#still continues to be one of the new technologies today because its remarkable effects on how we live | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

stardust-kenobi · 4 years

Text

Let Me Help You

Obi Wan x Reader

Summary: Obi Wan isn’t very tech-savy, and he wants you to help him with his computer while you two sit in the Jedi Temple library. You offer your assistance, and decide to help him in other ways, too.

Warnings: smut, dub-con!!, male oral receiving, public oral sex

Word count: 2k

A/N: ⚠️please DO NOT read if you’re uncomfortable with dub-con. It’s not for everyone. (In this specific plot it’s used because Obi Wan is trying to be a good Jedi) Consent is slightly more clear right before the act.

This was requested by anon! Thanks lovely, hope you enjoy 💕

(my gif)

Obi Wan’s face became more frustrated by the second. You sat across from him in the Temple library. You’d joined your friend today because he wanted the company while he completed some tasks undoubtedly related to his Jedi duties.

“You alright?” You inquired, attempting to withhold a giggle at the sight of a man who is so usually calm becoming annoyed at technology.

“This datapad is going to drive me mad” he huffed. His fingers furiously tapped away at his attempted tasks.

“Sounds like a user-error” you teased him while continuing to stare at him. He looked up at you, obviously trying not to smile back. “And it’s a desktop computer, so, not technically a data pad” you jokingly corrected him.

“Well, whatever it is, it doesn’t like me very much” he remarked and returned his attention to the illuminated screen.

“What exactly are you trying to do?”

“I’m trying to navigate the archives here but it keeps telling me I’m typing in invalid coordinates” his voice grew more annoyed.

“Would you like my help?” You offered kindly

“No, that’s not necessary.” He politely declined.

You waited, not responding, knowing he’d change his mind after another failed attempt. His eyes shot upward at you across the table and quickly looked back down, but then hesitantly returned to your gaze.

“Maybe I could use your help, y/n” he finally admitted.

“Mhm, that’s what I thought” you rose from your seat and headed around the table. You observed the room, and no one was around. You hadn’t seen anyone in the library since you walked in. You could probably hear a pin drop in the vast silence. You came around behind his chair and leaned down next to him. Obi Wan’s eyes could not have been less discreet as they peered over to your chest that was now at his eye level. Your shirt was low cut, and perhaps a little too tight, but nothing you wouldn’t normally wear. You noticed but said nothing to Obi Wan, just flattered that he wanted to look.

“Let me try and enter the coordinates. What were they?” You inquired. He gave you the same numbers he had been typing in. You unfortunately found yourself having the same issue he was having. Obi Wan laughed, mocking you for thinking it was his fault.

“User-error, was it?” He teased you. You shook your head and giggled.

“Let me try something else” you said. You attempted other methods in order to make it work.

“Why don’t you pull up a chair?” He suggested.

You looked around, there were no chairs close, except for your chair on the other side of the table.

“Oh no, that’s alright” you shrugged, but then an idea crept into your devious, sexually deprived head. You checked your surroundings again, no one was in the library. It was late, anyways, so it wasn’t unusual.

Obi Wan’s lap sat there, open and empty, legs spread open, as if it was waiting on you to fill the space. You slowly moved your hips downward and over onto his thighs. He didn’t say a word, protest, or even make a sound, until you were fully seated on his unprepared lap.

“Oh, um...alright then” he stuttered, unsure what to say, but didn’t reject you either.

“Sorry, I saw a perfectly good seat and took it. That okay?” You clearly played innocent.

He roughly cleared his throat and breathed out hard. His built up sexual tension was obvious, and you preyed on it guiltlessly.

“No problem at all” he chuckled, finally responding to you. Continuing to work at the computer in your new found seat, you rotated your hips side to side subtly, pressing more firm into him. Hardly any time had passed before you felt him grow aroused under your ass. You smirked, loving the effect you were having on him.

“Oh, there we go, it worked!” you announced suddenly. The screen displayed the archive location that he searched for, after tweaking with the settings for a bit.

“What worked?” He breathed out, clearly more flustered than the last time he spoke. It was as if he was snapped out of a trance. He was incredibly distracted and couldn’t even recall for the moment what you were even helping him with.

“The...computer?” You stated the obvious, turning around sharply to meet his eyes.

“Right!” He shyly remembered.

His erection was continuing to grow and he wondered if you could feel it against you.

“Something wrong, Obi Wan?” You asked him, Both of you were fully aware of what was happening, but the lack of direct communication refused to acknowledge it plainly.

“Oh, I’m fine” He replied, clearing his throat again.

“You sure? You seemed flustered” You pushed the conversation further.

“Y-yes I'm, uh, I’m sure” he stumbled over his words.

“Seems like you’re having a hard time with your words there, Master Kenobi” you purred, wasting no time dancing around the idea. “Well, something is hard” you smirked, getting close to his face while sitting sideways across his thighs.

His breath hitched in his throat when he heard your voice turn sensual. Obi Wan said nothing because he wasn’t sure what to say. He wanted you, that you could tell, but a man that lived so strictly by the Jedi code would be hard to crack. And in public? He’d be insane to let you seduce him.

“Y/n...” he groaned deeply. His body language communicating how hard it was to restrain himself.

“Yes?” You whispered while moving your lips to his bare neck. You placed your lips at his supple skin and pecked slowly and lightly.

“As lovely as this is, I can’t” he protested. “It’s forbidden for me to engage in this, y/n, you know that”

Regardless, your lips continued working at his neck. A hum, almost resembling a moan, crawled from his mouth.

“You’re telling me, that if I got on my knees, right now, right here in front of you, that you wouldn’t want me to suck your cock?” You purred so softly directly into his ear. You observed the chills that cascading down his body and you smiled against his skin.

“Stars, y/n, I’ve never heard you talk like this” He avoided the question, his breathing still tense. You felt his hips buck slightly up into your weight.

“I know how stressed you are, Obi Wan, let me help you” you offered. He looked into your eyes for a moment. Desperation was hidden deep in his gaze. He wanted a release, but had to make a decision of his morality and his loyalty to the Jedi Order.

“You want to do that to me...here?” He inquired the absurdity of your offered actions and especially there in public. His tone was so innocent and clueless to your attraction to him.

“Oh, Master Kenobi, it’d be my pleasure” you called him by his formal name yet again, even though you’d only ever called him Obi Wan. You assumed it might turn him on. You were right.

You softly press your lips onto his. He received your lips hesitantly, but then eagerly. You moved to straddle him, placing both legs on either side of his hips. You pushed your hips forward, curling them into his bulge. Becoming more comfortable with your touch, Obi Wan’s lips danced with yours passionately.

Butterflies fluttered in your belly as you finally acted on your eager built up desires for him.

“But, y/n, the Council -” he began again, breaking the kiss, and still worried for his long list of ethical restrictions on his life.

“I don’t see them here...do you? And we both know Anakin doesn’t follow the rules, does he?” You persisted.

“Well, no. I suppose you’re right” he whispered back, laughing quietly at your comment. He was nervous, but it was impossible for him to hide his new hunger for your lips around his cock.

“Allow yourself some fun, Master”

“Y/n, I want to, but I’ve never done anything like this before” He admitted casually.

“Don’t worry, I’ll take good care of you” you sweetly assured him.

“Okay, darling, but I do believe we must make this quick” he finally fully accepted the idea, but looked quickly around the very large room to confirm you were alone together.

“Oh it won’t take me long at all” you winked at him.

Removing yourself from his lap, his eyes never left you as he was unsure of your next step. You got on your knees in front of him, as you promised. His hands eagerly fumbled to pull his trousers down. You met his hands halfway and took over.

His cock begged to be let free from its restraints. Once the cloth passed his full length, it sprung out and met your eye level. He was so adorably nervous. You released a moan at the sight of him exposed to you.

You wrapped your hand around him and the contact made him twitch. He breathed out heavily as he’d never been touched like this by another person. Your eyes met his lustful gaze. You raised your eyebrows, non verbally asking If he was ready. He nodded his head, and you proceeded.

Your lips parted widely to bring him into your mouth. Your eyes locked as you lowered your mouth completely down his length, taking all of him into you. A feeling so unfamiliar to him caused Obi Wan to grip the arm rest of the chair. He breathed in sharply, and exhaled the sweetest moan. Using the moisture from your mouth, you glided yourself up and down slowly.

“Oh my stars, y/n” he whispered. You two knew you still needed to be quiet, in case someone was close.

Obi Wan was so sensitive and touch starved beyond belief. No matter how hard he tried to muffle himself, he was unsuccessful. Your ears were graced with the delicate sounds escaping his lips as you brought him more pleasure than he’d ever experienced before.

“Fuck” he cried, already so close to his climax from your skilled motions. Vulgarity flying from him was a new sound to you and it earned a warm sensation inside of you.

An aching formed between your legs, a feeling of pleasure that was all too familiar to you. You wanted him to take you right then and there, but you’d surely get caught. Another time, you thought.

Removing your mouth to rest your jaw, you pumped your hands around him. You looked up at him, his eyes had still not broken contact with you while you created a euphoric form of pleasure for him for the first time.

“Y/n...” he whimpered

“Yes, Master Kenobi?” You cooed and smiled at him. He formed a grin down at you that quickly turned back into his O-face as you pumped him faster.

“I’m...oh my” he started, his body couldn’t stay still.

“Are you gonna cum for me?”

“Oh, yes, y/n. I’m so close. I’m gonna cum” he whined.

You returned the moisture of your mouth back to his cock and sloppily, yet rhythmically, sucked him continuously, responding to the way his body moved and the sound of his moans. The veins in his length twitched and his hips shifted.

Obi Wan threw his head back in ecstasy and just then you felt your throat become coated in his hot cum. The suppression of the growls that formed from his climax was intense and deep, somehow loud and quiet simultaneously.

You swallowed him up and removed your mouth from his sensitive parts. Obi Wan’s head was still laid back, you watched as his chest rose and fell with the effort to catch his breath.

“Was that alright?” You asked, giggling, knowing the answer already.

“Well, I...darling that was...incredible” he finally expressed in between his deep breaths.

You helped him pull his trousers back up and plant a kiss on his cheek as you stood.

“Glad I could be of some assistance for you tonight” you winked.

He was blushing, still in disbelief that you two just engaged in such an act. He was so precious and shy about the whole thing, but enjoyed every single second of it.

“Perhaps maybe I can help you next time, hm?” He suggested. You bite your lip, already growing eager for the next time you’d be alone with him.

Kinda wanna make a part 2??

#Obi Wan #Obi Wan Kenobi #Obi Wan x reader #Obi Wan Kenobi x reader #obi wan x fem!reader #Obi wan x male!reader #Obi wan x gender neutral reader #Obi wan smut #Obi wan Kenobi smut #Obi wan fluff #Star Wars smut #aotc #rots #tpm #my gif #Obi wan Kenobi gif #Obi wan gif #my work #scheduled

559 notes · View notes

ionicspacemarmot · 4 years

Text

Modern Visual Effects and the Ethics of Digitally Revived Actors

Since its earliest days, illusions have been a staple of cinema. Filmmakers like Georges Méliès sought to use the medium to achieve visual spectacles which could never be accomplished in a live setting like theatre.

Over the past century, special effects have advanced to an unprecedented extent. We now live in a world in which just about anything that can be visualized can be translated to the screen, whether through practical or digital means.

When CGI, or Computer Generated Imagery, was first introduced to mainstream cinema, one of the main goals of VFX artists was to perfect photorealistic human beings. In this industry, one of the most difficult tasks is to create a human being detailed enough to fool the audience into believing it's really there. This is an art which only recently has even come close to being achieved.

Why So Complicated?

When a CGI character is present in a film, it's very rarely seamlessly integrated. Many would argue that it still has yet to be perfected. This is generally not for lack of effort or talent on the part of the artists, but rather the fact that human beings have evolved over many years to identify other humans based on the smallest details and microexpressions. We, as a species, are incredibly good at picking up on the slightest inconsistencies. When a character teeters too precariously on the line between realistic and unconvincing, it runs the risk of falling into what is known as the "uncanny valley."

What is the Uncanny Valley?

The uncanny valley refers to our empathetic response to humanoid creations who look real, but not quite real enough to be completely convincing, thus eliciting a discomforting emotional response from the audience. As explained before, we are extraordinarily good at identifying when something doesn't look or behave as it would in real life, as we experience real world textures, lighting, and physics every single day.

This discrepancy is especially true when it comes to identifying flaws in other human creations. The animal part of our brains immediately recognize that what they're looking at resembles another human being, but those slight imperfections trigger something inherently off-putting. (1)

This is why 3D animated films opt for more exaggerated, cartoony character designs. Mr. Incredible does not look like a real person. Homer Simpson is not designed to look as though he exists in the real world. Our brains have a much easier time registering these designs because they are not designed to imitate reality and fool us.

A Very Brief History

In recent years, technology and techniques have evolved within the VFX industry to the point where convincing photorealistic characters are quite possible. This has been the goal of many artists since the introduction of CGI, meaning there is a great deal of research and development behind it.

While Disney is known today, for better or worse, for their recent advancements in 3D human animation, this is something that has been attempted many times over the past twenty or so years, with varying degrees of success.

Even at the time, this movie was criticized for its creepy, imperfect character models who fell deep into the uncanny valley. That being said, this film was still an immense technical achievement unlike anything that had come before, and paved the way for the truly groundbreaking effects of Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, released the following year in 2002.

One of the earliest experiments in 3D human animation was the 2001 Japanese-American film, Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within, directed by Hironobu Sakaguchi. This was the first fully motion-captured mainstream film, as well as the first film to utilize "photorealistic" human characters.

The Beginning of De-Aging

The Two Towers introduced audiences to Gollum, a fully computer-animated character who is still praised today for his realism. This film took the technology introduced in Final Fantasy far beyond its limits, taking Andy Serkis's motion-captured performance and taking the time to ensure his character was composited as seamlessly as possible into the live action world of the film.

A wide variety of films followed, all trying to perfect the art of CGI human beings. While some of these projects were well-executed and have aged quite well, such as (some of) the Matrix sequels. Most, however, failed to properly bridge the uncanny valley, notoriously films such as The Polar Express and The Scorpion King.

In 2006, Bryan Singer's X-Men: The Last Stand, introduced a new frontier to this evolving art: Digital de-aging. In this film, a flashback sequence shows off actors Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen, both digitally altered to resemble younger versions of themselves.

Today, of course, the charge in the effort to perfect 3D human animation is led by none other than Disney. Specifically, Marvel Studios.

The Reign of Disney

While a bit jarring by today's standards, this was extremely new and impressive technology for 2006. It was also a technique that would once again be taken on by a number of other filmmakers in subsequent films such as The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008) and Tron: Legacy (2010).

Tron was Disney's first real foray into the world of digital de-aging technology. While once again, the de-aged Kurt Russell featured in the film is quite unsettling to look at, it paved the way for 2015's Ant-Man. This film opens with a flashback in which actors Michael Douglas and Martin Donovan have been de-aged approximately twenty-five years.

2016 would also see an unprecedented use of this evolving technology upon the release of Gareth Edwards' Rogue One: A Star Wars Story.

Using a miraculously found, highly detailed lifecast of the actors face from the 1984 film Top Secret, the artists at ILM were able to produce an accurate 3D sculpt of the actor's face and composite it onto the motion-tracked performance of Guy Henry. (2)

This effect was remarkably successful and the film continues to be praised for its use of the technology. This technology would again be applied the following year, in Captain America: Civil War, which features a rather convincingly de-aged Robert Downey Jr.

While imperfect, CGI Tarkin was a groundbreaking achievement in terms of technological innovation. However, it did raise a number of ethical discussions. In particular, is it ethical to use this technology to revive deceased actors? And by extension, do actors have a legal right to their physical likeness?

Star Wars Changes the Game

A major element kept secret in the marketing for the film was the prominent role of the character Grand Moff Tarkin, a major character from the original Star Wars in 1977. The immediate issue here is that the actor who originally portrayed the character, Peter Cushing, passed away in 1994.

Ethical Dilemmas

For this film, the immensely talented artists at Industrial Light and Magic were tasked not with de-aging a character, but with bringing a deceased actor back from the dead. This daunting project was achieved by casting a stand-in actor, Guy Henry, who could not only imitate Cushing's voice, but also looked a bit like him.

While Lucasfilm did receive permission from Peter Cushing's estate to use his likeness, this is something they theoretically did not have to do. Legally, it can be quite tricky to protect one's physical likeness. That being said, because they were granted permission by the estate, the studio was not heavily criticized. However, it certainly opened up an interesting ethical discussion. (3)

Again, it begs the question: is this the beginning of a trend? Disney is far from the only studio to attempt something like this. Usually when a deceased actor is revived for a role through special effects, it's for a specific reason. For example, Brandon Lee and Oliver Reed both passed during production of The Crow and Gladiator, respectively. Special effects were used to finish a project they were already heavily involved in. A character like Tarkin is different. (5)

Soon after Rogue One was released, Carrie Fisher tragically passed away before she could film her scenes as Princess Leia Organa in the ninth installment of the main Star Wars saga. Disney released a statement soon after claiming they would not use CGI to recreate her likeness for Episode IX.

