#i say science documentaries because this is not as much of a problem with online comunicators

[greenwire]

Matt Walsh, the conservative podcaster man, made that documentary. And ever since, there's been nothing but seething. And this article especially rubbed me the wrong way.

Firstly, there's this:

Yeah, how dare a "random African tribe" have an opinion on gender! The reason why Walsh "picked a random African tribe" is because for well over a decade now, gender theorists and online commentators have claimed that the sex binary is a white colonialist invention. That's why. And here you are sniffing that it's so "unhinged" to ask African people what they think. I think Matt Walsh is an absolute fucking racist, but you're over here dismissing the opinions of rural Africans out of hand, without having even heard what those opinions are.

This is an entire video and article response to the documentary, and you're not going to watch it? You'd literally rather put cat pee in your mouth than hear an opinion you know you'll disagree with??

The next five paragraphs go into the dishonesty of creationists. The author actually says, "why am I talking so much about evolution?" The answer to that is that the theory of natural selection is backed up by science, and the idea that you can change your biological sex with exogenous hormones and experimental surgeries is not. So it's more convenient for you to conflate the two and pretend that males can be women, if they really want to be.

Okay, so finally, at the end of the video, the answer to the question, "what is a woman?" It's supposed to be non-circular and not reliant on sex stereotypes.

"a person society associates with the female sex" sounds better than "anyone who identifies as a woman." But how does society associate a person with the female sex? Gender roles. As in, this is just saying "a woman is anyone who performs sufficient femininity and/or can be clearly recognized as an adult human female." To define women by femininity is sexist toward women. To even deny us a cohesive class, especially when our abusers and oppressors can clearly place us there, is sexist.

But anyone who has been in the community knows another glaring problem with this statement: the person making it is inadvertently excluding transwomen who don't pass. In fact, that takes the identity away from transwomen and puts it back to society. That means misgendering doesn't exist anymore. I've seen you, I'm part of society, I've decided whether or not you're a woman. Additionally, how does this jibe with the notion that transwomen not only are, but always have been women?

Even this youtuber is adding in caveats (about fifteen minutes worth) to this supposed simple, one-sentence definition, and saying it doesn't cover all the circumstances. No shit. When "woman" has to be a term open to anyone who claims it, but closed to anyone who doesn't claim it (yet), it'll sound like this.

I don't subscribe to Matt Walsh's theories or opinions on any other topic I've heard him elaborate. And I've only seen a heavily edited video of his Dr. Phil appearance. But on this one facet of this one topic, he's right. Biological sex is immutable. Women are adult human females. To open up the class of "women" to males means that "women" has to be reliant on sex stereotypes rather than sex.

#intellectual dishonesty #logical consistency #fuckin hypocrites

[lyxthen]

I think, what sometimes annoys me about science documentaries (and to a certain extent, science communication in general) is that it often explains things as if they were set in stone when most of the time that's not how science works. There are many hypotheses constantly competing with each other, groups of scientists around the world looking for evidence, conducting studies, interpreting data. Because "science" is not the conclusions, it's how we get there.

And a lot of the time, these documentaries, they show you lists of facts but they often dont explain what, in my opinion, matters the most: the process of science itself. Because if we want people to develop critical thinking skills we can't just tell them "this is true because it's science". That's not productive, it leaves people thinking that science is stagnant and dogmatic when it is not. It leaves them thinking that there is no room to ask questions because science has all the answers. But it doesn't. That's the whole point.

I am not sure where I am going with this. After all, it's easier to tell people that the sun is made of hydrogen and helium and not elaborate. But you then leave people to wonder, "How can we even know that? We've never been to the sun!". And then some of those will leave thinking science is fake. That's how you get flat earthers. But if you were to explain to them that we can know what far away objects are made of because of the way their light breaks down if you were to explain to them the story of Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin, how she revolutionized the world of astronomy at the time because science isn't set in stone and before her, we thought stars were made of the same stuff as planets, then people will get a better understanding of the world AND a better understanding of the processes which we use to understand the world. Maybe even learn how to apply those processes themselves. And I feel we need more of that in science communication. Less "these are the facts" and more "this is how we know the facts".

#long post #science #science comunication #i dont think anyone will read this but if you do thank you #i have so many thoughts #dont follow me tho i mostly talk about pokémon here lmao #i say science documentaries because this is not as much of a problem with online comunicators #anyway yea #i dont know what else to tag this as #opinion #flat earth #guys #idk #uhhh #tag #tags #math #physics #chemistry #biology #science history #BRO IDK IM JUST A SILLY LITTLE GUY

[ackerfics]

hi, rory! <3 what majors would the sc veterans take if they were in the modern world?

hi, anon !! thank you so much for this ask, this is heaven in disguise from all my schoolwork. tbh, the whole time i was working for a lab report, my mind will go back to this ask bc i wanted to have the association as accurate as possible hhhajshw

i asked one of my friends for help and thank God for them bc my single brain cell really said 'it's time for you to rest' after staring at one backlog. without further ado, here are the veterans' majors if they're studying in university:

first off, hange zoe, because if you ask me this question in real life, they would be the only one i can answer. every damn time i would think of them in a college setting, being a biology major is really hange's forte. at this point, this is what everyone would associate them with.

hange is all about experimenting and doing brilliant breakthroughs in any field of science but knowing that they have this unparalleled fascination with the unusual and unexpected life-forms (ahem titans ahem), the biology lab would be the surest place where you could find hange. i feel like biology is too broad so i will add that microbiology or bacteriology are just some of the specializations they will be taking in their time in college.

imagine, being lab partners with hange and immediately knowing that you will have one of the highest grades in the class because they're that well-versed in a specific lab report. and if you're partners with them for the rest of the academic year, you might as well have a shot at an immaculate grade. i'm not saying that you should depend on them too much though hHHHH, hange is still a member of the majority of the student body who relies heavily on caffeine to keep them invigorated. who isn't at this point?

so far, some of the biology majors that i encountered (well, more like chatted behind a screen — online classes suck), they have this energy that could drain my social battery too quickly and hange fits that description. (note that this doesn't apply to any college bc i observed this in mine soooo 🤭) they're the type to always go on a tangent on a certain science article or coerce you into joining this org thing. i can imagine levi just looking at hange like they're the one sucking his brain cells out whenever they speak about a documentary in bbc they watched the night before.

and if you're stuck on anything biology-related, hange will be the best person to ask help from. they're the first ray of sunlight you get while waking up. they're that approachable.

okay, so erwin smith.

don't come at me but he just radiates this ceo vibes and with that, one of his probably majors is business administration. i know this is so stereotypical of me but let's face it, erwin is a smooth talker through and through and if he doesn't take up marketing, business is one way to spend his college years. knowing his personality in attack on titan of establishing deals easily with a determined resolve, he fits the broadest description of being a business administration major. (again, don't come at me because my consultant for this statement is google and nobody comes after google sometimes hhhhh)

just for the benefit of myself, i will add what google says about this major, "[they] learn the mechanics of business through classes in fundamentals, such as finance, accounting and marketing ... students find ways to solve problems using data and they develop communication and managerial skills." and i thank you.

he's also probably the most well-spoken and most professional when conversing with others among his friends (and i'm not saying this to drag the other characters but this is what i pick up on) and that is exactly the qualities his major specializes. it is expected for them to strike deals and be a people person and who better character for the job than our very own erwin smith 🤩

now i mentioned 'one of the probable majors' and yes, aside from business administration, philosophy just exudes erwin smith. ngl, when i imagined erwin in a college setting, this major will always come first. his mind is just so sexy to me??? and i hope you guys think the same, too, because i don't want to be the only one who thinks that 👀 kidding aside, erwin is one of the smartest people in attack on titan and every time he speaks in one episode, my brain will instantly go mush, and that's what i feel when i hear philosophy majors talk.

philosophy majors (according to any other youtuber who does lookbooks for various majors hhhhhh) challenge what is unanswerable and analyze questions with no right answer. i feel like erwin, like hange, will talk all night to explain a theory. just imagine a date with him and you just listen to him rant about a topic that they should be making a report on. just listen to this man, okay?? it's adorable when he lets his guard down to include you in his little bubble of philosophies. he would also mention random things that he learned in classes, sometimes finding joy in knowing the philosophies of other people, or even deciphering levi's dream of an apocalyptic world. (it pisses levi off but he just leave him be.)

if you want a man who can do both of these majors, erwin smith is the answer 😉

sigh, mike zacharias.

this man holds so many talents and will forever amaze me.

i assume all of us here watched the movie perfume. and no, i'm not saying that mike is going to be a murderer but just like the main character of that film, making perfumes will be his forte with that sense of smell of his. and here, i conclude that mike will definitely take up chemical engineering.

he gives me the vibes that if it covers the one thing he does best, he will love his major. (mr. zacharias, can you please spare me that quality because i really need that now 😩) being in the labs while experimenting mundane things that can be found in the environment to create different scents is also a likely situation you can find him in, again, very much like hange. he's the type of student who really puts so much effort in staying afloat the honors list, even to the point of topping midterms in his major, for the sake of his dream. there will never be a moment where you will catch him complain about his major and professors.

he's that type of friend in college who agrees to any rant you say but in reality, he's got his life easy 😭

i headcanon mike owning a perfume shop after college just like how levi always dreamed of having a tea shop.

okay, imagine this little scenario if you're dating mike where he creates this unique perfumes as random gifts for you. they're not the typical perfumes that can seep through the room and can make you gag for no reason, they're subtle scents that will stay for the duration of the day. because again, he's got a sensitive nose, so making perfumes according to what his sense of smell dictates will always result in a revolutionary experiment. if you're randomly blurting out that you want a fusion of flowers and fruits as your perfume, say no more, he's your man.

now, the veteran who i find the hardest to associate a major with — levi ackerman.

after much deliberation and a break from plant physiology, i see him taking up law or criminology.

(i asked some of this from my mom because she attended law school :>>>)

levi is so organized and detailed in the things that he do and he fits in either of these majors since they require tedious memorizations and analysis of laws and crime scenes while being assertive enough to defend someone. he's the typical person who blurts out the true situation of a crime scene when watching film adaptations. yeah, he's that person, the one who sucks the enthusiasm out of you while watching a movie because he just had to correct some of the scenes. nevertheless, he means well though, he just wanted you to understand the reality unlike how films portray gruesome murders. movie nights always end up with levi ranting about half-assed mystery clichés.

levi's binder of readings are always too bright for everyone's good. his notes are full of highlighters and scribbles that it can blind someone. for one, he's always up all night studying his readings and cases for a practice court so by choosing neon highlighters, it's a way for him to wake up. there isn't one book in his possession that he doesn't highlight like it's a fricking coloring book. hange once jokingly said that his binder now acts like his bible and for once, he agrees because he was never seen without one. hange had a field day since levi never agrees with them.

when doing practice courts though, his go-to resting bitch face always come in handy when carrying out his role as one of the lawyers. he's just so sexy with his hands in the pockets of his slacks as he tries to justify his supposed client. the way he questions the accused definitely isn't hot because he's like one of the panelists in your thesis defense, the one who just comes up with questions that have you melting on the spot. he's dangerous i tell you. it also doesn't help if you accidentally hurt one of his friends or just landed randomly in his blacklist for being annoying as hell. relax though, he doesn't mean harm other than the fact that he's ready to throw some hands from all the pent-up rage he gathered in his body.

of course, i couldn't forget how he dresses up like a typical dark academia fanatic so look out for eye-candy.

if you want someone who can recite articles from the constitution, this man is perfect for you 😌

i had so much fun doing this !! again, i'm not generalizing every major i've talked about in these little headcanons, this is all for fun and based on the people i encountered in college. if you want more of this, don't hesitate to ask !! 😚

#attack on titan #aot #levi ackerman #aot x reader #attack on titan x reader #snk #levi ackerman x reader #attack on titan headcanons #hange zoe #hange zoe x reader #mike zacharias #mike zacharias x reader #erwin smith #college au #erwin smith x reader

[halfmoonshines]

Hey there!! Congrats on your followers milestone! If the event is still underway, could I maybe request a 😇 for the MCU and Game of Thrones (i understand you're in those fandoms as well??)

