Zephyr Dear

My kids and I like to draw. We sometimes go to the weekly figure drawings sessions at the Art Directors Guild in LA, or we just sit at the dining room table and draw. As an amateur sketcher, I'm in awe of illustrator Mark Crilley's skill with a pencil, and with his instructional books and videos.  His videos are enjoyable and useful -- he explains what he is doing with a calm, soothing voice, and the tips he offers are often just what I need to gain new understanding about drawing. In his latest video, Mark shows how to add shading to faces.

Image: YouTube

horreurscopes:

one of the most important things i’ve learned in therapy is that when you’ve experienced prolonged trauma in your childhood, pleasure feels uncomfortable. like, not that you don’t feel it, but that when you do feel it there’s an impulse to make it stop, because it’s extremely unfamiliar. and pleasure can mean many things, as simple as feeling cozy, and as complex as feeling loved. the neural pathways for feeling good have not had a chance to develop, and the neural pathways for feeling bad are quite practiced. feeling good, too, takes conscious practice.

Lawrence VanDyke, one of President Donald Trump’s judicial nominees, burst into tears during his Senate confirmation hearing on Wednesday when lawmakers brought up the American Bar Association’s blistering evaluation of his qualifications.

The ABA wrote that a “substantial majority” of its members deemed VanDyke “Not Qualified” to serve on the Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, citing interviewees who had described VanDyke as “arrogant, lazy, an ideologue, and lacking in knowledge of the day-today practice including procedural rules.”

“There was a theme that the nominee lacks humility, has an ‘entitlement’ temperament, does not have an open mind, and does not always have a commitment to being candid and truthful,” the organization wrote.

But it was the ABA’s observation that VanDyke “would not say affirmatively that he would be fair to any litigant before him, notably members of the LGBTQ community” that led to the nominee’s breakdown.

“Did you say you wouldn’t be fair to members of the LGBT community?” Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) asked the nominee.

“Sir, I….that was…that was the part of the letter..” VanDyke stuttered before he began to cry.

“I apologize,” he said, voice wobbling. “No, I did not say that.”

“It is a fundamental belief of mine that all people are created in the image of God and they should all be treated with dignity and respect,” he continued.

However, VanDyke’s legal career has consisted of arguing against same-sex marriage and other LGBTQ rights in the name of “religious liberty.”

Watch the waterworks below:

Read the ABA’s letter below:

It appears that Deadspin has effectively been killed, whether it ultimately happens by shuttering the site or having it carry on as the Zombie quarter-assed Barstool imitator G/O tried to order the editors to turn it into. One crucial point here is that Deadspin’s model was financially successful:

Less than a year ago, posts on The Concourse, the section of Deadspin reserved for non-sports coverage, averaged more than twice as many page views as average Deadspin posts, according to internal numbers seen by The Times. Concourse posts made up approximately one of every 50 Deadspin posts.

The top 15 posts, by traffic, on Deadspin 2012-2017 with the posts about sports removed pic.twitter.com/BTtOU8I8UU

— Timothy Burke (@bubbaprog) October 28, 2019

Telling Deadspin to “stick to sports” reflects a total misunderstanding of what the site is. Drew Magary’s extremely popular Thursday NFL posts, for example, range widely into non-sports topics, which is one reason they’re so good. There’s no business rationale for wanting to stop it from doing what made it successful. But as Megan Greenwell observes in the essential farewell she filed after her resignation, this is about about a bunch of rich but (justifiably) insecure know-nothings asserting their authoritah, more concerned with implementing petty, arbitrary rules and forcing inane theories down the throats of their professional staff than making money:

There is a version of the story of this company in which idealistic journalists, unconcerned with profit, are posed against ruthless business-doers, concerned about profit above all else. That would be a convenient story, pitching me and my colleagues and friends as people who just care too much about The Truth to yield before the gale-force winds of Capitalism, but it wouldn’t be a true one.

The real and less romantic story is this: The journalists at Deadspin and its sister sites, like most journalists I know, are eager to do work that makes money; we are even willing to compromise for it, knowing that our jobs and futures rest on it. An ever-growing number of media owners, meanwhile, are so exceedingly unwilling to reckon with the particulars of their own business that they refuse to accept our eagerness to help them make money. They’re speaking a language no one else does, proud of their own inability not just to not fail, but to not understand the terms on which they’re failing. The tragedy of digital media isn’t that it’s run by ruthless, profiteering guys in ill-fitting suits; it’s that the people posing as the experts know less about how to make money than their employees, to whom they won’t listen.

[…]

A metastasizing swath of media is controlled by private-equity vultures and capricious billionaires and other people who genuinely believe that they are rich because they are smart and that they are smart because they are rich, and that anyone less rich is by definition less smart. They know what they know, and they don’t need to know anything else.

Since Great Hill Partners bought this company in April, the CEO and his newly hired C-suite have gone to great lengths to show they are the adults here, and that the employees of this company who preceded them are children in desperate need of parenting. They have attempted to institute a dress code and rules about the hours during which employees must be sitting at their desks. They have attempted to intimidate reporters out of reporting true stories about the dysfunction they have created. They have told experienced product managers that quality-assurance testing and other widely accepted best practices are unnecessary because their years of experience are better substitutes. They have driven out several senior managers—most of them women, myself included—by undermining us and condescending to us at every turn.

There is, needless to say, far too much greed and venality in American life. But like the contemporary Republican party, many of our venture capital pirate overlords are so bad that if they operated out of pure greed and venality it would actually be an improvement.

