#constantly oscillating more than a standing fan | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

collecting-stories · 1 year

Text

Pablo Neruda - Usnavi de la Vega

Request: no

Summary: reader has a crush on Usnavi and invites him to dinner. Just a bunch of fluff really.

A/N: I don't even know for sure how long this has been in my notes. Literally found it the other day and figured it was high time to finish it and post it here. Even if no one really cares about In the Heights anymore.

Broadway Masterlist

✳︎ ✳︎ ✳︎ ✳︎

The sight behind the counter shouldn’t have been a surprising one. It was more common than not that you would find Marco here, chin just level with the counter despite the stool that Usnavi let him stand on. He thought the bodega was the coolest place on earth and frequently told the owner that when he was Sonny’s age, he too would work there.

His Spider-Man bike was chained up outside, evidence that he’d ridden straight here after school despite your constant reminders that he needed to come home first.

“Someday I’m gonna report you as a missing child…they’re gonna think Usnavi kidnapped you.” You remarked, the bell jangling as the door shut behind you. The fan set up in the corner blew passed you as it oscillated, trying to keep the store cool in the early heat of June. You took quick stock of what you could see, noting the absence of any adult supervising your seven-year-old. “Speaking of, where is Usnavi?”

“The cooler broke again,” Marco replied. The thud of his small feet hitting the floor echoed in the space and he came around the counter to hug you, “I got a gold star on my story about Puerto Rico,” he mentioned, pulling away to go retrieve the paper that had already been pinned up to the bulletin board behind the counter. No doubt Usnavi’s doing.

“Wow, that’s so great baby,” you took the papers that were stapled together, looking over the story that he’d recited to you three times that morning. “You’re like a little Pablo Neruda.”

“Who?” Marco took the papers back, hanging them in their rightful place once more. A couple of his drawings accompanied the story. Once Usnavi had even hung a spelling test up so everyone could see it. You appreciated the sweetness, the willingness to help whenever you needed it, having someone around that your son could rely on, but it didn’t stop the occasional pang of something indescribable in your chest. You didn’t want Marco to get his hopes up…god knows you kept waiting for something you were sure wasn’t going to happen. Despite Carla constantly insisting that Usnavi had feelings for you.

“Yeah, feelings of friendship. Feelings of ‘look at this poor pathetic girl I’ve known my whole life, still can’t make it out, got a kid now cause she was too stupid to see when her boyfriend was lying to her.”

“Trust me, the only thing Usnavi’s thinking with when you come in the store is-“

“Oh god Carla!”

But you couldn’t help feeling more than a little hopeful everytime you saw one of Marco’s tests or drawings hanging up, as if Usnavi was just as proud as you were. As if Marco had a dad (or at least a father figure) who actually cared about him.

“Pablo Neruda wrote love poems,” Usnavi’s voice sounded from behind you. “He’s your mama’s favorite.”

You turned to look at him and he winked as if the two of you were co-conspirators. Like you were in on the same secret and it made your heart pick up speed just a little bit.

“Who else is gonna write me love poems?” You managed to say, rather proud that you’d even mustered a sentence together.

The smile didn’t leave Usnavi’s face, even after you turned back to Marco and told him to get his stuff together so you could go home. While you were used to the moaning and protesting that usually accompanied this request you were rather taken aback when Marco hopped off the stool without question and started gathering his school supplies off the counter.

“Can Usnavi come over for dinner? He said Sonny’ll be here soon to help and that means he wouldn’t have to hang around too…can he?” Marco asked, eagerly, looking to Usnavi, “do you wanna come over for dinner?”

“You’re going to abuela’s for dinner, remember?” It was Wednesday and Wednesday meant dinner with your ex’s mom.

“Well, then you and Usnavi can have dinner.” He suggested, toothy smile (minus a noticeable one in the front).

You thought about saying that you were more than positive Usnavi had better things to do than come over to your place and eat dinner with you but your mouth worked before your brain could intervene and suddenly you heard yourself saying, “what’d you say? Wanna have dinner with me?” to Usnavi.

Maybe it was the heat or the work trying to fix the cooler that had him flushed but you swore he looked almost nervous when he nodded his head, like the offer was too good to be true. “Yeah, definitely.”

Usnavi wasn’t one to get his hopes up. Benny constantly swore that you were basically in love, (“you’re practically raising Marco together, now if you could just get together”), but Usnavi didn’t want to take the chance and look like a fool. Not to mention, he liked Marco a lot and he didn’t want you to think he had some ulterior motive for being nice to your son. He wasn’t expecting you to want to be with him and he didn’t want you to think he was.

You told him seven o’clock and he got there at 6:45, standing at the bottom of the stoop and contemplating the flowers he’d brought. You didn’t say it was date or even imply that this was anything more than you offering a meal while Marco was at his abuela’s. Maybe you just didn’t feel like eating alone. Or maybe you felt bad because Marco had offered dinner and you didn’t want to be rude. Maybe the flowers were overkill, maybe you were allergic.

“You stand outside all night, you’re never gonna get a chance,” Daniela teased as she walked passed him, bumping her hip against his playfully.

“We’re just having dinner,” Usnavi didn’t bother to ask how Daniela already knew about the dinner. No doubt everyone in Washington Heights knew about dinner.

“Yeah?” She plucked a flower out of the bunch, “hoping for dessert?”

Usnavi choked on his reply, swallowing down the last bout of nerves and heading up to the door before Daniela could continue teasing him. You were on the second floor, the black and white tiled hallway was missing a piece right beside your door and when you complained the landlord told you there was nothing he could do. Now a large pot sat over it with monstera growing next to a welcome mat that you changed out for the seasons. It was getting close to valentines and the mat had red and pink X’s and O’s.

The green door was cracked open, a “come on in” gesture that Usnavi had encounter a few times before when he’d offered to keep Marco while you worked and then walked the boy home at the end of the night. He rarely saw you without your son and it occurred to him as he pushed the door open that this would be the first time he was at your place without the seven year old buffer leading the conversations.

“Uh, hey, the door was open,” Usnavi offered as he walked in, shut the door behind him, and walked further into your apartment. He was still holding the flowers, down by his side, their petals directed at the hardwood floor.

“Hey,” you moved away from the frying pan to give him a hug, laughing gently at the sight of the bouquet. “Are those for me?”

“Oh, yeah, sorry,” he apologized, whipping them up so fast a few petals fell off. “Daniela stole one, actually.”

“Well they’re beautiful, thank you.” You took the bouquet from him and Usnavi watched you move around the small kitchen, grabbing a vase and filling it with water and arranging the flowers. He thought about something Abuela Claudia had told him years ago about knowing when he was in love and he turned away, looking around the rest of the small space as if he’d never been in it before.

“Sonny didn’t mind watching the store I hope,” you mentioned, looking for something to say. It felt different without Marco there. Not the sort of different that made it awkward, despite you grasping for something to say, but the sort of different that felt like talking and having dinner were the furthest things from your mind. The sort of different that had you thinking Daniela and Carla and everyone else in the Heights that had an opinion on it was right.

“As long as I bring him back something,” he replied. He’d made it to the bookcase near the front door, looking through all the books at eye level first. Pablo Neruda caught his eye and he took the book down, skimming through the pages.

“Whatca got there?” You asked, coming over to look around his shoulder at the book he was holding in his hands.

Usnavi tilted his head to look back toward you, “estás aquí. Oh, no te escapes," he began, reciting the poem as you stood there listening, dinner forgotten. His voice was smooth, the way it always was but somehow different too. Sweeter, like honey.

That different sort of feeling that you were trying not to fall into settled over you as you listened to him read. You couldn’t take your eyes off him, and when he finally reached the end of the poem and he looked over at you, the fall you were trying to avoid suddenly crashed over you.

“...quiero hacer contigo lo que la primavera hace con los cerezos,” he recited, eyes meeting yours.

“¿Es así?” You were only just barely aware of Usnavi placing the book back on the shelf, the thin volume of poems falling to the floor from its haphazard placement. He turned into your space, kissing you without hesitation.

Benny always said he was too slow, that he overthought all of his actions before he did them, and that what he needed to do was just act. It wasn’t advice he ever actually took. Usnavi just wasn’t the kind of person who acted on impulse. And then all of the sudden he was holding your face in his hands and kissing you in your living room. Impulsive, absolutely. When you finally pulled away, only to catch your breath, Usnavi smiled. That irresistibly boyish smile that always gave you butterflies. “Dinner?” He asked, only to avoid any more impulsive acts like telling you he loved you.

“Dinner can wait.”

The door to the apartment slammed open and Marco came through, kicking his shoes off as he called out, “Mama! Mama!”

Behind him, the door shut, his grandma stepping into the kitchen and looking suspiciously over the food that was left on the counter, still in the pan though the oven was off. The door to your bedroom was open and before Marco could make it that far you appeared in the hall, holding a zippered sweatshirt closed, semi-nervous smile on your face.

“Hey baby, how was dinner?” You asked, hovering near the door of your room.

“Abuela made dulce de leche! I brought you a piece!” He held the tupperware out toward you proudly, “Is Usnavi still here?”

“Uh, he’s...he’s in the...” you floundered, trying to think of something to say. He was very much still there, on the other side of the open door, pulling his clothes on as fast as possible.

“Why don’t we put this in the fridge Marco,” your ex’s mother suggested, taking the tupperware back from you and putting her arm around your son’s shoulders, “wait for your mama and this Usnavi to join us.”

If you didn’t know you’d hear an earful from her about almost getting caught by your son, you would have thanked her for intervening when she did. Instead you just ducked back in your room, closing the door so you could change quickly, clocking Usnavi standing there with a massive grin on his face.

“Don’t smile at me like that,” you whispered. An empty warning, really.

“I don’t know what you mean,” he replied, grin still in place.

“Come on, I still owe you dinner.” You held the bedroom door open for him to go out first, “and now we’ve got dessert too.”

Usnavi stopped in the doorway to kiss you, “I’ve already had mine.” When you smacked his arm he only laughed and continued into the kitchen, Marco’s excited greeting putting a smile on your face as you walked into the kitchen after him.

✳︎ ✳︎ ✳︎ ✳︎

The poem Usnavi reads is Pablo Neruda's Everyday You Play .

Translations:

estás aquí. Oh, no te escapes - you are here. Oh you do not run away

quiero hacer contigo lo que la primavera hace con los cerezos - I want to do with you what spring does with the cherry trees

¿Es así? - is that so? / it's like that?

#usnavi x reader #usnavi x y/n #usnavi x you #usnavi de la vega x reader #usnavi imagine #usnavi blurb #usnavi fanfiction #in the heights fanfiction #in the heights imagine #in the heights fanfic #in the heights fic #in the heights blurb #collecting stories imagine

110 notes · View notes

squinoas · 4 years

Text

Final Fantasy VII: Remake is both a blessing and a curse, to newcomers and series veterans alike - a (kinda) in-depth review of Final Fantasy VII: Remake.

Final Fantasy VII: Remake is both a blessing and a curse, to newcomers and series veterans alike.

As the latter, and someone who has played and enjoyed (and watched, in the case of Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children), most of the compilation that followed the original, I feel confident in saying this game is a worthy remake of the standout hit that put Final Fantasy on the radar of the Western audience. The blessing is an imaginative and fleshed out retelling of a fraction of an original thirty-hour story – stretching it out and giving backstory to returning characters, while introducing some fresh (and welcome) faces along the way. The Midgar section in the beginning of the original Final Fantasy VII clocks in at around 3-4 hours of a player’s overall journey.

Not this time.

But is that also the aforementioned curse of this game? That those players who have enjoyed the original many, many times know of what it still to come? Throughout my play through of the game this felt like it was going to be its main detractor, when actually the ending completely throws this into the air.

Only time will tell if this is a good decision that will pay off, or if it will backfire. Nevetheless, I’m optimistic that the best is yet to come.

How long will we have to wait for more? That’s anyone’s guess at this point, especially with the Coronavirus situation. Safety comes first, and any delays to the second and third parts of this episodic epic (and I hope it continues to be epic) will be understandable – and hopefully, much like this first part, well worth the wait.

GAMEPLAY (COMBAT, MATERIA, WEAPONS)

Much furore has been made about the series ditching a turn-based system – one still employed by Dragon Quest (another Square-Enix property, and the most recent instalment, Dragon Quest XI: Echoes of an Elusive Age, one of, if not my favourite, recent JRPGs).

Final Fantasy now employs an action-based model, more akin to another property, Kingdom Hearts.

Sometimes erratic and frenzied in 2016’s Final Fantasy XV, I’m happy to say that Square-Enix appeared to fine tune most of the aspects I disliked about that game’s playstyle and the result is Final Fantasy VII: Remake’s fun gameplay.

Keeping the ATB gauge involved was a good move, and gave the game a familiarity. The oscillating difficulties mean that there is a playstyle for everyone to find. I managed the entire game on normal mode (even my first time fighting the Whispers), until the Sephiroth boss battle. I have my own narrative issues with us fighting Sephiroth in the first part of this game anyway, but the difficulty spike in this battle on Normal mode felt unreal. I’d managed the slog that was the Hell House boss battle, and the annoyance of the escape from Shinra section, including that boss battle, but this was another level, and the only boss I had to change to easy mode for (which meant redoing the Whispers fight on that mode too).

