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#every dollar pledged there adds up and helps
jaimistoryteller · 1 year
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Why Help’s Need 3.0
Hey Folks
Happy New Year and Winter Holidays to all of whichever you may celebrate.
I considered continuing the trend of just updating 2.0 but decided it's a new year, so have a new post. I'll put things from this year on this post, to make it easier, and leave the link to last years post, for record reasoning.
Thank you all
Jaimi
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12/16/2023
Hello all, 
I’ve spent pretty much 20 to 21 hours of each of the last three days sleeping due to pain. I only woke for brief periods between for food, bathroom, and taking meds. 
I didn’t get to the bare minimum of $237 I needed to, so the check for the plumber bounced and I need to pay the returned check fee. Amusingly, that is how much I had raised, so the total hasn’t changed, and I just applied it to the account. 
I really need to get him paid, so he’d be willing to work with me in the future if something happens again. 
$0/445
Any and all help would be greatly appreciated. That includes sharing, every little bit helps. Happy Winter Holidays,
Jaimi
[will do a more detailed description when not barely awake]
Patreon
Redbubble
Share this post; my venmo, paypal, or cash app with a note about how it can help.  
Paypal: cosmosbusinessventures@gmail .com or Paypal Me
Ko-Fi
venmo @JaimiST
Cash app $jaimist
GoFundMe: Help Jaimi Catch Up the Bills & Fix the Roof
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Current Situation
12/12/2023 1 pm
Hiya Folks
So initially I did my update at three in the morning, while in a lot of pain after finishing a really long day. To recap:
Three trips to the hospital, not counting trip to see the eye doc for the pre-surgery recheck
One cat passed away and had to be taken to the crematorium
Winston has a sprained leg I’d like to get checked but haven’t been able to
Spent yesterday trying to fix the water, after the on/off broke on me, after I had already cut the line, so I got drenched and so did a lot of stuff.
Now then, I had gotten a quote for $400 last night, then today, I was able to get it fixed for $208, as long as I get it paid today, we’re good, as they came and fixed it. I’m barely awake, so will need to work on this further after another nap.
Thank you all, 
Jaimi 
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Past Amounts
1/23/2023 - $278/2153 
2/1/2023 - $817/2513 
2/18/2023 - $/1734
2/26/2023 - $0/25533/7/2023 - $100/2855
3/7/2023 - $867/2855 
6/8/2023 - $1833
8/5/2023 - $104/1060
8/10/2023 - $90/930
10/16/2023 - $0/437
12/12/2023 - $0/637
12/12/2023 - $25/445
12/16/2023 - $0/445
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Proofs
[will add after i nap more]
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🙏 CALL FOR ARTISTS/WRITERS/MUSICIANS IN THE TIN CAN FAM 🙏
As many of you might be aware, the Tinlightenment Kickstarter is currently a little halfway over, but only 40% funded. This is... not great. While we'll definitely pick up some steam towards the end, that won't be enough to carry us past the finish line unless we get to a pretty good place before then. And the third quarter of kickstarters can be notoriously slow.
As such, I'm launching two projects fueled by fan-generated backer rewards to help encourage more pledges.
Project One is going to be a collected list of all artists/writers/musicians/ect. willing to do a small project (a request-style drawing, a drabble, a jingle, etc.) for anyone who dms them proof that they either have just pledged a certain amount, or else just upped their pledge by that number. Each creator will get to choose the dollar amount for themselves, and is invited to do so based on evaluation of the time and effort they will put into each individual request, but the typical price seems to be five dollars. If you are already doing this, please let me know and I'll add you to the list. If you're interested in starting, DM me and we can chat details and I'll add you to the list as well. To be clear, you will not be asked to make a project for every single person--just those who specifically reach out to you with a request.
But if multiple smaller projects isn't really your style and you'd rather contribute a singular, larger piece, no worries! I direct you to...
Project Two, a SWEEPSTAKES GIVEAWAY! Essentially, anyone who sends me proof that they've just pledged/upped their pledge by five bucks will be entered into a giveaway sweepstakes (submissions not yet open). While the grand prize will be any item from the StarCanWrecked merch shops, I would love to offer some other fan generated prizes as well. @booigi-boi has agreed to offer a free head-shot commission as a prize, and I would be over the moon to get even more artists, musicians, or writers involved. So if you'd be happy to give away one free commission as part of this prize pool, please DM me! I'd be happy to discuss details and get you added to this second list.
(Depending on the success of this little endeavor, I would like to use it as a work-out-the-kinks dry run for a similar fundraising event for Palestine that I would hold a month or two down the road (after American tax season). If you're not interested in helping TCB but would be interested in such a charity drive, please get in touch as well!)
(All DMs should be sent to man-down-in-hatchet-town)
Even if you aren't an artist/willing to participate, reblogs are GREATLY appreciated to help spread the word!
Now let's get FUNDRAISING!
🙏 TCB WITH YOU! 🙏
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nymla · 5 months
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These toads are all the children of the mother mold. 🐸
I mean that I sculpted a mom toad and then made a plaster mold of it and used that to cast all these little toad children. And then I gave some of them babies too, I mean tadpoles 😅 I have now made a Patreon post, part 1 about my moldmaking and slipcasting adventures!
It's at the "Cabinet of Curiosities" tier ($3) which is where I post most of the things.
As a Patreon member on any tier (starting at $1) you can also see lots of behind the scenes photos/clips in my hidden Patreon-only Instagram stories!
I appreciate all the support from my patrons/Patreon members so damn much. Thank you all! If you consider joining, know that every single dollar/coin adds up and helps me so much.
The price for using the ceramics kiln and space where I do the glazing has gone up and it is expected to be raised even more soon. As well as general costs of living and all that. While I also dream of renting a studio space separate from my home. So your support is really more helpful than ever!
That being said, I ofcourse appreciate you *all* for just being here/following, even if you don't/can't support with coins! Actually you can join Patreon and see all the free posts (what used to be "follow" is now "free member" but it's practically the same).
I just want to put out there that my Patreon exists for those who are interested. 🍂Thank you🍃
◦ The moldmaking & slipcasting post: https://www.patreon.com/posts/93063080
◦ My Patreon page: https://www.patreon.com/nymla
◦ The tiers, or make a custom pledge: https://www.patreon.com/join/nymla
◦ One off support is also much appreciated: https://ko-fi.com/nymla
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loreweaver-universe · 9 months
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And that's the episode.
That was a very fun one. I wasn't expecting a "everyone's scheming against everyone else because one person is lying and everyone else is being dumb" plot to be that enjoyable! It adds a lot to Hoppop's character that he's so into Anne's show, something for them to bond over. I hope it gets referenced in later episodes.
And hey, as much as that should have melted the phone down or at least fried its internals, now we have an in-universe reason why Anne's phone will never run out of battery again! I like when stories address stuff like that.
That'll be it for today's liveblog! Tune in tomorrow for the start of episode 4 of Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts, or you can tune in to my Twitch channel today at 1 PM EST where I'll be playing Finding Paradise, the sequel to To the Moon (which left me sobbing, I highly recommend it to any autistic people who may be reading this)!
Before I go, I’d like to plug both my blog’s Patreon and my Twitch/Youtube Patreon. Patreon is my only source of income, and while I make enough to cover rent and bills (I make $800-1000 a month) I don’t make a ton of money from it and haven’t been able to save anything up for emergencies (medical or otherwise) in the last decade or so.  Every dollar helps, so if you’re willing, please consider pledging a dollar or two.
Thank you all for tuning in, and thank you to my 44 blog patrons, who make it so I can do this for a living!  I’ll see you next time!
IN OTHER NEWS:
I recently completed my first playthrough of The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom!  You can see the full playlist of those streams by clicking here!
I recently completed my first playthrough of Zero Escape: Virtue’s Last Reward!  You can see the full playlist of those streams by clicking here!
I have an ongoing first playthrough of Final Fantasy XIV that I’ve been streaming on Twitch! If you’d like to tune in when I’m live, I stream it every Saturday at 1 PM EST, and I upload my stream VODs to my Youtube channel!  If you’d like to see that playlist, click here!
If you’d like to help me pay my rent, buy me some food, or help with my bills and medicine, please use my direct donation link!  If you’d like to support me per liveblog completed every month, please pledge to my Patreon!  If you’d like to support my streams or pick a game for me to stream, you can pledge to my stream Patreon too!
You should also go pledge to Gio’s Patreon, or his Sponsus–our Discord server maintenance tech and creator of Rubybot deserves far more than I can afford to pledge to him by myself.
If you’d like more of me and my content:
My EpisodeLists master page, where you can find every show and liveblog I’ve done!
My Discord server, where you can come hang out with me and other fans, check out member liveblogs, and join community gaming guilds!
My Twitch channel, where I stream variety games every so often!
My Youtube channel, where you can check out past streams!
My ask blog, where you can send me questions and comments!
My Twitter, where I make announcements about liveblogs and streams!
My merch store, where you can get shirts, mugs, stickers, and more!
It’s your kindness and support that lets me do this stuff, and I wouldn’t be where I am without all of you to do it for.  Thank you all so much for your support, and for tuning in every episode!
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qqueenofhades · 2 years
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Wait, has the national anthem Not always been played before a game? I'm 26 btw.
Welp. Not to once again sound like an old person, but you youngins really don't know how much 9/11 changed everything. It's not your fault; you can't help when you were born and what you experienced, but still.
I remember the actual day of 9/11 (I was 13), and I remember how fast everything just went crazy afterward. For most of the 90s, America was feeling pretty great about itself; the economy was booming, they had "won" the Cold War with the overpowering might of capitalism etc etc, and they were once more and unquestionably the global top dog. Then 9/11 happened, and it just... shattered that. All of a sudden America recast itself as the weak and vulnerable victim who had been unfairly attacked, and needed to go on an actual new crusade (Bush did use that word in his original response before being forced to walk it back) to destroy the very roots of the system that had done it. Which of course was impossible, hence the paradoxical name of the "War on Terror." Who do you actually punish in that case? The 19 Saudi hijackers were all dead, and Saudi Arabia itself was a US ally, so Bush attacked Afghanistan for having served as an al-Qaeda base and center of operations. Which, I might add, American intelligence had known perfectly well for decades. When the Soviets invaded Afghanistan in 1979, the US had armed the local warlords and mujaheddin and other Islamist groups to fight back against them. When the USSR finally crashed out of Afghanistan having achieved nothing over a decade but take horrendous losses and fail to effectively control the country (gee, sound familiar?) all of that weaponry and anti-imperialist sentiment had to go somewhere.
