Replication

I'm not a Snapchat user. I'd tried it for all of three seconds and I thought it was silly, so I'd deleted the app (though I still, technically, have the account).

So, when Instagram brought Stories to their network, I was fine with it because it didn't duplicate functions, I could still use Instagram, and it was something of added value (most of the time). It still didn't have as many bells and whistles as Snapchat does, from what I've gleaned, but it's been relatively okay.

And the. Facebook Messenger came out with a stories interface (calling it "My Day"). And then WhatsApp. And now the main Facebook app itself!

 

Facebook just can't quit!

I understand there may be people who use only one of the four apps (though more than likely it's at least two). If you're in iOS and want to use the Messenger feature of Facebook, I believe they're still forcing you to use Messenger (though sideline reading just now, I've just discovered one can actually use it on its own, and that it's an Android thing, too) if you want to chat with your Facebook friends.

As a person who has all four apps, though, it's just plain annoying! I just want one, ubiquitous app! I remember I'd felt kind of fuming when Google decided they were going to spur Photos and Hangouts out of Google+. So, I have a bunch of apps when I used to have just one go-to app.

I don't like it.

Harlots...

Click here to watch videos from this show

Harlots 1 Episode, 4 Clips Margaret Wells struggles to reconcile her roles as brothel owner and mother to daughters Charlotte and Lucy. When her business comes under attack from Lydia Quigley, a rival madam with a ... Check out videos from this show on Hulu

This premiere was a romp… So, I'd seen teasers of it while watching other shows on Hulu, and added it to my Watchlist for when it should come out.

So, starting out, I had concerns it would leave me feeling not-so-good about it like that Jeffery Donovan show Shut Eye did. With that show, I'd only watched the premiere and didn't continue. This one, with all the sex to begin with, I don't know if it was to get it out of their systems or to try and entice people into their world.

Granted, if this were a bunch of good-looking men having relations with each other, I'd probably be feeling another way.

It took them about 15 minutes to really get it out of their system, and I'm glad they'd brought in more of the clever humor they'd more lightly interspersed with the sex scenes. Still, I suppose it is rather historically telling: these things more than likely were what this side 18th-century London had to offer. Including the not-so-aesthetic men.

I found myself trying to learn their names, which is a good sign. I can't help wondering what a gay black dude in this time would've had to resort to, though.

Let's see what next week brings (and I hope there's a gay guy to add something else to this menagerie).

Songs...

I'd talked about my musical tastes a few days ago, but it's funny how my tastes can run the gamut. And then, there are sometimes I hear a song completely randomly and it stuns me. And then I can't get enough of it.

I heard "Eternal Eternity" while watching Sailor Moon Crystal. It's probably my favorite of the Sailor Moon songs. I love, as well, how they'd managed to entagle the names Haruka and Michiru grammatically into the song lyrics.

The Count is my favorite Sesame Street character, and I suppose it's partly his OCD. His songs are incredibly catchy, and his songs are the only ones I really know by heart. The other two I know are "The Lambaba" and "The Count Goes To School." They're all so fun!

"WARRIORS" was a jolt. After hearing episode after episode of "Wild Ride" and kind of getting used to that, having this song, which I absolutely love, come on was welcome. It ends up being the theme song that has the most amount of episodes it precedes. I like how they'd played around a little bit with when they'd play it, too. Sometimes they would just start the episode with it. Sometimes they would start the episode, and then have something relatively shocking or pausing happen, and then start "WARRIORS." Other times still, they'd do kind of a "Previously on..." and, usually Anzu or Yugi, they'd narrate and then the theme begins. It's super-catchy.

I'd heard this song as one of those they intersperse PRI's "The World" with as the show goes on. I had to find out what that song was.

I'd heard "Blow" as part of a Vine clip, which was a little annoying. Thankfully, there were people in the comments who were also, like, "What is this song?" and there were people who'd answered it. I can't say I'm an immense Beyoncé fan. I know I've tried to give her some shots. I remember there was a commercial that had runway models walking and I was wondering "What is that?!" It ended up being the beginning of "Girls (Who Runs The World?)". It upset me that the rest of the song wasn't as entrancing as that beginning! I'm glad that "Blow" makes up for it.

