My husband's father was an author who passed away when he was a teen. We were with his siblings going through some stuff and I found a final copy of a book. It says "This final draft is on the computer" and "SAVE THIS FINAL DRAFT" is highlighted and in all caps. It also has a printer name written on it. Using the printer name we looked up the model and discovered that this was probably printed around the time he started getting sick. All of the siblings are estranged from their mom. I asked my husband and he said that mom gets royalties from his other books currently. I was just wondering how or if I could go about getting this book published. Besides a few grammatical errors (that he or an editor marked on the pages) it really seems ready to me. It is a good book. I would argue it's better than his other work of fiction. Would royalties *have* to go to their mom? Is there some way to publish it and have his children get the royalties?

Synopsis:
An engineer from earth blends science and magic to achieve greatness in another world where skills and levels reign supreme.
—
Ethan was just a plain old engineer, but everything changed when he was reborn into a world of skills, levels, and magic. With his advanced knowledge far ahead of the time period he finds himself in, this new reincarnated life will be much different than his last, especially because he can construct, deconstruct, and reconstruct runes—something no one else can do.
But with royal politics, looming tax collectors, a mountain of debt, dungeon incursions, cults, and hostile fantasy races mixing together into a cocktail of bullshit that threatens to bury his dreams; Ethan must bridge the gap between steel and sorcery to grow stronger. — What to Expect:
- Weak to very strong progression with a Sword & Magic MC that kicks a whole lotta ass. - Fast pacing. A balance of action galore, politics, kingdom building, and slow-burn runecrafting. - Fun, satisfying moments. An extra shot of happiness when reading. Hardcore wish fulfillment. Hyper competent MC. - MC will trigger an industrial revolution, abolish slavery, revolutionize magic, modernize agriculture, communication, commerce, textile production, education, transportation, sanitation, weapons manufacturing, leisure & entertainment, and medicine. - Dark truths of a medieval-esque society going under change.
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Chapter 10

Ethan surveyed the men before him, schooling his expression. Cedric was one of his advisors, a lean man, taller than the average in Holden, and wiry, but with the unmistakable long and callused fingers of someone well skilled with a bow. It was odd to see such features, but Ethan wasn’t one to point it out or talk about it. A perpetual worried crease etched between his brows; he shuffled a stack of parchments.
Beside him, Roland stood with a hand on the pommel of his sword—a habit Ethan had grown accustomed to. Leaning back, Ethan opened his mouth.
“Alright, gentlemen. Let’s get through this.”
Cedric cleared his throat. “First, my lord, the harvest report.” He unfolded the top parchment. “The rains were late this year, my lord. We’re looking at a significant shortfall in barley and oats.”
Ethan frowned. “Roland,” he switched focus. “The scouting report on the bandits? Has Sir Thomas revealed something? What about the brigands?”
“Sir Thomas has been tight-lipped. The brigands have been bolder, my lord. Spotted them harassing farmsteads near Holden’s western border.
“Have we identified the culprits?”
“No, my Lord. But they seem organized, well-equipped. Too well-equipped, I might say.”
Ethan drummed his fingers on the desk. This wasn’t your typical ragtag group of cutthroats, that much was clear. “Some sort of a group, then.”
“Yes.”
“Mobilize a patrol. Set a few archers down range. Kill the bandits on sight, we can’t have them acting bolder.”
Roland nodded, his chin bobbing, face emotionless.
“Any other news? Have we received word from the neighboring barons regarding the proposed trade agreement?” Ethan asked.
“Yes, my lord. Sir Jack informed me that one of his ravens returned this morning; he says they spotted two men bearing the crest of the crown—”
“Tax collectors,” Ethan interrupted. “They should already be in Siez by now, then.”
Siez was a city two weeks’ ride from Holden.
“Well then, we must do something about the harvest,” Ethan murmured. He had some ideas, but all of them would require money.
“As for trade... Everyone has denied, like usual. Lord Ashton has been with Holden since Lord Baelgard’s death, but even he appears hesitant now. Cites concerns about the quality of our goods.”
“Hmm. Excuses.” Ethan sighed. “He doesn’t want to work with us anymore. He’s likely receiving pressure; I don’t blame him. I’ve offended quite a lot of nobles in my... teen years.”
Ethan cleared his throat. “We’ll send another sample,” Ethan decided, his voice firm. “Along with a personal letter outlining the benefits of trade with Holden, only this time, including soap; I’m sure he’ll latch onto the opportunity if he has some foresight.”
Ashton was playing politics, but they couldn’t afford to alienate their only potential trading partner.
The rest of the morning was spent in a similar vein—discussing minor squabbles amongst the populace, a few dead bodies that were reported, potential repairs needed on the crumbling town walls, and other matters regarding Holden.
***
Ethan entered the space sectioned off by iron grills inside the quarantined house in the outskirts of Holden. Covering his in a mask, he stepped over the grills, into the open hall with rows of beds lining both sides. He was here to take a look at the patients and if they were getting treated. They were. Undoubtedly. Some even showed signs of recovery. They stood up spotting him, then bowed.
“Lord Theodore! What an honor!” A woman said, then burst into tears holding onto her daughter’s hand. “Thank you for letting me live, Lord.” She sobbed as she buried her face on the sleeping child.
Ethan frowned, feeling uncomfortable. They hadn’t gone past their third stages of the disease. They weren’t even on their second one. That was why it’d been easier to treat them.
“Yes, my lord,” a man joined them, speaking. “You’re the only noble that’s spared us peasants a glance. Truly, thank you.”
Feeling even more uncomfortable, Ethan gently placed a hand on his shoulder. “I only hope you all get better.”
They smiled as he smiled back through the mask. Ethan quickly made his way out, then furrowed his brows as he met Miller outside. “Miller, why have you not pulled out those that have recovered? Letting them stay inside would only get them infected again or cause their condition to worsen.”
Miller’s face turned white. “My—my lord, but—but we cannot just remove them!” He took a deep breath. “If we let them go, they could infect others in Holden. If those infected catch wind of their neighbors recovering, wouldn’t they try to force their way into quarantine just to get healed and recover?” His eyes turned shifty, showing some sort of apprehension and panic.
Ethan glared. “Miller, you’re smart, are you not?” He narrowed his eyes. “Get them out of here, as soon as possible. I ordered everyone infected be brought in, logistics be damned! I’m paying it out of my pockets! You need not worry about those that might be infected. What do you even mean? We’re constantly on the lookout, if we found someone, they’d be here already.”
“Yes, about that, my lord,” Miller said nervously, looking away. “People fear. Many would rather stay quiet than let others know if they’re infected. Plus, it’s easier said than done. My men would get attacked. Anyone can get killed easily, they’re not Classed. or a large horde of desperate people might push forward in an instant.”
Ethan didn’t say anything. Gulping, Miller continued.
“And, my men are too few. There are not enough men to patrol and get the affected. Not to mention people would riot against it, fearing their loved ones are getting slaughtered for some ritual and that there’s no salvation. Especially given that a few dead bodies have been found recently,” Miller bowed, swallowed. “Forgive me for saying this, my lord, but people do not trust you.”
Miller slumped against his chair, staring at the ceiling. Ethan silently took his seat, thinking over what Miller had said. In the end, he could only sigh. “Get every infected here, do not worry about aurums.” It costed a lot of money—aurums—to get people treated. However, it wasn’t that much. Taking a moment to gather his thoughts, Ethan changed the subject. “Miller,” Ethan said. “How’re tests going?”
Miller frowned, a finger on his chin as he hummed thoughtfully. “We’ve encountered an issue; mostly with the later stage tainted. We’d expected it, too, however, we need some kind of a solution.”
“What issue?”
“Their skin is rotting; we cannot just have them use soap and hot water to keep clean. There needs to be something to address their wounds directly, first.” Miller sighed. “A [Healer], perhaps. But they’re expensive, my Lord. I am not sure if that is what you would want. Not to mention, another issue is that Sir Jack has yet to build something he calls nexus—he says you would know what that is. He’s currently using himself as said nexus, but says he would need to talk to you on that matter later to figure out some solution.”
“Is that so?” Ethan hummed, reclining back into his chair. Hiring a [Healer] would indeed be a pain. He was already paying Jack quite the sum each day, not to mention the [Beast Tamer] he’d had to hire to take care of Wynd. If he were to hire a [Healer] now, it would make a dent on his pockets that he wouldn’t be able to recover from. Not to mention, he needed to worry more about the financial situation now—the tax collectors would be arriving sooner or later, and the Merchants Guild would want their debt paid with interest. He couldn’t be stuck in a rut of indebtedness forever.
That said, soap would be excellent for the majority of the populace, the only time there would be an issue would be when someone’s already at the stage where their flesh starts to rot. If there were something, he had to consider it*... Are there alternatives?*
Unlikely.
Ethan took a breath, then leaned back into his chair, steepling his hands. What do I currently need?
Money. Money would solve a lot of his issues. Ethan hummed, stood up, then turned on his heel and walked out. Before getting out, however, he looked over his shoulder. “Tell Jack to keep working on updating the base spell. Make it more efficient, if possible. Leave the rest to me.”
I’ll figure something out...
He needed to—he wanted to.
Roland stood outside the carriage, and as he saw Ethan approaching, he turned to him. “My Lord.”
“Roland, let’s go,” Ethan said, grabbing the carriage’s handle, pulling the door open, and climbing inside. “We have work to do.”
“As you wish, my Lord.”
Reclined against the cushioned seat of the carriage, Ethan hummed. The solution to getting more money was rather simple.
My masterpiece needs to hit the market. Ethan smiled.
***
Ethan settled into a routine; he’d wake up with the first rays of sunlight filtering through his window. He’d stretch, and feel the satisfying pops in his back before heading outside to find Wynd already waiting for him, tail wagging excitedly. They’d take a brisk run through the dewy field. Ethan would spend a good hour playing with Wynd. The [Beast Tamer] Grandma Millie had a natural connection with Wynd, and Ethan was learning to understand how to handle a wolf under her guidance. Ethan knew that Wynd wasn’t quite a normal magical beast, heck, he was sure that Wynd would sooner or later hit some kind of magical puberty that’ll sky rocket his intelligence and allow him to speak or whatever, but regardless of everything, learning how to handle him was a good move. He was, after all, quite like a pet right now.
Regardless, he’d practice the [Elemental Spells] he knew: fire and water.
One day, he finally leveled it up.
[Elemental Spells] — Lvl 9 -> Lvl 10!
Warning: Level cap for [Elemental Spells] reached; satisfy the conditions to upgrade [Elemental Spells].
Interesting. Ethan thought, rubbing his chin. However, given that there was no information, he was confused so as to how to satisfy said conditions. I will figure it out, he shrugged, for now, I need to learn the other elements first.
Aside from that particular day’s highlight, his routine would continue as usual. After a satisfying breakfast, it would be time to get down to business. He’d perfected the basic soap recipe, and now it was time to ramp up production. With the success in making the first batch of soap, and the thought of making money, quick, in his mind, he’d started working extra hard to get more soap made. He found himself busier than ever. He’d sit in there for hours and create rune motes after rune motes. One by one, they’d materialize on top of his palms, swirling tiny fireflies.
Just like usual, one particular day, he was creating rune motes.
Ten… twenty… thirty… his brow furrowed in concentration.
Forty… fifty… and then, sixty rune motes. [Basic Rune Creation] skill leveled up, too, and a satisfied grin spread across his face the two times it did level up.
[Basic Rune Creation] – Lvl 5 -> Lvl 6!
[Basic Rune Creation] – Lvl 6 -> Lvl 7!
The number of motes he could create and the speed at which he did it had noticeably improved after each level. It drained his mana reserves daily. He’d often find himself with a dull ache behind his eyes, but he’d pushed on regardless, ignoring the beginnings of a headache and sometimes it’d blow into a full-blown migraine due to his stubbornness.
One such afternoon, as he slumped, massaging his temples, an idea struck him.
“Meditation,” he murmured. Perhaps focusing his mind inward, like calming a churning lake, could help manage his mana pool. It was usually like that in those novels he used to read back in middle school.
The first few days were frustrating. He sat cross-legged on a cushion, eyes closed, trying to clear his mind, but his thoughts kept flitting back to the ever-growing pile of soap base and the dwindling supply of rune motes (Jack hadn’t disappointed him, after all; the man was fast and his money’s worth, if not more. In fact, Ethan found it harder to keep up). Just as he was getting frustrated, a warmth bloomed within him, a gentle hum that resonated deep within something he could only describe as a core. He cracked open his eyes, a surprised gasp escaping his lips.
A notification appeared before him.
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So let me preface this by saying i (26F) have always known you get treated differently for being different sizes, but knowing isn’t the same as experiencing it. It is also a lot more subtle then i realized.
I am from a predominantly obese family, and never thought anything of it, i grew up very skinny but my aunts were all beautiful and confident and role models to me, i would occasionally see people be obviously rude but just thought oh that person is just an ass, the majority of people don’t act that way. I was thin as i said and i thought that i had a hard time connecting with people because of my personality, i would get rude looks often in public, and in general had a hard time with girls around my age, i had many friends but also many girls that absolutely hated me for no reason and i had multiple girl bullies as a teen. I went through some emotional and physical health issues about five years ago, and really really started working on myself personality wise, addressing traumas in therapy etc. people started being nicer, stopped glaring at me before i even met them. I thought wow working on myself is really working! I’ll note that i gradually gained weight in those five years, about 15 pounds a year. I was overweight but not obese so it never crossed my mind my weight had anything to do with it. I more recently got serious about my physical health and losing the extra weight, i am about halfway through, and in public when i smile at people in passing as i have ALWAYS done its no longer being received as well as it used to. I’m back to receiving glares again and even my best friend was really rude and curt with me the last time i saw her (it had been a couple months since we had seen each other and she didn’t realize i had lost so much weight, but she did not mention it at all)
The thought is just now crossing my mind that maybe it was never about my personality?? But about my weight, and as overweight i wasn’t seen as a threat or intimidating maybe? but now that i am much closer to a healthy weight, and being thinner no longer a chubby cheeked pudgy girl so now im an enemy again?
idk its just been messing with my head.

