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khaleesiofalicante · 1 year

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In Sri Lanka, we celebrate the New Year (also known as the Harvest Festival) when the sun moves from Meena Rashiya (the house of Pisces) to Mesha Rashiya (the house of Aries). It also marks the end of the harvest season and of spring.

Sinhalese and Hindus follow particular traditions for all their day to day activities like clothing, eating, bathing etc. Government Issue a traditional timetable only for the New Year season (we bathe and eat and go out at particular times). There are colors specified to wear on that day and people mostly used to wear the traditional clothing in Sri Lanka.

There are traditional food items indigenous to the Sri Lankan society, like milk rice, which is made with milk and cooked rice, and oil cakes called Kawum. There are so many yummy things to eat during this time! We call this avurudu kawili (New Year sweets!).

My favorite part of Avurudu (New Year) other than the food of course is all the games. We play soooo many traditional games (as a community - school, workplace, neighbourhood, etc) and it’s so much fun. Let’s have a look at some of my favorite games!

Kana Mutti (like hitting a piñata, but there is coloured water inside). I am very bad at this lol.

Tug of war (this is so fun ahhh)

Playing Raban (drums) - this is usually done by the women and the tunes are such a bop

Bun eating with your hands tied (I’m a pro at this btw)

Goni (sack) race my beloved

And of course kotta pora (you have one arm tied behind your back and you have to hit your opponent with a pillow (kotta) until they lose the balance and fall off the thingy. (I've never played this and never will either lol)

Put the eye on the elephant (self-explanatory)

Lime and spoon race (I am also a pro in this)

Lisanaha gaha (climb the greasy pole)

And of course the infamous Avurudu Kumari (a beauty pageant!!) where women (and men) dress up in our traditional clothes and walk around. I got invited to judge it once and I was gay panicking the entire time.

Anyway! I just wanted to share it with you all because it’s such a fun time and even though Sri Lanka is going through a difficult time with the economic crisis, people are still celebrating because it’s nice to have something to celebrate and be happy about.

Happy Sinhala and Tamil New Year to everyone who is celebrating ♥️

#sri lanka #just dani things

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lunarsilkscreen · 7 months

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Multiple income streams

Why is it that the rich advocate for multiple revenue streams, instead of one big one?

Well, it's because when you have enough money, you start to look like a piñata. And anybody, and everybody will use the levers of the legal system to hit that piñata in hopes some money will fall out.

It's really the same reason we collectively hate what we deem "frivolous law suits". I'm not just talking about slappsuits (suits designed to waste your time and money in court) or the actual consumer health issues that really should be mandated.

I'm talking, everybody and anybody you've ever rubbed the wrong way, specifically targeting you, or your companies in order get what they think they're owed, or that they deserve.

I'd bring up the judge cavanaugh hearing case as an example of it wouldn't bring up old wounds.

So they talk about owning assets, multiple houses, multiple vehicles, multiple revenue streams, those bank bonds that caused the economic collapse, multiple bank accounts (some overseas)

Anything to make multiple targets so everything you own can't be taken away in one fell swoop.

Steve Jobs would only ever drive a company vehicle that itself was on lease. So that it could'nt be taken away from him except through layers and layers of legal protections.

Yes, I'm validating these things about being rich. While simultaneously knowing that they can be used maliciously against the little guy.

People do this for many reasons, one is because they have no other option to get the American Dream. Other reasons are just straight up v for vendetta. And further still is the big guys trying to take down their competition.

So when you get a certain amount of revenue, your friends, and your family might all start coming for your money, family you've never met. "Friends" that talked to you that one time but only to make fun of you in high school.

I had a bit of trouble with car insurance where they called me directly instead of the insurance they had on file, or even their own insurance company. Or even the police officers. They called me directly expecting me to be able to pay them out of pocket.

That's how people think. Even at a *just above poverty wage level* of 42k a year. Even at a just below poverty wage of 24k a year.

Some people don't know what it's like to have to rent and pay utilities, because they live with family, but they still need to pay for food. Or they're greedy and think "well they have money so they can afford it."

Some People don't understand money, they just understand that you have a source, and they don't.

I don't think that'll go away with *UBI* (universal basic income) there will still be those that are greedy, jealous, or envious. Or they'll be prideful, and think because you've slighted them once they owe you the world. (Even if they were the one who started it, or keep acting the way the accuse you of.)

However, I do think the it'll help people not have to fight for the right to live. To have food, and if the rent weren't to damn high, just enough to rent. (Or for those who live with family or friends, a bit more.)

And it'll lessen the incentive for lawsuits because you offended somebody you thought was friendly that one time.

We can't stop people from the evil in their own hearts, we can't. But we can help the people who suffer from that evil in other people's hearts. By ensuring that they have food and a roof and a clean set of clothes at the bare minimum, when things go wrong, or when they're taken for everything they have by an uncaring system.

