#they are animals that exhibit understanding. many animals have been proven to show they can recognize themselves
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wrote up a huge sappy post about tock and my time playing xiv so far and endwalker but then i fell asleep after eating bad fast food and now im embarassed to post all of that so just know i think endwalker was the greatest video game story ive ever played and hermes and meteion are going to stick in my head forever and tock is my most important oc. thats the basics
#venat was cool i guess but hermes deserves more than her#i realize too i never do my insane ramblings over here. about hermes. about how i hate people humanizing meteion when her being nonhuman is#critical to hermes character and especially how hermes cares for animals being shoved to the wayside#instead so people can just focus on him being autistic or depressed and ignore that he cares deeply and intensely for#all animals. the wasps the maggots the birds the sharks the turtles the mollusks. how he is the one consumed with the love for what#other deems lesser or below them the animals other cry couldnt possibly exhibit emotions!#i saw a tweet yesterday of someone acting horrified or absolutely astonished that spiders can recognize themselves/other spiders#and make art and it made me lose my mind because why COULDNT spiders do this? why be so surprised? why act so horrified?#they are animals that exhibit understanding. many animals have been proven to show they can recognize themselves#and even then if an animal cannot why do we see them as lesser for it. why do we argue about if animals can feel pain or not#and think that nothing deserves to be tortured by purely existing#why do we kill bugs when they are simply looking for warmth and why do we attempt to justify the merciless othering of#animals based on their capacity for emotion and humanization. when all animals should be given the choice to be as they are#wasps deserve to live spiders and tarantulas and cockroaches and maggots and pigeons and seagulls#to kill them or taunt them or degrade them for how he made them is beyond cruel. consider#anyway. i think hermes would LOVE halloween hissing cockroaches
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The Basic Principles Of Rangoli simple
The Basic Principles Of Rangoli simple
Mehndi rangoli style and Sanskar Bharti rangoli are two crucial different types of rangoli. Mehndi rangoli design and style includes drawing designs which might be similar to henna or mehndi designs nonetheless over a ground with rangoli .
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Really a simple rangoli structure with four dots and this 1 below is with dot pattern 5 by five. The rangoli is proven in two levels. The rangoli contains many simple leaf or petal like patterns by using a floral style for the centre.
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Another rangoli also works by using a 3 by3 dot grid. The actions shown while in the graphic are self-explanatory. What is essential is the ultimate graphic displays that a simple still lovable rangoli is usually received using this type of dot grid and employing some creativity to include some styles around the rangoli.
Quite a few modest dots are drawn through the structure, which is further joined. Many colours may be placed on the blank portions of the style. However, yellow, red and blue would be the best colour combination for this design.
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The essential style and design at the centre decorated with spiral borders they usually subsequently have mini petal or leaves as borders all around. At last an encompassing border matching the contours fashioned a result of the petals to incorporate splendor for the kolam.
End the rangoli by incorporating a lot more patterns with white kolam powder.
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Nancy Drew and Education
So apparently the Clue Crew is full of teachers? Who knew. Well, as a former homeschooled student, current teacher, and (hopefully) future homeschooling parent/teacher I have been planning on integrating the games into lessons for a long time. Below the cut I have just a few of my many ideas (some more fleshed out than others). Feel free to use, adapt, or add your own!
SCK:
- Braille
o How blind/vision impaired people navigate the world
§ How we can make it more accessible for them
o How do braille books and printers work
- ASL
o Memorizing the alphabet and basic signs
§ Build up fluency
o How HOH/deaf people navigate the world
§ How we can make it more accessible for them
o Connections of ASL to other signed languages
§ French Sign Language versus British Sign Language
- Dangers of gas leaks
o What to do if you smell or hear gas
- Inequalities between mens and womens sporting opportunities
o See Women’s Soccer
- What are performance enhancing drugs
o What is the difference between #steroids and the steroids your doctor might prescribe
- How drug running is a gateway crime
- Why blackmailing people isn’t good
- More reasons to never move to Florida
- Why you shouldn’t go to an actual high school part one
STFD:
- Television in NYC
o Soap Operas
o How television sets work
o Role of director
o Teleprompters
o Props
o Agents
- Theatre in NY
o Broadway
§ Learn a show
o Carnegie Hall
- Dangers in the ways we obsess over celebrities
o Paparazzi
o Stalkers
o Respecting privacy
- NY taxi system
- NY regional accents
- NY as a center for immigration – salad bowl
o Ellis Island
- History of NYC
o Geography of NYC
- Typewriters
- Towers of Hanoi
- Encoding
- How to make chocolates (with or without poison)
- Read along:
o New York the Novel (Edward Rutherford)
o The Power Broker
o All of a Kind Family
MHM:
- San Francisco Gold Rush
- Earthquake and Fires in San Fran
- Golden Gate Bridge
- Angel Island
o Asian (Chinese) Immigration to the USA
- Chinese Zodiac
- Fortune telling (and why it’s not okay)
- Bed and Breakfasts
- San Francisco today
o Technology boom
o Overpriced everything
§ How this hurts established residents
§ Homelessness in San Fran
- Bandits in the American West
- Hauntings in American buildings
- How to remove and install tile
- Renovations – refurbish something
- Antiques
o Visit an antique shop
- Importance of fire safety
- How to install lighting fixtures properly
- How to fix a dumbwaiter
o How not to be a dumb waiter
- Tangrams
- What is the Victorian period
o Significance of Queen Victoria
- Read Along:
o Little Brother
o Paper Son: Lee’s Journey to America
o Angel Island Gateway to Golden Mountain
TRT:
- The French Revolution
o Marie Antoinette
o Women and the French Revolution
o Worldwide effects of the Revolution
o Historians of the French Revolution
- Writing history
o How we can focus on different events in history, how we can be sympathetic to certain people, how we can fulfill different spaces in the historical narrative, criticism of history as a field, entering history as a field
- Wisconsin Dairy industry
- Alarm systems and how they work
- Fingerprinting
- Elevator safety
- Ski lifts
o Skiing
- Vandalism
- Taking care of libraries
- Latitude and longitude
- Keeping records of good events and bad events
o Nothing you do will ever stop me from loving you
- Some people keep different sleep schedules
- Journalism
- Making translations
- Why France has different holidays – to keep the ski lodges from getting too full
FIN:
- History of theatre spaces
- Use of film at theatres
- Magicians
o Houdini
o Learn a ‘magic’ trick
- Library of Congress
- Demolition – wrecking balls
o What’s involved
- Plaster casts
- Historic register of buildings
o Visit a local historic building
- Price of concessions and movie tickets today
- Nickelodeons
- Celebrity stunts for attention from press
o Celebrity endorsements
- Jazz music
o Dancing
- Kidnapping stories
o What to do if someone tries to grab you
- Rubber vs. electricity
- Art/artists of the 20s
SSH:
- Numbering systems (particularly ones not based on 10)
- Cultures of South America
o Maya
§ Cultural understandings
§ Connections to what appears at Beech Hill
o Aztec
o Inca
- Myths of lesser civilizations because of European preconceptions
- Why do countries have consulates/embassies in other countries
- What is amnesia and other medical memory issues
- Provenance and why its important part one
- Roles and responsibilities within a museum
o Visit a museum
o How to be critical of a museum and how knowledge is presented to you
- Modern art
o Make your own
o Visit a modern art museum
- Periodic Table of Elements
- Positive and negative molds for casting
DOG:
- Prohibition
o Speakeasys
o Amendments to constitution
o Drinking age restrictions
§ Comparison of USA to European countries
o Connections to modern drug policies
- Recognizing and photographing local birds
- Dangers in the forest – ticks and other pests
- Why water sources are important
o Flint water crisis
- Visit a state park
o Importance of maintaining public land
- Alcatraz
- How to care for dogs
- Noise pollution
o Light pollution
CAR:
- History of carousels
o Visit a carousel
- Lathes
- Harmonicas
- Band organs
- Writing messages with lemon juice and other hidden inks
- How to iron
o How not to iron
- How to make a sundae
- How amusement park rides are designed
- Soldering
- What is parole
o Welcoming those who have been in prison back to society
o Problems with the American prison system
§ How it disproportionately affects minority groups
o What can be done in prison reform
o Abuses in prison
o Making mental and spiritual help and guidance more available
o Making sanitary products available
o Prison for profit hurts everybody except the prison owner
o Educational opportunities for those in prison
o More half-way help
o Juvenile sentencing reform – more out of system help
o Respecting humanity of prisoners
o Ending the death penalty
- Depression
o How to get help
o How to help others
o Dealing with loss
DDI:
- Native peoples of the Pacific Northwest
- Orcas and other whales
o Whaling industry in Northwest and Northeast
o Things whale products were used for
o Visit natural history museum with whale exhibition
- Visit an aquarium with a good reputation
o Problems with places that do not take care of their sea life – particularly large sea life like whales
- What is a chowder and how is it made
o Try or make chowder
- Crabs
o Restrictions on different types of crabs – what type is local
o Try a crab dish
- Importance of different knots
o Get some rope and learn how to tie different knots
- Know the NATO alphabet and letter flags
- Boating knowledge
o Go on a boating trip – know the port and starboard sides
- Learn how to kayak
- Try to learn how to skip rocks
- Visit a lighthouse
o Importance and histories of lighthouses
- Smuggling – what is it and why does it happen
- Shanghaiing
- Chess
SHA:
- The continuous oppression and mistreatment of Native Americans
o From Mayflower to Pocahontas to Trail of Tears to Dakota to DAPL to Reservations to food deserts to voting rights to much much more
§ How to support current Native voices and concerns
o Why Native Americans are not a costume
o “Possession” of Native American objects and land
§ Arrowheads and native jewelry
o Broad overview of regional Native American groups – using their own voices
§ Special focus on local Native American groups
· Is there a local museum/educational resource that is either Native created or known for respecting Native voices
o Current Native Americans of note (ex: politicians, activists, artists)
o While the previous focuses on Native Americans in the modern day USA – also discuss First Nations from Canada and Native Groups from more southern areas
- Why temperature and pan matters when baking (show what happens in the oven when it goes wrong)
- Magnets and how different metals react differently to magnets
- How to take care of a horse and other farm animals
o Visit a local farm
o Try horse-riding
- Dangers of rattle snakes and scorpions
- Lassos and how to use them
- Legends of outlaws in the American West
- Ghost towns
- Flower stitches when knitting/crocheting
- Petrified wood
- How to make a campfire
- Picking fruits and veggies when they are ready
- Flower language
- Read Along:
o Native American folk tales
o Motorcycles and Sweetgrass
o Gone Away Lake
o Black Beauty?
CUR:
- Where are the moors
- Different regional accents within the United Kingdom
- British foods
- Latin
o Learn fun phrases and prayers
- Ancestry and genealogy
o Map your own family tree and recognize family crests
o How adoption has historically been a binding and irrefutable concept for lineage
o Find places your family lived
o Leaving a history for your descendants
§ Write a story book for them
o British Royal Family
§ Why incest is bad
- Parrots and their intelligence
- Secret passages in old buildings
- Alchemy
o Connections to modern understandings of science
o Historical understandings of elements
- Astrological signs
- Witch trials
- Legends of lycanthropy and other monsters
- Importance of not taking other peoples medicines
- Runic alphabet
- Feeding your pets a healthy diet
- Typing practice
- How to embrace the idea that home taught students are evil geniuses
- Forges and melting points of different metals
- Carnivorous plants
- Succulents
- Constellations in different places
- Read Along:
o The Secret Garden
o The London Eye Mystery
o Beastly
CLK:
- Great Depression
o Causes and effects
o Who was hurt
o Who was not hurt
o Areas of America
§ Dust bowl
o Famous people and literature
o Homelessness and poverty
§ Bread lines
§ Soup kitchens
§ Anti-homelessness architecture
§ Connections to mental illness and veterans
§ How we can help those who do not have homes today
- Early Telephones
- Shakespeare
- History of Nancy Drew
o Mildred Wirt Benson
o Edward Stratemeyer
- Fishing – why different fish respond to different bait
- Orphanages in the early 20th century
- Gas prices and accessibility of cars through time
- How to make pie
- What is jurisdiction and what is significant about crossing state lines
- How do banks work
o Safety deposit boxes
- Identify theft
- How to use a sewing machine
o Sew an item of clothing
- Mini golf – why and what
- Mirrors and their usefulness
- Stamp collections
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- Radios and call signs
o Comparison to modern internet forms
- Telegrams
- Read along:
o Shakespeare
§ Midsummer Night’s Dream
§ Others
o Pollyanna
o Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm
o The Grapes of Wrath
TRN:
- Trains
o Steam trains
o Visit a train museum
o Take a train ride (if not a normal event)
o Importance of transcontinental railway
o Trains around the USA today
o Trains around the world (TGV, bullet train)
- Abraham Lincoln
- Mark Twain
- How to make a good burger (you leave off the PB&J)
- Slugs
- Periodic Table of Elements – abbreviations
- Gemstones
- History of Mining
o England (Newcastle upon Tyne)
o American West
o Appalachia
o Company Store
o Health issues for miners
o Danger of mines
o Current issues for mining
- Dancing the Hurley Burley
- People who collect creepy dolls
o History of porcelain dolls
- Embroidery
o How to
o Patterns/symbols
- General Stores in the American West
o Sears
- How to make taffy
- Find a well maintained and beautiful tomb and research who is entombed
- Focusing light through a magnifying glass can start a fire
- Read Along:
o Murder on the Orient Express
o Mark Twain books
DAN:
- All lessons in French
- How using different ingredients and different amounts of ingredients can affect the outcome of your cookies
- Paris métro
o History
o How to read/follow a métro map
o RER
- Montmartre and other Parisian neighbourhoods
- History of Île de la France and Square de Vert Galant Parc and Pont Neuf
- WWII and the French Resistance
o Cross of Lorraine
o Vichy France
o Abuses of the French gov’t in this period
- Paris and the fashion world
- Beauty standards and the rejection of natural beauty by society
o Dangers of weight and figure standards
o You are beautiful as you are
- Catacombs of Paris
- Famous French Dishes (from this region)
o Or Bretagne since I know and like them better
- The French Café
- Moulin in France
- Tea and how hot leaf water can taste so bad but still be good for you
- Buildings of Baron Haussmann
- Paris History
- Decoders
- Importance of vitraux historically, culturally, and religiously
- Read Along:
o Little Kids
§ Madeline
§ Babar
§ Petit Ours
§ Plume
o High School
§ Hunchback of Notre Dame
§ Les Mis
§ Dale Van Kley
CRE:
- History of Hawai’i and her native people
o How the USA screwed them over and continues to do so
§ Land colonizing today
o Listen to voices from Native Peoples
- Pearl Harbor
o USS Arizona
- Native myths and legends
- Local flora and fauna
- Surfing
- How to make bead necklaces
- Snorkeling
- Entomology
o Find some local bugs and identify and observe them
- Horticulture
o See if you can graft something
o Watch a carnation placed in water with food dye
o Regrow a fruit or veggie from the leftovers
- Go looking for seashells – see how many complete shells you can find
- Be aware of pesticides and the dangers they offer
o Dangers of organic food too
- Make something with pineapple in it
- Fishing – different kinds of native fish
- Volcanos
- Hula
ICE:
- Wolf sanctuaries – respecting wildlife and their place in the wild and not the domestic
o What to do if you see a wolf in the real world
- Fur trapping in Canada history
- Regions and Capitols of Canada
o Visit Canada?
