#Content Builder Services

[fazal-abbas]

Custom website development servies

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[linkclickssmallseotoll]

Professional resume builder | CV Makers Me

CV Maker Me offers a professional resume builder, enabling users to create polished resumes with ease. Our intuitive platform ensures that your resume showcases your skills and experience effectively. With CV Maker Me, you can create a professional-grade resume that impresses employers and helps you stand out in the job market. Join CV Maker Me today and take your career to new heights with a professionally crafted resume.

[bizionictechnologies]

Boost Your #business Visibility with #seo Magic #startupbusiness

[d3teck]

How to Improve the User Experience on an E-Commerce Site

Creating a world-class user experience for visitors to your e-commerce site is not just a luxury in the modern digital age of rising online shopping, it is also a need. Your ability to comprehend your audience and successfully optimize your website will determine the success of your e-commerce business. Using phrases like website traffic analysis, e-commerce software, and e-commerce marketing services, we'll discuss five critical techniques in this blog post to improve the user experience on your e-commerce site.

Know your client

Understanding your target demographic in-depth is one of the key aspects in optimising the user experience on your e-commerce site. An essential tool in this case is website traffic analysis. Use analytics to learn more about the demographics, behaviour, and preferences of your visitors. You may efficiently modify your website using this information to fit their demands. It's about giving your users a tailored experience that they enjoy. The sales and total conversion rate from the website will be very low if it is not tailored to the preferences and interests of the target audience. Be careful to take into account the particular requirements of your clients.

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[techangouts]

Break the cycle of being polite😝 and share your raw opinion.

Tell us what qualities a Mobile App Developer should have in the comments below.👇👇

[spiders-around]

YOU MUST MAKE A WEBSITE

Oh wow, look at that! YET ANOTHER post urging you to make a webbed site! What a completely new thing that people haven't made a thousand masterposts for already!!

• Making a website might look scary. It is Not.

At first, I too thought making a website was too much work. It really isn't! It turns out that all you need is

an HTML file,

a web hosting service and

w3schools tutorials,

and that's about it!

This post will point you towards these resources, and others I found useful while figuring out how to make a website.

• VERY QUICK EXPLANATIONS:

What's HTML and CSS?

HTML is the content of your webpage, the skeleton of it. What shows up in a webpage is what's written in the HTML file!

CSS is the way the HTML is styled; the colour of the background and the letters, the size of elements, the font, all that!

Do I absolutely NEED JavaScript for a website?

Not at all! You don't need to worry about learning it before getting started.

• What do I make a website for? What do I put in there?

ANYTHING AND ALMOST EVERYTHING. Here's some ideas for pages from a post of mine were I was very normal about websites:

You can make a page that's only pictures of your pets.

You can make an interactive adventure.

You can make your own academic blog full of your own essays or articles.

You can just post a ton of art or make a full music page.

You can make a blog and infodump eternally, give book reccs and reviews. You can host a thousand virtual pets and nothing else.

Upload entire books in a single html file. Make a wikipedia for your ocs. Make a fake site for a random fictional place (restaurant, hotel, whatever). You can make a thousand fanpages/shrines about your favorite media. You can upload your own webcomic and make it all like a fancy website and shit.

I could keep going but, for the sake of "brevity", I won't.

• WEBSITE EXAMPLES!

If I started listing the websites I know, this post would be bottomless. Here's only seven:

https://publictransit.neocities.org/ - A webbed site, for sure

https://ribo.zone/ - A personal site

https://leusyth.neocities.org/ - An art archive

https://solaria.neocities.org/ - Personal website with A Lot of stuff (it'll come up in a bit, because it offers web making resources)

https://hog.neocities.org/ - The Hogsite

https://thegardenofmadeline.neocities.org/ - Another personal site! It also has a web resources page and has made another masterpost like this one (but better)

https://spiders.neocities.org/ - My own website, which must be weird to see in mobile . sorry

• You've convinced me. I want a webbed site. Where do I start?

https://neocities.org/

FIRST OF ALL: Neocities. It is a free web hosting service, and it's the one I and the sites I linked use!

When I first started, my website was a black page with red letters and a drawing, and nothing else! It was like that for a month, till i started picking up on how to do things.

Here's what helped me get an idea of how to make things work:

https://sadgrl.online/learn/articles/beginners-guide-neocities

An absolute beginners guide to neocities -- while when you make an account there you get a tutorial page from the site, this one's extra support for that.

https://www.w3schools.com/

Learn HTML, CSS, JavaScript and MANY other coding things for free. All the tutorial/reference pages have live testing windows for you to mess with!! helped me a LOT while figuring this stuff out!

https://htmlcheatsheet.com/

https://htmlcheatsheet.com/css/

Cheatsheets for HTML and CSS, respectively. It includes a JavaScript one too!

https://sadgrl.online/webmastery/

Sadgrl's webmastery resources! Also includes the next resource listed here:

https://sadgrl.online/projects/layout-builder/

Sadgrl's layout builder; not a lot of customization at a first glance, but I've seen wildly different websites all using it as a base, plus it works using CSS Flexbox, so it generates a responsive layout!

