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gil-notskajla · 4 years

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So xerath skin confirmed how you feel

I'm conflicted.

As much as I enjoy reading about Xerath in lore and go crazy when anything happens lorewise, skins info gives me a bad feeling. It's mostly caused by circumstances: Riot announced skins for champions who didn't get a skin for a long time. It looks like they just thought: "yeah.. these guys rioting on the back are soo annoying... just throw 'em whatever and get back to lux skins"

And I don't want whatever. I don't want trash.

The worst part is that Riot doesn't do cheap skins anymore. Everything costs 1350 no matter if its good or terrible. It isn't about how well things go together, it's about how many artists and animators worked on it and for how long. That's fair, but at least pay attention to what works and what doesn't.

And I will tell you what works and what doesn't.

Battlecast, Runeborn - nothing flashy, but works

Scorched - semi-works, flashy, best skin to equip if you are in Prestige_XerathTM mood

Guardian - disgusting mess which isnt worth a single penny (i respect guy who made a concept and guy who made splash (splash is beautiful), he had a vision; animator got paid soo whatever; but nevertheless - skin is shitty and doesnt work at all, i regret paying for it, even to i paid with 80%, its not worth it at all)

Why cheap skins work? People call 'em chromas but honestly these are my faves. First, what should work for all skins: attacks are well saturated what makes them comfortable to use in game. Nothing else because those are just repainted defaults. Idle animations work and emotes work as well. Xerath's dance and "Closing Sarcophagus"(CS) emotes are a micro-culture of xerath mains. They are super important and they are an absolute must of all the things that work. These dont work - skin doesn't work. on both skins parts of sarcophagus fit each other what allows them to close into a certain form - it looks great. And dance emote works as it should.

Scorched semi-works because even tho sarcophagus cant close, it looks good - its color palette is well picked, pieces are of a fine sized parts which match each other, his body is 2D but has different texture lava-fire-like which doesnt look way to off, and dance emote works.

Guardian...oh boy.... Guardian doesnt work in any way. Color theory was abadoned when they were coloring him. Parts dont fit eachother. Mark is way to dark and of complitely different shade of purple (blueish instead of plum). His body is in obviously, painfuly 2D what is impossible to not notice because of darker contouring of light form. Animations suck (except of B, but its only because its his only animated recall). In dance platings are too big and dont allow for full round movements of arms. And CS... lets say he turns into a qantum flower durring epilepsy episode. Absolutely hideous abomination and the worst part is that what you get on splash looks NOTHING like what you have in game. You buy it, cant wait to try it out and when you finally do, you just wanna click the return button instantly. And it costs 1350.

Soo now that we have it all clear, since Xerath skins are called chromas, we want next chroma: pink/purple/white/black or brown. Since we are fans of neglected child our standards arent high:

Dream come true skin for Xerath is this black concept by Tink29

Sarcophagus is made of fitting parts, voidlike substance gives eerie feelings and its majestic. But its never gonna happen because Riot would LITERALLY DIE if they made a good solo skin for unpopular champion. Another idea is white as elementalist (yes, i am delusional) or some nice wind related or somethin' (ive made this concept basing on raider outfit since xerath is a leader of western raiders and planed to finnish it with colors fitting raider costume with very bright, white/light-lime arcane. Its not good for CS animation but its light, and flowing with all the light elements like material straps on the mask and wing-like details)

but its not an option as well.

Brown (with for example... sugar rush theme) wont happen because its not obvious. Soo my guess is either pink or purple and it's gonna be either Voidborn (god please let it be voidborn) or space related, most likely Darkstar (ok i guess). Best way how voidborn could end up looking like is probably this fanart by BlazeMalefica

not only did the artist remmember about the seal (which is kinda a big deal, 50%-of-his-mental-issues deal for xerath) and turned it into the eye but its also capable of closing, animating properly, its not noisy what makes him more readable, has one specific color (pink) and is built on something that already exists. It's perfect for both players and Riot (and it would be also cheaper probably, just sayin'..). If they decide to make Darkstar (ive abadoned Cosmic or Hextech - not gonna happen, it would be to good)im afraid that they will do a color hoarding of purple, blue, black.. literally whatever, slap it all together on the sarcophagus, shape it into some wild shapes, ignore all the animations, do a recall, slap 2D core and call it "Black is new Gold: Guardian of the Sands 2.0 even more retarded than its predecessor" and it will look like this noisy af mess of a bitch (by Slow Damn)

or in best case scenario for which i count if its dark star

by Thorsten Erdt.

and i can bet all my 1300 Eververse silver that Riot will do everything to make it look like shit in game by cutting the funds soo lets do something less risky, easier soo they wont fuck it up.

But that's just my predictions and when it finally comes out I will rate it. Let's hope for the best (void or darkstar, no matter, just give us the purple, the pink, working sarcophagus and limbs)! If its good maybe i will even make a break from Destiny to try it out! 👀👌🏻

#xerath #league of legends #skins #2020 #predictions #rant #voidborn #void #idol #raider #ask #lol #my art #mine #concept art #my

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colorfulangelharmony · 3 years

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You are more<3 - Eija Hinkkala

Next book I write is Eija Hinkkalas: “You are more - with a burning heart towards your own thing”. Again this is free way translated. It is finnish book. :)

I think this book beautiful looking, which actually was the reason why I wanted to read it. Isin’t it good reason? Hahah!

Actually name was also something what I needed in my life...You are more, we are more. <3 Don’t give up. You are beautiful, unique person. You are enough. Work hard for your dreams. Work hard growing as a person to better. <3

First of at the book Eija tells of “Own things pieces”, what we have to gather and get to know better. We should be more brave try to do that thing what we love/enjoy/want, thought the life works really mysterious ways sometimes. I give an example of my life: I have always hated as an idea being a teacher. AND especially being teacher for teenagers AND teach at vocational/trade school. I graduaded as a Agronomist. Not bad, right? Not close at all a teachers career? Right? WRONG! The first job after graduated, what I got IS A AGRICULTURE TEACHER: MAIN SUBJECT PLANT PRODUCTION, BUSINESS THEORY/AGRICULTURE ECONOMY, FOREST ECONOMY, FARM BUILDING THEORY AND ENVIRONMETNTAL SCIENCE. Like how? My weakest knowledge WAS A PLANT PRODUCTION, but damn i have worked so hard it might been soon my BEST subdivision. When I was at school my main subject were: livestock production (bovine, milking cows, goats, sheeps, chickens, broiler, gooses,ducks and bees), agriculture economy, organic production (plant and animals) and projects. I have now teach teenagers one year. And they will be a future rural entpreneurs or farmers depends on of them, what they will and want to do. SO life simply wanted to mess with me really well. I still think this is not my things, but damn I still will do my job the best way I ever can at these resources I have! It is still these teenagers future, what my teaching will affect, so it really is must to do the best way possible, thought I don’t like it. :c

Personally I think this job is something what I need as a growing a better person. I know it will lead towards my dream.

ANYWAY Let’s continue to the book. So at ther first part in the book Eija tells adn try to get reader to think: What are your things pieces? How you can be more you? There is a permission to get excited new things (In Finland I think people whatch you badly if you are excited of something), how and why you should get know yourself better, what are you good at, what are your strenghts?. She also tells how you approach will affect on things you do.

The second part of book Eija Hinkkala begin to start what things you should get rid of. Her term of this is: “The Wise Renunciation”. In our life we have many bad things, what we should desist: like our own bad beliefs, ego talk, trying to be a perfect, avodaince of fears, age-thinking, living at the past, now and the future, complaining and the thoughts of limiting ourselves.

The thirs part Hinkkala tells how we can programm our mind new way and the better way. It is basicly a wise way to lead ourselves, but it needs a lot of work. This part won’t end it kind of belongs to way think: That we learn always something new and we have to remind ourselves to old good habits too, if we forget them and if those habits actually helps us. There are these all “trend” things: Like visualizing, what we want to do. (Some influencers make these “dream boards”) and being a gratefull (gratefull lists). We should choose our “tools” way which works us the best. I wish everyone remembers there are no shortcut to happiness/good luck.

The fourth part is where Eija give her examples what you should think of more: How you can do less, simplier and with more aknowledge. We should think wisely, use our willpower and do thing more bravely.

The fifth part Hinkkala is speaking of how to come “I to us”. We should remember that people are not meant to live always completely alone, if they don’t want it by themselves. This part Eija tells how people affects each others and how you shoul try yourself better, but you should remember there are always people who you might get really good advices.

I enjoyed of reading this book and I actually begin to do my own “toolkit” set, what and how I should do things to get in my dreams. I am working hard, and trying to also take care myself more better. I have completely ingored 2 years my own needs and it really shows in my health even at mentally. I am happy that I read this book to me “right time”.

#tiimimestari #2020 #lifejourney

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thebrewstorian · 4 years

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FIELDS OF GREEN: Hops in history

I gave a talk this afternoon for Oregon Archives Month about one of my favorite topics: hops.

You can watch the talk online.

You can watch the films online.

Spring hop field operations and fall harvest, 1931

Hops harvesting and processing, 1945

You can listen to the soundtrack we played during the films (they are silent).

You can learn more about the Zoller Hop Company Collection (the home of the films).

You can see my slides and read my words below!

Hello everyone! Thanks for spending an hour with me!

My name is Tiah Edmunson-Morton and I run the Oregon Hops and Brewing Archives. This afternoon I’m going to talk about hops in the world, the US, and Oregon. We’ll conclude with a couple of films from 1931 and 1945 housed in the Zoller Hop Company Collection.

Tomorrow night there is another event you should know about: an author talk with Kenneth Helphand, the author of a new OSU Press book on hops in Oregon. On this slide are the link addresses for the guide to OHBA collections, my blog, and where I am on Twitter.

Many of you know this, but for those who are new here’s a bit about me.

I started at OSU in 2006 as the reference archivist and student supervisor. I’ve done lots of things in my 14 years, but my work had always centered on teaching and outreach. Because of a department merger, by 2013, the structure of my department had changed, and new staff additions meant I had an opportunity to think about my job. But I was casting about, not really sure what my role was anymore. But I really wanted to do collection development, processing, and arrangement and description work again.

2 important things happened in 2013: I went to a wedding at the Rogue Hop Farm and learned a lot about regional hops history on a tour – everyone was fascinated and that made me think this could be an engaging sort of history for students and the general public. I went to the Archives Leadership Institute, where I thought I’d think deep thoughts about documenting student groups. Instead, I met 2 archivists working on wine and bourbon and hatched an idea for a new collecting initiative.

An archive was born. I started the Oregon Hops and Brewing Archives to document these industries in our state. It was the first of its kind in the country, and I have been extremely lucky over the past 7 years to acquire terrific collections and conduct a lot of oral history interviews. And I’ve learned a lot about hops.