Bush then, of course, followed it up by launching the invasion of Iraq in 2003, based on what turned out to be some of the most spurious "intelligence" of all time and which was largely perceived as being a revenge-driven attempt to complete the Gulf War from his father Bush Senior's only presidential term. There was much more opposition to this action than there had been for the invasion of Afghanistan; Bush's approval rating soared to somewhere north of 90% in the days and months after 9/11. But this was accompanied by a huge and seismic shift in the patterns of American everyday society, especially its visible militarization and performance of patriotism. The Department of Defense doled out billions of dollars to make major sporting events into flag-and-fighter-plane extravaganzas. We suddenly had to "honor the military" at every turn. The national anthem and the Pledge of Allegiance and all the other original ammunition of traditional right-wing culture wars became much more visible and much more aggressively insisted upon.
This is when we also had the development of Patriot Acts I and II and the beginning of industrial, habitual, mass-scale surveillance of ordinary American citizens in the name of "security," and "finding terrorists" and so forth. Obviously, it was accompanied with systemic profiling and targeting of Muslim Americans, and questions about how "American" they could really be, just as had happened with Japanese-Americans and internment camps in America during WWII. For post 9/11 America, the enemy could be anywhere -- not just overseas in the Middle East, but possibly next door to you! Zomgz!
Basically, it cultivated a permanent air of grievance, victimisation, mistrust, and supposedly "justified" offensive foreign wars in the name of "Freedom." Of course, it wasn't until 2011, under Obama, that Osama bin Laden himself was actually found and taken out -- and then he was hiding in a comfortable Pakistani suburb, not Afghanistan or Iraq or any of the places Bush had torn apart in the name of Morally Justified Vengeance For 9/11. What do you say to that? Oops?
Anyway, yes. The militarization and self-congratulatory performance of patriotism that is now accepted as a baseline in American public life is a direct result of 9/11. While Trump, as he did with all the other worst qualities of the Republican party and American society more generally, magnified it and exploited it to its greatest extreme, it was (once again) the Bush years that laid the foundation for it.
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yooniesim · 2 years
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Tbh good for you for blocking that adrienpastel thing. They have been reblogging several posts like that untagged ever since the war. Trust me I feel for the people who are going through this but he just wants to profit off of it. And they are also yet another money hungry pig who does the bare minimum when it comes to CC. Oh new mesh on a pack just change the sleeves = early access. Ugh.. people need to wake up and stop supporting him!
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It's okay nonny, I'm sorry his actions have upset you 😔 i don't want to speak on the war too much (besides denouncing it completely) because I'm not Ukrainian, and I don't think it's right for me to say whether someone is "using" it for other goals or not, in a muddled situation like this. But I think reblogging gore or death untagged is inappropriate, both morally and even in a business sense (it you're assuming that a patreon early access sims blog is a business, which is pretty much is at this point). Especially marketed towards children.
On the note of early access and their cc: if someone is pumping out a new piece of cc every day regularly, especially tiny mesh edits, that's a sign that it probably didn't take very long to create. That choice of model is much more transparent/obvious than what others do- aka, make five or six small edits and put them into a pack under early access instead. It implies more effort and gives more of a sense of "hype", though giving out cc every day on the other hand encourages more engagement and keeps you in the public eye/perspective. Both of these to me though, are highly disingenuous.
It's a sign of the nickel and diming that has been inspired by the EA model and taken over the custom content community. Low quality and low effort content, put behind nice editing and consistent aesthetic, for the sole purpose of making money. I'm not even talking about exclusive content, though many early access creators seem to be making a fast slide into that category as well. I mean smaller things that add up: putting "free" download options behind dangerous link shorteners or simsdom/simsfinds/tsr, tiny low effort mesh edits, putting small edits into packs to make them look more impressive than they are, early access recolors, early access conversions from other games, early access conversions between ages, early access of your own content just switched to another frame to get another 3 weeks out of one piece of cc, paywalling time-sensitive content like pride or holiday cc for extra long to pressure people to pay while it's still relevant, the list goes on. The greed plaguing this community in both small and large ways is unbelievable and saddening. And I have to emphasize that it isn't just patreon exclusive creators anymore. It's everywhere.
When patreon first started making waves in this community, I pledged to people and felt excited, because I felt like I was helping support friends do what they loved. The people I pledged to were people I interacted with and I liked doing it. The dollar or two didn't matter to me, even though I was still a broke student at the time, I saw people being happy and creative. Now, that sense is gone. I have the money to pledge to people, but I don't. There's no one here i want to give my money to, no one that I trust after being burned by some creators I thought were trustworthy. The sense of community is gone. Most of the people making money now are here for just that, to make money. And while they're free to do that, I'm just not interested in it or them. It's depressing, nonny, and many times I feel like wanting to go off on people too. But it doesn't matter to them sadly.
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waybrand4 · 2 years
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The smart Trick of Grilled Chicken Wings Recipe (Crispy, Buffalo Flavored) That Nobody is Discussing
Help make completely crunchy Oven Baked Chicken Wings with this easy procedure, including seven different taste choices for wings everyone will definitely adore. For attendees who merely desire a simple appetizer along with their meal, you can also order the poultry wings on the go after you get the tickets for a supper by the desk and possess it ready ahead of time. Create flawlessly crunchy Oven Baked Chicken Wings with this easy procedure, including seven different flavor possibilities for wings everyone will enjoy. For attendees who only really want a fast appetizer with their dish, you can easily additionally order the chick airfoils on the go after you buy the tickets for a supper by the table and have it ready in advance of time. They don’t phone them hands lickin’ excellent for nothing. They contact them finger lickin’ as if they're in their personal house. Like the residence is a party. And they need to have to stand up and inform the audience to take the mic at the end for their shows. And carry out that over and over once again. [Laughs.]. And all that things in the show. And it has actually some wonderful components. I suggest, it's simply like popular music. Every time we create them for dinner we question why we don’t create them extra often! Currently you are consuming them for morning meal. We claim it with our total hearts!‡ I'll discuss this tale along with you very soon, beginning tomorrow time. This opportunity, there would be merely my four little ones who require a full belly. My little girls are 3 months aged and my husband is 13-year-old. My wife's 4 granddaughters are 2 and three months old.
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Hen wings do not possess to be eaten at a sporting activities club neighbored through big screens and neighborhood sporting activities, pledge. When speaking about how quick and easy it would be to obtain brand-new wings, you can actually purchase one on a frequent manner and then purchase a married couple for $10 and at that point incorporate them back to your purchase. Some wings are presently on sale for many thousand dollars, but the volume of cash you can conserve on purchasing that a lot wings can easily switch right into hundreds of manies thousand of dollars as you go along. If you don’t think you adore chicken airfoils, you most likely simply never found the appropriate dressing. Now that you have all the elements, we need to have to go outside and snatch some homemade egg-flavoured chick wings. The final trait many people inform you is that it will definitely function. Our professionals at Savvy Egg prep this scrumptious meal with some awesome vegan substances. Don't assume that we are as well sure regarding what produces these great tasting poultry wings super popular! There are thus many amazing taste options, that you are certain to discover one to really love! My boy adores this recipe. We bought it from our sibling's location, and it happened in our buying pushcart! It was completely tasty. Perfect for lunch or an appetiser! B.S. My child adores this sweet cookie that he likes to add to his meal. We purchased coming from our moms and dad's place, but only because he adores the sweetness of this pleasant biscuit. Buffalo dressing or barbecue sauce is conventional, but we are significant supporters of natural honey garlic and sodium and white vinegar! We used our buddy at the Cheesehead at Nesco for the recipe (and I assume they definitely enjoy it!). The second dish I created: *Chilis, onion, red red onion, garlic and shallots Thus much of what makes the cheesehead so one-of-a-kind is down to those two elements. No matter how you clothe them, you’re going to really love them! It's not for me to say to you that they are all my favorite ones, that these ladies all look remarkable! Then I want to present you additional than I performed. Yeah you possess no suggestion what I'm chatting concerning, simply believe of me as that lady who likes it when she's wearing that scorching ensemble. What does baking grain perform for chicken airfoils? It performs something for wings – and it scents like hen airfoils.". It's contacted "pork grease" that helps damage up excess grease that may lead to skin layer covers and crusts. Reference cleans chicken wings coming from oil just before putting them on establishment shelves – and it does the contrary of chick fat in the label. It's also scrumptious. Just make an effort a couple of and you'll notice that it doesn't mess along with your poultry airfoils. You most definitely don’t yearn for to are cheap on this one. This has actually to be a top area’ as this might take a best place. However, I prefer to give them all the credit that they're better than everyone else, and that indicates remaining at one-shot and improving on everything that I know they know. If you don't happen along along with me at that factor in time, you're the negative person. But I really want you to continue to deliver something brand-new every time. Baking powder is an vital substance in crispy baked chick wings. It's likewise one of the most nourishing food items active ingredients! You can easily use either a low-fat version of baking powder or a full-fat model. To produce fried poultry airfoils easy, don't make use of any of the a lot of variations that happen along with the Baking Grain selection and change it with a body fat substitute. It aids to have no saturated fat in the recipe as well to create it as healthy as the baked poultry wings. Cooking particle increases the pH of the poultry, crack down the peptide connections in the skin, and with that, makes the skin a lot more crunchy. The brand-new method may additionally provide an attractive touch to the food items. And there's more to consuming poultry. It is additionally the second very most prominent poultry in the United States -- after poultry, sausage, red onion, and mustard. It might be that what produces the meals even more appealing is how much it try like chicken.
