#all of this started because i was thinking on if steb has one or two co-

[vinivan]

my arcane brainrot has been exclusively focused on them, your honor

[ttrashlord]

STEB SFW/NSFW HEADCANONS

A/N-This is my first time writing smut so,pls be kind with critics <3 (@moonstrider9904 its the owner of the gif)

P.s-i was listen to Lana del rey while doing this ;)

Warnings:mentions of kinks (cockwarming,bdsm,oral sex,etc),oral sex (Female and male receiving),

Pairing:Female!reader x Steb

-SFW-

Steb is such a gentle lover,he won't just do anything without your consent or go too rough or fast,he won't go slow either,he will adjust at your rythm,just as you are.

He will steal you kisses all time at home,at all time.Youre cooking? A stolen kiss. Reading at the couch? Don't look behind you,because a Wild Steb will be waiting there.

He is not a coffee lover ( as i said in another headcanon) but he surely loves tea!,so whenever you two decide that you want to do a lazy day or just thake breakfast in bed (most of the times,he does the breakfast),he is ready!

He enjoys going shopping,and even more if it's with you! He makes a whole list but you don't take different parts,no,you do the whole shopping TOGETHER.

I saw an account saying that Steb would have french accent (SORRY I DONT REMEMBER THE ACCOUNT) which i believe 2 things:

He can SPEAK french,because it's one of the lenguages he can speak,but he has British accent (just imagine ladies)

Have you seen the manhwa sign? Well,hearing his voice by the first time has the same reaction that yohan did on soohwa

He Will listen to whatever music you listen to

But he is a lana del rey boy

He likes tickle wars,but only when he's winning >:/

He didn't used to have a lots of things in his wardrobe until you came to his life,then you started to be like a fashion designer to him and started to tell him what could fit him and what he should try/buy.

He really apreciates this,because It feels like it's worth It to worry how he looks apart from his enforcer uniform

-NSFW-

(pls let me get ready for this)

If in his normal life he is a shy,a man of poor words,but believe me when i say this,he is comunicative in bed

If he needs you/something he'll say,he won't do any rodeo about It,he is kinda shy about being too explicit,but he makes sure to let you know what he needs

Imagine that is been a long,tiring day,you two are enforcers and right now are working at the "peanut partro"l with cait as a Commander

Sure,she was great,but sometimes a pain in the ass as a boss.

So,when you two arrived home,you shouted to him as you lead your steps to the kitchen "i'm making dinner"

You put your apron on,and started to make something,but suddenly,a pair on blue,warm hand were embracing you stomach

Steb:mhm...you...mhm..

You didn't undertood a word of what he said because his head was pressed on your shoulder

You left your hands from the sink and put the on his hands,and asked him: honey,what did you say?

And as clear as water,he told you,putting his chin on your shoulder and his lip very near your lobe:

Steb:I need you....now....

He doesn't speak very much but damn he know how to use his mouth.At first,he was very shy to go down on you,saying he never didi It on anyone else,but the more he thinks about it,the more he wants It.

The very first time he went down on you he was inexperienced,but he is someone that learns pretty easy,so the first time uses It to learn as much as he can for you,what do you like? What reaction what can he get from you?

BUT when you first when down on him? Girl are you trying to kill him?

You did It the very first time you two has sex,and he hated to admit how fast he did came when your Lips touched his tip.Only using your hands,going Up and down was...such a view,and even while you were looking at him with such pretty eyes,but when you decided to use your Lips,he fainted.

The first time you had sex you decided to go missionary.It's confortable,it's intimate and he can be as close to you and look at you

Saying this right now ,MAKE EYE CONTACT WITH HIM,he loves it,he loses it.

His favoutire positions are:

Cowgirl,the Lotus,any variation of the missionary,and any position where he can see your face.

I believe that he has Big dick energy (DON'T KILL ME) but not THAT much,just above avarage.but the () it's pretty normal.

I believe he has the prettiest dick, i mean,i can't say look, but think about It:

More than avarage lenght,let's say () while not erected,but when it's erected It passes to be ().

