#I love zooming out on the radar app and seeing what other people are experiencing

[southernsolarpunk]

Good luck to everyone in the us experiencing severe weather 🫡 we’re all in this together

[jinmukangwrites]

19?

Title: Huh, Weird.

Description: DING DING DING, GEM FOUND. I wrote this right after getting out of watching Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse in theaters! Its long, and hilarious if I say so myself. It's about Miles getting teleported into the MCU and meeting Peter there. Idk why I didn't continue this one. I should have. It's hilarious.

How I would continue: I wanted to end it quickly, like Pete and Miles do some fun stuff together and talk about eachothers world and then Miles goes home. I wanted to write something fluffy I think.

Long, I'll add a keep reading when I get to a laptop

-o-o-o-o-

It wasn't Miles's first time experiencing interdimentional travel. He's just… haven't been on this end of it. Thinking back on it, he didn't really believe Peter and Gwen when they explained how weird it was. He thought they were just being dramatic.

Nope. This was, without a doubt, the weirdest thing that had ever happened to him, and he's //Spider-Man, it's like in the job description to deal with weird.

He didn't really know how it all happened, which in retrospect could be the title of his biography, things just happened and he rolled with it. Get bit by a spider? Weird, but okay. Get spider powers? Well, now it's time to be a superhero. Accidentally zap some fat hobo wearing Spider-Man's suit into unconsciousness? Take him to his uncle's house and begin interrogation.

Find a box on the pillow of his bed? Open it up and look at what's inside.

It was a bracelet, if anyone was wondering.

It was like some weird metal bracelet that looked like it could be a futuristic version of the web shooters, but as he turned the small item in his hands, there was nowhere for the little webs to come out. It was just a metal bracelet, and Ganke, being the smart, reasonable guy-in-the-chair that he was, said—with no hesitation—"dude, try it on."

What a reckless idea. Neither of them knew where it came from or who put it on his pillow, and here he was being told to just //try it on.

He did.

Shouldn't have, but he did. That's probably the title of the sequel to his biography.

Nothing happened when he slipped it on his wrist. Miles looked up from the contraption, not really knowing what to expect, and shrugged.

"Dang," Ganke said as he slumped back into his chair, "I was hoping it would do something cool."

"I don't know," Miles said. He waved his hand in front of his face and studied the accessory, "I'm kind of glad it didn't do any-"

The bracelet suddenly lit up and some sort of screen appeared.

"Woah," Ganke whispered.

"Yeah… woah..."

Miles sat down on the lower bunk and took a closer look at the screen.

"Is it some sort of smart watch? Man, I wonder who gave it to you."

"I don't know…" Miles said. He tapped his finger and scrolled. "It doesn't have any apps… just tabs that say weird things. 67? TASM? 616? What's this all mean?"

"Don't know till we tap on one," Ganke replied helpfully.

Miles rolled his eyes and stared at all the other tabs. Superior… MCU? He shrugged, and tapped it.

Suddenly, the bracelet hummed and colors swirled around him. Miles got a brief flashback to that lab back when he first began. The colors swirled more violently and Miles realized whatever he just tapped on wasn't just any tab on a computer.

"Ganke?!" He called out in panic. The colors were wrapping around him, obscuring his vision and making his head spin. He felt a tugging sensation in his gut and everything went black.

Before it exploded.

-o-o-o-o-

So yeah, weird. Whatever MCU was, it clearly meant swirling colors and finding oneself standing in some dark, abandoned street in the city. He took a couple gasping breaths and looked down at the bracelet in shock.

//That was… weird…

The bracelet was back to a hunk of metal… there were no lights or screens. He tapped it a couple times, but nothing happened. He reached down and tried to get the bracelet off his wrist, bit it wouldn't budge. He sighed. Of course something weird like this would happen to him. Thankfully, it happened just before Miles was about to go out on "patrol". He went out every night for a few hours to stop some crime and make the city just a bit safer to live in. His dad grumbled a lot about how Spider-Man is doing the cops job and should back off, but Miles still went out. He had a reputation to live up to.

Rest in peace blond Peter Parker.

Anyway, //luckily he was just about to go out on patrol, so he was wearing his suit under his sweatpants and hoodie. His mask was stuffed into his hoodie pocket, so if the bracelet was something sinister he should be ready for it.

Something tingled the back of his neck, making him shiver. He'd come to recognize that weird third sense he had. No one really talked about it to him, but it seemed every version of Spider-People had it. It was a radar, warning system or something. Anyway, it was definitely warning something this time. It was like red flashing and giant, bold words that screamed //HIDE.