(basically, a responsive layout is one that translates well in different sized screens)

https://www.tumblr.com/fysa/728086939730919424/wikitable-code?source=share

Tumblr user fysa made this layout imitating a wiki page!

https://brackets.io/

At some point, you might want to do things outside the Neocities code editor and get one outside the site. I recommend Brackets, because my old as fuck computer can run that and absolutely nothing else apparently, and it works wonderfully! Though I recommend either turning off the code autocomplete or using it after a good while of already using the Neocities code editor, so you get used to coding on your own.

http://www.unit-conversion.info/texttools/text-to-html/

Turn your text into HTML code! i use this kind of pages for my lengthy blog entries that I don't feel like formatting myself.

https://imagecompressor.com/

COMPRESS YOUR IMAGES.

The heavier an image is, the more your site weighs and the more time your page will spend loading. You don't want that, specially if your site is heavy on graphics. This might help!

https://solaria.neocities.org/guides

Some CSS, JavaScript and Accessibility guides! Worth checking out!

https://eloquentjavascript.net/

This is a free, interactive book for learning JavaScript! NOTE: It is very intuitive, but JavaScript is HARD!! I still haven't learned much of it, and my website does fine without so don't worry if you end up not doing much with it. It's still useful + the exercises are fun.

And now, accessories!

• Silly stuff for your page :]

https://gifypet.neocities.org/

Make a virtual pet, copy the code and paste it in your HTML file! You'll get a little guy in your webbed site :]

https://www.wikplayer.com/

Music player for your website!

http://www.mf2fm.com/rv/

JavaScript silly effects for your site :]

https://blinkies.neocities.org/geoblinkies

Blinkie search engine!

https://www.cbox.ws/

Add a chatbox to your site!!

https://momg.neocities.org/

Infinite gallery of gifs. i've spent hours in there looking at moving pictures and out of them all, the ONLY gif i actually ended up using on my site was a rotating tomato slice. it is still there. trapped.

https://wrender.neocities.org/tarotinstructions

A widget that gives you a random tarot card!

https://www.websudoku.com/widget.php

Sudoku widget!

That's about it for now! I don't know how to end this!!! Remember to have fun and google everything you don't know :]

[dduane]

Just in case anyone was concerned...

The MiddleKingdoms.com site will be down until Sunday or Monday for a theme change and other tweaks.

The maker of our original MKCom theme (called Stack) came off freelance status and went to work for Automattic a year or so ago. And they're lucky to have him: as a theme-maker, he did fabulous work. But that change also means that support for the MKCom site's old theme is no longer available.* When something goes wrong with it, you're on your own; you can try to fix it yourself, or sigh and change themes.

The Stack theme was already showing signs of having trouble with WordPress updates months back, in that the underlying "Variant" page-builder app that came with it was getting cranky about its ability to edit pages. Sometimes it'd work: sometimes it wouldn't. Newer versions of the app that were then available made no difference to this. So, seeing that the hand over against the wall was already starting to scribble the words MENE MENE TEKEL BETTER START SCOUTING FOR A NEW THEME DAMMIT, I started scouting.

And lo, the day came this week when a new update of WP (to v6.41) left the Variant page builder unable to even see the contents of a page made with it, let alone edit it. This caused me to go immediately into launch-the-lifeboats mode, during which I cut-and-pasted all the site's contents into Elementor-friendly pages. That work took me a couple of days, which is why my posting here has been a little on the sparse side this week.

So now I need to clean up the ensuing mess and reformat the site into something as closely matching the old one as possible, using the replacement theme Astra. ...Not that I can't now rework the site into something newer and glossier, but this week is NOT the time for that: got too much on the plate already.

I'm going to need at least a few days for this, as Elementor has changed the way it handles page contents from the box-and-column-based one I was already familiar with to a container-based one that's more complex and granular. An improvement, yeah, but one it's going to take more time for me to wrap my brains around. (eyeroll) Whoopee.

On the good side, this is going to be useful practice for when I have to do the same thing to the Food and Cooking of the Middle Kingdoms site (which is also still running Stack, though without the Variant builder) and DianeDuane.com (which is running a different theme by the same maker, with some of the same problems). Whoopee again.

...Anyway, that's my whinge for today. Herself willing and the crick don’t rise, normal service will resume over the weekend sometime. Or Monday at the latest.

*He handled this responsibly, BTW, by notifying the theme’s users and also by withdrawing it formally from the online marketplaces where it appeared. I’ve worked with themes where the makers simply vanished without a word or a trace, and it’s no fun.

