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selfcarecap · 2 years

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Teaser: Never Have I Ever [p.p]

Posting the full fic this Saturday (May 28th) 🖤❕(probably around 9pm or 10pm CET)

Full fic posted 💘

summary: When Peter meets you at college and you two bond over your lack of sexual experience, you quickly become the best friend he’s ever had. But while he falls madly in love with you, he doesn’t know if you feel the same. You hold his hand when you’re out together, talk to him about the vibrator you want to buy and bless him with that beautiful look in your eyes that is reserved only for him… yet he’s not sure if you see more than a friend in him. Little does he know, you’re wondering the same about him, hoping for the same outcome.

word count: full fic is 20k-ish, teaser is 400 words (thank you Kendra MWAH)

warnings (for this teaser): mention of oral sex

You’re not focussed today, scrolling around on your phone instead of studying. You throw your phone to the bed at some point and you hug your legs to your chest in thought.

“You think Andrew will let me suck his dick? For a better score?”

Peter’s heart stops beating for a second.

You haven’t kissed, you haven’t said anything that should have led Peter to think that this is more than friendship, but it seemed like there could be something in the future. Apparently, you’re not even considering it.

“Who’s Andrew?” He asks, mouth dry and voice weak.

“Professor Garfield.”

“Oh. Well, I-I think that‘s illegal.”

“Is it though?” You tilt your head and give him a deliberately incredulous look.

“Yes.”

“Not if no one finds out. It’s don’t break the rules or don‘t get caught, Peter.”

He’s distracted by you saying his name for a moment. There’s nothing he loves hearing more.

But he has to stop you from doing… that. He can’t entirely tell how serious you are, but he has to make sure to convince you that it’s a bad idea.

“No offence, but what makes you believe you’ll be good enough for him to give you a better score? If you’ve never… you know, done anything like it.” He remembers your conversation from the first time you met, and if you haven’t given anyone a blowjob since then, he knows it would be your first time. Your first time can’t be with a professor, even if Peter disregards the fact that he wants to be the only guy you have sex with, it really is a bad idea.

“I’m a young and pretty student and he’s a kinda old guy. He’s like 40. So I’m sure that I’ll be enough for him.”

Peter doesn’t say anything for a moment, thrown off by your casual tone.

“Don’t you think so?” you ask, teasing in your voice.

“No- of course you’re pretty. You’re beautiful,” he smiles, pressing his lips together.

“Aww,” you sit up and press a kiss to his cheek, “So are you, Pete.” You hold on to his shoulder as you lower yourself into his lap, your butt right next to his thighs and your upper body resting on his legs, and his breath hitches.

“Well if you think I need practice, then.. I could practise on you first.”

“Practise w-what on me?” He asks, feeling your hands on his abs.

“Giving head,” you say, looking up at him.

send an ask or dm if you want to be tagged <3 (and you aren’t already on the taglist)

current taglist here: @peterbenjiparker @yangrdn @sunkissedspidey @mrscutiefandobhaz @quaksonhehe @spideyspeaches @peterparkoure @petersgroupie @pandaxnienke @devotion @itscaminow @tomsholland2412 @starlight-starks @mrscarlislecullen @totallyfangirling17171 @elenaysusneuras

(also the title is misleading there’s not really any never have i ever in the fic sgsks it’s mentioned in one sentence lmao that’s all but somehow we’ve established that title but not in relation to the actual game)

#help lmao #peter parker x reader #peter parker smut #checking if tags work #ik new york is 6 hours behind #you can do the rest of the maths yourself shsksk #pls don’t let this flop :/ if there’s one fic of mine to read then it’s thiss <3

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excvlsior · 4 years

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about: *teddy lawrence.

basics.

full name: theodore claude lawrence

meaning of name: theodore = ‘god’s gift’, claude = ‘limping’

nickname: primarily goes by teddy but he has a few fun nicknames like tedward etc.

age: 24

date of birth: february 13th, 1995

hometown: born in anaheim, california but moved to albany, new york at just a few weeks old to be closer to his grandparents

nationality: american

ethnicity: british

gender: cis-male

sexuality: pansexual

spoken languages: english

profession: depends on the verse ik in lovell he’s a student and working at a diner, in la i remember i plotted something out bt . i dnt remember rn. maybe he works w a theatre company something along those lines JKHSDLGKHSDG

appearance.

height: 6′1″

eye colour: green

hair colour: dark brown

voice: higher pitched than people would expect probs but nothing worth pointing out, bit of a new york accent that stands out

tattoos: aquarius symbol between the nail and first knuckle of his pinky, hummingbird on his right bicep, sun on his left shoulder blade and moon on his right

piercings: ears

clothing style: weird combination of e-boy and bbq dad; jeans with the cuffs rolled up, corduroys; hawaiian t-shirts, really anything with a fun pattern, almost obnoxiously bright sweaters for when the weather’s colder

health.

physical ailments: n/a

neurological conditions: depression

allergies: n/a

sleeping habits: pretty shitty sleeping pattern tbh, he’s been known to stay up for like 48 hours straight just bc he has no willpower to tear himself away from people or fun until he physically can’t stay standing anymore and even then will sleep at the least convenient hours like noon to midnight

exercise habits: he has random periods where he’ll be motivated to exercise and will go 3-4 times a week to the gym then gives up, most of his exercise is from skateboarding around or constantly being on his feet with people

sociability: kinda hates being alone, he rarely ever needs to be so he tries to surround himself with friends when he can, and if he can’t be with friends when he needs to be he’ll eat up alone time with strangers, anyone that can listen to him talk forever really

drink / smoke / drugs: yes / yes / yes

personality.

positive traits: adventurous, charming, enthusiastic, funny, loving, sociable, warm-hearted

negative traits: boastful, clingy, foolish, impatient, jealous, overemotional, temperamental, unpredictable

goals/desires: mostly to fix his relationship with his biological mom, finally get clean cuz he has not succeeded with that rly lawl, land himself a lead role on broadway<3 good luck sucker

fears: rehab, mainly being there every other month for the rest of his life like his mom; being left behind/not belonging

hobbies: runs the school drama club so he’s busy with that, drinking lawl, astrological readings (poorly), keychain collecting (one for every city he’s been in), skateboarding

habits: scoffs when he’s frustrated, constant touching, bounces back and forth on his feet when he lies, laughs obnoxiously when he’s forced to, tugs on other’s hair to get their attention

favourites.

weather: sunny and hot

colour: yellow

music: top 40, lots of pop, disco, literally anything with a good beat and happy sounding

movies: a good cheesy rom-com, the cheesier the better

food: sushi, salt and vinegar chips

drink: dr. pepper, tequila

relationships.

father: kurt lawrence is his adoptive dad, kinda gives off bitter old man vibes but he’s actually really chill, used to work as a mechanic in his own store but he’s a bit too Brittle for that so he just runs it now; theodore rydel is his biological dad and teddy doesn’t rly kno anything about him tbh........

mother: beatrice lawrence is his adoptive mom, just the sweetest lil lady ever, is currently a principal; annie holland is his biological mom she means well but she struggles with addiction and is in rehab rn never really had a stable job or anything but teddy still loves her all the same

siblings: a handful of adoptive ones but none that are biological

significant other: n/a

family’s financial status: lower-middle class

extra.

zodiac sign: aquarius

mbti: enfp - the campaigner

enneagram: the romantic

temperament: sanguine

hogwarts house: hufflepuff

moral alignment: chaotic good

primary vice: lust

primary virtue: kindness

element: water

#muse | teddy lawrence.#winks at courtney fr inspiring me.............#remembered tht i had a stats page already so mostly copied from tht bt still hoping it'll #jostle my brain around n will wake up #some muse in me.......... prove tht i hv some fight left....................#this is my fight song....... take back my life song (idk if those r the lyrics)#also wheezing at the meaning of claude.

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dweemeister · 3 years

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2020 Movie Odyssey

For those who are not aware, my “Movie Odyssey” consists of all films that I have seen for the first time in their entirety. Rewatches do not count. What follows is a list of every film - feature- and short-length - that were a part of the 2020 edition of My Movie Odyssey.

A good many of these are MGM/Popeye short films that are shown on Turner Classic Movies (TCM) on Saturday. Other short films - including the Oscar-nominated short film packages shown in theaters every year before the Academy Awards - also appear. But I saw more features (124; defined as a film over forty minutes in length) than I did short films (97). With no Viet Film Fest this year and fewer obligations to watch recent releases, this year’s Movie Odyssey skewed harder towards older movies than in a long time.

I’m no longer as prolific as I may have been back in my undergrad days in watching movies, but I definitely saw my share of great, good, mediocre, and bad movies in 2020. You’ll notice that most of the 10/10 ratings are clumped near the beginning of the year - there’s not a particular reason for that.

Thanks for being a part of the Movie Odyssey, everyone. Whether we saw a movie together in a theater (before they closed), you read a review of mine, or if we discussed a movie in some conversation anywhere, you have been part of this journey. I look forward to the 2021 iteration, and I hope it’s just as exciting - if not more - as this year was!

