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Q: how do i run multiple spark application on different worker nodes in standlone mode? 1.I have added these line ./conf/spark.env.sh
**export SPARK_MASTER_OPTS="-Dspark.deploy.defaultCores=1"
export SPARK_WORKER_OPTS="-Dspark.deploy.defaultCores=1"
export SPARK_WORKER_CORES=1
export SPARK_WORKER_MEMORY=1g
export SPARK_WORKER_INSTANCES=7**

2.i did run this code on terminal
./sbin/start-all.sh
3.all the workers and master are started..i can see that on web UI
4.after that i submitted multiple spark application
for one application it takes only 2s
but for 6 application ,each application takes 8sec
this is the .sh file i have run on terminal.
gnome-terminal -e '/home/uvionics/Downloads/spark-SparkR-streaming/bin/spark-submit --master spark://uvionics-Aspire-E5-001:7077 --executor-memory 1g  --executor-cores 1 --num-executors 1 /home/uvionics/code/inter11.R 41' -x 'excute' &
 gnome-terminal -e '/home/uvionics/Downloads/spark-SparkR-streaming/bin/spark-submit --master spark://uvionics-Aspire-E5-001:7077 --executor-memory 1g --executor-cores 1 --num-executors 1 /home/uvionics/code/inter11.R 42' -x 'excute' &
gnome-terminal -e '/home/uvionics/Downloads/spark-SparkR-streaming/bin/spark-submit --master spark://uvionics-Aspire-E5-001:7077 --executor-memory 1g --executor-cores 1 --num-executors 1 /home/uvionics/code/inter11.R 43' -x 'excute' &
gnome-terminal -e '/home/uvionics/Downloads/spark-SparkR-streaming/bin/spark-submit --master spark://uvionics-Aspire-E5-001:7077 --executor-memory 1g --executor-cores 1 --num-executors 1  /home/uvionics/code/inter11.R 44' -x 'excute' &
gnome-terminal -e '/home/uvionics/Downloads/spark-SparkR-streaming/bin/spark-submit --master spark://uvionics-Aspire-E5-001:7077  --executor-memory 1g --executor-cores 1 --num-executors 1 /home/uvionics/code/inter11.R 45 ' -x 'excute' &
gnome-terminal -e '/home/uvionics/Downloads/spark-SparkR-streaming/bin/spark-submit --master spark://uvionics-Aspire-E5-001:7077 --executor-memory 1g --executor-cores 1 --num-executors 1 /home/uvionics/code/inter11.R 46' -x 'excute'

when i did i run these code it takes more than 8sec
i think each application is running on master......
i want to run application parallely on each core of spark..
how do i run multiple spark application parallely??

A: I think, you are running all the workers on one server to simulate a cluster.
The executor cores are different than normal cores.
The executor cores are the number of Concurrent tasks that an executor can run.
The worker cores - to make the workers run are the "CPU cores".
In Spark there is the option to set the amount of CPU cores when starting a slave which defines the total CPU cores to allow Spark applications to use on the machine only on worker.
Default is: use all available cores
The command to start Spark would be something like this:
./sbin/start-all.sh --cores 2
Or you can try with --executor-cores 2


In 2016, millions of people were forced to flee their homeland to Europe, the Middle East and North Africa. This horrifying journey was made to escape the terrors of war, persecution, conflict and violence. This mass exodus has since become the greatest humanitarian crisis of our generation.
Many of these refugees ended up in Calais. Here they live in shocking conditions with inadequate protection from the elements. Tents are banned and they often find their sleeping bags and possessions confiscated by the Police; This is to avoid camps from reforming after the closure of the 'Jungle'. These refugees desperately need our help.
Care4Calais is a volunteer run, resource-efficient charity delivering essential aid and support to refugees living in the worst conditions across Northern France and Belgium. They offer much needed support across so many important areas we often take for granted, and it just so happens one of these areas is our expertise...Clothing!
As a print and production company run by humans (believe it or not) errors happen! This can be in the form of misprints, small rips or tears and so on! Instead of throwing these items away, we like to box them up and save them for the less fortunate. Brand new garments and samples with negligible errors more than fit to make someone's life a little bit easier and warmer.
At the start of the month, we had collated 7 large boxes which we shipped down to the amazing crew at Care4Calais. Our garments were then distributed amongst the refugees to help them through the cold evenings and provide a little moment of joy at a very hard time. Everyone deserves that feeling of love that's present when receiving an item you've wanted for some time.
We love to giving back and offering help wherever possible so will continue to help the amazing volunteers at Care4Calais when we can.


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HomeRunning ShoesNike Air Zoom Vomero 11
[Editors rating (9.3) + Users rating (8.0)] / 2 = Runnerclick score (8.7)/10
Our RunnerClick score is based on our editors overall rating compared to the user ratings in order to generate the most accurate and unbiased score of each product we review.
If there are less than 10 user reviews for the product in total, the weight of user reviews is decreased from 50% to 25% to make sure that new products are not rated too high.
By Jeremy Lambert
All Nike Shoes
Nike Air Zoom Vomero 11 Review Facts
Nike looms large in the sneaker business: an icon in itself, Nike is as nearly synonymous with sportswear and the idea of sneakers itself. The Nike Vomero series is perhaps their most complete shoe to date, featuring responsive cushioning, a unique outsole, Nike's standard flyknit upper, and a comfortable fit. The Vomero series dates back to 2006 with the Vomero 1 and has undergone a multitude of upgrades and changes over the past 10 years. But one thing that hasn't changed is Nike's commitment to delivering a well-cushioned and responsive shoe. The original Vomero prided itself on its thick midsole and durable outsole, and the 11th edition of the Vomero prides itself on those same strong features. Nike set out to deliver a highly comfortable, high mileage shoe with the Nike Air Zoom Vomero 11, continuing the line's well-earned reputation. But did they succeed?
Made for neutral runners, the Vomero 11 provides a softer ride than its previous incarnation, with an improved midsole cushioning that's firm in the rear and soft in the forefoot for a smooth heel-to-toe transition. In addition, the Vomero 11 has an improved fit in the upper, which is made of breathable Flymesh. With a better forefoot fit, soft collar, and padded tongue, the upper comfortably keeps the foot in place while keeping it cool and dry throughout a ride. Featuring great surface traction, soft underfoot cushioning, and a breathable upper, the Vomero 11 is yet another great edition from Nike that neutral runners looking for an everyday running shoe will appreciate.
Nike Air Zoom bags deliver responsiveness, cushion, and support
Flymesh upper that fits comfortably around the foot
Comfort fit collar that feels plush against the ankle and helps protect the foot
Multiple styles and a sleek design
A little pricey
On the heavier side
Not very breathable or flexible
The outsole uses Nike's BRS1000 technology, which is hard carbon rubber on the heel and soft blown rubber on the forefoot. The outsole design is the same design as the Vomero 10. The only difference between the two outsoles is that the carbon rubber on the forefoot changes the density and provides improved cushioning.
The forefoot features straight line cuts that provide the shoe with grip during toe-off. Below that is the Deep Anatomical Flex Grooves, which are strategically placed throughout the outsole. The first flex groove leads into the web design. This design is cut in half, which is where the second flex groove is placed. The third flex groove is below the web design, right in the middle of the shoe. The lower half of the outsole features Nike's teardrop design, which absorbs the shock of impact during footfall. In addition, a Rubber Crash Rail outlines the outsole gives you a very smooth transition.
For the midsole, Nike used their Zoom Air and Lunarlon technology, combined with compression molded EVA foam, to create a well-cushioned ride that absorbs the impact and evenly distributes pressure. The forefoot and heel feature Nike's Zoom Air bags, which work like airbags for the runner's feet and are designed to provide strong cushioning without sacrificing protection. The cushioning of the Vomero 11 is far more responsive, and it conforms to the runners over time. Nike made the midsole of the Vomero 11 much softer than the 10, which many runners found a bit too firm.
The Vomero 11 features Nike's Flymesh upper. The Flymesh is essentially a combination of Nike's Flyknit upper and your standard mesh upper but re-engineered. It's lightweight, flexible, and breathable.
While not quite as breathable or flexible as Nike's Flyknit upper, the Flymesh still gets the job done. The lacing system is Nike's Flywire lacing, which are laces knitted into the upper that holds the main laces in place. Nike changed the Flywire lacing system up a bit for the Vomero 11. Instead of going with a card-based system, Nike switched to a flat strap system. This change adds to the comfort level of the shoe after lace-up. However, the biggest change between the Vomero 10 and 11 is in the heel collar. The 11 has an inordinate amount of cushioning in its heel collar, which isn't necessarily a bad thing as the comfort fit collar keeps the foot secure and comfortable in the ankle area.
The Vomero 11 weighs 10.5 ounces/298 grams, which is a little on the heavy side for a Nike shoe. For a shoe with such great flexibility, it was surprising to find out the weight of the shoe. The extra weights come from the soft blown rubber under the forefoot and the redesigned upper. Nike wanted to make the Vomero 11 softer and with more density in midsole and outsole compared to the Vomero 10. They succeeded in doing that, but in turn, made a slightly heavier shoe in the process.
When Nike uses their Flyknit material on their upper, they have one of the most breathable shoes on the market. Unfortunately, the Vomero 11 uses Nike's Flymesh material, which somewhat hinders the overall breathability of the shoe--something runners will find disappointing. While the open-mesh look is slightly deceiving, its lack of breathability is a bit of a let-down.
Nike set out to design a comfortable shoe with the Vomero 11, and in this pursuit, they succeeded. The upper Flymesh is flexible and sits well on the top of the foot. The midsole grips the heel nicely while also providing great cushioning, while the comfort fit collar feels nice around the ankle. The change to flat strap Flywire laces eliminates the bulky feeling of laces on the side of the foot, which was uncomfortable for many who wore the previous edition.
Many runners have stated that the shoe is comfortable and fits well from the moment they put it on. The only area where the comfort falls slightly short is in the extra cushioning in the collar. The cushioning is so heavy that it pushes the foot a bit forward, especially on early runs before the shoe is broken in properly. The shoe also fits a bit narrow. It is recommended to go a half size up with the Vomero 11 to ensure the most comfortable fit. However, Nike does offer the shoe in four different sizings: narrow, regular, wide, and extra wide. While style options available are limited for narrow, wide, or extra-wide, it does help target the comfort level of the shoe that's right for you.
As always with Nike, there are plenty of options available. The Vomero 11's are available through Nike's website in 10 different color variations. Whether one is looking for something simple or something that stands out, Nike has an option available with the Vomero 11. The colored specks on the Flyknit part of the Flymesh, combined with the solid color on the mesh part of the Flymesh, give the shoe a cool and sleek look. The Flywire cable adds to the overall look of the shoe. The only complaint about the style of the shoe is that the Nike logo is a glued-on synthetic instead of a fused laminate or even a screen-printed logo. Not only does the glued-on synthetic add a little bit of weight but it also just doesn't look that good on the shoe.
Most runners get about 300 miles out of these shoes, which is standard mileage for most running shoes. With a carbon rubber heel on the outsole and full-blown soft rubber on the forefoot outsole, the outsole of the shoe is durable and will hold up over the long miles. The dual density midsole also lends itself to providing strong durability as it's two layers of cushioning instead of just one thin piece. In at least one review, a runner complained that the outsole tread started to come off after a few months, but that seems like an anomaly as opposed to the standard. It's obviously normal for the outsole of a shoe to wear down after many miles, but to come completely off is rare.
With its carbon rubber outsole and dual density midsole, the Vomero 11 offers strong protection for the bottom of the foot. Furthermore, the upper is great for protection, as its Flymesh construction offers more protection than the Flyknit construction thanks to the mesh portion of the upper. There's also its comfort fit collar, which offers great protection for the ankle.
The shoe also has a high stability factor. This is great for protection as a more stable shoe means less foot movement while running. And less foot movement means less chance of an ankle rolling or turning. Some runners have commented that there is a lack of protection in the toe box.
Many runners have commented that the Vomero 11 is one of the most responsive shoes that they've ever placed their feet in. The upper is very stretchy and sits comfortably against the foot. The three flex grooves on the outsole help with the flexibility of the shoe during a run, as well. But the real responsiveness comes in the midsole, which is so soft and cushioned that runners will feel it underneath their foot as they run. The dual Nike Zoom Air bags also feel great on a run and provide a good amount of bounce back from the midsole.
The Vomero 11 offers neutral arch support. While some runners were concerned about this standard support, given the changes Nike made to the midsole from the last edition. But thanks to the lower layer EVA of the midsole, the Vomero 11 is able to provide strong support despite the softer and well-cushioned ride. Even the Zoom Air bags help provide support. The Zoom Air bags are really the star of the shoe as they provide everything a neutral runner is looking for in the midsole of a running shoe. From cushioning to responsiveness to support, the Zoom Air bags do it all and help make the Vomero 11 midsole one of the best on the market.
These shoes are meant for the road, and it's probably best to keep them there. While there have been no complaints about using this shoe to run on a light trail or gravel, these shoes are not specifically designed for these surfaces. One runner complained that the shoe did not grip well on a wet incline, which is definitely something to keep in mind if you plan on using these shoes after a rainy day.
Nike is an in-demand, respected sneaker company whose products have consistently been rated some of the best on the market. As such, Nike also charges a relatively high price for their sneakers—and the Vomero 11 belongs to this tier. While not outrageously expensive, the Vomero 11 is a somewhat expensive running shoe—but if one takes into consideration Nike's sterling reputation among runners and athletes alike, the price can be justified. Besides this, at least it's a guarantee that it's going to be a quality product from a respectable company.
Mainly meant for standard running surfaces—asphalt, pavement, and track—the Vomero 11 will do best when on dry, hard surfaces such as these. While light trails can be attempted with this sneaker, it doesn't have the best traction on slick surfaces and certainly not the most tenacious traction for more technical trails and difficult terrain. That said, when traversing on the ground it's built for, the Vomero 11 provides a solid amount of traction.
The Vomero 11's upper is made of Flymesh, which is an update of sorts from Nike's well-known Flyknit material. Although it's not as flexible as its inspiration, the Flymesh is flexible enough to feel comfortable after lace-up. Meanwhile, numerous flex grooves are outfitted on the outsole to provide the runner with a good amount of surface control and flexibility.
Made for neutral runners, the stability of the Vomero 11 is not best for those who require stability shoes but will be fine for most runners. Its 12mm drop is slightly higher than the standard on most running shoes, but neutral runners should have no problem adjusting to this slight height difference.
The Vomero 11 features a heel to toe drop of 12mm, which is slightly higher than the standard but should present no problems to those who are used to the drop of a regular running shoe.
•Flymesh upper that combines Nike's flyknit material with standard seamless mesh
•Nike Air Zoom and compression molded EVA that combines to form a dual density midsole
•Improved Flywire lacing system
•BRS 1000 outsole that uses hard carbon rubber on the heel and soft blown rubber on the forefoot
•Plush collar for a soft, comfortable fit
•Lunarlon foam midsole for soft, plush cushioning
•Rubber outsole for durable traction
The Nike Air Zoom Vomero 11's are a solid, all-around great running shoe for neutral runners. The midsole is fantastic as it combines responsiveness with stellar cushion and support. While the Flyknit upper of previous editions is slightly more flexible and breathable, the Flymesh is a fine compromise. Comfortable, stylish, and produced by one of the recognizable sports equipment brands in the world, a pair of Vomero 11's will be an investment your feet will thank you for making in the long run.
Review 8.2 Nike Air Zoom Fly 2 Nike Air Zoom Fly 2
Review 9.4 Nike Air Zoom Structure 18 Nike Air Zoom Structure 18
Review 7.5 Nike Air Max Full Ride Tr 1.5 Nike Air Max Full Ride Tr 1.5