On the other hand, there were bosses where, understanding their attack patterns and developing a strategy meant that winning the fight felt genuinely rewarding, as opposed to just time and energy-draining. An example of this was the Ghoul fought in the Train Graveyard – a new inclusion, and a whole strand of story that I enjoyed immensely. That battle really made use of switching between party members – Cloud and Tifa taking the lead in physical attacks and Aerith using her magic whenever necessary.

Materia has been updated, but not massively. Rather than a huge overhaul of the system, it still works largely how it did before. It’s been adapted for an action-JRPG but still comes down to strategy. However, an option to change materia mid-fight might have been prudent, considering the variety of enemy weaknesses. I found myself having to restart more than one fight because a batch of enemy scrolled through at least three different weaknesses and I was never adequately prepared for them at first. But at least restarting these fights was easy and hassle-free.

I liked the additions of new materia; such as Synergy which is another way to control what your other party members do in a fight, and the Magnify materia which works like the All materia of the original game. It made finding new materia fun and fresh, and meant I was constantly changing up my strategies to see what worked best.

The weapons system has been changed significantly, however. The upgrade screen looks stylistically like the crystarium from Final Fantasy XIII and the Historia Crux from Final Fantasy XIII-2. Therefore, it looks interesting, but is actually kind of boring when it comes to upgrading weapons. I ended up letting the computer upgrade my weapons with the balanced option, and this was a cool feature for people like me who found the task of upgrading tedious; especially when having to click out of each character’s weapons to only click into another one.

But the abilities that came with the weapons and having to develop a proficiency for these abilities was a nice addition. The only time I felt hindered by this was when Barret had to learn an ability on a close combat weapon. I like the fidelity to the original, but at the same time it was a handicap. Of course this is probably my own problem as I could have chosen not to use those weapons, something I may not do in a second playthrough.

Nonetheless, I felt like it encouraged me to play as every party member, and some were just downright cool. Special mention has to go out to Aerith’s Ray of Judgement, and Barret’s Maximum Fury which are so OP it isn’t even funny.

STORY (CHARACTERS, PLOT, ADDITIONS)

The original Final Fantasy VII is well known for the infamous ship wars. Clerith vs Cloti has been the ongoing debate for the past twenty years, and I don’t think this game is going to convince anyone that their side is right or wrong. It’s still left open to interpretation, at least in my opinion, and perhaps this was the best way to keep everyone satisfied. However, the game adds the additional element of having Aerith confirm that she did indeed love Zack Fair, the main protagonist and her love interest in Final Fantasy VII: Crisis Core. As a ‘Zerith’ and ‘Cloti’ shipper myself, this game gave me plenty of moments to love for both couples. As someone who does have a liking for Clerith and Aerti, it kept me more than fed.

I have to give kudos to those involved with the game that they stayed true to the very canon interpretation that Aerith and Tifa are friends, and always were. True, they both expressed some small mote of jealously in the original game (and, at times, in this one too), but it quickly becomes obvious that they are both strong-willed young women who admire each other greatly. There are great examples of their burgeoning friendship but my favourites have to be kicking the lecherous asses of Don Corneo’s lackeys, and discussing a shopping trip for stuff for the bar.

All in all, the characters are kept true to their original incarnations. If anything, they – as with everything else in this game – are given to breath and work through things organically. They are fleshed out, and given further backstories, motivations and plot. I think this was best done with the doomed member of AVALANCHE, Jessie. She’s given a last name which, to begin with, makes her feel less like an ancillary plot device and more a character in her own right. To add to this, we meet her mother and father; which absolutely tugged at my heartstrings, what with her father’s tragic accident leaving him in a comatose state. We find out Jessie wanted to be an actress and was working at the Gold Saucer (this also works as a nice nod to places we know exist in-universe but will not visit until a later instalment).

Marle, Leslie, Madam M, Andrea Rhodes – every Chocobo Sam – are all fantastic additions, and I hope we see them again. In particular I would love to see Leslie reunited with his lost love in a future game.

Now, in terms of the story, I have played the original inside and out for many years, and always thought I would be against changes made to the story. Throughout most of the game most of these additions are simply changes that just make things more interesting for someone like me who’s played the original before. Towards the end, however, things take a drastic turn, and turn everything we’ve known on its head. As I said before, I have no idea where this is going to go in the next part, and there were some aspects that left me scratching my head.

The main of these being Zack. As far as anyone who has played the original or Crisis Core will know, Zack died in a last stand against the Shinra corps sent after him and Cloud after their break out from Nibelheim. However, the ending raises some interesting questions. At first I thought us defeating the Whispers had rewritten Zack’s fate, but maybe that’s not the case. Nevertheless, it will be interesting to see where they take it (one change I did not like was Zack’s voice actor. I know all the English VAs were changed – which I wasn’t a big fan of in the first place – but the new voice actor does not sound good compared to Rick Gomez).

Overall, our characters end the game in more or less the same position as the end of the Midgar section of the original, but after the events of the battles with the Whispers it appears that certain events that would have been due to happen (the original ending with Red XIII, Aerith’s death, etc) may not happen at all – or at least, not in the way we think.

#GUESS WHO FINISHED THE GAME THIS MORNING SUCKAS #this girl #this post contains spoilers so do not go any further if you haven't finished the game #it's not really that in-depth but i was trying something new #it got kinda long tho #and a lot of this was written before i finished the game #if you guys want to know my opinion on anything i've missed out just send me a message #and yes this means the hiatus is OVER #gifs are incoming #everything will be tagged #ffviir spoilers #for at least the next few months #text post

10 notes · View notes

wisdomrays · 4 years

Text

TAFAKKUR: Part 127

The Hummingbird

Research on hummingbirds (also known as nectar birds or Colibris), the smallest of the 9,800 bird species living today, has revealed remarkable facts. The world’s smallest birds are equipped with mind-blowing structures and functions that push all physiological and anatomical boundaries. The bee hummingbird (Mellisuga helenae), considered to be the smallest bird in the world, is only 1.96-inch-long and weighs 0.06 ounces.

There are around 330-340 species of hummingbird and they live only in North and South America and the nearby oceanic islands. With their colorful feathers, they are some of the most beautiful birds.

How the hummingbird flies

A hummingbird flaps its wings so fast that the motion cannot be seen by the human eye but only detected through special cameras. The wings move at an incredible speed in a seemingly complex pattern, drawing circles back and forth 50 to 80 times per second, depending on the species. Under the genus Colibri, the horned Sungem (Heliactin bilophus) species flaps its wings 90 times per second; the purple amethyst Colibri (Calliphlox amethystina) flaps its 80 times per second. This speed increases up to 200 per second during a short spike while escaping from an enemy. Moving back and forth, the wings oscillate in the form of the figure 8 in the air. While in most other birds the movement of the wings produces the power to lift up and down, Hummingbirds, like helicopters, can perform movements such as hanging in the air or standing steadily as well as flying backward or rising in a vertical direction.

Metabolic rate and energy consumption

Flying requires a lot of energy. The amount of energy spent is related to the bird’s body size and flapping speed. In this regard, given that a colibri flaps its wings 80 times per second, it takes a great deal of energy to maintain such a rapid movement. The colibri’s chest muscles were perfectly created for flapping quickly and take up 40% of the hummingbird’s total body mass. Therefore, a colibri consumes more energy than other birds; it’s basically a fighter jet.

In order to meet this high energy demand, the amount of nectar a colibri consumes every day has to be equal to their body weight. Living at such a high metabolic rate requires a fine adjustment of food consumptions with precise calculations.

Such a high food intake requires a high metabolism – and thus, the need for oxygen increases dramatically. When the need for oxygen increases, there can be two kinds of conditions. Those animals with very large lungs can intake a lot of air at once. And those with smaller lungs can produce the required oxygen by breathing many times a minute. Colibri or Nectar birds are the ones that can breathe the most in one minute. The lungs of the world’s smallest birds breathe 250 times per minute to transfer oxygen to their hearts weighing a mere 0.003 ounces and beating 1,200 times per minute.

Toronto University’s Kenneth C. Welch Jr. studied the metabolism of hummingbirds for more than 10 years. He discovered that there is a relationship between the size of hummingbirds, energy efficiency, and oxygen consumption, and that larger hummingbirds are more efficient energy users than smaller ones. A hummingbird can take 2.44 cubic inches of oxygen per 0.03 ounces an hour. When a small weight is added to the bird, this amount increases to 3.66 cubic inches, and their tissues use oxygen very efficiently.

Energy requirements

A hummingbird’s metabolism is the fastest among all vertebrates. It needs to eat almost constantly to get the energy it needs to produce fuel for its breathtaking metabolism, which functions like a power plant. It receives nectar from 2,000 flowers every day. If we humans could work at this bird’s energy levels, we’d have to eat about 1,300 sandwiches a day to produce energy, and our body temperature would rise to 725 °F! Also, our hearts would have to beat 1,260 times per minute. Although nectar from flowers is the main fuel source driving the bird’s metabolic engines, it also occasionally eats insects, for protein needs.

During any given 30-minute period, hummingbirds burn the sugar they had taken in an hour ago. If we apply this rapid intake of sugar and the metabolic cycle in human beings, we would have to drink a large bottle of soda and burn the sugar in it every minute.

Unlike us, hummingbirds use both glucose and fructose from nectar in their intestines, circulatory systems, and muscle cells. However, we can support our bodies at urgent needs with an intake rate of 30% of glucose. Half of the nectar that hummingbirds take is glucose and half is fructose. In this modern age, high fructose derived from corn in our diets has paved the way for metabolic diseases and obesity – that is, people cannot metabolize high fructose.

Scientists are trying to determine how hummingbirds can process fructose. It is known that there is a carrier molecule different from glucose in fructose. This carrier is very rare in human muscle cells, but it is found in abundance in hummingbird’s muscle fibers; so we believe the mystery of how they utilize fructose so fast is about to be solved.

Hummingbirds have been equipped with mechanisms to increase the rapid introduction of nutrients such as fructose and glucose – which are basically small sugar molecules – or amino acids into their metabolisms. Their hearts and blood vessels work at a high speed to carry the sugar into their tissues as well as to transfer a lot of blood. In addition, a large number of capillaries have been implemented close to the muscle cells so that the blood can reach each and every cell.

Wing design

While humanity has not yet invented a machine that can move in a figure-8 pattern 80 times per second, including forward and backward, the ultra-flexibility of a hummingbird’s unique wing strokes demonstrates the special creation of its bones, muscles, and joints. The colibri’s brain and nervous system, which control these muscles and joints by transmitting signals, require infinite knowledge and power. The flexibility of the shoulder joint in the movement of the wings, which allows them to bend to extreme positions not found in other birds, gives us an idea of the wing’s unique design and architecture. Although biomimetic engineers have spent millions of dollars applying this complex system to technology, they have so far failed in their attempts to produce a similar machine.

Cooling the feathers due to the friction of the muscles and the tremendous movement of the wings is a problem in itself. While man-made machines need advanced cooling systems, the hummingbird has been created with a such a built-in system.

Unique tongue structure

Biologists from the University of Connecticut have discovered that hummingbirds’ tongues have a very special design and work like micro pumps. Tongues about twice the length of their beaks allow them to reach deep into flowers. The nectar is then pumped into the body in less than 1/20th of a second. This occurs thousands of times each day. Tai-Hsi Fan and Margaret A. Rubega, who for a long time examined how hummingbirds stick their tongues 15 or 20 times a second into the tubular part of a flower, said that they “could not clearly understand how they drink the nectar.” In their latest study, they showed that it was only possible for the birds to hold nectar through two channels in their tongues. It was once thought that the physical rule of the upward movement of liquids in capillary tubes, even without suction, worked in the hummingbird’s nectar intake; but when special video recordings of the movement of their tongues were examined, it became evident that the tongue first compressed the nectar in a series of movements, then sprung up very quickly and the nectar was suddenly sprayed into the channels.

It would seem that both the hummingbirds and the flowers they need for sustenance were created in perfect harmony.

Red hummingbirds migrate from Alaska to Mexico every year. They can fly 56 miles per hour. Prior to this journey, they feed for one or two weeks to fill their fuel tanks, forming a layer of fat equal to half their body weight. Since these activities cause a lot of heat loss on the body surfaces, they cannot provide enough energy to stay active for more than 12 hours at a time. To counter this, they fall into a deep sleep every night for 12 hours. The energy storage, flight endurance, long-distance migration, and returning with the young ones are each complicated factors that their coming together to make this journey possible cannot simply be explained by blind chance.

Of course, the smallest bird in the world would have the smallest egg size: a mere 0.5 x 0.3 inches, for a total weight of 0.007 ounces. Considering that this wonderful bird’s design is embedded into this egg, which is about the size of the nail of our little finger, it can be understood how perfect a creation it is.

