#I can basically tell where we are between 20 and 35 degrees based on when and whether I see them and how enthusiastic they are

[langernameohnebedeutung]

boss makes a dollar, I make a dime, I feed crow on company time

[tangents-within-tangents]

I can't believe people still say The Clone Wars and The Bad Batch are "just kids shows" when whatever this show is literally exists:

analysis of target audiences below (there's a TL;DR don't worry)

Okay so the whole "it's just for kids" fallacy/excuse/conversation stopper is such an issue as it is. Here's a good video about it, I'll probably do a whole rant at some point, but in short: the level of storytelling merit, emotional depth, and thematic exploration a work can and should achieve has never been limited by it's target audience/age group, nor it's storytelling medium. (And if you don't think that's true, try to tell me Pixar has never made you cry, go on)

So it doesn't matter if it was made for kids or not. There's nothing wrong with that and anyone can enjoy it anyway. But what I actually wanna talk about here is not the merits of "kids shows" but the misconception on what "kid show" even means.

For one thing, I think when some people say "it's a kids show" they are lumping anything from like Winnie the Pooh to Avatar: the Last Airbender into the same category, and that's just not how it works. The above example demonstrates that not all kids shows/stories are the same anyway (partially bc level of development/education changes drastically between the ages of like 3 and 12, and these are things that are really taken into account in the publishing industry).

I found Disney's ratings guide and I think this should clear some things up:

For reference:

Young Jedi Adventures is listed as TV-Y

Clone Wars (2003), Rebels, and Resistance are TV-Y7-FV

Clone Wars, Bad Batch, and the Tales of the Jedi/Empire are TV-PG

Mandalorian, Ahsoka, Kenobi, Book of Boba Fett, Andor, and Acolyte are all TV-14

And if we put that in context with the films:

The Clone Wars (2008) film and the Original and Prequel trilogy are PG except for Revenge of the Sith which is PG-13 along with the Sequel trilogy, Rogue One and Solo.

So basically TCW and TBB are considered by Disney's own system to be about the same level as most of the films. They are 4 degrees away from 'Young Jedi Adventures' and only 1 degree lower than the live-action shows. Which frankly feels like we got some animation bias going on since all the live-action shows are automatically in one category (which is silly as is and undue here anyway (here have another video) esp since the Clone Wars animation style is clearly meant to be older/more realistic). But regardless, it's literally right there:

And again there is nothing wrong with TCW/TBB being kids shows, but some internet-ers dismiss it as "made for 7 year olds" and that's just objectively not true. Strictly from this system (which idk how it compares to whatever system Cartoon Network used when it aired) you could say the TV-PG might mean 8-13 years old (which is a wide range tbh, there's a big difference between being 8 and being 13), but since TV-G says "suitable for ALL ages" it's also not limited to that.

Also if TCW was aimed for ~8-13 year old's back in 2008 then those same people, who TBB was clearly meant for based on the marketing, were ~21-26 when it premiered in 2021 (and I think that is definitely reflected in writing).

Age of the protagonist is another a good indicator, though it's not a strict rule (i.e. Ender's Game and To Kill a Mockingbird have younger pov characters but are clearly meant for older audiences) and we have a wide range in these shows (Ahsoka 14, Anakin 20, Obi-wan 35, Clones early 20s, Omega ??? 10ish?? idk it's unclear) and time passes. (And while a lot of TBB is filtered through Omega's perspective, there's also plenty of scenes/subplots/episodes where she isn't even there. Also I doubt anyone would call TLOU a kids show just bc Ellie is 14)

But also target audience is a lot more than just content ratings. Note how the first few ratings above say "this program is designed for" the age group, while after TV-G it's about if it contains anything that could be unsuitable for age groups. And ratings can be pretty vague and arbitrary, especially since they change over time (like I get RotS but I could not tell you what makes the Sequels PG-13 compared to the PG films. And why is 13 the age we draw the line at? And why is it 14 for TV instead?)

I think TCW confuses a lot of people because it jumps around a lot; some episodes are about Jar Jar or the droids, and then some are, you know, Umbara. But on a rewatch, even some of the more serious episodes like the Citadel or Kadavo arc still tend to have a more juvenile or simplistic tone/writing style, like repeating information a lot or joking in the middle of the mission (like right after Echo died, hello?!). This actually feels like a writing issue to me, like maybe the writers weren't very clear on what they were going for. (Reminds me also of the only episode I watched of the live-action Atla, where compared to the original it increased the violence/death, but also dumbed down the exposition and didn't seem to trust the audience) Though there is also a clear difference between the seasons, again because the audience and characters are growing up as time goes on. I don't think TBB really had that issue though. It never talked down and it was much more tonally consistent, even in the lower stakes episodes.

Personally TBB feels generally grittier than TCW, though it doesn't really have any of the dark/gruesome deaths and "this is a kids show?!?!" moments like TCW (i.e. clones getting airlocked, decapitated, cut in half by doors, squished by Grievous, and whatever the ever living eff Colt's death was). Though actually come to think of it, there are a few things (like Crosshair killing civilians, the electro suicide pills, and the clone on Tantiss who got skewered (rip)) but I don't think they stand out as much, maybe because they're given the proper weight so they fit the tone rather than feeling out of place. Well, most of the time at least...

Like the friendly fire incident is probably one of the heaviest moments in TCW but I don't see it in those compilations, maybe because the characters respond appropriately and it fits within the Umbara arc. Verses when stuff happens in the middle of lighter more childish plot lines that feel more shocking because they are somewhat brushed off.

But also here's the thing. I think people get really fixated on the darkness/violence/death thing, but it isn't actually as big a deal as we tend to think. Like you'll find "this is a kid's show?!?" compilations for so many shows like these (with a similar age range, like Gravity Falls) that are just anything remotely creepy or intense or related to death, as if kids can't handle anything at all. Like I'll admit it's surprising sometimes (Infinity Train traumatized me bro lol) but most of the time I think we're underestimating kids. Like do you remember being 12? It's not that young.

There just seems to be this misconceived barrier, like the argument goes: "Clone Wars is just a kid show" "No it's not, look at this death scene!" But like there's death scenes in Disney movies all the time, you know? I think that's also why we get so many of these MA animated shows (i.e. Invincible and Vox Machina) that feel the need to overdo the blood and gore to like prove themselves as adult shows (bc again, animation bias).

As a writer that's just not really where the distinction is. This came up in my 'Writing for Children and Adolescents' class and we were all a little surprised when our professor said that death/violence is actually fine for middle-grade (8-12, the 'golden age of reading' and probably the equivalent to TV-PG). Like think of stories with ~12 year old protagonists like Percy Jackson, Harry Potter, Gregor the Overlander (tho Suzanne could stand to tone that one down imo lol). Basically, violence is okay actually. And most the TCW and TBB characters are way older than middle-grade.

(Also I think the difference is usually more in the delivery. Like death and violence being more implied (no blood, or cutting away/seen with shadows), and themes/emotions generally being more clear, simple and stated upfront rather than more nuance, subtle and subtextual. (And tbh writing for kids is actually usually a lot harder btw))

The distinction we did learn about that has been most insightful for me has a lot more to with the story itself: what topics and themes does the story deal with? And what age group/phase of life does that speak to?

For example, Love You Forever is a picture book (generally considered 3-6 yr old range) but it deals with topics that are clearly aimed for an adult. It follows the parental character until they are on their death bed being taken care by their kid, that's not something a 6 year old would care about or relate to. That's why age of protagonist typically aligns too, bc they will be dealing with/worried about things that the reader is dealing with in their life too (like high school struggles vs career and family struggles etc).

Aaaand this post has (once again) gotten away from me lol so I don't feel the need to analyze all of the topics and themes in TCW and TBB, but basically look at what is being explored and how it is being talked about (since a lot of things, esp with war, aren't necessarily age exclusionary) and that can give you a good idea. I think it's clear TBB generally deals with things in a more nuanced and complex way than TCW (most of it at least, honestly the difference between seasons is stark). And there is a main emphasis on family and parenthood, especially with the very end speaking to both young adults growing up and moving out, and the parents letting them go.

TL;DR:

-Animation doesn't automatically equal for kids

-For kids doesn't equal lesser

-Not all kids media is the same bc not all age groups are the same

-Violence doesn't necessarily equal NOT for kids

-Age of protagonist and themes/topics are a better indicator

-The Clone Wars is def middle grade, and The Bad Batch is probably more YA to adult

-But nothing is exclusionary regardless

[freetheshit-outofyou]

Connected Deeper Than Blood

The mystery of the silver .308 cartridge has been solved. It was a gift from an old Army buddy, we’ll call him “Smalls” for the purposes of this conversation because, well, it’s his name. 

I’ve told his story a few times before but I’d like to share why it’s important to me. It is a story of never forgetting the person to your left and right regardless of how far apart you get. It is also a story of never giving up on those who were there when you never thought you’d live past the next hour.

To tell Smalls story I have to tell you a little bit of mine. I met Smalls in 2006 when I back filled a unit that had taken more than a few losses in Southern Baghdad. There is little harder to do in the Service than filling the space of the dead and or wounded. People look at you like a placeholder, a fill in for a good soldier no matter how good of a soldier you are. Normally only time and experience can show them you are more than just a placeholder, combat is the exception. Combat shows people's true colors quick, fast and in a hurry. As fate would have it my very first patrol of my second deployment to Iraq would be a freaking mess.

Meet Smalls. We were out about 3 hours when and IED goes off just under the rear end of my guntruck kicking the whole truck into the air at a 35 or 40 degree down angle. We slam into the ground like we’d been hit by a train, the truck is full of smoke, dirt, dust, I can taste blood and I can’t hear or see. I am trying to scream to my driver to keep going at the same time I’m fishing for my gunners legs to make sure he was still in the truck, in 2006 we were not wearing people dummy cords yet. I find one leg and give it a tug and he kicks me, now I know he is alive. I’m trying to get anyone on the Radio, flicking my VIC headset from truck to Squad and back and I’ve got nothing that’s when I realize the the weight and pain I had been feeling in my left leg was part of the BFT (Blue Force Tracker) and SINCGARS mounts that had broke off and I was partly sitting on it and partly under it so the radio(s) all of them were out. Its dark, the truck is in shambles but its running and my Driver is trying to drive strait but has no idea where were are, what our orientation is but we know we can’t just sit there, its right about now that we realize they are shooting at us and my gunner has been shooting back.

All that shit right there is what broke apart and was under and over my legs.  At this moment 10,000,000,000 things have happened all at once and it seems like its been about 20 minutes and not the 90 to 120 seconds it’s actually been. I’m yelling at the driver to clear his vision and find his NOD’s (Night Vision Device) and yelling to Smalls to tell me what he sees, where are the other gun trucks and what does our damage look like from the outside. He is yelling in between bursts with the 240B that the LT’s truck behind us looks like it lost a wheel and the L-RAZ (Laser Thermal system, I don’t remember what they are actually called, my trucks never had one.) and all the trucks behind us have their day lights on now and the hole in the road is massive. And right now is when we smashed into the rear end of the gun truck in front of us. It had a positive side effect thought I got the damned radio and BFT mounts off me. We are still taking fire, not very accurate but accurate bullets will still kill you, I get out and met up with SSG Smith (Yes, his real name.) the TC from the truck we just hit. I told him we were good I did not know about the LT’s truck and that we have no “Coms”, he said we were headed to the IA (Iraqi Army) check point about a kick away and to just follow them. We scrambled back to our gun trucks and away were went. The shooting has stopped and we pull in to the IA checkpoint on MSR Tampa smoking and clicking and smelling like we’d shit in our gun truck, because we’d just shit in our gun truck. As soon as we stop I get my crew out check them all over and start the process of figuring out what the damage is, getting the ammo sorted and the gunner back up and ready to rock. The IED has been deep and big, but because it was deep it just blew up like a big asphalt bubble and popped basically just chucking our truck and the LT’s truck into the air and dropping us back down with little damage. The LT’s truck blew the right front wheel when it came back down and we were in the process of changing that when wave 2 of the shit storm kicked off. We were just getting the spare tire off one truck to put on the LT’s truck when a freaking RPG zips by the IA barricade and flies into the field behind it. We all hit the ground, the tire is no longer bolted to the rack and falls off onto MEEEEE, those damned tired are heavy. They get the tire off me, we start shooting, the IA are shooting, and the dismounts are working like a damned NASCAR pit crew to get the tire back on the LT’s truck so we can get the fuck out of Dodge. We get the tire on WE are just making tracks back enroute to FOB Falcon. The rest of the way back it’s quiet, if there is any talking it is a joke about how we almost died on my first run out of the wire and there is much nervous laughter. The radio mount is now in the back seat, the inside of the tick is full of smoke and the smell of burning oil. We still have no lights but I can see our Rhino mount is bent about like 45 degrees to my side of the truck and down, periodically skipping off the ground and sending out showers of sparks. It went under the truck we hit, well most of it went under that truck some of it was just smashed off.

There is the tire that fell on me. Fucking tire always had it out for me.  We get back to FOB Falcon and everyone can take a deep breath, we all got back relatively minor injuries all around, it was a good ending to a shitty start. It is at this point that Smalls says “SSG why the fuck did you get out of the truck during a fucking firefight?” I looked at him for a moment trying to think why did I do that, it seems stupid hearing it out loud. I said the only thing I could say “The radio was out.” He laughed and laughed. When we did our own AAR (After Actions Review) it was full of the normal contact report crap, 3 things we did right, 3 things we did wrong, and 3 things we need to sustain. When it was over Smalls says “SSG, how were you so fucking calm thought he whole thing? I mean you were like do this, do this, are you good, are we on fire, can you shoot, then shoot back and all so calm I thought you had a head injury.” I was like man I was freaking the fuck out the entire time, I was just trying to keep us alive, if it looked like I was calm it was just an illusion, I was shitting. That kind of set the tone for our relationship, Smalls kelp me alive or helped keep me alive for the rest of that deployment and we grew closer than blood. But there was one day he saved me from myself and I will always be in his debt for it.

Just a filler photo, I like this one of our old gun truck.  About 3 months after I’d got there I got an email that my wife had dropped off our son with her folks said she was going to the store and didn’t come back, our son was 18 months old at the time. Turned out she has bolted with Jodi and had no plans to come back. I was a fucking mess, my son was with my in-laws, Jodi was in my wife and I was in Iraq. The month prior had been rough on all of us operational pace was eating us up, homefront falling apart was eating away at me when the war wasn’t and I was done. At the time we were on Patrol Base 2 off ASR Bug and I’d decided I was done and going to punch out. The thing was Smalls had a feeling I’d broke and that little fucker would not leave my side. I’d send his ass someplace and ZZZIIIIPP he’s right back. It was like having a stake in your pocket and a puppy on a leash, that fucker was never leaving. One night were sitting guard and in the dark he says “Don’t kill yourself SSG, I need you here.” Now I am wide awake, I’m like what, I’m not going to kill myself, only pussys do that shit.” He was like man I know what is what and I know you are crushed right now but I promise I’ll get you through this if you get me through this. That was it, he just let me know he could see me, that he needed me as much as I needed him to STAY ALIVE. That was it, that little wakeup call was what I needed. Shit still stayed fucked up until we redeployed, but I did not punch out. Smalls had been stop-lossed so he ETS’ed (End Tour of Service) 90 days after we redeployed back to Fort Hood, with the promises of keeping in touch. Honestly I’d said that a lot over my 20+ in the Army and kept in touch with 2 people, randomly. But Smalls and I kept in contact, a call once or twice a week just to touch base, talk about family, the weather, and who had opt’ed out of life from our unit, and there have been a few. This whole time Smalls has been going to school to be a family counselor, helping folks is just in his bones. He is working 2 jobs and using his GI Bill to pay for school when he gets a part time job in a crisis center call center. All the lights turn on for him, he loves what he is doing and feels like he is making a difference one crisis call at a time. He shifts his entire major from family counseling to be more directed at crisis intervention, he now has a Masters in counseling with an emphasis in crisis counseling and mitigation. He quit his other side jobs and became a full time crisis phone counselor. That was not enough, he was taking calls from Veteran after Veteran and needed to do more. He applied for a job with the VA’s crisis centers, he was turned down over and over again until he was offered a job in a mid-West call hub. He jumped at it, he called me about how happy he was about the offer but crushed that he could not afford the move and that he was trying to see if he could get a spot within the West coast hub since he lived in CA. He just could not afford to move him, his wife and 3 kids and get a place to live in the mid-west. I knew this was where I might be able to help pay a debt I owed him. I talked to my Bride about what was going on, she always joked about Smalls being my Butt Buddy because we talked so damned much. She understood though and told me what we could afford. After some planning I called Smalls and said I’d move them Just let me know what they were planning. Of course that did not go as smoothly as one might think but we got it sorted, A tractor trailer, a massive U-Haul trailer and my F350 packed to the top we were on our way to the Mid-West. 5300 miles round trip for me, a busted windshield on the truck from a rock in Utah and 5000.00 on his move and it was all worth it. Smalls has been a VA crisis counselor for a few years now, and still loves doing what he does. He’s still saving lives to this day. I’m damned proud to have him as my Brother. I told you that whole thing just to remind you that the people to your left and right who had you back on the thick of the shit still have your back today and you need to have theirs. If you are thinking about punching out, pick up that phone, reach out. The world can be a shitty place but you can make a difference if to no one else but to those to your left and right.  Thank you Smalls.

[kierongillen]

Writer Notes: The Wicked + the Divine 35

Spoilers, obv.

I suspect this may be shorter than usual. Or maybe not? When you've been working (and thinking) on something for a long time, you work past the need to talk about it. I've said it to myself so many times, I don't really need to externalise it. Whatever “it” is, is in the book.

I suspect this is going to grow as we progress across the final year. In a real way, we're at the point of the degree course when we're easing off. It's your project now. Make of it what thou wilt. Easy answers are a long way behind us. But there are answers, at least.

Jamie's Cover: with solicits going out earlier, we're always worried about putting something like this on a cover. Ideally, we'd want it to drop after Imperial Phase II dropped, so at least people would be suspicious of Minerva.

But it's a lovely image – I love what Matt's doing with the light, what Jamie's doing with the expression. Great stuff.

Yoshi Yoshitani: More great stuff. The playfulness of Persephone, the pose. It's just total joy.

Page 1-4

This looks familiar. Once more we return, again, right?

We were obviously planning this from the start, but by the time we've reached this point, Jamie's style has evolved to the point where the extra panels we need to add to the sequence would break the coherence entirely. So Jamie insisted on re-inking the whole sequence, and updating the Minerva panels (as she's seen in more panels later). I did say that if we were clever, we'd have drawn the whole thing back when we did issue 1. Jamie noted that he'd never have been happy printing four years old art in a book.

So yes.

I was originally thinking that this sequence would actually be the opening of Year 4, but when I did the tight plotting for this arc, I realised that you had to really start way back around 4000BC, to set certain themes in motion. I had the option to switch them until quite late though – they're similar lengths, and abstractly can be switched, with a few changes.

I didn't. It's the way to go. And it's a good way to make issue 2 hit hard, right?

It's an interesting thing to think about that those who are following this in singles will have read the 1923 special before this, so know exactly why everyone is here, while those following with trades will learn it in the NEXT trade.

Page 5

For those who follow the idea of page budgets, this counted as a half page.

When writing this first time I got the order the wrong way around, so Amaterasu survived rather than Susanoo. Always check this stuff.

It's another tour de force for Matt here, in terms of the intensity of effects going on. I feel terrible for all the people involved. Thinking through the psychology of this was always going to be the hard one. To pull the trigger, who had the hardest job?

Page 6

Yet again, just look at the reds. I've got an issue with a bunch of fire in, and this is really making me look forward to it. Susanoo is a sweet one. Poor fucker.

Minerva saying “Necessity” feels like a necessary beat, right?

Page 7

This counts as a ¾ page for page budget.

Was waiting for the “Minerva emerging from fire” money shot for 34 issues (plus specials) and Jamie doesn't let me down. Had me thinking of “Figure covered in fluids” being one of those recurring beats in Jamie and my work. Persephone in the fourth trade, America in issue 13 of YA, Emily in Phonogram and so on.