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27 year old Michael Gillespie is a largely self-taught programmer and help-desk technician whose day job is working for Nerds on Call; when one of his customers asked for help in 2015 recovering files that had been encrypted by ransomware, he became obsessed with the subject and is now responsible for writing more ransomware decryptors than any other programmer, working for free and putting up an associated website, ID Ransomware, that guides ransomware victims through determining whether there is a decryptor for their strain of ransomware and helping them get their files back.

Propublica profiled Gillespie, painting a portrait of a driven, deeply ethical and empathic public-interest technologist who refuses any payment from the victims he helps because "He just doesn’t want to take advantage of people who are already being taken advantage of."

Gillespie and his wife, Morgan, are struggling with terrible debt, stemming in part from Gillespie's struggle with bladder cancer and his Morgan's diabetes and other health issues. They have narrowly avoided foreclosure and lost their car to debt repossession. Gillespie has solicited donations to pay for his work on occasion, but someone -- possibly ransomware criminals seeking revenge -- sent stolen money to him resulting in his accounts being frozen.

Gillespie's tools help about 2,000 victims every day (the FBI only hears from less than 1,500 victims per year) and his work has been key to securing indictments for ransomware criminals.

He's had to take up a 2AM paper route to make ends meet.

Someone should just give this guy a grant to do this work 40 hours a week.

Gillespie creates 90% of the decryptors available on BleepingComputer, Abrams said. Since May, when Abrams began tracking statistics, decryptors on the site have been downloaded more than 320,000 times.

While BleepingComputer makes money from advertisers, members of the hunting team from time to time have discussed charging for their services. Each time, “it left a sour taste,” Abrams said. He recalled a mother who contacted him to say she’d lost photos of her son, a fallen Army veteran, to ransomware. Abrams helped to decrypt her files. “I couldn’t charge for that,” he said.

Wosar and Gillespie have each created more free, public decryptors than anybody else in the world. The two have much in common: neither went to college and both consider themselves autodidacts, learning mostly from internet research. Both found a home and friendships on BleepingComputer. And both, Wosar said, suffer from imposter syndrome — feelings of inadequacy that persist despite their success.

The Ransomware Superhero of Normal, Illinois [Renee Dudley/Propublica]

(Image: Benjamin Marra/Propublica)

The Activist is a new 5-part series from Peter Sunde (previously), AKA brokep, who cofounded The Pirate Bay and also founded Flattr.

The series explores different kinds of activists, from The Sea Shepherds to Edward Snowden to Hambach Forest climate activists.

Joshua Browder created Donotpay as a teenager at Stanford: originally it was a chatbot that helped you beat traffic tickets, but it has since expanded (thanks to an infusion of venture capital) into a Swiss Army Knife of automated consumer advocacy that can do everything from sue Equifax on your behalf to help you access homeless services to getting you a rebate when your plane ticket's price goes down after you've purchased it.

In an interview with the Will I Save? blog -- which documents experiences with Donotpay -- Browder articulates his vision for the service: a "consumers union" (no relation) that fights corrupt corporations and oppressive state action.

Browder -- a multigenerational activist whose father was a principal advocate for the Magnitsky Act -- says he looks for problems that are experienced by at least 50,000,000 Americans at a time, and then prioritizes automating solutions to them.

"I think that the average person doesn't really have an advocate to fight for them. The short-term vision is just to build really useful products that help people fight back. The long-term vision is almost a consumer union where we can actually go to these companies and say, 'We have 5 million DoNotPay users and 5 million of your customers. If you don't start treating them better, we'll switch them to your competitor overnight.' With numbers there's lots of power and I think that could really help people fight and get leverage."

Why is Browder so bent on helping people fight the establishment? He gets it honestly. His father, Bill Browder, is a political activist who lobbied for the Magnitsky Act that allows the US government to freeze assets of who it sees as human rights offenders. The act was named after Bill Browder's Russian lawyer, Sergei Magnitsky, who died of inhumane conditions in a Russian prison for his role in exposing the Russian government's rampant tax fraud.

Joshua Browder Wants To Create a Consumer Union With DoNotPay [Harley Hicks/Will I Save?]

(Thanks, Harley!)

Your New Moon in Scorpio spells/horoscopes are meant to be read as inspiration and affirmation. If you know both your rising sign and sun sign, please read both horoscopes. They both contain important information. Take what works for you, leave the rest. If you find inspiration here we love and appreciate donations. If you want to share this work you must quote it and link it to this post and website. Thank you for your support and for spreading the work around, we really appreciate it and you!

October 27

8:38 PM PT – New Moon at 4° of Scorpio

Mars in Libra square Saturn in Capricorn, both at 15°

Sun in Scorpio opposing Uranus Rx in Taurus, both at 4° (technically occurring on October 28, a few hours after the New Moon)

It is up to us to break the spells that keep us asleep to our own magic. There are a million of them. From the systemic, to the familial, to the cultural, to the personal. And back again. We are repeatedly told to quell our nature and conform. 

The most unnatural thing of all.

Systems that perpetuate injustice don’t want us to know ourselves. They don’t want us to accept ourselves as we are because when we do, we aren’t very good consumers, patriots, or parrots. How can we tow the line when we are able to draw our own? How can we be controlled when we refuse anyone else’s narrative of our personhood or potential? How can those in power extract our talent for their profit if we take ourselves off the market?

Scorpio Season situates us deeply within these questions. As the faster moving planets sink into Scorpio’s waters, they alert us to the shadows that lurk in the landscapes of our lives. Which thieves steal our agency? Which monsters lurk just out of sight, scaring us out of realizing the fullness of our impact? What power do we give our fears and how does doing so hold our potential hostage? 