1 note · View note

yellowmagicalgirl · 5 years

Text

Juliet Dies in This: OG version

So while cleaning out my Google Docs, I found an earlier version of Juliet Dies in This. It was last modified on September 2, 2018, almost a year before I finally got around to writing and publishing the first chapter of the fic.

Here is the original outline:

Depression: Jim’s lost his entire life, but before the Eternal Night he had started to make some sort of fragile peace with it. Now he’s lost Claire.

Anger: Dealing with other officials after a city-wide disaster is stressful enough when your daughter wasn’t a casualty. Ophelia’s daughter was.

Denial: Mary calls Claire for help with homework, only to remember that Claire is dead.

Acceptance: Aja and Krel weren’t replacing Jim and Claire, but the Reckless Club needed to move on with their lives. AKA this is 3Below.

Bargaining: More than a year ago, Toby had destroyed the Shadow Staff and destroyed the bridge to the Shadow Realm, trapping Claire inside. A portal is opened nonetheless. AKA this is Wizards.

Celebration of Life: Claire had been trapped in the Shadow Realm for more than a year; her eyes were black and purple and there were permanent black cracks stained onto her body and the large wings she had grown. She was quieter, and obviously tired. However, she was alive.

So this originally would’ve taken longer, and Claire’s death would have been more-or-less a flashback than have an entire chapter devoted to it. However, in the time between making this forgotten outline and writing the first actual chapter, all of 3Below aired, hence proving that there’d be a tighter plot structure than what little I had planned. In addition, I did research into the effects of solitary confinement, and it gets worse the longer it is. While I am downplaying the effects of solitary confinement due to a combination of Claire desperately wanting to live in spite of Morgana as well as her magic protecting her against physical side effects, if she had to deal with it for over a year I would feel compelled to make the side effects worse than I’d feel comfortable writing.

Also, the wings were ditched bc it was too similar to Telling Dreams from One Another (another “Claire gets trapped in the Shadow Realm” au that I’ve written) and I’m not as much of a fan of the fairy!Claire theory as I was then.

As a final parting note for this piece of bonus content, have this original version of the Depression chapter (under the cut). This version of the chapter had no references to suicide, but it did deal with some dissociation (derealization/depersonalization) as well as some other symptoms of depression.

It was six AM and Jim couldn’t sleep. It was funny; back when he was human there was almost nothing more appreciated than getting to sleep past six. Now that he couldn’t go out in the daylight he couldn’t bring himself to sleep for more than half an hour, and yet the constant ache in his eyes told him that he needed to. He supposed it was more of the long nights spent protecting Arcadia with Blinky, AAARRRGGHH!!!, Toby, and — and the others that kept him from passing out than whatever had been done to his physiology. Maybe he no longer needed to sleep a full eight hours now that he was half troll, but he was exhausted from fighting and then walking. All of the other trolls (or, at least full trolls) were performing various tasks and sleeping in eight-minute-long shifts, but Jim was on an unofficial “guard duty” watching the entrance to the cave they were staying in. More specifically, he was staring at the point where sunlight hit the shadows, only moving away when it started to get too close for comfort.

Was he really even living? Jim didn’t even know if he could fulfill most of the requirements for counting as a living organism that were in his mom’s old biology textbook. He used energy and would react to stimuli, yes, but he wasn’t sure if he was entirely carbon based, and slightly over a week wasn’t enough time to learn if he could grow and reproduce. It didn’t matter, because Jim didn’t feel alive. He had been living in a constant haze ever since he saw Draal fall and cross his arms over his chest, and it had gotten worse after he had stepped into the bathtub. He had thought that the haze was thick and stifling, like when there had been fires when he was in the first grade and his class wasn’t allowed to go outside for recess because ash was raining down on the playground.

If the haze had been stifling then, it now choked him. He felt like he was constantly oscillating between overwhelming anger, sorrow, and numbness. Could he even oscillate between more than two points? Blinky or, no, Blinky would know. Jim couldn’t bring himself to move his body to go ask him, though.

He didn’t have to because the four-armed troll walked up to him minutes later. “Master Jim, you don’t need to stand guard so close to the entrance. The sun is rising.”

“It’s not fair,” Jim said, wrapping his arms further around himself and tucking his legs closer to his chest.

“What isn’t fair?” Some part of Jim that wasn’t overwhelmed by emotions that could have powered the Shadow Staff (or the irreverent lack of any emotions at all) was thankful that Blinky didn’t immediately assume that he was complaining about his inability to walk in the daylight. It would have been so much easier if the worst of his problems was regret over deciding to halfway change his species.

“Why am I still alive when, when Draal and, and,” Jim struggled to say. Was his armor (armor that still refused to come off) getting tighter around his chest and throat? Why couldn’t he breathe?

Blinky’s gentle touch to his shoulder made Jim explode into too-long limbs and tears that weren’t due to his arm touching sunlight. “I took that hit so you guys could live! When I gave up my humanity, it was so you guys would live. Not so that Claire could go jump into a portal and, and…”

“No matter what you are, I love you.”

Jim growled at the memory of her voice. He hadn’t told her that he loved her back. Not on the roof, and not during that time while they were waiting for the Eternal Night to fall. Definitely not when he should have, back when they were still human. He should have told her as soon as he had realized he couldn’t bear to live without her, when he had taken hold of the staff as it had threatened to tear her apart in the gyre station.

He had been so afraid that she was going to die back then, even when they had made it to safety and her body rested in AAARRRGGHH!!!’s arms. She wasn’t dead, she was just eternally missing in action. There had been a memorial for Claire before they had left for New Jersey, not a funeral. Or rather, there had been two memorials, but in one of them she was one of the many victims Arcadia Oaks had lost in the tragedy that had been required to introduce them to their underground neighbors, and in the other a sixteen-year-old girl who had achieved nearly perfect grades, saved the world, worn an absurd amount of hair clips, and rocked out to Papa Skull wasn’t lowered into the ground even though her casket was.

“You’re not the only one allowed to make sacrifices, and acting like you are is disrespecting Claire’s memory.”

#claire nuñez #jim lake jr #blinky #trollhunters #tales of arcadia #jlaire #it's mild #juliet dies in this #3below #juliet dies; life continues #my writing #toa wizards #toawizards

15 notes · View notes

tfw-no-tennis · 4 years

Text

One Piece Readthru

heyo ive decided its time for me to catch up on the one piece manga finally!! i last read it uhhh sometime late 2018?? MAYBE early 2019....anyways ill be liveblogging it, basically for myself but if anyone is interested then enjoy lol

so w.out further ado hers 927-931 hya

uh ok i left off kinda in the middle of the wano arc, so im scanning thru some stuff to see what i remember.....i dont really remember what the deal is with that ginger (?) pompadour guy lmao. theres a lot of new characters and intricate politics in this arc from what i remember.

i havent really gotten spoiled for anything....i know that something bad happens to kid & killer, somethins up w/sabo (but we dont know what), luffy fights kaido (more than once i think?) uhhhhh we get roger flashbacks and hear the yonkous bounties....thats abt all i really know. so im hype to find out what else has gone on....

im gonna start around 927, i defs read this but i want a refresher

wow its amazing how sanji can oscillate so fast from being unbearable and annoying to like one of my favs

i loveeee the panels where those dudes start trashing sanjis soba stand and usopps like lol lets back up yall we KNOW sanjis boutta kick some righteous ass....YESSS

franky supplexing a guy....ily franky

toko!!! i forgot abt her!!! cute kid, whats her deal? iirc she works at the uhhh wherever komurasaki works and she almost gets murderized later

sanji and little kids is so cute ;_; more of that and less stuff of him being gross w/women

ok exposition....i do remember a lot of this

928, i feel like i remember this stuff so ill kinda blow thru it

oh yeah i remember luffy n the prison shennanigans....good times

and kidds here too, talkin abt how he lost his arm trying to fight shanks...lol dude

dude is really like oh i couldnt take down shanks, so ill aim for a different yonkou, im sure this will go much better a second time (and down an arm)

omfg i forgot abt this dude who apparently sold his FAMILY to get money for komurasaki....

i think we’re supposed to feel bad for this dude and think komurasaki is cruel or w/e but man honestly i just respect the hustle. girl knows whats up

HVBJSDKFBDS I FORGOT THE HILARIOUS LINE WHERE SHES LIKE ‘I HATE POOR PEOPLE <3′ IM....its literally like a weird twitter shitpost lmaooo

they cut immediately from komurasaki to tama asking momo if he has a sister....LMAO SUBTLE......

i dont even remember if that twist was spoiled for me, but either way it was my like immediate thought upon komurasakis intro lmao

ok 929!

omg kanjuro selling some-drawn fish lol

OUGHHH CARROT AND THE OTHER MINKS....i miss carrot sm i hope she shows up more :( i really wish she would join the crew....

lmao that guy calling zoro a pretty boy and saying girls are probably all over him....zoros like uh ew no im gay

OOOH PLOT SHITTTTT....caesar and doflamingo name drops...

VEGAPUNK HM [eyes emojiey]

orochis defs gonna get fucked up at some point. his design reminds me of wapol and other like corrupt king archetypes

oguhfdbsjkgjdfbh laws head basket i forgot abt that. also i love when people call him traffy thats weirdly cute

oh right the other supernovas who became kaidous bitches are here to fight...i recall that fight somewhat

920 time!

oh yeah the weird place where all the poor starving people laugh constantly...inch resting

OHH YEAH BIG MOM!!! man i definitely read a lot further than this lmao. w/e i was SO fucking hype when she showed up, imo the whole amnesia thing is pretty lame. we’ll see where it goes tho

the art here is just so good oh man. the panel of big moms ship charging up the waterfall while she laughs? fantastic

EPIC arrival. i hope big mom gets to do cool stuff even despite the impending amnesia

i ALSO hope her kids get to do cool shit too. im still holding out for a zoro vs amande battle (if shes even there? i dont see her, but thatd be such a waste)...and smoothie vs robin....

and she wants zeus back....NAMI FIGHT??? PLEASE???

oh its bdsm dinosaur guy....hmm never thought id type that

LMAOOOO law is like Dont You Dare Fucking Snitch On Us and usopp is like uh luffy pls come pick me up this guy is too hardcore

FINAL BATTLE thats so dramatic law please

sanji saying he’ll protect usopp omfg

oooh theyre destorying all the soba shops....here comes sanji to bring the PAIN

OMFG THE RAID SUIT i forgot he busts that out....hilariously quickly all things considered

931! ok but first my obligatory thots on how sad i am abt how the women of op look nowadays lmao revisiting old one piece just makes it all the more obvious how ridiculous its gotten....like nami and robin dont even look human, its insane, and the sameface has gotten so bad...idk i miss when op women used to look normal and could just exist without being Sexy Women bc that was a thing at the beginning and i really loved that...now its just like wow all titty no waist legs are 100x longer than normal....not to mention the writing for women in op has gone way downhill...ugh. ANYWAYS onward

ofc as soon as i say that theres a rlly cute and p normal looking cover w/nami...i love her sm shes my fav character thats part of the reason this bothers me so much lol

i miss her short hair tho...the long hair is pretty and i like her different hairstyles but i defs prefer the short spunky look. i wish she wouldve gotten a cool bellmere-esque haircut after the timeskip at least

ok im p sure i didnt read this...? i dont remember hgbvhjaksdfk

GERMA THEME SONG HBVJSDUIFJBSF are you telling me that the raid suit activation process involves a THEME SONG....please i need to hear this. thats so fuckign funny

‘GERMAAAAAAAAAAA’ [sanji doing an unironic magical girl transformation] IT CANT BE OVERSTATED HOW HILARIOUS AND AMAZING THIS IS LMAOOOOOO

i think we saw this w/his siblings during whole cake but i forget lmao

of course franky and usopp are like OOOH FUCK YEAH

HHBDSJKFJSB the implications of law knowing Exactly who that is....like i really need to see an omake of a campy power rangers/sentai/whatever-esque show/comic with all these germa personas omfgggggggg

and law having read the comics is SO funny

also. sanjis hair is SO unfortunate lmaooo

O SOBA MASK HBVHSJDKUFJBDSK

germa was the bad guy group in the comics....good lmao

law was defs a fan he knows ALL the lore LMAOOO

A BABY SANJI....and then sanji being weird. skip!

ironic hows theyre like oh shit gotta challenge this dude so he doesnt destroy the town and their fight is gonna level the place anyways lmao

oh i did read this i think cause i remember all those ninja busting robin for sneaking around

which ok theyre ninja but robin could grow eyes for surveillance so it doesnt make much sense that shed be caught so easily...alas

THAT GUYS HEAD HBVHJFKD LMAO

oh yeah then big mom washes up w/amnesia lmao. i hope that plotline doesnt suck, i dont have too much hope...normally i really like amnesia plotlines and honestly i think itd be cool to explore w/like one of the strawhats but in this case it just seems kinda like a lazy way to take big mom out of the game :/ my prediction is she’ll get her memory back at a certain time thats convenient to the plot, just in time for like an all out war w/kaidou and the straw hats and the yakuza maybe? we shall see (possibly)

ok its past 6 am so its bedtime. more later!