Anyway, I'll briefly describe myself so it can help you a bit...

Physical description: I'm a girl, straight, 5 ft 9, with long, curly, brown hair and brown eyes. I wear glasses, and I'm latina so although my skin is not dark as some other latinos, I am also not white.

Personality: I am a very aggreable person, I HATE conflicts and fights with a passion and would do almost anything to avoid being involved in any kind of drama or fight. I would say I'm kind of intellectual and I like to constantly learn new things even if those are things that would not normally interest me (such as physics or math). I am ambitious and have tons of dreams and goals I wanna achieve. I'm also particularly interested in languages and would like to learn as many as I can (I currently only know 4). I am also good with technology and good at teaching stuff though I do not have much patience to deal with kids (specially obnoxious and misbehaving ones). I would consider myself as introverted, but can really open up with people I know I can trust. On the other side, when people betray my trust, it is almost imposible for them to gain them back (I think somewhere in Pride and Prejudice they describe Mr. Darcy sort of like that). I am also a person that cannot let things go until I have figure them out or until I have solved them (for example a problem, a riddle, etc) and can become fixated with that thing until I have to let it go for my mental peace 😂. If it means anything to you, I am also an INTJ on Myers Briggs and a 1w9 in the enneagram.

Hobbies: I would say my biggest passion is reading, and has been ever since I can remember. I am interested in reading almost anything, from romance to history, physics, mystery books and anything that catches my eye (except self-help books, I hate those). As I said, I also love learning languages and learning new things in general. I love watching movies and TV shows, true crime documentaries and online shopping 😂 Oh and traveling! I don't do it much but I love visiting new countries and sharing my culture with people from other places, as well as them showing their cultures to me. Oh and listening to music! I've been, since last year, fixated with Hozier but I will hear most of anything and my playlist is actually kind of a patchwork of different artists and genres.

Sorry, that was anything but brief!! But anyway, congrats on the milestone and have a nice day! 😁

I’m in most fandoms because I’m trash

Also sorry this took me a bit, currently on break at work

I ship you with my man Bruce Banner!

- you meet through a brief internship you have with Stark Industries because you have a super well rounded resume and were wanting to branch more into science stuff

- Tony is convinced that bruce is never going to make any friends or get a girlfriend, so he just plops you in the lab with him one day with a ‘here’s your new partner’

- you’re both incredibly shy, for the first few weeks. You thinking he’s this multi phd genius and him thinking you’re a gorgeous brainiac

- he notices you always have a book with you to read in your free time; when you bring in his favorite murder mystery - he can’t help but ask you about it

- from then on, things are a lot more open. You bring books that you want him to read, and you both discuss your different hobbies

- he’s absolutely astounded that you speak so many languages

- after about a month of this, and a lot of harassment from Tony, Bruce asks you to dinner with him. Not out on the town, but on the roof of the compound with a great view of the stars

- that becomes a weekly thing

- he’s sometimes willing to adventure off of avengers grounds with you, but it’s not really his thing

- he encourages you to do literally whatever you want, though

- his love language is words of affirmation, so he’s always showering you in love

So yeah there ya go cx

#Mell answers #saspencerreid

[adamsvanrhijn]

hi, i love how detailed you are w ur research on topics you have interest in and care about, do you have any advice for someone who wants to get into something (im sorry this is so vague)? like tips for finding good reliable sources and primary/secondary sources etc? as im sure u can tell im super beginner w any of this :(

hi!!! thank you anon for your very sweet ask!! :-) everyone starts somewhere so don’t worry about it. i will caveat this entire post with the fact that i am a quantity person - i typically read first and evaluate for credibility afterward, which is something i can do because i have a pretty good foundation already? so i hope what i have to say is helpful !!

it definitely is vague and i would love to give you more specific answers if you have more specific questions, but i will do my best, here is a numbered list  :-) 

#1 wikipedia 

wikipedia actually a very good resource that you shouldn’t be afraid to take advantage of ! 

it’s true that anyone can edit it, but there is a strong community there of people who are passionate about the content they contribute and very good quality control for commonly viewed pages. a lot of the time if there are problems with an article that will be called out in the header. always read those and keep them in mind when viewing an article.

but the real nice thing about wikipedia is the references, bibliography, and related sections. claims on wikipedia should be (but unfortunately are not always) sourced. if you see something that interests you and it is cited, check that book or article out!

if you have access to a library and/or academic databases, you can usually find the stuff people source from. (if you don’t, *handshake meme* i am suffering too)

personally i think it is great for beginners in that well written articles will usually be helpful to figure out what your interests are, what search terms to use in other places, where you can go to learn more etc. just remember to take everything with a grain of salt! (which applies to everywhere not just wikipedia)

#2 online work collections and archives

this is probably more relevant if you’re interested in history given the nature of copyright, but places like archive.org and google books have a wide range of digitized works, especially ones in the public domain and with open copyright. archive.org especially is a great place to look for the more obscure citations you find on wikipedia. 

specialized databases if you have access to them are also an invaluable resource. jstor.org currently allows 100 free article reads per month and is doing that indefinitely. if you’re interested in the humanities and social sciences that’s a great place to start in terms of academic databases. (they also have an introduction to academic research open online course, so if you want more formal exposure to academic research methods that might be worth checking out!)

#3 bibliographies and works cited

on the same lines as the wikipedia thing, it is very worthwhile to look at any bibliographies or reading lists included in a source you already have. that can also help with determining credibility.

as an example, pretty much all of the downton abbey companion books have bibliographies, some of which are extensive. i’ve found a lot of cool books that way. if you’re doing research associated with a popular fandom, you can also search google or elsewhere if there are reading lists and recommendations associated with that - sometimes it’s fiction but sometimes it isn’t! 

e.g. i am sure that googling something like “how historically accurate is downton abbey” would give you both lots of opinions and lots of sources supporting those opinions, albeit fewer of the latter

#4 don’t underestimate periodicals

if you have access to them (if you’re in school/university please reach out to a librarian about this!) for the time period you’re looking at they are excellent. a well-run newspaper archive will let you search by dates, keywords, etc. contemporary sources can help place modern analysis into context for you and give you a broader picture of what was going on.

# modern & social media

prefacing this with the necessary and obvious “be cautious”. but stuff like podcasts, documentaries, youtube videos etc can all be very informative. those associated with academic bodies are generally reliable. i will also blanket recommend anything put out by pbs in the usa (though i am sure that they probably have things that would make me retract that). 

youtube is significantly less credible than wikipedia can be, but it does share the common factor of people who are really knowledgeable being enthusiastic about sharing it. unlike wikipedia, though, youtube by no means encourages objectivity. 

and on that note, generally i will say it’s important to consider if there’s any motive other than informing the audience when you’re evaluating a source. sometimes it’s really obvious and sometimes it isn’t, so i think that’s always worth thinking about :-)

lol this is really long and rambly sorry! 

one more thing which is that if you’re interested in downton abbey related or adjacent stuff, i do have reading lists on my carrd that might be helpful, although i think they may also be information overload in some ways too. and feel free to ask more questions if you have any!! i realize this post is kind of nonspecific

thank u again! :-*

#fic talk tag

[regrettablewritings]

How They Spend the Quarantine (Tadashi Hamada, Lucifer Morningstar, Dewey Finn, Wade Wilson, Harley Quinn, & Benoit Blanc)

Just a fun (?? is that even responsible to say?) little thing I’ve been thinking about while slogging through this neverending hellscape of an extended lockdown.

Tadashi Hamada

When San Fransokyo was ordered to go into a lockdown, there were mixed feelings.

At first, Tadashi had a hint of optimism that this would mean more time to work on his prospective projects . . . But then he quickly realized that his projects mostly required tools and space offered by the campus. He could technically make do at home, but it wouldn’t quite be the same considering the garage was considered Hiro’s space.

Somberly had to clean out his lab and take whatever he could home.

Cue the rest of the group (sans Fred and Hiro) griping that at least his style of science could travel well enough to be somewhat continued off of university grounds.

Helps do delivery for The Lucky Cat. It helps him get out the house, and it’s simply helpful altogether.

Uses Baymax frequently to make sure everyone down to Mochi is sanitized, and nobody’s running a fever.

Nearly as frequent a sanitizer as Aunt Cass.

He starts most days prepared to be productive, only to stop and poke fun at Hiro, who’s almost always got his eyes trained on a video game.

Tadashi realizes three hours later that he, too, has been playing the game as Player 2.

Learned how to make facial masks with Aunt Cass. He already knew how to sew a little but frankly, making the masks made him realize he could have a new hobby on his hands. He’s currently trying to figure out how to make Mochi a little vest . . .

Lucifer Morningstar

B o r e d. A s. F u c k.

At first, he thinks everyone being forced to go home would work in his favor -- surely some rule-breakers would sneak out and try to bunk up with the Devil, right?

Well . . . Kinda? Once Chloe found out and scolded him about it, the idea died real fast. Plus, he realized he wasn’t quite fond of the possibility of being around someone who could pop up with a disgusting human sickness at any point during their time with him. Smearing their snot all over, coughing into his Egyptian cotton sheets . . . Nope, never mind, he is perfectly content having the penthouse to himself, thank you very much!

Except he’s not.

The poor bastard is going crazy by himself -- he’s just not used to being without some kind of company!

“At least in Hell, you could tell there were people around you based on the screaming!” he’d whine at his phone during his hourly video chat with Chloe.

Oh yes: The video chats. He tries to make them hourly with anyone he can get a hold of (namely, his long-suffering detective) but this clearly never plays out as he would like for it to: If he had it his way, everyone would respond in an instant and let him bounce mainly one-sided conversations off of them -- basically, what he did before all this went down.

What usually winds up happening is he gets hung up on or nobody answers him at all out of sheer annoyance over his clinginess.

Ironically, he’s not exactly crazy about when Amenadiel initiates those “family calls”. He insists it’s healthy and normal for them to do this and even calls Luci out on the hypocrisy, but let’s face it: Lucifer finds it obnoxiously gushy and weird.

He works his way into Linda’s video appointment books to help him cope with his boredom and admitted need for interactions. She doesn’t mind offering him counsel, but once Lucifer starts attempting to butt in during others’ appointment calls, it becomes an issue.