Without further ado, the films of the 2020 Movie Odyssey, in the order that they were completed:

JANUARY

The Irishman (2019) – 10/10

The Duke Is Tops (1938) – 5/10

Destroy All Monsters (1968, Japan) – 7/10

Parasite (2019, South Korea) – 10/10

Sinners’ Holiday (1930) – 6/10

Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla (1974, Japan) – 5/10

Wimmin Is a Myskery (1940 short) – 6/10

The Eyes of Orson Welles (2018) – 6/10

The Trial (1962) – 10/10

1917 (2019) – 9/10

Tale of the Vienna Woods (1934 short) – 7/10

Nurse-Mates (1940 short) – 6/10

Weathering with You (2019, Japan) – 6.5/10

Klaus (2019) – 7/10

Edge of the City (1957) – 7.5/10

The Unwelcome Guest (1945 short) – 7/10

Fightin’ Pals (1940 short) – 5/10

The Winning Ticket (1938 short) – 6/10

Doing Impossikible Stunts (1940 short) – 5/10

Little Women (2019) – 8.5/10 (2020’s 31 Days of Oscar begins)

FEBRUARY

The African Queen (1951) – 10/10

Hair Love (2019 short) – 8.5/10

Dcera (2019 short, Czech Republic) – 7.5/10

Sister (2018 short) – 8/10

Mémorable (2019 short, France) – 9/10

Kitbull (2019 short) – 8/10

Henrietta Bulkowski (2019 short) – 6/10*

The Bird & the Whale (2018 short) – 7/10*

Hors piste (2019 short, France) – 7/10*

Maestro (2019 short, France) – 6/10*

Marriage Story (2019) – 8/10

A Sister (2018 short, Belgium) – 9/10

Brotherhood (2018 short, Tunisia/Canada/Qatar/Sweden) – 7.5/10

The Neighbors’ Window (2019 short) – 6/10

Saria (2019 short) – 8/10

Nefta Football Club (2018 short, Tunisia/France/Algeria) – 8/10

In the Absence (2018 short, South Korea) – 9.5/10

St. Louis Superman (2019 short) – 7/10

Jojo Rabbit (2019) – 6/10

I Lost My Body (2019, France) – 8/10

Live Overtakes Me (2019 short) – 6/10

Learning to Skateboard in a Warzone (If You’re a Girl) (2019 short, United Kingdom) – 8.5/10

Born Free (1966) – 7.5/10

Empire of the Sun (1987) – 6/10

Road to Utopia (1945) – 7/10

The Sin of Madelon Claudet (1931) – 7.5/10 (31 Days of Oscar ends)

*Part of the Oscar-nominated animated short film package as honorable mentions, not nominees.