#LJ reads one piece #thats my tag now!#one piece #my posts #liveblog

2 notes · View notes

jenyacooley · 5 years

Text

🇺🇸❤️🇹🇼

July 2nd, 2019

As I spend more time in Taiwan, I’ve noticed some differences in simple ways of life Taiwan is used to yet I’ve never experienced in Phoenix. (I also interspersed some fun pictures of my stay!)

On the first day, I arrived late at night to a platter of multiple cut up fruits. It seems every morning and evening, the family will enjoy the fresh in-season fruits from their markets.

On the topic of grocery stores, there was one a Breeze Mall which was very fancy and somewhat similar to American supermarkets (except for it being in a 9-story building). When Shari took me to a street market, opened daily with multiple vendors selling anything from meat and vegetables to underwear and umbrellas. Each vendor was shouting out what great deals they had, trying hard to attract customers. I was later informed that the sellers would lessen the price as the day went on.

Business owners are the same way. All the time, there are employees or the owner themselves on the street or in front of their store, enticing more people inside. Twice, I have gotten free drinks and food just for ordering from a certain restaurant.

In America, most prices are set with no room for negotiation. Even if the owner was willing to haggle a little, Phoenix doesn’t see people walking up to passerby to tell them what they have on their menu (though you gotta respect the grind). Only at mall kiosks have I seen salespeople leaving their stand to tell people what they have.

On the topic of restaurants, eating out is much cheaper in Taiwan. Most places sell items at $2-3 per person, and they usually give you a lot of food. To eat out even at a fast food restaurant is a strain on one’s pocket in America.

At my home in Taiwan, I discovered that laundry is done every day or every other day. I also learned that each room had a separate air conditioner unit, alongside an oscillating fan. And though I saw a couple of people walking their dogs, I found most people are unable to keep animals due to the small spaces of apartments. Furthermore, it’s a custom to wear indoor shoes inside and leave your other shoes outside the house.

I learned that there is less of a paranoia of theft in Taiwan (though some store vendors will follow you around to ensure you aren’t stealing). On the train/subway/bus systems they were much cleaner than what I have encountered in other US cities with public transportation. (Phoenix decided not to build one.) This cleanliness stems from the no eating policy the Taiwan transport enforces. Shari also told me that unlike other cities, Taiwan actually gains a profit from this, because the city is so dense and many people do not own cars.

I’ve gone swimming twice so far on my journey. Once at a hotel pool and the other at Leofoo Water Park (the only water park in Taiwan). Both places required the use of a swimming cap to enclose your hair. I have never seen these garments worn anywhere except competitive swim before this point in time.

Taiwan is also known as a very rainy city, meaning everyone living there owns an umbrella. Nearly every store sells umbrellas in case a poor person forgot theirs. On my trip, it has rained at least once every day. The day may start off without a cloud in the sky, but quickly descend into a stormy skyline, rain clouds showering the country with rain. In Phoenix, the city with the most hours of sunlight a year compared with the rest of the US, the little rain that comes is seen as a blessing.

Umbrellas are also used for another purpose I’ve only seen a handful of times in America. That is using the umbrella to guard against the sun. More than half the passerby I encounter when the sun shines are holding umbrellas, very much unlike Phoenix citizens who bake in the sun all day. Every place has an umbrella rack outside their door, and others have plastic covers so the umbrellas will not drip.

Obviously a city with so much rain has to be very humid. While my hair is resistant to becoming frizzy, (as shown in the many times I’ve curled my hair only for it to return to stick straight only a few hours later) Sonia’s and Talia’s hair has become much thicker, as if it’s trying to escape. On the other hand, your skin develops a glow I have never seen in the dry heat of Arizona. The only downside was a smattering if acne that flared up due to excess oil.

The heat of Taiwan also was something I had to adjust to. If Phoenix is an oven, baking everyone, Taiwan is a sauna, causing so much sweat. Furthermore if your clothing or shoes get wet in the rain, good luck on them drying anytime soon. In Arizona, the sweat will disappear quickly, as if you never felt heat in the first place. (Though the smell won’t leave!)

This humidity coming from being on an island constantly living with rain brings a much more pesky problem. Mosquitoes suck (Literally and figuratively). I have accumulated at least 30 bug bites from my time here, ranging from on my hands to my face, to my legs and any other place blood-sucking insects decide is yummy. In face due to this influx of bites, my skin had an allergic reaction and the bug bite grew a giant red ring around the bite. When visiting Taiwan, be sure to bring bug repellent. They can bite you through your clothes, and they live everywhere. The trains have them. Restaurants have them. They will follow you into where you sleep.

On a lighter note, let’s talk about 7-Elevens. They are everywhere, and are much more jumbo sized compared to America. I would compare them more to a Walgreens if it had a sitting area and tables to hang out at. Also, most stores require a customer to pay if they need a plastic bag. Some states in the United States have implemented similar laws, but Arizona has not put it into action. (It is coming close though.)

Watching movies is not as popular of a pastime as in America I first learned when I looked on Taiwanese Netflix and found a huge number of more popular shows on it. The cheaper ticket prices were to entice people to attending movie theaters. Even the marketing campaigns are much larger in Taiwan. The Spider-Man: Far from Home advertisements in America were mainly videos online, but Taiwan had the titular character plastered all over buses, and at the mall near Taipei 101 I discovered a life-sized interactive model of Spider-Man slinging a web.

珍娜

Jenna

P.S. More pictures of my stay!

1 note · View note

longkure7-blog · 5 years

Text

Use Any SIM Card With your Iphone

Use Any SIM Card Along with your Iphone

Apart from, there are some important classes from the Symbian expertise, and I might wish to name these out. Firms who're into online retailing might search to use behavioral targeting as a strategy to direct potential consumers to their web site more successfully and all these strategies have the potential of resulting in gross sales increases. Does the used iPhone has any scratches, harm or has the iPhone have ever been dropped? Both Mercury is in retrograde, hell has frozen over, or maybe I am simply in a bad mood, however I'm actually pleased with the iPhone version of the application. You most likely already know that the iPhone digital camera is normally a very good high quality digital camera, nevertheless it has at all times fallen somewhat in need of Samsung's high quality. The refurb store could be a superb place to save some money on an iPad, though might really discover better offers on brand-new iPads from Greatest Buy and other non-Apple retailers. So, it isn't any surprise that Amazon is now king of retailers. The King of Browsers is Useless! Ottawa, Canada. Ottawa stands out because the capital metropolis of Canada and rated as Ontario’s 2nd widest area.

My Net10 telephone uses the T-Mobile network, and its e mail address is within the form “[email protected]” the place “dddxxxyyyy” is my cell phone quantity in the type of space code and native digits. Selling the same cellular phone twice looks as if an ingenious method to extend profitability. It really is extra easy to look out some a selected else that believes at the identical time they complete. Their prices are extra then honest, turn around time is comparatively fast, friendly service & more importantly they get the job accomplished. The latest Buzz: The Mosquito Ringtone is borderline unusable, lots of the providers are a joke, and I'd be demanding a refund if I had paid for it. These mechanical programs are used for issues just like the gyroscope and accelerometers. Picture sales space organising organizations like London photo booth and Croydon photograph booth offer many special features and you'll select them in keeping with your social gathering finances.

I'm glad I lastly was able to update Windows as I like what they have finished. The largest benefit you will have in buying second hand cellular is that you may be protected from the depreciation phone items suffer constantly. Difference between iphone and cellular? ] and cellphones have been largely used to attach with trusted source of well being data and providers. Also, the structure of Android SDK is open supply which means you possibly can work together with the neighborhood for the future growth in the Android functions. Nicely. I’ve learned much more about the origins and variations of entrepreneurship globally and the way cultural variations and even geo-political variations can influence or hinder the formation of many small companies. However because You Cannot Beat This Refurbished Samsung Gear S3 Frontier Deal of PCs run Home windows, it isn't that large a deal - we all know of websites that simply do not work effectively on something other than a Home windows computer, and that is not a world-shaking disaster.

Can't get a screw out my iPhone 4s? The iPhone is clearly the telephone that everybody desires lately. If you need to block to receives undesirable calls to your phone , you simply put it in this pouch normally.But the caller can’t reach your phone. However, Rants And Raves of the software program , assist the user to detect the virus in a mobile phone. Based mostly on actual case studies and experiences, evaluation and recommendation is given to assist the reader achieve the true world. Anybody has an iPad1 case to let go? Related Vivo NEX, Hauwei P20, OnePlus 6, Xiaomi Mi eight And Extra Out there On Insane Reductions - Restricted Time Solely! Here’s more about oscillating on fan clip visit our personal site. Now, let's get to the offers. 2. The corporate affords free delivery, and you will get prepaid envelopes. This will imply barely slower speeds. Nonetheless, it never seems to fail, that you'll all the time see that one particular person on an airplane, who disregards, the flight attendants, and the pilot, instructing him or her to power down their digital toys. If you are fearful that this will probably be activated by chance while utilizing apps, it may be turned off (or on) in Settings, underneath Accessibility.

You may also turn HDR off to take an abnormal photograph with no HDR effect. Tap the massive white shutter button to take your image. As within the Five Eyes it is about indicators intelligence, IWS most likely ran, and possibly nonetheless runs on NSANet. • Is the iPhone nonetheless within the guarantee interval? You would possibly promote these on eBay but you'll have to state the chinese language mannequin and the truth that it isn't an iPhone. Protection - One of the most fruitful usages of the VR know-how is its use in the defense. I used to be also in a position to easily hyperlink all three addresses in order that they show up in a single inbox. Ready or not, the annual Consumer Electronics Present kicks off next week. Is my cellphone gone endlessly? 10. Deal with the phone interviews as face-to-face interviews, Verbal, through the phrases you select and the way you handle the negotiation contained in the communication (question-reply, feed-again, straight to the purpose, dialog with out "aaa" or "Ummm"s). Silly concept, I know, but I really spent two hours driving around Yuma searching for a submit workplace so that I may mail my brother in law the home key and he may flip off the confounded thing.

1 note · View note

ks-design-survey · 2 years

Text

Week 8 - Industrial Design

Phone - I find my phone to be essential. My phone serves the purpose of communicating with others, taking photos, googling anything, and much more. Based on the customers needs and expertise with technology there is a phone design for you whether that's from a flip phone to a touch phone. Phone designs range from very simple and minimal to very complex for those who are into technology and the advancements of it.

Fan - The design allows the user to choose multiple different settings of fan speed dependent on how the user wants the speed to be. Not only is the user able to choose fan speed but they are also able to choose if they want their fan to oscillate or not. This allows users to choose how specific they want the fan speed and if they want the air blowing in one direction. I constantly find myself adjusting the settings based on how I feel.

Air fryer - The airfryer I use has a basket that you put your food in and then the user is allowed to change the temperature and time on it depending on what the food requires. Both knobs are very user friendly and the airfryer even dings when your food is ready. This is so easy to use and is really effective at heating and frying your food, it is very quick, efficient, and effective.

Desk chair - Desk chairs are made to be comfortable and made to have someone sit in for hours on hours. Most desk chairs have wheels on the bottom so it's easy to move around hin. Most desk chairs also have a lever on it which allows the user to make the chair taller or make the chair go down. Lastly, most desk chairs have armrests which add even more comfort to the chair. These types of chairs allow users to pick the height at which they want to sit and can almost alway recline or lean back to a certain extent.

Fridge and Freezer - Fridges and freezers are essential to keep food stored properly while making sure it is safe and fresh to eat. Fridges and freezers preserve food and also allow for a longer shelf life. My freezer is connected to my fridge which I find to be very convenient because I typically have more refrigerated items than items that need to be frozen. Another awesome feature is that both my fridge and freezer have interior lights which allow me to see the product better at night time. Another cool feature is that my fridge allows the user to pick the temperature it has a recommended setting, warmer setting, and even the coldest setting. These features allow for easy access and a customized feel.

Writing utensil - Essential for taking notes, drawing, sketching, writing down important information. Writing utensils are essential and serve so many purposes and so many audiences. There are so many different variations of writing utensils which allows for the user to pick which one works best for them.

Lamp- Lamps are essential for being able to see something. The standing lamp I own is essential for me when I do my artwork specifically because it lights a big portion of the room but I am also able to adjust the angle and height at which I want my light to shine, this is essential as it accommodates for my needs and is very user friendly as it is a twist of a knob that loosens it and then I am able to adjust accordingly.

- One thing I noticed in Milwaukee is that not many places use ramps, it's almost always stairs or a step up to get into a building which is not user friendly or accessible to all.

- In order for a product to work, it must be user friendly and can accommodate to all

- If product or item is difficult to use, it deters people from buying or using it

0 notes

lovemearii-blog · 4 years

Text

How To Outsmart Your Boss On Concrete Floors Diy

When you mop, regularly re-dip the mop within the drinking water and wring it out extensively. Consider getting an oscillating fan blow air into your home that can help the floor dry quicker.

Hard: A kitchen is an area where you are standing on the toes for long amounts of time, and standing on a very unyielding surface area like concrete could be notably fatiguing. The best way to take care of This really is to place watertight kitchen gel pads to the floor in locations in which you do essentially the most standing, such as the sink, stove, and food stuff prep areas.