[fatehbaz]

As early as 1700, Samuel Sewall, the renowned Boston judge and diarist, connected “the two most dominant moral questions of that moment: the rapid rise of the slave trade and the support of global piracy” in many American colonies [...]. In the course of the eighteenth century, [...] [there was a] semantic shift in the [literary] trope of piracy in the Atlantic context, turning its [...] connotations from exploration and adventure to slavery and exploitation. [...] [A] large share of Atlantic seafaring took place in the service of the circum-Atlantic slave trade, serving European empire-building in the Americas. [...] Ships have been cast as important sites of struggle and as symbols of escape in [...] Black Atlantic consciousness, from Olaudah Equiano’s Interesting Narrative (1789) and Richard Hildreth’s The Slave: or Memoir of Archy Moore (1836 [...]) to nineteenth century Atlantic abolitionist literature such as Frederick Douglass’s My Bondage and My Freedom (1855) or Martin Delany’s Blake (1859-1862). [...] Black and white abolitionists across the Atlantic world were imagining a different social order revolving around issues of resistance, liberty, (human) property, and (il)legality [...].

---

Using black pirates as figures of resistance [...], Maxwell Philip’s novel Emmanuel Appadocca (1854) emphasizes the nexus of insatiable material desire and its conditions of production: slavery. [...] [T]he consumption of commodities produced by slave labor itself was delegitimized [...]. Philip, a Trinidadian [and "illegitimate" "colored" child] [...], published Emmanuel Appadocca as a protest against slavery in the United States [following the Fugitive Slave laws of 1850.]. [...] [The novel places] at its center [...] a heroic non-white pirate and intellectual [...] [whose] pirate ship [...] [is] significantly named The Black Schooner [...]. One of the central discourses in [the book] is that of legitimacy, of rights and lawfulness, of both slavery and piracy [...]. About midway into the book, Appadocca gives a [...] speech in which he argues that colonialism itself is a piratical system:

If I am guilty of piracy, you, too [are] [...] guilty of the very same crime. ... [T]he whole of the civilized world turns, exists, and grows enormous on the licensed system of robbing and thieving, which you seem to criminate so much ... The people which a convenient position ... first consolidated, developed, and enriched, ... sends forth its numerous and powerful ships to scour the seas, the penetrate into unknown regions, where discovering new and rich countries, they, in the name of civilization, first open an intercourse with the peaceful and contented inhabitants, next contrive to provoke a quarrel, which always terminates in a war that leaves them the conquerors and possessors of the land. ... [T]he straggling [...] portions of a certain race [...] are chosen. The coasts of the country on which nature has placed them, are immediately lined with ships of acquisitive voyagers, who kidnap and tear them away [...].

In this [...], slavery appears as a direct consequence of the colonial venture encompassing the entire “civilized world,” and “powerful ships” - the narrator refers to the slavers here - are this world’s empire builders. [...] Piracy, for Philip, signifies a just rebellion, a private, legitimate [resistance] against colonial exploiters and economic inequality - he repeatedly invokes their solidarity as misfortunate outcasts [...].

---

All text above by: Alexandra Ganser. “Cultural Constructions of Piracy During the Crisis Over Slavery.” A chapter from Crisis and Legitimacy in the Atlantic American Narratives of Piracy: 1678-1865. Published 2020. [Bold emphasis and some paragraph breaks/contractions added by me.]

[pentition]

Spoilers for Sandrock and Portia below:

Hey gang, have we talked yet about how Pen's letter directed us to a cave that conveniently was right by the marriage location? :')

I reloaded to an older save and revisited the entire Duvos arc and now am catching up on the updates that followed from it. But I was thinking here just musing over the location of this cave. Obviously one the Builder either didn't know about or conveniently they just never went together? Because doing cave crashes with Pen would have made for fiiiiiine date content if we ever had gotten more of it.

I just keep thinking on the fact this dude got KO'd and dropped a diamond ring and his gloves (though, I imagine the Builder knew better than to let him keep those on). It's like, ow, okay. As if the thought process and what he says while imprisoned wasn't enough. But then you got to a cave that I'd argue isn't actually that dangerous? Find what was left. And interestingly it's not just The Protector that's waiting for you.

Gold and diamond was there, too. It kind of makes me wonder a couple of things. What if the little challenge of the cave was meant to be a repeat of their first date. Instead of taking down robots, they just take down cave dwelling critters. Was the prize meant to be a marriage proposal despite stating how that wasn't on the table originally?

The other thought that came to mind was maybe it was his bail out of Sandrock hiding spot. Some diamonds and gold could get him far enough. But then that begs the quest, why is The Protector there? He mentioned a number of times about the Builder having staying at his side, or taking them away with him. So maybe bail out funds (if the operation went south) is what it started as before he began seriously accounting for wanting his partner to go with him?

It's stupidly wild how he talks a lot of shit, and I mean a lot of shit but he's smart enough to know what's what. Like while he's imprisoned and you have the 'farewell' dialogue exchange. Choosing the romance option leads to him starting out saying something that the Builder likely wants to hear before he sours and becomes kind of bitter about it. The fact he knows it may be what they want to hear just shows a depth of acknowledgement and understanding.

The bitterness that seems to follow, especially speaking in regards to his own heart not being capable of love, just points to what Duvos has put him through. Even if willingly, I doubt Pen would have known the extent of what their military force intended to do to him. It's said he has a criminal record in and out of his military service, so either he's a bad apple but (like Stev and other soldiers have said) is still just a person or he's legitimately supposed to be vile. And I can't really see it being the latter with half of the things he says in your time knowing him.