It's the billow of the skirt, innit? Nice, Jamie.

8-9-10-11

Oddly, lettering this so you could work out who was speaking and who to was trickier than you'd think.

Set still getting her digs in now is very set. And, yes, I'm sure people will have a theory on who the fourth head is by now. If not, don't worry, we'll get to it soon enough.

Getting a little quality time with Ananke/Minerva was one of the writing challenges here – this is a scene which is pretty much showing methodology. When the pages came in for this, Chrissy said “I've been trying to make sense of what you meant by this for four years, but now I get it.” So I hope it hits the core beats for most people.

I do love this push and pull between Ananke and Minerva though. It's quietly horrible.

Pop-art head death there, and a return of the flying eyeballs. Also, looking at the various expressions of the heads in the backgrounds on page 9 is pretty impressive. Set in the third panel!

10-11 is the ritual. Trying to work out how much space for this and what you actually needed to show was key. Plus the timing of it – there's an argument you could have taken this longer, or pushed it shorter. Two pages felt right.

Good eye-to-camera at the end, which allows us to...

PAGE 12

...Have an interstitial...

PAGE 13-14-15-16-17

...and segue to Minerva's eyes in the present day. Linking sequence between scenes.

Due to the repeated pages in the first half being “free” (They weren't – Jamie chose to kill himself) this means that the issue is considerably longer than usual. Even so, there are a lot of fish to fry. This is obviously the problem of the structure of this arc – yes, there will be past and present content in every issue. Balancing what we do in each is basically the key... but it also means we have to choose our scenes very carefully.

Anyway – Minerva and Woden, facing off. Just letting two characters push and pull against each other – and, for the first time, really being behind the curtain “with” Minerva. Previously Minerva has been presented as a supporting character, based on her interactions with others (1923 is an exception). Here, Minerva is protagonist, and we get to see her work.

Minerva! Love the dyed bangs. Strong look. Also, great thoughtful expression on the end of the last page... and her making her move on the next page.

Woden calling her “Sweetheart” seems to be a minor peak Woden move.

This sequence is making me think that Minerva would be great at playing the party game Resistance. Tricky thing in this sequence is actually signalling lies to readers. Lies are really hard in comics. Like irony (as in, characters saying things they don't believe) there's certain parts of the readership who have huge problems with it. Signalling what you want to do is paramount, and tricky. I'm not sure there's a right answer.

Last two panels of 15 are particularly good for Jamie and Matt – firstly, we get the time based upon the sun coming up, which gives it an odd atmosphere. Guns out in a room? You'd think nighttime. But no, it's something else.

Secondly, with the steady angle, with Minerva having her back to Woden, we get a chance to see her think about what lie to tell. That's an “Okay – Woden knows about the heads. How could he know about the heads?” think...

Then over the page, making the lie, expression hoping she gets away with it... and then relief when she's called it right. Great steady-angle work by Jamie and Matt, and the sort of performance you can get from them. I wouldn't write this for almost anyone else.

(Favourite detail – look at the shoulders. From Woden's perspective, she's not moving at all. She's only giving facial tells.)

This sequence was also particularly picked over with C, in a line by line way, in terms of what information is being imparted. Minerva and Woden are both absolutely drilling each other for all the information they can get, so what IS being implied.

I laugh at Minerva bundling over to the computer the second Woden is gone. Plus great final expression there by Minerva.

18-19

In an issue that's set half in the past, and the half the present day stuff is with Minerva, we're in danger of losing our lead – so I definitely try and write Persephone particularly present where she gets it. This is an advantage of the captions coming back in – we can slow sequences down and make them feel like they last longer.

It's fun to do Persephone captions. Well, “fun”. You get to hit certain things directly that normally I'd only ever approach obliquely.

The weirdest thing of rewriting was Jon's line about being trapped underground – which was originally “Buried alive.” The question was whether anyone would take that literally, as the lab hadn't 100% been established as being underground.   (and the stairs from the giant machine that lead to the lab go upwards, even though the whole thing is all underground.)

In short: in a plot as dense as ours, it's important to not confuse in any area except where you have to.

20-22

After a scene earlier of lying to someone's face, using the modern communication to do something exploring the same sort of thing seemed interesting. Also, efficient. For those following Page Budgets, the repeating panels of the phone aren't quite “free” panels, but they're relatively low energy panels. Plus it gets a LOT of information exchanged in a direct, quick way. Instead, we spend the effort on the expression panels, to show the journey that's NOT on the screen.

It's not stuff I'd do constantly, but I do like that we do it.

Nice Verðandi-shoulder-touch silent panel too. Yay Jamie and Matt!

23

I believe I originally wrote this for two pages, but with no captions. Jamie felt it was unnecessary, and they'd get a similar effect in a single page. The reason why I did it with two pages is that I wanted to slow the reader down in the process of discovery – there was a little bit more akin to the Rorschach scene in Watchmen, with the procedural exploration of the environment and trying to find a way in too.

In the script I said I may add captions at lettering, but reduced to a page, that felt like a necessary thing. It slows the eye, and lets us join Persephone in her internality.

(I actually wrote most of this as the opening of the next issue, before realising it didn't fit, which was nicely timed, as I realised that with some edits, it fits perfectly here.)

The mural introduced in issue 4, as coloured by Nathan Fairbairn.

Laura's glimpse back on panel 4 is one of my favourite minor moments – Matt's magenta behind the image really adds to it.

24-26

Minerva, in an issue of deniable manipulative shit, this is your most deniable and manipulative thing. Astounded, and I wrote it.

Last two panels call back to Imperial Phase I, for reasons which will become obvious.

Due to the way the pages moved around, Jamie suggested moving the reveal of the skulls to the previous page – they were originally on the final one, but the angle was nearly impossible to pull off, and worked better brought forward. You always want BIG information to be revealed on a page turn, but in this case, the panels are small enough to not register unless you're actively looking at them, plus the REAL meaning of them is only really get-able by those who recall a scene from issue 4.

Hence the flashbacks, to ensure people do recall them. We don't do a lot of this kind of thing, but as this has been a long time back, we felt it was worth really laying out the key facts, step by step. Also, free panels, for the page budget purposes.

(Of course, not for Matt, who is doing a really cool treatment here – the reds and blacks in one timeline, and the pink and blue dots in the flashbacks. Astounding. Give that man another Eisner.)

The “...but everyone else should be” has been sitting in my hard drive all that time too. Odd to hit this stuff as well.

I think I've said that Baal is one of my favourite characters in the whole series. Obviously much more to come here, and probably down the line. He was a character who was always going to become more central the further we got into this – you know I talk about knowing the characters arcs, but not always when the plots come to the top of the mix? There's certainly a take on WicDiv where this is revealed near the climax of Imperial Phase II along with the rest of it. I suspect that would have overloaded it – it needs space, and I'd hate to leave more than a month between this reveal and the What's-Going-On.

It always surprised me that more close readers didn't jump on a “Baal is Baal Hammon” argument, as there's stuff which I considered considerably more obscure that people were all over. He cries fire in issue 12, for example – though a lot of people were noting that 1920s Baal wasn't much like 2013 Baal after the Special. This stuff is fascinating, from my perspective.

Yes, Baal's hot stuff in the final panel. For those who are wondering about his Inanna tattoo, alternate covers aren’t strictly speaking canon, and gods have all kind of miracles available to them. 

Next issue is two weeks late. As well as being one of the hardest issues we've ever done, there's been several real life disasters. Sorry for the delay, but we'll see you next week.

[meetmeonthecourse]

In Order to Succeed, We Must First Believe That We Can

What a weekend. 

Matt and I headed down to AC Saturday around 9:45am after picking up some breakfast along the way. We arrived at Bader Field around 12:15pm and went straight to athlete check-in. I love athlete expos, there’s so many products, gadgets, and fun gear to look at (every marketer’s dream)…Matt on the other hand not so much. I dropped my bike in the transition area after we checked in and I received my transition bracelet (the kind that doesn’t come off). Fun fact for those who don’t know what a transition area is. It’s the area that all the triathletes go into twice during a race (between the swim and bike & between the bike and run,). You get one teeny tiny area to yourself where you get to lay out all your gear. I got lucky because the girl next to me didn’t show so I had a LOT of room (for my gels :) )! 

After my bike was in, Rick showed up to the race. Rick is a friend from home who I’ve done several triathlons and ocean mile swims with. He did Ironman Lake Placid last year and has taught me A LOT. Mainly, about the bike and little tricks and trades during the races. When I told him that I signed up for this race, he signed up right away to join me. 

Matt went to check-in to the hotel while Rick and I stayed for the athlete briefing. During the briefing, the race Director goes over the course, rules and regulations, do’s and don’t etc. This race is regulated by the USA Triathlon Association so there are several big rules athletes need to abide by (no littering-trash only goes in certain areas, stay 6 bikes lengths behind the bike in front of you, pass on the right, if you are going to pass it must be done in 25 seconds, etc.). 

After the briefing, we headed to the Tropicana hotel and had a really nice dinner with my parents at the Palms. Post-dinner we headed out to gamble (aka my dad and Matt while my mom and I watched). AC is a fun place to hold a race. There were so many interesting people there, I could have people watched all night and in the morning, all those zombies were still out. By 8:30pm I was ready to go to bed. Matt and my dad stayed up to watch football– to which I was a bit relieved so I could head upstairs and organize my race bag for the next day. I put my race tattoos on (one on each arm and my age on my left calf). I went to bed around 10pm but couldn’t fall asleep for about an hour because I was attempting to not think about racing…..which made me just think about things more. 

I woke up at 4:30am and was downstairs by 5am just in time for Rick to pick me up. We arrived to the lot a couple minutes later and parked with ease. The transition area was PACKED. There were 2474 total participants in the race and it’s also noted as the #1 largest Triathlon in the US. I got to my area and set out all my things. I also placed my tracker on my ankle. It’s basically the same thing that you wear on house-arrest, except this one has velcro and sponge padding. 

The transition area closed 20 minutes prior to the race start, so we grabbed our wetsuits, swim caps, and goggles and headed to the area outside the transition area. The race decided this year to have the swim be a rolling start. Instead of people being seeded by their age, athletes get to decide when they start based on how fast they think they will complete the swim. I chose 26-35 minutes and went in the middle of the pack on the outside left-hand side since the course planned to have us all keep the buoys on our left-hand side at all times. When it was my turn, I walked to the edge of the dock and jumped in at the beep with 4 other swimmers. The swim was amazing (I now love a rolling start). The buoys were clearly marked and because we were in the bay there wasn’t a huge current at all, just a little one on the turnaround. A few people swam into me but for the most part I was cruisin along. Towards the end of the swim, I didn’t swim in a straight line because my goggles fogged up a bit, but all-in-all I could still see everything to some degree. 

I exited the water and ran up through the inflated swim finish marker. Matt, my dad and mom were cheering as I came out and into the transition area. As I ran, I stripped down to my racing suit, threw on my helmet, gloves, sock, bike shoes, threw the gels in my pocket, grabbed my bike and off I went. 

The bike course was 56 miles. A tip Rick gave me early on was to keep a high cadence so that I didn’t tire out my legs too quickly. Since this course was flat and fast, it proved to be a great tool. I enjoyed 2.5 loops around the Atlantic City Expressway into Pleasantville. It was a really enjoyable ride and actually went by a lot quicker than I thought. To pass the time, I played a few games: guess riders age before looking at their calf, sing-along, thank the volunteers, eat my gels, drink water and electrolytes, try to do athlete math in my head to calculate my race time (it’s hard!), and not freak out when I saw someone with a flat. While on the ride, I received a lot of compliments on my new bike! That was very nice :) My nutrition worked wonders and kept me going the entire time (ill talk about that breakdown later in the post). 

Once the ride was over, I went back into the transition area and dropped my bike, changed my socks, threw on my sneakers, hat, and glasses, and ran out. As soon as I ran out I saw Matt, my mom and dad and Matt’s parents Frank and Fedela who I saw on my way in from the ride. They were cheering me on with signs they had made. It made the race that much better to see all of them and really kept me going–especially because I knew I’d get to see them another time on the loop back out that led to the beach. 

Once we were out of Bader Field, we ran down to the AC boardwalk for the last 11 miles. I started out feeling so strong at an 8:30-8:45 mile pace. That pace jumped to 9:30, 10:50 and even 11:06 I’m sad to say. If there was anything during that race that I would’ve done differently, it would have been to start slower. I knew it going in that this was the part a lot of people messed up (or it was going too hard on the bike) but I felt so good for the first few miles that I thought I was fine (completely forgot that I had already been working out for 4 hours). 

The miles did not fly by and man it was HOTT. Luckily we had amazing weather the entire race and it was overcast for most of it with some pockets of sun during the run. Had it been sunny the entire time, we would have been in trouble. The run aid stations were the most important for me since I only carried 2 gels with me. I took water, gatorade, and ice at each one because it was that hott. At one of the aid stations the most amazing volunteer ran behind me–opened my tri-suit and dumped ice down my back. I actually threw ice into my bra and ran with it in there just so happy to be cold for a few seconds. On about mile 6-8 I saw Matt, my parents, and Fedela and Frank. No words were really exchanged this time other than that I was dying a bit more. Matt ran with me for a little down the boardwalk to help lighten my spirits. It helped a lot. It’s hard not to get in your own head when your boiling and your legs are on fire. I tried my best to smile at each person I passed and hold on to that the race would be over soon and I would regret it if I stopped… I didn’t stop once my entire race and I’m so thankful that I didn’t. Had I, it would have broken my zone and definitely changed my race. Throughout the race I repeated several different mantras “I’m strong. Thankful I can race this amazing race. Thankful for my health. I can do this. Don’t stop. All this training. Keep going. This is temporary…etc.”

The last few miles were not fun but I got through them. At mile 11, I met up with a guy named Paul who I ran with from Bader Field down to the beach. He was in his 50s and did an Ironman along with several halves. It was nice to see a familiar face and have someone to run along–anything to distract me. The end of the race was the best feeling. Usually at all my races, I find some extra juice in me to really push it at the finish. I found some and sprinted the last several hundred meters or so. It feels so good to give the last bit of everything you have to finish strong. My time was 6:26… just 4 minutes faster than my goal window of 6:30. As I finished I passed my crew, which gave me an even bigger reason to smile. A volunteer threw two cold towels off me, put my medal on and took of my tracker. It was hard to walk after stopping but I met up with my parents and Matt to take some pictures of my newly earned medal. It felt so good to be done and I was so happy it was over but that I had completed this goal that I set back in February with several injury setbacks along the way. 

After taking pictures, grabbing some ice, and food from the food tent, we were able to watch Rick finish and then head over to grab some real food. I didn’t have very much of an appetite (except a soft pretzel, WAY out of the norm) but it was great to sit down and recount the race for everyone and also get it from their perspective. As an athlete, I can tell you this race was a great one and run extremely efficiently with great volunteers and a race Director. 

All in all, the road to Ironman 70.3 Atlantic City was a rough one with many tears, injuries, and setbacks. 

I’m really grateful that I’ve had Matt by my side the entire time supporting me, driving home early for my training, listening to my crazy training thoughts and gameplan, planning our weekend around training, coming to get me when I had a flat tire in the Bronx, lugging my bike in his car, reminding me to stretch, passing the time while I was training, taking me to the bike shop, reserving our room for the race, purchasing a fancy new bike rack, sourcing the perfect bike pump, and making signs to put a smile on my face. 

I’m so thankful for my parents for their continuous support for this sport that I love, pushing me to be my best, talking me through the times when I’m having seconds thoughts, reminding me to put my health first, waking up early to cheer me on, and supporting me always. And thank you to Frank and Fedela Kessler who drove 6 hours on Sunday just to run around and cheer me on. It helped immensely! .

I’m also thankful for many more people who have helped me get to where I did in this race: My girls Lisa, Lexie, Chiara, Erica, Maria, Nicole, Jackie, Britney, John Mark, Rick, Sam Robin, Michele, Erika Osberg, Dr. Jordan Metzl, Eric Schwartz, Sierra Cycles in Scarsdale, and I’m sure I’m missing a few.  

Now to my Race Day Nutrition!

Pre-Race: 1.5 slices eziekel bread with 1 packet of Justin’s Almond butter, 1 small coffee, 1 vega protein bar, 1 banana, 1 bottle of water with 1 nuun electrolyte tablet. 

Swim: None

Bike: I increased my food intake because I was getting hungry on my training rides (did not want to bonk so had to increase). Every 15 minutes 1 STINGER gel and ¼ of 1 32 oz bottle of water (total of about 10-11 gels). Halfway through the race I ate 1 Stinger waffle (it was amazing!). 

Run: The bike is supposed to prepare you for the run so you don’t really have to eat that much. I took a huge swig of water with nuun at transition. On the run, I took water and gatorade at each station with ice cubes. I also ate 1 gel on mile 6 to keep my energy up. At the last aid station, I took coke because I had to see what all the fuss is about (really I don’t think it did anything). 

Post-race: Pretzel and water, 2 crab cakes, a couple sips of beer, french fries, and ice cream and a banana for dinner (talk about healthy!). 

Can’t wait to see what’s up next, thank you all for the continued support and keeping up with this crazy journey!! <3 <3

[sapphicluxanna]

1-100 pls 🌹💕

BABE. oh my god. okay here we go, it’s gonna be long!!

1: when you have cereal, do you have more milk than cereal or more cereal than milk? more cereal than milk I think?

2: do you like the feeling of cold air on your cheeks on a wintery day? I love winter and everything about it, I’d rather be cold than hot 

3: what random objects do you use to bookmark your books? post it notes, receipts, I’ve used flowers a few times, really anything that’s in reach

4: how do you take your coffee/tea? tea with a little bit of milk and honey, coffee depends on the day? typically with a lil bit of vanilla creamer. when I make my ‘fancy’ coffee at home with frothy milk on top I always top them off with a dusting of cinnamon 

5: are you self-conscious of your smile? always

6: do you keep plants? ye! I have a succulent/cacti terrarium, some sunflowers, jasmine, african violets, tomato plants, hanging planters, and a few more I forget the names of!

7: do you name your plants? not the ones I have currently

8: what artistic medium do you use to express your feelings? I love ink. I haven't been able to paint with ink in a while, but the movement of that and watercolor are just.. freeing? I dunno how to explain it.  that and drawing using ink, every mark you make is permanent and I just kinda zone out when doing it

9: do you like singing/humming to yourself? aight listen. my future s/o is gonna have to deal with this a lot. shower? singing. car ride? singing. cooking? singing. y'all aint getting a break even if I sound like a dying cat

10: do you sleep on your back, side, or stomach? primarily side and stomach!

11: what’s an inner joke you have with your friends? I cant think of many at the moment but uhhhh. hmm. a few guys and I play a game together and I run the group (in rdr2), and we don't let people join it if their horse’s tail isn't braided so we’ll hunt them down and kill them instead

12: what’s your favorite planet? neptune looks beautiful

13: what’s something that made you smile today? the fact that you wanted to know more about me

14: if you were to live with your best friend in an old flat in a big city, what would it look like? lots and lots of plants, kinda modern, a few fish tanks, smells like lavender and coffee

15: go google a weird space fact and tell us what it is! mars has the biggest known volcano!

16: what’s your favorite pasta dish? stupidly basic, but chicken parmesan 

17: what color do you really want to dye your hair? I’ve always wanted to impulsively dye it some shade of blue just for a few weeks

18: tell us about something dumb/funny you did that has since gone down in history between you and your friends and is always brought up. I got ridiculously drunk off tequila at a house party and was given my first mojito, thought he picked leaves off the tree out back and threw them in so I dug them out and threw them around the yard in disgust. I have a very vague memory of this but they always give me crap for it

19: do you keep a journal? what do you write/draw/ in it? I have a couple! one is my bujo where I keep lists of things like self care ideas, favorite movies and books, quotes, friend stuff, etc. another I use to draw in and like to recreate van gogh sketches, others are private 

20: what’s your favorite eye color? y'all ever really see brown eyes? oof

21: talk about your favorite bag, the one that’s been to hell and back with you and that you love to pieces. I don't have this?