- How the Canadian government works
- Use of French language in Canada
o Unique features of Canadian French
- Ice fishing
- How to cook omelets, salmon, etc.
o How to not add paprika cause like ew
- Fossils
- Radiation
o Marie Curie
- How to be a good maid
- Snowballs/ice balls
- Ice skating
- Winter weather safety
- Avalanches
- Saunas
- Birthmarks
- Fax machines
- How to not lie about bird watching
- Frozen water safety
- Modern offenses against First Nations by Canadian Government
CRY:
- Culture of the Arawak and Caraïbe
o Voodoo
- Mardi Gras in New Orleans
- Hurricane Katrina and aftermath
- French Influence
- Eyes and their parts and functions
- Teeth and their parts and functions
- Alligators in the Southern USA and how they are dangerous pests
- Graveyards/cemeteries and how to be comfortable in them
o Modern burial practices
o Why are they above ground in Louisiana?
o Places where they are running out of space for the dead
o Historic violations of final resting places
- Ventriloquism
- Lizards and how to care for them
- Rube Goldberg machines
- Curio shops
- Crystal Skulls
VEN:
- International crime
- Organized crime
- Scopa
- Italian basics
o Learn an Italian aria
- Italian food
o Not just spaghetti
- History of Venice
o Current issues in Venice
- Carrier pigeons
- Micro-dots
- “Observing the architecture”
- Try to make gelato (or just get gelato, either way you get gelato)
- Disguising yourself – put on an outfit and try to get me to not recognize you
- Picking locks
- Secret codes
- Solfege
o With hand signs
o Learn a song in solfege
- Carnivale
- Learn how the sausage gets made
o How to deal with food poisoning
- How to secure your living space against burglars
o Glass breaks, motion sensors, keypads, magnets, and more
- Read Along:
o Heist Society
o The Prince
o Merchant of Venice
HAU:
- Irish lessons (as much of this in Irish as possible)
o Why the Irish language is important
- Geography of Ireland
o Provinces and counties
- Irish names
- Why Ireland has disliked and should dislike the UK
o Historically
o Famine
§ Emmigration
o Easter Rising
o Troubles
o Present-Day
- Importance of alcohol in Ireland
o Uisce beatha
o Guinness
§ Guinness world records
- Irish music
o Irish instruments
o Learn some Rebel songs
- Ogham runes
- Irish foods
o Something with lamb, who cares what
- Don’t use friends for land development
- Bogs
- Chemical Reactions
- Rockets
- Inventions and secrecy during WWII
- Religion in Ireland
o Pagan traditions
o Christianity
o Catholic/Protestant tensions
- Irish wedding traditions
- How printing presses work
- Irish castles
- Sheep sheering/raising sheep
- Irish legends
o Fae
o Leprechauns
- Don’t drive and talk on the phone
RAN:
- Why blackface is problematic? (the fact that this needs to be said is problematic in and of itself)
- Scuba diving
- Sailing
- Bermuda Triangle
- Bats
- Primates and their intelligence
o Problems with animal research
o Koko
o Jane Goodall
- Island resort culture
- Metal detectors
- Pirates
o And the Caribbean
o Their abuses
o Different kinds
o Modern day pirates
- How do walkie-talkies work
- US mistreatment of island territories
- Read Along:
o Bloody Jack (Meyer)
WAC:
- Edgar Allan Poe
o Stories
o Baltimore
- Piano
- Victorian Dining traditions
o How to set a place for fancy dining
o How to fold napkins
o Table manners
o How to serve someone at a fancy dinner
o How courses might work
o How to use your silverware
- Why you shouldn’t go to an actual high school part two
o Just fyi – that’s not how uniforms work
§ Have a school inspired dress code for a week
- Bullying and why you absolutely will not be a bully
o How to respond to bullying
o Importance of talking to adults and counseling
- Logic puzzles
- Research the founding of a local school
- Stringed Instruments
- Plagiarism
o Turnitin
- Making sandwiches – like a good deli style sandwich
- Photography scavenger hunt – make a digital (or physical) yearbook
- Squirrels
- Orthographic projection
- DNA/RNA
- Saving every major project on three different thumb drives
- Getting along with roommates
- States and Capitals
o Countries and capitals of the world
TOT:
- Tornados
o Technology used to observe tornados
- Meteorology
- Prairie dogs
- Life on the great plains
- Great Plains Native Americans
- Small towns in the Midwest honestly be like that
- Defensive driving
- Make a disaster kit
- Know what to do in various natural emergency situations
o What is the local alert protocol
o What do local authorities recommend
- How to maintain and fix a car
- How to fix a broken device
- What is tenure
- How to budget
o Go to the grocery store on a strict budget (however much you come in under budget is your candy budget)
- Read Along:
o Little House
SAW:
- Basic Japanese phrases
o Learn to count
o Writing in Japanese
- Sudoku, nonograms, renograms
- Japanese ghost legends
- Japanese culture
o Tourism
§ Ryokans
o Space – everything small
o Politeness/formalities
o Hot springs/baths
o Tatami and paper walls
- Japanese cultural dress
o Kimonos
o Lolita? Fashion
- Japanese names
o Last name first
o How to address others in Japan
- Martial Arts
o Ninjutsu
§ Traditional tools
- Japanese tea ceremony
- Schools in Japan
- Teaching English as a foreign language
- Japanese subway/train system
- Pachinko and Japanese gaming
- Japanese vending machines
- Robotic animals
- Bento
- Japanese foods
- Origami
- How to fake a haunting
CAP:
- Basic German phrases
o How to make a German word
o Connections of German to English
- German food favourites
o Especially cakes
- Storytelling as a cultural entity
o How memory has worked differently in different times
- Glass blowing
- How castles provided for the local community
- Bavaria in Germany
o Cultural dress
- Glockenspiel
- How to make board games
- Monster stories of central Europe
- How to monitor security camera remotely
- Read Along:
o Heidi
ASH:
- Arson
o Watching how different accelerants burn a piece of paper
- All politicians are at least somewhat self-serving
o But write a letter to a local politician anyway
§ Different ways to contact elected officials, and why some don’t work
- How to make ice cream
- How a police investigation works
o Problems with police departments around the world – specifically USA
o Ways that police work unfairly targets minorities
§ If Nancy is innocent how many others are
- How to use matches and lighters safely
- Why you should not return to the scene of a crime – particularly a fire
- Making sure smoke detectors work properly and the system is connected
o We might not go to school but fire drills are still important
- What is a mass spectrometer
- Who to call if you’ve been arrested
- What to do if you get pulled over
- How the media can skew the truth and make their own narratives
- Sound mixing
- Be careful with what you say/post/record
o Keep receipts and clarify when possible
TMB:
- What not to do at an archaeological site
- Ancient Egyptian History
o Pantheon, notable figures, relevant events
o Pyramids, sphinx
o Pharaohs
- Modern Egypt
o Arabic alphabet
- History of archaeological digs in Egypt
o Why they’ve been problematic
- Dangers of the tombs
- Mummys
o How they are put together
- Tomb raiders
- Importance of water in the desert
- How to piece together a broken artifact
- How to gently brush off an artifact
- There is no such thing as a dictionary for ancient Egyptian
- Aliens did not build the pyramids
- Senet
- Desert life safety
- How mirrors can be used to light a room
- Read Along
o Rick Riordan
DED:
- Nikola Tesla
o All his fun stuff
o Tesla Coils
- 3-D printing
- Gummy fingerprints
- Faraday Cage
- Basic electric concepts
o How to build a circuit board
- Chemical safety
- How a lab might work
- Valuing different skills within academia
- Ultraviolet light
- How motorcycles work
- Freelance photography
- How to use academic databases
GTH:
- Slavery in the United States
o Origins
o ‘End’
o Civil War
o The connection to “southern culture”
o Continued abuses of Black people in America
§ Importance of recognizing Black voices and what they are saying
§ Listening even when it’s uncomfortable
§ Checking privilege when you have it
o Jim Crow Laws
- Plantations
- Gone With the Wind
o The good and the bad
- Civil War spies – female
- Carbon monoxide poisoning
- Burned out houses are not a safe space
- Do not go digging through people’s coffins – rest in PEACE
- Understanding that your family can be flawed
- If you don’t want to get married, if you’re not happy in a relationship, end it
- When a member of your family is sick you take care of them
- Make a will, just in case your cousin kills you
- Bachelor and bachelorette parties should feature activities that everyone is comfortable with
- Read Along:
o My Last Skirt: The Story of Jennie Hodgers, Union Soldier
SPY:
- Scotland and their identity
o Celtic Nations
o Independent Scotland
o Call a Scottish person
- Unicorns and other mythical creatures in Scotland
- Scottish food
o The appetizing parts
- History of spies
- Biowarfare
o Code Orange
o Other teenage stories dealing with anthrax
o Current events and concerns
o Historical biowarfare (smallpox blankets)
- Ziplining
- Archery
- How to bug someone
- Tartans and plaids
o Kilts
- Augmented Reality Glasses
- Record players
- How to reset a circuit breaker
- Read Along:
o Gallagher Girls
o Code Orange
o Little House (Martha)
o Little Brother (Doctorow)
MED:
- Don’t meet your heroes
- New Zealand
o Maori culture
- Survivor style game shows and realism
- I’m not saying Aliens can’t exist, I’m saying they def aren’t involved here
- Kayaking
- Submarines and what they can do
- Turtles
- Earthquakes
- Be careful with rope bridges
LIE:
- Provenance and why it’s important part two
- Greek art and how it was originally painted vibrantly
o Abuses of Greek art through the ages
- The British Museum and the issues with that
- Greek pantheon
o Legends and notable figures
o Religious traditions
- Iliad and Odyssey
- Art forgery
- How to fire clay pots and pottery
- Memorizing lines for a play
o Staging for a play
o Role of a director
- Theatre
o Lights
o Curtains
o Fly system
o Sound
- Greek alphabet
- Historical importance of the Greek language and culture
o Alexander the Great and Hellenization
- Olympics
o Historic and modern
- Greece and the European Union
- Make something with pomegranates
- Read Along:
o Iliad
o Odyssey
o The Thief
o Percy Jackson
SEA:
- Iceland
o Culture
§ Naming traditions
o Language
o Music
o Food
- Shipbuilding
o Historic and modern ships
- Ice caving
- Northern Lights
- Tides
- Snowmobiling
- Poetry
- What is xenophobia
MID:
- Some games just shouldn’t be made
- American witch trials
o What actually went down
o Misconceptions
- Treating people with albinism as real people
- Arson is bad
- Herbal remedies and how they can interfere with modern medicine
- Witchcraft and how not to
- Salem MA
- Ignorance promotes fear and hatred so we do our best to learn about others
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Another Sonic ramble
So once again I’m here with one of my rambles about my incredibly subjective view of how the Sonic series should be handled!
*Beat*
...anyway.
So, one of the more recurring opinions on the fandom is that Sonic games should be written by Ian Flynn, I have talked before about the gripes I have with his writing and why I disagree with this but this post is not entirely about him, but rather a more general topic that has been bugging me for a long time.
The other day I was watching a video speculating about the upcoming Sonic Rangers, there’s not much to write home since it was pretty well made but there’s a particular part that inspired me to do this post and talk about it with other fans to discuss it.
See, at one point the video critisized the fact that Sonic Forces was written by a Japanese writer because they have to re-write the script in English and that can cause problems with localization, and that it would be better to have western writers from the get-go since Sonic’s main demographic comes from there, while making an off-hand suggestion that Ian Flynn could be a main choice. While I can see where they’re coming from, my response was a simple:
‘‘Absolutely, not’‘
See, I have a lot of issues with this to put it bluntly and I’ll try to break them down and explain them the best I can since they’re pretty subjective in nature, but I’m bringing this up because I want you guys to share your thoughts as well.
So, why does it bug me so much the idea of Sonic being handled by western creators?
In my case, the main reasons are because Sonic loses a core part of it’s appeal because of this, the fact that SEGA of Japan seems to have a better grasp of the franchise’s tone and characters and there’s the very subjective point that, in my eyes, American versions of Japanese franchises were always nothing more than dumbed down products of the source material.
To start with my first point, whenever someone talks about Sonic’s creation, a lot of people are quick to point out that our favorite blue hedgehog and his games were inspired by western pop culture and cartoons, and that is true, however oftenly they forget to mention a core thing that not only inspired, but also formed part of the core identity of this franchise.
Sonic is very inspired on anime, and at heart this franchise is a shonen.
(This image by The Great Lange expresses more clearly what I mean)
Generally, the most acknowledgement anime gets on it’s hand on Sonic is the mentions of Sonic being inspired by Dragon Ball, particularly the Super Saiyan, but there’s so much more than that, as Sonic blatantly takes inspiration from Studio Ghibli films specially in games like Sonic 3, which draws a lot of inspiration from Laputa: Castle in the Sky, this great post shows proof that this is not a coincidence.
And it doesn’t stop there, Shiro Maekawa himself has stated that SA2′s story (and in particular, the characters of Shadow and Maria) draw a lot of inspiration from the manga Please Save My Earth.
Even Sonic’s character design resembles shonen protagonists moreso than the main characters of silent cartoons, don’t believe me?
Sure, Sonic has a cartoony anatomy, no one can deny that, but he also exhibits a lot of traits from shonen characters such as spiky hair/quills (?), dynamic posing, a confident, courageous and energetic personality and most importantly, fighting spirit.
If you compare Sonic’s personality and more specifically, his abilities and moves to, say, cartoon speedy characters like the Road Runner, there’s a pretty big disconnection between him and western cartoon characters. Hell, this disconnection is even just as present if you compare him with a character like The Flash from DC.