I don't even remember how I came on this song. All I know is I'd heard it and was like this is the Metallica I know!!!

Yet another song I'd discovered via a Vine video (and a pleasant juxtaposition was it was a Supernatural fan's video featuring mostly Castiel). "TRKRTRT"!!!

So, that's a little jaunt into some of the music I like. There are lots more!

Into the woods: how one man survived alone in the wilderness for 27 years | Michael Finkel | News | The Guardian

https://www.theguardian.com/news/2017/mar/15/stranger-in-the-woods-christopher-knight-hermit-maine?CMP=oth_b-aplnews_d-1

So, this guy lived something I'd thought about. I'm sure if I'd grown up with most of the things I'd not now, and probably more gumption than my family would've allowed, I just might have struck out on my own.

I wonder if he'd truly not missed anyone. What was truly the final straw that made him just quit his job and just go? The article seemed mum on his family relations, since he had no friends.

What kind of life has he had up to that point that made him prepared to do this? They say he said he was completely aimless and spontaneous. I can accept there are some people like that, but I want to crack open his head for the full story!

I want to know how he made what he'd stolen from one cabin last two weeks. I want to know how he'd groomed himself so he didn't look like a vagrant. I want to know all what he had in his camp. Did he feel truly secure that no one would come looking for him where he'd settled down?

There are so many questions! 😅

Chevelle

Ever since I was a teenager really discovering music for the first time (since most of it was either something I'd heard my piano teacher play at her house, Christian music my mother played, or oldies records my dad would put on), I'd had the sense that I was more of a songs fan than an artist fan.

Most people seem to be able to rattle off the artists they like and the heaps of songs those artists have done that they like. There are a few artists like Disturbed, Metallica, and Darlene Zschech who've done a handful of songs I like, but nothing comes to Chevelle. I'd discovered them and put them to my "one song per album test" (since it was that usually I'd only like one song off an entire album).

I liked every song!

They haven't failed yet. I own every studio, non-live album, plus a track off the live album they'd done with Disturbed, Slipknot, and a few other groups.
Now, yes, each album has songs I tend to favor more than others, but I like every one.

My most favorite Chevelle songs, though:

Hats Off to The Bull: Envy

La Gárgola: Take Out the Gunman

The North Corridor: Shot From A Cannon

Wonder What's Next: An Evening With El Diablo

Wonder What's Next (Deluxe Version Bonus Tracks): It's No Good

Vena Sera: I Get It

This Type of Thinking (Could Do Us In): Get Some

Sci-Fi Crimes: This Circus

Point #1: SMA

I'm glad I'd discovered them and that they're so great.

Germ Warfare

Angela Merkel Asked President Trump to Shake Hands. He Appeared to Ignore Her

From Germany, a Flipboard magazine by TIME

At a photo op with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, President Donald Trump said little and appeared to refuse a handshake…

Read it on Flipboard

Read it on time.com

Okay, they concentrate on a lot of things Donald Trump lately, but history has shown he's not keen on doing this the way his predecessors have done.

I'm glad they've achknowledged a few possibilities why he might have not taken her hand, and then there's he might have been so entranced in the media presence.

Still, the more important thing would be about what they've spoken and what it means.

Shake hands after.

Water Consumption

I tried drinking water as a regular part of my day for the first half of this week.

And it sucked...

First, I should note that I don't really subscribe to fads or trends. I tend to avoid them, so popular things, things "everyone is going to see", and the like, I tend to not do. This isn't necessarily out of spite or being contrarian (though I sometimes, briefly, play mock-contrarian for fun), but because I want to do things because I'd discovered a worthwhile of doing it beyond needing to have a commonality with my fellow humans.

Yes, it is a little lonely. I often think about the things I watch, read, and do, that the only place I can find that there are others who wish to share it with me is online on reddit, Twitter, or Facebook. And occasionally Google+. I suppose there are advantages to doing that, most notably tailoring the timetable of comment and response to one's own schedule (within reason).