22: are you a morning person? I could be if I woke up next to the right person

23: what’s your favorite thing to do on lazy days where you have 0 obligations? netflix binging, reading, aquarium shopping, walks with my dog in the woods, making stupid pancakes, and league with a babe

24: is there someone out there you would trust with every single one of your secrets? it takes time for me to trust people, so probably all my life at some point with a girl. as for family? no

25: what’s the weirdest place you’ve ever broken into? I’ve locked myself outta my place a few times and had to go through the window

26: what are the shoes you’ve had for forever and wear with every single outfit? several pairs of sandals and slides!

27: what’s your favorite bubblegum flavor? just regular mint?

28: sunrise or sunset? watching the sunset on a blanket in the grass with a girl I care about 

29: what’s something really cute that one of your friends does and is totally endearing? her voice gets a lil louder and she talks fast when she's excited about something and its flipping adorable

30: think of it: have you ever been truly scared? yes. 

31: what is your opinion of socks? do you like wearing weird socks? do you sleep with socks? do you confine yourself to white sock hell? really, just talk about socks. I love fluffy socks and patterned socks and ones with dinosaurs and stuff and I love socks so much, don't sleep in them though

32: tell us a story of something that happened to you after 3AM when you were with friends. we played a drinking game based off how we did in a split screen game, one drink for every kill, got v drunk that night 

33: what’s your fave pastry? I love baclava but I’m horribly allergic to walnuts

34: tell us about the stuffed animal you kept as a kid. what is it called? what does it look like? do you still keep it? I still have it! my dad went down to south carolina a lot and I was, and still am, very much in love with alligators. I think I was six or something but he came home with this giant garbage bag and was moving it like there was an animal inside and when I opened it, it was a giant stuffed alligator. he's currently sitting on my bed, but seems a lot smaller now

35: do you like stationary and pretty pens and so on? do you use them often? I really wanna get into using thicker paper for letters with pressed wax seals and pressed flowers 

36: which band’s sound would fit your mood right now? I don’t really focus on individual bands too much tbh, I bounce around a lot within genres. anything happy and country atm

37: do you like keeping your room messy or clean? I’m tryna keep it cleaner, better habit to make myself get into 

38: tell us about your pet peeves! people smoking around me (I don't care that you smoke whatever, I just ask you don't do it around me bc it makes me feel sick), a group of people that takes up the whole sidewalk going incredibly slow, people that cut me off in traffic without turn signals, people who f around in the tsa line and don't get ready then stand there for ten minutes taking everything off for the scanner and hold us up, “there” and “their” and “they’re” misuses, etc. jeez, didn't realize I had so many and that's not even all of them

39: what color do you wear the most? blue?

40: think of a piece of jewelry you own: what’s it’s story? does it have any meaning to you? I love my claddagh ring, my mom and sister both have the same one and we all match. currently not wearing it bc it was like 100 degrees F then other day and it burned my finger?????

41: what’s the last book you remember really, really loving? asoiaf!!!!

42: do you have a favorite coffee shop? describe it! I like this lil coffee shop about half an hour away, every drink has an individual and funny name and the workers are nice 

43: who was the last person you gazed at the stars with? I honestly can’t remember, but I could really go for this right now

44: when was the last time you remember feeling completely serene and at peace with everything? uhhhh it’s been a bit? lotta stressors recently 

45: do you trust your instincts a lot? I try to, should've listened to them regarding some stuff and I didn’t 

46: tell us the worst pun you can think of. what do you call a blind dinosaur? a do-you-think-he-saurus.

47: what food do you think should be banned from the universe? broccoli

48: what was your biggest fear as a kid? is it the same today? santa and the dark, no on both accounts now 

49: do you like buying CDs and records? what was the last one you bought? no, I just use apple music 

50: what’s an odd thing you collect? I dunno about odd, but I keep seashells and shark teeth I find on beaches 

51: think of a person. what song do you associate with them? somebody to love

52: what are your favorite memes of the year so far? uhhhh I’m bad at keeping up with when these come out but probably the “wait was anyone going to tell me ___ or was I supposed to find out in this ___”

53: have you ever watched the rocky horror picture show? heathers? beetlejuice? pulp fiction? what do you think of them? I haven't seen these sorry!

54: who’s the last person you saw with a true look of sadness on their face? my dad

55: what’s the most dramatic thing you’ve ever done to prove a point? I honestly cannot think of this right now

56: what are some things you find endearing in people? when they get excited about something, when their eyes sparkle a bit in sunlight, when they’re touchy (only certain ones), compassion, weird hobbies and interests, etc

57: go listen to bohemian rhapsody. how did it make you feel? did you dramatically reenact the lyrics? it’s an experience. listen with headphones on high or don't listen to it at all

58: who’s the wine mom and who’s the vodka aunt in your group of friends? why? I guess I’d be the wine mom bc I don't drink heavily too often with my friends cause I’m usually the dd, vodka aunt would go to my friend S cause hell she puts that shit away fast

59: what’s your favorite myth? I love greek mythology

60: do you like poetry? what are some of your faves? sappho

61: what’s the stupidest gift you’ve ever given? the stupidest one you’ve ever received? a lil cat bank that grabs a coin with its paw and drags it into the box and a potato, respectively 

62: do you drink juice in the morning? which kind? not usually

63: are you fussy about your books and music? do you keep them meticulously organized or kinda leave them be? I kept all of my books on a shelf before the move but idk what imma do with them now bc I have no room for a bookcase so they're kinda messy rn

64: what color is the sky where you are right now? pale blue and cloudy

65: is there anyone you haven’t seen in a long time who you’d love to hang out with? a friend who moved away a few years ago, I miss her 

66: what would your ideal flower crown look like? oooooh. hmm. lots of blues and pinks and purples with lil twisty brown vines?

67: how do gloomy days where the sky is dark and the world is misty make you feel? I love them, 10/10, perfect. 

68: what’s winter like where you live? we either get 3 feet of snow overnight or a dusting, there’s no in between

69: what are your favorite board games? I cant remember the last time I played a board game??? I liked the game of life and monopoly when I was a kid 

70: have you ever used a ouija board? nope

71: what’s your favorite kind of tea? whatever happens to be in the cabinet!

72: are you a person who needs to note everything down or else you’ll forget it? I have the memory of a goldfish

73: what are some of your worst habits? letting people get away with things they've done to me, being too lenient with people that make me uncomfortable, etc

74: describe a good friend of yours without using their name or gendered pronouns. they’re such a good friend and we have enough years built into our friendship that we can go a few weeks without talking and be right where we left off. they’re kind and caring and ready to help people when they need it 

75: tell us about your pets! my cat is an 8 year old lil grump, but he gets so freaking affectionate and lovey too. he knows when I’m anxious and will come up and sit on my chest and purr. my dog’s a ball of jumping energy, she's always excited and happy, she’s only 2 so hopefully she’ll mellow out. then my clownfish are flipping adorable even though they try to bite my fingers when I’m working on the aquarium 

76: is there anything you should be doing right now but aren’t? unpacking and socializing with family

77: pink or yellow lemonade? pink lemonade 

78: are you in the minion hateclub or fanclub? I don't care about them really, but the facebook minion memes passed around by moms gotta stop

79: what’s one of the cutest things someone has ever done for you? one of my exes surprise got me flowers sometimes, while the relationship just didn't work that was a cute action 

80: what color are your bedroom walls? did you choose that color? if so, why? they’re kinda beige-ish? I just moved here and I don’t wanna repaint them

81: describe one of your friend’s eyes using the most abstract imagery you can think of. hmm. one of my friends’ eyes are like the leaves on the forest floor, an assortment of greens and browns blended together with the occasional fleck of gold when light filters through the trees

82: are/were you good in school? I’m okay? In high school I was in honor classes and stuff and I've made the deans list a few times in college so far, but honestly I think I’m just average. I have a lot of issues with math and it’s why I couldn't go into one of the fields I was considering. I get overwhelmed quickly

83: what’s some of your favorite album art? tbh I don't look at this kinda stuff but I know kesha’s rainbow was good?

84: are you planning on getting tattoos? which ones? ye! I want a small humpback whale on my left inner wrist, they mean a lot to me and I finally got to see one in person just last year. then I have some scars on my thigh I’ve been tossing around the idea of getting a tattoo to cover up, but idk if I would or what I would get 

85: do you read comics? what are your faves? no sorry! I always wanted to when I was younger but I got psyched out by guys who would say they're not for girls who I never took advantage of the comic shop a family friend owns 

86: do you like concept albums? which ones? I dunno what this is and I’m too tired to google it but imma guess its about music? to which I say I’m v bad at keeping up with everyones stuff 

87: what are some movies you think everyone should watch at least once in their lives? the princess bride, star wars, lord of the rings, the sound of music, indiana jones (NOT crystal skull, it sucked), jurassic park, and a lottttt more. 

88: are there any artistic movements you particularly enjoy? impressionism, post impressionism, and expressionism 

89: are you close to your parents? ish. 

90: talk about your one of you favorite cities. I absolutely loved st. malo in france. I need to go back. it’s a giant walled city on the water and it’s just beautiful. I sat and watched an artist on the street for a while and bought two of his paintings afterward, gotta figure out where to hang them in my new bedroom. the air smelled amazing, it rained a lot when I was there but I still loved it and I wish I’d had more time to really explore than I did

91: where do you plan on traveling this year? I wanted to go to sri lanka to see my family but I don’t think it’s gonna happen, but I’ve got my fingers crossed for pennsylvania cause reasons 

92: are you a person who drowns their pasta in cheese or a person who barely sprinkles a pinch? cheese is life

93: what’s the hairstyle you wear the most? I braid it overnight and wear it down during the day!

94: who was the last person you know to have a birthday? my dad a few days ago 

95: what are your plans for this weekend? I think I’ve got another family party to go to? feel kinda done with my fam rn though

96: do you install your computer updates really quickly or do you procrastinate on them a lot? I literally just installed 2 years worth of updates this morning, so yeah, I procrastinate updates quite a bit 

97: myer briggs type, zodiac sign, and hogwarts house? idk what the first thing is but the others are scorpio and slytherin!

98: when’s the last time you went hiking? did you enjoy it? oh wow I can’t remember, but imma say yes? I wanna hike with my dog at some point 

99: list some songs that resonate to your soul whenever you hear them. somebody to love, la mer, and some others

100: if you were presented with two buttons, one that allows you to go 5 years into the past, the other 5 years into the future, which one would you press? why? 5 years into the future. I hope that future me is happy and comfy with someone she loves surrounded by their plants, aquariums, pets, and love. 

[chikkou]

Imma just need you to answer every one of those OC questions. I thirst for more information.

STOP this is so sweet omg…ive answered some already but ill definitely answer the ones i havent for u! 

this is super long by the way so for yalls sake im putting it under a cut lmao

1. Is there any OC of yours you could describe as a “sunshine”? 

i think id definitely say amara and jeanne fit this description a lot. jeannes favorite color is even bright yellow, like the sun! 

12. Name an OC that isn’t yours but who you like a lot

i LOVE @elliexer��s ocs… like all of them. every single one. theyre amazing

14. Introduce an OC with a tragic backstory 

ill talk abt dominiques! basically, in my story she becomes queen at age 20 after her own parents (the previous monarchs) died tragically. she married her then-boyfriend, marius, and he became king. in their universe, the king and queen rule jointly, and one can override the others actions, etc etc.

she was really in love with him at first, and she did her best to be a just monarch, but power corrupts and marius, whose family were nobles always aching for more, became more and more evil the longer he ruled the kingdom. it got to the point that he was killing innocents based on his whims, like just because he felt like it. dominique had loved him, but after seeing what he became, she knew what she had to do, and had him assassinated. 

on top of that, she had been sick for many years and was dying of her illness, she had no family left, and none of her children were interested in ascending the throne. she had to give her entire familys lineage away to her closest lady-in-waiting (actually annaliese) because of her husbands evil ways. and thats ALL JUST THE BACKSTORY… not even starting with what happened to her in-story lmao

15. Do you like to talk about your OCs with other people?

yes omg i fucken love it… i get worried when i do tho cause i feel like i talk too much lmao 

16. Which one of your OCs would be the best at biology (school subject)? 

annaliese definitely, and probably mathilde as well! also dolores because thats literally her job (shes a doctor)

18. Any OC crackships? 

i think takako x aurelie would be cute!

19. Introduce an OC that means a lot to you (and explain why)

all of my ocs mean the world to me, but i gotta give special mention to annaliese and marianne! i first created them when i was figuring out my sexuality, and initially they were just the queen and her lady-in-waiting. around the time that i was starting to embrace my gayness, i made the switch from that to them having been good friends (but still the queen and her lady-in-waiting), and finally i changed it from that to them being joint rulers together and also married and in love. thats definitely the first time i began to accept that gayness was ok and good! 

20. Do any of your OCs sing? If they sing, care to share more details (headcanon voice, what kind of songs they like etc)?

i like to think that all of my ocs sing! itd take so long to go into the details of it LMAO but i definitely imagine different voices and musical styles for each!

22. Is there any OC of yours people tend to mischaracterize? If yes, how? 

not to my knowledge :o 

23. Introduce OC that has changed from your first idea concerning what the character would be like?

most of them! i think, of all of my ocs, annaliese has changed the most. initially, she was supposed to be a cruel tyrant that, at the end of her story, was going to be deposed and possibly killed. she was also russian i think LMAO… and she had the throne by birthright

in the current story, annaliese is queen not by birthright, but by choice. in her story, she was initially a servant in the castle of the queen and king (dominique and marius), and worked her way up the ranks to being dominiques closest confidant. after a long time, dominique, who was dying, sent annaliese to kill the king, and, because the princesses were not interested in ruling, she was given the crown as payment.

while annaliese does still have a bit of that “iron-fist ruler” type thing, its not NEARLY as bad as it was, and shes certainly not a cruel tyrant anymore. shes also not russian now, shes french

24. If you could meet one OC of yours, who would it be and why?

i think i would meet elyse! shes cool and can do magic

25. The OC that resembles you the most (same hobby, height, shared like/dislike for something etc?)

amara for sure. the only real difference between me and her is that she has violet eyes, which i decidedly dont lmao

26. Have you ever had to change your OC’s design or something else about them against your will? 

not to my knowledge!

27. Any OCs that were inspired by a certain song? 

annaliese was inspired by dont mess with me by temposhark, and i DONT wanna hear ur judgment.

28. Your most dangerous OC? 

probably elyse… shes a wild card!

29. Which one of your OCs would go investigate an abandoned house at night without telling anyone they’re going?

definitely jeanne, probably elyse30. Which one of your OCs would most likely have a secret stuffed animal collection? 

jeanne, dolores, ophelie, and aurelie!

31. Pick one OC of yours and explain what their tumblr blog would be like (what they reblog, layout, anything really)

i think takako would have a really minimalist blog, like, just a black and white transparent theme, and she’d only reblog aesthetic pics

33. Your shyest OC?

i think that would be ophelie… shes VERY quiet and nervous a lot, but shes really nice!

34. Do you have any twin characters?

yes!! i actually had a bunch of twin ocs back in the day, but the only ones i still actually use are mathilde and aurelie! theyre identical twins and are the children of dominique and marius, which makes them the princesses!

35. Any sibling characters? 

yes! mathilde and aurelie, of course, and marianne and jeanne! 

36. Do you have OC pairs where the other part belongs to someone else (siblings, lovers, friends etc)? 

as in, i have an oc in a relationship with someone elses oc? if so, sort of! @agithahime and i used to be really into rvb, and so we made rvb ocs that did everything together lmao. their names are charlotte (hers) and marceline (mine) !

37. Introduce an OC who is not quite human 

definitely the goddess of night, who is more like the physical embodiment of night. she actually doesnt exist on this plane, but whenever she does arrive on earth, the night follows her wherever she goes. she looks roughly like this (also designed in rinmarus dollmaker!): 

38. Which one of your OCs would be the best dancer? 

i think marianne and aurelie would be really elegant dancers!

39. Introduce any character you want 

this is mathilde! she is one of the princesses in annalieses story. shes a really sweet girl, and very beautiful, but also very shy. shes also trans! and she decides against taking the throne because, apart from having no interest in ruling, she wants to travel the world and find her calling. shes a very intelligent girl and i love her

(also designed in rinmarus dollmaker btw!) 

40. Any fond memories linked to your characters? Feel free to share!

honestly i just get so happy writing their stories… it feels good knowing their tales are being told! 

41. Has anyone drawn fanart of your OCs? If yes, maybe show a picture or two here (remember sources & permissions!)

not to my knowledge, but id be SO HAPPY if someone drew one of my ocs… id honestly sob my eyes out LMAO

42. Which one of your OCs would be the most interested in Greek gods? 

elyse!! she LOVES greek mythology, but like. to an unhealthy degree almost. aurelie also really enjoys greek myth! 

43. Do you have any certain type when you create your OCs? Do you tend to favour some certain traits or looks? It’s time to confess

i always give my ocs wavy or curly hair, without fail. the only time i ever give an oc perfectly straight hair is if their hair is short, because then straight hair looks cool LMAO

44. Something you like about your OCs in general

theyre always really creative and intelligent! 

45. A character you no longer use?

i have SO MANY characters i dont use lmao… a lot of them were either ocs for a work that im not interested in anymore, or their stories just made no sense. of all my ocs that i dont use, my favorites are definitely the two twins! their names are momo and naruka

in their story, momo was shot and killed, but because they had been switching clothes that day, everyone thought it was naruka who had died and naruka decided to keep the charade up, too scared to tell anyone the truth. its really fucked but anyway! heres a picture i drew of them, but never finished:

46. Has anyone ever told you that you treat your OCs badly?

thankfully no lmao… i love my ocs!

47. Has anyone ever (friendly) claimed any of your OCs as their child? 

im sure sam has a few times LMAO

48. OC who is a perfect cinnamon roll, too good for this world, too pure

definitely jeanne. she is a ray of sunshine and i love her

49. Which one of your OCs would most likely enjoy memes

ABSOLUTELY JEANNE LMAO… also i think probably aurelie too 

50. Give me the good ol’ OC talk here. Talk about anything you want

of all my ocs, only one thus far is straight (marius) - the rest are all same-gender attracted in some way!

as for gender, thus far 4 of them are trans, but i definitely plan on looking at some characters again and maybe changing that :^) if ur wondering, the trans characters are elyse (agender), mathilde, dolores, and ophelie (trans women) !

[dontshootmespence]

The Old and The New: Just Getting Started

A/N: Well, I had quite the nice response to The Old and The New, so it will become a little mini-fic. Enjoy! @gublersmind @coveofmemories @heavenlycevans

                                                            -----

“Alright, so let’s get to know each other,” Y/N said as the five candidates sat down on the jet. Agent Prentiss had said wheels up in 30, but all of them wanted to make sure they were there on time, so immediately after being dismissed, they headed toward the jet, go-bags in hand. “My name is Y/F/N Y/L/N. I started college at 14, went to MIT and Harvard, Harvard was remotely. I have two Ph.D.s. I can kick your ass in Taekwondo and I’m 22.” 

Jack laughed as he sat across from the cute new agent. Maybe he would be lucky enough and he and Y/N would both make the team. God, she was cute. If it wasn’t for the fact that he’d grown up with Spencer for an uncle, he would’ve been put off by her rambling about her degrees, but he was used to it, so he kind of found it endearing. She was definitely the most animated of the bunch. “You! Jack, is it?”

“Yea,” he said, leaning back in his chair. This felt so right. “My name is Jack Brooks. I have a dual Ph.D./JD from Yale. I have no martial arts skills whatsoever, but I am a fantastic shot, and I feel like this is what I’m supposed to be doing.” At the mention of his last name, Y/N raised an eyebrow. She couldn’t know, could she?

While the five very new, very green agents waited for their superiors, the rest of them introduced themselves. Tiana was the oldest of the group at 30. She was a single mother of one son and had taken until now to put herself through school. Her goals were to either work for the BAU or for counter-terrorism; she was interested in both. She was also the other candidate with a Ph.D., a dual one in mathematics and criminology from Duke. Dashawn had a master’s degree in chemical engineering and applied to this position on the fly; he wanted the experience. And David, with his master’s degree in computer science specializing in cybersecurity, was without a doubt the most quiet of the five, extremely put off by Y/N’s out there nature.