Leave it up to Ethan to literally almost sexualize the model on the TF website… Episode #20 Timestamp - 6:02 Did yall catch how he immediately wanted to look at the backside of the model? “This is the least amount of clothes on a model we’ve ever had right?” “How does the back look” before quickly realizing he sounds like a creep and Hila chiming in to save the moment, saying that they can’t show a bikini without a body to showcase it on. Can you not be weird? For 2 seconds? Not sexualize a woman for 2 seconds? His brain works the same as a prepubescent teen.

DAY JUNE 8 2024
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On TikTok and Instagram, people are “girl mossing”: lying on a forest floor, staring up at a leafy canopy or caressing moss. The United States National Forest Foundation even borrowed the term to kick off its 2024 Instagram account. Girl mossing recognizes a need to step away from the pressures of modern, urban life, promoting spending time in nature as a restorative practice. The fast pace and pressure of neoliberal capitalism take an enormous toll on well-being: not just personal, but social and planetary.
6-8-2024

FIVE WAYS ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE CAN IMPROVE YOUR DATING LIFE

Artificial intelligence is going to transform how we date. The question is: will it be for better or worse? It’s already causing some real problems, especially related to “romance scams” and other fraud. But it’s not all doom and gloom. Used in the right way, AI can actually make dating better. It can help write profiles and find matches, provide dating advice and coaching and, if all else fails, become a date companion. I have spent the last few years studying the impact of technology, and especially AI, on our
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STUDY ASSESSES ‘THE DANCER PERSONALITY’

“Tell me if you dance and I will tell you who you are!” A study led by researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Empirical Aesthetics (MPIEA) in Frankfurt am Main, Germany, has shown that both amateur and professional dancers are less neurotic than people who do not dance. They are also more agreeable, more open, and more extraverted.
6-8-2024

ONLINE SHOPPERS BEHAVE DIFFERENTLY AFTER CHATTING WITH STAFF OF THE OPPOSITE GENDER, RESEARCH SHOWS

In a digital world where people are mere pixels on a screen, gender bias can show up in unexpected forms. When people are online, anonymity and physical detachment embolden them to behave in biased ways
6-8-2024

INVESTORS BET BIG ON SUNNY DAYS, STUDY FINDS

It’s often said we can’t control the weather. But what if the weather controls how and when we invest our money? More specifically, what if the skies control how much we’re willing to gamble in the stock market? New research by the University of South Australia has found a connection between pleasant weather conditions and higher investment in lottery-like stocks. Lottery-like stocks are cheap compared to other stocks and, like lottery tickets, they can be seen as an opportunity to make a substantial gain. However, the chance of a higher
6-8-2024

TEENS TREATED UNFAIRLY BY TEACHERS MORE LIKELY TO HAVE POPULIST ATTITUDES

Perceived unjust teacher behavior is strongly and positively associated with populist attitudes among children and adolescents. Populist attitudes consist of ideologies including anti-elitism, people-centrism, and a dualistic perception of good versus evil, and where the foundation of political decision-making should be based on the general will of the people. In contrast to the association with teacher behavior, the correlation between young people’s relationships with peers and the development of populist attitudes is less strong, and the correlation between young people’s relationships
6-8-2024

MICROINCLUSIONS IMPROVE WOMEN’S WORKPLACE BELONGING AND COMMITMENT

New research shows how “microinclusions”—brief instances of positive treatment, especially from members of the dominant group—help women feel valued at work. Imagine your first day at a new job. You probably feel nervous, wondering how you’ll fit in with the team. It’s natural to worry if your co-workers will be supportive, or if they’ll take your contributions seriously. This experience is amplified for women in technology companies, who often face underrepresentation and
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BURNT OUT? HOW YOUR EMPLOYER CAN HELP YOU RETURN TO WORK FOR THE BETTER

The working world can be a pitiless one, as competition in the marketplace can put significant pressures on employees. Relentless deadlines, shrinking resources and shifting priorities all take their toll on employees’ well-being and mental health. In my home country of Belgium, more than two thirds (66.4%) of individuals on disability for psychological reasons had cases related to depression or burn-out. These worrisome statistics reflect broader trends across OECD countries, where nearly half (47.6%) of workers with mental-health problems have been absent from the office in the past year, compared
6-8-2024

FAMILY-FRIENDLY WORKPLACES BENEFIT EMPLOYEES, BUSINESSES

Paid leave and employee well-being are the focus of a three-part policy series on family-friendly business practices put together by the Brown School’s Clark-Fox Policy Institute at Washington University in St. Louis. “Creating a family-friendly workplace benefits both employees and businesses,” said Gary Parker, associate dean for external affairs and director of the institute. “For employees, it enhances work-life balance and job satisfaction,” he said. “For businesses, it leads to higher retention rates, reduced absenteeism and improved productivity. Policies such as paid leave, flexible work arrangements
6-8-2024

HOW TRUMP’S DEFINITION OF A ‘REAL’ AMERICAN HAS GRABBED HIS AUDIENCE—WHAT OUR RESEARCH SHOWS ABOUT WHY

Donald Trump has recently doubled down on his derogatory depictions of undocumented migrants in his bid to win the 2024 presidential election. In an interview with Time magazine, published on April 30 2024, Trump referred to migrants as “criminals,” who “come in and they steal our jobs, and steal our wealth, and they steal our country.” Trump was especially disparaging towards migrants from China, who he said are a “major force that’s forming in our country.” In short, according to Trump, undocumented migration is “an invasion of our country.” Trump’s
6-8-2024

NEW STUDY SHOWS MARKETING A BRAND’S SIMPLICITY CAN BACKFIRE

Irritability is a common side effect of heat. When companies tout the simplicity of their products, they may unknowingly invite customer dissatisfaction, new University of Oregon research finds. For decades, “simpler is better” has been accepted as a universal truth in marketing. Nick Light, assistant professor of marketing at the UO’ Lundquist College of Business, has tested that assumption. He found that most consumers prefer offerings that appear to be easy to use and understand. However, trumpeting simplicity can have a hidden, costly downside. “When marketing convinces consumers that things
6-8-2024

RESEARCHERS CREATE WINNING STRATEGY TO COMBAT VACCINE MISINFORMATION ON X

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6-8-2024

STUDY SHOWS DISENGAGED STUDENTS MORE LIKELY TO USE AI TOOLS FOR ASSIGNMENTS

A Swansea University psychology study has found that disengaged students are more likely to use AI tools—particularly ChatGPT—for academic assignments, raising questions about academic integrity and the need for proactive interventions. Launched in November 2022, ChatGPT is an AI program capable of answering questions in detailed, human-like ways. Researchers surveyed 160 undergraduate students, aged between 18 and 24, in March 2023 to assess their attitudes towards and past usage of AI tools such as ChatGPT in academic coursework. The study is published in The Internet and Higher Education journal. Thirty-two
6-8-2024

HUMAN CULTURE IS CHANGING TOO FAST FOR EVOLUTION TO CATCH UP—HERE’S HOW IT MAY AFFECT YOU

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6-8-2024

YOUNG PEOPLE IN THE UK SAY THEY ARE LESS LIKELY TO VOTE IF THEIR PARENTS REPORT DEPRESSIVE SYMPTOMS

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6-8-2024

WHO GETS TO DECIDE WHAT COUNTS AS ‘DISORDER’?

As a scholar of urban governance and data policy, I viewed the responses to protests on U.S. campuses as about more than threats to academic freedom and freedom of speech. They are also threats to the fundamental rights of people in public spaces. The protesters’ tactics, particularly their use of tents in encampments, have brought debates around definitions of public order and disorder to the fore. Over the past couple of months, students in universities across the country, from the University of California, Los Angeles to the Massachusetts Institute of
6-8-2024

STUDYING VIOLENCE TOWARD WOMEN AND ANIMALS CAN HELP US DEVELOP STRATEGIES TO PREVENT BOTH

We live in a world where not everyone feels safe and respected, especially women. Sexual violence and abuse are significant global health issues. Intimate partner violence continues to be a problem in Canada. According to Statistics Canada, of the 117,093 victims of police-reported intimate partner violence in 2022, almost 80% were women and girls. More than half of women in the United States have experienced sexual violence involving physical contact. Given these high rates of sexual abuse, it is imperative that we improve upon what we currently know about violence
6-8-2024

WHY THE FUTURE OF DEMOCRACY COULD DEPEND ON YOUR GROUP CHATS

I became newly worried about the state of democracy when, a few years ago, my mother was elected president of her neighborhood garden club. Her election wasn’t my worry—far from it. At the time, I was trying to resolve a conflict on a large email group I had created. Someone, inevitably, was being a jerk on the internet. I had the power to remove them, but did I have the right? I realized that the garden club had in its bylaws something I had never seen in nearly all the
6-8-2024

NET ZERO IS NOT JUST GOOD SCIENCE—IT’S ALSO A GOOD DEAL FOR ORDINARY PEOPLE

As the UK moves into a general election, a misinformed debate over the country’s climate transition and legally binding net zero targets risks further dividing people. Much of this debate in the UK focuses on the “cost” of net zero. For instance, energy secretary Claire Coutinho recently stated the government did not want a “net zero leviathan” to crush the nation’s “brilliant enterprise economy,” while the Labor Party had to backtrack on its own headline climate investment pledge, citing “affordability” and “fiscal rules.” But the true “cost” is tricky to
6-8-2024

THE FASCINATING PSYCHOLOGY BEHIND ‘DINE AND DASH’ AND WHY IT’S ABOUT SO MUCH MORE THAN A FREE MEAL

Sometimes when I read the newspapers, I think that going to a restaurant and leaving without paying has become something of an epidemic. My research into lying has taught me that the psychology behind acts of deception is often deeply complex. Let me start with a confession. I was guilty of dine and dash a very long time ago before it had a catchy name. I was in a group that hung about a chip shop at the turn-of-the-road in north Belfast, a poor and troubled area. I had a
6-8-2024

YOU CAN NOW BE FROZEN AFTER DEATH IN AUSTRALIA. IF YOU’RE REVIVED IN THE FUTURE, WILL YOU LEGALLY BE THE SAME PERSON?

In recent weeks, Southern Cryonics—the southern hemisphere’s only cryopreservation facility, located in rural New South Wales—announced it had successfully cryopreserved its first patient. There are only a handful of cryopreservation facilities across the globe—two in the United States, and one each in Russia, China, Australia and Switzerland. If the claims made on their websites and in the press are accurate, these facilities likely have no more than 600 patients in cryonic storage in total. Media reports however suggest interest in cryopreservation has risen since the onset of the COVID pandemic,
6-8-2024

ENGINEERS HAVE A DUTY TO PROTECT PUBLIC WELL-BEING, BUT LESS THAN HALF LEARN HOW TO DO SO EFFECTIVELY

Engineers who received public welfare responsibility training in classes are more likely to consider the societal impact of technologies they design and to take action when concerns arise, according to a study by University of Michigan researchers published in The Journal of Engineering Education. While engineers are professionally obligated to protect the safety and well-being of those their technologies impact, the study found that nearly a third of U.S. practicing engineers have never received any training in public welfare
6-8-2024

HIRING PRESSURES TO DIVERSIFY ARE INFLUENCING PATTERNS OF DISCRIMINATION IN UNEXPECTED WAYS

In 2004, a pair of economists published a landmark study to measure discrimination in the labor market. In the study, the researchers applied to real job openings with fictitious applicants but changed the applicant names to reflect a different gender or race. They found clear evidence of discrimination: White men and women received 50% more callbacks than Black men and women. More recently, Berkeley
6-8-2024

STUDY FINDS RACIAL BIAS IN TRAFFIC STOPS BY CHICAGO POLICE

Black drivers in Chicago are significantly more likely than white drivers to be stopped by police regardless of where the drivers live or are going, according to a new study led by a Cornell city planning expert that maps the racial composition of roads by using mobile phone GPS data. The study confirms a racial bias
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DO WE HAVE MORE EMPATHY FOR PEOPLE WHO ARE SIMILAR TO US? NEW RESEARCH SUGGESTS IT’S NOT THAT SIMPLE