The weird sense thing hadn't let him down yet. He scrambled to the edge of the street and squeezed himself between a garbage can and a closed clothing shop. He went invisible just in case.

The sound of rockets met his ears not a second later. It came from the sky and sounded powerful. He looked up and his jaw almost dropped when he saw some sort of robot zooming through the air with a trail of fire following behind. It was flying at rapid speeds right towards Miles, it took only a couple seconds for the robot to make touch down on the street right where Miles used to be standing.

It was red and gold and super cool looking. In the middle of the robots chest was some sort of blue, glowing thing. It looked like something out of a comic book… ironically of course. Everything Miles dealt with looked from a comic book.

"Friday, are you sure this is where the signal came from?" The //robot //said. Oh man, this is the coolest thing Miles had ever seen.

No one gave any answer to the robot, but the head of the machine nodded and lifted it's arm and waved it's other around as if it was tapping on some invisible screen.

"This is off the charts… Friday, scan the area."

Miles took a deep breath and buried himself deeper into his hiding spot. He slowly reached into his pocket and dug out his mask before he quickly lowered it over his face.

"Heat reading…" the robot murmured before it began it's head around, looking for something.

It's sight locked on where Miles was.

He almost swore when the robot raised it's hand and a threatening light appeared in the palm.

"Okay, kid," the robot said, "step out or I'll make you."

Okay, robot was cool but super mean sounding. So, instead of walking out, he aimed his wrist at a nearby building and //thwipped.

Immediately, he was soaring through the air. He heard the roar of rockets behind him start up and he was almost tempted to look back and see the flying robot in action, but he had to remind himself that the flying robot was after him and wasting time to look back was not the smartest move.

Ganke would be having a field day.

It was extremely unnerving how quickly the robot caught up to him. Radio waves made his eye twitch as the words //LEFT screamed out at him. He quickly aimed left and swung in that direction just as the robot shot something through the web he used to be connected to.

The robot switched it's course and rocketed over to Miles.

"Okay, invisible kid," the robot said, shooting another projectile at the web Miles was using to swing. The //DODGE came a bit too late and he lost his momentum and support. He quickly began to fall.

//DODGE DODGE DODGE

//I know, I know, I know

"Let's end this," the robot grunted and grabbed Miles around the middle before he could shoot another web.

Miles grabbed at the robots arms and let electricity flow through his fingertips and onto his attacker.

The glowing eyes of the suit flickered a second and the grip around Miles loosened just enough for Miles to muscle his way out.

Miles was just able to shoot another web to stop his decent. He swung low and sloppily dangerously close to the road as cars sped by and honked. His arms are jerked upwards when he shot another line, but whenever he shot at broke and Miles fell.

He tumbled on the street and cars frantically tried to swerve out of the way. Horns blared and lights blinded him, screeching metal met his ears as car after care came to a frantic stop, rear ending each other and probably giving each passenger a case of whiplash.

Miles groaned and forced himself to his feet, counting his lucky stars he hadn't been hit by a car. His invisibility wore off without him concentrating on it, which made it that much easier for the robot to spot him and fly in the middle of the road, not bothered by the stopped traffic and blaring lights.

"You some Spider-Man cosplayer?" The robot said, waving it's arms dramatically, "gotta say, I love the black."

"Umm, thanks" Miles said smartly, "but, I am Spider-Man?"

Right as he said it, the weird sense gave him a shoulder touch, said //hey, and told him that no, he wasn't Spider-Man. Which didn't make sense, because he was. His eyes flickered from the robot to the city around him.

"Uh, kid, Spider-Man dresses in red and doesn't turn invisible or taser people."

Suddenly, the helmet of the robot flicked up and revealed the face of a man.

Holy crap it wasn't a robot. It was a //suit.

Ganke, once again, would have a field day.

Also, Spider-Man dressed in red? Either this guy was a bit outdated… or... He was in a other dimension?

//CORRECT

//Thanks for nothing, weird sense.

"Okay, um, sir," Miles said, backing up a bit when the man took a step forwards, "I thinks there been a misunderstanding…"

"Where'd you get the tech? Did you have anything to do with the strange readings back at our fist meeting?" The man continued. "Friday, scan him."

Miles heard a small, //"right away sir," and backed up just a bit more.

//STOP

Miles stopped and whipped his head behind him for just a moment, what he saw were a bunch of drivers and passengers climbing out of their cars, pointing phones and talking excitibly.