I’m interested in lots of things related to history, including hops, but am presently really excited about researching the biographies of 19th century wives of Oregon brewers. And I love love love the census.

I promise to talk about hops, but first here’s a bit about the history of brewing. I work with a lot of students, and most are quite surprised to learn that the earliest brewers were women. Women throughout history and the world were brewing. Sometimes they are key characters in stories, including the often referenced Ninkasi, who was the goddess of beer and alcohol in ancient Sumerian mythology, but others like Louhi from the Finnish legends, a woman who made beer by mixing bear's saliva with honey. Beyond legends, women brewed in real life too. For example, for centuries, women in Nepal have brewed raksi, a distilled alcoholic beverage made from rice. The Wari women in the central highlands of Peru were elite women who brewed a drink called chicha, a fermented beverage made from corn. In North America, Indigenous women brewed Saguaro cactus beer or wine and others made an intoxicant from yucca and the red beans of the mountain laurel. In the medieval era, women in smaller city communities and on farms made ales and beers at home in small batches that were immediately consumed. Some also brewed commercially; in England, they were called “brewsters” or “ale wives.”

There was a shift towards something akin to "production facilities" when monasteries produced beer for their own consumption and as a form of payment. Brewers Guilds also formed in England and many see this period of industrialization as the point when men became associated with the identity “brewer.” In the late 18th and early 19th centuries commercial breweries developed, mainly in larger urban markets with a clientele to buy the product before it spoiled.

Students are also surprised that you don’t have to have hops to make beer. Technically, some of the drinks I described the women making aren’t beer because they don’t use grains, which is one way to distinguish beer from wine. But brewers have always been creative and used what was present in their environment. For example, gruit ales were made using an herb mixture to flavor or bitter the drink. Gruit is a combination of herbs, commonly including sweet gale, mugwort, yarrow, ground ivy, horehound, and heather. Other adjunct herbs include juniper berries, ginger, caraway seed, aniseed, nutmeg, cinnamon, and mint. The earliest reference to gruit dates from the late 10th century, but it was largely replaced by hops by the 14th and 15th century.

There is a lot of information about women, monks, ingredients, and brewing, as well as information about hops on the Beer Research Guide, which was initially created to support beer history classes at OSU, but is now an epic one-stop shop for anyone interested in the topic.

There are a lot of people throughout history who thought and talked about hops. And there are also a lot of “probably” and “might have beens” in this history.

The first written record of the crop was created by Pliny the Elder when he wrote about common hops in his 77AD Naturalis Historia. The first reference to hops growing in continental Europe was in Hallertau, Germany in the 8th century, but hop cultivation probably began in Eastern Europe around Bohemia, Slovenia, and Bavaria before then. In the middle 8th century monks began planting and cultivating hops. Later, in 1574, Reginald Scot wrote the first practical treatise on hop culture in England, called “A Perfect Platform of a Hop-garden.” As a side note, Scot also wrote a book about witchcraft in 1584.

There’s some dispute about the first documented use of hops in beer, but it was probably in the 8th century in Bavaria, although I’ve also read 11th century in Hallertau. Hildegard of Bingen, a German Benedictine abbess and scientific writer, wrote a set of books called Physica in the 12th century, which contained what is thought to be the first recorded reference of the usage of hops in beer as a preservative.

Though we most often link hops with beer, hops did serve other functions. They were used in cooking (breads, salads) and home decor (stuffed in pillows and used in basket weaving) but were also known for their medicinal uses and could help with afflictions such as flatulence, tumors, skin irritations, and mental illness.

Early settlers to North America could pick native wild hops in the woods around their settlements. But by the turn of the 19th century, specific areas specializing in hops had formed in America. Massachusetts, Connecticut, Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine, and New York all became early hop growing areas. By the early 1800s hop growing had declined in the northern New England states, and because New York had better soil and was closer to the large population centers, that became the main hop-growing region by the 1880 until the first decade of the 20th century.

However, after a short stint in the upper Midwest (Michigan and Wisconsin) in the mid-1860s, the hop growing center shifted again to the west coast. Though settlers brought root stock to plant in kitchen gardens, west coast commercial hop growing began in earnest in the 1850s. By 1900, both Oregon and California produced more hops than New York. In addition to good soil and weather, early western farmers were helped by the construction of the transcontinental railroad, which allowed them to transport their hops to breweries in the mid-west and east.

Here are all the blog posts I’ve written on hops!

Before I launch into the narrative history, I have to point out one of my favorite statistics: 8 pounds recorded in 1850. Also, one of my favorite photos: Hop Field Day 1941, a nod to OSU’s role in research and development, but also to women wearing a black dress and heels in a field.

The earliest record of the hop crop in the Pacific Northwest is one about a transport from Fort Vancouver, a 19th century fur trading post used as the headquarters of the Hudson's Bay Company, to Sitka, Alaska. There is also a reference to hops growing in the Fort Vancouver Farm in 1836.

But there is conflicting information about who the “first commercial hop grower” was in Oregon. Reports says that Frederick Walcott Geer planted hops near Silverton in 1846; when he died in 1866, some called him the first successful hop farmer in Oregon. There’s also a reference to Adam Weisner coming to Polk County from Wisconsin in 1867. But the commonly recognized “first” grower was William Wells of Buena Vista. He planted the first commercial hop yard in Oregon in 1867; though hardly a major contributor to the global marketplace, he inspired others to invest. George Leisure followed Wells as another early grower, setting up in Lane County in 1869; he supposedly bought root stock from Weisner.

In the early 20th century hops were plentiful in Oregon, and from 1905 to 1915 Oregon was the nation’s largest hop producer. Despite Prohibition and the Great Depression, Oregon hop production grew after World War I due to the disastrous effects of the war on European agriculture. From 1922 to 1943, Oregon regained the honor as the nation's largest producer, and by the 1930s (following the repeal of Prohibition), the area around Independence in Polk County was known as the “Hop Center of the World.” The entire Willamette Valley felt an increased demand for a seasonal labor force to harvest hops, which offers a great opportunity to talk about pickers and parties.

Growers advertised in newspapers to recruit urban families and provided cabins or tents, water, and other necessities for the hop-pickers, but because the work was “unskilled” pickers were recruited from all over the region for the short harvest season. Women and children were hired for their perceived picking dexterity (and lower wage demands), and a diversity of workers were found in the fields (racial, economic, geographic).

Many operations included entertainment, such as music and campfires, and there were more organized hop festivals like the Hop Fiesta in Independence. Pickers had fond memories of these evening celebrations, but less fond ones of the hard picking during the day.

By the early 1950s the hop crop began to the decline and mechanical picking machines replaced the need for seasonal laborers. This change meant a demise of a hop festivals, but also a shift in growing practices. Many growers abandoned hops, while others increased acreage to pay for their investment in mechanical pickers.

Concurrent with this boom/bust in production, hop farmers in Oregon faced a problem plaguing many other hop-growing states: mildew and pests.

Hops are tough plants, but are also really susceptible to insects and fungal infections. Research scientists at Oregon Agricultural College had helped farmers with testing and talked about pests or drying since the 1890s; here’s an example of the public sharing of research in an extension station bulletin focused on the hop louse. In 1930 the USDA and OAC formalized a hop research program that would look directly at breeding new varieties and increasing production.

A big issue for farmers at the time was that the hops they were growing (Early and Late Clusters) were meant to grow in England or Europe. They tried growing more mildew tolerant hops like Fuggle, Bullion, or Brewer’s Gold, but still struggled. In 1972, Dr. Alfred Haunold released the Cascade hop, which had been crossed in 1956 and essentially ignored. Other popular modern American hop varieties followed, including Willamette, Nugget, and Sterling.

There is a lot of information about hops and OHBA collections on the OHBA Research Guide.

Narrowing focus even more, we’re going to look at the Zoller Hop Company, which was located in Independence, Oregon, during the first half of the 20th century. The company was later owned by Donal MacCarthy and the name was changed to “D.P. MacCarthy & Son.”

The Zoller family brewery supply business was headquartered in New York City. Charles (the father) was President and Director, while Christian (the son) was Vice-President and Vice-Director. The “Charles Zoller Company” distributed brewing supplies and machinery, including a washing equipment, a hop-separating machine, brushes and brooms, cleaning liquids, valves and rings, bottles and caps, as well as yeast, hops, rice, and malt.

In addition to owning a supply business, the Zollers were also involved directly in the hop farming business. In 1906, they purchased a farm and equipment from Henry Ottenheimer in Independence, Oregon, naming it the Zoller Hop Company. With this farm and their existing supply business, they became successful brokers for the sale of Willamette Valley hops to breweries throughout the United States (Florida, Louisiana, Pennsylvania, Texas, Indiana, Ohio). Charles Zoller was President, Oregon’s U.S. Senator Charles L. McNary was Vice-President, and Donal (D.P.) MacCarthy was Manager and Secretary. Christian worked in New York with his father but was actively involved in gathering information and providing operational assistance to MacCarthy.

DP MacCarthy’s family actually collected this material, so I’m going to tell you a bit about him. He was born 1873 in South Africa, educated in England, and worked in Canada as a crewman on a cattle boat. He arrived in the Willamette Valley on Thanksgiving Day in 1894 and settled in Woodburn. He worked in the woods in the Silverton area and then partnered with Jack Carmichael to start a hop-buying company. In 1907, MacCarthy purchased a 180-acre farm near Independence (the Fir Grove Hopyard) and over the next several years added three more farms, including the Zoller property in 1918. In 1936, partnered with his son, Eugene D. MacCarthy, and at the time of MacCarthy’s death in 1954, they owned approximately 600 acres.

The Zoller Hop Company Records is an interesting collection of correspondence and management files, photographs of fields and community events, and the two films we’ll watch. MacCarthy’s frequent letters to the Zollers, preserved in carbon-typed format, provide a first-hand look at concerns of a Willamette Valley hop farm through monthly and annual balance sheets, harvest expenses, statements of the capital, and partial inventories of equipment. Shipping documents for bales of hops to breweries shows the breadth of the Zoller Hop Company’s market.

The majority of the collection consists of correspondence between Charles and Christian Zoller and MacCarthy between 1909 and 1918. They wrote about farm operations, transportation and shipping issues, market conditions, disease and pest problems, economic uncertainties for breweries and related businesses as a result of Prohibition, concerns about the Oregon Hop Growers Association and its impact on the market, labor unrest and the rise of unions (Industrial Workers of the World), and the shortage of workers during the war. Because the bulk of the collection was created during World War I, the correspondence also addresses market conditions as they related to war-time activity, the shortage of railroads cars to ship hops due to the transportation of ammunition and war supplies, speculation about market prices if hops were no longer imported from Germany, and Austria’s shortage of field workers in 1917 as the U.S. entered the war. The collection also contains correspondence from 1918 regarding the dissolution of the Zoller Hop Company and MacCarthy’s transition to business owner.