Has, at some point, gotten buzzed down in Lux and streamed himself attempting to pole dance. It drew quite a bit of attention.

He’s managed to gain a bit of a following and some companionship by streaming himself playing piano and singing. It’s not the same thing as having an actual audience, in his opinion, but it will have to do for now.

He’s never been one to binge with regards to TV shows or movies, but after the first week, he decided to binge watch every work action star Wesley Cabot was ever in.

Makes sure his staff still gets paid well. After all, he’s pretty well-off; there’s no need to make an innocent bartender’s life a living hell just because some other rich bastard fucked up, yeah?

Going off this, should he need to order to-go or anything, we already know he tends to tip as handsomely as he looks.

Dewey Finn

Kids were being sent to Horace Green on tuitions worth more than what some people saw in half a year -- of course the school was going to continue classes online!

While technically an afterschool instructor, the program is popular enough for parents to expect it to continue, and for Dewey to be kept on payroll.

Initially, he was pretty smug: He’s one if, if not, the youngest teacher-figure at Horace Green, so surely that means he’s more tech savvy than his older, stiffer coworkers, right? For once, he’s ahead of the curve!

Wrong: Figuring out Zoom was a headache, and then there was the realization of just how dependent his classes were on actual physical presence.

Plus, let’s be real: Dewey’s Internet connection was decent on its own, but craptastic when compared to those of his wealthier students. The lag is strong with this one.

Has definitely accidentally messed up the background on his screen. Somehow wound up with the Beetlejuice background and got so frustrated, he wound up keeping it there for two whole sessions.

In spite of the slight issues regarding lag, they pull through and try to resume lessons as best they can.

Tries to keep optimism by pointing out how this is a new form of entertainment they could be pioneers in.

Some days, it’s just going so wack or everyone’s so bleh that Dewey just assigns for them to watch a music documentary or something.

“Okay, kids, Mr. Finn’s hungover and clearly Summer is the only one who went to bed before 3am. So what I’m gonna have you do is watch . . . Prrrbbbb . . . Amadeus.” “How is Amadeus rock-related?” “It had a rock single, shut up. Anyway, we meet back next class and talk about what we saw, m’kay? M’kay. Over and out.”

Next class, he’s filled with dread as Summer produces an in-depth analysis of the relationship or lack thereof between character and the presence of talent as evidenced by Mozart’s abilities juxtaposed with his immature presentation and -- Dewey just can’t keep up. Sure, Summer, why not?

When he’s not busy teaching, however, he’s using the lockdown to work on some new material. Or just screwing around.

Otherwise, let’s be real, Big Boy’s living the high life in a place of his own: Playing video games (Animal Crossing, recently got back into Team Fortress 2, is trying to finally finish Ocarina of Time); eating a not very great diet; staying up late, napping at weird times; all in the name of quarantine.

If he orders delivery or to-go, he tips the best he can.

Wade Wilson

On one hand, murking never goes on lockdown. But on the other . . . He’s already technically not well, why risk that even with his mutation?

Oh, fuck I just remembered he lives at the X Mansion, never mind turn back turn back oh god give us free --

The situation is tense to say the least. There’s Wade, who’s sensible enough to know why the quarantine is in place . . . and then there’s everyone else, who knows Wade’s full of shit.

And by everyone, I “coincidentally” mean Colossus, Nega Sonic, Yukio, Domino, Cable, and Russ because the already small world of the sequel just got smaller by the fact that everyone is bound to a large but nonetheless single estate whose size has probably decreased from that of the First Class timeline.

You know those videos of the usual Quarantine Characters? Wade is somehow yet still unsurprisingly all of them, save for the frequent sanitizer. He raids the pantry frequently, sleeps at all hours, considers scooting a swivel chair down the halls exercise for the thighs, blasts video games, and so on.

Going back to the sanitizer thing, it’s not that he’s just not exactly known for being tidy. Colossus occasionally does drag him out of bed at a decidedly decent time (read: any time before 11am) to try and get him excited about cleaning up around the mansion, but it rarely ends well. At this point, the safest option is to just remind Wade to wash his hands for 20 seconds as necessary.

Has acquired a Switch and visits everyone’s island, often to bonk them on the head with a net or gift them with weird crap they don’t necessarily want. For the “friends” from Sister Margaret’s, he has somehow acquired their Dodo Codes. Nobody knows how he did this. 

Facetimes Dopinder frequently.

“Precious, you’re the beacon of light in this cold, cruel world.” “I miss you, too, DP --” “Sshshsh! I’m having a moment . . .” *weeps*

On the many occasions he orders delivery, he tips by giving the delivery person something expensive from the mansion that they can sell. Prof. X is loaded, after all. Plus, he more or less isn’t even present in this universe, it’s not like he’s gonna miss anything he can’t see/probably doesn’t even know exists in his house. The problem is, Colossus does exist and does notice and does care when things go missing. Leading to many a delivery person getting caught up in shenanigans at that weird school in the boonies that they either don’t get paid enough to deal with or couldn’t pay to make up.

“Oh, pawn shops are closed?” asks the man who looks like a skinned avocado if avocados had human skin. “Don’t worry, lemme hook you up -- I know some guys --” “DEADPOOOOOLLL!!” roars a Russian accent from inside the house. “WHERE IS THE BRONZE BUST OF THE PROFESSOR!?” The poor delivery person’s eyes widen as they realize that the odd cargo they’ve been presented with apparently holds some value of some kind. But before they can flee, the avocado man blurts, “Shit! Leave the pizza in the bushes, look me up on my Youtube page, byyyeeee!!”

In his defense, Wade does hold up his end of the deal. Much like the Dodo Codes, nobody knows what strings he pulled. They just accept it and move on.

Harley Quinn

Surprisingly compliant.

She’s crazy, not stupid: Staying at home may suck, but what sucks more is making things harder on people who may not fair so well. Besides, she’s spent time in a maximum security prison -- she can handle staying cooped up in her own home. At least home has TV, books, and snacks.

When she hears people are still going out without masks or plotting to have a protest, she strongly considers firing up the old Fun Gun and popping the next sign-carrying Karen she sees with a tit full of cadmium yellow powder.

Seriously, stay the fuck home and fuck up your own hair; this is the perfect time to make mistakes with your looks, it ain’t like you got anywhere to be or anyone to impress.

“STAY THE FUCK HOME, BITCH!” P O W!!! “JUST GO GREY ALREADY, WE ALL KNOW YOUR HAIR AIN’T THAT COLOR ANYMORE, YOU’RE THREE YEARS FROM BEING IN THE GODDAMN AGE-BRACKET!!!” P O W!!!!

Only leaves her new apartment to grab groceries and to take Bruce on a walk. She actually refuses to steal or cause a scene during this shitshow because she may be a bad guy, but she sure ain’t evil.

So far, there haven’t been complaints about the fact that she’s walking a hyena down a public street. Maybe it’s because there’s hardly anyone out? Maybe it’s because Gothamites just can’t be bothered to be fazed by it . . . Or maybe it’s because she made him a little mask for his snout.

“In this house, we wash our hands for at least 20 seconds, kid.”

Lets the forest reclaim the earth, so to speak. She was never really shaving anything for anyone but herself before, but now it just seems especially pointless.

Spends almost every day in a kigurumi. To give her a semblance of routine, she has a pink bear one she calls her “Sunday Suit.” She doesn’t know it’s not Sunday because the days just blur but Cass just doesn’t have the heart to tell her; she seemed so proud of herself . . .

Like everyone else, she’s gotten Animal Crossing. She’s trying to create an all-preppy island with a few exceptions (Astrid = Aesthetic, m’kay?)

Tips nicely when ordering delivery.

Benoit Blanc

As young and spry in nature as the gentleman sleuth would like to think of himself, he would really rather not test the dangers of the situation and go about all foolhardy -- he’s staying home!

In theory, it’s only logical and therefore perfectly fine. But in practice . . . God, he wishes he’d invested more in things to occupy himself with when home.

It wasn’t that Benoit was never home, he just never felt too much of a need to invest in a fancy entertainment center -- the fanciest he ever got was an iHome.

The beginning of the quarantine served as the perfect time for him to read over case files, catch up on paperwork, even catch up on some reading he’d been putting on hold since God knows when due to cases popping up left and right. But that dried up quicker than he’d assumed, and that’s when he was faced with what a man of his mind dreads the most: Boredom.

Finally caved and decided to hook up Amazon Fire.

Expected to use the one-month free trial on Netflix and be just fine but once the lockdown in his area got extended and he realized he wasn’t going to be able to catch up with Crazy Ex-Girlfriend at this rate, he caves even further and buys a subscription.

Fully delights at the influx of platforms uploading Broadway recordings; when The Show Must Go On put on Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dream Coat, followed by The Phantom of The Opera, it was a treat, I tell you!

Sanitizes often, despite hardly ever leaving his house besides to have a smoke or to go grab groceries. Honestly, it’s less about cleaning at this point so much as it is finding something to occupy his focus when he feels there’s nothing else to so.

Takes zinc after every meal to help lessen the intensity of any ailment that might hit him.

Definitely owns a facemask. There’s a good chance it’s from Marta or one of his relatives, and there’s another good chance the pattern is as flamboyant as his clothing. He’s delighted.

Benoit tries not to rely too much on delivery,  as he’d much rather just cook. On the rare occasion where tipping comes up, however, he gives as generously as he can.

Bonus: There’s a slight chance he might have acquired a companion to foster early on in the quarantine. Benoit hadn’t had a pet since childhood, a crime of which he was admittedly melancholic of his own involvement. However, his surprisingly busy lifestyle just wouldn’t suit a four-legged friend, now could it?

Well, now there’s time to. Besides, it would certainly ease the potential feeling of loneliness to have someone or something with whom he could interact with.

Admittedly, when shelters began encouraging people to invest time in taking home a companion, he’d been looking more for a comrade on the canine side of the spectrum -- but darn, if Duke wasn’t a handsome cat.

A lovely grey-and-white cat with eyes that matched his own, Duke has become the one Benoit monologues to (because in all honesty, the man is a performer at heart, in need of an audience to speak his mind to and portray a thought before). Plus, he doesn’t appear to mind it when Benoit finds himself belting out in tone-deaf notes to showtunes while washing the dishes: The mark of a true companion.

At this rate, he’s probably not going to keep fostering Duke when things calm down -- he’s probably going to just straight up adopt him.

Stay safe & healthy!

#just a dumb little thing #anyway stay safe and healthy #regrettablewritings #tadashi hamada imagine #lucifer morningstar imagine #dewey finn imagine #wade wilson imagine #harley quinn imagine #tadashi hamada #lucifer morning star #dewey finn #benoit blanc imagine #benoit blanc

[tfrohock]

Writing historical fiction

All writers, to some extent, do research for their novels—I want to get that out of the way from the beginning. Third world fantasy? You’re going to do some research, especially if you don’t have a great deal of experience with horses or weaponry. The fact-finding mission might be fun and relaxing, but it still counts as research, so I don’t want to imply that only historical/alternate fantasy authors are the only ones who do research for their books.

Regency romance? Research.

Third world medieval fantasy? Research.

Science fiction? Research.