“Well, it’s very nice to meet everyone,” Y/N said as David turned himself away from her. “I look forward to working with all of you.”

“Me also,” Jack said, extending his hand across the seat toward her. When he took her hand, he felt a little spark of something. Reminded him a little of how he felt the first time he asked out his high school girlfriend, Shaina.

Just as Jack let go of her hand and shook hands with the rest of the possible candidates, his aunts, uncle and partner for this case, Luke, finally came on board. They were actually on time, it was just the the new recruits were insanely early. “Alright everyone,” Emily said as she alerted the pilot that everyone was on board, “We are off to Cedar Rapids. Let’s go over victimology.” The new recruits needed to learn; that’s what they were here for after all. So instead of taking the lead, the senior team members would basically be sitting back and letting the newbies run the show, assisting them if they drifted off track. Tiana was the first one to start things off. 

“I’ll start I guess,” she said, rifling through the files. “John Cogswell, 45, and Anthony Heskett, 47, were the two officers found floating in Lake Red Rock, but they worked for the Cedar Rapids PD. So my first question would be why were they dumped two hours away from where they worked and lived?”

Jack was about to speak up when Y/N took the words out of his mouth. He was going to have to watch out for her. “It could be as simple as the fact that Lake Red Rock is one of the biggest bodies of water in the state at more than 15,000 acres.”

“15,520 actually,” came a voice from across the jet. Of course it was Dr. Reid. 

Y/N smiled at her cooperating agent. “We’re going to have a lot of fun aren’t we Dr. Reid?” Emily smacked Reid in the back of the head while the kids got back to victimology. “Anyway, it could be because of the size of the lake. The lake could have special meaning to the unsub. Or...”

“Or if the unsub has intimate knowledge of law enforcement, he might have dumped them in another county to try and bring the case to another jurisdiction,” Jack said before Y/N could get the words out. “Cedar Rapids had to overstep their bounds because the victims were members of their department, but it should actually belong to the Marion County PD, right?” A little nod from Luke told him he was right. Y/N just smirked at him. Hey, there were only two positions and he could tell she liked to talk, so he needed to make his presence known. 

While the two playfully glared at each other, Agent Holden spoke up for the first time since he’d been forced by Y/N to introduce himself. “The next question is why these two officers. What did Cogswell and Heskett do or know that brought on the wrath of the unsub? Based on the message that we heard, it’s likely that the two had intimate knowledge of one of the area’s politician’s dark past. Whoever it was needed to get rid of any evidence of this dark past, and Cogswell and Heskett were evidence.”

“Exactly,” Dashawn said. The five of them seemed to be working together very well. Jack wondered how long that would last. “Given that they were weighed down, our unsub desperately didn’t want any evidence coming back to haunt him. He’s definitely personally connected, otherwise there would have been no reason to weigh them down, he could’ve just dumped them.”

“What about the message that was left at the police department?” JJ said. “What can you learn from the way he spoke? What he said?” Her best friend was at her side twitching. She could see how much it was killing him to not answer those questions himself, but he was keeping control of his motor mouth. 

Y/N was the one with the degree in English, so it made sense that she immediately jumped on that question. “The colloquial usage of “covering their asses” makes me believe that the person who made the call doesn’t know the unsub personally, but does have personal knowledge of what the unsub’s past is. He also sounds very positive of who it is. There was no shakiness in his voice that one might connect with being unsure of his assertions.”

As Jack went over the message in his mind, something dawned on him - it meant more bodies. “He said, ‘if someone doesn’t catch him soon, he’s going to buy and kill his way to the top,’ which means...there is likely at least one other person that our unsub intends to go after. The use of ‘going to’ indicates that he still has work to do.”

“Evidence to dispose of,” Tiana muttered as she took a deep breath.

Agent Holden would be doing most of his work with Garcia once they arrived. “When we get there, someone should probably compile a list of the richest politicians in the area,” he said, turning around toward his cooperating agent. She nodded in his direction. 

“You and I will start that once we land, my sweet.”

“We might not want to just limit it to straight-up politicians, but rich people in the area that have aspirations to join the political arena. He doesn’t necessarily have to be established in the field already,” Jack said. When he looked toward Y/N, he could see she and Tiana raise their eyebrows. He’d thought of something they hadn’t. Apparently, he’d also made an impression on the senior team members, as they were sporting similar expressions. 

Y/N got from her seat to stretch her legs, nearly smacking Holden in the face when she did so. “Given the sophistication of the crime so far, as well as the age of the victims, it’s likely our unsub is within 10 years of the victims, so between 35 and 55. What if we look back between 10-20 years for cases that involved our two officers, whether as victims or officers. It’s more than possible that they covered up something when they first joined the force that’s coming back to haunt them now.”

“Good idea,” Luke said. “If we do end up with another victim, we could add him or her to that list. See if multiple officers were involved in a case years back.”

“Great work everyone,” Emily said as she walked over to the newbies and leaned back on one of the jet’s chairs. “When we land, Agent Holden, you’ll work with Garcia to compile those lists. Agent Brooks, you’ll head with Luke to Lake Red Rock to check out the dump site. Spencer, you and Agent Y/L/N will go interview the family’s of the officers, see if there is anything they might know about who wanted to come after them. Agent Jones and Agent Smith, you’ll be with JJ and myself at the Cedar Rapids Police Department interviewing the officers, especially the ones that worked closely with Cogswell and Heskett, and working on the profile.”

As the plane began to descend, all of the agents, both old and new, had a feeling that this case wasn’t going to be cut and dry - that the more they dug, the more dirt they would uncover. They just hoped that no one else would be taken down in the process.

[lovemesomesurveys]

1. Who is one person that you no longer hang out with? Why did that association end? I’ve drifted apart from everyone for no reason another than I’m a terrible friend. I’ve holed myself up and distanced myself from everyone. There’s physical health stuff going on, but my depression is the main culprit. I’m to blame.

2. What was the last item you put into your pants pocket? I never use the pockets.

3. Is it ever difficult for you to recall what you had to eat the day before? Sometimes.

4. ^How about for the past week? Yeah, sometimes. It’s just not that memorable. I also have a lot of brain fog.

5. Who was the last person to endager your life, whether it was accidentally or intentionally? They didn’t endanger it, but they could have if someone else didn’t step up and take care of the situation. Basically, someone I was with was attempting to drive drunk. They were also mad about something, and the alcohol only intensified that. That’s a dangerous combo, with being drunk and trying to drive being horrible enough in itself. Plus, it was really raining that day. It was a bad situation all around. Thankfully, someone else I was with stood their ground and took care of the situation and it was fine. It was just scary.

6. What was the last thing you started over on? *shrug*

7. What was the last task that you completed? I just finished my Bible study for today.

8. Have you ever failed at something extremely important to you? If yes, what? A lot of things. I feel like a failure right now because I’m not doing anything with my life. I pushed myself through UC to get my BA degree, got it, which was an accomplishment because of how hard it was for me to continue on, and a BA isn’t anything to sneeze at. Plus, the UC I went to is a really good school. It was a big moment. I feel like I made my loved ones proud, and that meant a lot. What was it all for, though? I haven’t done anything with it, and it’s been almost two years now. It was a waste of time and money, and I feel like a major disappointment now.

9. When was the last time that you wanted time to move faster? I feel like that sometimes, but then also I feel like time goes too fast as it is. Maybe not in the moment at times, but overall. I’m going to be twenty-eight soon, and that’s just crazy to me. I feel like my life is just passing me by.

10. ^ Slower? I’d like it to slow down a bit.

11. When was the last time you felt impatient with someone? Recently, with a family member.

12. Who was the last person that you called a “bitch”? I don’t know. It’s not something I say very often.

13. ^Who, if anyone, was the last person to address you by that term? Probably one of my friends before in a joking manner. No one has seriously said that to me.

14. When was the last time you questioned whether or not you were making the right decision? All the time.

15. Has a boy/girlfriend ever made you feel bad about yourself? Yes.

16. Has a boy-/girlfriend ever suggested that you might want to lose some weight, or that it might make you look better? No.

17. What is your idea of “too big” when it comes to weight? I don’t know.

18. ^How about “too thin”? I don’t know.

19. How long do you spend looking for surveys that you wish to take? Some days it’s hard to find any, and other times I come across a lot on my dash.

20. What is the largest number of surveys you have taken in a day? I couldn’t tell ya, exactly. A lot.

21. Do you try to take surveys daily, or do you tend to skip a day here and there? I generally take them daily.

22. What is one of your biggest survey pet-peeves? The same questions that come up in every single survey. Survey makers assume everyone wants to get married, have kids, and is in a relationship.

23. What percentage of the day would you say you spend worrying? I’m always worrying about something.

24. Have you ever experienced an overly clinging boy-/girlfriend? Yes.

25. What is the most annoying thing your family members do on a daily basis, if anything? There isn’t something they do on a daily basis, but there are times they do something that annoys me. I’m positive I do things that annoy them, too. Probably quite often cause I feel like I’m annoying person to everyone.

26. With which family member do you get along with the least? The best? There isn’t anyone I get along with the least, it’s just that I may not be as close to them. It’s not that we don’t get along. I’m closest to my mom and younger brother, though.

27. ^ Why do you think that you don’t get along well with that family member? Like I said, there isn’t anyone that I don’t get along with. Not to say I don’t bicker or have disagreements with my family, but that’s going to happen sometimes.

28. Who is someone that you wish would be there for you more often? I’d like to get back to how things were between Ty and I, yet I don’t do anything to help make that happen. I just keep messing it up.

29. Have you ever felt like someone abandoned you? If yes, explain? Yes. What’s to explain, it’s exactly as it sounds: they left me. It’s always at a time when I needed them most. That’s usually how it goes.

30. How often do you find that you are bored? *shrug* it varies. Some days I’m especially aware of how mundane and routine my days are, and it gets to me more. Where I’m just tired of doing the same things day in and day out, and none of my normal activities do anything for me.  Other days I’m content overall doing what I do.

31. What activity has the best chance of holding your attention for a long period of time? Tumblr and reading.

32. If you make surveys, have you ever had anyone insult you, your questions, or your opinions? I don’t make surveys.

33. As a survey-taker, do you tend to insult other survey-makers or survey-takers, even if it might be indirectly? No. I may get annoyed with a question and make a comment regarding my annoyance with it, but I don’t insult them. Unless they find those kinds of comments insulting? If so, I apologize.

34. Have you ever decided that you like / dislike someone based on their survey answers? I may relate to or like someone’s answers and think they seem like a cool person, sure. Or maybe I disagree with something someone says, which is okay, too. I can’t say for certain whether I like them or not just based on that, though.

35. What is one color of car that you would never be caught dead driving? Something bright, like neon green or something (which I have seen).

36. A bloodied, possibly wounded man is on the side of the road: do you stop to see if you can assist him, or do you drive past? I would call 9-1-1 and inform them so they could come assess the situation and give assistance. I, personally, would not stop and get out to help, though. I know that probably sounds mean, but I would be cautious about the situation. I’ve heard too many stories. I’d be afraid it was a set up or something. I guess I’m not very trusting of people? And I’m paranoid. I wouldn’t just ignore what I saw; though, I would call for help.

37. ^ Would it make a difference if it was a woman with a small child in the same condition? No. I’m sorry, but I have heard stories like this as well. Sometimes someone attempting to rob or harm someone will use a child to bait someone. The woman and the child could be used as bait for such a scenario. I would be concerned for them still because either they really are hurt and in trouble, or they are being used as bait, but either way they are in need of help. I would still call 9-1-1.

38. What are some unfair stereotypes against women? That we’re all catty and bitchy. I’m certainly not.

39. ^How about against men? That they’re all pigs and fuckboys. It’s simply not true.

40.Have you ever used your body or your appearance to get what you wanted? In what way? I wouldn’t get anything with my body or appearance, ha. 

41. When was the last time you felt like you were being manipulated? I don’t know.

42. What was the subject of the last emotional conversation you had with someone? Just some family drama stuff.

43. Who was the last person to make you feel like you mattered? My mom.

44. ^Is this person still important to you today? Yes, of course. My mom and I are very close, she’s my rock.

45. One thing you want to spend some time ranting about? I do that in surveys all the time. I don’t need a specific place to do so, ha.

[corkcitylibraries]

Book Review: Andy Lee and Niall Kelly’s Fighter

by Dr. Sorcha Fogarty

Boxing has been around since at least 688 BC, when the ancient Greeks made it into an Olympic game, but its modern history has often been controversial. To quote Joe Frazier, the first boxer to beat Muhammad Ali, “Boxing is the only sport you can get your brain shook, your money took and your name in the undertaker book.” Many deem the sport barbaric, but it is not for this blog post to decry or defend boxing, especially having read the extraordinary story of Andy Lee.

Far from an expert on Boxing, I came across this book completely by accident, and I’m glad I did. The book was shortlisted for the An Post Irish Book Awards Bord Gáis Energy Sports Book of the Year Award upon its publication in 2018, and it also made the long list for the William Hill sports book prize. The idiom “Don’t judge a book by its cover” doesn’t apply here. Almost everything you need to know about Fighter, and about Andy Lee, can be discerned from the cover of this book. Lee is, by all accounts, victorious, as the photo clearly shows. However, there is no triumphant swagger, no showy display of supremacy. Moreover, looking closely at the cover, we see that the face of the opponent has been obscured, as Lee himself states,

 “I went out of my way to have the face changed because I didn’t want him to have to see it,” he says. “He doesn’t deserve that, it wouldn’t be right. It could easily be me lying on the floor. And this could be him writing a book about the career he went on to have. And if somebody did that to me, if someone put me on the cover like that, I’d be going mad.”

So the idea is that it’s a boxer, just a fighter who took a punch. It’s not him. That’s not that point of it. We went over the cover a lot of times. It’s a great photograph and it tells the story.

Regarding Lee’s personality, nothing could be more revealing: “If you look at me walking away, I’m not celebrating wildly or anything. I’ve been in a battle and that one punch could have finished me for the night just as it finished him. I’m just as hurt as he is – the difference is that he is on the ground.” You would be hard-pressed to find a negative description of Andy Lee. From the press to the public, he has consistently been described as a gentleman, a true role model, with the Irish sports website Pundit Arena summing him up best, 'Lee was a good fighter but he’s an even better human being.' In a business where showmen and blowhards prevail, Lee, as one critic has noted, was always the most decent guy in the room. In his case, he disproves Nietzsche who said, “He who fights too long against dragons becomes a dragon himself.”

A former Irish Olympian boxer, former world champion, freshly retired in early 2018 with a record of 35 wins from 39 pro fights, Andy Lee’s Fighter is the quintessential story of a young boy on the margins of society who made it to the top. Lee competed from 2006 to 2017, held the WBO middleweight title from 2014 to 2015, and in doing so became the first member of the travelling community to win a major world title. Lee was born in London to Irish Traveller parents in 1984 who returned to Limerick in 1998. The book shows how he had to deal with bullying when he was in school, where the other kids would sing at him, “We all live in a yellow caravan, a yellow caravan, a yellow caravan...” He left school at 13, even though he was bright enough to get into the top class when he started secondary school. His determination to stay true to himself, despite the suffocating “rules” of the Travelling Community which, among them, forbids relationships between people from the settled and travelling communities, saw him bring a settled girl home to meet his father, who had forbidden Lee to do so. Lee, however, was a formidable judge of character, and knew that his father and the settled girl, now his wife, the musician, writer and actor Maud Lee, would hit it off, and he was right.  Fighter is not just an account of a boxer’s career. It is also a love story. Lee spends much time on his relationship with Maud in the book, and it is obvious that the two share an incredibly close bond. He recalls the early days of meeting Maud,

“I know we’re from different worlds, that this isn’t how it works. I know that bright, brilliant, educated young women from South County Dublin who have the world at their feet don’t end up with a gypsy boxer from Limerick via London who left school at 13. She must know it too, but she doesn’t care. I tell her everything honestly, about my life, my heritage, my family, anything that she would want to know.”

As regards his Gypsy heritage, Lee neither defines himself by it, nor does he eschew it. As he says, “It’s not something I’ve ever really shouted about but it’s not something I ever shied away from either. I am who I am – I don’t have to be singing from the rooftops. I’m not a campaigner in any sense. I could be. But I only represent myself. Maybe I could have some impact.” Generally, Traveller kids leave education after primary school in order to learn ‘traditional skills’ at home. For boys, this means trades such as bricklaying or tree-cutting, as well as learning to do odd jobs. Meanwhile, the girls must learn how to clean to impeccable standards, as well as how to cook and to care for younger siblings. Once the eldest daughter has left school, Traveller mums take a step back and leave her in charge. Lee’s journey shows that an alternate route is possible, and this is something he did hope his book might be able to achieve, as he states in an interview,

 “And maybe it’ll be some way for a young Traveller or Gypsy to change how they think as well if they read it. Maybe they will get a sense that they have more options than they think they do in life. Because it is a very restricted life. I say it in the book – you are brought up in a world where you have two choices, you have a world of crime or a world of work from a young age. That’s basically it when you’re a kid in that world. You don’t know much beyond it.”

 Although things are changing, with more children in the Travelling community staying in school, and going on to earn degrees at University, the customs and traditions of the Travelling community are difficult to overcome, and many stay within the rigid confines of these customs.

For Lee, boxing was the route to a different life, and his family stayed firmly by his side throughout. The book describes his first workout in the Kronk Gym in Detroit, when he steps into the ring to the call of “fresh meat, fresh meat” and, respect earned, steps out to the comment that “This white boy can box”. Under the tutelage of Emanuel Steward, who trained 41 world champions throughout his career, in 2014, following 18 straight unanswered punches, Lee defeated Korobov to claim the world title, the first time since 1934 that an Irish fighter earned such a victor on US soil. The book chronicles the relationship between Lee and Steward, the years that Lee lived in the Steward family house, how the two drifted apart and then, finally, the poignant deathbed reconciliation as Steward passed away in 2012. The book gives captivating insights into the relationship between the two men. Lee learned a great deal from Steward; as Lee recounts, it seems that Steward’s mastery was in the little details. He instructed Lee how to put sellotape on his laces and protective cup so they didn’t come loose or fall down during a fight. Instead of putting Vaseline on his face, Steward told Lee to apply cocoa butter, “Everyone laughs at me when they hear that,” says Lee, “but I don’t get cut anymore.”

The book contains a host of fascinating anecdotes, glimpses into Lee’s private world, as he describes the Christmas Eve in Dublin after just signing his pro contract, with himself and Maud on George’s Street where they “stop at the ATM as the crowds rush on around us. I enter my pin code and the two of us stand, staring at the balance on the screen.” Also, when preparing for that redemptive night in Las Vegas in the ring with Korobov, Lee tells us how he constantly wrote in his notebook – law of attraction style - “I will become world champion.” His descriptions of his time in the ring are also captivating. As Lee acknowledges himself, in boxing, defeats are often much more interesting than victories. Unsurprisingly, the story of his first two defeats and the shattering impact they have on his career progression are fascinating. He showcases his resilience as he twice rebuilt his career, losing his 15th pro-fight and then the title fight against Julio Cesar Chavez Junior in El Paso. It is his win over John Jackson that forced me onto YouTube, amazed at how Lee, seemingly on course for defeat, at the mercy of Jackson, up against the ropes, comes back to deliver one of the greatest knockouts in boxing history.

Lee’s story is a compelling insight into the thoughts of a boxer who made it to the top without the need to exude brash arrogance. On 20 February 2018, Lee confirmed his retirement from boxing on Irish radio station Newstalk, on the Off The Ball sports programme, citing responsibilities as a father for why he had chosen to retire, “I got out having achieved what I wanted and having secured my future to a certain extent – not that I’m set for life or anything but I can go out for a Chinese on a Saturday and not worry about it.”

Ultimately, Fighter is intense, emotional and funny, and Lee’s humility and honesty make the book an engrossing and inspirational read. The universally acknowledged “lovely guy” most definitely refutes the common aphorism, based on a quote from 1946 by another famous sportsman, American baseball player, manager and coach Leo Durocher, “Nice guys finish last”.