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sambinnie · 4 months

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No swim for Yule, for the first time in years, and no swim on Christmas morning or the days either side — I’ve got the virus that seems to be flattening people’s festivities, and I go to bed on the 20th shivering and aching, and barely get up until Christmas Eve. In some ways it’s sad — my body feels so pathetically mortal and I am never a patient patient, I want to feel better now — but in others it’s wonderful: the housemates bring me Lemsip and cut-up-apple, and all I can do is cough out a few vague directions and release all other plans from my grasp. We make Christmas dinner together, although mostly it involves me lying on a fainting couch and making weak suggestions, and I occasionally put on outdoor shoes to shuffle around the streets, including an early morning walk on the 25th where other early backlit silhouettes wish us a Merry Christmas, until I’m too feeble to continue, and we limp home. A few days later and I walk further, and see the path that’s been completed along the river bank. Workers have been there for a month or two now, and what was a central bank between lake and river, dusty in the summer, full of wasps and kingfishers, and muddy in the winter, ice-pocketed and guarded by hissing swans, has been concreted over in a wide, flat path. I hate it. I hate it. There are parallel paths either side of the lake and river that allow access and smooth walks to those who need it — this was another brief moment of nature that someone decided was too natural and needed destroying. Combined with the news that Universal have bought up nearly 500 acres of land nearby, full of river, fields, hedgerows and trees, with the intent of turning it into a UK park and resort, I want to give up. I hate it. I don’t think ‘a significant positive economic impact’ undoes the destruction of our planet. I don’t think there’s any possible way that an enormous multinational theme park with hundreds of thousands of visitors a year could cause anything other that massive environmental damage.

I think: 2024 will be the year I give up hope. It is so hard, it is so endless, it is so pointless and thankless and exhausting, and it feels clear that maybe it’s just more sensible to give up on hope. Friends and family have died this year; others have moved away, or plan to next year; there is depletion, there is disappointment, there is parting after parting after parting. Love sometimes just feels like a preparation for more loss. Culture is dumb, and getting dumber; intellectualism is a piñata to be beaten by the Extremely Online until the correct phrases fall out and the intellectual stops existing in any meaningful way; no one meaningful seems to care about the climate catastrophe; democracy is collapsing; more war, more division, more fear.

But the frustrating truth of course is that hopelessness is even harder than hope. Existing in hope may be exhausting. It is bloody, it is muscular and effortful, it requires seeing the best of people even when they don’t display it, it means loving people when they don’t want our love and believing with gritted teeth in the joys we can share, in clever thinking, in engaged discussion, in growth and development, in change and forgiveness. Hope is this dumb semi-accidental tumblr poem that captures the sheer stubbornness you have to develop to keep hope alive. I’ve done hopelessness and it’s awful, crushing and enfeebling and dull beyond words. It’s not smart to be hopeless: it’s boring, and I don't want it. Death is inevitable, but there's still time. Anyway! Here are my highlights from 2023.

SKETCHES:

Much as I don’t want to exist in a youtube bubble — listen to albums, not singles! — sometimes a single sketch says everything you need to. Mostly old, but all brilliant, this year we've enjoyed multiple rewatches of Key & Peele’s Text Confusion sketch, Armstrong & Miller’s physics expert, Mitchell & Webb’s ever-apt Baddies, and not a sketch, but Dave’s explanation of the financial crash in Happy Endings has made ‘let me back up’ an ever-present phrase in most of our household anecdotes. From what Dan McCoy calls ‘the worst show I’ve watched every episode of’, we regularly review Papyrus, Amazon Echo Silver, Dear Sister, Christmas Morning, Amazon Go, Enhancement Drug, and Traffic Altercation; almost any Weekend Update segment with Michael Longfellow, Andrew Dismukes or Marcello Hernández, or any sketch with Bowen Yang; most Please Don’t Destroy sketches, not least Three Sad Virgins, Ramen Order, Wellness, and Self Defense. Going mostly cold-turkey on Inside and Bo Burnham generally means that while I have regained some sanity, it gives the housemates fewer opportunities to sing The Chicken, which is a stone-cold ballad banger.

TV:

TV-wise, we’ve been spoiled by the final series of Succession, a masterpiece examination of corruption, the American Dream, and family trauma. Loved it. In the most opposite possible way, I rewatched Damon Lindelof’s Watchmen, also a masterpiece examination of corruption, the American Dream, and family trauma, but with extra mini-squid, cloned servants, masked police, and President Robert Redford. Although it’s four years old now, I’m sure there are still people who haven’t seen it — please do, really. There are no weak links in the entire thing, it’s imaginative and sharp as a razor, taking the original comic and lifting it to a searing present-day examination of white supremacy and racial exploitation, power and technology.

I also rewatched both Community and Happy Endings, this time with the housemates, and I’m so glad that they now say baggle, rooof stoooof, and Max's ‘Here we go!’. I’m also into my fourth rewatch of Mythic Quest, the Pandemic episode of which might go into my memorial time capsule for the way it captured both the best and worst moments of Covid lockdown. For new television, I loved Extraordinary, a British and female-led look at the superhero genre; The Greatest Show Never Made, a moving, hilarious, and enraging documentary about very early reality TV and the bonds we can make when we come together; Why Didn’t They Ask Evans?, an Agatha Christie adaptation that appreciates we don’t necessarily want our escapist Golden Age plots filmed like Fincher’s Zodiac, and Gregg Wallace: The British Miracle Meat, a Swiftian satire that we collectively watched four times in twelve hours. That’s gravy, baby.