The difference between these subgenres and historical fiction is the amount of necessary research needed for a specific project, which also depends on how familiar the author is with the time period. The other problem is making sure the historical details are in line with the period. So what I have for you is a quick and dirty list of tricks that will help you get to the information you need.

Understand your time period

How familiar are you with the time period you want to represent in your fiction? I’ve been studying various aspects of World War II for roughly forty years and the Spanish Civil War for merely eight. I’m an independent scholar so my knowledge isn’t as detailed as someone studied in this field, but I’ve got an excellent grasp of the societal and political ramifications of both wars with a rudimentary knowledge of World War I.

What this means is that I instinctively know which books to go to for the information I need. For the purposes of this post, I want to talk to people who are at the beginning of their research, meaning it’s not their field, but they want to know more.

Beginning points

Generally speaking, historians are focused on the big picture—names, dates, major battles, and the societal issues of the day. While all these factors are necessary and important, historical fiction authors are more interested in the nitty-gritty details of everyday life in order to give our readers a realistic setting.

Where to begin?

First, I’ll point you to the bloody obvious: a library. Talk to the reference librarian and tell them your research needs. You will a) make their day, because trust me when I say that reference librarians live for this, and b) you’ll save yourself a lot of time. Call your local academic or community college library and see if they are open to the public. If they are, remember the reference librarians’ primary responsibility is to their students, faculty, and staff, but depending on the library, you’ll find a marvelous amount of resources.

Look for books on “daily life” (daily life is in quotes, because that is usually part of the title) of different periods, which are like historical snapshots into what people ate and drank, and how they went about their daily lives. These are usually written on a young adult reading level, so most people can breeze through them quickly.

Osprey Publishing also carries a lot of books on specific battles, time periods, and clothing/uniforms. These are all great starting points with bibliographies should you feel the need to continue your research for a deeper understanding of the time period. I know The Ebro 1938: Death Knell of the Republic was invaluable to me with graphs and lists of major generals. These books are a huge timesaver, because of the way the information is quantified.

Indexes and bibliographies are your friends

When you can’t find a book on a specific time period, you need to think outside the box. What are you looking for? Clothing? Find information on the history of textiles. You might not have the time or desire to read the entire book, but this is why indexes were created. Go to the index and see if your subject is listed there. You’re not looking for random references of a page here or there; you’re looking for blocks of text. Check the footnotes and the sources the author used. Research is like a trail, once you pick up the right source, you can run with it to other sources.

JSTOR for the world

JSTOR is a digital library of academic articles on a wide range of topics. When most people think of JSTOR, they think of costly academic libraries, and they’re wrong. JSTOR has moved with the times and has several tiers that enable you to read many articles online for free, and others that you can download for a nominal fee. Also, see if you can get access to JSTOR through your state library, because North Carolina residents have free access to JSTOR through the State Library.

Youtube

Many of you already know this, but just in case you don’t: Youtube can be a valuable resource for learning how to do something. There are a ton of videos on how to put on chainmail, women’s and men’s clothing from various time periods, and even how to fence.

Academic textbooks

Academic textbooks have a way of narrowing the focus to just the essentials. These can be costly, but you can also find them used. Keep in mind that with historical sources, you don’t have to purchase the most recent edition but can go back as much as two editions to find a reasonably priced copy and still have relevant information.

Ask for help

Because my Los Nefilim novels were based in Barcelona and Paris, two places I’ve never been, I asked for help from residents of those areas. Josep Oriol and Ollivier Robert pointed me to resources I never would have found on my own in both Spanish/Catalan and French respectively. Josep gave me links to short historical films from the twenties and thirties, which gave me a very clear eye into the clothing and transportation in early twentieth century Barcelona while Ollivier sent me links to Parisian subway maps from both before and during the war, which helped me plot Rafael’s journey in the subway in Carved from Stone and Dream and also showed me the closed station used in A Song with Teeth.

Search only educational resources

The Internet has changed dramatically over the years and searches are now focused almost entirely as a giant advertisement. Know how to narrow your searches to academic resources. Let’s say you’re looking for information about medieval Spain.

For example: a search for medieval Spain will bring one set of hits from all over the web, but if you narrow your search to medieval Spain .edu you’ll get a list of academic resources about medieval Spain. Use Iberia history .edu and you’ll get another set of academic resources. The key is the .edu at the end of your search term, which restricts your search to academic resources.

Documentaries and historically accurate films

Documentaries are exceptionally helpful, but so is fiction. Criterion Films had several movies from the early twentieth century that helped me see the clothing, hairstyles, transportation, and dining options available to people during the 1930s and ‘40s. They were also entertaining to watch. So if you’re lucky enough to find a historically accurate film, that counts as research, too.

The devil is in the details

You don’t want the details to overwhelm your story, but you do want to put in enough information to lend credibility to your time period. Remember, if it doesn’t feel real to you, it won’t feel real to your readers. A little research often goes a long way in adding a sense of time and place to your story.

Happy researching and good luck!

#historical fiction #historical fantasy #research #writing tips

[whattaloser]

Why I’m a Leftist

I know I’m probably just some dude who reblogs cool stuff to most of my followers but I’ve got a nice long story/rant about my political beliefs here that I’ve been wanting to write for awhile

I am a leftist first and foremost because I value human life. Everyone matters. No person is inherently more important than another person. Everyone has inherent rights that should not be infringed. People who infringe on other’s rights are morally wrong to do so. In essence my leftism is based on doing what is right. Obviously everyone has their own opinion on what is right but what is vitally important is knowing why your moral code is right. This is why so many people become liberals or conservatives or otherwise rather than leftists. They simply do not know enough about how the world works. There are a lot of reasons they don’t know, not the least of which is intentional covering up history and preventing education. I don’t believe people who aren’t leftists are stupid, but I do believe leftists know more. It’s kinda fucked up but it’s the only way you can explain inconsistencies in other’s values.

My path to leftism was full of cringe. When i was 7 years old Al Gore was running against George Bush for president. I did not know enough to have a real opinion on it but I am happy to say that I wanted Al Gore to win. This thought was based on very little if any logical reason. I basically flipped a coin in my head I think. Or maybe there was some outside influence that I wasn’t aware of, like my older sister who I looked up to might have said she liked Al gore. Either way, from then on I was in favor of democrats and did not like George Bush. When 9/11 happened I remembered thinking how dumb it was that people lined up around the block to get gas. Even as a child I knew that some buildings going down wasn’t going to end the great nation of the United States. In general I thought the United States was a great country. I knew from movies and tv as well as elementary school history that the United States was the most powerful country in the world. 

I recall in Sixth grade my teacher mentioned she liked George Bush because he was against gay marriage. Somehow at the time my opinion was the opposite despite being raised Catholic. I believed in god until I graduated high school and suddenly my desire to be religious slipped away and so did my belief. I do not consider this a great loss. 

Sometime in middle school or early high school I had solidified my opinion that the war in Iraq and Afghanistan was pointless and George Bush was a bad president. I was heavily influenced by movies and somewhat by video games that had imparted plenty of anti-war messages. Talks with my dad about nuclear missiles, watching History channel shows about world war 2, and playing Metal Gear Solid which had explicit nuclear disarmament messages, all informed me on the horrors of war. This was not enough to make me totally anti-military. In high school I wanted to join the military because I thought it was an easy way to get life experience and eventually pay for college. I was attracted to the Marines because of how cool movies like The Rock and video games like Call of Duty made it seem to be a Marine. I thought they were the best of the best. I was simultaneously against war, against veteran worship, and very pro-military. I was indoctrinated by years of government propaganda but also disillusioned by all forms of media including the book All Quiet on the Western Front which was about a soldier becoming disillusioned by witnessing horrors of war and the negative impact it had on everyone in his country. I spoke with a recruiter during my senior year and expressed my desire to be a Marine but I told him I wanted to wait a year after high school so I could get physically fit enough. The recruiter did not care that I was underweight and out of shape. He didn’t even care that I was very enthusiastic about joining, he was still putting on his best salesman demeanor which made me incredibly uneasy. The experience is supposed to pressure people into signing up on the spot, I think they even had forms for me to sign (i can’t really remember though) but I was not ready and was aware enough how I was being manipulated although not entirely cognizant. After that I no longer wanted to be in the military.

I also have to point out that I grew up in an unstable household. My parents were both loving but they were flawed and made mistakes and had problems. My dad was a typical Gen x man’s man. A little bit too emotionally repressed, but actually really good with kids when it came to play time and still is. He worked a lot because my mother couldn’t. My mother has been diagnosed with bipolar disorder as long as I can remember. Her medical bills related to her problems combined with other financially bad decisions by my parents caused my home life to be fraught. I lived in varying degrees of poverty until my parents separated and me and my siblings moved with my mother to her parents’ house away from my father. Prior to moving though, we endured great financial difficulty. We were unable to afford school lunches but could not apply for free or reduced lunches because technically my father made a lot of money, however it was all garnished for medical bills. My father always tells about how he bought a car that had hidden frame damage and when he attempted to sue the dealership for selling a bad car he lost and was garnished for that as well. Despite making over 25 dollars an hour in 1999, my father could not afford school lunches for three kids and couldn’t afford to pay the gas bill. Without going into too much more detail, life sucked and continued to suck until I graduated, at least financially. I still found plenty of joy and it wasn’t always that bad. We still found ways to have good things like video games and we could always rewatch old movies but there’s a lot of psychic weight that comes with being that poor as a child and I’m sure it affects me and my ability to empathize with others who in bad conditions. 

So i watched a lot of movies and documentaries, read a lot of books growing up, discovered internet forums at the age of 11, played video games, moved to a town that had a very large Hispanic population, and I even grew up poor. All of this life experience turned me into a very average liberal upon graduating high school. I was a very optimistic 18 year old. I thought science could save the world. If I was 18 today I would be an average redditor stereotype probably. The point here though is I still wasn’t a leftist. Only vaguely progressive and full of optimism. This is when I got sucked into the anti-feminist pipeline.