MARCH

The Shop on Main Street (1965, Czechoslovakia) – 10/10

Escape from the Planet of the Apes (1971) – 7/10

Northwest Hounded Police (1946 short) – 8/10

Wimmin Hadn’t Oughta Drive (1940 short) – 6/10

Princess from the Moon (1987, Japan) – 6/10

Popeye the Sailor Meets Sindbad the Sailor (1936 short) – 9/10

The Shooting of Dan McGoo (1945 short) – 8/10

Puttin’ on the Act (1940 short) – 7/10

Major Dundee (1965) – 6/10

This Gun for Hire (1942) – 7/10

Emitaï (1971, Senegal) – 9/10

War of the Worlds (2005) – 6.5/10

Popeye Meets William Tell (1940 short) – 6/10

Murder Most Foul (1964) – 7/10

Circus Clown (1934) – 6/10

Lonesome Luke, Messenger (1917 short) – 5/10

Bumping into Broadway (1919 short) – 8/10

Next Aisle Over (1919 short) – 6.5/10

APRIL

A Sammy in Siberia (1919 short) – 6/10

Young Mr. Jazz (1919 short) – 6/10

I Do (1921 short) – 7.5/10

Persona (1966, Sweden) – 8.5/10

The Great Buster: A Celebration (2018) – 7/10

Frankie and Johnny (1966) – 5.5/10

Death of a Cyclist (1955, Spain) – 7.5/10

The Car of Tomorrow (1951 short) – 6.5/10

Poopdeck Pappy (1940 short) – 7/10

New York, New York (1977) – 6.5/10

A Letter to Three Wives (1949) – 10/10

Diego Maradona (2019, United Kingdom) – 7.5/10

Blackboard Jumble (1957 short) – 6/10

Popeye Presents Eugene, the Jeep (1940 short) – 6/10

The Greatest Story Ever Told (1965) – 4.5/10

The Scar of Shame (1927) – 8/10

One Hour with You (1932) – 8/10

Gosford Park (2001) – 7.5/10

Cry of the City (1948) – 6/10

Deliverance (1972) – 7.5/10

I Am Somebody (1970 short) – 9/10

Crisis: Behind a Presidential Commitment (1963) – 8/10

Le Silence de la Mer (1949, France) – 7/10

McFarland, USA (2015) – 7/10

The Man Who Never Was (1956) – 7.5/10

Cock-a-Doodle Dog (1951 short) – 6/10

Problem Pappy (1941 short) – 6/10

Three Little Girls in Blue (1946) – 7/10

Fireman, Save My Child! (1932) – 5/10

MAY

Babe: Pig in the City (1998) – 6/10

The Bear and the Beavers (1942 short) – 6/10

Quiet! Pleeze (1941 short) – 6/10

Elmer, the Great (1933) – 7/10

Alibi Ike (1935) – 6/10

Body and Soul (1925) – 7.5/10

Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom (2018) – 4/10

The Bear and the Hare (1948 short) – 6/10

Olive’s Sweepstake Ticket (1941 short) – 6/10

Ceddo (1977, Senegal) – 6.5/10

Stars in My Crown (1950) – 8.5/10

The Big City (1963, India) – 8/10

Bear Raid Warden (1944 short) – 6/10

Flies Ain’t Human (1941 short) – 6/10

The Last Unicorn (1982) – 5/10

Age 13 (1955 short) – 3/10

Barney’s Hungry Cousin (1953 short) – 6/10

Popeye Meets Rip Van Winkle (1941 short) – 6/10

JUNE

Lance (2020) – 7/10

Olive’s Boithday Presink (1941 short) – 6/10

The Phenix City Story (1955) – 7.5/10

Be Water (2020) – 7/10

Ordet (1955, Denmark) – 10/10

My Dream Is Yours (1949) – 7/10

The Dragon Painter (1919) – 6/10

The Silver Cord (1933) – 6/10

Caballero Droopy (1952 short) – 7/10

Pest Pilot (1941 short) – 6/10

Aaron Loves Angela (1975) – 5/10

Goggle Fishing Bear (1949 short) – 6/10

I’ll Never Crow Again (1941 short) – 6.5/10

Best in Show (2000) – 7/10

JULY

The Comancheros (1961) – 6.5/10

Cobs and Robbers (1953 short) – 7/10

The Mighty Navy (1941 short) – 7/10

Hamilton (2020) – 7/10

Once Upon a Time in America (1984) – 9.5/10

The Sin of Nora Moran (1933) – 6.5/10

Busybody Bear (1952 short) – 6/10

Nix on Hypnotricks (1941 short) – 6/10

The Steel Helmet (1951) – 7.5/10

The Princess and the Pirate (1944) – 7/10

Harold and Lillian: A Hollywood Love Story (2015) – 8/10

Deputy Droopy (1955 short) – 6.5/10

Kickin’ the Conga Round (1942 short) – 6/10

Shoes (1916) – 8/10

Lone Wolf and Cub: Sword of Vengeance (1972, Japan) – 7.5/10

When Worlds Collide (1951) – 7/10

Tokyo Olympiad (1965, Japan) – 9.5/10

Wichita (1955) – 7/10

AUGUST

Pinky (1949) – 6.5/10

Floyd Norman: An Animated Life (2016) – 6/10

Insiang (1976, Philippines) – 7.5/10

Arrowsmith (1931) – 5/10

The Shocking Miss Pilgrim (1947) – 6/10

Blue Hawaii (1961) – 6/10

Kaagaz Ke Phool (1959, India) – 9/10

I Am Not Your Negro (2016) – 8.5/10

Doggone Tired (1949 short) – 7/10

Blunder Below (1942 short) – 6/10

Saludos Amigos (1942) – 5/10

Lone Wolf and Cub: Baby Cart at the River Styx (1972, Japan) – 7/10

The Little Colonel (1935) – 7/10

Malcolm X (1992) – 9/10

SEPTEMBER

Murder at the Gallop (1963) – 7/10

Lone Wolf and Cub: Baby Cart to Hades (1972, Japan) – 7/10

Mädchen in Uniform (1931, Germany) – 9/10

The T.A.M.I Show (1964) – 9/10

The Chump Champ (1950 short) – 6/10

Fleets of Stren’th (1942 short) – 6/10

Merrily We Go to Hell (1932) – 6/10

Elvis: That’s the Way It Is (1970) – 8/10

Melody Time (1948) – 6/10

Red Dawn (1984) – 4/10

Olivia (1951, France) – 8.5/10

Droopy’s Double Trouble (1951 short) – 7/10

Pip-eye, Pup-eye, Poop-eye an’ Peep-eye (1942 short) – 6/10

The River (1938 short) – 7.5/10

The Crimson Kimono (1959) – 7/10

Sleepwalking Land (2008, Mozambique) – 8/10

The First Bad Man (1955 short) – 5/10

Many Tanks (1942 short) – 6/10

Marona’s Fantastic Tale (2019, France) – 8.5/10

Lone Wolf and Cub: Baby Cart in Peril (1972, Japan) – 7/10

OCTOBER

Ramona (1928) – 6/10

The Peachy Cobbler (1950 short) – 6/10

Baby Wants a Bottleship (1942 short) – 6/10

House of Bamboo (1955) – 6.5/10

Ride the Wild Surf (1964) – 6/10

Red Hot Riding Hood (1943 short) – 9.5/10

Alona on the Sarong Seas (1942 short) – 6/10

New Orleans (1947) – 6.5/10

Mad Monster Party? (1967) – 6.5/10

Sheep Wrecked (1958 short) – 6/10

A Hull of a Mess (1942 short) – 6/10

El Camino (1963, Spain) – 7/10

One Cab’s Family (1952 short) – 6/10

Cartoons Ain’t Human (1943 short) – 6/10

The Haunting (1963) – 9.5/10

Dead of Night (1945) – 8/10

From Beyond the Grave (1974) – 7.5/10

NOVEMBER

Heir Bear (1953 short) – 6/10

Me Musical Nephews (1942 short) – 8/10

The Virgin Suicides (1999) – 8/10

The Impossible Possum (1954 short) – 6/10

Too Weak to Work (1943 short) – 6/10

Flower Drum Song (1961) – 7/10

The Little Bantamweight (1938 short) – 6/10

A Jolly Good Furlough (1943 short) – 6.5/10

Plymouth Adventure (1952) – 6/10

The Daydreamer (1966) – 6/10

Wolfwalkers (2020 – 8.5/10

Little Gravel Voice (1942 short) – 6/10

Ration Fer the Duration (1943 short) – 6/10

DECEMBER

X-Men: First Class (2011) – 7/10

Out-Foxed (1949 short) – 7/10

Wood-Peckin’ (1943 short) – 6/10

Pete Kelly’s Blues (1955) – 6/10

The Magic Flute (1975, Sweden) – 7.5/10

Poor Little Me (1934 short) – 5/10

Spinach Fer Britain (1943 short) – 6/10

The Cave of the Yellow Dog (2005, Mongolia) – 8.5/10

The Battle of the Century (1927 short) – 8/10

It Happened on Fifth Avenue (1947) – 7.5/10

Burrow (2020 short) – 7/10

Soul (2020) – 8/10

Her Honor the Mare (1943 short) – 6/10

Kiss of Death (1947) – 8/10

#My Movie Odyssey

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newstfionline · 7 years

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The Storm Reaches Puerto Rico: ‘There Is Nothing Like This’

By The New York Times, Sept. 7, 2017

• Hurricane Irma, one of the strongest storms ever recorded in the Atlantic, hit the eastern Caribbean on Wednesday with winds of up to 185 miles an hour, but had slowed to 180 m.p.h. by Thursday morning.

• The Category 5 storm leveled Barbuda, damaging 95 percent of its buildings and leaving the island “barely habitable.” It has since begun lashing Puerto Rico and is also threatening havoc and destruction in the Virgin Islands, the Dominican Republic, Haiti and Cuba. The Bahamas and the Turks and Caicos Islands will also be at risk on Thursday.

• The French interior minister, Gerard Collomb, said at least eight people had been killed in French Caribbean territory, and at least three deaths were reported elsewhere. The authorities warned that the toll would rise as communications improved.

• President Trump declared a state of emergency in Florida, Puerto Rico and the United States Virgin Islands. The storm is expected to reach Florida early on Saturday, potentially causing catastrophic flooding.

‘Barbuda is literally rubble,’ but Antigua is spared. Early on Wednesday, Prime Minister Gaston Browne of Antigua and Barbuda said his nation had been spared the worst of the hurricane, declaring in a statement, “The essential point is that our main infrastructure has stood up and our country can resume normal life within hours.” He went so far as to add, “I dare to say that no other country in the Caribbean would have been as well prepared as we were.”

This turned out to be stunningly inaccurate: While the damage in Antigua was not as severe as expected, Mr. Browne announced in the afternoon that 95 percent of all structures on its sister island, Barbuda, had been damaged or destroyed, rendering the island “barely habitable.” A telecommunications tower was broken in two. At least one person, an infant, was killed.

Barbuda, home to about 1,600 people (3 percent of the country’s population), “is literally rubble,” the prime minister told ABS TV/Radio Antigua.

In his initial statement Wednesday morning, Mr. Browne suggested he had been receiving reports from Barbuda. But he later clarified that, in fact, the storm had knocked out all official communication systems on the island, rendering officials there unreachable after the storm. As a result, it was not until the afternoon, when the prime minister surveyed Barbuda from the air, that the extent of the devastation became clear.

“What I saw was heart-wrenching--I mean, absolutely devastating,” Mr. Browne told ABS TV afterward, estimating that it would take at least $150 million to return the island to some semblance of normalcy.--Carl Joseph, Kirk Semple And Maggie Astor

‘Considerable’ damage in the French Caribbean. President Emmanuel Macron of France said on Wednesday evening that it was too early to say how badly the islands of St. Martin and St. Barthélemy had been damaged or how many casualties there were. But French officials reported that the death toll was at least two, and Mr. Macron said the aftermath would be “harsh and cruel.”

“We will have victims to lament, and the material damage on the two islands is considerable,” he said after a crisis meeting in Paris, adding that the “entire nation” stood beside the inhabitants of the islands.

Mr. Macron said that emergency services were focusing on re-establishing contact with the affected areas and that rescue operations would be coordinated from the French Caribbean island of Guadeloupe, where the French minister for overseas territories, Annick Girardin, was headed on Wednesday evening.--Aurelien Breeden

In the Virgin Islands, ‘it feels seismic.’ Javorn Micheal Fahie, a taxi driver in Tortola, in the British Virgin Islands, said most of the galvanized steel roofs in his neighborhood had blown off. He saw two of them, from houses facing his, flying away in the wind.

“Oh boy,” he said in an internet phone call from his concrete house in the Johnson’s Ghut area of the island, where he had been riding out the storm all day and posting videos of it on his Facebook page. “A lot of wind and rain.”

“All the trees around us have no leaves,” he added. “Everything is empty.”

Late on Wednesday, the Federal Emergency Management Agency tweeted a photo from a resident of St. Thomas, in the United States Virgin Islands.

Earlier in the day, Kelsey Nowakowski, who lives in St. Thomas, described how she and four friends had hunkered down and waited for the storm to pass.

“We’ve all been in hurricanes before, but have never felt anything like this before,” Ms. Nowakowski said in a message via Twitter. “It feels seismic, it feels catastrophic.”--Richard Pérez-Peña and Kirk Semple

In Puerto Rico, fears of rising waters. Gov. Ricardo A. Rosselló said at a televised briefing on Wednesday that six to eight inches of rain were expected in Puerto Rico, with some areas receiving up to 12 inches.

“As the history with Harvey states,” he said, referring to the hurricane that battered Houston, “flooding can become the major cause of death in events of this nature.”

With the storm expected to pass just north of San Juan between 6 p.m. and 8 p.m., the governor had cautioned people to take shelter by noon in homes or in one of 156 government-run facilities. He warned that the authorities would suspend rescues once winds reached 50 m.p.h.

Nearly 30 years ago, Puerto Rico was hit hard by Hurricane Hugo, which left more than 28,000 residents homeless. But Abigail Acevedo, 60, who survived Hugo, said Irma was worse.

“This is phenomenal,” Mr. Acevedo said in a phone interview. “There is nothing like this.”

Officials warned that the island’s fragile electrical grid could be shut down for months in some areas. The Puerto Rico electric company said nearly 300,000 people had lost power by early Wednesday afternoon. More than 4,000 had lost water service, mostly because of power failures. The governor has asked the Defense Department to activate the Army National Guard for recovery efforts once the storm passes.

The hurricane could hardly have come at a worse time for the territory, which is in the throes of an economic crisis and does not have money for rebuilding.--Frances Robles and Luis Ferré-Sadurni

St. Martin’s ‘most durable’ buildings are destroyed. The French interior minister, Gérard Collomb, said the four “most durable” buildings on St. Martin had been destroyed.

President Trump owns a property there, Le Château des Palmiers, a walled waterfront estate that is currently up for sale. It is unclear whether that property was damaged.

Power was out on St. Barthélemy, and many roofs had been blown off, according to a statement from the prefecture on the French island of Guadeloupe.

The situation on St. Martin was similar: There was no power, the fire station was flooded, and the police station no longer had a roof. The island’s administrative offices were also “partially destroyed,” the statement from Guadeloupe said, adding that the staff had taken shelter in a concrete room.

By midmorning on Wednesday, the hurricane was “pounding” the island nation of Anguilla, according to the National Hurricane Center. An officer who answered the phone at the Royal Anguilla Police Force headquarters said that one person had died in the territory.