The photographs and films show the MacCarthy hop operations from the 1920s-1940s, including stringing, spraying, equipment, and processing in dryers/kilns. Hops were picked by hand on MacCarthy’s farms until 1949, and the photos and other ephemeral items in this collection document this. Picked hops were collected into baskets in the fields; these were then poured into a weighing basket and the number of pounds were punched out on the tickets. These tickets would be cashed at the hop office, used as cash at the campground store, the stores in Independence, or could be taken in cash.

#hops history #hops #oregon hops #oregon archives month

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j-blaksparck-blog · 7 years

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Fanfic-1-byBlax

One-shot, Loki x Reader, by Blax

Jay

“J listens”, you answer the phone.

“Hi, (Y/N), It’s been long”, Tony says from other end.

“Don’t call me by that name, but yeah, how’s that Avengers-thing going? No more aliens coming?”

“We got Reindeer-Ga-”

“I wanna see what a god looks like. Can I come, let’s say... in a hour?”

“How long did you wait to ask that question?”

“I have no idea what you mean. Bye, see you later!” you say and hung up. Then you order your car driver to take you to the Stark Tower. After a hour you are demanding Tony to let you in.

“Welcome, miss B”, AI says when you step in. After some minutes you meet Tony and other Avengers.

“Hello, I’m J”, you say. “Now, I wanna see that bad ass god.”

“You can’t just go and look at him, that guy is dangerous”, Tony protests, for once serious.

“Really? I thought that he was just cute little kitten, seriously, of course bad ass god is dangerous! Now, where is he?” you say, using your (E/C) death stare.

Because your miraculously good death stare, it doesn’t take more than few minutes to convice the Avengers that you are perfectly capable of taking care of yourself. They still insist that at least Thor comes with you.

So, after few minutes more you finally see Loki. Black hair, tall, wears green. When you get closer, you decide that he really is hot. That pale skin and those eyes. And what cheek bones! You try not to think those things you aren’t supposed to think about enemy.

“Brother! This is lady J, she wanted to see you”, Thor’s loud voice comes behind you.

“I am not your brother”, Loki answers without raising his eyes from a book.

“Thor, please go away, at least little”, you say, not wanting him to distract you from this interesting experience.

“I won’t go far, lady J”, Thor says and disappears behind the corner.

“So, Loki, it’s just two of us now. Tell me something interesting.”

He ignores you completely.

“Okay, not then. Instead I’ll tell you something interesting”, you start. “Did you know, that I love colors green and black. To me it seems like you like them too. Isn’t that interesting considence?”

“Are you here just to annoy me?” Loki finally speaks, still reading that book.

“You didn’t realize that sooner? I thought you were an intelligent creature!”

“Creature? Why do you call me creature?”

Yes! Finally reaction!

“We are all creatures, some beautiful, some ugly, some intelligent and some idiotic”, you say, rolling your eyes. “I’m perfect example of weird creature.”

“That is rather interesting opnion.”

“Do you know what I always say to my fans? Be weird and be proud of it!”

“Fans?”

“Yeah, I’m a rock star. I make music, I sing... Some hate me, some like me", you shrugged. You really didn’t right now want to to think what they said about you. This wasn’t good time to be Jay from The Ugly Truth (A/N: I hope that’s not real name of some band, if it is, I’m sorry).

“Hey, what are you reading? OMRC, that’s my favorite author! And that’s the book where Alex Fierro comes!”

“Yes, he is an interesting character.”

“Call her she, unless she says otherwise! But yes, now, tell me something about Asgård.”

“I grew up there.”

“Yes, I know, but is it that place that made you look like that or is it just you? I mean, a human cannot look that good, specially being beaten up by Hulk! But you aren’t human, you are a god, so maybe it is just you.”

“You are strange human, indeed.”

“I’m weird and proud of it. I’m also honest.”

“You are distracting.”

“Good!”

“Leave, now.”

“Okay, I’ll just come back later”, you say and leave.

When you go to meet Loki for the tenth time, you hope he would finally tell some interesting stories. Now you are at least allowed to go alone.

“Hello, Loki! How bad is today?”

“Why do you always suppose I have a bad day?”

“Because every day is bad, some of them just have more good moments. How many good moments you’ve had?”

“Surprisinly, this is one of best moments of the day. On the other hand, it really doesn’t tell much, because Thor came earlier today”, Loki tells.

“You clearly don’t like him. I can understand how annoying he can be with that loud over-positiviness. I prefer realism.”

“I also don’t actually like you.”

“Like hundreds of people”, you roll your eyes. “Now tell me, how many languages you can speak? And I mean midgårdian languages.”

“About twenty.”

“Is finnish one of them?”

“No, it isn’t.”

“So you don’t know what your name means in finnish? Well, Loki is a log and Lokki is a seagull. Lokit is plural from both of them.”

“You are annoying.”

“I know, it’s the purpose of my life. Some people need somebody they can hate and blame about everything, some people need somebody hated who they can love and who gives them strenght to go on. I’m weird creature who does that.”

Silence.

“Is there anything that would offend you?” Loki asks finally.

“Well, I don’t know, it’s been long sience I lastly got offended. I have felt guilty, yes, but being offended? No, not in years. After I became okay with how I’m like I became stronger. Mentally. Of course I still have my problems, everyone does, but they aren’t big anymore.”

“Why are you trusting me with this information?”

“Because one, it’s not a secret. Two, you won’t tell anybody who doesn’t know already and three, there is really unlikely possibility that you’ll feel bad because of my past problems and star to be nice to me.”

“You are the most honest person I have met and it really amazes me. So young, so naive.”

“No, I’m brave enough to be honest to others and to myself. Yes, plenty of people would like to use some things against me, but on the other hand I’m much stronger when I know how I am and I’m okay with it.”

They are leaving. Thor and chained Loki are leaving with the Tessetact. It has been just one month, but you know you have fallen in in love with Loki. Things propably aren’t mutual, but at least you would like to have chance to try.

Of course, if Loki doesn’t like you as you, he isn’t worth it, but it would be nice to at least hear him say how it is.

So, you decide to be impulsive and... Well, you end up in Asgård with displeased Thor and surprised Loki.

“Sorry about my stupidy, but I just had to come. This is an amazing place, by the way. Really golden, sunny and bright. I don’t like that but nothing is perfect to everybody.”

“Lady J, we need to get you back to Midgård”, Thor says, unsurprisingly but unfortunately.

“Oh, please, stop calling me a lady. I’m just J. And by the way, Loki, I really really like you. Now, Thor, tell me: Why can’t I be here just some days?”

“Father does-”

“Really? Just because one person doesn’t want me here I have to go far away, back to home? Wow, now this realm appears even worse than Midgård.”

You aren’t sure how long you had been in Asgård, but you were happy. Yes, it had took a lot of stubborness and death stares, but you were finally happy with Loki.

It would be great end to the story, overly happy and all.

The thing is, that stories really never end. Everything just isn’t told.

Unsurprisingly I own only J and unfortunately this is just a fanfiction

Sorry about mistakes, hope you like

- Blax (J Blaksparck)

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cadpadawan · 4 years

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Day #2 in the Music Challenge

Music Challenge – Day #2: A Song With A Number in the Title

So, I'm a day late, but I think it shouldn't compromise the balance of the cosmic Space-Time Continuum. Not too drastically, anyway...

The challenge of day #2 was to pick a song with a number in the title. No brainer. As a typical 90's post-pubertant, who spent most of the dark 80's listening to heavy metal, I could instantly come up with two options, starting the count from the number 1: Metallica and U2.

Why didn't I start from zero?

A good question.

I did listen to Zero by the Smashing Pumpkins quite a lot in the summer of 1997, so it could be a rather good choice for a song that reminds me of summertime (challenge for day #3), and Absolute Zero by Stone Sour, in turn, could serve as a perfect candidate for a song that reminds me of someone I'd rather forget (challenge for day #4)...

Whatever.

Metallica released their war-themed song One as a single from their 4th studio album ...and Justice for All that came out in 1988. My schoolmate Jarno showed me the music video one day after school, maybe a year later, as the video debuted on MTV on January 1989. The grainy footage on a worn-out VHS-tape rather emphasized the feeling of experiencing some sort of freeze-frame-shot in the passage of time. I had no previous knowledge of the band at the time, and just like that, out of the blue, the WW1-themed thrash metal epic kicked me in the nuts. If I remember right, the music video had just premiered on Finnish national TV also, in some awkward boomer music program of the era. In the aftermath, in the course of the next couple of weeks, Metallica was the talk of the town at school. There was a handful of aspiring young guitar heroes in my class, and in no time at all, the guitar tabs for this Metallica classic were doing the rounds, from hand to hand, photocopied with a second-grade resolution at the work office of some guitar geek's mom. Everybody just had to learn the song, or, as in the case of some lazy fuckers, learn at least the iconic, arpeggiated chord sequence in the song's intro. I was one of those more determined sad individuals, who spent night after night repeating the riffs and licks of the song. Excluding Kirk Hammett's guitar solo, which I honestly didn't think very highly of, in terms of musical taste, anyway, I finally learned to play through the song! Of course, it sounded a bit awkward, played through my cheap 15W amplifier, that had an integrated distortion circuit, which sounded like crushing dry bread, to be honest. The matters of sound quality nicely provide me with an awkward transition to the continued issue regarding the nothing short of legendary lack of low end on this classic Metallica studio album. Some internet scholars assume, that the band deliberately turned down the bass tracks, played by the freshly recruited Jason Newsted, as if to suggest that the band had not entirely resolved the psychological trauma caused by the tragic death of their original bass player, Cliff Burton. A theory like that sounds a bit far-fetched. I have played in a ridiculous number of bands, during the past 25 years. I haven't yet met anyone, who would choose to make the collaborative effort of the band sound bad, for whatever reasons. So, I can fully accept James Hetfield's later account of the situation: the band was totally burned-out. Nevertheless, the herds of teenage metalheads, such as me and most of my friends, didn't really mind. When the album came out, it was the best-fucking-shit-ever for some time. One was Metallica's first top-40 hit on the Billboard charts, and in Finland it reached #1 spot in the charts. Yeah, I'm lucky to live in the land of 1000 lakes, and 1.000.000 tr00 metalheads: we eat cast iron I-beams for breakfast, and shit barbed wire after...