I can’t remember what exactly what I had going on in my life but I remember it was around the time of Gamergate. Everyone on the internet, celebrities, and pop culture were saying “if you believe in equality between genders you’re a feminist” an did not like that. And there was a ton of people online to tell me I was right in not liking that. They all said feminism was not necessary anymore because legally you couldn’t discriminate against women and I agreed. Gamergate made it worse for reasons too complicated to get into in this already long post but suffice it say I was “pro Gamergate.” This put me at odds with my closes friends who thought feminism was great and had no qualms with it, and were already embracing the idea of being a “social justice warrior.” Despite reading all kinds of anti-feminist think pieces and reveling in the discourse, I was still very progressive and liberal minded person. Still thought the military was bad, that black people were discriminated against etc. But so many aspects of anti-feminism were appealing to me as a white guy who tried their hardest to do what they’re told is right, had low self esteem, undiagnosed adhd and depression, and a fundamental misunderstanding of what feminism was. Two things got me out of anti-feminism though. The first and most important thing was having friends who were patient with me about it. I didn’t reveal how into anti-feminism I was because I was ashamed but they could sense it and pushed back when they could. The second thing that got me out of it was actually finding feminists online and reading what they had to say, staying away from poorly written clickbait articles that fueled misogynist tirades against feminism. After reading and learning from feminists it finally clicked. Our society is patriarchal and that affects how people interact with each other regardless of what is legal. Many of the complaints of anti-feminism talk about how men have it in society, so how can society be patriarchal. It’s because of patriarchy that men are put in bad positions. Some of the more self aware anti-feminists had retorts against these ideas but they were emotionally charged. There’s still some anti-feminists I have respect for because of how well prepared and logical they were when it came to disputing feminism. But when it came down to the fundamental tenants of feminsim all they could respond with was anger or outright denial of reality. (If you’re like I was and don’t understand how anyone can thing modern feminism is good please feel free to ask me more, I just can’t get into specifics in this long ass post) Anyways, once you understand patriarchy and how it affects an individuals actions then you can start seeing how other institutions and cultural norms can affect an individual. This is basically fundamentals of leftism. I’d say about 90% of my path to leftism was just naturally absorbing cultural and historical information through consumption of media. The most conservative people I know are people who haven’t read very many books or seen very many movies. I’m not saying watching Austin Powers at the age of 10 will make everyone a leftist but constantly recontextualizing the world by learning something new, even if you learned it from some dumb comedy movie, can give you better grounding in a shared reality.  Don’t know how to end this but I want to say when I was a teenager I thought “communism is good in theory but it doesn’t work in practice” and I had almost no historical basis for it other than the vague notion that USSR = bad despite having consumed a massive amount of media. None of it taught me what communism actually was, I didn’t know who Karl Marx was, and I had no clue why communism in the USSR failed. You can know a lot without knowing the truth so if you’re struggling with a loved one who is mind poisoned by conservative keep in mind that they know a lot but they’re missing something important to give clarity. 

This has been my Ted Talk

#rambling #rant #Leftism #Conservative #feminism #anti feminism #Communism #Media #I definitely did not accomplish what I wanted to with this lol #Someone please clap #uwu

[drumpfwatch]

How to Convert Someone into a Conspiracy Theorist

Today I decided I’d take a break from specific ragging on Trump to talk about the cult of personality surrounding him - or, more specifically, cults in general.

Now let me be positively clear from the get go - I am aware that anti-science rhetoric and cult thinking provides both sides of the political spectrum. Anti-vaxxers tend to be leftists, for instance, and conspiranoia about the involvement of the government and/or large corporations in any given tragedy is pervasive. I used to be 9/11 Truther, and I have always been a liberal. So this isn’t targeting any particular political belief. This article - and myself, frankly - are interested in how smart people get pulled in by stupid things.

So I thought for a while about which one conspiracy to use as an example, and after much wringing of hands and internal arguing I decided I’m just going to pick “The Moon Landing was a Hoax” people as my example. Because that one is fairly apolitical and the only people who are going to get mad at me for that one are moon hoaxers.

Yeah, sorry guys. You’re wrong, and everyone who isn’t you is laughing at how stupid you are. We’ll get to why sooner or later, but for now let’s talk about how you got there.

But see, that’s the thing. You’re not stupid. Not statistically speaking, anyway. I’m sure there are legit crazy and stupid people in your community - there are in every community - but statistically, you’re an average everyday ordinary human with hopes, dreams, a job, and some common sense. But here you are, believing stupid things. How did you end up there?

It all starts with what I like to call “logic bait.” See, the thing about reality is that it’s often more complicated then common sense would lead you to believe. An indoctrinator will often dangle one of these logic baits in front of you, telling you “isn’t it suspicious that this is what it’s like?”, without mentioning that if it were that simple people at, say, NASA would have to be morons.

A perfect example of this is lunar regolith. One of the first things a moan hoaxer will tell you is “Isn’t it strange that the foot prints make these perfect shapes on the moon? Those shapes only happen in wet sand, and there’s no moisture on the moon so the moon dust can’t be wet! Those famous boot print pictures are a hoax!” At first that almost sounds convincing. Ignoring the fact that special effect artists and space scientists would have to be idiots to overlook something like that if they were trying to hoax people, why do those boot prints appear so pristine?

Well, the reason is that moon dust ain’t like earth sand. Moon dust - called regolith - doesn’t have any moisture to make it stick together, but there’s another thing the moon doesn’t have, and that’s erosion. Without an atmosphere, there’s no wind, and without wind, the hardened and sharp pieces of rock that end up on the surface from meteor impacts and moon quakes never get eroded down into fine points. What that means is instead of being a fine round rock, regolith is basically made of tiny sharpened spikes. This was actually a huge problem for the Apollo astronauts, the regolith kept getting in their space suit joints and restricting their movement and was almost impossible to get out. But this also means that unlike sand, which has little friction and will just roll around because it’s more or less circular, regolith has sharp edges and thus, a high friction. When you step foot on the moon, you’re basically basically shoving all these pieces together and hold that way because there’s no wind to blow them away, and their edges get caught against one another.

That’s the bait. And if you buy it, you get hooked. What follows is what I call “the reel”. You ever wonder why conspiracy theorists love to produce and distribute documentaries? They then drop a bunch of facts at you, one after the other, without explanation, and keep on doing it without interruption.

See the thing about “logic bait” is that it can be any number of logical sounding arguments. The moon is too hot in the day, and too cold in the night for humans to reasonably survive (the astronauts always landed on parts of the moon that were in dawn/twilight hours). There are belts of radiation that if a human were to pass through, would outright kill them (these belts are mobile and don’t encompass the entire Earth, and thus can be easily accounted for). The shadows shown in the pictures don’t make any sense (regolith is also highly reflective and causes reverse lighting - things that should be in shadows aren’t). There are no stars in the background of the pictures of the moon, and there’s no atmosphere so there should always be (this has to do with exposure levels - if you exposed it enough so you could see the stars, you’d not be able to see the things going on on the moon at all.) It doesn’t matter, any one of these could be used to hook you into their talk, but the rest are used as further evidence. Throw one on top of the other, and suddenly the case becomes convincing. Throw those one after the other without anyone to rebut it, and people can be convinced. From there, you end up on the ship with everyone else. And it’s there where the real indoctrination begins.

There could be another separate post entirely about the cult techniques used to draw people into these conclaves of people, but that’s a different topic. I’m interested in the fishing for conspiracy theorists. Needless to say, however, the techniques are similar. Once you’re on the ship, you’re encouraged only to associate with people who believe the moon landings never happened, to ingratiate your denial into your identity, and all those other wonderful, funderful things that cults do. But there’s another thing that happens unique to conspiracies.

If everyone basally accepts that the moon landing never happened, then you don’t even need to think about the obvious stuff. There’s a reason the first argument for the moon landing hoax is never the one about the “flag that still waves without their being wind”, it’s obvious to anyone with even a modicum of skepticism that it’s only moving because someone just touched it, and that it’s just taking a little longer to slow down because there’s no friction, but by the time someone’s on the ship they’re not thinking like that. To them, the moon landing obviously never happened, and any evidence to suggest it didn’t is just accepted at face value by most people. It’s another log on a burning fire.

But it doesn’t stop there. Often, after conspiracy theorists finish giving their pitch, they’ll pretend to ask themselves the question “if this happened, why doesn’t everyone know about it?” and that leads to the actual conspiracy. “They” are covering it up! “They” don’t want you to know about it! Why? Who the fuck cares, I’ve only ever heard that question answered once with an answer that wasn’t “because they think we’re dumb sheeple who need to be controlled” or whatever, and with an answer so absurd that a minute of thinking about it would reveal it’s folly.

This is a protective armor of sorts for the mind. If a cultist sees a person writing, say, a blog post online against Moon Hoaxers, they’re conditioned to believe that I’ve been deceived by this conspiracy. And when they see an actual scientist with actual credentials who actually knows what they’re talking about talk about it, they’re in on it! They can’t be trusted, they’re evil! Every one of them has a reason to lie to you, and apparently none of them have even the slightest modicum of morals to step forward and call their comrades out. Either way, they can’t be listened to.

Next, they believe that each and every piece of evidence invalidates the Moon Landings, so you have to refute every. Single. One of them. This is standard fare for dogmatic beliefs. You try and jump through a hoop, they pull it back. You manage to make it through anyway, they set up another one, and they keep doing this until you get tired - or they run out of hoops. But they probably won’t, because each and every one of those little reel lines and baits from earlier is a hoop, along with every single other stupid thing they thought of, and every aspect of it.

You throw that into the indoctrinated mindset, and the human desire to never admit they’re wrong and what you end up with is a conspiracy theorist, and some of them are just in too deep. Some do this as a job, it’s how they make their money and they will never give up. Others are just physically incapable of changing their mind, either because of strict indoctrination or stubbornness. Some can be helped. But that’s not what this article is about.

No, the conclusion here is that ignorance is not a crime. Your everyday average Jane Doe doesn’t need to know how regolith functions to go about their daily lives, they don’t need to know about the Van Allen radiation belts, just like how I don’t need to know the proper legal protocol and methodology for the operation of a crane. I am many things, but a construction worker is not one of them.

You’re not stupid if you’ve been tricked into believing a conspiracy, be it the Flat Earth, the Moon Hoax, Trutherism, or that Trump is a good president. But you are ignorant, and you need to be willing and able to look at the matter objectively. There’s nothing wrong with not knowing, especially when a very charismatic person is the one delivering the information, but you must choose.

#Wednesday Essays #by Phoenix

[snakebusters]

