#THE BSR CAN SUCK IT

[captain-hades]

WE’VE GOT A FLAG BITCHESSSSSS 🗣️🔥🔥🔥

[darkficsyouneveraskedfor]

Hi! I saw prompt #196 and damn, I couldn't stop thinking about Andy 🥴

I hope this isn't too out there hahaha.

Work It Out

Warnings: implied noncon, cheating, two faced Andy

You hate everything. It feels like no matter what you do, you can't win. You're starving, you're sore, and exhausted. And the scale hasn't ticked a single number down. You were trying everything those fad diets and fitness guides told you. You just couldn't seem to shed the extra pounds.

Your days at the gym grew no less uncomfortable as you look around and see enviable bodies, younger, older, all of the above. Every body that wasn't yours.

You turn up the belt until you're jogging, almost too fast until you're sure you'll fall on your face. You try to meter your pants and keep from hanging your mouth open, instead puffing through your nose. 

You wipe your forehead and feel a trickle of sweat on your lip as you brace the metal handbars and keep your feet moving. You bat away droplets with your lashes and flick away that on your lip with your tongue. You shakily pull on your shirt to air out the dampness and nearly stumble.

“Did you just look me up and down and bite your lip?" The deep voice startles you and you clasp tightly to the machines as your soles crash down clumsily, "Cause if you did, we’re having sex right now.”

You saw the man every day as you went to the same treadmill. You would guess he's 40, maybe older, and in peak shape for one half his age. He leans an elbow on your machine as you gape at him and stammer at how he arches a brow. Your grip slips and you go hurtling back as you fall to your knees and fly off the back of the machine.

"Oh shit," you hear him as you catch yourself on your hands and gasp for air, muscles shaking, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to break your concentration."

You hear a beep and the belt stills before he nears you. He kneels down and touches your shoulder as you lift your head.

"I think… um, I misread the situation, I thought you were looking at me," he chuckles nervously, "are you okay?"

"I'm fine," you sit back on your heels and rub your hip, "just mortified."

"I really didn't…" he pauses and drops his hand from your shoulder, "wow, I should be embarrassed. These last two weeks I thought… well I thought you were looking at me and, geez, that guy on the lift machine must have thought I was winking at him."

"I don't know--" you touch your chest as you catch your breath, "what?"

"Can't blame a guy for trying," he shrugs and stands up, offering his hand, "get a bit carried away watching you… that sounds weird, I'm sorry."

You take his hand and let him pull you up. You nod and smile awkwardly. "I'm flattered," you say thinly, "but… what would your wife think?"

You let go of his hand and look pointedly at his ring. He gives a tight-lipped smile and sucks his teeth, "separated… I just, uh, feel naked without it."

"Oh, sorry," you cringe, "that sounds, uh, complicated."

"Not really, just had to go to a new gym so I didn't see her with the other man," he scoffs, "that's too much information, huh?"

"You know, you just watched me land on my ass, I wouldn't worry about it," you wave him off, "but uh…" you try not to let your eyes drift but they do. He's fit and fine and you can't imagine any woman cheating on him but that ring was a problem, "look, I do mean it, it's flattering but I'd rather wait until you can take the ring off. It's… not something I wanna step in, you know?"

"Makes sense," his smile fell, "so…" he wiggles the ring off and tucks it into his pocket.

"Um," you look around but no one else seems to notice you or the man.

"Oh uh that was just an awful line," he shakes his head, "we can start with drinks."

You squint at him and bite your lip. His eyes follow and you make yourself stop.

"That's so hot," he says, "you sure you weren't looking at me?"

"You sure you were looking at me?" You counter, "uh, a drink sounds… fine but I might stick to water, as you saw I'm not great on my feet."

"Sure, I gotta finish my cool down but do you know The Frog?"

"Yeah, just down the block," you fill in.

"I'll be there at…" he checks his apple watch, "seven? Can I expect you?"

"Mhmmm," you nod nervously, half disbelieving and half humiliated.

"Andy," he offers his name and his hand. You shake it and give your own. 

He winks and you try to hold a smile. You watch him go back to the weight bench before you retrieve your water bottle and retreat. You could hit the shower before the bsr and at least save a little face.

💪

You walk into the bar before you can lose your nerve. You look around in the dim light, certain this is a cruel trick. That man could not be interested in you. Even if he was halfway a divorce, it was too good to be true. You won't be surprised if you're stood up.

"Hey," you see the wave of the hand and hear the half shout. 

You let out your breath and cross to the tall table in the corner. You smile and climb up on the stool across from Andy. He returns the gesture and looks over as a server approaches.

"Are we finally ready?" She asks sweetly.

"Stella," he orders and nods at you. You order a diet coke and the server smiles at Andy before she walks away. 

"I hope you weren't waiting long," you say. 

"Nope," he says coolly, "you know, one drink couldn't hurt. It might ease the sting a little from earlier too."

"Hmm," you grin sheepishly, "there's not enough gin in the world for that."

"Oh, a gin girl, I'll keep that in mind," he smirks, "so how was the rest of your work out?"

"A work out," you scoff, "I thought exercise was supposed to be relaxing."

"Certain kinds are more effective," he lifts a brow and you roll your eyes at the flirty remark.

"Wow, you're such a cheeseball," you giggle.

"I'll take it," he says, "I usually get meatball, all brawn no brain."

"That's yet to be determined," you jibe and sit back as the server returns with your drinks and you thank her. 

"No pressure," he says dryly, "none at all."

You laugh again. This Is easier than you expect. You've never been the smoothest and he was probably the best looking guy you ever talked to. No guy with his eyes and his jawline saw you past the skinny blondes and stunning insta models.

You lose track of time and finish your drink. You excuse yourself to the bathroom and only then realise how Andy's progressively shifted his stool around so he's right beside you. You need to take a breath. 

You feel lighter when you come out from the bathroom and pass another woman on her way in. You slow as you get to the bar as you find Andy with his phone to his ear. You near quietly, hoping not to disturb his call.

"No, I'm still at the office," he says, "yeah… no I forgot to grab the dry cleaning, Laurie. Tomorrow, okay? Right, bye, hon."

He hangs up and you realise he's lying to the woman on the phone and you. You brush by his seat and grab your purse from the back of the chair where you slung it.  He flinches as you pull out your wallet.