As it came to pass, the film ended up utilizing unused footage of Fisher from 2015's The Force Awakens. Writers JJ Abrams and Chris Terrio attempted to write scenes around her pre-existing dialogue to try and fit her into the overarching narrative. Whether or not this worked in the film's favor is besides the point. From a technical standpoint, it's undoubtedly impressive and a testament to how far VFX has come. (4)

One again, however, many questioned the implications of such a practice. Like Peter Cushing's return as Tarkin, Fisher's role in The Rise of Skywalker did not face much scrutiny due to the fact that once again, the production was given the family's blessing to use her likeness in this way. Her daughter, Billie Lourd, actually plays a significant role in the film and shares scenes with her mother's character.

While exciting for hardcore Star Wars fans like myself to see, Tarkin was a character that could have been absent from Rogue One, or at least kept more to the sidelines. However, Edwards chose to make the character a prominent player for the duration of the film, showing him off in great detail quite often. They have essentially used special effects to synthesize an entirely new performance from an actor who has been dead for more than twenty years.

So again, could this be the start of a trend in cinema? Will we see the return of great actors who are no longer with us? Is that a bad thing? Who gets credited and paid? This is entirely new territory that comes with our rapidly growing technological advancements in the film industry. It seems that this is a phenomenon that will continue for the time being. The question remains as to whether or not legal and ethical attitudes change as a result of this ever-evolving medium.

Notes:

Bill Desowitz. "Advanced De-Aging VFX Are Crucial to The Irishman, Gemini Man, and Captain Marvel," Indiewire, October 1, 2019, accessed April 26, 2020.

(2)Bill Desowitz. "Rogue One: How ILM Created CGI Grand Moff Tarkin and Princess Leia," Indiewire, January 9, 2017, accessed May 2, 2020.

Brian Welk. "How Samuel L Jackson’s De-Aging on ‘Captain Marvel’ Cut Shooting Time in Half," The Wrap, March 18, 2019, accessed April 26, 2020.

Carolyn Giardina. "Will Smith, Robert DeNiro and the Rise of the All-Digital Actor," The Hollywood Reporter, August 10, 2019, accessed April 20, 2020.

David Ehrlich. "James Dean Is Just the Beginning: Critics Debate the Future of CGI Acting," Indiewire, November 11, 2019, accessed April 26, 2020.

Erin Winick. "Actors are Digitally Preserving Themselves to Continue Their Careers Beyond the Grave," MIT Technology Review, October 16, 2018, accessed April 20, 2020.

Laura M. Holson. "A C.G.I. James Dean? Some in Hollywood See ‘an Awful Precedent’," New York Times, November 7, 2019, accessed April 20, 2020.

Leon Miller. "14 Actors Resurrected With Crazy CGI (And 6 That Can Never Be)," Screenrant, August 9, 2018, accessed April 26, 2020.

Luke Kemp. "In the age of deepfakes, could virtual actors put humans out of business?" The Guardian, July 8, 2019, accessed April 26, 2020.

(4)Jordan Zakarin. "It Took More CGI Than You Think to Bring Carrie Fisher Into The Rise of Skywalker," Syfy, January 7, 2020.

(3,5)Joseph Waltz. "Rogue One: the CGI resurrection of Peter Cushing is thrilling – but is it right?," The Guardian, December 16, 2016, accessed April 26, 2020.

(1)"VFX Artists React to Resurrected Actors Bad and Great CGI," YouTube video, 13:20, "Corridor Crew," June 1, 2019. https://youtu.be/2ZKPnuUFwOk

#film #filmcommunity #filmmaking #star wars #marvel #carrie fisher #peter cushing #deepfake #deaging #disney #vfxartist #cgi animation #cgi #weta workshop #weta digital #industrial light and magic

22 notes · View notes

twentiethcenturymoviesandtv · 4 years

Text

Growing Pains: A Product of the Times

The 1980s were, in a way, a renaissance for television.

With more channels and shows to choose from than ever before, TV was experiencing a new golden age, where channel flipping at any time of day would probably get you something worth watching at some point. Whether you had a taste for action, mystery, comedy, horror, or drama, there likely was more than one show for it.

Nowhere was that truer than in the case of the sitcom.

As I mentioned early on, in the 1980s, the sitcom became one of the most popular styles of shows on television. Growing Pains was just one of an incredibly large catalog, including Family Ties, Cheers, The Golden Girls, The Cosby Show, ALF, and Full House. All of these shows, while possessing mostly unique setups and characters, were in the same genre, and still followed a few of the same beats. The Very Special Episode was on the rise, and more and more sitcoms tried to include important episodes to teach young viewers about the dangers of drugs and alcohol. Some shows did it more masterfully and realistically than others, and these episodes were memorable (some for the wrong reasons) but despite these ‘special episodes’, most sitcoms of the time tended to be pretty standard stuff.

Why mention this?

Well, because, as odd as it seems, it’s important to remember that Growing Pains was made in the 1980s, and to do that, we need to know what was going on at the time around it.

See, in order to really understand any piece of media, we have to understand the climate in which it was made. The culture surrounding anything, book, movie, or television show directly affects whatever piece of media is being made, not only in what was popular in fiction of the time, but also in nonfiction attitudes and ideas.

That’s to be expected. After all, our culture shapes who we are and what we think, and therefore the kinds of things we create. This leads us to the idea of something being ‘dated’.

Despite the negative connotations of the word, being ‘dated’ in and of itself is not a problem.

The term ‘dated’ typically comes with images of old-fashioned special effects, out-of-date slang and styles, or technology that has been rendered obsolete in recent years. While typically pointed out today as an example of a film or television show being less enjoyable in a modern era, the fact is, even what we create today is not immune to being dated. That’s just how it works.

Nothing can stop any piece of media from being a reflection of its culture, no matter how timeless we try to make it. And contrary to what some would tell you, it isn’t the style, special-effects, or soundtrack that dates a television show. If it was, Growing Pains would be in trouble indeed.

What does date something is the element connected to a culture that can damage it: its ideas.

Outdated ideas and beliefs held by the culture at the time of a story’s creation can certainly add to the discomfort modern audiences can have while watching media made before their time. All of this leads us to today’s question:

Is Growing Pains outdated?

Let’s take a look.

Sitcoms of the 1980s tended to have problems that might not be faced by the average person today. Everything from the inventions of cell phones to the higher cost of cars would affect many things, from the plots to the characters themselves. Kids going off to college for the first time was easier to watch at a time when it was more affordable, and the anti-drug episodes speak to a more panicked culture as drug awareness rose for the first time. But despite the fact that these elements are a little jarring to those in a modern society, does that mean that the show itself is dated?

The fact is, these elements are the effects of the era, much like the clothing, hair, makeup and cars utilized in the show. There’s no hiding that the show was created in the ‘80s, and as a result, is a reflection of the culture at the time, and these demonstrations of a different society cinch it. But all these require is, at most, a little understanding from modern viewers that the times were different. That doesn’t necessarily reflect on the datedness of the show itself, just that the culture was different thirty years ago.

It’s true that by most definitions, Growing Pains would be considered ‘dated’ by modern standards. But what about our definition?

As I mentioned earlier, the thing that ‘dates’ something is its ideas, the reflection of the values currently held by the culture. These are the harmful elements that date a lot of Sixteen Candles, or the very premise of Splash.

By this definition, we are forced to ask ourselves: does the term ‘dated’ apply to Growing Pains?

Actually, surprisingly, no.

A lot of the elements of characters and stories of Growing Pains have actually aged remarkably well. The idea of a career-woman mother wasn’t unheard of on television, (With examples like Who’s the Boss, Family Ties and The Cosby Show) but it was rather new. To a modern audience, it’s closer to normal, but in the 1980s, this was a sign of progressiveness, of the changing times.

Indeed, the choice for Maggie to go back to work is addressed in the show itself. In the episode “Choices”, Maggie explains to Carol that she lived her life the way she wanted to, and that having a career and having a family are not mutually exclusive. There are episodes where Jason wrestles with the possibility of going back to work, knowing that he’d jeopardize Maggie’s career to do so.

Another thing that was progressive and rings true today is the relationship of the parents. No parent is ever ‘in the right’ all the time, and each brings their own viewpoint and way of thinking to situations. They work as a team, something that was, again, shown with more frequency in the ‘80s than it had been before.

When you get right down to it, the Seavers, and the problems they faced, weren’t set in a specific time. Everything from cheating on a test to relatives dying remains problems that people face today, not rooted in a specific time. As such, the show is quite the same experience to watch now as when it was first broadcast.

As it turns out, families and their struggles really aren’t dated.

The technology and economy may be different, but the trimmings of the era don’t hinder our enjoyment of the setup and characters. This domestic comedy actually holds up extremely well, and probably will continue to, because as long as we have families, we’ll recognize these problems and interactions.

Growing Pains has not lost its charm in the years since it ended. The Seavers are just as welcoming and relatable now as they were in 1985, and they will continue to be so, because family is never outdated.

Thank you guys so much for reading! If you have a thought, suggestion, or question, don’t be afraid to drop it in an ask, I’d love to hear from you. I hope to see you in the next article!

#Growing Pains #TV #Television #TV-G #Family #Comedy #Alan Thicke #Joanna Kerns #Kirk Cameron #Tracey Gold #Jeremy Miller #80s

3 notes · View notes

poisonbarber0 · 3 years

Text

A Guide On How To Achieve The Most Effective Teeth Whitening Outcomes

Content

Your Neighborhood Nhs Dental Expert.

Teeth Whitening After Dental Braces

After Treatment

Who May Benefit From Tooth Whitening?

Teeth Whitening Kits Teeth Whitener Kits Dental Gel Laser Light Mouth Trays.

Our client feedback as well as our case studies demonstrate how efficient teeth whitening can be. Thanks to the Laser advanced power teeth whitening system we can aid you attain approximately 8 tones whiter in just one hr appointment. Call us today to assert your half price teeth whitening deal with a no-obligation chat. We have been elected Ideal Worth Teeth Whitening and our dental practitioners are really experienced in this field. For larger restorative cases we usually consist of marked down and even complimentary teeth whitening as an added benefit. The teeth whitening gel is made up in either ways-- Hydrogen Peroxide or Carbamide Peroxide in varying degrees of focus. To obtain the equal value of Hydrogen Peroxide, one have to split the Carbamide Peroxide focus by regarding an element of 3.

Can yellow teeth become white?

The good news is that it's possible to go from yellow to white teeth and, depending on the method you choose, it can be done quickly or gradually.

Also, unlike some teeth whitening solutions, we utilize a mobile aspirator during treatment for an extra comfortable, sanitary client experience and improved results. Laser teeth whitening results vary from person to person, however our teeth whitening system can lighten teeth on average up to 14 tones. Substantial study reveals laser whitening to be a secure approach of improving your smile. We provide a secure non peroxide whitening system which provides you with a white smile without the pain of sensitivity and also needing to wait weeks for the results. They may have the ability to offer some different whitening gel which may function far better for your teeth. " The 'Chelsea smile' explains a pattern for teeth whitening made popular by this location in West London as well as those who live there. This is a a lot more all-natural colour for the teeth that is still white yet maintains the personality of the teeth and also selects the elegant picture of numerous Chelsea girls/guys.

Teeth whitening can be a really effective way of lightening the natural colour of your teeth without eliminating any of the tooth surface. Your Teeth Whitening will certainly begin of with a brief assessment finding our more regarding your way of living consisting of if you Smoke or otherwise as well as likewise if you have had teeth whitening done prior to.

Laser Bright Teeth Whitening is the service to all your teeth whitening troubles. At Laser Bright teeth whitening, we provide the highest quality Laser Teeth Whitening services at one of the most economical prices for our consumers in Manchester. We ensure you would order everyone's focus when you get the Laser Teeth Whitening services done by us. It's that only certified as well as signed up dentists will certainly be treating your smile. Our dental specialists can restore your teeth to their vibrant shade utilizing the cutting edge Beyond Polus best innovation. The whitening process takes about 1 hr, as well as, depending upon the customer's diet and whether they smoke, will last between 9 and also 18 months. Therapy usually sets you back ₤ 215, although discounts are provided for on-line booking as well as for teams, consisting of wedding plans.

Your Regional Nhs Dental Expert.

Do Any At-Home Teeth-Whitening Products Actually Work? A Dentist Weighs In. - InsideHook

Do Any At-Home Teeth-Whitening Products Actually Work? A Dentist Weighs In..

Posted: Mon, 30 Nov 2020 08:00:00 GMT [source]

Naturawhite produces remarkable teeth whitening results for any individual who wishes to lighten his or her teeth. This includes individuals with teeth that has been stained by smoking or substances such as coffee or tea. It additionally whitens teeth stained by tetracycline, speckled by fluoride, or genetic discolouration. Expecting or lactating ladies or customers under 16 years of age need to not obtain the Naturawhite treatment. At VANITY Oral technique, our specialists are hugely skilled and also conduct all laser treatments in accordance with the current clinical techniques and also standards. If you would love to figure out a lot more, please do not hesitate to review it with our laser experts and they will certainly discuss every little thing to you thoroughly.

Teeth Whitening After Dental Braces

How do celebrities get their teeth so white?

Porcelain Veneers These are very popular amongst celebrities because of their incredible results. Veneers are thin, strong shells that are custom-made from dental porcelain to cover the front surface of your teeth. Your dentist will choose the perfect shade for your smile and it will stay that way for years to come.

To figure out even more go to the Brite Oral tooth whitening page, to find your closest facility click hereor e-mail. It is flawlessly secure to book anytime after around 2 weeks for a top up. After acquiring results after one treatment you can go a couple of shades whiter after only 2 weeks. Results typically get better despite the fact that fantastic outcomes are achieved after one session.

Ultraviolet LED Technology Market Development History, Current Analysis and Estimated Forecast to 2026 | Crystal, Nichia Corp, Phoseon Technology, SemiLEDs - Factory Gate

Ultraviolet LED Technology Market Development History, Current Analysis and Estimated Forecast to 2026 | Crystal, Nichia Corp, Phoseon Technology, SemiLEDs.

Posted: Mon, 04 Jan 2021 07:45:00 GMT [source]

If you are desiring for a whiter smile, we at Freeman & Rosser Dental & Implant Facility in Carmarthen can make it a fact. Residence whitening sets are very suggested by dental professionals and also are a simple and also trustworthy method of securely whitening teeth. To keep this popular treatment as budget friendly as possible, we now have some of one of the most competitive teeth whitening prices in Stockport. To aid you pick the appropriate teeth whitening procedure for you, we have more information below. Our dental practitioners focus on acquiring specifically the appropriate shade to fit you as well as on decreasing discoloration caused by drinks or cigarette smoking.

We currently providing a FREE Consultation-- Book you appointment today. Our center has professional Dental laser experts that are experienced in their areas and also perform laser therapies in accordance with approved clinical methods and also criteria. In our system hydrogen peroxide or carbamide peroxide is used to add even more oxygen to the tooth enamel. This lightens the tooth colour and also your teeth will certainly be whiter therefore. In addition, you can utilize Dr Richard's tooth whitening paste to keep your smile intense. With time, teeth are discolored by food, drink and also various other resources, causing the all-natural bright, white tooth color as well as enamel to end up being darkened.

Good Housekeeping Editors' Favorite Products of 2020 - GH's Top Picks of 2020 - GoodHousekeeping.com

Good Housekeeping Editors' Favorite Products of 2020 - GH's Top Picks of 2020.

Posted: Tue, 29 Dec 2020 23:31:00 GMT [source]

After Care

light creates minimal heat which is the common source of discomfort. On rare celebrations, small tingling experiences are knowledgeable immediately after the treatment, however constantly dissipate. This will certainly remove the debris and accumulated plaque and to make the treatment 100% efficient. During any type of lockdown period, the facility will stay available to continue to deliver your dental care.

That May Benefit From Tooth Whitening?

We provide examinations so we can analyze your teeth as well as supply you the most appropriate as well as reliable teeth whitening treatments for you.

There's absolutely nothing quite like a brighter, whiter smile to assist you feel and look excellent.

If you are concerned regarding yellow teeth or brown stains on your teeth, then tooth whitening could be the optimal option to revive a gorgeous white smile.

It will not hurt crowns, white dental fillings or false teeth, however these may need to be replaced as soon as tooth whitening is complete to boost the colour suit.

Teeth whitening is a fantastic method to offer a younger aim to your appearance.

If you are desiring for a whiter smile, we at Pedestrian & Associates Dental & Implant Facility can make it a truth.