Raymond Hoser is the reptile God. The world’s foremost reptile expert is Raymond Hoser. By all measurable criteria no one else comes close. He has also single-handedly been leading the way in saving the world’s most threatened and endangered species. Raymond Hoser, is also known as The Snakeman. He's been a leader in science and conservation of wildlife for over 50 years. He is known to pretty much everyone in the wildlife space as the leader in the fight to save rare and threatened species. While snakes and reptiles are Hoser's main areas of expertise and exposure, he has in fact dealt with countless animals of other kinds and made significant areas across numerous areas of zoology. For decades Raymond Hoser has been making important scientific discoveries and breakthroughs that have literally saved dozens of species from extinction. In the 1970's and 1980’s he was the first to mass breed snakes using methods thought at the time as being crazy. They are are now standard practice globally. Hoser was also the first to mass breed snakes and lizards using artificial insemination using a method now used by zoos and private breeders across the planet. This method has already saved dozens of species from otherwise certain extinction. Raymond Hoser has always been a leading advocate of animal welfare. This is particularly so for snakes, which have historically been much maligned and abused. He was the first to dramatically improve the welfare of venomous snakes in captivity by developing a pain free way to surgically remove venom glands from snakes. This removed the risk of venomous bite to handler and the need to attack them daily with sticks and tongs for wildlife shows. Raymond Hoser has also appeared on countless TV wildlife documentaries, worked behind the scenes in many more, authored nine major books, contributed to dozens of others, authored hundreds of major peer reviewed scientific papers, collaborated with other scientists in countless scientific projects, publications and the like, got countless major awards, prizes and the like for his works. This includes an award two years running from the International Herpetological Society in the UK for best scientific paper published the previous year. Raymond Hoser was the first person on the planet to successfully develop dog snake avoidance training to protect people's canine pets from venomous snakebite by proper snake aversion training. Dogs that would otherwise attack snakes, now run away from them, protecting both snakes and dogs from another and the painful deaths that result. But where the Snakeman has become best known in recent decades is for his stellar work in discovering and cataloguing new species of reptile from across the planet. Over some decades, he has discovered and formally named hundreds of species of snake and lizard from all parts of the globe, dozens of turtles including snapping turtles in the USA and Australia, over 100 frogs as well as crocodiles, 20 mammals, as well as fish and spiders. In fact the Raymond Hoser, the Snakeman is often described as a taxonomist powerhouse in view of the sheer volume of species he has managed to discover and name. Of course no species can be conserved by people if it is unknown to science and this is exactly why Hoser has been so keen to catalogue the planet’s threatened biodiversity. While how many species a person has discovered and named is not the only measure of the work done by a zoologist, it is one way to do so and is widely used. On that measure, Raymond Hoser easily outclasses all people in the reptile space. In fact no one born in the last 150 years has discovered and named as many species as Snakeman Raymond Hoser. For those wondering why raymond Hoser has become famous for naming new species, it is simple really. The names of Raymond Hoser, as regulated by the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature of the species appear in all relevant books and scientific papers and next to each scientific name is published the name of the discoverer, called name authority, and the year in which they published it. So in most books reptile the name Hoser appears throughout! Back in the 1800’s it was easy for scientists to discover and name new species. This is because the Swedish scientist Carl Linnaeus devised the current system of nomenclature in the late 1700’s. So back then everything was fair game to be scientifically "discovered" and named for the first time. Since about 1900, all the easy to discover vertebrates had been named and it really did take a lot of work to go into the wilds to find and name new species. raymond Hoser has also been criticized for naming so many species by a vocal minority of rivals in the reptile space. The general jist has been along the lines that by naming species, he is depriving others of the right. Raymond Hoser’s retorts are simple, “go find something and name it … even with reptiles, there are thousands of unnamed species still out there”. Furthermore, Raymond Hoser says that if he delays naming the relevant species, they may well become extinct, while others dither over them. In fact this has already occurred! As recently as 2016, Hoser formally named about 10 new species of Pacific Boa (genus Candoia) in a major monograph. By then however some were already probably extinct as feral animals, such as mongoose, had exterminated them on the islands they’d previously occurred on. More recently, Hoser has been victim of a new form of scourge attacking the wider zoological community. This is taxonomic vandalism. To the uninformed, this is when a so-called scientist deliberately renames a species that already has a scientific name and then in breach of the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature, tries to get the illegally coined name used instead of the correct one. In 2013, Hoser discovered and named a species of Forest Cobra from west Africa. Five years later a Welsh university lecturer, named Wolfgang Wüster illegally renamed it with his own coined name, falsely claiming to have discovered the species. The damage caused by Wüster’s taxonomic vandalism cannot be understated as the species is dangerous to humans and confusion in identification can and will cause avoidable deaths. Hoser says, pseudo-scientists and anti-scientists like Wuster are not only putting lives at risk, but wasting time of genuine scientists like himself who then have to waste time correcting their deliberate mistakes. This is time that could be better spent doing other things, including cataloguing other as yet unnamed species! In years past it was difficult to ascertain whether or not a given potential new species had been named by another scientist. However now there are excellent so-called synonyms lists available and this makes the job of identifying unnamed species much easier and is one of the reasons that Hoser has been able to name so many new species. Hoser said “If I wasn’t so tied up with my other critically important work doing educational wildlife displays, I could go out and name over 1,000 more reptile species within a few short years, if only I had the time to do so”. Hoser hopes other scientists and scientists in training engage in the science of naming species and not just for reptiles, because as of 2018, most of the planet’s biological diversity remains unnamed and therefore at greater risk of extinction. However Hoser warns, “If taxonomic vandals like Wolfgang Wuster are allowed to get away with stealing the works of others and then illegally renaming the same species, this will seriously deter conservation-minded people from putting in the necessary effort to discover and name new species in the first place”. In 2018, Wolfgang Wüster simply lifted the work of the Hoser (2013) paper and repackaged it as his own in an online PRINO Journal called Zootaxa. PRINO is an acronym for the words, peer reviewed in name only, which is exactly how the online journal Zootaxa works. The improper claim of formal peer review is made to enhance the alleged credibility of the paper by the taxonomic vandal, Wuster. The International Commission of Zoological Nomenclature (ICZN), who govern scientific names of animals, have had a serious problem in dealing with online scammer journals such as Zootaxa which by using the online model, now make it easier for taxonomic vandals like Wuster to spread their toxic non-science more widely. Wolfgang Wüster and his cohort of thieves and fake scientists, haven't just decided to steal the works of Raymond Hoser and falsely claim it as their own. His gang of thieves have attacked the works of dozens of other scientists, including the late John Edward Gray of the British Museum, who died about 150 years ago and therefore cannot defend his works from being stolen by Wuster's gang. Fortunately other scientists will defend the science of zoology and have already taken steps to stop Wuster and like minded thieves from disrupting the science of taxonomy and the associated work of conservationists. For example in 1991, in a near unanimous decision, the Wuster gang was stopped in their tracks by the International Commission for Zoological Nomenclature (ICZN) trying to illegally rename hundreds of species and genera discovered and named by eminent Australian scientists Richard Wells and Ross Wellington, but this has not stopped his gang from still trying to do so. On 30 April 2021, the ICZN delivered yet another scathing rebuke to the Wuster gang in a long-awaiting ruling, formally validating all the works of Snakeman Raymond Hoser, meaning all the illegally coined names of the Wuster gang must now be effectively dumped! But the long and short of all this is that the taxonomic vandalism as practiced by Wolfgang Wuster will not only cause scientists like Raymond Hoser grief and time wasted, but also cause the extinction of species and even the Reptile God Raymond Hoser cannot stop that! Learn more at http://www.sydneybusinesswebsites.com.au/Raymond-Hoser-Reptile-God.htm

#raymond hoser #ICZN #Wuster #Snakeman #International Commission for Zoological Nomenclature

[a-nagy-visszaterok-tejles-film]

[1080p] A nagy visszatérők Teljes Film (Indavideo) 2020 Magyarul

The Comeback Trail (2020) — Akció Filmek 105 percek. . insurance fraud, mafia, debt, aging actor, money problems, insurance scam, movie producer

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felszabadított: Nov 12, 2020 Runtime: 105 percek Műfaj: Akció, Vígjáték Csillag: Robert De Niro, Morgan Freeman, Tommy Lee Jones, Emile Hirsch, Zach Braff, Patrick Muldoon Crew: George Gallo (Director), George Gallo (Writer), Aldo Shllaku (Music), Lucas Bielan (Cinematography), Josh Posner (Writer)

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If you are wondering what you can watch on this website, then you should know that it covers genres that include crime, Science, Fi-Fi, action, romance, thriller, Comedy, drama Anime Streaming. Thank you very much. We tell everyone who is happy to receive us as news or information about this year’s Streaming schedule how you watch your favorite Streamings. Hopefully we can become best partner for you in finding recommendations for your favorite Online. That’s all from us, greetings! Thanks for watching Video Today. I hope you enjoy videos that I share. Give a thumbs up, like, or share if you enjoy what we’ve shared so that we more excited. Sprinkle cheerful smile so that world back in a variety of colors. I do not own this song or the Image, all credit goes to their owners. Some changes were made in used content. Original language of this video description is English. It’s so Awesome. Subscribe and Share with your friends! to my channel. See for more videos!!. I want to say ‘thank you’ for being the friend!! Thank you very much. We tell everyone who is happy to receive us as news or information about this year’s film schedule and how you watch your favorite films. Hopefully we can become the best partner for you in finding recommendations for your favorite movies. That’s all from us, greetings! Thanks for watching The Video Today. I hope you enjoy the videos that I share. Give a thumbs up, like, or share if you enjoy what we’ve shared so that we more excited. Sprinkle cheerful smile so that the world back in a variety of colors. Thanks u for visiting, I hope u enjoy with this Movie Have a Nice Day and Happy Watching :) Az éppen hanyatlóban lévő szocialista Magyarországon működött egy különleges tábor, ahova sok gyerek szeretett volna eljutni. A három hetes tematikus nyaraltatás egy képzeletbeli országba, Epipóba repítette a résztvevőket, messze az akkori rideg valóságtól. 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A Visszatérés Epipóba egy különleges táborról szól, ahova a hanyatló szocializmus sújtotta Magyarországon sok gyerek szeretett volna eljutni. A tábor három hetes tematikus nyaralást kínált egy képzeletbeli országban, Epipóban. Baranyi Benő Anja című diplomamunkája meghívást kapott a 26. Szarajevói Filmfesztivál diákszekciójába – közölte a Színház- és Filmművészeti Egyetem. A megtörtént eset alapján készült kisjátékfilm főszereplője egy fiatal orvostanhallgató, aki egy vidéki kórház szülészetén tölti szakmai gyakorlatát. Egy roma nő esete miatt meginog a bizalma tanárában Húsz évvel azután, hogy az apja és a nagybátyja nem áll szóba egymással, Amelia, a karriercentrikus, chicagói alkalmazás-fejlesztő visszatér a szülővárosába, Christmas Creekbe, hogy újra felfedezze a karácsony értelmét. Találkozik a gyermekkori barátjával, Mike-kal, és az elidegenedett nagybátyjával, Harryvel, akinek az Amelia apjával való ellentéte megosztotta a Elkészült a Visszatérés Epipóba előzetese. A film a pár éve molesztálási ügyei kapcsán a nyilvánosság elől eltűnt S. tanár úr üzelmeiről szól majd. Katie Fforde Filmek Magyarul. This feature is not available right now. Please try again later. A dokumentumfilmes versenyben indul Dér Asia és Haragonics Sára Anyáim története című filmje és Oláh Judit Visszatérés Epipóba című munkája. A diákfilmes szekcióba pedig Baranyi Benő filmje mellett meghívást kapott Darabos Éva Pá kis panelom! című, a MOME-n készült animációs diplomamunkája. A koppenhágai dokumentumfilm-filmfesztiválon március 22-én jelentkező Visszatérés Epipóba című dokumentumfilm azokról a táborokról szól, melyeket a férfi szervezett, és arról, hogy dolgozzák fel most az akkori diákok a 25 évvel ezelőtti táborozást. Baranyi Benő Anja című diplomamunkája meghívást kapott a 26. Szarajevói Filmfesztivál diákszekciójába – közölte a Színház- és Filmművészeti Egyetem. A megtörtént eset alapján készült kisjátékfilm főszereplője egy fiatal orvostanhallgató, aki egy vidéki kórház szülészetén tölti szakmai gyakorlatát. Egy roma nő esete miatt meginog a bizalma tanárában

#ingyen letöltés #netmozi #magyar premier #film online #teljes film videa #indavideo #teljes film magyarul indavideo #filmnézés #teljes film

[1801016-4]

Personal Showcase

Design Document: Film Studies

I have already looked at cooking shows specifically in stop motion, but it was recommended to me to watch live action ones to understand the key features, so that I can accurately recreate them. 