"So Laurie, that your wife?" You pick through your bills, "doesn't sound like you're separated."

"Woah, come on, let me explain," he tries to push your wallet away and you toss a five on the table, the tip would be as much as the drink itself.

"Explain what?" You rolls your eyes and scowl, "I'm so stupid."

You storm away and hear him shuffle before his stool wobbles and his steps follow you out into the night. He catches your arm and pulls you back before you can hail a cab.

"Look, I…" he drops his head, "we may as well be separated okay? She hasn't touched me in over a year, I sleep on the couch in my office… all we do is fight."

"So? Either get counselling or cut ties, but I'm not fucking with a married man--"

"I… I'm waiting until my son goes to college," he says desperately as you shrug him off.

"And in the meantime what? You pick up fat girls at the gym to fill the void--"

"You're the only girl--"

"Besides your wife," you spit, "wow, I feel special."

You turn and try to raise your hand. It's caught in mid air and you're pulled back by the back of your shirt. You look around but you're too far down for the bouncer to see you and there's no one else passing by. 

Andy's thick arm snakes around your neck and his bicep pushes your chin up. He drags you around the corner and forces you toward an SUV. You bring your feet up and hit the side with your soles.

"The fuck?"

"Please, don't act like I'm not doing you a favour, honey," he gropes your ass as you struggle with him.

"Get off," you grunt as his hand slips over your hip and he turns you as he rips the door open. 

"Shhh," he pushes you up into the back seat and you slip down on the floor.

You push yourself up and huff on your stomach. You reach to the other door as he climbs in behind you and the doors click as you grab the handle. He straddles your ass as his hand covers your mouth and he bends over you. 

He presses his cheek to your temple and hushes you again. You see the shadows of pedestrians and their voices as they pass just outside. You murmur into his palm and claw at the door helplessly. Their steps fade into the distance as Andy grinds his crotch against your ass.

"Honey," he growls through his teeth, "I know you were looking at me…"

[abigailkua]

First ever project under my charge in BM - BSR E1520F/G

In late Aug, the bidding started, I was just learning how to offer quotations for request that came in. This was one of the many that I struggled through.

Few weeks past and there wasnt much to do for the technical side, only trying to understand and pick up PVElite. And because I was still relatively new, I couldnt "help" much with the operations side as I was toggling between both departments (QC TOO).

I prayed and forgot about it

So I was thinking "Oh maybe when this BSR 2 units comes, I could try to see it through from start to end since I was part of the few that already knew the existence of this project". I prayed for wisdom as to how to approach my ops boss on this, but in the end I didnt ask.

Technical side started getting busier with 8TA1. My attention moved away from the workshop and operations. I even missed a few friday morning meetings in those few weeks.

God answered my prayer even though I forgot about it (How it came back)

Then news broke that my first work friend was resigning. She was the only operations engineer left since her manager suddenly disappeared. So most of her work fell back to the ops boss, who was already very busy.

Overwhelmed as he should be, QC started covering operation works too as there was no one hired to take over. At this point, 8TA1 side was slowing down and I was also being delegated some operation technical work to do. Hence I started getting more involved in the workshop situation.

Then one fine day, an email came in with subject matter "Vietnam Tube bundle". I clicked in and there it was, God's answer to the prayer that I already forgot about. It all quickly came back to me and I told hu about it. She just laughed and said "Ask and it shall be given, Jesus lub you"

So kids, be careful what you pray for.

Not me trying to be a Jonah

Nearing the start of fabrication, a new engineer will be joining us to take over the open position of workshop engineer. So I thought "Hey since shes new here and needs an opportunity to learn as quickly as possible, she can have some charge over this".

Just as I added the fullstop to my thought, I heard that she was only coming in on thursday and materials were arriving on saturday. With this mad rush job, we cant possibly make her come back on her first weekend with the company. So I sucked it up and came. (2 saturdays were burnt)

God's providence and guidance shone through

With a whole week of grind and hustle, it came down to the last bit of fabrication on thursday. And everyone was so tired already but we were still pushing through to meet the deadline. So we started arranging for hydrotest witnessing with the client on monday.

Little did we know, client required us to submit all documents and reports for review before allowing the hydrotest to be done. However because we were not yet finished, we were not able to submit all the required documents by friday. I requested to send it all by sunday latest so that the client could review it on monday morning and give us the green light for the afternoon. But I believe God knows best.

Client said not possible for monday so they postponed the hydrotest a week later. Thank God for that because our fabrication only completed monday afternoon, which was already later than promised. We sent them all the documents and they arranged to come down on thursday for witnessing.

On wednesday, the very fateful "one day before" when we aim to do a last round of checks to make sure everything was ok, we were contemplating if we should do an internal hydrotest depsite the lack of gaskets. Then we found the problem of the testing cover and the tubesheet. In short, tubesheet too big, even bigger than drawing.

Thank God for the people that were pushing for an internal hydrotest despite the lack of gaskets if not we would never have known. Thank God there is only two bundles. Thank God the machining company could accomodate our last minute request. Thank God for the men who worked overnight, waiting and fitting on the test cover to prepare for internal test in the morning.

Hold point

Due to all the last minute corrections, we proposed for the witnessing to happen at 3pm, or at least after lunch. But there was no response as to whether they agreed or not, so we assumed that was the plan.

Unit G went through a pre test first in the morning at 13.5 bar. After 30 min, the pressure dropped 0.4 bar. All of us panicked. Everyone was checking for leaks, suspecting all the various factor that could be affecting it, the weather, the expansion, the cover fitting etc, but there was no sign at all so we left it alone. After the pre test was over, we were considering whether to do another run due to the uneasiness of the drop. But after looking at the chart recorder, the pressure went back up by 0.2 bar and it gave us a little more hope for the next unit.

Moving on to unit F, we received a message that the clients were on the way. I knew we were not ready but I still did my part to inform the foreman, which also reiterated that we wouldnt make it. When I walked away from that stress scene to prepare for their arrival, I sighed "Oh God please work".

Unit F was a little more problematic. First pump up, the cover started leaking, by a lot. So we had to do a round of tightening the bolts. Second try it leaked again so another round of tightening. At this point, the client arrived. The men continued with the testing as the rest of us went in to meet with them.