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crowninch33 · 2 years
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9 Simple Techniques For Baked Chicken Wings
Help make perfectly crispy Oven Baked Chicken Wings with this effortless strategy, featuring seven different taste options for airfoils everyone will love. For guests who just want a fast appetiser along with their meal, you can likewise purchase the hen wings on the go after you acquire the tickets for a supper through the desk and have it all set in advance of time. Help make perfectly crispy Oven Baked Chicken Wings with this easy strategy, including seven different flavor choices for airfoils everyone will adore. For guests who simply prefer a fast appetiser along with their food, you can easily also purchase the chicken wings on the go after you get the tickets for a supper by the desk and have it prepared in advance of opportunity. They don’t get in touch with them finger lickin’ great for nothing. They call them finger lickin’ as if they're in their personal property. Like Reference is a party. And they need to stand up up and inform the target market to take the mic at the end for their shows. And do that over and over once more. [Laughs.]. And all that things in the program. And it has actually some great components. I mean, it's just like songs. Every time we produce them for supper we wonder why we don’t produce them a lot more commonly! Right now you are consuming them for breakfast. We point out it along with our total hearts!‡ I'll share this account with you very soon, starting tomorrow time. This opportunity, there would be just my four little ones who require a complete stomach. My little girls are 3 months old and my other half is 13-year-old. My better half's 4 granddaughters are 2 and three months outdated. Chick airfoils do not possess to be eaten at a sports club neighbored by big monitors and nearby sports, pledge. When speaking concerning how effortless it would be to purchase brand-new wings, you may actually purchase one on a frequent manner and at that point buy a pair for $10 and at that point incorporate them back to your order. Some airfoils are actually on purchase for a number of thousand dollars, but the amount of funds you may spare on buying that much wings can turn into hundreds of thousands of dollars as you go along. If you don’t presume you love hen airfoils, you perhaps just never ever located the ideal dressing. Now that you possess all the elements, we need to have to go outside and grab some homemade egg-flavoured hen airfoils. The final thing a lot of individuals say to you is that it will certainly work. Our experts at Savvy Egg prepare this delicious dish with some extraordinary vegetarian active ingredients. Don't believe that we are as well certain concerning what creates these delectable chick airfoils super prominent! There are actually so a lot of outstanding flavor options, that you are certain to discover one to like! My boy likes this recipe. We ordered it coming from our sister's place, and it happened in our buying pushcart! It was positively scrumptious. Perfect for lunch time or an appetiser! B.S. My boy likes this delightful biscuit that he likes to add to his meal. We bought coming from our parent's spot, but just because he enjoys the sweetness of this sweet biscuit. Buffalo sauce or bbq sauce is standard, but we are large followers of natural honey garlic and salt and vinegar! We used our close friend at the Cheesehead at Nesco for the dish (and I think they actually adore it!). The 2nd recipe I made: *Chilis, onion, reddish onion, garlic and shallots Thus much of what creates the cheesehead thus special is down to those two active ingredients. No matter how you dress them, you’re going to really love them! It's not for me to inform you that they are all my preferred ones, that these females all look impressive! After that I desire to reveal you more than I carried out. Yeah you have no idea what I'm speaking concerning, just think of me as that female who suches as it when she's using that very hot clothing.
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What does baking grain carry out for poultry wings? It does something for wings – and it scents like chick airfoils.". It's phoned "pork oil" that helps break up excess grease that can easily lead to skin layer covers and crusts. It likewise cleans hen airfoils from grease just before putting them on retail store shelves – and it carries out the opposite of chicken fat in the title. It's likewise delectable. Only make an effort a few and you'll notice that it doesn't mess with your poultry airfoils. You absolutely don’t yearn for to skimp on this one. What you are making an effort to perform is merely generate a little quantity of funds. This is merely a way of doing it, so I like to make a handful of thousand of it to go offer to my little ones and my wife for that.". "Thus how does loan work straight right now?". "Well, not definitely that successfully, because your children and yourself are not going to take treatment of it. Baking grain is an crucial ingredient in crunchy baked poultry airfoils. It are going to cut the ground mustard and poultry fat in one-half. Incorporate it to a tiny plastic container and put it on best of a baking piece, then eliminate the chicken to drain pipes. Cook for 15 minutes or until the onions seem, if not, remove the chick simply to avoid splitting them up. Make use of a little plastic flowerpot or plastic bag to cool down the chicken. Duplicate with the rest of the ingredients. Baking powder raises the pH of the poultry, crack down the peptide connections in the skin layer, and with that, helps make the skin extra crispy. The acid goes away after laundry, but through getting rid of the protein deposit, it performs the very same for its potential to break down all various other healthy proteins. The process of this is phoned collagen deposition. It's not virtually as basic as you could assume, but it does function. The physical body has to produce healthy proteins from a number of smaller components of itself.
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coochiequeens · 3 years
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Last summer, Crystal Zaragoza drove a 15-year-old patient from her home in rural Georgia to Virginia, the nearest location where the teen could receive the abortion care she needed.
Zaragoza remained with the patient every step of the way, making the 650-mile trip in one, long 12-hour haul and staying with her at a hotel during and after the procedure before driving back.
Access Reproductive Care-Southeast, the abortion fund serving women in six states across the Southeast U.S. where Zaragoza works, provides what's called "practical support" — helping women overcome significant financial, logistical and geographic hurdles beyond just paying for the abortion care itself. Zaragoza locates providers and facilitates lodging, escorts to and from clinics, child care and travel (often doing the driving herself).
Demand for the help groups like Zaragoza's offer has grown in the years the states her organization serves — Georgia, Florida, Alabama, South Carolina, Tennessee and Mississippi — have chipped away at abortion access. The pandemic has also had an impact. But the Supreme Court's decision last month to consider the legality of Mississippi's ban on most abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy — a move pro-abortion-rights advocates say means the newly conservative bench is eyeing an end to Roe v. Wade — has practical support groups looking to ramp up fundraising, volunteering and staffing with even greater urgency.
"We have been preparing for a long while for an eventual reality where Roe is decimated, and a lot of that has been trying to scale abortion funds,” said Yamani Hernandez, the executive director of the National Network of Abortion Funds, which helps women access and receive abortion care.
"These groups have already been navigating a difficult year-plus, and if things do not go well with the Supreme Court, a lot more travel and a lot more assistance will be needed. Distances to travel will increase and the amount of people traveling will increase," she said.
The groups, which are also becoming the target of a new, restrictive wave of anti-abortion laws, are strategizing for the long-dreaded possibility that the way they operate could represent the future of abortion care for millions of women.
Need spiked during pandemic, groups say
Several organizations said the number of women seeking help from abortion funds and practical support groups spiked during the pandemic and has continued to rise in the months since infection rates began declining.
The number of patients helped by the National Abortion Federation, which runs the five largest patient assistance funds by dollar amount, rose in each month from April 2020 to December 2020 (over the prior year) by an average of 21 percent, the group’s leaders said. That equated to more than 100,000 women receiving financial assistance from the group to pay for abortion care. In 2020, the group grew its staff of regional case managers to 19 from eight and plans to add more.
NNAF's Hernandez, meanwhile, said call volume across her group's 83 member funds doubled in the months since May 2020 over the prior year numbers.
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ARC-Southeast saw its call volume double during that time, too, officials said. Before the pandemic, the group was making an average of 350 pledges per month — an accurate way to track demand because it indicates the number of callers who sought care and actually received money, according to the group. Since June 2020, ARC-Southeast has made an average of 600 pledges a month.
Meanwhile, the Brigid Alliance, a New York-based group that pays for women with low income to travel to states where they can receive abortion care, has, since January 2020, seen a 20 percent increase in its client volume and has doubled its budget, via fundraising efforts, in anticipation that it will keep growing.
In 2020, the group helped 661 women travel to receive abortion care. Less than halfway through 2021, it’s already helped 440 women.
“People didn't stop needing abortions just because there was a pandemic. It just became more difficult,” the group’s executive director, Odile Schalit, said.
'Two Americas' when it comes to abortion rights
Leaders of these groups predicted need for their services will only rise ahead of, and following, the Supreme Court's consideration of Mississippi's abortion ban. The law currently allows exceptions for medical emergencies and severe fetal abnormalities.
Abortion-rights activists worry the case will provide an opening for the court to decide whether all bans on abortion before fetal viability — which Roe prohibits — are unconstitutional. (The court will hear the case in the fall and will likely issue a decision next spring or summer.)
"This would basically create two Americas when it comes to abortion. Of course we already have that, but this will make it even worse," said Elizabeth Nash, a state policy analyst at the Guttmacher Institute, a research organization that studies reproductive health rights. "If the Supreme Court really takes a whack at abortion rights and upholds the Mississippi ban or determines that pre-viability bans are OK, you’re talking about having two very different experiences in this country."
"If you're living pretty much anywhere in the middle of the country or the South, abortion could very well be, effectively, banned to a large extent," Nash said.
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Abortion funds and practical support groups could then become some of the only avenues for millions of women who can't otherwise afford or navigate abortion care on their own. Groups are already looking to lift their fundraising so they can increase services to meet what they say will be an all-but-certain surge in demand.
"Virtually any ruling other than one that upholds Roe is going to result in more people having to travel farther and raise more resources, whether that's paying for procedures or travel costs or lost wages costs,” said the Rev. Katherine Ragsdale, president of the National Abortion Federation. “People are going to be more and more dependent on abortion funds and the groups like NAF who can provide those resources.
The NNAF, for example, launched a pilot program this year for several of its 83 member abortion funds that will "fully resource the mid-Atlantic region so they can say yes to every caller," Hernandez said. The group is trying to double its $15 million budget, Hernandez said, via grants and direct appeals to individual donors.
ARC-Southeast, for its part, has grown its small full-time paid staff of 10 by 40 percent and has expanded its volunteer network of 120 unpaid individuals by a similar amount.
Meanwhile, the National Institute for Reproductive Health and its sister advocacy arm, the NIRH Action Fund, are looking to grow their collective budget by about 30 percent, the groups said.
Groups say they are targeted by new state laws
The Mississippi case and its subsequent fallout, however, are far from the the only battle on the minds of leaders of abortion funds and practical support groups.
A unique Texas law enacted in May banning abortions as early as six weeks into a pregnancy also included language allowing anyone, even someone outside Texas, to sue an abortion provider or anyone else who helped someone get an abortion after the six-week limit for up to $10,000 per defendant. (Texas' law prohibits state officials from enforcing the ban and rather leaves enforcement to private citizens' lawsuits; abortion rights activists have vowed to challenge it.)
But that language would also apply to abortion funds and practical support organizations — and lawsuits would cripple those group's ability to operate at a critical moment, they said.
"It's absolutely a new way for state legislatures trying to find ways to end practical support. It could be a model for states considering how to further crack down on that kind of support,” said Guttmacher's Nash.
That would make it even more difficult for people like Schalit to help women like the 24-year-old patient she assisted last year to travel from Tennessee to New Mexico after nearly every part of the system put up roadblocks for her to receive abortion care.
The woman, Schalit said, discovered she was pregnant at eight weeks and made plans to attempt a medication abortion but lost her job (and her medical benefits) around that time after being laid off due to Covid-19. Her unemployment checks were delayed, and by the time she received her first, the closest possible clinics in Tennessee and Kentucky that provided care were booked up. Soon, she had surpassed the gestational limits in both states, prompting her to seek assistance from the Brigid Alliance.
Schalit personally planned the woman’s travel and hotel and connected her to the New Mexico Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice, which helped her seek abortion care.