And it's pretty firm,very curvy,just a prefect curve that helps you to make your own climax even better.

His () as on the avarage side,making It ().

Meanwhile the colour tip it's a pretty pinkish colour,not a full Pink but It shades into Pink.

He loves eye Contact,but most of all kissing you and showing to you how much he loves your body,in any way possible.This is like mosning your name as loud as he can (yes,he doesn't only moan,he groans,growls,do any sounds you can imagine) worshipping you,telling you how good you feel,etc.

And kissing you is something that he does:

1-when he is about to come,he feels It,and he needs to show you how good you make him feel

2-if it's a very intimate sex session (like,you're not only fucking but "making love")

He is such a gentleman,he can adjust at your rythm with any problem, did you tell him to go faster? For sure faster It is. You told him you don't want to come yet? He understands,he slows the pace and waist for you.

His kinks are on the "normal" side:

Praise kink,slight bdsm (chokers,blindfolds,and sometimes shibari) oral (receiving and giving),cockwarming,slighlty erotic asfyxiathion (on him)

But most of the times,he enjoys "normal sex" and always will prefer to "make love" with rather than just "fucking"

HEYYY THIS IS MY VERY FIRST TIME WRITING NSFW DON'T HATE ME ON THIS!

this took me soo long because i had no idea what to write for him so,here it is!

Hope you like it!

Also! I wanted to thank @saradika-graphics for this beautiful dividers,if need any, she surely has! (Or ask a request).

That's all loves,bye!

[bwat5-blog]

Maddie Nolan: Never Trust A Ginger (me included)

**Spoilers For All Of Arcane**

Maddie Nolan. This charming young murderess made quite the impact in season two. Initially, she seems like a bright, friendly and brave young woman who in all honesty, I felt was quite likely to die on the mission into Zaun. Such cheerful innocence is not exactly rewarded in this world. But, as with all of these wonderful characters, there was a whole world lurking underneath that smile.

Maddie is a loyal Noxian. This has been confirmed by Amanda Overton. And having that knowledge allows us to look back on Maddie's story and take a look from the time we meet her to her death. It also allows us to connect the dots for some basic points:

1. Maddie has Ambessa's trust: Maddie is young. Official sources have not confirmed an exact age at least as far as I have found. But most seem to agree she is in her early twenties like Caitlyn and Vi. Aside from Ambessa herself. Maddie has to play the most direct role in the manipulation and control of Caitlyn. There is no way Ambessa would risk her plan on an agent she did not feel she could trust completely.

2. Maddie's strength is her mind: What have we learned about Noxus? They are warlike and brutal sure, but that is not all they value. Ambessa herself is master of manipulation and control as well as being a physical powerhouse. And while we see Maddie fight, her prowess is certainly never to shown to rival Vi or Caitlyn (Caitlyn even disarms her while on her knees and almost shoots Ambessa with Maddie's own gun). So why is she so dangerous? Her mind. Her ability to manipulate, to improvise in the moment and play the role she has been assigned.

So. Keeping that in mind before we move ahead. For a brief refresher (primarily because I have written it very recently in other documents), here is very basic run down of Ambessa's goals:

1. She wants Hex-Tech to fight the black rose. 2. She wants control of Piltover. 3. She needs a puppet leader through which rule.

So what role does Maddie play in those goals?

In Caitlyn Kiramman, Ambessa has everything she needs for the perfect scapegoat. Intelligent, well-respected, brave and tenacious. But also angry, and raw, and grieving. Caitlyn is already in a state of destabilization. I Have been thinking about it in terms of "support beams" being knocked over.

Establishment: Marcus almost killed her

Childhood: Death of her mother

Safety: Several near death experiences

You get the idea. I am not a mental health professional, but the dominoes are falling. Ambessa intends to fill the maternal hole in Caitlyn's heart. But she also needs Caitlyn to reach the point that she can seize control of Zaun. And Ambessa is more than shrewd enough to know that will never happen with Vi by Caitlyn's side. Enter Maddie.