As we age, our teeth normally discolour as a result of what we drink and eat, in addition to how we look after our oral wellness.

Ageing plays its component also, as can dental problems, such as origin canal infections or fluorosis. Advise a close friend as well as gain a ₤ 20 coupon in the direction of your next teeth whitening top-up or aftercare set; or offer it to a buddy! Assured to make them smile; they'll truly value a present that makes an actual distinction to them.

How long does it take to whiten teeth at dentist?

>> more information of aspire white teeth whitening milton keynes plus -- teeth generally get three to eight shades brighter -- usually take several 30- to 60-minute in-office visits. Some dentists use techniques that can be done in a single 2-hour appointment (e.g. the Zoom system). The cost of in-office tooth whitening varies, but can range from $500 to $1,000.

I have not had any of these therapies directly, so can not provide a testimonial however, go inspect them out online for a complete list of thir serivces. A couple of years ago I was consumed with whitening my teeth, to the factor of getting them brilliant-white and even taking place a few holidays to get a tan, as having a tan makes your teeth look whiter. Next came the phase of the baristas, where I was consuming coffee at the very least 4 or 5 mugs a day, so my teeth progressively went from brilliant-white to a tarnished shade of yellow over this 3 year period. Laser whitened teeth balance as much as 14 shades whiter than prior to laser treatment. For pleasant service, and for risk-free teeth whitening that works, contact Notting Hillside Dental Facility on today.

A cheek retractor is inserted into the mouth to keep it open throughout the procedure. You'll additionally put on protective glasses to protect your eyes from the laser. Our caring and also highly certified professional group will certainly talk you via the teeth whitening choices readily available.

youtube

Dr Marques also described it will certainly rely on whether you smoke and also suggested me to drink milklike tea and also coffee as well as prevent red wine, fizzy beverages and polished sugar. aspirewhite teeth whitening amersham: full feature set clarified that a top quality electric tooth brush, like a Philips Sonicare or Oral B version, will certainly make a distinction. Cosmetic teeth whitening has been featured on smile remodeling TELEVISION shows such as Extreme Remodeling. Teeth whitening gel is then put into the personalized tray and also worn either overnight or for a few hours during the night. Some clients have actually reported their teeth showing up whiter in just 30 minutes when making use of Pola Day, but also for the brightest results, it is recommended to make use of Pola Evening overnight when resting. If you're taking into consideration a whiter smile, contact Freeman & Rosser Dental & Implant Clinic on today to reserve a consultation.

Laser whitening requires you to likewise buy an in your home kit, which allows you whiten your teeth when it's most hassle-free for you. Just use your trays for either one to two hours a day or overnight, depending on the formula your dental expert recommends. You can protect your brand-new teeth whiteness by consuming alcohol with a straw to reduce the result of discoloration from drinks. Make sure to see your dental expert for routine appointments and also cleaning, as well as you can additionally use a whitening toothpaste to aid whiten as well as secure teeth. The dentist will certainly after that use a lightening gel to the front of your teeth. According to Bupa, the gel normally consists of either hydrogen peroxide or carbamide peroxide, which releases oxygen onto the surface area of your teeth as well as lightens them. The dental professional will certainly line your lips with a safety SPF lotion that contains moisturisers.

Although they do not impact the all-natural colour of the tooth, they are effective at eliminating discoloration and consequently boosting the total look of the tooth. Whitening tooth paste might also assist to maintain the look, as soon as teeth have been expertly bleached.

This revolutionary treatment can whiten teeth by up to eleven shades with making use of a whitening gel and special light. Your dental professional will take impacts of your teeth in order to custom-make a mouthpiece. You will wear the mouth piece - filled with whitening gel - at home for several hrs daily. Dr Marques discussed to me that this additionally differs from person to person and depends on exactly how white you want your teeth to be. I still wanted mine to look all-natural so I do not mind too much that the outcomes will certainly discolor in time but must last for a few years.

youtube

Both methods utilize our comfortable customized laboratory made whitening trays to aid keep the whitening gel in close call with the teeth as well as not leakage out and also irritate the periodontals. The gels that we utilize additionally have the brilliant enhancement of an anti-sensitivity component which helps avoid the occurrence of sensitivity. The last years has actually seen a big increase in non-professional teeth whitening being used in high road beauty parlor as well as health clubs, in addition to whitening gadgets you can purchase online. aspirewhite.co.uk teeth whitening birmingham website up the peroxide gel utilized to whiten teeth, activating it with a mild warm that minimizes the treatment time for the client. Laser whitening is backed by researches that have shown it is secure as well as effective for your teeth and also gum tissues. And also due to the fact that our dental professionals suggests it, you can be certain that your results will be consistent and secure on any kind of dental fillings or restorations you might have.

#teeth whitening #laser teeth whitening #best teeth whitening #teeth whitening UK #teeth whitening England #teeth whitening United Kingdom

1 note · View note

hopefulfestivaltastemaker · 4 years

Text

September 13, 2020

My weekly roundup of things I am working on. Topics include wildfires, exotic energy sources, speculative energy sources, the Biden housing plan, and creative outlets.

Wildfires in Oregon

Oregon, along with the rest of the West Coast, has been in the news for devastating wildfires that are still ongoing. This is certainly the worst I have experienced, much worse that the 2017 fires in California. Both Oregon and California are having their worst seasons on record.

In Oregon, it started last Monday, when a strong (and unseasonably early) east wind came over an already dry state, drying the air further and spreading fires rapidly. The Portland metro area experienced sporadic bad air quality on Monday and Tuesday, and it has been consistently bad since Wednesday. Today is no noticeable improvement. The weather forecast is for clouds on Monday and some rain on Tuesday, which should finally bring about some improvement.

So far there have been dozens of deaths in the West and several dozen more people unaccounted for and significant property damage. My guess is that most of the damage will be harder to see: the impact of the poor air quality on people who are already vulnerable. These events bring about yet more disruption in a region that has already been reeling from the pandemic, economic hardship, and civil unrest.

I made a facetious remark on Twitter about solar radiation management, but I really have been struck at how much the weather has cooled down. The temperature is at least 20 degrees (F) cooler than it should have been, due to soot particles reflecting sunlight. In my neighborhood, the light-sensitive streetlights are on during the day. I can look directly at the Sun without hurting my eyes. Needless to say, I will need to be convinced that any solar radiation management scheme will not significantly harm air quality before I will believe it’s a good idea.

If anyone is actually reading this, I would implore you not to use the fires merely as a talking point for your pet climate policy. This is something that irritates me greatly. In the immediate term, we need relief and a stronger firefighting force. In the medium term, we need better forest management practices. Greenhouse gas mitigation helps only marginally in the long term. Don’t try to tell me that building a bike lane in New York City is the solution we in the West are looking for. Once the fires are extinguished, most climate activists will lose interest in our land use needs and move on to the next disaster.

Exotic Energy Sources

This week I added an Exotic Energy section to Urban Cruise Ship. I had been considering this for a long time, and I went ahead and did it mainly because I have been stuck on some harder projects and wanted to do something relatively easy. There are no graphics planned, as I don’t see the topic as important enough to justify assigning more work to our graphics guy, but there are a few interesting things.

One recurring scheme is various ways to capture piezoelectricity, which is generated through pressure on a surface, such as when people walk over a plate or cars drive over it. One study in Australia found that with more advanced generators, an educational building at Macquarie University might recover 0.5% of its electricity usage by installing generators at high traffic points. With technology that was current at the time of the study, it’s probably more like 0.06%.

As for roadways, I cited several studies that report levelized costs of electricity in the range of multiple dollars per kilowatt-hour (wholesale prices tend to be in the range of 3-6 cents/kWh and retail on the order of 10 cents). The exception was a California study that reported 8-20 cents/kWh, which as far as I can tell is just an uncritical repetition of claims from the vendor. Also not discussed is the fact the source of energy is kinetic energy from cars, so unless the car is braking, the generators are stealing energy from motorists. We might as well be using diesel generators then.

If I were to make a guess, the pilot project is little more than California burning several million dollars on a patently unworkable scheme because of some marketing by a shady vendor. I’m all for trying bold ideas that are not guaranteed to succeed, but one must draw the line at ideas that clearly won’t succeed or where basic feasibility questions haven’t even been asked.

Biomechanical energy harvesting is an idea that got a bit of hype a few years ago, but now few people seem to still be interested. Making some extremely generous assumptions, I estimated that it would have a theoretical of about 1 exajoule per year, or about 0.2% of primary energy supply. More medium-case assumptions would cut that by at least a factor of five. Plus that doesn’t account for extra exertion required by the person or embodied energy in the devices.

There are probably some niche use cases for piezoelectric generators and biomechanical systems, such as low power distributed sensors and personal electronics respectively.

I even commented on the power from rainfall paper earlier in the year, an idea too silly to take seriously.

Speculative Energy Sources

But even with the above we’re not done. I decided to venture into the realm of speculative physics.

In quantum physics, even a system with zero temperature must have some latent energy due to the Heisenberg uncertainty principle. This has been termed the zero point. So naturally that leads people to speculate that zero point energy could be harvested for useful purposes. The near-consensus seems to be that this is impossible, that it must violate thermodynamics somehow, though I found it surprisingly difficult to find a rigorous explanation of why this is the case. This paper from 2019 is all I found, and even then, it only rules out two of three proposed ZPE extraction methods based on thermodynamic principles. Incidentally, the authors hold a patent on the third method and claim there is inconclusive evidence that it works.

Additionally, there is the NASA Eagleworks project to use the quantum vacuum to develop a spacecraft that can operate without onboard propellant.

There is a lot of interesting physics here that I don’t understand. I was expecting to write a short, dismissive comment for the website, but it would seem that ZPE is a legitimate area of scientific research. Maybe this will actually work for energy production someday. But there is no solid evidence yet, and any claims of a currently working ZPE device can be safely rejected.

Some other ideas that pop up, based in speculative physics, including hydrinos, neutrinos, quark fusion, and the ever popular perpetual motion machine. At least neutrinos and quark fusion are legitimate physics, but as far as useful energy production goes, these are all pathological ideas. I’ll add more as I see them. I briefly covered cold fusion a while ago on the Fusion page.

I expect that when the site is finally done, of the many things people could fairly accuse me of, not being comprehensive will not be one of them.

The Biden Housing Plan

Evidently I am a few weeks late, but the Biden-Harris campaign has a housing plan. The tl;dr is that there might be a few good things here, but I’m not too impressed.

When it comes to housing affordability, the principle I’ve tried to reiterate over and over again is that it comes down to supply. If there are 1,000,000 people who want to live in a city with a zoned capacity for 800,000, then 200,000 people will not be able to live there. It doesn’t matter if you impose rent control, eviction moratoria, inclusionary zoning rules, offer Section 8 or other subsidies, or whatever. As long as the supply is fixed, all these do is change the rationing mechanism from price to something else. Which, it must be acknowledged, is often the intent.

Traditionally, the federal government has a limited role in zoning. That could change of course; the federal government today has major roles in many areas where it previously had a limited or no role. As it is now, I see two plausible hooks for federal involvement in the near term. The first is the Fair Housing Act, where it can be argued fairly convincingly that zoning rules have disparate impact on protected groups, and in some cases intentional impact; and the second is to tie zoning reform to federal Community Development Block Grants or transportation funding, where reform is a matter of insuring that federal spending is actually used effectively.

The Biden plan calls for reinstatement of the Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing rule, which while imperfect, I think is better than what the Trump Administration decided to go with, which is nothing. As for the second, I momentarily got my hopes up when I saw that they were promoting legislation to do just that. But upon reading the details of the HOME Act (which was introduced last year but I was unfamiliar with until now), I see that the list of measures the bill calls for to promote “inclusive land use” are wide-ranging, and only some of them can reasonably be expected to increase the housing supply. It could be a good piece of legislation, but much rides on the implementation. Zoning reform advocates at the state level routinely underestimate the creativity that municipalities will show in evading the intent of their laws.

Anyway, there is a lot of other stuff here on racial discrimination, energy efficiency, and the Davis-Bacon Act (which probably makes housing less affordable by running up construction costs), but I won’t belabor the issues. All in all, it’s a plan that reflects the set Democratic interests pretty well, has a lot of stuff in it, and would do little to achieve broad-based housing affordability.

Creative Outlets

Like many people, I have been continuing to struggle with a variety of stressful circumstances. I took more time than usual this week on some creative projects, which has helped.

The newest one I am calling Project Epsilon, which for now is a maze generator. I’ve long had a fascination with generative content, and I would like to see how far the concept can be taken, but for now it is really just for fun. It is not deployed, but someone knowledgeable with Python and Flask in particular can download and run it fairly easily. Not that there is much to see yet. All it does it let the user input a few parameters and make a maze.

The other is Repair the Cosmos, which is deployed but hasn’t been updated publicly in a long time, despite considerable local activity. This is an incremental game that is meant to tell the story of humanity from the Paleolithic to the far future. I started it in January and have been working very intermittently since then, but I finally have a burst of creativity going for the first time in months. I still expect at least a few weeks before the next update, and I can only go for so long before I start feeling guilty about not doing real work.

1 note · View note

dreanner95 · 5 years

Text

RWBY V7C2 Review – A New Approach (SPOILERS)

(I am still trying to figure out how I approach these reviews so it will probally take time until I have found a structure I am happy with)

Synopsis

While Episode 1 was all about setting up Mantle and its situation, Episode 2 is all about setting up the Plot of this Volume. Ironwood told Winter and Penny about the big fight and has a new Plan against Salem. The first step is to reestablish global communication with building a new communication tower atop Amity Colosseum and launching it out of reach of Grimm. This will also fix the loophole that the whole network is dependent on every main tower being functional. He asks Team RWBY and their companions for help. Ruby decides to help Ironwood, but doesn’t tell him why Ozpin isn’t present or everything in connection with Salem being destroyable. After the meeting they meet up with the Ace Ops, who apologize for arresting them so aggressively. Before they can get to know each other, Penny interjects with wanting to give Ruby & Co a grand tour of Atlas Academy. Penny’s excitable nature is in sharp contrast with how exhausted everyone else is after the long day they had. Down in Mantle Watts is seen talking to Tyrion over a headpiece. While Watts is walking through town without care and hacking everything in his way while remarking that Mantle’s security code wasn’t updated. Tyrion on the other hand is in the middle of a fight and after coming out of a door, you can see a pool of blood forming from under it.

Opinion

The content of the first two episodes make it very clear how much needs to be set up for the next few Volumes. While in the past everything important was set up in only the premiere episodes, this time the second episode also had a lot of exposition. But that is not a bad thing. The first time is conveyed through Forrest, who admires “Robin and the Happy Huntresses”. They are former elite Atlas graduates who decided against joining the military. Forrest is basically someone over excitable who wants to share Robin’s fight for a seat in the council to everyone he comes across. This makes everything he has to say not as boring as it could have been. And Ironwood explaining the plan he has works because it clears up his actions we only have heard of since the end of Volume 4. A highlight is the plan to use Amity Colosseum to create a new main communication tower. This shows something RWBY as a series only ever talked about: Atlas being the at the forefront about new technological developments. And it retroactively makes the flaws of the original CCTS much more believable. Even in our history the predecessors of today’s technologies were impractical in comparison. This very good idea is followed by Ironwood wanting to tell the world about Salem. He plans to tell Atlas first and after the resulting panic is under control (with the help of the military) and when the Amity tower is online, the plan is to tell the rest of the world. Atlas’s military wants to help countering the panic of the rest of the world too. This is the much more controversial part of the plan. It does make sense why Ironwood would come up with it. But the doubts about this and the state of Mantle leads Ruby to keep everything they learnt in Volume 6 hidden. This might seem hypocritical but is actually makes a lot of sense. Everyone wasn’t angry at Ozpin because he just lied but because he continued to hide important details from people who trusted him and would have laid down their lives for him. Right now there are a lot of reasons to be cautious and keeping certain things hidden until RWBY, JNOR and Qrow have a chance to talk about everything is necessary. The character moments in this episode are much more prevalent. But it is obvious that moments between Blake & Yang or Ren & Nora are nothing more than glances or standing close to each other. That makes sense if those relationships will be a main focus in this Volume. Having other moments like Weiß and Winter’s reunion (Winter acting all strict and being met by Weiß hugging her is cute) Qrow’s and Ironwoods hug, Ruby and Weiß being the type of friends they are and Blake supporting Ruby as her leader, more than makes up for it. There is also enough time for Penny and Nora being comedy highlights of the episode (Nora trying to bite off her cuffs and Penny giving the Atlas Academy tour. We are also formally introduced to the ace ops. Clover Ebi seems to be the leader and right now is the least interesting of the group (he seems nice though). The other four have great character designs and personalities: Harriet Bree is seem running very fast in the opening and seems to be all about competition. Elm Ederne is an excitable buff girl with a hammer, so the Nora of the group. Marrow Amin is a wolf Faunus who seems to not want to show his true feelings, but his wolf tail stops that from succeeding. And Vine Zeki seems to be the cautious one. He also looks like another robot. The last scene shows Tyrion and Watts. Their introduction into this Volume is very effective because they casually show off their skills with Watts hacking everything around him and Tyrion killing without care. This shows in a good way the danger those two teaming up are.