In films, I’ve had a mostly duff year at the cinema bar three highlights: Past Lives, with the luminously beautiful Greta Lee and Teo Yoo, John Wick 4, an extreme action flick I absolutely should not even have liked but which gave me a bubble of joy in my chest that still hasn’t subsided, nine months on, and best of all, Bottoms, a film which should be available on prescription. You know when you love someone, then share some art with them and they love it just as much as you do? It might be the best feeling in the world, and certainly made me ask how different my life might have been had I been taken to see a lesbian high school fight club comedy by authority figures when I was a teen. It’s so weird, and uncomfortable, and over the top, and the time period isn’t clear, and the humour is grotesque. It’s also the most female-gaze-y film I think I’ve ever seen, and takes the idea of ‘female existence as a horror film’ — my constant theory — and shows how we can make all the real horrors of a girl’s existence — abuse, stalking, exploitation, the threat of male violence, a porn-drenched culture, the patriarchy — and turn it into a joyful, vivid, sexy, howl-from-the-sunroof-of-a-speeding-car celebration of girls and women in union. Fuck, it’s so great.

At home, we’ve had a glut of horror joys thanks to my pal Tom Humberstone’s Grave Offerings, a daily newsletter sent throughout October that has got one housemate fully into the delights of a good horror film. Besides The Innocents, Alien, A Quiet Place, and the staggeringly underrated Pontypool, we also took in Duel, which I hadn’t seen since watching it with my father when I was a youngish child. Like almost everything you leave untouched for thirty years, it was completely different to how I remembered it, and I watched it now as a brilliant essay on the traumas of David Mann’s time in Vietnam. Tom’s essay on Duel in particular is fantastic, and will change forever how you see a ‘shark film’.

More fuel to my ‘female existence as a horror film’ theory were Happening, Petite Maman, Mustang, and Spencer. I was put off Spencer for a long time since I’ve never had any interest in Diana or her marriage, but this film was more like The Others than The Crown, and has a haunting lushness that stayed with me. Mustang continues to be among my favourite films of the twenty-first century, and I genuinely believe it should be compulsory viewing in schools. The counters to my theory seem to be films with a tipping-point of women; Little Women, Steel Magnolias, Fried Green Tomatoes. We watched the latter at the start of the year, and for all its flaws I’m still struggling to stop saying, ‘You ain’t nothing but a bee charmer, Idgie Threadgoode.’

In books, January saw me reading the second of Tim Key’s lockdown books, Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bush. The first was hilarious and crushing, reminding me of the weirdness and loneliness of the first lockdown; this second work made me cry again, for the desperate hopefulness of beginning to reconnect with loved ones, with strangers, with life. Do you remember how special we found going to a coffee shop again?

I’d forgotten how foolproof Nick Hornby’s recommendations in the Believer are, and so finally got round to reading Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow when I saw he'd praised it, having pooh-poohed it myself due to its massive success. I read it in less than twenty-four hours and didn’t stop sobbing for at least that long, pressing it into several people’s hands until they agreed to read it too, if I’d stop hiccupping at them. If I’ve read it, I’m certain you have by now.

I managed only a few children’s books this year — my favourite by far was When You Reach Me, pressed into my hands by a housemate with the same fever I’d passed on Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow. I don’t know how famous it is, but without spoiling anything it’s a wonderful primer for budding fans of early-Christopher Nolan (of which I’m sure there are tonnes).

I’d read a phonebook if David Sedaris wrote it, so I was delighted to have his first volume of diaries to go back to in the winter months; at the other end of the year I read another sharp-eyed look at human connection, in the form of A Glass of Blessings. What would I do without Pym and Sedaris, I wonder? Finally, I got Elton John’s memoir, Me, for Christmas and finished it pronto. He’s rather wonderfully both a total nightmare and the most generous, self-aware, loving, creative, and amusing character I’ve enjoyed for a long time. Like all good music books, I want to go back and hear his entire back catalogue from the very beginning.

When it comes to food and drink, I’m discovering the delights of non-alcoholic gin and negronis. I haven’t really drunk alcohol for years, but I do miss that grown-up taste of something sour and special. I recently rediscovered how easy moules marinière are, and if I can afford the shelled delights through the winter I may make it again for Imbolc.

All of us will die, but we can do plenty of good things in the meantime. I wish you a 2024 full of good health, good fortune, and wonderful coming togethers.

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kidspartyideas · 9 months

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How To Throw A Memorable & Budget-Friendly Kids Birthday Party?

Birthday is the best time for any kid who waits for the entire year. During this time, the responsibility of parents increases multiple times, as they have to ensure that the best kid's birthday party is thrown as per the kid's desires and wishes. They have to arrange birthday party accessories, including piñatas for kids and use them strategically along with different tips and tricks. This is the correct way to organise an unforgettable birthday event and satisfy the kid completely. Let us understand some tips and tricks related to throwing a successful birthday party in this article here.