Storm before the rainbow

They were ushered in to the meeting room and introductions were flown around. I was trying so hard to understand what they were trying to say due to the thick accent. Thank God they requested to review the physical documents first and to have TP around before carrying out the official hydrotest.

As they were reviewing, I noticed the lead inspector scrolling through country flags as he went through the material list. I thought it was quite amusing like "Does he only recognise countries based on their flags, haha cool" He even asked if slovakia was a country because he couldny find the flag, but only because it was listed as slovak republik instead.

Then came the question of taiwan. We were all initially confused because we thought he was asking if taiwan was considered part of china because our materialdls should be non india/china. Until he rephrased his question "Is taiwan part of OECD/G7/EU?" Because its my first time hearing this, I looked it up and realised that it wasnt. But I still didnt understand why he asked that. Until he showed me what was written in the official contract to BMV. Then I became silent with that screen in my head together with the contract we received flashing alongside. All i thought was "Shit. Die already"

The client's contract clearly states that all raw materials used in fabrication should originate from the countries listed under the OECD/G7/EU. But this was not made known to us as the contract we received from BMV mentioned nothing about materials origin. All they reiterated was no india no china. But it was all too late push it around so I informed my ops boss about the situation and he came down.

As the taiwan material was being used for a non-pressure part, thank God the client didnt demand we changed it out and eventually settled with a minor non-conformance report. With this, the first part of report review was done and it was time for the hydrotest.

Throughout the review time, the team was still trying to complete the internal test while still changing the pressure gauge at the last minute. So we were praying really hard that when its time for the witnessing, everything will be smooth.

Double rainbow

THANK GOD, we did it. The 2 units pulled through the hydrotest with zero to minimal hiccups. The reports were printed, charts were dated and they were all signed and chopped. What a relieve it was to have gotten this over and done with.

Looking back at this whole journey, I could really feel that God was with and watching over me all the way even though i might not have been conscious about it. All the heard and answered prayers, all the wisdom and guidance even though I didnt pray much about it. Only in His timing could all these twist and turn events lead to a happy ending of this project.

[junker-town]

A Dutch cyclist celebrated like she won Olympic gold. Then she realized she came in second

Photo by Ronald Hoogendoorn/BSR Agency/Getty Images

Annemiek van Vleuten thought she had won the Olympic road race. She didn’t.

Annemiek van Vleuten crossed the finish line at Fuji International Speedway, raising her arms into the air in celebration. The Dutch cyclist, who had suffered heartbreak at the last Olympic games when she crashed en route to gold, had attacked a few kilometers earlier to leave the rest of the peloton behind.

Gold, finally. There was only problem, though: she hadn’t actually crossed the line first. Austria’s Anna Kiesenhofer had been waiting for over a minute before van Vleuten arrived to claim silver.

Having thought she won gold when she crossed the line after a successful attack on the race’s final climb, Van Vleuten eventually realized their mistake. The cameras caught her speaking to a member of the Netherlands’ staff about the error.

“Oh Ruud, I was wrong,” she said. “We got nothing!”

Annemiek van Vleuten: “Oh, Ruud.Ik had het mis. We kregen niks door!” #Tokyo2020 pic.twitter.com/42qDAx926q

— Bas Tietema (@BasTietema) July 25, 2021

So, what had happened?

Van Vleuten entered the day as one of the pre-race favorites but right at the start a group of riders pulled away. That group included Kiesenhofer, who later attacked a second time to go solo for the last 41 kilometers of the 137-kilometer race. Behind her, van Vleuten was unable to bridge the gap even when she herself tried to attack (an attack that came after an earlier crash brought back memories of the 2016 games).

She was eventually brought back by the rest of the peloton, which later managed to catch and pass Kiesenhofer’s former companions in the breakaway. However, it seems as if everybody in the group had lost count of who they had and had not passed. They simply forgot about the Austrian who was still riding all by herself more than two minutes in the lead.

Kiesenhofer, meanwhile, pulled off one of the biggest upsets in the history of road racing.

Austria's Anna Kiesenhofer stunned the world with her incredible victory in the Women's Road Race Final ‍♀️ #OlympicMoments Presented by @VisaCA pic.twitter.com/mwVZRsNugl

— CBC Olympics (@CBCOlympics) July 25, 2021

Austria’s lone representative at the event, the 30-year-old is not even part of a pro tour team (unlike van Vleuten). Instead, she is working as a mathematician. She had earned her Master’s degree at Cambridge and her PhD at the Polytechnic University of Catalonia, and is now working as a postdoctoral researcher in Lausanne, Switzerland.

That’s not to say she isn’t a talented rider. She is a four-time national champion, and she has won some minor races before starting to focus on her academic career. Her performance on Sunday was superb.

To win gold, however, she needed more than that. Kiesenhofer needed a perfect storm and she got it.

After initiating an early breakaway, Kiesenhofer later benefitted from a peloton that was both inactive and confused. This confusion can partially be blamed on the rule book: while “normal” races allow radio communication between riders and their staffs, the Olympics prohibit the use of any technology of the kind.

“No one knew if everyone was back,” van Vleuten said in the aftermath of the event. “This shows that such an important race without comms, all World Tour races are with comms. We are all wondering here who won. I really felt stupid and then I saw the others being unsure. It sucks. I thought I won.”

“I tried to count who they had caught and thought they had everyone,” van Vleuten’s teammate, Anna van der Breggen, said. “The tactics weren’t wrong, we just had not the right info. With our info, we did everything right.”

Still, the mighty Dutch team should have realized that one rider was still missing after it had caught up to Kiesenhofer’s former companions, Anna Plichta of Poland and Omer Shapiro of Israel. It did not, and the mistake allowed the Austrian to win 75 seconds ahead of van Vleuten and Italy’s Elisa Longo Borghini.

So, what’s the moral of the story? Don’t try winning a counting contest against a mathematician.

[strangersihavedrawn]

170ish albums/EPs you should have bought in 2017.

This year has been a strange one. After a pretty desperate 2016, our bubbles remain burst, our political systems are still in shambles, the planet is slowly dying. It’s business as usual pretty much, except this time all of our heroes are sex pests (Cue a bit of guesswork as to which album has been redacted from this list). Fortunately, business as usual means there’s too much good music to even keep track of, but I’ve done my best. So, without further faff, here’s my annual list in chronological order, with my featured album from each month in a doodle, as I am want to do.

