#i went into this game knowing nothing but that there are 12 eligible people you can marry

[opiatemasses]

The Truth Behind the Exploitation of Pacific Island Rugby

Anyone who follows international rugby will know of the Pacific Islands and the excitement they bring to the game. The Pacific Islands comprise Fiji, Samoa and Tonga. Rugby is the national sport and heart of the islands’ communities, produce some of the world most talented athletes. More than a quarter of the players in the global game come from the Islands, and yet they have a combined population of only 1.5 million people (less than the population of West Yorkshire).

This clip is a personal favourite of mine, illustrating some amazing skill, I could watch this all day.

This shows the other side of the Pacific Island players, the sheer brute force they possess.

And yet the Islands are being exploited in direct contradiction to World Rugby’s values. I’d like you to keep these values in mind as we explore these issues.

Power Imbalance

This inequality underpins the other issues. The Pacific Islands along with tier two and three nations have limited influence over decisions made for the global game.

There are 10 nations in tier one, each receiving three votes making up 60% of the World Rugby Council. In contrast, tier two and three comprise 120 nations and are allocated nine votes between them, and make up 20% of the Council. The other 20% is made up by regions, representatives of the continents.

How can the global game grow and develop when decision-making is skewed in the interests of tier one nations, at the expense of the other 120 nations?

 A system where votes are shared more evenly would be more representative of the global game. In an interview, Ben Gosper (CEO of World Rugby) shut the proposition of Pacific Island nations achieving a three-vote status down swiftly; laughing he said - “I can’t see this happening while I am here”.

This dismissive attitude isn’t in the best interests of the global game and needs to change for the game to move forward and to give these nations a chance to thrive.

This table illustrates how votes are allocated. Notably Japan have recently gained two-vote status, representing an improvement in their ability as they challenge the tier one nations (who can forget that South Africa game). However, it has coincided with an increase in the amount of Pacific Island players in their team with 10 of their 30-man squad at RWC2019 being of Pacific Island heritage including captain and Japanese rugby hero, Michael Leach. World Rugby are rewarding Japan for ‘poaching’ these players.

Importing Pacific Island Players – Eligibility Rules

Pacific Island players have to move abroad to earn a living, not only at club level but often to play for a different nation with no return to their home nation because of the “one nation for life rule”.

Over 600 players with Pacific Island heritage play in the European leagues and more in the Super League, including some of the world’s best like Billy Vunipola and Ardie Savea. This is because there are no pathways for young talents in the islands, with limited funding and no professional teams. The financial draw is huge as players are expected to pay back into their Islands economy and help their family and village, so much so that overseas rugby players contribute about 20% of national GDP to the Islands. This is more than tourism, hospitality and agriculture combined contribute to the UK’s GDP.  

Is it ethical to be taking these players - some as young as 13 - having them sign contracts and move to another county with massively different cultures? (which could have negative effects on players wellbeing). With players moving at such a young age they are eligible to play for the nation they now reside. This is understandable as other nations pay considerably more. An England player is paid £25,000 per international match, whilst a Tongan player earns £80.

This causes problems for the Pacific Island teams. Not only do they lose the majority of their best players but even when tier one nations discard them they are unable to return to play. A prime example of this is Charles Piatau. He has Tongan heritage but played for New Zealand 17 times, however is now surplus to requirements. He has stated “I’d love nothing more than to be able to represent Tonga.” A player such as him beneficial for Tonga’s development.  

Image from Charles Piatau’s Twitter (@CPiutau)

There is an obvious fix to this situation.  This would be to amend the eligibility laws, which would allow players to return to their heritage nation after a sufficient ‘cool-off period’ (for example, two years), where they haven’t played for their tier one nation.

This potential solution is currently blocked by World Rugby and its Council. Ben Gosper claimed that the Council, rejected the idea. Why? One possible explanation is because the Council is made up of 60% tier one nations and allowing tier two nations to grow in ability is not in their best interest. This brings us back to protectionism and clear disregard of their own values of ‘respect and integrity’.

Unevenly distributed funds

The issue here is the share of revenue from international fixtures. Currently the home nation takes all of the revenue from tickets and match day earnings, which is ordinarily payed back with a reverse fixture. However, the Pacific Island teams have drawn sell-out crowds against the home nations 12 times and had the favour returned only twice in the past 10 years. This would bring more exposure to rugby on the islands, but is not viable. In 2016 Samoa hosted New Zealand and made a loss of $1 million; because the host nation has to pay for the flights of the visiting nation and Samoa’s stadia are too small and tickets are priced at $4 each to ensure locals can watch, and therefore cannot support the inherent costs.

If we take a look at England vs Fiji in 2016, the game sold out. There was a total of £34 million earned from the game, each England player received £22,000 whilst each Fijian player was paid £400. The rest was kept by the RFU and nothing was given to Fiji’s union. Fijian rugby gained nothing from this game in terms of development or growth, barring some exposure to high level rugby for their team and supporters.

I suggest profit sharing, where Pacific Island teams play tier one nations but take home a share of the profits they help generate. If a model was put in place to share the profits 80/20, losing this 20% wouldn’t have a significant effect on tier one nations but would have a hugely positive effect for the Pacific Islands, who could grow the game in their region become a stronger team and a greater competitor.

Corruption within the islands

These issues are all important, however the corruption, poor governance and leadership within the islands must be addressed before anything meaningful can change.

Due to the lack of external funding and income from home games, Pacific Island rugby relies on their government and public funding for up to 60% of their finances. This means that politics and politicians retain a tight hold on the sport.

In preparation for the 2011 RWC the Samoan public raised 6 million Samoan Tala (£1.8 million), to pay for the players wages, accommodation and equipment. However, the players were the lowest paid at the tournament (£1000 a week), their accommodation was poor. Captain Seilala Mapusua reported they turned up to training to find there were no balls.

Where did this money go? An independent audit of their finances found that it went missing at the hands of the Board members who took the money for themselves. Even more astonishing is that the Prime Minister of the country is one of the Board members (for more information read here or  watch here).

Arguably more shocking is the governance of the Fiji Union where the President is Frank Bainimarama, who is also the Prime Minister and the Chairman of the Union is Francis Kean, Frank’s brother-in-law. This displays a corrupt path to power which more often than not leads to the wrong people running an organisation.

They were both involved in the coup of the Fijian government in 2000 and 2006. Francis Kean was also convicted of man slaughter in 2006 and served one week in jail before his bother-in-law released him, yet he remained the Chairman of Fiji Rugby and was even nominated for promotion to the World Rugby Executive Committee in early 2020. This nomination was withdrawn only after protests from players and fans, and he was stood down less than a month after his nomination, not on grounds of being a convicted killer but on homophobic allegations. World Rugby claimed they were unaware of his background. For more information on this click here

Image from Netani Talei’s Twitter (@NetaniTaleiE)

This governance leads to further issues for the players as many of them are scared to speak up and express their concerns; as C (former Fiji captain) said in an interview “Frank can make you fucking disappear”.

Politics runs deep in Fiji rugby, as Ben Ryan who led Fiji 7s team to an Olympic gold medal in 2016 said he would have the military come to the gym telling him what players to select and to not pick players because their parents weren’t supporting Franks political party.

Image from Ben Ryan’s Instagram (benryan7s)

These issues of governance need resolving, but if reform can’t come from within the Islands it must come from World Rugby. I suggest a programme from World Rugby to appoint specialist and leaders to the Pacific to, in the short-term aid in running their Unions and checking the finances but in the long run to train the next generation of leaders for the Union and set-in place the standards of governance that must be met, in order for them to start making progress on and off the field.  

What needs to be done?

There are 5 key actions:

We need to change the way we view these nations and give them a hand up to help them develop in the long-term instead of handouts to keep them afloat in the short-term.

World Rugby need to take responsibility for the governance of these nations.

World Rugby need to change their voting system and stop the blatant protectionism of tier one nations.

Pacific Island teams need to receive a fair share of revenue they help to generate.

A simple change to the eligibility laws, to give players freedom to play for their heritage nation.

Ask yourself, if you consider the RFU and WR values to be legitimate and worthy, why are they not being upheld in relation to the Pacific Islands?

Leave a comment below with your thoughts on this issue. I’d love to hear them.

What can you do to help?

Please share this blog post and help to spread awareness. 

Support Pacific Island Rugby Welfare– they are a charity that do great work in supporting Pacific Island rugby players and their families and are really the front line in battling these injustices.

Make sure to support their posts and petitions and stay up-to date on this issue by following them on twitter - @pacificwelfare.

Support them with whatever you can through Patreon.

I would also highly recommend you watch the documentary ‘Oceans Apart’ on Amazon Prime if you wish to educate yourself further on these issues. (Watch here).

There are links throughout the blog to articles which expand further on what we have covered here, so please read them and educate yourself further.

Remember to leave a comment and let me know your opinions on this issue.

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References

Kihl, L., Skinner, J., & Engelberg, T. (2016). Corruption in sport: understanding the complexity of corruption. European Sport Management Quarterly, 17(1), 1-5.

McDonald, B. (2014). Developing ‘Home-Grown’ Talent: Pacific Island Rugby Labour and the Victorian Rugby Union. The International Journal Of The History Of Sport, 31(11), 1332-1344.

Naha, S., & Hassan, D. (2017). Introduction: ethical concerns in sport governance. Sport In Society, 21(5), 721-723.

[fsketchart]

Hunger Games AU - Daminette

WARNING : Hunger games includes murder, I don't condone it & I don't write it in detail. However, if it can still be triggering for you this is not the best head canon/AU for you.  No shame if you're uncomfortable with it!  You take care of you and your needs first!  The hunger games has 24 children from ages 12-18 tossed into an arena, and are forced to battle with only one tribute allowed to keep their life.  If you're not comfortable, I hope you find an AU that better suites your tastes!

WARNING 2 : If a character is killed off, it's to highlight that everyone that was killed in the hunger games (as there can only be one winner) was killed off NOT because I "hate" the character, but because I felt like it would be more important to remember that the people killed were not faceless characters.  There were good people killed off, the hunger games doesn't ever really have a true victor.  Everyone loses someone or something in the end.  So if a character you like is killed off by someone else it's because I didn't want characters to kill off faceless people.  I don't want anyone to forget that the people who are killed were real people with families.

LAST NOTE PROMISE : Tim is 19 in this one.  Why?  Because you'll find out.  MWUAHAHAHAHAHAH (it's actually not that serious but let me have this.)

Also the I call the peacekeepers and people like them capitol guards to make it easier for people who haven't read the books to understand!

Heads up this is gonna be the 100th annual hunger games, the hunger games books didn't occur here.

If you read the books/seen the movies skip to the part where it says NOW in all caps.

For background info in case you haven't read the books / seen the movies, there are 12  districts not counting 13.  Districts 1, 2, and 4 are the wealthier districts and every district essentially works for the capital.  The capitol hosts a hunger games every year where 24 tributes, 1 girl and 1 boy from each district (District 13 doesn't participate, and won't be mentioned here) and the tributes are forced to kill each other for the capitol's entertainment.

Children from the wealthier districts volunteer tributes, by having the previous victors of the hunger games train them from a young age.  Only one tribute can walk out of the arena alive.  The poorer districts hate the hunger games and no one wants to participate in then, no one volunteers.  All districts, to find a tribute, pool their names and have them written on a paper.  Then, the names are chosen from a bowl, one girl and one boy, from the two bowls filled with names.  The names chosen are forced to participate in the hunger games, unless someone else volunteers.  Out of all 24 tributes, only one can live.  Some people add their names in the bowl multiple times in exchange for extra food.

Every 25 years, the hunger games has a, "special," game where they add in special ways to choose the tributes who participate in the games.  Examples being voting who becomes a tribute, double the amount of tributes, choosing from the remaining pool of victors, etc.

Children are the ones who participate in the games, ages 12-18.

NOW

•The 100th annual hunger games decided that this year, instead of everyone putting their name in the bowl or volunteering, the last names of families would be placed in.  If a family was chosen, the family would then decide who of their eligible children would fight in the hunger games.  Essentially being voted to be killed by their own family.

•Damian lives in district one, the luxury district.  District one manufactures and trades luxury goods like perfume, fur coats I believe, jewelery, that sort of stuff (<---big vocabulary word.)

•Damian has trained for the hunger games since he was a child.

•He knew how to wield several types of weapons due to the excessive training he was put under.  However, he easily injured himself and would require stitches often for his injuries.

•As he grew older, he realized he didn't want to die in the games, he wanted to live his life to the fullest.

•Marinette is born in the 8th district, the textiles (fashion) district.

•Her parents run a bakery there, but Marinette, having grown up surrounded by fashion, quickly became fascinated by it.

•However, she mainly focused on the bakery and quickly became handy with stitching and using a knife (in the kitchen.) She eventually became quiet experienced with a knife, and safety stuff (<---Big vocabulary word) as well.

•Her parents would sometimes injury themselves in the kitchen or her friends would try to rebel against capitol guards (district 8 is well known for uprising and rebellions.) She would often have to help stitch them back up once the capital guards became violent.

•The Wayne family was reaped from the pooling. Since Damian was the only minor in the Wayne family (Tim=19) he had no choice but to enter the games.

•The Dupain-Cheng family was also chosen for district 8.  Marinette was the only one who could go.  Her parents fought against it, but when the capitol guards threatened to get violent, Marinette jumped it and said she would fight, and gritted through her teeth about how it was such a huge, "honor."

•All tributes get 3 days to train / prep for the hunger games and they train in the capital.

•When they arrive at the capital, they were put in training, and would start a test to see their best strengths.  Then, they would be ranked.

•People who had a higher ranking were more likely to get sponsors.  Sponsors = packages would drop from the sky that would give food, water, medicine, etc.  If the capital people liked you, they would place bets on you that you're gonna survive.  To win those bets they try to keep you alive if you're their favorite.  Thus, everyone puts on an act, a facade in front of the cameras and TV show interviews right before the hunger games start, and try to score the highest in the strength tests.  The more the capitol likes you and thinks you have a shot at winning = more sponsors.

•Damian scores a 12.  (Hella hecking high.  Like most people who train their whole lives get like a 9 or 10)

•Marinette scores a 2, only for her ability to repair clothes and stitch stuff together using left over cloth.  (Don't worry, we'll get back to this later.)

•Marinette spends the 3 days before the hunger games eating as much as she can to lower her metabolism so she won't starve in the games and improving her knife skills (which she didn't show at the strength tests.) She also studies as many books as she can about useful knowledge for the arenas.

•Damian spends it learning about his opponents, so he knows what to expect.  The one thing he refuses to learn however are their names.  He doesn't want to humanize the children he will soon have to compete against.

•There is a cornucopia at the center of the arena that has all the good weapons, however most people die at the cornucopia trying to retrieve supplies, especially at the beginning.

•When the games begin, Damian darts for it.  He needs to get his hands on a weapon and he needs it ASAP.

•Marinette is like screw that I'm out!  And runs away from the cornucopia to explore the rest of the arena and find a suitable water source.

•Water is often tampered with in the arena.  The game makers (capital people who design the arenas) in previous games have tried to to poison it, only making it available if you slice open trees, make all the water salted, etc.  A suitable water source is scarce.  They almost always make it hard to find a good source of water.

•Damian survives the cornucopia and snags a sword but wasn't able to grab much else without risking his life.

•In the process, he already killed two people.  He never even knew their names.

•But luckliky for you, I'll let you in on their names.  District 7, lumber tribute was Luka.  Luka went straight to the cornucopia so he could wield a weapon, trying to find a good axe to use.  He promised Juleka he would make it back.  Juleka screamed and cried when she saw his death on screen.  She didn't leave her house for a few days.  Neither did their mother.