Meeting Vi-

Maddie is introduced to us as an almost literal ball of sunshine. Happy and friendly, standing illuminated by the morning light Maddie comes with Steb and introduces herself to Vi, sharing her excitement over Vi joining them and in general flattering Vi in a variety of ways.

On the surface, she seems for all the world like a kind and positive young woman. But we know why she is here. At this point we know it is not to get Vi on the strike team, as Caitlyn has not had such an idea. But they want to push Vi to accept the badge.

Why?: - Because as I have said, Ambessa is a master at her craft. She needs Caitlyn totally alone when she swoops in. And if you follow this extremely rough train of thought it's easy to see.

1. Caitlyn wants Jinx and wants to follow the official route. Which means as Enforcers. 2. Vi is by Caitlyn's side and feels guilt over her sisters actions and will want to help. 3. Vi's history will make being an Enforcer a point of contention and start to drive them apart.

Maddie says quite a bit, talking about Vi's one woman mission to fight Silco. But she lays the groundwork for what she knows is important. Caitlyn.

1. "Caitlyn made quite the scene when they tried to deny you enlistment". 2. "She said if every Enforcer had a heart like yours we could take on Noxus itself" 3. "Then she threatened to withdraw her families funding"

Caitlyn believes in you...

Caitlyn fought for you....

Caitlyn staked her standing on you...

And this was all before the memorial attack even took place.

*I can't take credit for this but an insightful user on here pointed out that Maddie keeps one behind her back the entire time she is shaking Vi's. Classic portrayal of deceit and a hidden threat. And regarding the "glad to know there are still good ones left" quote. I understand what people are saying regarding how Maddie views the undercity. But Marcus wasn't a Zaunite and that's how that sentence starts. Idk, maybe I'm just missing it. Feel free to explain it to me!*

The Memorial Attack-

During the attack itself we don't see much in terms of character-on-character moments for obvious reasons. It is extremely chaotic and violent but Maddie plays her part. She assists in saving the councilors and is almost killed by the Undercity forces. How much of if any of the plan she was in on, we can't really know. But she does not give us, or the characters around her a single reason to question her loyalty, and stands by Caitlyn's side when all seems lost, just before Ambessa and Rictus arrive with their soldiers in the nick of time.

In the aftermath, she is standing guard over Caitlyn with Steb, and dismissed when Vi approaches. But the real moment here is as Vi is walking up. She happens to look to see Rictus and Ambessa talking as Rictus is ripping his spear free from a body. Ambessa directly locks eyes with Vi. Appraising.. calculating..

"Vi.. You've been quite a curiosity. One who captured Caitlyn's heart. I owe you thanks. Your absence provided a vacuum I was able to fill"

The Strike Team-

It is in the wake of the memorial attack that Ambessa's plans for Caitlyn really start to manifest. Full of wrath and hate and despair, Caitlyn leads the strike team into Zaun. She, Vi, Maddie, Steb and Lorris. And even though their mission on the surface is righteous, Caitlyn is sliding further and further into the dark. Progressing more and more towards the place of total exposed pain that Ambessa will be able to twist and control. So when the time comes. When they know where Jinx is and the final confrontation is upon them, what does Maddie do? She plays the part. The scared, inexperienced, rookie off her balance and overwhelmed by Jinx's theatrics and mind games.

And it works. For the life of me I cannot find a GIF of it or even an image of Vi watching them at the moment, but Vi sees how scared Maddie appears. She sees Loris limping because of Jinx's bomb. She looks genuinely concerned for them. Just as Maddie knew she would be. Because don't forget Vi is just as much Maddie's study at this moment as Caitlyn is.

Maddie has been there to watch as Vi is progressively buried by guilt:

Her sister killed Caitlyn's mother.

She is wearing the enforcer uniform and doing violence in the streets of Zaun no matter how good the reason.

She has been watching Caitlyn grow darker and more violent to the point that she tearfully begs Caitlyn to promise she wont change to.

Now they are at the tipping point, almost facing Jinx. And Maddie plays scared.. she plays vulnerable... and with Loris hurt as well it's even better because she knows Vi hates all of this death and pain. She doesn't want to see anyone else suffer.