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6-8-2024

HOW CAN WE MAKE GOOD DECISIONS BY OBSERVING OTHERS? A VIDEOGAME AND COMPUTATIONAL MODEL HAVE THE ANSWER

How can disaster response teams benefit from understanding how people most efficiently pick strawberries together, or how they choose the perfect ice cream shop with friends? All these scenarios are based on the very fundamental question of how and when human groups manage to adapt collectively to different circumstances. Two recent studies on collective dynamics by the Cluster of Excellence Science of Intelligence (SCIoI) in Berlin, Germany, lay the groundwork to promote better
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OTHERS’ WORDS, NOT FIRSTHAND EXPERIENCE, SHAPE SCIENTIFIC AND RELIGIOUS BELIEF FORMATION, STUDY FINDS

Three proposals explaining the differential confidence. (A) Intuitively, one might assume that confidence in scientific entities (e.g., germs) is higher than confidence in religious entities (e.g., angels) because scientific entities are observable in principle whereas religious entities are not. (B) The Dual- Pathway Model proposes separate information pathways for scientific versus religious beliefs; belief in scientific entities is primarily driven by direct experience of causal outcomes whereas belief in religious entities is primarily driven by testimony. (C) Contrary to these two models, the Unified Model proposes that belief in both
6-8-2024

TRYING TO SAVE MONEY? RESEARCH SUGGESTS PAYING IN CASH—WHILE YOU STILL CAN

Cash is in crisis. In Australia, it’s now only used for 16% of in-person transactions, down from about 70% in 2007. The situation is so dire that on Monday, independent federal MP Andrew Gee introduced a private member’s bill that would force businesses to accept cash or else face big fines. The reality is that over the past decade, technological advancements have utterly transformed the way we pay for goods and services. Phones and smartwatches can now easily be used to pay by card, and buy-now-pay-later
6-8-2024

MESSAGES CAN TRIGGER THE OPPOSITE OF THEIR DESIRED EFFECT—BUT YOU CAN AVOID COMMUNICATION THAT BACKFIRES

The best graduation speeches dispense wisdom you find yourself returning to long after the graduation tassels are turned. Take the feel-good life advice in Baz Luhrmann’s song to a class that graduated 25 years ago. Only on a recent relisten did I realize it also captures one of the research-based strategies I teach for avoiding communication that backfires. The tip is hiding in plain sight in the song’s title, “Everybody’s Free (to Wear Sunscreen).” Communication aimed at promoting a certain behavior can have the opposite
6-8-2024

DIFFERENCES IN EDUCATION, VALUES BETWEEN MEN AND WOMEN CAUSE MISMATCHES WHEN SEEKING A PARTNER, FINDS SPANISH STUDY

The educational expansion of women has led to changes in the differences in educational level of men and women when looking for a partner. Research conducted by the UAB Center for Demographic Studies (CED-CERCA) has examined for the first time the role of discrepancies in gender role values and education among potential spouses. According to the study, about a third of women in favor of gender equality and with a higher education would not be able to find a homogamous male partner. The work is published in the journal Perspectives
6-8-2024

‘FUZZY’ MAPS OFFER INSIGHT INTO LOCAL PERCEPTIONS OF THE VALUE OF VOLUNTEERING

In the global South, volunteer programs are framed by policymakers and scholars as an effective vehicle for empowering women living in poverty. But this narrative often rests on scant knowledge of the perspectives and experiences of a key set of local stakeholders: the volunteers. A new study co-authored by Yale anthropologist Catherine Panter-Brick addresses this knowledge gap by engaging with Syrian refugees and Jordanian women from poor households in Amman, Jordan,
6-8-2024

EXPERTS SAY USE OF POLITICAL MEMES ARE A PREDICTOR OF POLITICAL VIOLENCE

In a study of social media activity prior to Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, researchers at the University of Notre Dame say a sharp increase in politically salient imagery online—visual content designed to influence, dehumanize, manipulate and motivate audiences—was a predictor of the conflict. With collaborators at Colby College and Kennesaw State University, the researchers collected post history from a select group of 989 Russian milbloggers—a term used for “military bloggers”
6-8-2024

PROGRAMS TO PREVENT SEXUAL VIOLENCE SHOW NO EVIDENCE OF CURBING ASSAULTS, ANALYSIS FINDS

Sexual violence prevention programs effectively change ideas and beliefs that underscore assaults, but show no evidence of reducing their actual occurrence, a new comprehensive analysis shows. The findings are published in Psychological Science in the Public Interest. Researchers led by behavioral scientist Roni Porat of Hebrew University challenge the assumption that changing people’s thoughts about sexual violence will change their actual behavior. They call on scientists to study more behavior-centered approaches to reducing sexual
6-8-2024

DIVERSE FRIEND GROUPS PROMOTE BETTER SOCIAL COHESION AND WELL-BEING, STUDY FINDS

New research featuring more than 24,000 people has found that having diverse groups of friends improves well-being and social cohesion, despite people’s tendency to gravitate towards people more similar to them. Led by researchers at the University of Birmingham and published in Psychological Science, the study used data from 24,726 adults from over 10,000 English neighborhoods to examine the composition of people’s social networks according to age, ethnicity, income, and education to understand the implications of homophily (preference for similar people) on social cohesion subjective well-being. Dr. Miguel Ramos, lead
6-8-2024

STUDY SHOWS JUSTICE FACILITY DOGS BENEFIT WELL-BEING FOR CHILDREN FACING COURT

A new Edith Cowan University (ECU) study has revealed that having a four-legged friend at Children’s Court significantly reduces stress and anxiety for young victims, witnesses, and their caregivers. ECU criminology researchers Dr. Suz Rock and Associate Professor Natalie Gately have published the first Australian study to evaluate the impact of introducing a justice facility dog to a Children’s Court. The study “Kids, Courts and Canines: Evaluating the Justice Facility Dog Program through a Therapeutic Lens
6-8-2024

SEXUAL MINORITIES EXPERIENCE MORE EXCLUSION IN EVERYDAY SITUATIONS, FINDS STUDY

Lesbian, gay and bisexual people experience exclusion more frequently than heterosexual people. This is the finding of a recent study published in the Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin by researchers from the University of Basel and the RPTU University of Kaiserslautern-Landau. According to the study, people who are perceived as less gender-conforming are more frequently socially excluded. This could also affect heterosexual people if they deviate from traditional
6-8-2024

STILL RIDING LA’S METRO AFTER THE PANDEMIC? YOU PROBABLY THINK IT’S SAFER THAN THOSE WHO DON’T ANYMORE

As Jon Regardie wrote last year in Los Angeles Magazine, “Metro’s raison d’etre is to get hundreds of thousands of people each day across Southern California.” But the COVID-19 pandemic sent the numbers of riders plummeting to a low of 13%, and ridership still hasn’t fully rebounded. The reason may now be clear, thanks to the latest USC Dornsife LABarometer survey, conducted by the Center for Economic and Social Research (CESR) at the USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences. The survey found that although public transportation ridership in
6-8-2024

CAN VAGUE GO VIRAL FOR GEN Y?

Generation Y, Gen Y, is commonly referred to as the millennial generation. It usually includes individuals born between the early 1980s and the mid-to-late 1990s or early 2000s. This generation follows Generation X and precedes Generation Z. The millennials, it is said, grew up during the transition to digital technology and the rise of the internet, and this has shaped their perspectives, behavior, and the way they use technology and media. They are often characterized as tech-savvy, adaptable, and socially conscious, with a strong affinity for social media and digital
6-8-2024

ITALIAN MOMS WITH 3+ KIDS WORK FAR FEWER YEARS THAN DADS, WHILE FINLAND SHOWS EQUALITY

Over the past century, the number of working women in Western countries has steadily increased. However, numerous studies show that it is still primarily women who have to manage the balancing act between parenthood and working life. Compared to fathers and childless women, mothers often have a less straightforward career path and face greater hurdles to career advancement. Little research has been done on what happens to women’s employment trajectories from midlife when childrearing efforts are
6-8-2024

TOP IT INDUSTRY MANAGERS ARE DIVIDED ON THE NEED FOR FACE-TO-FACE COMMUNICATION IN THE WORKPLACE

Many managers are currently seeking a balance between digital and face-to-face communication. A recent study from the University of Eastern Finland published in Information Technology & People shows that top IT industry managers have different views on when and for what purposes face-to-face communication in the workplace is needed. “Some top managers felt that all work tasks can be performed remotely with the help of digital communication. According to them, face-to-face communication is only necessary for maintaining interpersonal relationships and a sense of community,” says Doctoral Researcher Lotta Salin of
6-8-2024

STUDY FINDS SIMPLE HEADLINES ATTRACT MORE ONLINE NEWS READERS

The competition for online attention in today’s news environment is fierce. High-quality news from credible sources must compete for attention with misinformation and a rapidly increasing amount of partisan content. How can a news organization stand out as a reputable and trustworthy outlet while driving readers to its site? The answer is simple: literally. According to research from Michigan State University, news readers engage more with simple writing, suggesting journalists should write simply—clearly and without ambiguity—to attract attention online. The study was published in the journal Science Advances. “Newsrooms want
6-8-2024

STUDY SHOWS BANNING FALSE INFORMATION TRAFFICKERS ONLINE CAN IMPROVE PUBLIC DISCOURSE

When Twitter banned more than 70,000 traffickers of false information from its platform in the wake of the violence at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, the impact went beyond the silencing of those users. A study co-authored by UC Riverside public policy and political science scholars published in the journal Nature on June 5, found that the crackdown by Twitter (now called X after it was acquired by billionaire Elon Musk in late 2022) also significantly reduced the number of misinformation posts by users who stayed on the
6-8-2024

YOUNG ADULTS SAY STEADY SUPPORT FROM CARING ADULTS MADE DIFFERENCE IN TRANSITIONING FROM CHILD WELFARE SYSTEM

Young people who have exited foster care generally fare better—in work, school and relationships—if they get consistent support from adults who care about them during their teen years. My research team reached these findings by interviewing 21 people, now in their late 20s, who had aged out of foster care when they turned 18, had spent time in foster care as children or grew up in families that had active child welfare cases. These young adults relayed the degree to which they received support from
6-8-2024

HOW THE 1901 DISCOVERY EXPEDITION’S POLAR EXPLORERS STAYED HEALTHY DURING THEIR ANTARCTIC JOURNEY

Antarctica is the most inhospitable continent on earth. It’s dry, cold, and completely dark for months of the year. Edwardian explorers were some of the first to brave the Antarctic winter, developing new knowledge still drawn upon by scientists today. The Discovery expedition (1901–4) played a key role in the history of polar exploration. It was led by the Royal Navy commander Robert Falcon Scott, a pioneering polar explorer who died in 1912 after attempting to reach the south pole. The expedition’s third lieutenant was Ernest Shackleton, who led three
6-8-2024

SUSTAINABLE BUSINESS MODELS INFUSED WITH AGRI-INNOVATION SYSTEMS CAN REDUCE POST-HARVEST FOOD LOSS AND WASTE

developing sustainable business models that are multi-actor networked for integrating them with agricultural innovation systems initiatives can enable a systemic approach for reducing food loss and value loss at the post-harvest
6-8-2024

WILL THE 2024 OLYMPIC GAMES BECOME THE PLAYING FIELD FOR SOCIAL JUSTICE PROTESTS?