One was also the title of the third single from the brilliant U2 album Achtung Baby, that was released in 1991. The album was recorded at the legendary Hansa studios in Berlin, under the supervision of two producer legends: Daniel Lanois and Brian Eno. Whatever we may think of Bono's later trademark way of playing Jesus to the lepers in his head, there is no denying that this particular U2 album is a fucking rock classic. On this album the band kinda re-invented itself.

When I got my driving-licence, on the brink of the summer 1992, Achtung Baby was one of those killer albums I had copied from vinyl to C-cassette, in order to expose my blissfully unaware passengers to some quality music, during those restless weekend odysseys, when I was the appointed driver. With the price of gasoline being as it is now, I'm not sure if the youth today follows this fine tradition of driving around, aimlessly, at the heart of every Saturday night anymore. Probably not. Maybe they're too busy exchanging make-up tips and eating tidepods in YouTube. Times, they are a-changing... However, there probably is no feeling that can come even close to that special feeling, when you're driving home at 6 AM, after a hot long summer night of driving around, watching your dearest friends being entangled in the grandiose act of mental butterfly strokes, in the whirlpool of alcohol and bad decisions, and U2's cordial 90's hit One comes on in the car stereos.

So, I could settle with either one...

Metallica: One

U2: One

Or, I could keep the streak going, and see how far I can get...

For a song with the number two in the title, I could also come up with two options, that both have some personal meaning to me: Iron Maiden and Jonny L. The latter released some quality drum & bass in the 90's, and everybody should be well-acquainted with the heavy metal classics this first-mentioned British outfit released throughout the 80's. After all, the band pioneered the New Wave of British Heavy Metal movement.

I musta been something like 10 years old, when Iron Maiden released one of their best albums, IMHO, titled Powerslave. Heavy metal was something that my mom strongly disapproved of, and at the time, my family did not yet have a record player. We did have a cheap ghettoblaster, that I frequently used to record contemporary rock songs on C-cassettes, especially after the brand new rock-oriented Finnish radio station, Radio City, started on the first of May, in 1985... So, I had a habit of going to the local library, that had pretty street-credible music department. My usual after-school activity was to pick a freshly released, kick-ass heavy metal album from the vinyl bins, and then hand it to the library clerks. Then, they would hand me the earphones and show me to the first vacant listening booth. That's how I discovered shitloads of contemporary metal albums, such as:

Van Halen: 1984

Iron Maiden: Powerslave

Kiss: Animalize

and:

Duran Duran: Seven and the Ragged Tiger

I guess, you're wondering now, what kind of contemporary metal did that last band perform, or did I, by any chance, refer to the 80's new wave synth-pop band? Oh, yes! I'm talking about that notorious pop band, that was part of the new romantics movement, or something. It was my guilty pleasure, at the delicate age of 10. Maybe it was also one of the subconscious reasons, why I switched my main instrument from electric guitar to synths and keyboards a decade later. At some subliminal level, I was magically drawn to the textures of analog synth sounds...

Or whatever...

Quite appropriately, 2 Minutes to Midnight was the second track on the vinyl A side of Iron Maiden's gigantic classic album Powerslave. It's a kind of protest song about nuclear war, with the title referring to the Doomsday clock used by the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. That symbolic clock represents the countdown to potential man-made global catastrophe. When the clock hands align at midnight, quite frankly, we all will be fucked. The clock was originally set to seven minutes to midnight in 1947. The current reading is 100 seconds to midnight. So, in a way, it's pretty evident, that the world is progressing forward – because it's going downhill in every fucking way possible. I've been listening to this timeless Maiden classic since the time of its' release, on a fairly regular basis, for the past 36 years...and I still can't get tired of it.

British jungle producer Jonny L released an EP in 1996, titled 2 of Us, on a prominent electronic music label XL Recordings. A few years later, I was practicing the haute couture art of flaneuring at the music department of the now-defunct Finnish chain retail Anttila, right next to the Helsinki main railway station. I chanced to lay my eyes on this drum & bass gem among all the one-hit wonders at the discount section. The sight was so disheartening, that I simply had to rescue this poor and misplaced music artefact to a good home. At the time, I was fooling around in the role of some kind of an art director of a project band, that sought to mix acid jazz, organic drum & bass grooves, and various electronica elements into a unique and coherent whole. I had written shitloads of original material for the project, that initially started as an instrumentals-only outfit. However, the band lacked a prominent lead instrument, like saxophone, for example. So, when we met a promising vocalist, we thought it might be a good idea to adjust the concept a little. The title track on this 2 of Us-Ep by Jonny L was one of the songs we auditioned the singer with. Alas, the project turned out to be short-lived, due to numerous non-music-related reasons. We never even coined a name for the band. At some point, though, some of those original song ideas were brought to a fruition, with a temporary line-up, that was pieced together for a special occassion. We warmed up for an underground funk outfit D-Note Unity in a private funk-themed party in Helsinki, in the late 90's. I can't remember the year. The headliner act of the party later evolved into Kemopetrol, so I think it must've happened before 1998? The funk party was a night to remember, to borrow the title of an old 1958 British drama movie recounting the final night of RMS titanic, as the night culminated in an impromptu freeform jam session, that lasted for hours...that is, until the members of both bands were too damn shitfaced to play anymore...

So, to cut to the chase, the nominees for a song with the number two in the title are:

Jonny L: 2 of Us

Iron Maiden: 2 Minutes to Midnight

Next up: the number 3.

Again, it's almost impossible to make the choice between two options: Jane's Addiction and Between the Buried and Me.

I guess, it was a pure accident that I found out about Jane's Addiction's alt.rock in the early 90's. I cannot remember hearing the band's songs on radio, until much later in the 2000's. I have to thank the Finnish grunge band Slumgudgeon for that. I never actually listened to this band, but I remember reading an interview in the Finnish music press, in which one of the band members praised Tom Waits. Or, if I recall right, the band actually deemed Rod Stewart to be downright gay for deflowering the beauty of the Tom Waits original Downtown Train. The interview was so clever and funny, I just had to check out, who the hell was this Tom Waits, anyway. On a side note, the musical primus motors of Slumgudgeon later ended up as the founding fathers of the Finnish metal juggernaut Mokoma. So, one day I went to the local library to check out whether they had any of those mythical Tom Waits albums...and voilà! I actually spotted the magnificent Heartattack and Vine album! But I spotted something else, too. My eyes were exposed briefly to the exquisite cover art of the Ritual de lo Habitual album by Jane's Addiction, while I was looking for something else completely. I thought: if a band has balls to put something like that on the cover, the music simply cannot be that bad! I borrowed both of these albums. I just had to check them out! And I think I must've been happy like a dog with two tails, for hitting such a bull's eye – twice in a row! I guess, that by now, most people of my age are familiar with the more radio-friendly tracks on that Jane's Addiction album, such as Been Caught Stealing and Stop! In my honest and humble opinion, though, the absolute pinnacle track on that album is the 3-part meditation on death and rebirth titled Three Days. It would make a perfect choice for a song with a number in the title...on the other hand, though...

Fairly recently, some two years ago, or something, Devin Townsend was performing in Helsinki, with the warm-up acts being none other than the Norwegian prog-metal mindfuck Leprous, and the band that I wasn't really that familiar with, Between the Buried and Me. To be honest, BTBAM did not exactly win me over with their performance. Such AD/HD metal sure had its' moments of high entertainment, but an hourful of circus music was a bit too much to chew in one take. In a way, the band's music was like a perfect auditive match for a bad crystal meth experience. However, my wife later spotted the band's magnificent cover of the King Crimson original Three of A Perfect Pair. After hearing this, I simply had to re-adjust my view of the band. Actually, this BTBAM interpretation of the song is much better than the original. I guess, Robert Fripp is going to sue my ass for saying this in public, but that's the undisputed, motherfucking truth. It's not a matter of taste, nor is it an opinion. It's a fucking fact. With all due respect. The song lyrics resonate in me with a particular clang of irony, now that I've got my midlife issues sorted out.

So, the most touchy-feely songs with the number three in the title would be:

Jane's Addiction: Three Days

Between the Buried and Me: Three of A Perfect Pair

Then...the number four.

Well, whadda'ya know...the number four proved to be the easiest so far: I could only come up with one option: Four Chords that Made a Million by Porcupine Tree. I refrained from resorting to any progressive rock suites with multiple parts. This particular Porcupine Tree song is from the album Lightbulb Sun. I think I was introduced to the band by my dear bandmates in Souldump, with whom I played for a couple of years cirka 2005. I kinda passed the torch, by introducing the magnificence of Porcupine Tree to my wife later, in 2009. I've got my beloved wife to thank for quite a lot of new artists, that I mighta never discovered, if it wasn't for her tireless hunt for new music via Spotify and such. So, just before this magnificent British post-prog band, fronted by Steven Wilson, went on to an indefinite hiatus, it performed in Helsinki in 2009. I bought the tickets, and took my wife to see the show. After the gig, she was a full-blown fangirl. This particular track here might not be the exact Porcupine Tree song that I love the most, but it's good stuff nevertheless.

Porcupine Tree: Four Chords that Made a Million

I guess, I could go on forever...

Maybe I'll just list the rest of the songs, and see what number I can reach up to:

The Dave Brubeck Quartet: Take Five (one of the first jazz tracks that I fell in love with)

Sneaker Pimps: 6 Underground (everybody had that triphop phase in the mid-90's, right?)

Sting: Seven Days (Ten Summoner's Tales is a kick-ass album!)

The Beatles: Eight Days A Week (who's to NOT like the Beatles?!?)

Jimi Hendrix: If 6 was 9 (the best guitarist of all time, no questions!)

Juan Atkins: Track Ten (Techno is intriguing stuff)

Sigue Sigue Sputnik: Love Missile F1-11 (this was in the Levyraati TV-show, back in the day...)

Creamstar: The 12th of Never (A random finding from some discount bin, Anttila, probably...)

Pantera: 13 Steps to Nowhere (It's a shame I didn't find Pantera any earlier, like when I was 20...)

Swallow The Sun: April 14th (from a killer album!)

Radiohead: 15 Step (In Rainbows is probably their second best effort, after OK Computer!)

Billy Idol: Sweet Sixteen (Nice song, despite the dubious connotations, considering the artist...)

Stevie Nicks: Edge of Seventeen (yet another song about death...)

Skid Row: 18 and Life (Nostalgia...eww...)

Paul Hardcaste: 19 (the chorus was a reason for much laughter as a kid...)

Isis: 20 Minutes/40 Years (went to see their last ever gig in Finland, with a fever of 38 degrees...)

Green Day: 21 Guns (who didn't like skate punk in the 90's?)

