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moonlit-positivity · 3 months

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How to Stay Organized While Dissociating Through Trauma Recovery

Dissociation is a very hard phenomenon that happens to us as a way for our brains & bodies to cope with the horrific & traumatic events of our life. Many times our trauma can "knock us out" in a way that leaves us mentally screaming into a pit of fire so to speak, making it so that we can be "here" but not really "here" at the same time, or rather our bodies are here in this moment but our minds just can't seem to stay focused through this intense brain fog that has us disconnected from ourselves and our surroundings.

It can take the form of daydreaming during serious moments, zoning out, unfocused or blurry eyesight, hearing the person speak but not fully aware of what they're saying, fainting & dizziness, increased heart rate, panicked feelings, intense suicidal ideations, numbness, dazed & confused, and fawning in the form of "if I just nod and agree to whatever is being said then I can get out of here faster and go home where I'm safe again." And when you're living on your own, these types of reactions tend to be counter intuitive to retaining and expressing the important information we are there to retain and express.

And yet, life still moves forward even while we are so traumatized. My experiences with dissociation have definitely been my least favorite aspect to living. 100% hands down this experience of still having to be aware of and listen to others during appointments and meetings and still function as a traumatized individual while my brain just cannot comprehend the fact that I even have to be alive during these moments, has been some of the most excruciating moments of my life at all. Like can we just go home and never go outside ever again please?! Fucking hell. And I'm willing to bet I'm not the only one who absolutely hates this shit with a passion.

So, what the hell do we do about it? Let's talk two points here: organization and preparation.

Organization is gonna help us keep track of things in between moments when we need to be present. Write down all the important information immediately after you hear it! So we can keep ourselves on track when the time comes for us to move again. And hey- the second you write it all down the sooner you can go back to forgetting it all over again!! Get in the habit of taking notes immediately during and immediately after all of your important business doings. Do not wait around! The longer you wait the more likely you are to forget!

And preparation is gonna help us navigate these big scary meetings in more safer ways, reduce the stress, and keep us grounded during these important moments- even if it's hard for you to do this and it sucks and you don't really wanna, don't worry Ive got prime tips for navigating this hellscape called life. Let's get into it.

Ideas for staying organized in between appointments and meetings:

🟢 Digitally organize your notes

Download a mobile notes app like Google Keep Notes. It syncs to your Google account through a cloud system, so you can keep everything stored & synced both online and also through phone changes. There's even a widget that you can keep on your home screen that will show you a list of your notes. You can easily keep track of appointments the second you schedule them by quickly adding a new note directly from the widget.

The thing I enjoy the most about Google Keep Notes is that you can even color code and label and tag your notes too! Which is extra incentive for that oooo feel good organizing feel! ADHDers y'all know what I'm talking about :3

Take some time out to consider how you'd like to organize your important information. Google Keep Notes, Google docs, spreadsheets, personalized Discord server, cloud storages, Gmail, calendars, there is an entire plethora of organization options for your pure little disorganized heart to devour. Sure, you can use a planner for this instead. I just find it more efficient to have this information readily accessible at all times. You're always gonna carry your phone everywhere you go. A planner though? Mm that's extra work. If that works for you then sure. Both are equally as viable and there's no right or wrong answer here. In fact, it could be a good idea to use both. In some cases phone notes are good, but there are some cases when pen & paper is good too. Play around with it. We need something a bit more secure & fine tuned for our own personal experiences with the forgetful nature that is dissociation. Try not to get too caught up in the aesthetics and just focus on what is more beneficial and what is gonna actually help you retain this information that we need to retain. However that works for you is however it works for you.

This is how I've organized mine:

Upcoming Appointments- this one stays at the top of my list. I immediately write down the next appointment, the day & time, and the contact person & info, right there in the appointment or over the phone in fact. I will pause and ask for a minute while I jot it down. Eventually I add the contacts to my phone especially if I'm calling them often, but I also like to have them stored in my notes as well, just in case something happens to my phone.

Passwords- a list of all my accounts & passwords. I try to keep them updated the second I have to change something, like an email contact or a password. I also put the most recent date these changes were made.

Bills & Utilities- all of my business accounts, bills & online accounts, alongside any relevant information like account numbers, security answers, pay dates & money due etc

Medication lists: any and all medicines I take, even OTC, as well as new medication and also any reactions, changes in diet, changes in mood, etc when I notice them. Dates I started taking them, any dates I missed and how it affected me, etc. And anything else I might want to ask about at my next appointment.

Grocery lists & recipe ideas: mm self explanatory, look man adulting is hard. Every single time I forget to order sour cream with my groceries my soul dies a little more inside. Also, I find that having a preplanned list of what i like and what I want to get next time greatly reduces my panic and anxiety around ordering groceries at all. Especially for my eating disorder peeps.

Job history: I haven't worked in 10 years, but I get tired of scrambling for this information on the spot when I'm applying for anything that wants this info. So I keep a digital record of my job history on my phone.

[these are just some of my own notes, how would you organize yours? What would you add?]

Google also has a calendar widget you can keep right on your home screen to help you keep track of the days. I find this one genuinely useful for when those hard and long dissociation episodes hit, where I find myself losing track of weeks to months on end. I also keep a weather widget with the day and time on my front home screens. Anything to help me keep track of what day it is without doing too much energy is really a good tip to have.

🟢 Manually organize your paperwork

Here is a really niche child abuse thing that no one talks about: were you able to salvage your birth certificate and SSN card from your shitty abusive parents? If not then you can call the DHHS office in your birth city/state and ask for legal copies. But the one thing about being an adult is that you're gonna need to keep track of your documents and paperwork in order to do anything in this world. Let's look at some organizing options:

Get a large storage system specifically for documents. I use a file-fax folder I bought for like $8 at Walmart. Its large, bulky, has multiple folders, and tabs for organizing. You're gonna need something big because sometimes large official documents dont like to be folded in half.

Keep all your mail organized. Do not throw anything away unless it's useless and irrelevant, like spam and junk. Bills, bank statements, official notices, etc. do not throw these away ever. Mark the month and year on the envelope and file them away instead. Why? Because paper trails baby. Some day you're gonna need to backtrack to April 15th, 2016 for some random obscure bullshit you're trying to do now in 2024, and it's gonna be a pain in the ass because goddamn that was 8 fucking years ago what the actual fuck do I do about that now???? And I know we can go paperless in this day and age, but there will come times when you need paper documents for stuff like proving your address, proof of income, etc. So if you're still getting paper docs it's a good idea to keep them stored somewhere safe.

Make extra copies of your ID, birth certificate, and SSN. Keep them safely stored away in your file-fax for when the time comes to use them. You can even take pictures of them in this day and age. Some websites accept photos of your documents. You can keep them stored in a special folder on your phone if you want to go that route.

Other things to store: tax files, W2 forms, life insurance forms if applicable, hospitalization forms, dates of hospitalization, dates of treatments, medication lists, paycheck stubs, etc. Anything important and relevant to your life. File it away safe.

🟢 Make it fun & do something nice for yourself

Look man this shit is hard. Let yourself doodle some random bullshit on your file-fax. Get colorful markers and color code your mail systems. Draw flowers on everything. Or draw comics on your notes. Use memes. Anything to make this shit less exhausting and give you a break. This is hard emotional labor you're doing. Pay yourself in giggles and crayons. Giggle tax. Have you giggled today? It'll help.

Preparing for the stress

🟢 Identify your stressors

What's the hardest part of doing this for you? For me it's the crippling fear and anxiety and paranoia of being out in public. It may be something entirely different for you. Maybe it's just the uncomfortable feeling of being so dissociated and unable to stay grounded? Or maybe it's just really scary to be around authority figures? Or maybe you're just too suicidal to even care anymore? Let's see what kinds of stressors get in the way & how we can prepare for them.

🟢 Preparing before hand: mental stressors

Aka emotional supports:

Prepare your questions. The idea of our digital organization is to easily & immediately jot down things we wanna ask between appointments. By doing this we can compile all of our concerns effortlessly throughout our dissociation fogs. Take some time out before the appointment to go over your questions and prepare your mental dialogues. "I was wondering if I could ask you about-" "Can we talk about-" "I noticed I was having some issues with-" etc.

Ask someone trusted to go with you & talk about it before hand. A friend, family member, or partner you can trust and feel safe with. Maybe even carpool with them to reduce the stress before the appointment. It would be good to discuss how comfortable both of you are with the idea of opening up and sharing these types of things with each other, what the boundaries are between you two, if you'd want them to go in the appointment with you, and also if you'd like them to speak on your behalf if something happens and you're not able to communicate yourself properly. Having someone trusted with you can be a great help with retaining information- double the ears, double the processing. It can also help if you struggle to speak up & advocate for yourself with authority figures. It can be so helpful just having a safe person there with you for emotional support. But it is very important to discuss what you need and what the boundaries are before the appointment, that way everyone stays safe during this process.

Look into case management. Especially if you don't have anyone you feel safe enough to help you manage these things, case managers literally get paid to help you do things like paperwork and attend your appointments. They're also incredibly resourceful and can help you get access to hidden resources, or even just brainstorm other ways to get things done! Theyre incredibly useful for these types of things-- if you can find a good service in your area.

Keep in touch with your providers. I text my therapist literally every other day. She doesn't always respond, and that's okay because half the time I'm just sending her memes anyway bc I'm bored. This is probably an extreme example, but hey, we've been talking for 4 years now. If ya can't bug your therapist then who can ya bug amirite 😩🤧 But it's a good idea to keep in touch with your providers every now and then to keep track of symptoms, recovery, rescheduling, program availabilities, etc. Having a good communication also helps your providers understand your wants and needs better so they can better accommodate you, too. It can also help clear your mind of any worries that might pop up out of the blue.