Considering its incredibly really hard, I'm questioning if its Risk-free to employ in soaked locations – like the shower space and children’s bathroom – can it be quite anti-slip? Would you advise a tiled floor instead?

On the other hand, using a prefinished hardwood floor, the joints are basically butted collectively and they're open up to humidity if there is a spill or tracked rain or snow. Additionally, the subfloor needs to be extremely flat

It really works distinct than most acid stains that want you to use an muriatic acid. If you employ muriatic acid, the stain gained’t do the job. In addition to, this method is much safer and way a lot less harmful than other options I have observed.

When the contractor sees that only the subfloor or floor joist is The problem, it should be fastened or changed initially in advance of focusing on the wood floor. Most wood floor leveling contractors will choose a alternative with the ruined segment simply because subfloor problems can influence the structural integrity of your floor.

robinbondinteriors.com Stained concrete has constantly been a well-liked technique to layout kitchen and bathroom countertops.

Hardwood flooring requires a gap at walls and various sound obstructions. That permits the board motion that happens on account of seasonal humidity changes inside the wood.

The strip will probably be positioned in such a way that the sting at the very best is leveled. This is when the properly trained eyes on the gurus should help because they can see if the sting at the very best is leveled and they're going to adjust if required.

Really like this!! I actually just did the same floor using a paint effects item line, it was on concrete and looks incredibly equivalent. I am likely to really need to look into this method and solutions for our out of doors patio (which desperately wants some thing to make it look fairly, yikes).

Adding a sealer can prolong the lifetime of a concrete slab and assistance avoid staining. Concrete is pourous along with a sealer will fill All those holes and add a protective layer for the complete of a slab. Adding a sealer can cost $1 to $two for every sq. foot.

Use more robust cleaners for rough stains on simple concrete. If the concrete floor is simple and you simply don’t have to worry about harmful a finish, You need to use harsher cleaners like bleach, ammonia, and hydrogen peroxide to wash stubborn stains.

youtube

Additionally, it will work in any area from the house, not simply kitchens but will also bathrooms. And when you’re worried about it looking too industrial, you could soften it with rugs and textiles.

I really preferred to have a polished cement floor. the man who quoted to try and do the patio floor Fortunately include the kitchen in at the identical selling price. He reported he just needed the floor to be truly sleek but no assistance how to obtain that. and that it required to heal for 25 days.

0 notes

inevitably-johnlocked · 7 years

Note

Steph. There's a post going around arguing that our John doesn't love Sherlock but despises him (it's not an anti johnlock post tho) and it made me ridiculously sad. Can you give some examples of John loving Sherlock? :( It really bothered me

Yeah, Nonny, I saw that one too. While I can understand where the argument lies, Uhhhh I just don’t see it the way they do. I’ve written a similar meta before, but I never broke it down before. This isn’t all of them, just a short little list…for instance:

FIRST OF ALL: JOHN’S BLOG. If I didn’t know that it was official, I would have thought it was a fan-site. It’s terribly romantic and John essentially fawns over Sherlock in almost every entry. Read especially the entries done during the hiatus. They’re… just… JOHN, PLEASE.

Martin’s acting. Just, every time John is around Sherlock, his face does 300 different emotions, but the most blatant is lust / adoration / incredulity.

Anytime the show is in John’s POV, it’s just… Sherlock is this ethereal being that John “can look but not touch”.

THE FUCKING PILOT. Just… The whole Pilot. John is literally one step away from jumping Sherlock in a back alley. And the really gay rooftop music. Just. Listen to that and be amazed at how gay that is. That’s ALL from John’s POV. AND John had this look on his face:

ASIP:

John had a limp until Sherlock came into his life and gave it new meaning.

John has trust issues – Mycroft confirms this and says John doesn’t trust easily – yet for some reason he was okay with Sherlock. “And the madman himself? He’s fascinating.”

He hits on Sherlock the first night. Granted this isn’t a sign of love, but dear god John had no idea that one little thing and rejection would start his endless pining.

Laughing against the wall together, and in awe at Sherlock curing his limp.

The eye sex. Good god, the eye sex.

He stands up to Mycroft DEFENDING Sherlock and he has no idea who Mycroft is or what he’s capable of.

Even though he didn’t know Sherlock that long, he ran after Sherlock when the phone pinged.

He killed a man for Sherlock after knowing him for only about 24 hours, and had no guilt about it.

TBB

His PIN is “SHER”. Like at this point he’s only known Sherlock for a couple months and he already changed his PIN to “SHER”???? COME ON, JOHN, PLEASE.

He goes after Sherlock rather than protect Soo Lin, because he is worried Sherlock will hurt himself.

Spends his whole date with Sarah thinking about and talking to Sherlock. He constantly checks over his shoulder to see Sherlock’s reactions to literally everything.

And this was all after he just constantly lingers his gaze over Sherlock for the first half of the episode.

Eye sex.

TGG

He has incredible guilt about the blog post that causes the Yard to make fun of Sherlock.

“I thought you would have been flattered”. Literally John is hurt that Sherlock seemingly doesn’t like his blog. They had a fucking DOMESTIC because of a BLOG POST and John’s hurt feelings. Hashtag MARRIED.

John races back to Baker Street from Sarah’s AFTER SHE’S SUGGESTIVE WITH HIM just to make sure Sherlock is okay.

John’s jealousy towards Jim flirting with Sherlock.

*sighs* EYE SEX.

John was willing to kill The Golem for Sherlock.

John, strapped to a bomb vest, took an opening and grappled and held on tight to Moriarty, told Sherlock to run. Essentially, he was willing to sacrifice his body to a slurry of gunfire and an explosion if only Sherlock would be safe from Moriarty.

“People would talk.” Why does that concern you so much, John.

Then, John was willing to die with Sherlock, without hesitation. They shared one single look and it was done.

ASiB

John’s jealousy throughout the entire episode; he wouldn’t be jealous if there wasn’t some latent pining.

MORE eye sex and toffee eyes, or John looking like a kicked puppy for half the episode because he is sad that Irene seems to have taken his place.

John essentially gives up dating in this episode.

John goes on a case for Sherlock because Sherlock was too lazy to go on his own.

John checking out Sherlock in a sheet.

Followed by them being silly.

The unnecessary tackle.

John had a date the night that Irene drugged Sherlock, but John stayed home to take care of Sherlock instead. Oh and the bum pat. JOHN, PLEASE.

John’s concern about Sherlock’s danger night has him teaming up with both Mrs Hudson and Mycroft.

John decided to try to pick up Sherlock again, only to be cock-blocked by Irene.

Even though he was with Jeanette, John consistently pays more attention to Sherlock at Christmas, eventually driving Jeanette to call John out on his obsession with Sherlock, naming Sherlock as her “competition”.

Irene knows EXACTLY what John likes.

John confronts Irene and tells her to tell Sherlock she’s alive, because he hates seeing Sherlock upset; he thinks Sherlock was grieving about her, and not over his confused feelings John.

Irene essentially tells John HE LOVES SHERLOCK. She compares herself to him, AND JOHN DOESN’T DENY IT, but silently acknowledges that yes, he and Sherlock are a couple.

John wants to talk about what happened at Battersea, but Sherlock denies him because Sherlock’s scared of his own feelings and thinks he’s protecting John from Moriarty by keeping him at arm’s length.

John thinks Sherlock would be hurt to discover that Irene is for-real dead this time, so he chooses to lie, because John doesn’t want Sherlock to go into a sad fit again. John chose the “kinder” option, and then gives Sherlock what he wants when he asks for the phone even though it is not allowed.

THOB

John goes on a holiday with Sherlock. Just… they go on a holiday. There’s no argument about it, just… they go.

John doesn’t deny that he and Sherlock are together when the Innkeeper assumes they are together, rather he deflects, because it’s too close to the truth.

John pulls rank to show off to Sherlock for a change.

The cheekbones and the coat collar, essentially revealing that he stares at Sherlock all the time.

John forgives Sherlock for his brashness, experimentation, and ignorance of John.

TRF

Eye sex.

Another “people will talk” comment when they hold hands, and THEN John still holds onto Sherlock’s sleeve while Sherlock is babbling on.

John’s anger at both Kitty and Jim, defending Sherlock’s honour.

The rooftop exchange between the two and John’s unwavering faith in Sherlock (“I know you for real”).

John’s complete breakdown at seeing Sherlock dead.

The graveyard. Fuck.

Seriously, THE GRAVEYARD IS THE MOST BLATANT SCENE IN S2.

MHR

Just the entire second half of MHR. John mourns like a grieving widower, needing a heavy drink and to be alone to watch the video of Sherlock again, holding back his tears as he watches Sherlock on screen.

In the blog entry, he talks about how charming Sherlock was and how much John himself understood Sherlock. The WHOLE entry is just one giant love letter to Sherlock.

TEH

John physically goes to Baker St. to “move on”. John couldn’t, in 2 years, bring himself to stay at Baker Street because it reminded him too much of Sherlock. Mrs Hudson calls him out on how he was “after” and John doesn’t say anything. Then he is angry about the comment that they were a couple because THEY WEREN’T. He blames himself for Sherlock’s death.

To “move on”, John jumps into a relationship to get over Sherlock believing that his miracle would never come, only to have Sherlock come back at the worst moment and Mary manipulate John into a proposal.

Donde Estas, Yolanda? This song pretty much is John’s heart speaking.Actually, most of the music selection is really very “John” and his inner turmoil of trying to understand if he should try to make a move on Sherlock. Music in Sherlock is always important; it’s always projecting the feelings of either John or Sherlock on a subtextual level.

More eye sex.

John returning to Baker Street on his own, before the bonfire, dressed in his old outfit… It’s the only time in the whole episode he dresses like “pre-S3” John"… And his oscillation on the pavement and all that.

And John’s RETURNS to 221b a second time. Because he can’t stay away.

I know it doesn’t look like it, but John forgave Sherlock.

“I was hooked. He’s like a drug.” JOHN, PLEASE.

#SherlockLives means #JohnWatsonLives. JOHN H. WATSON, PLEASE.

TSo3

SURPRISE! More eye sex and toffee eyes.

Stag night, pretty much all of it. It’s clear John is trying to loosen Sherlock up to make him more receptive to John’s advances. John tries to hit on Sherlock one more time before the marriage, but Sherlock was too drunk to understand what was happening. John assumes, with finality, that Sherlock doesn’t want him that way.

The obviously staged tumble forward to grab at Sherlock’s knee, followed by, “I don’t mind” and an indifferent shrug.

“I’m there if you want it.”

John’s first reaction to Sherlock’s adorable confusion after the best man speech was to hug Sherlock; he loves him so much that he is very moved by Sherlock’s admission to the whole of the room to how much John means to Sherlock. John even cried beforehand, and you can just SEE his FUCKING FACE glow every time he looks at Sherlock.

John ALSO grabs and holds Sherlock’s neck not once but twice in this episode.

John cluing in at the end of the episode that Sherlock does indeed feel something more for John when they share a look, and not being able to deal with his mistake, so he no-homo’d out of there because it hurt too much.

HLV

Only a month into their marriage, John is having wet dreams about Sherlock, and is visibly disappointed when Sherlock is not the one at the door.

John contacts Mycroft when Sherlock is overdosed.

Only to kick him out shortly after because he is upsetting Sherlock.

He tries to make Sherlock laugh and succeeds.

John’s jealousy once again, this time over Janine.

John’s longing looks to Sherlock.

John’s subtle “I want to come, too” when Sherlock mentions the case.

When John is searched at the flat, he makes a joke about his dick IN FRONT OF SHERLOCK to another man.

John’s immediate reaction to Sherlock being shot.

John’s off-screen acceptance to let Sherlock show him the truth about his murderer.

Mary knew that John loved Sherlock. It’s the whole reason she needed Sherlock gone, because John was starting to stray.

She didn’t want John to name the baby.

“John, you are addicted to a certain lifestyle. You’re abnormally attracted to dangerous situations and people.” [x]

Not really confirmed, but fandom assumes John left to stay at Baker Street during the 6 months we haven’t seen to care for Sherlock.

John’s acceptance at Sherlock’s plan for Appledore, even though it’s Christmas.

John not even flinching at the “damsel in distress” line.

John begrudgingly allowing himself to be flicked in the face just because Sherlock begged him to.

John’s horrified expression when Sherlock kills someone for him.

The Tarmac Scene, pretty much the whole thing. It’s set up like Casablanca’s plane scene, and John knows he has to let Sherlock go; he fumbles to find the right words to say to Sherlock. John, though, knew exactly what Sherlock was going to / wanted to say, and I think it hurts him that Sherlock never admitted his feelings.

TAB

Because this episode takes place entirely in Sherlock’s head, I don’t think we should really include it in this list, but I’m going to anyway, since Sherlock actually picked up on John’s love for him. He knows that John will accept him regardless of his faults if he confessed his love for him. I think this is why S4 doesn’t sit right with me, because it completely diverted from this HUGE revelation that Sherlock had made in TAB.