"Her barriers were a combination of everything many women are facing in this world right now in trying to have an abortion, pandemic or no," Schalit said. "It’s a phenomenal story, but it’s also typical. And it’s about to become even more typical."
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Birthday
Summary: could you do a hs losers x reader where the readers new to town and hates her bday bc each year her past friends and family had always forgotten or did nothing so when richie finds out her bdays coming up he tells the losers and they all plan a special surprise party and richie saves up and gets her something super special and the losers r all like wow he’s never gotten anyone anything like this b4 so she finds out that he likes her or something so it’s like the best bday she’s ever had
Richie bikes swiftly passed you, faster than he usually does, which can only mean he’s trying to surpass you. You barely refrain from flipping him the bird in public, as you too throw your weight into peddling. It’s no use, Richie is more athletic than you by a long shot, and he’s been practicing with Eddie for track. You’ll never be able to catch up with him with no viable effort.
‘You asshole,’ you yell out to him, noticing an elder woman pledging through her yard too late to stop your exclamation. She regards the both of you with malcontent, stabbing her hark too brutally in the soil of her allotment for it to be a coincidence.
‘Not my fault your short legs can’t reach the peddles.’
You growl, lifting up from your saddle to race faster, but Richie sees you do it and does nothing but laugh.
Any other time you might give him hell for it, but today, you are in no mood to indulge in Richie’s escapades.
It’s your birthday, and while for most that equalizes a fun day stacked with presents and cake, to you it stands for a day full of misery.
Your birthday is cursed. And no, that is not you being dramatic. At your ninth birthday, your cake got slammed into floor, therefor ruing the gift your parents had been working on for weeks, and which was their only present.
At age ten, you fell off your brand new bike into a ravine and had to go to the hospital to get eleven stitches. On your fourteenth birthday, you and your parents got into such a huge fight they send you up to your room and forbad you from sneaking down at any point in the day.
There are more examples to back up your claim for the terrible birthdays, but you have tried to desperately block them all out, so you won’t rehash them.
That’s why your so peeved that Richie is forcing you to the quarry.
‘If you could tell me where I’m supposed to be going to bet u could find a short cut and be there faster than you.’
‘Nice try Dora, I’m not telling you anything. It’s a surprise.’
‘Alright, I get two attempts. If I can’t guess where we’re going, I’ll do your homework for a week.’
‘And if you do guess it?’
‘Then you owe me a favor and no matter for what reason I cash it in, you don’t get to complain.’
‘Fine, bring it miss know it all.’ Richie slows down to slide next to you, the wind picking up as the two of you descend down the mountain. His smile is mischievous and cheeky, probably too confident to think you’ll be able to reckon the spot he has in mind.
If only he knew that you had limited the possibilities to two places, the exact amount of guess you were granted.
‘Hm, are we going to the arcade?’ Your first theory is. Richie doesn’t have anything on him right now, except pennies that have been rinkeling inside his pockets the entire bike ride, the only thing he needs to go to the arcade.
Richie smirks, and shakes his head. ‘Try one my dear, may I say that the odds aren’t in your favor right now?’
His impressive ego in the way he taunts you with the right answer fuels your desire to be right. ‘Are we going to the Barrens?’ You sing, smiling wide as Richie’s shrinks.
‘Eh, no?’ He says, but he sounds petulant. ‘Fuck this shit, what gave it away?’
‘A girl never reveals her secrets’, you say covertly, forgetting momentarily about the agitating day. You suspect that might have been Richie’s intention.
It’s not like the Barrens is such a stretch in the first place, the losers and you have made that place your own, but you do hypothesize that he may have planned something special for you.
Your theory turns out to be true, as you can spot a long table at the end of the dirt path you and Richie are currently riding on to get to the clubhouse. The table is stacked with a variety of candies, your favorite, drinks that are sweet enough to rot your teeth, something Richie should be more aware off - having a dad who is a dentist-, and a giant cake with eight candles on. Each one representing a loser.
You say nothing as you approach, in a sneaky way torturing Richie a bit more before revealing that you’re at the verge of tears of this nice gesture. Richie slows down his speed by dragging his shoes along the dirt, glances darting nervously towards your face.
‘I know you said no parties, but how else was I supposed to show off my rocking dance moves?’
‘Do you mean the moves you make that look like you’re dying?’ Stan chides, him and the rest of the losers rolling up behind you two. They’re all walking next to their bikes, and Bill’s hands are smudges with cake residue he somehow missed while cleaning up. They didn’t want to be here before you and ruin the ‘surprise’, but it’s clear everyone has worked hard to organize this for you.
‘Fuck you Stan the man, the color green doesn’t fit you.’
‘Happy’, Bev grounds out, leveling Richie with one look, the way only Bev can, and then address you. ‘Birthday.’ She hugs you despite you still holding your bike, and you let it clatter to the ground with a loud bang.
‘Thanks Bev.’
‘Happy Birthday’, the other losers also call out, because there’s just too many of them for each to wait their turn.
‘We hope you don’t mind we don’t have any presents, we spend basically all of it getting ingredients for the cake, which we had to redo- twice.’
They don’t offer any other explanation about why the cake had to be remade two times, but by Eddie’s scowl you can fill in the blanks.
‘No, honestly, this is already too much.’ It is too much, but their efforts are so kind and heartwarming that you have to bit back a happy squall. No one has ever bothered to organize anything for your birthday, whether it be purchasing a two dollar present or even ordering a cake, but these people that you had met less then a year ago were willing to scramble together all the money they could, just so they could turn your day special. Thank god for moving to Derry.
For the first time in years, your birthday has brought smiles and laughter, and no tears and weeping moods.
‘Nonsense my dearest young lady, this is but a blip on our radar, a speck of dust on the tv, nothing compared too-‘
‘Can we please cut the cake now? Before something else goes wrong with it?’ Eddie glowers, refuting to wait for an affirmative.
‘Don’t forget the candles,’ Ben says as he follows Eddie to the table. You’re about to join them, when a hand on your wrists stops you.
‘Hey, Y/N? You really don’t mind this right? I know you said you didn’t want anything but I know how nice it is be caught off guard with something like this.’ Richie rubs the back of his head as if that makes him see any less anxious. It’s incredible how smart someone can be while simultaneously also being so dense.
‘Richie’, you say as you smile, unable to hide it any longer. ‘It’s amazing, thank you so much. If there is any way I can repay you I’ll do that. I’m really happy with this.’
‘That’s good, not that I was worried about it, who isn’t a fan of everything I do?’
Rolling your eyes only spurs Richie on, but it’s become an automatic response now, you can’t help but do it.
‘Oh, I almost forgot. I did get you another gift. Two actually, if you count my huge dong as one.’
‘Gross Richie, why do you always have to add something sexual to everything?’
‘It’s my game babe, love it or leave it. Anyway, here is the gift if you want it. If you don’t that’s fine too.’
‘Don’t get all shy on me now Rich’, you tease as your bump your arm into his while grabbing the package. ‘I’ve just gotten used to your antics.’
The package isn’t heavy, but it also isn’t light. It’s wrapped in enough layer that you can’t feel what’s inside of it just by holding it, but that was probably Richie’s intention. That or he is simply horrible at wrapping up.
While you carefully peel off each layer, you begin to speculate on what it could be. It could be a gag gift, but Richie looked sincere, and his eyes behind his glasses are magnified in true anticipation, a gag gift wouldn’t illicit that response.
As soon as the final layer is detached, you gasp, armored by the actual gift. It’s a blue bracelet, covered in butterfly pattering. You once mentioned having a similar one as a kid that you loved but lost one day while playing outside and had been sad about for weeks.
You can’t believe Richie had kept it in his mind, and had gone out to look for it.
‘Richie… I don’t even know what to say right now.’ You exclaim, squeezing the bracelet in your hand tightly, a blush covering your face. Richie’s mimics yours. ‘Thank you’, you say while reaching out to him and kissing him on the cheek. Richie face burns a brighter red.
‘Yeah… glad to be of service.’ His mind is ball parks away, and he is left dazed.
‘Come on Y/N, it’s time for you to blow out the candles.’
You go easily, letting your hand linger around Richie’s, deciding mentally that you’ll do it tonight before you go home. Your birthday has already been better than anything you could have imagined, and maybe it has one more miracle left to give. If Richie says yes to your question about going on a date, then this will truly have been the best birthday you have every had. By the love struck expression Richie is walking around with, you have an inkling as to what his response might be.
You blow out your candles, but you don’t need to make a wish. You already have everything you could possibly want.
----
‘Off course that asshole buys her a gift, but never returns the money I loaned him so long ago. I’m not a fucking bank.’
‘I think it’s cute.’
‘No, Eddie is right, I’m also waiting on my refund.’
‘It’s adorable he bought her something, he really can’t hide his crush anymore.’
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popculturebuffet · 3 years
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Pinky, Elmyra and the Brain: Cute Little Alienhead and Better Living Through Cheese: It’s What the Network Wants, I Bother To Complain (Patreon Review for Emma Fici)
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Hello all you happy people. It’s time once again for a patreon review. If you’d like one of your own just go on to THIS LINK HERE to join my patroen. At one buck a month in addition to bonus patreon exclusive reviews and other fun stuff, you also get a review like this on signup just for pledging one dollar a month, and a guaranteed review slot a month, I will make room for future months if you sign up at this tier, if you pledge 5 bucks a month.
My friend Emma has done so for the past few months, using her reviews on Green Eggs and Ham from Netflix... until she got tired of that, I got tired of that, and she decided to just have me stop and do something else. 
So enter something else: Pinky, Elmyra and the Brain. Thankfully not the entire series. For those of you who are fans of america’s sweethearts and had no idea this existed... I am SO sorry you now know this exists and were better off not knowing.
But since I ruined that for you, again SORRY, your probably wondering “what the fuck is this”. To answer that question, Pinky, Elmyra and the Brain was a short lived retool/spinoff of Pinky and the Brain, that decided to jam Elmyra Duff from Tiny Toon Adventures in there because Speilberg and the Execs both thought it was a good idea. 
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See the execs had wanted to shove in more main characters for years, likely feeling a main cast of two was a bit thin. What they didn’t get is really.. a show should really only have as many main characters as it needs. For example there are two recent cartoons that come to mind on both ends of the spectrum: Ducktales 2019 had 9 main characters and while they struggle to juggle them we need all 9 and the show justifed each and every one. In constrast Tuca and Bertie only has our titular duo and Bertie’s boyfriend Speckle as main characters, with plenty of recurring and one off ones. But the two just ballance each other so well comedically and are fleshed out enough to carry their own stories... we ONLY need speckle, who provides needed support for both and can carry his own zany subplots to help fill the episodes out or lighten the mood. 