The New Moon in Scorpio arrives on October 27. In Scorpio, the moon struggles to build a home and hearth that is reliable, calm, and comforting. In Scorpio, the moon must deal with intense emotions that we are more likely to suppress. Here, catharsis won’t quit and stability isn’t a seasoning used much, if at all. In these realms we must acknowledge, so that we can confront, the bullies of our lives. 

Opposing Uranus in Taurus, the Sun and Moon asks us to interrupt whatever unhelpful patterns have become entrenched in our days. It’s a loud start to the lunar cycle. A Cher-in-Moonstruck-snap-out-of-it moment. An ode to choosing what’s real instead of what’s easy. 

In Scorpio this New Moon has depth. Reaching into the recesses of our emotional reserves, it aims to help us get in touch with feelings long forgotten. Stirred by the opposition to Uranus, something in us gets shaken loose. The truth gets set free, and will grant us the same when we accept it. 

With Mars, traditional ruler of this New Moon, in a tough square to Saturn on the same day, the New Moon comes with a warning. Do your work. Conserve your energy for the most important of your projects. Honor the mysteries of life. Let your self-esteem be rooted in your ability to confront life’s most challenging moments as much as it is rooted in your ability to celebrate the most joyous of them.

October 30

Mercury conjunct Venus at 27° of Scorpio

As Mercury stations retrograde, it cuddles up to Venus who offers it a blessing before descending to the underworld. The offering is love, honest connection, and depth of feeling. Today’s astrology is preparing us for Mercury retrograde’s recall of what we’ve lost, what and who we are grieving, and those whose lives made ours so much richer for having known them. This transit sends us messages of love from the past, from folks we haven’t spoken to in a while, or from the deep recesses of our dm’s. Today is a good day to express your love and appreciation for others. If you feel it, let them know it. 

October 31

Mercury stations retrograde at 27° of Scorpio; will station direct at 11° of Scorpio on November 20, 2019

Please check back for a special Samhain/Mercury retrograde update!

November 1

Venus enters Sagittarius and will be there until November 25, 2019

This may well be one of the greatest little gifts of 2019. As Venus soars through the open roads of Sagittarius, it shares space with its current ruler, Jupiter. Both planets bring blessings, but together, they bring a cornucopia of them. Making a conjunction on November 24th, the part of your chart that contains Sagittarius is super-powered and should be enjoyed and worked with. 

*Re-read about it here through the lens of Jupiter’s transit through Sagittarius  and note that anything here that resonates will be greatly encouraged by Venus’s transit. Anything that has been challenging will receive a little help from Venus, and possibly a resolution with greater ease in this area of your life.

November 5

Mars in Libra squares Pluto in Capricorn at 20°

The last of the challenging aspects in Libra (for now), Mars makes an epic square to Pluto. The epitome of a power struggle, the areas of your chart that contain Libra and Capricorn are used to this dynamic, but this may be the most intense version of it. Closure comes, but not without meditating deeply on the nature of the conflicts that occur have occurred for you. Just remember that to win doesn’t always mean to be right. This transit calls for compromise and the ability to balance your needs with the needs of the moment.  

November 8

Sun in Scorpio sextiles Saturn in Capricorn, both at 15°

Sun in Scorpio trines Neptune in Rx in Pisces, both at 16°

Saturn in Capricorn sextiles Neptune Rx in Pisces, both at 16°

Today’s astrology is helpful, imaginative, healing, inspiring, and structurally creative. It asks us to build the framework for our dreams to become a reality. It asks us to commit to the fantasies that relentlessly ask us to make them into something tangible. It fills our cups with the richly flavored wine of the season. Drink up and enjoy the earthy notes and intoxicating impact.  

November 9

Mercury Rx in Scorpio sextiles Pluto in Capricorn, both at 20°

Mercury’s review is assisted by Pluto’s ability to plumb the depths. Here, introspection leads to realizations. Don’t let your day get overwhelmed with side-tracking nonsense. If there was ever a moment to focus on the communications at hand, this is it. Be present and you’ll be the recipient of many gifts.  

November 11

Mercury Rx makes its inferior conjunction to the sun at 18° Scorpio 

Today, Mercury Rx leads us right into the heart of the matter. Secrets get revealed, hidden masterpieces get discovered, motivations get uncovered. Because this year Mercury’s transit of the sun is visible (appearing as a little black dot that moves over the face of the sun), the magic of what is mysterious gets revealed for us to work with. These are more than mere sleight of hand tricks, these are moves that only masters know. Whatever you are learning about working with the more challenging aspects of the human psyche, healing the wounds of your lineage, or working through what generally feels too challenging is helped. Pay attention to the wisdom you are getting let in on. 

Aries & Aries Rising

I cast spells for my mental, emotional, spiritual, and physical healing. I ask for help from the souls, energies, and guides that surround me. I know that I am flanked by a hundred helpful beings that await my request for their aid. Reaching out to them reminds me that I am not alone. Making the connection reminds me that my actions are tied to those from my past, to those in my present, and impacting those in my future. 

I know that when I am called on, it’s more than just me that shows up. I am the inheritance of every blessing of those that birthed me, and I am committed to healing the wounds that they couldn’t, making right the impact of wrong-doing they committed. 

No one can do what I do because no one is who I am. No one has the job that I have. No one has the help that I do. With this New Moon, I release myself from the fears and fantasies of scarcity. Imposter syndrome ceases to exist when I honor my unique gifts and get to work on developing them. Knowing I am enough is enough to change everything. 