Sherlock understands that John will always choose him, in the end. Again, another thing that makes S4 so OOC.

Also something that should be noted, running on the assumption that the modern scenes may possibly be real, John is concerned about the overdose and the fact that it could kill Sherlock.

Mycroft’s plea to John signifies that Myc knows about how much John cares for Sherlock.

And these are a crapshoot, because the whole series did a 180˚ with the narrative and John’s character. I’m so angry because I don’t believe for one second John would choose Mary over Sherlock. Anyway, here goes:

T6T

Sherlock is made Rosie’s godfather. I know that’s not much since there are two other god parents, but John absolutely insists to Sherlock needs to be there.

There’s speculation that the night texting is actually between John and Sherlock. I choose to support this theory because it is one of the few semi-in-character things in this series.

TLD

Ghost!Mary is supposed to be a projection of John’s inner thoughts, feelings and inner turmoil. Ghost!Mary often refers to how important Sherlock is to John, and that Sherlock is “his”. As shittily annoying as she was, it was REALLY insightful into John’s own thought process about Sherlock.

The “romantic entanglement” speech. John is projecting here. He is essentially admitting to Sherlock that he lost his chance with Sherlock, and he regrets it.

John allows a moment of weakness in front of Sherlock, and allows himself to seek comfort in Sherlock’s embrace. As well, he allows Sherlock to touch him intimately; the neck is a vulnerable place and it’s very significant that John allows Sherlock this.

TFP

I’m not even going to bother with this one, since I think this is a fake episode. I think the closest is, given that I think this is in John’s head, he uses Molly as a stand in for himself, and he projects himself into Molly and his own fears for confessing to Sherlock.

Oh, and also if it is in John’s head, he pictures a life where he and Sherlock are raising Rosie; Sherlock has made effort to make 221b habitable for her, and John loves Sherlock so much that he believes and knows that Sherlock would do this for them.

Granted, it gets less and less obvious in S3 and S4; S3 because I believe that we are in Sherlock’s POV and he perceives his relationship with John differently, and in S4 because I believe that S4 is a false narrative and it literally took great pains to keep them separated for some stupid reason.

Finally, I’ve also written about why John loves Sherlock in past posts, because of similar discourse:

Why I Love John Watson

John Loves Sherlock!

People Severely Misread John’s Character in S3

John Was Scared of Losing Sherlock

Why is John Harsh in TAB?

Why Does Sherlock Love John?

I hope all of these help you feel better, Nonny, and please, everyone, I most likely will have missed many-a-point, so please add to them – I study Sherlock’s character more than John’s, so I have a harder time seeing John’s cues!

#steph replies #sherlock meta #pining john #Anonymous #this is a JOHN POSITIVE POST #I KNOW THE PROBLEMS WITH S4 #AND WHAT AN ASSHOLE HE IS IN S4 #just please... keep this a happy post #my john-loving followers really need it #john loves sherlock #my meta #long post #sherlock all seasons

1K notes · View notes

recentanimenews · 5 years

Text

Relive Some of Our Favorite Gross Moments in JoJo's Bizarre Adventure

JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure is many things. One of the most unique properties in the entire world of anime, it is constantly oscillating between hot-blooded action, clever strategic planning, over-the-top theatrics, and even slapstick comedy. JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure is confident in many things, one of which is its own ability to completely gross out its viewers. If you’re keeping up with the latest season, Golden Wind, you’ve already seen a truly bizarre prank played on Giorno courtesy of Abbacchio. Giorno handled it like a star, but it got me thinking: could this be the grossest moment in all of JoJo’s? Looking back five seasons in, it's had a lot of gross moments. Over the many decades he's worked on it, creator Hirohiko Araki's brilliant creative mind has produced a never-ending stream of diabolically golden situations, and David Production's adaptation has perfectly illustrated them at every turn. So, I decided to go back and try and find as many moments from the series that were just as gross, if not grosser.

A Head of the Curve

At this point in JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure, fans had already seen some pretty wild stuff. Cats ate puppies, mustachioed men punched frogs, and a severed head spit roses at immortal vampires. Despite this, I don’t think anyone was quite prepared to watch a severed head use its own blood vessels as lassos for some good ol’ fashioned body snatchin’. Just a talking head by itself? Sure, that’s fine. I’ve seen plenty of those over the years. Some blood coming out of it? No problemo. Arteries, though? Just thinking about it sends shivers down my spine. Some parts of the body were simply never meant to be autonomously wielded. Being immortal sounds cool, but if that’s what it gets me, I think I’m good for now.

Something of a Similar Vein

Oh, now this one is perfect. See, not only do we get everything gross with the vein stuff from before, but not we ALSO get gross nail stuff thrown in as an added bonus. Esidisi of the villainous Pillar Men fancies himself a master of boiling blood, which is exactly what t sounds like. He ejects his own arteries from beneath his skin and pours his own raging hot blood onto his enemies to defeat them. To top it all off, he just has to go and lift up his fingernails like tiny keratin cellar doors so that the boiling hot blood vessels can get out. It’s a good thing I’m not a Joestar, because I would just lay down and start crying right there.

Esidisi Hitches a Ride

What, did you think Esidisi was done being just the grossest imaginable thing alive? You’re dead wrong, buster. This ungodly monstrosity survives death as nothing more than a brain and—you guessed it—mass of blood vessels. He hitches a ride on Joseph’s back and possesses the body of Suzi Q. before finally being defeated by Joseph and Caesar. This might very well be the grossest fight in all of JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure. If nothing else, it sure is a sight to behold.

Also, Joseph peeps on his mom in this episode. To be fair, he doesn’t know she’s his mom yet, but that’s still pretty gross, dude.

Cherry Boy

Stop that.

A Lesson in Infrastructure

Question: what do you do when you accidentally build a pig pen too high below your restaurant right below the restrooms? Apparently, what you do is give your customers a stick and tell them to go to town on it. Another thing you could apparently do is just forego paper and let it lick your butt instead. I’d also like to point out that in this same very scene, Polnareff finds the man who murdered his sister. JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure is a great show.

BABY STAND

JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure can be a pretty brutal show. All of its villains are built up to be some of the worst people imaginable so that their eventual deaths at the hands of our heroes become all the more satisfying. Death 13 eats it harder than anyone else in the entire series. Like, literally. Kakyoin literally forces an evil baby to eat his own poop. At one point in Diamond is Unbreakable Josuke turns a guy into a rock and he still got it better than Death 13. Never under any circumstances mess with Kakyoin and his naps.

A Man of Culture

I don’t know about you, but if I found out that my favorite manga artist lived down the road, went to go get his autograph, and subsequently found out that he liked to lick spiders, I would respectfully excuse myself and move the next day. Listen, I don’t think René Magritte needed to sit around all day eating pictures of pipes to paint some art. In fact, I have a sneaking suspicion his art was better BECAUSE he didn’t do that, but hey, what do I know?

Cannibal Rat-Infested Japanese Farmhouse

This one’s another prime contender for grossest moment in all of��JoJo’s. After tracking down a rat that became a Stand user, Josuke finds it in an abandoned farmhouse taking food from a fridge. Only, it’s not actually abandoned. Its owners are just a writhing mass of melted flesh the rat put into the fridge as a living food source. This nightmarish power is somehow used to comedic effect when Jotaro acts completely nonchalant over his own arm melting off.

Nailed It

I know that he murdered, like, a lot of people and all, but this is probably the worst thing Yoshikage Kira ever did. Just use a trash can, dude.

I Think That's His Tell

Last, but certainly not least, we have the canonical proof that aliens have extremely weak stomachs. Protip: next time you decide to cheat at a game of cee-lo by having your friend turn into dice and rig the game in your favor, make sure he has a tiny little bucket at the ready.

While all of these moments do gross me out, I can’t even begin to imagine a JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure without them. Each and every one of them was used to either uncomfortably terrifying or completely hilarious effect. Part of what makes JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure so special to me is its unparalleled ability to juggle so many different tones at once and still nail every beat perfectly.

Which of these moments is your favorite? Are there any others you think belong on this list? Let us know in the comments below! Now if you’ll excuse me, I think my tea is ready.

-----

Danni Wilmoth is a Features and Social Videos writer for Crunchyroll and also co-hosts the video game podcast Indiecent. You can find more words from her on Twitter @NanamisEgg.

By: [email protected]

#Anime #News #Latest in Anime News by Crunchyroll!

0 notes

writingcommons-blog1 · 6 years

Text

“But I Have a Black Friend” by Noah N.

“Hey Noah, can I say it”? Many of my white friends over the years would ask me this question and frankly, I never knew what to say. My father would always lecture me on the usage of the word “nigga” and my friends would always ask me how I felt about them using it. I finally asked myself how I felt about it and realized that solely researching this question and basing my opinion off of others was not how I was going to arrive to a conclusion. Instead, my personal experiences with how humans treat each other answered this question that many people had a very easy answer for, but for some reason I never did.

I am 14 years old, laying in my bed listening to rap music that is filled with curse word after curse word when my father yells for me to come downstairs. I would always grow incredibly anxious whenever he would yell for me. My heart would hit a little harder, my palms would become a little more clammy and my mind would begin racing with the question of “what did I do wrong?” I bounce out of my gray sheets and walk down the carpeted stairs with my bare feet, until they land on the cold laminate floor of the foyer. I walk closer to my father who is laying on the couch in the living room. I glance over to the television to see the movie “42” playing: a film about Jackie Robinson’s experience as the first black professional baseball player. I move my attention back to my father where he holds a face of concern. “Do you let your white friends say nigga?” What my father believed and what he taught me was to never let anyone who was not black say the n-word or any variance of it. Ordering me to sit down on the couch, my father would advise me of how the real world would treat me; how people would not always be bold enough to confront me directly with racism, but I would feel the discrimination when it came around. As he lectured me constantly about the sacredness of this word, I would listen to him, but not completely agree. To me, it was not a big deal if anybody said nigga it never mattered.

My justification behind this behavior was that my friends never used it to degrade me or any other people. My white friends would call each other niggas, call me a nigga, and I would call them niggas. They obviously weren’t racist, I mean… they were my friends, right? Over the course of the summer, all my friends would spend our time in the attic of one of my best friends. Everyday at noon it would be ridiculously hot; the only resources we had to cool off was the Arizona green tea that we kept fully stocked in the mini fridge and a metal fan that sat in a corner and did not even oscillate. During one of these typical summer days music would be blaring loud enough to be heard throughout the house, even though we were stationed in only one room.

Eventually, a rap song would shuffle on and a few of my white friends would say, “Noah, can I say it?” and I really didn’t care if they did. Besides, if I said they couldn’t say it, then they would say it when they weren’t around me. I believed that by not using the word, then you simply gave it more power; if people treated it like every other word then, it would be just like any other word.

The only problem is that it is not like every other word and that is what I have grown to realize. One can not research how it feels to be demonized, belittled, and brainwashed. I felt that racism was not as existent as my father made it out to be.When you have not had many experiences with racism, it is incredibly easy to pretend it does not exist, even for a person of color. Growing up around mostly white people, you begin to see yourself as just a person, but not a black person. Then you notice how the teacher is surprised that you articulate your words and that you are so “well behaved”- you know… like a dog. You go shopping at a store and the clerk keeps asking you if you are “finding everything alright” every five minutes while keeping an eye on you at all times. One night an officer lights you and your friend up for walking in the park. He asks for both of your license and returns to his vehicle to run them through the system. While standing there, watching the red and blue lights collide to form an ominous purple hue, it seems to get colder, but your hands just get hotter and more clammy and you can’t put them in your pockets because then you might look like you are reaching for something. Then you look at your white friend who is wearing a baseball cap and is too calm for the situation that you both are in.

He tries to crack jokes with you because he sees you are uncomfortable. You realize that although this racism is not terribly abrasive or direct, it’s there and you can just feel it, almost like a paranormal experience. People notice these microaggressions and rarely stand up against them. Most white people will appreciate the culture that the black community has created, but will not accept or merely acknowledge the marginalization that black people face in their day to day lives.

If you are not black or African American then you should not use the word “nigga” under any circumstances. That word has only ever been used to make humans seem as if they were less than what they are. The reason that this word is incomparable to any other racial slur in America is because black people were enslaved and discriminated against on the same land that we continue to live on. There has been a stigma placed on black folks and African Americans ever since we were forced onto boats, and we are still fighting against it. I do not care if you have a black friend, or listen to rap, or voted for Barack Obama twice--if you truly support the black community then you would understand the amount of hatred the word “nigga” breeds.

0 notes

journalistgeocultures · 7 years

Text

Welcome to the first edition of the Geek Talk series. It should come as no surprise that today’s topic is related to Harry Potter…

Anyone who know me even a little is well aware that I’m a hardcore Harry Potter fan.

Harry Potter and I, We Go Way Back…

My first day in junior high school, I proudly walk into my class with my HP backpack, my HP school planner, my HP ruler and my HP pencil case. Of course, I was utterly unaware that my deep love for the Harry Potter saga could entice some mockery (read bulling) from my fellow students.