You ONLY need as many characters as the show needs. Almost every case of execs or writers TRYING to shove in a new character into the main cast has gone poorly: The Great Gazoo, Sparky, Flim Flam, Bubba The Cave Duck, Chloe, Taffy, Wheelie, Sgt. Hatred. Shoving a new character in our faces rarely works unless their dope as fuck. In contrast adding Hunter to season two of the owl house was a brilliant move and gave us a great new character. If a character FITS and adds to things then add the fuck away. But when you try and paper one in to shake things up without considering if their annoying as shit, this is what you get. 
They apparently tried pushing this to the point the crew ended up making an ENTIRE EPISODE to get the point across, the all time classic Pinky, and the Brain and Larry. 
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They.. REALLY coudln’t of made it clearer if they just made an episode called “Please don’t make us do this.”.. and the execs still didn’t get it, nor did they get it when one of the writers angrily left the company, went to work for disney and their last episode was one giant middle finger to them. 
So yeah fucking with the formula was inevitbile.. but according to one of the writers.. the idea to jam Elmyra in there was all Stephen Speilberg’s. Which is shocking as while I INTENDED to rattle off the guy’s failures.. he REALLY dosen’t have that many. The most I could find in his filmography were Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, Young Indiana Jones, and Ready Player One direct involvment wise and maybe a few films he exectuive produced like the Transformers sequels. The guy usually has better common sense than to say “Hey you know how with Tiny Toons we created one of the most unlikeable characters of all time? Let’s shove her into a show with characters people actually like!”
Now for those wondering who Elmyra is, again i’m so sorry to tell you. Elmyra was a character on Tiny Toon Adventures, an awesome show you should defintely check out that directly lead to Animaniacs, Batman: The Animated Series and tons of other great stuff. It followed a new batch of young teen toons modeled after the classic Looney Toons with their own touches to make the characters unique. Elmyra naturally was their elmer stand in but since a child wanting to hunt animals would be a bit dark she was instead a girl who hoarded animals and occasionally cuddled them to death. 
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Yeahhhhhh I don’t get what they were thinking either. In contrast their Yosimite Sam substitute, Montana Max, was a billionare selfish ass voiced by Danny Cooksy who was entertaining as hell, being a selfish perfect foil to Bugs stand ins Buster and Babs. Elmyra.. was just an annoyingly voiced little girl who constantly abused animals, didn’t get punished for it NEAR as often as she should, and who once was seen as the victim for Max not wanting to go to prom with her.. when he’d made it clear he wasn’t interested and ran far away because he knew she woudln’t take no for an answer. The fact her targets are frequently two likeable tricksters, a very sad cat and an also sad skunk who needs to learn about consent but it’s hard to see why she hasn’t when her mentor is a guy so me tooed even space jam 2 said no , did not help. 
As you can probably gather I do not like Elmyra. I’m HAPPY she isn’t in the revival next year and my only regret at her not being in the show is Cree Summer might not be in it, and hope they either bring back Mary Meoldie or give Cree someone else to play as a voice actor of her stature deserves to return.  If you like the character and miss her, tha’ts fine, you do you, but I’m not going to pull punches at how much I HATE this character. I dislike her so much I think it’s about time I debut something i’ve been considering for a long time and certainly need for tommorow. Welcome folks to the WALL OF MISERY. my wall of characters who I just plain CANNOT stand and who make a work worse by existing, wether they be unintentionally terrible or annoying, written as the hero when their clearly not, or are SUPPOSED to be obnoxious but the writers do too good a job. 
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I will update this naturally as It hink of more and find more, but needless to say these are the biggest douchebags, disapoitnemtns and what have you and Elmirya FIRMLY deserves that spot up there in the left. But it’s a good solid base coat of hatred. 
So yeah as you can probably guess by the fact she’s on a wall of people I don’t like too much, I approached this show with dread.. but also curiosity. Was it REALLY that bad, or just overblown a bit for the infamy of ending Speilberg’s animation streak on Warner Bros (Which was likely to end anyway because they were shifting away from animated lavishly made comedies and into action to handle pokemon better). There’s only one way to find out and it’s with me under the cut.. .well okay you COULD watch it yourself but you have better things to do and I was paid to not have better things to do and watch this, so join me under the cut. 
The Theme Song: 
The theme song is... suprisingly really good. You’d think they’d replace the pInky and the Brain theme with something awful and trying too hard to be hip. I expected this.
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See something like that trying too hard and accidently giving Emma ideas and digging my own grave shitttttttttttt. Given Speilberg forced Elmyra on them, i’m REALLY suprised he didn’t also say “Let’s sych my wife’s screams to the pinky and the brain theme”. insetad...
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It’s honestly really fun to hear Ruegger’s classic vocals on an entirely diffrent version of the theme. What’s also fun is the writer’s not even hiding their contempt for what they’ve been forced to unleash on the world. Brain’s look up there in the still image , that I used for this review just sums up the audeince and crew’s reactoin this thing , “It’s what the network wants, why bother to complain”, with Brain apparently having tried and failed much like the writers and ending on Brain flat otu saying “I resent this”. I”m VERY suprised the network heads didn’t reject this outright and very happy they didn’t. 
Really the only issue I have with this intro far too good for the show it’s stapled to is the extended version.. which gives ELMYRA a verse. 
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Yeah it’s every bit as bad as you’d expect and thankfully WASN’T used for this episode, with me only finding it by accident on youtube and regretting it immiedetly. That smacks of a studio mandate the executives regretted immdeitly and is something the “And Larry’ intro did AS A JOKE. Good lord.
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Now you’d EXPECT with that intros general tone of “Their making us do this send help”, that the writers would half ass it, something no one would blame them on. And.. you’d be wrong. The writers may of hated doing this ... but their professionals and took to doing this like they would if this was a normal season of the series and not what’s playing on my CRTv themed Cenotbitesona CRTVhead. 
Now granted it dosen’t make the episode GREAT, just watchable, but I do commend them for trying despite again, no one blaming them if they hadn’t and this series actively hurting their careers by existing. 
The premise is classic Pinky and the Brain just with Elmyra just sorta there at the start and finish because contractual obligation. Her scene at the start though highlights why the character only works either as an out and out antagonist who looses to someone more likeable like Babs and Buster, or annoying someone who usually deserves it like Montana Max. USUALLY being the key word.  Because she abuses Animals, even if it’s not intentional most of the time, it becomes hard to watch and having her do it to two VERY likeable characters on an episodic basis makes it ten times worse. 
Look Brain may be trying to conquer the world, it’s his thing. We all know that and accept that. But.. he’s not a bad person. if he were truly odious, he wouldn’t be the protaganist. He wants to take over the world because he genuinely thinks it would be BETTER under his watch, a world he has trouble understanding and who frequently proves his frustrations with it right. He just can’t graps the world as flawed as it is is better off slightly with free will and that he would be better off using his genius to help guide it instead of trying to take it. He also loves Pinky even if he’d never admit it , to the point the reboot highlights he can’t even fathomt hat Pinky is the reason behind his failures and refuses to kill him when his future self asks or even entertain his future self’s misguided notion Pinky is delberatley sabotaging him. Brain may be an asshole and a would be dictator but he’s got a suprisingly good heart. He also NEVER wins and usaully gets his commupance when he goes way too far with a scheme. So Elmyra abusing him isn’t karma... because Karma usually hits him anyway. He always fails so instead it just comes across as more “waccckkyyy” animal abuse for no reason and that Brain’s basically enterted a living hell of a living arangment for no reason.  To further prove my point, there is a cartoon that actually does the “Little girl has a world conquering pet who karmically gets messed with without her realizing it” trope.... and it’s in P and B’s own back yard. Yeah I really coudln’t review this one without bringing up Starbox and Cindy. It’s a short from the 2020 animaniacs that follows a pocket sized alien conquerer who crashed on earth in an imagintive and oblivious little girl’s backyard and tries in vain to get the controls to his ship so he can signal the invasion and finally be free of her. 
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It improves on it in every way: instead of the 12 year old should know better even at that age Elmyria, Cindy is 5-7 so she’s young enough she dosen’t relaize she’s hurting Starbox, making the slapstick work. More to the point unlike most of Elmyra’s targets especially Brain.. Starbox DESERVES IT.  The intro shows he’s conquered and raised world after world, and unlike brain whose likeable despite his issues, Starbox is just a little shit who clearly conquers because he LIKES it and wants to keep going with it. So him failing again and again and being humilatied by being the companion for a tiny , adorable child, with his ship constantly just out of reach and his fleet “waiting! Waiting! Waiting!” is fitting karma. While yes they don’t kshow the horrible things he did in episode, they show just enough in the intro to let you know he earned this. I really hope for more of this when the show comes back in november it’s quite good and I throughly love the irony that they reworked pinky, elmyra and the brain of all thigns into something actually enjoyable. 
So yeah this just dosen’t work but Brain gets rid of her with a seed for a Bunny Tree.. which Pinky naturally wants to go with and brngs up another issue with this show’s dna: Elmyra feels more like an obstacle the characters and writers have ot get around than a part of the show. We already have Pinky as both the token idiot and obstacle in brains way, so adding ANOTHER who has more power over him and is less likeable dosen’t ADD anything, it simply distracts from what people came to the show for. Like I said earlier when you add a character into a long standing show, you have to be careful it dosen’t destroy the formula said show carefully crafted. You can’t put a trantula in an ant farm and expect it to work. i’ts too big it’ll collapse the whole thing and then starve. 
So brain’s plan for tonight is to contact an alien, trade something for technology and use whatever tech he can get to conquer the world. if this sounds familiar once again Animaniacs 2020 repurposed this, though the aliens are different enough it still works. Animaniacs 2020 could get years of material out of recycling this series wasted ideas and I don’t think anyone, including the writers of these episodes, would complain.
So yeah Elmyra isn’t much of a factor in this episode.. but said episode... still just isn’t good. The alien himself, voiced by Rob Paulsen.. is just a dick. That’s it that’s his character, he looks down on Brain as an earth dumb dumb and just isn’t all that intresting or funny abou tbeing a dick, and given the show we’re in it’s VERY clear what his compuance is going to be. 