I say all this to go on to that the "Water Fad" thing that one should drink eight glasses of water a day has never been one that I'd taken to heart. Simultaneously, I'd somehow always felt I needed to drink more water than I have done.

Generally, my water consumption happens between my odd few daily cups of tea, my less-often, when-I-feel-like-it cup of coffee or a coffee drink, the infrequent adult beverage (often at home and often wine or sake), and the food I eat. This has suited me fine, for the most part. I do have chapped lips some of the time, and I have very, very, very infrequent constipation (though I do have regular, daily bowel movements 99% of the time). Taking this in, there shouldn't be a problem with my water consumption as it has been.

Still, I'd felt I needed to drink more. More I'd started. I've had this 60-ounce bottle I'd bought in a dollar store Target [* I'd just remembered the true origins] a long time ago that I'd occasionally rotated in using since I have a few water bottles I'd inherited or bought over the years. The other bottles I have are:

• a 32-ounce bottle I'd bought because the one I usually used when I travel started leaking when on its side
• the aforementioned 26-ounce bottle one of my employers had given me and all the other employees in an effort to cut back on the budget for throw-away cups
• a 16-ounce bottle my brother had given me that he'd gotten as a give-away

So, I have four. I believe in rotating everything so they have an equal chance of use (and prolonging the life, theoretically, of the entire set). In this week's rotation, I happened to be using the most capacious bottles I have, and I'd upped my water intake. Usually with the larger bottles, I drink from them occasionally and often end up carrying the majority of the water with me on the car ride home. It then sits at home sometimes until the next day when I take it with me to work, or sometimes I'll occasionally drink from it in the evening or throw the rest into my kettle. With the 26-ounce one, I'll generally get through about three-quarters, and the 16-ounce sometimes I'll finish.

This week, I had two servings of the 32-ounce on Monday and Tuesday, and almost two servings of the 60-ounce on Wednesday. And it killed me. I was going to the restroom pretty much hourly, and it was really annoying. I suppose I shouldn't have gone whole hog, and it's not something I'd premeditated. I didn't purpose to drink that much water, but I just started drinking and drinking and drinking. Thinking about how much water mathematically I'd imbibed already those three days, it amazes me.

No wonder on Wednesday on the drive home (and where I had to hustle up the stairs and run to my bathroom with "urgency"), I'd decided I would have no more of that. I would drink as I do normally.

Today, I didn't bring any water bottle. I just had my pretty standard-sized, vintage Busch Gardens  plastic mug, from which I had a mocha, a cup of green tea, and two servings of three-quarters hot and one-quarter cold (net reasonably warm) water.

And I wasn't rushing to the bathroom like a person who'd overdosed on laxatives.

So, only as much water as I feel like and no more. I suppose, like most things human, I had to experiment with it to know.

Today's Yelp Review Doozies

Every day lately I've been going into Yelp and looking at reviews, sending messages, and just getting to know what Atlanta offers (seven years late).

So, yes, there are always those reviews that have pretty bad things to say about places, whether for dining or just a service generally.

Today, though, took the take. These four were in pretty decent succession of each other, and some of them left me just shocked.

David B - Kacey's Home Cooking

In this one, the manager flat-out and unprovokedly told them to get out. I mean, what? I understand, people have lives, and having someone come in relatively close to closing time might not be the most ideal thing. Having worked in various customer-facing and serving positions, I totally get it. But dude…

Jessica B - Shaking Crawfish

This one is probably the draw between laughing at how ridiculous the service was and just throwing one's hands up in frustration. I mean, the people laughed at the fact they were about stealing the customers' money. 🙄

Leah B - Burger King

This one is probably the tamest of the four because it was the most passive. Simultaneously, it's probably the saddest because the service person – basing this on the review – seemed to not care she'd spilt a drink all over the customer and her car. I mean, now she's got soda she has to clean out of her car somehow, and it's full of sugar, the soda!

Nina L - QuikTrip

Then this one, it is anger-producing, partly because it involves multiple people. There seems some racial profiling in it, as well as some misogyny, some assumptions about the writer, some sexual harassment… It's just a complete clusterfuck, and I don't blame her one bit for just walking out… I've messaged her she should bring it to corporate.

And I mean in Oklahoma!