TLDR

I liked this episode a lot more than the first one. Even though I am pretty sure that with watching Volume 7 as a whole will make it clear how important Episode 1 is for introducing Mantle as a setting and Pietro and Penny being so good characters, Episode 2 delivered a lot more character moments and main story beats, which is what I love most about RWBY. But even though there is a difference in how I like the first two episodes, there are still very emotional moments in Episode 1 and all the little nuances in nonverbal character interactions is better than ever. And show don’t tell is also very prevalent with posters, background chatter and news boards. This in combination with exposition makes Atlas feel like one coherent setting.

Prediction

Ironwood stating that the weapons of everyone could need a few upgrades makes it very clear what the next episode is going to be. And knowing how Blake will repair Gambol Shroud, there is no doubt that there will be a lot of Bumblebee moments that are not in the background. It will also be interesting to see how everyone else will upgrade their weapons. The opening already shows what Jaune and Yang do with their weapons. I am pretty sure that most of the episode will deal with this and the change of clothes. Maybe we will see a mission briefing that will lead them into the mines as we see in the trailer.

#rwby spoilers #rwby7 #rwby v7c2 #rwby volume 7 spoilers #Rooster Teeth FIRST spoilers #bumbleby #renora

12 notes · View notes

omgturtlequeen · 4 years

Text

Realty Brokerage Is Changing to a Virtual Brokerage Model

Realty offices are closing all over the country. Real estate agents are hanging " up " their licenses in every state. The traditional bricks-and-mortar real estate brokerage firm is hemorrhaging, and all that keeps this archaic business design alive is consolidations. As offices close, some realtors quit, but the survivors move their licenses to another going ship, a ship that looks just like the last one particular and often with the exact same name on the bow. A large operation office closes it's doors, no longer able to keep the equipment on after more than a year of operating in the red. Typically the agents are worried sick, not knowing what they will do, until finally their savior walks in the door. A broker from a substantial bricks-and-mortar across town with the same franchise offers to take the agents in with the exact same contract terms: each professional pays $600 per month and keeps 100% of their fees. The agents sigh in relief and quickly indication the new contracts like sheep to the slaughter. Since the agent can't generate enough leads for the agents, and because agents aren't selling enough to make the broker ample money on commission splits, any kind of split wouldn't be the better choice for the broker today. A sharp broker will fee each agent a monthly fee. He laughs right to the bank, because with 60 agents paying $600 per month, he's making $36, 000 a month just for located. Three years ago I sat across the desk from a business broker who looked at me and said, "Well, we have been feeding the business every month. You have to do that when times are rough. But we've been through tough times before, and we normally come out okay. " I remember thinking to myself which was a silly thing to say coming from a man who informed me he had no business plan, no budget for marketing, rarely are written vision for the future of his business. Unfortunately, who same broker just issued a press release that he is without a doubt permanently closing the doors of his bricks-and-mortar and will be hanging his license with another bricks-and-mortar. Another consolidation. This broker is merely jumping from one sinking ship to a single that hasn't sunk yet. The new ship has quite a lot of leaks, and it may take a while for folks on the Titanic to wake up. Bricks-and-mortar real estate brokerages that stubbornly won't bridge the gap to an entirely new business model will probably die a slow and painful death. It's a thing for brokers to ride their own ship down, but it really is quite another thing altogether for those brokers to sell tickets to make sure you real estate agents with promises they can't keep. The most unfortunate detail about all of this is that the agents who think there're doing what it takes to survive are only re-arranging the ground chairs on the Titanic. Many of them truly do not know or grasp how precarious their fate is. Many of them do own an uncomfortable feeling, and they know something is wrong by their business model. Just like so many of the passengers on the Titanic towards the end who smiled and kept saying, "Don't be bothered, everything always works out alright, " traditional agents continue to keep greet people with a smile and wait for the phone for you to ring. But the ship is tilting, and they are at risk. Individuals just don't know what to do. This is the great dilemma of being ensnared. It is the classic inability to think outside of oneself. Traditional broker companies and agents who have operated within a traditional brokerage style for many years struggle to think in entirely new ways. Why is this especially difficult for so many is their agony with technology and the Internet. Some simply refuse to find out the technologies. I know of a top producer who refuses to adapt, and he sincerely believes he can delegate a number of the responsibilities to his assistant. Few assistants are going to commit night and day learning and adapting for a boss, and if many people do and leave someday, where does that get away from the agent? Even successfully delegating leaves serious obstacles in bridging the gap, which I will share subsequently. There's been a huge change, but not all agents and providers recognize what is happening. Most do not comprehend that they are in the center of a major earthquake. Therefore , they continue to do what individuals always have done. Underlying all these changes is something highly big that traditional brokers are missing. Just as it will be powerful forces that move tectonic plates deep under the earth's surface, we are experiencing powerful forces bringing about an earthquake in the real estate world. As with so much for life, what we see on the surface is merely a symptom of a more deeply and much more significant movement that is actually the driving make. It is this driving force that many brokers and providers have not recognized. Here is the first tectonic force that is around the root of all these changes effecting the real estate industry: a change in consumer behavior. Granted, it's a huge change during consumer behavior. It's so big with so many implications, most people don't comprehend it. The full description of these changes throughout consumer behavior would be quite long, but here is a transient summary in the context of the real estate business. Consumers are now not willing to be sold with obnoxious advertising and informed what to buy and when to buy it. Consumers are sick and tired of interruption advertising, of billboards, of high pressure salesmen, of telesales, and of misrepresentations and boldfaced lies. Consumers retained it with professional conflicts of interest. They're sick and tired with only getting partial information upon which to base the most important decisions. Consumers want and demand freedom to overpower their own destiny. They don't like being controlled. They don't including being manipulated. The second tectonic force effecting such remarkable changes in the real estate industry is powerful in its own right, but also acts as a catalyst for the changes through consumer behavior. The catalyst that has empowered consumers as well as forcing these changes that are the death knell regarding traditional real estate brokerage is... advances in technology. The brokerage business model has been totally unequipped to deal with these tectonic shifts. The impact of the real estate recession has rapid this process to be sure, but only in time. Had it not even been for this recession, the impact of these changes on consumer behavior would have taken longer, but the impact would certainly ultimately be the same. The recession has acted as a diversion, however , distracting real estate agents from the real cause of their tragedy. I'm reminded of the newspaper salesman who tried selling me expensive print advertising recently. I ask your pet, "Why would I advertise in the newspaper when the software hasn't sold any of my real estate listings in the past time? Help me out. Why should I advertise in your pieces of paper? " His response while soft-spoken and polite, was basically of the same mindset as many real estate brokers today, "Well, you do not need want to be left out when your competition is advertising, do you? " In response to my blank stare, he pleaded, "When business is slow, it's not the time to stop advertising. Oahu is the time to advertise more than ever! " That's when I could no more contain myself, and I broke out laughing. We all used that line in sales 30 years ago. Will be they still using that line? Yes, they are. Unsurprisingly, that kind of sales pitch still works with many real estate agents as well as brokers, because like flies bouncing off the plate tumbler windows in a futile effort to escape from bondage, a large number of agents are still doing what they admit doesn't work really well anymore. Whatever we were doing that was not working prior to must be done twice as fast now. If the ship you may be on is sinking, be quick about your business and join another ship just like the last one. Such behavior will be insanity and a ticket to failure. More real estate brokers experience filed for bankruptcy protection in the past two years than whenever they want in U. S. History. And the earthquake has not completed as many bricks-and-mortar brokers are on the verge of ending their doors soon. It is the early adopters of new customers models and new technologies who will be the millionaire real estate agents in the years to come. Because time is truncated with the speeding up pace of the growth of technology and the use of the world wide web, those who pause too long to think about doing something will be placed so far behind, they may never catch up. Think of a location ship going into warp speed. Those who missed the travel will find themselves light years behind their colleagues. This is why it will be for traditional real estate agents who insist on staying lurking behind. There is an answer, and it means embracing technology, new marketing methods, new tools to reach clients, and mastering the Internet in the form of powerful medium.

1 note · View note

codetrusoftwaredeveloper · 2 years

Text

TOP TECH TRENDS TO SHAPE YOUR CAREER IN 2022

2022 Top technologies to shape your career

Artificial Intelligence & Machine Learning

Artificial Intelligence (AI) , although started gaining popularity a decade ago, still continues to be one of the new technologies today because its remarkable effects on how we live, work, and play are still in the early stages. AI is already popular for its use in applications for image and speech recognition, navigation programs, smartphone personal assistants, voice assistants, and much more.

A B2B research firm “Markets and Markets” suggested that the AI market is expected to grow to a $190 billion industry by 2025. So, with AI spreading its wings across sectors, new jobs will be created in development, programming, testing, support, and maintenance. Even the salaries provided for these jobs will be quite high, thus, AI technology is the trend to watch out for.

Robotic Process Automation

Just like Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning, Robotic Process Automation (RPA) is another trending technology that is automating jobs. RPA in general is the use of multiple software and applications used for automating business processes such as data collection and analysis, customer service, and other repetitive tasks, which were managed previously through manual processes.

RPA is a rapidly advancing technology that generates many jobs across different industries. It offers several new career options and trajectories such as a programmer, project manager, business analyst, or consultant.

Edge Computing Cloud computing previously was a new technology trend to watch, however, with major players like Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud Platform dominating the market, Cloud computing has become mainstream.

Although organizations are adopting Cloud solutions today, they have found several limitations in this technology. And thus, it is not an emerging technology trend. Edge is.

Edge computing is designed to help bypass the latency that Cloud Computing causes and helps organizations to get data into a data center for processing.

Click for more information "2022 Information Technologies" -https://codetru.com/TechTrends

#ArtificialIntelligence #MachineLearning #RoboticProcessAutomation #QuantumComputing #EdgeComputing #VirtualReality #AugmentedReality #BlockChain #IOT #internetofThings #cyberSecurity #5gTech #uxdesigner #bestwebsitedesigner #technology #uidesigner

0 notes

theculturedmarxist · 5 years

Link

22 July 2019

Today marks the 75th anniversary of the conclusion of the Bretton Woods conference, which played a key role in laying the foundations for the restabilisation of the world capitalist economy after the devastation of two world wars and the Great Depression of the 1930s, thereby opening the way for the post-war capitalist boom.

Three quarters of a century on, the world capitalist system faces an eruption of the very disasters that shook it to its foundations and gave rise to revolutionary struggles by the working class, beginning with the October 1917 revolution in Russia.

The participants at the conference, the representatives of the allied powers still engaged in the final stages of the war against Germany and Japan, were acutely conscious that what was at stake in their deliberations to establish a new world economic order was nothing less than the survival of their rule.

Speaking at the conclusion of the meeting, US Treasury Secretary Henry Morgenthau summed up its conclusions: “We have come to recognise that the wisest and most effective way to protect our national interest is through international cooperation—that is to say, through the united effort for the attainment of common goals.”

The fears driving this orientation were articulated in March 1945 in an address to Congress by US Under Secretary of State for Economic Affairs William Clayton. Directing his remarks against the advocates of high tariffs, he warned that “world peace will always be gravely jeopardised by the kind of international economic warfare which was waged so bitterly between the two world wars,” and that “democracy and free enterprise will not survive another world war.”

That precisely describes the road on which the world is now headed—deepening economic conflict and war spearheaded by US imperialism under the presidency of Donald Trump.

In his inaugural address, Trump declared: “We must protect our borders from the ravages of other countries making our products, stealing our companies and destroying our jobs. Protection will lead to great prosperity and strength.” In the more than two years since, the US has carried out escalating economic warfare, hitting out at allies and rivals alike as it imposes tariffs or threatens them in the name of “national security.”

But no one should succumb to the illusion that the very policies the architects of the Bretton Woods agreement warned would lead to a catastrophe are simply the product of the Trump White House. In fact, the Democrats are even more bellicose. They have given their support to a resolution directed against the Chinese telecom giant Huawei that would prevent Trump, as part of any trade deal, lifting the crippling US sanctions imposed on it.

This bipartisan support points to the fact that the escalating trade war and the threat of world war are not the product of the psychology or mindset of a particular group of capitalist politicians that can be overcome by some kind of “course correction.” Rather, these processes are rooted in the deep-seated and intractable crisis of US imperialism, itself the product of the historical evolution of the world capitalist system in the three quarters of a century since Bretton Woods.

There were two key pillars of the Bretton Woods Agreement, one political and the other economic.

The political foundation, which made it possible for the leaders of world capitalism to come together to construct a new world economic order, was the betrayal by the Stalinist bureaucracy in the Soviet Union and the Stalinist Communist Parties around the world of the revolutionary struggles of the working class that had erupted in the 1920s and 1930s, and the renewed anti-capitalist struggles of workers throughout Europe and in much of Asia that were erupting as the war hurtled toward its bloody conclusion.

In the lead-up to the war, the Stalinist program of the popular front—an alliance with supposed democratic sections of the ruling classes—had led to the betrayal of the French working class in 1936 and the beheading of the Spanish working class in the civil war of 1936-39. The Stalinist bureaucracy, which had emerged as a result of defeats suffered by the European working class and the resulting isolation of the first workers’ state after the 1917 revolution, was now the chief prop of world imperialism.

In 1943, the Stalinist bureaucracy gave its guarantee to world imperialism of the role it would play in the post-war world when it dissolved the Communist International. This was underscored at the Yalta summit in February 1945 with British Prime Minister Churchill and US President Roosevelt. Stalin made it clear that the Soviet Union would support the return of capitalist governments in Western Europe after the war—a pledge that was honoured when the Stalinist parties entered bourgeois governments in France and Italy after the defeat of the Nazis and suppressed the drive of the working class for socialist revolution.

The economic foundation was the strength of US capitalism, whose industrial capacities had grown in the course of the war to such an extent that by 1945 it accounted for some 50 percent of world manufacturing.

Having secured the collaboration of the Stalinist parties, which enjoyed mass support in the working class because they were mistakenly seen as the continuators of the October Revolution and because of the pivotal role of the Red Army in defeating Nazi Germany, the US was able to use its economic strength to reconstruct world capitalism.

It did so, however, not out of altruism, but because the restabilization of capitalism in war-devastated Europe and Asia suited the interests of American imperialism. It was recognised in US ruling circles that if Europe and the rest of the world were returned to the conditions of the 1930s, the American economy, dependent on an expansion of the world market, would face disaster, and, notwithstanding the political role of Stalinism, the outcome would be the eruption of revolutionary struggles in Europe and the US itself.

From the outbreak of World War 1 in 1914, the Marxist movement had analysed that the eruption of global war was the outcome of the contradiction between the development of world economy and the division of the world into rival nation-states, which gave rise to ever more violent conflicts among the imperialist powers. Defending their own interests, involving centrally the struggle for markets, profits and resources, each of these powers sought to resolve the contradiction between world economy and the nation-state by establishing itself as the pre-eminent world power, leading to a war of each against all.

This contradiction found expression in the Bretton Woods monetary system, which was intended to minimize conflicts among the major capitalist powers. Defending the interests of British imperialism, economist John Maynard Keynes proposed the establishment of an international currency, the “bancor,” to finance global trade and investment transactions. The essence of the Keynes plan was to make the US subject to the same discipline as the other major powers, thereby lessening its dominance.

The “bancor” plan was flatly rejected and the US dollar was made the basis of a refashioned international monetary system. For all the rhetoric about the need for international collaboration, American hegemony was enshrined in the Bretton Woods agreement. The only constraint was that the dollar was to be exchangeable for gold at the rate of $35 per ounce.

The contradiction between world economy and the national system was not overcome, but only suppressed, under the Bretton Woods system. It would come to the surface again.

The Bretton Woods monetary agreement, together with other measures such as the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade and the reconstruction of the world economy through the use of more advanced American production technologies, gave rise to an economic expansion in all the major capitalist economies. During the ensuing post-war boom, the conventional wisdom was that capitalism had overcome the disasters of the previous half-century and the global economy could be successfully managed.

But the Bretton Woods monetary system contained an inherent contradiction. The more it promoted the expansion of the world market and the development of other capitalist economies—Germany, France, the UK and Japan—the more it undermined both the relative and absolute economic supremacy of the US on which the system was based.

This contradiction, which had already been identified by the early 1960s, exploded to the surface on August 15, 1971, when President Nixon, faced with a gold drain, unilaterally announced in a Sunday night television broadcast that henceforth the US would not redeem dollars for gold.