Know why you're there. Keep in mind these services are there to serve you, not the other way around. You're there because youre taking care of yourself. Keep a small list of things you want and need out of these services to better help you advocate for yourself against the authority figures, and know when it's time to leave and find someone who will listen and take you seriously if you feel you're not being listened to.

Take the comfort items with you. I am a huge fan of taking teddy bears out in public. If it helps you find some sort of comfort during this hard process, then it helps! Nobody should be judging you for that. What sort of items comfort you? Music, fidgets, stim accessories, blankets, there is no right or wrong answer. The only thing you have to do is show up. It doesn't matter how you show up. Just show up.

Troubleshoot with others. Talk to your therapist about what you're feeling and what deeper emotions this is bringing up. Vent to others who can relate and ask for advice, suggestions, and encouragement to make it through.

Remember this is temporary and eventually you will be able to go home again. Your safety zone hasn't vanished, it's there waiting for you all nice and cozy for when you're done. You can make it through this. Just keep swimming.

🟢 Preparing before hand: physical preparations

Aka the reasons why we freeze up & dissociate. These can be really challenging for us to gather the energy to do normally, but I find that having the added stress of responsibilities just makes it worse. Here's some things that might help.

Lay out your clothes & documents the day before: scrounge up a decent outfit. Find your shoes. Find your coat. Find your keys, wallet, and any important paperwork you might need to take with you. Put it all in a pile.

Small hygiene steps. If you can manage even a small wash-up the night before, do it. Rinse ur mouth with mouthwash. Wash ur face. Wear a cap or put your hair in a ponytail or a bun. If even this is too difficult then don't worry about it & try not to be discouraged. Grab the deodorant & spray your clothes with air freshener/perfume. Showing up stinky is still showing up.

Prepare your ride & route weeks before it's time to go. If you're getting a ride from someone else it's best to give lots of notice so schedules can be aligned. If you're driving then it's best to know where the hell you're going and if there's any road work or construction interfering with travel times. Wake up early & leave with considerable time.

Grab a quick and easy breakfast (unless otherwise instructed.) Microwave a burrito. Slab some meat on some bread. Just give your body some energy to work with.

Take some water & chewing gum with you. Invest in some water bottles for traveling with. (Ps juice works too) Gum can help with hygiene. Grab the chap sticks & lip balm if needed.

Give yourself something fun to do or look forward to when you get back. Que up your favorite TV show/movie ready to play for when you get back. Set up some snacks and juice by your sofa. Grab the blankets and pillows and stuffies and games and all the things that bring you joy. Prepare some home comforts for when you get back.

🟢 During & after the appointment

Aka the panic zone:

Remember you are safe. You're not in trouble. This can be a hard thing to grasp if you've never worked on calming your nervous system before. Your body is going to freeze up during these moments because it's a triggering situation. During these moments it's our job to do what we can to nurture that safe space within ourselves. Grab your grounding techniques if you can. Deep breaths, hold your hand over your heart and breathe. You're gonna make it through this.

Slow down and be authentic. Remember you're here to take care of yourself. Unmask and let yourself speak freely. It can be hard to do this because the nature of our trauma is not trusting others with our pains and concerns. Try to remember these people are here to help us, and if they're not listening and helping then you have the right to get up and walk out.

Ask questions. Another one that can be hard to do when you have trauma around authority. But yes, you are absolutely allowed to ask questions when you're not sure of something, need something explained, or need to interject and voice a concern. This is what you need to do for yourself if you want the best possible outcome of whatever it is you're doing. Again, you're not in trouble and you can walk out if you feel like you are. But whenever you need something explained, please try to get out of the habit of just nodding your head and acting like you understand. There is no such thing as a dumb question. This information is important for you to know. The person you're asking is gonna be prepared to answer any and all questions you could possibly have. This can take some time to work on, so be kind to yourself for even trying. You will get there.

Take notes. This is why we have our digital organization, but if you're more adept with pen and paper then bring your planners & notebooks along. Note down anything you feel is important. Ask for a moment to pause while you do so.

Repeat back the information. This is a great way to make sure you're listening and fully understanding what is being said. "Okay just so I understand, you said I need--? Did I get that right?"

Write down any further questions as they come to you. Sometimes we don't always get everything we need during these appointments. That's why we have our organization systems in place. Jot it down the second you think of it. Either during the appointment, after the appointment when you're de-stressing and going back over it, and/or even days or weeks later when you're wondering something new.

Keep the new information organized. This is why we get in the habit of our organization systems and immediately recording new information as soon as its said. Because when you get home, the big bad dissociation monster is gonna drag you back down under. So keep it up to date as soon as possible. Keep your file-fax readily available in your daily life so you can easily store and go through all your documents when you need them. Keep it organized, keep it clean, and keep it safe.

De-stress & go over the information at a later time. Spend some time relaxing when it's over. Readjust back to your comfort zone. It's over, and you did an excellent job getting through. That's enough work for this day. Take the rest of the day off and come back to it later in the week to go over anything you might have missed.

🟢 Give yourself some kudos

Hey man, guess what? YOU MADE IT!! Congratulations 🎉 that was really hard to do!! How would you like to celebrate?? Get some ice cream on the way home. Cry it out. Que up your favorite comfort show. It's over! You did it! You never have to do it again!! (Until the next time) shut up and let yourself have the victory!

So yah another long one but I hope this can help. Stay healthy out there folks 🌸

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verynichedome · 9 months

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I HATE THAT MY GMAIL DISPLAYS ADS I AM SO DONE WITH ADS BEING SHOVED IN MY FACE ALL THE FUCKING TIME I AM ABOUT TO EXPLODE WHY HAS THE INTERNET BECOME THIS HELLSCAPE OF ADS FUCK CORPORATIONS

#rant #i really hate this #i end up pressing it when i am trying to delete emails #google #fuck google #fuck corporations so much #i hate ads

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a-drought-of-thoughts · 2 years

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All my backed up pictures on Google Photos have suddenly disappeared.

All the pictures I had ever backed up in my life, over 3 Google accounts, are gone. Vanished. I opened the app to get an older picture, which like thousands of others, i assumed was safely stored on Google after having freed up space, and had also revisited multiple times earlier. Instead, when I opened the app, I was met with basic starter questions and given basic info on what the app does as if I'm using it for the first time. I did not uninstall the app neither did I delete app data.

After this i went to check account storage via Gmail because it wasn't visible on Google photos yet. There it shows an option to 'manage account storage' or 'clear storage space' leading you to Google one. I had used up almost all the storage on 2 of my accounts and and it's showing that clearly on there. However, there is nothing to show for that storage under any of the accounts. Only the most recent photos which i had not backed up yet (basically device folders) are visible. Now, it is showing one account's occupied storage space even on the photos app, but still none of the backed up photos.

I also checked the 'Trash' and the 'Archive' folders. Nothing there at all. Also, it's showing 'none' under back up folders settings, even though i did not manually deselect any of them.

How did this happen? Will I be able to get any of my photos back? I don't know. Sure, my digital footprint does reflect somewhat of a "I'm crazy but I'm free" attitude but even if it was a case of hacking- firstly, it's on Google for not having notified the user timely; secondly, there is no single one click way to make ALL photos disappear or to delete them. Google says as much itself.

Also, I sent this text in the Google community help box but I only found about 20 more people experiencing the same problem and expressing they did not get any support from Google, and haven't yet either.

Imagine, all the moments you captured to savour, all pictures of the sky, or flowers, or moments you just wanted to keep to yourself and did not post or share anywhere else- all gone, without any reason or justification or even acknowledgment by the entity who promised to protect them for you. Fucking hellscape.

#needed to post this on every avenue possible.#i do not know what i'm intending to do w this but maybe take it as a tale of caution ig #also lmk if you're reading this & you've also experienced/heard of it. could use all the help rn

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lordcephalopod · 4 months

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Since gmail as been bitching at me about my lack of storage I have been purging shit. And it still wasn't enough, then I remembered trash was a thing...

It's worth noting probably half of these were promotional/update emails, since this email is my junk/spam dumping ground.

Capitalist hellscape where the evil mega corp wants to charge me rent to store all the ads I do not want.

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blackamericanist · 3 years

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I am so tired of emails. Getting them. Sending them. I literally want to delete gmail app.

#gradblr #gmail is a hellscape

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poisonpeche · 2 years

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every time I get an email notification from LinkedIn and not Archive of Your Own, a piece of me dies

#I am simply being edged by gmail #ao3fic #levi fanfiction #like why am I even getting emails from these hoes still #LinkedIn is a corporate hellscape

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skateboardtotheheart · 3 years

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Alex vs The Homo Sapiens Agenda

hello, everyone! i’ve been working on a fic titled “Alex vs The Homo Sapiens Agenda” for quite a long while, and i’m finally biting the bullet and posting the first chapter. this fic is based on the novel "Simon vs. The Homo Sapiens Agenda" by Becky Albertalli! it will be very closely based on the book, as well as some things from the movie "Love, Simon", and you may find dialogue or details that you recognize from either version of Becky Albertalli's story! i have no rights to the novel/movie or the JATP characters depicted in this fic. that said, there are a lot of details that are changed, and you'll be able to spot those really easily. this fic will be crossposted to my AO3 and can be located HERE.

like i said, this fic has been a long time coming, and there is tons and tons i have planned for it. here on tumblr, i will be posting things like extra details, bonus content, and maybe some sneak previews! for now, let’s get into the fic!

SUMMARY: Alex Mercer is just like everyone else- only he has one huge ass secret. Nobody knows that he's gay, not even his closest friends and bandmates Luke, Reggie, and Julie. The only time he's ever mentioned it to someone, it was in an anonymous email chain with Ghost, another Los Feliz High School student. Alex can't risk coming out to anyone, but when his emails fall into the wrong hands, his secret is at risk of being thrust into a spotlight. Suddenly an already stressful junior year is all that more complicated as he juggles everyday drama, the school's annual band competition, blackmail, and trying not to lose his shot with the best guy he's ever met.