And that’s really the episode’s issue: it’s predictable. While the original series has a set formula you never know HOW Brain’s plan will fail: will it be pinky, Brain’s own shortsightness or some third factor he coudln’t predict. It’s usually one of the three but it’s never outright clear from minute one which one is going to trip Brain up this week. While the second short in this episode is WORSE in almost every other way.. it’s not THIS obvious and there aren’t enough good jokes to counterballance. The only really memorable one I can admit to is what Pinky finds to trade, canned ham. And even THAT is kinda telegraphed as the way Brain keeps having Pinky bring stuff the alien shoots down to trade, it’s clear Pinky’s of course going to have something to trade for the EMP generator the alien has. 
And of course it goes how you’d expect: Elmyra finds the alien and huggles him and destroys the generator, and the only real satsifying part of his ending is seeing the smug alien get the Elmyra treatment.. which like Starbox he deseves, but the character was so grating it wasn’t worth getting there.  
Overall a short that i’d honestly forget if I wasn’t reviewing it like this and even then i’m not sure. It has ideas that would be done better later and actively has to get one of the title characters out of the way to do the plot. 
Building a Better LIfe Through Cheese:
While the previous short wasn’t good.. this one is just plain bad. It has a promising setup that cleverly uses the status quo change to it’s advantage: Brain is making cold fusion, of course, but is having trouble both finding a catalyst and expermenting without proper equipment. While adding superflous characters to pinky and the brain was a terrible idea, changing the setting is a pretty genius one. It’s simple but as a child’s pet instead of in the lab Brain now lacks resources and has far more attention on him than our heroes seemed to as lab mice. It’s not a bad concept them manuvering around a kid and having more issues to deal with.. they just picked Satan’s kid. And not one of the cool ones. 
Elmyra and Pinky are meanwhile working on Elmyra’s science fair project, a paper mache volcano that spews Moldy Cheese. Why does the crew think just making it Moldy Cheese is funny?
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Brain is unintrested since Elmyra sucks, only to become intrested because the prize is a Bob Hack the Science Quack Chemistry set. And sadly Bob Hack is one of their weaker parodies, not taking it far enough in the weird directoin (He apparently said air is made of air) to be funny or taking any jabs at my man Bill Nye other than “he’s really enthuastic and teaches basic science”. Yeah that’s why kids like me who grew up with him liked him. The show’s usually better at parody than this as were Animaniacs and Tiny Toons. Even goofy puns on stuff were funnier. This this is nothing.
But soon the volcano spews into the chemistry set and it makes the cold fusion work, so Brain decides to sign up with it. He also describes cheese scientefically using fancy words so Elmyra punishes him by washing his mouth out with soap because he has a “potty mouth”. This gag.. .this fucking gag. I hate this kind of gag. Has a lot to do with that one Jimmy Neutron episode where they worked at the burger joint and that surfer dude moron managing them was a condescnding ass to Jimmy because he coudln’t understand him and assumed he was dumb.  It’s not funny to see a smart person tormented by a moron because their smart... I think current politics has more than proven that. It’s funnier with PInky because he dosen’t abuse brain over it, he just says funny things and is adorable because Pinky is actually likeable. 
So some time later, our heroes head to the Science Fair where Brain is worried about big oil, fair, there’s two weirdos taking pictures and it’s here I met Rudy for the first time. Rudy is the show’s replacement for Montanna Max. Why...
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Maybe Danny’s voice was just old by this point, I dunno, but they decided on this douchebag voice by Tress Macneile instead, so he ends up sounding like Dollar Store Nelson Muntz. 
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Seriously he’s just Nelson without any of the charm or depth, and I don’t  blame Tress for it. Work is work. She was just given nothing to WORK with. 
But yeah he’s just there to be ANOTHER annoying obstacle, and adds nothing and was clearly added due to executive mandate wanting at least ONE more new character. So we got a ton of this kid.. but almost none of Wally, a character I hear is a pastiche of Christopher Walken. 
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Look if I questoin EVERY terrible decision this series made i’ll be here for the next week. So after some stpuidity from rudy and the mice having to cover for talking and brain getting abused AGAIN for simply being smart, a blackout occurs and the generator is gone. Brain assumes it was the two weirdos, and a chase ensues.. only to find them feeding the birds. 
Naturlaly ti’s really RUDY who has it and nearly destroys it, Brain gets it back and despite Elmyra fishing her volcano out of the trash gets rid of that so he can be on top.. and in classic fashion the generator no longe rworks, and Rudy wins using Elmyra’s volcano and smashes both that, and the prize. And this is what put the episode over the top for me: Brain not getting cold fusion? Of course that wouldn’t happen we still have 11 other episodes of this monstrosity, the fun is in teh how. But Brain not even getting the tiniest victory when all he was was a little bit of a dick to a child that abuses him reguarly, demeans him and dosen’t respect him as a sentient being? 
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The only clever bit in this nothing of an episode is the two weirdos turning out to be spies for big oil. And even then that’s not a huge shock given Brain telegraphed it. 
So yeah this episode sucks: It shows WHY Elmyra is grating, and tourtures brain for little reason. It’s another ineherent problem with the premise: it makes Brain incredibly sympathetic instead of just enough. We WANT him to win.. because it means Elmyra looses and he’s  likely free of her. By putting him in the hands of an abusive child, it means we want him to ESCAPE the situation instead of as a lab rat where, while occasionaly treated like crap and, as the reboot shows, horribly traumatized as a kid, we don’t see it on screen all that often and i’ts not nearly as bad as REAL labratory mice treatment. 
It’s really the series in a nutshell. It’s stinky, for PInky and the Brain Brain Brain Brain Brain: adding elmyra is like if you were shackled to a horse whenever you did something. You’d have to constantly maunver around that horse and it’d slow down everything you do and make it harder and more miserable TO do.  While I will admit the show isn’t HORRIBLE.. i’ts not GOOD. Just because it manages to be mediocre in spite of everything, dosen’t make it intresting or fun to watch. If your curious watch ONE segment thent reat yoruself to some animaniacs or pinky and the brain or the animaniacs reboot. This series just really ISN’T worth the time and the only good thing about watching it is I really don’t have to again. Thank you for clicking, thank you for staying, thank you for reading this.
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bpdhotmess · 3 years
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21+ Spring Cleaning Hacks You Need to Know
Spring time: trees are budding,  birds are singing, flowers bloom. It’s time to start freshening our homes… and that’s when the fun ends. Or does it? I sheepishly admit that I haven’t done much spring cleaning in my time, but, this year may be different. There is not much to do. So why not roll up my sleeves and give the house a good going over?
But before we get into the deep cleaning tips, it’s important we first learn the importance of clearing some space. Clutter keeps our homes feeling messy, even after we straighten up. That’s why cleaning a home can feel so overwhelming and endless. 
Good news! There is a simple solution to managing the cleanliness of your home.
Get rid of clutter! When you get rid of clutter, your home naturally becomes clean and satisfyingly functional. Give it a try. Systematically go through your home; Pick up things and ask yourself this question: “Does this item add function to my life?” If the answer is, “No,” then throw it away or donate it. A clean home is a functional home.
Once you clear some space, your home will feel open and inviting. And you will discover that your decluttered home is much easier to clean.  “Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful.” 
Need more decluttering advice? Check out our 5 Marie Kondo hacks. 
Alright, now on to the hacks for professional-grade deep cleaning: 
Yes, the whole spring cleaning process can be a bit daunting, so I thought the best thing to do was to contact a professional for advice. I called my mom, Dolores Breese. She owned a successful cleaning service in the 1990s, but even before then she was a maniac (in a good way) when it came to cleaning. So, I asked her for some spring cleaning hacks.
Where my mom would clean three or sometimes four houses in one day, she had help. You don’t have to do that. Give yourself some time. You don’t have to clean the whole house in one day. You’re allowed to take a few days or weeks to do this type of cleaning. (Or see our hacks to clean your home in under an hour here)
Cleaning the House Dolores Breese-Style
My mom says people no longer spring clean like they used to. Decades ago, people would go through the entire house, take everything down from the walls and clean top to bottom.
If anyone was going to paint or wallpaper, this was the time to do it. 
Begin in the Least-Used Room First
By starting with this room first, your whole house will get the thorough cleaning you have set out to do. If you start somewhere else, you may run out of steam. You are more likely to give yourself a pass from cleaning some rooms because “no one ever goes in there anyways.”
Work From the Top Down
That means get the cobwebs off the ceiling before you sweep the floor. My mom used to have an actual cobweb cleaner. Nowadays you can get a Swiffer that has an extended handle to do the same thing.
Pro Tip: With the Swiffer Duster Starter Kit you can remove the head and replace after every it cleaning to maintain and promote a more germ-free environment in your home. Get your Swiffer today.
Start with the Thing you Hate Most to Clean
This is to give you a psychological advantage. If you start with what you hate to clean first, you’ll get it done and won’t wimp out.
Start in the Corner
After getting the cobwebs down from the entire room, you start in one corner and work around the room. This would be the corner where the thing you hate to clean is.
Clean Every Surface
That means walls, picture frames, knick-knacks, desks, computers and on and on. If it has a surface, it can accumulate dirt and dust. Therefore, it is part of your mission to make it sparkle. 
Pro Tip: If you want to save money on household cleaners, order from Dollar Tree online and have it shipped for free to your local store. Find safe, effective cleaning supplies for just a buck each. 
When you clean surfaces, it is helpful to have cleaning wipes. Use these to clean and disinfect those surfaces.
Move the Furniture
By moving the furniture you can vacuum little touched areas that have accumulated much debris. You’ll be amazed at what you find when you move your furniture away from the wall!
Pro Tip: Moving furniture can be a pain. Why not make it easier on yourself with these furniture sliders? We like this X-Protector variety pack because of the big selection. These will help you slide your furniture easier on all surfaces.
Pro Tip: Pledge furniture polish will do, but if you want the good stuff, you will want to try Milsek Furniture Polish.
Vacuum Your Way out of a Room
If you have worked hard to clean the room, you want to enjoy the finished product. Start at the farthest end of the room and vacuum backwards until you have gotten over the threshold. Carpet that is freshly vacuumed and untouched by footsteps gives you a real sense of satisfaction.
Pro Tip: In our house, we use the Bissell Pet Hair Eraser Turbo Plus Lightweight Upright Vacuum Cleaner. We love that it is bagless and economical. Whether you have a pet or not, the pet hair attachments will achieve a deeper clean.
Dusting Hacks
When my mother had her cleaning business, microfiber cleaning products were not a thing. However, you might want to consider microfiber dusting slippers. Check out those dusting slippers here!
Kitchen Cleaning Hack
To clean out your drain, use 1 cup baking soda, 1 cup vinegar and boiling water. Pour baking soda into the drain, followed by vinegar. Let it bubble for several minutes. Follow up with boiling water. (Dollar Tree is a great place to get inexpensive cleaning supplies. You can create an account, order online and have your items shipped free to your local Dollar Tree store.)
