years ago, on May 13, 2018, De Campi launched a private campaign to target an independent creator, claiming she was using her connections to have Simon & Schuster cancel their book.
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In addition to contacting the publisher, others in the Whisper Network coordinated their efforts to contact media outlets to have the narrative changed, according to the posts in this thread.  Again, in my opinion, this could end up as a defamation or tortious interference case, and has many implications regarding media bias as well.
 
The following month, on June 23, 2018, de Campi posted private text messages between herself and writer Max Bemis in what appeared to be an attempt to damage his career. Despite Bemis being mentally ill (diagnosed with bipolar disorder in 2014), de Campi still posted the private messages with malicious intent IMO. According to US and UK law this is an actionable offense: posting private texts without both parties consenting.
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swiftgronmasterpost · 4 years
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Winter 2013 - The Beginning of the End and Dianna’s Private Tumblr
January 4, 2013 - Haylor Breakup
Taylor and Harry publicly split and leave us with this iconic picture:
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January 10, 2013 - People’s Choice Awards
Haylor is done, Harry is back in the UK, but Taylor shows up with a hickey anyway.  (Dianna is in LA at this time.)
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Some time this month Taylor writes How You Get The Girl which is about obviously someone who comes back to get the girl.  She references “standing in the rain” and “a long six months.”  It’s hard to know if these details are more “fanfic” or actual autobiographical details.
This six months may actually refer to the end of bearding for a while (because it seems like Swiftgron did reunite in Paris in early October.)  Exactly six months after Taylor started dating Conor Kennedy would be January 25th, 2013.
As for the rain...
It rained twice in LA this month according to weather reports on the 21st and on the 23rd:
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Dianna is in LA at this point and has started a private Tumblr blog under the name whosirmesir (we verified it was hers over on @swiftgron-get-married - and you can click here for more on that if you’re curious and actually I did an entire podcast episode walking people through it if you’re like like to listen to an in depth breakdown of it click here for apple OR click here for spotify OR click here for google.  
I also recommend searching the whosirmesir tag on @swiftgron-get-married​ because we’ve logged a lot of interesting moments and connections to Taylor (quotes, art, and other items that tie DIanna and Taylor together.)
On the private tumblr on January 25th Dianna reblogs this:
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It reads “i think we’re just gonna have to be secretly in love with each other and leave it at that...”
This is also the time period it is rumored that Dianna proposed to Taylor.  I’m not sure what to make of these rumors.  I have not been able to get anywhere near confirming them.  It’s entirely unsubstantiated - but I explored the rumor further in this blog post (click for link.)  And also on the podcast (will link just a bit down in this post because it relates to something else we’re about to discuss.)
February 4, 2013 - Dianna recommends “Far Nearer” by Jaime on twitter:
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The lyrics are essentially:
“I feel better when I, you feel better when I I feel better when I have you near me
You Me You I do, I do, I do“
repeated over and over again
February 9, 2013 - Neruda quote on Tumblr from Dianna
Dianna posts a quote to Tumblr.  The translation is, “I love you as certain dark things are loved, secretly, between the shadow and the soul.”
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It’s worth noting that Taylor namechecked Neruda in the Red album booklet.
February 10, 2013 - The Grammys
Dianna wants to make sure everyone is watching:
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And Taylor posts:
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“Look what happened! :)”
She won for Safe and Sound:
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And she performs her circus themed rendition of WANEGBT (where she mocks Harry Styles on stage making fun of his accent when she sings the “so he calls me up on the phone” part of the song even though this song was written before she was even with him.)
The only other time Dianna tweeted about the Grammys was when Glee was involved the year before.
February 14, 2013 - Achele breakfast and The Inside Source at Glee Tweet
According to a Facebook user Cory, Dianna, and Lea have breakfast this morning (or around this time):
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Later that day Taylor posts the infamous tweet:
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The Glee Episode “I Do” airs and there is no Taylor song included.  However Dianna and Naya’s characters hook up:
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After the episode airs Taylor deletes her tweet.
As always I’m not entirely sure what to make of this but to me it boils down to three possibilities:
1.  The fandom seems to think this proves that Dianna purposefully tricked Taylor into watching her “hook up” with Naya on screen.  It’s completely possible that that’s the case but I think the next two options make a bit more sense.