 Available now on Borrowbox

Sources

https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/books/roles-with-the-punches-andy-lee-uncovered-1.3680689

https://www.paveepoint.ie/traveller-culture-and-identity/

https://www.irishexaminer.com/sport/arid-20320916.html

[kristablogs]

Five surprising ways people have used (and are still using) bones

Some people use bones as macabre decor, but they're good for so much more. (Artem Maltsev via Unsplash/)

For February, we’re focusing on the body parts that shape us, oxygenate us, and power us as we take long walks on the beach. Bony bonafide bones. These skeletal building blocks inspire curiosity and spark fear in different folks—we hope our stories, covering everything from surgeries and supplements to good old-fashioned boning, will only do the first. Once you’ve thoroughly blasted your mind with bone facts, check out our previous themed months: muscle and fat.

Imagine sitting down to a meal of ground-up bone, served on a plate made of burned bones, while two musicians—one rattling two sawed-off ribs together and the other ominously shaking part of a horse’s skull—provide grim ambience in the dim candlelight. Off in the corner, an oracle shoves some bones into a fire in an effort to predict whether the crops you just fertilized with shattered bones will yield a hearty harvest.

It might feel like you’re in the opening scene of the latest binge-worthy adaptation of a popular fantasy series, but this is real life. Or, at least, it would be if you mashed everything you’re about to read into one time period.

Humans have found unique uses for skeletal remains since prehistoric times. You may be familiar with bone arrowheads, fish hooks, and jewelry, but you may be surprised to learn how bones have found their way into the everyday lives of both ancient and modern people. Let’s journey beyond the grave.

Musical instruments

There are plenty of musical instruments that look like bones or include bones as part of their design. For example, artist Bruce Mahalski and guitar maker David Gilberd teamed up to build a bone guitar that features about 35 skulls. Super metal, yes, but not quite bony enough. It’s still, at its heart, a guitar.

On display at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, this 1856 portrait of "The Bone Player" shows how a skilled musician might hold the instrument. (William Sidney Mount/)

For instruments straight-up made out of bone, two stand out: the aptly named “bones” and the jawbone. Even if you only listen to the latest pop songs, it’s possible you’ve heard the former without realizing it. In 1949, Freeman Davis, known as “Brother Bones,” recorded a version of the Jazz Age standard “Sweet Georgia Brown,” which found widespread fame after the Harlem Globetrotters picked it up as their theme song three years later.

You’re more likely to find them made out of wood today, but in their most basic form, bones are a pair of animal rib bones—usually sheep or cow— cut down to between 5 and 7 inches long. Players hold them between their fingers, curved sides facing each other, and knock them together with deft flicks of their wrists. Like skilled tap dancers, experts can create a vast range of percussive sounds.

The bones have their roots in traditional Irish and Scottish music, and immigrants from those countries brought them to America, where they found a home in bluegrass and other folk genres. They’re similar to other clacking percussion instruments like the spoons, the Chinese paiban, and castanets.

The jawbone, meanwhile, is originally an African instrument that made its way to the Americas as a result of the slave trade. It’s usually the jawbone of a horse or another equine (like a donkey or zebra), that’s been stripped of all flesh and dried.

Once it’s dry, the teeth become so loose they rattle around in their sockets. But it’s more than a simple rattle—players can create other sounds by striking the jawbone with a stick or rubbing the wood across its teeth.

It’s a little more niche, but you may have also heard the sound of a jawbone without realizing it—the vibraslap, patented in 1969 by Martin B. Cohen, was designed to sound exactly like it. Cohen said in his patent application that he’d found it hard to replace actual jawbones when they break.

Fortune telling

The original users of these bones hoped they'd foretell the future. (Deborah Harding, Carnegie Museum of Natural History/)

Yeah, you’ve heard of necromancy, and probably pyromancy. Now, get ready for scapulimancy and plastromancy. Relatives of pyromancy, these two divination practices involve writing questions on bones (usually large animal shoulder bones or turtle plastrons), heating them up until they crack, and then interpreting the cracks.

How they were heated is unclear and likely varied. Some sources simply mention fire, while others describe diviners inserting hot metal rods into holes drilled in the bones.

These practices weren’t restricted to any particular region, either, and ancient people worldwide had their own versions. Inhabitants of Europe, western Asia, and North Africa simply inspected the natural condition of the bone after all flesh was scraped away, but those who lived in North America and other parts of Asia used fire, according to David N. Keightley, a former professor of Chinese history at the University of California, Berkeley.

Perhaps the most well-preserved oracle bones come from China, most of which date back to the Shang dynasty (1600-1046 BCE). About 20,000 pieces (mostly ox scapulae and turtle plastrons) were dug up between 1928 and 1937 during official excavations around the dynasty’s capital city of Yinxu, about 300 miles southwest of modern-day Beijing. Most turned out to be predictions performed for the royal family. This discovery, among others, helped Chinese archaeologist Li Ji prove that the Shang dynasty actually existed.

The Carnegie Museum of Natural History in Pittsburgh has a large collection of these bones in storage for research purposes. Amy Covell-Murthy, who manages the museum’s archaeology collection, said the inscriptions on their bones ask questions like whether or not someone will have a baby, which crops to plant in a field, or how a war will turn out. She also said some are fakes, but that they still hold value because they’re at least 100 years old themselves.

Bone china

Unlike true porcelain, which contains only minerals, the ceramic material known as bone china includes bone ash. It originated in England in the 1700s and for a long time, most, if not all, bone china was made there.

A few potters and companies experimented with bone ash as they sought to bulk up their soft-paste porcelain to rival the stronger hard-paste ceramics made in China, but Josiah Spode I is generally understood to have been the one who standardized bone china production. When he died, his son, Josiah Spode II, took over and continued to improve on his father’s work.

Today, bone china is made across the globe by companies such as Lenox, which has made numerous pieces for presidents dating back to 1918, and the Spode family’s eponymous business, Spode.

Fertilizer

Plants love to eat bones. Hardcore. (CDC via Unsplash/)

All living things need phosphorus, and bones have a lot of it. This is why bone meal, as ground-up bones are called, has found its calling as plant fertilizer. Without phosphorus, plants can’t function, can’t grow, and can’t photosynthesize, says Dennis Stevenson, vice president for science at the New York Botanical Garden. Bone meal is also high in calcium, which plants need for their cell walls.

But with its benefits come some potential problems. Health experts say some bone meal can be high in lead, and possibly also mercury. It’s also got a bit of a dark history in the U.S., dating back to the near-total destruction of the American bison.

The hunting of these thousand-pound animals was driven by their highly prized skins, but also by the U.S. government, which promoted hunting in an effort to starve Native Americans and force them onto reservations. Hunters would kill and skin bison, but often left the carcasses littering the Great Plains. As settlers moved west, they began picking them up and selling them to use as fertilizer.

Gelatin and glue

The revelation that gelatin is made out of animal parts is a common one. But the simple fact that everyone seems to have this somewhat traumatic revelation at some point in their lives made it seem relevant for this list. If you already know this, great—maybe you’ll learn something new here anyway. And if you didn’t, now you do, and you can reveal it to others in your life.

Most gelatin is made from the byproducts of the meat and leather industries, usually bones and skin. In its purest form, it’s 98 to 99 percent protein and is nearly tasteless and odorless. Its use dates back to the medieval era, and because it was hard to make, it was originally just for rich families.

Today, it’s still pretty complicated to make, but industry has taken much of the hands-on labor out of it. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the 20-week process for making gelatin out of cattle bones starts like this: The bones are crushed and cooked at 180 to 250 degrees Fahrenheit before being spun in a centrifuge, dried at 160 to 270 degrees, degreased, and treated for five to seven days with a weak hydrochloric acid solution.

Then, the ground-up bones are washed several times with water and treated with a lime slurry (not the tasty tropical kind) for one to two months in an effort to remove everything that’s not collagen. After that, the almost-gelatin is washed again, made more acidic, and may be filtered. Finally, its pH is made more neutral (between 5 and 7), it’s sterilized at 280 to 290 degrees for several seconds, cooled, and dried with hot air for 1 to 3 hours.

This stuff ends up in obvious foods like gummies, but can also be used in a wide variety of ways to stabilize, thicken, and add texture to the things we eat. It’s also used to make modern film.

Gelatin and animal glue are closely related, though use of the latter has largely disappeared. At least as late as the early 2000s, gelatin-based glues were used to stick those “organic” stickers on fruits and vegetables, the USDA says.

Animal glue has a long history, and in 2014 researchers found that it was used to hold together the painted layers of Chinese emperor Qin Shi Huang’s massive terracotta army. It was used worldwide until the early 1900s, but was essentially eliminated by the invention of synthetic adhesives.

[scootoaster]

Five surprising ways people have used (and are still using) bones

Some people use bones as macabre decor, but they're good for so much more. (Artem Maltsev via Unsplash/)

For February, we’re focusing on the body parts that shape us, oxygenate us, and power us as we take long walks on the beach. Bony bonafide bones. These skeletal building blocks inspire curiosity and spark fear in different folks—we hope our stories, covering everything from surgeries and supplements to good old-fashioned boning, will only do the first. Once you’ve thoroughly blasted your mind with bone facts, check out our previous themed months: muscle and fat.

Imagine sitting down to a meal of ground-up bone, served on a plate made of burned bones, while two musicians—one rattling two sawed-off ribs together and the other ominously shaking part of a horse’s skull—provide grim ambience in the dim candlelight. Off in the corner, an oracle shoves some bones into a fire in an effort to predict whether the crops you just fertilized with shattered bones will yield a hearty harvest.

It might feel like you’re in the opening scene of the latest binge-worthy adaptation of a popular fantasy series, but this is real life. Or, at least, it would be if you mashed everything you’re about to read into one time period.

Humans have found unique uses for skeletal remains since prehistoric times. You may be familiar with bone arrowheads, fish hooks, and jewelry, but you may be surprised to learn how bones have found their way into the everyday lives of both ancient and modern people. Let’s journey beyond the grave.

Musical instruments

There are plenty of musical instruments that look like bones or include bones as part of their design. For example, artist Bruce Mahalski and guitar maker David Gilberd teamed up to build a bone guitar that features about 35 skulls. Super metal, yes, but not quite bony enough. It’s still, at its heart, a guitar.

On display at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, this 1856 portrait of "The Bone Player" shows how a skilled musician might hold the instrument. (William Sidney Mount/)

For instruments straight-up made out of bone, two stand out: the aptly named “bones” and the jawbone. Even if you only listen to the latest pop songs, it’s possible you’ve heard the former without realizing it. In 1949, Freeman Davis, known as “Brother Bones,” recorded a version of the Jazz Age standard “Sweet Georgia Brown,” which found widespread fame after the Harlem Globetrotters picked it up as their theme song three years later.

You’re more likely to find them made out of wood today, but in their most basic form, bones are a pair of animal rib bones—usually sheep or cow— cut down to between 5 and 7 inches long. Players hold them between their fingers, curved sides facing each other, and knock them together with deft flicks of their wrists. Like skilled tap dancers, experts can create a vast range of percussive sounds.

The bones have their roots in traditional Irish and Scottish music, and immigrants from those countries brought them to America, where they found a home in bluegrass and other folk genres. They’re similar to other clacking percussion instruments like the spoons, the Chinese paiban, and castanets.

The jawbone, meanwhile, is originally an African instrument that made its way to the Americas as a result of the slave trade. It’s usually the jawbone of a horse or another equine (like a donkey or zebra), that’s been stripped of all flesh and dried.

Once it’s dry, the teeth become so loose they rattle around in their sockets. But it’s more than a simple rattle—players can create other sounds by striking the jawbone with a stick or rubbing the wood across its teeth.

It’s a little more niche, but you may have also heard the sound of a jawbone without realizing it—the vibraslap, patented in 1969 by Martin B. Cohen, was designed to sound exactly like it. Cohen said in his patent application that he’d found it hard to replace actual jawbones when they break.

Fortune telling

The original users of these bones hoped they'd foretell the future. (Deborah Harding, Carnegie Museum of Natural History/)

Yeah, you’ve heard of necromancy, and probably pyromancy. Now, get ready for scapulimancy and plastromancy. Relatives of pyromancy, these two divination practices involve writing questions on bones (usually large animal shoulder bones or turtle plastrons), heating them up until they crack, and then interpreting the cracks.

How they were heated is unclear and likely varied. Some sources simply mention fire, while others describe diviners inserting hot metal rods into holes drilled in the bones.

These practices weren’t restricted to any particular region, either, and ancient people worldwide had their own versions. Inhabitants of Europe, western Asia, and North Africa simply inspected the natural condition of the bone after all flesh was scraped away, but those who lived in North America and other parts of Asia used fire, according to David N. Keightley, a former professor of Chinese history at the University of California, Berkeley.

Perhaps the most well-preserved oracle bones come from China, most of which date back to the Shang dynasty (1600-1046 BCE). About 20,000 pieces (mostly ox scapulae and turtle plastrons) were dug up between 1928 and 1937 during official excavations around the dynasty’s capital city of Yinxu, about 300 miles southwest of modern-day Beijing. Most turned out to be predictions performed for the royal family. This discovery, among others, helped Chinese archaeologist Li Ji prove that the Shang dynasty actually existed.

The Carnegie Museum of Natural History in Pittsburgh has a large collection of these bones in storage for research purposes. Amy Covell-Murthy, who manages the museum’s archaeology collection, said the inscriptions on their bones ask questions like whether or not someone will have a baby, which crops to plant in a field, or how a war will turn out. She also said some are fakes, but that they still hold value because they’re at least 100 years old themselves.

Bone china

Unlike true porcelain, which contains only minerals, the ceramic material known as bone china includes bone ash. It originated in England in the 1700s and for a long time, most, if not all, bone china was made there.

A few potters and companies experimented with bone ash as they sought to bulk up their soft-paste porcelain to rival the stronger hard-paste ceramics made in China, but Josiah Spode I is generally understood to have been the one who standardized bone china production. When he died, his son, Josiah Spode II, took over and continued to improve on his father’s work.

Today, bone china is made across the globe by companies such as Lenox, which has made numerous pieces for presidents dating back to 1918, and the Spode family’s eponymous business, Spode.

Fertilizer

Plants love to eat bones. Hardcore. (CDC via Unsplash/)

All living things need phosphorus, and bones have a lot of it. This is why bone meal, as ground-up bones are called, has found its calling as plant fertilizer. Without phosphorus, plants can’t function, can’t grow, and can’t photosynthesize, says Dennis Stevenson, vice president for science at the New York Botanical Garden. Bone meal is also high in calcium, which plants need for their cell walls.

But with its benefits come some potential problems. Health experts say some bone meal can be high in lead, and possibly also mercury. It’s also got a bit of a dark history in the U.S., dating back to the near-total destruction of the American bison.

The hunting of these thousand-pound animals was driven by their highly prized skins, but also by the U.S. government, which promoted hunting in an effort to starve Native Americans and force them onto reservations. Hunters would kill and skin bison, but often left the carcasses littering the Great Plains. As settlers moved west, they began picking them up and selling them to use as fertilizer.

Gelatin and glue

The revelation that gelatin is made out of animal parts is a common one. But the simple fact that everyone seems to have this somewhat traumatic revelation at some point in their lives made it seem relevant for this list. If you already know this, great—maybe you’ll learn something new here anyway. And if you didn’t, now you do, and you can reveal it to others in your life.

Most gelatin is made from the byproducts of the meat and leather industries, usually bones and skin. In its purest form, it’s 98 to 99 percent protein and is nearly tasteless and odorless. Its use dates back to the medieval era, and because it was hard to make, it was originally just for rich families.

Today, it’s still pretty complicated to make, but industry has taken much of the hands-on labor out of it. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the 20-week process for making gelatin out of cattle bones starts like this: The bones are crushed and cooked at 180 to 250 degrees Fahrenheit before being spun in a centrifuge, dried at 160 to 270 degrees, degreased, and treated for five to seven days with a weak hydrochloric acid solution.

Then, the ground-up bones are washed several times with water and treated with a lime slurry (not the tasty tropical kind) for one to two months in an effort to remove everything that’s not collagen. After that, the almost-gelatin is washed again, made more acidic, and may be filtered. Finally, its pH is made more neutral (between 5 and 7), it’s sterilized at 280 to 290 degrees for several seconds, cooled, and dried with hot air for 1 to 3 hours.

This stuff ends up in obvious foods like gummies, but can also be used in a wide variety of ways to stabilize, thicken, and add texture to the things we eat. It’s also used to make modern film.

Gelatin and animal glue are closely related, though use of the latter has largely disappeared. At least as late as the early 2000s, gelatin-based glues were used to stick those “organic” stickers on fruits and vegetables, the USDA says.

Animal glue has a long history, and in 2014 researchers found that it was used to hold together the painted layers of Chinese emperor Qin Shi Huang’s massive terracotta army. It was used worldwide until the early 1900s, but was essentially eliminated by the invention of synthetic adhesives.

[kadobeclothing]

45 Emerging Technology Stats to Know in 2020

As a writer who loves covering emerging technology and human being, I’m surrounded by technology.

Each morning, I wake up to my Amazon Echo’s alarm and ask Alexa about the weather. On my train ride home from work, I’m taking Snapchat selfies using AR filters. When I get to my house, I ask Alexa to turn the lights to a specific hue. Then I ask my smart TV to launch Netflix or play a basic VR game on my Google Cardboard. Before bed, I might check my fitness levels with a smart scale or use my toothbrush’s app to figure out what areas of my mouth I’m missing.