There are so many fun little things that I try to see both sides with in this. Pen being escorted onto the plane to leave. He stops to look back at the Builder specifically. On one hand, it could be argued he looked back in disgust at the crowd and then notice the Builder. On the other hand, after hearing Pen's farewell words and how he went quiet at the end of it, it makes me think something else. He looked back, and not just looked back. Dude like, braced himself and sighed before doing so, saw whatever he expected or didn't to see and lingers a moment before continuing. There's not of that bravado. It kind of just carried on with 'farewell' tone. The thing is, even if you didn't romance Pen you still provided something for him that stood out from the rest of Sandrock. He noticed your Builder, it actually got to be fun. Even if things were distant, he was clearly having fun and that shook things up enough for him. Which I think points fingers ultimately back towards whatever training (and experimentation) he endured.

What was it... Telling him he could change still in the 'farewell' dialogue led to him acknowledging all the people he has killed/things he has done. It's a self-awareness he clearly possesses. I feel like that's vital insight into his character. He has an ego but he's still a soldier obeying his higher command. I can't really comment much on Pen and Howlett, but Pen was thrilled when Logan was putting up a challenge. Frustrating he kept eluding him, sure, but still he welcomed it. Just like he welcomed being challenged by the Builder. I kind of imagine Pen is akin to a hound locked in a dark kennel for long periods of time, when he gets out easy prey isn't going to quench his thirst. Howlett being onto the Duvos scheme meant there was prey that was putting up a challenge. Logan and the Builder then proved the same.

Whether that's just Pen's personality, or a bloodthirst that has always been there or developed due to his military service, it's hard to say. I think it's up to interpretation. It's kind of putting on the table the whole argument that soldiers become monsters to win wars. Sometimes to get through it, they let themselves feel all that shit. Or times, it was just what's within them being brought to the surface.

Pen showed himself to be a manipulative individual. He's cunning enough to get away with laying low, in getting people to dance to the tune he wants usually, and to be able to have that self-awareness. The latter of which has be shaking my fist like, "Pen, you fucking idiot." as I say, repeatedly, my Builder left on standby at the moment while I write this lmao. It would be one thing if he was just, "Haha, I LIED and genuinely don't give a shit!" but we see otherwise in the things unsaid. And when it is said, it's said in the 'farewell'. Though, I'd like to add, him putting out the theoretical 'that's what you wanted to hear, right?' thing could be considered as close as he came to stating his feelings aloud.

I don't know if it was an update or what since I came back, but like 3 mornings out of a week Pen would be outside my Builder's home for a play date. Even on days they couldn't because it was used up that week already (and I'm missing that 'follow' function Portia had ahhh). It interested me that someone he was trying to come off as so callous (post-being caught) was actively seeking out the Builder so often. Someone which that size ego wasn't just thinking, "Oh, they'll come to me' instead. Which made him turning around to look back hurt way harder because it was like he was seeking out the Builder again. :')

Last thing to add for I wrap up... I like that it's called The Protector. Because that's how he introduced himself as. And maybe also what he believed himself to be by Duvos logic. The description of it felt like it had two meanings: specifically restating Pen's perspective and the fact relationships have an emotional weight to them. Probably in a way that he had been expecting to encounter on this mission of his. It could have been called anything to reflect it being burden, but it wasn't.

I'm screaming. I just want to dive deeper into this drama of Pen and the Builder (especially a romanced Builder) in the game. (Incoming Portia spoiler): I'm still mad af over Aadit. Just the up and abandonment and nothing was ever done about it. I know that Pathea stated they had to move on due to conflicts behind the scenes or whatever. But it still feels similar all over again. There's so much potential with Pen's character and coming back. The main argument I see is 'well, he killed Logan's dad'. Yes, valid. Not at all going to let that pass. I know Pathea tries to be a little more on the lighter/sillier side. I'm a Fable fiend, I know how well dark shit and humor blends. That being said, it also bugs me how little I've seen of people acknowledging Logan and Haru's plans were dangerous as fuck.

You can say that they didn't kill anyone. Doesn't really mean they didn't try or an accident couldn't have happened. What if someone tried to play the hero on that train and a misfire happened? Pretty sure I remember getting bombs hurled my Builder's way and poison from Haru. The point of intent does matter to some degree. If an accident happens, sucks, but it is an accident. It's not intentional murder. At the same time, the two lovely chucklefucks know they are playing the bad guys so they are intentionally putting themselves in these risky positions that also puts others at risk as well.

The difference is that to Logan it's personal, to Pen it isn't (even if he still gets a kick out of it). It's personal affairs vs military orders - and the two have come to detest one another. That opens up interesting possibilities if we ever got to see Pen come back. Because the first step with those things will always be having a self-awareness of your part in it all. Oh wait, Pen already has that. :)

I don't know, I've seen it occur in other medias with less of a backstory behind the mutual hate. It feels like a prime opportunity to tackle it as a DLC. Because like the whole Aadit thing, the possibility of Aadit and Pen (and Matilda) showing up later is like. Cool and all. But I won't be playing the Portia or Sandrock character who had a history with them probably in that game. It'll likely have us start fresh with a new Builder. And if they put romance in that? I'd feel like how I did with Cullen in Inquisition. Just sweaty and waiting if he'd go off about his first love (crush). And like, the relationship with Aadit or Pen were way further along than what Cullen and the mage Grey Warden experienced so. It's like LET ME RESOLVE THIS NOW PLEASE and then a bunch of screaming and crying emojis.