2.  It was a simple misunderstanding or a joke gone wrong.  Taylor had a song earlier on that season of glee (Mine sung as a breakup song by Naya) and I have been told another song of Taylor’s was marketed for another glee episode later that spring.  Perhaps someone got their wires crossed and misinformed Taylor.  
3.  Other nefarious parties:  
a.  It’s possible that Lea was behind this - she publicly had beef with Taylor at one point and she had been with Dianna that morning.  Maybe she met up with DIanna, heard about Swiftgron being happy and back together and got a little jealous and decided to prank Taylor.  
b.  Ryan Murphy also seemed to despise both Dianna and Taylor around this time.  He was also famous for stirring up drama with Gleeks on twitter and generally sewing discontent (particularly surrounding wlw ships and fans).  Ryan seems to have a problem with women/lesbians in general.  He treated Brittana as a couple horribly on Glee as well as their shippers.
He very publicly shaded Taylor in season one of Scream Queens and said in an interview that Dianna ruined Quinn for him because he said she made her sympathetic. 
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Not only that but in season 3 he destroyed her character - he made her have a mental breakdown - he had her try and steal a baby - he had her get hit by a car - and a huge plotline in season 3 was Quinn begging Rachel (Lea’s character so Dianna’s irl ex) not to marry Finn (played by Cory - literally the guy Lea chose Dianna over - this is like...emotionally abusive if you ask me.)  After season 3 Dianna only appeared in 8 episodes of the remaining 55 after being in every episode and the top third billed of the cast in the first three seasons.
Furthermore in a show called The New Normal there was a bitchy actress character named Brynn who he wrote as high maintenance and unpleasant and then killed off.
So yeah...seems fair to at least consider that Ryan or Lea who publicly had problems with both Taylor and Dianna may have been trying to create problems for Swiftgron.  One last note about Lea - there was not a single Achele interaction for the entire year of 2013.  The most we got was Dianna liking a tweet about Lea’s album in December 2013 and when asked about one another in interviews they would vaguely say they were still friends.  No tweets to one another, no birthday messages, no candids, no hang outs.  Lea’s book was also written around this time and does not make a single mention of Dianna - her former roommate and “best friend” even though she spends plenty of time talking about others on the Glee cast.
I did a podcast episode on both the proposal rumors and the inside source at Glee tweet if you want more extensive takes on that!
While I’m not entirely sure Dianna had anything to do with this tweet Taylor references this date (2-14-13) by putting it on a dollar bill as a serial number in The Man music video:
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At any rate Taylor deletes the tweet and replaces it with one about her dancers:
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Dianna tweets 9 hearts that day (I don’t know if that’s significant but if they were together from March 2012 to July 2012 and then October 2012 to this point it would mean 9 months together...)
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February 19, 2013 - Sad Charlie Brown Tumblr post from Dianna:
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February 27, 2013 - Fitzgerald quote
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Taylor listed this as a quote to live by in an interview with Marie Claire a few months later.
I’m not sure if it’s important but Dianna is very quiet this winter and spring in terms of showing up at events, parties, even being papped out on the street compared to other years around this time.  She seems to disappear a bit.
February 27, 2013 - Taylor gives a bday shoutout to her Fiddle player Caitlin:
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“Happy Birthday to my magical friend, fiddle extraordinaire @/caitlinbird” 
March 12, 2013 - Weird tweets from Dianna “One of those days.”
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March 13, 2013 - It’s the first day of the Red tour (is that why Dianna had questions?)
About the Red Tour - the last act of the tour seems to be circus themed which may have been inspired by Dianna’s 26th birthday the previous year and really interestingly Taylor has a white rabbit, which is a reference to Alice in Wonderland (Dianna’s favorite piece of media ever) follows Taylor around stage during the WANEGBT performance as she’s dressed up like a circus ringleader:
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March 18, 2013 - Dianna goes on a Girls HBO rant (we know who also loved Girls the show and its creator Lena Dunham (Taylor))
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End of March - Lena and Ashley show up at the Red Tour backstage
Conclusion - Swiftgron is on but completely underground.  Dianna is blogging and tweeting romantic things about missing girls, Taylor’s interests, and secret love, all while watching Taylor perform at the Grammys and encouraging others to tune in.  Something weird happened with the inside source at Glee tweet but who knows what.  Dianna seems a bit restless and emo while Taylor leaves to go on tour.