Yannick Kluch, a professor of recreation, sport and tourism at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, studies sport as a platform for promoting social justice. Kluch has worked with the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee, U.S. Diving and the National Collegiate Athletic Association. He spoke with research editor Sharita Forrest about the history of Olympic athletes’ social justice protests and governing organizations’ efforts to avert them with Rule 50 of the Olympic Charter.
6-8-2024

STUDY FINDS WE SPEND MORE WITH CASHLESS PAYMENTS

A study found support for the existence of a positive “cashless effect,” which is when consumers spend more when using cashless payment methods in comparison to cash. The study suggests the cashless effect leads people to spend more when purchasing products that are typically used to signal status, such as jewelry. However, the
6-8-2024

LAWS MEANT TO KEEP DIFFERENT RACES APART STILL INFLUENCE DATING PATTERNS, DECADES AFTER BEING INVALIDATED

If you are single and looking for a romantic partner, chances are that you have used a dating app. But the likelihood that others will like, or even see, your profile may depend on your race. Studies have found that all people on dating apps, regardless of their own race, are more likely to contact white people using the app. And all people using dating apps are least likely to contact African American women and Asian American men. Until recently, some popular apps, including OkCupid, Match, Hinge and Grindr, provided
6-8-2024

VIRTUAL LABS IN PSYCHOLOGY RESEARCH BOOST DIVERSITY

University of Oregon psychologists are breaking down barriers to include underrepresented populations in research by bringing laboratories online. The researchers are trying to address a longstanding issue in psychology studies, which often rely on undergraduate students to volunteer as research subjects.
6-8-2024

ATTENDING LOCAL EVENTS STRENGTHENS NEIGHBORHOOD BONDS, SURVEY REVEALS

how often people visit and actively participate in local events and how this affects their sense of place or their connection to their community. A survey of almost 400 households in the state’s coastal council area of the City of Holdfast Bay found that people who frequently attend local events or participate as volunteers, organizers or exhibitors, have a stronger
6-8-2024

STUDY SHOWS ONLINE PROFESSIONAL EDUCATION WORKS FOR COMPLEX TOPICS

“COVID-19 forced educators to adjust their educational best practices to an unfamiliar virtual classroom, and professional development was no different,” said Karen Jo Matsler, assistant professor in practice for UTeach at UTA
6-8-2024

EYE-TRACKING STUDY REVEALS THAT SIMPLY LOOKING AT THE NATURAL WORLD IN URBAN AREAS CAN REAP WELL-BEING BENEFITS

Integrating more natural features into city landscapes can play a crucial role in enhancing the mental well-being of residents. A study by Bangor University and Technion- Israel Institute of Technology, published in the scientific journal People and Nature, involved city dwellers and showed how paying visual attention to greenery, rather than human-made structures, can alleviate anxiety and enhance restorative feelings. The 117 urban residents who took part in the study, were guided on a
6-8-2024

ADVERTISERS MAY BE INADVERTENTLY FUNDING MISINFORMATION

Companies in industries such as health care, technology and insurance have been found to advertise on misinformation websites, according to an analysis published in Nature. In a related experiment, consumers who were made aware that a company advertised on a misinformation website were likely to reject an offer of a gift voucher to spend with that company. The majority of digital advertisement placement on the internet is done via an algorithm-based distribution
6-8-2024

STUDY SUGGESTS EVOLUTIONARY BASIS FOR MALE RISK-TAKING BEHAVIORS

why we associate risk-taking with males rather than females, from an evolutionary standpoint. Study author Hannah Goodman, from UWA’s School of Human Sciences, said researchers found men engaged in riskier behaviors when crossing a busy traffic intersection, supporting growing evidence that risk-taking is predominantly an androcentric behavior. “Males