Simply put, Sonic acts, moves and more importantly, fights like a shonen anime character. He doesn’t just go Super Saiyan and that’s it. Here’s even a quick comparison if necessary.
And this is important because this doesn’t apply just to him, but the whole franchise as a whole and when it takes a more western approach, all of these details are kinda lost or more downplayed, of course this depends on the artists and there’s YMMV at hand, but I think my point is clear.
My second point is...SoJ has consistently proven they have a much clearer grasp on how Sonic’s world and characters are compared to SoA.
Hear me out, yes, Sonic 06 and ShtH exist and yes, SoJ is not perfect by any means. But hear me out...when did the characters start to get flanderized and turned into parodies of themselves? In the 2010s...and when did SEGA move from Japanese to western writers in the games?
Of course it was more then that since there’s a whole tone shift that came with this decade and the new writers, but it’s not a coincidence that when writing in Sonic started to decay, western writers also happened to get on board with the games.
Besides that, SoA has a wide history of not getting Sonic’s tone and characters, from how they made media without much of Sonic Team’s input, to altering how characters are seen in the west. (Such as how they amped up Sonic’s attitude in their media or how the English scripts of the games featured things like Sonic seemingly barely tolerating Amy while the JP scripts portrayed this as Sonic just not understanding girls all that well instead, or for more recent examples, the addition of the ‘’torture’’ line in Forces).
Not only that, but even ignoring obvious infamous writers like Ken Penders, even the ‘’best’’ writers from the western side of Sonic are still not above of giving us Pontaff-esque gems.
Like this one.
Or alternatively, I feel like sometimes western writers on Sonic rely a bit too much on their personal vision about Sonic which may or may not be a good thing, clear examples of this are Ian Flynn himself and Pontaff.
By contrast, while SoJ has it’s own share of notorious inconsistencies when dealing with writing (The 2000s era is a big offender), it seems that for them Sonic hasn’t changed much and this is visible not only on the JP scripts of the Modern games which are for the most part better than the ENG ones, but also things like the Sonic Channel comics and the recent one-shots they made with Sonic interacting with the cast show that for all intents and purposes, the Japanese’s staff vision of Sonic is much more clear and consistent compared to the west. Because of this, I’d rather have a good Japanese writer on Sonic games with the localization being focused on being faithful with the original script than have a more western writers dramatically changing the characters. (I don’t mention the tone since either way, SEGA is the one in charge of that and the writers have to follow that)
My last and very subjective point is that, at least for me, everything SoA does with Sonic involving the writing and canon feels like a dumbed down version of the source material.
One of the reasons it bugs me so much that in the latest decade Sonic has taken a more western direction is because a lot of what I pointed out gets lost as a result, even if some of those elements are still there, you can tell they’re more downplayed with products like the Tyson Hesse shorts having a more predominant cartoon direction. If any of you have been following my blog for a long time, you should be aware that just because I prefer the Japanese Sonic content doesn’t mean I won’t give the western products a chance, my enjoyment for Mania, the Tyson Hesse shorts and the movie should be a testament of that, but at the same time I can’t help but being sour about the fact that because of these products, we don’t have stuff like a new anime for Sonic or even a serialized ‘’main’’ manga as an alternative for the comics, and my hype for these products is generally more subdued as a result since I’d wish SEGA rather spent that money and resources on more Japanese content than just merchandise.
In particular, because Sonic is a Japanese franchise with a notorious inspiration from anime, what I get from this is a pretty big contradiction. I know Sonic is much more popular on the west but...is it really necessary for his game or products to be handled by western creators to keep their appeal?
For instance, imagine if Dragon Ball’s manga and anime got replaced by western comics and animated series because of it’s world-wide appeal, would that really be the same?
Or imagine the same thing with Fullmetal Alchemist, a pretty aclaimed anime that has a lot of western influence. Would it really not matter at all if it’s Japanese products were replaced with western ones?
At least for me, it wouldn’t.
And what I said about American versions of Japanese franchises being nothing more than watered down versions of the source material? I have that view because of countless examples.
Mega Man and how the English manuals removed a lot of important information about the story of the Blue Bomber’s game and world, causing a lot of plot holes in the process.
American remakes like Godzilla 1998 or Dragon Ball Evolution being an in-name only version of the source material.
Or the many censored anime English dubs from the 2000s, for instance, whenever I see the Yu-Gi-Oh! dubs, I only see a very dumbed down and childish version of a show that was originally a shonen.
And I know that all of these things don’t have to necessarely get lost since every creator is different and there’s franchises like Avatar which are made on the west but draw a lot of inspiration from anime and I’m aware of that, and I want to make it clear that I’m not trying to say that American writers are not allowed to work on Sonic, what I’m trying to say is that inevitably there’s always gonna be some culture dissonance and clash when writers from another culture handle a foreign franchise. And even with examples like ATLA, I think being made by one culture while being inspired by the other is actually a big part of these franchises appeal and it’s something that can’t simply be replicated by handing it to creators from that specific culture they draw inspiration from.
I think James Rolfe’s quote about the same thing with the Godzilla franchise sums up how I feel about this.
‘‘It’s like champagne, anybody can make their own and call it champagne, but unless it’s from Champagne France, it’s not real champagne’‘
So, this last part was very subjective, but I think this post in general sums up why I dislike so much the idea of Sonic having western writers specifically in the games or just focusing more on that side in general.
But what do you guys think? I guess I am too biased so that’s why I wanted to ask for opinions and discuss this topic.
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Dazai is a Sociopath
Dazai is a Sociopath
A Persuasive Essay About Why Dazai is a Sociopath
By @carromeaway
Dedicated to @/bsdthoughts on Twitter
Created to annoy said user
Also, I thought this would be a good way to practice how to write arguments
This may contain spoilers! Read at your own risk.
Also trigger warning! Mentions of suicide and self-harm!
Oh, also here’s a PDF version if you don’t wanna read it here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1aNYWMTb8wNEaoZGb9277_UcsUzNQjoHP/view
The definition of a sociopath, stated by the Oxford English Dictionary, is “a person with a personality disorder manifesting itself in extreme antisocial attitudes and behavior and a lack of conscience.” In this essay, I will be explaining the personality disorder and how it correlates to Dazai Osamu’s character in Bungou Stray Dogs. I will be focusing on four key points for my argument; how Dazai fits the attributes of a sociopath, why I do not consider him a psychopath, how it affects his relationship with others, and how it may explain his past and his actions. Keep in mind that this is only a theory and I will be including both assumptions and speculations to support my argument.
Let us begin with the point how Dazai fits the attributes of a sociopath. Common signs of a person with sociopathy, or an antisocial personality disorder, include lying or deceiving others for a goal, being charismatic and manipulative, criminal behavior, lack of empathy and/or remorse, struggles with forming good relationships, recklessness for his and others’ safety, and irresponsibility among other things. Dazai has exhibited behavior with all of these symptoms. I could give a variety of examples where Dazai has lied or manipulated someone for the sake of achieving his objective. For the sake of keeping this shorter, I’ll provide only a couple of situations.
Dazai had been caught by the Port Mafia, albeit on purpose, and came across his old partner from his days in the mafia, Nakahara Chuuya. This happens in the tenth episode of the anime and the tenth chapter of the manga. During his interaction with Chuuya, Dazai manipulates Chuuya by blackmailing him using the fact that Chuuya was the one who released Dazai from his chains. He also blackmails the mafia by sending them a threatening letter containing a simple statement, warning the mafia that if he were to die, then all their secrets would be exposed. Another example of his manipulative behaviour would be when it is insinuated that Dazai deflates Sakaguchi Ango’s airbag in his car so he would sustain multiple injuries when another car rammed into theirs. This was to force Ango, a government agent, to cover up the 35 murders that Izumi Kyouka, an Armed Detective Agency member, had committed. This takes place in episode 19 (episode 7 of season 2) of the anime and chapter 26 and 33 of the manga.
Dazai has also displayed recklessness, irresponsibility, and a lack of empathy and remorse. Using the same example as before, Dazai showed no remorse for Ango when he was severely injured by the car accident. Dazai is often irresponsible, pushing his work on to others and lazing about when he should have been productive. This is a repeated pattern throughout the entirety of the manga and anime, so I’m sure if you’re reading this, you have no need for any examples. Additionally, Dazai has always been very reckless with his actions, his plans often include someone being thrown to the sharks. You can see this in episode 21 (episode 9 of season 2) in the anime and chapters 30-31 in the manga when Chuuya is forced to use Corruption to defeat H.P. Lovecraft as planned by Dazai.
I could go on for a while about Dazai’s sociopathic traits, but that is not the focus of this essay, so let us move on to my second point. Dazai is not a psychopath. Psychopaths and sociopaths have many similar symptoms. Every trait I listed previously are ones that both types of people share. So, why would I not consider Dazai a psychopath? There is a very simple reason for that. One of the biggest differences between a psychopath and a sociopath is the ability to be attached to others. While psychopaths may be able to fake a relationship, whether it’s platonic or romantic, they are completely unable to form real bonds with other people. On the other hand, while it may be difficult for them, sociopaths can have genuine relationships with others.
My biggest piece of evidence for this section is the bond between Oda Sakunosuke and Dazai. Dazai in the Dark Era, when he is in the Port Mafia, and Dazai when he joins the Armed Detective Agency are two very different parts of the same whole. Dazai in the Port Mafia is quite a bit more serious and emotionless, while Dazai in the ADA is much more lighthearted compared to his former self. There is a huge fact to point out, though. Dazai with Odasaku was strikingly dissimilar to how he acted without Odasaku there. Dazai acted a lot more childish with Odasaku around, exhibiting their comfortability around each other. They had a close bond and Dazai was a lot more vulnerable around Odasaku than around anyone else. That was the reason Odasaku was able to understand Dazai better than anyone else.
In chapter 4 of the light novel, Dazai Osamu and the Dark Era, and in episode 16 (episode 4 of season 2) of the anime, Odasaku talked about Dazai during his fight with Mimic’s leader, André Gide. He stated, “I still have one unfinished matter. I didn’t say goodbye to my friend.” He later goes on to explain the difference between Gide and Dazai, who were both actively seeking death. This displays their closeness, and it is canon that only Odasaku was able to get that far into Dazai’s mind. Dazai also showed sorrow when Odasaku passed away, which is an emotion that is difficult for sociopaths to feel unless they have a bond with someone. As a side note, I would also like to point out that while there is no certain proof, Dazai does seem to feel a little remorse for some of his harmful actions. That is another trait unique to sociopaths in comparison to psychopaths.
My third point is how Dazai’s possible antisocial personality disorder may affect his relationships with other people. While you may argue that Dazai can feel sympathy for others, especially when he is the one who saved Nakajima Atsushi from starvation, I believe that that was only for Odasaku. In episode 16 (episode 4 of season 2), Odasaku explicitly tells Dazai to “protect the weak and save the orphans.” It would make sense if Dazai only saved Atsushi because he felt as if he had to carry out his friend’s orders.
I would also like to point out his relationship with Nakahara Chuuya. Before I begin explaining, I feel the need to mention that this is mainly speculation and is very likely to be proven wrong. Dazai and Chuuya seem to have a deep hatred for each other, as you can tell by the multiple times they have stated that they despise each other. An example would be episode 21 (episode 9 of season 2) in the anime and chapters 30-31 in the manga. While I do not want to put words into their mouths, I would like to point out that their actions contradict their statements. In the same episode, Chuuya expressed worry for Dazai when he is thrown into the tree and nearly loses his arm. In another scene, Dazai cleans up the blood on Chuuya’s face and neatly folds his clothes after Chuuya passes out from exhaustion as he had been using Corruption (or Tainted, whatever you prefer). While he does abandon him, it goes to show that Dazai has, at least, a little bit of a conscience.
This may be a long shot and you are free to argue (respectfully) with me about this, but I believe that Dazai does not really hate Chuuya. There are three emotions that are the easiest for sociopaths to feel. Hatred, anger, and fear. I think Dazai has some conflicting feelings about Chuuya (I swear I’m not insinuating anything), but he resorts to hatred to define those feelings because it was simply the easiest emotion to feel. On a similar note, Dazai doesn’t really have any good relationships with the people he interacts with, like his coworkers at the ADA. While they may care about him and vice versa, the relationship with his coworkers doesn’t seem to go deeper than mutual respect and common decency.
My fourth and final point in this essay is how Dazai’s sociopathy correlates with his actions and his past. Now, I warn you, there isn’t a lot of evidence for this theory, but I hope you can still hear me out about it. I think Dazai understands that he is a sociopath. You could argue with me that Dazai isn’t a sociopath, that he feels sympathy for the innocent people who get caught up in their business, but I don’t buy that. While this sounds quite harsh, I don’t believe that Dazai has a sense of empathy, especially when Dazai continues to inconvenience others despite knowing what he’s doing. But if Dazai knows he’s a sociopath, why doesn’t he change? Well, that’s simple. He can’t. There’s no way he can force himself to feel empathy and adjust his actions. His brain doesn’t work that way. He can pretend to be sympathetic, but what’s the point in that?
Now, how does Dazai’s acknowledgement of his sociopathic tendencies affect him? Let’s begin with Dazai’s past and build from there. In episode 26 (episode one of season three) and in the light novel, Fifteen Years Old, when Dazai is asked why he wants to die, he replies, “Let me ask you, then. Do you think there is any value in the act of living?” Throughout this light novel and the light novel, Dazai Osamu and the Dark Era, Dazai continues to show a pattern of hopelessness. All he longs for is to view the world differently than he already does, but if he cannot achieve that, he would rather die. But I think, as he grows, Dazai’s mindset changes. His desperation for death becomes a joke, something he doesn’t take as seriously anymore. I believe Dazai realized his sociopathy, and while he couldn’t change how he experiences his emotions, he began to think differently. What if Dazai believes that he doesn’t deserve to live, that no one would want him around because of his sociopathic tendencies? But he wants to live. After Odasaku’s death and after he’s experienced the light, he begins to realize that there is something worth living for. He just doesn’t believe he deserves it. I do not have any solid evidence to prove this theory, but it was something interesting that I would want others to consider.
For anyone who has gotten this far, I congratulate you. It must have been difficult to read my scatter-brained thoughts. Before we end this, I would like to clarify something. I am not a medical professional. I do not have a degree in psychology, but I am studying it. Please take that into consideration if you decide to debate my theory with me. For anyone who didn’t feel like reading through this, I won’t even bother with a summary. Trust me, it’s not worth your time. Thank you for reading and thank you to my friend who has put up with my dumb theories. You can message me on Instagram @carromeaway if you would like to discuss my theory or the show in general. Also, ask me any questions in the comments, whether it’s to clarify something or to ask me to analyze another character or to even elaborate further on Dazai’s character. I could talk about this for hours.