Click here to keep reading!
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digidrscommissouri · 3 years
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Get Your Online Medical Marijuana Cards in Missouri Now!
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A Quick Guide To Medical Marijuana Laws In Missouri
Whether you just got your medical marijuana card or are considering applying for one, it’s essential to educate yourself on the rules and regulations that govern the growing, licensing, distribution, sale, and consumption of medical marijuana in Missouri. One thing that patients who have applied for Online Medical Marijuana Cards Missouri don’t know is that they can get arrested for breaking the law, e.g., purchasing from non-licensed sources, driving under the influence, and possessing criminal quantities of medical marijuana. For this reason, we will discuss all the rules and regulations you need to know so that you can treat your conditions with medical marijuana without breaking the law. 
Who Qualifies For Medical Marijuana Cards In Missouri? 
Since 2018, according to Amendment 2, Missouri has permitted all patients who suffer from qualifying medical conditions and are over 18 years to apply for Online Medical Cannabis Cards Missouri. Patients who are under 18 years must get written consent from their parents or guardians before applying for a medical marijuana card. 
Who Is Authorized To Recommend Medical Marijuana Cards In Missouri? 
Your physician's certification form (which the state relies on to issue medical marijuana cards) must be signed by a licensed medical doctor or doctor of osteopathic medicine who is currently active and in good standing in Missouri. At Digidrs.com – Missouri, we will connect you with qualified doctors for a small processing fee. 
We can book you an appointment with our Online Medical Cannabis Doctors Missouri who will recommend you to the state. Our doctors are licensed and qualified to determine if you suffer from a medical condition that would be treatable using medical marijuana. 
What is the Possession Limit for Medical Marijuana in Missouri? 
The possession limits for medical marijuana in Missouri depend on your doctors' recommendation. The typical amount that patients are allowed to purchase and possess in a month is 4 ounces. It is illegal for a medical marijuana user to buy or possess more than the recommended amount of medical marijuana. Similarly, it is a criminal offense for licensed medical marijuana patients to purchase marijuana from other than the state-licensed and regulated dispensaries. 
Where a patient requires more than this amount to treat their conditions, they will need to submit two physician's certification forms that have been signed by two different Online Medical Cannabis Doctors Missouri. The documents must indicate the recommended amount of medical marijuana for the patient. Where the two amounts differ, the state will approve the lesser amount. 
Does Missouri Allow Growing Of Medical Marijuana By Patients?
For an extra 100 dollars annually, Missouri allows medical marijuana patients to grow a limited number of plants for their personal use. There are complex regulations around growing, but patients are allowed a maximum of 6 flowering plants, six non-flowering plants, and six clones.
Does Missouri Allow Public Consumption of Medical Marijuana?
A medical marijuana card does not exempt patients from all state laws regarding the possession, distribution, and use of marijuana. It is illegal to consume cannabis in public in Missouri, even for medical marijuana patients. Similarly, it is unlawful to drive or operate heavy machinery under the influence of marijuana. Medical Marijuana patients found to be illegally distributing cannabis will face a prison term of 4 years or fines of up to 10,000 dollars, just like any other resident.
Contact No. (816) 338-7576
Address: 4619 Campbell St, Kansas City, Missouri, 64110, US
Facebook Profile
Instagram Account
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adventseven · 3 years
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Mortal Kombat!!! | REVIEW
Mortal Kombat has been a long-time favorite of my life. I can remember playing Mortal Kombat on the SNES when I was four and watching the 1995 movie for the first time when I was six. I was hooked. I continued to play the games and follow the crazy history that unfolded over the years. I was mainlining The Immortals’ Techno Syndrome for a week straight leading to opening weekend. Can the 2021 Mortal Kombat live up to the hype or will it be another Fatality for video game movies?
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Mortal Kombat as a franchise has a long and overly complicated story, but luckily enough the movie only adapts the first game. Short synopsis of MK 1: Earthrealm is in hot water as Outworld looms with nine consecutive wins of the Mortal Kombat tournament. With a tenth win Outworld has the justification of invading Earthrealm. Protector of Earthrealm, Raiden, brings together Earthrealm’s champions to stop the looming invasion.