"Look," Miles said, "I think there's been some... Cross dimensional miss-hap. Are you a good guy or bad guy?"

"You're joking, right?"

"My guess is that since people aren't running in terror that you're a decent dude. Umm, if you just let me go, I'll be outta your hair and I'll find a way back home-"

//"Scan complete, name unknown, genetic makeup unknown, DNA comprises similar strands to Spider-Man."

"You're not going anywhere," the man growled, "the only place you're going is with me. I have questions for you."

Miles nodded, "um yeah, yeah that would be good too. Um," he turned to a random pedestrian, "is he a good guy?"

The pediatrician gave him a look like he was an idiot and nodded.

"Okay. Great."

-o-o-o-o-

Iron Man. Turned out his name was Iron Man, or really Tony Stark. He introduced himself like some hot shot and Miles could only nod like he understood how famous and glorious the name was.

He'd never heard of Tony Stark before. In his entire life.

Not that he would tell the man, because he was busy figetting under the intense stare of Tony. They were at some tower, had a giant "A" on it and looked super futuristic. Tony had brought him to one of the upper floors and commanded him to sit down on the sofa, and hence began the most comfortable but intense interrogation to ever exist.

"Mask off," Tony said, crossing his arms over his chest.

"You sure you're not a bad guy? Cuz that's a no-no-"

"Kid."

"Fine." Miles reached up and pulled his mask up to rest on his head like a beanie. "Happy?"

"Yup," Tony said in a smug voice. Sharp eyes studied Miles's face and Miles couldn't help but shift uncomfortably. Being studied like that made him feel like an animal behind a cage. "Now, you mentioned cross dimensional miss-hap, care to fill me in?"

"Kay, um, I'm just going to plow through this.. so… okay, my name is Miles Morales, and I'm my universes Spider-Man. I was bit by a radioactive spider and got super powers. I inherited the title from Peter Parker just after a huge portal black hole thing opened up and then Peter B. Parker came from another universe and then Gwen Stacey came who is Spider-Woman, and then Peter Porker and another Peter Parker… and then Peni Parker… anyway we stopped the Kingpin from creating a black hole together, well, all of us except blond Peter because he kind of died… and-"

"Okay," Tony suddenly cut in, looking 100% shocked and confused. "Okay this is crazy. I must be drunk or something."

"It's the truth! Other universes exist! I've never traveled to another one myself until now, but let me tell you this is the weirdest thing that's ever happened to me."

Tony looked like he was going to argue, but then a voice came from... Somewhere. "Sir, Spider-Man is requesting to be let in. He says he needs help on his suit."

"No!" Tony suddenly yelled, "Turn him away!"

"I'm afraid he's insisting…"

Suddenly, the doors to the elevator that took them up to the floor opened up. Miles held his breath, wondering who this Spider-Man would be, and was a bit shocked to see a young teenager, mask off but clad in a red suit.

"Mr Stark? I really need help with-"

The teen stopped in his tracks when he saw Miles and they stared at each other for a few seconds, twitching and senses going haywire.

"You're like me…" they said at the same time.

-o-o-o-o-

"This is insane," Mr Stark said as he paced the room. Peter shifted akwardly in his seat and glanced at the kid next to him on the sofa. Mr Stark continued to pace and mumble to himself as Peter scooted a bit closer and leaned his head towards the kid.

"So you're from another universe?" Peter whispered.

"Yeah. Weird right?"

"Totally weird."

"Names Miles Morales, you?"

"Peter Parker."

Miles looked surprised. "Really? You don't look like a Peter Parker. I've met..." he stopped to count on his fingers, "three Peter Parker's and they're all in their twenties. One does have the same hair as you, but another is blonde… and I don't know what the other one looks like cuz he never actually took off his mask."

"That's weird, I've only met none Miles Morales so far."

Miles wiggled his eyebrows, "I'm one of a kind."

"Are you two talking!?" Mr Stark suddenly asked, both Spider-Men snapped their jaws shut and looked at him. "Seriously. Right now. Talking?"

"Sorry, Mr Stark."

Mr Stark sighed and rubbed a hand over his face. "Just when I thought things couldn't get weirder…"

"There's no limit to weird when you're Spider-Man," Miles chimed in. Mr Stark glared at him.

-o-o-o-o-

After a long talk and a lot of confusing explanations from Miles's end, it was decided the main priority would be to try to figure out how the bracelet thing Miles was wearing worked and send him home. Till then, Miles was going to stay at the tower, under close watch from Mr Stark.