What do they get out of this? They being Ambessa and Maddie of course. Well as I said, Maddie has been watching, she has been waiting. And just like Vi has, she has seen what is happening to Caitlyn as well. As Vi grows more and more wracked with guilt and remorse and sorrow, Caitlyn grows darker. More angry and more violent. So what does Maddie do just shy of the finish line? Takes away anything that could stop the inevitable collision. No one to stand in the way. No one to back them down.

And while of course I can't be sure, to anyone suggesting she was actually frightened and in over her head. I present you the following image:

We will come back to this. But there she preparing to shoot Caitlyn in the neck after sharing her bed for a few months. I sincerely doubt Jinx's little puppet show had her shaking in her boots.

The Commander-

Caitlyn Kiramman stands totally separated from all that she had held dear:

Her mother is dead.

Vi "betrayed" her.

Jinx is free.

The old leader of the enforcers was a corrupt, murdering thug.

Her people are afraid and angry

Initially, she seems completely shocked and more than a little afraid. But.. maybe she isn't totally alone.. the young officer who fought by her side.. who is still here even now stands beside her smiling brightly and thumping her chest in support of her commander. Of course.. no one seems to notice she is the first "Piltovan" to do so..

All of that rage and hate and loss have just built more and more with no healing, no time and no peace. The Noxians have expertly shattered Caitlyn's support and all that is left is her pain. And so standing in front of the ruling families of Piltover, the last two surviving councilors, and a host of enforcers. Ambessa Medarda seizes Piltover for herself, all while playing the part of the caring mentor. LOOK AT HER FACE IN THE GIF BELOW

The Bedroom-

We leap forward in time. It has been a few months, although we don't now exactly how long. And Caitlyn is much changed. She is the Commander. The leaders of the city willingly supported Martial Law, and on the absolute surface, she is the leader. We of course, know better.

At some point between S2 E3 and S2 E4 Caitlyn allowed Maddie Nolan into her bed. And it is here that we find them now. Caitlyn seems cold.. detached.. despite the fact that she has been building her physical strength her face looks thinner, and more drawn. While Ambessa had taken advantage of the hole left by Caitlyn's mother, Maddie had done so regarding Vi. Manipulating and testing Caitlyn even in the comfort of her own bed.

I view this scene as sort of the other side of the coin of Vi and Cait's scene that will come later. Despite being in a cold, hard jail cell. That scene is so full of life, and love, and tenderness. This scene (while of course nowhere near as sexual), takes place in Caitlyn's lavish bedroom. But it devoid of anything comforting or loving. First, I want to quickly run down the technical details I noticed before we jump into the character stuff:

Unless I missed something. This is the only time we ever see this room in the dark.

All throughout the scene, Maddie is clinging to Caitlyn, nuzzling her, laying little kisses on her and so on. And when Caitlyn is looking directly toward her, she plays along. But anytime Caitlyn is allowed to turn away she does so, even pulling away gently more than once and almost never looking at Maddie directly.

The shots are all very harsh. Half Caitlyn's face while the other is obscured. A direct shot in a dark mirror. There is no warmth in the way they are shown despite being on soft sheets surrounded by pillows.

In another recent document, I shared my recent educational experience regarding the topic of push-pull dynamics in relationships. There were many reasons this dynamic could arise, but per the source I used there, one was a desire to control. Per a quick google search and the main search result.

"A push pull relationship dynamic describes a pattern where one partner repeatedly pulls the other close, creating intimacy, only to then push them away creating distance. Resulting in a cycle of alternating closeness and withdrawal"

Ambessa utilizes this expertly in keeping Caitlyn off-balance. I can't say for certain that this is some sort of technique of course, but let's take a look at a snippet of Maddie and Cait's conversation through this lens:

C- "They doubled their fortification requests.. again.."

M- "To keep us safe.."//Push- gently chiding

C- "I never expected this to go on so long.. I thought.. I don't know what I thought.. just.. wasn't this"

M- "You could call it off. Withdraw from the underground, reestablish the council, all you have to do is give the order"//Pull- encouragement. Reminder she has a choice and has power.