READ CHAPTER ONE BELOW THE CUT

Everything about this conversation is so out of the box of normal that I barely even register what's happening. Of course I'm the type of person who can't tell when this- something so crazy and awful and stressful and honest to God what the hell is happening- is going on. In my defense, Caleb Covington has never spoken to me before. I had no reason to assume that the first time he did, it would be to blackmail me.

We're taking a water break in the bleachers when Caleb saunters over. No greeting, no introduction- just words to send my entire junior year of high school spinning on its head.

"I read your email."

I swallow my water. "What?"

Caleb raises an eyebrow at me, and there's no other way to describe it but menacing. It's funny looking back on it all; I'd always heard Caleb was a really nice guy.

"I was in the library. And I read your email."

"You read my email?"

"Not on purpose. You really should have logged out of Gmail."

There's nothing I can do but stare at him, dumbfounded. What in the name of David Bowie is happening right now?

Caleb, thankfully, stops towering over me and takes a seat in the bleachers, a foot or so away. To anyone else, it might look like we're friends. To me, it feels like I can't breathe.

"Why the fake name?" Caleb asks, and my entire soul screams a wish that he would stop being so casual about this.

I want to tell him that the point of a fake name is to keep people like Caleb Covington from knowing my secret. Way to freaking go, Alex. He must have seen me sitting at the computer like the monumental dumbass I am.

"Would it interest you to know my cousin is gay?"

"Um. No, Caleb. It really wouldn't."

He still has his eyebrow raised and a small smirk on his face. If I focus hard enough- kind of impossible right now- I can picture Luke punching it right off his face.

"What do you want Caleb?"

This is the longest five minute water break of my life.

"Look, Mercer, I don't have a problem with it. It's not a big deal."

Yes, it really is. It's a huge monster of a deal. This is the biggest disaster since Luke slammed his fingers in a door and couldn't play his guitar.

"But. . ." Caleb drags out, and I can feel my leg bouncing quicker by the second. "It's pretty clear to me that you'd rather keep it all hush, hush."

I mean. Yeah. Kind of. The coming out thing doesn't scare me that much. Except it does. Because if people know then my parents will know and if my parents know then my whole family will know and if my whole family knows then I've become like a living, gay, everyone-finds-out version of If You Give A Mouse A Cookie, and I'd rather die than have that happen. So maybe the coming out thing does scare me. But the biggest problem if people found out?

Ghost.

I have absolutely no idea what it would mean for Ghost if Caleb was going to tell anyone. The thing about Ghost is he's a pretty private person. I bet he wouldn't forget to log out of his email so people like Caleb Covington wouldn't see it. I bet there's a good chance he'll never forgive me if he finds out about this. So really, I have absolutely no freaking clue what would happen to Ghost- to us.

And I'm still sitting in these stupid gym bleachers, the pink hydroflask Reggie bought me limp in my hand, desperately wishing Carrie would call an end to this godforsaken water break. I can't believe I'm having this conversation with Caleb right now. Why couldn't anyone else have logged into Gmail after me? Why was I so impatient to see if Ghost had emailed me back that I used the freaking school computers? Why did this stupid school insist on blocking the wireless so I had had no choice but to use the school computers? But it had been one of those days where I couldn't even wait to get out of dance practice to check my phone in my car.

I'd emailed Ghost this morning, and it had been a pretty big email. I was desperate to know if he'd emailed back.

I must have been just staring at Caleb for a while because he cocked his head at me and said, "Don't worry, Mercer. I'm not going to show anyone."

I take a relieved breath. Then my hydroflask finally slips from my fingers as I freeze, and the sound echoes through the gym. I don't even look at the rest of the dancers when their laughs break out.

"Show anyone?" I ask.

Caleb leans in a little bit, smirk wider on his face. I feel sick.

"Did you- oh my god, did you screenshot my emails?"

"Yes, see, I wanted to talk to you about that."

"You took a fucking screenshot?" I hiss out, thankful I'd put my stuff farther away from the rest of the dance team today.

Caleb has the audacity to roll his eyes. "I've heard you're in a band with-"

"What the fuck does that have to do with- Let's go back to how you screenshot my email."

"Or you can shut up and listen to what I have to say."

Something about the way Caleb's gaze catches you, it's hard to do anything but what he says. Fuck.

"I believe we may be in a position to help each other out."

Jesus Christ, what 18 year old talks like this?

"Why the hell would I do anything for you?"

It's a stupid question, I realize as he stares at me calmly. Calmly. Like this isn't the end of my life. Whatever he wants right now, it'll be in exchange. I do this, and he doesn't broadcast my private emails with Ghost to the entire student body.

All this time and I really thought Caleb was supposed to be this nice guy. Fuck me.

"You're going to make me do whatever you want?"

Caleb tsk'd like the condescending bastard he clearly is. "Well, now. I'm not making you do anything."

"But if I don't help you, you'll what? Post my emails on the fucking tumblr?"

LosFelizSecrets. The bane of every Los Feliz student's existence. Ground zero for more gossip than anyone in their right mind knows what to do with. A school of almost 3,000 kids but if it's on the tumblr, most people know within a day. A complete and utter hellscape disguised as a blog.

When Caleb stays quiet, I speak again. "What do you want from me, Caleb?"

He sneers.

"Music of the Night."

Once again, I'm stuck staring at him. Music of the Night? That's what this is about?

"Your band is signed up, as is mine. The HGC lost to Dirty Candy last year, and I will not lose again this year."

Music of the Night is this competition Los Feliz holds every year as part of the music program. At the end of the year, there's this huge concert held at the Orpheum theatre in Hollywood. At the beginning of the school year, anyone can sign up. Then each band has 4 months to perform at school events, outside gigs and parties, and whenever they have an opportunity, really. During winter break, the student body votes on who the headliner of the concert will be. Last year, the headliner was Dirty Candy. Because they won last year, they're out of the running this year and are in charge of organization and things for the concert. This year, I was hoping the headliner would be Julie and the Phantoms. My band. Caleb and his band HGC has entered the competition every year, and he's never won. He's a senior, and I know this will be his last chance. I also know who his biggest competition is.

Us.

"So. . . what? You want me to sabotage my own band?"

I feel breathless and dizzy as I ask. Caleb just shrugs casually.

"Whatever you need to do. So long as it's my band that gets the votes. Like I said, I think we can help each other out. Think about it."

Caleb winks- he actually winks- and walks away. I stare dumbly after him. No way. No, I'm not doing this. I can live with being outed. Right?

But my thoughts travel to Ghost. Because he's a part of this, too. He goes to Los Feliz, and he's my age, and he uses a fake name, and he's not out.

Ghost isn't out, and Caleb has my emails.

Fuck.

----------

Any hope I have of forgetting about that stupid conversation clearly isn’t worth it. I have an hour before dinner, and right now I’m basically willing to do anything to avoid my family. Trying to talk to my parents is exhausting. You can’t just get away with telling them your day was good or bad. No, you have to ring out every excruciating little detail. Everything that happens in my or my siblings’ life, they want to know about it. In all honesty, I used to love telling them all that stuff. Now I can’t get away from them fast enough. Especially today. I’m barely in the house long enough to put my backpack in my room before I’m slipping out the back door and leaving again.

I try to drown out my thoughts with Axl Rose screaming into my earbuds. But my mind is stuck on Ghost, emails, and Caleb freaking Covington. Caleb wants to win Music of the Night. I can’t exactly blame him for that. Everyone wants to win it.

Except he’s blackmailing me. And by extension, he’s blackmailing Ghost. And that makes me want to hyperventilate a little bit. Maybe go scream somewhere.

But Axl Rose is helping. The familiar route of walking to Luke’s is helping. We don’t get much of a fall in LA, but the air feels a little crisper in mid October, and I can already see the houses that are getting ready for Halloween.

When I reach Luke’s house, I don’t even bother going through the front door. I just cut through his backyard and head through the backdoor right next to Luke’s bedroom. I hear them before I see them. Reggie’s laugh fills the air, paired with a frustrated groan from Luke. They’re sitting side by side on Luke’s bed, facing the small tv with some video game I’ve never seen on the screen. They look like they haven’t moved in hours. Luke pauses the game as soon as he sees me, waving, and I can’t help but smile a little bit. The guy won’t put down his guitar for you, but he’ll pause a video game or movie without a second thought.

“Great, you’re here! Tell Luke he’s shit at this game and he should let me play Mario Kart.”

I roll my eyes, “Dance was great, Reg. Thanks for asking.”

Reggie sticks out his tongue, and I crack a smile. This is the most comfortable I’ve felt all afternoon. I throw myself into the beat up bean bag chair Luke keeps in his room.

“Luke, you’re shit at this game and Reggie wants to play Mario Kart.”

Luke gapes at me, a betrayed gleam in his eyes, but I just shrug. Luke grumbles a bit as he gets up to switch out the game, and Reggie whoops in victory. I let out a soft sigh. I think I needed this. The chaos of Reggie and Luke playing whatever game, the strange mix of leather, Axe, and his mom’s Hawaiian Breeze cleaner that makes Luke’s room smell awful and entirely wonderful at the same time, and the familiarity of Luke and Reggie. Everything just fits right when I’m with them.

As Luke sets up the game, Reggie looks at me excitedly. “Alex, Luke hasn’t heard about le wedgie.”

I snort a little, “Ah, yes. Le wedgie. C’est une histoire touchante.”

I don’t know why Reggie bothered to wait for me to tell the story; he’s the far better storyteller between us. Maybe it’s just because I’m better at French.

Luke stares at me, “English, please?”