Boys: Justin, Ripper, Topher
Girls: Anne Maria, Jasmine, MK
Episode 19: The Princess Pride
"Last time, on Total Drama Action! Just when the cast thought they were safe, I swung in to surprise – I mean, antagonize them."
"The cast were forced to use their creative sides while showing off their back sides. As they made superhero costumes out of spandex. And...some other junk. Nice tights!"
"Of course, they were foiled by the diabolical Pythonicus, evil alter-ego of the villainous Chef!"
"In a fight against evil, the cast proved they could be heroes. And also, loooseerrss!"
"In the end, the most diabolical of them all was MK, who twisted things in order to get Chase eliminated."
The recap footage ended, and the scene flashed to the control tent where Chris was waiting with a smile. "Will the Gaffer alliance recover from Chase being gone? Will Anne Maria and Topher keep going out?" he pressed a button on the keyboard to his side, causing a picture of the couple to appear on one of the screens behind him.
"Maybe you'll find out right now?" he shrugged impishly as the scene changed again and he walked towards the cast trailers. "Maybe you won't? On another, totally dramatic episode of," he stopped in his tracks and the camera zoomed out with each further word, "Total! Drama! Action!"
(Theme Song)
The episode began with, of all things, a close-up of some brown and beany mush plopping onto a plate. The camera panned up to reveal its source as burrito beans in the hands of Jasmine being put together. Shots of Ripper, MK, and Justin also showed them making burritos as well.
The camera zoomed out to show the four constructing burritos on the table next to the tent's entrance while Topher and Anne Maria were at the other table, the former overseeing the quartet as he stood on the table and the latter simply applying lipstick to her lips.
“Ten more seconds, guys! The biggest burrito wins!” Topher declared and looked at Anne Maria. “Do you think I'd make a good reality show host?”
Anne Maria put her lipstick away. “Can you excuse me? I'm working on my facial features,” she said.
“But you already worked on yourself in the morning,” Topher said.
“You'd do the same if your hair was lookin’ messy,” Anne Maria retorted.
“Touché,” Topher pulled back.
“And time is up, folks!” MK informed everybody with her watch.
"Ripper, what do you got?” Topher asked the burly boy.
“Allow me to demonstrate my beefcake burrito!” Ripper held up his plate - his burrito has no wrapping and simply consisted of beef shaped into a cake. “I actually managed to make a cake out of beef.”
“How interesting,” Topher observed after getting off the table. “Jasmine, how about you?”
“These are my twin burritos!” Jasmine said with a plate that had two burritos tied together with an elastic rubber band.
“You actually wrapped your burritos?” Topher inspected heavily.
“Of course I did,” Jasmine nodded. “Twins are sometimes inseparable, and it's a good thing that these burritos aren't Siamese, otherwise they would have tried to eat one another.”
Topher laughed at her quip. “Points for that quip,” he said and made his way over to MK. “MK, how did you manage to make your burrito?”
“I am proud to present the MK Whopper!” MK took her burrito out from under the table and presented it - the burrito was shaped to look like MK with the beans as the body, wrap pieces as the hat and clothes, a sliced piece of tomato as the mouth, and pieces of beef as the eyes.
“The burrito is self-serving, but quality effort regardless,” Jasmine commented.
“Quality? Check out the guns on these beans,” Justin objected as his leitmotif played and he whipped out his burrito shaped to look like a flexing bicep. He even flexed his own bicep and moved his eyebrow in order to impress the contestants, but they were unfazed. “Nothing. You feel nothing?”
“Nope,” Jasmine shook her head.
“I was never once into you, Justin,” MK added as well.
“Man, this scratched schnoz has destroyed my looks and my life!” Justin moped. “Why?”
“MK, your self-art and ego is unsurprising, but you did make the biggest and best burrito, so you win,” Topher told her.
“This isn't right,” Justin protested and was now out of his seat. “I demand a second neutral opinion.”
“I'm no doctor or anything, but we all have reality-show-itis, and it's making us turn things into a challenge,” Anne Maria spoke up.
“I'm not sure if that's a thing, but I can't help myself when this day is bland and boring,” Topher said.
Confessional: Justin
“When my good looks went, so did my winning edge,” Justin told the viewers. “But some people are still managing to kick butt, and they're not nearly as good looking as I am!” He paused to think about what he said. “Okay, as I was.”
Confessional Ends
Justin was now sitting next to Anne Maria. “You know, you're the only one taking the game seriously. I just wish I knew how you did it all. It's so inspirational.”
“I'm just playing the game the best I know how,” Anne Maria said. “And it's not by sabotage like Scott did to me.”
“Scott also sabotaged my chances in the game as well,” Justin continued. “Hey, we have something in common.”
“Yeah we do, now go away,” Anne Maria ordered. “I don't know if they'll be a challenge, and I'd like to relax in peace.”
A few off-camera footsteps gave everyone pause, and they looked towards the room's entrance as the shot moved to a side-view of the room. Chef Hatchet had entered wearing a faded purple Medieval-styled costume, complete with a simple horn bearing a flag marked with a simple black-and-purple shield.
He blew a few awkward notes, then the camera moved in for a close-up as he made an announcement. "Hear ye, and rise! For Sir Chris!"
"Sir?!" Jasmine repeated with disbelief. "This Bruce's ego is fussing me to heaps!"
The shot moved back out to show Chris McLean riding atop the same decrepit-looking horse that had been used for a much earlier episode. He was wearing a knight's helmet and holding what looked to be a boot made of glass, and dismounted once Chef laid out a small rug for him to stand on.
"Hold on," Topher said slowly. "Glass slipper. Medieval stuff. This must be a Fairy Tale theme!"
"Topher," Chris said with stern annoyance, "if you ever steal my intro again, I'll have to personally boot you off the show."
"Hey, you can't do that!" Topher protested. "You brought me onto this show!"
"This boot," Chris said happily, "will determine the Princess for today's Fairy Tale movie challenge! The rest of you," he added as the camera panned across the tent from right to left, "compete for the honor of rescuing the fair Princess."
Anne Maria immediately raised her hand eagerly. "I wanna be the Princess!"
"I said the fair Princess," Chris repeated. "And what we think is fair is that the candidates be the ladies who haven't had a win since the merge: MK," he looked at the unamused techno, "and Jasmine." The focus moved to the Outback girl, who merely raised an eyebrow.
Confessional: Jasmine
"Okay, I am not Princess material," Jasmine said in the make-up confessional. "Not only am I too tall to fit the role, but I'm not really interested in fairy tales."
Confessional Ends
A short drumroll preceded an even shorter chanted note as MK and Jasmine approached the end of the table closest to the tent entrance.
"Yeah, there's no way that I'm gonna be some Princess, McLean!" MK barked at the host who was standing nearby with the glass boot still in his hand. "And don't even try to jam that boot on my foot."
"Okay," Chris said slowly, "that's a no for MK. Jasmine, you're up."
"Well, I'm not fond of fairy tales," Jasmine said, "but I might as well."
"Hold on there, Thunder from Down Under," Chris told her. "You have to put the boot on first. Make sure you're actually Princess material."
Jasmine frowned. "Okay then." She sat on the end of the table, slipped off one of her shoes, and tried to force it on.
The host and other castmates watched as she grunted and began to sweat, trying to get the boot onto her foot. Eventually, she let out a disappointed breath and held the boot back up. "It's no use," Jasmine told the host. "I can't get it on, and even then, it would shatter to pieces."
"Well," Chris said blankly, "guess that's both candidates out, unless MK changes her mind."
MK just glared at him. "Not a chance."
Anne Maria immediately grinned. "Yo Chris!"
"Looks like we have to do another selection method," Chris grabbed the glass boot and began to turn, only for Anne Maria to dart forward and snatch the footwear away from him.
Anne Maria swiftly tossed aside one of her heels and replaced it with the glass boot. "There," she said with a smile, raising her leg to show the boot glimmering on the end of it, "I always knew that I was meant to be royalty!"
"Fine, Anne Maria can be the Princess," Chris said heavily. "Let's just get this over with. Chef?" he looked back over his shoulder, and the shot pulled back to show the hulking man arriving back on the scene. He had changed into a pale blue ballerina's outfit, and had strapped a pair of fake wings to his back that, along with the glittering 'wand' in his hand, gave him the appearance of a fairy godmother.
"I dub thee, Princess Anne Maria," Chef said shortly as a touching song played, waving the wand above the grinning girl's head and releasing a cloud of sparkling dust that nearly choked Topher, Ripper, and Justin.
Confessional: MK
"Anne Maria as the Princess?" MK told the confessional camera with a snort and a laugh. "I wouldn't want to be in that Fairy Tale. Along with any others out there."
Confessional Ends
A harp played in the background as an image of Chris' head and a large hardcover book appeared on screen in front of a yellowish stock background. "It's story time, with uncle Chris," the host's disembodied head said before the scene flashed to him seated in a large purple armchair with the same book in hand. His left hand was on a joystick built into the arm of the chair, and he seemed to be slowly rolling through the set.
"Once upon a time," he began slowly, the camera pulling back to show the host rolling up to the contestants minus Anne Maria on a wheeled platform, his chair joined by a matching footstool, pedestal side table, and even a fireplace. "Five brave knights went on a quest to rescue a Princess from her ivory tower." He pulled back on the joystick, and the platform came to a stop. "But, it wasn't gonna be easy! First," he looked at the staircase behind him, "the knights had to get past my very good friend," the shot quick-panned up and left to Chef, now dressed in a tattered vest and trousers with a long moss-green wig and beard, "the Terrible Toothless Troll!" The shot zoomed in on Chef as he quickly blackened a few of his front teeth with a sharpie. "And, his Bad Breaks Bridge!"
The camera zoomed out even further as a few ominous chants played in the background, showing a large mountainous set featuring a rickety rope bridge over a treacherous and craggy fake waterfall. The contestants gulped.
"To get past the Terrible Toothless Troll," Chris read on, "the knights had to wear disguises! There was the Frog Prince," he grabbed a vaguely frog-like great helm from behind his chair and tossed it to Justin, "and the Ugly Stepsister," he tossed a large wig of wavy red hair in a tall bun to MK. "Snow White," he tossed a pink sleep mask to Jasmine, "and one of her Seven Dwarves," he followed that up by throwing a tall wizard's hat patterned with stars, moons, and lightning bolts to Topher. "Aaand," the host finished by pulling out a bright red hooded cape, "Little Red Riding Hood."
He tossed it to Ripper, who raised an eyebrow as he caught it. "Seriously? Can't I just be Riding Red?"
"No dice dude. That's what it says in the script," Chris told him as an unseen intern delivered a plate of milk and cookies to the host's side table. He turned and grabbed one, saying "Good work, kid," before continuing his monologue. "And so, the Ugly approached the Terrible Troll."
"I can't see in this thing!" MK said.
"Oh yeah," Chris said to a dramatic rise in the background music, "for this challenge, each knight is blind." The five teens immediately began to protest, causing the host to snap at them. "Nowhere in this story does it say 'the cowardly knights complained'!" he told the cast with a brief glance at his book. "So get it together, steppy, and get crossing!"
The footage skipped ahead to show MK slowly inching her way across the bridge while holding on to one of the rope rails. "This ain't too bad," she said to herself. She was hit by several red apples in rapid succession, causing her to yelp in pain.
"Oh, also," Chris said as the shot cut back to him, "those are Wicked Witch's apples, so, they're poisonous and rotten. You might wanna watch..."
He stopped talking as the shot cut back to MK slipping on one of the apples and fell off the bridge to the rocky set below. The camera followed as she fell and bounced off of several outcroppings before landing onto the hard ground. The shot cut briefly to the other contestants as they winced in pain before cutting back to the techno girl lying awkwardly on the ground with an apple in her mouth.
"Well, looks like MK isn't fairy tale hero material," Chris commented, dunking one of his cookies into his glass of milk. The short girl writhed in pain.
Confessional: MK
MK had on a neck brace and bandages around her head and torso, "I'm having trouble remembering what happened after the fall. Does that mean I have a concussion?"
Confessional Ends
A harp was played as the footage cut back to the other contestants standing at the start of the bridge. "Next, the eighth dwarf," Chris said as he moved his platform around towards the far staircase. "He grabbed a fistful of courage and headed across the bridge."
Topher glanced over at Chef. The man had hunched over, and was slapping a cat o' nine tails against his hand with a wild grin. He took a deep breath, put on the wizard’s hat over his eyes, and charged forward with a battle cry. Chef raised his eyebrows and rushed out to stop him, but he jumped onto a rope rail and ran through it until he was past Chef.
"Did I make it?" Topher asked, having reached the other side.
Confessional: Topher
"Poise classes have taught me to always be aware of my surroundings, whether I’m blindfolded or not," Topher grinned. "And with Anne Maria as the Princess, I’m not botching this one."
Confessional Ends
The footage skipped ahead to Jasmine's attempt, the sleeping mask already over her eyes and her hands firmly on the ropes of the bridge as she walked forward at a steady pace. Chef squeezed a mother goose, launching a golden egg out of its rear like a bullet. It shot past the girl's shoulder. "What was that?" Jasmine asked as she moved her head to track it. A second egg hit her square in the chest, knocking her back a step and putting a grin on Chef's face.
Jasmine frowned for a moment, then took a cautious step that was apparently at the bridge's weak point. The camera zoomed in on the bridge as it rippled, knocking loose every plank all the way to Chef. With a gasp and a scream, the troll and his goose fell, and the scene cut to him as he grabbed something behind his back. "They don't pay me enough for this!" Chef yelled, pulling the cord of a hidden parachute and floating down safely.
Jasmine was unaware of the danger and took one more step, expectedly screaming and falling. The camera cut to Chris as he followed the Amazon girl's fall and winced at the sound of an impact. "Awesome!" he cheered. "You’re up, froggy." The scene cut to the start of the bridge where Justin stood. "Then Captain Hood after that."
Justin put on his helmet. "At least my face will be protected from further indignity," he said as he slowly moved towards the bridge. He walked right shoulder into one of the posts holding up the bridge.
Ripper laughed. "Tough break, pretty boy," he jeered. "Go a little to the right." The eye candy followed the advice and walked into the other pole, causing Ripper to laugh. "Sorry man!" the bully called before laughing again.
Chef was shown running past the center of the bridge with an ax raised and ready to strike, while Justin stayed at the bridge completely oblivious. Ripper laughed once more and pushed the model into the cook. "Let me give you a hand," he said as he did so. Chef brought his ax down and hit the hot boy's helmet, causing the eyes to spin comically and Ripper to laugh once more.
Confessional: Justin
“There I was, down dirty, and deafened,” Justin recapped his failure. “And I thought "W.W.A.M.D.": What would Anne Maria do? And then it came to me! She'd use her head.”
Confessional Ends
With a battle cry, Justin rushed the cook with his helmet and ran him over, safely making it to the other side. "Justin's still got it!" Chris said as the camera cut to him. "All right, the final knight attempting to enter Fairy Tale Land is," the shot cut to Ripper as he tied a blindfold over his eyes and faced away from the camera, "Riding Red! We're over this way!"
"My seeing is good," Ripper said as he turned around. The camera cut to his perspective to show that he could actually see Chef putting on a blonde pigtailed wig. "I'm able to see Chef as a female troll! Hilarious!"
"Rapunzel dude, let down your hair!" Chris called, and Chef lengthened one of the pigtails and began swinging it around. He cracked it like a whip at the bully, who dodged it.
The camera cut to Justin watching Ripper avoid every attack. "Hey! He can see!" he cried.
"How?" Chris asked sarcastically. "With his X-ray vision? That'd be cool."
Chef attacked one last time, but Ripper grabbed onto the pigtail and swung across to safety with a whoop.
The footage skipped ahead to a close-up of Chris's book as he began to narrate once again. "And so, the Terrible Toothless Troll knocked off two losers," the shot pulled back to show Jasmine, wearing a leg cast and her right arm in a sling, and MK sitting on the ground nearby. "But," the camera panned over to Justin, Ripper, and Topher on the right, "three semi-brave knights made it to the other side and continued on their noble quest. Whereupon I, in my wisdom, inspired them with a vision of Princess Anne Maria."
The shot pulled back even further, revealing that the group had assembled in front of a small stage with a pink-tinted backdrop depicting a large white castle off in distant hillsides. A slow piano melody began to play as Anne Maria, now dressed in a regal-looking pink gown and tiara, was lowered onto the stage by a few wires.
"When I was a little girl, I'd dream of my first kiss," Anne Maria began to sing in a rather mediocre voice the moment she hit the stage and the wired harness was reeled back up. "It would come from my perfect prince!" A number of tiny birds and chipmunks gathered around her, the birds even landing on her hands. "And in my dream, it went like this!"
The scene immediately cut to the three remaining knights as they watched the performance. Justin and Topher were both stunned by her display, while Ripper couldn't care less.
“She's the most beautiful thing I have ever seen,” Justin said.
Definitely,” Topher chimed in.
“I must've been so busy seeing her as a potential alliance member and extra vote that I didn't see her outer beauty. Wow,” Justin continued in amazement. “We'll be the best looking couple in the kingdom!”
The music came to a halt as Topher and Ripper were surprised by what just came out of Justin's mouth.
“Excuse me, but I am still dating her!” Topher objected heavily.
“And there's no way she'll ever be into you,” Ripper told Justin.
“I saw you cheat, Ripper,” Justin let him know. “You don't deserve to be anybody's prince.”
“And who died and made you the rule master?” Ripper faced the handsome boy threateningly.
"Guys, guys!" Chris said, stepping forward and getting between the boys. "No need to fight! At least not until after this break," he declared happily. "Will Ripper inflict any deformities on Justin? Or will Justin's ripped physique bring two tons of hurt down on Topher's head? Find out when we come back!"
(Commercial Break)
The footage came back to a distance shot of the stage Anne Maria was still singing on, her music resuming as the shot cut closer.
"My prince will be tall and handsome," she sang, the camera panning down to catch Justin standing straight and proud. "My prince will be tough as nails," Ripper flexed his biceps and then lifted a startled Topher over his head.
"My prince will have lots of money," Anne Maria continued, the camera moving back on her as she showered the stage with a wad of cash. "My prince will tame wild whales!" She flexed her own arms, Chris nodded to the beat, and the shot cut to Topher looking at a small and rather disoriented baleen whale on the floor in confusion.
The shot panned down to Jasmine and MK who were watching the performance with boredom on their faces.
"How are you feeling about the whole Fairy Tale thing?" Jasmine asked MK.
"Couldn't care less," MK answered bluntly. "I just don't know why we have to keep watching though."
A close-up was shown of Anne Maria reaching for a wary-eyed frog in a small crown, the Jersey girl pulling it closer to her as she finished her song. "When we kiss~, my prince will be you~!" As the music ended, she held up the frog and kissed it on the lips, but broke almost immediately in a fit of revulsion.
Anne Maria threw the frog away from her, and it landed on Justin's face. "Warts! Get it off!" he cried out as he ran around trying to get the frog out.
"Wasn't that song brilliant?" Chris asked as the focus moved back to him, Jasmine, and MK. "It was so brilliant, I know everyone wishes they could hear it over, and over, and over again! And now they can." He snapped his fingers, and a CD case bearing Princess Anne Maria's picture on the cover was placed in his waiting hand.
"Relive the magic of Anne Maria for only $12.99," he told the camera as a deep and theatrical tune began to play. "Call 555-SELLOUT to get your authentic Princess Anne Maria CD," he added as the camera zoomed in on the case, "before everyone else downloads it illegally!"
"I'll take one!" Topher quickly begged, earning him a CD. "This will be worth spending thirteen dollars of my money."
Confessional: Topher
"My prince will buy me lots of hot dogs! My prince will love ponies too!" Topher was listening to the CD through headphones as his confessional began. "Her singing isn't the best, but I do want to support her," he told the camera.
Confessional Ends
"After risking my life for you, I have come to realize this!" Justin said as he approached the stage. "You're the most beautiful girl I've ever seen. And the smartest. What are the odds?"
He offered his hand to Anne Maria, but she didn't take it. "Thanks for telling me what I already know!"
"Uhh, aren't you going to compliment me on my bravery?" Justin asked.
"Nah! Princesses are supposed to be complimented in my world,” Anne Maria said, to Justin's disappointment. “It's not their job to give them out to anyone, but for me, I'll make an exception for Topher, the handsomest knight around!”
The camera moved to Ripper rolling her eyes and Topher smiling. “And you are the most beautiful princess around!” Topher complimented back before a sound caught the attention of both. They turned their heads at once and the scene followed their gaze over to Chef, still in his troll costume but now riding the same fly-ridden horse from earlier in the episode.
"How has that horse not died yet?" MK commented. "It can't be in good condition after all their time being used on this show."
"Just because it's a little old, doesn't mean it's not fighting for their life," Jasmine told her.
Anne Maria hopped onto the horse's back while Ripper and Topher came over. “Are we supposed to catch him?" Topher asked.
"No, it's a classic princess abduction," Chris explained calmly. "As the villain makes a whirlwind getaway on a swift steed."
Chef kicked the horse with his feet, but it didn't react. "Guess ol' Betsy here didn't read the script," he said gruffly.
"Kick harder," Chris commanded, and Chef promptly complied. A stronger kick caused the horse to kick backwards, hitting Justin – who had been standing closest - right in the face.
"That did it," Chef said as Justin was shown to have a few teeth knocked out and a bruised right eye.
"So, that's how the three knight dudes lost the Princess," Chris narrated, "But fate, aka me, wasn't finished with them." Chef and Anne Maria rode off behind him. "They followed the troll all the way to a fight to the death, because that's how I like my princesses saved."
"Sir Topher!" Anne Maria called out playfully as she was slowly abducted. "You better be the one who rescues me!"
"These two haven't even got a chance!" Topher replied arrogantly.
"As good luck, I'll give you my favor to carry into the battle!" Anne Maria tossed the glass boot, but it unintentionally hit Justin in the face.
Confessional: Justin
Justin was having his bruises covered up by make-up brushes from two unknown people while the glass boot was on the table.
“Falling for Anne Maria has been hard on the face. I think we'll have a no glass shoes policy if we start dating soon,” Justin informed and put the boot away. “I have no idea what Chase and Millie's policies are, but they're probably less dignified.”
Confessional Ends
The footage cut forward to a close-up of the old horse chewing on some hay before the camera panned over to a small castle archway propped up against a tower of some sort. "Sir Justin, Sir Topher, and Sir Ripper reached the ivory tower in which the troll had stuck the super tanned princess," Chris read as the three remaining competitors walked into the scene and he followed on his rolling platform. The shot panned up the towers, where several other pieces of crenelated wall had been attached here and there, and at the very top there was a pinkish spire and balcony where Princess Anne Maria waited.
"But there was only one way to rescue her," the host continued with a grin on his face and tense music building in the background. "One of the brave knights had to slay the dragon!"
"Dragon?!" Jasmine asked in alarm. "Tell me you didn't get a real dragon for this!"
"Seeing as dragons don't exist," MK told her, "I find that highly unlikely."
"She's right," Chris said as the music switched to something more ominously lurking. "We're reusing the alien monster guy."
Seconds later, a few tremendous mechanical footsteps were heard. MK and Jasmine looked to stage right and the camera pulled back, showing off the animatronic monster in all its glory. Chef was wearing the motion capture suit that controlled it, and it had been given a hood with horns, a scraggly 'beard', and two tiny wings in order to make it look more draconic. Chef raised his arms menacingly, and the monster echoed the pose and growled.
"Let the dragon slaying begin!" Chris announced, pulling out a trio of wooden swords and throwing them to the knights. Ripper caught the shortest, Topher the most slender, and Justin the broadest, and the three turned to face the tower and dragon.
"I'm counting on you, Sir Topher!" Anne Maria called from above, smiling at the fanboy and blowing him a kiss. He accepted it with a grin, and Anne Maria turned her attention to the other two knights and frowned. "As for you two, you'll need all the luck you can get."
"Yeah, cause I'll be the one who's going to slay today!" Topher boasted before turning and charging at the dragon.
"Not so fast," Justin charged at Topher and the two clashed their swords into each other's, only breaking when they noticed a foot-shaped shadow fall upon them. They rolled out of the way before the monster stomped them, and the camera panned over to Justin landing next to Ripper.
“You want Topher to win?” Justin faced Ripper.
“Like I care which one of you wins,” Ripper scoffed.
“Then help me take him down and I'll let you win,” Justin offered.
Ripper thought about it, and the viewpoint moved over to Chef guiding the monster in stomping and snapping at Topher. He was able to strike the dragon's head with his sword. “You are not going to stop me from rescuing Anne Maria!” the fanboy told the dragon.
“Just get them both chasing you,” Ripper suggested.
“And why?” Justin asked.
“Do you want to stop that monster or not?” Ripper glared. “Just do it!”
Justin sighed but complied, and both Topher and the Chef-controlled monster made moves to chase after him while Ripper watched from the sidelines.
“Are you going to fight me or run away from me?!” Topher asked with a taunt.
“Justin, you're going to stop running in 3…2…1!” Ripper ordered, and Justin paused his dash.
Topher also stopped chasing him as well, and the dragon, who was still trying to chase the others, caught its foot on Topher and somehow tripped. It flailed its arms humorously before crashing to the ground.
"A job well done," Ripper said as he ran over to the large red button on the side of the beast's neck. “Now to claim my second immunity win in a row!” he said as he readied his sword to finish it off, but Justin came up to push him off the dragon and onto the floor.
"Sorry Ripper," Justin told him. "If Izzy was the prize, I'm sure you'd do the same thing." He plunged his sword into the dragon's neck, causing it to fizzle and short out. "Anne Maria," he dramatically called out, "your prince is coming."
"Some prince," Ripper mocked.
The camera panned to the right to show Chris' moving platform as he arrived with Jasmine and MK in tow.
"Wanna rescue Princess Anne Maria too?" he asked the camera. "Now you can, for only $79.95!" he pulled out a pink-and-yellow striped box and held it up for the camera, a vaguely Anne Maria-shaped doll barely visible inside. "Order your very own Princess Anne Maria Limited Edition Glass Boot Doll! Playing with the Anne Maria doll is more fun and less dangerous than playing with the real Anne Maria. Guaranteed!" He finished with a cheesy grin.
The scene cut to the top of the ivory tower as Justin climbed up to the balcony where Anne Maria waited. "I have arrived!" Justin announced.
"Not the guy I was expecting, but a reward is a reward," Anne Maria grumbled and the two moved in for a kiss.
"Wait, wait, there's no kissing!" Chris interrupted the two from his chair.
“What?” Justin felt confused.
“Oh yeah!” Topher cheered from under the dragon.
"It says here that Prince Justin and Princess Anne Maria must sword fight to determine the true winner!" Chris explained while reading off his book.
"Which means I still have a chance at winning immunity?" Anne Maria asked quickly.
"You're much smarter than most princesses," Chris replied.
"Usually, most fairy tales end with a kiss," Jasmine said.
"Well, this is a modern tale," Chris explained. "Gals have to fight for themselves."
“You can say that again,” MK agreed.
“If that's how it has to be-” Anne Maria said.
“No,” Justin cut her off, now kneeling on one leg. “I am a noble gentleman. A brave knight. A handsome prince. I would never hurt a lady.”
“But you would hurt a guy working with you,” Ripper interjected after getting up on his feet.
“I said I was sorry, Ripper,” Justin told him with annoyance and focused back on Anne Maria. “I refuse to raise a sword to Anne Maria.” Anne Maria took the sword from him. “I give up any chance at immunity to spare her. And now…”
Justin puckered his lips and moved close, only for his eyes to widen. The camera pulled back to show the hilt of the sword buried in his crotch.
“Not sorry! I'm already taken!" Anne Maria declared before pushing Justin off.
Justin fell with a scream until he hit one of the 'towers' on his cheek. He kept on hitting one tower after another until he hit the ground on his back in severe pain. “I'm okay!”
The camera panned over to Chris and the other losers. "Anne Maria wins immunity! Again!" the host announced.
"Yes!" Anne Maria cheered.
The opening sequence of the Gilded Chris Ceremony came and went, leaving the scene focused on the tux-wearing host at his podium. "So," Chris began with an award already in his hand, "with immunity, Anne Maria is the first to win a Gilded Chris." He tossed the statuette to the girl, sitting on the left side of the bleachers, and she caught it with a smug grin.
"Immunity and my own dolls? How much better can this day get?" Anne Maria said.
"Well, it's not like you're getting the profits from the Princess Anne Maria line," Chris said plainly.
Anne Maria's eyes popped open in shock. "Uh, what?!" she said in outrage. “It's my line!”
“I’m saying that you're not going to get the profits because they’ll be sent over to your family for safekeeping, along with a Princess Anne Maria doll,” Chris explained. “I don't want any of my interns or producers to take what's rightfully yours. Lawsuits and all.”
“Oh!” Anne Maria said in relief. “I'm relieved, but I'm also upset that you made me act like an idiot!”
"Then you should have let me finish! Also still in the competish," Chris announced with another two awards in his hand, "MK and Jasmine." The former caught her prize in her lap with a confident grin, and the latter with a happy smile.
"And also Ripper," the host continued, the camera panning to the bully who smiled as he caught his award.
Spotlights were put on Justin and Topher, the former in a body cast. "Who will live happily ever after, and who will die penniless," Chris said as the music built dramatically. "And the last Gilded Chris goes to… Justin!"
"What?!" Anne Maria stood up. "You have to be joking! Justin should be going home!"
"Yeah, you're right. I was just kidding," Chris said. "Justin's actually the one who's been eliminated."
Topher caught his award. “I knew I would be safe.”
Confessional: Topher
“I told everybody to vote off Justin,” Topher confirmed. “He tried to move in on my girlfriend, and him getting booted would serve him right. The best part is, everybody was on board with it and I didn’t even have to try and convince them.”
Confessional Ends
Justin got up and started to head to the red carpet, but stopped to look at the contestants. “So is no one even going to miss me?”
“I never liked you,” MK shrugged.
“See ya,” Ripper said apathetically. “Get better soon, or sometime.”
“Okay, stop already! I'm going! But you'll regret it,” Justin told them and walked to the red carpet. Before getting into the limousine, he gave one last look to the remaining players. “With me gone, this competition just got eighty percent less handsome.” The eye candy turned around, only to hit his head on the roof. “All right, seventy-nine!” he groaned.
The footage paused there, and the camera pulled back to show it on one of the monitors in the control tent. Chris was sitting in his chair playing with a couple of Princess Anne Maria dolls, a few more scattered on the nearby desk.
"I know what I told Anne Maria, but marketing says that our target audience is too old for dolls," Chris told the camera as the footage on the monitor cut to static. "They're just not selling!" He looked to the side, and the camera panned to follow and show Chef playing with a group of Princess Anne Maria dolls dressed up as soldiers.
"Princesses, attack!" he said with a dark grin, lighting a miniature cannon with a match as the deeper and more dramatic ending theme began to play. The cannon fired with a puff, blowing the heads off two of the dolls.
Chris gave him an odd look, then turned back to the camera. "Hey target audience! Make sure you don't miss the next kiss-filled episode of Total! Drama! Action!" As soon as he finished saying the title, he mashed the mouths of the two dolls he was holding together and made kissing sounds. "Now you see, Chef," he told his companion, "that's how you play with dolls."
(Roll the Credits)
(Bonus Clip)
The scene opened to Justin sitting on the back seat of the limousine with the glass boot in hand. “What I've learned? Well, maybe that good looks won't take you everywhere you want to go,” he said wisely. “I mean, what have I ended up with? A wounded face, a bruised ego, and a shoe that I can't even wear. Maybe if I stopped modeling and threw all my energy into getting smarter, more girls could fall in love with me,” he thought. “But modeling pays. And Jesús, my booker, says that even with my severe facial wounds, he can get me a bunch of leg modeling and some celebrity kid's birthday party. So, love schmove.” He threw the glass boot out the window, and a shattering sound indicated that the boot was destroyed.
Eva - 15th
Geoff - 15th
Izzy - RETURNED
Trent - 13th
Sky - 12th
Brick - 11th
Scott - 10th
Izzy - 9th
Millie - 8th
MERGE
Chase - 7th
Justin - 6th
Boys: Ripper, Topher
Girls: Anne Maria, Jasmine, MK