The 2021 film takes the overall story and plays around with its history to bring this world to life. Shang Tsung is set to win the tenth tournament even if he must cheat to do so. He sends his forces to Earthrealm to take out their champions. From the characters’ powers to their backstories, things are adapted to suit the new story. One of the major tweaks is the addition of a new kombatant Cole Young, played by Lewis Tan (Into the Badlands and Deadpool 2). His fish-out-of-water perspective gives the audience members who are not familiar with this world an easy way to get up to speed on his situation, and what the cost is if Outworld wins. His journey of finding his “arcana” and the will to fight makes him into one of Earthrealm’s warriors.
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Arcana and the dragon marks are introduced to help explain how characters can shoot fireballs or lasers out of their eyes. The dragon mark claims them as champions and that gives them their unique superhuman abilities, arcana. It makes sense as to why people like Sonya Blade can fight against ice manipulating ninjas or reptilian humanoids.
From the fight choreography to the costumes, the movie goes to great lengths to ensure that the nearly 30 years of Mortal Kombat history is there for fans of the games. You can find multiple easter eggs splashed around the film from mention of characters like Bo’ Rai Cho to pictures of Kotal Kahn and Nightwolf. It gives spotlight to lesser-known characters like Nitara and Reiko and fanboy moments of “Oh, he did the thing! He did the thing”. Not to mention the main attraction of Mortal Kombat, the thing that created the ESRB rating system, Fatalities. It heartily deserves the R rating for how far it is willing to take to bring them to life in all its bloody glory. It is a far cry from the PG-13 and simple fight choreography of the 1995 version.
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The story itself is good, but not the best. What can you expect from shoving an 8–10-hour game to two hours of runtime? The first and final thirds of the film are great, filled with action and story beats. The middle is kind of slow and bogs the momentum carried on from the first third of the film. The writing is a bit tongue in cheek with quotes and jokes, however they do not seem too corny or forced. Some slight CG special effects are a little wonky, but most of the time it is spot on and looks great.
The actors bring every character to life and make them feel incredibly special. Hiroyuki Sanada (Avenger: Endgame and The Last Samurai) brings that fiery fury to the hell wraith Scorpion. Joe Taslim (The Raid and The Night Comes for Us) brings that cold and cruel personality of Sub-Zero/Bi-Han. Finally, Kano, who steals about every scene he is in, is played by Josh Lawson (House of Lies and The Little Death). He brings out the best of the egotistical and thuggish leader of the Black Dragon crime syndicate.
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The movie is a definite watch. It clearly shows a reverence for the source material while bringing some well-crafted additions to the expanding universe. The little details and rich history it's drawing from makes it all worth the price of admission, or if you already have HBO Max then add it to your list. Not a flawless victory but a great addition along with the 1995 film. Just forget about Annihilation. If you want more, do not worry, it heavily implies a sequel filled with more kombatants and more gory fun. Also, Joe Taslim is signed-on for like four more.
SCORE: 8/10
By Frank Cayou
Follow Frank on Twitter: https://twitter.com/f_Cayou
Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/Advent_Seven
Subscribe on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/AdventSevenMedia
Images courtesy of Midway Games, Kombat Kronicles and Warner Bros.
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allysamae · 3 years
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Social Media When Disaster Strikes
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[Source: https://reliefweb.int/report/philippines/philippines-social-media-disaster-preparedness-and-response-15-july-2015]
Social media is an Internet-based application that enable people to communicate and share resources and information. The emergence of this new communication channels represents an opportunity to broaden warnings to diverse segments of the population in times of emergency. These technologies have the potential to prevent communication breakdown through reliance on just one platform and thereby to reinforce the diffusion of warning messages but also present policy makers with new challenges.
What are the uses of social media in an emergency situation?
Social media can be used is spreading information and receive user feedback via incoming messages, wall posts, and polls.
   Systematic usage might include: 1) using the medium to conduct emergency communications and issue warnings; 2) using social media to receive victim requests for assistance; 3) monitoring user activities and postings to establish situational awareness; and4) using uploaded images to create damage estimates, among others.