C- "Not without Jinx. besides a withdrawal could lead to a worse situation than the one"

M- "Ahh.. Okay Ambessa"//Push- Gently chiding

And all of this while continuously trying to heap physical affection onto Caitlyn as well throwing her off even more. Every-time Caitlyn starts to question or wonder Maddie tries to pull her back in. Back out of the small sliver of light we see Caitlyn in and into the total darkness Maddie emerged from.

Return Of "Jinx"-

This is a relatively short interaction between them. But we see Maddie continuing to test Caitlyn. Telling her she still has a choice if she wants to call it all off. But Ambessa interrupts and Maddie is dismissed.

*Ambessa warns Caitlyn of "the hazards of professional entanglements"*

Dismissed-

The next time we see Maddie she is speaking with Caitlyn after the battle of the commune and once again things are changing quickly. Maddie is trying to convince Caitlyn to negotiate but Caitlyn knows Ambessa means death to them all after what happened. Vi arrives, and Maddie is dismissed amid some glares and shoulder bumping while the two talk things out. We see quite quickly that Maddie's techniques have lost their charm:

"you can't blame yourself" (reaches for Caitlyn's hand)

"I don't need consolation, I need a plan" (jerks hand away immediately)

We saw in the bed how Maddie clambered to pull Caitlyn back into the darkness. But Caitlyn's will is reemerging. She is shaking off Maddie's attempts to manipulate, so when she dismisses her. For maybe the first time we see Maddie look genuinely upset:

I can admit. When I first re-watched after learning about Maddie, I wondered if perhaps I had it wrong. She seems genuinely sad here and I wondered if she had really grown to care for Caitlyn and I misjudged her. And while I cannot say for certain that one way or another. Her actions in the end of her story, are quite definitive to me.

The End-

The final battle is raging. Caitlyn Kiramman and her squad charge the Noxians in a cloud of grey released to choke the enemy. Until the IED they created does not go off, and she is cracked over the head twice, and wakes on her knees, Maddie Nolan's rifle pressed up against her. Now as I said I don't think this comes down to that Maddie had truly come to care for Caitlyn. I think she was upset because she felt she had disappointed Ambessa.

When we began this I said I can only feel that Ambessa must really trust Maddie to have given her the role in all of this that she has. And as brutal, and scary, and cruel as Ambessa can be. To care for those loyal to her is not out of character. She seems genuinely hurt by Rictus's death. And even though he was trying to kill Cait when he said it, remember this?:

"Ambessa believed in you. Your death, will be a deep cut"

Scapegoat or not Ambessa can come to care for those who serve her. So I think it entirely plausible that Maddie is one such person. Ultimately, Maddie's story ends as she tries to carry out her real leader's last order to her-

I think Maddie was an excellent character. Like many of you I suspected she was more than she appeared, but a straight up Noxian plant was certainly not on my list. She was clever, she was tough, and she was ruthless. And although it is hard to see it this way because we are rooting for our people, she was not a traitor. She was simply loyal to the other side to the utmost degree. And although it brings me no joy to say this, I think Maddie's final moment will be one that Caitlyn has to work to heal from mentally long after her physical wounds have become battle scars. The woman she used to distract herself from how things ended with Vi almost cost her her life, and cost all of them the battle. But NOOOOOOO Caitlyn doesn't face any consequences at all.

I did this one at the request of the brilliant @sapphoscreature and I am so grateful anyone cares enough to read these at all let alone ask for more haha. Doing these I get to keep learning more and more and seeing new ways to look at this incredible story. I fully and completely admit there is so much of Maddie's story we don't see (not complaining about pacing, seeing all of her story would literally defeat the purpose of the reveal) so if you feel I am off base please say so! I would love to discuss and hear other thoughts and ideas.

Thank you for reading, have a great day!