Whirlpool ET1PHKXPQ08 top freezer refrigerator
I noticed the freezer was maybe not staying cold enough a few days or week ago. Then last night we put ice trays in and by morning they still weren't frozen.
I looked under the bottom front and the coil were clogged with thick dust. I vacuumed that out then also shut off the breaker for 10 minutes and then turned it back on to reset.
The fridge ran nonstop for several hours. I don't think I could hear the usual compressor noise.
The freezer I staying pretty cold. I don't have a thermometer, but I have a laser thermometer gun. The food containers inside the fridge were around 45 or even 50 deg. The freezer items seen to have gotten colder and are near 0 or in the teens.
I removed the back panel of the freezer and the fan is working and there was not any frost on the coils, so don't think it's a defrost issue.
I don't know if the fridge has a damper. Is it possible for models to not have a damper? The plastic housing where the inlet and outlet are doe not seem to be removable or I'm worried I'll break it or the foam under. It has two tabs but I can't get them pushed or flexed to get the housing off.
Just now I believe I heard the sound of the compressor, which I hadn't been hearing before.
Any thoughts? If the compressor is bad, would the freezer still be maintaining a cold temp? What should the temp of the actual products in the fridge be? Should they be below 40 deg, or I that just the fridge and the items are a bit warmer?

demographics: asian male, rising senior, small, public, charter ib school
Location: new mexico
intended major: political science or public policy
ACT: 34
gpa: UW:4.0 W: 5.0
coursework: all ib classes, L&L (HL), Math AI, History (HL) , TOK, Biology, Mandarin (AB), Theatre (HL)
ecs:

• started youth voting group: pre registered 50+ voters, created and maintained social media page spreading info about voting in state (100+ followers), partnered with local nonprofits
  
• student council: member (9) treasurer, (10) member (11)
  
• model un club: co president and founder
  

-volunteered at local children’s museum (150+ hours) and was a counselor for summer program (supervised groups of 30+ children (Ages 4-9)along with my fellow counselors, teaching them STEAM based lessons and conducting STEAM based experiments) - teen writer for local newspaper circulation ~23,00)

• interned at mayor’s office under public affairs; created and supervised projects, chosen to meet president biden and white house press secretary during presidential visit
  
• volunteered for local nonprofit helping youth in the foster care system/ homeless youth
  
• tutored underprivileged students at local elementary school and peer tutored students (7,9,11 in mandarin at my school
  
• assisted with research at nearby law school, reviewed sources, compiled information, etc.
  
• interned for member of the house of representatives for my state; reviewed advisory meetings and tracked press clippings
  

awards: 1) 2nd place in statewide mandarin competition 2) received award for academic excellence from school

3) received award for exhibiting the ib trait of “knowledgable”

letters of recommendation: history teacher (11), english teacher (12) mayor (harvard alum), member of house of representatives (brown alum)
REACHES: Harvard, Stanford, Yale, Princeton, Columbia, UPenn, Williams, Amherst, Brown, Dartmouth, Rice, USC, Northwestern, Rice UChicago, Duke (legacy), Boston University, NYU, Georgetown
TARGETS: Baylor, American
BACKUP: UNM, NMSU

The tearsheet of Waste Management which i compiled can be found here:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/15qwGjsW6yMPTPIl9e_FwdQ-bV4WNVquXW5ZS3Ilwolw/edit?usp=sharing
Please note, i removed all formulas.

I am sharing something which i wrote for myself recently.
Please note, the description and operations are lifted verbatim from their website.

Waste Management $WM.
"Description: Waste Management, Inc. is the leading provider of comprehensive waste and environmental services in North America. Headquartered in Houston, the company’s network of operations includes 431 collection operations, 381 transfer stations, 286 active landfill disposal sites, 17 waste-to-energy plants, 119 recycling plants and 90 beneficial-use landfill gas projects.
These assets enable Waste Management to offer a full range of environmental services to 22 million residential, industrial, municipal and commercial customers."