[Source: Bruce R. Lindsay (2011), “Social Media and Disasters: Current Uses, Future Options, and Policy Considerations” / Wendling, C., J. Radisch and S. Jacobzone (2013), “The Use of Social Media in Risk and Crisis Communication”, OECD]
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[Source: https://healthstandards.com/blog/2012/04/17/tweets-of-the-living-dead-social-media-spreads-awareness-during-disasters/ ]
Social media has undoubtedly altered the world operates. The rapid and vast adoption of new media platforms have changed the way people relate and communicate ith each other in the social, economic, and political arenas.
How social media helped families, social workers, and the government in discerning information during calamities?
During calamities, social media greatly help us. It gives us the opportunity to connect with our loved ones, gather and spread information, notify our close friends and families about our safety.
Let’s take Facebook’s Safety Check for an example:  
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[Source: https://mariabarcelona.com/tag/safety-check/]
Facebook activated its special feature—Safety Check—which helped friends and families locate their near and dear ones.
By using this particular feature, users close to the site of the disaster can mark themselves safe and notify their friends. Besides this, Safety Check also urges other users to indicate when people they know are safe.
The feature was developed by Facebook after its engineers in Japan developed the Disaster Message Board to help people make contact during and after the 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami.
Social Media Use: Typhoon Ulysses Struck Philippines
There’s no denying that social media has its pros and cons. However, the recent typhoon Ulysses proved that it’s a really powerful platform for spreading the word out there.
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[Source: https://cnnphilippines.com/news/2021/3/3/Australia-P630-million-investment-PH-six-year-SHIELD-initiative.html]
People living in Metro Manila, Central Luzon, Calabarzon, and other parts of the Philippines affected by the Typhoon have resorted to social media, particularly Facebook, to share updates about their situation.
More importantly, affected Filipinos are posting requests for rescue as they are stuck on their roofs after the flood overwhelmed their homes. Most of them accompanied their post with the hashtag #RescuePH, which has become a trending topic on Twitter.
Many posts include people taking pictures of their flooded streets while they are on their roofs, pleading for help and rescue, especially since most of them have children, the elderly, or someone suffering from illness.
The posts also include their full address and landmark so rescuers can get to them as fast as possible.
What’s more interesting here is, Filipino’s “bayanihan” culture was expressed just by simply sharing the post of someone in need, so their situation can be heard by the authorities as fast as possible.
Posting on social media also helps local government units to monitor the situation of their constituents.
Due to the extreme weather conditions, the government — and even essential service providers like power and telco companies — resort to social media to disseminate updates to the people.
Social media played a huge role in disaster response during the recent calamities in the Philippines. Posting critical information to Facebook and Twitter provides not only an additional channel for reaching citizens who are already following your community’s social media presence, it enables citizens to share your message with their own followers, helping to extend the reach of your message to others in your community. Here are some contribution made by social media during crises:
1. Communicate needed resources.
2. Locate friends and family.
3. Allow individuals to make requests for, or offers of, equipment resources.
4. Facilitate volunteer inquiries.
5. Triage location recovery needs.
6. Communicate the coordination of supplies such as fresh water depots, shelter, and clothing resources, and charging stations.
Present Vs Past
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[Source: https://myassignmenthelp.com/blog/traditional-media-versus-new-social-media-differences-impact-and-outcome/]
Way back before media such as TV, radio, and print are the only way of getting information during calamities. It is the only way we can get information because technologies where only limited.  But now that we have social media, it makes even easier to be informed and be aware of the possible calamities and what is happening in every corner of the world. Let’s see the difference between social media and the traditional media (TV, Radio and print):
1. Social media reaches a maximum audience, while traditional media’s audience is generally more targeted.
2. Social media is versatile (you can make changes once published), whereas traditional media, once published, is set in stone.
3. Social media is immediate, while traditional can be delayed due to press times.
4. Social media is a two-way conversation, and traditional is one-way.
5. Social media often has unreliable demographic data, but traditional media’s is more accurate.
[Source: https://apps.prsa.org/Intelligence/Tactics/Articles/view/11445/1124/Social_vs_Traditional_Media_Has_the_Battle_Already#.YGqCIegzY2w]
Conclusion
When used during an emergency, social media can help expand the reach of your message due to social sharing and the vast number of citizens who actively utilize the platforms. It can serve as an open communication channel for residents to respond back, ask questions, and provide updates. In a nutshell, social media is a powerful tool of communication during calamities.