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Current Deep Purple guitarist Steve Morse said it would be "nice" if his predecessor Ritchie Blackmore could return to the band for a guest appearance.
Blackmore recently said he'd consider performing with the band again. But like Blackmore, Morse admitted he doesn't know how something like this could happen.
American Morse joined the British band in 1994 after Blackmore quit mid-tour in 1993. Despite many years of bad blood between the band's co-founding guitarist and his former colleagues, including a dispute that prevented Blackmore from attending their induction into the Rock And Roll Hall of Fame last year, he recently said he'd play with the band one last time if he was invited.


The Search view allows you to locate items within your LightArrow app. You can find topic items, data items, or log items. The app searches through all item titles; the full name of contacts; and text within notes. Within the Search view, you can find any item that you've associated with other items in your app. For example, if you created a checklist and associated it with a Health Project, you can find it in this view.
Enter the text directly in the Search bar for the item you're attempting to locate; to narrow the search, choose a type of item from the categories that are listed and enter your term in the Search bar.
Tap the item you find to select it or tap Cancel to exit and return to the Search view.


NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Prosecutors on Thursday declined to pursue a criminal trespassing charge against a Wisconsin man arrested earlier this month for climbing a fence at a Nashville home linked to country star Taylor Swift.
Jacob Kulke, of Marshfield, Wis., will remain in jail in Nashville as he is fighting extradition to Colorado for probation violation. Kulke did not appear in court during his Thursday hearing. The 24-year-old Kulke was arrested Dec. 14 after climbing a fence and a gate at a home in Belle Meade that has been publicly linked to Swift.
The affidavit said Kulke claimed he was in contact with a person at the home through social media. He said he was dating her and it was her birthday and he wanted to surprise her. Swift was overseas at the time her spokeswoman has previously declined to comment on the case.
Sean McKinney, Kulke's attorney, said Thursday that prosecutors discussed the decision not to prosecute with representatives for Swift. He said that Kulke is not guilty of the trespassing charge and said that his client was tricked by someone into believing that he was communicating with the star. Kulke told police he rode a bus to Nashville from Wisconsin, and then took a taxi to the home.
McKinney said that prosecutors could still bring the charge back within the statutes of limitations, but no restrictions were placed on him by the prosecutors or Swift.
"He is still a big fan of Taylor Swift," McKinney said.
Assistant District Attorney Tali Rosenblum said that Kulke has already spent 13 days in jail and the trespassing charge is a misdemeanor that carries a maximum 30-day sentence. She said they wanted to resolve the charge in Tennessee so that authorities could extradite him to Colorado.
"Mr. Kulke is looking for his 15 minutes of fame and he got all he deserved," Rosenblum said.


Are you feeling JR with Cara? Vote about this burgeoning couple in our all new All My Children poll.
Quinn could be hiding a connection to Bill – or maybe not. Vote in our The Bold And The Beautiful poll about whether you think there is something there.
Finally, JJ has competition for making trouble in Salem. Do you think Theresa is worse than him? Vote in our Days of our Lives poll about whether you think she is interesting or irritating.
Sam and Dr. Clay learned more about each other last week. Are you warming to this pairing? Vote in our General Hospital poll with your thoughts about the tormented couple.
Dani is getting some attention from mysterious Arturo. Will she fall under his spell or resist his gifts? Vote about it in our all new One Life To Live poll.
Will Jack relapse after his latest blow? Vote in our The Young And The Restless poll about whether he is strong enough to stay clean.
Have any fun ideas for polls about your favorite Daytime show? Let us know below or in our Soap Opera message boards. Meanwhile, who was most secretive last week? Vote below.
Dying to know what plans Dimitri has for Brooke in Pine Valley or who pays Natalie a visit in Llanview? Read Soaps.com's Soaps Spoiler Digest for a sneak peek into this week in Daytime.


Rachel and I have done a lot of things with pumpkins. You can check out most of them at Quirky Momma on my post about Preschool Halloween Activities.
But Rachel was also just excited to clean out her pumpkin so we could carve it into a jack-o-lantern.
She was very curious about the pumpkin and couldn't wait to see what was inside of it.
I was proud of her curiosity since she often gets squirmy about things she isn't familiar with and pumpkins guts are definitely slimy and unfamiliar to her.
She separated the pulp from the seeds.
She laid the seeds out to dry.
We used these pumpkin seeds in some of the activities in my Quirky Momma post that I mentioned above.


A nature lovers paradise set on a private 2.5 acres with a stunning inground salt water pool. A private bush setting just 5 minutes from Macmasters Beach.
This property has everything you need for the perfect weekend break, or longer family holiday.