Okay I've rambled enough for now. Hi. I'm back and will post art soon. Sorry this is a mess. I haven't slept properly in days and just AHHHH

[ivie-online]

one of the interesting things about these ‘democratizing’ apps/programs is that sometimes, the biggest consequence isn’t a loss of jobs. sometimes stuff just looks way worse, and no one really notices.

- web designers argued over drag & drop site builders like squarespace. as it turns out, big corps continued to hire them, but now there’s tons of small businesses with poorly laid-out, barely functional shopifys.

- graphic designers challenged picmonkey-esque programs’ claims that anyone could make professional designs, without needing experience. major agencies still contract graphic designers, but we lose the rich oil painting covers on cheap romance novels, in favor of bland 15-minute canva creations.

honestly, i’m an ‘art is art is art’ person who thinks a roomba spilling a cup of juice on a carpet should be considered art. my contention here is that these apps didn’t suddenly give everyone the skills needed to fulfill their artistic visions, they just trivialized the work that goes into so much of the art we see. it then became so obvious that the industry actors who could afford it would keep using the more expensive services, while the rest of us wade through endless mediocre output. it’s like a rich person hiring a well-trained italian barista, then telling you that you’ve been provided for because they gave you a 90s paper-cup drink vending machine. the coffee just isn’t the same.

[steviewashere]

To Be Cast Away and Brought Back In

(also on ao3)

wc: 1,986, Steddie Tags: Post Season 4, Post Canon, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Fluff, Minor Character Death, Minor Sick Character, Mentions of Chronic Illnesses, Established Steddie (For the rest of the tags, they're on ao3. No content warning.)

--------

Eddie Munson moved to Hawkins, Indiana at the age of ten. He was picked up by social services with a good portion of his belongings, carted into the back of an unsuspecting little black Cadillac, escorted to Forest Hills Trailer Park, and practically pushed into his Uncle Wayne's floundering arms. Wayne knew that he'd be getting a new roommate, but the softness after all the commotion didn't make Eddie's anxieties lessen any.

There was a point in time where he could accurately tell somebody that he was being taken care of at home by both of his parents. His dad would play catch in the front yard. Mama Munson would read illustrated books and prep his bubble baths. They were tight knit, for a while, they could expect one another to be there. As present as ever. With dinner on the table and a new funny story and a mountain of homework on Eddie's part.

But it wasn't made to last. Eddie didn't expect for it all to come crumbling down before he had the chance to even start junior high, but it happened anyway. Papa Munson, better known as Allen "Al" Munson to authorities, had been in and out of jail a good portion of young Eddie's life. Usually on several counts of theft. One time for grand theft auto. But he would come out of it, be put on parole, and eventually make his way back to their little home in the outskirts of Indianapolis.

What tore into Eddie, however, was his mother.

Eleanor Munson, or Nora as she liked to be called, had always been sick in one way or another. Whether it was physically—coughing fits that led to incessant gagging and sometimes what seemed like endless bouts of vomiting, or chronic nerve pain that forced her to lay still in bed for far too long, and more often than not, the migraines. And then there was of course some town cries of her being emotionally inept or mentally ill or a basket case on legs or a nervous, psychotic break. Whatever clever thing they could think of at the time, when it would later be "manic depression," but that wouldn't come until some years after Eddie had already relocated.

Most of Eddie's growing up was spent taking care of his mother. Bringing her ice packs, heat packs, the hot water bottle, warm towels. Some days he'd draw her a bath. Other days he'd just tiptoe with some painkillers, a glass of water, and a plate of plain toast—she'd send him off to play on his own. He had toys and books and art supplies, a small bicycle and a baseball, but he didn't want to do any of that. Not on his own. And since his dad was often out and causing mishap or landing himself behind bars, his growing up had been desolate and desperate and all too lonely.

He hates to acknowledge some of his true feelings now. The rise of pent up resentment. Simmering anger and that gnawing sadness. It attached to his ten year old heart and didn't want to let go.

Not even when he moved in with Uncle Wayne.

On the first night at the trailer, Eddie simply threw his bags to the linoleum floor by the front door, stomped over to the couch, and landed so that his face was digging into one of the seat cushions. He remembers muffling some screams, definitely a few wet sobs, even some disgusting snot rockets. Yet, and he finds himself appreciating it even now, Wayne just leet him do his thing. Let him cry and yell and choke for what seemed like an eternity.

And when he came back to his present body, sitting up with the effort of a brand new body builder loading on too many weights, Wayne simply brought him a cup of hot cocoa in the Garfield mug set aside just for troublesome nights like these. Though, the troubled nights ended up being near daily.