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gamesis426 · 3 years
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newstfionline · 3 years
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Monday, January 25, 2021
Americans remain sorely divided as Biden’s quest for unity begins (Washington Post) The other day, Stu Ross, a retired elementary school teacher, threw his neighbor out of his townhouse in Harrisburg, Pa. The guy had said he saw nothing wrong with the attack on the U.S. Capitol. The two haven’t spoken since. So when Ross heard President Joe Biden’s Inauguration Day appeal for a lowered temperature, for unity, he wasn’t seeing a realistic path to that goal. Ross called the new president’s first speech “soothing and calm.” But unity? Normalcy? A return to how things used to be, to Biden’s idea that “politics doesn’t have to be a raging fire?” Come on. At the dawn of an administration that seeks to return to a less fractious, even boring, politics, many Americans grant that Biden’s quest for a quieter culture is a nice enough goal, but, from the left and right, many say the country’s divisions remain too deep to allow for such a shift. In Topeka, Kan., Ed Myers has no patience for the debate over whether to hold Donald Trump to account for his role in inciting the attempted insurrection at the Capitol. A retired farm equipment factory worker, Myers says he was suspended by Twitter after he wrote that Biden is “an illegitimate president.” The way Myers sees it: That puts him in the same boat as Trump, whose Twitter account was banned for “incitement of violence,” which Myers views as a move to stifle free speech. So no, Myers sees no reason to unify, no cause to rally around the new president to combat the virus and revive the economy.
Barred From U.S. Under Trump, Muslims Exult in Biden’s Open Door (NYT) As the results of the American presidential election rolled in on Nov. 4, a young Sudanese couple sat up through the night in their small town south of Khartoum, eyes glued to the television as state tallies were declared, watching anxiously. They had a lot riding on the outcome. A year earlier, Monzir Hashim had won the State Department’s annual lottery to obtain a green card for the United States only to learn that President Trump, in his latest iteration of the “Muslim ban,” had barred Sudanese citizens from immigrating to the United States. The election seemed to offer a second chance, and when Mr. Trump was eventually declared to have lost the vote, Mr. Hashim and his wife, Alaa Jamal, hugged with joy. Few foreigners welcomed Mr. Biden’s election victory as enthusiastically as the tens of thousands of Muslims who have been locked out of the United States for the past four years as a result of the Trump-era immigration restrictions popularly known as the “Muslim ban.” By one count, 42,000 people were prevented from entering the United States from 2017 to 2019, mostly from Muslim-majority nations like Iran, Somalia, Yemen and Syria. But the human cost of Mr. Trump’s measures, stitched into the fabric of disrupted lives stained with tears and even blood, can hardly be counted—families separated for years; weddings and funerals missed; careers and study plans upended; lifesaving operations that did not take place.
A Digital Dragnet Is Coming For The U.S. Capitol Insurrectionists (HuffPost) The insurrectionists might have been able to leave without being arrested. Their friends and family members may not have turned them in. But slowly but surely, the digital surveillance net is tightening on the supporters of former President Donald Trump who stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6. Most of the cases being unveiled by federal authorities are still originating with tips from the public, and there are hundreds of future defendants who have yet to be identified and charged. But a few of the criminal charges appear to be built on wider-spanning search warrants to social media companies that appear to have given federal authorities investigative leads they’ve used to identify lawbreakers. The cellphones that the Capitol insurrectionists carried with them when they tried to overturn the results of the presidential election through force were feeding information to a variety of tech companies that now hold incriminating information about their users’ violations of the law. “We’re all carrying tiny tracking devices with us all the time, and people aren’t necessarily conscious of the extent to which that information is obtainable from a variety of sources,” said Julian Sanchez, a senior fellow at Cato and an expert on technology, privacy and civil liberties.
Mexican president Lopez Obrador tests positive for COVID-19 (AP) Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said on Sunday he had tested positive for COVID-19, amid an intense second wave of the coronavirus pandemic that has pushed the health system of the country’s vast capital city close to saturation. The 67-year-old president said in a tweet that his symptoms were light and he was receiving medical treatment. Lopez Obrador has maintained a busy public schedule during the pandemic and has said he enjoys good health, after suffering a serious heart attack at the age of 60 in 2013.