Use Bar Keepers Friend brand cleanser for cleaning stainless steel or porcelain sinks. It is also good for counters.
Be sure to clean the window sill by sink and wash the window using Windex.
Stove Top Cleaning Hack
Have an electric stove top? Did you know you can lift up the top to clean the drip pan and burners? Try it now. Just lift it up.
Microwave Cleaning Hack
Wet a cloth and put it in the microwave for 30 seconds. The rag will be hot so be careful, but use the cloth to clean the microwave out. The moisture will make it easier to clean.
Natural Glass Cleaner Hack
Windex is a popular glass cleaner, however, you can make your own cleaner if you prefer to avoid chemicals. When cleaning windows, you can use your cleaning cloths, paper towels or a squeegee (this works great if you have glass shower doors).
Pro Tip: If you purchase the ingredients to make your own cleaner at your local grocery store, download the Ibotta app to save on name brands and groceries. Ibotta is the No. 1 downloaded app to save at the grocery store. Find bargains and earn cash back when you download the Ibotta app.
Bathroom Cleaning Hack
Clean the mirror first, then move everything off the counter and clean the surface with clorox wipes or comet cleaner. Shine the faucet of the sink. Make sure to get the back of the faucet, an area that is often neglected.
Bathtub Cleaning Hack
Use a crevice cleaner to get into the edges where the tile and tub meet. Use it to help clean out the grout. 
Shower Cleaning Hack
Keep ahead of cleaning by wiping down your shower/bathtub after each time you use it. Use the crevice cleaner to get the edges. Make sure to clean the faucet and knobs, too.
Showerhead Cleaning Hack
Have you noticed your showerhead getting a little crusty? What you are seeing are likely mineral or lime deposits from the water. Watch this video for an easy solution to clean your showerhead and get the water flow back to normal.
Pro Tip: If you love shopping Amazon and have your cleaning products delivered to you at your convenience, then you will want to take advantage of Amazon’s Subscribe & Save program and save 15%.
Toilet Cleaning Hack
Nobody wants to do this, but it is important. 
Work from the back to front and top to bottom of the toilet. Make sure to wipe down the back of the toilet, then the lid, sides, handle and front of the tank. Use Clorox to spray all the areas, including inside and outside of the bowl and seat. Wipe down the porcelain behind the seat. Make sure to get all the little crevices clean, too. 
Inside the bowl you’ll want to clean under the rim first, so the debris can fall into the water. You can use a toilet brush for the bowl, but to get it really clean, using your hands works best for the rim. Flush the toilet and then spray again with the cleaner. Use the toilet brush to clean the bowl as far into the bowl as possible. Then flush the toilet again, rinsing the brush as the water flows. 
Use the toilet cleaner and spray the receptacle for the toilet brush and use the brush to clean out the inside of it. Pour the dirty water into the toilet and flush one last time, again rinsing the brush in the water flow. 
Laundry Hacks
One thing I do is to rub a little Dawn dish detergent whenever my husband gets grease on his shirt. Dawn is great for cutting grease.
Dolores Breese’s Cleaning Starter Kit
Whether you choose to go old school and do a deep clean or just address those areas needing attention, I hope these hacks helped. Here are my mom’s recommendations to build a thorough cleaning kit for spring and every other season:
p.s. If you put together your cleaning kit and discover you really like this kind of stuff, then be like my mom and start your own business.
Save Money On Cleaning Supplies
Earning cash back on cleaning supplies is easy. Check out these money-making machines to earn free money while you shop online and in store. Oh yeah, all of this stuff is free.
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hamilcastcentral · 4 years
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oaksmash: After I watched the death of George Floyd, like you, I wanted to do something to change the status quo in this country!!  I reached out to the fam and they all answered the call.  So we formed a coalition. Ham4Change.  Made up of the original cast, we on our own accord pledged to do something to help create the change we wish to see, using our collective platform as the tool. Ham4change was born.  We already were able to raise over $700,000 for Bryan Stevenson and the Equality Justice Initiative, with the help of Richard Weitz and his fundraising platform. We have teamed up with LoopedLive this time for these Livestream fundraisers!!   There are more people doing the good work to better all disenfranchised people in this country.  So this fundraiser we hope to raise money for other organizations doing just that.  We are hoping to reach our 1 million dollar goal, and then some, but we need your help!  
We have broken down the fundraisers into 3 seperate days so we can shower you all with as much content as possible! 1st step, download the looped app. The app is free @LoopedLive
It only costs $10 for a ticket to the LIVESTREAM FUNDRAISER!! , Thats right $10 to get a streaming ticket where you will have access to never before heard stories, insight to some shenanigans backstage you haven't seen in interviews as well as trivia games, hard questions asked and some live performances!! Every single doller goes to the charities we are raising money for!!  And there is an option to continue to donate through out the stream if you have a few extra bones to spare.  Many drops make an ocean....add your drop!!   Be apart of our legacy!!
Me, Diggs, Anthony, Emmy, Ephraim and more on Aug 9th will be available for 1 on 1s! Those slots will go up this weekend!! And we have a HUGE suprise for the final fundraiser on Aug 15th!! So make sure you sign up!
vvv link in description below for details.
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loreweaver-universe · 11 months
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And that’s the episode.
I like this show.  The characters are great, the voice acting’s great, the art’s great, the story is interesting, the worldbuilding is interesting.  I like it.  Searching for Kipo’s people is a good plot hook; my biggest question about it is whether this is going to be an episodic story or an ongoing primary narrative.  The cliffhanger we just had points to the latter, and I HOPE it’s the latter, but we’ll have to see.
Dave and Benson in particular are very fun.  I’m a big fan of charming rogues done well, and the fact that they backed Kipo up almost without question speaks to their character.  Mandu is...well, just a macot character, really, and one that doesn’t add a lot besides giving Kipo characterization about how she bonds with anything and anyone.  Wolf is fairly fun, and I look forward to the slow cracking of her armor.  Kipo, finally, is a pretty good protagonist; she’s fun to watch, fun to listen to, and both charming and endearing in equal measure.
I‘m looking forward to more of this show.  I’m pretty sure the patron who picked it wants me to keep watching indefinitely, which is fine by me.
That’ll be the blog for today!  Tune in tomorrow at noon EST for the start of Amphibia episode 6, or you can tune in to my Twitch channel today at 1 PM EST where I’ll be continuing The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom!
Before I go, I’d like to plug both my blog’s Patreon and my Twitch/Youtube Patreon. I make my living off of Patreon, and while I make enough to cover rent and bills, I don’t make a ton of money from it and haven’t been able to save anything up for emergencies (medical or otherwise) in the last decade or so.  Every dollar helps, so if you’re willing, please consider pledging a dollar or two.  I’ve also got a slot open on my stream Patreon where you can pick a game for me to play each month, so snag that while you can!
Thank you all for tuning in, and thank you to my 44 blog patrons, who make it so I can do this for a living!  I’ll see you next time!
IN OTHER NEWS:
I recently completed my first playthrough of Undertale!  You can see the full playlist of those streams by clicking here!
I recently completed my first playthrough of Disco Elysium!  You can see the full playlist of those streams by clicking here!
I have an ongoing first playthrough of Final Fantasy XIV that I’ve been streaming on Twitch! If you’d like to tune in when I’m live, I stream it every Saturday at 1 PM EST, and I upload my stream VODs to my Youtube channel!  If you’d like to see that playlist, click here!
If you’d like to help me pay my rent, buy me some food, or help with my bills and medicine, please use my direct donation link!  If you’d like to support me per liveblog completed every month, please pledge to my Patreon!  If you’d like to support my streams or pick a game for me to stream, you can pledge to my stream Patreon too!
You should also go pledge to Gio’s Patreon, or his Sponsus–our Discord server maintenance tech and creator of Rubybot deserves far more than I can afford to pledge to him by myself.
If you’d like more of me and my content:
My Episode Lists master page, where you can find every show and liveblog I’ve done!
My Discord server, where you can come hang out with me and other fans, check out member liveblogs, and join community gaming guilds!
My Twitch channel, where I stream variety games every so often!
My Youtube channel, where you can check out past streams!
My ask blog, where you can send me questions and comments!
My Twitter, where I make announcements about liveblogs and streams!
My merch store, where you can get shirts, mugs, stickers, and more!
It’s your kindness and support that lets me do this stuff, and I wouldn’t be where I am without all of you to do it for.  Thank you all so much for your support, and for tuning in every episode!
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jackoshadows · 3 years
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I see some anti-Arab people and some nationalists claiming "bruh you dont understand Palestine has Hamas n they indoc the children also n they're the more terror Muslims!!11!!1!1".
First of all, most Palestinians literally have no resources and are UNARMED. Many raids and bombings have taken what they had.
Second, H*mas extremists is not equal to all the Palestinian people! Most Palestinians are "harmless Muslims", as the passively racist Westerners like to term it. Just like Uyghurs. And, just like XinJiang, Palestine is going through a horrific crisis from soldier brutality, war crimes, bombings, and even crazy anti-arab civilians in the streets! What's even crazier is the US, UK, and EU are backing it up for some reason! Don't pin the crimes of a few extreme crazies on the whole Palestinian population, and punish them with genocide for it!
So disclaimer here. I am not Arab, Palestinian or Muslim. I don’t have the lived in experience of being from that region. 
But, coming from a country that has been under the colonial boot of the British, my sympathies are entirely with a people whose land is being stolen from them, who are suffering unimaginable cruelties, who have to live with humiliation, imprisonment, their homes being destroyed,  denied basic human rights, children denied education, schools and hospitals being destroyed.
I can’t imagine the anger and helplessness that the Palestinians are feeling. With no one helping - not just the West, but Arab countries like Saudi Arabia and Egypt are also complicit. The military dictatorship in Egypt  helps maintain the blockade on Gaza and the autocratic theocracy of Saudi Arabia just signed new deals with Israel. Not surprising, considering Egypt and Saudi Arabia are not secular democracies and both oppress their own people. They are also both US allies.
I agree with everything you said. A huge reason for why people feel that way about the Israel-Palestine issue is because of the massive disinformation campaign that is waged in the West by media and news organizations like CNN, BBC, NYT, Guardian etc. Palestinians are constantly dehumanized as terrorists and equated to Hamas. I think the IDF is the bigger terrorist organization - literally terrorizing innocent Palestinian children, women and men on a daily basis.