Alex Woolfall, a British public relations consultant, was staying at The Westin St. Maarten resort in St. Martin when the storm made landfall early Wednesday. Mr. Woolfall tweeted updates during the storm before the power eventually went out.

@woolfallalex: May be my last tweet as power out and noise now apocalyptic. This is like a movie I never want to see. #Irma2017 #StMaarten

Evacuations in the Bahamas. Hundreds of evacuees from the southern Bahamas began arriving in the capital, Nassau, a day after Prime Minister Hubert Minnis urged them “not to be foolish and try to brave out this monster storm.”

Marionette Simmons, 60, who left the Inagua district with three of her grandchildren, said she had stayed put during Hurricane Ike in 2008 and “wasn’t going to take that chance again.”

“My life is more important than anything I might have left behind,” Ms. Simmons said.

Dion Foulkes--the Bahamas’ labor and consumer affairs minister, who is coordinating the evacuations--said that only about 200 people had chosen to stay on the islands, which will most likely start to feel the effects of Irma on Thursday evening. Earnel Brown, who owns a small hotel in Pirates Well on the island of Mayaguana, is one of them.

“I am a person of tremendous faith, and I believe that things don’t just happen, they happen for a reason,” Mr. Brown, 54, said. “I believe everything is meticulously planned by God. I am not worried at all.”--Erica Wells

Florida is taking no chances. In Miami-Dade County, memories of the damage caused in 1992 by Hurricane Andrew, a Category 5 storm, spurred residents to prepare for Hurricane Irma earlier than usual.

Most projections have Irma slamming into the state by Sunday, although it is unclear where it might make landfall.

Gov. Rick Scott activated the state National Guard and declared a state of emergency across Florida. At a news conference, he urged residents to heed evacuation advisories and to act while the storm is still days away. Irma, he said, is more powerful and dangerous than Andrew.

“Know your evacuation zone,” he said. “Listen to your locals. This storm has the potential to devastate the state. Take it seriously.”

The Florida Keys were under a mandatory evacuation order: Wednesday morning for visitors and Wednesday evening for residents. The islands’ three hospitals began evacuating patients on Tuesday.

Hurricane Harvey was weighing heavily on people’s minds. “I think because of Texas, people are freaking out,” said Yoseyn Ramos, 24, a Miami resident who said she was worried because she could not find gas anywhere.--Richard Pérez-Peña and Marc Santora

#Hurricane Irma #Barbuda #Virgin Islands #Puerto Rico #St. Martin #Bahamas

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vernon-luv · 7 years

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Mr. Headphones pt. 10 (Highschool AU)

word count: 1k

It just seems as if every time Vernon and you keep talking, you become even closer. You felt a great connection with him and remembering your happy childhood with him, it made you happier that you got to spend time with him again.

Could you have been happier with Vernon?

What if you never left or never move? Would you and Vernon be a thing? What about now?  Joshua still meant a lot to you, you don’t regret moving or wished that you never met Joshua.

He was a big part in your life and soon, he’ll take an even bigger part of your life..being your future husband and all.

The feeling you had when before kissing Vernon came back to you. Though you’ve been spending most of your time with Vernon, it felt like every time you were with him, things would be…a little too friendly. Some times you’d have a romantic feel whenever you were near Vernon or if Vernon did something to make it feel ike you two were more than just friends.

Did you mind it? No, not that much. You would just..notice it happening. You’d question yourself in your mind if it meant anything and your questions were answered when Vernon finally kissed you.

You were both chilling at his place, in his room, you listening to his songs cause you loved them. You could tell now that some of them were about you which made Vernon a little embarrass but whether they were hateful words and loving words about you, you loved them all.

He sat in a chair beside you and looked at you, seeing your reaction to his music.

You had his headphones on that were plugged to his computer, playing his lists of songs.

You smiled nicely at him, enjoying the music. You even closed your eyes for a moment, just taking in the sweet melody.

When you opened your eyes again, Vernon had started to lean in slowly, looking up and down from your eyes to your lips like the last time. He had a smile on his face as he was happy to finally make a move on you and kiss you.

You didn’t hesitate to kiss back. As you kissed, he brought his hand up to your cheek and cupped it, holding your face as you two kissed.

Same as before in between the kiss, you suddenly remembered why you didn’t kiss him in the first place.

It was because of Joshua. You broke the kiss. “What’s wrong?” He asked confused and a little concerned.

“I-I’m sorry, I can’t.” You headed to the door but he grabbed your hand. “Is it because of Joshua? Are you in love with him instead? I thought we had something Y/N.” He said hurtfully, wondering if that’s the truth.

“I can’t talk about it right now Vernon.” You said sadly.

“Then why?! Why Y/N!” He raised his voice in frustration. You took your hand away from Vernon and left.

—-

After that, you didn’t talk with Vernon, mainly because you had to go to New York the day after.

You were not in the mood to do anything. It was upsetting, everything that was happening to you.

You still had Vernon’s songs on your phone and listen to that. You had no idea what was going on between you two anymore..did you like him?

Being Joshua’s fiancee wasn’t the only excuse as to why you didn’t want to kiss Vernon. You knew…you were just trying to avoid the truth. The fact that you liked him..yet you couldn’t be with him.

You still denied it. You didn’t want to tell yourself it was true that you liked Vernon.

You tried everything to distract yourself but somehow, you kept going back to him.

“Y/N.” Joshua called in a tired, raspy voice, coming back from the washroom in the airplane.

You hadn’t fallen asleep yet, your thoughts made you restless.

You took out one of your earbuds to hear him. “Yeah?” You asked in a low voice.

He sat down beside you. “Can I have the blanket please if you’re not using it?” He asked with heavy eyelids and yawning as he sat down lazily beside you.

“Sure.” You answered, giving him the blanket and he thanked you.

“How much longer til we land?” You asked. He checked his watch. “Around 6 hours so go to sleep. We have a busy day tomorrow.”  It was midnight already and the view outside was pitch black. He rested his head on your shoulder and you turned to him.

He had already closed his eyes and started to get comfy, covering himself with the blanket.

What were you doing here?

Once you’ve arrived, you were ready to get off the plane. By this time, it was early morning and Joshua got a good nights sleep.

“Do you have your ring?” He whispered from behind you as you two stood up and got off the plane along with everyone else.

“Yeah.” You sighed tiredly. Once you exited, you were immediately were escorted to the black car outside but during all this, there were some reporters wanting to interview Joshua’s dad about what was happening and the meeting that was going on in New York.

They even questioned Joshua and I but we both knew better to stay silent. Joshua covered my face from the cameras as I got into the car.

Joshua and I were in one car while his parents were in the other.

The cars drove off to our hotel. You took out your ring from your pocket and looked at it. The light from the sun outside, shone and made the ring sparkly as you turned it slowly.

It was a beautiful ring, you couldn’t deny that but.. even though it was supposedly for you, you knew it didn’t belong to you. You weren’t meant to be Joshua’s fiancee or wife…you didn’t want to be.

“Keep that in a safe place, don’t lose it.” He reminds you.

Seeing the ring, it reminds you that you’re hours away from letting the world know about your engagement. The world including Vernon.

#vernon scenarios

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topworldhistory · 4 years

Link

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from Stories - HISTORY https://ift.tt/2OJb5oH November 26, 2019 at 05:29AM

#Worldhistory

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cutshoe15-blog · 5 years

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USA Adapts Critically Acclaimed Megan Abbott Mystery "Dare Me" to Series

[01/28/19 - 11:44 AM] USA Adapts Critically Acclaimed Megan Abbott Mystery "Dare Me" to Series Based on the acclaimed novel by Megan Abbott, "Dare Me" is an unflinching exploration of teen angst, jealousy, loyalty, and the dynamics of power in a small Midwestern town.

[via press release from USA]

USA ADAPTS CRITICALLY ACCLAIMED MEGAN ABBOTT MYSTERY "DARE ME" TO SERIES

USA Network announced a series pickup for Dare Me from UCP in association with Film 44. Based on the acclaimed novel by Megan Abbott, who serves as writer and executive producer along with Gina Fattore (Dawson's Creek, Gilmore Girls, Californication"), Dare Me is an unflinching exploration of teen angst, jealousy, loyalty, and the dynamics of power in a small Midwestern town. Peter Berg (Friday Night Lights) and Michael Lombardo of Film 44, Sarah Condon and Karen Rosenfelt executive produce. Netflix will co-produce and have first-run rights to the series outside of the U.S.

Peering behind the all-American facade, the series dives into the cutthroat world of competitive high school cheerleading. It follows the fraught relationship between two best friends (Herizen Guardiola and Marlo Kelly) after a new coach (Willa Fitzgerald) arrives to bring their team to prominence. While the girls' friendship is put to the test, their young lives are changed forever when a shocking crime rocks their quiet suburban world. Part coming-of-age story, part small-town drama, part murder mystery, Dare Me exposes the physical and psychological extremes that some young women are willing to endure in order to get ahead. Academy Award-nominated director Steph Green (The Americans) directed and executive produced the pilot.