Could you blame Eddie? He was dumped off. It felt as if he was something being abandoned at a junkyard. Though, Wayne's trailer has always been too nice for that comparison.

Even later on that night, when Wayne had shown him to his bed and gave him a warm comforter and a full glass of ice water, Eddie had asked, "When do I get to go home and be with my mama?"

Wayne tucked him in. Huffed a hot puff of breath. And he whispered, "You ain't goin' back, Bubba. You're 'ere with me now."

Eddie's lip trembled, brown eyes growing wide and wet. "This is my home?" his little voice squeaked. "But—Mama...Mama is at home."

He watched as his uncle shook his head. Clicked his tongue against his teeth. And sat heavily next to Eddie's side. "Did those people not tell you why you're 'ere?" Eddie shook his head. "Bubba—" He sighed. "Bubba, you couldn't get your mama to wake up, right?" And Eddie nodded. "So you called me. And...I helped you get people to come check on her. They—" Wayne sniffled and wiped a hand down his face, dragging his features. "Your mama isn't at home anymore. She died, Ed."

"Died?" Eddie whispered, horrified. Wayne simply nodded.

He remembers getting a conversation a few months ago, something about his mom not doing too well. What to do, just in case. To call his Uncle Wayne.

"In case she dies," was one of the first things talked about. His dad had told him. He knows what it means. They had a dog at one point, he had died in an accident. A goldfish, too, that died from old age. Even the cat they took in from the street, she died from an illness.

"But—But what about Papa? How come I don't get to go with him?"

"Your daddy is in a lot of trouble, kiddo. Remember how he was always getting in trouble for things?" Wayne asked, once again, Eddie nodded. "He did something bad again and now he's doing a lot of time for it." Another weary sigh. "We'll talk about it some more, okay? I promise. Tonight, you just need to get some sleep."

Eddie shuffled further under the comforter. Before Wayne could get too far, Eddie called out, "Can you read my book to me, please?" He gestured to a battered up copy of The Hobbit on his bedside table.

"You're reading The Hobbit?"

"Mama used to read it to me; before she got super sick," Eddie whispered.

And that became their nightly tradition. Nice dinner, hot cocoa in the Garfield mug, warm shower, tucked into bed, and Wayne would read aloud The Hobbit. Until eventually it turned into them trading off chapters. Eddie would do the character voices and Wayne would compliment him.

Eddie's life truly began in the sanctuary of Wayne's trailer. Given items for Dungeons and Dragons, the rest of J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings, and more hot meals than he had ever had in his life.

Things were normal, they were fine.

Until Chrissy Cunningham died. Broken and bleeding. Until he ran. Patrick dead too, the same way. More running and hiding and being hunted down. Watching other people nearly lose their lives. Almost losing his own.

The days spent in the hospital, tied up by tubes and ports and constant streams of doctors. Calling him a miracle. His friends calling him a hero. Wayne going back to his habit of calling him Bubba.

And then, though there was the nightmares and the flashbacks and the other issues that arose from the ashes of the Upside Down, things became okay again.

Eddie fell in love with his high school crush, Steve Harrington. And Steve Harrington fell in love with someone unsuspected in Eddie. They shared a constant space. Holding each other through blood soaked nightmares. Getting high to a bearable level, not going far enough to push Steve into a corner.

What Eddie wasn't prepared to handle were the migraines. Not from him. Though, he definitely had days where his scars felt too tight or there was the phantom sensation of those things biting into his flesh. No, Steve had them.

As severe as Nora Munson did. Leaving Steve Harrington bedridden, nauseous, in pain that only worsened unless he could sleep it off. He was tired a good portion of the time. And when he wasn't, he was in pain.

In fact, it's one of those migraine attacks right now. It comes full force in the early hours of June 16th, 1986. Eddie hasn't been around for one before, but he knows immediately what to do. Grabs ice packs and a cold wet rag. Makes a plate of plain toast with butter. Fills a glass with ice water and the center of his palm with some extra strength painkillers.

Eddie makes quick work. Draping the rag on Steve's sweaty forehead. Gently setting the icepack at the back of his skull. Helping him take his medication, leaving the food and water on the bedside table.

Just as he tiptoes to leave the room, however, he hears from behind him in a hushed voice, "Where you going?" Granted, the syllables are slurred, a lot tired. He can realize that it must take Steve a great amount of effort to just speak out, even something so mundane. Eddie winces in solidarity.

"I'm giving you some space," Eddie whispers back.

"You don't ha-fta go," Steve whines. "Come lay with me," he offers, patting the empty space beside him.

Though it goes against all of what Eddie knows, he obliges anyway. He hesitantly climbs back into bed. Stiff on the mattress. Body barely covered by the blanket, just in case. Then, Steve scoots close and wraps himself along Eddie's side. And because he can't help himself, Eddie brings one of his hands to tickle over Steve's spine. The other traces the moles on his forearm.

"You can talk," Steve whispers. "I don't like the silence."

Eddie hums. Squeezes Steve's bicep before trailing back down to his forearm. "My mom used to get migraines. Knew how to take care of her," he murmurs. "She made me leave her alone. But...If that's what she wanted, then I did it. Even if I wanted her to play or read with me."