Iron Maiden: 22 Acacia Avenue (and who did NOT listen to Iron Maiden in the 80's?!?)

The Brother Johnson: Strawberry Letter 23 (via Jackie Brown, obviously...)

Stevie Vai: Ballerina 12/24 (One of the few guitar wankers that I like, in moderation...)

Chicago: 25 or 6 to 4 (that particular track that converted me to like this band in the early 90's!)

Tuomo: 26 (one of the best Finnish nujazz-or-whatever-jazz artists!)

Walking Across Jupiter: -27 (a recent finding, interesting stuff indeed!)

John Murphy: 28 Theme (one of my favorite film composers, check out Adagio in D minor, too!)

Robert Plant: 29 Palms (This too, was in the Levyraati TV show, back in the day...)

August Burns Red: Thirty and Seven (I guess, djenty emocore is my guilty pleasure nowadays...)

Aimee Mann: Thirty One Today (she has a way with words, been a fan since mid-90's...)

Carpark North & Sandra Nasic: 32 (there's something rotten in Denmark, their indie/alt.rock scene rocks! Awesome bands, like Mew, Carpark North, Veto, and I think Vola is Danish, too...)

Protoculture: Thirty Three South (of course, everybody needs a bit of trance music now & then)

Cult of Luna: Thirtyfour (awesome sludge!)

Egotrippi: Asunto 35 (Class A Suomi-rock)

System Of A Down: 36 (is AD/HD metal an official genre now? It should be.)

Drowning Pool: 37 Stitches (everybody went thru a nu-metal phase in the late 90's, didn't we?)

Eclipse: 38 or 44 (a random finding via Spotify, decent enough to include here)

Tenacious D: 39 (you simply cannot dislike this band!)

Static-X: Forty Ways (I guess, you could write this band off as a Korn rip-off, but they DO have a few decent tracks...)

Azam Ali: Forty One Ways (Enigma-esque etno artist, with nice ambient soundscapes)

Coldplay: 42 (not entirely crap band, though this is not their best track)

Karma to Burn: Fourty-three (Some stonershit is called for here...)

Megadeth: 44 Minutes (I'll hafta admit, that I'm more of a Greatest Hits-type of a fan, when it comes to Dave Mustaine's endeavours...)

Shinedown: 45 (this band: pure fucking awesomeness!)

Tool: Forty Six & 2 (Ruisrock in 2006, a gig to forever remember...)

Boards of Canada: Seven Forty Seven (these electonica bastards are onto something...)

Bones: 48843 (A fresh finding...not sure yet, if this is pure genius or not...)

Röyksopp: 49 Percent (from the kick-ass album The Understanding)

Paul Simon: 50 Ways to Leave Your Lover (killer drum groove by Steve Gadd!)

Van Halen: 5150 (The soundtrack of my childhood)

That's how far I managed to go...I counted that I've got 37 of these in cd format, in my personal collection, and the rest of the songs are ”just” in my Spotify playlist, or as a mp3 on my laptop. Tomorrow I shall challenge myself again to dig into the dark depths of my conventional wisdom, in terms of music.

Stay tuned! Cheers!

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mpltab · 4 years

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Are Our Kids Tough Enough?

By Anna Glorie

The global competition between countries to produce the best students, and therefore to be considered to have the best education system in the world has become an increasingly relevant matter that affects both students and teachers. In the series of episodes that are part of the documentary, “Are Our Kids Tough Enough?,” five Chinese teachers come to Bohunt School, a British school in Liphook, Hampshire, to experiment whether the high-ranking Chinese method of education can be effective within British culture. They have been faced with the task of using the Chinese method of education to teach fifty British ninth-graders. After four weeks, these select fifty students will be tested against their British counterparts in Bohunt year nine, who will be subjected to the British method of education, in the subjects of math, science, and Mandarin. Head teacher of Bohunt, Neil Strowger, has faith in the British method of education, but realizes that students are facing an increasingly competitive world, where Chinese education is top-ranking. The British education system is falling behind in global rankings: three years behind the Chinese education system in terms of academic achievement. Chinese education is based on authority, discipline, and ruthless competition. On the other hand, British schools are based on child centered learning, which is statistically less effective. Although the Chinese method of education is statistically ranked higher than the British education method, I believe that the British teaching philosophy is healthier for the students, that the bond between students and teachers should be on a more personal level, and that Chinese culture is too different for the Chinese education system to successfully transfer to another culture.

I believe that the British teaching philosophy is healthier for students. This style of teaching is student-centered, meaning that the teachers are more concerned about the students understanding the material rather than overwhelming them with information and leaving it completely up to the students to understand the material given to them. The latter method is similar to the Chinese method of education, which focuses on authority, discipline, and ruthless competition. Although statistically more effective, I believe that the long days and high pressure are not beneficial to students’ mental health. I agree that hard work and dedication are necessary in order to learn effectively, but there is a point at which the workload overwhelms students. Chinese students are often overworked and do not have any time for extracurriculars or having fun. Opposite methods of teaching have proven to be equally effective. For example, Finland is considered to have one of the best education systems in the world. Their education system has very short school days and does not require the students to do any homework. Instead, students are encouraged to explore and learn by experience, which has proven to produce equally successful students without the stress and pressure. The Finnish school system and the Chinese school system are two extremes of the types of learning available in the world. I believe that it is important to find a balance between learning in school and learning by experience, which is why I believe that the British school system is healthier for students.

I believe that the bond between students and teachers should be on a more personal level. This idea is similar to the British education system, and opposite from the Chinese education system. The Chinese method of mostly lecturing students can be difficult for some students because each student learns differently. This may be why the Chinese teachers had difficulty controlling the British students. Forming bonds with the students would have allowed the teachers and students to understand each other better and would have allowed for a more supportive environment. I believe that a combination of lecturing, hands-on activities, and one-on-one student-teacher discussions is suitable for a wider range of student capabilities.

I believe that Chinese culture is too different for the Chinese education system to successfully transfer to another culture. One factor in Chinese culture is the One Child Policy. This policy was eliminated in 2015, but it is still relevant in the documentary “Are Our Kids Tough Enough?” because the documentary was filmed in 2015. During the time that the One Child Policy was enforced, parents invested everything into the one child they had. Although they had good intentions, the children raised under these conditions were faced with the pressure of their parents’ expectations. Because of the pressure to live up to their parents’ expectations, they were put under an enormous amount of stress to do well in their studies. Additionally, it is a traditional Chinese custom to respect your elders unconditionally. On the other hand, British children are raised to respect authority, but also be able to think for themselves. This sometimes leads students to question authority, such as how the Bohunt students did not cooperate with the Chinese teachers or take them seriously. I believe that each education system suits the culture that the children are raised in, and the cultures are too fundamentally different for the other education system to be effective in another culture.

Personally, I favor the British education system over the Chinese education system. This may be because the British education system is similar to the American education system, and therefore more familiar to me. However, I respect the Chinese education system and believe that it suits the Chinese culture and produces excellent students. No education system is perfect, so it is important to understand other cultures’ systems of education and learn from their flaws and successes.

#bohuntchineseschool

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fideliadugger9-blog · 6 years

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The yellow web pages have been around because the overdue 1800's and have recently advanced into on-line listings in addition to conventional printing manuals. Psycho therapists propose that positive responses off yellow are actually formed at a very early age through the heat from sunlight or the illumination of children playthings. Considering that from its extreme visibility, yellowish was particularly valued in the 20th century. A space repainted yellowish experiences warmer compared to a space paintinged white colored, and also a lamp with yellowish lighting seems to be more natural compared to a lamp with white illumination. Researches in the Diary from Complementary Medication discovered that yellowish dock possessed anti-inflammatory high qualities as well as reduced the recovery time for wounds. Rising to a max elevation from concerning 1,200 feet, the canyon uses a gorgeous display screen from volcanic stone that ranges coming from red to brownish to orange and also yellow. 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Whether it is actually to away, unusual destinations in Asia or even Australia, or closer to home in the UK and Europe, small group excursions with a pay attention to florals afford participants the chance to journey with compatible individuals and appreciate the expertise as well as know-how of trained naturalist or even naturalist guides. For tourists, the attributes on yellow pages internet site is useful in reducing break of your trip, you can easily get into the metropolitan area, do exactly just what you organized, and go residence without having missed a factor. Your company logo will show up on our buses and also website and potentially likewise on tickets and also quick guides. The yellowish in the Spanish flag arises from the traditional Crown from Castille and also the Crown of Aragon The standard style was embraced in 1785 for the Spanish Navy, to become noticeable from a country mile at sea. Yellow dock boosts the manufacturing of belly acids as well as assists with hunger. While some this might appear like some kind from cheating, the truth is actually that this is actually incredibly hard to get a grip from gemstones are normally yellowish. Keep in mind that it has 10-14 days for a yellow fever injection to take effect, therefore make sure to plan ahead in creating your consultation to become immunized. Sodium has a powerful discharge at 589.3 nm (D-line ), a really somewhat orange-tinted yellowish. The buses drop trainees either within their college reasons or at the university entrances, depending on the university. White as well as yellowish together may likewise represent easter, reawakening and recovery. As an example, the sunshine discharges warm and also red radiations where as the moon releases white colored and also amazing radiations. They most likely also like the comfort of the yellow web pages, as this manual is dropped off at their residence frequently. As well as, the yellow webpages, is actually still the leading source for all this search and retrieval, but not automatically along with a bodily book. A number of the much smaller projects a yellow belt is engageded in might quickly grow into bigger projects including developments. The yellow colour represents the golden key from the Kingdom from heaven, described in the Book from Matthew of the New Testament, as well as aspect of the Papal seal on the banner. The Smooch of Judas (1304-06) through Giotto di Bondone, adhered to the Medieval heritage from clothes Judas Iscariot in a yellowish toga.

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t-baba · 7 years

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Transcript: Ask the UXperts: Taking Your Research to the Next Level — Panel Discussion

Yesterday our Slack channel lit up with the combined knowledge of three members of our very own community.

Dr Jade Jones, Dr Marion Boberg and Stephanie Pratt were brave enough to work with me to trial a new idea that I had for our Ask the UXperts sessions.

The panel format proved to be a huge success. It allowed us to cover a broad range of topics and meant that we were able to get through more questions in the hour than is possible with a single guest.

The broad topic was UX research and we covered everything from selecting the most effective techniques to the emerging role of AI in user research. It’s fair to say that we all learned something!

If you didn’t make the session today because you didn’t know about it, make sure you join our community to get updates of upcoming sessions.

If you’re interested in seeing what we discussed, or you want to revisit your own questions, here is a full transcript of the chat.