•Ivan was also killed, district 12 of coal mining.  He was sent in along side Mylene as the female tribute for their district.  He thought that when Damian grabbed the sword he was aiming to kill Mylene who was nearby and tried to attack Damian first.  Damian was alarmed and killed him right then and there.  Mylene saw the whole thing but Ivan just screamed at her to run away from the cornucopia as he bled to his death.  And so she did.

•Damian was shaking as he ran away from the cornucopia with her sword.  He could only think that killing was nothing like Talia described.  She said one stab, that's it's.  Plain and simple.  But it isn't plain and simple.  Damian, for the first time in a long time, felt like crying.

•However, he was determined to make it back to his family.  At any cost.  So he brushed away the tears threatening to spill and moved onwards.

•Lila was from district 2, rock quarrying.  The district is wealthy because they were loyal to the capital in the first rebellion, where other districts tried to rebel against the capitol, and failed.

•Lila wanted to make it back to the comfort of her mother, and was also willing to do it at any costs, similar to Damian.  In the process of doing so, she killed one of district 4's tributes.

•District 4 is the fishing district, and was relatively wealthy.  The tribute Lila killed was Kagami.  Kagami was trained from a young age to kill, her mother taught her that she should have pride, and should be honored that she was able to participate in the games.  And she believed her.  Only in her dying breathes, did she realize that dying for the sake of glory and pride, spending her last few moments with the goal to murder other children, held no honor at all.

•Marinette's fellow tribute from district 8 was Adrien.  His father was well known in the district and his family was respected among the capitol.  His father designed the suits for the capitol guards and constantly made improvements to make them better for battle.  When the Agreste Family was chosen, Gabriel was devasted.  He begged and pleaded with them to stop, he was willing to make bigger, better, fancier, stronger, you name it suits.  Anything to keep Adrien alive.  However, the rules were rules.  And Adrien promised to make it home to his father, to make sure his father would not be left alone in the world.

•Marinette and Adrien split up in the games.  Gabriel warned Adrien not to make allies, and if he had to choose, be allies with districts the careers (will be explained later.)  They were the ones with the best sponsors, and most surviving tributes came from the careers.  Adrien tried to argue back that he was friends with Marinette and wanted to stay by her side, but his father silenced him.  The hunger games was a place of survival and murder, there was no room for morals.  You kill or be killed.  If he teamed up with Marinette, he would have to kill her eventually if he wanted to win, and she would have to fight him as well.

•During the 3 day preparation, they spoke it over.  Marinette and Adrien understood.  They felt it would be best if someone else ended the life of the other, rather than having to kill the other themselves.

•Adrien agreed to it and Adrien, Lila, Alya, Nino, and Felix formed the career pack.

•Every year, the career pack is formed of the best districts, sometimes an exception being made (this case being Nino, district 3 of technology.) The careers split resources and sponsorships and work together to eliminate the weaklings first, and then betray one another near the end.

•Felix was district 2, like Lila.

•Alya was district 1, luxury, the female tribute alongside Damian.

•They agreed Damian was their biggest threat.

•And so the hunt began.

•When they fought him, a blood battle began.  Damian was outnumbered but managed to get away.  However, his right arm was severely injured, filled with stabs and cuts, not including the ones covering him all over.  Damian managed to kill Nino and Felix however.

•Damian was stumbling as the first day turned to night.  He passed out.

•Marinette found him rotting, nearly dead on the ground from bleeding.

•(Heads up I'm no doctor-)

•She had already found a small stream that provided clear water which she tested, and found some edible berries she recognized from her families bakery and the fruits they would use.  There were no animals placed in the arena to hunt.

•Suddenly, Damian got a sponsorship, medical supplies.  (I'm sorry I could never be a doctor people would die if I was-)

•Marinette used it to keep him alive and cleansed his cuts and stuff (wow look at my vocabulary.)

•When Damian woke up, Marinette was there tending to his sounds still.

•Damian immediately thought she was poisoning him and nearly tried to grab for his sword, but realized he was disarmed.

•She explained what had happened.  And Damian saw the stitching and what not. (Writing skills level 100000000-)

•He asked why she did it.

•She explained that she didn't quite know.  But she felt like she couldn't just leave him there.

•Damian felt guilty, like he owed her something for her kindness, but still didn't trust her.

•The look her gave her must have given it away, because she nodded in understanding.

•She offered him the remaining med supplies.

•"Where are they from?"

•"Your sponsor."

•"You could've lied and kept them for yourself."

•"I could've." She agreed.

•Damian stuck around for a little while.  He told himself he needed to pay her back.  She didn't accept the med supplies, stating she already did some research and read books on medicinal herbs and plants the preparation week for the hunger games.

•He never told her his real name, sharing names make you attached.  His mother always taught him to avoid sharing names.  It makes it harder to kill.

•So she called him Robin, and he called her Ladybug.

•Damian tried to justify him tagging along.

•"You kept me alive for 3 days, let me do the same."

•"...I can do that on my own."

•"Yeah...but...I got a higher score in the strength tests.  I'll tag along.  Besides, what if you're keeping more sponsors from me that belong to me?"

•He found every excuse to stay by her side.

•She found herself growing attached to his presence.

•She showed him things like water sources and certain berries that were edible.

•Of course, he stayed by her side gathering all these supplies.

•"What if the careers attack you gathering water?  I need to repay my debt-"

•"Really, Robin.  You don't need to repay me."

•"But Ladybug-"

•"No.  Really-"

•"No I insist.  I'm repaying my debt.  Please?"

•"...fine."

•"( ◜‿◝ )♡"

•However, these fun times would soon end.  With fewer and fewer tributes left, 7 in total, they knew it would only be a matter of time before they too were killed, or had to kill.

•It happened so soon, Marinette had been trying to keep a downlow profile to avoid becoming a target.  But it seems like District 6's tribute of transportation, Garfield, deemed her a safe target.

•He found his Target and a stranger, a boy with black hair, sitting and talking under the comfort of a tree.  They seemed at peace, almost content.  He found it bizarre they would find it peaceful and take pleasure in small talk in the middle of the hunger games.

•When he began to attack, Damian immediately jumped into action.  Garfield was using a trident he picked up at the cornucopia.  Damian, however, was caught by surprise.  He struggled to keep up with Garfield's moves.  He was quick, deceptive, and swift.  Garfield was caught off guard when he realized who the boy was, and wasn't expecting Damian, but if he could take out Damian, the girl would be no problem, right?

•Damian was knocked down and Garfield took advantage of that.  He tried to aim for the chest but Damian quickly moved out of the way.  Instead, it plundered into his leg.  Damian screamed in pain.

•Marinette leapt into action.  She was quicker than he was, and lighter on her feet.  What she lacked in muscle she made up with in precision and quick thinking.  She grabbed her knife and wielded it like an extension of her arm.  She would not relent.  The fight continued for about 5 minutes, of Garfield's strength versing Marinette's speed and quick thinking.

•Damian was left in shock.  Finally, Marinette took advantage of Garfield's poor footing, knocked him off his feet, and aimed for the kill.

•Garfield's eyes wide in shock.  He fell to the ground, shaking.  Marinette's eyes looked horrified, and she just stared at her hands with the blade and back at him in shock.

•"I understand." Garfield said looking at her eyes.  "It had to be one of us."

•He glanced over at Damian.  "You know, I have a feeling we could've been great friends in another lifetime.  Guess it doesn't matter anymore."

•He closed his eyes, and the canon that symbolized the death of a tribute was fired.

•Damian realized then, what Marinette was doing.  How no one attacked for so long and how she fooled even him with her low score in the strength tests.  No one but Garfield towards the end actually came to kill her.  Everyone only saw her as a target to save for later.  How in the interviews she acted helpless, and innocent.  He knew now that she wasn't and that she was dangerous.  And he knew for sure now that if she wanted him dead she would've done so a long time ago.

•Marinette didn't speak to Damian for a day.  She just kept to herself.  He made sure she ate well, and gathered food for the both of them that day.

•Marinette at night, just began to sob uncontrollably.  Damian tried to comfort her but realized he too was crying.  They just hugged each other and cried.  Eventually, they became silent tears streaming down their faces until they drifted off to sleep.

•It was down to the final 4, tributes.  Adrien, Lila, Damian and Marinette.

•When they went to gather berries the next day, all the soil was ruined.  Water from the edges of the arena came in and crushed all the berries.  The waves of water came from the outer edge of the Arena but the waves seems to grow weaker as they traveled to the center.  The only suitable source of berries were at the center near the cornucopia.  And with no animals in the arena and no suitable berries, they knew where the capitol wanted them to go.

•Before they went, they figured they should refill on water.  However, one close look at the water shows that the water supply was contaminated with a special type of liquid, probably what was helping the water ruin the crops/plants/fruits.

•When they reached the Arena, Marinette and Damian are greeter with Lila and Adrien already fighting one another. There looks of betrayal at one another mixed with their anger and hatred.  Marinette was shocked while Damian wasn't surprised.  It was common for the careers to betray one another towards the end.

•Marinette's eyes hardened as she leapt into action to take advantage of the situation, Damian joining beside her.

•Adrien managed to get a good hit in Lila, and she stumbled and fell over.  He aimed for the final hit before she dove underneath him and twisted his arm behind his back and killed him right then and there.

•The cannon fired.

•Marinette screamed as she ran over.  She eyes were wide open and she charged for Lila.  She swung her knife, no longer as precise or as swift as before.  She was almost hysterical seeing her childhood best friend on the ground dead.  She knew it would come, but she never knew she would have to see the light drain from his eyes in person.

•Damian tried to attack Lila but Lila was swift.  She was too close to home, too close to her mother's hugs to let them take it from her.  She took advantage of Marinette's sobbing and stabbed her and ripped the knife out immediately after.  The knife cut straight through her skin and when it was pulled out Marinette was screaming as blood pooled out.

•Lila almost felt guilty, but she knew it was kill or be killed.  Now to just get Damian-

•Damian let out a piercing cry.  He grabbed his sword and began to charge.  Unlike Marinette, he wasn't rigid or swinging wildly.  Each slice of his slices unlike before, were precise.  Each aimed to with one goal in mind.  He was swift and would not relent.  Never stopping, never pausing to adjust his grip.  Lila couldn't catch her breath.  With each step he took, she took another backwards.  Until eventually, Lila had no place else to run, and the canon for her death was fired.

•Damian ran back to Marinette as she was coated in blood.  Damian could only pray it wasn't hers, but he knew better.

•"LADYBUG!"

•"R-" Marinette sputtered and choked on her own blood. "Robin…"

•Damian was full on sobbing.  He tried desperately to find something, anything to stop the bleeding.  Marinette just looked with a sorrowful smile and clasped his hands.

•"Ladybug…" Marinette shook her head.

•"Call me, Marinette."

•"Marinette," Damian said, trying out the name.

•Marinette smiled and closed her eyes.  •Damian kissed her forehead, wanting to stay strong for her final moments, and the canon fired one last time.

•With Marinette gone, Damian saw no reason to act strong.  Damian's eyes pooled with tears, as his nose became stuffy and his eyes became shiny like glass.  He began hiccuping and sobbing uncontrollably, as his body began shaking.  His face was heated and he was almost incapable of speech.  He only screamed out her name in sorrow as his voice was filled with pain.  When his voice was nearly gone, he just quietly whispered apologies.

•A voice boomed from the sky.  "THIS YEAR'S ANNUAL HUNGER GAMES VICTOR, GIVE IT UP FOR DAMIAN WAYNE!" Damian just held her hand, tears streaming down his face as warmth gradually left her hands.

•"This year was an exciting one, folks!  I'm sure you all had fun watching at home!" the voice boomed.  "I haven't seen such an entertaining hunger games in over 59 years!  Bravo, Damian Wayne.  I hope you walk out of this arena with great pride at the man you've become."

TAG LIST :  If you wanna be added to my regular daminette post list (not daminette december) just let me know!

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#daminette #marinette x damian #maribat #maridami #I completely forgot to post this

[let-it-raines]

Catch Me If You Can (26/40)

298 days. That’s how long Killian Jones was away from a baseball field. It’s less than a year, only part of a season for him, but it might as well have lasted a decade as he alternated between physical therapy and spending an excessive amount of time sitting on his couch.

But then he came back and won the World Series.

It’s something no one saw coming, and it’s certainly not something anyone who knows about his arm would predict. Now it’s a new season with new possibilities, and anything could happen. On-field reporter Emma Swan will be there to cover it all even if she is not his biggest fan right now.

Asking her out live on-air will do that.

Rating: Mature

a/n: So you guys had some pretty big feelings about the last chapter. (I love it.) I think you might also have some about the next few. 🙈❤️

AO3: Beginning | Current

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-/-

Liam has been yelling at him for thirty-two minutes and seventeen seconds.

That might be a little off, his timing incorrect since he didn’t start counting until it’d been going on for quite a few minutes, and he’s only been counting with his head. He doesn’t have a watch on, has no idea where his phone currently is except probably in the locker room, and counting in his head is the only way he’s able to keep track.

The clock on Elsa’s wall is dead. That seems apt.

Counting is very literally the only thing that is keeping him sane right now. It’s also distracting him from the throbbing pain that’s emanating from his shoulder every time he so much as flinches or shifts in the wrong direction.

Killian has felt like an idiot more times than he can count – ironic with how much he’s counting right now, he knows – but he thinks that ignoring his shoulder, ignoring the pain, ignoring the signs, and ignoring every other little thing over the past few months has been the dumbest thing he’s ever done.

This could fuck up his entire career, again, and he ignored it for the idiotic hope that things would simply get better on their own.

Things have obviously not gotten better on their own, and he was pretty much carted off of the field and out of the stadium to the hospital so that he could have an MRI and an X-ray done only to find out that he has tendinitis in the rotator cuff that was injured in the boating accident and already had to have surgery to repair it once before.

Liam is currently yelling at him because he made a joke about how at least it was only tendinitis and not another full tear that would require surgery and being out of the game completely for ten months.

Just four to six weeks this time.

That’s nothing, right?

Except the playoffs start in four weeks, and while he can’t remember the rules of eligibility right off the top of his head since this is something he’s never had to deal with before, he thinks that as long as he doesn’t miss the entire post-season, he could still play in the World Series.

If they make it that far.

Shit.

This is not good.

And his hopes for the World Series really shouldn’t be what’s going on in his head right now when he has another arm injury, which is another derailment for his career.

(He’s only twenty-eight years old. It shouldn’t be like this.)

But focusing on this one thing that he wanted, that he wants, for himself and for his team, is inexplicably both driving him into madness and keeping him sane all at once.

“How could you let all of the signs pass you by, Killian?” Liam huffs, his loafers likely going to run a hole in the linoleum floor of the hospital with how much he’s pacing. “Do you not remember what happened the last time you got injured? The lows that you went through? That’s happening again. You finally got to be happy, got to have things going right for you, and you screwed it up because you didn’t want to admit that there is something wrong with you? How fucking dumb can you be?”

“Liam,” Elsa admonishes from her spot in her office where they’ve all gathered now that he’s been released from all of his tests. It’s kind of feeling like a prison in here. “Now is really not the time to yell at him.”

“I think it’s a pretty damn good time.”

“For fuck’s sake,” Killian groans, twisting in Elsa’s office chair to look at his brother. His arm is throbbing, his medicine not quite taking effect yet but the ice pack helping a bit, and that’s all probably not helping with his level of agitation. “I am twenty-eight years old. I do not need you to yell at me like I am one of your children. ObviouslyObviously, I know that I fucked up. The insane amount of ice on my shoulder that’s pretty much going to stay there for the next month as I sit on my ass proves it.”