Citations:
Antisocial personality disorder. (2019, December 10). Retrieved November 29, 2020, from https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/antisocial-personality-disorder/symptoms-causes/syc-20353928
Bungo Stray Dogs Wiki. (2020, December 03). Retrieved November 29, 2020, from https://bungostraydogs.fandom.com/wiki/Bungo_Stray_Dogs_Wiki
Duignan, B. (n.d.). What's the Difference Between a Psychopath and a Sociopath? And How Do Both Differ from Narcissists? Retrieved November 29, 2020, from https://www.britannica.com/story/whats-the-difference-between-a-psychopath-and-a-sociopath-and-how-do-both-differ-from-narcissists
Grohol, J. (2020, May 20). Differences Between a Psychopath vs Sociopath. Retrieved November 29, 2020, from https://psychcentral.com/blog/differences-between-a-psychopath-vs-sociopath/
Robinson, K. (2014, August 24). What's the Difference Between a Sociopath and a Psychopath? Retrieved November 29, 2020, from https://www.webmd.com/mental-health/features/sociopath-psychopath-difference
#bungou stray dogs#dazai osamu#nakahara chuuya#oda sakunosuke#psychology#sociopath#this is my first post and it's an essay#please help i don't know how tumblr works#bsd#character analysis#nakajima atsushi#i feel like i over analyzed#i put so much effort into this#andre gide#did i write too much? yes
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TAFAKKUR: Part 251
THE FUTURE OF SOLAR ENERGY IN THE ENERGY MARKET AND WHY WE NEED IT MORE THAN EVER
RENEWABLE ENERGY RESOURCES
Our current source of energy is mostly fossil fuels such as oil, coal, and natural gas. Fossil fuels are nonrenewable. In other words, they are finite resources and they will diminish significantly in future; hence, they will be very expensive to use and environmentally harmful to recover. In contrast, solar, wind, biomass, hydrogen, geothermal, ocean, and hydro power are renewable energy resources, that is, they are constantly replenished and will not run out. Renewable energy is not only important for our energy needs but also has significant advantages over fossil-based energy resources in the protection of the environment. Besides, the environmental aspect of renewable energy also has a religious dimension, since preservation of the earth and its inhabitants is regarded as a duty for humankind.
Among these energy resources, solar energy is generally used for electricity generation or for hot water heating. It also finds uses in solar cooling, and in direct heating and lighting of buildings and homes. Solar panels are made of photovoltaic (PV) cells. The term “photovoltaic” means “converting light into electricity.” Solar energy technology has been around since the late nineteenth century. Yet, its share in energy production constitutes a very small fraction (less than 0.1%) of production around the world. This stems from the higher cost of electricity generation with solar panels in comparison to use of fossil fuels. In the US, electricity generated from PV cells costs $0.30 to $0.40 per kilowatt-hour while consumers pay only $0.10 per kilowatt-hour to the electric utility companies. Nonetheless, with recent advances in this technology, it will be possible in the near future to decrease the cost and make this technology viable for our energy needs as we face shrinkage in fossil fuels around the globe.
One of the factors that increases cost is the low power-conversion efficiency of current PV cells. The PV cells used in the market are mostly fabricated from silicon crystals and these cells show a power conversion efficiency of 15%. That means, 85% of photons go to waste when harvesting energy from sunlight. In fact, the theoretical limit of light harvesting in silicon-based solar panels is only 31% because of the low band gap of silicon, which only partially absorbs sunlight to form charge carriers in the device. To solve this problem, scientists have utilized three different crystals in a single PV cell to absorb more sunlight, and these studies have yielded a device efficiency of 37%. Just recently, scientists at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (Golden, Colorado) and Boeing-Spectrolab have achieved a world-record conversion efficiency of 41% by using the same idea, establishing a new milestone in sunlight-to-electricity performance. Although such studies are very promising in this field, when it comes to production cost, these inorganic PV cells are still an expensive technology for power generation compared to fossil fuels.
ORGANIC PHOTOVOLTAICS
An alternative solution to decrease the cost is to use devices with lower power efficiency but a very low cost of production. Organic-based PV materials offer such an alternative with easy and fast production techniques such as solution processing and printing. Conjugated polymers (polymers with alternating single and double bonds in their polymeric backbone) are especially important in this regard, since they exhibit semiconductor properties. The best organic PV cell efficiencies reported in recent years are around 5%. This number must double in order for the cells to be used in solar panels, assuming that the cell displays high photostability and conductivity. Many research groups are now focusing on organic-based solar systems as an alternative technology to their inorganic counterpart.
Although we are all familiar with solar energy, most of us do not know how electricity is produced from sunlight. To show the mechanism for photovoltaic activity, one first should look into an anatomy of a typical organic PV cell which is shown in Figure 1. This cell is based on an organic PV cell. The organic layer is sandwiched in between two electrodes where light absorption and charge separation occurs. Typically, glass is used for support but plastic materials can also be used as alternatives. The anode is usually indium tin oxide (ITO) and the cathode can be aluminum, calcium, gold, or magnesium. The electrodes must be semi-transparent to facilitate light absorption. Specifically designed conjugated polymers are utilized for sunlight absorption, where the wavelength range of absorbed light may vary from ultraviolet-visible to near infrared depending on the material used in the device. The efficiency of the device is determined by the extent of light absorption, efficiency of charge separation, and charge diffusion to the electrodes. The morphology of the organic layer has been found to be very important for device characteristics and cell efficiency. In an organic PV, an electron is promoted from the highest occupied molecular orbital (HOMO) level to the lowest unoccupied molecular orbital (LUMO) level upon light absorption (Figure 2). This transition results in an electron-hole pair which is then separated by the electric field formed by the different ionization energy of electrodes (Φ). Therefore, the electron moves to the cathode and the hole moves to the opposite side. This process causes charge flow between the electrodes and hence electricity is generated in the process.
Despite all the improvements in organic PV technology, current cell efficiencies are still low for electricity generation. The stability of organic PV materials must be improved as most of them are prone to degradation by oxygen and humidity in the air. The large-scale production of organic solar panels is possible, and yet the feasibility of current methods has not been investigated extensively so far.
Solar energy is a clean, renewable resource of energy and is projected to have significant role in the energy market in near future. Funding in the field of solar energy has been increasing in recent years due to the increasing need for energy and the likely reduction of fossil fuels towards the end of this century. Yet, our research efforts are still not sufficient for the advancement of this technology.
IMPORTANCE OF RENEWABLE ENERGY FOR THE ENVIRONMENT: AN ISLAMIC PERSPECTIVE
Solar energy, like other renewable energy resources, is environmentally friendly. Its use should be promoted, as fossil fuels play a dominant role in the increase in greenhouse gases, which are believed to be responsible for the increased rate of global warming and hence climate change. Global warming may cause rises in sea level and changes in the amount and pattern of precipitation. These changes may in turn increase the frequency and intensity of extreme weather events, such as floods, droughts, heat waves, hurricanes, and tornados. Other consequences may include higher or lower agricultural yields, glacial retreat, reduced summer stream flows, and species extinctions. Warming is expected to affect the number and magnitude of the events mentioned above; however, it is difficult to connect particular occurrences to global warming.
In any case, focusing on renewable energy and energy-efficient technologies is one of the best options to secure the future of our planet and all existing forms of life on it. Our effort should not only be due to the expected shortage of fossil fuels in future. Rather, it must be seen as a duty and moral act to save the environment since use of renewable energy resources has little or no negative impact on nature. Religious awareness and guidance in this area is necessary so that each individual may take active part in the protection and development of the environment. Much environmental degradation is due to our ignorance of what our Creator requires of us. People should be educated to realize that the conservation of the environment is a religious duty demanded by God. This fact is expressed in Qur’an in a number of places such as, “Do good, even as God has done you good, and do not pursue corruption in the earth. Verily God does not love corrupters” (Qasas 28:77), “And do not follow the bidding of the excessive, who cause corruption in the earth and do not work good” (Shu’ara 26:151–152), “And do not cause corruption in the earth, when it has been set in order” (A’raf 7:56). Any deliberate damage to the natural environment and its resources is a kind of corruption which is forbidden by Islam.
As Muslims, we should protect and preserve the environment because by doing so we protect the creatures which pray to God and praise Him. Although we do not know how they praise God, the Qur’an clearly points this out: “The seven heavens and the earth, and all beings therein, declare His glory: There is not a thing but celebrates His praise, and yet you understand not how they declare His Glory!” (Isra 17:44). Islam is established on the concept of good (khayr). Since it is scientifically proven that protecting the environment is of great significance for all animals and plants on earth, Muslims should see it as khayr. In the last two verses of chapter Zalzalah (99:7–8), God says, “And whoever does good an atom’s weight will see it then. And whoever does ill an atom’s weight will see it then.”
Protecting God’s creatures and the environment is a duty of humankind because human beings are the “agents” of God on earth. This task cannot be performed by other creatures. Therefore, as the Muslim community we should all commit ourselves to the preservation and to the protection of the environment. Surely, investing in and promoting improvement of the technologies based on renewable energy is one way to go.
#allah#god#prophet#Muhammad#quran#ayah#sunnah#hadith#islam#muslim#muslimah#help#hijab#revert#convert#religion#reminder#dua#salah#pray#prayer#welcome to islam#how to convert to islam#new convert#new revert#new muslim#revert help#convert help#islam help#muslim help
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On Villain Impact
SO, Guess who just rewatched UP so that I could further expand on the tea brought up in the post that ask prompted! I mean, and some general comparison moments... with plot and tone and the possible inspirations... BUT--
We're not here to explore Paradise Falls today!
So let's take this in parts so I can give each villain(and one bonus) their dues. Starting with the Pixar villain who first traumatized me in 2009.
Charles Muntz
Sooo first of all, this guy is terrifying.
Like, out of all the villains I'm here to talk about, Muntz has reached that point that there's just... something wrong and broken by the time he actually shows up on screen in his movie. Well, not his movie but-- By the time we meet him, isolation has done a number along with his single minded focus on his goal.
Muntz is... not in a good state of mind AT ALL.
BUT--
I kind of want to take it back for a moment to what triggered this. Because here's the tea-- As we see, throughout the movie with Russel and Kevin, Muntz's find was real. Birb still around even. That skeleton he displayed-- and yet--
They decried it as fake. Something he fabricated. Which hello, here's some of my related tea-- Again, this is basically that whole-- issue of if it doesn't fit with known facts, along with some of the other issues regarding the palaeontology community in general that is-- not quite the same, but--
I have many, many dinosaur issues and some of them come from how long it took people to accept feathered dinosaurs, to the fact that there has been multiple cases of evidence that dinosaurs went extinct much more recently than what we're taught in schools(middle ages, medieval art and designs and just argh--), that are just-- REJECTED. Which even included a report about still images, art and designs that are very dinosaur in nature. Or hell, the comparison of dragon legends to how dinosaur skulls and appearances are--
Not to mention there have been and are still fiascos about dinosaur bones and the whole marrow and blood cells discovered in them. Which instead of maybe assuming that means they're younger than previously assumed they're assuming that means that decay rates are off, which... yeah sure. I don't really have a degree on that, but it sounds wrong when decay has more clear and obvious examples that have been more clearly witnessed, studied-- I mean there's a whole STUDY on decay--
BUT I'M NOT AN EXPERT AND THE EARTH HAS TO BE--
Anyway-- Fossils and bones have-- such a HUGE mess. From exhibits going missing, discoveries passed over time and time again because is "doesn't fit" what was previously know, there's a whole documentary that's one guy trying to explain how there's evidence of specific species actually just being sexual dimorphism and differences in age of just one species and being mocked by the rest of the community for that view--
You know fascinating stuff--
Among other things, like I remember so clearly a documentary that used to be around where they talked about a dig site where there were modern animals preserved with animals from so, so long ago-- along with trying to explain how the very existence of Dinosaur bones and fossils proved that the Great Worldwide Flood happened.
Which-- honestly on the flood, just look at how pretty much every culture has a Great Flood story and that's already proven that something happened. WHICH is all beside the point--
But this-- THIS--
Do you know how much this happens, happened, and still probably will happen in the future?! I mean shit-- people thought the KANGAROO was FAKE NEWS once upon a time. Among-- many other of Australia's animals... also like-- think about weird animals from your own country and imagine in the olden days, sure people could travel, but that didn't mean everyone would or could and just--
How many animals sound fake but then you see them?!
In any case, there's just a very subtle background flow to this movie in that ultimately, the TRUE villains hidden in the story are the Archaeology & Palaeontology communities. Scientists.
--
Which yeah, deviation from the main point of this post, so now that we have that background detail and rant. What impact does Muntz have as a villain. Well... very clearly he's terrifying. Like, I don't think I can overstate how much I was FREAKED OUT as a baby 11 year old seeing this movie for the first time, with exaggerated memories of fire and trauma and all-- and just-- Muntz is a Pixar villain.
Which yeah--
I don't actually really have to say much in regards to how he lingers and his presence is felt all through how the movie unfolds. Even from before this reveal-- there's that sense of wrongness when you're paying attention and you just think about how the dogs act.
And well-- there's something to be stated about this scene... and how it serves as a good lead in to the next villain I would like to talk about-- But for now...
Muntz' degeneration here is subtle. Traitors, liars, people after his discovery... and some serious isolation induced paranoia.
But the heart of his motivation is that long, long ago disgrace. It's been YEARS, of hunting and trying to find the one thing. Carl's entire lifetime from childhood. His entire goal-- and what a hell of a broken pedestal that creates... but arguably, he's from a somewhat tragic perspective when you actually think how fundamentally broken he's fallen when examining the facts.
From a lauded explorer-- adventurer... to this.
Fearing and calling anyone he meets liars.
Max Mordon
Soooo before anyone says that was an abrupt-- I think that this is the PERFECT place to transition over. Because the one immediately there is... some DRASTIC contrasts between these two, despite well. Some small similar vibes to generals.
Like seriously...
Not precisely the same... but like-- Brown hair, blue eyes... and the general frame of his hair style. Max just missed some of the points and has no moustache or anything. BUT--
Max is also in direct contrast in regards to motivations. At least to the prior villain of Muntz. BUT-- Max is kind of literally the kind of people that Muntz was paranoid about. Which isn't really played for subtly in the movie, which is unfortunate, but to be fair that's a hard thing to play subtle and with all the tropes we've been exposed to nowadays-- BUT--
Max basically fell into the trap of, pedestal to break, along with what I kind of call Scooby logic, in how his presentation gave him away as a villain. And also all the older mentor characters disapproving of him.