You’ll find a more detailed reading for your sign on how to work with this New Moon in Scorpio and Mercury Retrograde PLUS a bonus Samhain ritual in A Workshop for the New Moon in Scorpio, Full Moon in Taurus, and the Astrology of October 27 – November 25.

Taurus & Taurus Rising

I cast spells for abundance between us. I know that when I am able to show up with honesty, boundaries, and the ability to honor my needs and yours, we can create cornucopias of pleasure and possibility together. 

I call on the spirits of accountability and radical honesty to help us on our path. I ask the Goddesses of Understanding, Compassion, and Insight to help us heal whatever rifts have disrupted our connections. I ask for clarity in regards to all aspects of my part of the process. I ask for courage as I encounter the parts of my personality I have yet to heal. I ask for kindness when addressing the more underdeveloped parts of my heart. I ask for the ability to laugh at myself in the process. 

I know that fear will have me lashing out against what’s good but unfamiliar to me at times. I know that in certain places my wiring needs rerouting. Life has crumpled me here and squashed me there and instead of feeling the need to hide it from others or deny it completely, I am asking for help in holding it in its totality.  

You’ll find a more detailed reading for your sign on how to work with this New Moon in Scorpio and Mercury Retrograde PLUS a bonus Samhain ritual in A Workshop for the New Moon in Scorpio, Full Moon in Taurus, and the Astrology of October 27 – November 25.

Gemini & Gemini Rising

I cast spells that help me be more efficient with my magic. While at work I might need to be undercover, but it doesn’t mean my powers are any less effective. Muggles might be oblivious to my ways, their systems might cast me into roles ill-suited for my sorcery, but I don’t let it phase me.  

I run circles around whomever underestimates me. I shine in situations where my gifts are a surprise to those that never saw me coming. 

With this New Moon, I cast spells that help me understand the power of the tools I have at my disposal. Without understanding them, I am more likely to let the world dictate what I can and can’t do with them. I refuse to get caught up in the small-minded ways of out-dated dinosaurs, but I don’t waste too much energy arguing with them either. I refocus my mind on getting better; communicating with co-workers so that my words have a greater impact; delivering work early with greater depth than anyone knew was possible; conserving my energy when possible; minding my business as regularly as I go to the water cooler. 

Witches know when to be visible and when to cloak themselves in protective spells. My wand is at the ready, my incantations at the tip of my tongue, and my cauldron is kept full of the potions that keep me calm and on course no matter the mishaps.  

You’ll find a more detailed reading for your sign on how to work with this New Moon in Scorpio and Mercury Retrograde PLUS a bonus Samhain ritual in A Workshop for the New Moon in Scorpio, Full Moon in Taurus, and the Astrology of October 27 – November 25.

Cancer & Cancer Rising

With this New Moon, I cast the spells that unlock my creativity. While in the sacred space of the studio, I release myself from the confines of any cultural norms. I go back to my wild roots. I tap into the part of my humanity that existed before ownership. Before divisions. Before accusations of being a heretic. Before the hallucinations of human superiority. 

From the dirt, from the ashes, the indestructible force that is nature will always rise. It’s with this wisdom that I align. 

I remember that nakedness is needed in order to create. I know the necessity of being vulnerable; to be touched is to be known. I can’t have any boundary between me and my concupiscence if I want to know and own my power.

I work with this New Moon to rid myself of any false notions of respectability. There are some aspects of self that should never be tamed. No tail between my legs when I have the red clay of my life in my hands. I need not be ashamed of the shape of the life that I desire. I need not refuse the textures that draw me to them. I needn’t cover up the scent of what I find irresistable. Sterilization strips the nutrients from the fruit, and I intend on eating it whole. 

You’ll find a more detailed reading for your sign on how to work with this New Moon in Scorpio and Mercury Retrograde PLUS a bonus Samhain ritual in A Workshop for the New Moon in Scorpio, Full Moon in Taurus, and the Astrology of October 27 – November 25.

Leo & Leo Rising

I cast spells to heal my bloodline. I cast spells to help lift me out of resentment and into repair. I cast spells to comfort the child within me that didn’t get what they needed. 

I can’t go back in time, but I can shapeshift my life so that my needs are central in it. 

I work with this New Moon to set up a home base that leaves space for the things that bring me solace, the things that lift my spirits, and the things that ground me in the truth. Throughout Scorpio Season, I’ll be given many opportunities to review my past, review my foundations, and review the benefits and losses of building my life where I have. In order to create a home, in order to create a place to not only exist, but to thrive in the world, I make sure that I know where I have dropped my anchor. I investigate the soil I am placed upon, making sure that it has the nutrients I need to grow these seeds I am sowing. 

You’ll find a more detailed reading for your sign on how to work with this New Moon in Scorpio and Mercury Retrograde PLUS a bonus Samhain ritual in A Workshop for the New Moon in Scorpio, Full Moon in Taurus, and the Astrology of October 27 – November 25.

Virgo & Virgo Rising

I cast spells with every word uttered. With every word written. With every sentiment whispered to myself. My mind is a place of magic making. My communications create pathways for healing to find me. My ability to tune into the transmissions that are trying to get to me makes all the difference on my journey. I clear space in my days to listen. I make a habit out of getting quiet. I make it part of my routine to reroute myself towards the rituals that cleanse me of doubts only meant to distract me. 

I pay attention to any and all mysterious notes of affirmation, caution, and concern that come to me. I remember that my life is always speaking to me. To tune into the conversation is a skill I challenge myself to develop. To attend to its messages is to tend to the central flame of my life. Refusing the sentiments of the world that would render me feeling powerless can only be done if I’m attuned to myself first. It’s from this place that I know what is a false claim about me or an honest reflection of all I need to work on and all I am capable of growing into. 