Their operations:

COLLECTION. Waste Management provides solid waste collection services to millions of customers across North America, ranging in size from the single residential subscription to large national customers requiring comprehensive, one-source waste programs to serve hundreds of locations. With 25,000 collection and transfer vehicles, the company has the largest trucking fleet in the waste industry. The company uses advanced technology and disciplined programs to bring improved efficiency to the process of solid waste collection.
TRANSFER. With most of the waste collected by Waste Management going to its own landfills, a supporting network of transfer stations provides an important link for efficient disposal. Waste Management has 381 strategically located transfer stations to consolidate, compact and load waste from collection vehicles into long-haul trailers, barge containers and rail cars for transport to landfills.
DISPOSAL. Waste Management operates the largest network of landfills in its industry, with 286 active sites managing the disposal of more than 120 million tons of waste per year. The company operates its sites according to standards of safety and environmental compliance that go beyond regulatory requirements. Waste Management is focused on solutions that impact the future of solid waste management, including bioreactor technology, which accelerates the decomposition of organic waste through the managed introduction of air and liquids into the waste mass. Currently, the company is conducting research at 10 landfills to confirm the environmental benefits of bioreactor technology as an alternative method for managing landfill waste.
RECYCLING. As the largest recycler of municipal solid waste in North America, Waste Management handles more than eight million tons of recyclable materials each year, largely through its 119 recycling facilities. Through the resources of Recycle America Alliance, a majority-owned subsidiary, WM provides costefficient, environmentally sound recycling programs for municipalities, businesses and households across the U.S. and Canada.
LANDFILL GAS PROJECTS. For many years, Waste Management has worked with businesses, industries and public utilities across North America to develop beneficial-use projects from landfill gas. This gas is a reliable, renewable energy source that is produced naturally as waste decomposes in landfills. When collected, it can be used directly as medium Btu gas for industrial use or sold to gas-to-energy plants to fuel engine or turbine-driven generators that produce electricity. WM currently supplies landfill gas to 90 beneficial-use projects nationwide. The company’s 57 gas-to-electricity projects provide more than 260 megawatts of energy, enough to power 230,000 homes. The 33 projects that sell landfill gas as fuel to industrial users replace more than 2.6 million barrels of oil each year.
WASTE-TO-ENERGY. Waste Management’s Wheelabrator Technologies subsidiary pioneered the use of municipal solid waste for fuel in the generation of electrical power in the U.S. more than 25 years ago. Since then, the company has processed more than 117 million tons of municipal solid waste into energy, saving more than 180 million barrels of oil while generating nearly 64 billion kilowatt hours of electricity. Its 17 waste-to-energy plants have the capacity to process more than 24,200 tons of waste per day into electrical or steam energy. Together the plants generate an aggregate 690 megawatts of electric energy, enough to power 600,000 homes
FROM WM website

A. SWOT

1. Strength
1.1 Strong Competitive Advantage
1.1.1 Regulations on Landfill licence.
WM and RSG and WCN control 80% of the landfill in north america. WM owns 5 out of the biggest 10 landfill in the US. Landfills are not easy to get approved for construction, mainly due to residential communities generally being averse to having them near their homes. This provides a significant "moat" against future competition in the landfill space. Many of Waste Management's collection competitors are forced to pay the company to use its landfills due to the lack of other options and the difficulty in constructing new landfills.
1.1.2 Scale of Vertical integration
The vertical integration model, where the company owns and operates its own landfills, transfer stations, and material recovery facilities (MRFs), Renewable natural gas extraction allows management to pull significantly more levers to drive results than smaller competitors. Margins are higher, and absorbing the large costs associated with the maintenance of all that infrastructure is dispersed across a much larger operation.
ETC
1.1 Shareholder-friendly Management
Growing dividend, and this has attracted quite a following among dividend investors The company is also increasingly buying back stock. In 1Q24, the company spent $250 million on buybacks, slightly less than the $300 million it spent on dividends. This dividend is protected by a low 40% payout ratio and comes with a history of 20 consecutive annual dividend hikes and a five-year CAGR of 8.4%.
The CEO James C. Fish, owns ~172 thousand shares worth over $28 million. His 2022 compensation was $14.8 million, of which $8 million was in stock awards and $1.7 million in stock options. Mr. Fish has a tenure of 7.3 years. The CFO (Devina A. Rankin) also had over 50% of her compensation package rewarded in stock, and as of 2022, she owned 65.5k shares and 14k options, together worth over $13 million.
In the last five years, the share price has compounded at 13.91% a year excluding dividends ( Jun 10th 2019 closing price was 104.57, june 7th 2024 closing price is 200.55).
1.2 Management takes a long term view of then business, and has made acquisitions where it made sense.
In 2020, WM acquired Advanced Disposal Services (ADS), a leader in in recycling and landfill gas-to-energy.
In 2022, the company started to implement RNG (renewal natural gas) extraction from waste and by 2026 to have a 400m run rate ebitda from RNG.
In 2024 June, WM announced that they are seeking to buy Stericyle for $7.2 billion. Stericycle is a leader in medical waste disposal.
1.3 The business is recession resistant but it is not immune.
WM will be impacted in a recession as 70% of collections revenue come from their commercial and industrial customers. A slow down in the economy general means a slow down in economic activities and trash. This is especially true for housing starts, a slow down in construction sector will temporarily impact the business. It is resistant because the business is a recurring one, and most of the commercial agreements are signed for 3 to 5 years.
The company was not immuned from short-term headwinds caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The company resorted to flexible contract for commercial accounts during the crisis, and that smaller businesses got offered free service in the near term. However the dip lasted until April and the company’s SP ended 2020 higher than it started.
In the 2022 decline of the general stock market, the share price dipped only 5.4% for the whole year from $166 to $157.
1.4 Strong financials
In the last ten years, the company has had only 1 and 2 years where revenue and EPS werelower than the previous year. Their stated debt to ebitda ratio is 2.5 to 3.
Their ROE and ROIC metrics have grown in the past five years, although it is still in the low teens, it is considered the best of class in this business.

1. Weaknesses

2.1. Exposure to recycled prices.
WM was quite exposed to recycled prices in 2018, chinese recycled goods were dumped onto the US market and caused price volatility. WM then changed the pricing model to reduce its exposure by generating more revenue from the collection of recycling. So instead of an 0.20 EPS impact due to a 40% volatility, the impact is now just $0.06-0.08.
2.2 This is a high Capex business.
The CAPEX was supposed to go down after spending the elevated sum to build the RNG plants and reaping a 500m Ebitda run rate from this business by 2026. But with the acquisition of Stericycle, it looks like the company is heading into the Medical Waste business in a big way. And I don’t think capex as a % of revenue is going to drop too far from its current 10%.
3. Opportunities
(See Below for Catalysts and Drivers)
4. Threats & Risks
The evolving nature of the business. For a boring utility-like nature of this business, it is quite dynamic.
The American waste management market is supposed to increase 5% CAGR from 2022 to 2027 or 5.6% CAGR between 2022 and 2030 depending on the research report. However, this doesn't mean that the solid waste volume will grow at 5% CAGR, the CEO made a remark recently:
“If you were to ask me what business do I want to be in right now, I want to be in a medical business of some kind because it's only getting bigger. And our business, by the way, solid waste, if I think about volume over the next decade is going to grow at probably 1% to 2%.” June 7th, The Stifel 2024 Cross Sector Insight Conference
I think the company has to constantly think about growth and the company has to execute flawlessly.
The latest news is that WM is seeking to divest in the RNG business, a business that was touted in 2022 as a strategic direction for the firm and a long term driver for growth. (I wont comment much about this development as it is just an exploration by the company, i suspect it has to do with trying to keep the debt to ebitda ratios between 2.5 - 3, the CFO has alluded that the acquisition of Stericycle might put them on a negative watch by S&P or Moody’s, so i think this is due diligence process)
https://www.reuters.com/markets/deals/waste-manager-wm-explores-3-billion-sale-renewable-natural-gas-unit-sources-say-2024-05-16/

B. Catalysts for unlocking value

B.1. Continued Industry consolidation
In the last 5 years, WM acquired about 90 companies. Last week, they announced their latest and largest acquisition, Stericycle. Stericycle is the largest provider of medical waste disposal and data destruction (primarily paper shredding) services in the United States. I think a lot of investors really dislike this deal and the WM’s SP was sold down when it was first announced. This is because the to-be acquired company has very meh metrics, like being GAAP unprofitable in 5 out of the last 10 years (They were FCF positive in all ten years though).
To quote WM’s CEO on the deal:
“So a lot of opportunity there. And then I look at the growth trajectory over a 10-year period. And the medical services business, and this is not us saying, this, this is a third-party saying this, is projected to grow at somewhere in the neighborhood of 5% to 6%. That's the volume side of medical services.
Not a surprise to anybody in the room. The U.S. average American has aged 10 years in the last 40. We're getting older, and the replacement rate is like 1.7% or 1.7% right now. So we're not replacing, we're getting older. If you were to ask me what business do I want to be in right now, I want to be in a medical business of some kind because it's only getting bigger. And our business, by the way, solid waste, if I think about volume over the next decade is going to grow at probably 1% to 2%.”
B.2 Renewable Natural Gas from garbage dumps
To quote this 2022 WSJ article: WM is spending $825 to build 17 new plants to convert methane from garbage dumps into biomethane. “ The company also intends to sell the gas to utilities, industrial firms, and organizations seeking to enhance their environmental credentials.” The company hopes these investments to result in $500 million of run-rate EBITDA per year totaling 21 million MMBtu per year by 2026.

C. Valuation

An interesting topic always. I scoured the SA archives, out of the 86 articles written on WM (last article in 2019 to current June 7 2024), there were 47 articles that said that WM was too expensive to buy and investors would not beat the market if they bought WM at such high earnings multiple, 29 articles gave WM a buy rating and 10 articles were neutral.
Can you imagine, the naysayers, the fence-sitters who for 5 years said “NO” and then watched the share-price battle covid, lockdown, war in ukraine, inflation, the great crash of 2022, and fear of recession in 2023 and then almost doubled by 2024 and beating the S&P 500 in the process, with an annualised 13.91% returns vs the 13.12% CAGR for the S&P 500.
If i were to use SA as an reverse indicator, then i should be bearish because most of articles in 2024 turned positive even though the share-price is at an all time high, and Q1 results were okay although revenue was little light. Many of the Dividend growth-focused SA authors switched from negative to positive towards WM in 2024.
If I were to look at valuation from my own calculations (please refer to the tearsheet):
My blended calculation puts the fair value around 151 to 164 against the current price of $200
If i were to use the analysts estimates, and then work backwards to to match the current price, this implied growth rates works out to around 12%, which is at the edge of what they used to achieve in the past. In my opinion, this 12% growth rate is a bit optimistic and the company must execute it flawlessly. For my blended calculator, i used 9% as a more realistic long term growth-rate.
** I forgot to add this:

• Bill and Melinda Gates foundation are large investors in WM.
  
• Bill is also an investor in WM largest competitor RSG.
  

My current phone is JB with Dopamine 2 on iOS 15 so I haven’t been following any threads here related to 16. Cosmetically the 16.2 is less worn so a plus for that model. I’d sacrifice pretty for functionality. Any reason to avoid one iOS over the other? Of course the obvious answer is go for the highest version possible, but…. Are there any gotchas or major advantages with 16.4.1? Any advantages with 16.2 that aren’t available on 16.4.1?

Why is every teen guy a freaking giant with model genetics these days? Are the shorter and skinnier guys hiding inside or genuinly this generation is just taller and bigger? I grew up in the 90s and there was such a variety of kids outside fat, short, tall, goofy, lanky, scrawny... but now? The all look the same. 6"0 and above with broccoli haircut and buff af. I feel like it's elitist to even exist in 2024 lmao. Where the fk are the "normal" looking young people? I still see a great variety of men aged 25+. But younger than like 22? They're all twins lmao.
Funny thing I read on the news couple of days ago. The suicide rates in my country drastically went up with freaking 20% from 2021 to 2023. 71% of all suicides are male. Insane, huh?

• My first reaction when I read that? "They offed themselves because they were short.

Title.
I had decided a long time ago that I would never come out to my family. Not because they wouldn't approve, I just struggled with shame and fear my entire life thanks to a couple of traumatic incidents from my childhood/early teens.
That is, until I found out that my 15 year old nephew was being radicalized by right wing, homophobic propaganda. Reading some of the vile things he was posting made me realize that coming out wasn't something to do just for me. I had failed him by not giving him a positive, honest LGBT role model to counteract the disinformation that seems to be getting worse.
So yeah, not the most ideal of circumstances, and frankly I'm still struggling with shame and self-loathing, and my nephew and I haven't talked about it yet, but just thought I'd share.

I am in my junior year and am trying to see how my resume stands up and what to add, change, or potentially drop for my applications to some selective colleges as well as my chances of success. May have forgotten some things but this should be everything. ED EA RD advice for colleges would be great too.
Should be done by application time: *** (Key)
Demographics:
Gender: Male
Race: Asian (Indian)
Region: Midwest, fairly competitive area
Type of school: Public
hooks (URM, first generation, legacy, athlete, etc.): N/A
Intended Major(s): International Relations/Law/Finance?
ACT/SAT/SAT II: 1530 SAT, 36 ACT*** (Still have to do the act but I am getting 36's on the practice tests. If I do get a 36, should I submit my SAT score too?)
UW/W GPA and Rank: UW: 3.950, (4.0 without A-'s, don't know if that matters). The school does not rank.
Coursework: 14 APs, 5 Honors, 1 CIS (College in School)
Senior Year Courses: AP Macroeconomics, AP Microeconomics, AP Lit, AP Psych, AP Stats, AP Physics C, CIS Spanish 5
Awards:

• Ranked 5th nationally for Business competition related to business law
• Ranked 8th nationally for a geography contest in a history competition
• State Finalist and National Qualifier for Presentation Team (Analyze a controversial business topic and determine a solution)
• State Finalist for a different business competition's Business Services Marketing
• Regional awards for Quiz Bowl/Knowledge Bowl, Debate, the two business competitions above
• Eastern United States Online Finalist in the history competition (There were like 15 people there and it was a qualifier for states that did not have the competition in-state)
• Soccer tournament finalist and champion regionally
• Some awards from Elementary/Middle school days in Math/Media/Inventions at state/regional level. Shouldn't be too relevant aside from maybe the application essays.
• School-Offered Awards -
  • Graduate with Highest Honors - Honors program, 98% or better on ACT, SAT, PSAT
  • National Advanced Placement Scholar - Average score of 4 or higher on AP exams, 4 or higher on 8+ exams
  • President's Education Award - 3.5 or better, 85% or better on ACT, SAT, PSAT
• AP Scholar with Distinction

Extracurriculars (Not Ranked in Order):

1. Secretary General (President) and cofounder of a Model UN club with 60+ signed-up members. Hosted simulations within the school already and planning to attend a real conference in the fall.
   