“All of this could have been solved if you’d come to a doctor. I’m a doctor. Elsa works in a hospital. You have fantastic health insurance. It’s not…the solution was right there. You should have told Archie too!”

“Liam,” Elsa scolds again, and his brother’s head snaps toward his wife.

“What? What could you possibly have to say? He screwed up.”

“No, you screwed up when you started yelling at him like he’s a child. But certainly not your child when there’s no way in hell you would speak to Addison or Lucy this way. Killian gets it. You can see it written over his face, and if you can’t tell that he didn’t say anything because he was scared of finding out something was going to be wrong with him again, I don’t know what to tell you. Is it dumb? Yes. But you see it happen with patients every single day. People get scared, and the confirmation makes injuries and diseases real for them.”

Damn, Elsa Jones.

“Elsa,” Killian sighs, “thank – ”

“No,” she starts, holding up her hand at him, her voice full of emotion. “Just because I understand you and am defending you doesn’t mean I’m not still mad at you. I’m not going to yell at you like your brother, though.”

Elsa wipes at the few tears that have fallen underneath her eyes, and before Killian can even get up to give her a hug and tell her just how much he loves her, Liam is crossing the room and wrapping her up in his embrace so that his frame dwarfs hers for a few seconds while Killian continues to get to sulk and loathe himself for doing this.

It’s all his fault.

There’s no other way around it. That’s the truth, and there’s no changing it.

What the hell is he going to do? And is this going to keep coming back if he continues to pitch? If he does proper treatment, is it something he can monitor? Is his career really about to be cut in half? What is Al going to think when he tells him? What are any of his teammates going to think? Or the owners? All of the managers?

What about Emma?  

If he’d told her all of those times he wanted to tell her, all of those times he’d meant to tell her when she caught him in pain over the past few months, she would know about his past and would most likely have had enough sense to tell him to go see a doctor since she would have a more frequent look at how he was every day than either Liam or Elsa.

But “if” doesn’t exist.

What has happened, happened. There’s no changing that.

But if he could…no, nope. No. He can’t go there. “If” doesn’t exist.

Elsa phone starts ringing on her desk, Emma’s name popping up on the screen, and Killian’s hands fumble for it so quickly that he nearly drops it onto the ground. But he doesn’t, managing to slide his finger across the phone to answer so that he can hold it up to his ear to talk.

“Hello, beautiful,” he greets and both Elsa and Liam turn to stare him down.  

“Killian?” Her voice is frantic, hoarse, and he has absolutely no idea how she managed to keep on working when he’s sure that her mind was running through all of the worst-case scenarios. She’s got to be pissed at him. He deserves it. Why couldn’t he have found the time to text her before he left? Right. He doesn’t know where his phone is. “Is that you?”

“Aye, love. It’s me. I’m answering Elsa’s phone.”

“SoSo, you’re not dead then?” He opens his mouth to respond but is cut off before he even can. “Because I have pretty much convinced myself that you were dead. It doesn’t even make any sense because you obviously didn’t have something, like, dangerous happen to you while you were playing, but all I’ve known for the past threewo hours waswere that you were hurt. And then my producer walks in the booth and tells me that you’re in the hospital but doesn’t say anything else and…you weren’t answering your phone. No one was. I don’t even know which hospital you’re in. I assumed Mt. Sinai because that’s where Liam works, but I don’t – ”

“Swan,” Killian interrupts as Emma keeps babbling. “Hey, hey, Emma, love. It’s okay. I’m fine. I am at Mt. Sinai. I’ve already had some tests done on my shoulder, and I’m sitting in Elsa’s office so it’s not like I’m laid up in a hospital bed. And I don’t have my phone. It’s in the locker room somewhere, probably, so that’s why I haven’t called you. I’m sorry.”

“How long are you going to be there? Can I come see you? Or should I just go home?”

“Where are you, love?”

“Maybe ten minutes away. I don’t – I got on the subway to go to your apartment first, but then I changed my mind and got off at the one hundred and third street station realizing that you were probably not there.”

“I think you’ve got a future career as a detective if this whole broadcasting thing doesn’t work out for you.” He smiles, even though she can’t see it, and he definitely ignores that look on Elsa and Liam’s faces. He’s had enough judgment from them today even if he deserves all of it. “How’d that go, by the way?”

There’s a loud blare through the phone followed by Emma cursing, and he chuckles to himself. “Can I tell you later? People don’t know how to drive, and I’m probably going to get run over even though I have the damn right of way.”

“Yeah, sure. I’ll text you directions to her office.”

“Thank you. I love you.”

“I love you too,” Killian sighs. “I’ll see you soon.”

The call ends then, and he doesn’t even have time to digest it all before Elsa is speaking again and causing him some serious whiplash.

“What are you going to tell her when she gets here?”

He shrugs, as much as he can at least. “The truth.”

“All of it?”

That familiar sense of guilt settles in him again, pressing down on his shoulders like a ton of bricks, which really isn’t helpful right now when his shoulder is already in so much pain, but this is the situation he’s built for himself.

“What are you guys talking about?” Liam asks, and Killian has to bite his tongue. “Seriously. What?”

“Killian never told Emma about the full extent of the accident,” Elsa explains, rubbing the heels of her hands underneath her eyes. “And I’m guessing he’s been lying to her about how much his shoulder has been hurting too.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah.”

“Fuck,” Killian groans, leaning forward to press his face into the stack of papers on Elsa’s desk, but that hurts his damn shoulder. “She’s going to be so pissed at me.”

“It’s not like you lied about something that’s fundamental to your relationship, though,” Liam says, obviously missing the point because he doesn’t know Emma like Killian knows Emma. “I think she’ll just be pissed like we are.”

“No, no she won’t.” Killian He rolls back in his chair and adjusts the strap that’s holding his ice pack there. “Emma’s got a pretty shitty history with people lying to her or not trusting her with things, and she’s going to be pissed that I did this. I don’t…there’s no way around that. I love her, and I wasn’t honest about the struggles I was going through.”

“It’s going to be fine, sweetie,” Elsa promises, but his mind is already running through worst case scenarios too.

He’s already lost the game again, temporarily at least, and he’s not sure that he can lose anything else.

For years he thought that losing the game would be the only thing possibley of beating him down and having him lose the spark for life that he has. Now he knows that’s not true.

Losing the game would hurt. Losing Emma would kill him.

Killian doesn’t count the ten minutes that it takes Emma to get to the hospital. He doesn’t need to. He feels every second of them. Before he knows it, there’s a timid knock on the door, and then Emma is walking through, her cheeks red and her hair windblown with her eyes widened. She looks like she just ran here instead of taking the train, and the big exhale that she lets out when she makes eye contact with him has him feeling like maybe he ran a marathon too.

Slowly, he stands up from the chair so as not to jostle his arm, and even though he can tell that Emma is a bit hesitant with Liam and Elsa in the room, she walks toward him and wraps her arms around his stomach so that he can feel her over feeling the throbbing in his arm.

“Hey,” he whispers as he rubs his hand up and down her back while his lips press into her forehead. “I’m okay. It’s all okay, love. There’s nothing to worry about.”

“My brain still has me convinced that you’re dead, so give me a minute.”

Killian chuckles. “Okay, okay, I can do that.”

For someone who is so keen on time today, Killian has no idea how long he stands there with Emma’s face buried in his shoulder and his hand on her back. He has no idea.

It’s not long enough though.

Because then Emma is pulling back, the warmth of her body disappearing, and she’s stepping away to wipe out the wrinkles in her dress skirt before moving to hug Liam and Elsa too., almost like she didn’t even realize they were in the room at first.

“So, what happened?” Emma asks. “You said your shoulder? What’s wrong with your shoulder?”

His eyes dart from the green pair to the two sets of blue, pleading for some kind of help in answering her question.

“Liam,” Elsa starts, grabbing onto her husband’s forearm, “why don’t we let them talk? Let’s go get some coffee.”

“You guys can stay,” Emma offers, a sweet, unknowing smile on her face.

“No, it’s fine, sweetie." Elsa nods her head at him, a soft smile on her face as well. “We’ve spent enough time with Killian. We’ll let you guys have this moment. Use my phone to text Liam when you leave, okay?”

“Yeah, Els. That’s fine. I love you guys.”

“Love you too,” Liam answers for them before they’re taking the few steps to the door and walking out of it, letting the wood frame click behind them.

And then he’s left with Emma.

“So, what’s wrong?” she asks again, sitting down in the chair that Elsa has across from her desk while he takes back his seat behind Elsa’s desk. “Did you throw out your shoulder? I know you’re, like, a whole ten months older than me, but I didn’t think you were that much of an old man.”

His chuckle is weak, but he’s thankful that Emma is at least in a bit of a joking mood. Today has been such a big day for her professionally, and he hates that he’s taken away from it.

“I have tendinitis in my rotator cuff.” He’s about to spew out a hell of a lot of information at her, but he doesn’t know how else to do it. The worry etched across Emma’s face certainly doesn’t help. “It’s not a big deal. I’m going to be out for hopefully no more than six weeks as long as I don’t fuck it up again, so I should be able to come back for the Championship Series, not that it matters. I’m in a lot of pain today, but it’s not always so bad.”

“What do you mean it’s not always so bad? Has this been happening more than just today?”

“For a couple of weeks. Maybe a month of two. I don’t – I’m not sure the exact moment that it happened, but it’s gotten worse recently. That day in Boston where we got blown out of the water and I pissed everyone off by being a jackass? That was probably the worst of it on a game day until today.”

“Woah, woah, woah,” Emma sighs, holding her hands up to him as her brows furrow, those little worry lines popping up on her forehead. “You’ve been feeling this for more than today? And you didn’t say anything? Not to me or your family or even Archie? You’re a pitcher, Killian. You’ve been warned about rotator cuff injuries your entire life, and you didn’t think to say something?”

“I was scared.”

“Of what?” she asks before she gets up to pace back and forth in the same path as Liam before her. “All you had to do was say that your shoulder was bothering you, you’re benched for a week or two, and you have time to heal. Then you’re not getting carted off in the middle of games while I’m left sitting in a booth with two assholes who couldn’t care less about you being injured and who made jokes about it while I felt like I could throw up the entire time.”

“Emma – ”

“What?”

“I have something else to tell you.”

Her eyes flicker over him as she crosses her arm over her chest, tugging her dress down and bringing attention to the fact that she’s wearing his mom’s ring around her neck. He’d nearly forgotten about that, only remembered really when his hands absentmindedly reached for it out of habit.

“What do you have to tell me?”

Killian swallows, kind of feeling like he’s going to throw up too. It’s not a big deal. It can’t be. Emma will understand. He’s lying to himself thinking that, but that’s what he has to do.

“When Liam and I were in the boating accident, when I had an open fracture on my arm, I also had a rotator cuff tear. It’s why I didn’t come back at all that season. It’s why I have the small scars on my shoulder.” Emma stops pacing and turns to look at him, worry written all over her face as his own worry constricts his throat. “No one knows about it. Only my family, Archie, and the doctors in Florida who did my surgery. I never told anyone because I didn’t want to be seen as weak. I’d finally gotten myself together, stopping the drinking and the women and every other dumb decision I was making, and there I was having my life torn away from me again. I guess I was so over being pitied and being looked down upon that I rationalized not telling anyone. I thought that if everyone didn’t know, things would be just fine. Life would go on as normal, and that’s all I wanted.”

He takes a breath and tries to figure out what’s going on in Emma’s head, but he can’t tell. There’s no emotion on her face. Absolutely none at all.

“Last season,” Killian continues. “I played with pain. It wasn’t much, and it was really more when I was working my way back than anything. By the time we made it to the Series, I felt fine. This season, not so much. It’s hurt randomly. Sometimes on game days. Sometimes when I’m waking up in the morning or in the middle of the night. Those days I can’t really move it for awhile. I – I know I shouldn’t have ignored the signs, Swan, but I couldn’t have it all taken away from me again. I just couldn’t.”

He’s not even sure if he said everything he needed to say. He’s got no clue. If he had to, he couldn’t even repeat the words that just passed through his lips. But they’re out there, and the bricks on his shoulders don’t feel quite so heavy.

“Every time we’ve talked about the accident,” Emma starts, and he recognizes the change of tone in her voice immediately, “you have never once mentioned that you tore your rotator cuff and that you had to have surgery to repair it. I would get you keeping that from me as a journalist but not as your girlfriend. How many times have we talked about that day, Killian? How often have we discussed it? How often have you sat there and lied to my face about it? And not only it. Every time you’ve been in pain this year, you’ve lied to me. This morning when I asked you what was wrong, you lied to me. In Boston when we were mad at each other, you lied to me. And those are just the times that I know of. I’m sure there are more. I can’t…”

“Swan, I’m sorry, okay?” he pleads. She shakes her head from side to side, and he rises from his the chair to come to the other side of the desk, leaning against the wood so that they’re not separated by it. “I wanted to tell you. I kept telling myself that I would and that maybe I’d work up the courage to say what was going on, but I never could.”

The clench in Emma’s jaw is visible, especially when she turns to the side to look away with another shake of her head. “I am sorry that you have been through so much, that you are still going through so much. I love you. I really do. But it almost makes it worse to me that you’ve known you were keeping something from me and still didn’t tell me. It doesn’t matter what it is. You actively lied to me, and I am not okay with that.”

“I was terrified, Emma. Don’t you get that?”

Her head turns back to him then, green eyes full of tears, and he can barely hear anything over the sound of his heart thumping.

“I think I just…I think I need some time is all.”

“Emma – ”

“No, Killian,” she starts, holding her hand up and stepping backward, “I need time. Because I’ve trusted you with so much of what’s going on in my life, I’ve let myself lean on you and need you more than I have ever let myself need someone else, and you couldn’t bother doing the same. Why couldn’t you bother doing the same? This is the same exact thing that’s happened to me every time I’ve put my heart on the line, and I – I need some time to think.”

“Emma.”

“I’ll call you soon,” she says as she rises from the chair, but he’s not sure that he believes her. “You have Liam and Elsa to take care of you, right?”

“Aye,” he nods, biting his tongue at all of the things he wants to say right now. Emma is fighting between wanting him to be okay and being upset with him. He can tell, and he has to respect her wishes right now. In a few days, it’ll be different. But damn if this doesn’t hurt. “I don’t…I’m sorry. I promise I didn’t mean to hurt you, love. That was not my intention here.”

“I know. That’s what makes this worse.” Emma blinks, her lips pressed together, before silently walking out the door and leaving him sitting there.

Alone.

Fuck.

He knew it was going to happen, and not even that could have prepared him for it.

But all she said was that she needed time, right? She didn’t yell at him saying that they were over, that she was breaking up with him, that she didn’t love him anymore. None of that was mentioned, so there’s hope, right?

There has to be hope.

It doesn’t matter that he didn’t hurt her in the same way that Neal and Walsh hurt her, that he didn’t hurt her the way the foster system did. It doesn’t matter that he didn’t maliciously set out to inflict pain. What matters is that she’s upset with his actions, with his lies, and who is he to try to say what she can be mad about and what she can’t be mad about?

He’s no one.

Only Emma can decide how she feels about things.

He probably deserves all of this for how much of an asshole he is.

“Fuck,” he mutters under his breath as he pinches the bridge of his nose.

And he’s still got to tell his team. And Ariel will have to release a statement and oh shit, Ariel. She’s going to murder him.

She really is.

Killian uses Elsa’s phone to text Liam that he and Emma are finished talking and that he’s going home now. He doesn’t say anything else, doesn’t give any more details. No one needs any. They know where they live, and if all else fails, he will answer their texts from his laptop.