Reggie and I thought we’d be fancy and take something fun like French for our required language credits. Luke decided to take something actually useful and learn sign language. This story is stupid, and my reenactment is stupid, but it feels kind of perfect. Like Caleb and secrets are all things of my imagination, and nothing exists but this bedroom and me, Luke, and Reggie. Benefits of having known these dorks since elementary school, I guess.

About as they finish the second race in Mario Kart, Luke lets out a yawn. Reggie reacts so quickly I barely realize what he’s doing. He grabs a crumpled up Hershey’s Kiss wrapper from Luke’s nightstand and throws it into Luke’s mouth. Luke sees it just in time to clamp his mouth shut. Reggie sighs in defeat, but shrugs.

“Keep yawning, I’ll get you one of these times.”

“Why are you so tired?”

“Because I party real hard. All night, every night, baby,” Luke says, slamming Reggie’s bike with a green turtle shell.

“Alone in your room with your guitar. Some party that is,” Reggie retaliated with a bomb thrown in Luke’s direction.

As the race finishes Luke yawns again, and Reggie’s Kiss wrapper bounces off his cheek.

“I just keep having these weird dreams,” he explains.

I raise my eyebrows. “TMI, dude.”

“Not that kind of dream!” Luke tosses the wrappers at me, Reggie cackling beside him.

Luke starts explaining his dream- something about every time he started playing his guitar his cord had magically unplugged itself from his amp- and Reggie and I just share a look. We were used to Luke being in his weird, feels-the-need-to-analyze-everything moods. But even after all these years, it was almost like a movie, watching Luke get so weirdly passionate about things- music and otherwise. It made me glad that Luke was a brother to me by everything but blood. Partly because if he wasn’t, I wasn’t sure I’d be able to stop myself from falling for him. And I have a strict policy about not falling for straight guys.

To everyone but me and Reggie- immune to him after knowing pretty much every thought that’s ever gone through his head since elementary school- there’s this pull to Luke. Like he casts a spell that has everyone in a 10 mile radius tripping at his feet and each and every girl swooning. Poor Julie is not immune to the spell, it seems. Lucky for her though, Luke doesn’t seem immune to her either.

It took barely a few weeks into the school year before I noticed Luke switching seats with Willie Meyers at lunch to increase the odds he’d end up right next to Julie. Then there’s that stupid, puppy-dog, love-sick look in his eyes that Luke gets every time he thinks Julie isn’t looking. And it’s not like Reggie and I haven’t put up with a pining Luke before, but everything seems a little different with Julie. It makes me think of Ghost.

Would I look like that if I saw him in person? Would he look at me like that?

If Caleb leaks my emails and Ghost hates me forever, I don’t think I’ll ever find out.

-----------

chapter one complete!

i'll let everyone know right now that i have no clear updating schedule for this fic; it's kind of hard to write and get down the way i want, so i'm not sure how long anything will take me. but it is summer break for me, so hopefully you'll all start seeing consistent posting of new chapters!

i hope you all liked this first chapter, or are at least intrigued to read some more. as i said in the starting notes, this will be cross posted to my AO3! Feel free to leave me a comment here if you would like, or head over there if you have any comments about the fic at any point! feel free to send me a message/ask on here if you have any questions or comments, too! my inbox is open any time <3

if anyone would like me to start a tag list, let me know and i’ll get that done right away!

this fanfic is definitely my baby, so i really hope you guys all like it as much as i do!

thanks <3

#jatp #julie and the phantoms #jatp fanfic #fanfiction #alex mercer #willie jatp #luke patterson #reggie peters #julie molina #willex #simon vs the homo sapiens agenda #love simon #alternate universe #willex fic #owen patrick joyner #booboo stewart #alex vs the homo sapiens agenda #AvtHSA

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lemonbalmgirl · 3 years

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LemonBalmGirl’s 2020 Witchy Wishlist (USA)

This year has generally sucked, but hopefully Witchy Wishlists can help it go out with a more positive bang?

My name’s Mary & I live in Portland, Oregon, USA. I haven’t posted much this year, because again, things haven’t been super great. But I love participating in Witchy Wishlists. ♥

If you need my mailing address or anything else, feel free to either message me on Tumblr or email me at lemonbalmgirl @ gmail dot com.

1. Amazon sucks, but unfortunately they’re still one of the easiest ways to send gifts to others. So here’s my Amazon wishlist.

2. Supporting small businesses & artists is good, so here’s my Etsy wishlist, also.

3. Speaking of small businesses, go check out Portland Button Work’s Witch Shop! Portland Button Works is owned by my dear friend, @upthewitchypunx & like a lot of small businesses, she’s had a rough year.

4. Maybe get me a gift certificate from Portland Button Works? Please enable my book-hoarding ways, because hey, whatever brings you joy in this hellscape of a year, right? Bonus, this also fulfills the above wish! Huzzah! :D

5. I would really like to try out an oracle deck, specifically the Vessel Oracle Deck and/or the Inquire Within Deck. (Yes, these are also on my Etsy list.)

6. Recommend some music to me! What’s your favorite band? Your favorite album? How come? What soundtrack stirs your soul? What’s your favorite 80′s song to dance terribly to?

7. Go check out @torque-witch‘s awesome Etsy shop, Death’s Head Divination! Torque carries great witchy thrifting finds, gorgeous stones, and provides a variety of tarot readings.

8. You should also go visit @tainbo‘s shop, Awaksupe Gage. They make & carry a variety of items, like some really great crow shirts & gorgeous hand-beaded jewelry.

9. Donate to your local food bank or pantry. The number of people replying on food bans & pantries is extra high due to the pandemic & unemployment. If you can donate some food, please check with your local organization to see what they need the most. And if you can donate money, many organizations have deals with local stores & food production companies and can get several dollars worth of product for each dollar of actual money they spend.

10. It may seem cliche, but please keep hanging in there and continue masking & social distancing. It’s hard, and it feels like things are just getting harder, but safety is still vitally important. Please do your part to keep yourself and those you love safe from this stupid virus. ♥

Thank you!

(The gifs are from “the Hogfather”, which is set in Terry Pratchett’s Discworld universe. I’m a big fan of Discworld’s winter holiday, Hogswatch. ♥)

#personal #witchy wishlist #witchy wishlists

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ifridiot · 5 years

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alright my sweet kids

I love you all, and I’m not leaving this site til staff hunts me down and kills me at my keyboard. Unless I get bored, or forget my login. Whatever, point is, I’m here for a while longer.

But if y’all aren’t stayin’ and wanna find me off this blue hellscape:

PILLOWFORT

AO3

that’s... really it for me. I have a dreamwidth but I don’t really use it for anything, and I have gmail, which you can ask me for and I might give out. Stay in contact if ya want!

#where to find me

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themorbidjam · 7 years

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@hollowimage tagged me in this and I won't tag anyone else (apart from the one dude lmao) so i dont bother anyone else...? I was bored so I actually did the thing! Whoo! The last… 1. drink: Green Tea 2. phone call: n/a 3. text message: Mi Padre 4. song you listened to: Kettering by the Antlers 5. time you cried: today 6. dated someone twice: HAH no 7. kissed someone and regretted it: yes 8. been cheated on: HAH no 9. lost someone special: my Great Grandmother 10. been depressed: occasional depressive episodes 11. gotten drunk and thrown up: only been buzzed and that was hell so NO Favorite colors  (list three?): 12. Lavender 13. Pastel peach-pink 14. Olive Drab In the last year have you… 15. made new friends: yeh 16. fallen out of love: -snickers- nope 17. laughed until you cried: Yes! 18. found out someone was talking about you: All good things! I think... 19. met someone who changed you: yes. 20. found out who your friends are: I have a good idea already but sure. 21. kissed someone on your Facebook list: what? No... Whats a facebook list? General 22. how many of your Facebook friends do you know in real life: sort of? Most of them. 23. do you have any pets: MOLLY is mine. Black cat with a temper. 24. do you want to change your name: ... Yes and no. It's so damn common but it's still mine, feel me? 25. what did you do for your last birthday: dude that was last frickin year ok i dont remember! 26. what time did you wake up: 5:15!!! Had to make it to Epcot!! 27. what were you doing at midnight last night: trying to SLEEP 28. name something you can’t wait for: My birthday get together with @apoc-undercover 29. when was the last time you saw your mom: an hour ago? 31. what are you listening to right now: ... Definitely not Kettering again... 32. have you ever talked to a person named tom: yes. I guess... 33. something that is getting on your nerves: my friggin terse and impatient nature. 34. most visited website: Twitter, Gmail, Tumblr i suppose 35. hair color: brown... Darkish? Idk. 36. long or short hair: GODDESS LENGTH! Almost. 37. do you have a crush on someone: yes his name is the Beast and he has a temper but he is fictional and is dating the prettier and more reasonable AU version of me. 38. what do you like about yourself: My humor 39. piercings: One in each ear... Need more. 40. blood type: no one needs to know unless the vamps find me. 41. nickname: Jam, James, Jamers 42. relationship status: Single pringle ready to mingle not really 43. zodiac: CANCER 44. pronouns: she/her 45. favorite tv show: Stranger Things 46. tattoos: nah 47. right or left handed: right 48. surgery: Nah 49. piercing: earses 50. sports: professional SASSomancer 51. vacation: North. Anywhere but tropical hellscapes 52. pair of trainers: converse 53. eating: ramen (about an hour ago) 54. drinking: tea 55. I’m about to: try to sleep? 56. waiting for: me to get off my ass and get a better job 57. want: to get a better job, a cellphone, a drivers license, a car, independence. 58. get married: in like ten years maybe 59. career: character concept artist or therapy art teacher??? Yeah 60. hugs or kisses: Hugsssss 61. lips or eyes: eyes 62. shorter or taller: TOLer 63. older or younger: same age or older preferably 64. nice arms or nice stomach: ARMS. Soft bellies are cute! (Though honestly legs and pectorals are where its at) 65. hook up or relationship: relationship 66. troublemaker or hesitant: ... Troublemaker 67. kissed a stranger: HAH 68. drank hard liquor: nah 69. lost glasses/contact lenses: only singlasses 70. turned someone down: only for dating??? 71. sex on the first date: N O 72. broken someone’s heart: ... Yes. 73. had your heart broken: yes. 74. been arrested: NOPE 75. cried when someone died: both fiction and real people and animals... 76. fallen for a friend: many times but only briefly Do you believe in … 77. yourself: ... Sometimes 78. miracles: yup! 79. love at first sight: Not literally. 80. Santa Claus: HELL YE AH 81. kiss on the first date: no. 82. angels: DEFINITELY 83. current best friend’s name: Jacob 84. eye color: Hazel. Green base with blue hints and golden centers 85. favorite movie: Beauty and the Beast~! Classic or new!