"Megan Abbott's voice brings a fresh perspective to USA Network, with a gripping, female-focused story that combines the ultra-competitive world of high school cheerleading with the secrets of a seemingly-perfect small American town," said Chris McCumber, President, USA Network and SYFY.

Dare Me stars Fitzgerald (Scream: The TV Series) as Coach Colette French, Herizen Guardiola (The Get Down) as Addy Hanlon, and Marlo Kelly (Home & Away) as Beth Cassidy. Additional series regulars include Rob Heaps (Imposters), Zach Roerig (The Vampire Diaries), and Paul Fitzgerald (Veep, Glow, Younger). Joyful Drake (Let's Stay Together), Tammy Blanchard (Tallulah, Into the Woods), Antonio J. Bell (Nigerian Prince), and Alison Thornton (Girlfriend's Guide to Divorce) are also set to recur.

The Dare Me news comes days after USA's announcement the new anthology drama series Briarpatch, starring Rosario Dawson. Read more here!

https://www.usanetwork.com/news/usa-picks-up-dare-me-to-series

[01/28/19 - 03:03 PM] 2019 Pro Bowl on ESPN and ABC Delivers Eight Million Viewers ESPN spins the numbers for Sunday, January 27. [01/28/19 - 02:20 PM] Oxygen Media's "In Ice Cold Blood" Hosted by Ice-T Returns Monday, February 25 at 8PM ET/PT Ice-T returns as host and executive producer, using his distinct voice to guide viewers through shocking true stories involving sex, money, obsession - or a fatal cocktail of all three. [01/28/19 - 01:00 PM] "The Twilight Zone" Enlists Taissa Farmiga, Rhea Seehorn, Luke Kirby and Ike Barinholtz They will star in an upcoming episode that will also feature Percy Hynes-White. [01/28/19 - 11:44 AM] USA Adapts Critically Acclaimed Megan Abbott Mystery "Dare Me" to Series Based on the acclaimed novel by Megan Abbott, "Dare Me" is an unflinching exploration of teen angst, jealousy, loyalty, and the dynamics of power in a small Midwestern town. [01/28/19 - 11:42 AM] "VH1 Trailblazer Honors" Kicks Off Women's History Month Celebrating Academy Award Nominee Ava DuVernay The one-hour special will air on International Women's Day, Friday, March 8 at 9:00/8:00c on VH1 and Logo. [01/28/19 - 11:01 AM] Nickelodeon's "Double Dare" Takes the Gridiron at Super Bowl LIII Hosted by Liza Koshy and featuring color commentary from Marc Summers, the teams will include NFL athletes Drew Brees and Russell Wilson, as well as Nickelodeon stars Scarlett Spencer and Dallas Dupree Young. [01/28/19 - 10:59 AM] TLC's Hit Series "Trading Spaces" Sets Season 10 Return for March 16th Hosted by Paige Davis, this season includes 12 episodes filmed across the country, where the designers tackle new challenges as varied as teachers' lounges, twin sisters' homes, attics, basements and even homes of ex-spouses, among others. [01/28/19 - 10:15 AM] Freeform Inks Script to Series Deal for "Party Girls" with Platform One Media, Laurence Fishburne's Cinema Gypsy and Picture It Productions The half-hour, single-camera dramedy is inspired by the true story of Ericka Suzanne, daughter of the first female leader of the Black Panther Party, Elaine Brown. [01/28/19 - 09:17 AM] "A Discovery of Witches" Casts a Spell on Audiences, Conjuring Record Breaking Subscriber Growth and Viewership for Sundance Now and Shudder In all, "A Discovery of Witches" accounted for more than half of all streaming activity on Sundance Now. [01/28/19 - 09:15 AM] Life May Not Be a Cabaret, But There Are Plenty of Theatrics When "The Real Housewives of New York City" Premieres Wednesday, March 6 at 9PM ET/PT Returning this season are Bethenny Frankel, Dorinda Medley, Luann de Lesseps, Ramona Singer, Sonja Morgan, and Tinsley Mortimer, joined by friend Barbara Kavovit. [01/28/19 - 08:20 AM] Sunday's Broadcast Ratings: ABC, FOX Share Demo Crown as "Rent" Leads Night FOX's telecast is the number one draw among adults 18-49. [01/27/19 - 08:14 AM] Saturday's Broadcast Ratings: ABC Tops Demos with NBA Coverage "NBA Saturday Primetime on ABC" leads the night among adults 18-49. [01/27/19 - 07:47 AM] Discovery Announces Next Phase for Project C.A.T and Premieres "Tigerland" at Sundance The film will debut on Discovery on March 30, in U.S. and in countries and territories around the world. [01/26/19 - 10:06 AM] Video: OWN Unveils Teaser Trailer at Sundance for Its Highly Anticipated New Drama "David Makes Man," From Oscar Winner Tarell Alvin McCraney The series is set for a summer 2019 premiere on OWN. [01/26/19 - 08:41 AM] Friday's Broadcast Ratings: CBS Tops Charts with "Celebrity Big Brother" The Eye wins the night among total viewers, shares the adults 18-49 crown with ABC.

Source: http://www.thefutoncritic.com/news/2019/01/28/usa-adapts-critically-acclaimed-megan-abbott-mystery-dare-me-to-series-51310/20190128usa01/

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flauntpage · 6 years

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RADIO WARS: 94 WIP Rides Eagles’ Hot Start Straight to the Top

Looks like Entercom made the right decision to acquire CBS Radio.

94 WIP topped the ENTIRE Philadelphia market in November on the strength of the Eagles’ 9-1 start.

WIP finished with an 8 share, which I’m told is the highest in the station’s history. The previous record share was set just one month earlier, when the Eagles were also cruising through September and October.

Here are some of the highlights of the ratings period running from mid-October to mid-November, based on the coveted “men 25-54” demographic:

Mornings

Angelo Cataldi, who just signed a new contract, nearly doubled Anthony Gargano and Bob Cooney.

WIP’s morning show was #2 in the market overall, trailing only Preston and Steve on WMMR.

Middays

Joe DeCamara and Jon Ritchie also enjoyed a solid win over Harry Mayes and Jason Myrtetus in the 10am to 2pm time slot. The gap was wider towards the beginning of the show, with WIP enjoying a stronger lead-in coming out of Cataldi’s program. However, the margins narrowed in the 1pm hour, with 97.5 picking up steam heading into Mike Missanelli territory. WIP’s numbers dropped off heading towards 2 p.m.

Joe and Jon were also #2 overall in the market’s M25-54 demo, behind 102.9 WMGK’s classic rock programming.

Afternoons

Mikey Miss was again victorious in the afternoon, though the margin was less than one share point. The combination of Ike Reese and Chris Carlin performed better than expected from 2 to 6, so we’ll see if that momentum continues after Carlin’s departure.

Jeff Blumenthal over at the Philadelphia Business Journal has more on the afternoon time slot:

The afternoon show still trails rival sports station 97.5 The Fanatic (WPEN-FM) stalwart Mike Missanelli. The Fanatic saw its PPM performance increase from 1.7 in August to 2.7 in November.

The ratings period does not reflect the change from afternoon drive co-host Chris Carlin, who last month returned to Entercom sister station WFAN in New York after less than a year at WIP. Jon Marks now teams with incumbent Ike Reese.

Nothing surprising there. Mikey Miss still runs afternoons, though WIP is making significant gains there.

It was a clean sweep on the weekends, though, with WIP placing first in all key male demographics. They obviously crushed anything else on the radio during Eagles’ broadcasts, and also benefited from a ratings period that included a Thursday night game (Carolina) and Monday night game (Washington) in consecutive weeks.

And that’s the key here– the Eagles’ radio rights and the strength of the Merrill Reese and Mike Quick partnership. It gives WIP the lopsided advantage over 97.5, which finished 15th overall with that 2.7 total share. WPEN is also in a transitional phase with the departure of longtime program director Matt Nahigian, who was replaced by former NJ 101.5 executive Eric Johnson.

But there are positives for the Fanatic, which has a younger trending audience. 97.5 performed well in the 25-44 age range and reportedly posted higher digital streaming numbers. WIP had significant success with men 50 years or older, finishing #1 in the M35-64 demographic in all three day parts, plus weekends. The station also finished #1 in the blanket M18+ demo.

That seems to be the trend, as has been from day one. The Fanatic has a good connection with a younger crowd, but WIP wins soundly on the strength of the Eagles and a slightly older demographic. WIP’s average TSL (time spent listening) number is about 15 minutes above the 97.5 average, which is another considerable metric.

This is, of course, all framed within an archaic ratings setup that still uses portable people meters, which is like wearing a pager that needs to be docked at night. I don’t know how many PPMs there are in Philly, but when I worked in television we had about 900 metered households in a market area of 2.8 million TV homes. That should tell you all you need to know about sample sizes.

The overall list shows steady gains for both stations on the strength of the Eagles’ success, though WIP increased from a 5.3 to 8.0 in four months, while 97.5 went from a 1.7 to 2.7.

Per Radio Online:

RADIO WARS: 94 WIP Rides Eagles’ Hot Start Straight to the Top published first on http://ift.tt/2pLTmlv

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watchingthesuperbowl · 6 years

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Grading Super Bowl XL

What was the final score?