January

04/01 Pink Guy - Pink Season (Self-Released) 13/01 Code Orange - Forever (Roadrunner) 13/01 Omar Rodriguez-Lopez - Roman Lips (ORL Projects / Ipecac) 13/01 The xx - I See You (Young Turks) 20/01 As It Is - okay. (Fearless) 20/01 When We Team Up - Shut Up and Fly (Self-Released) 20/01 WSTR - Red, Green Or Inbetween (No Sleep) 21/01 Palladino - Supersymmetry (Hembleciya) 27/01 Japandroids - Near To The Wild Heart Of Life (Anti-) 27/01 Omar Rodriguez-Lopez - Zen Thrills (ORL Projects / Ipecac) 29/01 On a Hiding to Nothing - Formaldehyde (Umlaut) 31/01 Push Over - Demo EP (Esque)

February

03/02 Less Than Jake - Sound The Alarm (Pure Noise) 03/02 The Menzingers - After the Party (Epitaph) 03/02 Smile and Burn - Get Better Get Worse (Uncle M / Grand Hotel Van Cleef) 10/02 Homebound - The Mould You Build Yourself Around (Rude) 10/02 Omar Rodriguez-Lopez - Chocolate Tumor Hormone Parade (ORL Projects / Ipecac) 13/02 Glowbug - Fantasma Del Tropico (Self-Released) 24/02 Broadbay - Five Year Plan (Hanger / Copper Top) 24/02 Crystal Fairy - Crystal Fairy (Ipecac) 24/02 Decade - Pleasantries (Rude) 24/02 Guillotine - Sapphire (Failure By Design) 24/02 Nightlife - Salt & Acid (Speaking Tongues) 24/02 Thundercat - Drunk (Brainfeeder)

March

03/03 Converge - Jane Live (Deathwish, Inc.) 03/03 Minus The Bear - Voids (Suicide Squeeze) 10/03 Can’t Swim - Fail You Again (Pure Noise) 10/03 Self Defense Family - Bastard Form b/w Maybe You Could Explain It To Me (Alternatives Label) 11/03 Atta Girl - Betty’s Begonia (Trrrash) 13/03 Traits - Limits (Self-Released) 17/03 Pulled Apart By Horses - The Haze (Caroline International) 17/03 Sorority Noise - You’re Not As ____ As You Think (Triple Crown / Big Scary Monsters) 17/03 Stolas - Stolas (Equal Vision) 17/03 Western Addiction - Tremulous (Fat Wreck) 24/03 Catch Fire - A Love That I Still Miss (Rude) 24/03 Coast To Coast - The Length of a Smile (Fox) 24/03 Creeper - Eternity, In Your Arms (Roadrunner) 24/03 Fucked Up - Year Of The Snake (Tankcrimes) 24/03 Great Cynics - POSI (Specialist Subject / GUERRILLA ASSO / Lame-O) 24/03 Lotus Eater - Lotus Eater EP (Self-Released) 31/01 Mastodon - Emperor of Sand (Reprise)

April

07/04 Blood Youth - Beyond Repair (Rude) 07/04 Father John Misty - Pure Comedy (Bella Union) 07/04 The Flatliners - Inviting Light (Dine Alone / Rise) 07/04 The Smith Street Band - More Scared Of You Than You Are Of Me (Specialist Subject / Pool House / Side One Dummy) 14/04 Loathe - The Cold Sun (Sharptone) 15/04 Lost Avenue - Best Friends (Rustys Rekords) 16/04 Kendrick Lamar - DAMN. (Aftermath / Interscope) 20/04 Eternity Forever - Eternity Forever (Esque) 21/04 Bear Trade - Silent Unspeakable (Everything Sucks / Dead Broke / Waterslide) 21/04 Have Mercy - Make The Best Of It (Hopeless) 21/04 Self Defense Family - BBC Session (Deathwish, Inc.) 21/04 what gives - feels good (Skeletal Lightning) 21/04 The Winter Passing - Double Exposure (Big Scary Monsters / 6131) 28/04 Gorillaz - Humanz (Parlophone / Warner Bros.) 28/04 He Is Legend - few (Spinefarm) 28/04 New Found Glory - Makes Me Sick (Hopeless) 28/04 Thurston Moore - Rock N Roll Consciousness (Ecstatic Peace!)

May

01/05 X-TV - EXIT (Self-Released) 05/05 At The Drive-In - in.ter a.li.a (Rise) 05/05 Gnarwolves - Outsiders (Big Scary Monsters / Tangled Talk) 05/05 Mac Demarco - This Old Dog (Captured Tracks) 09/05 Self Defense Family - Wounded Masculinity (Triple B) 12/05 Gun Shy - The Long Dance (Wrong Way Round) 15/05 Jordan Mackampa - Tales For The Broken (Self-Released) 19/05 Employed To Serve - The Warmth of a Dying Sun (Holy Roar) 19/05 Higher Power - Soul Structure (Venn / Flatspot) 19/05 Miss Vincent - Somewhere Else (Uncle M) 19/05 Tigers Jaw - Spin (Black Cement) 26/05 Create To Inspire - Sickness (Basick) 26/05 Frenzal Rhomb - Hi-Vis High Tea (Fat Wreck) 26/05 Pet Symmetry - Vision (Polyvinyl)

June

02/06 ‘68 - Two Parts Viper (Cooking Vinyl) 02/06 Dystopian Future Movies - Time (Oak Tree) 02/06 Grove Street Families - VOL 1.0 (Venn) 02/06 Mutoid Man - War Moans (Sargent House) 02/06 Rainfalls - Creep (Self-Released) 05/06 EAT DIRT. - I (Self-Released) 08/06 Bares - Salty Kiss / In Lieu (Self-Released) 09/06 BROCKHAMPTON - SATURATION (BROCKHAMPTON / EMPIRE Distribution) 09/06 Donnie Willow - Exhibition (Sunbird) 09/06 Kamikaze Girls - Seafoam (Big Scary Monsters) 16/06 Broadside - Paradise (Victory) 16/06 Chon - Homey (Sumerian) 16/06 Color Film - Living Arrangements (Epitaph) 16/06 Faux - Faux (Speaking Tongues) 16/06 Fleet Foxes - Crack-Up (Nonesuch) 16/06 Harbinger - Human Dust (Basick) 16/06 Portugal. The Man - Woodstock (Atlantic) 16/06 Single Mothers - Our Pleasure (Dine Alone / Big Scary Monsters) 23/06 Aviator - Loneliness Leaves The Light On For Me (No Sleep)  23/06 Rozwell Kid - Precious Art (SideOneDummy) 23/06 Slowlights - I Try So Hard (Killing Moon)