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Frida Sundemo And The Sounds In Her Head
emilytreadgold June 29, 2020 #1, New 9 Tracks Leave a Comment
Frida Sundemo's gorgeous voice and undeniable knack for melodies is so apparent in her latest EP. Asides, from her heavenly music, she's been in medical school and helping with COVID-19 relief in hospitals in Sweden. We talked to Frida about her new music and how she's been staying sane lately.
How did you get started in music?
Frida: So, I've always played a lot of instruments and I started to write instrumental pieces when I was pretty young. But it wasn't until I was about 20 years that I got myself a studio setup and sort of found my own expression. I spent every hour possible writing and producing and after some time I started uploading my first demos on MySpace. After that, I've just continued creating music! I could not imagine life without it.
Tell me about "Sounds In My Head" what's the story behind the EP?
Frida: I've written and produced it together with my long time companion, Joel Humlén. It was first meant to be a homage to the 90s Britpop music but we changed our minds eventually. There are definitely some influences left in some of the songs though. I would say the theme of the EP is contrasts. During this last year, I've been in medical school during the days and in the studio during the nights and there are some pretty big differences there. All songs on the EP are about conflicting feelings, like guilt and love or fear and courage. I guess that's how it always is, like if you feel something, there's always this opposite feeling in the background because otherwise, you wouldn't be able to feel what you feel. Does that make sense? I think so anyway. It's like life and death. One needs the other to define itself.
I read that you've been studying in medical school and helping with COVID-19 in Sweden, how has that affected your worldview?
Frida: I love being at hospitals. There are people from different social classes, gender, age and different political views. And I love the transformation of everyone you meet. At first, you're just looking at a social security number on a list. Then you're meeting the patient and suddenly it's a whole person in front of you with a unique story. I guess these experiences must have learned me something about the world. I hope so, anyway.
How have you been staying sane during this pandemic?
Frida: Well, as you might have heard, we haven't got that harsh rules regarding lockdown in Sweden. I've been able to continue my studies at the hospital every day and also creating music from home. With that said, everyone here does their best to stay at home of course and meet as few people as possible. But I don't think that's comparable to many other countries around the world when you're totally stuck inside your home. I imagine that's very tough.
What has been inspiring you lately?
Frida: All these non-profit COVID-19 initiatives from people around the world. It's amazing to see what people do for each other. Also, I always get a lot of inspiration from the warmth and the sun and it finally seems to have come to Sweden now. It makes me a different person.
What's your best piece of advice for young women?
Frida: Trust your instinct. And it's OK not to have an instinct too sometimes. Don't think about what you should have done by now, you can still do it. And surround yourself with friendly people.
Follow Friday on Spotify and Instagram.
Emily Treadgold
Music aficionado and editor-in-chief at The New Nine. I'm most at home at festivals and concerts. I would love to start a band of all Kanye covers all on keys. I'm a dedicated Jack White fan and when I saw him in concert it changed my life. I'd never seen someone so passionate about music and preserving its history. Every project he does I just worship. Follow me on Twitter and Insta: @etreadgold
Frida Sundemo


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Home News Over 60% of Brazil Thinks Crypto is the Future of Finance
Over 60% of Brazil Thinks Crypto is the Future of Finance
According to a research by the crypto exchange Kucoin, more than half of the Brazil adult citizens believe that crypto will eventually take over as a store of value and a means of payment.
Brazil, the world's sixth most populated country, has endured an economic downturn, with inflation more than tripling in the last year to 10% per year. Furthermore, a sizable proportion of people remain unbanked or underbanked, resulting in a sizable proportion of the population shifting to cryptocurrencies.
"Growing inflation in the country has forced 62% of Brazilian crypto investors to consider cryptocurrencies to be the "future of finance", while 53% regard cryptocurrencies as a reliable way to store the value of their assets."
According to the survey, 34.5 million Brazilians, or 26 percent of the population aged 18 to 60, had used cryptocurrencies in the last six months. One out of every six Brazilian crypto investors commits more than 90% of their investment portfolio to cryptocurrencies, with up to 75% of investors trading fiat for crypto each month.
In general, 64 percent of crypto investors in Brazil responded that they planned to raise their investments by 20 percent, indicating that they were thinking about investing in crypto.
The bulk of crypto investors in the South American country predict strong long-term gains from crypto, while others are just hoping to enhance their living standards. Around 36% use cryptocurrency to augment their other sources of income.
Nonetheless, despite the fact that crypto adoption has reached a tipping point in Brazil, the survey indicated that most crypto users require investing education. Three-thirds of those polled said they were unsure about market signals, and two-sevenths don't grasp how cryptocurrency works.
Also Read: Dogecoin Rallies Up As Tesla Officially Starts Accepting It For Payments
With the crypto market capitalization expected to reach $3 trillion in 2021 after Bitcoin reached an all-time high of $68,000 in November, making it the top performing asset in the last decade, cryptos have seen a parabolic adoption rate, a trend that is expected to continue, particularly in light of the Russia/Ukraine conflict.
According to a Gemini survey, 41 percent of crypto owners worldwide made their first crypto purchase in 2021, with 54 percent of Brazilians purchasing their first coin last year.
As a result of the high demand for cryptocurrency in this Latin American country, several crypto exchanges, including Binance and Coinbase, are eyeing Brazil as a huge prize in 2022, with Dubai-based Bybit announcing its debut on Thursday, April 28.
brazil crypto crypto adoption cryptocurrency news


If approved, a measure now working its way through the Missouri general assembly would modify last November's Amendment 1, also known as the Clean Missouri amendment.
In a unanimous voice vote, the Ballwin Board of Aldermen officially has adopted the recently completed master plan for its parks and recreation facilities.
Chris Conway, 36, is Ballwin's new director of parks and recreation. He replaces Linda Bruer, the long-time head of the department who retired last year.
Aldermen reelected early this month, along with new Alderman Mike Utt [Ward 1], and Mayor Tim Pogue were sworn in on April 22.
James [Jimmy] Terbrock was honored by fellow members of the Ballwin Board of Aldermen for his 14 years of service.
The Monarch Fire Protection District will pay a large part of the purchase price for a new rescue pumper in order to save some $6,500 on the final cost.
Boosting those fund balances was one the district's primary goals when it sought and received voter approval in 2015 for a tax levy increase of 30 cents per $100 of assessed value on real and personal property.
Residents of the Schoettler Road area in Chesterfield made a determined pitch for a park in that part of the community, saying it is badly needed in Ward 3 where there are no city parks.
Chesterfield City Council members Michelle Ohley, Dan Hurt, Ben Keathley and Barbara McGuinness began new two-year terms on April 17.
What usually is a routine matter resulted in a tie vote Chesterfield Mayor Bob Nation had to break, as well as a sharp exchange on who should receive campaign contributions from whom.
Jim Erickson is a staff reporter for West Newsmagazine covering Ballwin, Chesterfield, Metro West FPD, Monarch FPD and West County EMS/FPD. Jim also is the go-to reporter for stories about veterans, regional development, agriculture and more. He joined West Newsmagazine in 2011. An Illinois native and University of Illinois graduate, Jim has lived in Ballwin since 2008 after retiring from a 40-year career in corporate communications and government affairs with agricultural cooperatives. He previously worked on the editorial staff of an Illinois daily newspaper. He has three grown children.


The art of making natural dyes is one of the oldest known to humankind. While the very earliest dyes were discovered by accident using berries & fruits, with experimentation & gradual development the vegetable dyes have developed into a highly refined art. India's expertise in natural & vegetable dyes dates back to ancient times. One such centuries-old dye 'recipe', is that of the indigenous populations of Koraput in Odisha. Today, families of the 'Mirgan' community in Kotpad, Koraput weave the naturally rough textured cotton cloth & also create the unique natural dye, whose ravishing redness & 'fastness' is legendary. They are followers of Kabir Das, a 15th century Indian mystic poet & saint, who also earned his living at the loom. His poems are famously called 'Kabir Ke Dohe' in hindi & he was the first Indian saint to bring together Hinduism and Islamism by recognising a universal path which could be followed by all.
The stunning red dye is extracted from the roots of the Indian Madder (Aal or Rubia cordifolia) tree. The powerful & vibrant shades range from deep maroon to dark brown depending on the proportion of dye used & the addition of sulphate of iron. The use of castor oil makes the cloth soft & the colours lustrous & fast. Only the women of the community handle the dyeing process. First, the Aal powder is boiled in vats for hours along with bundles of natural white cotton yarn treated with castor oil. This yarn is then hung from bamboo frames, allowing it to dry (as seen in the pictures above). Women wash the treated & dyed yarn slapping it on rocks, kneading it over and over with their hands & feet at the village pond. Shikakai (Acacia Concinna) & Reetha (Sapindus Mukorossi) are used for the first wash, which is a soft wash to make the colour permanent and strong. About a month of labour results in the threads' metamorphosis from the original cream shade to dramatic reds, maroons, rusty pinks, coffee browns & deep blacks. This limited, but deep and mysterious colour range is offset by the natural unbleached off white of the major portion of the fabric, with motifs drawn from nature & their way of life, producing astonishing results.
The dyed threads are then handed over to Kotpad's male weavers, who transform the threads into beautiful stories that one can wear. The dyed coarse cotton yarn, ranging from ten to twenty counts is woven in a simple but highly evolved three-shuttle pit loom with extra weft patterning for the more complicated motifs. Solid border effect of the fabric is made with the interlocking method of the multi shuttle loom. The designs used have an underlying symbolism & are largely inspired by nature. The motifs that each authentic Kotpad weave embodies, religiously maintains the traditional indigenous art which visually represent their way of life. They typically include depictions of traditional patterns, tools, professions, native animals, huts, etc. These motifs have been passed down from generation to generation. The textiles of Kotpad speak of ancient traditions & a symbiotic relationship with nature. Wearing this weave invigorates a sense of rustic authenticity & means that you wear a tradition that was intimately created for oneself, humbly concealed amidst tribal life.
To view our range of Kotpad textiles, check out our 'collection' section. We have everything from minimal beauties to intricate motifs.