Peter called May and did his best to explain what was going on (she made a lot of confused noises so Peter was sure he was doing a horrible job at it) and asked her if he could stay the night. The next day was Saturday and it wasn't like Peter had that many plans. She said yes, but Peter suspected it was mostly because she was tired of listening to him fail at explaining.

Mr Stark had Miles's hand placed on one of the tables in the lab as he carefully poked and prodded the bracelet. Miles sat in a stool with his other hand holding I'll his head and wearing a bored expression. Peter sat at a different stool a bit away from the work area, tinkering with his web shooters.

His shooters broke in the middle of fighting some gang members in Queens, and Karen kept automatically going to instant kill mode (hense why Peter went to the tower). He decided while Mr Stark tried to figure out the bracelet, he would at least fix what he can.

It was akwardly quiet in the lab and Peter couldn't be more relieved when Miles spoke up. "You made those yourself?" He asked suddenly.

Letter looked up from his shooters and at the other Spider-Man. "Uh, yeah. Mr Stark helped me with this versions, but the original design is mine."

"That's dope, man," Miles said, grinning. He lifted his free hand and showed off his own web shooters. "Aunt May- I mean May Parker... She's not my aunt… more like my cool grandma- anyway, she made mine."

Even Mr Stark looked surprised by that information. "You know aunt hottie?"

"Um… I wouldn't call her hot. She's kind of ancient, man. She basically took me in when I became Spider-Man. Helped me with my suit and gave me web shooters. I guess you could say she's my Tony Stark."

"Wow."

-o-o-o-o-

When Friday announced that it was four in the morning—startling Miles from his nap in the process, clearly not used to the life of a vigilante yet—Mr Stark finally called it quits. He threw down the screwdriver he was holding and leaned back into his chair with a groan. "It's useless. I can't figure it out."

Peter watched as Miles gave his wrist a worried look before he rubbed his eyes. "Now what?"

Mr Stark shrugged. "Not sure. Whatever you're wearing is way beyond 2018, kid."

Miles bit his lip. "Is there... any way you can check my DNA or something? For dying particles or something like that?"

Mr Stark lifted an eyebrow. "What for?"

"Just, when the other Spider-People came to my dimension, their particles didn't agree with my universe and they began to… slowly glitch to death."

"That doesn't sound fun," Peter said.

Mr Stark stared at Miles for a few moments before he sighed. "Yeah, that shouldn't take too long."

And it didn't. All Mr Stark had to do was take a DNA swab and ask Friday to examine it. She announced it would only take a couple minutes, so Peter blurted what had been on his mind for the most part of his encounter with Miles.

"What are the other Spider-People like?"

Miles launched into an excited explanation of each of the alternate versions of Spider-Man. He smiled a lot when he talked about "fat, hobo, Peter" and gained a dreamy look when the name Gwen Stacy left his lips. He was in the middle of talking about Peter Porker when

[sashawong33]

The recent month had been busy for me, because, first I re-started taking Italian classes three times a week, and second the main reason was that I had been working on the renovation of my little apartment in Borgo San Frediano, and now it is finally ready!

I’ve been wanting to renovate the apartment since last year. And finally after hosting my parents, we kicked off the work in April. Now this rental apartment is refreshed and open for new guests again!

Actually this apartment had been listed on Airbnb for over a year before the renovation, so technically I am an “experienced” host already. But with the re-opening of my newly renovated rental apartment, I thought I would shout out some useful tips learned during the past-year hosting experience, as well as a local resident! Hopefully it will help those, who decide to rent an apartment during their stay in Florence over a hotel.

Street on Oltrarno side

🏘️ Mind the color of the Florentine street number

If you pay close attentions to the street number in Florence, you will discovery that there are two categories of street number signs in town: the ones in Blue, and those in Red. This is a very typical Florentine thing.

The differences between the two kinds of signs are: Blue numbers are used to mark the doors/ entrance for residential places; while the Red are for commercial/ business spots (such as restaurants, artisan workshops, etc.). If a Florentine gives you an address, by default he refers to the Blue number. And if he means the Red number, he will put a “r” behind the number. For example:

“Borgo San Frediano 83” “Borgo San Frediano 83r”

But this Florentine way of numbering the street confuses Google map. Many times I’ve found Google gave the default searching result to the Red numbers, which were controversial to the real case. When trying to locate the rental apartment in Florence, make sure you double check/ test in advance on Google Map before arriving to avoid getting lost. You don’t want to end up in front of a local grocery store with your heavy luggage while sweating like crazy, and ask for a check-in.