Pittsburgh 21, Seattle 10

How much of the game was close? What was the “edge of your seat factor” like? (20 points)

The entire first half was close; it was 7-3 Steelers after two quarters. Pittsburgh’s Willie Parker torched the Seahawks for a 75-yard touchdown run on the second play of the third quarter. That put the Steelers on top by 11 points, which meant that if Seattle were going to win this game, they’d need to put together the largest comeback in Super Bowl history.

And the Seahawks had a chance to do just that. After cutting the Pittsburgh lead to 14-10 later in the third quarter, Seattle put together a long drive deep into Steelers territory before Matt Hasselbeck made a terrible throw directly to cornerback Ike Taylor at the five yard line. That turnover, and the touchdown the Steelers scored four plays later, put a fork in the Seahawks. (Score: 12 out of 20)

Was there any kind of comeback? Was there ever any indication that the team which was trailing had a chance to come from behind and win? (15 points)

As I mentioned earlier, a comeback seemed entirely plausible until Hasselbeck was picked off in the red zone. On their ensuing drive, Pittsburgh ran a reverse run-pass option to Antwaan Randle-El, a wide receiver who had been a college quarterback. Randle-El looked like someone who knew what he was doing, throwing an inch-perfect bomb to Hines Ward for a score. Those two plays turned a potential 17-14 Seahawks lead in the fourth quarter into a 21-10 Pittsburgh lead. Given the Steelers’ ability to move the ball on the ground, it was pretty much game over at that point. (Score: 7 out of 15)

Did the great players come through with great performances? (15 points)

Apart from Hines Ward, nobody had a great performance. Ward made five catches for 123 yards and a touchdown en route to the Super Bowl XL MVP award. Ward only had six touches, but was as good a selection for MVP as there was on the field.

Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, one of the top young quarterbacks in the league, went 9-for-21 for 123 yards, zero touchdowns, and two interceptions. His backfield mate, Jerome Bettis, playing the final game of a Hall of Fame career, ran for 43 yards at 3.1 yards per carry. Starting running back Willie Parker had one huge run - that 75 yard touchdown, the longest rushing play in Super Bowl history - but otherwise averaged two yards per carry. Other than Ward, no Pittsburgh Steeler had more than 22 receiving yards in the game.

On the defensive side of the ball, Troy Polamalu was good but wasn’t a game-changer. The stars for the Steeler defense in this game were Ike Taylor, Clark Haggans, and Deshea Townsend. All good players, certainly, but nobody was tuned into the Super Bowl to see what Clark Haggans would do this week.

For the Seahawks, league MVP Shaun Alexander was the most consistently dangerous weapon on the field. Alexander ran the ball 20 times for 95 yards - a good performance, but not a dominant performance or the sort of thing you’d hope to see from the league MVP on the sport’s biggest stage. Quarterback Matt Hasselbeck was 26-for-49 with a touchdown, a pick, and 273 yards through the air. His receivers were all reasonably successful. Joe Jurevicius was the best of the bunch with 5 catches for 93 yards. Bobby Engram (6-70) and Darrell Jackson (5-50) were similarly solid. It’s worth noting that all five of Jackson’s catches were early in the first quarter. He didn’t touch the ball in the final 53 minutes of the game.

So there just wasn’t a ton of greatness on display. It wasn’t terrible, but there wasn’t much in the way of individual excellence. (Score: 7 out of 15)

Were the teams historically great? (10 points)

Not really.

The Steelers went 6-10 in 2003, 15-1 in 2004, 11-5 with a Super Bowl win in 2005, and then 8-8 and 10-6 in ‘06 and ‘07. They were a really good team, but they didn’t sustain their success for long enough to be elite. It should be mentioned that the 2008 and 2010 Steelers played in the Super Bowl, but they missed the playoffs entirely in 2006 and 2009. Is that historical greatness? Probably not, but three Super Bowls in six years is commendable and not something to dismiss lightly. It’s historical reallygoodness.

For their part, Seattle had the best record in football in 2005 (13-3), but it was their first 11+ win season in more than two decades. They were actually outscored by their opponents in 2004 and 2006, which suggests this success was less “greatness” and more “talented players and an excellent coach having everything fall into place at the same time”. This core was not the same group of players that played in back-to-back Super Bowls for the Pete Carroll Seahawks in the 2010s. That team should be considered entirely different for the purposes of this category. (Score: 8 out of 10)

Were there memorable moments that will be talked about for decades? (10 points)

Seattle fans could probably list a half-dozen times the referees conspired to cost them the Super Bowl championship they obviously deserved. I know that feeling - I’m still salty about all the uncalled incidents of defensive pass interference by Washington in XXVII - but jeez. Tell your quarterback not to throw the ball to the other team inside the red zone. Tell your receivers not to push off the defensive back right in front of an official. I understand the frustration, but the Seahawks lost this game because they did a bunch of stupid crap at inopportune times. I don’t like the Steelers - I grew up in a Browns family in Northeast Ohio and would like nothing more than to crap on Pittsburgh - but they won this game because they deserved to win this game.

For those of us who aren’t wearing tinfoil caps, there were a few huge plays that turned the tide of the game. On the second play of the third quarter, Steelers running back Willie Parker took a handoff from quarterback Ben Roethlisberger and was just flat gone. Nobody was going to catch him. That completely changed the complexion of the game, from a 7-3 nailbiter to a two-score second half lead.

Seattle fought back, though, and had a chance to take the lead in the fourth quarter until Matt Hasselbeck inexplicably through the ball right to defensive back Ike Taylor at the Pittsburgh five yard line. That ended the Seahawks drive and led directly to the third memorable moment, an Antwaan Randle-El to Hines Ward touchdown pass that stuck the fork in Seattle. They were done and the Steelers finally had one for the thumb. (Score: 9 out of 10)

How was the quality of play? Were there a lot of penalties, punts, and turnovers? (15 points)

Good. Not great, but good. There were no fumbles and not a ton of penalties. Both teams ran the ball well, both defenses were strong, and the only big mistake was the game-changing interception Hasselbeck threw in the fourth quarter. On the negative side of the ledger, Roethlisberger was poor, missing open receivers and looking a bit overwhelmed in his first Super Bowl.

As I mentioned earlier, Seattle fans would argue that the quality of the officiating was horrendous, but I’m not buying what they’re selling. I wish I were, but I’m just not. (Score: 9 out of 15)

Are there any other factors that add to the greatness the game? This covers things like weather, story line, rivalry matchup, legacy franchises, unexpected results, etc. (15 points)

This was Pittsburgh’s second attempt at “one for the thumb”, the fifth Super Bowl championship in Steelers history. The team of the 1970s struggled through the 1980s and spent most of the 1990s as second banana in the AFC, first to Buffalo and then to Denver. They’re pretty much the definition a “legacy franchise” and it was a big deal to have them back atop the NFL.

Super Bowl XL was the final Bus stop, as Jerome Bettis finished off a Hall of Fame career by earning a championship ring in his hometown of Detroit. This was the big talking point as the game approached: Would Bettis retire, win or lose? Is there a better way to end a legendary career than by winning a championship in your hometown?

The Steelers became the third team to win the Super Bowl despite playing zero home playoff games, after the Packers (Super Bowl I) and Chiefs (Super Bowl IV). Pittsburgh was the #6 seed in the AFC in the 2005 playoffs and beat (in order) the #3, #1, and #2 seeds to reach the Super Bowl. Seattle, meanwhile, became the first team in history to reach the Super Bowl without playing a division champion in the postseason. They, of course, didn’t even play a division champion in the super Bowl itself.

In addition to the Bettis story, the other talking point in the days leading to this game was the war of words between Seahawks tight end Jerramy Stevens and Pittsburgh linebacker Joey Porter. I won’t go over it because it was dumb at the time and it’s still dumb, but people were talking about these two jokers talking. (Score: 9 out of 15)

How does the game grade overall? (sum of all previous categories, 100 points)

61 out of 100. Tied for 18th out of 40, which seems right. This was sort of a nothingburger. Wasn’t great, wasn’t awful. It was good enough that you wouldn’t feel cheated out of 3-4 hours of your life, but not good enough to be more than Generic Super Bowl.