Transcript

hawk

2017-07-05 18:02

Thanks everyone for joining us today. An especially big thanks to our panelists, @docboom @marionb and @stephaniempratt

hawk

2017-07-05 18:02

All of whom I cold emailed and lured into this session :wink:

flaxenink

2017-07-05 18:02

:+1:

hawk

2017-07-05 18:02

A quick intro of each:

Jade Jenkins is an experimental psychologist. After spending a decade researching various phenomena within social cognition (perception and memory) and occupational health psychology (including the interplay of technology, stress, and health), she earned her PhD in social and industrial-organizational psychology from Northern Illinois University.

Jade currently works in assessment within the Texas A&M University system, where her role consists of equal parts change agent, data and statistics octopus, and development consultant. She has expertise in numerous UX research methodologies, ranging from focus groups and experience sampling to biometric measurement (e.g., heart rate variability; HRV) and surveys.

She is a member of the Dallas-Fort Worth branch of UXPA, and welcomes kindred expressions of UX research methodology geekery on Twitter @jadejenkinsUX.

hawk

2017-07-05 18:03

Marion Boberg is a UX researcher born in Normandy France. She moved to Finland in 2003. Marion holds a PhD in Psychology from both French University of Caen and Finnish University of Eastern Finland.

Marion has 10+ years of experience in UX research, from Nokia Research Centre, Tampere University of Applied Sciences and Qvantel. Her UX experience is related mainly to IT products, mobile apps and telephony, her passion is about People and Innovation.

Author and Co-author of several HCI scientific publications and 10 + pending patents (5 granted) related to mobile UI and services for Nokia Technology.

hawk

2017-07-05 18:03

Stephanie M. Pratt is the Lead User Experience Researcher at a startup called LiveSafe. At LiveSafe, she primarily focuses on problem space research and understanding the users.

Prior to LiveSafe, she has worked in a variety of industries including another startup called mHelpDesk, GEICO, and a government contractor, Aptima. In those roles, she has done many levels of fidelities of usability testing and interviews. She has her Master’s degree in Human Factors / Applied Cognition from George Mason University.

Additionally, Stephanie is actively involved in the Washington, DC UX community.

hawk

2017-07-05 18:03

@docboom Can you give us some insight into the areas of research that you are particularly interested or passionate about at the moment?

docboom

2017-07-05 18:04

Absolutely, and thanks for having me here, @hawk!

docboom

2017-07-05 18:06

In a nutshell, you could say that I am a UX methodologist. I have many years of experience in quantitative, qualitative, and mixed-methods approaches to doing research. I am passionate about the UX research process itself, and am particularly passionate about new and emerging methodologies in UX research, especially heart rate variability; HRV.

docboom

2017-07-05 18:07

So in general, I’m here for anyone who has questions about UX research as a process. :slightly_smiling_face: I’m looking forward to the discussion!

hawk

2017-07-05 18:07

Perfect! @marionb – what are you areas of expertise?

marionb

2017-07-05 18:08

Hi, and thanks for inviting me :slightly_smiling_face:

marionb

2017-07-05 18:08

My expertise would be on designing for Playful Experiences (PLEX)

marionb

2017-07-05 18:09

or researching in that field, among many other subject –

hawk

2017-07-05 18:10

Fantastic. Sounds cool! And @stephaniempratt – what about you?

stephaniempratt

2017-07-05 18:10

Hi everyone! Excited to be here!

stephaniempratt

2017-07-05 18:11

My expertise falls under the qualitative side, with my psych background. From qualitative usability testing to interviews.

stephaniempratt

2017-07-05 18:11

I have conducted some “listening sessions” recently, which were really enjoyable, and led to building behavioral audience segments instead of personas, so happy to discuss that. As well as life as a researcher at a startup

stephaniempratt

2017-07-05 18:11

Looking forward to the discussion!

hawk

2017-07-05 18:12

Such a great range of skills. Thanks again for your time.

hawk

2017-07-05 18:12

ok – who has a question to kick things off?

isha

2017-07-05 18:13

I’m curious to hear more from @stephaniempratt about behavioral audience groups vs personas. Seems like a lot of orgss are turnign away from personas. Can you speak to this a little bit.

steveportigal

2017-07-05 18:13

@marionb What is going on in organizations these days that is either helping or hindering the impact of user research?

hawk

2017-07-05 18:14

(if others have questions, ask away. I’ll queue them while Stephanie answers)

melanie

2017-07-05 18:14

What is your favorite framework for measuring user sentiment for a product feature?

stephaniempratt

2017-07-05 18:14

@isha – Sure thing! I mislabeled initially, behavioral audience segments is what I meant to call them. Pulled from Indy Young. :slightly_smiling_face:

bgas

2017-07-05 18:14

How would you suggest a small company with a limited budget can apply user research into the UX process when currently it is extremely limited?

melanie

2017-07-05 18:14

Do you see a role emerging for AI in user research?

stephaniempratt

2017-07-05 18:14

When dealing with various contexts that change, people will behave differently

stephaniempratt

2017-07-05 18:15

For example, I do work in the safety space, so in one instance a person may feel threatened, and in another context, may feel empathetic toward someone else in trouble

shillman

2017-07-05 18:15

How do you deal with businesses that want you to use techniques that you’re less convinced of the effectiveness? I’m thinking things like A/B testing (in most smaller companies) and focus groups.

flaxenink

2017-07-05 18:15

more talk about emerging methodologies in UX research, especially heart rate variability; HRV. @docboom Where do you see that going and how does that go with UX?

stephaniempratt

2017-07-05 18:16

So people don’t fall into a category all the time, they move, and it is outside gender/age/demographics, so by focusing on behaviors I think it helps build empathy and remove biases because anyone could experience that situation and behave that way.

stephaniempratt

2017-07-05 18:16

Sorry, editing my typos as I go :wink:

stephaniempratt

2017-07-05 18:16

Let me know if you would like more resources/explanation!

marionb

2017-07-05 18:17

@steveportigal From my personal point of view – the fact that business pace does not match research pace – often you need to downgrade the level of research or focus only on very specific issues at the time.

stephaniempratt

2017-07-05 18:18

@bgas asked “How would you suggest a small company with a limited budget can apply user research into the UX process when currently it is extremely limited?”

stephaniempratt

2017-07-05 18:19

In my experience it has been starting with little wins

stephaniempratt

2017-07-05 18:19

Maybe first taking some initial prototypes to a coffee shop and buying a few people a coffee for helping you out with feedback.

docboom

2017-07-05 18:21

@bgas I think it would be helpful to determine what your higher-level priorities are (both in importance and in terms of reach/impact on your org’s other goals) and then determine what conservative efforts could help you get the biggest bang for your buck.

stephaniempratt

2017-07-05 18:21

Or maybe an entry into a gift card raffle for filling out a survey

stephaniempratt

2017-07-05 18:21

Or even reaching out to current customers who are invested in the product

stephaniempratt

2017-07-05 18:21

a lot of time a thank you will suffice for them

stephaniempratt

2017-07-05 18:21

And just being listened to

leigh715

2017-07-05 18:21

What are some new methodologies you’re starting to see more of?

docboom

2017-07-05 18:22

yes! like @stephaniempratt suggested, you may be surprised by just how many survey respondents you can get with little money. especially if MTurk crowds interest you.

docboom

2017-07-05 18:23

@flaxenink Users are often unaware of the mental effort they are expending to complete a task because they are too focused on trying to perform well.

docboom

2017-07-05 18:23

HRV is a way to measure this process as users exert mental effort in real time (instead of having us researchers merely assume what’s happened after users have finished).

flaxenink

2017-07-05 18:23

@docboom: How can you track it? the HRV?

marionb

2017-07-05 18:24

@bgas try to involve small amount of user at the time from arly stage – the great opportunity of a small company is that you can also more esaly reach all the stakeholders and focus on what you all think is key to be tested.

docboom

2017-07-05 18:25

@flaxenink There are many physio ways to do it; I’ve often used a pulse wave sensor (usually an ear clip users can wear while completing a study). HRV is measured in milliseconds.

docboom

2017-07-05 18:25

High HRV = high effort, low HRV = low effort.

docboom

2017-07-05 18:25

HRV is of interest to human-computer interaction folks due to the assumption that well-designed products should be relatively easy to use (and, thus, users should demonstrate low HRV while using a product, all things considered).

docboom

2017-07-05 18:26

When coupled with other tools (e.g., video monitoring footage), HRV can help objectively identify weak points of the HCI.

stephaniempratt

2017-07-05 18:27

@shillman regarding your question ” How do you deal with businesses that want you to use techniques that you’re less convinced of the effectiveness? I’m thinking things like A/B testing (in most smaller companies) and focus groups.” I try to focus on what the stakeholders want to know

flaxenink

2017-07-05 18:27

@docboom: is the equipment expensive? While you are doing the testing?

stephaniempratt

2017-07-05 18:27

So for example, I will start building a research plan by having a meeting with them to get all their questions out there on a specific topic

stephaniempratt

2017-07-05 18:27

Then based on what they want to know, I will recommend/tell them the methodology I will pursue and explain to them why

stephaniempratt

2017-07-05 18:28

If they pushback on the methodology and prefer a different one, I will try to give them pros and cons of them and how they will or will not answer the questions

docboom

2017-07-05 18:28

@flaxenink Depending on the package, I think the equipment can either be on par with or much cheaper than eye tracking equipment and software.

stephaniempratt

2017-07-05 18:29

A good example might be if they ask “why are people abandoning the page?” and suggest a focus group, I will tell them why a usability test is more appropriate and provide more info on what a focus group could provide (e.g., concept feedback or marketing opinions)

shillman

2017-07-05 18:29

@stephaniempratt Aaah, this makes sense, yes.

stephaniempratt

2017-07-05 18:29

Sometimes it’s a game of politics though, and balancing that with what you want to research :wink:

shillman

2017-07-05 18:30

*nodnod*

flaxenink

2017-07-05 18:30

@docboom: Ah I see, will the HRV can be use in big companies or smaller ones do you think it will benefit from?

docboom

2017-07-05 18:32

@flaxenink Certainly the larger companies will likely have other equipment (e.g., video recording software or eye tracking) that are great compliments to HRV, thus enhancing its value.

docboom

2017-07-05 18:33

However, small companies struggling to pinpoint the exact moments where users are encountering design errors and other issues could benefit.

stephaniempratt

2017-07-05 18:34

@melanie: “Do you see a role emerging for AI in user research?” – What I have seen is a lot more research on AI experiences. At conferences I have attended there has been a lot of presentations on how to research using Amazon Echos/Google Homes, or chatbot prototypes. I have not seen AI as a support for user research as of yet, but maybe someone else has. :wink:

marionb

2017-07-05 18:34

@leigh715 about new methodologies, i see that there is more and more bridge, or collaborations between UX and CX, and I would say using user research to flesh out customer journey maps

flaxenink

2017-07-05 18:34

@docboom: if it was a smaller company how could they leverage the HRV? Do you have advise on that and what can they over come to get over the pinpoints of the exact moments?