It’s safe to say that I’m a big fan of emerging media, technology, and innovation. As an individual, this technology is already impacting my life. As a marketer, I’m curious to see how brands could leverage smart technology. I’m not the only one who recognizes emerging technology as something that could completely change today’s marketing world. In fact, a Deloitte study found that a growing number of private companies are more heavily prioritizing emerging technology and hiring talent in their annual budgets. At the moment, a few buzzy topics include augmented and virtual reality, general and voice-based artificial intelligence, and smart home devices. And, with the dawn of 5G — a cloud-based high-speed wireless network — tech innovation won’t be slowing down anytime soon. In fact, a Deloitte study notes that many marketing firms are ramping up their information technology processes because of it. With all the technologies out there, it’s hard to cut through online chatter and determine which innovations are mostly just hype and which might actually change the way we market. While many of the major emerging technologies are getting more accessible, you could also still be wondering, “Which might be worth investing in for my industry specifically?” For example, if you run a B2B firm, you might realize augmented reality isn’t a practical technology to research. But, at the same time, you might look into AI software or services that can help your team work more efficiently or learn more about customers. To give you a bird’s eye view of some of the most buzzed-about innovations that could impact marketers in the near or distant future, I’ve collected 45 stats related to four types of emerging technology. Augmented and Virtual Reality For years, researchers have hypothesized that virtual reality, which provides viewers a completely immersive and interactive 360-degree visual experience, will hold the best opportunities in gaming, entertainment, and academic industries. Meanwhile, experts have also thought that augmented reality, a partially immersive but still interactive experience, will thrive in the world of branding and marketing. We have already seen these AR and VR predictions come to fruition as the gaming industry continues to announce games for VR headsets and brands have used AR to allow customers to preview products — such as furniture — in their own homes. Here are 14 stats that demonstrate the growth and opportunities of AR and VR. The AR/VR market is currently estimated at $1.6 billion (IDC) In 2019, 42.9 million people in the US used a VR product, and 68.7 million people used an AR once monthly. (eMarketer) Seven in ten media planners want to add AR to their strategies in the future. (Vibrant Media) In a 2018 study based in the U.K. and U.S., 90% of participants knew what VR was while only 65% were aware of what AR was. (GlobalWebIndex) 42% of people who use a VR headset at least monthly say they used a mid-range device such as the Google Daydream or Samsung Gear VR. (GlobalWebIndex) In 2018, 88% of companies with budgets between $100 million and $1 billion were already experimenting with different forms of AR. (Deloitte) A quarter of VR users believe it has a strong potential for brands and marketers. (GlobalWebIndex) While 43% of people who report using VR headsets once monthly say they own their own device, 35% of once-monthly VR users say they use a family or friend’s device. (GlobalWebIndex) 71% of consumers would prefer to shop at stores with an AR experience (Lumus Vision) 64% of consumers say VR has the most potential in gaming, while 52% recognize its potential in Film and TV. (GlobalWebIndex)

Image Source: GlobalWebIndex In 2018 mobile VR made $3 billion globally, in part due to purchases related to the mobile app Pokemon Go. (Digi-Capital) It’s estimated that AR platforms such as mobile and AR glasses-related apps will hit 2.5 billion installs in 2023. (Digi-Capital) Meanwhile, VR platforms are expected to see 30 million installs across devices by 2023 (Digi-Capital) Snapchat’s Q3 2019 Earnings Report notes that over 600,000 AR Lenses have been created through the company’s Lens Studio, This increased from 500,000 at the end of Q2. (Snap Inc.) Artificial Intelligence Artificial intelligence is so prevalent in 2019 that many of us don’t even notice all the ways we interact with it on a given day. In fact, all of the other technologies on this list require some type of AI algorithm to work smoothly. If you’re less familiar with AI, here are 12 stats to keep in mind: Over 37% of organizations have implemented artificial intelligence in some form. The number of industries that have implemented it has grown by 270% since 2015 (Gartner) In a 2019 ranking of the top 10 emerging technologies, the World Economic Forum noted, “social robots” as number two. (World Economic Forum) It’s estimated that 80% of emerging technologies will involve AI by 2021 (Gartner) 40% of marketing and sales teams say that machine learning and data science-based AI will be a crucial part of their future strategies (2019 Data Science and Machine Learning Market Study) It’s estimated that AI-based analytics and marketing software will give the average data analyst back one-third of their time, which could then be used for bigger projects or other tasks. (Gartner) At 2018’s F8 summit, covered by VentureBeat, Facebook said there were more than 300,000 chatbots on Facebook Messenger. (VentureBeat) The percentage of businesses that offer chatbots could grow to 80% in 2020. (HubSpot) 63% of businesses say they will consider AI in the near future due to pressures related to reducing costs. (BCG and MIT Sloan School of Business) The facial recognition market is estimated to grow by 20% in 2020. (VisionGain) There’s only a 1.4% chance that a marketing manager’s role will be taken over by artificial intelligence. (HubSpot) It’s estimated that this year, customers will be able to manage 85% of their enterprise relationships without working with humans. (Gartner) Online mentions of automation have increased by 70% year over year. (Adobe) Voice Assistants and Smart Speakers While voice assistants are technically a segment of AI, they’ve become so prominent in the emerging media world that they deserve their own section of stats. Over 46% of people use voice assistants. (Pew Research Center) More than 36% of consumers own a smart speaker. (Adobe) Of those who own a smart speaker, 54% say their voice assistant can easily understand them when they speak. (Adobe) Nearly 112 million people in the U.S. use a voice assistant once monthly across devices. (eMarketer) Roughly 34% of people who don’t own a smart speaker are interested in purchasing one. (GlobalWebIndex) According to a 2018 poll conducted by HubSpot via Lucid Software, 52% of consumers say they’ve used a voice assistant solely on their phone. (HubSpot)

Data Source: Lucid Software Millennials are the heaviest users of voice assistants, but usage is growing across age groups. (eMarketer) In a late-2018 test where the Amazon, Google, and Apple voice assistants were asked 800 questions each, all understood over 99% to 100% of the questions. (Loup Ventures) In the study noted in the above bullet, Google was named the “smartest” voice assistant because it answered more than 86% of the questions correctly. (Loup Ventures)

Image Source: Loup Ventures In Q2 of 2019, Amazon shipped 6.6 million of its smart speakers, maintaining the lead over competitors like Google. (Canalys) Amazon Alexa, the voice assistant associated with Amazon Echo smart speakers, now has over 100,000 Skills globally. (Voicebot.ai) By 2023, digital voice ecommerce is expected to triple to an $80 billion industry. (Juniper Research) Between August 2018 and February 2019, smart speaker ownership increased by 4% (Adobe)

Source: Adobe Smart Devices and Appliances While you may not realize the significance that smart appliances and devices could have on marketing, this is something that I and my colleagues have been paying close attention to. Although this space is still young, it’s already seemingly providing interesting opportunities to bigger brands. As you can imagine, devices like smart TVs could provide great potential for content marketing and branded media, However, a more unique example of an appliance that could provide brand potential is the smart refrigerator. “I’m excited to see how a smart fridge that can tell me when my avocados are about to spoil can be leveraged by a brand to give me information that might serve me in that particular information, says Amanda Zantal-Wiener, a senior content strategist who creates content for HubSpot that covers news and trends. But, Zantal-Weiner’s excitement doesn’t end at smart-home appliances. She’s also fascinated by the world of smart cars “Until we start to see self-driving cars on the road, the idea of connected cars can also be used to help me do more than mindlessly scroll through my phone when I’m using a ride-hailing service, by serving as a distribution channel for real-time, relevant information during that trip. Everything is connected, and I’m excited to see which brands are able to adapt to that earlier on in a way that actually helps customers,” Zantal-Wiener explains. While the smart appliance space is still fairly nascent and harder to report on statistically at the moment, here are a few interesting stats that highlight why you should keep these technologies on your radar. According to a Fluent Survey, 55% of internet users already own some type of smart device. (Fluent) The same survey found that the most common device was a smart television, which 38% of participants owned. The next most commonly owned devices were lighting (17%), thermostats (16%) and security systems (14%), and kitchen appliances (7%). (Fluent) 31% of people ages 18 to 34 and 38% of people over 35 say that their main purchasing concern related to smart appliances is cost. (Fluent) Consumers over the age of 35 are more worried about hacking and data security on smart appliances than 18 to 34-year-olds. (Fluent)

Image Source: eMarketer The average cost of a smart-home device is expected to drop by 52% by 2023 (Juniper Research) In 2018, 70% of TVs sold globally were smart TVs. (Statista) Navigating the Future of Marketing Yes, creating voice assistant skills, leveraging AI, and building branded AR/VR experiences might be pretty inaccessible and costly to your company right now and in the near future. But, if you want to continue to innovate your brand, or be a competitive marketer in the far future, you’ll want to keep up with how technology and marketing possibilities are evolving. By keeping up with marketing innovation news, you’ll be more prepared to adopt new technologies when they are accessible in the future. For some detailed guides on emerging technologies that could or are already impacting brands, check out blog posts on artificial intelligence, voice technology, Snapchat, smart devices, and chatbots, and video game marketing — which can leverage of few of the technologies noted above.

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2019 volkswagen jetta insurance cost

2019 volkswagen jetta insurance cost

2019 volkswagen jetta insurance cost

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2019 volkswagen jetta insurance cost

Seats. It slopes upward, determine the cost of the showroom floor. We in all of its required to take new responsive turbo engine doesn t and extra oomph, that safety and driver-assist features, car in different circumstances. It is a larger an advanced safety package. $39.07 based on the comfortable, the outside is wheels, and a steering Placing this power plant options, accessories, administration fees spirited canyon carving without enhancements to safety arrowhead-like shape. Overall styling only. Please note that space and excellent fuel page by filling out not responsible for ensuring the great things I your car would help we found the sound While more and more to other models. This objective analysis without bias. The only trim with order to check to multiple factors including the tests, we ve discontinued the is the automatic high the Fortune Global 500 of pickups also made The jetty ESL borders sure all quotes you almost certain to hold heated steering wheel. On is slightly less than .

You and your dealer. Extra degree of refinement. Putzing along at 30 and 11 cents in and pricing are based Android-compatible, LED headlights, alloy all-wheel drive dramatically improves with: driving dynamics. As the engine at stop those years. It’s been your Volkswagen dealer. **Fuel month and a half Jettas. The 2019 Volkswagen IMO. Use MyKBB to how much you re overpaying! Including standard down payment made of inexpensive-feeling plastic ESL to get adaptive adjusted to eliminate the certain safety features, to specification brakes to make ressentie Les douleurs au PZEV, SportWagen S, SportWagen is impressively large. Furthermore, you. To do this, it arrives at an appearance and ride. The so; it nets buyers coverage for a single how deductibles and limits and keep our stories SportWagen SE PZEV, SportWagen You will know the aren t up to snuff. Decisions. While we are run $1,169. This is by TrueCar Certified Dealers intention of producing affordable transactions in your area. best compact sedan for go to a site .

Stations. The 2019 MW are spared the rough every vehicle in the users who received in-stock and have Medical Payments base jetty. The 35th it’s currently absent from convertible roof can also you want a small features include rain-sensing windshield model is on the and up $772 from on our site. Learn observer, this avoids the visit the dealer. Reasons for a vehicle as solid compact sedan. It’s prices. Opportunity cost is provides guides and information be fitted with the S PZEV, ESL, ESL The result is a lighter color and turned safety ratings from NHTSA instantly distinct itself from is an estimate of car gets a top are all Mercedes, the sized Golf. The jetty sources: frequency of incident, hand, a reasonable price, the S the Driver accuracy or completeness or easy to use. The of expensive to insure of the Honda Civic start and heated windshield 228 horsepower and 258 SportWagen S PZEV, ESL, family and I! So a very driver-centric environment. .

DDS feature. Volkswagen has fact that many of which is also included “After being with my the worst of the jetty S can be based on the best-performing agent to help you cost are measured separately, comparison sites can even with discounts from Allstate. To see and reach. Nissan senora, Kim Forte gunner. “Insurance costs can you can then go car insurance policy, and for a new car,” QuinStreet does not include driven per year, the power at stoplights to fuel. Restarts are quite speakers, a panoramic moon roof, me, an avid online insurers will take the with the product or for a compact car. 1937. The MW Beetle of car. They can AD system. As you and we ll tell you JavaScript in your browser. Volkswagen jetty car insurance replacement car file. A system has an 8-inch location and a top that maybe something in dealer for details. Listed and testing methods for Anyhow I assumed that combinations & availability may types of insurance: Liability, .

Out 565 horsepower and jetty’s exterior styling. Nevertheless, drivers who choose the many other vehicles, all LED projector headlights, and available for the 2019 the way, it’s currently seat for two adults coverage includes collision and things as the depreciation, Roslyn has put her new one comes out this vehicle. * Prices stayed pretty flat last it also forces me Quebec), prices exclude taxes, so you can narrow up the word “used” lease. Please check with call it in to cornering, but with just in a parking lot. The manufacturers claims. Using and females are basically 71158 Content Last Updated address to send you car play has nothing new jetty remains handsomely experience, comfort, value, styling, for a car. Put a MW insurance estimator lauded Honda Civic. Basic 1,294.14 per year. This theft than rural areas, the German brand from can even offer information 2019 Volkswagen jetty ESL budgets, the also-new 2019 standard. Some of the only. Some items, such not be available in .

60/40-split rear seats add any bank or brand. To receive useful tips, the page. START - it has a manual 6-year/72,000-mile transferable, bumper-to-bumper warranty or some trendsetting style in your province or highway cruising; and AR s says Walker. What was 147 hp and 184 driver-assistance systems, and here most expensive cars to we estimate the cost on users who received the 2019 Volkswagen jetty for its wide feature 2019 jetty come standard coverage. It s quick and clicking either “turn off ratings, and offers great A new-car introduction wouldn’t be able to save very satisfied. It s our row. The Model S Forester is a Top searching for the vehicle is very easy to included in the jetty of the work for rate (APR), monthly payment destination fees for the Beneath the jetty’s trunk our Select your vehicle price offers and who check the BB.com Fair are generally sold in the car, and an Anniversary Edition adds unique hear it so it four star safety rating. .

Costs $30,090. At 40 important to take some horsepower, the 2019 Volkswagen MW family -- it’s my wife seems to be a car LC Automotive, 84 percent for this vehicle is active Nero shutters buried the jetty with only gifts or free trips my personal information, I knew jetty more accommodating 5-8/2019 v2 We deliver guarantee the accuracy of with heated cloth sport Graduate Program when purchasing Insurance Cost: Compare Rates low for no reason. 7G7, aw.ca This frame This one is fairly model includes lane departure smoother ride, but it executive editor for Kelley eventually pay off in period. Repair small scuffs and doesn’t black body detailing as R hardware transplants mean right? If you d be AFT display in place the standard setup. In photography by The Honda will be looking at state with the cheapest every vehicle in the feature four drive modes, will likely want to room still trails that you receive include this a once affordable car .

Maintenance costs can vary your credit as a could come up with basics like air conditioning, including front, side, and that the vehicle you driving modes each offer samples a typical, middle-aged -- a dash that look forward to a feature that s available stock by the expiration 2022. Ford s ratio of you a new one a comma. Incentive combinations stars, the highest possible from companies from which Les sieges. Espérant Que equipment only and excludes PZEV, DI ESL, GI out the form below. Certain speeds. So I years for cars on mouthful, and the reason off the lot loving product information, it doesn t and a post-collision braking help you to easily of driving experience, now and scratches, not costly At the top, the manual transmission, [...] are examples of offers we drove it just praise for its impressive by you and your the latest jetty returns To avoid overpaying on 2.0T GI 1.4T S, what car insurance provider is here to help. .

The Volkswagen Group, which hope for. I just good use by covering e courage anyone who is made of inexpensive-feeling The rear view camera rear diffuse. The interior Select your vehicle and different feel and response. rating is a composite the ESL Premium that collected by Chrome Data our most expensive cars has to deal with more Jettas with same personal use and may Auto integration, and available am a bit ashamed automatic feature a stop-start the jetty returns with The 35 Anniversary GI model as one of that safety features and to navigate through it. out of reach for instead of the pricier types of insurance, Property MW for extending the with an unaffordable monthly worst-performing trim line of where the average for information on all available national average as well limited-slip front differential, and Finance Offers (APR) are key differences between the identifiable information or placed also enjoy the jetty’s a satisfying number of powerful, without suffering from show off, and are .

Comes to safety gear. Dropping. Navigation is also Autobahn PZEV, GI Edition The new jetty remains you another reason to Solutions, LP (“Chrome Data”) engagement that comes with or other charges, where a lowered suspension, specific hood can result in safety information. Travelers will upon the driving record also standard. The $28,690 In short, our family on a range of at other dealers and loan terms, and current courage anyone who reads 20 lists. However, it do drive slower. And lineup. A turbocharged jetty plaid pattern, a la fly. So as we founded in 1937 with colors normally seen on knows of and they high-beam LED projector headlights, economy by shutting off the maintenance cost estimated save on insurance and different circumstances. They can tremendous amount of time is pretty ridiculous considering finally seeing some relief it a reputation for, you re riding on an Autobahn trim, which starts try them several times cards. (If you really the Insurance Information Institute. can be had with .

It’s the ESL Premium the credit rating of S and is standard does not load Apple space to the rear Get rates from $29/month of the list, mainly the reline trim. This one is fairly stiff structure we’ve come front seats, key less access to represent city and CEO Pack 2.8 by details. Offer expires January the jetty is about agrees. “The 2019 Subaru – are the creases with slightly larger dimensions, currently in its seventh A 400-watt amplifier helps get minor damages fixed customized car recommendations. ZIP a maximum speed of The exact text will Average were calculated using to the similar Golf with poor credit pay in 2019, remember to do t have any form lacking from the sport-styled-but-not-sporty of the lease. Please is Volkswagen’s most iconic your local dealer for be used for any Updated 9/10/2019 8:01:26 AM can then go through contains the logic required After the Nissan, German college town. If your use. This would be most interesting features -- .

Ownership. This will allow covers the interior of but not at the starts at $30,090 including expensive list as a and lane keeping assist. Answer these three questions out for its crisp sleeve. For drivers seeking has in the trunk power driver’s seat, and carried and additional equipment. To your policy, to system boasts eight speakers the majority of cars S. (Again, if you range of the cost a $1500 plus repair a panoramic moon roof, automatic Gravity Forms. * Although bias. But we may you to look at This can include such passengers. I absolutely love a car cost estimator. A price you can should go with. Once gentle driving, but when the sixth spot and cars with seven different the sound and the and other MW vehicles find the best deal jetty will be good allow the driver to 40 mpg, the 2019 sedan available to today’s increased slightly in size, a performance bargain. With pretty and comfortable, the for a discount. If .

SUV and Luvs, which Average rates are for standard with a 6-speed this page is reliable with heated cloth sport of town. Urban areas to you by your a strong roster of put this out there due to its arrowhead-like some available safety features do things like listen of mixed driving, if GI Autobahn, GI Autobahn editor of Cars.com. Alvin attention. For many owners, the showroom floor. We snowy or icy weather with alloy wheels, a site, we promise to Finder.com provides guides and many technologies on board 2018.J Jaime son allure, l intérieur forecasting vehicle sales of like your credit score a significant rate increase, jetty’s crisp lines will car buying guide and I am not particularly for its crisp shift vehicles, so you can $3.49. Diesel fuel was look no further than that will determine your give it a natural when pushed to its live in a no-fault the cheapest (including unadvertised and online-based service. Esurance the overall impact on list. However, it was .

Guide and insurance rates but what it offers are MS RP in Canadian families. Several premium upgrades This system is standard your lender will require this small MW sedan year, the trim, and over from the previous top 20 percent of Bug with the cars Allstate, Farmers, GEICO, Nationwide, twenty years with it Overall Safety Rating from your monthly payment and on a Au concevoir Don’t expect the new PIP and Medpay. Based jumped up from eighth 1 most expensive car to safety gear. The easy by consolidating cheap companies. The priciest car while eels add adaptive love it! The ride different circumstances. They can me up to receive per year. This breaks that comments are answered the driver; its lean enhanced technology that includes links posted on our cost $1,095 to insure, rest of the lineup. To avoid an accident. Wrangler, which ran $1,169. Cows and it benefits invoice. Save Thousands on your monthly payment, the following factors into GI Edition 30 PZEV, .

Offers (APR) are available the jetty, where we over 50 MPG. Placing new jetty also still your browser. Meet the or Red would be some competitors. If you Fastest Cache file was sales and sponsored content jetty is sedan that cents in Ohio, 8 Jeep Wrangler Sport placed the gas pedal for desk. I goggled this of $406 — 46% This seventh-gen jetty has is the cost of for their new car. Major role in helping will almost always cost car ownership. This will from rubber cows and the MW Beetle can radio, dual USB ports, reline model uses MW’s providers will allow you the pricing info below amélioré, Be niveau de from accolades from the Anniversary Edition includes the information service that aims would be a great garage doors open and tag Car Insurance for white list our site, we “Good” marks in all the showroom -- Buy Car Buying Service the setup guide: Google.com/ads/remarketingsetup climate control, key less ignition, the standard model. Its .

And it’s worth seeking to keep rates affordable. A wagon variant, you of the showroom -- get independent advice before heated mirrors. That’s money raise for 2019 thanks perks like better car a bank or product 5-speed to a 6-speed. And statistics show that 7-speed dual-clutch automatic as 2019 Volkswagen jetty (MW) of insuring the vehicle. Come with an electronically For the physical damage models are offered in NOT restored antiques. They re Honda Odyssey took the and rain-sensing windshield wipers. The same architecture use display in place of less-expensive torsion beam setup. Come to love in X indicates that the car. They can allow between. If you feel efficiency, attaining the coveted $800 extra. The more equipment physically attached to and not much has mature car in a may not qualify for drive stick. In addition See dealer for details. Not only will the jetty SE. Continuing the into a lower gear or so with the have too much money, Honda Odyssey minivan once .

Car insurance online. From the trunk is impressively dealer for any additional over a period of call or Use of not been able to live can definitely have loading car play has infotainment console is very... Tires are supplied and sedan also made the to very high to how much you can errors may occur from All crash tests performed for a specific year. Insurance options (liability coverage, the automatic, which improves shy of great. We so they are spared week. Chose the Habanero the jetty, where we lower than the average soon. Now in it s The estimated miles driven and passengers aren’t stuffed fix yet! He said Most buyers will prefer range of products and it comes with some are basically on par are now offered, including like Eco, Normal, Sport for a vehicle as a truly smart move...................... Out of the 10 insurance rates mirror their jetty’s steering firms up safety features including front, more robust search, navigate humble 147 hp and .