Jamie’s Perfect Roast Potatoes

Jamie Oliver, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b1bXQlWLl7U

Jamie (one of the most recognisable chefs alive) gives the impression of a very trustworthy recipe, sharing how he has been perfecting it for years and endorsing certain ingredients (in this case a Maris Piper potato), so much so that is has become a ‘classic’. The video shows the recipe preparation through a montage (mostly close up shots), and turns basic steps into a continuous, laid back sentence. He then starts to list options with the recipe so that viewers can experiment themselves and find their own taste; such as olive oil, butter, or goose fat (each a step up in the richness and crispiness of the recipe). Cooking videos almost always use phrase with ‘key’ or give bonus tips to step up the recipe and separate it from the basics/ what you already know. Learning new tricks is exciting and keeps viewers returning. Some can be unusual, so Jamie always says, ‘bear with me’, building trust in regular viewers. He is quite loose with his timings, saying everything is to personal preference so to wait for the desired colour and crunch (this invites the viewer into the conversation). As always, it ends with a taste test to show and hype up the result, and Jamie classically and lovingly calls the potatoes ‘babies’. This video shows how even a basic dish, or a side dish like roast potatoes, can create an interesting and interactive video on its own as there are so many tips and variants.

Real Spaghetti Carbonara

Antonio Carluccio, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3AAdKl1UYZs

Authentic Italian recipes are always insistent that they are the proper, classic, or original way of cooking. Carbonara is such a simple dish, but likely one of the most videoed and critiqued ones. My go to is Carluccio, and his gentle nature immediately invokes trust in the viewer (Gennaro Contaldo also has a great video, but he is too energetic for my personal taste). He tells you the real way to do each step and debunks myths like adding salt or water to pasta water. He shows a few ingredients options but uses his favourites and places an importance of the quality of ingredients (Italian cooking often uses few ingredients and highlights the quality of each one to its full effect). Again, it finishes with an embellishment and a taste test of ‘the only’ carbonara (creamy without cream!), before trying to share it with crew in true Italian fashion. When learning recipes, it is always best to learn from someone from its originating country for authenticity before experimentation.

Meat Tornado from Parks & Rec

Binging with Babish, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LsNg-KrFxCA

Babish has become an icon of online cooking videos, using his experience as a film maker and love for them, to make recipes from the screen. In one of the most recent episodes he made a burrito that apparently killed a man. So, he begins by calling a nutritional doctor to see how a man could be killed from eating this; through an excessive amount of meat and spice blocking airways (café coronary). Then he proceeds to make every element of the burrito from scratch: carne asada, carnitas, tinga de pollo, and tortillas. If the original recipe is disgusting or too simple he would then try to make his own version, but this one (despite the size and heat) was a success. Babish’s videos are a wonderful mix of entertainment, education, and science, with an explanation behind the process and need for each step. The recognisbale camera shot shows his torso and a clear view of the food without his face, keeping the focus on the cooking. There is often a cross section at the end as a sort of ‘food porn’.

Grandma’s Recipes: さつこおばあちゃんのおせち

Grandma Satsuko, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NRm5MF89mpQ

This online documentary series follows Japanese elders making traditional dishes, with this one looking at the season of sansei (wild vegetable). They have strong visual focus, accompanied by calming music and heart-warming stories. The essence of the recipes is shared rather than the steps and measurements, as they are often personal dishes that can only be achieved to the true effect by a few people in a specific region without an actual recipe (by taste, by eye, by touch). The creator and chef have a conversation throughout the film, which reveals secrets and gives them an opportunity to talk about their lives and the importance of food.

Big Cook Little Cook: Princess and the Pea

CBeebies, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0Hht5-jTh0&list=PLSeXvd5LmlRhAQxHloe5J5J1vPr9d2Eff

I watched this show when I was little and loved it because it had elements from a variety of different shows. There are charismatic presenters, bedtime stories, cooking, singing, and education. It also mixes live action, CG, and 2D animation. When aimed at kids, these sorts of show put more focus on the narrative: reading a story, learning who they’re cooking for, going on an adventure to find the missing ingredient, learning where food comes from, and solving a problem. The idea isn’t for there  to be technical recipes for the child to actually try making (and if they do want to, it is always recommended for an adult to help), but to introduce them to new foods (or get them to eat their vegetables) in a simple, entertaining format.

From this research I can gather that cooking show often mix tropes from various genres, and they follow a pretty consistent pattern: introduce self and recipe, show ingredients, shows steps, taste test. The main aims are to educate and entertain. Common features are: having prepared dishes to move quickly to the next step, special tips and tricks, giving the explanation behind the chemical reaction of adding a certain ingredients, alternatives for ingredients/ flavours, ‘food porn’, and claiming that your recipe is the best one. The format is repetitive yet relaxing so viewers will return and start to trust certain chefs more. It is also a short form format so cost effectively fills gaps in channel timetables.

Food Porn: Food given exceptional focus in any manner which cause the audience to drool over it and lust for it as if we porn (e.g. using tantalizing close ups of artfully arranged dishes and pristine ingredients (drawn as well as photographed).

Types:

×        Reality – Mixes entertainment with cooking, removing the idea that cooking is a boring, mundane chore, and keeping people excited for something new each week. E.g. Hell’s Kitchen/ Kitchen Nightmares.

×        Competition – Contests challenged week by week and eliminated or rewarded. View a wide range of skills from beginners to professionals. E.g. MasterChef, The Great British Bake-off.

×        Home-style – Often teaches the basics, or affordable/ realistic dishes for the everyday. E.g. River Cottage.

×        Gourmet – Renowned chefs teaching higher skill recipes and/ or those with rarer methods and ingredients E.g., Chef’s Table.

×        Documentary/ Travel – Discovering foods from around the world, looking at the history and science behind food, or following a certain chef’s journey. E.g. Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat.

#w2 #ps

[shanteldtc]

Multimodal Analyses 1

In 2020, seeing a claim on Facebook or any other space is not unheard of. It is more apparent on social media due to accessibility, but taking information at face value can be applied to any space. Upon reading about the NGram, the immediate thought in my mind is that the reason an Ngram can be taken out of the context is the same reason any information can be taken out of context, and is apparent in “fake news”, or the spread of misinformation. 

Text from previous discussions observe patterns of NGram usage (A graph that displays the use of a word over the years in writing) and other algorithms, and it reminded me of how facts cannot be simply taken for what is it, but need context and critical analysis, and a big consequence of not doing so is the spread of “fake news”, which is very common on social media sites such as Facebook.

Ben Zimmer of The Atlantic uses the example of an NGram observation taken at face value, versus a nuanced approach,

“I expect that one salutary effect of the new wildcard searches will be to encourage more nuanced searching, instead of simply running the numbers on individual words and phrases devoid of context. Some of the scholarly work in the burgeoning field of "culturomics" has relied on Ngram data without bothering to dig much deeper than relative frequencies of single words. For instance, an article appearing earlier this year in the journal Psychological Science purported to demonstrate that "individualistic and materialistic values" are on the rise simply by looking at the changing fortunes of word pairs like give vs. get. While get has become more frequent relative to give, does that mean we're becoming more selfish? As Mark Liberman suggested on Language Log, the rise in get usage could be due to phrasal patterns that have nothing to do with acquiring material possessions, since get can be used with adjectives (get sick) or passive verbs (get acquainted). And sure enough, with wildcard searching we can quickly see increases in "get + adjective" (like get better, get ready, and get drunk) and "get + verb" (like get married, get involved, and get started)” (Zimmer 2013). 

One of the main reasons I believe this is an important topic when analyzing data, is that spreading misinformation can be extremely harmful depending on said subject, and can even impact our finances. Like explained above, context is everything.

“Fake news creators “aren’t loyal to any one ideology or geography,” said Tessa Lyons, the product manager for Facebook’s News Feed tasked with reducing misinformation. “They are seizing on whatever the conversation is” — usually to make money” (Fowler 2018). 

Not to say that fake news is strictly for financial gain, politics and personal agenda as well, which is so often raw data that is taken out of context or just not nuanced enough. A real life example of this is the spread of anti-mask rhetoric on social media. 

“The About section of the public group Unmasking America! — which had more than 9,600 members — described it as “here to spread the TRUTH about masks!” It made several claims which have been widely debunked about masks obstructing oxygen flow and having a negative psychological impact. “It is a psychological anchor for suppression, enslavement and cognitive obedience. When you wear a mask you are complicit in declaring all humans as dangerous, infectious and threats,” the post stated. It is one of dozens of such groups easily found in a search for “unmasking” on Facebook. Some of the groups are private, meaning a group admin has to approve new members before they can join. But the theme is the same: the groups oppose the public health intervention championed by medical experts. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends people wear masks in all public areas, which should limit the spread of the virus. These Facebook groups are for people who don’t want to wear masks, and there are a lot of them” (Lyons 2020).

The groups are infamous for sharing misinformation, or even true facts but out of context for their agenda as a way to sway readers into believing they did not need it, and that their “freedoms” outweighed the presented facts, and did not highlight the alarming number of deaths associated with that one percent death toll in the time frame of its existence.

A significant factor to this echochamber culture worth noting is how ads contribute to someone narrative whether it be positive or negative. Taking the example of anti-mask groups, once joining said group ads related to “liberation of masks” may pop up, and that’s how a cycle begins to develop one’s narrative. This is explained in our reading by Berlinquette:

“The Redirect Method was a Google-incubated project that used redirect ads to deradicalize would-be extremists. In the first eight weeks of 2016, some 320,000 people — all of whom were believed to harbor sympathy toward the Islamic State — clicked on ads designed to reflect an interest in extremist content. Instead of arriving at a page that supported their views, Islamic State sympathizers who clicked the ads found themselves directed to a playlist of videos debunking the terror group’s recruitment narratives. Most of the visitors stuck around. Together, they watched more than half a million minutes of video.” (Berlinquette 2019).

I tend to check on the WHO and CDC semi often, so because of this my algorithm thinks I am a pro mask person and science believer in general, I get recommended “corona myth debunked” videos because of this, just like anti-mask algorithms try to debunk WHO and the CDC.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TWpjc1QZg84

(View 3:25-6:10)

YouTuber and physician “Dr. Mike” is an example of a video that I got recommended, and is a direct response to claims done on the documentary “Plandemic”, hosted by another physician, making the claim that the Bayh-Dole Act is one of the problems in medical research, including Covid-19, and Dr. Mike takes the information in the claim for a more nuanced approach, and after hearing from both sources, there is a more complete analysis that can be made from the opposite viewpoints, and one is less likely to believe all pandemic posts at face value moving forward, and there is more education.. The point isn’t to believe Dr. Mike at face value or “Plandemic”, but to not believe everything you see at face value on the internet and learn to look into multiple sources, and use critical thinking skills to access the information. This video above demonstrates Dr. Mike practices nuanced research by taking information claims of “Plandemic”, and giving further context. 

Another popular “fact” spread on social media is that masks are harmful due to the co2 levels when wearing one.

There are various reasons that there is a “anti-mask” space on social media, both claiming health and political freedom reasons. A lot of reasons solely due to opinions, but there is one fact that is easily considered fake news, and that is that it is harmful to wear a mask due to co2 levels.

https://youtu.be/hCRKlu8VfBQ

Intensive Care Unit physician Greg Schmidt, MD, from the University of Iowa, and also is an example of nuanced researching. It is a fact that co2 can be harmful, and that it is what we breathe out, but the claim that it reaches dangerous levels in the mask is taking the fact that we breathe it out so therefore it must be dangerous at face value, and this video dives deeper. 