IMPORTANCE OF CHOOSING THE RIGHT VENUE

The family's first challenge is choosing the right venue or location for the event. Most people think their home is ideal, and if you also feel the same, you will have to start thinking early about how to make the available area more unique. But if you have other plans and want to choose an event venue, just make sure to make a booking as early as possible to avoid a 'booking closed' situation. Daycare centres, local community halls, small restaurants and shopping malls are ideal for these events, where you can use all types of birthday party accessories and piñatas for parties in Sydney. During the selection process, you must ensure that the area is child-friendly, safe, and close to your property.

MAKING THE EVENT VENUE PRETTIER

One challenge is now over, and here is the next one, i.e. decorating and making it prettier using kid's birthday party accessories and, particularly, piñatas for kids. You can seek the services of a professional decoration team or search for DIY birthday decoration ideas on YouTube to show your creativity. Another fascinating idea is listening and noting down the birthday kid's desires and decorating the venue accordingly. You can choose your kid's favourite colour, cartoon character, superhero character, book or anything else, but here also, the guidance from a party planner will be a boon.

INVITATION CARD DECORATION

Creativity can also be shown in birthday invitation card designs that you can personalise based on the party theme or kid's choice. You can use your kid's creativity and print these cards at home to make them more personalised. It is essential to send the invites at least two weeks prior to the event, and asking for an RSVP is mandatory. This RSVP will give you an exact headcount and allow you to make the meal and space-related arrangements accordingly.

PARTY ACCESSORIES AND PIÑATAS FOR KIDS

One major problem with kids is that they get bored very quickly and constantly search for engaging activities. You can help them by arranging different party accessories that they can play with or engage in some activity like face painting, tattoo designing or a small skit based on their favourite superheroes. You can make them feel more special by offering birthday hats, name tags and stickers they should colour on their own before using.

SEARCH FOR ECONOMICAL OPTIONS

Kids party accessories, including piñatas for parties in Sydney can drain your pocket big time. To avoid this situation, you should start researching wholesale suppliers of kid's party accessories and piñatas for kids. Several party accessories suppliers are present in Sydney to offer party accessories and supplies needed to make your event a grand success. You can purchase the following party accessories from a reputable and low-cost supplier.

TABLEWARE

Plates (food & cake)

Cups

Forks, spoons, knives

Napkins

Tablecloths

Serving knife

Cake cutter

Serving dishes

Serving utensils

Ice chest

Cake candles

Cake topper/figurines

DECORATIONS

Balloons

Balloon weights

Helium tank

Birthday centrepiece

Streamers

Birthday banner

Scene setters

Cut-outs

Hanging decorations

Birthday confetti

Party hats

Blowouts & noisemakers

Yard signs

Inflatables

PARTY FAVOURS

Boxes, bags, containers

Favour toys/items

Candies

Curling ribbon

ENTERTAINMENT

Entertainer

Music (CD PLAYER, CD'S OR DJ)

Activity supplies

Games

Prizes

Crafts

Piñatas for kids

Piñatas fillers

Bubbles

Bubble machine

Fog machine

Inflatables (slide, etc.)

PARTY FOOD & DRINKS

Appetisers

Finger food

Lunch food

Snacks

Drinks

Cake

Ice

Ice cream

Drinks

RENTALS

Tables & chairs

Tent

Bounce houses

Wet & dry slides

Snow cone machine

Popcorn machine

Cotton candy machine

Hot dog machine

Helium tank

Others

BIRTHDAY CHILD

Gifts

Birthday card

Gift wrapping paper

Outfit

Others

MISCELLANEOUS

Rentals (table, chairs, bounce house, etc.

Inflatables (cooler, slide, etc.)

Camera

Film/memory card

Charge camera battery

Batteries

Inflatables (cooler, etc.)

Ice chest

Matches

Trash containers & bags

Decorated box for gifts

Learn More

Why does gender-reveal balloons so popular and fun filling?

Handle Helium Balloon Bouquets Easily and Safely With These Easy Tips

#kids party ideas #pinatas for kids #pintas for kids #pinatas for parties Sydney

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hist101interview97 · 1 year

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𝑻𝒊𝒂 𝑴𝒂𝒈𝒅𝒂𝒍𝒆𝒏𝒂 | Stephanie's great aunt from Mexico

When I asked my mother about her journey immigrating to the US from the familiar comfort of her Ranchito and the bustle of the city of Guadalajara, she would always mention her madrina Magdalena Becerra. Her godmother and aunt - my great aunt - the woman who had housed my mother when she first arrived in Southern California in her Downey home. Born in July 1950, my Tia Magdalena, unlike my mother or myself, spent her childhood wholly in a small Ranch named San Antonio, Municipio de Atenguillo, in the Mexican state of Jalisco. Her childhood was humble, yet content, spending her days making tortillas by hand in her adobe house that consisted of one bedroom, a kitchen, and a hallway. But as she began to leave her childhood of maize dolls and ceramic piñatas, she realized that there were not many jobs or economic opportunities for her in the small municipality. She wanted to progress. So in 1970, at the age of 19, she made the decision to immigrate from Jalisco to Southern California “sin papeles” - without legal papers.