Nixon’s actions—which also included a wage freeze on US workers and a 10 percent surcharge on imports—were aimed at maintaining the dominance of American imperialism over the world economy and its financial system. But the decline of US economic supremacy, both relative and absolute, only accelerated in the ensuing years. The establishment of a fiat currency, freed from backing by gold, was one of the major factors in the rise and rise of finance capital over the past four decades.

The US pre-eminence in industrial production steadily eroded, to the extent that it now ranks behind both China and the European Union, and profit accumulation has become increasingly dependent on speculation and financial market operations.

The case of Huawei—one of the key targets of the Trump administration and the American military and intelligence establishment—is a graphic expression of this process. It has been targeted because it is on the front line of the development of 5G mobile phone technology, which will have a major impact on the development of industrial capacity via the internet.

Huawei is now deemed an existential threat to a country that pioneered vast advances in technology going back to the latter years of the 19th century, because there is no comparable US firm. The reason for this absence is that profit-making in the US has become increasingly dependent on short-term gains and financial manipulations at the expense investment and the development of the productive forces.

Three quarters of a century after the Bretton Woods Agreement, all the contradictions of the world capitalist system it sought to suppress have come bursting to the surface once again. They assume their most explosive form in the drive by US imperialism to reassert its hegemony by implementing the kind of tariff and protectionist measures that gave rise to the disasters of the 1930s, now augmented by technology bans, as well as by means of war.

The issue confronting the world working class is that set out by Leon Trotsky in the early years of the imperialist epoch, with the outbreak of World War 1. In 1915, he wrote that the perspective of world socialist revolution and the socialist organisation of economy had to become the practical program of the day guiding the struggles of the working class. That analysis is truer than ever as the contradictions of the capitalist system drive towards another world conflagration.

Nick Beams

#bretton woods #world war 2 #world war 3 #trump #politics #economics #late stage capitalism #capitalist critique #failure of capitalism #hegemony #us hegemony #china #european union #russia #communism #revolution

2 notes · View notes

andrewmoocow · 5 years

Text

Fooly Falls 2 chapter 4: Mechanica Melody (originally posted on April 19, 2019)

AN: We're getting close to the end everyone! Though unfortunately just like the previous three chapters, real life might get in the way of the story, but I still really hope I can get this out during spring break. Anyway, here comes Chapter 4 to really turn this summer on its head and send everything straight down to Hell from here on out. ZKHQ D OLWWOH JLUO QRUPDOOB GRZQKHDUWHG VXGGHQOB JHWV D FKHHUIXO DFW VWDUWHG, KHU IDPLOB DQG IULHQGV WUB WR VDYH WKH GDB EXW VRRQ HYHUBWKLQJ ZLOO ORVH WKHLU ZDB.

A suddenly more cheerful Gwen began skipping down the street to the shock of passerby's who were so used to seeing a frown on her face, which was now replaced with a big goofy smile. "If you ask us, I have a feeling it must be puberty kicking in early. It can do crazy thing with your emotions!" Juan theorized while he and Jorge were being interviewed, and his brother agreed with a nod. "When we came back from the island, I was kinda freaked out by how she was acting." Wendy explained worriedly. "Last time I saw her this perky was before she got that weirdo hat of hers. But hey, at least she looks positively adorable when she's happy!" "Whoa, it's a chopper! GET TO THE CHOPPAH!" Gwen peppily exclaimed spotting a helicopter hovering over her. "The whole world is turning upside down, I can just feel it!" "I'm so pissed off, I can't stand it!" Haruko snarled in frustration stomping her foot. "And it's all because of that shitty hat!" "It's an emergency measure installed by Medical Mechanica. The change in personality is most likely a side-effect." Jinyu remarked. "Or so Jinyu, Dipper and I have guessed. We cannot know for certain, unless we can head to the source." Ford added adjusting his glasses. "What do you think, does doing this with my glasses make me look cool?" "Oh, the iron!" Gwen chirped spying the abandoned Medical Mechanica plant towering over the town. "Also known as the WORLD SMOOTHER!" "I don't know which is more bizarre, this or the mutant raccoon that moved in with Ezra & Candy." Leia commented. "Last I heard from them, Ezra didn't want to show his face in public after Bawuu murdered a baby squirrel by chopping down a tree for literally no reason." With a loud cackle, the little girl kicked down the entrance to the Mystery Shack and loudly greeted her friends. "HOW DO YOU DO FELLOW KIDS?!" she hollered. "HEEEEERE'S GWENNIE, HERE TO START THE DAY!" "As much as I like Gwen not being so down in the dumps all the time, I'm supposed to be the fun & cute twin!" Tyrone exclaimed. "That is not Gwen, I can feel it." Arnold added. "Starting today, we're all getting to the bottom of this and saving my daughter." Dipper declared. "No matter the cost." Gwen giggled in a somewhat creepy fashion while the bobble of her hat glowed dimly, to the unease of her friends while Arnold & Tyrone gazed out the window to spy on Medical Mechanica.

Later that day in the living room while a group of hippies chanted "Furi kuri, furi kura! Furi kuri, furi KURA!", Dipper begged Haruko to assist them. "Please Haruko, you have to help us here!" he shouted but the Vespa Woman had her head turned away. "Oh please, this was all Arnie's fault he didn't remove the headphones like I asked him to." she stated. "Well you're at fault as well for even touching her!" "Enough arguing you two!" Stan exclaimed beating them both with his cane. "We gotta find Gwen quick. I do not wanna know what untold madness will come from her being too happy." "Stanley is right, you're both wasting precious time that we don't have." Jinyu responded stepping into the sitting room with the rest of the crew in tow. "You know what you need to do, so do it." she declared boldly despite still wearing her maid uniform. "I think she might have a maid fetish." Ian whispered. "Medical Mechanica." the maid continued. "That is where we'll remove it." Haruko responded with a thumbs up while Dipper got excited at the thought of the madness finally ending. "And then we can chase him together." The thumbs up immediately became a thumbs down. "We don't have any more options. Although they've tried to kill us and destroy the town in the past, they're our last hope." Ford announced just as someone knocked on the door. "Can someone answer that please?" "Allow me. But if it's PETA again, I'll just say the town is outta animals for them to kill." Stan answered wheeling up the the door and answering it, discovering a man in a suit and glasses on the other side. "You must be Stanford's brother. May I come in?" "What are you, a cop?" Stanley rudely asked before attempting to slam the door on the man, but oddly enough he managed to sneak his foot through mid-shutting. "Ow." "Is that you Kanda? What brings you here?" Ford asked shoving his brother out of the way to reopen the door. "So you plan on going up against the Big M, eh?" Kanda asked stepping into the house. "Well, I think this might be a good time for me to shine." "Hark, is that you I hear Kanda?!" Haruko chirped randomly appearing between the Stan brothers. "Wait, you know each other?" Dipper exclaimed. "I suppose it's time to let the cat out of the bag." Ford sighed. "Everyone, I'd like you to meet Tsukata Kanda. He's a new friend of mine that I've met in Little Asia a while back. He claims that he does have history with Haruko and-" "How badly did she emasculate you?" Dipper bluntly asked. "Maliciously." Kanda replied just as matter of factly pulling out his squirt gun. "Now as I was saying, help me help you Pines family." "Pretty sure you're saying that wrong." Mabel remarked. "Want some coffee?" she asked handing him a mug of joe. "I'd very much appreciate that Mrs. Pines." Kanda replied taking the mug before he accidentally dropped it, spilling the caffeine all over his foot. "My word, I am terribly sorry! Just a bit of a klutz, I'll help you clean up!" "No need right now sir, we've got a friend to save." Ian interrupted Tsukata. "Speaking of which, where did Gwen run off to anyway?"

"A theme park? Perhaps this could be a chance to see what it's like being a child my age." Imelda muttered gazing at a help wanted poster in her hands for a new amusement park. She was so absorbed in the poster that she didn't pay attention when she nearly bumped into Gwen drawing all over the window of an abandoned furniture store. "My word Gwen, what are you doing?!" "It's all done!" Gwen chirped in response marveling at her marker-on-glass masterpiece. Imelda contemplated the meaning of the bright colors and the bizarre imagery. "Quite impressive my friend." the second Ramirez daughter applauded her older friend. "In a single word, it's a song!" Gwen cheered twirling around. "What kind of song?" Imelda wondered. "Carmen, Beethoven, Mozart, Skrillex?" "That'sa right-o!" Gwen stated beaming. "In space, no one can hear you sing! But the stars spin and spin and they spin around and around and they sing together!" The Pines daughter ran off merrily leaving the seven-year-old to contemplate what she just said. "Song of the stars, eh? My word, the park!"

A man in a goofy vulture mascot costume watched as a helicopter lowered a new attraction for his park before him while two children ran on by. "Check it out, they're putting in a new ride!" the first youth said excitedly. "That's awesome!" the second added just as amazed. When the clock struck three, Aiko interrupted her date with a third boy to get her pay. "Time's up, now pay up." The boy complied handing Aiko an envelope that she fished through. "Nice doing business with you." she said handing the boy a statue of a bear with a fish in its mouth. "Did I just buy this?" the boy wondered as Aiko began to walk off. "Maybe. Til the next time you need my services." The helicopter pulled the tarp off its cargo unveiling a viking ship ride, to the two boys' disappointment. "It's just a viking ride." the first stated. "That's lame, let's go home." the second replied and the two walked away as Imelda ran up to the vulture. "Excuse me, are you the individual running this establishment?" "Why yes little one, my name's Tonkichi!" the proprietor of the park answered politely pulling off his costume head to meet Imelda's gaze. "I see you're here about the job opening? And at such a young age too!" "Yes. I'd like to learn about what it's like to be a child my age." Imelda responded. "Well you're just in time young lady, cause a new ride just came!" Tonkichi announced presenting to her the viking ride. "This is going to be our new main attraction!" Across town at Masurao's house, he was being confronted by Eyepatch while the remains of a certain Medical Machine was crucified behind them. "You can't find it?!" Eyepatch shouted. "Well stop acting like a child and keep looking around!" "Well I've already checked everywhere but I still can't find it!" Masurao fired back. "What the hell kinda moron would lose something as a flower pot?" Eyepatch muttered in thought. "Can't you just make another one?" his subordinate suggested. "It's a one of a kind thing made from this guy's parts." Eyepatch stated gesturing to Canti. "There's no way we can make another one, not with our technology!" "Oh man. By the way, have you seen a carved bear anywhere?" Masurao inquired. "You're such a-that's not important!" his superior growled impatiently. "What's important is the flower pot!" "I'm home homies." Aiko muttered walking into her home while her father was speaking with Eyepatch. "We're supposed to use it to monitor-" the other man began. "Yeah, I know! We're supposed to reverse the N.O current!" Aiko's dad interrupted him. His daughter got suspicious of her father's activity and listened in on the conversation. "If we hypothesize that N.O is a power that can pull objects from elsewhere, then-" "I see." Eyepatch observed. "Then it stands to reason we should reverse the direction!" Aiko immediately got suspicious and opened the door to the living room and within mere seconds, it looked completely normal. She groaned as she turned her gaze to find her dad pretending to receive boxing lessons. "What are you guys doing?" "Oh hey Aiko, welcome home!" Masurao nervously greeted his daughter while Eyepatch's jaw dropped at the sight of her. "Oh my, you're just the type! Look at those fists!" he exclaimed marveling at her hands. "You let that champion inside again?" Aiko snarked about the older man. "What do you say squirt?!" Eyepatch cried. "We could take over the world together, you'll be eating lightning and crapping thunder before you know it!" In response, Aiko just kneed him in the stomach. "She's a lot like the other one, packing a punch like a shooting star!" Eyepatch declared falling to the ground. "The neighbors keep whispering about why you're always inviting a homeless man inside!" Aiko scolded her father, who simply replied with a demure "I'm so sorry." "Your dad didn't do nuttin' wrong sweetheart! Your dad's..." Eyepatch defended before Aiko's glare made him drop his guard as well. "A champ." He then handed her a few tickets to the amusement park. "Here. Would you forgive us if I hand you these puppies?" "You're always trying to give me these comp tickets as a way to get on my good side." Aiko scoffed. "Just where the hell are you getting these anyway?" Her question made the two men stutter nervously. "I'd rather have a day pass to the Gravity Falls spa or some resort in Portland." she continued. "I know that amusement park has a new ride, but it's just a stupid viking ship." Her comment about the viking ship made the duo groan in shock. "It was installed?!" Masurao cried. "It was the viking ship? You sure?!" Eyepatch added just as horrified. "Yeah. So?" Aiko answered beginning to get confused at what they were on about. "Hey, they finally did it." the capped man muttered. "Yep, and we're all screwed." the fake champion added and they both started panting & sweating in fear. "What are you talking about?" Aiko wondered just about to close the door on them. "Oh hey Aiko, have you seen that carved bear?" Masurao asked but she was already gone.

Back with Imelda, she had taken her seat on the viking ride. "I really appreciate you taking time out of your schedule to test this out." Tonkichi said gratefully. "Thank you very much Mr. Tonkichi. Riding on theme park rides are what children my age do, correct?" Imelda asked just as the old man plugged a wire into the helmet she was wearing. "That's right little lady, plus you get extra pay." Tonkichi replied. "What for?" "Oh, just a gift for the fam." Imelda continued.

Gwen continued merrily skipping about town with a big goofy grin on her face. "A dream, a dream!" she exclaimed. "What is the reason we dream? Is it because it is called a dream?" the girl contemplated. "There are dreams when we sleep, and dreams when we're awake! We dream whether we're sleeping or awake!" While Gwen frolicked about, Jinyu spied on her from her car with Haruko, Dipper, Mabel, Stan, Ford, Kanda, Tyrone, Arnold, Ian, Leia, Juan, Jorge, Wendy & Soos alongside her. The fifteen of them silently nodded to one another. "Let's go." Jinyu commanded kickstarting the Bel-Air.

"Look here!" Jinyu stated earlier that day discussing their plan in the living room while the hippies continued harmonizing. "That hat will be quite hard to remove as it's too deep inside Gwen's head." "The reason why she's behaving in this fashion is because of the bizarre radiowaves her cap is receiving straight from Medical Mechanica." Ford added. "Bizarre radiowaves!" Haruko wearing a goofy hat that showed a checkmark & Dipper repeated in unison. "To get her back to normal, we'll have to eliminate both the receptor and transmission source." Tsukata explained further. "Our plan is to split up into groups of three, two to go inside, two staying out and one to find Gwen." "Raharu, Ian & Soos will destroy the outer antenna." Julia stated to the aforementioned trio. "You can count on us Jinyu, as long as it'll get Gwen back." Ian approved of the plan while Haruko let out a half-hearted "Aye aye." while her hat put up an X sign. "Wendy, Juan & Jorge will provide cover for us in case of any outside interference." Ford added. "As for you Arnold, you're assigned along with Tyrone & Leia to find and capture your cousin before we leave for Medical Mechanica." Arnold blushed at the thought of such an important task while Tyrone slapped a hand on his back. "Don't sweat it! This'll be a great chance for Arnold to grow as a man!" "And lastly, Dipper, Mabel & Stan shall accompany Julia, Kanda and I in infiltrating the factory." Ford finished much to Raharu's ire. "Hey, that should be my job!" she exclaimed. "There is no way we're leaving you with Gwen at all!" Dipper rebuked. "Now keep quiet, cause we got a job to do!"

Gwen continued on her merry way with a big laugh until she found a statue of Petra the Pterodactyl singing her famous song with a crudely made "free hugs" sign next to her. "I appreciate you, you appreciate me." a poor recording of a woman's voice sang. "Let's appreciate everybody." "I appreciate you too Petra!" Gwen squealed with childlike delight offering the Petra statue a hug. What she didn't know was that she was now glued to the statue and it was chained to Jinyu's Bel-Air. Tyrone appeared with a big stupid grin on his face as he held up a sign saying "Oldest trick in the book!" followed by another sign saying "What a maroon!" With a hearty meep-meep, he cued the car to pull the statue off its support and fly toward the plant. Imelda on the other hand remained at the carnival testing out the viking ride while Tonkichi watched, and she was not having a good time. "Here we go!" Tonkichi declared pressing a red button that made the boat turn upside down to her shock and displeasure. "I just realized that I've made a huge mistake!" the little girl hollered as the ride made her head grind against the machinery. "That little girl is a great sport."