Ratings and rankings of Super Bowls I-XL:

T1. Super Bowl XIII - Pittsburgh 35, Dallas 31 - 87 points T1. Super Bowl XXXVIII - New England 32, Carolina 29 - 87 points 3. Super Bowl XXXVI - New England 20, St. Louis 17 - 86 points 4. Super Bowl XXIII - San Francisco 20, Cincinnati 16 - 85 points T5. Super Bowl XXV - New York Giants 20, Buffalo 19 - 84 points T5. Super Bowl XXXIV - St. Louis 23, Tennessee 16 - 84 points 7. Super Bowl X - Pittsburgh 21, Dallas 17 - 80 points 8. Super Bowl XXXII - Denver 31, Green Bay 24 - 77 points 9. Super Bowl VII - Miami 14, Washington 7 - 74 points 10. Super Bowl XXX - Dallas 27, Pittsburgh 17 - 69 points T11. Super Bowl IX - Pittsburgh 16, Minnesota 6 - 68 points T11. Super Bowl XXXI - Green Bay 35, New England 21 - 68 points T13. Super Bowl XVII - Washington 27, Miami 17 - 67 points T13. Super Bowl XXVIII - Dallas 30, Buffalo 13 - 67 points 15. Super Bowl XXXIX - New England 24, Philadelphia 21 - 66 points 16. Super Bowl XIV - Pittsburgh 31, Los Angeles 19 - 65 points 17. Super Bowl XVI - San Francisco 26, Cincinnati 21 - 62 points T18. Super Bowl XL - Pittsburgh 21, Seattle 10 - 61 points T18. Super Bowl XIX - San Francisco 38, Miami 16 - 61 points T20. Super Bowl III - New York Jets 16, Baltimore 7 - 58 points T20. Super Bowl XXII - Washington 42, Denver 10 - 58 points 22. Super Bowl XXI - New York Giants 39, Denver 20 - 57 points 23. Super Bowl XXVII - Dallas 52, Buffalo 17 - 55 points 24. Super Bowl XXXIII - Denver 34, Atlanta 19 - 53 points 25. Super Bowl VI - Dallas 24, Miami 3 - 52 points 26. Super Bowl XX - Chicago 46, New England 10 - 51 points T27. Super Bowl I - Green Bay 35, Kansas City 10 - 50 points T27. Super Bowl XXXVII - Tampa Bay 48, Oakland 21 - 50 points T29. Super Bowl XVIII - Los Angeles Raiders 38, Washington 9 - 49 points T29. Super Bowl XXIV - San Francisco 55, Denver 10 - 49 points 31. Super Bowl XXVI - Washington 37, Buffalo 24 - 48 points 32. Super Bowl VIII - Miami 24, Minnesota 7 - 47 points 33. Super Bowl XV - Oakland 27, Philadelphia 10 - 44 points 34. Super Bowl IV - Kansas City 23, Minnesota 7 - 43 points 35. Super Bowl XXXV - Baltimore 34, New York Giants 7 - 42 points T36. Super Bowl II - Green Bay 33, Oakland 14 - 40 points T36. Super Bowl V - Baltimore 16, Dallas 13 - 40 points 38. Super Bowl XXIX - San Francisco 49, San Diego 26 - 39 points 39. Super Bowl XII - Dallas 27, Denver 10 - 38 points 40. Super Bowl XI - Oakland 32, Minnesota 14 - 35 points

#nfl #football #super bowl #super bowl xl #pittsburgh steelers #pittsburgh #steelers #seattle seahawks #seattle #seahawks

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fughtopia · 7 years

Photo

Ever since the United States launched its war on [OF] terror, oceans of military press releases have poured forth. And those are just for starters. To provide updates on the U.S. military’s various ongoing campaigns, generals, admirals, and high-ranking defense officials regularly testify before congressional committees or brief members of the press. From the field, journalists offer updates that fill in at least some of the details -- on civilian casualties, for example -- that government authorities prefer not to disclose. Contributors to newspaper op-ed pages and “experts” booked by network and cable TV news shows, including passels of retired military officers, provide analysis. Trailing behind come books and documentaries that put things in a broader perspective.

But here’s the truth of it. None of it matters.

Like traffic jams or robocalls, war has fallen into the category of things that Americans may not welcome, but have learned to live with. In twenty-first-century America, war is not that big a deal.

While serving as defense secretary in the 1960s, Robert McNamara once mused that the “greatest contribution” of the Vietnam War might have been to make it possible for the United States “to go to war without the necessity of arousing the public ire.” With regard to the conflict once widely referred to as McNamara’s War, his claim proved grotesquely premature. Yet a half-century later, his wish has become reality.

Why do Americans today show so little interest in the wars waged in their name and at least nominally on their behalf? Why, as our wars drag on and on, doesn’t the disparity between effort expended and benefits accrued arouse more than passing curiosity or mild expressions of dismay? Why, in short, don’t we give a [expletive deleted]?

Perhaps just posing such a question propels us instantly into the realm of the unanswerable, like trying to figure out why people idolize Justin Bieber, shoot birds, or watch golf on television.

Without any expectation of actually piercing our collective ennui, let me take a stab at explaining why we don’t give a @#$%&! Here are eight distinctive but mutually reinforcing explanations, offered in a sequence that begins with the blindingly obvious and ends with the more speculative.

Americans don’t attend all that much to ongoing American wars because:

1. U.S. casualty rates are low. By using proxies and contractors, and relying heavily on airpower, America’s war managers have been able to keep a tight lid on the number of U.S. troops being killed and wounded. In all of 2017, for example, a grand total of 11 American soldiers have been lost in Afghanistan -- about equal to the number of shooting deaths in Chicago over the course of a typical week. True, in Afghanistan, Iraq, and other countries where the U.S. is engaged in hostilities, whether directly or indirectly, plenty of people who are not Americans are being killed and maimed. (The estimated number of Iraqi civilians killed this year alone exceeds 12,000.) But those casualties have next to no political salience as far as the United States is concerned. As long as they don’t impede U.S. military operations, they literally don’t count (and generally aren’t counted).

2. The true costs of Washington’s wars go untabulated. In a famous speech, dating from early in his presidency, Dwight D. Eisenhower said that “Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed.” Dollars spent on weaponry, Ike insisted, translated directly into schools, hospitals, homes, highways, and power plants that would go unbuilt. “This is not a way of life at all, in any true sense,” he continued. “[I]t is humanity hanging from a cross of iron.” More than six decades later, Americans have long since accommodated themselves to that cross of iron. Many actually see it as a boon, a source of corporate profits, jobs, and, of course, campaign contributions. As such, they avert their eyes from the opportunity costs of our never-ending wars. The dollars expended pursuant to our post-9/11 conflicts will ultimately number in the multi-trillions. Imagine the benefits of investing such sums in upgrading the nation’s aging infrastructure. Yet don’t count on Congressional leaders, other politicians, or just about anyone else to pursue that connection.

3. On matters related to war, American citizens have opted out. Others have made the point so frequently that it’s the equivalent of hearing “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” at Christmastime. Even so, it bears repeating: the American people have defined their obligation to “support the troops” in the narrowest imaginable terms, ensuring above all that such support requires absolutely no sacrifice on their part. Members of Congress abet this civic apathy, while also taking steps to insulate themselves from responsibility. In effect, citizens and their elected representatives in Washington agree: supporting the troops means deferring to the commander in chief, without inquiring about whether what he has the troops doing makes the slightest sense. Yes, we set down our beers long enough to applaud those in uniform and boo those who decline to participate in mandatory rituals of patriotism. What we don’t do is demand anything remotely approximating actual accountability.

4. Terrorism gets hyped and hyped and hyped some more. While international terrorism isn’t a trivial problem (and wasn’t for decades before 9/11), it comes nowhere close to posing an existential threat to the United States. Indeed, other threats, notably the impact of climate change, constitute a far greater danger to the wellbeing of Americans. Worried about the safety of your children or grandchildren? The opioid epidemic constitutes an infinitely greater danger than “Islamic radicalism.” Yet having been sold a bill of goods about a “war on terror” that is essential for “keeping America safe,” mere citizens are easily persuaded that scattering U.S. troops throughout the Islamic world while dropping bombs on designated evildoers is helping win the former while guaranteeing the latter. To question that proposition becomes tantamount to suggesting that God might not have given Moses two stone tablets after all.

5. Blather crowds out substance. When it comes to foreign policy, American public discourse is -- not to put too fine a point on it -- vacuous, insipid, and mindlessly repetitive. William Safire of the New York Times once characterized American political rhetoric as BOMFOG, with those running for high office relentlessly touting the Brotherhood of Man and the Fatherhood of God. Ask a politician, Republican or Democrat, to expound on this country’s role in the world, and then brace yourself for some variant of WOSFAD, as the speaker insists that it is incumbent upon the World’s Only Superpower to spread Freedom and Democracy. Terms like leadership and indispensable are introduced, along with warnings about the dangers of isolationism and appeasement, embellished with ominous references to Munich. Such grandiose posturing makes it unnecessary to probe too deeply into the actual origins and purposes of American wars, past or present, or assess the likelihood of ongoing wars ending in some approximation of actual success. Cheerleading displaces serious thought.

6. Besides, we’re too busy. Think of this as a corollary to point five. Even if the present-day American political scene included figures like Senators Robert La Follette or J. William Fulbright, who long ago warned against the dangers of militarizing U.S. policy, Americans may not retain a capacity to attend to such critiques. Responding to the demands of the Information Age is not, it turns out, conducive to deep reflection. We live in an era (so we are told) when frantic multitasking has become a sort of duty and when being overscheduled is almost obligatory. Our attention span shrinks and with it our time horizon. The matters we attend to are those that happened just hours or minutes ago. Yet like the great solar eclipse of 2017 -- hugely significant and instantly forgotten -- those matters will, within another few minutes or hours, be superseded by some other development that briefly captures our attention. As a result, a dwindling number of Americans -- those not compulsively checking Facebook pages and Twitter accounts -- have the time or inclination to ponder questions like: When will the Afghanistan War end? Why has it lasted almost 16 years? Why doesn’t the finest fighting force in history actually win? Can’t package an answer in 140 characters or a 30-second made-for-TV sound bite? Well, then, slowpoke, don’t expect anyone to attend to what you have to say.