Her first years in Southern California, she spent in the Los Angeles area. She had come with an aunt of hers who “knew people.” Working with a community of Jews, she worked a cleaning job earning $40 a week - about $310 today. Just as the mother in Thanksgiving in a Moonsoonless Land was described, “she had [rooted] herself into an unfamiliar land” (pg. 326) and in the labors of cleaning she had “given [her] hands to this land” (pg. 330). Always working, she missed the liberty she had back in Mexico; after immigrating, she was now fearful of “la migra” - immigration enforcement - who were known to persecute anyone who “looked Latino.” Nonetheless, three years later in 1973, she married at age 22, got her green card, and had her first son. Against her conservative catholic upbringing, she divorced in 1975 and remarried five years later. In 1980, she had her second child, and finally her American citizenship.

As she grew accustomed to her life and family, my Tia still felt like a minority in SoCal, but she felt accepted. She preserved her Mexican culture, despite it sometimes being difficult. She mentioned how there were only channels in English on TV and it was not until the 80s that a few Hispanic-centered channels finally arrived on television. Her life as a US citizen surprised her as she originally only intended to work for a few years and then return back to Mexico. She did not necessarily miss Mexico as a whole, but she did miss her family; she had gone 10 years without seeing her mother. Citizenship brought her new opportunities: she learned to drive, got a car, and even bought the house she still currently lives in. As she described it, she was very “agusto” - comfortable.

The people around her, despite her minority status, respected her. Her employers treated her well: she recounted the time one of her bosses took her to a salon for her birthday, something she had never experienced before. Despite this, she explained how she noticed that all other minorities were also discriminated against, especially Black Americans. She described the US administration at the time as “nicer”, with healthcare being more accessible and immigration itself being less complicated. (I asked her if she remembers which presidencies she felt were especially “nice” and she said the first Bush and Clinton presidencies.)

As she grew alongside her children, my Tia made her home and life her own. Her hobbies included gardening - she currently has many a rosebush and fruit trees - cooking, and dancing. She once worked with an Italian who taught her to cook a variety of dishes. Her favorite thing to do, however, is participate in the American art of consumerism: shopping. She would always keep up with trends, and loved wearing heels back when her knees allowed her to. She now finds joy in decorating for and celebrating holidays - namely Christmas - traditions she says she never really experienced back in el rancho and that she came to know here in the US. One thing that has not changed in 60 years is her love of Ranchera music, especially artist Chelo Silva. Now a grandmother of many, my Tia Magdelena still enjoys shopping and concerts, but she also spends her time praying at home. When I asked her at the end of the interview if she felt she had incorporated American culture into her life, she said yes. And as discussed in Culture is Ordinary, cultures are “made by living,” (pg. 96) and my Tia had certainly lived and created her own culture. So after the interview, when I went into her bathroom to see American medicines alongside French perfumes and Mexican lotions, I came to the conclusion that she had incorporated mainstream America in her own way, while still always preserving the parts of her Mexican heritage closest and softest to her.

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dispatchesfromtheclasswar · 3 years

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#class war #class warfare #classism #capitalism #trickle down economics #piñata economics

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serenata-your-neighborhood-lefty · 3 years

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mostlysignssomeportents · 3 years

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Alibaba's record-setting antitrust smackdown

China is in the midst of an antitrust surge, mustering the political will to do something that western governments are still flinching away from. This week, Alibaba was hit with a record-smashing $2.8b fine.

https://www.scmp.com/tech/big-tech/article/3129017/alibaba-antitrust-investigation-beijing-slaps-e-commerce-giant-record

The fine was the result into anticompetitive conduct on Alibaba's part - conduct that forced small merchants to use its service in order to reach the market for their goods, allowing Alibaba to extract a tax on an appreciable slice of all ecommerce.

This wasn't just a matter of skimming rents from all transactions. Alibaba's power included the power to shape markets: to decide what would sell and what wouldn't, and to pick winners by and losers through the editorial decisions embedded in its search-result ordering.

All of this turned Alibaba into a shadow government, creating a private, unaccountable, opaque industrial policy that swayed what got produced and consumed. For the economic planners of China's economy, this represented the wrong kind of competition.

But as alarming as this kind of power is to central planners (and fans of central planning), it should also alarm *opponents* of central planning, the advocates for "market forces" as a means of determining economic and production outcomes.

Through acquisitions, lock-in and other anticompetitive tactics, Alibaba structured hundreds of markets for goods of all description, in China and abroad, setting prices and favoring some production techniques over others, on an arbitrary and self-preferencing basis.

It's quite an object lesson in the way that unregulated markets cease to be markets altogether, transforming themselves into planned economies whose architects are the board and executives of a few dominant firms.

Another interesting aspect of this affair is how Alibaba is dealing with it. US companies that face antitrust fines typically admit no guilt, insisting - even as they pay their fines - that they were done wrong. Not Alibaba.

"[Alibaba] accepts the penalty with sincerity...To serve its responsibility to society, Alibaba will operate in accordance with the law with utmost diligence, continue to strengthen its compliance systems and build on growth through innovation."

"Alibaba would not have achieved our growth without sound government regulation and service, and the critical oversight, tolerance and support from all of our constituencies have been crucial to our development. For this, we are full of gratitude and respect."