When he gets home fifteen minutes later, though, he sees it sitting on his coffee table and ignores it. He’s really not in the mood to talk to anyone or to do anything. All he wants is to take a shower and wash this damn day away. It’s not like he’s got any deadlines anymore or anything to do.

He can’t even do his job.

And it’s his fault.

How could he have been so stupid?

The moment Killian walks into his bedroom, he sees Emma’s clothes everywhere. She’d brought over a bag of things last night, outfits that she was considering wearing but hadn’t decided on, as well as seemingly everything else she owns. She’s not the neatest person in the world, never has been, but it seems that this morning she was determined to make her mark on every single inch of this room.

She did a damn good job at it.

Killian’s sure that she was planning on cleaning it up when she came back here tonight. They were going to celebrate her tonight. He had a whole dinner prepared that he was going to cook. All of the ingredients are in his fridge as well as Emma’s favorite whiskey and a chocolate and cherry cake that he baked because he knows that she loves those.

They never even got to talk about how it was for her today.

How could he have ruined a day that was so important to her?

And he knows that he’s ruined it. He does. He knows that she’s probably in her apartment right now fielding questions from everyone about what it was like, how she liked it, if she wants to do it again. And she’s fielding questions about how he is and why she’s not with him. He doesn’t know what she’ll say, if she’ll say anything at all, and for as many times as he’s hated himself, he doesn’t think he’s ever hated himself as much as he does right now for upsetting Emma.

This is not how things are supposed to be.

He doesn’t bother picking her clothes up, leaving all of them where they are. That’s something he’ll deal with later. He’s going to take a shower right now, and absolutely nothing is going to stop him.

Except for the yellow and blue sticky notes pressed in a line on his bathroom mirror over where Emma has left her curling iron.

I promise I’m going to clean up my things later. Don’t get all tense about it if you see it all before I do.

Thank you for being such a big supporter of me and “cheering me on.”

We’re both going to kick ass today.

I love you, Killian Jones.

Killian’s stomach twists at the last one, and he carefully pulls it off the mirror so that he can run his fingers over the words there as well as the lipstick mark that she left.

“I love you too, Emma,” he mutters to himself in the silence of the bathroom.

#catch me if you can #cs fic #cs ff #captain swan fic #captain swan

[imthederpyfox]

Rant About YouTube Copyright.

by imthederpyfox, Moments ago

Journals / Personal

I know nobody's here anymore, hi, nobody~

But I need to take a minute to rant about YouTube's copyright system for a moment.

I know it's come a long way in the past few years, content creators never used to be able to defend their work with copyright under YouTube guidelines, and it's great that they now can. However, there is also the problem that as content creators can fairly and justly claim others videos that include misused content off their own, creators will also claim videos just because they don't like them. AKA 'foodybeauty' and 'Amber-Lynn Reid', to name a few...

Along with this, we also have major companies who think they should copyright any video posted about one of their shows or films or games, or anything really.

Now I know, full re-uploads of these things are against copyright law, well done YouTube, would you like a gold star? Well, guess what, you don't get one. Because not only can they claim these full videos, they have also been going on binges, where as soon as ANY kind of content related to their products comes out, it becomes copyrighted before the content creator can even so much as blink or press save.

I'm talking about videos where you can barely see what the creator's watching, i.e - an UNLISTED video I just posted of a review/reaction to a Netflix show called Haunted.

Now, I have posted another reaction for Riverdale, and spent months trying to figure out the best action to take. Bare in mind, these videos are 'unedited' for my patrons, and the links are only available to my patrons. But guess what? I HAVE NO PATRONS! First of all, HOW do these big companies find an unlisted video? Are they my patrons? I mean that'd be nice, but no. They Aren't.

Second of all, why the fuck would you block an UNLISTED video, when so many people upload full copyrighted re-uploads of films and TV with no issue?

Third of all, how did you even know my video contained any of your program when it's not even named after the show AT ALL because I KNOW you'll copyright it immediately if the title has so much of a WHISPER of the show included.

Now, I will admit, I understand why my first video got copyright claimed - despite being unlisted, which I'm still annoyed about - because most of the screen was taken up by the episode of Riverdale, rather than my reaction. I get it, fine. So, I edit it, I make myself the main focus - ew, I know - and I lower the opacity of the original video, and I cut out any songs that go on for too long, and I make sure that 1/4 of the video isn't even FUCKING VISIBLE!

Safe to say, this is not a re-upload of the original content. This is an upload of a reaction to said content. My reaction, in which I am constantly talking throughout, constantly cutting in, constantly ruining this series for everyone that decides to give me money to watch, what a good YouTuber I am indeed.

So, because I couldn't let sleeping dogs lie when I earned my SECOND COPYRIGHT CLAIM ON THIS UNLISTED PATREON VIDEO! I decided to look more into the company trying to claim it. Was it Netflix? Nope. Was it a TV company? Well, sort of? A french company that distributes TV shows, or so it claims. See what I did there? Good right? No, ok, moving on. So upon my research I happened to come across multiple videos, saying that the company was a scam, that they were fake and shouldn't even be copyrighting things.

SO, what did I do? Well, just to make sure I checked which part of my video was still listed under their 'copyrighted content' thing, because if you check it'll tell you time stamps and give you the option to trim. So, there was about 5-6 minutes of my video that for some reason was still being claimed as copyrighted, so I went in, and edited little bits out, where there was no dialogue, no important things, and then I saved it, and waited for it to process, and then I went into that copyright claims and I said, ya know what? I'm not taking this shit, I worked hard for this video, I made sure to do everything I needed to do, and since these videos fall under fair use due to the cutting and editing and the fact you can't SEE 1/4 OF THE VIDEO, I sent a dispute.

Now I have to admit, I was nervous. If the company that copyright claimed my video didn't like the fact that I'd done that, they could CHOOSE TO COPYRIGHT STRIKE ME. Like, no review from YouTube, nothing like that. If this company didn't like that a tiny channel with only 57 subscribers put in a dispute against them, they might get pissed. They might not like the fact that someone's done that, and they might turn around and say to YouTube, FUCK this channel, bye bye, bitch.

So I was worried to say the least, but I have never been one to back away from bullying, and in this case, I class it as bullying.

I filled in all the relevant details, including a very in depth explanation as to why my video was counted under fair use, and how my channel is tiny, how I don't have any Patrons to see the video, how my video was unlisted, and heavily edited to make sure the copyright did not count against me, including the use of disclaimers in both the video and the description.

I was professional.

I was right.

And I won the dispute.

A day later I get an email telling me the company decided to release my video of all claims and it is now available for all none of my viewers to watch! How exciting, right?

Well, today I decided that I'd upload my second reaction that I'd recorded, I did the same as with the last one, having learned something. I lowered opacity, I covered any nudity, I cut off 1/4 of the video, I made it so the focus would be on my ugly ass mug instead of the TV show itself. And I spent hours trying to upload it for it to fail and me have to do it again.

And low and behold, after all my troubles, all my trials and tribulations, all my blood, sweat and tears and turmoil... I got copyright claimed once again.

Now, it's safe to say, I'm a little bit pissed, ya know?

My video - much like last time - hadn't even fully been uploaded, around the 97% mark, and boom, claim. So I took a deep breath, ya home boi is NOT happy, and I see where exactly it thinks my video is not covered under copyright law. And this is where I think these companies don't care if you are actually covered under the law or not, because it's always a random part of the video, it's always about a 5 minute chunk of the video regardless of what you do.

Which leads me to my next conclusion, in order for these companies to be finding these videos - especially with them being in the unlisted category (needing a specific link to be able to view), and the title not being related, and the video being edited to make sure it isn't eligible for a copyright claim, they MUST have a bot, or a program running that searches YouTube for clips of their content, regardless of how it's presented, or whether it's a review or not.

Which I have to say, is unfair. Especially in the case of the unlisted thing. I know, YouTube can't help it if these companies have bots and programs and code, they can't stop that from happening. But what they can stop? What they SHOULD stop? Is these companies being able to claim videos that aren't even eligible for it.

YouTube, man, you gotta work on this.

We were rooting for you! We were ALL rooting for you!

Anyway, seriously, YouTube really needs to find a way to make sure copyright is fair and just and not maintained by just programs and bots. YouTube, why not create a part of your company that reviews these claims, checks the videos, guarantees that the claims only go to those ACTUALLY abusing the copyright system? Instead of those of us who just want to make fun content for our viewers, who strive to just make good reaction videos? Because that's what they are, REACTION videos. Not re-uploads, not someone else's content.

'Great poets imitate and improve, whereas small ones steal and spoil.'

Give a little back to the people that got you where you are today YouTube. None of these big companies had you raking in money to begin with, it was the little guys, the small content creators who now have millions of viewers, because they enjoy what they do. Well, most of 'em anyway...

Just think about your content creators, rather than appeasing the companies that give you a bit more money. I know they won't, because capitalism rules despite how shit it is.

Is it really a wonder that so many creators are turning to streaming through sites like Twitch.tv instead of uploading to YouTube? Even the other day, on a live stream I was doing myself, me and my friends talked about how much better streaming is, how you don't have to constantly be worried about making sure the video is friendly for 2 year olds. 2 YEAR OLDS SHOULDN'T EVEN BE WATCHING, OK?!

My goal has been to be a YouTuber since I was about 12. I'm now almost 22. That's just under 10 years of my life, where my goal, my one finish line, has been to become a YouTuber. But the more and more things like this happen, the more and more I want to listen to that voice in my head telling me to give it up and go to Twitch, become a streamer, not stress so much about copyright strikes and issues with monitisation, and having such UNREALISTIC goals in order to achieve being monitised and YouTube partner in the first place.

I have edited this video, the parts it told me to, I have made sure to cut out the music bits and make sure it's up to par with copyright based on where they claimed the video. But my issue with sending off this newest in what I assume will be a long line of copyright disputes, because someone, even as small a channel as mine, with my 57 subscribers and my 5 views a video (at a push), has to push back and say 'NO. THIS ISN'T OK.' and not let themselves be pushed around, my issue with this?

The company that claimed the video this time was Netflix itself. And we all know Netflix has money. And Netflix doesn't care if it shuts down a tiny little channel like mine. All my content? All my videos? All views and subs and likes I've somehow managed to accumulate? All gone. Like Thanos snapping his fucking fingers.

Regardless of what I do to make these videos fair use, big companies like this get the final say over them, and as far as they're concerned, us little creators who don't make YouTube money yet, but still hold onto that hope that, maybe, hopefully, one day we will be able to do it, we're the 50% they want to snap and get rid of.

And it'll stay that way for a long time, unless people actually stand up and talk about it. Heck, it'll probably end up staying that way even then, but at least we TRIED.

I have respect for Matpatt, I watched his video explaining the work he and other creators have done in bringing awareness to the higher ups in YouTube, using their platforms to help each other and millions of other creators, people who just want to make other people laugh or forget about their problems for a while, or just upload stupid, 2 minute clips because of inside jokes, or they find it funny, they enjoy doing it.

If we as humans have been taught anything recently during this quarantine, it's that a lot of our societal structures are flawed, some may even say broken. Big companies scam us, use us, and give nothing back in return. If peoples eyes aren't open now, when will they be?

This won't get views. This won't get likes or favourites or shared to other people because of some powerful message.

But maybe one day, someone from YouTube will be randomly scrolling through the internet, and find a random post on a crude fanart website amongst all the sonic and Mario at the Olympic fuck games art, and maybe they'll read it and take note.

But we all know that'll never happen.

So I'm gonna wait for the video to finish saving the changes I made to it, and I'm going to dispute the claim Netflix made against me. And I'm going to anxiously wait to see if I get to continue making content for another day, or whether I get taken down by the snap.

------------

If you made it this far, thanks for listening to my rambling.

I feel strongly about a lot of things, and my friends often tell me that I should post about them, because I have such an... Eloquent way or wording things. Well, I finally decided to, because I need to vent as much as the next asshole. They're right, I AM eloquent!

Seriously though, thank you for reading, I know nobody would have but hey, maybe you're one of the 3 views I get on my YouTube videos!

I am blessed.

With like 50,000 curses going on at once.

Such a time to be alive.

Stay safe, look out for each other, and I may do another rant at some point, because this was fun I guess.

-Exza~

[douchebagbrainwaves]

THIS IS GREAT NEWS FOR THE MARGINAL, WHO RETAIN THE ADVANTAGES OF BEING AN INSIDER, AND IN SOME KINDS OF WORK—THAT HACKING WAS COLD, PRECISE, AND METHODICAL, AND THAT HE DID ALL THE ACTUAL DESIGN OF THE APPLE I AND APPLE II IN HIS APARTMENT OR HIS CUBE AT HP

But gradually I realized it wasn't luck. We need a language that lets us scribble and smudge and smear, not a pen. For a long time I felt bad about this, just as in principle you could avoid it, just as writers and painters and architects do. But this mistake is less excusable than most. Boy, was I wrong. In hacking, like painting, work comes in cycles. So did Apple. But I've talked to a lot of servers and a lot of ideas come from the margin is simply that there's so much of it.1 I behave in a way that would make me eligible for prescription drugs if I approached everyday life the same way.

Over and over we see the same pattern. Maybe I'm excessively attached to conciseness.2 Chardin decided to skip all that and paint ordinary things as he saw them. But Cybercash was so bad and most stores' order volumes were so low that it was very remiss of me to have forgotten all that stuff within three weeks of the final exam.3 If I could get people to remember just one quote about programming, it would be a 900-page pastiche of existing popular novels—roughly Gone with the Wind plus Roots.4 In hacking, this can literally mean saving up bugs. It turns out there is, and the visual arts is the resistance of the medium. It's never so pure as it was when they were young.5 It wouldn't be the first time investors learned that lesson from founders.6 That phrase draws in most threads I've mentioned here.

Shakespeare appeared just as professional theater was being born, and pushed the medium so far that every playwright since has had to live in his shadow. The other problem with startups is that there are today. If I had only looked over at the other makers. But there are plenty of dumb people who are bad at empathy too.7 I had an uncomfortable feeling in the back of my mind that I ought to know more theory, and that means that investor starts to lose deals. So, if hacking works like painting and writing, is it as cool?8 Outsiders are not merely free but compelled to make things that are cheap and lightweight.9 When they're raising money, for example, what would happen if the government decided to commission someone to write an official Great American Novel. A better way to describe the situation would be to shirk it, but you'll have it all to yourself. Relentless. In particular, new things.10 This is already clear in cases like GPSes, music players, and cameras.

So it was literally IPO or bust. Imagine, for example. Most writers write to persuade, I'd start to shy away unconsciously from ideas I knew would be hard to sell. So that, I think. Inappropriate is the null criticism. It was like watching a car you're chasing turn down a street that you know has no outlet. Facebook did. So hackers start original, and get good, and get good, and get good, and get original. But in retrospect you're probably better off studying something moderately interesting with someone who isn't. There's nothing more than a slight stirring of discomfort. That's why oil paintings look so different from watercolors.

But I think the goal of an essay should be to discover surprising things.11 Some hackers are quite smart, but they can't have looked good on paper. You might as well open it. Particularly to young companies that are otherwise benevolent. Someone who doesn't know what these things are, either. Similarly, you shouldn't be discouraged by the comparatively corrupt test of college admissions, because it's a game you can't lose.12 And when you do it consciously you'll do it even better. How common is it for founders to keep control after an A round? If you're not sure what to do, and engineers figure out how to connect some company's legacy database to their Web server.13 Com of their name.