Basically he was doomed from the framing.
Which-- isn't really the movie's fault, and in the end I would argue it actually plays to his favour to be so obvious.
Sooo I can also actually focus on other things instead of the fact we all know! Like how THERE'S just... so, so much I could say about Tad's reactions to Max throughout the movie. But that will probably take away from the focus of this rant/analysis. BUT-- Yeah, Max is set up as pretty obviously trouble to EVERYONE but the main characters.
Which... I do have opinions for another rant about how Sara would have in any other context probably noticed his fake sooner-- but Max is... "media circus" and archaeology... and more really his pursuit is-- really, really straight forwards in the context of the movie and even the greater scope.
Max is after immortality, power, and prestige. Puts great pride on his title and claim to be the "Greatest explorer". And much unlike Muntz there is no sign of ANYTHING tragic or forgiving in his background. He wasn't screwed over by the system, rather he's here using the system to screw others other.
ALSO--
Max is savvy as anything.
Like-- I don't think people will quite understand my glee at how RUTHLESS this is. But in a similar vein to Muntz, Max isn't letting anything stand in the way of his goals. Not here-- directing the Odysseus to get rid of Freddy and Tad despite them ostensibly being "no threat", which yeah... not completely for Tad as later that comes back around-- BUT-- Max is just... SAVVY in that sense that he's not taking risks.
BUT then we also get him showing he's... really not as expert as he plays himself. Which sure, the Professor has studied for years, but still-- there's a kind of logic that's just-- well, in the Quipu room and even before entering the ruins... He's just-- not studied enough, or observing enough. Not without blind spots.
BUT--
I also want to for a moment just take a moment to have an aside on this:
I also don't know if this is something that people would notice. But-- when it comes to this moment, Max turns the tables... really quickly. Which half of that is just Mummy being kind of naïve himself here in this moment, like-- of all the decisions... but the other half is SOMETHING clicked in Max's mind on this--
But mostly I want to focus on that expression. He's so damn smug-- like he's got a plan, smug and smooth, ready to try and steal the advantage... and I have... opinions on other nuances that might be hiding in that smile. But-- well, it's just not something that can easily be covered all in this--
BUT
It's these two SIDES. And his clear motivation, that actually makes Max a really, really strong and interesting villain to speculate and think about. ALSO-- On the topic of my prior rant...
Max DEFINITELY is the kind of person who probably-- had the movie not unfolded as it did, just be likely to think Mummy was just "another discovery" and tool to use to boost his own reputation.
But as we all know-- ultimately it all came back down on him and backfired.
Jack Rackham
Is honestly the most bland and kind of... confusing almost part of The Secret of King Midas. Like, I almost get him, but then compared to Max, there's just... Nothing to really work with in terms of fanfiction for missing scenes, alternative takes on the universe and story-- and even for his basic motivation it feels like something is... missing or unexplained. Not quite paid off properly.
But then, a lot of things in the sequel kind of pan out in a weird way that I have... much to grumble on.
"So cute, the power of Midas goes way beyond wealth my dear"
"Midas' power, is the power of the GODS! The power to Rule the World!"
Aaaand then this feels like it doesn't actually get a proper explanation or framing or anything to explain what that even MEANS. It's kind of nebulous to how things pan out and unfold. Also, just in general for movie 2, we didn't see enough of Rackham for him to make a proper impact or landing...
Like, for all the world aside the romance subplot, Rackham's presence in this movie is the MOST FORCED THING. He just feels... incomplete, or like something is missing. And then worse, obligatory. With next to no impact aside a few expressions that only lead to more internal confusion and screaming because WHAT DOES THIS EVEN MEAN?! What was meant to be going on here?
And that stupid, stupid line--
Makes me wonder if there was some other factor supposed to be at play with the collar. Since honestly-- Just the touch of gold doesn't really speak highly to "the power of the gods".
Rackham... in comparison to Max is just-- so empty.
And again...
The last thing that just drives my confusion(along with a conspiracy based on framing, set pieces and other things) is this expression, and specifically who it's aimed at.
Bonus Tiffany & The Archaeological Community
So...
Hot take but-- Movie 2's villain should have been Tiff. Well, halfway anyway... And I have... already mostly ranted on the topic-- But not really enough to truly kind of get over my TRUE frustration. Which has now combined into how nebulous and almost... overloaded movie 2 feels the more I rewatch the rest of it.
BUT LIKE--
If there is one rule that we see time and time again when discoveries are made that challenge things. THEY ARE NOT ACCEPTED. People just like to think, to believe that we know the most about the past already. That there's a strict timeline to everything that happened. And if mythology and stories come into it-- Just for crying out loud--
The issue persists.
People denying anything that challenges the view already established. Up to and including the mishandling of archaeological digs and finds. Destruction of artefacts and we all know that the ones who get the brunt of it are the younger folks, those who're out of the "default" and well... ladies.
Which yeah-- not really surprising because sexism still stands and rings strong... but here...
DESPITE THE PAPYRUS BEING FOUND-- We didn't actually get to see the end result of that... And how it was taken beyond a giant presentation. There would have been authenticators-- people going over every INCH of that thing and then more-- so, so many people who would STILL call it fake.
Since we all know! Magic isn't real, myths didn't happen. So this must be some exaggerated story as well right?
WHICH ALSO-- Arguably this whole angle, the potential of the plot being just-- Driven by this-- It's more in line with the motives that are set up for Tiffany. The BIGGEST DISCOVERY in recent history. And also again, I can talk about some incomplete arcs, because this actually gives EVERYONE that little bit more room to breath.
Also serves as a bit more of a move on from movie 1 for Tadeo, first his hero(Max), wasn't all he appeared, and now-- the villain is okay, not exactly defined so much, more abstract in the community decrying the evidence. Denying-- Quite likely mishandling the papyrus since it can't really be what it claims.
Actually make the papyrus relevant, along with Sara's journal of notes on the project for more than one scene... and POSSIBLY EXPLAIN THAT LINE FROM RACKHAM.
Power of the Gods... and the mystery of Sara's kind of echo/response line to it.
“There are too many signs that the power of Midas shouldn’t be trifled with, I’m just saying that maybe the collar shouldn’t see the daylight”
We could have even still had that climax, just with some alterations, and let Tiffany come full circle in the theming. Set up and payoff, with even the legend being mirrored. But anyway... yeah.
Just in general, the villains most effective here are the ones who give us more than just that surface level empty sense. That have presence that's felt and echoes throughout the whole MOVIE and story. Which is definitely Muntz and Max, without them something is fundamentally lost.
Meanwhile Rackham is there, but he feels obligatory, without a proper explanation and if you removed him--
Tiffany could have become a mirror to Muntz in a similar way to Max-- BUT also much closer. She's set up PERFECTLY for it as well. Her adoration and eagerness, that bright hope yet. And it would be so easy to still have the main beats be the same-- Without much of an issue of the plot push either.
Rackham's sense of presence in the movie is so... dismal anyway--
And as for that climax. Well, you have to prove every aspect right?
BUT then it wouldn't make sense for Tadeo to make any kind of sacrifice there. To come full circle, it would need to be Tiffany. And the collar ACTUALLY could be sacrificed like in the legend and Tad first assumed.
#THybrid Jones#Pixar#Up(Pixar)#Tadeo Jones#Max Mordon#Rackham(Tadeo Jones)#Tiffany(Tadeo Jones)#Charles Muntz#Villains#This is filled with salt tbh#Because I wanted to RANT#But also I got to expand a bit on some things that bothered me#BUT NOT ALL OF THEM#Because I need to finish a certain fic so I can frame some of my posts properly#There are two moments cherry picked in this post I want to rant further on especially#But only one I'm sort of halfway able to
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The case for breaking up Disney
Disney has always been a problematic company, from its crypto-minstrelsy (and not-so-crypto-minstrelsy) to its perpetual copyright extensions to its censorship activities to its gender stereotyping to its anti-union work and so on, but, as anti-monopoly activist Matt Stoller (previously) writes, under CEO Bob Iger the company has changed into an entirely different kind of corporate menace: a monopolist committed to crushing competition, rather than an entertainment company that -- whatever its other sins -- was ferociously committed to making movies, TV shows, theme parks, art and toys.
Stoller points to Iger's acquisition spree -- ABC, ESPN, Marvel, Lucas, Pixar, Fox, Maker Media (and licenses for Muppets, Avatar, etc) -- as the key to understanding the change in the company's nature. Where once Disney was a powerhouse of proprietary, studio-created stories and characters (albeit many of them based on public domain fairy tales), under Iger the main sources of new Disney products and stories has been other companies that it purchased. And of course, none of those purchases would have been permitted under the version of antitrust law that led to the founding and growth Disney -- it wasn't until Ronald Reagan, Robert Bork, and every US president since systematically dismantled antitrust that these kind of acquisitions became possible.
This growth strategy warps the competitive landscape in all kinds of ways (not just would would-be animation studio founders, who are now gasping for market oxygen in a monopolized marketplace). Disney is now reportedly insisting on "block booking" from cinema owners -- that's the (once) illegal practice whereby a movie studio only permits cinemas to exhibit its top films if they also agree to take its turkeys -- while simultaneously clawing back all of its (and now, Fox's) old films from exhibition in the nation's 600 struggling independent cinemas. This could push these indies -- already struggling with the hyper-concentrated, monopolized movie theater market, which underwent massive concentration thanks to lax antitrust enforcement -- over the edge, meaning that the kinds of movies that depend on these theaters for exhibition would have nowhere to go.
Then there's Disney's new streaming service, Disney+, which is priced at $6.99, below the rate of any of the other streaming services -- a price that Iger himself admits will lose the company money -- with the goal of acquiring more customers than any of the other streaming services, cross-subsidizing the service with it studios and theme-parks, until they can be crushed or acquired by Disney as well.
This has lots of economic consequences for other sectors as well, but the most obvious one is what it will do to creators, whose contractual royalties for re-releases and TV/cable will simply vanish, basically re-creating the old studio system in which actors and other creators were treated as property by the studios, literally bought and rented out or sold to other studios. After all, Disney has always used the existence of new distribution channels to weasel out of its obligations to pay its talent, and this could be the mother of all royalty-dodges.
As Stoller points out, this isn't just bad for artists, it's bad for audiences. Markets depend on customers making choices to discipline sellers who provide substandard or overpriced goods. But if Disney is able to establish and then maintain a monopoly on both home entertainment and theatrical exhibition, it needn't fear the market -- it can dictate to its audience what they will watch.
There are some important tech policy implications of all this: first is that as streaming becomes the key battleground for the entertainment giants, we're going to see a redoubled effort to ban DRM circumvention, redesigning the entire home computing ecosystem to resist user-modification, shutting out new market entrants who want to serve the demand for more flexible devices and systems (and there will be lots of collateral damage to streamrippers, file-hosting services, source-code repositories, security research, etc).
The second -- and even more dramatic -- implication of all this is that in a non-neutral internet environment, Disney is going to have to contend with the fact that its two major competitors have merged with monopolistic telcoms/cable companies: Universal/Comcast and Time-Warner/AT&T. These companies have both the technical capacity and -- thanks to Trump and his FCC Chairman, Ajit Pai -- the legal right to degrade or cap their customers' connections to Disney+, adding $10 or even $20/month to the priced-to-move $6.99 subscription fee.
What's more, 5G is total bullshit, and will not save them. Verizon has proven itself catastrophically bad at being an online service provider, so maybe they're ripe for a merger, acquisition or joint venture.
Given the abysmal state of competition law enforcement in America, they'd probably get away with it.
https://boingboing.net/2019/11/07/marvel-lucas-pixar-fox.html
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Dogs and Jealousy
In this article, you will find more information for each of these categories:
To Understand Jealousy, We Need to Understand Emotions. https://sites.google.com/view/girldognamess/unique-dog-names
When a Dog is Jealous
Signs Your Dog Is Jealous
Do You Think Your Dog Has Ever Shown Signs of Jealousy?
What We Do Wrong With Jealous Dogs
Why Reassuring Human Behavior Does Not Work For Dogs
How to Manage Dog Jealousy
Helping Your Dog Adjust to Permanent Change
Building a Solid Pack
To Understand Jealousy, We Need to Understand Emotions
To Understand that jealousy is a secondary emotion because it is more complex than the primary emotions which are fear, anger, disgust, joy and surprise. Primary emotions are universal and generally shared by all people. Secondary emotions are more complex because they need to develop on a more conscious level. They are subject to individual and cultural social norms, and can be expressed in unique ways.
Stanley Coren, a dog psychologist from the University of British Columbia wrote an article that was featured in the previous issue of the Modern Dog Magazine entitled "Jealousy: Dogs and the Green-Eyed Monster".
In this article he mentions a scientist named, Friederike Range who conducted some experiments with dogs to evaluate their emotions regarding jealousy.
When a Dog is Jealous
Research has recently proven that dogs can sense jealousy among other dogs. Through experiments, researchers studied two dogs in each sample that were side-by-side and asked to perform the same trick, with only one dog getting a reward.
The one dog receiving the treat reward perform the trick consistently and until the task was finished. The second dog who did not receive the treat, stopped performing the trick after being aware that the dog right next to him or her was receiving a reward for the same action.
True Emotion Versus Behavioural Conditioning
Many of the earlier testing that was done involved treat-based testing and rewards. It made me wonder - would that actually be a true test of emotion? Or is it really a training exercise in operant conditioning - a way of learning that uses reward and consequence to provoke behaviour.
Signs Your Dog Is Jealous
Aggression - Biting, nipping, growling at the animal or person or object that the dog feels threatened by
Incontinence of Urine or Stool- Usually sudden, unexplainable pee-pee or poop accidents in the house, or in areas the dog has been previously trained not to go. The jealous dog may urinate or stool on items associated with what or who is causing your dog to be jealous.
Pushy Behaviour - Your dog may react clingy and want more attention from you. Your dog may interfere with you getting close to who or what is the cause of jealousy. Dogs have been known to get in the middle of hugs, or push out the other animal getting petted by the owner when they feel jealous. It's common to feel your dog is crowding you when they feel jealous.
Withdrawn - This is a more docile expression of jealousy in some dogs. You might notice your dog is acting indifferent, or leaves the room when the object, person or animal causing the feelings of jealousy is near. This kind of maladaptive behaviour may pass on it's on as your dog takes time to warm up to the new change. However, if not noticed and corrected gently and early this could lead your dog to feel depression.