You’ll find a more detailed reading for your sign on how to work with this New Moon in Scorpio and Mercury Retrograde PLUS a bonus Samhain ritual in A Workshop for the New Moon in Scorpio, Full Moon in Taurus, and the Astrology of October 27 – November 25.

Libra & Libra Rising

With this New Moon, I cast the spells that reawaken me to my power. I know that it’s easy to forget my impact in a world that belittles decency and withholds equality. I know that I need to reclaim the value of my assets so that I don’t forget the potency of what I’m working with.

Witches know that there is no competition when we all get a chance to work our magic. Witches know that every single spell for liberation and love needs to be cast in as many languages as possible. In all corners of the world. In every iteration, tradition, and texture they can come in. Every coven is counted in the repairing of the world. With this New Moon, I cast spells that remind me I need not waste my energy playing into the Patriarchy’s game of divide and conquer. I am here to create and coexist, destroying any myth that gets in the way of doing so.

I know that my resources need replenishing periodically and I take this moment to investigate what I’m low on, what needs weeding out, and what I can let be dormant for a moment. I stock up on the supplies I need to do the spell work necessary for this moment. I know that what I conjure up will become a reality, so I do so carefully. Considering all I wish to serve, I create every potion with all of the care that I possess. 

You’ll find a more detailed reading for your sign on how to work with this New Moon in Scorpio and Mercury Retrograde PLUS a bonus Samhain ritual in A Workshop for the New Moon in Scorpio, Full Moon in Taurus, and the Astrology of October 27 – November 25.

Scorpio & Scorpio Rising

I cast spells for my renewal. I know that it takes courage to shed a skin. I’m told not to age. I’m told not to wear. Not to tear. Not to let it show.  

But to grow older is to deepen. 

To grow is to say goodbye to who I was if it was getting in the way of becoming more myself. Nothing in this realm gets to live a full life without being marked by it. Nothing in this world gets to be any good without the ripening only years, tears, and effort can bring. 

It is a privilege to be stamped by time.

I cast spells that banish the brainwashing that ageism would have me fear. I cast spells to unlearn what helped me in my youth but keeps me from maturing. I cast spells so that I focus more on getting to the new skin and have the courage to let the old go. I take myself off layer by layer. Each title, each position, each point of pride is nothing compared to the brilliance of my birthday suit. 

With this New Moon, I remember who I am and who I won’t care about being come my last breath. I refocus my energy on the most honest version of me and let myself be reborn from this place. 

You’ll find a more detailed reading for your sign on how to work with this New Moon in Scorpio and Mercury Retrograde PLUS a bonus Samhain ritual in A Workshop for the New Moon in Scorpio, Full Moon in Taurus, and the Astrology of October 27 – November 25.

Sagittarius & Sagittarius Rising 

I cast spells of regeneration. Like a snake shedding its skin I need to let the old go in peace and in private. I need caves to dream in. The dark to receive visions in. The quiet to come back to myself in.

With this New Moon, I gather myself. Listen to myself. Connecting to my creative wisdom requires that I step back from the distractions for a spell. Much magic can be done when I focus on what my intuition is trying to tell me. I need never look further for direction than my gut. My instincts are my compass. The flashes of insight that visit me are my blueprints. The review process that I am in is deep and necessary. I can’t get to the truth unless I get to the bottom of my feelings about it. I allow myself time to sort through a situation, problem, or potential opportunity. I know that the more willing I am to be thorough, the more likely I am to discover mysteriously placed emails, note pads, vision boards, and messages from the past that got buried, but perfectly detail the work I need to do going forward. It might not look like it to the outside world, but what I am working on behind the scenes has the kind of sorcery that will make the world wonder how I could have possibly pulled this off. 

Witches will know, but the rest will wonder in vain.  

You’ll find a more detailed reading for your sign on how to work with this New Moon in Scorpio and Mercury Retrograde PLUS a bonus Samhain ritual in A Workshop for the New Moon in Scorpio, Full Moon in Taurus, and the Astrology of October 27 – November 25.

Capricorn & Capricorn Rising

I cast spells for our collective healing. I can’t hold the whole world and all its pain, but I can hold the people that make mine turn. I know that each person in my orbit has other galaxies that they transit through. I know that the roots of my friendships can stretch across the entire globe. Loving the people that are close is loving those that are far. 

Wide is the power that we hold collectively.  

I practice the magic of making an effort with those I love. I brew teas that strengthen the connections between us. I light a candle for their well-being, bless their projects, and promote their hopes and dreams. 

I know that a witch’s health is dependent on that of their coven’s. I know that my magic grows stronger when I feel part of a community that wants all life here to thrive. I know that love is the secret language that sets our collective power free. 

I work with this New Moon to understand all the ways in which I succeed and flounder at friendship. I make an honest effort to clean up my communication issues. I review the relationship dynamics that contain the most difficult but also the most rewarding lessons. I make sure I am being fair with myself, and everyone else, in the process. Starting with my part in the situation is one thing that I can always do to tend to my present quality of life and our collective future one.

You’ll find a more detailed reading for your sign on how to work with this New Moon in Scorpio and Mercury Retrograde PLUS a bonus Samhain ritual in A Workshop for the New Moon in Scorpio, Full Moon in Taurus, and the Astrology of October 27 – November 25.