And pretty much all politicians in the US  across the spectrum - democrats and republicans - support Israel. There’s a commonly used phrase - liberal except for Palestine. Hillary Clinton denounced Palestinians as terrorists and pledged her total support and loyalty to Israel before the 2016 elections.
If a principled politician does take a stand, they are accused of being anti-Semitic and kicked out. See Jeremy Corbyn of the UK Labour party. Bernie Sanders has been accused of not being really Jewish because he dared to simply say that Palestinians too are human beings deserving of equal rights. It’s the tactics of the right wing Netanyahu government - equate criticisms of what the Israeli government is doing to antisemitism. Even though a lot of the people who are criticizing the state of Israel are Jewish themselves and consider these actions to be antithetical to Jewish values.
I am actually happy to observe that there is more of a pushback against what is happening in East Jerusalem right now and more US politicians are speaking up about how US tax dollars are being used. The only way what is being done to the Palestinians can be stopped is if the US steps in and demands it be stopped. Every time the UN introduces a resolution to penalize Israel for breaking International Law, it’s the US who vetoes it. It’s the US who funds and supports Israel’s ethnic cleansing and apartheid.
Hopefully American activists, Palestinian Americans,  Jewish Americans can add their voices and push their elected representatives in the senate and congress for action on what is being done to the Palestinians.
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docmary · 3 years
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The politics of a pandemic, how not to manage coronavirus
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No man is an island, Entire of itself, Every man is a piece of the continent, A part of the main. If a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less. As well as if a promontory were. As well as if a manor of thy friend's Or of thine own were: Any man's death diminishes me,
Because I am involved in mankind, And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls.
It tolls for thee.
John Donne
1624
The poet John Donne warned of the dangers of isolation and imagining oneself as self-sufficient, without need of community. It was true 500 years ago; it still holds true today. No man is an island…every man is a part of the main. As wave upon wave of SARS-CoV-2 reached every continent, even Antarctica, most of us have tried to isolate ourselves on this crowded planet - with mixed results.
As of May 30, 2021, by every metric, the United States was leading the world in the number of cases and deaths from COVD-19. Brazil and India are catching up quickly. In the US, the underlying tension between public health and personal liberty has had disastrous consequences. As successful as the vaccine roll-out has been, and even with the numbers of new cases, hospitalizations, and deaths dropping, this is no time to be complacent.
India, with a population of over 1 billion, and Brazil, a pariah among countries in Latin America for its poor response to the pandemic, cause or should cause great concern to everyone everywhere. Not having the resources of rich countries, they will require help to manage the tragic situation their leaders have put their populations in and it is in our interest to do so because...the bell tolls for thee.
India
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When the World Health Organization (WHO) declared COVID-19 a global pandemic in March 2020, there had been 330,000 cases and 30,000 deaths from SARS-CoV-2 reported worldwide. In the early days of the pandemic, India was considered a model of how to manage the worst public health crisis in recent memory. India responded with a strict lockdown. International flights and exports of masks, ventilators, and certain medicines were banned. As a result, India did not see the same initial explosion in new cases and deaths compared to other countries.
Three months later, India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi began easing lockdown restrictions - like the American football player who does the end-zone dance on the two-yard line—not a good idea. When the lockdown lifted, many Indians stopped taking precautions. Mr. Modi allowed large gatherings, including campaigns in state elections that he attended, without wearing a mask, at rallies of thousands of mask-less supporters, to help his governing Bharatiya Janata party. Large religious festivals resumed drawing millions of people as well. By July 2020, India had seen 600,000 cases and 17,834 deaths due to COVID. An editorial from The Lancet, said that Mr. Modi “seemed more intent on removing criticism” on social media than “trying to control the pandemic.” Sound familiar?
As recently as March 2021, India’s health minister assured the public that they had reached the pandemic’s “endgame”.
The New York Times reported in May 2021 that India was responsible for more than half of the world’s daily COVID cases, setting a record-breaking pace of 400,000 new cases in one day. Researchers believe the B.1.1.7 variant and the delta variant, which are also major variants in Britain and the US, are to blame for the surge. Clinics across India report desperate shortages of hospital beds, protective equipment, and oxygen.[1]
Just to add to the global disaster, India is one of the world’s leading vaccine manufacturers. It is struggling to inoculate its own citizens; less than 10% of Indians have gotten even one dose.[2] In September 2020, Serum Institute of India (SII) received $150 million from the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation to accelerate production of Oxford University’s AstraZenica (AZ) vaccine and the American vaccine Novavax as soon as the WHO granted regulatory approval. Under the original terms of the agreement, 50% of vaccines would be earmarked for India and the remainder would go to other low- and middle-income countries.[3]Currently, exports of vaccines from India have been shut down.
Brazil
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In an editorial from The Lancet, dated May 9, 2020, the president of Brazil, Jair Bolsanoro, was criticized for allowing the SARS-CoV-2 virus to spread widely while presenting himself as a “messiah” touting unproven medicines like hydroxychloroquine, with support from his rightwing allies.
At the time, Brazil had the most cases (105,000) and deaths (72,88) in Latin America. Estimates suggest the death rate was doubling every five days. When asked by a reporter about the rapidly increasing numbers of COVID-19 cases, Mr. Bolsanaro responded: “So what? What do you want me to do?”[4]
In March 2021, Brazil’s pandemic spiraled out of control. Its Latin American neighbors grounded flights, closed land borders, and regional sports events were canceled in attempts to stop the P.1 variant (and approximately 90 other variants) from spreading to their populations.
The British Medical Journal reported that 400,000 Brazilians have died from COVID-19—13% of deaths worldwide.[5] Some models predict the death toll in Brazil will reach half a million this month. That trajectory could be an indicator for what is to come for its neighbors. As Paraguay’s director of health surveillance, Guillermo Sequera, has said: “When Brazil sneezes, Paraguay gets a cold.”[6]
COVAX
With a fast-moving pandemic, no one is safe, unless everyone is safe.
author unknown. Retrieved from: https://www.who.int/initiatives/act-accelerator/covax
COVAX is an initiative dedicated to equitable access to a vaccine, particularly to healthcare workers and those most at risk. To date (5/31/2021), COVAX has shipped more than 77 million COVID-19 vaccines to 127 participants. It is co-led by[7]:
CEPI-Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations. The governing board has 12 voting members; four investors and eight independent members with competencies in industry, global health, science, resource mobilization, and finance—and five observers (17 total). Financial support comes from public sources including US Agency for International Development (USAID).
Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance-a public/private partnership which has helped to vaccinate 760 million children in the world’s poorest countries.[8] It ensures that infrastructure is in place and technical support is available to make sure that COVID-19 vaccines can be safely delivered to support the participation of 92 lower-middle and lower-income economies. It is part of the health systems work of Access to COVID-19 Tools (ACT) Accelerator effort, focusing on areas where it has expertise and experience, such as keeping vaccines at the correct temperature.
World Health Organization (WHO)
United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF)
COVAX hopes to get 280 million doses of vaccines to Latin America but has been hit with delays to eight manufacturers (including SII) it has deals with and does not expect to deliver them until the end of 2021.[8]This has led South American nations to look to China’s Coronavac and Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine supplies. One study found that Coronovac was only 50% effective after a single dose. The Biden administration has pledged to purchase 500 million doses of Pfizer BioNTech vaccine to give to COVAX; the first 200 million doses will be distributed this year, with the subsequent 300 million in the first half of next year.[10]
My Take
In what can only be called being one step ahead of the game, armed robbers in Hong Kong stole $16,000 worth of toilet paper as coronavirus sparked panic-buying of essential goods a month before WHO declared a global pandemic in March 2020.[11] (Good times)
In July 2020, President Trump formally notified Congress and the United Nations that the US was withdrawing from WHO because of course he did.
Several articles, including one from the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA)[12] have compared weekly deaths in the US that would be expected from historical trends with COVID and non-COVID deaths from March 2020 until January 2021. There was an increase of 22.9% of all-cause mortality. This far exceeds expectations. Excess deaths attributed to non-COVID causes could be the result of deaths that were, in fact, COVID but misclassified. They might also be due to delayed care, an overwhelmed healthcare system, or behavioral health crises. On the other side of the ledger, no doubt at least some of the deaths that would have been anticipated from non-COVID causes might have died from the coronavirus instead. Which is to say, these are at best estimates of the mortality rates. During surges in various parts of the US, deaths from several non-COVID diseases like heart disease and Alzheimer’s increased. Either way, the excess deaths could have been helped with a better response to the pandemic early on.[13]
For those “give me liberty, or give me death” fans, do I really need to point out that Patrick Henry was referring to his own death, not the deaths of millions all over the world? My parents’ generation made many sacrifices during WWII, including blood and treasure, and considered it worth the price to defeat Hitler. Wearing a mask to defeat a virus? Really? Who have we become?
It comes as a surprise to no one that the countries with the largest death tolls to date, the US, India, and Brazil, are also countries in which partisan politics was the priority over public health measures. It isn’t a good idea. Why don’t we just stop?
[1] What to know about India’s coronavirus crisis. What is behind the explosion of new coronavirus cases that is overwhelming the South Asian country? NY Times, May 25, 2021. Retrieved from: https://www.nytimes.com/article/india-coronavirus-cases-deaths.html
[2] ibid
[3]Raghavan, P. 2020. $150 million dollar shot for serum production of COVID vaccine, India Express.
[4]Lancet editorial. September 19, 2020. COVID-19 in Brazil: “So what?”, Lancet, 395: 1461. doi: 10.1016/s0140-6736(20)31095-3
[5]Taylor, L. 5/20/2021. COVID-19: How the Brazilian variant took hold of South America, BMJ 2021, 373: n1277. doi: 10.1136/bmj.n1277
[6]ibid
[7]World Health Organization: COVAX Working for global equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines. Retrieved from: https://www.who.int/initiatives/act-accelerator/covax
[8]Raghavan. Op cit.
[9]Taylor. Op cit.
[10] Page, T, Rauhala, E. Jun 9, 2021. Biden administration to buy 500 million Pfizer coronavirus vaccine doses to donate to the world, Washington Post, retrieved from: https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/biden-vaccine-donate/2021/06/09/c2744674-c934-11eb-93fa-9053a95eb9f2_story.html
[11]www.thinkglobalhealth.org/article1
[12]Woolf, SH, Chapman, DH, Sabo, RT, Zimmerman, EB. May 4,2021.Excess deaths from COVID-19 and other causes in the US, March 1 2020, to January 2, 2021,JAMA, 325(17): 1786-1789. doi: 10.1001/jama.2021.5199
[13]ibid
2 notes · View notes