July

07/07 Melvins - A Walk With Love and Death (Ipecac) 07/07 Puppy - Vol. II (Spinefarm) 12/07 Baggage - The Good That Never Comes (Self-Released) 14/07 Bad Sign - Live & Learn (Basick) 14/07 Fights and Fires - Live Life Like a Tourist (Lockjaw) 14/07 The Gospel Youth - Always Lose (Rise) 19/07 Listener - Being Empty: Being Filled I (Truth Seeker / Black Bassett / Smiths Food Group DIY) 21/07 Energy - The Witching Hour (Self-Released) 21/07 Tyler, The Creator - Flower Boy (Columbia) 21/07 Wot Gorilla? - Angel Numbers (Self-REleased) 21/07 Young Hunger - Wear Me Down (Self-Released) 25/07 Converge - I Can Tell You About Pain (Epitaph / Deathwish, Inc.) 27/07 MC Lars - The Jeff Sessions (Horris Records) 28/07 Manchester Orchestra - A Black Mile to the Surface (Caroline International) 28/07 Milk Teeth - Be Nice (Roadrunner) 28/07 Oceans Ate Alaska - Hikari (Fearless)

August

04/08 Dale Crover - Fickle Finger Of Fate (Joyful Noise) 04/08 Dead Cross - Dead Cross (Ipecac) 11/08 The Cribs - 24-7 Rock Star Shit (Sonic Brew) 11/08 Mush - Protect Your Brand (Skeletal Lightning) 18/08 Everything Everything - A Fever Dream (Sony RCA) 18/08 Wallflower - Where It Fell Apart (Self-Released) 24/08 Fizzy Blood - Summer of Luv (Killing Moon / Ayla) 25/08 BROCKHAMPTON - SATURATION II (Question Everything, Inc. / EMPIRE Distribution) 25/08 Queens Of The Stone Age - Villains (Matador) 25/08 Turnover - Good Nature (Run For Cover)

September

08/09 Comeback Kid - Outsider (New Damage / Nuclear Blast) 08/09 Death From Above - Outrage! Is Now (Last Gang) 08/09 Stray From The Path - Only Death Is Real (Sumerian) 08/09 Such Gold - Deep in a Hole (Bird Attack) 08/09 Angelo Badlamenti - Twin Peaks: Limited Event Series Original Soundtrack (Rhino) 08/09 Various Artists - Twin Peaks: Music from the Limited Event Series (Rhino) 15/09 The Apology Tour - This Is Why We Can’t Have Nice Things (Save Your Generation) 15/09 Arcane Roots - Melancholia Hymns (Easy Life / Red Essential) 15/09 Beaumont - Honestly (Reclaim Music) 15/09 Hot Water Music - Light It Up (Rise) 15/09 Seaway - Vacation (Dine Alone / Pure Noise) 22/09 The Bronx - V (Cooking Vinyl) 22/09 Caracara - Summer Megalith (Flower Girl) 22/09 Circa Survive - The Amulet (Hopeless) 22/09 Mastodon - Cold Dark Place (Reprise) 22/09 Metz - Strange Peace (Sub Pop) 22/09 Prawn - Run (Topshelf) 29/09 Primus - The Desaturating Seven (ATO) 29/09 Propagandhi - Victory Lap (Epitaph) 29/09 The World Is a Beautiful Place & I Am No Longer Afraid to Die - Always Foreign (Epitaph)

October

06/10 Citizen - As You Please (Run For Cover) 13/10 Beck - Colors (Capitol) 13/10 Courtney Barnett & Kurt Vile - Lotta Sea Lice (Matador / Marathon / Milk!) 13/10 The Front Bottoms - Going Grey (Fueled By Ramen) 13/10 Iron Chic - You Can’t Stay Here (SideOneDummy) 13/10 Knuckle Puck - Shapeshifter (Rise) 13/10 Roam - Great Heights & Nosedives (Hopeless) 17/10 FUCK *(It’s Pronounced SHIT!)* - It’s Still Pronounced SHIT! (Self-Released) 20/10 Movements - Feel Something (Fearless) 20/10 Muskets - Chew (No Sleep) 21/10 Listener - Being Empty : Being Filled Vol. II (Black Basset) 27/10 Gold Key - Hello, Phantom (Venn) 27/10 Heavy Hearts - On a Chain (Failure By Design) 27/10 Jamie Lenman - Devolver (Big Scary Monsters) 27/10 Slaughter Beach, Dog - Birdie (Lame-O / Big Scary Monsters)

November

03/11 Converge - The Dusk In Us (Epitaph / Deathwish, Inc.) 03/11 Lifetight - Self-Tightled (Crooked Noise) 10/11 Listener - Being Empty : Being Filled Vol. III (Sounds of Subterrania) 10/11 Quicksand - Interiors (Epitaph) 10/11 Versus You - Birthday Boys (Noiseworks / G Chord) 17/11 Milk Teeth - Go Away (Roadrunner) 17/11 Onsind - We Wilt, We Bloom (Specialist Subject) 17/11 Valliers - Lost In Familiarity (Dream Atlantic) 24/11 At The Drive-In - Diamanté (Rise) 24/11 Björk - Utopia (One Little Indian) 24/11 Lightcliffe - For a While (Failure By Design) 24/11 Rain - Abstract Vision (Venn)

December

01/12 The Dear Hunter - All Is As All Should Be (Self-Released) 01/12 Glassjaw - Material Control (Century Media) 15/12 BROCKHAMPTON - SATURATION III (Question Everything, Inc. / EMPIRE Distribution) 15/12 Gun Shy / THE EAST / summerbruise / Superdose Gangway - BSR / OPR 4-Way Split (Beth Shalom / Old Press) 15/12 Lemuria - Recreational Hate (Turbo Worldwide / Asian Man / Big Scary Monsters) 15/12 N.E.R.D - No One Ever Really Dies (i am OTHER / Columbia) 21/12 Original Sharks - Hundred Grand to the Man (Self-Released) 26/12 Scum Couch - Ignorant Bore (Self-Released) Okay, that’s your lot. Now go away.