Aquarius & Aquarius Rising

I cast spells for catapulting my career to the next level. I know that doing so requires that I dig in deep. Reviewing my reasons often. Replenishing my resources always. Relying on my ability to be honest with myself will save me from a lifetime spent accomplishing in vain. Being reflective will save me from doing things to escape the feelings I don’t know how to process. Being able to admit when I am working from a place of pain and unconsciousness will save me from trying to numb out with success or accolades that aren’t tied to my passion and my purpose.  

I know that the more I sink into my power, the more I understand my responsibility.  

I work with this New Moon to better understand how I can make space in the world for a little more healing. I know that my intentions to grow through the work I do in the world will automatically make space for more of the same. I know that it takes time to see results. I know that it takes many seasons to bear fruit. I know that magic is about connecting to how something feels from the inside, to the intuitive, to the dream realm, to the visions that visit me before I expect to see any of it manifested in the world. I trust the timing of my life and in doing so I place my magic where it makes the most impact. 

You’ll find a more detailed reading for your sign on how to work with this New Moon in Scorpio and Mercury Retrograde PLUS a bonus Samhain ritual in A Workshop for the New Moon in Scorpio, Full Moon in Taurus, and the Astrology of October 27 – November 25.

Pisces & Pisces Rising

Rituals work. Whatever I do repeatedly not only marks my life but shapes it. What I do daily either centers my mind on the mystery or leaves me to battle the monsters of it with no recourse. 

With this New Moon I cast spells that keep me anchored in my magic daily. I know that the more committed I am to working with the elements, the more I am able to be in dialogue with them. Much as I may try to be, I am not in control of life. I am in relationship to it. I focus my energy here. I honor the changing seasons of my successes and failures by knowing which candles to light, which prayers to utter, which spirits to petition, and how to let all feelings, no matter how murky, have a space on my altar. I know that at times when I feel alone, when the ranting and raving of my inner demons kick up and swirl around my days, I need to turn to the company of my ancestors and guides. Even if no one in my bloodline can be called upon, those that left me writings, paintings, films, and the kinds of theses that fill my heart with hope when it needs it, can be called upon. 

I know that the right poem for the moment is a potion with incredible magic. I know that the right song for this season is a blessing from the gods that I can always call on. I know that the right images can reorient my mind towards what is real: the power of art; the power of a heart unafraid to love; the power of my ability to recenter myself repeatedly no matter what my days bring. 

You’ll find a more detailed reading for your sign on how to work with this New Moon in Scorpio and Mercury Retrograde PLUS a bonus Samhain ritual in A Workshop for the New Moon in Scorpio, Full Moon in Taurus, and the Astrology of October 27 – November 25.

The post Horoscopes for the New Moon in Scorpio 2019 appeared first on Chani Nicholas.

ayy can I just take this opportunity to point out that once again I was TOTALLY RIGHT ABOUT HOMESTUCK?

right about Homestuck since 2012 baby, I was right about the arc of the story being a Gnostic Christian escape, I was right about the Epilogues being about breaking down the formal notion of “canon” and “fanfiction”, and I fully anticipate that when June Egbert becomes canon I’ll get to gloat about THAT prediction coming true too.

anyway go subscribe to the Homestuck patreon and to my right-about-Homestuck patreon

I know this is the first thing we learned about Trump. It’s obvious, ingrained, just basic to his whole personality. But it is still remarkable the degree to which at least half of Trump’s emotional life seems based on anger at close advisors and associates who are unable to clean up his messes to his own standards and satisfaction. Sometimes perhaps a staffer is hapless. But in virtually every case it is simply that his own actions make clean ups close to impossible. It is just a remarkable, beyond-caricature example of absent self-awareness, entitlement and, yes, narcissism.

One quick observation. We’ve now seen President Trump green light a Turkish invasion of northeastern Syria and then (perhaps?) try to undo it after it was too late to undo it. He decided to feather his own nest by hosting the G-7 at his Doral golf resort (a guaranteed political firestorm) before reversing course after roughly 48 hours. It is probably fair to say that both – though especially the first – have garnered Trump more criticism from Republicans than the Ukraine extortion plot that is all but certain to get him impeached. This all fits a pattern: under threat over probable impeachment and at least conceivable removal from office Trump is lashing out right and left in efforts to demonstrate power and dominance and succeeding mainly in further eroding his political support.

One almost too good to be true illustration of this self-sabotaging pattern is that Mick Mulvaney press briefing about the Doral decision. Mulvaney looks even more like a fool having defended the obviously corrupt Doral decision only to see President Trump pull the plug on the idea two days later. But the press briefing also managed to accelerate the momentum for impeachment because he openly confirmed that the President had insisted on a quid pro quo: embracing his “DNC server” conspiracy theory in exchange for military aid.

Mulvaney tried to unsay it in an aggressive press release hours later. But there was no way to unsay it. The damage was done. Of course this was already clear as day. We saw the record of the call in which Trump made the deal clear himself. It was further confirmed in the Sondland/Volker text messages. But having the President’s Chief of Staff say it openly, aggressively, unashamedly just puts more gravity behind the obvious. And significantly, Mulvaney is the one who actually cut off the aid, the key actor in one of the key affirmative acts.

My takeaway from all of this is that Trump is in a cascading pattern in which menace and pressure lead to more self-sabotage in the form of aggressive attempts to show dominance. These lead to more political encirclement. The cycle is likely to continue and build on itself.

Whether you own or rent your place, insurance on that home is a necessary hassle - but a new tech-driven company called Lemonade is starting to show that while it might indeed be a necessity, it doesn't have to be a hassle.

Here's the way insurance typically works: You pay premiums and hope an accident never happens. If it does, you enter the purgatory of red tape, trying to pry restitution from a company that has little motivation or ability to pay out your claim.