text:
American musician, recording artist, singer-songwriter
Lou Reed (2 March 1942 – 27 October 2013) was an influential American rock singer-songwriter and guitarist. He first came to prominence as the guitarist and principal singer-songwriter of the Velvet Underground (1965–1970).
2 Misattributed
3 About Reed
My week beats your year.
In the liner notes of Metal Machine Music
Fuck Radio Ethiopia man, I'm Radio Brooklyn!
On his Take No Prisoners album
LR: "Are you political, Lou? Audience: "Yeah, are you?" LR:"Political about what? You give me an issue, I'll give you a tissue and you can wipe my ass with it."
Nothing beats 2 guitars, drum and bass.
In the liner notes of New York
Anyone that gets to side four is dumber than I am.
Of his 'Metal Machine Music' double album, as quoted at BBC - collective - Lou Reed: RR Buyer's Guide (and elsewhere; please put the original here if you know it.)
This is the impossible level, boys. Impossible doesn't mean very difficult, very difficult is winning the Nobel Prize, impossible is eating the sun.
In the video game Penn & Teller's Smoke and Mirrors, after Reed murders the player on the "Impossible" difficulty level.[1]
He's probably the single most untalented person I've heard in my life. He's a two-bit pretentious academic, and he can't play rock'n'roll, because he's a loser. And that's why he dresses up funny. He's not happy with himself, and I think he's right.
On Frank Zappa in Uptight: The Velvet Underground Story (1996) by Victor Bockris and Gerard Malanga
Of course. All the best people are.
When asked if he was Jewish. Quoted in the Jewish Chronicle obituary, 1 November 2013, p. 31
MisattributedEdit
It always bothers me to see people writing 'RIP' when a person dies. It just feels so insincere and like a cop-out. To me, 'RIP' is the microwave dinner of posthumous honors.
Attributed posthumously in social media, but actually a hoax originating from Twitter "Hoax Lou Reed quote fools Twitter (and most of the rest of the internet)", EN4 News, 28 October 2013
About ReedEdit
The news I feared the most, pales in comparison to the lump in my throat and the hollow in my stomach. Two kids have a chance meeting and 47 years later we fight and love the same way – losing either one is incomprehensible. No replacement value, no digital or virtual fill . . . broken now, for all time. Unlike so many with similar stories – we have the best of our fury laid out on vinyl, for the world to catch a glimpse. The laughs we shared just a few weeks ago, will forever remind me of all that was good between us. — John Cale about Reed's death [1]
LyricsEdit
Some people like to go out dancing
Other people they have to work
Just watch me now
And there's always some evil mothers
They'll tell you that everything is just dirt
That women never really faint
And that villains always blink their eyes
And that children are the only ones who blush
And that life is just to die
But anyone who ever had a heart
They wouldn't turn around and break it
And anyone who ever played a part
They wouldn't turn around and hate it.
They'd say Jane, Sweet Jane.
Sweet Jane
And I feel just like Jesus' son
"Heroin"
Life's like a mayonnaise soda
And life's like space without room
And life's like bacon and ice cream
That's what life's like without you
What's Good Full lyrics online
Candy came from out on the Island
In the backroom she was everybody's darlin'
But she never lost her head
Even when she was giving head
She says, Hey babe
Take a walk on the wild side
Walk on the Wild Side Full lyrics online
The title was inspired by Lou Reed being approached in 1970 for a musical based on Nelson Algren's 1956 novel A Walk on the Wild Side.
I've come to hate my body
And all that it requires
What do you think I'd see
If I could walk away from me
Reflect what you are
In case you don't know
When she turned blue, all the angels screamed.
" Run Run Run"
The Rally Man's patter ran on through the dawn
Until we said so long to his skull
Shrill yell.
Black Angel's Death Song
"Just watch," said Sheila, touching her finger to her head.
The Gift (written by Lou Reed, narrated by John Cale)
You made me forget myself; I thought I was someone else, someone good.
I watched it for a little while, I like to watch things on TV
Satellite Of Love
An eye for an eye is elemental.
There are problems in these times, but none of them are mine
I'm beginning to see the light
"Beginning to See the Light"
First thing you learn
is that you've
always got to wait
"I'm Waiting for the Man"
Jesse you say Common Ground
Does that include the PLO?
Good Evening Mr. Waldheim
Attacking Jesse Jackson's support for terrorist organisations
And Pontiff, pretty Pontiff
Can anyone shake your hand?
Or is it just that you like uniforms
and someone kissing your hand
Attacking the Pope for receiving ex-Nazi Kurt Waldheim
↑ Penn & Teller's Smoke and Mirrors - The Impossible Level
Retrieved from "https://en.wikiquote.org/w/index.php?title=Lou_Reed&oldid=2600083"


Garden Valley, Idaho is located just one hour north of Boise, Idaho. It is the perfect recreation getaway whether it is just for the day, a weekend, or even longer. Surrounded by mountains, forests and rivers, the Garden Valley area offers a wide variety of outdoor recreational activities. From cross-country skiing and snowmobiling in the winter to hiking, camping, hunting, backpacking and rafting in the summer.
During the summer, enjoy theater under the stars at Starlight Mountain Theatre. Great performances of original and classic musicals.
Whitewater rafting, hunting, fishing, cross country skiing, snowmobiling, snow tubing and exploring the areas hot springs are just some of the activities in the Garden Valley area.
"InIdaho did a great job with our reservation!"