At last the Bel-Air made it to the roof of the giant iron and the party immediately alighted from it to gaze at the giant handle. "Everyone know your positions?" Kanda asked the rest and they nodded their heads. "Time to go." Jinyu declared. "Yeah, but from where?" Haruko asked. "You tell me." Dipper answered. "Uhhhh..." The Pines and guitar players remained dead silent before they began to argue amongst themselves. "You two don't have a plan and you're bossing us around?!" Haruko shouted hotly. "We have to figure this out together whether you like it or not!" Jinyu replied just as angrily. "Now be useful!" "Shut up! I don't take orders from you!" Raharu snarled. "Girls girls, please. Why don't we try the easy way in and just bomb it all?" Stan offered a solution. "And risk Medical Mechanica hunting us down? That's way too risky!" Ford repealed the idea. "It may have dire consequences, but the easiest way is usually the most successful!" Mabel supported her greedy great-uncle. "That's not helping at all Mabel!" Dipper fired back. "We need to think of something using what we have!" "Good grief, sometimes I wonder why I bothered taking that call." Kanda muttered leaning against the car to light a cigarette. "We're getting nowhere at this rate." Arnold moaned in defeat. "Who knows, change can be a good thing. Maybe we can accept this new Gwen and move on like the old one never went away." Tyrone stated optimistically when he noticed something familiar behind his feet. "Hey, isn't that Aiko's flower?" "Oh, what a pretty treasure!" Gwen chirped in delight picking up the pot. "No, don't touch that! Aiko paid a very high price for it and she'd kill me if anything happened!" Juan exclaimed frantically. "Really high? REALLY HIGH!" Gwen responded tossing the pot into the air. When it landed on Arnold's head, a purple force began glowing on his forehead. "Why can't you just get it?!" Julia yelled with Haruhara's back to her. "It doesn't...it doesn't want you!" Her other half's words prompted a glare from Haruko before Dipper spoke up. "Take it from me. I've had a crush on Wendy when I was a kid and over that summer, I learned you just can't force someone to love y-what is going on?" he began to relate his own experiences with love just as Arnold's forehead began acting up and sucked him in. "OH MOTHER-" "What did you do?! Arnold!" Jinyu shouted as the portal proceeded to swallow her, Haruko and the rest of the Pines. "You're an idiot cause you do idiotic things!" Haruko added as her final words before she was consumed by the forehead as well. "Mommy!" Arnold screamed for his mother. "Dad, no!" Tyrone added just as shocked.

Elsewhere back with Masurao, he had Canti tied up in cardboard and tape. "We have to do this because it's evidence. But I do feel a bit bad." Eyepatch stated solemnly. "Yeah. Because of this guy here, we were able to make tons of progress on the research." Masurao agreed. "Or rather, with what's left of him that is." "So true." the older man sighed in mourning. "The owner of this shell isn't a living creature, at least not in our sense of the word. It's almost like a larger being stuck between creature and planet." the redhead observed. "The planet is quite big of course." Eyepatch responded with a scratch of his head. "And that's why its cycle lasts years at a time." Masurao continued before his monitors started beeping. Rushing over to them, he made a shocking discovery. "What is it?" Eyepatch asked. "It's the flower pot!" Masurao exclaimed. "You mean the one you lost?" Eyepatch snarked. "It's moving!" his subordinate realized. "And that thing only reacts to N.O!" "That means it must've opened." Eyepatch deduced. "Hopefully Tsu knows what's up." "They actually got a hold of the flower pot!" Masurao continued panicking. "And it's in reverse flow!"

Arnold stood perfectly in place with the pot in his hands while the others watched in shock over what has happened. "W-what just happened?" "They all went inside your head!" Gwen cackled merrily creeping her relatives out even more. "What happened to you sis?" Tyrone asked begging for the big sister he knew to come back. "I'm the only one between us who's supposed to be that hyper." "Only one? But I've always been like this." Tyrone's sister revealed merrily. "Always?" Tyrone answered in shock. "Then again, her aunt is Mabel Pines." Wendy snarked. "To be honest, for as long as I can remember." Gwen explained just as the car engine went off and soared to the top of the Medical Mechanica plant.

"Can you all just shut up? You're turning into a bunch of broken records at this point." Haruko complained while she, Jinyu and the Pines ascended a seemingly unending flight of stairs within the factory. "Why can't you understand?" Julia groaned in irritation. "That is not what he wants, all right?" "Ha! Funny how you think you know him so well!" Haruko scoffed ignoring her words. "I barely know a thing about the big guy myself, but like I said; you can't force someone to love you!" Dipper reiterated hauling Stan's wheelchair on his back. "Now can someone give me some help? Stan is remarkably heavy for someone so old." "Well I do care." Jinyu continued in the midst of Dipper's struggling. "If you say that again, I'm gonna kill you." Haruko threatened her. "Please you two, why not just live and let live like I said before?" Mabel tried to ease the tension between the pair of women. "Don't bother getting involved Mabel, Jinyu is objectively right because she's a morally better person." Stan cut her off. "He needs to have his freedom." Jinyu continued. "Anyone who tries to keep him tied down is my enemy. Medical Mechanica, and even you." "If I may throw my few cents into the ring, Jinyu is trying to say he just-" Ford tried to interject, but was cut off by Haruko slamming the wall. "Shut up! I'm sick of hearing you talking about him Jinyu, and I'm sick of you guys trying to take her side! When I want something, I get it!" she hissed. "I'll do what I need to make sure he sees me!" "We aren't taking sides here, you're just acting like a spoiled child just because you want bird dick!" Ford argued, immediately regretting what disgusting thing he just said. "He's right. And you're going to fail." Jinyu agreed and Raharu just hissed again. "I understand everything. I understand him. And them, and you too." "How dare you say that." Haruko eerily stated. "I will keep on saying it!" Julia declared. "You need to join me Raharu! You're me after all!" Haruko just gritted her teeth with an angry glare and turned away to adjust her goggles. "Fine." "Raharu. You finally get it!" Jinyu beamed. "Together, I know we can-" "I am gonna devour you."

The Bel-Air roared to the very top of the Medical Mechanica factory with its passengers bracing for impact. When it finally skidded to a stop, Arnold was lying down on the floor with the flower pot by his side. "Gwen? Gwen, where are you?!" he called for his cousin. "GWEEN!" As fast as he could get up, he found Gwen dancing along the edge of the handle with a calm smile on her face. "Gwen?" "Dudes, you do realize she's dancing on the brim of a very high place, right?" Soos pointed out awkwardly. "No way!" Wendy exclaimed while her daughter observed the town below. "Young lady, please get away from there this instant!" "I can see everything!" Gwen chirped excitedly gazing into the distance. "Where is the-da-discuh-my father?!" she exclaimed. "Dude, he's in his head! Did you not get the memo?!" Ian screamed dramatically pointing to Arnold's scalp. "I don't have a mother either." the girl added to everyone's shock. "G-G-Gwennie?" Wendy muttered cupping her mouth in shock. "She doesn't understand how I feel. But then again, no one does!" Gwen continued. "I'm just a complete enigma!" "I-is this her true thoughts?" Kanda observed in wonder. "If everything's destroyed, we can just start all over!" Gwen contemplated. "For one, Mommy will no longer have to worry about me, Daddy will come home, Tyrone will still be his same old self and Arnold will grow a pair! If today was an ordinary day like yesterday, that would've been oh so nice!" With a loud sigh, Gwen fell down forward and in a panic, her family rushed to rescue her. Arnold managed to cling onto her arm at the last moment before fate had other plans for him. His cousin continued giggling and performed a pirouette that switched their places, her back on solid ground & Arnold clinging onto dear life. "Someone, save me!" "No, I think you can do it manliness grasshopper!" Juan exclaimed. "Yeah! We know you can make it back by yourself! Just try as hard as you can, and if you fall that's too bad!" Jorge added, which finally made Arnold lose it. "SO WHAT, YOU'RE MORE CONCERNED ABOUT MY MANLINESS THAN MY OWN MORTALITY?! I AM LITERALLY ON THE VERGE OF DEATH HERE AND ALL YOU'RE DOING IS HAZING ME!" "Don't worry little dude, I got your back!" Ian shouted grabbing the boy's arm and pulling him back up. "There you go Arnie. Now how do you feel?" he asked Arnold. "Exhilarated and testy." Arnold replied tepidly. "And like I said, there's more to manliness than endangering the lives of others." "I don't need anything special. But the anger, the sadness, the misery, the hatred. I just don't want to think about it anymore." Gwen announced holding onto her hat with a cute smile. "And so, that's why this hat looks great!"

Inside the factory, Haruha & Julia clashed once more while the Pines struggled to find cover from their fighting. "We have to find a way out, now!" Dipper screamed lighting four cigarettes in his mouth. "Not until we discuss your recent smoking habit! Aren't you the least bit concerned about your health?!" Ford hollered back. "It helps me de-stress, get your priorities straight Ford!" the great-nephew screamed again. "Now what can we do now?!" "Stop it! Raharu!" Jinyu cried landing on the metal brain-like structure before Haruko rocketed forward with bass in hand. Ford attempted to cover for his guitar-playing friend with a few shots from the magnet gun labeled "Carry at all times! Can't be too careful" he kept in his coat, but it was too late. The Vespa Woman slammed her bat down and made the brain explode in bright colors.

Back outside, the rest of the crew were just about ready to leave without the Pines, the Vespa Woman or her other half when the ground started shaking and Gwen collapsed in pain. "Sis, no!" Tyrone cried while his older sister screamed & cried in agony while her beanie began its most violent vibration thus far. "That's not good!" Tsukata gasped before the siren went off. "That's not good at all!" Imelda remained on the viking ride screaming as it spun in high speeds. "What's going on?" Tonkichi wondered looking around the operating booth before noticing a siren going off. The helmet on Imelda's head then began to crack. "Please sweetheart, answer us!" Wendy cried for her child before she let out one last scream and the hat just popped off her head. The girl fell unconscious in her mother's warm embrace while the hat drifted to Leia's feet. "Jackpot, we got 'em off!" she cheered pulling out a lighter from her pocket. "Now let's burn this thing and close this story for good!" "I don't think we're done yet. Look!" Soos exclaimed pointing at Gwen who was now on the verge of tears. "Someone help me! I think I'm going to overflow!" she sobbed. "I'm going to overflow! I'm going to-" "What in God's name is she talking about?!" Wendy shouted at Kanda finally having enough of things. "It means she's going to release N.O energy! Brace yourselves!" the agent cautioned shielding himself from potential danger, commanding everybody else to do the same. "I'm going to overflow! I'm going to overflow!" Gwen repeated shakily and let out an even louder scream than before, causing a single blue arm to burst through her head along with Dipper, Mabel and the Stans finally escaping. "Woo, that's the second craziest headcase I've seen in my life." Stanley commented rubbing his butt. "Now what did we miss?" "The-the world is turning inside out!" Gwen sobbed once more seeing images of a gloved hand breaking free from the chains holding some creature. She was lifted up into the air before the arm grabbed her face, pulling its owner out to reveal herself as Jinyu with a firecracker in her mouth. Suddenly another red arm, no doubt belonging to Haruko, grabbed Jinyu's own face and tried to push her back down. As the conflict continued, more visions appeared of Jinyu bursting from Haruko followed by scarlet wings emerging from her head. With that, the two broke free and clashed leaving Gwen to fall from the sky. "What is even happening right now?" Tyrone asked his younger great great-uncle. "This has to be N.O!" Ford analyzed. "When we managed to get inside the factory through the channel in your sister's forehead, Jinyu made some choice words that got Raharu mad and she smacked this giant brain thing that led to us breaking out!" "Well what're you waitin' for Sixer? Shoot her down!" Stan commanded his brother snatching the magnet gun and handing it to him. Behind their backs, Gwen landed back in the Bel-Air. Masurao and Eyepatch rushed outside to see what was up. "I can't believe it! Could it be the Pirate-" Eyepatch began before he was cut off once more. "It can't be, but that power definitely is!" Masurao answered frantically. "Oh my, it's begun!" Tonkichi declared peeping out the window. Imelda just kept on screaming and reminisced on running into Gwen while she was drawing on the window. "JANE, STOP THIS CRAZY THING!" she belted out a complete non-sequitur while a bamboo shoot spawned from her head and she was sent flying off the ride toward the factory. "What do we do now?!" Tyrone asked not knowing how they will survive this. "Why the smartest thing to do in a situation like this," Stan answered before his wheelchair turned and skidded away. "NIGURENDAYO!" Stan however was stopped in his tracks when he found Gwen in Jinyu's car about to drive over the edge of the giant iron as it was tilted backward by the bamboo shoot erupting from Imelda's forehead. The bulbs on her head burst and set free a small robot that raced up the stalk. "What is going on down there?!" Dipper cried before spotting his daughter in the car about to fall off the iron and panicked. Haruko let out a mighty scream as guitars clashed. "Cut it out Raharu!" Jinyu yelled trying to talk some sense into her other half. "Shut up! And your sunglasses are lame!" Haruko howled knocking the other woman back and chasing after her. The little bamboo shoot robot spotted the Vespa Woman and stuck out its little eyeball to put up a shield. When the girl tried to attack, the shield instead gave her a shock that blew her away. "How dare you?!" "GWEEEEEN!" the other Pines screamed together chasing after the Bel-Air while it rolled down the roof of the iron. They began to form a human chain that would try and stop the car from running away but unfortunately, they crashed into a support beam while the vehicle careened off the edge and towards the ground. "Gwen, no!" Dipper cried racing off the edge even though his face was badly injured. As for the little machine, it began firing at the two guitar players while they were still fighting. "Give up Raharu!" Jinyu screamed while Ford once again attempted to fire his magnet gun at Haruko. Dipper continued to dive after his daughter when she finally came to and spotted him. "Papa, no!" Gwen quickly took her dad's hand and dragged him into the backseat with her. "I am so glad you're okay pumpkin, now we gotta save the others!" Dipper shouted preparing to take the wheel until he realized they were already mere moments from crashing. Suddenly Jinyu came soaring in and picked the vehicle up before fetching the rest from the Medical Mechanica factory. "Thank you Jinyu! You're a real lifesaver!" Stan exclaimed spotting the Jazzmaster woman lifting her sedan in the air by just a hand. "You'd better not let your guard down!" Haruko exclaimed charging even faster at Jinyu, managing to dodge the little machine firing at her along the way, and attacked in a way that made the Bel-Air fall from her grasp. "Stop it, Raharu!" "No way Lame Glasses!" Raharu hissed beating Jinyu down to the ground. "Are you okay?!" Ford exclaimed in worry before Stanley grabbed the magnet gun. "Okay, that's it!" he shouted. "Everybody but me has gotten a chance to maim her this entire story, and I'm not about to waste my chance giving her the karma she deserves!" "Stanley you idiot, give that back!" Stanford shouted trying to wrestle his makeshift weapon out of the con-artist's hands. "I NEED MY GODDAMN NICOTINE!" Dipper shrieked about to light up another one in the heat of the moment when Haruko finally grabbed the convertible and tossed it toward the little robot, ultimately destroying it and making the bamboo crumble. Smoke began billowing from the tilting factory as Jinyu returned in the nick of time to save the two families from certain doom. "I know it's great that she saved us, but what about the factory?" Ian wondered pointing back to the falling iron. "It's tipping over!" Kanda exclaimed just as Haruko returned with a vengeance and with one fell swoop, it was all over. The iron now sat perfectly on its back following an explosion. The firecracker in Jinyu's mouth fell out. And there was a large hole in her chest where she was struck. "The plant..." Eyepatch gasped. "Stood up?!" Masurao added in shock. When the Bel-Air crashed and the Pines fell out, Haruko stood atop the wreckage of the robot with Jinyu in a chokehold while her white guitar was planted in the ground. "Jinyu. No." Ford muttered in utter speechlessness. "R-Raharu..." Jinyu croaked defeatedly. "I just wanted for him to have his freedom. I love him. That's why. I want him to be free from us." "You don't get it, no." Haruko remarked coldly. "Everything has always belonged to him, right from the very beginning. His shackles and his freedom. There isn't anything in this world that doesn't belong to him. Nothing." she monologued before pulling down her goggles with a smile. "That settles it. So we're not the same after all." "I guess so." Jinyu responded hoarsely in a dignified matter. "Perhaps, you're right." "Come with me Jinyu." Haruko serenely offered her. "We can finally be together." With that, Haruko morphed into a wasplike creature, fitting her moniker as the Vespa Woman, and swallowed Jinyu whole with only her glasses left behind while everybody watched in sheer terror. When the biker morphed into her now pink-haired humanoid self, she snatched the glasses from the air and put them on with a smirk followed by an evil chuckle. When Gwen looked down on the ground to find her hat partially buried in the dirt before the woman touched down on the crashed Bel-Air. "Now, why don't you come with me as well Gwen?" Haruko offered the younger girl. Imelda burst from the wreckage to spot her siblings, father and friends facing Haruko with Jinyu nowhere in sight. "Uh, what did I miss?" "I get it. I finally understand now." Gwen announced. "I know what you want to do. And that's why," she bravely put her beanie back on. "I can't go with you!" Haruko just gazed down at the Pines girl before Stan came to her defense with ten guns attached to his wheelchair. "She's right Raharu. Either leave my family & my planet alone or else I'll make sure that when you die, you'll be all alone with no one at your funeral except me, pointing and laughing." All was silent once more and nothing would be the same ever again.