"I'll never make you go away," Steve breathes into the exposed skin of Eddie's neck. "Reminds me that there's somebody here that cares." Eddie hums again. "My parents didn't like taking care of me when I was sick, I was kind of a lot as a kid."

"Could never be too much for me." Eddie carefully leans down and presses a kiss to Steve's hairline. "I'll do anything you need. It's just hard for me to do sometimes, puts me back in that mindset, I guess."

"That's okay," Steve sighs.

They let silence lapse around them.

It's nice, to stay in the room. To be there. Knowing that he's needed, especially. He was needed when he was a kid, there's no doubt about that. But it's different, somehow it's a different kind of necessity.

"Can you tell me a story, Eds?"

And so Eddie does one of the many things Wayne taught him. He builds an elaborate story from thin air. About pleasant things and badass knights and princesses with gorgeous dresses and hair. He weaves elaborate plot lines about the characters saving one another, being there for one another. If the inspiration comes from him and Steve, nobody has to know, but he feels as though Steve caught on.

He can hear Steve yawn at some point. When he glances down, catching Steve trying to keep his eyes open, he snorts. "You can go to sleep, baby. I'll be right here when you wake up next."

"Promise?"

"Promise, Stevie. There's no place I'd rather be."

[vladdyissues]

That is SO COOL that you're doing your own gallery for your art. Very clever. I'd love if it caught on with other artists. Is it hosted somewhere, or are you building it yourself?

I've got my own website and hosting, and I'm using third-party software to run my gallery.

I would love to see more of the old school web galleries catching on, but the biggest hurdles today are 1) finding web hosting, and 2) knowing how to build a site.

Neocities is a superb place to learn, and they have generous free hosting and extremely affordable membership options, and no ads, ever. They're funded entirely by their supporters, rather like AO3, so they're not beholden to ad companies—which means they don't have to police content (apart from the typical "nothing in violation of state/federal/international law" as stated under the Offensive Material and the Lawful Use section in their Terms). It's actually a fantastic place for artists to upload their mature art*.

*But you can't hotlink without being a paid supporter. Hotlinking is embedding images on sites outside of where the image is hosted. So if you wanted to use Neocities as a place to upload your nsfw art so you could post it on AO3, you'd need to pay for that ability. But still, having a gallery where you can direct people to your art is pretty sweet.

The only drawback to Neocities that I've seen is that you're limited to doing everything with HTML/CSS and Java, and for experienced web devs who are used to managing their own databases and working with PHP and installing whatever software they want, basically having complete control over every aspect of their site, Neocities is a bit limited. But for new and intermediate web builders, this shouldn't be a problem. There are lots cool ways to build your own website and have a gallery and just play around and pretend it's 1997 again. (Again? For some, maybe.)

I've got a Neocities site that I occasionally tinker with. Who knows, maybe if enough people join up we can start a DP web ring or a Pompep Club like how fandom used to do back in the early internet days.

(I am not associated with Neocities.org or being paid to promote their services. I just really like what they're doing.)

[darkmaga-retard]

Nick Pope Contributor

SunPower, a major rooftop solar company, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on Monday, the company announced.

SunPower filed for bankruptcy in Delaware after a string of corporate struggles, changes to California’s rooftop solar subsidy programs and high interest rates weighed down its business, according to Bloomberg News. Before it unraveled, SunPower was among the leading solar companies in the U.S.

SunPower will look to sell some of its assets to Complete Solaria while the company and some of its other subsidiaries file for bankruptcy announced, SunPower said in its Monday announcement. (RELATED: California Solar Companies Hit The Skids After Receiving Huge Handouts From Biden, Dems)

“In light of the challenges SunPower has faced, the proposed transaction offers a significant opportunity for key parts of our business to continue our legacy under new ownership,” Tom Werner, SunPower’s executive chairman, said of the bankruptcy and the Complete Solaria transaction. “We are working to secure long-term solutions for the remaining areas of our business, while maintaining our focus on supporting our valued employees, customers, dealers, builders, and partners.”

In 2023, state policymakers changed California’s rooftop solar subsidy programs and weakened the incentive for companies to push rooftop solar by reducing payments to homeowners who sell back excess power the panels generate, according to CalMatters. Those changes negatively affected SunPower’s business, culminating in its bankruptcy filing, according to Bloomberg.

Prior to its bankruptcy, SunPower showed signs of distress. In 2023, the firm defaulted on a credit deal and restated its earnings before getting a new CEO, restructuring and stopping new solar shipments and installations in 2024, according to Bloomberg.

SunPower did not respond immediately to a request for comment.

All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any legitimate news publisher that can provide a large audience. All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter’s byline and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.

[d3teck]

Benefits of Social Media Advertising and its Trends

It's essential for organizations, especially those in the IT and software sectors, to stay ahead of the curve in today's fast-paced digital world where technology and customer behavior are always developing. Through good social media management and social media advertising, you may contact and interact with your target audience in one of the most efficient ways possible. Let's examine the many benefits of social media advertising and the newest trends that may make your software or IT business successful in the digital era.