#shut up jamjam #about me #long post

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sephirajo · 7 years

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Another Begging Bowl: Supplemental

YAY, I made it through the weekend with a lot of help from y ou guys! I’m not out of the woods yet, I have 14 days left of this hellscape of a month and went through more meds than I like to think about the last two days while temps bounced all over, migraines hit and I just tried to keep food down.

Suffice to say, looking to round up 100 if it’s possible, this time that would be for both meds and food as sourcing closer to home now. (Means I have to get less at a time, woo!)

So same as before, if you’re able to help paypal (why did I put skype? <_<) any amount to sephirajo (at) gmail (dot) com.

Every little bit helps.

And since I’m already sitting at 20, we’ll start this one at:

20/100

I hate having to do this, but begging is really the only option I have to get by in this country.

Welcome to living poor and disabled in America. The rich don’t care so we have to look out for eachother. x__x

#the begging bowl: supplemental #the begging bowl #signal boost #jo begs

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cakandivali · 5 years

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Why tech CEOs are in love with doomsayers

Latest Updates - M. N. & Associates - By Nellie BowlesFuturist philosopher Yuval Noah Harari worries about a lot.He worries that Silicon Valley is undermining democracy and ushering in a dystopian hellscape in which voting is obsolete.He worries that by creating powerful influence machines to control billions of minds, the big tech companies are destroying the idea of a sovereign individual with free will.He worries that because the technological revolution’s work requires so few laborers, Silicon Valley is creating a tiny ruling class and a teeming, furious “useless class.”But lately, Harari is anxious about something much more personal. If this is his harrowing warning, then why do Silicon Valley CEOs love him so?“One possibility is that my message is not threatening to them, and so they embrace it?” a puzzled Harari said one afternoon in October. “For me, that’s more worrying. Maybe I’m missing something?”When Harari toured the Bay Area this fall to promote his latest book, the reception was incongruously joyful. Reed Hastings, chief executive of Netflix, threw him a dinner party. The leaders of X, Alphabet’s secretive research division, invited Harari over. Bill Gates reviewed the book (“Fascinating” and “such a stimulating writer”) in The New York Times.“I’m interested in how Silicon Valley can be so infatuated with Yuval, which they are — it’s insane he’s so popular, they’re all inviting him to campus — yet what Yuval is saying undermines the premise of the advertising- and engagement-based model of their products,” said Tristan Harris, Google’s former in-house design ethicist and a co-founder of the Center for Humane Technology.Part of the reason might be that Silicon Valley, at a certain level, is not optimistic on the future of democracy. The more of a mess Washington becomes, the more interested the tech world is in creating something else, and it might not look like elected representation. Rank-and-file coders have long been wary of regulation and curious about alternative forms of government. A separatist streak runs through the place: Venture capitalists periodically call for California to secede or shatter, or for the creation of corporate nation-states. And this summer, Mark Zuckerberg, who has recommended Harari to his book club, acknowledged a fixation with the autocrat Caesar Augustus. “Basically,” Zuckerberg told The New Yorker, “through a really harsh approach, he established 200 years of world peace.”Harari, thinking about all this, puts it this way: “Utopia and dystopia depends on your values.”Harari, who has a Ph.D. from Oxford, is a 42-year-old Israeli philosopher and a history professor at Hebrew University of Jerusalem. The story of his current fame begins in 2011, when he published a book of notable ambition: to survey the whole of human existence. “Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind,” first released in Hebrew, did not break new ground in terms of historical research. Nor did its premise — that humans are animals and our dominance is an accident — seem a likely commercial hit. But the casual tone and smooth way Harari tied together knowledge across fields made it a deeply pleasing read, even as the tome ended on the notion that the process of human evolution might be over. Translated into English in 2014, the book went on to sell more than 8 million copies and made Harari a celebrity intellectual.He followed up with “Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow,” which outlined his vision of what comes after human evolution. In it, he describes Dataism, a new faith based around the power of algorithms. Harari’s future is one in which big data is worshipped, artificial intelligence surpasses human intelligence, and some humans develop Godlike abilities.Now, he has written a book about the present and how it could lead to that future: “21 Lessons for the 21st Century.” It is meant to be read as a series of warnings. His recent TED Talk was called “Why fascism is so tempting — and how your data could power it.”His prophecies might have made him a Cassandra in Silicon Valley, or at the very least an unwelcome presence. Instead, he has had to reconcile himself to the locals’ strange delight. “If you make people start thinking far more deeply and seriously about these issues,” he told me, sounding weary, “some of the things they will think about might not be what you want them to think about.”‘Brave New World’ as Aspirational ReadingHarari agreed to let me tag along for a few days on his travels through the Valley, and one afternoon in September, I waited for him outside X’s offices, in Mountain View, while he spoke to the Alphabet employees inside. After a while, he emerged: a shy, thin, bespectacled man with a dusting of dark hair. Harari has a sort of owlish demeanor, in that he looks wise and also does not move his body very much, even while glancing to the side. His face is not particularly expressive, with the exception of one rogue eyebrow. When you catch his eye, there is a wary look — like he wants to know if you, too, understand exactly how bad the world is about to get.At the Alphabet talk, Harari had been accompanied by his publisher. They said the younger employees had expressed concern about whether their work was contributing to a less-free society, while the executives generally thought their impact was positive.Some workers had tried to predict how well humans would adapt to large technological change based on how they have responded to small shifts, like a new version of Gmail. Harari told them to think more starkly: If there isn’t a major policy intervention, most humans probably will not adapt at all.It made him sad, he told me, to see people build things that destroy their own societies, but he works every day to maintain an academic distance and remind himself that humans are just animals. “Part of it is really coming from seeing humans as apes, that this is how they behave,” he said, adding, “They’re chimpanzees. They’re sapiens. This is what they do.”He was slouching a little. Socializing exhausts him.As we boarded the black gull-wing Tesla Harari had rented for his visit, he brought up Aldous Huxley. Generations have been horrified by his novel “Brave New World,” which depicts a regime of emotion control and painless consumption. Readers who encounter the book today, Harari said, often think it sounds great. “Everything is so nice, and in that way it is an intellectually disturbing book because you’re really hard-pressed to explain what’s wrong with it,” he said. “And you do get today a vision coming out of some people in Silicon Valley which goes in that direction.”An Alphabet media relations manager later reached out to Harari’s team to tell him to tell me that the visit to X was not allowed to be part of this story. The request confused and then amused Harari. It is interesting, he said, that unlike politicians, tech companies do not need a free press, since they already control the means of message distribution.He said he had resigned himself to tech executives’ global reign, pointing out how much worse the politicians are. “I’ve met a number of these high-tech giants, and generally they’re good people,” he said. “They’re not Attila the Hun. In the lottery of human leaders, you could get far worse.”Some of his tech fans, he thinks, come to him out of anxiety. “Some may be very frightened of the impact of what they are doing,” Harari said.Still, their enthusiastic embrace of his work makes him uncomfortable. “It’s just a rule of thumb in history that if you are so much coddled by the elites it must mean that you don’t want to frighten them,” Harari said. “They can absorb you. You can become the intellectual entertainment.”Dinner, With a Side of Medically Engineered ImmortalityCEO testimonials to Harari’s acumen are indeed not hard to come by. “I’m drawn to Yuval for his clarity of thought,” Jack Dorsey, the head of Twitter and Square, wrote in an email, going on to praise a particular chapter on meditation.And Hastings wrote: “Yuval’s the anti-Silicon Valley persona — he doesn’t carry a phone and he spends a lot of time contemplating while off the grid. We see in him who we wish we were.” He added, “His thinking on AI and biotech in his new book pushes our understanding of the dramas to unfold.”At the dinner Hastings co-hosted, academics and industry leaders debated the dangers of data collection, and to what degree longevity therapies will extend the human life span. (Harari has written that the ruling class will vastly outlive the useless.) “That evening was small, but could be magnified to symbolize his impact in the heart of Silicon Valley,” said Fei-Fei Li, an artificial intelligence expert who pushed internally at Google to keep secret the company’s efforts to process military drone footage for the Pentagon. “His book has that ability to bring these people together at a table, and that is his contribution.”A few nights earlier, Harari spoke to a sold-out theater of 3,500 in San Francisco. One ticket-holder walking in, an older man, told me it was brave and honest for Harari to use the term “useless class.”The author was paired for discussion with the prolific intellectual Sam Harris, who strode onstage in a gray suit and well-starched white button-down. Harari was less at ease, in a loose suit that crumpled around him, his hands clasped in his lap as he sat deep in his chair. But as he spoke about meditation — Harari spends two hours each day and two months each year in silence — he became commanding. In a region where self-optimization is paramount and meditation is a competitive sport, Harari’s devotion confers hero status.He told the audience that free will is an illusion, and that human rights are just a story we tell ourselves. Political parties, he said, might not make sense anymore. He went on to argue that the liberal world order has relied on fictions like “the customer is always right” and “follow your heart,” and that these ideas no longer work in the age of artificial intelligence, when hearts can be manipulated at scale.Everyone in Silicon Valley is focused on building the future, Harari continued, while most of the world’s people are not even needed enough to be exploited. “Now you increasingly feel that there are all these elites that just don’t need me,” he said. “And it’s much worse to be irrelevant than to be exploited.”The useless class he describes is uniquely vulnerable. “If a century ago you mounted a revolution against exploitation, you knew that when bad comes to worse, they can’t shoot all of us because they need us,” he said, citing army service and factory work.Now it is becoming less clear why the ruling elite would not just kill the new useless class. “You’re totally expendable,” he told the audience.This, Harari told me later, is why Silicon Valley is so excited about the concept of universal basic income, or stipends paid to people regardless of whether they work. The message is: “We don’t need you. But we are nice, so we’ll take care of you.”On Sept. 14, he published an essay in The Guardian assailing another old trope — that “the voter knows best.”“If humans are hackable animals, and if our choices and opinions don’t reflect our free will, what should the point of politics be?” he wrote. “How do you live when you realize ... that your heart might be a government agent, that your amygdala might be working for Putin, and that the next thought that emerges in your mind might well be the result of some algorithm that knows you better than you know yourself? These are the most interesting questions humanity now faces.”‘OK, So Maybe Humankind Is Going to Disappear’Harari and his husband, Itzik Yahav, who is also his manager, rented a small house in Mountain View for their visit, and one morning I found them there making oatmeal. Harari observed that as his celebrity in Silicon Valley has risen, tech fans have focused on his lifestyle.“Silicon Valley was already kind of a hotbed for meditation and yoga and all these things,” he said. “And one of the things that made me kind of more popular and palatable is that I also have this bedrock.” He was wearing an old sweatshirt and denim track pants. His voice was quiet, but he gestured widely, waving his hands, hitting a jar of spatulas.Harari grew up in Kiryat Ata, near Haifa, and his father worked in the arms industry. His mother, who worked in office administration, now volunteers for her son handling his mail; he gets about 1,000 messages a week. Yahav’s mother is their accountant.Most days, Harari doesn’t use an alarm clock, and wakes up between 6:30 and 8:30 a.m., then meditates and has a cup of tea. He works until 4 or 5 p.m., then does another hour of meditation, followed by an hourlong walk, maybe a swim, and then TV with Yahav.The two met 16 years ago through the dating site Check Me Out. “We are not big believers in falling in love,” Harari said. “It was more a rational choice.”“We met each other and we thought, ‘OK, we’re — OK, let’s move in with each other,’ ” Yahav said.Yahav became Harari’s manager. During the period when English-language publishers were cool on the commercial viability of “Sapiens” — thinking it too serious for the average reader and not serious enough for the scholars — Yahav persisted, eventually landing the Jerusalem-based agent Deborah Harris. One day when Harari was away meditating, Yahav and Harris finally sold it at auction to Random House in London.Today, they have a team of eight based in Tel Aviv working on Harari’s projects. Director Ridley Scott and documentarian Asif Kapadia are adapting “Sapiens” into a TV show, and Harari is working on children’s books to reach a broader audience.Yahav used to meditate, but has recently stopped. “It was too hectic,” he said while folding laundry. “I couldn’t get this kind of huge success and a regular practice.” Harari remains dedicated.“If it were only up to him, he would be a monk in a cave, writing things and never getting his hair cut,” Yahav said, looking at his husband. “Can I tell that story?”Harari said no.“On our first meeting,” Yahav said, “he had cut his hair by himself. And it was a very bad job.”The couple are vegan, and Harari is particularly sensitive to animals. He identified the sweatshirt he was wearing as one he got just before one of his dogs died. Yahav cut in to ask if he could tell another story; Harari seemed to know exactly what he meant, and said absolutely not.“In the middle of the night,” Yahav said, “when there is a mosquito, he will catch him and take him out.”Being gay, Harari said, has helped his work — it set him apart to study culture more clearly because it made him question the dominant stories of his own conservative Jewish society. “If society got this thing wrong, who guarantees it didn’t get everything else wrong as well?” he said.“If I was a superhuman, my superpower would be detachment,” Harari added. “OK, so maybe humankind is going to disappear — OK, let’s just observe.”For fun, the couple watches TV. It is their primary hobby and topic of conversation, and Yahav said it was the only thing from which Harari is not detached.They just finished “Dear White People,” and they loved the Australian series “Please Like Me.” That night, they had plans to either meet Facebook executives at company headquarters or watch the YouTube show “Cobra Kai.”Harari left Silicon Valley the next weekend. Soon, in December, he will enter an ashram outside Mumbai, India, for another 60 days of silence. Chartered Accountant For consultng. Contact Us: http://bit.ly/bombay-ca