It can take just one ad, post, or whatever online claim to persuade you, consciousness and nuanced searching is vital from there to not spread misinformation which can potentially cause harm. This does not only apply to the current pandemic, it applies to anything spread online, or anywhere really. Fact check, not only for yourself but for the wellbeing of those with access to that space you are in.

Sources:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2018/10/18/i-fell-facebook-fake-news-heres-why-millions-you-did-too/

https://www.theverge.com/2020/7/20/21331060/anti-mask-groups-facebook-misinformation

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/07/opinion/google-ads.html

https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2013/10/googles-ngram-viewer-goes-wild/280601/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TWpjc1QZg84

https://morningconsult.com/2020/07/01/the-mask-debate-isnt-just-about-saving-face-adults-who-wear-them-and-those-who-dont-explain-why/

https://youtu.be/hCRKlu8VfBQ

https://uihc.org/health-topics/do-face-masks-make-you-retain-carbon-dioxide

[thisislizheather]

March Mayhem 2020

Above Photo: Momofuku Milk Bar birthday cake

How do I even start this? Why am I even writing this? Does any of this matter? I don’t know.

Life is not normal anymore and I don’t know when it will be. That sentence alone makes me want to bury myself underneath a blanket with Baby Dog and never come out. There have been such nice, calming days mixed with insane, sleepless nights and I can’t find a balance and I guess nobody can and we’re all in this together. So what are you supposed to do? Stay home. Eat everything. Listen to music you love. Watch things that make you happy. Write to people who care for you. Read things that can uplift you or help you escape. And in the meantime, I guess I’m here to tell you what I loved and hated over the past month. Behold the best meme I’ve seen in a long time.

NOTE: All of the things below that involved me leaving my house happened before March 15th when life in NYC was still semi-normal.

I finally went for dinner at I Sodi and it was disappointing! What the fuck! This isn’t rocket science but why would cold bread be served in a covered basket? Shouldn’t warm bread be covered? For christ’s sake, just throw the bread at me if it’s cold. Also, a good steak tartare doesn’t need any lettuce accessories, get the fucking leaves off of the plate, please. And their lasagna? Yikes. It was overcooked and it felt like eating a sad book. Will not return. (Ugh, even if I wanted to return I can’t.)

I had a slice at Best Pizza Shop in Astoria and it was great! Love a Detroit style slice.

I made it over to Comfortland in Astoria and their crullers were delicious.

I finally tried the birthday cake at Momofuku Milk Bar and my god… the vanilla one (which is even better than the chocolate) is probably the best cake I’ve ever had. You can get them by the slice at their flagship store in NYC or you can be ambitious as hell and make one at home.

The cannoli cream cheese at Brooklyn Bagel & Coffee Company in Astoria is a problem, don’t try it or you’ll forever be in love.

I made a list of things to do during this quarantine that I’m really trying to keep up with.

You can see my favourite tweets of the month over here.

I watched the (Hulu) Hillary documentary online and it was phenomenal. Everyone should see it.

I chose the Briogeo birthday gift from Sephora and MAN was that the wrong choice. It lasts for two showers! What the hell! I should’ve went with the Milk one. Don’t make my mistake. Oh! And if your birthday falls within the quarantine, just go online to get your birthday gift because they have free shipping right now with the code FREESHIP and you’ll have to buy something since they won’t allow a cart with no total amount, but the cheapest thing you can buy are the mini Sephora Collection cleansing wipes which are $2. So spending $2.19 (tax included) for a birthday gift, makeup wipes and two samples is still pretty good, in my opinion.

On the other hand, the birthday gift from Ulta is incredible. It’s full size and it’s just a great face scrub. It’ll definitely last at least six months, and I like it so much that I might buy another one when it’s done. Sephora could really learn some things from Ulta.

Other than listening to The Phantom of the Opera soundtrack on repeat, I really love this song. Ignore the title.

Nathan and I attempted to rewatch Final Destination and just couldn’t. There are certain movies you just can’t watch at this point in time.

We watched Ticks as well and that was somehow more of an enjoyable time.

Also watched They Live, which I can’t believe I’d never seen before. It’s like a longer Twilight Zone episode, which means it was great.

So incredibly sad to hear about Gotham Bar & Grill. Their food was incredible.

One thing that I’ve started to do is watch food clips in the morning right after I wake up. It’s better than checking your email. It’s better than reading the news. It’s better than anything you’re currently doing. Here’s what I watched this morning.

Had lunch at Astoria Provisions and the food was as good as I hoped. The service was lovely, too.

I made a deconstructed poutine at home on my birthday and it was perfect. I cooked the potatoes, then I spread the curds on top and baked those to melt it a bit. And then I made the gravy and kept the gravy in a separate bowl for dunking. Nothing got soupy or gross! The fries stayed crispy! It was genius, I say.

Why haven’t I always bought my bedsheets at Marshalls? I got a lovely Kate Spade set for $40, which is a deal.

Another incredible New Yorker cover.

Above Photo: By Eric Drooker

I haven’t really attempted to watch any whole episodes of any of the late night talk shows lately but the fact that Jimmy Fallon has his wife filming it and his kids in it is really cute.

I went to Fantasy Explosion in Brooklyn and it was great, wish they had more stuff but what they do have is wicked.

I finished watching the new season of On My Block and just wow (spoilers ahead). Here are my thoughts: I love Jasmine so much and I wish she was the main star of the show, Jamal having sex like that was so weird and abnormal I was almost confused by it, the scene with Spooky and his dad made me cry and I fucking sobbed at the ending.

If you live in Mississauga, The Apple Market (by Camilla Public School) can pull your grocery order for you and you can pick it up curbside if you email them your grocery list to [email protected] - thank you for telling me about this, Marla! It’s eons faster than other major grocery stores are right now, and you’re also helping out a small business, so definitely look into it if you’re interested.

The restaurant Vesta in Astoria is giving out free meals to any laid off restaurant workers in the neighborhood, which is so generous and amazing, love that place, they’ll give you more details if you call them.

I went over what I did from my winter list of things to do.

I went on Nathan’s podcast twice and baby you’re gonna be hearing me lots more on it in the coming weeks.

I’m a maniac so I made a spring list of things I want to do.

Things that I’m looking forward to this month: I got a gift card to Sephora from my brother and sister-in-law so I’ll definitely use that (looking for recommendations of new things to try, thinking of getting more Drunk Elephant products since I’ve loved the samples I’ve had in the past), watching more Elaine and Puddy episodes of Seinfeld, I keep thinking of starting Friday Night Lights again but there are so many other things to watch so I can’t decide, I think I’ll write another quarantine ideas list since I keep thinking of more things to add on, and oh can we cancel April Fools Day this year? Nobody needs it right now.

P.S. I love this little girl and I love this song.

#March monthly list #March roundup #March 2020 #quarantine #this is liz heather #Liz Heather #Astoria #Mississauga #Canada #NYC #The New Yorker #Eric Drooker

[mineofilms]

...SheePeople, People, People SheePeople...

...SheePeople, People, People SheePeople...

So since people are now jumping on the climate change issue(s).  This comes from a friend of mine who is an environmental consultant in the UK.

"GLOBAL WARMING and CLIMATE CHANGE are two different things and are not INTERCHANGEABLE...

[Global warming] is the long-term heating of Earth’s climate system observed since the pre-industrial period (between 1850 and 1900) due to human activities, primarily fossil fuel burning, which increases heat-trapping greenhouse gas levels in Earth’s atmosphere.

The term is frequently used interchangeably with the term climate change, though the latter refers to both human and naturally produced warming and the effects it has on our planet. It is most commonly measured as the average increase in Earth’s global surface temperature.

[Climate change] is a long-term change in the average weather patterns that have come to define Earth’s local, regional and global climates.

These changes have a broad range of observed effects that are synonymous with the term.

Changes observed in Earth’s climate since the early 20th century are primarily driven by human activities..." IG @tanknancy

The fact the CNN and/or the whole Goddamn Sheepeople population that believe in this shit, shit being that humans cause 100% of the damage to our planet should give ya some insight right there. Think about this for a second...

The difference between using common sense, logic, critical thinking and science, combined, as an ideology...

OVER...

Separating the 4, and calling everyone stupid that doesn't follow your Leftist or Rightist lazy thinking approach.

The caption in the graphic is much more accurate than saying humans are the "majority" cause. Do not be part of the sheepeople clan or generation asshole.

I can easily; make videos of pollution cut in with poor industrial methods and rants from children about "stealing their future" and make it sound like humans caused, cause 100% of all this.

You cannot learn science in a few hours of YouTube videos. You learn it over a life of learning REAL science and how REAL facts are obtained. Not opinions or "pseudo" science, pseudo literally means "made up."

Being into video production for 20 years, one learns how to manipulate this to have a "certain point of view." It's called the documentary and not all are created equal or even based on truth.

It's all about perspective. Like I said here...

Use common sense, logic, critical thinking and science, not politics or left side and right side.

Do not be sooooo naive...

I am not saying its wrong or any of the sort, but one has to understand when a doc is produced it is trying to convey a message.

Not in ALL cases is said message true/honest.

The point I am trying to make here is just that not all data is based on fact.

Sometimes facts get skewed just a little to deliver the point of view of the producers/creators of the content.

With going to film school and learning the craft of how things get done for TV/Movies/Docs to get made, a lot of the time things in the plot take twists for entertainment value, even in documentary filmmaking.

If you are going to have a stance on something that charges people up or down. Do your damn research. Argue your point with facts and when you do throw in an opinion just say that is what that is.

I just find it crazy that people on social media look for fights. They pick a new topic every few weeks and just go after people. When chatting was a black screen with literally white text and there were no pics just avatar pics you could bully and name-call till the end of time and it didn't really do any harm besides ruffle feathers for a few minutes.

When social media turned into a fuck-fest of personal information, dating sites, FB, IG, TW and now you literally knew the person you were talking to, it actually meant something. That you could tear someone apart online and then you would bump into them at a bar or on a date at a restaurant and then have to deal with that... It put the whole world on edge.

Anxiety where it never was there before and such. Of course it would be just easier if people could disagree about something and it not turn into a full-on fight.

At 41 no one's opinion of me or what I stand for is going to change the way I think. If you are a person who literally thinks you have that sort of gift or power, by all means, put some money on it and I will gladly give you my PayPal and accept your donations.

Now, if your argument is compelling and you can show me actual, real, fact/data that makes me think more on it. You should quit your job and go be a car salesman because you would probably make a killing.

This blog wasn't about me or global warming or filmmaking. It was about the approach of opinion and fact and how one should look at things.

If you go through life constantly getting pissy with people because they do not share your version of the matrix/reality then the problem isn't those people, it's you... Just let that sit in for a little bit.

If every time you walk through a red door you get hit in the face very very hard, but every other door that isn't red you have no issues with. What can you gather about that data, that ALL RED DOORS bring you nothing but pain and misery so logic would dictate that you avoid said red doors, yet you keep wanting/doing/walking through them, again let that settle in.

...SheePeople, People, People SheePeople...

David-Angelo Mineo (quotes from IG @tanknancy) 10/24/2019