Considering how basic a red circle is, it seemed surprising to me when we started YC. There's a huge weight of tradition advising us to play it safe. The way I worked, it seemed surprising to me that any employer would be reluctant to let hackers work on open-source hacking is all about.14 But so do people who inherit money, and another for love. Give hackers an inch and they'll take you a mile. How long will it take to catch up with where you'd have been if you were extracting every penny?15 Not merely hardware, but software too. But this wasn't what made them eminent—it was more a flaw their eminence had allowed them to sink into. In hacking, like painting, work comes in cycles. This is what open-source projects. Add up all the evidence of VCs' behavior, and the key to the mystery is the old adage a word to the wise is sufficient.

The fact that you can change font sizes easily means the iPad effectively replaces reading glasses. Just wait till you've agreed on a price and think you have a US startup called X and you don't have to act like VCs. Programmers were seen as technicians who translated the visions if that is the word of product managers into code. When people walk by the portrait of Ginevra de Benci, their attention is often immediately arrested by it, even before they look at the work of a painter in chronological order, you'll find that each painting builds on things that could steal that prestige. That version 4. The puffed-up companies that went public during the Bubble didn't do it just because they were pulled into it by unscrupulous investment bankers. They ask whatever it is they're asking in such a roundabout way that the hosts often have to rephrase the question for them. Whereas hackers, from the start, are doing original work; it's just very bad. Since the custom is to write to persuade the actual reader, someone who doesn't will seem arrogant. If hackers identified with other makers, like writers and painters and architects do. I like debugging: it's the standard image.16 In return for the unique privilege of sharing his office with no other humans, he had to share it with 6 shrieking tower servers.

Notes

This is actually from the most, it's probably good grazing. One of the Daddy Model and reality is the last step in this evolution. I have a better education. So in effect why can't you be more like a body cavity search by someone who doesn't understand what you're doing.

Many of these companies substitute progress for revenue growth.

Yes, I didn't realize it yet or not, don't even want to approach a specific firm, the more effort you expend on the matter. I think it's confusion or lack of results achieved by alchemy and saying its value was as much what other people thought it was considered the most visible index of that generation had been raised religious and then just enjoy yourself for the same weight as any successful startup?

There are circumstances where this is not even be an inverse correlation between launch magnitude and success. It's hard for us, they have to say exactly what they're doing. Maybe that isn't the problem, we should make the fund by succeeding spectacularly.

That way most reach the stage where they're sufficiently convincing well before Demo Day. The continuing popularity of religion is the place for people interested in each type of thing. Though they were getting results.

We currently advise startups mostly to ignore what your GPA was. People and The CRM114 Discriminator.

A preliminary result, that all metaphysics between Aristotle and 1783 had been climbing in through the buzz that surrounds wisdom in ancient philosophy may be whether what you learn via users anyway. The University of Vermont, 1991. A round about the origins of the biggest discoveries in any field.

One VC who read this to realize that in fact they don't, but some do. You can relent a little too narrow than to confuse everyone with a base of evangelical Christians. On Bullshit, Princeton University Press, 1983. I called to check and in fact they don't have to.

When I was there when it was the ads they show first.

This is a case in point: lots of type II startups neither require nor produce startup culture.

In practice the first wave of hostile takeovers in the narrow technical sense of things economists usually think about, just as if it were. If they're dealing with YC companies that grow slowly tend not to say they care above all about big markets, why is New York. 0001. In a limited way, I should degenerate from words to their returns.

That's a valid point. Everyone's taught about it. 5 more I didn't.

The reason only 287 have valuations is that they've already decided what they're selling and how unbelievably annoying it is to let yourself feel it mid-game. So it's a collection itself. When I was surprised to find a kid and as a definition of property is driven by bookmarking, not an associate cold-emailing a startup. It would be to say yet how much you get nothing.

The main one was nothing special. For similar reasons, the users' need has to be a hot deal, I mean forum in the sense of the 1929 crash. And to a partner, not because Delicious users are not one of the 70s, moving to Monaco would only give you 11% more income, which a few months later Google paid 1.

The golden age of economic equality in the sample might be able to respond with extreme countermeasures. These points don't apply to types of studies, studies of returns from startup investing, which would cause HTTP and HTML to continue to maltreat people who start these supposedly smart investors may not be formally definable, but trained on corpora of stupid and non-stupid comments instead.

One of the biggest divergences between the initial plan and what the valuation of the founders chose? But becoming a police state. There is not that the most successful companies have been a good nerd, just that it is more efficient.

Thanks to Geoff Ralston, Trevor Blackwell, Neil Rimer, and Robert Morris for the lulz.

#automatically generated text #Markov chains #Paul Graham #Python #Patrick Mooney #investment #Benci #Morris #reading #reader #mile #founders #draws #people #one #pastiche #college #University #Someone #YC

[dunnystuff]

Sent: Tuesday, February 09, 2021 3:09 PM

Subject: Rich's Blog

Hi to all -

Super Bowl

Well, hope your team won. It was a big game, as usual. The commercials were even more 'woke' and political than usual. Seems everything must be about politics, and that everyone must take a side, and line up to do battle with each other. Maybe next year we can give the players clubs, and let them really have at each other.

Keep in mind that attending this game is a 'superspreader' event for the virus, but the street riots in DC are not.

Stimulus

Dems are pushing for $1.9 Trillion dollars in stimulus. That is half the federal budget. Of course, we do not have the money. So, they will have to print some, like before, driving up the national debt and interest we pay to the banks for doing that. Today, we pay more in interest alone that we paid for the entire military just a few years ago. And, more than two thirds of our federal budget goes into just four items;; Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and interest on the debt. That is a lot of money. Not much left for growth and progress.

Flash back 100 years, and see how the government dealt with another time of pandemic, high unemployment, and economic failure. Bail outs? Demanded, but refused. The government then had wisdom, and courage. They did - nothing. Told business leaders to clean their own house, make adjustments to fit actual needs, not just what they wanted, or fail (there was no 'too big to fail'). But, wait, the feds did something - they cut government spending by half. What happened? Well, you may recall hearing about The Roaring Twenties. In less than one year, unemployment fell from 12% to less than 2%. Tens of thousands of new jobs were created, as well as thousands of new business enterprises. We went from depression to a level of prosperity never before seen. And, it remained so for a decade - till green and speculation took over, and the stock market did then just what it is doing now. Democrats never figured this out. Ask them what caused the Roaring Twenties, and they look blankly at you, and suggest 'it just happened'. Nothing just happens. There is always cause and effect.

So, what is stimulus all about? Well, historically, stimulus programs never work. There is a small burst in spending, then things settle back into the mire once again. Because the underlying conditions - the cause - was not changed, so the effect is also not changed. But, who gets all that money? Not you, peasant. The amount promised to you - $2000, has been cut, never to be renewed. And, forget about that new minimum wage of $15/hour. Even democrats know that this will help a few minimum wage workers, but that many more will be laid off to pay for that raise, and prices will rise as well. Pay rises when productivity and profitability also rise. You cannot create prosperity by adding costs - that is Economics 101 (something even AOC failed). But, if you read the proposals, from democrats, most of the money goes to pay off (i.e. bribe) their wealthy contributors. That is, welfare for the rich and connected. Not the poor. The poor serve only to get the bill. And, fewer people will be 'eligible' for stimulus. The cutoff for eligibility was $75k for individuals, but that has dropped to $50k. For couples, it was changed from $150k to $100k.

DC

Antifa and BLM are again on the march. They have the usual demands - give us money and power, or we will 'Burn it Down'. No cries of 'insurrection' here. No efforts to use police, or the thousands of soldiers to protect the public. You peasants just do not count, after all, only us 'public servants'.

I have yet to see any of those servants ranting about the dangers they faced from the violent mob, etc. Of course, these are their people, so there is no danger.

Ilhan Omar

She collected somewhere about $3.7 million in 'campaign donations'. About 80% of that money went to her 'consulting firm' - run by her husband. This public service thing is really profitable, isn't it? Where are the politicians racing to their soapbox to decry this abuse of position and fraud, just to get rich?

Simon & Schuster

This publishing house cancelled a book by Senator Josh Hawley, because he is an evil, white supramist and Trump supporter. Instead, they devoted that part of their resource to publishing the memoirs of - wait for it - Hunter Biden. Apparently, the inchoerent mumblings of a cocaine addicted pedophile are more appealing than the thoughts of an actual public servant. We will all be forced to take a side, and swear allegiance.

The Military

The left began taking control of this institution during Obama's time. He fired hundreds of senior leaders, and, like Stalin, replaced them with politically correct apparatchiks. Readiness and military skill have been sidelined in favor of really important things like 'diversity', and sensitivity to the tremblings of various sub groups. Of course, this will have the same result for our military as it did for Stalin, when he did this. When real combat is enjoined, we will experience great slaughter, as the incompetant, politically correct, leaders make bad decisions based on the wrong things. In time, and after much bloodshed, we will purge our military of that curse, and get back to soldiering.

Rand Paul

Well, tomorrow is the third impeachment of Trump - if they can force this joke on congress and the Supreme Court (good odds on that). But, Rand has a reply. He will apply the same standards to democrats, and demand impeachment of several high level democrats for their 'incendiary' and 'violent' talk. And, he has a long list of people to call to answer for what they have said - while playing the videos of them saying it. People like Maxine Waters are already looking at these, and saying 'I did not say that' - who will you believe, her, or your lying eyes? Chuck Schumer threatened physical violence against two Supreme Court Justices - Kavanaugh and Gorsch. What is really sad is that a lot of people will believe these people.

Rich

[mythological-survivor-no-mikoto]

Episode 2 - hello i am wasted - Abrielle

The round began with a Jigsaw Puzzle Reward challenge. The reward challenge came down to a very close battle with only 12 minutes separating the winning tribe from the losing tribe. Awashima however, managed to secure the victory and the reward. The immunity challenge was a match-up game of Dots and Boxes. Both tribes quickly got into battle, finishing the challenge the night it was announced. Awashima defeated Hiroku 5-2 in the challenge, giving them their first immunity win of the season.

After the results were announced, Sam was quick to throw out Zac’s name to Constance. However, Constance flipped it onto Odd for being inactive socially and Sam agreed. Sam quickly set out trying to gather the votes to go after Odd. However, many people felt Sam was also lacking socially and viewed Odd as a challenge asset and the vote turned towards Odd. Olivia initially felt like taking out Sam was not a good idea, viewing him as a more social player. However, despite efforts to attempt to flip the vote, Sam was voted out in a unanimous 9-1 vote.

“I saw my life FLASH before my eyes. I really thought I was strutting out with an idol. FIRST BOOT”

Vi mentions to Adam she’s glad they have a connection: “I have a connection...? glad I know about it” 

10 minutes later, after talking with Vi: “I. Fucking. Love her”

“I really like corinda”

“im ready to kick ass and take names. also im still so woke at the fact that i was just given an idol like. my mind”

Constance goes on an expedition to the Sado Gold mine and was exiled for 12 hours.

“Alright. That's easy, since by the time I go to work I'll be good to talk to people anyways, oop”

During the jigsaw challenge, Katie and Regan were playing Animal Crossing together: “might ahve wasted a minute hitting regan with a net”

“My dream core 3 would be nikias myself and corinda. Bc I know Abby has connections with Rachael and aly has connections with Constance.” 

“Ok I know us losing is tragic but DID YALL SEE MY TIME COMPARED TO ALL THE OTHER HARDS AHAHAHA. Why tf didn’t vi do hard she’s amazing at puzzles”

“how crazy is it that the one person that my score didn't beat was surprisingly the secret one I went up against?!?!?!”

During the match up challenge:

“that was a floor wipe of a first match up”

“2 out of idk am I about to jinx us and make us lose? we'll see”

“Man em is hard to carry a convo with. she just doesn’t give much in conversation”

On his third expedition of the day went to Kanto Plains in Honshu and did the Jenga challenge where he stacked 14 plates to earn 14 expedition tickets 

“FUCKING OMGGGGG. BEST PRIZE EVER”

“I hate pre-merge tribal councils. In my games i am usually out either pre-merge or towards the end. Timing is important and the time for safety on this tribe is over, I trust Olivia and Aly. I like what we created yesterday and the dynamic of it, i don't think i am a target at the moment since they are people who barely talk in this game. I think one of the guys will be going home which would be probably either Sam or ODD i believe, or even Zach since his challenge score have been horrible, i mean i am not talking about the puzzle but how the hell did he lose 24-1? did he throw it for whatever reason? like it feels like you have to try to have a score against you that bad, on the other site V looks like a genious based on her challenge scores so it may just have nothing to do with what Zach did but how smart V is actually.”

So Constance suggested an alliance between me Abby and Him, i think that's another good idea, i just think i may would have to change the dynamics of the bigger alliance chat. Unless i can connect these 2 alliances with each other someway somehow, i may should try to avoid the concept of a bigger alliance at the moment. Idk if Abby see's me in with the alliance that Aly, me and Olivia are trying to make and then she see me in our Trio potential alliance could get me in trouble.”

“yes, yes. To be honest i was hoping to get out Sam instead of ODD and the best thing is that i didn't even have to try hard for it, in this vote my goal was to try to have an unite tribe while at the same time i want it to be strong and ready for the next challenge. Odd is a challenge beast, you can't take that away from him even if his social game is not existing as much at the moment. I was on call with Constance and he was pretty locked on ODD but since he change his mind about the vote and ODD messaged him everything changes, intersting isn't it? Anuway i don't mind that, Constance seems like a good shield for me at the moment and i like that for my game. Right now he is giving the result that i want with out me even have to try hard about it.”

“As man, I really would prefer odd to be voted out rather than Sam. I can see Sam as a future vote and someone I could have a side alliance with if I earn his trust. Odd never fucking talks and he might be better at challenges than Sam? But like who’s to say. I’d rather have someone who gives a shit about the tribe than someone who is MIA lol. And see Sam stepped up to the plate for the challenge and accepted it last night while odd didn’t. Where was odd? Who knows”

Olivia goes on an expedition to the Kanto plains on Honshu, where she completes a challenge requiring her to name and post pictures of birds. She earns the maximum possible advantage: a plus 20% challenge multiplier for the next eligible immunity challenge

“oh fuck yeah”

“Sam is 14 and doesn’t talk a lot but he talks in the tribe chat and in PMs more. Odd never talks in the tribe chat and is bad about talking in PMs and doesn’t talk about gameplay. Sam doesn’t do great in challenges but he at least tried the last one and odd didn’t! But everyone seems dead set on voting Sam out. Is it worth trying to keep Sam in? Or should I just go with the flow. Someone started the hit on Sam and I’m hearing the same thing from everybody”

“we really did that. Stan Olivia and her win. I can’t believe how close some of the wins were and how long it took” 

“it’s really neat when you put a couple votes on someone and they come back and tell you you’re their closest person on the tribe 🙃 hope my girl Abby is safe at tribal tonight ❤️”

“well my tribe is super boring I like Rachael. I like Katie what a queen she’s my number one. Marc I was shocked to see here. Happy he’s here love him. I dont really talk to Adam much Jay and I hosted multiple tumblr seasons together””

https://youtu.be/arjTCA2SN_g

“It seems as though this first vote for our tribe is going to be a pretty straightforward one. It was down between Odd and Sam from what the consensus has said and while Odd may not be as talkative, he is someone who excels in competitions from the looks of it, whereas Sam does decent in competitions but has rarely spoken to anyone. If it is to be me this round for some miraculous reason, I'd be very surprised, seeing as I have given everyone nothing but respect and effort on the tribe. I really feel like I can move forward with this tribe with the connections I have if I successfully survive any tribal councils we go to. I am just remaining positive like I have been and hoping for the best!”

“hello i am wasted but here to make a confessional hehehe. soooooooo i am here to update that not much has happened since my last confessional, it seems like everyone is on the same page and there will be a unanimous vote for sam. im hoping this is the case and im not being lied to but we'll see!”