Spain’s virus surge hits mental health of front-line workers (AP) The unrelenting increase in COVID-19 infections in Spain following the holiday season is again straining hospitals, threatening the mental health of doctors and nurses who have been at the forefront of the pandemic for nearly a year. A study released this month by Hospital del Mar looking at the impact of the spring’s COVID-19 surge on more than 9,000 health workers across Spain found that at least 28% suffered major depression. That is six times higher than the rate in the general population before the pandemic, said Dr. Jordi Alonso, one of the chief researchers. In addition, the study found that nearly half of participants had a high risk of anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder, panic attacks or substance- and alcohol-abuse problems. Spanish health care workers are far from the only ones to have suffered psychologically from the pandemic. In China, the levels of mental disorders among doctors and nurses were even higher, with 50% reporting depression, 45% reporting anxiety and 34% reporting insomnia, according to the World Health Organization. In the U.K., a survey released last week by the Royal College of Physicians found that 64% of doctors reported feeling tired or exhausted. One in four sought out mental health support. “It is pretty awful at the moment in the world of medicine,” Dr. Andrew Goddard, president of the Royal College of Physicians, said in a statement accompanying the study. “Hospital admissions are at the highest-ever level, staff are exhausted, and although there is light at the end of the tunnel, that light seems a long way away.”
French Roosters Now Crow With the Law Behind Them (NYT) The crow of a rooster and the ringing of a church bell at dawn. The rumble of a tractor and the smell of manure wafting from a nearby stable. The deafening song of cicadas or the discordant croaking of frogs. Quacking ducks, bleating sheep and braying donkeys. Perennial rural sounds and smells such as these were given protection by French law last week, when lawmakers passed a bill to preserve “the sensory heritage of the countryside,” after a series of widely publicized neighborhood spats in France’s rural corners, many of them involving noisy animals. The disputes symbolized tensions between urban newcomers and longtime country dwellers, frictions that have only grown as the coronavirus pandemic and a string of lockdowns draw new residents to the countryside. Perhaps the most prominent of these noisy animals was Maurice, a rooster in Saint-Pierre-d’Oléron, a town on an island off France’s western coast. His owner had been sued by neighbors—regular vacationers in the area—because he crowed too loudly. Politicians and thousands of petitioners rushed to the Gallic rooster’s defense, and a court eventually ruled in 2019 that Maurice, who died last summer at the age of six, was well within his rights. It is too late for Maurice. But his successor, Maurice II, can now crow with the full-throated confidence of someone who has the law on their side.
Davos ski resort eerily quiet without economic talkfest this year (Reuters) Student protesters who urged world leaders at the 2020 World Economic Forum in Davos to “Stop (f)lying to us” must be pleased this year, at least as far as the flying is concerned. The streets of the little Alpine town that welcomed around 3,000 business chiefs, political thinkers and state leaders for last year’s annual meeting lie deserted. Discussions have moved online, starting Monday, and COVID-19 restrictions are also keeping regular tourists away. “Look around, it’s empty. Normally, all hotels would be fully booked at this time,” Reto Branschi, head of Davos Klosters tourism, told Reuters in an interview this week. There are no helicopters patrolling the skies, no protesters trying to outwit security forces sealing off the Alpine resort. But not everybody is sad about the lack of buzz. “Complete peace and quiet,” a local woman wearing a mask said. “I don’t miss it at all.”
Trapped for 2 weeks, 11 workers rescued from China gold mine (AP) Eleven workers trapped for two weeks inside a Chinese gold mine were brought safely to the surface on Sunday, a landmark achievement for an industry long-blighted by disasters and high death tolls. Hundreds of rescue workers and officials stood at attention and applauded as the workers were brought up from the mine in Qixia, a jurisdiction under Yantai in the eastern coastal province of Shandong. The cause of the accident is under investigation but the explosion was large enough to release 70 tons of debris that blocked the shaft, disabling elevators and trapping workers underground. Such protracted and expensive rescue efforts are relatively new in China’s mining industry, which used to average 5,000 deaths per year. Increased supervision has improved safety, although demand for coal and precious metals continues to prompt corner-cutting. A new crackdown was ordered after two accidents in mountainous southwestern Chongqing last year killed 39 miners.