  🏞️ Stay in the Oltrarno side

If you choose a rental over hotel, you probably look for that “live like a local” experience. As a Florentine resident living in the Oltrarno side, I would say: This is the right side!

One of the reasons is that comparing to the city center side, Oltrarno is less touristic. Of course “touristic” is unnecessarily bad, and if you really want to stay next to the Duomo, I am sure there are very nice places around. But if you prefer the “residential vibe”, and are curious to explore the city a little deeper, and would love to try some new restaurants or creative dishes, then come to the Oltrarno!

Starting from the Pitti Palace to Piazza della Passera, then to Piazza Santo Spirito. This area is my favorite on the Oltrarno. Tons of restaurants and bars are here. And many local people also come here for aperitivo and dinner. I like to take my kid to Santo Spirito to play, and we often find many other Moms with their kids there. It is a perfect place also for tourists to make some local friends, and have some conversations over a glass of bubbles.

It is #aperitif season in town 🍸 #YourFlorence

A post shared by Sasha Wang (@staialborgo) on May 17, 2017 at 11:25am PDT

Read the article A PERSONAL GUIDE TO THE SANTO SPIRITO NEIGHBORHOOD, to find more hidden gem in the Santo Spirito neighborhood

My rental apartment is in the neighborhood of San Frediano, which is only 850 meters from Santo Spirito. So close to the best part of Oltrarno, yet kinda far from the noisy center.

Sunday outdoor market in Santo Spirito

🚴 Use Foodora to get food delivered to the apartment

One of the best things about staying in a rental is that you can cook your own meals, and eat in your PJ any time you want. And for those who want to try some local restaurants but at the same time are too tired to go out, Foodora can be a good solution!

Foodora is a platform that provides food delivery services from local restaurants to the nearby residence. Customers can use their website or mobile app to browse menus, place orders, and pay. And Foodora will pick up the orders from the restaurants and deliver to the door “within 30 minutes”.

For guests staying in my apartment, simple set the address as “Borgo San Frediano 83”. You will find many choices under the radar!

È sempre il giorno giusto per ordinare sushi. #cipensafoodora #milano #torino #roma #firenze #sushi #food #foodie #sushilover #light #foodporn #foodpics #foodphotography #colors #colorful #f52grams #fooddelivery #foodlover #italy #italia #foodora #healthyfood #jj #yummy #taste #tasty #dinner #lunch

A post shared by foodora Italia (@foodora.it) on Jan 31, 2017 at 2:19am PST

  🐌 Osterie d’Italia 2017 App: a reliable restaurant guide

Talking about EAT, I would highly recommend another app Osterie d’Italia 2017 (by Slow Food Editore) to those, who put the quality and authenticity at first when it comes to food, and are willing to drive a bit far away to a small village to taste their specialty.

Using this app, you can search the restaurants based on many criteria. For example, if you are planning to visit a small village in the countryside, you can search directly by the name of the place and book a restaurant. Or you can search by the kind of food you’d like to try (meat, vegan, etc). The fun way to use the app, and sometimes me and my husband do this when we just want to try some good food but have no idea where to go, is to use the Map in the app, zoom in and see what are the restaurants in certain area. Each restaurant on the Map is marked with a pin, by clicking on the pin, you can see the info about that restaurant.

It is a paid app (€8.99), and totally worth it.

Stazzu li Paladini, an agriturismo with a great restaurant offering local treats. They offer fixed menu, which contains 3 appetiters, 2 primi, 2 main course, desserts, plus wine. 

  💰 Pay your Occupancy Tax on check-in (€2.5 per person per night)

The occupancy tax (aka tourist tax) is to be paid by the guests, while the hosts are obligated to remit the collected taxes to the government. Read more here. Many hosts on Airbnb (including me) decide to collect the tax in cash on check-in.

To avoid any awkward, it is recommended to check with your host in advance, and to know if the occupancy tax (€2.5 per person per night) is included in the room fee, or not.

Read here: Airbnb and Florence sign tourism tax agreement

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Check the detail of the apartment here

Hope you find the tips useful. Don’t forget to check out my rental in Florence, and book your stay!

5 Tips for Tourists Staying in Rental Apartments in Florence The recent month had been busy for me, because, first I re-started taking Italian classes three times a week, and second the main reason was that I had been working on the renovation of my little apartment in Borgo San Frediano, and now it is finally ready!