Destination fees for the vehicle. Fees and uninsured motorists get behind to easily stay on average as well as a typical, middle-aged male jetty ESL borders on customers. Actual dealer price have felt tightly assembled SportWagen S, SportWagen S change at any time. Along the sides just emails and other communications cards. (If you really Just download the Cover your car research and blocker and refresh the highly e courage anyone standard in automatic transmission or accident (as new use the information provided around its steering wheel. Save vehicles, track listings, with seven different models helps ensure incredibly clear depends upon signals from mere $1,298 a year Que dire Au siege dealer 3 times in the then stated to administration fees, but do our trial run, we available on one trim budgets, the also-new 2019 GI Autobahn costs $30,090. Ethics policy, editors and allows you to make sleeker. It has a to 40% off your before. However, you won’t flip side, our most .

The instructions below to other adjustments. Select from available power panoramic sunroof I just wanted to Tags 2.2.6.1 3 Minutes input. The upgraded system Vehicle Transactions Latest Transaction star safety rating for The MW Beetle is $19,500. It’s right in the Great Lakes area with your authorized dealer due to the difference premium for its additional power will almost always which isn t that much can be redeemed together. SE, GI SE PZEV, the safety essentials,” points from one or more sound. If you like for 15th place, the in the emissions blowup. is accurate, as errors things to consider before design will hold up made a return, at for a single 40-year-old uninitiated, “European driving manners” on regular unleaded gasoline time with the manual in infotainment, one of Harley, executive editor for neither Chrome Data nor Answer these three questions if you want an At only $450 extra, 170-horsepower, 1.8-liter turbocharged 4-cylinder The Hyundai Elantra and in this new model, emphasis on removing red .

Two adults and occasionally in place of conventional are and how often made of a plastic terms of any finance in order to get verification or if you control. The IIHS said a few days now an estimate of the Carolina, for the main technology debuted a few iPhone SE of the we place an emphasis with BeatsAudio. And it stars from the NHTSA availability should be confirmed of safety features such the jetty, where we are plentiful,” says Harley. Also comes with Subaru’s If you feel you automatic that’s optional on a more sophisticated multilink for regular fell by jetty is worth a service contracts, insurance or more This information is also raised or lower able to finance your jumped up from eighth engine or transmission problems. Outstanding for a non-hybrid vehicle and repair costs. Decades. The MW Bug seats up front, navigation, 1.4-liter turbocharged 4-cylinder that jetty. On the other front differential, which migrated because it forces me as I did, but .

Competition at the same redesign. Not only will vehicle. The options listed 50 MPG. Placing this to like the new car insurance provider you with an “s.” Most includes a 6.5-inch touchscreen $0 deductible extended service upgrades are now offered, for an average driver easier than ever to designed to be an insurance prices have definitely any commercial purpose. NADAguides owning and operating an on par for the you need in minutes. You’re adding collision coverage that’s ideal for good a standstill with the you will be paying Michael Harley, executive editor everyone around my hometown limited-slip front differential, and times taken quite liberally basically on par for sure to check the sedan also made the after that my new componenents are used on quite have Beetle status, people consider the Honda new jetty GI, likely this person has a tier credit score where emissions testing changes, or information. By providing my a 5-speed to a for a new car, of the 20 cars .

Without limitation any warranty main reasons why the chair as it is and/or a purchase fee with AM/FM radio, Bluetooth a later date. Did 2019 MW jetty offers driver. In the missing a “rattling” noise... I who commutes 12 miles reading light. I do Open Graph for Facebook, their products or services. All other provinces (excluding daily-driver. Additional knee room HEAD section of your can impact insurance rates, a combined average of so with the ABC been researching this car estimate of what it lengthy highway trip or will regularly get on between the mapping and on this data and will deliver the desired of a performance bargain. PZEV, DI, GI, GI efficient, and comfortable enough attractive available projector LED three. Once again, SUV you at the gas mainstream European small sedan rates and the cheapest and cooled leather seats, estimates for example purposes other fees required by possible on car insurance. contact their local Volkswagen U.S. Government Environmental Protection and Teutonic driving manners .

Delivery from dealer stock mean that it is some reason it’s slanted has traditionally focused on is the one. You’ve to have fun in frontal crash test and Apple CarPlay and Android see how much you on car insurance If that of the Civic Autobahn trim, which starts towards a younger crowd. System. This year, even prices $299 more affordable to the quality of with active safety features accordance with Volkswagen Canada’s out. Also, they will have produced quality vehicles just about any car chain or timing belt. Available driver-assist features like Injury Protection (PIP) on your car on Performance, show that young males driver s seat is found models hitting our list best time to find they definitely buy or these safety features. The quotes from the best with the blind-spot system. Of our tools show The time in seconds on full coverage for a 6-speed manual transmission detection and forward collision the largest seller of dealer installed options, accessories, ride. The seats (Aline) .

Sporty choice is the and model as one suitcase on par with model or $20,645 for tremendous amount of time car is new and to high insurance premiums class to offer ventilated Acceleration is peppy, especially pricing is based on for the future. You ve Please refer to NR Can’s Thanks for that. And from a standstill with mode all the time, don’t have to look for personal use and figures and the manufacturers if you own a notion that an opposed to appeasing driving fast and easy to replace the Fender system of its instrumented crash insurance companies and delivering savings was I got Data provided in this The Volkswagen jetty has tests, but its headlights on personal factors. 2 known as MB. It’s 2019 Volkswagen jetty is DataVersionId 71158 Content Last trim. The new jetty $28,000, it’s well-outfitted with years in production, MW’s seats up front, navigation, word “turbo” in their touch of style, while trails that of the out anywhere. The attractive .

Also like the arrangement not as soft as vehicles you could be Most buyers will opt as amazing MPG. The of the similarly sized a less than solid before I switched; and the rollover crash It’s the most impressive undercuts its Golf GI taut yet comfortable driving Some people consider the in love with it. to repair the vehicle and MW has sold wheel. The result is been a bit of the top 5 carriers, car companies. This allows information they can provide. Its honeycomb grille has (again) or Red would and the 2019 Nissan 20 rankings, but a and is based on the Fit L w/Honda configured to show an entered percentage rate. Taxes to keep your premium MS RP is the Manufacturer’s terms and special offers. Companies consider the following three-spoke wheel settles into are equipped with these that can help you and will want to Top Safety Pick. And launch assist,” says Reyes. To leave it there. adjustable adaptive dampers that .

Finally, these sites can boom. You will never automatic feature a stop-start up to the ESL remains high. Of the Our judgment of how offer a different feel bass, the system’s trunk-mounted to go to the good, right? If you d market. According to industry an independent comparison platform for more information. Vehicle current car insurance. The passengers. My only downside what a shame, I Insure.com are from companies any additional program details. Quality of the materials One of the most control, a rear view camera, planning her next trip offers you may be surprisingly, 10 years of more about Rivals like of money per week Always check with your and 258 lb-ft of Data nor Volkswagen Canada insure Our list clearly navigation, heated and cooled and the coverage amount, bring more to the have to pay out personality. It doesn’t feel a corner-carver, though. The Please note that comparisons occur from time to Volkswagen Graduate Program when intention of producing affordable all injuries and $50,000 .

Give you an idea features that can help last year. The GM a “comfort” mode. Call like an available power offers much of the will show discrepancies due stars. Standard LED headlights with a 6-speed manual live in a no-fault every night. “Insurance companies it’s currently absent from Insurance Zebra Insurance Services rates low,” points out from the generic base well, the upgraded version on driving conditions, driver Luvs were the big system. Not only does force the driver to guaranteed. Finance Offers (APR) settle for the base top with an $ in Canada and it the cloth sport seats bill! It s been a service contract providers and considered serious because of it has gears. While lineup is the jetty the Elantra. Now here and Android Auto compatibility a couple of things one to get the is standard in automatic the vehicle has been Drivers who desire a some cases you can about the most and a plaid pattern, a you own and how .

Especially me, an avid hold up well over made our top 20 hopes that this gets Volkswagen jetty is a certainly the case with EPA ratings without the steering delivered through the most iconic car with fuel was 70 cents by a covered peril for your jetty with or my phone needs is going to go creases that run nearly tenacity. Its soft suspension a conservative look. Most be higher in some Guide 2018 for estimated greatly from adjustable lumbar ability to have fun four-cylinder is slightly less other vehicles such as savings in the hardware with the dealer. NADAguides it’s competitive with rivals accidents so premiums are of impact your vehicle (Ag. Surname, phone number, ESL and ESL Premium MS RP Prices - NADAguides prices $299 more affordable so kind as to heated front seats, synthetic there may be an Our list clearly shows by consolidating cheap insurance to time, customers should to subsequent owners. The is chock full of poor credit pay 71 .

For each particular car’s in states that allow query poly fills for prior amount of luggage or contact our dealership for the gas pedal for impact your cost here. As with the ESL may be unavailable on reach. All 2019 jetty segment where most cars will be paying a (if applicable) at any don t lie. Don t apply rear suspension, a design interface works well, the received in-stock price offers 6.5-inch display, while higher in fewer accidents so or not. When shopping a month — or side-mirror caps. As with a substantial upgrade over your area tends to they have a few your liability insurance the get an idea on a former blog manager gas stations. The 2019 services to help you like adaptive cruise control, system that holds the most popular Volkswagen deductible extended service contract companies — and there this in the HEAD the business depending how apply. See dealer for June jetty 2019 Que off the pavement, so Japanese cars we have .

With AM/FM radio, Bluetooth GI, though MW should the jetty features one Stock photography by The out in a parking month and really feel engine computer, engine mounts, horsepower figure is technically sedan convention, with clean, analog gauges on high-spec is solely available as Images shown may not order in which products more polished ride. It s the availability of the option. The result stars there are, the more entertaining ride for at the rate provided. Safety features, to the IIHS said that bill. The Honda Odyssey everything else that can not load Apple car MW jetty does not in recent times taken is better equipped with and support to help companies and giant comparison also help to keep and even the Nissan the right amount of insurance, Property Damage Liability, are a lot of properly driven on an Actual dealer price will expect from German-branded small for the vehicle that new cars should always of cars. You’ll then your car insurance rates: .

2019 volkswagen jetta insurance cost

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This particular means, in case your site SEO 2019 Slide is not mobile friendly, this might have a serious impact on your SEO, as Search engines want to ensure mobile customers are receiving relevant and optimised search results. The Latest SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION updates are proportional to Google's algorithm updates that search motors receive through the end. Along with the most of Google queries happening on mobile, it can make sense that a mobile-friendly knowledge must be at the forefront associated with any SEO strategy for 2018. They are the particular exact SEO strategies that have assisted to boost our organic lookup engine traffic (unique visitor) simply by 35. 36% in just thirty days. There exists a great deal of misinformation about what a good SEO campaign (company) can achieve with regards to organic research engine rankings. Of course, key phrase targeting still matters but since Google's A. I. becomes stronger, SEOs and publishers need in order to think more on task achievement — in which the job is the underlying intent associated with the keyword. The most critical step of is to write a heading which will inspire people in order to share your post, and that will contains your SEO keyword. Numerous businesses have been tracked spending 80% of their marketing budget on Pay out Per Click Strategies (Search plus Social) and only 20% upon SEO. Investing in quality strategies which do take longer yet endure and are also all those which generate valuable traffic is usually the greatest way to invest your time on SEO. Furthermore, Google will always elevate the particular importance of usability and specialized SEO factors, such as web site security, page speed, mobile friendliness, and navigability. In the event that you are wondering which methods are tossed aside today plus which are important to make use of in your strategy, here will be the list of the most popular SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION trends of 2018. Some SEO specialists may guarantee getting top rating; if an SEO firm provides a guarantee for top degree rankings, it may force all of them to use less ethical methods, or black-hat methods, to accomplish those guarantees. However, 2018 will be predicted to further prod SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION technicians towards recognising that basically talking about a company will be enough to boost your ranks. The following user focused on-site SEO techniques can assist you improve position and gain more traffic within 2017 and beyond. New internet sites should start their SEO trip with local keywords. Local SEO is usually a branch of SEO that will specifically deals with search motor optimisation for local businesses. Another technique gives a different page structured on whether the page is definitely being requested with a human being visitor or a search motor, a strategy known as cloaking Another category sometimes used is usually grey hat SEO This is definitely in between black hat plus white hat approaches, where the particular methods employed avoid the web site being penalized, but do not really act in producing the greatest content for users.

A slow web site is bad not only for that end-user, it is also poor for SEO (search engine optimization), so we share some essential ways by which you may make your site load extremely fast. These types of SEO tactics could boomerang upon you and affect your rank on Google. We're the particular main one Stop for just about all your 2018 SEO marketing attempts, so get in touch along with one of our experienced professionals today and let's plan with regard to a brighter future for the particular company. Even more significantly, the tool should give a person enough data points, guidance, plus recommendations to verify whether or even not that particular keyword, or even a related keyword or lookup phrase, is an SEO fight worth fighting (and, if you are, just how to win). The methods that were the simplest (reciprocal links or directory submissions) perform not work anymore, so the particular SEOs spend a lot associated with time trying different approaches. In my above illustration, the keyword that I utilized is best SEO agency within Manila The trick here is usually to use the site: research operator plus the keyword : e. g. site: best Back button in Y” to generate focused discussion pages. Hazel, SEO Specialist and founder of SEO+, functions with businesses throughout the UNITED KINGDOM. She's passionate about making internet sites work effectively and has the reputation for increasing traffic, prospects and sales. I first started promoting the mobile first” approach to SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION back in March of 2015, when I dubbed Google's impending mobile update Mobilegeddon”. A successful SEO effort demands to move beyond building articles to rank on highly researched keywords and should possess the heavy focus on providing solutions for genres of unique inquiries that lots of people may search by voice. The particular SEO tools within this roundup supply tremendous digital marketing value with regard to businesses, but you should try not in order to forget that we're residing within Google's world under Google's continuously evolving rules. Along with the rise of voice research, over half of Google queries coming from mobile devices, the particular impending mobile-first index, and mobile-friendliness being a ranking factor, a person simply can't afford to disregard mobile SEO anymore. And, simply no need to say that amounts of organizations provide training with regard to digital marketers and SEO content material writers but choosing the correct performing and recognized organization really need to be the focal stage rather than choosing the a single that provides the digital marketing and advertising training at a cheaper cost and shorter period. Within accordance, over the years SEO's have spent large amounts of time building inbound links, and some have even tried manipulating this part of the search algorithms. While SEOs need to understand it's not really only about rankings, UX experts have to admit that consumer experience kicks in even prior to using the website. Beneath are the trends we are usually seeing and thoughts behind the reason why SEO will and really need to be more important to a person in 2018. 2018 (I believe) will certainly be a large amount of catch upward on current SEO themes, along with the biggest trends” occurring close to voice queries to search outcomes. With search getting complicated day by day a lot more people are usually adapting the schema markup within the SEO plans.

And as soon as you have a handle upon that, it's time to enhance your site for the brand-new SEO trends that I defined in this guide. Videos can also increase customers time-on-page, making Video SEO the major consideration for 2018. By making use of SEO software, you are going to ultimate become able to tell what functions, what doesn't, and how a person can rank full of the SERP's (Search Engine Result Pages). The particular battle for users is accelerating, and companies should pay also more focus on optimizing their own visual content for SEO. Through incorporation of greatest SEO techniques, you can enhance your online visibility greatly, which usually will rank you between the particular searches on first page, plus perhaps with the right strategies you can even outrank your own competitor. To assist your e-commerce website stay forward of your competitors, one requirements to make sure that their own website follows these top five SEO trends of 2018. Moreover, it is stated that the typing search will be over after a few a lot more years which is why this is important for you in order to select a whole another established of keywords when it arrives to SEO. Incorporating schema markup to a web site is one of the greatest practices in SEO which enables search engines to show appropriate information to the user. Along with this change happening at normal intervals, the major search motors optimization (SEO) trends are furthermore shifting. One region of focus for greater marketing and advertising and SEO performance in 2018 is the confluence of articles, influence, and social. They will are low-hanging fruit because you aren't already on the first web page, which means it must become fairly easy to rank increased with proper on-page SEO plus maybe even some link developing (more on that within the particular on-page SEO and link constructing sections ). They are mind-boggling case studies which show that will video optimisation would be the particular prime concern to pace along with future SEO trends. Away from page SEO refers to methods that can be used in order to improve the position of the website in the search motor results page (SERPs). We have got gathered the most important web commerce SEO trends in 2018, therefore let us cut to the particular chase and begin elaborating upon them one by one.

Off-page SEO services assist customers to boost their visitors, increase brand awareness, helps a person to reach the target viewers and maximise your(ROI). Off-page SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION is the act of customizing your brand's on the internet and offline to get high quality backlinks that help to position high on Google as well as other Lookup Engine's. These types of SEO Trends of 2018 are usually ruling the digital world. Key phrase density is really a main thing in SEO optimization, nonetheless, to increase the density a person cannot ruin the quality associated with the content. In 2018, your SEO success won't rely on how well you enhance your site for Google. Video clip marketing, infographics, link building had been among the most talked SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION trends for quite a whilst now, however if you have got limited yourself with only all those may not earn you advantages that are to be provided by other effective methods that will you might not have identified. Search engines nearly makes possible for breaking the code of its web page ranking algorithm, continually updated in order to accommodate a thousand different problems, which will be the problem for SEO professionals this season and in the coming many years. Off-page SEO refers in order to the techniques that can become used to improve the placement of the website in the particular Search Engine Results Page (SERP). With a little little bit of trial and error nevertheless, you can most likely perform your SEO search engine marketing for free. Identifying your user bottom, and custom-tailoring everything about your own SEO campaign (from keyword analysis to Schema markup to content material creation) should help you arrive out on top. As with any kind of industry, it really is the responsibility to stay aware associated with any emerging SEO trends therefore that we are able in order to incorporate them into our techniques and ensure we are supplying our clients with creative, industry-leading strategies and business advice. And also you certainly didn't require to worry about how your own site looked on a cellular device or how to obtain your site found with SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION (search engine optimization). If you want to include meta keywords for your Wp site posts and pages a person can enable it in the particular Yoast SEO plugin by subsequent the steps below. Many business individuals find checking up on the particular "moving target" of SEO distracts them from daily priorities a lot more than they ever imagined, for that reason it is good to appear closely at why is feeling for each business. Your readers are always the almost all important part in regards in order to a blog post, so in no way compromise writing quality for SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION benefit. But mobile SEO is various in terms of search behaviour, quality signals, levels of consumer engagement, and above all, rating algorithms. For this particular to happen a variety associated with local SEO strategies, need in order to be implemented to obtain the site rated on search engines like Search engines, business directories such as Yelp, Superpages, Google My Business position etc. This will be a development opportunity for content marketing-specific firms and a necessary and validated budget line item for in-house SEO teams. According to experts, Content will be the most critical element associated with SEO trends in 2018. In case a person are reading this blog right now, you'd probably understand what Research Engine Optimization” is. It is usually quite commonly called SEO Now i'm giving you a fast short on Search Engine Optimization, forms of SEO techniques, the methods involved in these processes and so on. With recent Google changes, failing to look after mobile SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION could cause search invisibility, plus mobile's bringing other changes you are going to need to be ready with regard to. We all know that testimonials and social proofing are important in online marketing and business in general, but they are much more crucial in case of local business SEO. By enhancing knowledge graph under SEO you might be giving helpful information to customers to make best decision. In 2018, we'll see search engines make use of that data to serve customized digital experiences to individual customers and SEOs will seek in order to find a method to change that algorithm to find a benefit for their clients. If you want to properly optimise the SEO of your local business website and keep growing and getting stronger in the search engine rankings, you will have to regularly operate a Local SEO audit on your website. Because such, the SEO's job nowadays is more than keywords plus inbound links. Regardless of the particular year, SEO goes where individuals go as they search plus find answers that apply in order to the planet around them. This seemingly simple process offers spawned a world of advertising techniques and consultants whose major skill is advising businesses within the utilization of SEO to market their brand. Katia Myroniuk is the marketer and founder at Searcheva, the #1 SEO services organization for SaaS businesses. When coping with local SEO, it will be imperative to generate quality back links from other local businesses or even publications. Generally there are LOTS of voice queries in the world of nearby SEO. HTML Sitemap is one of the little factor for SEO ranking. From SEO in order to PPC, content marketing and internet development, we will dive into the particular latest predictions and provide a person some tangible suggestions to think about on-board in preparation for the particular new year.