What We Do Wrong With Jealous Dogs
Let's face it - the average person with a dog, is not a professional dog handler. They have a dog for companionship. They have not studied dog behaviour for countless hours, and have not devoted their careers to correcting dogs manners and behavior. That is totally okay, because many non-professional people still come looking for answers and wonder how to improve.
So when a typical person feels that their dog is exhibiting potential signs of jealousy, they may indirectly reinforce the negative behavior. Because when a dog gets more pushy for attention, more clingy, more demanding, as humans with tend to:
Cuddle the dog
Speak to the dog in a high-pitched, baby-like voice
Give the dog more attention than usual
Allow for more leniency in already-established rules or boundaries
It's easy to know why we do one or all of these things. We find it reassuring as people. So we assume our dog would find it comforting also. However, behaviorally, these things are not too comforting to the dog, when interpreted by the canine mind.
Why Reassuring Human Behavior Does Not Work For Dogs
All that cuddling and reassuring voice, although helpful to humans because we can empathize with other human's social context and actually understand their words.
A dog does not have that social complexity or the ability to decode our language.
How to Manage Dog Jealousy
Think your dog might be showing sings of jealous? Time to really think about your treatment approach. If you just try to elevate your dogs new jealous behaviours as they arise you are not addressing the core issue and not helping you or your dog for long-term adjustment.
You want to try to analyse the situation to the best of your ability. Why do you think your dog is experiencing these feelings? New pet? New partner? New baby? Some situations are not permanent. For example, you are pet sitting for a friend or neighbour. Your dog is jealous of the "new" and different pet that you are temporarily caring for. Your dog won't understand this is a temporary thing no matter how much you reassure them. They will realise it only in time.
For temporary situations, you want to maintain the current schedule you already have as much as possible. Try not to give too much more affection or reassurance to you dog. Instead of validating their feeling s of jealous over the change you want them to notice that you are accepting of the new accountability. You are saying body language to a dog "I still love you, you matter, but I also have to do these other responsibilities".
Helping Your Dog Adjust to Permanent Change
If you are facing a big permanent change, you will need to consider your dog's schedule and how you want to maintain the routine. Try to prepare your dog if you can. And offer a few more extra treats for good behaviour, but don't over do the cuddling.
If you can not maintain the new doses of attention and fuss, and you fizzle out with all the treats, hugs and kisses in 3 days, you will sabotage you plan to facilitate your dogs coping through this life change.
Make your changes manageable and consistent and still provide affection.
Prepare your dog if possible - New family pet or baby? Bring home items the pet or baby has used, unwashed and allow your dog to smell the clothing, fabric or other items. Than place the items or clothing in the area the new arrival with "own", the new pet's bed, or the new babies crib.
Feed your dog - as much on schedule as before. This helps show consistency and relieves stress and anxiety for your dog, because your dog will know that their survival will be maintained
Walk your dog - As much on schedule as before. Again, helps with consistency so your dog can adapt through the new changes
Find time to spend time- with your dog that is reasonable. Don't over do it. Don't smoother your dog. Make your new schedule realistic. Show your dog what your expectation is. Give your dog 10 minutes extra a day to relax with you or to play a low-key indoor game. Spending one on one time with your dog shows the dog that you still love him or her and still want to take care of him or her.
Take care of yourself - Whatever you decide for the schedule, take time for yourself - daily. Don't burn yourself out. Caring for a new pet or new baby takes lots of your own time. Leaves much less time for yourself. SO you need to make time to for yourself to recharge. You can do best caring for others when you have taken care of yourself too!
Building a Solid Pack
When you and your dog experience small and large changes together and adapt through the changes, you make your pack that much stronger. Stay the course and let the challenges become mere memory while you enjoy the present and other look forward to many more better times ahead.
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Justice Society of America #4 (1992)
Ultrahumanite exhibits all the characteristics of a man happy to be reunited with friends: cheerily laughing, bright happy expression, hands on hips, weirdly-shaped massive hard-on.
Forgive me for the erect penis joke but I felt it was in the tradition of Grunion Guy. You might find it funny if you knew how uncomfortable it made me to type it and how worried I was for a second that my mother might see it. But then I realized that if my mom saw it, it would mean my mom read Grunion Guy's blog, and then I almost threw up. That would be so embarrassing!
Normally I would be on the side of the Justice Society of America because they are the good people with the good values. But how good are their good values if they are trying to stop a job creator and upstanding corporate citizen like Ultrahumanite who is just trying to run his Ultragen business the best way he knows how: with stormtrooper bodyguards to defend labs where they experiment on animal-human hybrids? Anything that hurts corporate profits is a bad thing for capitalism and the Justice Society of America should know that, being that they have "America" right there in their name. Although they also have "Society" in their name and that is a bird whistle for socialists.
The bird whistle is the dog whistle of the left because it is more pleasant to listen to and it isn't aggravating or obnoxious and it makes the world a better place for everybody (except people who hate birds and probably own guns to shoot those stupid birds. Stupid birds. So dumb).
Oh no! Nobody warned these old timers that we aren't doing prison rape jokes anymore!
Wildcat has some great words of wisdom in that previous panel. It is the most scienciest science statement I have ever read (unless it was the mathiest math statement): "If X did not happen, Y would have happened! Thusly I have proved we are better than you! QED! In your face, Ultrahumanite!" Whenever I would lose a game of Dungeons & Dragons with my friends Bullpup and McGroover, I would say, "Oh yeah? Let's see you make a delicious sandwich!" Then they would back down and they would be all, "Yes, you are correct, Pickle Boy. You are the better friend with the most useful skills and we are only good at pretending to slaughter Kobold families for copper coins." That's pretty funny if you realize Dungeons & Dragons is about adventurers invading the lairs of creatures to steal their material possessions!
Doctor Mid-Nite does not quip with the others because he might be dead. Do not forget these guys are really old! It does not matter how many muscles they have or what kind of cardio breathalyzer tests they can pass; they still have super old bones and a lifetime of clogged arteries. One slip or the slightest bit of extra exertion could mean Stroke City or Brokenhipsville for these cool cats! That is old person slang! It is very humorous!
Now they goof on his stutter? I am beginning to wonder who the real villains are in this story!
Look how happy the Ultrahumanite is! And these old guys have been nothing but bitter, cynical old winds from the butt! Plus he is a successful businessman and scientist who has created life! It sounds like he has turned over a new leaf now that he no longer has to steal bodies. I am not ignoring the laboratory full of hybrid creatures; I'm just going to assume that they were all volunteers until it is proven otherwise. You cannot go through life never eating the buttered bread that fell on the floor buttered side down!
Ultrahumanite decides to recount his past for some reason. This made me laugh because I was thinking, "Yeah! They are old men. They cannot remember stuff from so long ago and also they have enlarged prostates!"
But which is actually worse: making fun of somebody's disability or sympathizing with Nazis? I've got some hard questions to answer!
Some things are unforgivable but one thing I think we can all agree to forgive is a hot woman who sided with the Nazis.
How does a huge ape body reflect the Ultrahumanite's desires? Please do not answer, "He loves to copulate with monkeys," because that's what I an suggesting by the question and you would look like one of those fools on Twitter who thinks they are hilarious by restating somebody's joke in a less subtle manner.
Ultrahumanite continues to explain how he became such a pillar of the business community. It is as boring as you would expect a PowerPoint presentation from a business man would be. That was probably the joke!
Why is not the trademarked name "PowerPoint" two words? If you are going to bother capitalizing the second "P", you might as well just separate the words. Maybe it was somebody's online name when they were fourteen years old. It is always a smart decision to just run the two words together rather than separating them with an underscore. And it is easier to read when the second word is capitalized (as opposed to every other word capitalized or just the consonants. I do not understand young people). Nobody remembers to put underscores in when searching for a name online!
"Ultrahumanite! You are experimenting on innocent people, ruining the environment, causing unknown amounts of damage to the populace of every city where one of your labs operates but Ted Grant and the world just want to know one thing: was that hot Nazi body the real you because 'Rrrrrow!'"
You think I am making a joke but I don't joke about things that I don't joke about and one of those things is that Ted Grant has previously expressed interest in cultivating an intimate relationship with hot Nazi Ultrahumanite. Specifically, he said earlier that she "swept him off his feet." He only used that phrase so Al could make a joke about how they were hanging upside down so the sweeping off of feet is still happening. But I think, in his heart, he wanted to say, "She made me spontaneously become a man every time we wrestled. Is that okay under the Hays Code? Can I get away with that amount of innuendo?!"
The Ultrahumanite has to go deal with The Flash who has literally suddenly appeared. Weird how the word "literally" is never actually needed when it is used properly. I guess using it in a hyperbolic and exaggerated fashion is really its only job.
While Ultrahumanite is gone, Doctor Mid-Nite "double joints" his wrists to escape. I'm pretty sure Grunion Guy's wrists were double jointed by the amount of times he wrote about masturbating. He was a crude jerk but I still hope he rests in peace in that pauper's cemetery down by the toxic sludge factory.
Doctor Mid-Nite takes on the guards while The Atom and Wildcat rush out to save The Flash who is The Flash and almost certainly does not need saving. While Doctor Mid-Nite is beating up the guards, he suddenly becomes a stand up comedian. Was I wrong to assume he was an actual doctor? Is that just his stage persona? I would tell you why his jokes were funny if they were but I cannot figure them out. Why is this an old joke (and if it is, why would he even retell it when it is nonsense): "I know you're out there because I can hear you breathing"?
The Flash gets encased in some living green goo that absorbs heat and kinetic energy which might also be a definition of heat? I'm just a sandwich maker slash writer's assistant who has never once showed an ounce of curiosity about the real world so forgive me for languishing in my ignorance. At least I own a thesaurus.
Back in Gotham City, Jesse Quick appears for a page or two to remind everybody that she exists. "Hello! I am the hot daughter of the infomercial guy! I have also deluded myself into believing a mathematical equation gives me super speed! It makes no sense!"
Jesse takes some papers proving that Ultragen is breaking laws so the JSA has the right to beat the crap out of its CEO. For comedic effect, they have a little more confusion over Ultrahumanite's pronouns (which, to be fair, he has not expressed any preference for and doesn't seem to mind using whatever pronouns match the gender he seems to be expressing) before rushing off to punch her in the face. I don't know what pronouns to use either but she was a super hot Nazi so let's just go with that one.
See? She is a scientific genius!
At first I was all, "Oh, big deal! So The Flash is trapped in goo!" And then the Ultrahumanite was all, "You cannot breathe without oxygen!" And then I was all, "Oh no! I had not thought of that! Somebody save him, preferably an old guy from the JSA or I will feel cheated out of my hard earned buck twenty-five."
I keep laughing at that previously scanned panel and how Wildcat and The Atom are hiding behind trees the way characters do in comic strips. So ridiculous! It is even funnier if you remember that they are old men! I bet you are laughing a lot more now!
Doctor Mid-Nite arrives because he "smoke bombed" with his previous stand-up gig. Get it?! If you understood the play on the word "bomb" there and that I meant the fight against the guards when I said "stand-up gig," you would be cracking up like crazy!
Yeah. A smoke bomb! We all know that is where he keeps them!
The Flash breaks free and Doctor Mid-Nite punches Ultrahumanite in the nose, breaking it. Ultrahumanite is so vain that he falls to the ground, defeated! And that is when the Calvary arrives! That is funny because I used the wrong word and now you are picturing a crucified Jesus riding up on a horse to save the day instead of Green Lantern, The Flash, and Jesse Quick arriving on a Green Lantern construct!
Justice Society of America #4 Rating: A. I have not read as many comic books as Grunion Guy but this one seemed pretty good in comparison to the ones I have read, like WildC.A.T.S. #1 and pick any issue you want of Youngblood.
One more "What gender is Ultrahumanite?!" joke for the road!
Alan felt this was the kind of thing a heterosexual would say. It's funny because he "New 52" comes out of the closet later!
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Blog: Communicating With Animals
Ariadne Villanueva
Gina Srmabekian
English 115
12/3/2019
Communicating With Chimpanzees:
Monkeys can talk to humans! Well, not actually, but chimpanzees can communicate with us. It has been proven time and time again that monkeys perform certain gestures to communicate something to someone else. Over the course of this blog, I will be mentioning how MANY scholarly sources can defend this fact.
Have you ever watched this documentary called “Project Nim”? First of all, if not, I 100% recommend. It’s probably the most entertaining, informative, and saddest documentary I’ve ever seen. Trust me, you’ll like it. Anyway, this documentary is based on the life of a baby chimpanzee and his journey into adulthood. Although, there is one main focus to his life and why it’s even being documented. A group of scholars are raising him by themselves and teaching him sign language. The purpose of this experiment is to see whether or not another species can learn to communicate with humans through a form of language. Throughout the course of the documentary, we get to see Nim learn more and more sign language through practice and discipline. Nim then becomes able to communicate things like when he wants to play or eat or use the restroom. This proves how chimpanzees are able to learn communication. The documentary takes a pretty ugly turn when a research facility takes Nim into their custody. This is when the communication between chimpanzees and humans is really shown. Nim and a couple of his peers are taken and tested on. While in this research facility, these chimpanzees continue to sign to the humans as a form of crying out for help. They use the sign for “hug”, “out”, and “help” as a way of begging for freedom. If that isn’t the saddest thing you’ve ever heard than you are a monster. To try and sum up this documentary as best as I possibly can, before I go on an even longer tangent, chimpanzees are unable to learn language because they cannot comprehend grammar. Although, this does not mean that they cannot learn to communicate with humans. Nim, the chimpanzee was unable to form grammatically correct sentences, but he was able to communicate to others through sign.
LOOK AT THIS ADORABLE LITTLE GUY XD
If you’re not that into movies, there is this great book written by Karen J. Fowler with a similar message. The book is based on this story of this family that takes in a chimpanzee as a part of an experiment and raises it as their own. Very similarly, this chimpanzee can communicate with the family members but cannot form grammatically correct sentences. In this book, although fictional, it proves that chimpanzees can communicate with humans and when educated a certain way can understand more than what we think is possible. If I could explain the plot of the novel in a few sentences it would be this: A family takes in a chimpanzee and raises it with their own children as a part of an experiment. As a result, the children pick up chimpanzee behavior and the chimpanzee picks up some human behavior. This affects both parties’ lives greatly. For example, Rosemary, the daughter, gets bullied by her peers for climbing trees. The chimpanzee, aka Fern, is very much affected because when she is inevitably taken away and forced to live amongst her kind, she is beat into becoming a true chimpanzee. This shows how behavior that is “unnatural” can be taught just as communication can and is taught.