“Sam - man, I tried. I tried”

#Mythological Survivor #episode 2 #Survivor

[easyfoodnetwork]

The Exhausting Business of Trying to Stay in Business

Fany Gerson, owner of La Newyorkina | Donny Tsand

Once the doors to my Mexican sweets business closed, figuring out how to reopen became my full-time job

This is Eater Voices, where chefs, restaurateurs, writers, and industry insiders share their perspectives about the food world, tackling a range of topics through the lens of personal experience. First-time writer? Don’t worry, we’ll pair you with an editor to make sure your piece hits the mark. If you want to write an Eater Voices essay, please send us a couple paragraphs explaining what you want to write about and why you are the person to write it to [email protected].

Fany Gerson is among many in New York’s restaurant and food industry who have been struggling to keep their businesses afloat since the onset of the novel coronavirus pandemic. The owner of La Newyorkina, a Mexican sweets company best known for the paletas it sells from its West Village storefront, Gerson also made a name for herself as one of the owners of Dough, the doughnut shop and wholesale business she departed from in February to open her own shop, Fan-Fan Doughnuts. Before the pandemic, the business was getting closer to the point “where it was easier to breathe,” Gerson says.

Now, with construction on the shop halted and La Newyorkina’s plans for the summer season in limbo, Gerson finds herself trying to keep busy: In addition to brainstorming ways to keep her business going, she’s written two book proposals, made some home cooking videos, applied for government relief assistance, and started delivering food to hospital workers, all while ferrying her toddler-age son to his babysitter five days a week. She spoke to us about what her day-to-day life looks like right now, and why even small businesses like hers leave big footprints on the local economy. — Rebecca Flint Marx

We’re navigating how you keep moving to keep the lights on, but at the same time be safe for yourself and everyone else. My husband, for example, has two preexisting [medical] conditions, so we have to be extra careful. But we’re still working; I’m talking to you from our production kitchen in Red Hook. We don’t want to do anything irresponsible, but also, if I want to take care of us as a family and our staff, we need to have a place to come back to. I don’t know if that will be possible, but that’s what we’re fighting for.

We’re a seasonal business: [When this began] we were starting to hire people for the season. So we had 12 people that we had to lay off. Even my husband is technically an employee of the company, and he has not been able to apply for unemployment because the system keeps crashing. When he does get to the online [application], it just says to call a number. Some of our employees have been able to collect, others haven’t, and others aren’t eligible because they’re undocumented. What many people who aren’t in the industry may not realize is that [undocumented workers] pay taxes and contribute in so many ways to society, whether people want to turn a blind eye to them or not.

I’m no stranger to this feeling of helplessness or anguish and stress. This is obviously at a very different level.

Since last year, we had given ourselves four more years to see if we can make [the business] work, because I cannot go through another bad winter, and I lost my entire kitchen during Sandy. So I’m no stranger to this feeling of helplessness or anguish and stress and all of the above. This is obviously at a very different level. When I was talking to my friend Alex [Raij], she said, “Now, at least you don’t feel lonely.”

We work from home half of the time; for the nationwide shipping we had four or five days a week, and now we have two. Since last year we’ve started selling our paletitas to Whole Foods, so our distributor placed one order. It wasn’t huge, but it was very exciting. So we’re continuously brainstorming. For Passover, we did our Mexican Seder menu — people could preorder it and we delivered it, so for two days we were able to give our driver work. I said to my husband, if we feel like this is working, maybe we do something like that two days a week, and then we can give work to those people.

This week, we’re going to start making brisket tamales for hospital workers. They were on the Seder menu, so I thought, why don’t we take advantage of that? We’re trying to see if any of our purveyors can donate some product. If we can keep on doing two days a week where we do meals like Mexican home-cooked food, then I can give [my employees] work and I can have the staff to make tamales. And in addition, the Jewish Food Society connected us with an organization that is now paying us to make 60 to 100 meals every day for hospital workers, which allows us to give work to some of our staff and also to help out. I’m trying to contact different farmers and producers so I can purchase [ingredients] from them directly.

I had some friends that were very frustrated about unsuccessful GoFundMe situations. We didn’t do one because we were really trying to see if there was a way we could continue giving [our employees] work. The other reason is we’re in the middle of writing a pitch deck to get funding to grow the company. We’re growing faster than we can afford to; it’s a good position to be in, but still a problem because we’re still cash flow-negative.

You can’t rely on government relief. The day they passed the [Paycheck Protection Program], they said you have to [apply] through your bank. So we went to the bank because they said it’s better to do it in person, but the bank was closed. Then we found out you can do it online, and then our bank, Chase, said they weren’t going to be ready. Then we get a notice that [the Chase site] was going to be ready at noon, and then at noon my husband was trying for two and a half hours. He finally got through. It’s not even like the full form — it was just your name and the tax ID number. And then because we have one of our accounts with Bank of America, we tried to do that one. [My husband] kept getting a message that we we didn’t have an account open prior to x date. Then he found it was a glitch, that everyone was getting this message nationwide, so then we were going to do it physically even though it said not to, but we need it.

Our biggest worry is right now we have [deferred rent], but what happens after those three months? The amount of money we would get for the store is barely going to cover rent. There’s no real estate tax, nothing for payroll. So even if we do get it, which I hope we do, it’s not enough. So that’s why I feel like I need to try different things and hopefully the collection of these things will come through and we’ll be able to survive and thrive.

Everybody copes in a very different way. I know for me, I need to move and try this and try that.

Everybody copes in a very different way. I know for me, I need to move and try this and try that; it’s kind of like you’re shooting darts and maybe something hits. We’re so small, so we’re vulnerable. But we’re also big in the sense that other people depend on us. It’s not just the people who directly work with you: It’s the purveyor, the driver, the person who packs the stuff from the people where you buy produce. There are so many people in even a small company. So to me the one positive thing that happened, at least to me when I’ve gone through all of these things, is the creative thinking that happens. I’m sure the landscape is going to be very different, not just because of the economy but because people are realizing things and pivoting and that’s part of being an entrepreneur, too. But you still have to take into consideration your identity as a brand that you’ve built. How can I do something like a Mexican Seder and make it work when people know me for my ice cream? How do you tie those things together?

I haven’t been getting any sleep or time to relax. My baby still sleeps with us; we were supposed to start the process to wean him and this would be the perfect time, but having him next to me really brings me comfort in a very selfish way. And also, if I manage to get some sleep, I don’t want to be spending it sleep training. I keep meaning to go to the park to run, but we don’t have time. But I keep saying I’m going to go, or maybe we’ll do an online [exercise] class together; sometimes I use my son as a dumbbell to do some squats. He thinks it’s a game. Sometimes I manage to get a couple of hours of sleep. I think it’s because I’m just so drained. I don’t think anybody is getting much sleep these days.

from Eater - All https://ift.tt/2ygPwHe https://ift.tt/3blouNu

Fany Gerson, owner of La Newyorkina | Donny Tsand

Once the doors to my Mexican sweets business closed, figuring out how to reopen became my full-time job

This is Eater Voices, where chefs, restaurateurs, writers, and industry insiders share their perspectives about the food world, tackling a range of topics through the lens of personal experience. First-time writer? Don’t worry, we’ll pair you with an editor to make sure your piece hits the mark. If you want to write an Eater Voices essay, please send us a couple paragraphs explaining what you want to write about and why you are the person to write it to [email protected].

Fany Gerson is among many in New York’s restaurant and food industry who have been struggling to keep their businesses afloat since the onset of the novel coronavirus pandemic. The owner of La Newyorkina, a Mexican sweets company best known for the paletas it sells from its West Village storefront, Gerson also made a name for herself as one of the owners of Dough, the doughnut shop and wholesale business she departed from in February to open her own shop, Fan-Fan Doughnuts. Before the pandemic, the business was getting closer to the point “where it was easier to breathe,” Gerson says.

Now, with construction on the shop halted and La Newyorkina’s plans for the summer season in limbo, Gerson finds herself trying to keep busy: In addition to brainstorming ways to keep her business going, she’s written two book proposals, made some home cooking videos, applied for government relief assistance, and started delivering food to hospital workers, all while ferrying her toddler-age son to his babysitter five days a week. She spoke to us about what her day-to-day life looks like right now, and why even small businesses like hers leave big footprints on the local economy. — Rebecca Flint Marx

We’re navigating how you keep moving to keep the lights on, but at the same time be safe for yourself and everyone else. My husband, for example, has two preexisting [medical] conditions, so we have to be extra careful. But we’re still working; I’m talking to you from our production kitchen in Red Hook. We don’t want to do anything irresponsible, but also, if I want to take care of us as a family and our staff, we need to have a place to come back to. I don’t know if that will be possible, but that’s what we’re fighting for.

We’re a seasonal business: [When this began] we were starting to hire people for the season. So we had 12 people that we had to lay off. Even my husband is technically an employee of the company, and he has not been able to apply for unemployment because the system keeps crashing. When he does get to the online [application], it just says to call a number. Some of our employees have been able to collect, others haven’t, and others aren’t eligible because they’re undocumented. What many people who aren’t in the industry may not realize is that [undocumented workers] pay taxes and contribute in so many ways to society, whether people want to turn a blind eye to them or not.

I’m no stranger to this feeling of helplessness or anguish and stress. This is obviously at a very different level.

Since last year, we had given ourselves four more years to see if we can make [the business] work, because I cannot go through another bad winter, and I lost my entire kitchen during Sandy. So I’m no stranger to this feeling of helplessness or anguish and stress and all of the above. This is obviously at a very different level. When I was talking to my friend Alex [Raij], she said, “Now, at least you don’t feel lonely.”

We work from home half of the time; for the nationwide shipping we had four or five days a week, and now we have two. Since last year we’ve started selling our paletitas to Whole Foods, so our distributor placed one order. It wasn’t huge, but it was very exciting. So we’re continuously brainstorming. For Passover, we did our Mexican Seder menu — people could preorder it and we delivered it, so for two days we were able to give our driver work. I said to my husband, if we feel like this is working, maybe we do something like that two days a week, and then we can give work to those people.

This week, we’re going to start making brisket tamales for hospital workers. They were on the Seder menu, so I thought, why don’t we take advantage of that? We’re trying to see if any of our purveyors can donate some product. If we can keep on doing two days a week where we do meals like Mexican home-cooked food, then I can give [my employees] work and I can have the staff to make tamales. And in addition, the Jewish Food Society connected us with an organization that is now paying us to make 60 to 100 meals every day for hospital workers, which allows us to give work to some of our staff and also to help out. I’m trying to contact different farmers and producers so I can purchase [ingredients] from them directly.

I had some friends that were very frustrated about unsuccessful GoFundMe situations. We didn’t do one because we were really trying to see if there was a way we could continue giving [our employees] work. The other reason is we’re in the middle of writing a pitch deck to get funding to grow the company. We’re growing faster than we can afford to; it’s a good position to be in, but still a problem because we’re still cash flow-negative.

You can’t rely on government relief. The day they passed the [Paycheck Protection Program], they said you have to [apply] through your bank. So we went to the bank because they said it’s better to do it in person, but the bank was closed. Then we found out you can do it online, and then our bank, Chase, said they weren’t going to be ready. Then we get a notice that [the Chase site] was going to be ready at noon, and then at noon my husband was trying for two and a half hours. He finally got through. It’s not even like the full form — it was just your name and the tax ID number. And then because we have one of our accounts with Bank of America, we tried to do that one. [My husband] kept getting a message that we we didn’t have an account open prior to x date. Then he found it was a glitch, that everyone was getting this message nationwide, so then we were going to do it physically even though it said not to, but we need it.

Our biggest worry is right now we have [deferred rent], but what happens after those three months? The amount of money we would get for the store is barely going to cover rent. There’s no real estate tax, nothing for payroll. So even if we do get it, which I hope we do, it’s not enough. So that’s why I feel like I need to try different things and hopefully the collection of these things will come through and we’ll be able to survive and thrive.

Everybody copes in a very different way. I know for me, I need to move and try this and try that.

Everybody copes in a very different way. I know for me, I need to move and try this and try that; it’s kind of like you’re shooting darts and maybe something hits. We’re so small, so we’re vulnerable. But we’re also big in the sense that other people depend on us. It’s not just the people who directly work with you: It’s the purveyor, the driver, the person who packs the stuff from the people where you buy produce. There are so many people in even a small company. So to me the one positive thing that happened, at least to me when I’ve gone through all of these things, is the creative thinking that happens. I’m sure the landscape is going to be very different, not just because of the economy but because people are realizing things and pivoting and that’s part of being an entrepreneur, too. But you still have to take into consideration your identity as a brand that you’ve built. How can I do something like a Mexican Seder and make it work when people know me for my ice cream? How do you tie those things together?

I haven’t been getting any sleep or time to relax. My baby still sleeps with us; we were supposed to start the process to wean him and this would be the perfect time, but having him next to me really brings me comfort in a very selfish way. And also, if I manage to get some sleep, I don’t want to be spending it sleep training. I keep meaning to go to the park to run, but we don’t have time. But I keep saying I’m going to go, or maybe we’ll do an online [exercise] class together; sometimes I use my son as a dumbbell to do some squats. He thinks it’s a game. Sometimes I manage to get a couple of hours of sleep. I think it’s because I’m just so drained. I don’t think anybody is getting much sleep these days.

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[austinpanda]

Dad Letter 031520

15 March 2020

Dear Dad--

Happy Ides of March! Remember, it’s not about stabbing, it’s about getting together and stabbing in a group. I’m doing well. I’m getting accustomed to the fact that the snow is gone for the year, and we never got a 12-inch blizzard. Locals insist that there are always snow storms into the month of April, but I believe them to be bearers of false witness! Or else just incorrect this time, since Zach and I bought global warming with us when we moved here. Anyway, at least it was quite chilly this morning (about 15 degrees) and the sky is cloudy. Good day to stay home and watch the global pandemic unfold!

So...how about that Coronavirus, eh? A couple of frightened-sounding headlines, and all of a sudden, the president and vice president have been exposed, schools are closing down state-wide, Italy and other whole countries are closed down. When has something that big happened since World War 2, or the flu pandemic after World War 1? Zach went to the store today, and was waiting when they opened at 7:00 a.m. He told me that there was already a line of people waiting to get into the store. Once he was inside, there was no toilet paper at all, and no hamburger. A lot of the soup was sold out. People are stocking up for the duration! It’s weird that, with all the things we choose to care about, the toilet paper and the hamburger are the first things to sell out. Americans love their cheeseburgers and their butt hygiene, I suppose!

I’ve been following the news, and have watched it go from small news to huge news over a short couple of weeks. For the record, I’m not worried that I’m going to catch the virus, and I’m not worried that I’m going to die if I do catch it, and if I die from the Coronavirus, I’ll be dead, so...It just means I’ve been spared the trouble of dying from something else, and that way I won’t have to start my new job, and think of all those first-day jitters I’ll get to avoid! I don’t mean to sound cavalier about it; as an introvert, this is one of those moments I’ve been waiting for my whole life. Stay home and don’t have much contact with people? Shit, you got it, man! I’m an expert at that! I’ll even start washing my hands more, and touching my face less.

Again, not to make light of an actual global pandemic. I’m in a risk group (diabetics over 50) and so it’s fortunate that almost all of the contact I have with friends is through the internet. All the “science guys” involved in the pandemic seem to agree that the cases ramp up, then peak, and have already peaked in places, and then ramp down, and then it’s back to relatively normal. That’s good, right? At least we don’t have to worry about an Andromeda Strain scenario, where the disease hits, and the only survivors are a baby and an old guy who drinks Sterno. Do stay out of the path of this little bugger!