[myqualitycollectioncrown]

Outlines For Essential Aspects In Amaze Owl

Amazeowl is comparatively new chrome extension and is free to use whereas the desktop application presently prices extra options. Very nice custom-made tool, to help you discover a brand new product to sell. Works a bit of just like JungleScout, in a way that it finds what is already selling very effectively on Amazon. Free version is filled with options. The one factor is that Amazeowl is a downloadable app, as a substitute of internet-based. Other than that, the instrument is excellent.

Inside Criteria Of Amazeowl Reviews

The identify sucks, however it’s free. And it’s helpful. CamelCamelCamel picks up where JS left off, it tracks historic knowledge. Particularly sales price and BSR. This helps in determining the legitimacy of gross sales knowledge. You can tell if merchandise are simply launching and spiking sales or constantly performing. It also helps identify tendencies over time, an enormous plus for seasonal products.

If you do not have Amazon Vendor app and you’re a FBA seller, you might be definitely missing out. This apps helps me observe my gross sales, advertisements performance, returns and all the things else. It doesn’t have all of the functions from Amazon Seller web page but it’s catching up quickly. I found discover myself refreshing gross sales page each 5 minutes… I feel all FBA sellers can relate to this.

Product A has only ever had 2 sales on Amazon, and so they each occurred 18 months in the past. The product is now sitting with a BSR in Patio, Lawn, & Garden of #2,000,000. Product B however has only had 1 sale, however https://amazonhacker.org/amazeowl-review/ that sale occurred 12 months ago. As a result of Product B had a sale more not too long ago than Product A, we’d expect its BSR to be something like #1,000,000.

Major Aspects Of Amazeowl Reviews Considered

As you possibly can see, the Amazon Greatest Sellers Rank may be extremely volatile hour to hour, everyday, and week to week. So to be able to construct a sales estimation device with any diploma of accuracy, we had to build a tool that was going to have in mind the vast fluctuations in BSR that happen all month, and we’ve performed just that.

I do not use this as I found the numbers to be extra inaccurate than Jungle Scout and it includes add-on features that usually caused my browser to freeze while loading Amazon product detail pages. So irritating that I uninstalled it regardless that it was free.

Message system in Alibaba and DHGate are bombarded with gross sales message and different suppliers who’re in search of what you are promoting. Then again, Skpye and Whatsapp are great communication tools without FBA context, and I really like the way it shows when suppliers has learn my messages! This is important! Some suppliers take forever to answer again! Utilizing these two apps, at least I know they learn them.

AmazeOwl can analyze all merchandise on an Amazon page and inform you which ones have a excessive selling potential. It enables Amazeowl Review you to save them on a dashboard and track them. You will get an enormous quantity of helpful particulars about each product.

This informative video gives you the lowdown on this great tool. The place where AMZ Shark lets itself down is in its filtering which is vastly inferior to that of Jungle Scout. AMZ Shark is, unusually, free for the whole of the primary month however then will get just a little costly at $299 per 30 days. Nevertheless, the value includes numerous features together with 1500 keywords and one thousand gross sales tracker products.

from My Blog https://ift.tt/2KT7H9r via IFTTT

[topicprinter]

Note: There's a TL;DR at the bottom if this is too long and you don't have time XDYou see, I've been selling on Amazon for 6 months now. Back when I was still just a beginner, my research told me that discounted coupon giveaways like Viral Launch, Zonblast, Zonjump, Vipon, Judolaunch, Jumpsend among others of the same kind was not really effective anymore and that I should be focusing my efforts on learning PPC to launch my products.I decided to take the advice and launched my first ASIN in the Baby Accessories category with a PPC campaign. I followed all the guides to make sure that my listing was as good as it possibly can be. I did my keyword research and product demand research to make sure I had a good product. I even subscribed to Helium 10 to get more Intel. This is just my opinion, but I believe that my listing was 10/10. I believed that it was perfect.My profit margin was 70% but the ACOS for my PPC campaign was closer to 80-85%. Although I was generating sales and getting a few reviews every now and then with PPC, Unfortunately, I was actually losing money. Really, not cool.I had no idea if that was normal at the early stages of the PPC campaign and I also couldn't find any resources online. What I did was let the campaign continue and hope that my sales and visibility will somehow improve. After 3 weeks, although the ASIN's BSR improved, the page ranking on the keyword barely moved and the ACOS only improved slightly. I was still in the negative and wasn't making money yet. I decided to give up on the PPC campaign because it didn't seem to help me as much as I had hoped. That ASIN is selling 1-2 units a day right now with little progress on BSR and keyword ranking.My next launch was still in the same category, but this time, my inner gambler talked to me and I've decided to take a chance and use a launch service. Although because discounted coupon codes giveaway didn't really work anymore, I went with Brand Bullet. Brand Bullet seemed like a relatively new launch service and I first learned about them through an Amazon Account Management Service when I was doing my due diligence to start my eCommerce business.Brand Bullet is just like the other launch services but the difference is that they facilitate full priced giveaways. From my understanding, this method was the closest I can get to achieving an organically-looking sale on Amz and best controlled sales distribution system to increase sales velocity for a given period.What I did was take advantage of their free 100 credit promotion and BAM! there was my first launch campaign with them. It was pretty easy to set up in my opinion, and also, props to their support team for being able to answer my questions timely with their live chat. Those guys are quite friendly and I like it ^_~. So, I was giving away 80 units over 7 days. The campaign was being fulfilled as scheduled and by the third day, my ASIN already made it to page 3 of the keyword. On day 5, I was ALREADY on the bottom of the first page. By the end of the campaign, my ASIN was the Amazon's Choice listing ( really, I didn't expect that. Perhaps I got lucky, but man, it was truly AWESOME! ). It has been two months since my launch campaign ended and my listing has maintained the same spot and my sales have also been stable. It took me 3 weeks to recuperate the cost of the campaign and I don't have any active marketing campaigns on this at this time.I compared the cost of the launch campaign with the PPC campaign. For the 7 day period, Brand Bullet's launch campaign was 15% more expensive than PPC, but who cares? The launch campaign actually brought my listing to the front page and results stayed. I wasn't able to achieve the same results with PPC.I'm not saying that PPC is bad. There are certain factors which probably got in the way, or maybe I just really suck at my PPC campaign. Point is, After much hard work, profit loss, near-insanity levels of brainstorming, table flipping (joke), I actually managed to make it to the top page and I'm definitely really happy.​TL;DR: Profit Loss, failures, and mistakes are all part of the business. Much more especially if you're a newbie. It's like interacting with a giant jungle filled with super-ultra hungry wolves who will try to devour you at any given moment, but remember, there's more than one way of dealing with difficulties and challenges. PPC didn't work for me, so I tried Brand Bullet and it succeeded. You are free to try them ( especially since they still have the 100 credit promotion ), or you may stick to PPC, or do whatever. As long as you succeed, that's good. If you somehow managed to fail, DON'T BE SCARED to try something new or different.I'm not going to give Brand Bullet's website link here on this post. You can easily do a Google Search and figure out yourself. Have a nice day ahead everyone! Also, to my co-eSellers, mind telling your story, please? =)