This is just the first whack that Chinese regulators are taking at the antitrust piñata, and they're promising to fine and smash *any* tech giant that is big enough to constitute its own form of private economic planning.

Antitrust in the West has been in a 40-year, Ronald-Reagan-designed doldrums, and it's just waking up, with the opening salvoes aimed at western Big Tech companies.

Big Tech is guilty of all the same sins as Chinese tech giants: structuring markets and extracting rent through App Stores, Amazon marketplace, Uber, Doordash, and all the other rentiers determined to skim 30% off of all commerce that involves the internet.

In their defense, these companies quietly insist that they have to maintain their scale and control if the west is to triumph in its existential war against Chinese tech. Sometimes, they say the quiet part aloud, as Zuckerberg did last summer:

https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/mark-zuckerberg-facebook-antitrust-hearing-1034575/

It'll be interesting to see how they respond to China's moves. If China is so ultra-competent that it represents a threat to other countries, then what to make of the fact that the country sees domestic tech monopolies as a threat to its dominance?

If China believes that the best way to further its national interests is to shatter the corporate power of its domestic tech giants, then shouldn't we take our own tech giants' claims to "national champion" status with a boulder of salt?

https://pluralistic.net/2021/04/03/ambulatory-wallets/#sectoral-balances

#pluralistic

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noellezoenoodle · 3 years

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well... I'm 20 now

And... now what?

well, i'm anxious... and I mean that in a bad way. Because although I have been legally a adult since 18, and in usa, I'm just one year away (that's another can of worms that I don't wanna open.)

but... in the eyes of the rest of the world, but in the society structure, I'm now a adult.

Being an adult means absolutely nothing, economically (now even less, thanks capitalism,) Mentally (Phycologist still debating that,) and nor even physically (well, that yes, add that to my list of anxieties.) but it really means nothing...

So why do I care so much?

Well... because people will expect more of me... things that somehow I learned in theory and how to them... but... I have now to do it. And I not ready to do those things.

And... so, my social dysphoria is going to rise the hell up when this expectations come.

It's a domino effect... and i'm just the piñata... also I'm a possum, I'm short (5'4), I have no money, and i'm in a lot of stress..

Well, As I said, I don't expect nothing... and yet, I don't wanna fraud my past Zoe, and my other, more hopeful and naive other Zoes as well.. so I gonna try and don't ruin it for the next ones that will come after me.. (damm, Talking about myself in third person is strange... especially with my dysphoria this strong these days, help)

TLDR: gonna try and not die in the attempt, nor try my anxieties consume me like the worms of capitalism that try to in my brain.

And if something happens, well... this blog exist for a reason, isnt?

#anxeity #anxieties #im not good at this #things are going to be okay #hopefully #there is also that #please dont be mean to me #trans blog #aaaaah

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g12stem3group8sy2020-2021 · 4 years

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Media and Government: A Love-Hate Relationship

Government has the responsibility in giving policies that could either benefit the citizens or benefit themselves. It is the policies that affect citizens in countless ways. Media on the other hand, has the responsibility in sharing information in order to give citizens knowledge or news. Government and media have the same function here in our society, to help people by providing public service and providing economic assistance. Media became a valuable asset to the government but could turn into each other when the media intentionally or unintentionally accuse and expose the government in their numerous corruptions being committed, because of these issues, media became the eye opener of people who trusted the government . They began striking each other with different accusations, at some point, the media and the government conflict each other. Some oppose the government and because of this, the government will also then oppose the media. It’s a cycle once one opposes another.

In this drawing, we used one example of the common issue today which is the people on social media versus the government. As you can see on the picture, it depicts a game which is commonly played in a children's party called Piñata, but in our piece the piñata portrays a person who committed suicide due to various problems and one of it is because of our academic system today. The people in the background used to be the audience of the game that cheers for the player but in this drawing, they portray the students in the social media who begs to be heard. Now, the player here is the government who got blinded by money and did not listen to the students and just chose to let these serious matters happen. Government is supposed to have the responsibility in taking good care of the citizens but due to the unfair administration, it results into conflicts with the people using different forms of media to voice out what they think is right and what they think they deserve.

#blogentry2

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realcleverissues · 5 years

Video

youtube

Holy fuuuuuuckkkkkk.... Geraldo fucking destroys fox news

Relevant part is 1:15-3:00. Seriously, take two minutes to check this out.

Also, I super appreciate that it seems he recognizes that he’s brought on by Fox to bash the migrants specifically bc he’s brown. (“As the designated Pinata..”) Fox often uses the tactic of bringing on a person to bash those of a similar race or other shared identifier. It also seems to me that he’s really, really upset about this and just barely containing his anger. Powerful moment of genuine sympathy on a network with a reputation for the opposite.