Lemonade doesn't work that way. Instead, it utilizes a well-built technology platform and intuitive AI to make signup a breeze. If anything, the process of paying out claims is even easier: You answer a few questions, outline your lost or damaged property through video chat, and get satisfaction almost instantly. Lemonade takes a flat fee from your premiums, so there's no motivation for them to stonewall you when it comes time to file a claim. At the end of each year, they'll even turn a portion of the unclaimed money from those premiums to the charity of your choice.

Another great thing about their flat fees? They're super cheap, thanks to Lemonade's low overhead. Fees start at $25 for homeowners' insurance and $5 for renters. Get a quick quote and sign up today.

The deepfake technology in this video is far from flawless, but Jim Meskimen's voices and mannerisms more than make up for it. Watch him recite a poem of his own composition as John Malkovich, Colin Firth, Robert Deniro, Tommy Lee Jones, Nick Offerman, George Clooney, Christopher Walken, Anthony Hopkins, Dr. Phil, Nicholas Cage, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Morgan Freeman, Bryan Cranston, Christoph Waltz, Joe Pesci, Jack Nicholson, George W. Bush, Ian McKellen, Ron Howard, and Robin Williams.

[via Twisted Sifter]

10:30 PM: Don’t miss our staff debate live blog here.

10:17 PM: I’m confused. Does Harris think she’s making a strong point here vis a vis Warren?

10:03 PM: I think Biden is doing better for himself in this debate than most people probably realize. But again, Warren just has a dynamism and command that isn’t matched by anyone else on the stage.

9:31 PM: A twelve person debate is an incoherent debate.

9:03 PM: I don’t know exactly how it will play politically or whether it will continue her rise in the polls. But Warren is simply operating at two or three times the speed and power of almost everyone else up on the stage. Sanders has receded far to the background of the debate. To a great degree, Biden has too. Biden’s answers have been clearer and crisper than in earlier debates. But he seems peripheral to the debate itself. Warren is setting the pace and everyone is reacting to her.

8:59 PM: Warren’s answer on being punitive or not was very good.

8:48 PM: I’m far from a supporter. But I think this debate could help Steyer. Clear, coherent, just very straightforward.

10:30 PM: Don’t miss our staff debate live blog here.

10:17 PM: I’m confused. Does Harris think she’s making a strong point here vis a vis Warren?

10:03 PM: I think Biden is doing better for himself in this debate than most people probably realize. But again, Warren just has a dynamism and command that isn’t matched by anyone else on the stage.

9:31 PM: A twelve person debate is an incoherent debate.

9:03 PM: I don’t know exactly how it will play politically or whether it will continue her rise in the polls. But Warren is simply operating at two or three times the speed and power of almost everyone else up on the stage. Sanders has receded far to the background of the debate. To a great degree, Biden has too. Biden’s answers have been clearer and crisper than in earlier debates. But he seems peripheral to the debate itself. Warren is setting the pace and everyone is reacting to her.

8:59 PM: Warren’s answer on being punitive or not was very good.

8:48 PM: I’m far from a supporter. But I think this debate could help Steyer. Clear, coherent, just very straightforward.

Warren is going to be the nominee, and the general election is going to be between, on the one hand, white supremacists, (trigger: Barack Obama) white evangelical fundamentalists, (trigger: drag queen children’s reading hour. Children’s reading hour Mandrake) white cultural reactionaries, (trigger: Home Depot aisle signs in Spanish) white burn it all down chaos-seekers, (trigger: Mom telling them to clean their room) and plutocrats and plutocrat-wannabes of every race, color, and creed, (trigger: slightly higher taxes on billionaires) and, on the other, decent human beings.

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Bullshit.js is a javascript bookmarklet that replaces all the managerial and marketing jargon and other buzzwords on the page with the word "bullshit." For example, if I were to write that it was a "keyword-driven synergy of empowered innovation and in-context dynamic content" it might replace that with "bullshit bullshit bullshit of bullshit bullshit and bullshit bullshit bullshit".

Gum Soft-Picks do a better job than toothpicks or floss for cleaning food and plaque from between my teeth. The rubbery green brush pushes out all the gunk without hurting.  A pack of 100 will set you back $2.97 on Amazon.

Folio Society has produced a special illustrated edition of Philip K. Dick's novel Ubik, featuring several illustrations and a foreword by Kim Stanley Robinson:

This video describes the creation of the edition, including hiding a secret in the slipcase:

The post p.318 appeared first on I Roved Out in Search of Truth and Love.

I won a fake stock market competition in elementary school. 

I put all my money in a few penny stocks — where prices are less than a dollar, and because of their small denomination, their value (as a percentage) fluctuates wildly. Some days I had the worst portfolio, other days I had the best. The competition happened to end on an up-day.

This was an example of “high risk, high reward.” Like startups.

Startups need luck too, in finding advertisement channels that work, in the right mix of features and usability that triggers product/market fit, in cultivating a useful social media presence, on employee number one working out well, on a competitor not making a fatal move, on there being enough money in the market, on appropriate pricing, on market forces not shifting the rules of the game, and the list goes on. And that’s after the luck of where and when you were born, the color of your skin, your gender, and that list goes on too. 

When you put it that way, it’s obvious why startups fail so frequently! They need a lot of success in a lot of areas, which is a lot of “good luck” to string together.

What can you do, to reduce this effect and maybe even turn luck to work in your favor?