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headlines-twentyfour · 5 years

Link

By Nellie BowlesFuturist philosopher Yuval Noah Harari worries about a lot.He worries that Silicon Valley is undermining democracy and ushering in a dystopian hellscape in which voting is obsolete.He worries that by creating powerful influence machines to control billions of minds, the big tech companies are destroying the idea of a sovereign individual with free will.He worries that because the technological revolution’s work requires so few laborers, Silicon Valley is creating a tiny ruling class and a teeming, furious “useless class.”But lately, Harari is anxious about something much more personal. If this is his harrowing warning, then why do Silicon Valley CEOs love him so?“One possibility is that my message is not threatening to them, and so they embrace it?” a puzzled Harari said one afternoon in October. “For me, that’s more worrying. Maybe I’m missing something?”When Harari toured the Bay Area this fall to promote his latest book, the reception was incongruously joyful. Reed Hastings, chief executive of Netflix, threw him a dinner party. The leaders of X, Alphabet’s secretive research division, invited Harari over. Bill Gates reviewed the book (“Fascinating” and “such a stimulating writer”) in The New York Times.“I’m interested in how Silicon Valley can be so infatuated with Yuval, which they are — it’s insane he’s so popular, they’re all inviting him to campus — yet what Yuval is saying undermines the premise of the advertising- and engagement-based model of their products,” said Tristan Harris, Google’s former in-house design ethicist and a co-founder of the Center for Humane Technology.Part of the reason might be that Silicon Valley, at a certain level, is not optimistic on the future of democracy. The more of a mess Washington becomes, the more interested the tech world is in creating something else, and it might not look like elected representation. Rank-and-file coders have long been wary of regulation and curious about alternative forms of government. A separatist streak runs through the place: Venture capitalists periodically call for California to secede or shatter, or for the creation of corporate nation-states. And this summer, Mark Zuckerberg, who has recommended Harari to his book club, acknowledged a fixation with the autocrat Caesar Augustus. “Basically,” Zuckerberg told The New Yorker, “through a really harsh approach, he established 200 years of world peace.”Harari, thinking about all this, puts it this way: “Utopia and dystopia depends on your values.”Harari, who has a Ph.D. from Oxford, is a 42-year-old Israeli philosopher and a history professor at Hebrew University of Jerusalem. The story of his current fame begins in 2011, when he published a book of notable ambition: to survey the whole of human existence. “Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind,” first released in Hebrew, did not break new ground in terms of historical research. Nor did its premise — that humans are animals and our dominance is an accident — seem a likely commercial hit. But the casual tone and smooth way Harari tied together knowledge across fields made it a deeply pleasing read, even as the tome ended on the notion that the process of human evolution might be over. Translated into English in 2014, the book went on to sell more than 8 million copies and made Harari a celebrity intellectual.He followed up with “Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow,” which outlined his vision of what comes after human evolution. In it, he describes Dataism, a new faith based around the power of algorithms. Harari’s future is one in which big data is worshipped, artificial intelligence surpasses human intelligence, and some humans develop Godlike abilities.Now, he has written a book about the present and how it could lead to that future: “21 Lessons for the 21st Century.” It is meant to be read as a series of warnings. His recent TED Talk was called “Why fascism is so tempting — and how your data could power it.”His prophecies might have made him a Cassandra in Silicon Valley, or at the very least an unwelcome presence. Instead, he has had to reconcile himself to the locals’ strange delight. “If you make people start thinking far more deeply and seriously about these issues,” he told me, sounding weary, “some of the things they will think about might not be what you want them to think about.”‘Brave New World’ as Aspirational ReadingHarari agreed to let me tag along for a few days on his travels through the Valley, and one afternoon in September, I waited for him outside X’s offices, in Mountain View, while he spoke to the Alphabet employees inside. After a while, he emerged: a shy, thin, bespectacled man with a dusting of dark hair. Harari has a sort of owlish demeanor, in that he looks wise and also does not move his body very much, even while glancing to the side. His face is not particularly expressive, with the exception of one rogue eyebrow. When you catch his eye, there is a wary look — like he wants to know if you, too, understand exactly how bad the world is about to get.At the Alphabet talk, Harari had been accompanied by his publisher. They said the younger employees had expressed concern about whether their work was contributing to a less-free society, while the executives generally thought their impact was positive.Some workers had tried to predict how well humans would adapt to large technological change based on how they have responded to small shifts, like a new version of Gmail. Harari told them to think more starkly: If there isn’t a major policy intervention, most humans probably will not adapt at all.It made him sad, he told me, to see people build things that destroy their own societies, but he works every day to maintain an academic distance and remind himself that humans are just animals. “Part of it is really coming from seeing humans as apes, that this is how they behave,” he said, adding, “They’re chimpanzees. They’re sapiens. This is what they do.”He was slouching a little. Socializing exhausts him.As we boarded the black gull-wing Tesla Harari had rented for his visit, he brought up Aldous Huxley. Generations have been horrified by his novel “Brave New World,” which depicts a regime of emotion control and painless consumption. Readers who encounter the book today, Harari said, often think it sounds great. “Everything is so nice, and in that way it is an intellectually disturbing book because you’re really hard-pressed to explain what’s wrong with it,” he said. “And you do get today a vision coming out of some people in Silicon Valley which goes in that direction.”An Alphabet media relations manager later reached out to Harari’s team to tell him to tell me that the visit to X was not allowed to be part of this story. The request confused and then amused Harari. It is interesting, he said, that unlike politicians, tech companies do not need a free press, since they already control the means of message distribution.He said he had resigned himself to tech executives’ global reign, pointing out how much worse the politicians are. “I’ve met a number of these high-tech giants, and generally they’re good people,” he said. “They’re not Attila the Hun. In the lottery of human leaders, you could get far worse.”Some of his tech fans, he thinks, come to him out of anxiety. “Some may be very frightened of the impact of what they are doing,” Harari said.Still, their enthusiastic embrace of his work makes him uncomfortable. “It’s just a rule of thumb in history that if you are so much coddled by the elites it must mean that you don’t want to frighten them,” Harari said. “They can absorb you. You can become the intellectual entertainment.”Dinner, With a Side of Medically Engineered ImmortalityCEO testimonials to Harari’s acumen are indeed not hard to come by. “I’m drawn to Yuval for his clarity of thought,” Jack Dorsey, the head of Twitter and Square, wrote in an email, going on to praise a particular chapter on meditation.And Hastings wrote: “Yuval’s the anti-Silicon Valley persona — he doesn’t carry a phone and he spends a lot of time contemplating while off the grid. We see in him who we wish we were.” He added, “His thinking on AI and biotech in his new book pushes our understanding of the dramas to unfold.”At the dinner Hastings co-hosted, academics and industry leaders debated the dangers of data collection, and to what degree longevity therapies will extend the human life span. (Harari has written that the ruling class will vastly outlive the useless.) “That evening was small, but could be magnified to symbolize his impact in the heart of Silicon Valley,” said Fei-Fei Li, an artificial intelligence expert who pushed internally at Google to keep secret the company’s efforts to process military drone footage for the Pentagon. “His book has that ability to bring these people together at a table, and that is his contribution.”A few nights earlier, Harari spoke to a sold-out theater of 3,500 in San Francisco. One ticket-holder walking in, an older man, told me it was brave and honest for Harari to use the term “useless class.”The author was paired for discussion with the prolific intellectual Sam Harris, who strode onstage in a gray suit and well-starched white button-down. Harari was less