shillman

2017-07-05 18:34

@melanie When you say AI, do you mean machine learning? Robotics? Something else?

melanie

2017-07-05 18:35

Yes, machine learning. For example, using data to improve your behavioral segments, something like that.

docboom

2017-07-05 18:35

@leigh715 Certainly eye tracking has exploded in recent years, though many still have misconceptions about what data is valuable, what it means, etc.

shillman

2017-07-05 18:36

@melanie I would not tend to expect the use of machine learning to do UX research, since it really just means using algorithms to deal with huge amounts of data. Usually to categorize it somehow or another.

hawk

2017-07-05 18:36

If you’ve just joined us and you have a research related question for our panel – jump in and ask at any time. I’ll queue them if nec.

stephaniempratt

2017-07-05 18:37

@melanie – you also asked, “What is your favorite framework for measuring user sentiment for a product feature?” – What are you trying to solve here? Are you trying to learn satisfaction of a new feature? Or something about a current feature? Please offer a little more context so we can better answer this question :slightly_smiling_face:

docboom

2017-07-05 18:37

@flaxenink I think I would start with a discussion of what the company’s biggest usability issues are, what’s been done in the past to address it, and how HRV fills that gap.

docboom

2017-07-05 18:38

So I’d think about what persistent, nagging issues you’ve had and, where possible, align that with a cost-benefit analysis

melanie

2017-07-05 18:38

Sure! Proposed features (not currently existing features). A way to measure the expected satisfaction or delight of the user. ie, will the user like it? and using that to decide whether to build the feature

docboom

2017-07-05 18:39

At minimum, HRV + video recordings is a good starting point and doesn’t have to be terribly expensive.

marionb

2017-07-05 18:39

@melanie I recently read this article on UX analytic – I see AI a way to guide us where to focus – but you still need to investigate the Why

marionb

2017-07-05 18:39

http://ift.tt/2tScPmB

melanie

2017-07-05 18:39

@marionb thanks!!

stephaniempratt

2017-07-05 18:39

@leigh715 I’d also add on to take a look at Indi Young’s Practical Empathy, and learning about listening sessions. I have found them to be extremely enlightening to have a deep conversation with someone about how they think, feel, and react in context with your research question.

hawk

2017-07-05 18:42

we have ~15 mins left in the session and we’re at the end of our queue of questions. Now is your chance to jump in with more!

stephaniempratt

2017-07-05 18:43

@melanie Ah, so you’re interested in understanding if they user will be interested in a proposed idea, so conceptual work. Well first, I’d make sure that the idea is based on solving a problem that has been identified from research. That will help back your reasoning for going forward with the feature.

stephaniempratt

2017-07-05 18:43

I actually read a great article on how to do design studios with constraints from user research this morning http://ift.tt/1Oq3OSX

isha

2017-07-05 18:43

@stephaniempratt wanted to follow up on my first question. Can you speak a little more about how you document audience behavior segments (I might be butchering the term, sorry)?

melanie

2017-07-05 18:43

@stephaniempratt thanks!

flaxenink

2017-07-05 18:44

@docboom @marionb @stephaniempratt: What source or tip you can not live with out in the UX industry?

stephaniempratt

2017-07-05 18:45

Then from there, getting the concept in front of some people – building rapport with them so that they are comfortable being disapproving (examples: telling them you are not involved at all with the design, asking some warm up questions, etc.)

stephaniempratt

2017-07-05 18:46

Then getting the concept in front of them and maybe asking them what they think it does, what they think it is for, how useful or not useful they think it is (via likert scale), or anything else that relates to the questions/context at hand.

bgas

2017-07-05 18:46

When the product you are working on is designed for a very niche group of users, would UX research from people outside of the intended group (who do not understand the processes) still be beneficial?

stephaniempratt

2017-07-05 18:46

Kind of like a “sniff test” to see if it’s worth putting more effort to consider usability testing

stephaniempratt

2017-07-05 18:47

@isha Yes! Here is a wonderful resource from Indi Young : http://ift.tt/1Xs1i2t

docboom

2017-07-05 18:48

@flaxenink Jeff Sauro and his team of UX researchers (MeasuringU) frequently produce excellent content on research as a process, so I often find myself tuning in to their latest posts.

marionb

2017-07-05 18:48

I’m a Fan of http://ift.tt/1oK12Mq and UX Mastery of course :wink:

marionb

2017-07-05 18:48

and I have some methodology books I fav

stephaniempratt

2017-07-05 18:49

I use both of those resources and these: http://ift.tt/ZmsnGH , http://ift.tt/1YC0LjI

isha

2017-07-05 18:50

when it comes to information design (dashboard, graphs etc.), do you have have any suggestions on resources (besides the ones posted above for other UX oriented information)?

docboom

2017-07-05 18:50

Ah yes, Nielson Norman was on the tip of my tongue! :slightly_smiling_face:

docboom

2017-07-05 18:50

*Nielsen

marionb

2017-07-05 18:50

Yes the new edition

marionb

2017-07-05 18:51

of Norman classic is also great!

docboom

2017-07-05 18:52

Oh! And for anyone who gets queasy around statistics, I have found that Andy Field’s books (or his website, Statistics Hell) are often received well by newcomers.

stephaniempratt

2017-07-05 18:53

@bgas “When the product you are working on is designed for a very niche group of users, would UX research from people outside of the intended group (who do not understand the processes) still be beneficial?” Getting it in front of other people may help identify big usability problems from human perception (e.g., contrast of colors, ability to navigate/find a button, etc.) but when it comes to getting through a process that is skilled, it is highly recommended to get niche users if you can.

viratahuja

2017-07-05 18:53

#ask-the-uxperts any advice any books

marionb

2017-07-05 18:53

@isha it’s a tool and online ressource: http://ift.tt/Hbatki they tackle if i remember right some dashboards and other visual graphical data

stephaniempratt

2017-07-05 18:54

I used to work at a company that created software for field service professionals, so those were the people I would recruit would be service pros, but it was always hard to get the really low tech people to participate

stephaniempratt

2017-07-05 18:54

In the end, you have to make do with what you can get, so if getting it in front of a few people who aren’t that niche to get a gut check on higher level usability is all you can do, I’d say that’s better than no testing. :slightly_smiling_face:

flaxenink

2017-07-05 18:54

@docboom: Anymore tips about being queasy around statistics!

bgas

2017-07-05 18:55

@stephaniempratt Great response. Thank you.

stephaniempratt

2017-07-05 18:55

@flaxenink – the cartoon guide to statistics was good for me in grad school :slightly_smiling_face:

docboom

2017-07-05 18:55

@viratahuja If you’re only going to get one book on research as a process, I recommend Baxter, Courage, & Caine’s “Understanding Your Users”.

stephaniempratt

2017-07-05 18:56

You’re welcome!

viratahuja

2017-07-05 18:56

@docboom thanks

hawk

2017-07-05 18:57

We have just a few minutes left. Does anyone have anything pressing that hasn’t been answered?

hawk

2017-07-05 18:57

If you have follow up questions, all three panelists are active members of our community forums at http://ift.tt/1qs7rt7

marionb

2017-07-05 18:57

I would say for the single book : http://ift.tt/2uQgRJE

docboom

2017-07-05 18:58

@flaxenink Fail early and often. :slightly_smiling_face: Keep all old datasets for practice, and search for a stats expert/geek who doesn’t speak to you like a robot. :wink:

marionb

2017-07-05 18:59

I agree – I’d like to have a professional statitiscian just to guide me – but never found that (only at Uni)

marionb

2017-07-05 19:00

As a final word despite the budget or the schedule – keep going and do what you think is best – practice everyday and that’s how you’ll gain the expertise – and also interview as many people as you feel is necessary –

hawk

2017-07-05 19:00

And that’s a wrap! Thanks SO much to @docboom @marionb and @stephaniempratt for their time and advice today

hawk

2017-07-05 19:00

It was a fantastic session.

hawk

2017-07-05 19:00

I hope you all learned lots!

flaxenink

2017-07-05 19:01

Yes yes (clapping hands standing on a rainbow)!

The post Transcript: Ask the UXperts: Taking Your Research to the Next Level — Panel Discussion appeared first on UX Mastery.

by Sarah Hawk via UX Mastery http://ift.tt/2sT963U

#UX Books #UX Conferences #UX Courses #UX Degrees #UX Games #UX Glossary #UX Podcast #UX Process #UX

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edgysocial · 7 years

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New Post has been published on http://edgysocial.com/living-with-lagom-swedish-moderation-for-a-longer-healthier-life/

Living with ‘Lagom’: Swedish Moderation for a Longer, Healthier Life

You’re reading Living with ‘Lagom’: Swedish Moderation for a Longer, Healthier Life, originally posted on Pick the Brain | Motivation and Self Improvement. If you’re enjoying this, please visit our site for more inspirational articles.