"Fulfilling my role as the designated piñata on Fox News, I want to say I am ashamed," Rivera said on The Five. "This tear gas choked me. We treat these people, these economic refugees, as if they're zombies from The Walking Dead." He noted that many of the Central American migrants arrested Sunday were mothers with children. "These are not invaders," he told Watters, and his network. "Stop using these military analogies. This is absolutely painful to watch. We are a nation of immigrants. These are desperate people," and "they walked 2,000 miles" for service and agricultural jobs, not to "rape your daughter or steal your lunch." (x)

#geraldo #fox news #politics #migrants #caravan

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kidspartyideas · 1 year

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Simple Tips and Ideas to Make Your Kids Birthday Memorable

Kids are crazy about superheroes, and not just boys but also girls are equally in love with these superheroes. So much so that they want superhero girls party supplies Sydney and themes for their birthday event. The good thing is that these suppliers of party accessories and supplies understand this and have unique and easy superhero party ideas. Your responsibility is to research smartly and choose supplies to decorate your event venue and celebrate with your little superhero.

SUPERHERO PARTY COLOUR PALETTE

Every superhero has some colours that represent him, and these colours can be instrumental in decorating and arranging party supplies. You can use bright and bold multi-colour palettes of blue, yellow, red, black and a hint of metallic in star war kid’s party supplies. Then, silver also works fine for a fun superhero party.

CITY LANDSCAPE BACKDROP

The story of every superhero begins with saving a city or a nation, and this is where you can capitalise on as far as superhero girls party supplies Sydney are concerned.

You can use 3D wallpapers to transform any wall into an incredible city skyline that gives an authentic look of a superhero movie. There is always the option of decorating this wall as per your choice and themes based on star war party ideas Sydney.

SUPERHERO WALL DECAL

Another exciting way to give a superhero party look to your event venue is decorating your wall with awesome vinyl decals. These decals should feature superhero masks and lightning bolts that are readily available at the vendors of star wars kids' party supplies. They are imposing and primarily available for batman fans. You can create a stunning backdrop very quickly behind the cake table, and some other accessories like balloon garlands, can also be used to make the area more attractive.

SUPERHERO BALLOONS

There would be nothing more impressive than superhero balloons used for decorating the event venue. These balloons are often a part of superhero girl’s party supplies Sydney and go really well with star wars party ideas Sydney. The vendors of these supplies have these balloons available for different superheroes, like there are bright starburst-shaped foil balloons to make the venue look more beautiful. There are also lightning bolt-shaped foil balloons to give a simple and modern look to your superhero party. Also, there are balloons for superheroes like superman, wonder woman, captain America, spider-man, batman, Black Panther and a superhero collection.

Apart from these, there are also superhero themes, tableware and cake decorations available at very economical rates. Then, there are also fabulous lightning bolt napkins and other supplies like party cups, plates, and so on to make the birthday event memorable.

Learn More

* What essential Kid's birthday decoration items You Must Have

* Why are piñatas so popular for kids birthday parties?

#personalized birthday banners #gender reveal balloons #Balloons Online #balloons #kid’s birthday party #birthday party for kids #kids party ideas #kids party decorations

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weekinethereum · 5 years

Text

January 25, 2019

News and Links

Layer 1

[eth1] state rent proposal 2

[eth1] selfish mining in Ethereum academic paper. Per Casey Detrio, EIP100 changed the threshold to 27%. But since ETC doesn’t have EIP100, it’s just 5 or 10%.

[eth2] a long AMA from the Eth2 research team

[eth2] yeeth Eth2 client in Swift

[eth2] What’s new in eth2 includes Ben’s take on future of the PoW chain

[eth2] notes from last eth2 implementer call

[eth2] Vitalik’s security design rationale

[eth2] More Vitalik: Eth2 and Casper CBC video talk

[eth2] Collin Myers takes a look at the proposed economics for validators

Layer 2

Raiden on progress towards Ithaca release, which will include pathfinding and fee earning as well as monitoring. More from Loredana on building CryptoBotWars on Raiden

Magmo update: about to release their paper on Nitro, their protocol for a virtual state channel network

The case for Ethereum scaling through layer 2 solutions

Optimistic off-chain data availability from Aragon

Starkware on a layer 2 design fundamental: validity proofs vs fraud proofs. Also: its decentralized exchange using STARKs planned for testnet at end of q1.

Stuff for developers

Solidity v0.5.3

web3j v4.1.1

Web3.js v1.0.0-beta.38

Waffle v2 of its testing suite (uses ethers.js)

Celer Network’s proto3 to solidity library generator for onchain/offchain, cross-language data structures. Celer’s SDK

ERC20 meta transaction wrapper contract

“dumb contracts” that store data in the event logs

ETL pipline on AWS for security token analytics

Interacting with Ethereum using web3.py and Jupyter notebooks

Tutorial on using Embark

Tutorial: using OpenLaw agreements with dapps

OpenBazaar’s escrow framework

Etherisc opensources the code for their Generic Insurance Framework

Austin Griffith’s latest iteration of Burner Wallet sales

Deploying a front end with IPFS and Piñata SDK

Video tutorial of Slither static analyzer

Overview of formal verification projects in Ethereum

zkPoker with SNARks - explore iden3’s circom circuit

Ecosystem

Lots of charts on the bomb historically and present

Gnosis Safe is now available on iOS

A big thing in the community was r/ethtrader’s DONUT tokens. Started by Reddit as “community points” to experiment in ethtrader upvotes, the donuts can be used to buy the banner, vote in polls, and get badges. So a Reddit <> Eth token bridge was created, and DONUT traded on Uniswap. But some people preferred donuts to be used for subreddit governance, so the experiment is currently paused. That’s my take, here’s Will Warren’s take.