text:
Archive | LGBT RSS feed for this section
4 Weird Things That Happen To You When A Love(d) One Kills Themselves
Someone I used to be in love with and lived with for two years took her life. Depending on the sort of story you were expecting, this could be seen as a beginning or ending. For me it still seems like some sort of limbo, moments and feelings trapped in amber that I can see but not touch. Hopefully writing about it will help me move forward.
This isn't news to anyone that follows me online through either my own social media and posts, or filtered through your favorite online stalking/roasting site/FB group. From Fall 2014 to Fall 2016 I was in a tumultuous relationship with video game designer Chloe Sagal, and we lived together for much of that time. We separated during a particularly tense eviction, where I moved to downtown Portland to prepare for an impending surgery and she moved elsewhere with another of her partners. I ceased contact shortly afterward, and heard little from or about her until she hobbled into a downtown Portland park and set herself on fire to protest her lifetime struggle with inadequate and unsympathetic mental health care.
And then things got weird.
I found myself lamenting that there really isn't a whole lot of advice out there for this sort of situation. What do you do with yourself and your thoughts and your pain? Everyone has hot takes about why this happened, but you don't hear many stories from/about those left behind. So here we are.
I figure this could be a good resource for a lot of people, even if you don't literally have Washington Times journalists openly wishing on Twitter that you would also commit suicide.
1) Your Memories Are A Fuck
I mean, this isn't the first time I lost an ex. A guy I used to date when I was much younger drank himself to death around his 30th birthday. Another ex of mine (another trans woman in the video game industry) passed away peacefully during a camping trip. This isn't even the first time I lost a loved one to suicide; I've brought up more than once on this blog my uncle that killed himself when I was a pre-teen over his inability to reconcile being gay with his Christian faith. It's not like I don't still have unprocessed and complicated feelings about them all, most of all about never being able to say goodbye.
This one is different, because my relationship with Chloe was… not great a lot of the time. She screamed and hit walls and could be very threatening. She broke a lot of my stuff, specifically targeting things she knew had sentimental value like childhood possessions. She would send harassing messages to people I cared about and in the end was sending nasty messages my way as well. It got to where I woke up in a panic when I heard her typing in the wee hours of the morning creating a new manifesto. I wondered who was targeted next, what damage control would I have to devote my day to rather than my own life.
But she also wrote songs about me. Not just full romantic ballads, but little ditties she would make up while I was cooking dinner or cleaning the room. She would riff off of themes songs of shows we watched together, cuddled under the covers, when things were good. We had a whole language of in-jokes and references. She always looked better in my clothes than I did. I still remain convinced she was one of the most effortlessly brilliant artistic minds I was ever blessed to spend time with and be inspired by.
I fell in love with her while she sung "The Calendar Hung Itself" by Bright Eyes to me. Honestly that should have been a red flag this would not end well, but I was starry eyed. This shit is complex.
I don't think she was a bad person, or a martyr. I think she got so accustomed to online abuse from the fallout from her GoFundMe incident that she compulsively sought out negative attention over positive. She was so terrified of ever completing a project because of anticipated backlash she just devoured herself like a snake eating its tail.
2) People Show Up Out Of Fucking Nowhere
I found out what happened on my birthday, when a reporter contacted me for a statement. I was on my way to a date with a guy at a club so I said I would give a statement first thing tomorrow. He got me so drunk I overslept and never contacted the reporter.
I got an email from him the next day giving his condolences. I hadn't told him during the date, he had Googled me and found mention of it on a roasting site. He concluded by admitting he had a wife he didn't tell me about. That meant, he insisted, that future dates would have to be more discreet since he was now aware of people watching my social media. I deleted his number from my phone.
Happy Birthday To Me.
Those first few days I got messages from probably a thousand people. Limiting it to supportive messages, it was still broad swaths of individuals with widely varying connection to me. People I was on good and bad terms with. People I hadn't spoken to in months or years, and some I honestly never wanted to speak to again well before this.
The messages came so frequently I barely had time to formulate how I was feeling, much less summarize it. A lot of vague offers of "support" "if I needed anything" that I had no idea how to respond to. Even a handful of folks that genuinely seemed to be looking for an odd sort of absolution. Like I could pat them on the head and be like "well fine I forgive you," and give them closure.
Fuck that, when do I get closure?
3) The Narrative Becomes A Disaster
People are still actively talking about her on Twitter. Everyone has their pet story about what happened. I see articles written in like Portuguese that have photos of a completely different ex of mine in them because a right-wing blogger fucked up the Google Image Search for her in a hitpiece. People use her death to make a point scolding other people using her death to make a completely different point.
A month ago, a Canadian balladeer I hadn't heard of previously wrote a song with her name in the title and I realize this is bigger than I can comprehend. Like, she's not the person I lived with and woke up next to and she's not the person I had to separate myself from. This whole thing is bigger, even to people that never even met her. She's now a symbol, a metaphor. A horrible, grisly death turned to legend that means whatever anyone wants it to mean.
In a way, kinda got what she wanted; people talking about what she went through. People taking it seriously. For the rest of us, however,
4) You Never Stop Wondering What This Means
Stories have a beginning, a middle, and end. Something bad happens, and you learn something and grow stronger. Ghosts haunt you, and you put them to rest and you both benefit.
Otherwise you just… sit there.
Do you let go? What does "letting go" mean? Is it better, is it required of me, to preserve the good she has done over the bad? How much responsibility do I have for sustaining her legacy?
Why did this happen? What's the lesson here? What's the next step? How do I put this ghost to rest?
Do you ever get to find out?
Does this story ever actually end?
Article Feature Image: Tristen, Flickr
Tags: chloe sagal, harrassed to the point of suicide, lgbt, suicide, trans
Categories Acts Of Bloggery, GamerGate, LGBT
I Don't Care About That TERF Pussy Church And Neither Should You
There's been a bit of a hub-bub lately over the IRS granting non-profit status/recognition to an anti-trans Pussy Church of Final Judgement or whatever. On the surface, this definitely seems like some seriously bad news.
On one hand, the Trump administration has displayed a growing commitment to redefine anti-LGBT discrimination as a matter of "Religious Freedom/Expression." On the other hand, TERFs and other typically secular anti-trans movements are increasingly adapting the playbooks and accepting funding from the anti-LGBT Religious Right. Advocacy and acceptance of trans rights and visibility of our needs has been a largely recent thing, and the current political climate has seen increasing hostility and the looming threat of losing what small gains that have been made.
People have been asked my opinion on this, because I've had a reputation for dunking TERFs that goes back years before I got a pussy myself. It would be remiss of me to not put something out there regarding The Psychic Temple of Pussy Youth or whatever. So I thought for a bit over what I wanted to write. However, honestly this doesn't seem quite so dire when you take a minute or two to think about it. I mean –
Okay First Of All That Fucking Name
There was a real opportunity here for TERFs. They could have formalized an organized sect of Dianic Wicca for instance. Called it "The Sisters Of Mary Daly" or something with similar gravitas and sense of reverence. But no, TERFs gotta be oh so clever with everything they do, so now it's the Super Special Pussy Power No Penis Boys Allowed Church. This is not going to work out well for them in the long run.
I literally cannot wait for a case against this group to go to court. I cannot wait to see a representative of this group argue to a crusty elderly ninth circuit court judge that they have a First Amendment right to discriminate against trans people because they "worship at the altar of pussy" or whatever. That's practically begging for a contempt of court verdict, no matter how many tax forms you filled out.
You want to see how well this will turn out? Look up any number of cases regarding the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster and driver license photos. There's a handful of wins here and there, but largely it's a disaster and considered an embarrassing joke. There's a certain decorum expected when making claims or appeals towards upholding your deeply-held religious belief and expression, and claiming membership in a Holey Pussy Church isn't gonna win anyone over in that regard.
It Couldn't Be A More Transparent Honey Trap
So like, at this point it's pretty well known who is behind this thing. If you don't know, ask around about it on Twitter. I'm kind of thinking a certain someone must have fallen off the wagon because this scheme is a bit harebrained even for them. But anyway, despite being off the grid for a bit, they seem to be back to their old playbook.
It's an old, tired playbook, y'all. We should all be familiar with it by now. Can we not be stupid about it this time? They want you to grouse and be upset by their existence and create screen-cappable posts they can claim are "threats" for the sake of their persecution complex and recruitment appeals. You've seen blogs compiling these posts, many of which go back to like 2010. Once they find a post they hold onto it forever. It's not a type of fame you want.
If they can't find anything they'll just make stuff up, so why hand them ammo? Even now on r/GenderCritical or whatever they are going over this post with a fine-tooth comb for something to sob over…
"HE… HE SAID DUNKING! DUNKING LIKE IN WITCH TRIALS! THAT IS CLEARLY WHAT IS MEANT BY THAT! TAPPING INTO THE UMPTY THOUSAND YEARS OPPRESSION OF WOMEN BY PENISMALES IN DRESSES! THE USE OF SUCH DELIBERATELY CRUEL LANGUAGE IS PROOF THAT MISTER RANI IS AND FOREVER WILL BE, ON A SPIRITUAL LEVEL, A MALE PENISMAN!"
– somebody on r/GenderCritical probably
The Endgame Is Sort Of Obvious, And Kinda Sad
I know these people aren't stupid.
The likelihood of this church being used to facilitate workplace or housing discrimination is pretty slim. The idea that they will join forces with the Religious Right to sponsor some sort of Holy Bathroom Police Militia is unlikely. Hell, the idea that they are going to actually find anything more than token lipservice support from the Dark Web Free Speech Vanguard is practically non-existent.
So what are they up to? This may be premature of me to guess, but given what I know about who and what is involved with this organization, I have a pretty good idea. I'm willing to bet dollars to donuts the endgame of this group is to use it as a base to form a new trans-excluding women's festival around. Yeah, like Michfest, remember ever caring about that? Seems like a century ago.
But anyway, if this turns out to be the case oh my god can we let these people have their sad stinky hippie festival full of terrible music now? Trump is literally going to kill us all and these clowns have made it more than clear they are willing to burn down everything and help erect a Gilead 2.0 if they can at least guarantee making a few trans women's lives harder along the way.
Tags: anti-trans, gender critical, gendercrit, radical feminism, terf, terflogic, terfs
Categories Acts Of Bloggery, LGBT, LGBT History, Politics, Religion, Religious Right, Trans History
A Cannibalistic Dissection Of The Rocky Horror Picture Show.
A week before the writing of this, FOX aired a remake of The Rocky Horror Picture Show, subtitled Let's Do The Time Warp Again. I'm not averse to the idea of seeing it, but I'm not going to go out of my way either. Not for any particular reason politically, just simply because the original is so clearly and deeply rooted to a particular time period it doesn't make a whole lot of sense to update it. I'll have more on that in a moment.
The main (and only) thing I need to know about the remake is that it showcased front and center a black trans woman, on the same channel FOX News is broadcast from, during a time when the right wing has dedicated themselves to a war against trans bodies. Regardless of any other merits or flaws in the project, I still find that deliciously subversive in a way the original never dared.
If you were hoping for more talk about the remake, I do apologize. There are plenty of other people talking about it, I swear. I'm not writing yet another thinkpiece about how problematic or transphobic or whatever the movie is. Plenty of other folks covering that ground. I'm not interested in RHPS creator Richard O'Brien's bizarre and absurd notion that he can decide how much of a woman he is but nobody else can. Just yet another tired old has-been queen desperate for attention and latching onto trendy notions of "edginess" and "anti-political-correctness" as far as I'm concerned. The fact that he hates the remake makes me want to enjoy it out of spite tho.
What will I be talking about then?
Well lets start by talking about the Hays Code (and later rating systems) and the role of pulp sci-fi on queerness. Stories of alternate sexualities and gender explorations were all over the place in the 1950s, 60s and 70s, but due to publisher restrictions had to be formatted in a certain way. It was honestly surprising how far they were capable of going, as long as they didn't directly show intimacy and all queer characters were punished at the end for their transgression from conservative mores. Here's a sex-change sci-fi story from a 1953 comic book that covers the bases pretty well, with an exception I will elaborate on in a moment.
Rocky Horror Picture show even opens with the song "Science Fiction/Double Feature" which waxes nostalgic about shiny underwear and phallic Triffids, name-checking classic titles and names from films that would have been staples of a sci-fi obsessed 1975 audience's childhood. Self-aware nods to these tropes echo throughout the film.
Lets line them up and see how the beats play out, shall we? We have aw shucks traditional protagonist(s), an audience insert for voyeuristic heterosexuals or questioning/curious queer folk:
The protagonists find themselves stranded from the values and culture they took for granted, in a lawless anything goes environment:
This leads to an awakening where deep, transgressive desires are brought to light and actualized… but at what cost?
And at the end all transgressions are punished and the moral is driven home that some doors should never be opened:
The spectre of conservative Americana glares disapprovingly at the dissolution of traditional values throughout the film. Not just figuratively, but directly and literally symbolized by multiple repeated vignettes evoking the sullen stoic gaze of the iconic Grant Wood painting American Gothic (a now campy and frequently satirized artwork that history forgets incited Rural Iowans to send the painter threats of violence).
However, you will note that there is something missing from this one-to-one comparison between the sex-change comic book and Rocky Horror Picture Show. This is because in sex-change stories, the antagonist is the clothes or the transformation itself. This is as true in Glen Or Glenda in the 1950s as it was in The Danish Girl in 2015. This story has an antagonist with a distinctly more visceral presence, a hyperqueered fantasy to Brokeback their mountains and tempt them away from their traditional lives.
Enter Frank.
Frank is a transgressive nightmare, a culmination of everything feared about the sexual awakenings of the late 1960s/early 1970s. It goes well beyond the crossdressing and sexualization; Frank was meticulously designed to provoke. He literally hunts down, murders and later cannibalistically devours Eddie, a symbol of naive notions of 1950s "safe rebellion". Eddie's entrance, to the song "Hot Patootie – Bless My Soul", reflects an entirely different sort of nostalgia filled with sock hops instead of gruesome horror movies. Frank nonchalantly eulogizes Eddies murder by his hand as "a mercy killing! He had a certain naive charm, but no… muscle."
When Frank displayed a pink triangle on his labcoat, the symbol was still viscerally shocking and radical. The book The Men With The Pink Triangle, documenting homosexual men's experience in Nazi concentration camps, had only come out a couple years before. The infamous Paragraph 175 of German Law under which those men had been imprisoned was still on the books.
Frank also dons a Lewis Leathers Aviakit Plainsman biker jacket adorned with badges from the Hell's Angels and other recognizable biker gangs (including patches with the distinct Nazi Deaths Head and Eagle iconography of the Angels). This wasn't the "making toy runs for sick kids" Hell's Angels, this was the "locked Hunter S Thompson in the trunk of a car for several days" Hells Angels. This also presents contrast to Eddie's sanitized pompadour-and-motorcycle schtick as the corny posturing it was.
Frank's fawning over his Frankenstein Atlas, Rocky, was another uncomfortable tribute/unmasking to the underlying homoeroticism in body-building culture, a subtext simultaneously acknowledged yet dismissed within said subculture. With Rocky as the dense and sweetly naive foil to Frank's sexual innuendo, it's presented as yet another affront to the values of yesteryear.
Enabled through Frank's brazen transgressions, the protagonists find themselves freed from convention to explore their own desires. This is illustrated in the floor show scene where the players vocalize their inner conflicts onstage. Columbia is full of regret and heartbreak, Rocky and Brad have newfound sexual urges that neither can quite figure out, and Janet feels empowered by the whole experience. Shortly afterwards, Riff-Raff and Magenta stage a mutiny to topple Frank as leader. Riff-Raff's accusation says it all:
Frank-N-Furter, it's all over
your mission is a failure
your lifestyle's too extreme
Ironically, after forty years of cultural advance, a film that sought to deconstruct stifling tropes and liberate expectations has for the most part been relegated to yet another formulaic exploitation. It has a historical place, as a love-letter to the queer-coded villains of Hollywood's golden age, but at this point Frank has joined them. Don't get me wrong; it's still a fun ritual for voyeuristic straights, closeted drama club queers and assorted connoisseurs of camp and kitsch and likely will be for at long as movie theaters continue to exist. However, the cultural critique is a bit toothless and obvious now, the references collecting dust, and subtext lost under performative rote.
And maybe the ritual is the point now, a sort of mystery cult initiation for average folks looking for an excuse to buy a corset. But I believe an occasional reminder of what it all means couldn't hurt either.
Tags: lgbt, lgbt history, rhps, richard obrien, rocky horror, rocky horror picture show, transgender
Categories Acts Of Bloggery, Article Series, Fear Of A Trans Planet, Horror, LGBT, LGBT History, Occult, Oddities/Curiosities, Things That Made Me Gay, Trans History, Trans/Gay/Androgyny Agenda
Who Owns Queer Culture? Not Exclusively Cis Gay Dudes.
I will admit to a difficult, but not entirely negative, relationship to the nihilistic queer media of my youth in the 90s.
It's what I grew up on, and what I reciprocated in my own writings of the time. Despite the progressive, laid-back image, the 90s still had a lot to feel hopeless and pessimistic about as queer youth. My formative young adult sexual experiences began under both the continuing spectre of AIDS as well as under Texas sodomy laws. Not to mention, um, Texas. Matthew Sheppard was only a bit older than me, and a year later a drag queen/trans lady (like myself) in the same scene I performed in that was saving money for transition was stabbed 60 times and dumped in a ditch.
So, I mean, I get the appeal of the medium. I also get the cheeky "scribble an anarchy symbol on your high school notebook and call it politics" attitude fuelling writer(?) Tomas Allende's recent screed in some neo-reactionary buzzword factory imaginatively named "Trigger Warning". Yawn. It's a rambling, premise-less manifesto basically insisting that transgressive art, and thus "queer culture" is exclusively the realm of angry edgy gay boys that jerk off to anime. Double yawn.
That said, the article opens up promisingly enough. Allende describes the struggles of his closeted youth in Chile, a story I can deeply sympathise with, along with his awakening through discovering the Greg Araki film The Living End. A damn fine movie.
He then states:
"Queer cinema was not about married same-sex couples with a furry pet in the suburbs. It was the disenfranchised, the freaks, and the non-apologetic crowd of queers that served no purpose other than to be themselves. It was nihilistic, pointless, and fucking fabulous."
And I'm inclined to agree.
I'm quite familiar with the films of Araki and Todd Haynes, as well as similarly bleak works like the short stories of Dennis Cooper and darkly humorous romps like I Shot Andy Warhol. I have a soft spot in my heart for all those tragic transsexual movies that I'm supposed to hate. If the story involved some nervous twenty-something trying butt stuff for the first time in the second act and then dying tragically in the third, I was probably all about it in the 90s.
Strangely enough, this protest by Allende against banal gay assimilation just sort of hangs in the air, and is never elaborated on. In fact, things he says paragraphs later completely negate it.
Allende then begins gibbering the same sort of tired knee-jerk incomprehensible MRGay boilerplate about "third-wave feminism" you'd expect from the sort of chronic masturbator that would still have the Gamergate hashtag in his Twitter bio in 2016. Wait, holy shit he actually does. You can't make this up.
It's interesting, because second-wave feminism wasn't exactly friendly to or inclusive of gay folks at the time. It took the intervention of a lot of folks now considered part of the core of the third-wave movement to reconcile the archaic racism and homophobia of the second wave.
Bringing up real history hardly means anything in this context, because Allende isn't actually talking about culture. He talks about movies. He believes video games are a political movement. He admits the wild bareback fucking hard-partying boys in his cinema daydreams bear no reflection on his actual life. He exists in some reactionary simulacrum of the radical queer life he both idealizes and loathes.
I find it interesting that, despite claiming to be a fan of Greg Araki he spends two paragraphs railing against formation of sexual identity. Araki made A GODDAMN TRILOGY of movies about literally that. Totally Fucked Up is about exploring the boundaries of homosexuality, The Doom Generation is about exploring the boundaries of heterosexuality (literally billed as "A Heterosexual Movie by Greg Araki"), and Nowhere explores a sexual landscape akin to pansexuality. If you don't believe that term existed back then, here's queer actor Alan Cumming describing himself as such in gay magazine OUT in 1999.