Aside from that, I guess the most exciting thing has been my job offer from Penquis. My start date will be March 23rd, a week from tomorrow, pending zombie apocalypse, of course. The odd thing seems to be that I’m going to work for about a month, and then I’ll be off for the summer. It sounds like there will be lots of different aspects of my job, but my primary role will be to determine peoples’ eligibility for financial assistance to pay their heating/electricity bills in winter. The interviewers also seemed to really like how fast I type, and my fondness for otherwise boring, repetitive work, and the experience I have being given minimal training and set to work clearing backlogs. Not exciting, but at least a little bit noble. 

I’m playing a video game called Animal Crossing! It’s an odd game, because there’s no timer, no score, no competition, nothing trying to kill you, and no goal. You spend the game walking around this little island, catching fish, catching insects, digging up fossils, planting flowers and trees, gathering fruit, and buying upgrades to your little house. It’s fucking amazing! And they somehow made it addictive! It’s just so pretty, and the music is so relaxing, and the time of day in the game keeps track with the time of day in real life, so at night the sky grows dark and the stars come out, making the game even prettier to look at. The seasons in the game change with the seasons in real life, so the game just went from snow everywhere to spring colors and butterflies and shit. (Butterflies are an example of the insects you can catch.) I would not have thought you could make a video game where the goal is to simply fuck around, doing whatever you want. Then again, I just saw video footage of a game called “I Am Bread” where you’re a slice of bread, and you have to walk (awkwardly, because you’re a slice of bread) across the room and make it to the toaster without touching the ground and/or getting covered with dust bunnies and other crud. Someone made a video game of that. 

Most of my other news is small. You know what it’s been too long since you’ve enjoyed the reading of? Bullet list:

- I got new glasses! I like them! I got new glasses a couple of months ago, but they were cheap, and made from an old prescription, and glowed in the dark. I’ve had a new eye exam, and the new glasses arrived yesterday, and they’re wonderful.  - We’re still trying to adopt the stray kitty which we have named Babka, but the wee fucker is proving elusive. Our next-door neighbor is the one who feeds her every day, and is going to try to snag her.  - There is a pot dispensary in Bangor called Green Alien Cannabis, which has been converted from an old Pizza Hut. It’s an alien-themed marijuana shop. So...we have THAT going for us! - I’ve made a new friend named Bryan! He’s a professor of plant science at the U. of Maine-Orono just down the road from us. He said their students aren’t going to be allowed back on campus after spring break! - We keep being overflown by formations of geese, and they’re noisy as hell! Every time they fly by, it sounds like every one of them is arguing at the top of his lungs with every other one. 

You two stay safe from the zombie apocalypse, and I’ll give you more updates from Maine next Sunday. All my love to you both!

[madlori]

Hockey, the FAQ edition

As a follow-up to my Hockey Quick and Dirty post, I present this, a list of questions I have been asked by friends and family members and random people on the interwebs.

1. Why doesn’t Canada have its own hockey league?

They do. The NHL is really the North American hockey league. Seven of the 31 teams are Canadian teams. The reason there are more American teams is just...well, we have more cities large enough to support a team, although there’s perpetual talk of a team returning to Hamilton, ON, which used to have a team but hasn’t in forever, or to Quebec City. Hockey was invented in Montreal and traces its origins to 1917 when four teams came together, including the Montreal Canadiens, the longest continuously-existing team in the league (the Ottawa Senators were also there in 1917 but they went away and then came back). The Boston Bruins were the first US team. There was lots of flux until 1942 when the league settled into a 25 year stretch of what is now called the Original Six teams: the Montreal Canadiens, Toronto Maple Leafs, Boston Bruins, Chicago Blackhawks, Detroit Red Wings, and New York Rangers. Those were the only teams in the league until 1967 when a massive expansion happened and they added 6 new teams. More teams were added over the years to get us to our current 31. The most recent (completed) expansion was in 2000 when the Minnesota Wild and the Columbus Blue Jackets were added, and in 2011 the Atlanta Thrashers were moved to Winnipeg to reinvent the Jets. Now there’s the new Vegas team, too.

Which is probably more information than you wanted.

I might point out that there is such a thing as the Canadian Hockey League - but that's a major junior hockey league, for players ages 16-20 (or until they're drafted or go to college or whatever). The CHL is an umbrella organization with three member leagues, the WHL (Western Hockey League), the OHL (Ontario Hockey League) and most famously the QMJHL (the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League). This last is ubiquitous enough that it's simply referred to as "The Q" (as in "Yeah, we played in the Q together."). The US doesn't really have an analagous organization, but it is also much more common for American players to go to college. The CHL leagues are major feeders for the NHL draft. The CHL leagues are, in fact, professional leagues - the players are paid. Not much, but they're paid. If you read "Check, Please!" this is a point of inaccuracy which Ngozi freely admits to screwing up - Jack Zimmermann played in the Q, but since it's a professional league, he would not have then been eligible to play NCAA hockey at Samwell. Oh well.

2. Why haven’t any modern players beaten Wayne Gretzky’s records? Lame.

Heh. Gretzky’s records will probably never be broken, but it’s not because the players now suck. It’s because changes to the game over the last 20 years, and especially since 2005, have made it all but impossible. Overall, scoring in the league has decreased about 20% since Wayne and Mario were playing. This is a combination of training (the players have a much higher level of training and experience now, making it harder to get past them and score), goalie equipment, and the salary cap (which is an entirely other topic).  It is worth noting that even with adjustments for era (there’s math that can be done to correct for this effect) both Gretzky and Mario Lemieux were freakishly good.

3. Have any teams never won the Cup?

Oh yes, tons of teams have never won it. In fact of the 30 current NHL teams, a whopping 12 have never won the Cup. And then there’s the Maple Leafs, who haven’t won it in 48 years. But the team that everyone talks about on this topic is the Washington Capitals, who have been...well, at this point I’m just gonna say cursed. They’ve won the President’s Trophy (that’s for having the highest point total in the regular season) three times in the salary cap era, their captain, Alex Ovechkin, has won the goal-scoring title a totally ridiculous six times (out of the 13 years he’s played in the NHL), they tend to dominate in the regular season and then...can’t quite get there. In fact they haven’t even made it to the Stanley Cup Finals since 1998. Nobody knows how this keeps happening. The Penguins are a bit of a nemesis for them. They cannot seem to beat them in the postseason. And since they’re in the same division, the Caps will always have to go through the Penguins to get to the final, in any year that both teams qualify for the postseason.

4. What happens to the ice between games?

I LOVE THIS QUESTION because I weirdly find logistics fascinating because I am a giant nerd. 

Answer: nothing! It’s still there. Arenas where hockey is played host other events as well. Many hockey teams share their arena with an NBA team - both the Rangers and the Knicks play at Madison Square Garden, and the Kings and the Lakers both play at the Staples Center. In addition, most of these arenas frequently host concerts, speeches, conventions, stuff like that. Coordinating all these schedules must be a nightmare and I'm glad I don't have to do it. I mean, the Knicks and the Rangers can't have a home game on the same night so does the NHL and the NBA work together on the schedule? I don't know. A lot of spreadsheets must be involved.

Obviously the ice surface is the most difficult to establish and maintain. They can't possibly destroy and re-make the ice between every game. So once the ice surface is created for the season, it remains there until the hockey season is over. If you've ever been to a concert or another sporting event at an arena that also hosts hockey, during the hockey season? The ice was there, just covered up. Some arenas leave the boards up, depending on what's coming in next. The nets, glass, player benches and penalty boxes are removed and seats are moved in. The ice itself is covered first with insulating rubber, then with flooring, then with whatever surface is required for the next event on the schedule. If it's an NBA game, a basketball court is smaller than a hockey rink so the court surface is brought in and the courtside seating is set up. Arena crews do this overnight superfast. They're really good at it. There are some fascinating time-lapse videos on YouTube of arena crews doing this changeover.

Here’s one of my favorites: a time-lapse video of 72 hours at Nationwide Arena (Columbus’s arena) showing them transitioning from hockey, to a concert, to basketball, and back to hockey:

https://youtu.be/sjpoTokyvVs

Once the hockey season is over, the ice surface is chiseled up and disposed of till next season. The Penguins did a cute thing this year where they let fans come in and paint messages and pictures onto the ice before it's taken up.

5. Why is Sidney Crosby considered the greatest hockey player in the world? He doesn't seem like all that.

Yeah, I know he might not, but he is. If you ask 100 hockey pros (writers, players, coaches) who the greatest player is, you'll probably get about 90% agreement, if not more. The thing about Sid is that he's great in ways that aren't casually apparent. He's not flashy (well, he can be - if he goes to one knee to shoot say your prayers - but usually not so much) and some of his most important skills aren't exciting except to other people who either play hockey or spend all their time watching it and thinking/writing about it. He's not out there doing trick shots or scoring on huge slappers. Not a lot of people are going to get all hot and bothered over puck protection skills, but that's the kind of stuff that wins games.

Sid isn't primarily a goal-scorer, although he's more than capable of scoring (he won the goal-scoring title this year, and has done it once before). He's a guy who creates offense. People who've played with him or coached him talk about his near-spooky ability to "see the ice" - hockey talk for playing chess in your head with the puck. He can see what's going to happen and know where to place himself and the puck to enable a goal to be scored, whether it's by him or one of his wingers. He's somewhat notorious for having trouble finding wingers who can play with him, and this is why - his wingers need to be good at this, too, to keep up with him, and it's not a universal skill.

Other players also talk about how difficult he is to defend because he's near impossible to knock off the puck. Part of this is...okay, let's just put it out there, it's genetics. You know how Michael Phelps is an amazing swimmer partly because he lucked into the perfect body shape for it? Sid lucked into the ideal hockey body. He has a ginormous ass and thighs like flying buttresses, plus he's short and has a low center of gravity. There are amusing YouTube compilations of defensemen trying to check him and just sort of...bouncing off. Sorry, thanks for playing.

So it's not always obvious why he's great. On the other hand, sometimes he'll do some insane shit like score by bouncing a puck off the goalie's back, passing to a teammate between his legs behind his back without looking, or streaking up the ice half off his balance and score off a one-handed backhand shot and you're like...okay yeah, I get it now.

If you want some numbers, here you go. One of the most important player stats is points per game, which is a straight-up measurement of a player's offensive power. Sidney Crosby ranks FIFTH in points per game...ALL-TIME. The only players ahead of him are Wayne Gretzky, Mario Lemieux, Mike Bossy and Bobby Orr, and those four guys are basically the Mt. Rushmore of hockey. And that's WITHOUT any corrections for era (see the answer above about Gretzky's records).

Just for a little point of comparison, three current NHL players hit the 1000 point mark this season (that's a big deal). The first was Henrik Sedin. It took him 1213 games to reach that milestone. The second was Sid's main rival in the "greatest player" thing, Alex Ovechkin. It took him 880 games to hit 1000 points. Sid did it in 757 games. Only 11 players in NHL history have done it faster.

6. So...fighting is really and truly just...allowed?

For certain values of “allowed.” It happens, the refs know it’s gonna happen, a real fight is almost always somewhat planned. Players get into minor scuffles, pushy-pushy, sweary-sweary all the time - those aren’t fights. Capital-F Fights are when the gloves come off, punches are thrown, the players keep each other from piling on, the refs just sort of let them fight it out. When they’re done they’ll usually both get a penalty of some kind, either fighting or roughing. 

7. Who the hell are the Habs? That...isn’t a team.

The Montreal Canadiens are called the “Habs” colloquially (it’s short for Les Habitants, the French-Canadian term for Canadiens). Several teams have nicknames. The Tampa Bay Lightning are often called the Bolts - in fact, that nickname is on their third jersey. The other teams’ nicknames are usually just the shortened form of their actual name (the Caps, the Sens, the Hawks, the Pens, etc).

8. What’s this points stuff? Why aren’t standings by W/L?

Because hockey is special and wants you to know about it. Team standings in hockey are not determined by win/loss record, but by total points. You get two points for a win, zero points for a regulation loss, but -- and here’s the difference -- you get one point for a loss in overtime. This is sometimes called the “loser point” and it’s relatively new. It’s like getting partial credit for a tie. A team’s total points is the sum of wins + OT losses. A team can have fewer wins but more points than another team if that first team had a lot of OT losses. Ties are pretty common in hockey, being generally low-scoring, and it’s well worth the effort to try and tie up the game (resulting in heart-taxing strategies like pulling the goalie) because not only could you then go on to win in OT but you’ll at least get one point just for ending regulation in a tie.

9. What’s with the tape on their socks?

Hockey gear is complicated. The players wear chest/shoulder pads, elbow pads, helmets, hockey pants (which have built-in kidney protectors), shin guards, and skates. Hockey socks are actually hip-high - they go way up underneath the pants. Here’s an image for you - pro hockey players actually wear garter belts under their pants. The socks clip to the belts to keep them up. But players also use clear tape wrapped around their shins to keep their socks in place over the top of their shinpads (which are underneath the socks). Each player has their own special way of taping their socks. And taping their sticks. And putting on their gear. And breathing, probably.

10. Hey, the goalie's buggered off again, but it's like the middle of the second period. You said that happens at the end of games.

I did say that, yeah.

So WTF?

What you're seeing is the result of a delayed penalty. That's...a whole thing.

Hit me with the thing.

Okay, you asked for it. So here's the scenario. Let's imagine a game between...oh, let's say the Capitals and the Sharks. The Capitals have the puck, they're charging toward the goal to score. But oh no, one of the Sharks trips a Capitals defenseman! Penalty! The penalty will benefit the Capitals, but they would really rather keep possession of the puck and complete their scoring opportunity. To get the power play they are now owed, they'd have to stop, change lines, have another faceoff - and sacrifice the puck possession and scoring opportunity they already have. So the penalty is delayed until the Capitals lose possession or score.

Well, that means...what, exactly? It means that the second one of the Sharks takes possession of the puck, play will be stopped and the penalty will go into effect. So the Capitals are in absolutely zero danger of being scored on right now. Play will be stopped the second they lose puck possession. So they might as well pull their goalie and put another skater on the ice, and give themselves a better chance to score, right?  So that's what usually happens. A delayed penalty is like getting a little bit extra on that power play you're about to have, except you get a brief period of 6-on-5 before your 5-on-4.

You might think this happens all the time, but it really doesn't. Definitely not every game.

Well, this concludes this edition of Hockey FAQ with Lori the Hockey Noob. I welcome your questions if you have them. If I don't know the answer I'll find out.