2. Two research papers are currently being written, one is aimed at the future evolution of marketing in AI and I am interning with a Healthcare services company to write a research paper under the guidance of a mentor. The paper is being written to advise said healthcare company. Not sure if I can publish/enter into competitions.*** The other is by myself regarding an international policy topic that I plan to have published or admitted into competitions. ***
   
3. Interned over 9 weeks in a reelection campaign for a National Senator where I will be responsible for campaign finances. Will facilitate thousands of dollars of cash flow in campaign funds and will receive experience in electoral organizing tactics. (Haven't done this yet so I don't know too much of the general information)***
   
4. Volunteered 100+ hours, plan to volunteer at least 50 hours this summer and more in the fall. Various locations but focused on a few quality spots. (STEM Camp, Religious site, Food Scarcity organization)
   
5. Varsity soccer for school
   
6. Took collegiate-level coursework in International Relations***.
   
7. Leaders Invested in Community - Acclimatized incoming high schoolers and helped develop decision-making abilities. Each year I lead my group of ten students in preparatory activities alongside other mentors.
   
8. Teen leadership organization across regions of 2 states where teens determine initiatives to rectify issues in the community. Examples include Vape testing kits manufacturing to park cleanup. I plan to apply for Co-President***
   
9. National Honors Society, Investment Club, Recreational Piano
   

Some things I am looking into, less concrete:

1. Internship in the fall geared around international relations or law
2. Regional leadership position for Business competitions
3. Writer for an alternate-history mod for a video game I play
4. More Awards

Schools: List of selective colleges, I am also applying to my state school which I will get into
Georgetown
UPenn
Cornell
UMichigan
Berkeley
UCLA
Northwestern
Brown
UCSD
Johns Hopkins
Duke
Columbia

https://imgur.com/a/9rneoIO
I picked up this 2021 LT used w/ 64k miles on it. It was a fleet vehicle so its got some maybe not too common combination of RPO codes/features. For example I can't turn off the "seatbelt to shift" option. It just isn't there under settings -> vehicle or teen driver. It also has the upgraded rear suspension from the tow package, but nothing else from the tow package.
Does GM have like a help email I can send questions to about this kind of thing? Find out if my computer can be reprogrammed? I tried to visit my local chevy dealer today but they were closed early since its Saturday. I'm not real sure they will be able to answer my questions anyway.
Back on topic, I was looking to mount a dash cam, but this huge plastic thing is in the way. https://imgur.com/a/ngQt42o
What is it?
I've seen some pictures of other Colorado's in regards to mounting a dash cam and they didn't have this, but maybe this is specific to the model year and not the trim.
Is there a way to mount a camera to the grill? I think I've seen that the Colorado or Canyon has an option for a front facing camera, but I doubt I want to pay OEM prices and I'm not sure it's for recording anyway.
Any help would be appreciated. I'll save more questions for another post.

Here's a link to the video [07:21]

Transcript:

Ever since Viz Communications (now Viz Media) and Dark Horse Comics began publishing manga in the United States in the 1980s, the vast majority of it had been “flopped.” Meaning that the publishers would alter the manga so that it could read from left-to-right instead of right-to-left, like it was originally. This was done to make manga more appealing to readers, and vendors, in North America. While readers would be confused by books having to be read from right-to-left, book stores were as well–with some stores deciding to display them with their fore-edges showing instead of their spines.
While this definitely made manga more accessible to western readers, it wasn’t without its drawbacks. The flopping process involved a lot of retouching in order to make the flipped images look right, which took time and money, and altered the manga’s art. It also resulted in some directional oddities, like almost every character being left-handed, and the removal, or replacement of, Japanese sound effects. These compromises for marketability weren’t always accepted by manga artists, though. An example of this was Viz Communications’ release of Dragon Ball, which was published in the traditional right-to-left format because Akira Toriyama wouldn’t allow his artwork to be reversed. But situations like this were pretty rare.
Out of all of the major players in the North American manga space, Tokyopop wasn’t so sure that readers couldn’t adjust to the traditional format. While they did conduct focus groups, they also had some additional data to work with: how the roll-out of right-to-left manga was received in other countries. For example, Carlsen Verlag, a Danish publishing company, saw their business grow after embracing the traditional format in Germany. After evaluating their options, and receiving a positive response from fans and focus groups, they decided to pull the trigger.
On January 29, 2002, Tokyopop announced that it would exclusively publish manga in the traditional format, with Japanese sound effects, starting in April. Also, since they didn’t have to deal with the costs of “flopping,” they would be able to sell their books for just under $10. They also were going to turn this into an event. The next day, they announced that they would be offering retailers a new display featuring the first volume of all nine of the manga they were releasing in April. They were leaning into the format switch, with the display header stating, “Authentic – Done the Right (To Left) Way.”
Some additional insight was revealed in February by Stuart Levy, the company’s CEO. In an interview with Comic Book Resources, he not only revealed that Tokyopop was planning on releasing 80 manga by the end of the year, but that he thought this format switch would change manga publishing in North America forever. “... All of our new manga will fall under this line. We call it authentic manga, and it will read the Japanese way–right-to-left. I think it will give fans a great taste of what manga is all about, as well as allow us to keep Japanese sound effects. … Finally, we are focusing on bi-monthly and even monthly graphic novel releases all for under $10. This means that instead of waiting 6 months to read 200 pages of a great manga, you can read 3-6 volumes (600-1200 pages) in the same amount of time. This will completely change the playing field. I will bet that our competitors will move to this model within 6 months of our April 2002 launch."
But not everyone was so sure. In March, ICv2 reached out to Viz, Dark Horse, and Tokyopop to discuss their perspectives on the right-to-left format. The spokesperson for Dark Horse Comics was Tim Ervin-Gore, their manga editor. As for why Dark Horse was continuing to publish “flopped” manga, “We have to go back to when manga first came to America–back when the Eclipse titles were launched and when Dark Horse got Oh My Goddess. I don't think that most Americans had any idea that the Japanese read right to left. I have no problem because I look at Japanese books all the time and I'm kind of used to it, but I still think that most people have trouble reading right to left and getting their brains used to it.” He also noted that reading English text in the right-to-left format could confuse the reader, since the text flowed from left-to-right while the images flowed from right-to-left. “We adapt our comics so that American readers don't have the dissonance of reading backwards.” As for how he expected readers to react to the format change, he said, “I think time will tell whether people will adapt wholeheartedly to the right to left format. Americans read left to right, and it's hard to jump after fifteen to twenty years of reading a certain way. There are going to be people that love it and there will be some American readers that won't be able to read it at all [Edited for clarity].”
Viz was in an interesting position when it came to the format discussion. Although it wasn’t by choice, they did publish both Dragon Ball and Dragon Ball Z in the traditional Japanese format. They also published Vagabond in the traditional format, and Neon Genesis Evangelion in both formats. And this gave them a different perspective. According to Dallas Middaugh, their Senior Marketing Manager, the “flopped” versions of Evangelion sold three times as many copies as the traditional ones. He stated, “That's the clearest indication that fans want an easy reading experience.” According to Middaugh, younger people and otaku preferred the traditional format while parents struggled with it and each retailer would have to determine which format to stock based on their customers. “There are certain chains that are catering to teens getting into manga; these are customers that are not making it into the comic shops. In those chains the right to left format isn't a barrier. I'm mostly talking about mall-based chains such as Waldens. But not all book-buyers like it that way. … There are different customers shopping at the different chains.”
When it came to the issue of sound effects, both Viz and Dark Horse were in agreement: they would not be using Japanese text.
However, despite any doubts from their competitors, Tokyopop was encouraged by the results so far. According to Kristien Brada-Thompson, their Marketing Communications Manager, “retailer response has been exceptional,” and orders for their displays were 20% higher than they expected. The company’s Vice President of Sales and Marketing, Steve Kleckner, said that Waldens, Books a Million, Hastings, Media Play and Fry’s were all involved with their display program and that he expected more to follow. Tokyopop was also happy with the response they received from comic shops, stating that they were, “also very gratified with what's come in through comic stores.”
One year later, at the beginning of 2003, it was clear that Tokyopop’s big gamble had paid off. Not only were they profitable in 2002, but their revenue doubled and they expected it to double again in 2003. Tokyopop’s manga was being distributed in thousands of stores and their “authentic” displays were in more than 1400 of them. 2001 appeared to be the beginning of a manga boom, and despite some concerns about a slow 2002, sales continued to rise.
The company that appeared to be the biggest beneficiary of this boom was Tokyopop, and their current–and future–competitors certainly noticed. In March, Michael Martens, Dark Horse Comics’ Vice President of Sales and Marketing, confirmed to Publishers Weekly that they would be adopting the traditional, right-to-left, format for all new releases. And their first two traditionally formatted titles were Berserk and Trigun, which both released in October.
While Viz didn’t decide to completely overhaul their line-up, they did reduce the price of their graphic novels to $7.95 to compete with Tokyopop. That didn’t mean that they didn’t make other adjustments, though. In June, they announced that half of the titles in their monthly anthology manga Animerica Extra would be switching to the traditional format starting in September.
Central Park Media published around 50 titles in 2003 and planned to release more than 60 in 2004. And when it came to the format, the company’s Managing Director, John O'Donnell, wasn’t shy and stated that they’d be in the, “Tokyopop format, size and price.”
With the market heating up, new players decided to jump into it. In July, Random House’s Del Rey imprint announced that they would be releasing manga in the spring of 2004 and it would be read right-to-left. At the end of the year, ADV Films and Broccoli International–a Japanese media development company–also announced that they would be establishing publishing divisions to distribute manga 2004. And, as you might have guessed, their manga also would be released in the traditional format.
But Tokyopop wasn’t sitting on its hands. They continued to expand their retail presence with existing partners, and continued to add new ones. They became the first manga publisher to have its books in Walmart, with them being tested in 100 locations for the holiday season.
2003 was another great year for manga sales, and there were no signs of things slowing down in 2004. While Tokyopop was the market leader, people clearly thought that there was more than enough space for competitors. Additional publishers–including Marvel and DC Comics– continued to enter the market and more were on the way. And, at the end of the year, around 1000 titles were released.
By 2005, two things were clear: manga itself was not a fad, and that the traditional, right-to-left, format was here to stay. While this wouldn’t mark the end of “flopped” manga, the “authentic” format was now the industry standard.

Ive seen frustrated posts from experienced and successful content creators expressing some of the frustrations that I as a newbie trying to do research have also come across in various SW advice communities.
I grew up in the city where sex work is very prevalent and it isn’t uncommon to be a young woman considering sex work once we were of age — I have always thought I’d be great as a porn star (teen me would be so proud of the work I’ve done this month). So I’m coming into this ready to use my sales and marketing experience and love of helping people cum and being watched to the table for this business venture.
I am appreciative of all of the time and energy any creator has put into offer different advice — but hobby creators may not have the bandwidth or grit to get where I’m tryna go.
I found some of the seasoned creators who comment in here and follow y’all and read your comments would like to have a list of the ones to follow — does one exist yet? I’d be happy to start compiling one — searched the feed and didn’t seem to find one.
Content creators in 0-3% consistently I’m speaking to you. I’d love to follow you and learn from you. Please comment below so I can follow AND compile a list I can pin later for newbies who also are looking at this as an actual viable business model. (Longevity preferred) [edit consent will be asked prior to being added to the list ofc]
My specific niches: farting, cannabis, bbw, tattoos, spit, hairy, sword swallowing 🍆, shibari, impact play, etc etc

I’ve seen frustrated posts from experienced and successful content creators expressing some of the frustrations that I as a newbie trying to do research have also come across in various SW advice communities.
I grew up in the city where sex work is very prevalent and it isn’t uncommon to be a young woman considering sex work — I have always thought I’d be great as a porn star (teen me would be so proud of the work I’ve done this month). So I’m coming into this ready to use my sales and marketing experience and love of helping people cum and being watched to the table for this business venture.
I am appreciative of all of the time and energy any creator has put into offer different advice — but hobby creators may not have the bandwidth or grit to get where I’m tryna go.
I found some of the seasoned creators who comment in here and follow y’all and read your comments would like to have a list of the ones to follow — does one exist yet? I’d be happy to start compiling one — searched the feed and didn’t seem to find one.
Content creators in 0-3% consistently I’m speaking to you. I’d love to follow you and learn from you. Please comment below so I can follow AND compile a list I can pin later for newbies who also are looking at this as an actual viable business model. (Longevity preferred) [edit consent will be asked prior to being added to the list ofc]
My specific niches: farting, cannabis, bbw, tattoos, spit, hairy, sword swallowing 🍆, shibari, impact play, etc etc