Theorizing the unexpected advocate

Theorizing the unexpected advocate

Yesim Darici did not pursue a career in advocacy. She is a scientist – a theoretical and experimental physicist with […]

Read it on news.fiu.edu

This woman is quite a thing. I wish I'd gotten to meet her.

I'd joined the Women's Studies program as a certificate candidate partly because I'd garnered nearly enough credits to get one anyway. I don't regret that decision, because I think it's brought me out of my (still quite hard and all-encompassing) shell a bit.

Seeing someone so tenacious who didn't let anyone stand in her way — though it seems she didn't notice anyway — become the director of a program that allows free thought, forward thinking, and embraces the spirit of debate and public speech is very refreshing.

But then there's this…

The FIU Instagram account had posted a picture of Dr Darici and that seemed to spawn some heated discussion on the worth of a Women's Studies degree (since the degree program itself is an option as well; the certificate was what I'd gone with, though). It was a little tense, partly because people were borderline throwing flip-off emojis (and even the Instagram account curator had hashtagged "smh").

It embodied the spirit of relatively civil discussion, though, and so that's what makes me a little glad on it. The person who'd initially instigated it, he even seemed to understand a little better why people defended the program (since he saw it, and generally seees things, as if you can't see a direct job correlation to the degree program, the degree program is worthless).

That's rather like my degree, Sociology and Anthropology. I'm nowhere near a professional anthropologist, nor am I a linguist officially. I do put my skills to work, and they help me as far as understanding people and the world. And then my certificate has helped me in expressing those thoughts a little more cogently.

So, thank you, FIU, for renewing my mind.

And now that I'm working, I can actually give back sometime relatively soon.

BBC News: 'Justin Bieber impostor' on 931 child sex-related charges

'Justin Bieber impostor' on 931 child sex-related charges

The man posed as the singer online to gain explicit material from children, Australian police say.

Noooooo…

Seriously, this is probably the most amazing thing I've seen or heard this week.

Predation is something some people pride themselves on. "Oh, I'm an Alpha Male", even though they're really just annoying, boorish, and often ill-mannered. They pride themselves on getting the one-up on someone, or feel they can do whatever they please. I've seen posts of guys online who seem like predators, and they feel they're invincible, that no one else's feelings matter than their own satisfaction.

Then this guy decides to use the identity of another to further his goals.

It's… unfortunately a sadder side of humanity.

Monday night's "Shadowhunters" midseason finale was packed with twists and some big reveals.

Monday night's "Shadowhunters" midseason finale was packed with twists and some big reveals.

Because oh my goodness...

I remember hearing about this show and I was reticent to start watching it. Then I heard there was a gay line in it and I became interested.

It wasn't until I saw they'd had it on Hulu that I'd actually given it a shot at watching, and the rest is history. It's completely engrossing... Well, maybe not as engrossing as I'd found it initially, but I still stay tuned. I tell you, though, I'm not sure what they're going to do with it next.

It surprised me that this was just a hiatus finale, since season 1 was pretty short.

Still, I'll take the extras. Not too many extras, but enough.

Separation

US Considers Separating Kids And Adults At The Mexico Border

Here's what it's about:

Typically, adults who illegally enter the U.S. with children are released from detention while they wait for a court hearing.

Another means of forced dissuasion. This one, it actually seems a little cruel, but rather pragmatic.

The immigration issue, I have mixed opinions. I often wonder what I'd be like today if I grew up in Jamaica or the United Kingdom instead of the United States. As far as living here, I'll just say that it probably wasn't the most kosher way of doing things. I'd have preferred proper channels.

If they forced me to move, I suppose it would be inconvenient, and I suppose I'd have to think about alternative plans.

Proper channels themselves are up to debate at the moment, and constantly in flux. I wonder, though, how traumatic it would be for the parties to have themselves in separation. It beings to me an image of Nazi times where they'd done the same thing, separating parents and children, but it seems they'd done it more for cruelty (because the people had no choice in their relocation) than to actually try to stop people who (debatably) have a choice in their relocation and migration patterns.