What do you know about animal cognition? To be honest with you, I wasn’t even sure of what that was prior to this assignment. Although, after doing my little research, nearly each article has come to the same conclusion. The common conclusion is that basically, chimpanzees, baboons, and animals of this sort all have great mental capacities. In one particular article written by Marie Bourjade, she concludes that there is evidence of purposeful communication between baboons. Another article written and experiment conducted by David Leavens and William Hopkins reveals that chimpanzees make intentional gestures. I don’t want to bore you to sleep, but isn’t this fascinating! Think about it, chimpanzees physically point at things like humans. The fact that they can exhibit gestures like that with the same intentions as humans is pretty amazing.
HE WANTS YOU 4 PRESIDENT!
At first I wasn’t very interested in the matter at all, to be honest with you. I was only researching the topic because I was required to for my english class. Although, as time went on and more information was presented to me, I became more and more intrigued. For example, Winthrop N. Kellog conducted an experiment with the theory that infant children and chimpanzees share some similar tendencies in their gestures. It may not seem all that amazing at first thought or glance, but to read about how the chimpanzee brain is so comparable to that of a human’s still boggles my mind. Many of the articles state the same hypothesis and I don’t want to bore you, but this proves the credibility of the theory. How is that almost every experiment conducted resulted with the same conclusion? If you were not a believer before, you will be now.
<This is going to be you after reading my blog.
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Chimps vs. Humans
Why is it that so many chimpanzees have been and are still continuously being taken away from their mothers at a very young age? Their only purpose is to test their communication abilities of being more like humans and adapting to our humanly behaviors and language. Does this seem ethical to you? I believe it shouldn’t, however most researchers unfortunately might not agree with me. They don't acknowledge the fact that these animals were not created to be raised like humans because it is not in their nature. Holding these animals in captivity, in locked enclosures and going against their nature by raising them like us in order to gain research is very unethical. After doing a literature review on this controversial issue, reading various articles and books, and watching documentaries, I have gained enough knowledge on the morality and ethics of raising chimpanzees like humans, and can evidently conclude that chimpanzees are physically and mentally incapable of communicating with humans using human language. That being said, it is pointless to put them through this unethical process if the outcomes are already explicit.
A specific book that I read in class, genuinely helped me get a better understanding of this controversial issue and answered a lot of questions relating to the ethics of raising animals like humans. This book is called “we are all completely besides ourselves” written by an American author named Karen Joy Fowler. In this book a chimp was raised by a family alongside their youngest daughter rosemary. The chimp was treated no different then the families younger children. Even the daughter rosemary was convinced that the chimp was human. The unethical portion of the story is that after the chimp was forcefully adapted to its “human life”, it was given away and held captive for further research. Although this is a fictional story it draws a great connect to Nims life. Nim was a chimpanzee whose life story was exposed in a documentary that was created in the 70's called Project Nim. Project Nim was an experiment performed by researchers and scientists whose sole purpose was to show that an ape could learn to communicate with spoken language if raised and nurtured like a human child. Nim was raised by humans and was constantly approached by language learning tasks. However, as expected, the experiment was a fail because Nim was not capable of learning the english language. Analogous to the chimps situation in the book “We Are All Completely Besides Ourselves,” after the unwanted outcome, Nim was given to a lab and was held captive for other research because he was useless for the project.
Throughout many decades multiple documentaries, books, and articles just like Project Nim were created, aimed to show that an ape could learn to communicate with language if raised and nurtured like a human child, however most of their findings were not a success because the chimpanzees did not have the right physical structure and mentality to intake those words and speak them. Back in 1968, an ape-rearing experiment was practiced on an adolescent chimpanzee. In this experiment a home-raised chimpanzee was given the same social advantages and linguistics as a human baby. The chimp was able to imitate most humanly behaviors, however it failed to imitate human simple word sounds because the “the neural speech centers of a chimps brain are no doubt deficient in this respect and it is possible also that the larynx and speech organs are incapable of producing the complex sound patterns of human language”(kellogg). Furthermore, Chimpanzees are also not able to communicate by speaking a language because they are not able to pronounce majority of the words due to their restricting bone structure. A major structural differences between humans and chimps is found in the “mandibular alveolar vergency and in the internal slope of the mandibular symphysis where the oral cavity’s morphology is modified, thereby increasing the free space for tongue movements in humans. The chin, which is unique to the human species, is quantified through the external slope of the mandibular symphysis with a lesser angle in humans”(Fenol, Ruis, Campo). Therefore, the two studies above prove that chimpanzees are not physically capable to communicate with humans using human language.
Chimpanzees can’t and should not be taught the english language as a human chimp communication method because their physical form is not structured to speak it. Yes, this may be a major aspect of the issue however the list of reasons of why there are not recommended to learn the language goes on. For example, they can suffer from long term mental effects such as “social withdrawal, anxiety, and loss of appetite. They pull out their own hair, bite themselves, and pace incessantly”(Peta). Additionally, a recent study took place in 2012, in which the anxiety levels and social behaviours of two orphans and four mother reared adolescent chimpanzees were closely examined and recorded when interacting with humans. As anticipated, the two orphans displayed different results from the other four chimpanzees by displaying higher levels of anxiety. Based off of the results from the study, it was concluded that a baby chimpanzee who is raised without it’s biological mother and isolated from other chimpanzees can possibly have a permanent or even long lasting impact on its ability to take part in complex social interactions like playing or communicating. “chimpanzees raised in isolation are sometimes unable to engage in complex social exchanges such as grooming, clingung, or mating and exhibit stereotypical self directed behaviors”(Botero, McDonald, Miller). To conclude, I strongly believe that testing on chimpanzees and raising them like human should strictly be banned in the U.S because it is unethical. It is also pointless because it has been proven by various studies and experiments that these animals are not capable of communicating with humans using our language.
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do you think that ppl should not be ''taught'' to be scared of stallions? Sure you can't just think that they are like geldings and easy to train. Finnhorse breed for example is starting to little by little having more incest in it since there is not enough stallions and because ppl are taught that even slightest move means they are going to kill you, who would wanna buy a stallion. Then there is everything else like going through fences but those things should be ''easy'' to fix with training.
The sentiment that stallions are entirely dangerous and wildly different from geldings or mares is a fairly uniquely American sentiment. In Europe, you have children showing stallions and it’s a non-issue. (I say this is uniquely American based on the anecdotal evidence of any time in the past this notion running around on here has been met with a lot of Europeans being confused we treat stallions differently).
To relate this entirely not to horses but to something else I’ve researched a lot:
I think a lot of the misconceptions about stallion aggression stems from the same place as misconceptions about “roid rage”. The way the media portrays anabolic steroid use is in a way that suggests anyone and everyone who takes it is transformed into some Mr. Hyde freak-beast who can’t control their temper and breaks everything. Unfortunately that excuse has also been used in criminal defense of athletes who murdered people instead of addressing the fact that in autopsies it’s been proven these people had repeated brain trauma that would’ve mad them more aggressive, more depressive, and more impulsive. The reality is less than 2% of steroid users (and studies are showing that’s a 2% that either has brain trauma or history of mental illness) are impacted by a massive increase in aggressive behaviors or reactions; so while there are some people who go Dr. Jekyll /Mr. Hyde when they’re on or off cycle— that’s untrue of the overwhelming majority.
I’d wager the same is true of stallions or any domesticated animal we as humans have chosen to keep. Some stallions do exhibit hyper-aggression or hyper-reactiveness as a result of remaining intact. Just like some dogs do as well. Or cats who are intact. Let’s face it— if it was just the presence of testosterone that overwhelmingly created aggression in a population of animals; then wouldn’t every single human man with sex hormones (self-produced or store-bought) be extremely aggressive? Wouldn’t we want to “geld” every man for the safety of society? Wouldn’t it also stand to reason that Mr. Olympia competitors/winners like Kai Greene, Ronnie Coleman, Jay Cutler, or Dorian Yates would inevitably be uncontrollable monsters as a result of the amount of anabolic steroids they take? You’d think so, but all these men are regarded for being extremely soft-spoken in interviews, extremely intelligent in the way they present themselves, and overall not aggressive assholes. In fact, if it were steroids that automatically created aggressive monsters... it would be Arnold Schawrzenegger with an infamous history as a domestic abuser and not Sean Penn? Not that Arnie is a perfect beacon of human decency, but the former 7-time Mr. Olympia isn’t know for aggressive or abusive antics. Sean Penn is and Sean Penn isn’t someone with a verifiable history of steroid use.
The fact of the matter is that testosterone alone doesn’t create aggression. Will I acquiesce that there are certainly outliers? Yes. However, it’s more of an issue of how we’re interacting with them. Have you ever heard the old timer wisdom of “never let a big horse know it’s big”? The idea there is that by never allowing a horse who could easily physically overpower you know that that’s the case; it’s a non-issue. If you never give the horse an interaction where it learns that it has a size advantage to get its way, then you don’t have a horse who uses its size for intimidation. Well, same can be said for handling stallions.
If you interact with a stallion in a way that’s fundamentally different because you have any fear that it’ll act different because it’s a stallion… You’ll get a horse who acts different because it’s a stallion. This isn’t some “dominance theory” nonsense where you can’t “show fear” or the horse “wins”— this is more a case of conditioning. Again, using the big horse as an example; the “big horse who knows he’s big” doesn’t use his size to his advantage because he’s the “alpha” but he uses it because he understands a basic cause and effect: “If I stretch my neck high and act big people are too afraid to make me do something I’d rather not do.” Same can be said of a lot of stallion behavior. If a stallion learns that people will back off because he acts like a “stallion”, he’ll act like a “stallion”.So, do I think people should be taught not to treat stallions differently? Yes, absolutely. Stallions aren’t evil death machines.Stallions aren’t inherently different on some incomprehensible level, but stallion ownership is like owning an intact dog--- you have to be a lot more responsible than the average owner. Someone with an intact dog shouldn’t be allowing their dog off-leash. Someone with a stallion has to be more aware when out in the public and have different “rules” they need to adhere to when showing. Just like with owning an un-spayed or un-neutered dog--- it’s not your animals that’s the probably generally; it’s the negligence and incompetence of the other animal owners you’re going to have to interact with. Aside from all these incorrect notions about stallions that are perpetrated in media & “word of mouth” equine communities--- a lot of people are discouraged from stallion ownership because of the extra precautions they need to take and complexity involved in showing or just being able to ride in public spaces. In my region, we have several stallions that regularly compete at dressage shows of all sizes. They’re all also very well-behaved. The issues that arise with them at shows comes from people not recognizing a stallion in the warm-up and giving them space. You know that picture of the obedient pitbull not eating a steak because he’s following orders to not eat the steak? Stallions at shows are a lot like that pitbull, they’re not necessarily going to cause an issue if a steak walks by--- but unlike the pitbull and the steak... a stallion in warm-up with a mare in heat riding past isn’t the only one who needs to show obedience or restraint. The mare is just as likely to be the problem. When you then consider that stallions are almost exclusively owned and showed by professionals whereas mares are still overwhelmingly shown by amateurs... that’s the issue. It’s not the stallion or the way the stallion has been conditioned or trained much of the time. It’s the issue of how amateur owners and riders react to stallions.Another complexity of showing with a stallion is the stabling situation--- again, pitbull-steak/stallion-mare comparison... it’s not certainly going to be the stallion who is the issue. Whereas a mare or gelding owner you can get around stabling issues of a mare being listed as a gelding or a gelding listed as a mare in show paperwork (one of my mares was always incorrectly filed as a gelding at one showing facility); stallions owners can’t easily take on these mistakes. Even with greatly behaved stallions you can have issues being stabled next to a mare because as much as you can make a point that stallions aren’t aggressive or bad because they’re stallions, you also can’t ignore the fact that they’re stallions.As much as I want to hold-on to the pitbull-steak analogy... at the end of the day, the pitbull isn’t trying to have sex with the steak but a stallion is 100% biologically wired to have sex with a mare. There are instances when training doesn’t hold up against biologic impulses. That’s why animals will mate with their parents or siblings--- at the end of the day you can’t convey consequence for sexual response the way you can convey consequence for misbehavior. No stallion owner wants to deal with their stallion breaking down the stall because he’s too near a mare in heat because the show facility fucked up and listed him as a gelding.
In order to own and compete (or own and keep at “home” without competing) a stallion, there’s a lot of work that has to go into place. For ownership you need a large facility to keep the stallion away from mares. For showing, you need to be extremely proactive and constantly be on top of keeping your stallion out of scenarios that could end badly. It’s a lot.
So, no I don’t think it’s the belief in stallions being aggressive that prevents larger scale stallion ownership. I think it’s an issue with stallion ownership having more difficulties associated with it and those are difficulties that (again, focusing on America) most owners do not want to take on---even professionals. There are many breeding farms that only have mares. There are many professionals who only want to ride geldings or mares because they don’t want to deal with the associated difficulties of campaigning a stallion.
Are the misconceptions about stallions or difficulties associated with stallions related to inbreeding and poor genetic variance? No. To assume this was the case would be to ignore the fact that every single animal isn’t breeding quality. The biggest reason out there why people don’t own and show stallions has nothing to do with misinformation or extra care--- it has everything to do with the fact there’s absolutely zero reason to keep a non-breeding animal intact.
My cat isn’t neutered because I was afraid he’d be dangerous. My cat is neutered because there was absolutely no reason for him to not be neutered. He’s not a purebred with excellent conformation, so he’s not going to be producing babies. Keeping in him intact would’ve just meant I would have to deal with a lot more issues making sure he never tried to impregnate another cat. Keeping him intact would’ve meant I possibly wouldn’t be able to safely keep him with my spayed female and may never be able to bring another cat into our home until he’d passed. I absolutely wouldn’t be able to let him outside off-leash (which I don’t believe in outdoor cats anyway) and potentially never be able to have him outside on-leash. There would be far too many feral intact cats that would cause him to harm me with misplaced aggression if he went outside.
It’s the same for horses. Unless that horse is determined to be of breeding quality conformation and performance... then you don’t keep it intact. Why risk a stallion breaking out to impregnate the neighbor’s mares when you’re just keeping the horse for your personal enjoyment and the horse isn’t of any genetic benefit to its breed? You don’t want to be responsible for anymore unwanted cats or dogs in the world--- that’s why you neuter. You don’t want to be responsible for anymore unwanted horses in the world either--- that’s part of why we geld.