at ease, in a loose suit that crumpled around him, his hands clasped in his lap as he sat deep in his chair. But as he spoke about meditation — Harari spends two hours each day and two months each year in silence — he became commanding. In a region where self-optimization is paramount and meditation is a competitive sport, Harari’s devotion confers hero status.He told the audience that free will is an illusion, and that human rights are just a story we tell ourselves. Political parties, he said, might not make sense anymore. He went on to argue that the liberal world order has relied on fictions like “the customer is always right” and “follow your heart,” and that these ideas no longer work in the age of artificial intelligence, when hearts can be manipulated at scale.Everyone in Silicon Valley is focused on building the future, Harari continued, while most of the world’s people are not even needed enough to be exploited. “Now you increasingly feel that there are all these elites that just don’t need me,” he said. “And it’s much worse to be irrelevant than to be exploited.”The useless class he describes is uniquely vulnerable. “If a century ago you mounted a revolution against exploitation, you knew that when bad comes to worse, they can’t shoot all of us because they need us,” he said, citing army service and factory work.Now it is becoming less clear why the ruling elite would not just kill the new useless class. “You’re totally expendable,” he told the audience.This, Harari told me later, is why Silicon Valley is so excited about the concept of universal basic income, or stipends paid to people regardless of whether they work. The message is: “We don’t need you. But we are nice, so we’ll take care of you.”On Sept. 14, he published an essay in The Guardian assailing another old trope — that “the voter knows best.”“If humans are hackable animals, and if our choices and opinions don’t reflect our free will, what should the point of politics be?” he wrote. “How do you live when you realize ... that your heart might be a government agent, that your amygdala might be working for Putin, and that the next thought that emerges in your mind might well be the result of some algorithm that knows you better than you know yourself? These are the most interesting questions humanity now faces.”‘OK, So Maybe Humankind Is Going to Disappear’Harari and his husband, Itzik Yahav, who is also his manager, rented a small house in Mountain View for their visit, and one morning I found them there making oatmeal. Harari observed that as his celebrity in Silicon Valley has risen, tech fans have focused on his lifestyle.“Silicon Valley was already kind of a hotbed for meditation and yoga and all these things,” he said. “And one of the things that made me kind of more popular and palatable is that I also have this bedrock.” He was wearing an old sweatshirt and denim track pants. His voice was quiet, but he gestured widely, waving his hands, hitting a jar of spatulas.Harari grew up in Kiryat Ata, near Haifa, and his father worked in the arms industry. His mother, who worked in office administration, now volunteers for her son handling his mail; he gets about 1,000 messages a week. Yahav’s mother is their accountant.Most days, Harari doesn’t use an alarm clock, and wakes up between 6:30 and 8:30 a.m., then meditates and has a cup of tea. He works until 4 or 5 p.m., then does another hour of meditation, followed by an hourlong walk, maybe a swim, and then TV with Yahav.The two met 16 years ago through the dating site Check Me Out. “We are not big believers in falling in love,” Harari said. “It was more a rational choice.”“We met each other and we thought, ‘OK, we’re — OK, let’s move in with each other,’ ” Yahav said.Yahav became Harari’s manager. During the period when English-language publishers were cool on the commercial viability of “Sapiens” — thinking it too serious for the average reader and not serious enough for the scholars — Yahav persisted, eventually landing the Jerusalem-based agent Deborah Harris. One day when Harari was away meditating, Yahav and Harris finally sold it at auction to Random House in London.Today, they have a team of eight based in Tel Aviv working on Harari’s projects. Director Ridley Scott and documentarian Asif Kapadia are adapting “Sapiens” into a TV show, and Harari is working on children’s books to reach a broader audience.Yahav used to meditate, but has recently stopped. “It was too hectic,” he said while folding laundry. “I couldn’t get this kind of huge success and a regular practice.” Harari remains dedicated.“If it were only up to him, he would be a monk in a cave, writing things and never getting his hair cut,” Yahav said, looking at his husband. “Can I tell that story?”Harari said no.“On our first meeting,” Yahav said, “he had cut his hair by himself. And it was a very bad job.”The couple are vegan, and Harari is particularly sensitive to animals. He identified the sweatshirt he was wearing as one he got just before one of his dogs died. Yahav cut in to ask if he could tell another story; Harari seemed to know exactly what he meant, and said absolutely not.“In the middle of the night,” Yahav said, “when there is a mosquito, he will catch him and take him out.”Being gay, Harari said, has helped his work — it set him apart to study culture more clearly because it made him question the dominant stories of his own conservative Jewish society. “If society got this thing wrong, who guarantees it didn’t get everything else wrong as well?” he said.“If I was a superhuman, my superpower would be detachment,” Harari added. “OK, so maybe humankind is going to disappear — OK, let’s just observe.”For fun, the couple watches TV. It is their primary hobby and topic of conversation, and Yahav said it was the only thing from which Harari is not detached.They just finished “Dear White People,” and they loved the Australian series “Please Like Me.” That night, they had plans to either meet Facebook executives at company headquarters or watch the YouTube show “Cobra Kai.”Harari left Silicon Valley the next weekend. Soon, in December, he will enter an ashram outside Mumbai, India, for another 60 days of silence. from Economic Times https://ift.tt/2z4MbsC

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You're Pregnant! Just Kidding. Here's the News You Missed This Week.

Sometimes, I wonder if the internet can be boiled down to a single sentiment: "Oops."

That was certainly the underlying theme of some major news items this week, like the one our headline alludes to -- more on that below.

After all, the digital landscape is a setting that can be described at once as a playground and a hellscape, where mistakes never really disappear (even if you quickly delete them, thanks to screen shots), contentious competition never ends, and consumers are often left wondering, "What the hell is going on? I just want a machine to read my schedule to me in the morning."

This week -- as with many others -- was a busy one in the worlds of tech and marketing. Here's what you missed.

It's a Boy! Nope, It's Just a Glitch From Amazon

If our headline freaked you out, you're not alone: a yet-to-be-determined number of Amazon customers experienced a similar sentiment this week when they mistakenly received emails regarding phantom baby registries.

Last Tuesday, several Amazon customers reported receiving an email from the online merchant reading, "Someone great recently purchased a gift from your baby registry!" And while the internet typically can't be used for a pregnancy test -- unless you count Target's 2012 public relations disaster after predicting a teen's pregnancy by tracking her shopping habits -- it still caused brief moments of panic among those who got the email.

There were some fears that the emails were a result of phishing attempts, but in the end, Amazon confirmed to TechCrunch that the emails were the result of a technical glitch, going on to send apology emails to the customers that received them. It's not clear what exactly happened or what the the glitch entailed, but let this be a lesson to marketers: triple check your email workflows.

Among the panic, Twitter had quite a bit of fun with the error:

More Trouble for Targeted Ads

Following last week's ProPublica revelation that Facebook was allowing advertisers to use anti-Semitic targeting criteria for promoted content, it was quickly discovered that Google and Twitter had similarly flawed advertising technology.

BuzzFeed was the first to discover that the Google allowed advertisers to use anti-Semitic and racially-charged search terms to target certain audiences, and soon after, the Daily Beast reported that Twitter allowed similar targeting criteria, which resulted in an audience of roughly 26.3 million users.

All three companies have since responded that they either have or are working to remove this criteria, with Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg publishing a very lengthy, formal apology on Wednesday:

And More From Facebook

Yesterday, Facebook released an official statement on its plans to hand over important documents regarding the ads it sold to Russian organizations to Congress, as well as a second one with answers to several "hard questions" on what happened to cause something like that to happen in the first place.