I was eleven, naive and very much in love with J.K Rowling’s universe. Suffice to say, I went through hell during that first year, and let me tell you, the level of cruelty kids can ditch out knows no bound. But even today, as I am past my mid-twenty, I can honestly say that I don’t regret any of it.

Credit and source: @hipster-vintage-and-indie.com

Like a surprisingly reduced part of the HP fandom, I discovered the books when the very first came out, in 1997. I was eight. From that moment and to this day, Harry Potter and every single characters of the wizarding world grew up with me, evolved as I evolved and followed me into adulthood. For the lonely kid that I was, it was like having fifty new family members, and some of them became my inspiration because their dreams and sufferings pushed me to try harder in life.

I could relate to most of the characters and I felt like I understood the strengths and weaknesses of Hogwarts’s four houses. I was enchanted by the magical world J.K Rowling depicted and overwhelmed by how much love and sadness a book series could make me feel.

Credits and source: @wetraveled.tumblr.com

Constantly reading the Harry Potter books while growing up was a great way to grow up right, grow up with a little light of happiness, especially when the rest of my days were so dark.

When you’re a child or a teenager, everything always feels so extreme. Everything is “all or nothing”, everything is drama. My view on the events happening in those books was no different during that time:

I hated the Dursleys.

I felt a lot of pity and affection for Hagrid.

The idea of four houses into a school always felt wrong to me. Divisive much?

I was flabbergasted by the injustice and the condescending treatment Harry had to endure from the adults around him.

I felt betrayed by Dumbledore when I realized Harry was an horcrux and he knew it.

I called bullshit about the reasons he gave for not telling Harry about the prophecy.

I was devastated by Sirius’s death.

My feelings for Snape were forever oscillating between an intense dislike and a crushing pity.

While I liked Ron, I never fully trusted him to stay completely loyal to Harry due to his jealousy, and I felt that way until the very end of the series.

Hermione Granger equally inspired me a great deal of admiration and exasperation.

I loved Fred and George.

I always thought Percy Weasley was treated unfairly. I’m not overly fond of the “black sheep of the family ” concept.

I hated Bellatrix.

I adored Luna Lovegood.

I wanted to see more characters’s developments among the Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws students, not just the unnecessary crap about Cho Chang, Zacharias Smith and Justin Flinch Fetcher.

I did not like Remus Lupin. But I loved Tonks.

And finally,

I think that there is something deeply unrealistic and wrong about the way the Slytherin House (in general) and Draco Malfoy (in particular) were depicted and imagined.

Source: i-am-aesthetica.tumblr.com

So let’s dive into that.

— ⊗ Μ ⊗ —

Draco Malfoy, The (Almost) Perfect Poster boy For Evil Spawn…

Now, there is no mistaken the fact that Draco Malfoy was an awful little brat during the six first books of the series.

Only child of Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy, he was obviously spoiled by his parents, spoiled with everything he truly did not need. A lot of money, extravagant gifts, tooth-rotting sweets, expensive clothes… nothing material was out of reach for him.

His father gifted the Slytherin Quidditch team with brand new and expensive Nimbus brooms once Draco became their seeker. His mother send him sweets and chocolate via owl every week.

So, yes. Draco Malfoy was spoiled but it became very obvious in the Chamber of secrets book that he was not as loved or as cherished as he would have liked his fellow students to believe. The scene between father and son that takes place in Borgin and Burkes shows that not only Lucius is not proud of his son but their relationship seems to be cold as well.

In the books, it’s very obvious that Draco worships the ground his father walks on. In terms of an accomplished, respected and even feared wizard, Lucius was the perfect, the only example that Draco had. He was raised from the cradle by a blood purist man, he was taught to despise everyone and everything his parents told him were inferior to him and as a son, a child sheltered from everything that could alter this twisted view of the world, a son desperate to please his parents, Draco never questioned it.

As the result to this, of course, he lacked the empathy and the compassion that characterized Harry. Draco had not being raised to experiment his own sufferings and therefore had no idea how to relate to the sufferings of others. He only grew up feeling like a failure to his father’s eyes and he had to strive to fix it. This is why the relationship J.K Rowling created between Harry and Draco is so interesting and well-played: She made that feeling of being a failure, of being worthless grow every time Draco lost to Harry in the books.

Credits and Source: @thanatosdementor.tumblr.com

None of this excuse the fact that Draco was a bully, cruel to others, a blood purist, ignorant, intolerant and manipulative. His father’s son.

The thing is, even as people despised his character, they started to relate to him more than they did to characters like Harry, Hermione or Ron. Why?

Because at the beginning of the books, he was the lowest of the low, the snake, the bully, the proverbial school nemesis of Harry Potter, and inside this tailored box, he struggled to become more. He struggled to beat Harry Potter at Quidditch, he struggled to make his father proud, he struggled to beat muggles-born at exams. Despite his more than dubious intentions and his selfishness, he fought again and again. While he was sometimes described as cowardly and actually behaved like it, he never gave up trying to overcome his shortcomings.

And that is what people root for in someone. The drive. The ambition. The determination to never stay down, no matter how much humiliation you endure, no matter how much it hurts.

Draco Malfoy: The Bitchy Underdog

Which brings me to my second point: people loves underdogs. I’ve got to admit it, it’s a little astonishing that such an awful character managed to provoked so much sympathy and even pity which in time definitely transformed into fondness and love for some fans. J.K Rowling certainly did not expect or want that.

But it happened.

No matter how awful of a villain you creates, if you keep beating him up, metaphorically or otherwise, if you introduce to the audience his inner struggles, his deepest insecurities and his tortured psyche, people will humanize him enough to break that black and white straight jacket you planned to trap him into.

Credit and source: @foolforfelton.tumblr.com

However the most interesting (and worthy of notice) thing about Malfoy is not who and what he was. It’s what and who he became, it’s how he evolved.

We all remember how Draco’s world crumbled and shattered in the sixth and seventh books. With Voldemort living in his home and forcing him to tortured people as a punishment for his obvious lack of murdering tendencies, Draco suddenly learned in the worse way what it felt like to have everything taken from you, your safety, your sanity and your freedom.

And we learned a lot more about him in those two last books, didn’t we? Much more than in the five previous ones. Stripped of his bully mask and false pride, what truly characterized Draco Malfoy?

His fear and his love.

Between the lines and the glimpses of his anguish, it’s a beautiful, terrible thing, the way his love is described in those books. Without restraint, without boundaries, without moral. He opened Hogwarts to the devastation that was the Death Eaters and Greyback. He did it because it was somehow more bearable than to have his parents killed. His love for them is made of devotion and annihilation. It’s almost the love of a slave. Lucius is certainly undeserving of it. The jury is still out for Narcissa.

His fear for his family and for himself, his fear of the Dark Lord and to a certain extent of Dumbledore is what ironically kept him safe. He did as he what told to do, no matter how tainted his soul became, no matter how much he did not want to. He made the deliberate choice to do wrong because he could not stand the consequences of doing the right thing. It became clear at the middle and the end of the Half Blood Prince that Draco knew he was in the wrong. He held no more disillusion about Voldemort or his father. But he could not stop.

Already tainted with the Dark Mark on his arm, already used to cast “Crucio” on his victims, Draco finally became the son Lucius always wanted while we learn who Draco Malfoy truly was or rather who he wasn’t:

A murderer. A monster.

harry potter spells + meanings (3/3) Source: lillypotter.tumblr.com

Instead he became a victim and at that, one that inspired the most bittersweet pity.

Draco Malfoy: The Fated Loser

At the end of the series, most people just described Malfoy as a loser. After all that how J.K Rowling spent the last seven books describing him. He constantly lost to Harry, to Hermione, even to Ron. He failed at pleasing his father, he failed at pleasing Voldemort, he even failed at accepting the flimsy and half-ass attempts of protection Snape and Dumbledore awkwardly offered him.

On Pottermore, J.K. Rowling described the entire Malfoy family as always involved in some evil and nefarious deeds. Apparently even the Malfoys from several generations removed were evil doers, somehow forever involved or even responsible for some awful and devastating events in the wizard or even muggle history. They were never ones to help people, they were completely unrepentant.

Oh, how I loathe that.

Credits: @LADYMCBETHS-DEACTIVATED20161110

The idea of that someone can never change. The idea that they are doomed to follow a dark path and will automatically end up bad, or hurting people because it’s in their blood. I hate that idea so much, that black and white judgmental tunnel-vision crap. Worse, the idea of an entire family always and forever rotten to the core?

That leaves me nauseous. What the hell?

That is not the real world. That is not how people work. Of course doing the right thing is never the easiest road and very few take it, especially if their entourage is urging them to do bad… but I believe that most people fight to overcome their worst selves and go against the current and try to better themselves, especially if they have suffered. Most people change.

I think the way J.K Rowling depicted the Malfoy family’s background as inherently bad and always following a dark path is why she suffered so much backlash from some parts of the fandom. Nobody is born evil. Nobody is born bad.

Yes, it would be harder to grow into your heart and into your soul if you were raised in a family that lacks the fundamental empathy you need to properly love the world but it is certainly not impossible. Nobody is predisposed to failed.

House Slytherin – Credits and Source: aly-naith.tumblr.com

The idea of houses in Hogwart is extremely divisive. Hufflepuff, Gryffindor, Ravenclaw and Slytherin… Why on earth can you not be Brave and Cunning? Why should you only be clever and not loyal? Why can’t you be both? Why can’t you be courageous and ambitious and smart and honest?

Nobody is solely one thing, and while I perfectly understand why J.K. Rowling chose to create those houses, how interesting it is plot wise, I always thought it was kind of horrifying… kids striving under a hierarchy slash rivalry and growing up with a mob-like mentality in addition to the permanent certitude that there is always a “them” and a “us”.

Credits and source: @cruciatuz.tumblr.com

That cliche mirror effect… Rich vs Poor, Dark Wizard vs Light Wizard, Villains vs Heroes, Malfoys vs Weasleys, Draco Malfoy vs Harry Potter… It definitely wasn’t to the taste of everybody and I think it definitely help building up the defense of Draco Malfoy and his evolution from poisonous brat to cinnamon bun in the last two decades.

I’d like to point out that I always find it sarcastically ridiculous when some overzealous fans conveniently forget that Draco was an awful little bully and does deserves some of the hardships that fell upon him. Why would you want to paint him as the white dove, the poor, sheltered little darling who didn’t know better? He did know better.

If you truly want to understand and therefore appreciate the character, you have to accept his flaws. Who he was is relevant but who he became is what truly matters. That’s what is worth reading, what is worth noticing and appreciating. I like a good character’s growth…. Don’t you?

Which brings us to the latest installment of the Harry Potter series: The Cursed Child.

Yes, It is Exceptionally Lonely, Being Draco Malfoy… But It’s OK Too.

I went to the UK, in June 2016 to see the play of Harry potter and the Cursed Child in London Palace Theater. It was with the first original set of actors ever playing those characters in theater. Draco Malfoy was brilliantly played by Alex Price and he managed to make it painfully obvious how far Draco went in terms of personal growth.

Most importantly, with this play, J.K Rowling finally listen to the unhappy fans and gave to Draco what he never had in the first seven books: A win.

I told you earlier that Draco was described and then tagged as a loser in the books; He never won against Harry and suffered many humiliating moments, some deserved, some not so much.

However, in the Cursed Child, there is one area where Draco is definitely better than Harry: Parenting.

Credit and source: @awanqi.tumblr.com

Despite the fact that he had Lucius as a father, Draco, while having a lot of trouble expressing his affections for his son, is definitely a better father than Harry is.

Granted, Scorpius is less of a pain in the ass than Albus, but the credit goes to his upbringing. Draco and Astoria did everything they could not to repeat the past. Harry unknowingly made Albus believe than nothing was more important than the past. Scorpius is nothing like Draco was at his age and while Harry is busy trying to relate to hi son and basically wants to control him, he just managed to make everything about himself, which is something Albus hates. Draco wants Scorpius to be leader, not a follower, like he was. He refuses to see his son influenced by others, which does create some father/son issues between them but ultimately, it’s very clear that what he wants the most is to see his son happy. He is determined to make sure Scorpius is happy.

Draco is a widower, he is forever under suspicion due to his past, there is no escaping it. he is heart-broken, he is lonely and yet when realizing that Scorpius made friends with the son of the person he loathes the most, he simply tries to keep them together when Harry is determined to separate them.

When confronted by the awful rumors that his late wife, the love of his life, might have had a child with Voldemort, Draco defended her honor and let’s face it, would have own Harry in that duel match if Ginny had not interrupted.

He doesn’t hold a prestigious position in the ministry like Harry, he is not the minister like Hermione, but he is definitely playing at their level magically and maybe even above since he studied and mastered basic alchemy, like Nicolas Flamel did before him.

He flirts with power but never cross the line. He grew up. He matured for the better and while it doesn’t sound like his life will ever be free of pain and sadness, while he will probably always somehow pay for his past sins, he had managed to let go of everything inside him that wants to hate and destroy, and he kept on loving and protecting.

Now… isn’t that the mantel of heroes?