Breeds that are suffering from too small a genetic pool don’t benefit from allowing subpar genes. Gelded Finnhorses (or gelded any other breed) are gelded because they do not possess traits that should be passed down. If you breed low quality horses, you get lower and lower quality horses. The only way to salvage breeds that don’t have enough genetic variance is to allow in outside breeds. Which is hard to do with breeds that have closed books and aren’t open to the idea of losing “purity”--- which just leads to a continued degradation of the “pure” horses left. More people owning stallions can’t fix a small gene pool.The horses that are marked for breeding quality are marked for breeding quality (generally) before they ever hit the market. Are some horses that could be beneficial to the breeding pool that never get bred because they’re sold into the sport market by breeders without the resources to keep them? Yes, but generally horses that are actually going to be benefiting the breed stay within the breeding community.
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Engineering bacteria to exhibit stochastic Turing patterns
First in-vivo proof of principle that patterns can be stabilized by noise
How did the zebra get its stripes, or the leopard its spots? Humankind has been trying to answer such questions since our earliest recorded days, and they resonate throughout the extant mythologies and folklores of an earlier world. In modern times, we've looked to mathematical models and most recently to genomic science to uncover the explanation of how patterns form in living tissues, but a full answer has proven particularly hard to get at.
The mechanism of pattern formation in living systems is of paramount interest to bioengineers seeking to develop living tissue in the laboratory. Engineered tissues would have countless potential medical applications, but in order to synthesize living tissues, scientists need to understand the genesis of pattern formation in living systems.
A new study by researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and the Applied Physics Laboratory, Johns Hopkins University has brought science one step closer to a molecular-level understanding of how patterns form in living tissue. The researchers engineered bacteria that, when incubated and grown, exhibited stochastic Turing patterns: a "lawn" of synthesized bacteria in a petri dish fluoresced an irregular pattern of red polka dots on a field of green.
What are classic Turing patterns?
Turing patterns can be stripes, spots or spirals that arise naturally out of a uniform state. In 1952, the British mathematician, computer scientist, and theoretical biologist Alan Turing proposed a mechanism for how patterns form, theorizing that it's due to a very general kind of instability, which he worked out mathematically. At that time, biology had not yet uncovered the complexities of gene regulation, and it's now clear that the model Turing proposed is overly simplified to describe the multitude of parameters at work in animal-skin pattern formation. So while Turing patterns have been observed in certain chemical reactions, such patterns have proven very difficult to demonstrate in biological organisms.
U of I Physics Professor Nigel Goldenfeld illustrates the limitations of classic Turing pattern formation in biology, using a predator-prey analogy.
"The problem with Turing's mechanism," Goldenfeld explains, "is that it hinges on a criterion that isn't satisfied in many biological systems, namely that the inhibitor must be able to move much more quickly than the activator. For example, if instead of chemicals, we were looking at two creatures in an ecosystem, like wolves and sheep, the wolves would need be able to move around much faster than the sheep to get classic Turing patterns. What this would look like, you would first see the sheep grow in number, feeding the wolves, which would then also grow in number. And the wolves would run around and contain the sheep, so that you would get little localized patches of sheep with the wolves on the outside. That's essentially the mechanism in animal terms for what Turing discovered."
The stochastic Turing model is driven by randomness.
In the current study, the researchers demonstrated both experimentally and theoretically that Turing patterns do in fact occur in living tissues -- but with a twist. Where the instability that generates the patterns in Turing's model is defined as a high diffusion ratio between two chemicals, an activator and an inhibitor, in this study, researchers demonstrate that it's actually randomness -- which would in most experiments be considered background noise -- that generates what Goldenfeld has coined a stochastic Turing pattern.
About a decade ago, Goldenfeld and a former graduate student, Dr. Tom Butler, developed a theory of stochastic Turing patterns, wherein patterns develop not from a high inhibitor-activator ratio, but from the noise of stochastic gene expression. Goldenfeld explains, "About 10 years ago we asked, what happens if there is only a small number of sheep, so that there are large fluctuations in population numbers? Now you get processes where sheep die at random. And we discovered, when you give birth to randomness, that actually drives the formation of stochastic Turing patterns. These are random patterns, but they have a very characteristic structure, and we worked out mathematically what that was.
"The theory of stochastic Turing patterns doesn't require a great difference in speed between the prey and the predator, the activator and the inhibitor. They can be more or less the same, and you still get a pattern. But it won't be a regular pattern. It'll be disordered in some way."
The bioengineering experiments
The bacterial patterning experiments in this study were being performed around the same time Goldenfeld and Butler were developing their theory. The initial motivation for the in vivo study was to see whether bacteria could be engineered to produce a Turing instability. The researchers used synthetic biology to engineer bacteria, based on the activation-inhibition idea from Turing. They injected the bacteria with genes that made the bacteria emit and receive two different molecules as signals. The researchers attached fluorescent reporters to the molecules, creating a system where they could view the on/off switch of the genetic circuits through their signaling molecules: the activator fluoresced red and the inhibitor green. The researchers observed that, starting with a homogeneous film, the engineered bacteria formed red dots surrounded by a field of green after incubation for a period of time -- but the bacteria formed irregular Turing patterns, like those predicted by the stochastic theory.
The original experimental and modeling work at MIT were led by Ron Weiss and carried out by David Karig, now at the Applied Physics Laboratory, Johns Hopkins University, and Ting Lu, now at the U of I, and later continued by graduate student Nicholas DeLateur at MIT.
Goldenfeld notes, "Serendipity definitely played a role in our connecting our two studies, as it often does in academia -- the right place, the right time, and our ideas converged."
Validating the stochastic Turing theory
To test if the experiments really were described by the new theory took several years of work. K. Michael Martini, a graduate student at the Center for the Physics of Living Cells at the U of I, worked with Goldenfeld to build a very detailed stochastic model of what was going on in these synthetic pattern-forming gene circuits, computed the consequences, and then compared the theoretical predictions with what the bioengineers had seen in the petri dishes.
"To really prove that our stochastic patterns work -- it was hard. We had a lot of predictions we had made that had to be verified in experiment," comments Goldenfeld. "Because the mathematics that describe these patterns have many parameters, we had to explore all of the effects of each. It involved a lot of searching in parameter space to reveal what was the mechanism of pattern formation. And there was necessarily a lot of interaction and collaboration with our engineering colleagues.
"What our work shows is that you can in fact get Turing patterns even in situations where you wouldn't expect to be able to see them, but they are disordered patterns -- stochastic Turing patterns. And the stochasticity here is not the birth and death of sheep or wolves, but it's the birth and death, the creation and absorption of proteins. This is a very counter-intuitive prediction: It's the noise of stochastic gene expression that generated these patterns. Normally you think of noise wiping out a signal. If you were trying to listen to music on radio, noise in the signal drowns it out. But in this case, we have a noise-stabilized pattern."
These findings shed new light on an age-old question and begins to pave the way for future efforts in biomedical engineering.
Goldenfeld affirms, "This is really the first proof of principle that you can engineer in vivo stochastic Turing patterns, though it's not simple. So now we know that this mechanism really can work, and that these fluctuations can drive patterns. Ultimately, bioengineers would like to use this type of technology to make novel tissues and new functional biological systems. Our study shows that you can do that in a regime where the classical Turing patterns couldn't be used."
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First date scenarios for the boys?
So, it’s finally time for a more serious suggestion from my end, after the freakin’ piss thing... I’m sorry for everyone who’s randomly come across it through tags in utter confusion... but I decided that I also have no regrets. This is the sin I must carry with me, and I must learn to live with it.Anyway, I decided to go for this one since it also felt like a fairly natural follow-up from the first one I did! I hope y’all like it!
Shuichi Saihara:- For the first date, Shuichi decides to choose something more simple: A library! After all, he loves novels and thinks it’d be sweet to read them not just alone, but now with his date as well.- The two of them don’t just sit down in a corner quietly and read novels, however. Curious to find out what the library holds in store, Shuichi and his date look through every bookshelf and find out what each of them have in store, investigating them Ultimate Detective-style.- Aside from promising novels to rent, they also find a ton of things neither of them knew someone would even write a book about…- But the highlight of the day was the two stumbling upon the erotica section. Despite their embarassment, they push further and further into the section out of sheer curiosity and find things both amazing and disturbing all the same.- As they finally go out of the library, Shuichi is a nervous, flustered, but satisfied wreck. When asked about whether the date went well and all, Shuichi could certainly state that it was a very memorable first date, and a cute but embarassing story to tell for the future.Kaito Momota:- This is Kaito Momota, Luminary of the Stars! What else could he take is date to other than an astronomical observatory? However, it’s located on quite the altitude… but does the Luminary of the Stars and his companion for life really need public transport?- In other words, the date starts with him and his date racing to the top of the observatory. Without a single break.- When the two finally arive at the top they are both very physically exhausted, just in time for the two of them to relax as Kaito shows his date around in the observatory.- It’s times like these where the normally seemingly idiotic Kaito’s scientific knowledge as an astronaut shines through as he tells his date of the many discoveries that have been made here and every space-related project that the observatory has supported. It’s very easy to tell how proud he is of this information, and his enthusiastic spirit turns a lecture that would normally be boring to listen to into a truly exciting story.- At the end of the day, the two actually do end up driving back on the bus, Kaito’s date sleeping with their head on his shoulder.Ryoma Hoshi:- Since Ryoma is a bit of a withdrawn person, he and his date agree on making their first date a cozy movie night right at his date‘s home.- Hoshi left it to his date to pick the movies as well. Keeping in mind that despite having lost his past, he is still very nostalgic towards his old talent, they look for anime and movies with a tennis theme to them. After going through everything with Ryoma, they decide on watching the anime together.- While watching the show, Ryoma is filled with a surge of excitement. He tells his date how every single scene reminds him of something he had experienced while he was still a tennis player. He really starts to get invested into the show and cheers for the characters. For someone that’s as gruff as he usually is, seeing Ryoma’s sweet side fills his date with warmth.- They try to embrace Ryoma, and he does indeed not give any resistance to it. It’s easy to tell that this is the first time in a long time where he has truly felt at ease. Hoshi starts to get tired, and in the end, the two fall asleep in eachothers arms as the anime is still running in the background.Rantaro Amami:- As a callback to how they first got to know eachother, Rantaro takes his date to his favorite tea place. It might be a bit old-school, but it’s definitely looped around and became cool again!- He invites his date to the place saying that he’ll handle all expenses and that it’s absolutely no big deal for him to spoil them this once. They feel a bit bad about leeching off his money, but he makes that worry quickly vanish.- The tea place has all varieties of tea one can think of, from every part of the world. Rantaro says that it’s exactly this multicultural charm that makes him come back here every time and encourages his date to try everything they’d like. - The two end up ordering crumpets, cookies and other pastries alongside their teas. As they were waiting for the pastries to be freshly prepared, Rantaro orders Boba Tea first, which is his favorite. He explains that it was an originally Taiwanese drink that became a phenomenon around the world. His date just goes along with him on this one, but makes sure to always change up the place the tea is from on their next ones.- After their delicious tea time, the two leave satisfied - and Rantaro with an empty wallet. But he has no regrets.Gonta Gokuhara:- “Now that Gonta finally is in relationship, Gonta must become true gentleman and take partner out for dinner!”- Of course, it had to be at the fanciest restaurant in the place. It’s not like the two aren’t able to pay it, but his date was not sure whether or not he’ll be alright… but in the end, you just gotta believe in Gonta, right?- In a way, they are proven both right and wrong.- Yes, of course, they still have to educate Gonta on things like table manners a little. Or on how to talk to the staff. But all in all? Gonta is doing great.- They are able to tell how happy Gonta is in his role. He’s absolutely in his element. There are just two sides to him, just like he has two families and two aspirations. And that’s completely fine.- The two leave completely stuffed with all the extravagant dishes they wanted to try. His date tells Gonta how proud they are of him and boy, he’s never been this flusted and happy before upon hearing this, squishing his date in a massive hug.Kokichi Ouma:- How would one even have a first date with Kokichi, one might think. But he just happens to have the perfect answer… - …To the amusement park, of course! After all, Ouma still has a bit of a childish side to him, doesn’t he?- Maybe a bit too much of a childish side, as he drags his date to every ride in the park. Every. Single. One. Without a break at all.- His date was hoping they could maybe eat something at the food court together, but it seems like Kokichi really is just in it for the rides. - Seeing him have so much fun trying everything out really is a cute experience, though. Even though his date was getting a bit annoyed at him, they can’t stay mad at him forever. He’s just too precious when he wants to be.- The two came right when the park opened (”that’ll give us the best chance to snatch some rides early so we don’t have to wait!”) and ended up staying up until the park closed up. At the end, no one could say that they’ve been bored for long throughout this whole date, at least!Korekiyo Shinguji:- When researching where to go for the date, having something anthropological in mind for the first, the two found out that the local museum has a special exhibit on Japanese fairy tales for a limited time.- Interested in hearing and seeing more on the background of the stories one has heard as a child, Kiyo’s date agrees to visit the exhibit with him. Of course, there’s no need to book a tour guide, since the Ultimate Anthropologist himself is at their side!- Surprisingly enough, the exhibit ends up being pretty crowded and well-visited. As Korekiyo is telling his date about each and every little detail of the fairy tales and the objects that are shown to illustrate them, not just they, but everyone else, even the guides, go silent and listen. It is almost a bit embarassing for his date, and they feel a bit left out.- As Korekiyo finishes his lecture, everyone claps and showers him with praise. But he ignores it all and quickly goes on with his date just to spend some quiet time with them and give them his only focus. After all, Kiyo would never let his date feel unappreciated for long.- The two leave, reassured of their relationship, and the date feels much wiser than they were just a few hours ago.Keebo:- Keebo left it up to his date to determine where to go. After all, every step towards understanding human culture better is a good step. The date remembers that Keebo, while he did study comedy routines, never actually went and saw one in action, and they felt the need to finally fix that.- While Keebo is pretty secure about his understanding of human comedy, he is able to be convinced to go watch the show in person.- Saying that it goes well for Keebo would be an understatement. His date stops counting the times he’s laughed in the evening - so far, it has been at even the tiniest, stupidest jokes. It seems like Keebo is indeed able to understand comedy... but as he was never directly exposed to it until now, he laughs more often then even a young toddler. He does ask what certain things mean every once in a while, however, but his date is happy to whisper it to him.- After the show is over, Keebo keeps on gushing about how fun this all was, and constantly quotes his favorite jokes from the show, chuckling at them over and over. It would’ve gotten annoying for his date after a while if this was anyone else... but since this is coming from Keebo, they cannot help but feel completely enarmoured and glad that this was such a massive success!
#mod kaito#ndrv3 imagine#scenario#headcanons#shuichi saihara#kaito momota#ryoma hoshi#kokichi ouma#rantarou amami#kiibo#korekiyo shinguji#gonta gokuhara
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