7. Anyway, the next president will save us. At regular intervals, Americans indulge in the fantasy that, if we just install the right person in the White House, all will be well. Ambitious politicians are quick to exploit this expectation. Presidential candidates struggle to differentiate themselves from their competitors, but all of them promise in one way or another to wipe the slate clean and Make America Great Again. Ignoring the historical record of promises broken or unfulfilled, and presidents who turn out not to be deities but flawed human beings, Americans -- members of the media above all -- pretend to take all this seriously. Campaigns become longer, more expensive, more circus-like, and ever less substantial. One might think that the election of Donald Trump would prompt a downward revision in the exalted expectations of presidents putting things right. Instead, especially in the anti-Trump camp, getting rid of Trump himself (Collusion! Corruption! Obstruction! Impeachment!) has become the overriding imperative, with little attention given to restoring the balance intended by the framers of the Constitution. The irony of Trump perpetuating wars that he once roundly criticized and then handing the conduct of those wars to generals devoid of ideas for ending them almost entirely escapes notice.

8. Our culturally progressive military has largely immunized itself from criticism. As recently as the 1990s, the U.S. military establishment aligned itself with the retrograde side of the culture wars. Who can forget the gays-in-the-military controversy that rocked Bill Clinton’s administration during his first weeks in office, as senior military leaders publicly denounced their commander-in-chief? Those days are long gone. Culturally, the armed forces have moved left. Today, the services go out of their way to project an image of tolerance and a commitment to equality on all matters related to race, gender, and sexuality. So when President Trump announced his opposition to transgendered persons serving in the armed forces, tweeting that the military “cannot be burdened with the tremendous medical costs and disruption that transgender in the military would entail,” senior officers politely but firmly disagreed and pushed back. Given the ascendency of cultural issues near the top of the U.S. political agenda, the military’s embrace of diversity helps to insulate it from criticism and from being called to account for a less than sterling performance in waging wars. Put simply, critics who in an earlier day might have blasted military leaders for their inability to bring wars to a successful conclusion hold their fire. Having women graduate from Ranger School or command Marines in combat more than compensates for not winning.

A collective indifference to war has become an emblem of contemporary America. But don't expect your neighbors down the street or the editors of the New York Times to lose any sleep over that fact. Even to notice it would require them -- and us -- to care.

Source: Andrew Bacevich, How We Learned Not To Care About America's Wars (tomdispatch.com)

#amerikkka #nation of lawless nazi psychopaths #endless wars #nation of neanderthals

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newstfionline · 7 years

Text

How We Learned Not To Care About America’s Wars

By Andrew J. Bacevich, TomDispatch, Oct. 9, 2017

Consider, if you will, these two indisputable facts. First, the United States is today more or less permanently engaged in hostilities in not one faraway place, but at least seven. Second, the vast majority of the American people could not care less.

Nor can it be said that we don’t care because we don’t know. True, government authorities withhold certain aspects of ongoing military operations or release only details that they find convenient. Yet information describing what U.S. forces are doing (and where) is readily available, even if buried in recent months by barrages of presidential tweets. Here, for anyone interested, are press releases issued by United States Central Command for just one recent week:

September 19: Military airstrikes continue against ISIS terrorists in Syria and Iraq

September 20: Military airstrikes continue against ISIS terrorists in Syria and Iraq

Iraqi Security Forces begin Hawijah offensive

September 21: Military airstrikes continue against ISIS terrorists in Syria and Iraq

September 22: Military airstrikes continue against ISIS terrorists in Syria and Iraq

September 23: Military airstrikes continue against ISIS terrorists in Syria and Iraq

Operation Inherent Resolve Casualty

September 25: Military airstrikes continue against ISIS terrorists in Syria and Iraq

September 26: Military airstrikes continue against ISIS terrorists in Syria and Iraq

Ever since the United States launched its war on terror, oceans of military press releases have poured forth. And those are just for starters. To provide updates on the U.S. military’s various ongoing campaigns, generals, admirals, and high-ranking defense officials regularly testify before congressional committees or brief members of the press. From the field, journalists offer updates that fill in at least some of the details--on civilian casualties, for example--that government authorities prefer not to disclose. Contributors to newspaper op-ed pages and “experts” booked by network and cable TV news shows, including passels of retired military officers, provide analysis. Trailing behind come books and documentaries that put things in a broader perspective.

But here’s the truth of it. None of it matters.

Like traffic jams or robocalls, war has fallen into the category of things that Americans may not welcome, but have learned to live with. In twenty-first-century America, war is not that big a deal.

Perhaps just posing such a question propels us instantly into the realm of the unanswerable, like trying to figure out why people idolize Justin Bieber, shoot birds, or watch golf on television.

Americans don’t attend all that much to ongoing American wars because:

1. U.S. casualty rates are low. By using proxies and contractors, and relying heavily on airpower, America’s war managers have been able to keep a tight lid on the number of U.S. troops being killed and wounded. In all of 2017, for example, a grand total of 11 American soldiers have been lost in Afghanistan--about equal to the number of shooting deaths in Chicago over the course of a typical week. True, in Afghanistan, Iraq, and other countries where the U.S. is engaged in hostilities, whether directly or indirectly, plenty of people who are not Americans are being killed and maimed. (The estimated number of Iraqi civilians killed this year alone exceeds 12,000.) But those casualties have next to no political salience as far as the United States is concerned. As long as they don’t impede U.S. military operations, they literally don’t count (and generally aren’t counted).

5. Blather crowds out substance. When it comes to foreign policy, American public discourse is--not to put too fine a point on it--vacuous, insipid, and mindlessly repetitive. William Safire of the New York Times once characterized American political rhetoric as BOMFOG, with those running for high office relentlessly touting the Brotherhood of Man and the Fatherhood of God. Ask a politician, Republican or Democrat, to expound on this country’s role in the world, and then brace yourself for some variant of WOSFAD, as the speaker insists that it is incumbent upon the World’s Only Superpower to spread Freedom and Democracy. Terms like leadership and indispensable are introduced, along with warnings about the dangers of isolationism and appeasement, embellished with ominous references to Munich. Such grandiose posturing makes it unnecessary to probe too deeply into the actual origins and purposes of American wars, past or present, or assess the likelihood of ongoing wars ending in some approximation of actual success. Cheerleading displaces serious thought.

6. Besides, we’re too busy. Think of this as a corollary to point five. Even if the present-day American political scene included figures like Senators Robert La Follette or J. William Fulbright, who long ago warned against the dangers of militarizing U.S. policy, Americans may not retain a capacity to attend to such critiques. Responding to the demands of the Information Age is not, it turns out, conducive to deep reflection. We live in an era (so we are told) when frantic multitasking has become a sort of duty and when being overscheduled is almost obligatory. Our attention span shrinks and with it our time horizon. The matters we attend to are those that happened just hours or minutes ago. Yet like the great solar eclipse of 2017--hugely significant and instantly forgotten--those matters will, within another few minutes or hours, be superseded by some other development that briefly captures our attention. As a result, a dwindling number of Americans--those not compulsively checking Facebook pages and Twitter accounts--have the time or inclination to ponder questions like: When will the Afghanistan War end? Why has it lasted almost 16 years? Why doesn’t the finest fighting force in history actually win? Can’t package an answer in 140 characters or a 30-second made-for-TV sound bite? Well, then, slowpoke, don’t expect anyone to attend to what you have to say.

7. Anyway, the next president will save us. At regular intervals, Americans indulge in the fantasy that, if we just install the right person in the White House, all will be well. Ambitious politicians are quick to exploit this expectation. Presidential candidates struggle to differentiate themselves from their competitors, but all of them promise in one way or another to wipe the slate clean and Make America Great Again. Ignoring the historical record of promises broken or unfulfilled, and presidents who turn out not to be deities but flawed human beings, Americans--members of the media above all--pretend to take all this seriously. Campaigns become longer, more expensive, more circus-like, and ever less substantial. One might think that the election of Donald Trump would prompt a downward revision in the exalted expectations of presidents putting things right. Instead, especially in the anti-Trump camp, getting rid of Trump himself (Collusion! Corruption! Obstruction! Impeachment!) has become the overriding imperative, with little attention given to restoring the balance intended by the framers of the Constitution. The irony of Trump perpetuating wars that he once roundly criticized and then handing the conduct of those wars to generals devoid of ideas for ending them almost entirely escapes notice.

8. Our culturally progressive military has largely immunized itself from criticism. Put simply, critics who in an earlier day might have blasted military leaders for their inability to bring wars to a successful conclusion hold their fire. Having women graduate from Ranger School or command Marines in combat more than compensates for not winning.

A collective indifference to war has become an emblem of contemporary America. But don’t expect your neighbors down the street or the editors of the New York Times to lose any sleep over that fact. Even to notice it would require them--and us--to care.

#war #indifference to war #American wars

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