The list above is a bunch of “ands.” That is, you need a good marketing channel and you need a few killer features and you need great initial employees and you need a healthy market, etc.. “And” is bad! It’s bad because each one has a probability of success, and you compute the total probability of success by multiplying them. No matter how optimistic you are about those probabilities, the end product is a small number.  Even 70% multiplied by itself five times is only 17%; most of those things don’t have as good of a chance as 70%. 

So the first question is: Can you reduce the number of things which have to go right? Can you convert some of those things into 100%?  For example, can you pick a large and growing market? Can you compete in a niche where incumbents don’t care or cannot move quickly? Can you hire someone you’ve worked with before, or build something sustainable without hiring?

Even so, there will be plenty of challenges, so we need a second technique for boosting probability: Leverage “or” instead of “and.”

Consider marketing channels. You could get your first few hundred customers through GoogleAds, or Facebook ads, or affiliate sales, or targeted outbound sales, or partnering with a high-profile reseller, or great press about your unique brand and message, or other ways. Only one of these needs to work! So although the probability of success for each one of these is low, the probability that something will work is higher.

This is true of everything from product features to website copy for conversions to avenues for exiting the company years from now. The general rule is optionality is strength.  When there are lots of ways for things to go right, that is a strong position even if you haven’t actualized one of those ways.

The converse of this is a business that has extra “and” clauses — even more than usual. Marketplaces, for example, almost never succeed. When they do succeed, they are often durable and profitable, which makes them a smart bet for a Venture Capitalist that can maintain a diversified portfolio of attempts, but for the individual business it’s a tough road. For example, a marketplace has to thrive both with the sellers and the buyers — if either one is disinterested, or is too expensive to corral, or doesn’t find value, or prefers to transact outside the marketplace, then the marketplace fails. Those are “ands!” Also, many marketplaces often only deliver value at scale; so another “and” is that they have to also “scale down” so the first 100 buyers and sellers also see value.

By accumulating “and” requirements, you are lowering the probability of success. By stringing together possible solutions with “or,” you are increasing the number of ways that luck could smile upon you. 

Set yourself up for luck!

Saturn "has overtaken" Jupiter as the planet with the most satellites, at least in our own system: 82 to the larger world's 79. A team "discovered a haul of 20 new moons" around the ringed gas giant, as the BBC puts it, putting it in the lead.

The moons were discovered using the Subaru telescope on Maunakea, Hawaii.

Each of the newly discovered objects in orbit around Saturn is about 5km (three miles) in diameter; 17 of them orbit the planet "backwards".

This is known as a retrograde direction. The other three moons orbit in a prograde direction - the same direction as Saturn rotates.

I suspect they were there all along.

Self-described "creative coder" Neal Agarwal has come up with a method for hiding images in text that only appear when you highlight the words; I'm guessing he's using some kind of character-by-character "highlight" attribute in CSS/HTML5, but I'm not really certain. It's a super fun example of steganography, though, and would be really fun for some kinds of online puzzles, or spoiler reveals in posts, etc.

Hiding images in highlighted text pic.twitter.com/Za0THkKBTn

— Neal Agarwal (@nealagarwal) October 6, 2019

(via Dan Hon)

This afternoon we learned that Gordon Sondland, Ambassador to the EU and GOP megadonor, will appear for a closed door deposition before House committees on Tuesday, October 8th. According to CBS News it will be the “same format” as Ukraine Envoy Kurt Volker’s testimony yesterday. (I take this to mean that he will appear without a government lawyer.) This seems to me to be a development of great importance.

The White House is putting up a strong bluff. They say they won’t comply with subpoenas. They are even hinting at a challenge to the House’s internal governance, arguing that there actually is no impeachment inquiry because Speaker Pelosi has not held a vote of the whole House to authorize it. It’s the same brash, aggressive and total defiance that has served them so well for the last nine months. The President says he has every right to do what he’s done and his top lieutenants are lining up to agree.

But the people closest to the action, the ones with the most at stake are belying that confidence not with their words but their actions. Secretary Pompeo threatened a dogged fight against any attempt to depose State Department officials or get documents for the House inquiry. Volker, Yovanovitch, Sondland and others could have used that shield Pompeo threw up around them to refuse or at least delay or negotiate over testifying. That was clearly the intention. But they haven’t. Volker resigned his appointment and quickly testified. Now Sondland, much more of a Trump partisan and apparently much more of a driving force in the extortion scheme, is doing the same.

Take it as a given that everyone here will act in their own interests. If the President’s position was strong and he had the ability to protect or threaten these secondary players they’d almost certainly be following his lead. But they’re not. They’re moving quickly, if not to make deals with the Congress then at least to share what they know and hand over documents in their possession. In other words, they’re protecting themselves. We don’t know for certain Sondland is doing this yet. But if he weren’t it would be folly to submit to a deposition without a government lawyer present and without trying to negotiate protective ground rules.

One of the things we learned over the last nine months is that a posture of total defiance can be quite effective. If no one talks or produces any records it’s almost impossible for an investigation to get traction or build momentum. By cooperating they are significantly undermining the administration’s strategy and creating incentives and pressures for others to come forward as well. For a White House where law means little and loyalty means everything that is total betrayal. But that does not appear to be stopping them.

Again, everyone will act in their own interests. The White House is telegraphing a cavalier defiance meant to tell everyone they still hold all the cards. But these underlings’ actions speak louder than words. They know much more than we do and they have much more on the line. So we should listen closely to what their actions are telling us.

Paranoia Girls: Page 42

Pictures: Yunico Uchiyama

Words: Patrick Macias

Translation / Coordination: Marie Iida

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Paranoia Girls 2.0 on Wattpad (revised text in progress)