Credit and source: @awanqi.tumblr.com

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is why it’s OK to like Draco Malfoy.

— ⊗ Μ ⊗ —

I hope you enjoyed this first edition of my new series Geek Talks. Let me know what you think of Draco Malfoy and the Slytherin house, which house are you? Which house would you like to be?

I’ll see you’all soon for a new talk!

Stay excellent.

Featured Image Header: Credits and Copyright: @moon-leviosa.tumblr.com

Draco Malfoy: From Poisonous Brat to Cinnamon Bun – A Study | Geek talk Series Welcome to the first edition of the Geek Talk series. It should come as no surprise that today's topic is related to Harry Potter...

0 notes

datawiresolutions · 7 years

Text

Best Toilets for Your Smart Home

By Mitchell Parker, Houzz

Everyone poops. Let’s just get that out there in the open. Because it’s difficult to discuss toilets without first acknowledging what they’re used for. Toilets get rid of our waste so we can live in relatively sanitary societies. Adequate sewage systems and water treatment facilities that remove waste from our homes, process it and return clean water back to us are a hallmark of a developed society.

Innovation is constantly improving and expanding toilet design and functionality to use less water, be more comfortable and, yes, even pamper us. “It’s starting to change — it really is,” builder and designer Karl Champley says.

Many toilet companies employ well-trained scientists in various fields that you’ve probably never heard of — tribology coefficient of friction, anyone? For example, toilet manufacturer Toto employs 1,500 engineers across a range of sciences to study human behavior and create new products and technologies. So forget the image of a plunger; have a seat and check out what could be coming to a potty near you.

The Numi from Kohler. Original photo on Houzz

Pamper Me

Just where does all that scientific time and energy (not to mention money) go? The way James Walsh, vice president of chinaware and commercial products at toilet maker American Standard, sees it, toilets can be broken down into two categories: practical and pamper me.

The latter category is one that raises eyebrows. Imagine this: It’s the middle of the night and you have to go to the bathroom. As you approach the toilet, which is lighted by night light panels, music that you preselected begins playing, the lid rises, a light shines on the floor next to the bowl.

You tap that illuminated area of floor with your foot, and the ring rises. After you use the toilet and walk away, a sensor detects that you’ve left and flushes and closes the ring and lid. The toilet can even tell if you were sitting or standing, and adjust to flush with the least amount of water needed. If you had sat down for longer than a minute, the toilet would have used a longer flush. For around $6,000, this experience, and more, can be yours.

Designer Champley has this experience rather often. He’s got the Kohler Numi in his home, a gift from the company, Champley says. (Toilet companies will often give high-end toilets to designers and sellers in hopes that they will become converts and help spread the word of the benefits of the product.)

The Numi features a night light, a heated seat, an integrated bidet with temperature-controlled water, an air dryer, a deodorizer (a fan pulls air from inside the bowl, runs it through a charcoal filter and releases exhaust out the back of the unit), music (Champley has his set to classical) and feet warmers (yes, warm air blows from under the toilet bowl onto your feet). And it even washes itself. All this is controlled from a touchpad screen.

“It does everything except make espresso,” he says. “It’s not for your average Joe — that’s why it’s so darn expensive. But I’ve found that once you go that way, you’re not going back.”

Toto’s Washlet S350e seat includes a night light, built-in air deodorizing system, warm-air dryer and more. Original photo on Houzz

Other units, such as the Toto Washlet, shown here, which you can add on to almost any standard toilet, come with a remote control so you can adjust the spray angle to hit you just right. You can also adjust the temperature of the water and make the sprayer pulsate and oscillate. “When you get off that seat, you’re refreshed,” says Bill Strang, president of operations and e-commerce at Toto.

Shane Allis, director of sanitary product marketing at Kohler, says the integrated bidet function is something the company had in its Numi model six or seven years ago and is now becoming common in newer, less-expensive lines, a trend he expects to continue in the next few years. Allis says lighting and integrated bidet functions are the fastest-growing features.

When smart toilets with these features originally came out, plumber Dave Guy and his co-workers thought they were the “silliest things in the world,” he says. Then a toilet company gave him one for free and encouraged him to try it out in his own home, which he did. Now he has three. “They’re definitely a benefit in more ways than one,” he says. “Music and heat, they’re a little overkill, though.”

Water Conservation

What Guy likes best, being a plumber, is the bidet feature, which conserves water and cuts down on the amount of toilet paper that gets flushed down the pipes. He says while toilets continue to use less water, people aren’t producing less waste or using less toilet paper. And that has wreaked havoc on sewer lines. He sees a ray of hope with bidet systems. When people use them, they use less toilet paper, which allows flushing with less water and puts less strain on plumbing.

“They’re fantastic,” Guy says of the new smart toilets. “We are not using as much water. Bidet seats are reducing the amount of paper use after you’ve gone number two. Low-flush toilets have caused nothing but issues with clogged sewer lines.”

Toto’s Strang agrees. “The next step of toilet evolution is getting down to the lowest possible water consumption,” he says. Most Toto toilets now flush with only 1 gallon vs. the national standard of 1.6 gallons per flush. “We’re phasing out all higher-flush toilets and moving down to the 1-gallon solution,” he says.

But water conservation isn’t the only hurdle toilet manufacturers face.

Major Hurdles

For manufacturers of smart toilets, the biggest hurdle seems to be getting people to try the product. Not an easy feat. “Think about how most of us grew up,” Kohler’s Allis says. “When we are going through our toileting routine we use toilet paper. Smart toilets with bidets are something very different for the vast majority of the U.S. market. Once you use a product like this, you don’t want to go back. But how do people get that exposure?”

The other roadblock is outlets. Smart toilets need electricity, and most bathrooms don’t come with an outlet near the toilet. “The single biggest angst that consumers have about smart toilets is, ‘How am I going to plug this in?’” Strang says.

Related: Remodeling Your Bathroom? Check Out These Ideas First

Toto encourages builders and homeowners to put outlets near toilets when building a home or remodeling a home, even if you’re not installing a smart toilet now. You, or a future homebuyer, might want to have a smart toilet someday. And the cost is relatively inexpensive if you’re already renovating.

Guy says the amperage needed for a smart toilet is very low, and having an electrician run an outlet near the toilet is pretty straightforward and easy. In the worst case scenario, you can install a wire along the wall with a casing over it.

He does warn that the all-inclusive smart toilet models require power to flush the toilet. So if the power goes out, your toilet won’t work.

Original photo on Houzz

Toilets 3: Original photo on Houzz

Costs Expected to Come Down

Of course, the cost of smart toilets is a major hurdle for consumers. But most experts say the costs are going down fast. American Standard’s ActiClean unit, shown here and in the previous image, is under $500, which is in range of any other major appliance found in the home. “People spend a lot of money on a whirlpool tub,” Allis says. “How often are they using that in comparison to using the toilet every day, multiple times a day?”

Original photo on Houzz

Toilets 4: Original photo on Houzz

Add-on units are even more affordable. Tushy’s bidet attachment, shown here, which affixes to any standard American toilet in less than 10 minutes, costs $69. No plumbing or electrical are required. For a little more money, you can get a Tushy that allows you to attach a hose to the hot water beneath your sink and have a warm-water bidet. It’s great for rental units in which you’re not allowed to make upgrades. There’s no air dryer, so you still need to use a little toilet paper.

Toilets 5: Original photo on Houzz

Kohler’s PureTide, shown here, is a manual bidet seat without the need for electricity. It operates just on water pressure alone. So if your power goes out, you’re still good. The water isn’t heated, so “people need to get a little accustomed to that,” Allis says. But it installs quickly and simply. The cost is a little over $100 and can work on pretty much any current toilet.

And that brings up another one of the biggest hurdles that manufacturers face in getting integrated smart toilets into consumers’ homes: education on wet vs. dry cleaning

Wet vs. Dry Cleaning

Wet vs. dry cleaning in the U.S. poses a significant challenge for toilet designers. What’s best for our bodies and lifestyles? The answer is a bit complicated. Toilet paper is common in the United States and the United Kingdom, while in parts of Europe, China, India and parts of Africa, bidets are more prominent.

Historically, this two-sided development has a lot to do with the amount of fiber people consume (less in the U.S. and the U.K.), weather, culture, religion and more. And there are pros and cons to each side. One common argument is that bidets waste more water than toilet paper. But many experts say that the amount of water it takes to make toilet paper exceeds that used by bidets.

On the other hand, some say that the frequent use of bidets, especially warm-water bidets, can disturb the normal microflora in the region below and even facilitate infection by fecal bacteria, according to a research paper by Pankaj Garg and Pratiksha Singh published for the American Society of Colon and Rectal Surgeons.

In the end, though, Garg and Singh conclude that “both methods were perhaps developed and have survived for centuries of usage because of the dietary fiber habits of these populations. Therefore, both methods are scientifically correct and suit the populations where they are being used.”

Nevertheless, the top toilet manufacturers recognize the divide and note that places such as China and Japan are adopting smart toilets much more quickly than in the U.S. Walsh, from American Standard, says the rate of adoption is going up in America, though it’s far from where it is in Japan.

As mentioned earlier, infrastructure support helps proliferate the technology. Walsh says most new construction in Japan includes outlets near the toilet location, which makes installing a high-tech toilet easier. Plus, in Japan, many units are small and have only one bathroom. So splurging on a high-end toilet often makes more financial sense than in America, where homes have multiple toilets.

Keeping It Clean

It’s not all about keeping our bums clean. We put a lot of effort into keeping the toilet itself clean too. And it seems like the cleaner it is, the better we feel psychologically. “I think, overall, whenever you think of what consumers would want out of their toilet, clean rises to the top,” Allis says.

There’s a lot of research energy going into surfaces and how the water moves around inside the bowl.

Toto’s Washlet toilet, for example, has a sensor that recognizes when you’re coming and sprays a quick spritz of water to the sides of the bowl to make it wet and improve lubricity. This isn’t guesswork. Toto spent time studying the tribology coefficient of friction, which is a fancy way of saying the science of how surfaces interact, and found that making the porcelain wet reduces stickiness, so the toilet stays cleaner longer.

The flush of water in most toilets comes from 30 to 60 holes beneath the rim of the bowl. Often this area can build up with grunginess from waste and minerals left behind by the trickle of water. In new designs from Toto, the multihole method is replaced with a Tornado flush, which consists of two jets that spin the water at high speed to remove grime.

Toto also has a feature that electrolyzes the water to help sanitize it before it even enters the bowl. Potable water flows over anodized cathodes that electrolyze the water and pull out sodium and chlorine. Then that water gets sprayed into the bowl 45 seconds after you walk away. “It improves the hygienic characteristics, making the bowl cleaner for the next visit,” Strang says. It also reduces the amount of chemicals you use and the number of times you have to clean the toilet, he says.

Strang also touts another one of Toto’s features: A 220-wavelength ultraviolet light is shined into the bowl once a day to help break down and decompose grime.

For some American Standard models, surface technology is fired directly into the chinaware to help resist dirt buildup and make the toilet easier to clean. The company also has cleaning systems built into toilets, such as the ActiClean. A button independent of the flush releases a cleaning solution into the tank. “These are innovations to make a consumer’s life easier,” Walsh says. “Nobody wants to worry about a dirty toilet.”

Jean-Jacques L’Henaff, vice president of design at American Standard, continues to push for simpler surfaces that make the toilet easier to clean. Rather than the exposed trapways on traditional toilets (think of that tube-like protrusion below the bowl), newer models have smooth-surface skirts that leave fewer lines and seams and expressions to clean and also hide some of the working parts of the toilet. “We want you to see as little as possible,” L’Henaff says.

Original photo on Houzz

What’s Next?

In the near future, the biggest change you’ll see is cost. “I do think you will see price points continue to drop,” Allis says. “Similar to any other technology or innovative product that starts to get broader acceptance and appeal. Think about flat-screen TVs and how we’ve seen those drop in price until the next technology comes out.”

Installation will become easier too. Systems such as ReadyLock from Kohler allow toilets to be installed without the need of additional drilling into the floor. “If you <a href=”http://ift.tt/2opOy1P to plumbers</a>, there’s nothing they hate more than drilling into a marble floor,” Allis says. “With our system, there’s no secondary attachment point required.”

While you see a lot more black toilets on the market, you’ll continue to see the classic white color reign supreme, especially since the high-tech toilets feel more at home in modern spaces, where white is the predominant color. Also, the sterile look of white makes sense for something like a toilet, Champley says.

Shown here is Toto’s Universal Design Research Center for Advanced Science and Technology in Chigasaki, Japan.

At the research center, product designers and engineers monitor user behavior to create better products.

Strang says Toto has also developed technology that uses the flow from a toilet flush to spin a micro turbine that generates and stores electricity for the next flush. “If you’re off the grid, you don’t need external power,” he says.

For American Standard, the future holds load-sensing technology that will sense what’s in the bowl and deliver the proper amount of water to flush. If the toilet is dirty, it will do another flush or activate a cleaning routine. from Data Wire Solutions News Feed http://ift.tt/2o7fozI

0 notes