[nancygduarteus]

The Race to Mass-Produce Perfect Waves

In 2015, a rancher named David Howe lifted off from a California airfield on a covert mission. For weeks, a neglected water-ski park in his Central Valley farming community had been mysteriously ensconced in privacy fencing and manned by a security detail. The clandestine development raised eyebrows in town, but according to Howe, locals contracted to do work at the facility weren’t talking.

To quench his curiosity, Howe decided to sneak in an aerial view. In a helicopter normally employed in crop dusting, he and a friend rose over the lake, and saw something like a train car moving back and forth, causing a disturbance on the water’s surface. On a second pass, workers emerged from trailers below. “They looked mad,” Howe says. “We laughed at how hard they were trying to keep their secret.”

Trained as an engineer, Howe had no doubt what the train-car contraption was being used for: Whoever was behind the development was trying to generate ocean-like waves in a lake. This was an odd thing to build in a lightly populated community 100 miles inland. “We don’t have any surfers around here,” Howe says.

Later that year, the surfing legend Kelly Slater caught the surfing world unaware by posting the first video of the waves created at the facility. The pool, he said, was his “little secret spot,” a mechanism designed by his Kelly Slater Wave Co. to create “perfect waves”—the kind surfers scour the globe to find. And now, if Slater’s plan worked, West Coast surfers could soon enjoy a dependable supply in landlocked Lemoore, California.

Until that point, the physical act of surfing had just about defied monetization. Great surf spots can net up to tens of millions in visitor dollars for their host communities annually, but the main ingredient—waves—was delivered for free. Enthusiasts rarely paid admission or membership fees. Competitions generated no ticket sales; no price-gouging hotdogs or sodas. Now, Slater opened the possibility of growing fans and participants in geographically disparate markets, of controlling access and production, of generating leagues and erecting stadiums. He could turn a fickle, nature-dependent activity into a commodifiable sport.

Pro surfer Gabriel Medina at Kelly Slater’s Surf Ranch (Grant Ellis)

But as Slater grabbed headlines, something else was happening. Consortiums of engineers, scientists, and financiers were building other wave-generating technologies around the world. Slater’s company wasn’t only generating fake waves; it was spreading an infectious enthusiasm for the very idea. And there was potential gold for whoever could do it best: In 2016, the International Olympic Committee voted to include surfing in the 2020 Japan Games. First to market in Japan meant an introduction to the world.

A race was on.

Like the push toward nuclear-fusion technology or the search for dark matter, the quest for a machine that could accurately replicate oceanic waves has been long and illusive. As far back as the 1920s, European pools used pistons, paddles, and waterfalls to generate waves at public baths. For surfers, a breakthrough occurred in 1969, when Big Surf Waterpark in Tempe, Arizona, developed something like a giant toilet tank that unleashed tons of water into a shallow pool. Notable surfers crossed the Mojave to test these early man-made rollers, and locals made the park a regular hangout. “The culture was genuine, the waves were artificial,” said surfer Dave Manning in a documentary featuring the water park.

Nevertheless, surf culture was changing. By the 1970s, surfers weren’t looking for long peelers but breaks that harnessed power only great swaths of ocean deliver. The 1987 cult-classic film North Shore honed in on this distinction in its plotline. After winning an Arizona wave-pool contest, its main character, Rick Kane, journeys to Hawaii, where he finds success in big waves. In the real world, the very name Rick Kane became a catchphrase for the buffoonery of attempting replace nature with technology.

Indoor surfers at a wave pool near Tokyo in 1967 (BW / AP)

When Kelly Slater Wave Co. delivered on the long-held dream, it came as something of a moon landing for the surf community: The future was suddenly here. A controlling interest in Slater’s company was purchased by the World Surf League, the organizer of the elite world tour. This year, the Founder’s Cup, held May 5 and 6, was to be the facility’s proof that reliable machines could liberate competitive surfing from the confines of the coasts. To a certain extent, the event delivered: The dunny brown waves contested by international, mixed-gender teams that weekend mesmerized the general public. But about four minutes were required for the pool to settle between waves, creating a significant spread between scores. And Slater’s machine was in fact so consistent that it offered scant variety, and no upsets. Surfer magazine declared the competition “a yawn.”

[Read: The next big wave]

The ocean’s variability, it turned out, was both its glory and curse. Distant storms send waves in batches called “sets,” but unexpected “lulls” occur as well. Part of the thrill of surfing is in reading and anticipating those changes and being in the right place at the right time. In competition, the number and variety of waves causes scores to volley back and forth, heightening the drama and leading to unpredictable outcomes. The challenge for wave technology isn’t simply making one type of perfect wave; it’s replicating the ocean’s many moods.