Their options may not be ideal (and thinking about it might cause some people to think I'm supporting it instead of completely dismissing it), but they seem to have alternative options that might not be timely but there.

It does sadden me some that they have to consider this.

When We Rise

	When We Rise (@WhenWeRiseABC)
3/2/17, 10:52 PM 💔💔💔💔💔 #WhenWeRise pic.twitter.com/2yYkNpQTi7

申す… I tell you…

This event is almost done, and it's stirred up all kinds of things in me. I'd probably not have noticed the series if not for a Hulu ad one day last week, and I'd looked forward to watching it.

Except, I feel terrible. It brings up all these feelings of resentment and discontent for me, and it's not even because of the treatment of GLBT people in the past or today. It's partly because of not feeling like a part of anything really, and partly because I don't make myself a part of anything.

I'm gay. I've known that "officially" for 18 years now. I've experienced things I still remember and wonder about, and there are things others have experienced that teeter between me not electing to do these things and me not in the path to experiencing them.

I've never been in a relationship. I may never be. The way I've come to be gets in the way of that some, and it's partly because I don't seem to fit the mould gay people around here seem to want.

Example 1

 

A toned white guy with model looks and abs.

Example 2

 

A black guy with black identity markers. I'm generally too "Oreo".

Example 3

 

A Latino of virtually any sort.

Example 4

 

Your stereotypical hot, confident Asian guy.

People tell me I look better without glasses. I can see that, but I haven't liked wearing contacts for a while now, and I'm not so sure about eye surgery. I cut my own hair, so I don't have the "professionally cut" look. I'm nerdy (but apparently the really hot thing is being into video games, which I'm not). Essentially, there are a lot of things I elect to do that strike against me.

Then there are guys who come after me that I don't particularly fancy, but that's another story.

Seeing just a snippet of these people's lives, which include falling in love, is heartbreaking. What is it these people have that I don't, or what do they do that I haven't? Yes, it's a made-for-television, based-on-a-true-story telecast with æsthetically pleasing people. I'm not seeing the failures in between, not in the way I'd gripe about.

How many eggs does one have to crack to get a cake?

People say it's getting out there and meeting people. It's about taking risks in exposing yourself to others.

I suppose I feel terrible because I can't really work myself up to that. Maybe ever. I'm slowly becoming fine with that, but seeing shows like this don't make it easier.

Expected Sensationalism?

Okay, so I'm going through my tweet stream today and saw this, a re-tweet someone I follow had done of someone he follows, who in turn had quote tweeted a news station's tweet.

Seeing this, I really wanted to reply to her. The way I'd interpreted what she'd said was that the article doesn't mention the fact the couple had arms during their campaign. I read the article and midway down it was explicit to that they did have arms.

I decided to not reply because I'd thought about it and reinterpreted it to probably mean the actual tweet contents before the link. I read what others replied and some had the same initial interpretation I did, some the second, and the rest had some other interesting things to say.

There were, of course, those who applauded the fact the couple got a conviction. This I can understand. Being passionate about a cause is something, but possibly endangering others is definitely controversial.

Some derided the couple's racism. Yes, race more than likely factored into this ("more than likely" because it's just the one article, and I haven't taken in enough information, nor was I there, for me to say "this is racist", even though it does have hallmarks of it).

Some called the ABC affiliate racist for a few reasons. The one that seemed to peek out was the headline seeming to indicate "racial slurs" as the motivating factor for the conviction. It very well could have been, and the fact the couple had arms was an aggravating factor in the severity of the conviction. They thought the station should have put the "armed" part first, or instead of, "racial slurs". I'm just receiving these facts third-hand, so I can't make that kind of judgment. Some cite the reasoning as clickbait. Either way, people are going to click on it.

There are even some who say the station is racist and is enabling others the repliers call racist to use this as ammunition for their own messages.

Some, naturally, blamed Donald Trump, because that's apparently what people do: no matter who's the president there's blame on the president. I didn't vote for him, but he's the president, and God's sovereign. I leave it up to God.

In my mind racial slurs or Confederate flags sound less sensational than guns. Maybe the birthday party part is more sensational? I don't even know. Lately I've been more taking in things without really reacting to them.

But some can't.