The gravity of that move is one that cannot be emphasized enough. As Mike Isaac writes for the New York Times:

" ... the move to work with the congressional committees underscored how far the social network has strayed from being a mere technology company and how it has increasingly had to deal with the unintended consequences of the tools it provides to reach the more than two billion people who use the site regularly."

Shortly after those posts went live, Mark Zuckerberg delivered a live address on his own Page to address the efforts it would make moving forward to "protect the integrity of the democratic process."

Some believe that this address, along with Sandberg's statement form the previous day, is the first of many efforts by Facebook to proactively dodge federal regulation by staying one step ahead of congressional actions or attempts to curb what such channels and platforms can actually do. It's even, perhaps, a defensive move, as the legality of the aforementioned ad sale remains in question.

Meanwhile, Twitter is also due to appear at a Senate Intelligence Committee briefing nxt week to further examine its own possible role in influencing the most recent U.S. presidential election.

The Uber-Alphabet Lawsuit Got Even Messier

Last week, we filled you in on the ongoing lawsuit between Uber and Alphabet, Inc company Waymo over proprietary self-driving technology. Since then, there have been a few key developments.

First, over the weekend, Alphabet requested that the trial be postponed after receiving crucial information that the court ordered Uber to turn over. Seeing that information, it seemed, made Waymo realize just how much was at stake with Uber being in possession of these materials, and needed more time to review all of the evidence supporting its case. Megan Rose Dickey of TechCrunch tweeted a key portion of its statement on the issue:

Waymo wants to postpone the trial w/ Uber. Here's Waymo's statement.

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Uber, of course, objected to that request, charging that Alphabet is trying the delay the trial -- December 5 is the proposed postponed date -- not because of surmounting evidence, but because of a lack of it. The full opposition can be found here:

That same judge also gave Uber permission to publicly disclose some of what Waymo is hoping to gain from the lawsuit: $2.6 billion for one stolen (allegedly) trade secret. But there are still eight other secrets that Waymo says to have been stolen by Uber, and no monetary figure has yet been assigned to them.

At this point, the trial is still set to begin on October 10, and recently-appointed Uber has a decision to make: whether or not he wants to settle out of court, or continue to defend the company's name in what promises to be a complex, drawn-out trial.

It's just one of many problems for Uber these days. With the release of iOS 11 this week, Uber was forced to allow users to block the app from tracking their locations.

Additionally, the BBC broke news this morning that Transport for London would not renew the ride-sharing app's private hire license, calling it "not fit and proper" to carry on operations there. Uber has 21 days to dispute that decision and can continue providing services in London until then.

Attack of the Flying Eggplants

I'll admit it -- my new favorite feature of iOS 11, the latest operating system available on the iPhone, is probably the ability to fill your iMessage recipient's screen with the next, image, or emoji of your choice. But just for the sake of due diligence, I tested it by sending this gem to one of my colleagues:

But my low bar for amusement aside, the new operating system comes with some features that are actually, you know, productive. Here are our five favorites:

Screen Recording. So, just how did I capture the magical moment above? iOS 11 has a screen record tool that saves the video in your camera roll.

Do Not Disturb While Driving. This "do not disturb" feature uses your car's bluetooth connection to turn on automatically while you're driving.

Screenshot Tools. The new iOS has a brilliantly simple new screenshot feature, which lets users draw on, crop, or highlight with ease.

GIFs in Camera Roll. The camera roll now allows users to save and view GIFs, plus the newest editing tools even enable you to turn your live photos into GIFs.

Notes App Upgrade. The notes app now features useful tools like a document scanner, and the ability to insert all kinds of formatting into your note.

And, finally -- we can't forget ARKit -- Apple's mobile augmented reality technology -- which has been a big portion of the talk of the iPhone town in the days following iOS 11's release. I tweeted about my experience with using it on Wayfair's home shopping app:

So, I don’t think this is gonna fit. #ARKit

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What's Google Up To?

A lot happened for the search giant this week, beyond its parent company's lawsuit and a significant team acquisition. First, there were some leaks around the rumored October 4th release of the Pixel 2 and Pixel XL, but they were mostly limited to the device's available colors, as per Droid Life.

That same outlet also leaked the rumored Google Home Mini, a much smaller version of the Google Home, which many are calling the company's response to the Echo Dot. And on Tuesday, a “media streaming device” -- the same language used to describe the original Google home -- with features remarkably similar to the first Google Home was submitted to the FCC. These developments all align with the timeline leading up to the October 4th press event.

In non-Pixel or Home news, Google announced four new features this week:

The Google app on iOS will now have a suggested content feature, in which users are provided with visual links to more information on what they're reading about.Source: Google

Contact information like phone numbers, addresses, and email addresses will now -- finally -- be automatically converted into hyperlinks on Gmail. Official announcement here.Source: Google

Natural language processing has been added to Cloud Search -- a search tool within G Suite -- to help users more quickly find information based on the words that Google deemed to be the most frequently used among G Suite customers: "what," "who," "how" or "when." For example, if you remember which one of your colleagues sent you a shared document, but can't remember what it was called, now you can search for it with a query like, "Docs shared by Karla."Source: Google

Read receipts are coming to Gmail -- kind of. On Wednesday, Google announced the launch of Email Log Search, which allows G Suite users to track the status of sent emails, such as where it is (e.g., the trash), or if it's been opened.Source: Google

Actually, No, Equifax Still Isn't Handling This Data Breach Well

Remember all of those marketing takeaways from the Equifax hack that we outlined last week? Well, it turns out that Equifax hasn't exactly heeded that advice -- or that of too many others, it seems. In fact, it was revealed earlier this week that the company's customer service agents on Twitter were directing customers to a fake website that, visually, was nearly identical to the site Equifax set up for users to enroll in free credit marketing.

The clone site was created by by software engineer Nick Sweeting, whose intentions weren't malicious, but rather, were to show how poorly Equifax was monitoring and managing the situation.

Not only did they tweet the wrong link, they tweeted it 3 times. #Equihax

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Sweeting was quite transparent about that in creating the site, which has since been taken down, along with any tweets directing customers to it -- it was titled, "Cybersecurity Incident & Important Consumer Information Which is Totally Fake, Why Did Equifax Use A Domain That’s So Easily Impersonated By Phishing Sites?”

The "fake" site did not collect any personal information, but Sweeting pointed out how easily it would be for other hackers to create an equally identical site that did using the Linux command "wget" -- and he blamed that on Equifax's choice to establish an entirely new domain, rather than create an equifax.com subdomain.

"wget" essentially permits anyone -- yes, anyone at all -- "to just suck their whole site down with wget and throw it on a ... server,” Sweeting explained in an email to the New York Times. His version, he said, had "the same type of SSL certificate as the real version, so from a trust perspective, there’s no way for users to authenticate the real one vs. my server.”

Creating a subdomain should have been the obvious move for Equifax, Carnegie Mellon IS Professor Rahul Telang told the outlet, "so that if somebody tries to fake it, it becomes immediately obvious.”

This development comes amid news that Equifax actually suffered more than one hack this year. In addition to the headline-making breach in July, the company experienced an earlier one in March, creating even more confusion around the decision to wait until September to alert customers, as well as the massive August stock sale by its executives.

Odds and Ends

I Don't Want to Grow up, Because That Means I Have to File for Chapter 11

For anyone who grew up begging their parents to take them to the toy store, this week came with some sad news: Toy store chain Toys ‘R’ Us filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection this week. Many were quick to blame its demise on Amazon, which has been named the culprit for the financial woes of many other brick-and-mortar retailers, but in reality, the cause may have reached far beyond that. As Recode reports, the move is largely the result of a "cocktail" of limited product selection, a lack of competitive pricing, and piling debt after several 2005 buyouts.

For the sake of our own childhood memories, we hope Toys 'R' Us is able to turn things around.

The DHS Got Served ... By an Association of VCs

Allow us to introduce you to the International Entrepreneur Rule: a federal measure that, had it passed in July 2017 as planned, would have made it easier for foreign entrepreneurs to obtain visas for the purpose of founding startups in the U.S.

However, the same month it was slated to be effective, the current presidential administration delayed it until March 2018, with many believing that it will only go on to be completely dismantled. But this week, Axios reports, the National Venture Capital Association (NVCA) has brought forth a lawsuit against the Department of Homeland Security, on the grounds that the decision to delay the enforcement of the rule violates the Administrative Procedure Act -- which says that the department must first "solicit public comment."

The formal complaint can be downloaded here.

No Empty Nest Here

Nest, which was acquired by Google back in 2013, held its first major press event this week, where it unveiled a number of new products. Among them were the Nest Cam IQ -- this writer's personal favorite unveiling from the launch -- an outdoor security camera that can detect movement and differentiate whether it's coming from a person or an object. If it's a person, the system alerts you, as well as letting you know if it senses a barking dog or a talking person. Even better: it's equipped with facial recognition, so that if someone familiar comes into the camera's range, like your regular dog walker, the system will recognize that it's likely not an intruder.

Also announced was the Nest Hello video doorbell, which uses similar camera technology to the above to alert users if a person is within range, even if they don't ring. Finally, an overall comprehensive security system was unveiled called Nest Secure, which exists of three key components: Nest Guard, where the system is armed and disarmed with the second component, Nest Tag, which is similar to a key fob and can be used to turn off the alarm system. The first piece is Nest Detect, which can sense general motion and the opening or closing of windows or doors.

Check out the video summary here:

That's all for this week! Next week, we're off to INBOUND 2017: one of the world's largest and most remarkable marketing and sales industry events. We'll be back with our regular news coverage the first week in October.

Until then -- happy autumn.

Originally published September 22 2017, updated September 23 2017

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