On the same weekend as Slater’s Founder’s Cup, a water park called BSR Cable Park in Waco, Texas, released a video of their own wave pool. Shapely, pointbreak-style waves rose out of artificially blue water three at a time, less than a minute between sets—150 waves per hour. More videos soon followed. The waves could change shape and even evolve, allowing surfers to execute increasingly technical maneuvers.

https://cdn.embedly.com/widgets/media.html?src=https%3A%2F%2Fplayer.vimeo.com%2Fvideo%2F294811909%3Fapp_id%3D122963&dntp=1&url=https%3A%2F%2Fvimeo.com%2F294811909%2F771a0c3f71&image=https%3A%2F%2Fi.vimeocdn.com%2Fvideo%2F731802782_1280.jpg&key=e59abcd3fdf14abe95641518e479f5c0&type=text%2Fhtml&schema=vimeo

On May 18, Hawaii’s Seth Moniz landed an unprecedented trick in the pool: a frontside 540, which looks something like a backflip. It was proof that wave pools could push performance. Suddenly, Rick Kane’s storyline had been reversed: Hawaiian surfers were migrating inland.

In June, Cheyne Magnusson, the manager of BSR’s new “surf resort,” stood in a rustic operations tower. He seemed dazed by the flurry of calls he’d fielded since the debut of PerfectSwell, the brand name of the technology that generates his pool’s swells. Developed by the California-based company American Wave Machines, the design is essentially driven by fans that push water through a series of chambers hidden behind the pool’s concrete wall. Each chamber represents a “section” of a wave, and the order in which they’re fired can be manipulated to “build” different waves—more power here, less water there, and so forth.

On a tablet running the technology’s software, this series of chambers looked like notes on sheet music. “I call this my ‘iPod’,” Magnusson said. “And this is my soundtrack.” The soundtrack was a collection of waves, files really, that Magnusson had developed with feedback from visiting pros. Once they’d “recorded” an acceptable wave, or pattern of waves, he only had to push the button and the software looped it endlessly. Magnusson, a former professional surfer, could turn it on and go out for a surf himself.

On my visit, the grounds of the pool were still under construction. A backhoe dug a trench for electrical lines that would power night lighting, which would help attract more attendees: Unlike Slater’s pool, BSR Surf Resort was open to the public. (Currently, the pool is closed as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention investigates a possible dangerous contamination.)

How many surfers could be accommodated was still being worked out at the time. In the first public session, they’d loaded the pool with 40 surfers. “It was like a mosh pit,” Magnusson said. “A fight broke out instantly.” With a more manageable number, the pool setting compelled surfers to actually communicate for priority—an act that’s usually sorted out by skill level and bullying in the wild. Not only were the waves in development, but the culture of surfing was as well.

Jackson Butler surfs in the BSR Surf Resort pool in Waco, Texas. (Shawn Butler)

Magnusson insisted that the BSR Surf Resort team was not contesting a race with Kelly Slater Wave Co. or any other pool developers. “That would imply there is only going to be one winner, and one technology, and that would suck,” Magnusson said. “If there’s going to be a race, hopefully it’s toward variety.”

Nevertheless, actions and announcements from a number of entities have suggested that a race is indeed at hand. As early as September 2017, a Spanish-based pool developer, Wavegarden, announced plans to build a pool near Tokyo in time for the 2020 Games. Following BSR’s video release, Slater invited aerial specialists to the Surf Ranch to help its team develop an “air section,” or ramp, something Waco boasted but Slater’s facility lacked. In July, a group fronted by former world champion Mark Occhilupo revealed photos of a massive pool under construction in North Queensland, Australia, with a purported capability of generating 2,400 waves per hour among eight distinct breaks.

It could all be a pipe dream. So far, the International Surfing Association has insisted that surfing’s Olympic debut will occur in the ocean, and along with the Tokyo 2020 committee, they’ve proposed a beach site 40 miles from the city. But during the window of the 2020 Games, wave conditions at Tokyo beaches are generally unimpressive. This puts surfing at risk of suffering the same fate as other failed trial sports before it, like cricket, lacrosse, and polo. Should surfing appear underwhelming, or even clownish, which it can in anemic surf, the International Surfing Association’s bid to extend surfing to 2024 in Paris, or 2028 in Los Angeles, could sink.

Many commentators have mused that a crystalline wave pool will be the obvious solution. Beyond predictable and impressive swells, these nascent pools lend themselves to arena-like management, ticket sales, and studio conditions for broadcast. “It’s got to happen in a pool,” says Surfer magazine’s photo editor, Grant Ellis. “The Olympic audience can’t watch a couple of surfers bobbing in a flat ocean.”

Rendering of a possible Olympic wave pool design (Paul Roget Design / Courtesy of Webber Wave Pools)

Over the summer, interesting developments occurred at a clip. The parent company of Kelly Slater Wave Co. won community approval to replicate their pool just outside of Tokyo. According to a Japanese news site, construction will be finished this December. Soon after, Olympic surfing’s governing body, the International Surfing Association, chose BSR’s Waco pool as the “official training center” for the U.S. surf team. The Australian surf team countered by traveling en masse to Slater’s Lemoore pool.

[Read: The improbable persistence of swimming pools built in the ocean]

A lot of work and energy was pouring into technologies that Olympic bodies had denied considering. A final decision on the site of Olympic competition won’t be formally made until July next year, which may be keeping the crowded field optimistic. But there’s no proven financial model for inland wave pools, despite the amount of capital going into their development. Should these Olympic dreams come to naught, what will happen to a possible glut of artificial waves? Will communities embrace their new coasts? Who is going to buy all of these waves?

The Waco resident Brian Filmore might have the answer. “My story is the opposite of the North Shore story,” he said. “I experienced surfing with my dad in California, but I really learned how to surf here [in the pool]. I’m a Central Texas surfer.”

BSR initially sold annual permits to surfers for the low cost of $1,000, a decision they openly regretted. Locals who’d learned to surf in the Gulf, California, and Hawaii realized the value and snapped up the passes. Over the course of the year, they could end up paying as low as a buck a wave. One surfer, a father, doubled his money. He’d rekindled skills he’d honed during a long stint in the islands, and then he pushed his son into the foamy leftovers ridden by other pass-holders.

Communities across the country already have their surfers. They’re just waiting for the waves.

from Health News And Updates https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2018/10/surfs-up-world/572839/?utm_source=feed