At long last, chapter 4 is completed and boy this was a big one! Not just in terms of how long it took, but in how much this changes everything. About Haruko's relationship with the Pines, about Gwen, Tyrone & Arnold's arcs and the wider universe. Join us next time for the penultimate chapter of this saga and if you'll excuse me, I've got another Gravity Falls crossover I've been sitting on for too long.

2 notes · View notes

toastling · 5 years

Text

Dragons

The Drakan race, colloquially known as dragons, are an ancient and varied species that predates our own by several hundred thousand years. The first known intelligent life on the planet, they were the dominant life forms up until the emergence of human civilization around 15,000 years ago.

Accounts from this time are few and far-between outside of Drakan sources, but according to these sources, the dragons initially tried to coexist peacefully with homo sapiens. Unfortunately, it was not to be. Learning magic by observing the dragons, humans used their own art against them and began driving them out of their cities and territories, claiming their land for our own.

Though we have existed in conflict longer than we’ve coexisted, today, in a post-war world, tensions between humans and dragons are at an all-time low. They live among us in our cities and have largely come out of hiding in an attempt to undo the damage done by D’aagor and to bridge the gap between us. But there remains a long history of violence and genocide that cannot be ignored.

Because of this history, most dragons are still wary of humans, even while living alongside us - and rightfully so. While they are considered a fringe minority, there still exist radical groups who are staunchly ‘pro-human’, and by extension, anti-dragon, practicing acts of violence and terrorism against our sibling species. Similarly, there remain dragons who believe D’aagor was right that we cannot be trusted, and who think our two species should remain separated or who would like to visit some of the pain we inflicted on them in their past on us.

Though the situation appears stable on the surface, events like the Morning Star Massacre serve as a constant reminder that there is still a lot of hate between us and that a utopian society where dragons and humans live together in harmony is still not yet within our grasp. Though great strides have been made, there is still work to be done.

As a species, dragons did not evolve from dinosaurs, but rather from other proto-reptiles sometime during the late Triassic Period. As they have existed longer than us, they are also more advanced than us. However, while we humans rely heavily on our cleverness and our use of tools and technology to survive, the dragons have managed to get by primarily by using magic.

Though they are not technologically inept, and they have some surprisingly advanced scientific knowledge, dragons are the progenitors of all known magical art forms, and are more inclined to the magical arts than humans by nature. Though some ancient accounts of the Drakan people seem to indicate that this may be a manufactured trait, or at least one they expanded on artificially at some point in their species’ past.

Dragons can survive in a wide array of different climates, and are capable of tolerating extremes in temperature and habitat far beyond what any human could withstand. They can be found living anywhere from the bowels of volcanoes to the frozen tundras of the antarctic, managing a comfortable existence even when food or resources are seemingly scarce by way of their magic.

If their claims are to be believed, the Drakan people did a good deal of genetic engineering to their benefit in the past, and the result of this is that they are a more hardy species than they perhaps otherwise would’ve been. And, for whatever they cannot tolerate, they have their magic to fall back on to protect or support them.

Dragons are also a social species, much like humans, and rarely live alone. Wherever you find one dragon, you will likely find more, and families tend to share the same nest across multiple generations. In fact, it’s actually somewhat rare for a dragon to move out of its family nest and into one that belongs to them alone, outside of mates, who are given the option to share nests or to leave and start their own. These days, many dragons elect to share one nest, but this is gradually beginning to change - especially for dragons who have chosen to live in human cities.

Perhaps the most notable thing about dragons, however, is the wide variety of shapes and sizes that they come in. While some of it can be chalked up to adaption and evolution, DNA analysis indicates that while all dragons share enough genetic material now to reproduce with one another without issue regardless of race, these multiple different races may actually be more closely approximated to subspecies. And for some of them, it would appear that their evolutionary ancestors are completely separate entities.

Dragons, then, are a more varied species, genetically speaking, than humans. Because of this, the differences between them can be more than superficial. But, they seem to be better off for this. They are highly adaptable and continue to evolve to this day, just as we do, though in the case of the dragons, this evolution may be more directed by their own hand than nature’s.

Some dragons today even have a sizable chunk of human DNA in their genome, sizable enough that they are able to not only freely shapeshift into us, but reproduce with us, resulting in halflings - an entirely new species distinct from both humans and dragons, but capable of intermingling with either and transforming into either - be it partially or completely - at will.

This human DNA was artificially inserted into their genome fairly recently - during sometime in the late middle ages - in order to help them better blend in among humans and escape persecution. Dragons with this human DNA in their genome are known as ‘Shifters’, and comprise about 40% of all modern day dragons. They are considered to be a new, separate race within the Drakan species, but one which can have the defining traits of any of the other 9 known races.

The current King of Dragons, Sirus Albion, monarch of the Aldarian Empire (the last known Drakan superpower), is a Shifter, and an outspoken proponent for the rights of Shifters within Drakan communities. Until fairly recently, Shifters were seen as traitors to the species, and while they were not met with violence, the opinion of Shifters has historically been rather poor, and they have been treated by purebloods as second-class citizens. This began to change sometime around the mid 1800′s, however, and today, they are seen as being just as dragon as any other race within their rather expansive species.

The lifespan of a dragon greatly dwarfs that of a human, with the oldest known dragons having lived to be over 2500 years old. This upper age limit appears to be universal across all their races, and taking all 10 into account, lifespans tend to average out at around 1800 years. Because of this, dragon culture is remarkably slow to change from a human perspective, while from a dragon’s perspective, human culture moves at a breakneck pace. This has only served to complicate matters when it comes to coexistence.

As far as magic is concerned, all dragons have ‘mana pools’ far greater than that of all but the most extraordinary human mages, but as a trade off, most dragons are limited to magic that is confined to a singular ‘element’. There are 5 basic elements - Earth, Air, Fire, Water, and Lightning - but some dragons have elements unique to them or their bloodlines, including the likes of Smoke or Magma. What these elements boil down to is ultimately a limitation on the kind of magic a dragon can freely perform.

The most common magic a dragon can use is called ‘breath magic’, and would be consist of the likes of breathing fire or causing earthquakes with their cries. Though magic can be performed that doesn’t belong to any of the elements, as compared to human mages, dragons have a more difficult time performing these. So typically, dragons require more time, focus, and mana to perform something like a teleportation spell or to create a non-elemental energy construct than a human would.

To help get around this, most dragons try to work these spells into their elements somehow - such as a teleportation spell that allows them to warp around through fire or water-covered surfaces - to enhance utility. But they can also create spells that they can program into crystals colloquially referred to as Draconite.

Draconite is any gem or crystal used by the dragons to perform magic. They serve a wide variety of uses and can come in a wide variety of types, shapes, and sizes, just like the dragons themselves. They can be common quartz or rare precious stones. By manipulating their internal structures with their mana, they are able to turn crystals and gems into magical circuits that can memorize and instant cast any spell programmed into it. Each gem or crystal can only know and perform one spell, but will have a much easier time with it than a dragon and will cast it at no cost to a dragon’s mana.

Most dragon cities rely heavily on draconite to exist, with the Kingdom of Aldaron, capital city of the dragons, using it to keep a good chunk of its structures floating in the sky above as opposed to on or in the ground. Draconite also doesn’t need any external magical input to cast their spells, unless they are specifically programmed to work that way. Instead, most gems and crystals are constantly casting some permanent or passive effect that is self-sustained by energy generated by the gems or crystals themselves.

This energy is not infinite, however, and eventually, it will run out. When this happens, a new draconite gem or crystal will have to be introduced to continue the effect, much like changing the battery in a piece of technology.

#Worldbuilding #Dragons #The Children of the Toast

9 notes · View notes

paleorecipecookbook · 5 years

Text

The Benefits of Using Wearable Technology for Health Tracking

You’re ready. To sit less, move more, sleep eight hours a night—to adopt new habits in order to become the healthiest you possible. As I shared recently, I recommend shrinking the change you want to make to set yourself up for success. Can wearable technology for health also help? Should you use these devices to aid you in achieving your wellness goals? Can tracking measures like your activity level, heart rate, and sleep really add up to big health gains?

Let’s explore some of the wearables currently on the market and discuss how making lifestyle shifts using the data they provide may mean you not only look and feel better today, but also avoid chronic disease down the road.

Do you use wearables to track your health? These devices can help you hit your wellness goals—when they’re tracking the right things. Check out this article for my recommendation on the best tech to track your sleep, stress, and activity levels. #healthylifestyle #chriskresser

What Are Wearables, and Do We Really Need More Technology?

Wearables are smart electronic devices that can be worn on the body to track a variety of health markers, such as:

Activity level: time spent sedentary, number of steps taken, etc.

Sleep patterns

Resting heart rate and heart rate variability

Stress level

Body temperature

A wide range of wearable health devices are available, from watches to rings—even shirts. I suspect we’ll see much more innovation in the coming years. After all, the industry is booming: analysts predict that more than 245 million devices will be purchased this year alone. Sales of smartwatches like the Apple Watch and products by Garmin, along with Fitbit’s watches and other fitness trackers, are on the rise, making these some of the most popular options today. (1)

And they do have merit. Although I often write about technology’s detrimental impact on health, these tech devices can support well-being.

They’re remarkable, really, in that they allow you to monitor wellness markers that not too long ago only doctors could track and measure. As a result, you gain important knowledge about your body that is vital to improving your health. What’s more, these devices take continuous, round-the-clock measurements, providing you with much more information than what you’ll get from annual trips to your physician, or even semi-regular visits to a healthcare practitioner. This wealth of data can also help your clinicians in making diagnoses and recommending treatments.

I see wearable health trackers as effective tools in your behavior-change toolkit. In this way, they integrate well into a Functional Medicine approach to healthcare. In Functional Medicine, we believe that for patients to overcome a persistent ailment, they must shift their behavior; we also know that behavior plays a major role in preventing—or contributing to—chronic disease.

Making the shift to an ancestral lifestyle that includes regular movement, quality sleep, and a focus on stress reduction—all trackable with today’s best wearables—is key to promoting general health and staving off chronic illness.

But Do Wearables Work? A Look at the Research

In some intervention studies, fitness trackers have a moderate effect on increasing step count and physical activity, leading to improved health outcomes for wearers.

Older patients who were given trackers increased their activity, lost weight, and had decreased LDL (“bad”) cholesterol levels after 12 to 14 weeks of use. (2)

Obese and overweight participants who wore trackers for 36 weeks and increased their step count lost weight and saw marked improvements in their body mass index (BMI), body fat percentage, waste and hip circumferences, and other body composition measures; they also saw a bump in their HDL (“good”) cholesterol. (3)

Overweight individuals who accumulated 10,000 steps per day over 12 weeks not only had lower body weight and BMI at the end of the study period than when they began, but they also experienced significant reductions in feelings of anxiety, depression, anger, fatigue, and confusion. (4)

However, the majority of the currently available research on activity trackers hasn’t concluded that they’re extraordinarily or overwhelmingly effective. In fact, some studies have found conflicting results to those mentioned above; in one, people wearing trackers lost less weight than those who used standard behavioral weight-loss approaches. (5)

All in all, the cumulative scientific results are mixed as to whether or not fitness trackers make people more fit. Even within studies, the results are often at odds and inconclusive. For instance, one study using the Fitbit generated tracker-damning headlines a couple of years ago. Yet, the results weren’t all bad: although wearers didn’t see improvements in weight or blood pressure, they did get more physical activity than non-wearers. (6) Another study published in 2018 found that the Fitbit increased wearers’ activity levels. But its authors noted that their research required participants to check in with a health coach (health coaches are extremely beneficial for behavior modification), and they suggested that it's possible being accountable to someone did more for increasing participants’ exercise levels than self-monitoring with the tracker. (7)

A grain of salt: The latter study brings up an important caveat to wearables research. Many previous studies were conducted with devices that are now several years old. They were essentially glorified pedometers without other meaningful function. They didn’t connect to your smartphone. They didn’t track sleep or measure heart rate variability (HRV)—more on those in a minute. They didn’t factor in practices that can be crucial for behavior change, like goal-setting or community support, as in the most recent study.

Fortunately, today’s wearables are much more sophisticated. The better ones address the points mentioned above and then some, and can track activity, heart rate variability, and sleep all in one device.

Regardless of what the studies show, you and I know that increasing physical activity and leading a less sedentary life—the aims of these trackers—are absolutely necessary for overall health and well-being and the prevention of chronic disease.

Why Wearable Technology for Health Tracking Needs to Include Sleep and HRV

It’s not enough for your device to simply count your steps; it should track other important health indicators, like your sleep quality and your heart rate variability (HRV).

Why Sleep Matters

Modern life is wrecking our sleep, with serious negative health consequences. Sleeping less than seven hours in a 24-hour period is associated with: (8)

Cardiovascular disease and diabetes risk

Depression

Learning and memory problems

An overall increase in mortality

Other research has shown that poor sleep can undo the benefits of a healthy diet and exercise. It’s the dealbreaker of all dealbreakers. (9)

What HRV Is, and Why It’s an Important Indicator to Track

HRV, which stands for “heart rate variability,” is a calculation of the time variation between each heartbeat. (It is not the same measurement as “heart rate,” which refers to the number of heart beats per second.) You may have heard about HRV in the context of assessing an athlete’s performance readiness. But it’s also useful in terms of evaluating stress in the human body. HRV involves measuring the function of the autonomic nervous system (ANS), part of the central nervous system that affects heart rate. To put it simply: if you’re stressed, you’ll have a low HRV; if you’re relaxed, a high HRV. (10)

No matter what diet you follow, what supplements you take, or how much exercise or sleep you get, if you don’t manage your stress, you’ll still be at risk for modern degenerative conditions like heart disease, diabetes, hypothyroidism, and autoimmunity. Low HRV specifically is tied to a host of chronic conditions, from chronic kidney disease to cardiovascular complications. (11, 12, 13)

My Recommendation: Find a Device That Tracks Everything

Of all the next-generation devices on the market that track a multitude of health indicators, I think the Oura smartring is the most effective, as it tracks your sleep, heart rate variability, body temperature, and activity level. I have one myself, and we use it extensively with patients at the California Center for Functional Medicine. (To my knowledge, it’s the only wearable with sleep-tracking technology that has been validated by a peer-reviewed study.) (14)

Each morning, the Oura ring displays a sleep score in its app. This is an overall calculation of how well you slept, which takes into account total sleep, efficiency, quality, disturbances, REM sleep, deep sleep, sleep latency, sleep timing, and your lowest resting heart rate during sleep. This data can be used to make changes that will lead to better slumber. For example, lowest resting heart rate measures the lowest 10-minute average heart rate you experience during the night. This ranges anywhere between 40 and 100 for adults, and you can determine your average by looking at your data history. If you are significantly high or low, it can signal an increased need for recovery from activity or that you are in an active stress response and may benefit from interventions like mind/body relaxation techniques or breathing exercises.

The Oura ring also tracks your body temperature, which plays a role in everything from fitness to ovulation and HRV. According to Oura’s creators, a ring—versus, say, a watch—can gather more accurate heart data because of its position on the finger.

If you do decide to try the Oura ring, enter the promo code KRESSER at checkout for $50 off.

My bottom line: All wearable devices will have pros and cons for you, and all can be helpful when used wisely. That’s the key. Wearables and the data they generate are only effective when truly put to use to change your behaviors.

To succeed in adopting new, healthier habits, I encourage you to combine wearable technology with the shrinking the change technique. For example, if your big objective is to get more regular physical activity, use a wearable to help break that change into smaller, more achievable goals. The right fitness tracker can nudge you to take breaks if you sit at your desk all day and stand, stretch, or move; to get in your daily steps; to schedule a regular run, bike ride, or other workout of your choice, etc. And it will record this physical activity in real time—daily data you can use to celebrate each incremental win, as you get closer and closer to your big objective.

It may seem ironic to use technology to create more balance in your life. But technology is just a tool, and it’s up to us how we employ it. I’m a big fan of using technologies like these to create harmony through healthy habits.

Do you use wearable technology for health tracking? Do you focus on your sleep, activity, or stress? What have you noticed about how these devices affect your habits? Comment below and let me know!

The post The Benefits of Using Wearable Technology for Health Tracking appeared first on Chris Kresser.