Allende: "The characters in those films… would never attempt to garner pity"
Even after denying that queer folks experience oppression (or something), Allende laments how "being gay meant abuse, rejection, and the possibility of contracting an incurable disease which could lead to a horrendous death"… in the past tense.
Newsflash: HIV is still around. It would take more fingers than I have to count off the number of folks I consider reasonably close that have to deal with it as an immediate medical reality. There are still a staggering amount of homeless queer youth, due to rejection and abuse at home.
In any case, while dudes like Tomas are sitting at home watching 20+ year old movies and harboring political views less radical than my grandparents, there are people actually living in queer culture. Working to develop and upkeep sustainable communities of support. Making our own art to communicate with each other.
Maybe we don't need you or your tired-ass homocon opinions.
Tags: greg araki, queer cinema, queer culture, rachel haywire, tomas allende, trigger warning
Categories Acts Of Bloggery, Entertainment, LGBT, LGBT History, Movies, Politics
Sissy Killer: Silence Of The Lambs' "Good/Bad Queer" Dynamic
It's been 25 years since Silence Of The Lambs was released, and there have already been plenty of hot takes to go around. Recently, Jos Truitt over at Feministing posted an unflinching and thorough deconstruction of what the character "Buffalo Bill" represents to the trans community. Naturally, cis people completely lost their shit.
"How could anyone identify with a serial killer?" they lamented. Good point, it's not like Hannibal Lecter wound up in four novels, five films, and a television series currently on it's third season where he is the protagonist. Oh wait.
Dinner's Ready.
Why is it considered ok to empathize with Lecter and not Jame Gumb? Both were brutal mass murderers known for short tempers and for mutilating their victims. Gumb was a gender dysphoric survivor of child abuse and neglect, and Hannibal Lecter was a calculating abusive manipulator that shut her off from medical care and murdered her boyfriend. So why do people root for Gumb getting gunned down yet also for Lecter's escape and promise to kill again?
Seriously, check out the last couple minutes of Silence Of The Lambs again. Lecter all decked out like Truman Fuckin Capote bragging about "having an old friend for dinner". He's a triumphant anti-hero rather than a villain. And it gets worse with each subsequent film/tv depiction.
The answer is simple: Lecter represents the "good kind" of queer, and Bill represents the "bad kind".
While I don't share Truitt's particular tattoo choice (although I have seriously considered both the spear wound and the "LOVE" hand tattoo), I do have a tramp stamp of "In Voluptas Mors", and yes it is a reference to Silence Of The Lambs. I, also, have a bit of a soft spot for the movie. A particularly fascinating element of the movie is that it features two queer coded "sissy villains", but coded in different ways and pitted against each other.
What's that? Hannibal Lecter isn't actually gay? That's ok, because Jame Gumb "isn't actually transgender", right?
Meanwhile, the only definitely gay person in the movie is dead.
In the book, the infamous "tucking scene" also invites the reader to voyeuristically review Gumb's hormone regimen, thinning body hair, voice training, electrolysis and even passing mention of breast development. This is presented with both a clinical air and a sense of disdain at the progress. But this is ok because Gumb is not "really transgender", right?
Later in the book Agent Crawford threatens to have federal funding cut from the Johns Hopkins sex-reassignment wing and have the surgery re-classified as of non-medical necessity. There's no telling how many transsexuals ongoing medical treatment were effectively being held hostage as an afterthought in this power-play. But this is ok because Gumb is not "really transgender", right?
I'm sure there is also something to be said about namechecking the Johns Hopkins Trans Surgery wing as a plot point in the book, considering the actual one was shut down a decade before.
And even as Ted Levine's lumbering, gangly tr*nny monster performance is frequently superimposed over depictions of the lives of trans folks, and the spectre of which haunts discussions of everything from "bathroom bills" to TSA clearances, Lecter represents the opposite of this stereotype. Lecter is theatrical without camp. He is effette but not effeminate. He drips with sarcasm and is impeccably refined and cultural and worldly.
The comparisons don't stop there. In the novel, through Agent Starling's feminist hero eyes she recognizes Lecter as "small, sleek, and in his hands and arms she saw wiry strength like her own" in contrast to Gumb's frequently referenced large hefty frame. In the film, Lecter is depicted as deliberately clinical and meticulously clean, a contrast to the squalor of Gumb's living area and poor hygiene and posture. Anthony Hopkins came up with the idea of having Lecter dressed in white in order to invoke imagery of doctors and dentists and peoples instinctive unease around them. But it also positions him yet again as an virtous-appearing authority figure. Perhaps this is why we are expected to continue to take Lecter's gatekeeping of Gumb's dysphoria at face value, despite the fact that it's coming from a man restrained in a strait jacket and spitter's mask.
"He's not a transsexual, Clarice. He just thinks he is, and he's puzzled and angry because they won't help him."
There's almost definitely a "high/low functioning" mental illness dynamic going on as well that someone may choose to explore further down the line. How does nobody ever question Lecter's capacity to make psychological diagnoses not only without clinical observation but while also himself deemed in a dangerous enough capacity mentally to warrant institutionalization?
Definitely someone with authority's best interest in mind – Everyone Somehow
It's not like positioning the audience to arbiter Lecter as a gatekeeper of queer sexuality is limited to his interaction with Jame Gumb. I mentioned earlier his murder of Gumb's boyfriend, named after a leftist French intellectual. In the opening to the movie Red Dragon Lecter is literally shown in judgement of Raspail's performativity, and Jesus Christ as Lecter scowls at Raspail's unsatisfactory ability to blow the flute I'm sure Freud was doing cartwheels in his grave. And then, in the following scene, a bunch of progressive intellectuals giggle over Raspail's missing status and subsequently nonperson him based on the same inadequate perfomativity Lecter judged him worthy of death over.
He's either decided to kill a man or poop himself.
This sort of gatekeeping, this arbitration of judgement over folks less desirable is clearly the role the unexamined audience wants from Lecter. He returns to this role over and over and over, evolving from a useful monster to a justified protagonist in his own universe, while his gruesome body count silently grows.
Maybe y'all should re-evaluate what you consider so identifiable in Hannibal Lecter.
Tags: buffalo bill, feministing, hannibal lecter, jame gumb, johns hopkins, queer coding, silence of the lambs
Categories 1980s, 1980s, Acts Of Bloggery, LGBT, LGBT History, Movies, Politics, Trans History, Trans/Gay/Androgyny Agenda
"Gender-Critical" Extremists Encouraging Men To Undress In Women's Restrooms.
(EDITORIAL NOTE BY ME AUGUST 2018: Shit this predates the whole #ManFriday garbage by almost two years)
As of the writing of this article, there are over 40 bills targeting transgender individuals being voted on in various states. This is despite having zero justification to do so, as transgender protection laws lead to no increase in crime. In response, a group of self-identified "gender-critical" activists has been encouraging men to undress around children and women. What sort of men would do this sort of grotesque predatory exhibition, what could possibility be their motivation?
Gender-criticals don't care, as long as you say you hate trans folks. Just ask gender-critical convicted pedophile Nelson Garcia, who rants all day about the evils of transgender bathroom use on his sad little blog.
…and still fantasizing about men having sex with little boys
Anyway, these men acting out their creepy predatory fantasies out of some perverse sense of righteousness does nothing to test or examine the laws in place. These men were ejected, the laws work the way they were intended. And yet these creeps turn around and continue scaremongering based on the actions of their own protesters.
If that isn't repulsive enough, they are also attempting to goad their children into illegal acts of sexual assault.
Astonishing.
Tags: drop the t, kenneth feucht, nelson garcia pedophile, right wing terf, ryan hart, terf, terflogic, transgender bathrooms
Categories Acts Of Bloggery, Fear Of A Trans Planet, Gender Critical, LGBT
Honestly, Who Actually Gives A Damn About Hitler's Penis? And Why?
Above, faked footage of "Hitler's Jig"
So, like, no offence but Hitler is a piece of shit. Cool, we got that out of the way.
He occupies a particular place in history as a reviled and defeated political force, as well as the public face to unfathomably horrible human atrocity. There is an instinct when discussing him to relegate his humanity to some sort of "othered" status. "Normal" people would be incapable of what he has done, people say, somehow missing the irony of assigning aberration to a political regime devoted to exterminating aberration. More curious, however, is how folks choose to relegate Hitler's otherness.
The current lascivious sexualized detail is his life folks are gleefully poring over is an atypical urethra formation that affects as many as 1 in every 250 folks born with penises, and an undescended testicle (a commonly associated malady). But why in the world should that matter? The frequent assertion is that it "could explain things", but what exactly?
Gratuitous exposes assigning various sexual deviancies to Hitler gloss over the devastation his reign had on homosexual and gender-non-conforming people. 100, 000 gay men were arrested during the Nazi Regime, 50,000 of which were jailed and up to 15000 may have died in concentration camps. Records of transgender folks involved in these arrests is difficult to ascertain because they were lumped in with homosexuals, but it was enough to be contemporarily remarked upon. Alongside human cost, the Nazi Regime also destroyed the records of Magnus Hirschfeld's Institute For Sexual Science, annihilating invaluable decades of compassionate scientific research and political works on homosexuality, gender-non-conformity and transsexual surgery.
It's one (fairly complicated and not particularly admirable, tbh) thing to attempt to remove Hitler's humanity rhetorically, it's another to disdainfully invite others into the crossfire who suffered under him as well. One would think that after meditating on the man's horrible quest for ideological, racial and sexual purity through terror, one may choose not to engage in similar demonization of historically marginalized individuals.
Tags: lgbt, lgbt history, nazi
Categories Acts Of Bloggery, LGBT, LGBT History, Politics, Trans History
Is Kylo Ren Queer-Coded? Well, Yes And No.
Image from this comic by Andi Espinosa.
Since finally getting to see the new Star Wars movie about a month after everyone else did, I've found myself immersed in the surrounding discussions of it. Like, why the fuck was Han so excited to use Chewbacca's weapon for apparently the first time in the decades they've been friends? How come in 30 years has none of the computer tech advanced past 16 color raster graphics, blinking lights and LEDs? Also is Kylo Ren technically yet another Disney queer-coded villain, and how awful are you for empathizing with the Nazified little shit in a queer way?
Okay maybe I'm participating in different conversations than y'all.
I've been seeing a lot of talk lately about how Kylo Ren is the modernized face of impotent nerd rage. He's like a one-man Gamergate, without all the Nazi imagery… oh wait. And, honestly, many of the traits that could be read as queer have been gradually integrated into uneasy heteromasculine posturing the past few decades, as addressed by fans and critics thinking of him as "emo". There is a lot to be said about imagery of nerdbro ego projection and predation in many of his actions as well.
Above borrowed from this comic strip.
And yeah I get that. I'm sure even more can be said in that regard. I've personally been humoring the idea that Kylo Ren's encounter w/Han Solo is a commentary on neo-masculinity. Like Han represents old-guard swagger and grit and "benevolent sexism" and is a masculinity relic… he's literally a cowboy. An artefact of a different age of manhood. Kylo Ren represents the new face of such: internally tortured, confused, with wildly inappropriate idealizations and bad posture. Watch Kylo Ren walk around uneasily in his uniform next time you see the film, see how forced his movements are. Kylo's nervous stilted gait represents the new guard carrying the torch for men's advocacy. Kylo winds up doing what he does (SPOILER: murders his dad) cuz of his misplaced interpretation of how masculinity works: aka a compulsive desire to "prove himself".
But we're not actually suggesting that Kylo Ren is queer. Or at least I'm not. But we have to keep in mind what queer coding is. We also need to differentiate queer coding from queer-baiting, a more modern trope of hinted sexuality, which also appears in the film.
And how.
Spoiler alert, but I'm gonna be hammering on and on about this sort of thing over the course of several upcoming articles (not about Star Wars tho). In this case, I believe whether Kylo Ren is queer-coded or not may mean different things between folks older or younger than 30. Folks like us grew up with less media representation. Some of us may be a bit more sensitive or in-tune with the "nod-nod wink wink" aspects of this than folks growing up in an era where a character can actually be queer without also having to be a mass-murderer to satisfy some garbage moral clause.
To me Kylo's unmasking scene in the torture chamber more than a little bit resembled when Ra unmasks himself in the first Stargate movie. The hard, cruel gray and black immobile feature-obscuring mask giving way to reveal a soft androgynous face and sensitive eyes. In the case of Stargate, particularly, strategically revealing the face of the actor that played a trans woman in The Crying Game just a couple years before, one of the most iconic and recognizable trans characters in film (for good or for bad).
And it's not like we haven't seen the "prissy evil son in the shadow of an impossibly badass father whose shoes he may never fill" dynamic before.
Also, this is Disney we are talking about. The company that pretty much wrote the book on queering up their baddies.
Coincidence? I think… actually yeah probably coincidence.
The thing about Star Wars movies, however, is that just by existing they change the face of everything they touch. While doing so, they completely reinvent the visual language surrounding such, from fashion to archetypes and of course special effects. These changes become so widespread because damn near everyone winds up seeing them.
Well everyone that matters, anyway.
Perhaps this really is a calculated narrative side-step to replace tired Hollywood Golden Age homophobia with biting commentary on evolving male ego. If so I have to admit I'm impressed.
Tags: kylo ren, masculinity so fragile, mens rights, neomasculinity, queer coding, queerbaiting, star wars the force awakens
Categories Acts Of Bloggery, Feminism, GamerGate, LGBT, LGBT History, Libertarians/Tea Party, Men's Rights, Movies, Politics, Things That Made Me Gay, Trans/Gay/Androgyny Agenda
There Were No "Men Thinking They're Napoleon" – Debunking Anti-Trans Armchair Psych
Inevitably, when trans folks existence gets mentioned online, the topic gets bombarded with folks throwing out half-remembered medical/psychological diagnoses about what is "really" going on. Now, armchair philosophy isn't exclusive to topics related to trans stuff by any means, or is it any less annoying or hostile. I've just observed enough that I found common patterns I want to address/de-construct directly.
Also, a reminder that if someone online is claiming to be a professional and throwing around dismissive and pathological implications of your behavior and what medical/psychological measures you "should" be taking to address them, that is very likely a violation of their professional license.
That said, for starters, I actually kind of love when people start throwing this one around: because it proves their knowledge of psychology begins and ends with Bugs Bunny:
That's not a thing. "Men who think they were Napoleon" was never a thing. Ever.
It's a frequently cited example of classic 19th century "schizophrenia" symptoms, but has no actual recorded documentation of such. On page 604 of William James' 1890 treatise Principles Of Psychology, he describes instances of hypnotizing men to believe they are Napoleon (amongst other things), but only temporarily. It was also used an early-20th century comedy trope misrepresenting the Adlerian concept "Napoleon Complex". It's referenced in cartoons, Laurel and Hardy shorts, and even used as a prominent character trait for one of the antagonists in John Steinbeck's classic story Of Mice And Men. Ironically, Napoleon Complex itself also been proven not to be a thing. Hell, Napoleon wasn't even particularly short for his time.
But, nine times out of ten, the reason people think it is a thing is because of this:
The classic 1956 Bugs Bunny cartoon "Napoleon Bunny-Part" more or less established this concept to mainstream audiences. And, hilariously, you see people reference it like they are citing a case study.
This sort of stuff, however, I don't have quite the sense of humor for:
Comparisons between gender dysphoria and body dysmorphia are inevitable, and always bunk. They aren't clasified the same, they aren't treated the same, and they do not respond to the same treatments. Conflation of the two is also very dangerous, because many trans folks experience dysmorphic disorders (eating disorders, self-harm ideations) that need to be treated separately. Also, reminder that Paul McHugh is a domestic terrorist hack and considered a laughingstock by his peers and pretty much anyone but the anti-trans right wing.
Anyway, the "really not thinking this through" award goes to this sort of crap:
So, like, how do folks that propose this think this will work? First of all, it's actually kind of difficult to get committed to a state mental hospital, without police or family escort. Unless you are considered an immediate threat to yourself or someone else, such places are actually reluctant to take folks in, because of costs. For that, these religous right dweebs can thank their idol Ronald Reagan. The idea that politically inconvenient folks can be mass-boarded in mental asylums away from the sight of "decent" people like in a Victorian Novel hasn't been a thing for decades.
Speaking of cost, who would be paying for this? I thought these sort of dweebs were small government/no-taxation without representation don't tread on me types?
Right now, even as underfunded as they are, the average yearly cost per state to run their institutional hospitals is over $188,000. By comparison, even though data is limited, the cost for transgender health care is looking like around $77,000 a year (and this data is from an extremely liberal area). Opponents trot out the expense of surgery, but there's only a handful of surgeons that even take insurance. Many of the well-known surgeons popular for their pioneering techniques do not. Yes, more surgeons will likely be emerging in the future, but what folks that aren't trans may not be aware of is that word-of-mouth is a huge influence on doctor choice. Many of us forego insurance covered doctors for others with better recommendations. Coverage costs have always sailed way under predictions every time for this and other reasons.
And yeah, I'm definitely putting more thought into this than any of them are. I'm sure someone is gonna diagnose me with something or other for that. Feel free to do so in the comments I guess.
Tags: anti-trans, body dysmorphia, gender dysphoria, mental asylums, napoleon complex, paul mchugh, trans healthcare, trans-napoleon, transgender, transnapoleon
Categories Acts Of Bloggery, Article Series, Cartoons, Fear Of A Trans Planet, Gender Critical, LGBT, Libertarians/Tea Party, Mental Health, Oddities/Curiosities, Politics, Religious Right, Trans/Gay/Androgyny Agenda
"STONEWALL WAS BY/FOR WHITE PEOPLE!" – #DropTheT Author Complains To Far-Right Website @FDRLST
(EDITORIAL NOTE BY ME CIRCA AUGUST 2018: Oh shit, shout out to the time I literally burned this motherfucker's website to the ground. What fun.)
It is with a heavy heart that I must announce that The Assimilationists are at it again. Someone got really, really mad about Roland Emmerich's terrible new Stonewall movie tanking and started a change dot org petition about it. Seriously. Then they staged an "anonymous" softball interview on far-right thinkpiece site The Federalist to complain about that. Give it up, Roland, your movie fucking blows.
According to "Clayton", it's the fault of the transgender movement that Emmerich's terrible, terrible Stonewall movie flopped. Also apparently the "transgender movement" is the only reason Germaine Greer, famous for authoring a pedophile grooming manual, is considered controversial. Also blah blah blah someone's still holding a torch for the stupid RuPaul/"tranny" debate from Spring 2014… how gauche.
So, first of all, that Stonewall movie is godawful. Even white gay guys agree. Nobody needs to insert "straight-acting" gay men into "historical" movies anymore, this isn't the 90s. It's pandering and insulting. It's an appeal to respectability and catering to a demographic that honestly is no longer meaningful post-Ellen, post-Will and Grace, and post-RuPaul's Drag Race, etc. At least to everyone outside the imagination of the petition author.
This sort of mamby pamby "straight acting" Log Cabin assimilationist bullshit has in reality done little to advance gay rights. This change.org petition comes from the same mentality as Gay Pride Whoppers and Rainbow Snack Chips. Many of us in the gay community consider it cloying and insulting to our intelligence. Which is funny because the author claims to be a left-leaning socialist with feminist leanings, while also gushing fondly about the attention his petition received from MRGays like Milo Yiannopolos and white-supremacists.
In summary, as a personal remark to the petition author: how dare you. I've been out over 20 years myself, as bisexual and shortly afterwards about my struggle with gender dysphoria. I've been disallowed from donating blood my entire adult life because of the same shitty bans that gay men experience; transitioning didn't change that. I grew up in a state where being gay was illegal until my mid-20s, casting a shadow on many of my formative sexual experiences; transitioning didn't change that. During that time, I witnessed police crackdowns on drag bars where I worked and was dramatically shaken by the brutal "gay panic" murder of a local fellow drag queen/transsexual. Transitioning didn't change that.
But hey, you insist there is a line to be drawn between you and I, and I'm inclined to agree. You may have been a "socialist" and "radical" at some point, but now you're at best you're a useless bougie liberal prop for the status quo, and I am and will always be a bigger faggot than you ever will.
Drop that.
Tags: change.org, drop the t, dropthet, gay assimilation, internet petition, roland emmerich, rupaul, rupauls drag race, stonewall, straight-acting gay men, the federalist
Categories Acts Of Bloggery, Fear Of A Trans Planet, Feminism, Gender Critical, LGBT, LGBT History, Politics, Trans History, Trans/Gay/Androgyny Agenda