Wellness advice from The Nordic Guide to Living 10 Years Longer: 10 Easy Tips for a Happier, Healthier Life. One of our favorite expressions in Sweden is “Lagom is best.” “Lagom is a word that is hard to translate, but an attempt would be “just right”. “Lagom is best” hence means that having just the right amount of something—not too much, not too little—is perfect. This mentality of “everything in moderation” permeates Swedish culture, and can easily be applied when trying to adopt a healthier lifestyle. (I also think it offers a more sympathetic and forgiving way of making life changes than trying to go “all or nothing.”) Take the health benefits of the sun, for example. The sun’s UVB rays give us the very important vitamin D. Spending 15 – 20 minutes a day in the sun is the perfect way to get the full dose of vitamin D your body needs to strengthen its immune system. We see evidence of this from a large Swedish study that followed 29,000 women over 20 years to compare their sunbathing habits as well as the prevalence of disease and mortality. It was found that the women who had avoided the sun the most suffered from diabetes and thrombus, and as a result their mortality rates were double that of those who were sunbathing. But we also know that exposing yourself to too much sun provides only two things: wrinkles and the risk of developing skin cancer. So a little sun (in moderation) can go a long way! Coffee drinking offers another example of lagom’s health benefits. After the Finns, we Swedes drink the most coffee in the world—and this is a good thing! When drinking coffee, we ingest beneficial antioxidants that improve our wellbeing and protect us from disease. For example, one Swedish-Finnish study found that people who drink a few cups of coffee a day were 70% less likely to suffer from Alzheimer’s disease than those who didn’t. The recommended amount of coffee is of course “lagom” in this case, meaning is 3-4 cups a day. If you drink 10 cups a day, you would only risk getting gastritis and heart palpitations. Another example is weight gain. Food portions have doubled over the last 20 years, and more and more people around the world are becoming overweight or obese—with terrible health consequences. The worst, research shows, is abdominal obesity, which can result in an increased risk of cancer, dementia, stroke and diabetes. Unfortunately, however, many diets have been proven to be ineffective in the long term. Cutting foods out doesn’t seem to be the answer. So what advice actually makes a difference? Choose to eat the lagom way! Don’t leave the table stuffed, but don’t go hungry either. Think two thirds of your “typical” portion, and instead of having three potatoes, take two. And don’t gulp your food down; eat with “moderate speed” so you have time to experience a sense of fullness. Otherwise the risk is that you will take a second portion, even when you don’t really need one. By eating with a lagom mentality—and enjoying healthy, tasty food in moderation—weight loss will come naturally. No extreme diets required. As you can see, practicing lagom can have amazing health benefits, and can make a positive difference in many aspects of life. Whether spending time in the sun, enjoying a hot cup of coffee, or savoring a delicious meal, one does not need to go to extremes in order to lead a healthier life. Instead, it is the small changes that count, that make the big differences. Or as we say in Sweden, “moderation is virtue.” Bertil Marklund, MD, PhD, is a Swedish medical doctor, researcher, author, professor and specialist of general medicine and public health. In his new book, The Nordic Guide to Living 10 Years Longer, he offers 10 easy, research-based tips for living a longer, happier, and healthier life.

You’ve read Living with ‘Lagom’: Swedish Moderation for a Longer, Healthier Life, originally posted on Pick the Brain | Motivation and Self Improvement. If you’ve enjoyed this, please visit our site for more inspirational articles.

Pick the Brain | Motivation and Self Improvement

#‘Lagom’#Healthier #life #Living #longer #Moderation #Swedish #Personal Development

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snapshots-of-the-young-egotist · 7 years

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minute 13 -- ---------------------------- Notes to myself for future vids/daily docs. But I doubt I shall leave them here on this platform. Steem-it maybe.. As I've said before, I am strong. Yet at minute 13 the overwhelming fate of truly interacting, that true interaction-- will play out as well as my inner-action does. Inner action-going within is all to important. So this is imperative for proof. I must show and therefore will. I have chosen to do this in case anyone who has seen similar videos can understand that this is something to make a case of. This is something that should be a focal point of many discussions pertaining to the elite, who the elite is, how they operate ect. When you hear stuff and read stuff about Monks fighting in other dimensions or anything similar, exactly what is being fought? Who are they fighting? As beautiful as Earth appears, who's the real artist of this canvas? Why does the light from Sirius shine brighter than even than the light of Venus? When you wake up in a world where you are required to make transactions from anything outside of a pen and paper. We are living during a time when cable wires no longer suffice, but there is still the a world-wide impairment that is much more important than any new app, or technological advancement. It is unfair of every single government, both foreign and domestic, and that doesn't change depending on what country you are in. When you wake up to an America where one of richest men in all of america's entire history becomes the presidential candidate and then everything he does four a 4year period is paid for from money of the citizens. The man who has chosen to prey on the ignorance of people who perpetuate it with combined efforts of innocence and intent. To build a wall and forget about tunnels. Wake up! Nobody of either side of the aisle stopped it from occurring, to the the point that it did occur. . To the point that certain people from different states begin to release similar statments from the same republican party, and also a few from the democratic party who would have liked to have run, but didn't. These people who were educated into their positions, then elected into their positions realized that they were just not as publicily known. So that lack of faith in themselves, and the faith that others would rather vote in another direction, decided for them that they could not win. The statements along the lines of, "God told me to run for President." When you look around and see what is evident, you will clearly see that it is all a consequence of the misuse of power. The entire point of money and wealth heralds generations from mixed social classes into an artificial future where intelligence is becoming more and more diluted. There is so much overthinking and that is disempowering when it divides action from being permitted. It's not like these improvements that should have already been improved can't be done. That idea is wrong, because the improvements can be met. Whether there are sanctions and treaties in the way of certain relations between foreign entities should matter only After the global epidemic of poverty and disease have been erradicated. It is difficult in these days to talk like this, and feel like this and have a deep resonating desire to just do nothing but talk about this. It is really difficult to bear. In the same way people will say that what I talk about and what I give my attention to is just conspiracy, I also feel that burden. It doesn't matter if it comes from friends family or strangers, to hear that is still like a burden on me. There are some who shoot me down and say, "wake up. Make money. Buy a very nice car with your money. Get into a relationship, you're beautiful, don't waste your youth on this." As endearing as that can appear, I am astute to my desires. As walt whitman put it, "Do I contradict myself? Very well then, I contradict myself. I am large, I contain multitudes." My future is bigger than the my own past and the past of my own family combined. I am in touch with reality, and I am in touch with my inner world. I am following a process that will enable me the password neccessary to unlock what's safely hidden from view now. Those same people I can love all day, but the truest form of love overshadows shallow emotions. I have noticed that people like to throw around whatever knowledge they can on the subjects which are archaic, but when it shows up in their life, it is too much and the subject is changed. Or there is laugher when the tone should be more serious. Or when offended, the tone is serious when it should be much softer. This is the yin and yang though. The masculine and the feminine and neither are completely isolated to a particular gender. We are already seeing gender roles changing very quickly. This week I'm going to post a few things and it is going to be about love,war, and power. They are all intertwined. Yet, there is always power in love. Such powerful love can fight off that which is threatening to love. •Greed is threatening to love. •Money is a threat to love. •Apathy is a threat to love. •Contentment is a threat to love. •Lack of Self discipline is a threat to love. •Depression is a threat to love. •Low self-esteem is a threat to love. •Mediocrity is a threat to love. _________________________ That all is issued world-wide. Doesn't matter if you speak Arabic, German, Russian, Dutch, Italian, French, Finnish--- It makes no difference what language because feelings are the underlying tone. Feelings are the most important identifiers which are proof that we are all here to help each other. Help each other in your world, your inner circle. Support. Support your family members. Support your friends. Support your co-workers. Support your own inner-world and whoever you have to see in that inner world is of importance. If you really are smarter than "the idiot" you work with, then prove it. Prove it by being helpful if you can, or by showing up and offering your support any way you can. Or by starting your own business. Nobody is perfect, but if your own mental health has fallen to the way-side, life can seem to be stagnant. Mental Health is imperative. I have felt like such a fool in the past, to share what Spirit has been sharing with me. Not necessarily because I felt like I was a fool--no those moments were fleeting bouts of Utter Mediumship. Meaning, deeply deeply I was feeling and recieving the thoughts of those who were tuned into my lines of transmission. If someone or some people brought my name up in a conversation I was absent during, that got back to me. Just as it gets back to every individual. Energy circulates. It doesn't just leave someones mouth and try to find a wall to stop at. It doesn't work like that. It does, however work in a way that it continues to travel. It travels and when it's picked up, it gets mixed with other energy. Then it leaves and goes off and changes again. Eventually, what you send out is brought back to you and vice-versa. That can be dangerous though, because sometimes what is sent out is so out of proportion from what is brought in. Do not be fooled though. Certainly, that which was released, shall come back inside. It might take no time at all. Or it might take a week, or a month, or several years, or a decade, but it is going to come back to where it came from. I just acknowledge that nobody is perfect, nor can anyone be on this earth. **Nobody has the exact same agenda either. Even if two artists are in a relationship for example, are they going to do all the exact same projects? Of course not. We all seek to maintain a certain degree of change, that operates in tandem with our true selves. So, afterall The times I was lowering my vibrations to adjust to those around me, It's like my spirit guides and Angels were all synchronistically saying, "stop it! Stop reducing yourself into fragments! It should not be done!" They were right, and I acknowledge that. I acknowledge that I wasted so much time smoking and toking and the occassional drink. Yet, how insulting to an inherited gift? So much so, that it couldn't be continued. This project is a basis for future generations. Anything ever rejected or sideswept, has come back on me tenfold-- so at the very least the thing Of importance would and could not be forgotten. The last time I spent so much time on myself, doubling every effort, was years ago. Before the heaviness of the truth broke through my heart like a dagger-turning that chakra wheel--the Spoken-filled and so opened. And for the longest time, I was using my head letting my heart be the only guide I'd need. However too much is to obstruct and that is not fair to this body. It is not fair to be obtusely open. Everything about trusting the process of completely becoming a better version is the only diversion now. The truth is found out, but taken in so deep. To really look and map out alignments. That is a proper adjustment. I can only go so far if My chakras are out of balance. I can only go so far, if I continue to stop and forgive what I know is violence. So that is through and harsh words can come through. In no time at all, when every chakra is in working order, not working to much, being too open. Nor working too little, and thus closed. No. Everything has changed. I like this word typing thing because I can write this and it looks so easy when it's written. But it was anything but easy. It's anything but easy to demand respect when it is supposed to already be there. The perpetual ignorance I am done with giving allowances to those who don't even PHYSICALLY TRY. Therefore, I am done done allowing it to come Physically into my life. Psychic attacks they are one thing and personal attacks are another. Mental Health is The Basis. The Basis: Rather than bases. That's where the whole conspiracy shall begin to be dissected, because the basis is the premise for all of this dis-entanglement. Where I am from, this is ghastly. So there is myself, and a few others who are hidden from view. I can hold a lot of light and still, wouldn't mind an extra prayer or two. This kind of work takes up so much energy. It was important to break this down and repeatedly go through it. Repeating experiences that are "the same thing." Clairvoyance Seems so sweet and everything would be roses and butterflies-- no. It's is literally painful, and if I am either too open, it is to give freely, too many allowances for Particular people. So then, it is imperative that I am clean and eat clean and sleep clean. So that my own matrix field is recalibrated accordingly. So that my aura can extend and be as bright as it needs to. So that I can be on several planes at once, just by sitting in a room. So that is always an adjustment. This is real and I make no more apologies because this was the biggest part of my earth mission. I must be tuned in to recieve the transmissions. The opposite of fear is love, ehich is why I was lucky enough to incarnate with my Twin-Flame. It is quite unusual, and the relationship alone, without a meeting is already so powerful. The union is confusing and only after the recognition and meeting can we really get down to business. Yet, to hold such a vison is too damaging if it stops one or the other for living. As reclusive as I have become, I have been slowly stopping that, because that experience is not just mine alone, and that is the impact. This celestial obligation, to act so that we can interact. Oy vey, is the most I can say for now.

#Max spiers #bases project #Mk ultra #targeted individuals #light #auric body #layers

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