Source: http://chriskresser.com January 31, 2019 at 10:24PM

#paleo #recipe #food #delicious #healthy #yum #diet

4 notes · View notes

iconiceyesleedswestyorkshir-blog · 5 years

Text

Issues To Contemplate Whiling Pondering For Graphic Design Outsource

Boutique operation providing customized focused graphic designs for all print media. As has been discussed above, the viewers in the Twitter verse is functioning inside a burgeoning and expanding social media entity which supplies them anonymity or exposure, which in both case, they maintain the ability of affecting data dissemination to another level that they were by no means capable of earlier than the coming of the Twitter. The reducing down of timber, the toxic materials of companies and the garbage are elements of the incident and remember these are all ending product of technology that individuals used and invented, by simply misusing expertise society change into ruined. Her spectacular physique of design formed the notion and application of graphic design in many ways, significantly her strategy of treating type as a visible picture in her work for the New York City's Public Theater (pictured above) which continues to have a lasting impression on trendy design. Some other methods I will write about intermittently below simply to maintain the narrative zeroed in on the fact that The ANC should start to tell the individuals the reality; they must have self criticism of the Mao Tse Tung mode, and combine that with the criticism that's being laid on their doorsteps by their very own individuals who have elected them into energy. This does not mean we are going to routinely return to the Homo-Sapien instances and age, but we shall have to add our fashionable affect in at the moment's civilization of the techno age, however shouldn't be afraid to say that we are African, and contribute our additions to the development of man. Quickly, we method the final phase of the extension of man - the technological simulation of consciousness, when the artistic process of realizing will probably be collectively and corporately prolonged to the whole of human society, a lot a shave already extended our senses and our nerves by various media. Yet, on the similar time, we see spiraling addition, trivia, and numbness; elevated surveillance from governments, and from companies, a very unnerving attempt to harvest the individual's stream of consciousness, as concretized by its search engine historical past. Andre Gunde Frank opens our minds as to how we are manipulated and splurged helter-skelter so's not to be united, because we now have to start to grasp the social sciences and the natural sciences- were used totally to protect the interest of the US. It is from these disciplines that the USA is controlling South Africa and the World. Many still want the affirmation of their white contemporaries to be writers or whatever… We've got some of these White authorities who dictate to our African elite, and the African bourgeoisie(and they are referred to as so today in south Africa), are too keen and able to please and adjust to the dictates of their Masters-and be accepted as being the identical as the Grasp-even if they'll remain the underdogs. There are all kinds of activities in the African neighborhood that contribute to liquor, licentious conduct, and community 'get-togethers' like the After Tears funeral Events", Stokvels, Shebeens or Taverns, wherein consumption of liquor is large,and those make up for lewd and obscene habits; that, if we're talking about sexual acts and the inconsistent use of condom, in all population groups, we should then additionally have a look at the behavior of people who find themselves inebriated and the sexual acts following their unprotected sex in a drunken stupor. The individuals, leaders and protectors of the folks of African descent are the one which can be closely concerned of their oppression, depression, repression, poverty, illnesses, ignorance, unemployment, making for them electricity and water exorbitantly priced, meals unaffordable, overcrowding and poor housing amenities; additionally, one sees the hospitals overwhelmed and can't even give drugs nor adequately treat their patients; assassination and and serious intimidation of what are known as the 'enemy' or anarchists or "Mdlwembe", pick your alternative, the end outcomes is death and or murder. We also read from Neil Postman that Media Ecology is wanting into the matter of how media of communication have an effect on human perception, understanding, feeling, and worth; and how our interaction with media facilitates or impedes our chances of survival. Comical caricatures of trying to present Western cultures, languages, mores and beliefs-absent and nothing of our personal indigenous cultures, languages, values and intones:"The lasting problem that we face is the absence of information and understanding of African tradition. The problem that Why Africans don't make head-manner with their wrestle is that Africans, amongst their midst, have loads of these self-styled, self-pointed-revolutionary fakes and liberators-wanna-be's who supply nothing however distortion, no packages, unfavorable critiquing and lack in planning and real leadership talents and minds, and who preen their egos to a motley crew of ignorant followers, with out themselves(these self-styled leaders) encouraging their followers to go to the plenty, talk to the lots, arrange structures amongst and with the masses for their very own liberation, with the lots dictating and in charge of their future, not some banal and bare formulations of some these intellectual sitting nest to their computes or utilizing their telephones, in the consolation zones, imbibing the trappings of sick-gotten material wealth, and couching their rhetoric with pretend revolutionary-jabbawocky. Margolin explains that To make the contributions and struggles of black graphic designers in Chicago more seen, we need to tell the story of graphic design within the metropolis as a social historical past and never simply an aesthetic one.” (Margolin 5) This proves that, although only a few, there was minority designers producing good work in the subject. What the Intel group is anxious most about here, is that if the American public learns that they've been secretly mind fingerprinted by the National Safety Agency, it will show that the United States Federal Authorities is managed by a shadow authorities based mostly on a fascist dictatorship, which masquerades as a democratic republic. Graphic design offers each credibility and belief when it comes to that almighty CTA you are engaged on. Without an experienced graphic design firm your calls-to-action as well as your online targets hold on the precipice of mediocrity and failure. Subsequently, their small accumulation of capital and the earnings which they obtain from skilled providers throughout the African (or White) neighborhood make them seem wealthy in comparison the low economic status of nearly all of poor delusion of wealth is supported by the myth of African business. Fortunately, section 195 of the South African Constitution does direct the general public administration that, Folks's wants have to be responded to, and the general public have to be encouraged to participate in policy-making," and in accordance with this directive, the proposed Draft Online Regulation Coverage has been opened for public remark, which remains open till June 15. i need a graphic designer iconiceyes.co.uk Leeds, West Yorkshire like Right to Know have already been mobilizing in opposition to the proposal, and are amassing supporters for a petition and social media campaign, which EFF heartily endorses. Consequently, the (global) public sphere will grow to be extra complete by encompassing a wider spectrum of social collectivities and by reaching further right down to very low levels of society (e.g. the extent of tiny communities and insignificant voluntary associations). The situations of poverty, over-crowdedness, lack of police management and the prevalence of police corruption, breakdown of family mores and construction, basic social anomie and an enormous "Apartheid Hangover" which has been contributing to what Frantz Fanon called "Colonial Mental Disorders," excessive incidences of rape, crime and anarchy, all render completely different results and impacts on the African inhabitants. The White Paper which preceded the Telecommunications Act 6 also commented on the principles in regard to the interception of call visitors particularly, that the very proper of presidency to intercept telecommunications visitors should be stringently controlled; that the Interception and Monitoring Prohibition Act needs to be reviewed with a view to ensure ample safeguards are in place and that such a assessment should of necessity contain public debate and the participation of other Ministries, reminiscent of that of Safety and Security. Although website designer near me give us an image of how Africa makes use of social networking, it does not tell us concerning the segregated growth and entry of Africa and other so-referred to as Third and Second World International locations who haven't any wherewithal to be as superior and developed as their Western counterparts, elsewhere. When we start to learn and have a sense and more concrete data about our tradition, by trying it as it in it its whole wholesomeness(Holistically), we begin to grasp, see and recognize, and observe more similarities in dancing types, hand-clapping, voicing, circle-formations, and half moon patterns crisscrossing strains, snake-like, and choreographic backwards and forwards movements in-sync and patterned exactly, with a flurry and changing shapes, and varieties on and of their similar vivid and energetic colours, Polyrhythmic syncopated sounds, explosiveness, and rhythm of all of the eleven(eleven) African people as one unified and diverse, variegated and one frequent national entity. Instead, the users and consumers of data all sorts of information are low logged into these social media, and what makes them common, it is their capability to allow peculiar of us to partake or control the flow of information with out having 'gate-keepers' censoring or adjusting what is data or what is reported. But Gwala's colleagues have little doubt about what happened that evening: the assassination of a conspicuous and vocal thorn within the facet of native authorities and officers from the ruling African National Congress as he fought corruption within the allocation of social housing. In the days of social media and the Web, these have been delivered to bear and in the front of society within the US. What this means is that, the numerous races and different communities, races, and so forth, snapped when the Grand juries, in numerous states of the United States discovered the cops not guilt or responsible for the homicide of Garner and brown, and these had been captured on video. The eyes of the world are actually more targeted on the offers that governments and enterprise did collectively, on the methods in which public procurement contracts have been determined and who benefitted on those actions by which individuals in power that have hitherto not been sufficiently topic to public scrutiny and oversight-have their actions laid naked within the viral stream.

1 note · View note

loadfor242 · 3 years

Text

Eclipse Cobol Development Environment

Using Eclipse for COBOL Development You can create, debug and run COBOL applications on your local machine or on a remote server. You use Eclipse features such as the COBOL and Remote Systems Explorer perspectives within the IDE to background check. HPE NonStop Development Environment for Eclipse (NSDEE) is a PC-based integrated development environment (IDE) for NonStop developers. It enables developers to create, edit, build, and debug NonStop software using Microsoft Windows PCs. The projects can be built for Open System Services (OSS) and/or Guardian environment on NonStop. IsCOBOL offers developers the choice of continuing with their current editor, command line utilities, and scripts, or using isCOBOL's Integrated Development Environment (IDE) Productive and customizable COBOL development Real time syntax checking, code hints, section collapsing, code completion, templates, and more.

Cobol Development Environment

Eclipse Cobol Development Environment Free

Eclipse Cobol Ide

Eclipse Cobol Development Environment Pdf

Home » Archived » COBOL » Cobol Compiler available in plug-in

Show:Today's Messages::Show Polls::Message Navigator

Cobol Compiler available in plug-in(message #500678)Fri, 27 November 2009 13:42

cdsosi Messages: 10 Registered: November 2009

Hello, I am using Cobol Plugin for eclipse and I am facing some problems using it. Cobol Plug-in seems to be plugged with Fujitsu NetCobol Compiler by default. 1st question : Is it possible to plug this plug-in with another compiler (freeware!)? 2nd question : If i want to only use the editor part not the compiler, is it possible to remove the link with the building process. 3rd question : I do not have Fujitsu NetCobol Compiler with my plug-in of course and there is a side-effect which is a problem to me. A thread tries to build the project at some regular intervals and erase the console output systematically before logging build output message. All the previously logged messages are lost ;((( Example of build output : Project TEST build started at 27 novembre 2009 12:12:45 Project TEST build finished at 27 novembre 2009 12:12:45 -------------------------------------------------- Last question : Would not it be possible to introduce a specific console for buildind process? Any help or suggestions on all that would be appreciated. Regards

Re: Cobol Compiler available in plug-in(message #502185 is a reply to message #500678)Mon, 07 December 2009 05:16

Tetsuya Suehisa Messages: 14 Registered: July 2009

Hello cdsosi, Thank you for using COBOL Plugin. I will answer your question. 1. As you mentioned, the COBOL Plugin is originally designed to use FUJITSU NetCOBOL compiler. If you want to switch the compiler to OpenCOBOL or some sort of free COBOL, you can modify the plugin. But I know it is not easy and requires much time to improve it so that even we have not provide the function. If you are interested in developing COBOL Plugin, will you join us and contribute this? 2. The instructions below may be the help. Select the project and click right button > Properties > Builders > Uncheck COBOL Builer and push OK 3. Same as No.2. 4. I'm sorry I don't understand what you want. Could you tell me a little more concretely? regards, tetsuya

Re: Cobol Compiler available in plug-in(message #502215 is a reply to message #502185)Mon, 07 December 2009 09:33

cdsosi Messages: 10 Registered: November 2009

Hello Tetsuya, Thanks for answering too! 1. I do not have much time to go deep inside the COBOL Plugin especially if you say that it is not easy part but maybe later and same remark for joining and contributing 2. Thanks for the checkbox state to disable on the Project Properties. I had not seen that. I went to the Window > Preferences > COBOL menu and in the COBOL Settings area there is a checkbox FUJITSU NetCOBOL that is 'uncheckable' (I thought it was the way to disable building process...) 3. ok 4. I 'll try to be more explicit!! Because of problem mentioned in 3 i thought it could be a solution to introduce a specific view (named 'COBOL Console ' for instance) in eclipse to log messages from COBOL Plugin building process. Specific consoles are often available in eclipse for CVS, Tomcat, ... In fact it seems that it is not a problem and that a specific console is already available for COBOL building process!! In the 'Display Selected Console' it was the COBOL Build Process that is selected by default. Other messages can be viewed by selecting other console... Sorry about that. However, I think there is another little problem that you should be interested in knowing (when the Project > Properties > Builders > COBOL Builder is checked ). I am developping a plugin under eclipse and have several projects in my workspace (Java, Java Plugin, COBOL). When I debug my plugin by launching a second eclipse runtime instance (Debug As Eclipse Application in other words!) the COBOL building process is launched many times (13 times, the build messages are displayed and erased ~ 13 times) althought the COBOL project has no modification inside. I do not think that it is a normal behavior. Regards

Re: Cobol Compiler available in plug-in(message #753965 is a reply to message #502215)Mon, 31 October 2011 08:56

Juanita Young Messages: 1 Registered: October 2011

COBOL comes to the Java virtual machine and the New Eclipse Plugin Apache Tomcat COBOL comes to the Java platform Today, Micro Focus is the release of 30-day free trial of Visual COBOL R3. This development environment enables COBOL users choose from a selection of development platforms and frameworks, including Eclipse and the JVM platform. Visual COBOL R3 also adds C # and Java-like constructs in an attempt to make programming easier for Java and COBOL NET. The project also includes a 'Visual COBOL Development Hub 'for Linux and Unix, allowing users to compile and debug COBOL code on your desktop remotely. More information about the project can be found on the website of Micro Focus. In over 50 years of age, COBOL (Common Business Oriented foot Language) is one of the oldest programming languages. Microsoft-Novell deal was still in danger CPTLN According to TechFlash, Microsoft led consortium CPTN are considering buying Novell patents. Although the patent was withdrawn, TechFlash Microsoft has said that this was just a procedural step 'is necessary to allow time to review the proposed transaction.' The consortium of Apple, Oracle and EMC, as well as Microsoft. Novell is being acquired by Attachmate Corporation in a transaction valued at approximately $ 2.2 billion, with the consortium CPTN apparently still thinking about buying at the same time 'certain intellectual property assets' for $ 450 million. The open source community has expressed concern about the acquisition of these patents CPTN. IcedTea Security Releases A new set of security updates have been made available to the IcedTea project: icedtea6 1.7.7, 1.8.4 and 1.9.4 icedtea6 icedtea6. The IcedTea project provides a harness to compile the source code OpenJDK6 using Free Software build tools. Please see the blog of a list of bugs fixed. RackSpace partner with Akamai Rackspace hosting and cloud hosting software company announced a 'strategic relationship' with Akamai, a provider of optimization services in the cloud. Rackspace will offer Akamai web application now and optimize cloud services as part of its portfolio of cloud hosting. Akamai Rackspace integrates features such as Secure Sockets Layer CNAME, in an effort to create a 'one stop shop' for housing, clouds and content acceleration services and web applications.

Previous Topic:CooCox ColinkNext Topic:Freecobol compilers

Goto Forum:

( Syndicate this forum (XML) ) ( )

Take more control of your applications with powerful COBOL and Java technology solutions from Veryant.

Call us today at +1 619 453 0914 or Email us at [email protected]

Why choose Us

Whether you are evolving existing applications through SOA or improving quality and distribution processes, Veryant's innovative software offerings increase business productivity and provide a complete environment for COBOL application development, deployment and modernization.

Our Mission

To enable you to quickly and safely extend current applications to meet new business needs and demands using our portable, robust solutions translate into cost-effective, future-proof computing. Maximize a company’s IT investment by providing an array of innovative tools that always strive for improvement.

What you get

isCOBOL Evolve enables organizations to retain current COBOL investments while simultaneously offering a path forward to take advantage of the openness, portability and power of the Java platform without retraining staff or rewriting code.

Features that will make you love us

COBOL for Java platform and open systems migration

Multi platform

Target multiple platforms with a single codebase. If it runs Java it runs isCOBOL.

Powerful reporting capabilities

JasperReports integration, native API to manage printers, advanced print preview and PDF management.

Extended UI interface

Multiplatform, from desktop to web, rich and extensible widget choices (layout, extend grid, ribbon, javabeans)

Integrated development environment

Eclipse-based development environment for key COBOL development tasks, including projects, forms, reports, and database management

Flexible database model

Pluggable file system for sequential, relative and indexed file structure including RDBMS databases

Java integration

Add the power and flexibility of the Java platform to existing COBOL programs and make COBOL investments easily accessible to the Java world

Multiple architectures

Powerful application processing with isCOBOL Application Server, load balancer capability and J2EE integration

Web Enablement

REST/SOAP Web Services, JSON, XML, Servlet and HTTP, leverage AJAX for screen section rendering over web browsers

Evolution not revolution

Cobol Development Environment

Comprehensive, cost-effective development, maintenance, application modernization and ROI improvement

Dedicated and experienced technical support

response time for ticket pre-screening

Eclipse Cobol Development Environment Free

response time for issue escalation

response time for tickets

Eclipse Cobol Ide

What our clients say about us

Eclipse Cobol Development Environment Pdf

((testimonial.text))

0 notes