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Just because you can afford a specific home, does not mean it is the most responsible financial decision.
Just because you can afford a specific home, does not mean it is the most responsible financial decision. Many consumers fall prey to shopping for a home using the figure on a mortgage pre-approval and nothing else, maxing out their credit and their resources in the process. If the average homebuyer were to adopt another philosophy, he would be poising himself to building long-term wealth, without the same strain on his credit or his wallet.
Traditionally, a customer visits a lender, fills out a mortgage application and leaves with a pre-approval letter. From here, he creates his home shopping budget by adding his down payment to his pre-approval. For instance, a borrower who was approved for a $200,000 loan and had a $20,000 down payment would have a $220,000 home buying budget.
In contrast, if that same buyer were to shop for half of the amount pre-approved for while maintaining his $20,000 down payment; his budget would be a more fiscally responsible $120,000. By shopping for a less expensive home, the buyer is creating a solid foundation for long-term wealth building by reducing his liability.
Anything you finance with interest is a liability, and a house is no exception. Interest is the money you pay to a bank for the privilege of using your own money in advance. Therefore, the less expensive your mortgage, the less liability you carry.
Financing terms are almost as important as the price of a home. Even with a low interest rate, homes financed over 30-years could have been bought two times over when studying the amortization tables. Following this line of thinking, taking out a 15-year mortgage opposed to a 30-year mortgage changes the game.
Most buyers are payment focused. If the payment fits into his or her monthly budget, it is deemed affordable. However, the lowest possible payment is not always the most responsible road. Fifteen-year mortgages mean higher payments, lower interest rates and make paying off your liability an inherent priority.
By taking out a mortgage that is half of what you can "afford", you put yourself in the driver's seat to create long-term wealth. For example, if you buy a home for $160,000 and pay that home off in 15 years, you walk away with approximately $160,000 of profit — possibly more. Then, you can buy a $320,000 house with a $160,000 down payment and still only have a $160,000 mortgage. If you pay that property off in 15-years, you have doubled your profit. In the meantime, as your income grows, you have excess capital to invest and save outside of merely using your home as an investment.
How much home you can afford should actually come down to how much home you should be buying, and it is a rarity for those numbers to meet. Financing a less expensive home, over a shorter period is the real key to responsible home buying. Live modestly now to live wealthier later.