U.S. carrier group enters South China Sea amid Taiwan tensions (Reuters) A U.S. aircraft carrier group led by the USS Theodore Roosevelt has entered the South China Sea to promote “freedom of the seas”, the U.S. military said on Sunday, at a time when tensions between China and Taiwan have raised concern in Washington. U.S. Indo-Pacific Command said in a statement the strike group entered the South China Sea on Saturday, the same day Taiwan reported a large incursion of Chinese bombers and fighter jets into its air defence identification zone in the vicinity of the Pratas Islands. The U.S. military said the carrier strike group was in the South China Sea, a large part of which is claimed by China, to conduct routine operations “to ensure freedom of the seas, build partnerships that foster maritime security”. China has repeatedly complained about U.S. Navy ships getting close to Chinese-occupied islands in the South China Sea, where Vietnam, Malaysia, the Philippines, Brunei and Taiwan all have competing claims.
Israel targets flights, religious scofflaws, as virus rages (AP) Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday said Israel will be closing its international airport to nearly all flights, while Israeli police clashed with ultra-Orthodox protesters in several major cities and the government raced to bring a raging coronavirus outbreak under control. The entry of highly contagious variants of the virus, coupled with poor enforcement of safety rules in ultra-Orthodox communities, has contributed to one of the world’s highest rates of infections. Experts say that a lack of compliance with safety regulations in Israel’s ultra-Orthodox sector has been a major factor in the spread of the virus. Throughout the pandemic, many major ultra-Orthodox sects have flouted safety regulations, continuing to open schools, pray in synagogues and hold mass weddings and funerals despite broader lockdown orders. This has contributed to a disproportionate infection rate: The ultra-Orthodox community accounts for over one-third of Israel’s coronavirus cases, despite making up just over 10% of the population.
Arab Spring exiles look back 10 years after Egypt uprising (AP) The Egyptians who took to the streets on Jan. 25, 2011, knew what they were doing. They knew they risked arrest and worse. But as their numbers swelled in Cairo’s central Tahrir Square, they tasted success. Police forces backed off, and within days, former President Hosni Mubarak agreed to demands to step down. But events didn’t turn out the way many of the protesters envisioned. A decade later, thousands are estimated to have fled abroad to escape the government of President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi that is considered even more oppressive. The significant loss of academics, artists, journalists and other intellectuals has, along with a climate of fear, hobbled any political opposition. Human Rights Watch estimated in 2019 that there were 60,000 political prisoners in Egypt. The Committee to Protect Journalists ranks Egypt third, behind China and Turkey, in detaining journalists. El-Sissi maintains Egypt has no political prisoners. The arrest of a journalist or a rights worker makes news roughly every month. Many people have been imprisoned on terrorism charges, for breaking a ban on protests or for disseminating false news. Others remain in indefinite pretrial detentions.
Severe winds wreck homes, displace thousands in Mozambique (Reuters) Severe winds and heavy rains wrecked thousands of buildings, ruined crops and displaced almost 7,000 people in Mozambique over the weekend, officials said in their first detailed report on the disaster. Tropical cyclone Eloise hit Mozambique’s Sofala coastal province on Saturday morning before weakening and heading inland to dump rain on Zimbabwe, eSwatini—formerly known as Swaziland—and South Africa. The region’s Buzi district had been particularly hard hit with wind speeds of up to 150 kph.
Raising kids bilingual can make them more attentive and efficient as adults (CNBC) Adults who grew up speaking two different languages can shift their attention between different tasks quicker than those who pick up a second language later in life, according to a new study. This is just one of many cognitive benefits of being bilingual. Research has shown that bilingual kids are constantly switching between two languages in their brain, which increases “cognitive flexibility,” the ability to switch between thinking about different concepts or multiple concepts at once, and “selective attention abilities,” the mental process of focusing on one task or object at a time. Other studies have shown that bilingual children can complete mental puzzles quicker and more efficiently than those who only speak one language. The reason? Speaking two languages requires “executive functioning,” which are higher-level cognitive skills like planning, decision making, problem solving and organization. Basically, this task is a workout for the brain. The mental benefits of starting a new language early appear to last even as children grow into adulthood.
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