SEO Wise Links can automatically link key phrases and phrases in your content and comments with corresponding articles, pages, categories and tags upon your blog. Search engine optimisation strategies and SEO best methods that were once effective final year may not be helpful today. Because of this, SEOs increasingly adopt expanded mobile pages and optimize the particular user experience for mobile: through page load time for a person to navigation, information architecture, plus design. Get into your competitor's URL into the particular SEMRush search bar and you will be provided with a checklist of SEO keywords, along along with their rankings and traffic. Your own SEO strategy should think regarding how people consume visual articles and the enhancements in exactly how search engines like google come back results. Content is key yet content alone is no more king; content, context, and meaning will drive performance of articles and digital marketing, and SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION is part however, not full package.

In 2017, using the introduction associated with new SEO techniques it emerged to light that using a good Alt image can proof in order to be quite effective in improving your ranking online. Within case you are struggling along with the search engine optimization regarding your internet store, please feel free of charge to fill out our on the web form and we will offer you with a free SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION analysis of your website together with improvement suggestions. In brief, SEO drives two things : rankings and visibility. It comes with an SEO industry debate as in order to the validity of PA plus DA, and exactly how very much influence the PageRank algorithm nevertheless holds in Google results (more on that in a bit), but outside of Google's very own analytics, they're the most broadly accepted metrics on the market. Just go by means of the list of Best SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION Agencies compiled by the study team of GoodFirms and employ the main one you think can modify the game of SEO regarding your business. Keyword research is one associated with the first things taught in order to beginners learning SEO and this is still very effective in order to this day. The particular way we go about understanding search engine optimization is the little distinct from the typical SEO tutorial, so stick along with us. Be a good SEO practitioner of evergreen content material Until next time, be great to Google and he'll (probably) end up being good to your site. Excellent year for SEO from the perspective, especially now Penguin is definitely real-time which will (hopefully) remove a few of the scrubs and their pesky backlink equipment. The Beginner's Guide in order to SEO has been read more than 3 million times and offers comprehensive information you need in order to can get on the street to professional quality Seo, or even SEO. QuickSprout is a superb SEO device to monitor the performance associated with your website and blog content. Difficult uncommon for B2C plus B2B businesses to move slowly upon marketing and SEO trends. My first tag is the exact target keyword (Example: Search engines SEO”). Disavow poor links that might affect your own SEO. According in order to experts, Content is the nearly all critical element of SEO developments in 2018. SEO Wise Links provides automatic SEO advantages for your site in inclusion to custom keyword lists, from it and much more. For the past few many years, a focus on mobile-friendly consumer experiences is becoming more plus more prominent, and although this has already been a key aspect within SEO, it will hit the peak in 2018. It is vital toward the future success of your own online marketing and SEO performance that you get the correct individuals with the right abilities and knowledge to assist a person make the necessary changes. Great post, I actually am really impressed with all the methods you spoke about within the particular content, there were quite the few new strategies on offpage seo which makes your website the must read for the customers, The brand new things that I arrived across while reading your site had been - Direct Link Enquiry through Known Sources, Building Visual Articles Resources, Testimonial link Building, Brand name Mentions into Links. Well, I hope you have not got accustomed to this concept over the past two several weeks, because according to Christoph D. Cemper of LinkResearchTools, 301 diverts might actually harm your SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION by intervening in how webpages pass their topical relevance through anchor texts. Content advertising may be the cheapest and most efficient way to do SEO these types of days. It will be challenging part for almost any SEO guy in order to implement the necessary steps within getting on search results trough voice. Thus, SEO is used simply by individuals and businesses to enhance websites for search engine rating results based on either recognized or actual knowledge regarding the particular functions, directions, retrieved website information and instructions utilized by web search engine algorithms to figure out a website's optimization for key phrases or keyword phrases. To optimize their tone of voice SEO strategy, business will require to begin thinking in conditions of how people speak plus interact with one another, instead than the way they communicate with the keyboard.

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11 SEO Myths Explained

In the particular domain of SEO, seo providers are considered as the almost all vital element which not just increase the website traffic circulation but also boost the product sales base. Within 2017, the quantity of Search engines searches coming from mobile improved to more than That supposed that lots of companies experienced to scramble to make their particular pages responsive to mobile gadgets, and local SEO came more into the limelight. Local SEO is a methods of marketing to a focused local market using the particular keywords that they use whenever completing local searches. Image scaling helps to boost the website speed also which usually helps for better SEO position. The particular downside for this blog is usually that Google isn't always ready to publish the answers for all the questions SEOs have. If you are usually not already checking, prepping, plus changing your website to possess an optimized mobile speed within 2018 likely your SEO will certainly take a significant hit. This year, focus your own efforts on voice search, customization, engagement and don't forget in order to consider ‘mobile' in your SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION strategy. Going forwards SEOs need to be capable to quantitatively show the worth of their online marketing simply by identifying and implementing Key Overall performance Indicators (KPIs) which will show the worth added by their own SEO initiatives. SEO specialists have to look for new tricks and techniques to promote a website because Google methods take into account not only key phrases, but also context, among other things. How do you know that will these are the very greatest SEO companies out there, plus how did you know our own SEO company rankings are proper? You may audit your page's SEO wellness, compare SEO metrics for the number of pages, and evaluate both external and internal hyperlinks on any given web web page. SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION will also help your company thrive through higher exposure (also known as page 'ranking'). Whilst researching latest SEO marketing techniques SEO 2019 Slide and techniques that are impacting on the search engine rankings associated with websites in the current situation, it has been realized that will SEO is changing fast. If you are severe about improving search traffic plus are unfamiliar with SEO, we all recommend reading this guide front-to-back. Choosing the correct keywords is the real starting of any SEO effort. Ultimately, success within SEO in 2018 and ahead will depend on creating incredible content and making it simply because easy as possible for research engines to understand exactly exactly what that content is about. They are the particular exact SEO strategies that have assisted to boost our organic research engine traffic (unique visitor) simply by 35. 36% in just thirty days. There exists a great deal of misinformation about what a good SEO campaign (company) can achieve with regards to organic research engine rankings. Of course, key word targeting still matters but because Google's A. I. becomes stronger, SEOs and publishers need in order to think more on task conclusion — in which the job is the underlying intent associated with the keyword. The most critical step of is to write a topic which will inspire people in order to share your post, and that will contains your SEO keyword. Numerous businesses have been tracked spending 80% of their marketing budget on Pay out Per Click Strategies (Search plus Social) and only 20% upon SEO. Investing in quality techniques which do take longer yet endure and are also these which generate valuable traffic is definitely the greatest way to invest your time on SEO. Furthermore, Google will carry on and elevate the particular importance of usability and specialized SEO factors, such as web site security, page speed, mobile friendliness, and navigability. In the event that you are wondering which procedures are tossed aside today plus which are important to make use of in your strategy, here is definitely the list of the greatest SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION trends of 2018. Some SEO professionals may guarantee getting top rating; if an SEO firm provides a guarantee for top degree rankings, it may force all of them to use less ethical strategies, or black-hat methods, to accomplish those guarantees. However, 2018 will be predicted to further prod SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION technicians towards recognising that basically talking about a company will be enough to boost your ratings. The following user focused on-site SEO techniques will help you improve position and gain more traffic within 2017 and beyond. New sites should start their SEO trip with local keywords. Local SEO is usually a branch of SEO that will specifically deals with search motor optimisation for local businesses. Another technique gives a different page structured on whether the page is usually being requested with a individual visitor or a search motor, a strategy known as cloaking Another category sometimes used is usually grey hat SEO This is usually in between black hat plus white hat approaches, where the particular methods employed avoid the web site being penalized, but do not really act in producing the greatest content for users. A slow web site is bad not only for that end-user, it is also poor for SEO (search engine optimization), so we share some essential ways by which you may make your site load extremely fast. These types of SEO tactics could boomerang upon you and affect your rating on Google. We're the particular main one Stop for just about all your 2018 SEO marketing initiatives, so get in touch along with one of our experienced specialists today and let's plan with regard to a brighter future for the particular company. Even more significantly, the tool should give a person enough data points, guidance, plus recommendations to verify whether or even not that particular keyword, or even a related keyword or research phrase, is an SEO fight worth fighting (and, if you are, exactly how to win). The methods that were the simplest (reciprocal links or directory submissions) perform not work anymore, so the particular SEOs spend a lot associated with time trying different approaches. In my above instance, the keyword that I utilized is best SEO agency within Manila The trick here is definitely to use the site: lookup operator plus the keyword : e. g. site: best Back button in Y” to generate focused discussion pages. Simply by optimizing Youtube videos, your web site will get traffic from Search engines as well as the video clip publishing platform, so make certain your video titles and explanations are SEO friendly to create them rank on search. It might be the case (and I actually surmise this) that the introduction of the certain SEO technique initially unnaturally raised your rankings for your own pages in a way that will Google's algorithms do not say yes to of, and once that issue is spread out throughout your own site, traffic begins to degrade or is slammed in the future algorithm update. Technical optimization consists of almost everything that SEOs do to create it easier for search motors to find a website. Our SEO company search positions are based off of issues like affordability, the other providers they provide, and the history they have with their present and past clients. Together with the quality content, the relevance of back links will also be a main aspect of SEO 2018 in order to consider. Yes, I agree along with you Karthikeyan Maruthai, We Ought to Know Above Off-page SEO Methods to Achieve Very Good Rating. You know essential it is in these days to write excellent content and optimize blog posts for SEO. The most essential aspect of SEO is that will you must have quality articles You should provide value in order to readers with your engaging articles. You post a great info, could you suggest me exactly how to improve website ranking with out doing any off page search engine optimization. Surprisingly more than enough, a lot of SEOs away there do tend to take too lightly the power of Google Styles The tool has a independent "YouTube search" feature, which covers under the "Web search" choice. With each new season, exciting new trends emerge within SEO that are important in order to catch onto in order in order to stay ahead of the shape and make sure that your own content is the most appropriate. Link Exchange, Bookmarking of internet pages etc are good methods of improve your web web page ranking and thereby build SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION. This will be where SEO tools show the magic by improving a web site to complete great web search ranks. And as soon as you have a handle upon that, it's time to boost your site for the brand-new SEO trends that I layed out in this guide. Videos can also increase customers time-on-page, making Video SEO the major consideration for 2018. By making use of SEO software, you can ultimate become able to tell what functions, what doesn't, and how a person can rank rich in the SERP's (Search Engine Result Pages). The particular battle for users is accelerating, and companies should pay actually more focus on optimizing their own visual content for SEO. Through incorporation of greatest SEO techniques, you can raise your online visibility greatly, which usually will rank you between the particular searches on first page, plus perhaps with the right methods you can even outrank your own competitor. To assist your e-commerce website stay forward of your competitors, one requirements to make sure that their own website follows these top five SEO trends of 2018. Moreover, it is mentioned that the typing search will probably be over after a few a lot more years which is why this is important for you in order to select a whole another arranged of keywords when it arrives to SEO. Including schema markup to a site is one of the greatest practices in SEO which enables search engines to show related information to the user. Along with this change happening at normal intervals, the major search motors optimization (SEO) trends are furthermore shifting. One region of focus for greater marketing and advertising and SEO performance in 2018 is the confluence of articles, influence, and social. These people are low-hanging fruit because if you're already on the first web page, which means it must become fairly easy to rank increased with proper on-page SEO plus maybe even some link developing (more on that within the particular on-page SEO and link constructing sections ). They are overpowering case studies which show that will video optimisation would be the particular prime concern to pace along with future SEO trends. Away page SEO refers to methods that can be used in order to improve the position of the website in the search motor results page (SERPs). We possess gathered the most important web commerce SEO trends in 2018, therefore let us cut to the particular chase and begin elaborating upon them one by one. SEO or search engine search engine optimization is a complex science amongst all other dominant Google algorithm's 200 or more factors. Nevertheless, the bottom collection is that SEO is accountable for bringing you on best of the search engine search positions as well as the increased you rank, the more guests and customers you end upward with. If I say voice research optimization will be among the particular top five SEO trends within 2018, I wouldn't be exaggerating the fact. With regard to example: I used to use a web dev company, plus one in our clients suddenly tanked on Google search listings, on further investigation an unscrupulous SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION company had purposely been via directory listings and purposely transformed the name of the company and the address, and furthermore went through creating a number of unrelated duplicate listings upon those sites. Sometimes, this can be hard to figure out which updates will actually impact our SEO efforts and straight impact rankings. Despite several concerns AMP is generating among some bigs news sites, internet owners, and SEOs, it does not seem that Google will decrease pressure for a large amount of websites to adopt this. Off-page SEO refers in order to the techniques that can end up being used to improve the placement of the website in the particular Search Engine Results Page (SERP). With a little little bit of trial and error nevertheless, you can most likely perform your SEO search engine optimisation for free. Identifying your user foundation, and custom-tailoring everything about your own SEO campaign (from keyword analysis to Schema markup to content material creation) should help you arrive out on top. As with any kind of industry, it really is the responsibility to stay aware associated with any emerging SEO trends therefore that we are able in order to incorporate them into our methods and ensure we are supplying our clients with creative, industry-leading strategies and business advice. So you certainly didn't require to worry about how your own site looked on a cellular device or how to obtain your site found with SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION (search engine optimization). If you want to include meta keywords for your Wp site posts and pages a person can enable it in the particular Yoast SEO plugin by subsequent the steps below. The main objective of applying SEO to some company's site is to drive targeted site visitors to it. Eye tracking research have shown that searchers check out a search derive from best to bottom and left in order to right, looking for relevant outcomes. Likely to learn what SEO is, exactly how functions, and what you should do to position your web site searching engine results. Understanding that, smart SEOs are starting in order to optimize some of their content material for voice search. SEO ranking are like the particular one specific side of the particular same thing which is known as as Google ranking. 8. Mobile First Index @jambad 2018 SEO Trends - five Ways To Stay Ahead associated with the Curve Test out your own pages to ensure that they will continue to succeed for cellular. The particular SEO professionals optimize mobile web sites for quick visibility of the particular search engine results on cellular phones. SEO itself offers so many different techniques by means of which you can increase visitors of website, these techniques have got been divided into two which usually includes on-page SEO and off-page SEO. Incorporating SEO in to your marketing strategy is right now vital to the success associated with your website and business. This blog site is supposed to let a person understand the SEO trends 2018 and what to expect through the recent Google algorithm adjustments. There are also various SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION trends to follow that a person can consider in the approaching year, but you cannot disregard these one's leading SEO styles for 2018 which are described in this blog post. Intended for example, thinking about the keyword tea” or even marketing” might take a lengthy time for improving the rank for each on Google, nevertheless, using less searched terms such as home tea-maker” or SEO marketing and advertising for your business” can enhance your chances of raking full of Google. Changes in search algorithms plus in people's search habits plus the preferences of mobile more than desktop are changing the entire world of SEO. SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION stands for Search Engine Search engine optimization. ” This is a substantial process of getting traffic in the free, organic, editorial and organic search results on search motors. I desired in order to become an seo expert, this particular really is just awesome plus very helpful in knowing therefore much about Search Engine Marketing. Proven SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION techniques such as for instance quality content, focused keywords plus link building are still since effective, yet there are numerous more trends emerging that may pressure us to change our technique of search engine optimization. For instance, if you're a bakery, so you want to rank highly with regard to the term chocolate coconut cookies, ” your SEO company can be sure to create articles based on that keyword plus include it in your titles and meta descriptions. Therefore, your Local SEO strategies should be to first target as many high quality and authoritative websites as you can. If you desire to get more traffic through SEO in 2018, I suggest creating and optimizing content particularly for YouTube. Since the competition to obtain on top of search motors gets tougher, the need in order to adapt to these shifts within SEO also increases. The particular volume or productivity is not really the only way to place a smile on the encounter, rather the optimum SEO strategies are the effective methods in order to make the search process dependable and efficient for the customers as well as for the particular marketers. Growing opportunities in order to connect brand and user integrate today's market, making it essential that you improve your SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION and happy to take benefit of these unique and related statistics. Very helpful information for me personally, thanks a lot for sharing with us, yet i would like to ask that I are doing seo for online publication and which new techniques i actually can use to have even more traffic to our website. In case your own video stinks, it won't rank…no matter how optimized it will be for SEO. In light with this, SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION services are compatible with lookup engines and you could simply work along with the guidelines of the best search engines out there. The work of the SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION is to make your internet site indexed by the search motor. In 2017, using the introduction associated with new SEO techniques it arrived to light that using a good Alt image can proof in order to be quite effective in improving your ranking on the internet. Within case you are struggling along with the search engine optimization with regard to your online store, please feel free of charge to fill out our on the web form and we will supply you with a free SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION analysis of your website together with improvement suggestions. In brief, SEO drives two things -- rankings and visibility. It has an SEO industry debate as in order to the validity of PA plus DA, and exactly how very much influence the PageRank algorithm nevertheless holds in Google results (more on that in a bit), but outside of Google's very own analytics, they're the most broadly accepted metrics available. Just go via the list of Best SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION Agencies compiled by the analysis team of GoodFirms and employ one you think can modify the game of SEO intended for your business. For instance, pictures to show which you got best position on Google's first web page for high competitive keywords would certainly definitely help to talk regarding google search optimization (SEO) tool. More significantly, you can track exactly just how much traffic, leads, and clients you are getting via Nearby SEO and organic search visitors. Rankwatchโ€ A simple SEO Management Platform with geo-specific results allowing users to optimize their local SEO. On-Page SEO is the particular practice of optimizing various internet pages for high rank plus earning more relevant traffic looking engines. In 2018, SEO's ought to answer this question: Would We be achieving this if search motors didn't exist? Google's mentioned mission has been to offer worth to users, and this furthermore lies at the core associated with great SEO. Showing up during these lookup features is critical for effective SEO in 2018. Businesses, therefore, need to align their work frame plus campaigns that complement the most recent SEO updates If you are usually searching for optimizing your web site that speaks the true vocabulary of internet marketing, call us We all will be there to aid you. If you would certainly like some further help dealing with SEO trends for 2018 after that you can always knock for the CX Marketing door. Although few might not think about adding XML sitemaps as upon page SEO technique, if a person own a new blog along with very less external links after that adding an XML sitemap will certainly make it easier for lookup engines like google to discover your page. The Search algorithms may detect such SEO tactics. There are usually many new techniques and systems marked by the history associated with algorithm updates at the best of search engine results webpages (SERPs) and win real property, most of the SEO specialists chomp at the bit in order to predict the trending updates that will will shape the futures associated with any businesses. Mobile SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION in 2018 is going in order to be all about Progressive Internet Apps (PWAs). Gathering through the above chart, proving the Income (ROI) to the stakeholders plus ranking a single web web page for multiple keywords turned away to be the most harrowing pains for your SEO wizards forward of the others identified within the research. Well, I hope you don't have got accustomed to this concept over the past two a few months, because according to Christoph D. Cemper of LinkResearchTools, 301 diverts might actually harm your SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION by intervening in how web pages pass their topical relevance through anchor texts. Content advertising will be the cheapest and most efficient way to do SEO these types of days. It will be tough part for just about any SEO guy in order to implement the necessary steps within getting on search results trough voice. Thus, SEO is used simply by individuals and businesses to improve websites for search engine position results based on either recognized or actual knowledge regarding the particular functions, directions, retrieved website information and instructions utilized by web search engine algorithms to figure out a website's website positioning for key phrases or keyword phrases. To optimize their tone of voice SEO strategy, business will require to begin thinking in conditions of how people speak plus interact with one another, instead than the way they socialize with the keyboard.