Decentralizing project management with the Ethereum Cat Herders

ENS permanent registrar proposals

Client releases

The Mantis client written in Scala now supports ETH and will stop supporting ETC

Enterprise

Hyperledger Fabric founder John Wolpert on why Ethereum is winning in enterprise blockchain

Levi’s jeans, Harvard SHINE and ConsenSys announce a workers well being pilot program at a factory in Mexico

Tokenizing a roomba to charge it

Correctness analysis of Istanbul BFT. Suggests it isn’t and can be improved.

Governance and Standards

Notes from last all core devs call

A postmortem on the Constantinople postponement

SNT community voting dapp v0.1 - quadratic voting system

EIP1712: disallow deployment of unused opcodes

EIP1715: Generalized Version Bits Voting for Consensus Soft and Hard Forks

ERC1723: Cryptography engine standard

ERC1724: confidential token standard

EIP1717: Defuse the bomb and lower mining reward to 1 ether

Application layer

Augur leaderboard. And Crystalball.be stats. Augur v1.10 released

Lots of action in Augur frontends: Veil buys Predictions.global, Guesser to launch Jan 29, and BlitzPredict.

A fiat-backed Korean Won is live on AirSwap

Adventureum - “a text-based, crowd-sourced, decentralised choose-your-own adventure game”

PlasmaBears is live using LoomNetwork

Kyber’s automated price reserve - a simpler though less flexible option for liquidity providers. Also, Kyber’s long-term objectives

Interviews, Podcasts, Videos, Talks

Trail of Bits and ChainSecurity discuss 1283 on Hashing It Out

Videos from Trail of Bits’ Empire Hacking

Scott Lewis and Bryant Eisenbach give the case for Ethereum on a Bitcoin podcast

Philipp Angele talk on Livepeer’s shared economies for video infrastructure

Tarun Chitra on PoS statistical modeling on Zero Knowledge

Gnosis’ Martin Köppelmann on Into the Ether

Martin Köppelmann and Matan Field on Epicenter

Tokens / Business / Regulation

If you don’t have a background in finance, MyCrypto’s learning about supplying and borrowing with Compound will be a good read.

A nice look at the original NFT: CryptoPunk

NFT License 2.0 to define what is permitted with NFT and associated art

IDEO on what NFT collectibles should learn from legacy collectibles.

Matthew Vernon is selling tokens representing 1 hour of design consulting

Caitlin Long tweetstorm about Wyoming’s crypto-friendly legislation

Crypto exchanges don’t need a money transmitter license in Pennsylvania

General

Samsung to have key store in their Galaxy S10. Pictures show Eth confirmed.

Zilliqa to launch its mainnet this week, much like Ethereum launched with Frontier

NEAR’s private testnet launches at event in SF on the 29th

Polkadot upgrades to PoC3 using GRANDPA consensus algo

Looks like Protonmail wants to build on Ethereum

Messari says Ripple drastically overstates their supply to prop up their market cap

Sia’s David Vorick on proof of work attacks

a zero knowledge and SNARKs primer

Infoworld when the Mac launched 35 years ago: do we really need this?

Have a co-branded credit card in the US? Amazon (or whoever) probably gets to see your transaction history, which means they’re probably selling it too.

Dates of Note

Upcoming dates of note (new in bold):

Jan 29-30 - AraCon (Berlin)

Jan 30 - Feb 1 - Stanford Blockchain Conference

Jan 31 - GörliCon (Berlin)

Jan 31 - Maker to remove OasisDEX and Oasis.direct frontends

Feb 2 - Eth2 workshop (Stanford)

Feb 7-8 - Melonport’s M1 conf (Zug)

Feb 7 - 0x and Coinlist virtual hackathon ends

Feb 14 - Eth Magicians (Denver)

Feb 15-17 - ETHDenver hackathon (ETHGlobal)

Feb 27 - Constantinople (block 7280000)

Mar 4 - Ethereum Magicians (Paris)

Mar 5-7 - EthCC (Paris)

Mar 8-10 - ETHParis (ETHGlobal)

Mar 8-10 - EthUToronto

Mar 22 - Zero Knowledge Summit 0x03 (Berlin)

Mar 27 - Infura end of legacy key support

April 8-14 - Edcon hackathon and conference (Sydney)

Apr 19-21 - ETHCapetown (ETHGlobal)

May 10-11 - Ethereal (NYC)

May 17 - Deadline to accept proposals for Instanbul upgrade fork

If you appreciate this newsletter, thank ConsenSys

This newsletter is made possible by ConsenSys.

I own Week In Ethereum. Editorial control has always been 100% me.

If you're unhappy with editorial decisions or anything that I have written in this issue, feel free to tweet at me.

Housekeeping

Archive on the web if you’re linking to it: http://www.weekinethereum.com/post/182313356313/january-25-2019

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