Improve brand awareness through social media advertising

The capacity to increase brand recognition is one of the main advantages of social media advertising. For IT and software businesses, establishing a strong online presence is essential, and social media platforms are the ideal tool for doing so. You may generate and select content that appeals to your target audience by developing a thoughtful social media strategy and working with digital marketing professionals. Social media provides a platform to efficiently contact potential customers, whether it's for sharing business insights, showing your company culture, or advertising your goods and services.

Digital marketing service providers are essential to helping businesses create and develop a strong social media presence in a country with a booming IT industry. They are aware of the dynamics of the local market and can help you customize your social media campaigns to meet the demands and tastes of your target audience. You may get assistance from them with Facebook marketing, YouTube marketing, or Instagram advertising.

READ MORE

[fx-signals]

Navigating the Forex Market with Top Forex Signals Services

In the world of forex trading, access to reliable and timely signals can significantly influence trading outcomes. Forex signals services provide traders with valuable insights and recommendations derived from comprehensive market analysis, helping them capitalize on opportunities and manage risks effectively. Whether you're new to forex trading or a seasoned investor, choosing the right signals service is crucial. Here’s an in-depth look at some of the leading forex signals services available today:

1. Forex Bank Signal

Forex Bank Signal is renowned for its accuracy and user-friendly interface, making it a preferred choice among traders.

Key Features:

High Accuracy: Forex Bank Signal delivers precise signals, allowing traders to execute trades with confidence.

User-Friendly Platform: The platform is designed to be intuitive and easy to navigate, catering to traders of all skill levels.

Real-Time Alerts: Traders receive instant alerts via SMS, email, or app notifications, ensuring they never miss a trading opportunity.

Educational Resources: Forex Bank Signal provides educational materials and market analysis to help traders understand the rationale behind signals.

With its commitment to accuracy and user accessibility, Forex Bank Signal supports traders in making informed decisions.

2. Learn 2 Trade

Learn 2 Trade offers a comprehensive forex signals service combined with extensive educational resources.

Key Features:

Diverse Signal Coverage: Signals cover forex, cryptocurrencies, and commodities, providing traders with diverse trading opportunities.

Educational Content: Learn 2 Trade offers guides, webinars, and tutorials to enhance traders’ knowledge and skills.

Community Interaction: Traders can engage in a supportive community to share insights and strategies, fostering collaborative learning.

Learn 2 Trade caters to both beginners seeking foundational knowledge and experienced traders looking to refine their strategies.

3. ForexSignals.com

ForexSignals.com stands out for its robust signals and mentorship from experienced traders, offering a comprehensive approach to forex education.

Key Features:

Expert Mentorship: Traders benefit from insights and guidance from seasoned professionals through live trading rooms and mentorship programs.

Comprehensive Signals: The service provides signals across various currency pairs, backed by thorough market analysis.

Customization Options: Traders can customize alerts to suit their trading preferences and risk tolerance.

With a focus on mentorship and comprehensive signals, ForexSignals.com empowers traders to improve their trading skills effectively.

4. Signal Skyline

Signal Skyline offers a straightforward forex signals service tailored for beginners entering the forex market.

Key Features:

User-Friendly Interface: The platform’s simplicity allows new traders to navigate and execute trades effortlessly.

Daily Signals: Traders receive multiple signals daily, covering major currency pairs, ensuring frequent trading opportunities.

Customer Support: Signal Skyline provides responsive customer support to assist traders with queries and technical issues.

Signal Skyline’s emphasis on simplicity and support makes it an ideal choice for novice traders gaining confidence in their trading decisions.

5. 1000pip Builder

1000pip Builder is recognized for its high-performance signals and transparent reporting, appealing to traders seeking proven trading strategies.

Key Features:

Proven Track Record: The service boasts a strong track record of successful signals, supported by detailed performance reports.

Multiple Communication Channels: Signals are delivered via email, SMS, and Telegram for quick and efficient trade execution.

Educational Insights: Traders gain insights into the rationale behind each signal, enhancing their understanding of market dynamics.

1000pip Builder’s focus on performance and transparency provides traders with confidence in their trading decisions.

Key Considerations When Choosing a Forex Signals Service

When evaluating forex signals services, consider these essential factors:

Accuracy and Reliability: Look for services with a proven track record of accurate signals and positive feedback from users.

User-Friendliness: Opt for platforms that are easy to use, especially if you’re new to trading.

Educational Resources: Access to educational materials can enhance your trading skills and understanding of market dynamics.

Customer Support: Responsive customer support ensures timely assistance with queries and technical issues.

Subscription Plans: Evaluate pricing structures and trial options to find a service that fits your budget and trading preferences.

Conclusion

Choosing the right forex signals service is crucial for success in the competitive forex market. Each of the mentioned services offers unique strengths tailored to diverse trading needs. By leveraging the insights and recommendations provided by these top forex signals services, traders can enhance their trading strategies, make informed decisions, and navigate the complexities of the forex market with confidence and proficiency.