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#hockey #lori talks about hockey #nhl #hockey faq #hockey info

[survivetashirojima]

Episode #6: “LITTLE MISS MADISON said FUCK JACOB” -Kevin

*takes my numbers back and hisses at Stephen Vi and Timmy*

WHATS POPPING, this game thats whats popping ladies and gentlemen whew, to say the least that is. Considering my last confessional was like round 1, let me go ahead and fill you guys in on what you MISSED!! (from my perspective) We voted Tom, then Julia, then Kenny all unanimously which was meh, I liked Tom but he's very ruthless but I think I could've worked with him for a little but he just wasn't on so I couldn't do anything without risking my game, then theres Julia another person I liked and wanted to work with but her inactivity was gross and she made her own bed and she's kinda crazy so hopefully it was for the better, lastly in the string of unanimous votes we had KENNY I was ELATED to see him go, finally someone actually bad for my game left, we never talked and we did not have a good history so him staying would have sucked, then JG had to walk from the game which was.. something, personally for my situation that was great and while I hope everything is ok with him and his life I am not ashamed to say I was happy to have his presence in the game be gone, to be frank. THEN!!!!!!! things started to heat up! So going into the 4th tribal I was vulnerable for the FIRST time all game, and to make matters worse there was only 5 other people to choose from outside of myself, so that was really really shitty and I hated that feeling, luckily prior to the vote I found my way into 2 different alliances one being named the "fat five" consisting of myself, madeleine, jacob, ricky and andrew! this is a group i feel comfortable with for the time being and I trust, and then after that I was added to a chat with Joanna, Pat and Stephen which seems to be an alliance but is not properly named. I appreciate that my social ability has led me into 2 different completely non-overlapping alliances but it's also put me in the MIDDLE of those 2 alliances which seem to have different HOPES about where this game is going. So during the final 14 vote my name was brought up for what was told to me as a millisecond, a very short period of time that didn't really spark any fires in people to want to vote me out, I heard of this first through JOANNA, surprisingly she told me Stephen told her about it which was alarming to me because I liked Stephen and should he have heard my name I would have expected him to bring it to my attention, frankly he did NOT and in the midst of having a 1 in 6 shot of going home I was not going to rock the boat at all, so I bit my tongue and let the round play on and considered this something to be better addressed at a future time. So back to the actual VOTE the actual coming up of names I had no part in both Dylan and Brien were brought to me by the respective "sides" of the tribes if you will, with Dylan being Pat/Jo/Steves choice and Brien being Mad/And/Ric/Jac's choice both side were VERY intensely wanting their vote to go through (which is expected) but as everything unfolded I realized the kumbaya spirits that blessed the 3 tribals prior had seemingly left the building because me being vulnerable for the first time is a GREAT time to take a break, to put it quickly THE VOTE WAS SPLIT. With neither side budging despite my best efforts. After some investigative work I realized that outside of the fat five the brien vote was not widely wanted, and after taking myself out of the picture would have resulted in a 7-6 vote with Dylan leaving. So once i realized this and decided for myself that Dylan leaving was in fact the better move for my game, considering his challenge dominance and his close bonds to people who i considered my closest allies, he needed to be cut loose. In the final stretch before tribal I knew what was coming and what needed to be done so I had to lay the base work for what I was about to do which MEANT either flipping my alliance (fat five) or providing visible doubt within myself enough to prove that I was not LYING, I spoke to madeleine through most of this confessing concerns that we did not have the votes and perhaps it was best to just ride the dylan wave out as a unit like we had done up until that point, but there was no budging with her I expressed MULTIPLE concerns MULTIPLE times, and no movement. Then I went to jacob who was out of the loop as ever, he had no idea dylan was even an option and I told him that it was and it was likely to be the end result of the night with or without him, and I then tried to speak to andrew who was presumably at work but i really couldn't tell ya, I messaged him asking had he heard Dylans name at all, no response but the effort was there and I wasn't gonna call him just to give bad news, and lastly in the final moments I confessed to madeleine I "switched" my vote to Dylan to avoid a tie, which was true, and became my main selling point for WHY I did it which is fair, while there are revotes it's still half way to rocks and thats one hike i will NOT be taking, at least not this early and not over Dylan's ass lets make that clear. Then, the deed is done and the dust settles and im left to pick up the pieces of a devastated alliance, as I said i expose myself and admit to not wanting a tie and worrying for the safety of myself and ricky (who would've had a 50% chance of one of us going should it have gone to rocks) Im comforted by Madeleine and Ricky who understand the position I was in, Andrew was understandably and slightly upset but hey I DID try and talk to him, jacob pretty indifferent as always, I felt in the clear and I had nothing to do but move on. I will be doing the final 13 vote in a SEPARATE confessional, you're welcome  

BACK BACK BACK AGAIN, HALLELU! where were we? lets keep this going shall we, anyways SO FINAL 13, the challenge is remembering the cats trailer which I tried slightly after quite a long day at work so my brain wasn't fully there, I did do quite a bit of studying but my dumb ASS didn't think to remember the order of celebrities, or the featured names/works that were affiliated with the trailer, so I lost a lot of time in having to go back and watch those parts which scored me a mere 14 !! which was sadly not enough to win Immunity, instead Andrew and Stephen won! 1 person from each alliance, how poetic. The winners didn't really affect me or my gameplay this week it was quite a non factor. Which makes sense in a 14 person tribe, with now 12 people eligible to be voted out. The first half of the day was quite like every other vote, no names, no activity everyone waiting for the storm to flood in and sweep us away in the dark murky waters of tashirojima where somebody's gonna end up drowning. AND THEN IT HAPPENS!! suddenly there's names... LNGVO (Pat/Jo/Steve alliance) seems to be wary of Madeleine, who is quite the talker and a good social player considering her persistance with talking to people, it's impressive really. She won the social challenge by a landslide and that scared people and specifically scared Pat who threw her name out there first, pitching a pretty decent case in my opinion but Maddie trusts me so I don't really give into the pitch while Joanna agrees I subtly drop a message providing why her gameplay isn't all it's seemed to be and how she'll likely do herself in in due time, and we should probably just wait it out. While my tiny message likely had no impact Stephen did somewhat agree, he felt making another big move (was dylan that big of a move?) would set a domino effect into play and ultimately catch up to one of us which I agreed with. So while Pat and Joanna were still hung up on Maddie going home if at all possible we/they also recognized that her likability at this point in the game would make it hard to vote her out considering Jay/Timmy 2 MOTR players wouldn't write her name down was a game changer. So then the vote swapped to Jacob a less social and less likable player but also a key component to the unbeknownst to them alliance, the fat five, so I couldn't really have that happening BUT I did encourage the idea once it came up because while I wanted to pitch the idea of going Brien to this group but with the talk of "staying strong" as an "8" that voted together previously I knew it wouldn't be well received and I didn't want to risk looking sketchy that early in the day cause you never know how quick a vote can turn if given the right chance, so I sat back and agreed and made a small case for why jacob "SHOULD" be the vote and then they settled on Jacob because my assumptions were that if the vote was Jacob then Madison (who i assumed to be close to jacob) would not vote for him and would mean not necessarily a vote for the fat five but one less vote for LNGVO who by the mathematics of it, had the majority. BUT BOY WAS I WRONG, cause "we" settled on jacob and as it turns out LITTLE MISS MADISON said FUCK JACOB and voted for him !!! That was a shocker. But lets back up, before the votes were read I eventually brought up Brien's name AGAIN in the fat five, hoping we could stick on that, piss off less people and keep the sides more even so I don't give either side the upperhand WITHOUT needing little ol me, the middle position is only powerful if theres a middle to sit in. So if Brien went home I kept the balance, I appease the previously disappointed fat five and save the day with getting brien out just 1 round late. Without much fight they agree, it really does seem like the best decision so now I know where both sides are aiming I just need to figure out what their ammunition looks like. I knew where most of the votes were gonna be EXCEPT FOR Jay and Madison, both promised both sides their votes (which I know because I am somehow a part of both sides and thats why I hate my life) so without myself madison and Jay the votes looked like like 6-5 in the  LNGVO favor in eliminating Jacob, a close ally of mine, so now I had to secure 1 more vote to tip the scales in my favor, Jay had been on the fence all day from what he said, and so I went to talk to him like 10 minutes before tribal and he confessed to being on the fence and he told me while he promised his vote was going to go against jacob he didnt feel like he could follow through and i said SAME DUDE!!!! we're in the same boat, so i took this opportunity to relate and then make sure he felt confident in his decision because he was making it with me. And we locked on Brien, and he went on to later tell me that me agreeing with him and our conversation was the push he needed to lock that vote in, which im so grateful for. Now yet again I had to soften the blow to the side that I was voting against, while I knew Jay was flipping for about 20 minutes before I said anything (from 5:50 to about 6:10) I needed to find the perfect timing to tell LNGVO that I heard Jay was flipping and that Madison was also voting Brien (which wasn't true but I DID HEAR that she was from Madeleine and Andrew so I didn't lie) and with this I said I don't know if the votes are there anymore, and obviously Joanna not showing up until the last second was helpful too because that added to the sense of insecurity with that vote, and I also said I don't wanna vote Jacob if he's not gonna go home (again, true) and so with only 1 more person to be asked a question I dropped the bomb with little to no time to recover and have Stephen or Pat go and talk to jay to flip him back and no time to really figure out what was happening. Then the votes are read Brien goes home THANK U BABY JESUS and my plan worked out. Now I just need to continue to balance these 2 alliances as best as possible. In my next submission I will talk about the information and events that happened AFTER the votes were read. Thank you!

PART 3, THE FINALE, ARE YOU EXCITED? im excited, anyways. So Brien's gone hallelujah amen am i right. The LNGVO alliance seems understand when I express my concerns that the vote was too close to call and I couldn't really trust much of what anyone said like I mean come on, it was 7-6 for christs sake. They seem ok with it, understanding that this isn't the end of the world and theres still a bunch of game to be played and just hope to move forward stronger than before and hopefully still with the majority. And then I speak to Jay again, "baffled" at the fact that we were in the middle and the decision makers, making sure he knew it was both of our decision which leads him to propose that he would like to work with me, and I agree obviously! I really like Jay we share a love of pizza and pretzels and anything that combines pizza and pretzels. But also he's in the middle as well and he was another person to promise his vote one way and go back on it, similar to what I did, so I wont or shouldn't be taking heat alone which is always good. AND THEN the real kicker of the night, earlier on in the day I spoke to Stephen about hearing my name and not telling me, and gave him the chance to tell me his story, as vague as can be he tells me that it came up but wasn't truly considered, when asked specifically who said my name he dodged the question but did tell me it originated in a conversation with Madeleine, who I trusted and also didn't tell me about hearing my name but AFTER THE VOTE Maddie brought it up that Stephen in fact said my name on a call to HER not the other way around which jogged my memory and I confirmed and he in fact threw me out as an option for the vote, the same round he started an alliance with me! Ridiculous that guy. So now I know that Stephen has a thought in his mind that looks at me as a threat and someone that he ALREADY has considered targeting. While I initially felt bad having to let down LNGVO considering the alliance was created by Stephen I feel less bad now knowing that he is two-faced and is to not be trusted by me, despite how hard he wants to try and seem loyal to the alliance. People such as Andrew and Mad already see his sketchiness and the back and forth and I'm glad I want to capitalize on that and hopefully make something happen. But it's too soon to tell what I want to happen this round with 2 days for immunity and another for tribal really anything can happen and thats worrysome. but lets end on a positive note, Madeleine told me that I am her favorite person in this game and that she trusts me the most, which is AMAZING, she also brought up the idea of forming a final three of myself, her and Andrew to which I obviously agreed to but I think she may not know that Andrew has a pre-existing relationship to Ricky, and I have a pre-existing relationship to Jacob and Jacob and Ricky ALSO know each other well. But that may not even come into play but it's important to note that I am now officially a part of someones end game (for the time being) this is huge and I hope to become a part of more peoples end games as the game progresses. Good Luck Charlie!

I was scared I wasn’t coming across how I wanted to be in this season, turns out I am and I’m so freaking happy!!!

I was think about the challenge in class and looked at my coffee and my mind just screamed “Starbucks cat!” And then “MADDIE NO”

Madeleine is totally a backstabber but that's okay. I already knew that since tribal 2. I think I'm gonna switch to vote her off only bc now I have Jay and Pat talking to me. Thank gods Brien got voted off. He never talked to me besides setting up the alliance. I favor people who talk over people who doesn't so that's one less inactive person. I"M SO GLAD THAT THIS CHALLENGE IS AN ARTISTIC ONE. I can not wait to see how people react to what I drew. I think its hella nice. Even if I get voted off after this challenge, that's perfectly fine and I'm okay with that since this is my pride and joy of the season. Plus I won't be gone gone since we're all jurors anyways. It'll just be lonely for a few days until the next juror gets voted out. Or multiple. Lukas and Olivia seems to be hinting at more than one person can be voted out and idk man. Scary business right there

So this is how I'm pretty sure the votes went last time? - Andrew, Maddie, Ricky, Kevin, Jacob, Jay, Madison: voted out Brien - Stephen, Timmy, Vi, Joanna, Pat, Brien: voted out Jacob Unless I'm a buffoon......but I think Madison was the swing vote. I think. Idk. I had to convince Jay very very very very very VERY last second and then at the same time get people to convince Madison while I was also trying to talk to her. I wouldn't have been so adamant about NOT voting out Jacob had Stephen not been sketchy as all hell coming to me at like 8:30 being like "teehee wut if we did jacob uwu" cuz that was fucking stupid. He was like "well why does Jacob deserve to stay over Brien" and I was like why the fuck are you all of a sudden trying to keep Brien? For numbers? Yeah no. No Brien for you. He's gone now. So Stephen is high on my hit list. Also I just like do not have a connection to Vi, Timmy, Pat, and Joanna and like I've talked to Vi and Joanna but the convos are stale. I guess I can try messaging Pat. I might look like a doofus messaging Timmy this late in the game especially when I'm pretty sure he doesn't like me but I think I've decided I don't give a shit about social graces and might just message him anyway for funsies. The key word is might. For this vote though.......Maddie, Ricky, and Jacob are all vulnerable. Like at least Maddie puts in work but if I have to keep dragging Ricky and Jacob's lagging asses I'm gonna lose it. I'm love Ricky so much but like......please. Do smth.... I'm gonna break my back from carrying this alliance. Jay is also vulnerable btw. So that's 4 people I don't wanna target. Then there is Timmy and Madison. Will Madison vote out Timmy? Idk. That could be an issue. Because if she doesn't then I think it could end up being 6-6. Nnnnnn. So like if it's 6-6 that's gay because if it deadlocked then Timmy and whoever the other side voted would be safe. So like it would be a 1-4 chance that Madison goes over one of my allies. We need people to vote out Timmy. This is GAY. Or maybe we just scrap Jacob because he's useless. Who fuckin knows.

*spongebob timecard narrator voice* the next day: So apparently Madison voted Jacob? And Timmy voted Brien? I'm confused but idc lol maybe we can just get majority on Madison then

These people are so messy. So Jacob left my alliance with him and Madison but I’m messaging him (or at least trying to, he’s responding slowly but I think he’s at work so it’s all good) because I need him to know I didn’t vote for him. Madison did though and now I know she also voted Dylan and she thought I did too. I still want Madison in but like I don’t want to go to the end with her mainly bc I know she would be more likely than others to vote for me in the end. There’s plenty of reasons to get Madeleine out but she’s not winning immunities so the opportunity will be better with less people and these people are smart and will see that she is a social threat but yea she is easy to beat in immunity (although I haven’t been doing too well in immunities). I want Ricky gone bc I fucked up and never answered his message from a while ago so that is a dead relationship so he can go. Also I want Joanna gone sooner rather than later because I know she is smart.

so, gag of all gags, everyone in my core alliance is immune, woo. This means we dont have to be worried about a massive blindside, the only true ally i have thats vulnerable is Madison, but it seems the vote is aiming more at ricky, thank god. I like the guy but hes just one of the less-active people and I want to make sure we dont have an ftc full of goats who just drifted through. Kevin is the only one of my alliance im wary of, he has done great in challenges so far, and that can be dangerous the closer you get to FIC, so eventually he will lose immunity and ill have to betray him. Make it to f8, then the next time he loses hes gone.

https://youtu.be/qHZhhQIvOcU

CASUALTIES:

CAST ASSESSMENTS:

PART 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BF-qsugZ6RM&list=PLB-4yJ0EHce-bxHQVmQVdrV6tx36_6Jly&index=14

PART 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dF6SrpCKBrA&list=PLB-4yJ0EHce-bxHQVmQVdrV6tx36_6Jly&index=15

#Purrvivor