The Legend of Shangri-La: Cluster Plays offers not only the longest slot machine name we have seen in years (hence from this point on we are just calling it Shangri-La), but also one of the most-fun play experiences. Let us tell you a little bit about what it is about.
Shangri-Law was released in September 2017 by Netent. It is a 6-reel slot. It pays out in clusters, but more on that in a short while. The minimum bet per spin is 10p. The maximum bet per spin is £200. Since this is a low to medium volatility slot, even if you have a minimal bankroll you could probably get away with spending more than 10p per spin. Treat yourself!
This game is so attractive. Like, we would not even care if the gameplay was terrible simply based upon how brilliant this slot looks. We are not 100% sure what the overarching theme is but, honestly, the game made us realise something about ourselves; if a game has a red panda in a cute little outfit, it is alright in our books. The game is based around animals from the far-east and most of them are wonderfully drawn. We did not really expect anything less from NetEnt, though!
We shudder as we say this (we are desktop game purists), but the mobile version of The Legend of Shangri-La is even better than the desktop version. It becomes even better looking and there seems to be a lot more going on when you play the game. It is a wonderful experience. Again, something that we really did expect from the team at NetEnt.
While there are several features in the game, this is something that we do expect that new players should have no issues jumping into. It is not even going to be a stepping-stone game to something greater. It is going to be an awesome game that you will play repeatedly.
Cluster Pays: if a symbol is touching at least 8 other symbols, in any direction, it forms a cluster. A winning cluster needs to have 9 symbols or more. Easier to get than you think.
Mystery Symbol: the cool little red panda will put these on the reels whenever you love him enough (or whenever he feels like it). They transform into any adjacent symbol. They will always transform into whatever symbol is needed to form the best possible winning combination.
Stacked symbols: animals become stacked.
Random Monk Feature: really takes multiple forms. The monk will cast a spell. Symbols will be substituted. You will get a free respin or the reels will be nudged.
Free Spins: you can get up to 8 free spins on the reels (minimum 5) dependent on how many scatter symbols you get. It may not seem like a lot, but the red panda will constantly be tossing the substitution symbols onto the reels which is nice. Although, an ice dragon (for some reason. Seriously. We wish we knew the plot), comes and destroys some of those symbols on occasion.
Legend of Shangri-La is a low to medium volatility slot. The house edge is 3.41%. Going to be honest here; that house edge is a little bit higher than we would have wanted on a low volatility slot, but you can't win them all.
The maximum jackpot you can win is £200,000, although we doubt any of you are going to hit it. That would involve gambling at the maximum bet of £200 which is quite a stretch. If any of you are regularly able to pay that amount, then…. well, we are jealous.
Since this is a low to medium volatility slot, you can gamble a bit higher than normal with the reasonable expectation of getting most of your bet back. Since there are so many features in the game, you will likely win the cash during the bonus rounds rather than 'normal play', but they do tend to pop up quite frequently so this is not much of an issue.
The game is fun. On every spin, The Legend of Shangri-La offers a sense of excitement. That is the hallmark of a good game. We 100% recommend that you give it a spin.
If you want to play The Legend of Shangri-Law: Cluster Pays, then there are plenty of online sites you can head to. You, of course, need to find somebody that offers NetEnt slots. There are plenty of options the team here at New Slot Site have collected for you below. Why not check out the list below?