[arcane-confessions]

I think the Special Forces/The Squad (Loris, Maddie and Steb) should've never existed or at least should've never been heavily advertised as main characters. I don't like how before Arcane Season Two came out, the squad was heavily advertised and had a lot of emphasis on them. Think about it this way. Loris was barely in four episodes, each not even a minute of runtime. He didn't have any relevance to the plot but to help Vi go down her drunk era by providing her alcohol and helping her out during the pitfighter!Vi arc. The season tried to emphasize him being like a sort of Vander figure let alone a friend to Vi, but it felt so misplaced and even rushed. I don't even know why they would connect him to Vander when Vander is LITERALLY IN THE SEASON WITH VI AND JINX.

Maddie was just there to cause unnecessary drama between Vi and Caitlyn, which actually doesn't become drama at all. Vi didn't care that Caitlyn had/has a girlfriend, so I don't know why they made her character get with Caitlyn. They could've easily made her Caitlyn's best friend or assistant like Elora to Mel and her story would still have significance as a traitor in the ranks. But please don't get me started on her being a traitor, we'd be here all week over how much I hate that plot reveal. And Steb? I like Steb. I'm a fan of his character, but he was only in a few episodes and didn't really do anything but show off medical expertise in some moments (i.e. checking up on Caitlyn in episode 1 and helping Heenot in episode 3). Outside of that, he didn't have character at all. We never know anyone in the Special Forces/Squad's past, their wanted future, their likes or dislikes, their family and loved ones, nothing! It sucks because I'd expect the series that prides itself on character study and character arcs to at least have an arc for these characters they hyped up to be Caitlyn and Vi's crew, allies or even friends. But they don't even do that. They shouldn't have existed. Thank you for coming to my TedTalk.

NO FR I DESPERATELY WISH THERE WAS MORE CONTENT OF THEM 😭💔

Maddie and Loris I was SO interested in I would’ve killed for some backstory with them

[ursa9909]

I have to say one of the few, if not only complaints about Arcane Season 2 is that it wasn't longer, like even if they wanted to do three acts I'd love for each episode in an act to be like three hours long.

I want to know how Vi and Cait reacted seeing each other, how Cait would care for Vi who has now lost her sister (I saw that pink streak, Jinx probably has a good chance surviving), how Vi sees Cait bleeding and one eye missing.

I want to know how Mel reacted to not finding Jayce, how she would order her mother's soldier, now hers, about.

I want to know how Sevika reacted to Isha's death, how she finally grew into the leader position that she had the potential for.

I want to know more of that enforcer who mocked Jinx and her pants, did she live, was she at the final battle?

I want to see the strike squad build deeper connections with the main cast, with us as the audience (so glad my boi Steb survived) before two got offed.

I want to know all the little animations and doodles and all the cuts and edits that had to be taken out, I want to know what if anything was halted from being shown be it time constraints, money, execs saying no...

I want to see what could have been.

Like Jayce said there is beauty in imperfections, but I want to see them all. Every last imperfection do I want to see.

I want to see every drop of blood spilled, I want to see the light fade from the eyes of those who were willing to die for the sister cities and their friends or just because it's what they think is right.

I want to see the smiles start to show again, and the tears of happiness. I want to see the bittersweet feelings of survival and life.

Maybe I'm just rambling at this point but the second season opened up so much more and I can't wait to hear of what's next, but man I would also be happy of just staying in Piltover and Zaun for a lot longer.

Once the feelings of the final wear off it'll be interesting to see how I still feel.

[limestoner]

Are transformers robots at the cellular level? Are the tiniest particles robots? I don’t know that that’s possible because robots have conponents. But everything has to be made of something.

It’s all robots in robots in robots

Thank fucking Bud this auto saved. After I got to point d I wanted to conjure up a robot fractal and got this

And then an Etsy shop I wish I could start:

Robo Thro Rugz

Those are more like area rugs but come on

At the time of cloning, clones are identical to the donor being. Are they still clones after different things happen to them? Do they cease to exist when they cease to be identical, which is immediately because the imperceptible tiny interactions between their bodies and the outside world would make them diverge. So if they cease to be identical and are no longer a clone, one of them will o two or things happens:

1. They disappear

a. Because the host cells that the clone is holographijf from have changed and the clone cells are only able to accept that specific one, ?

b. If there is an “a.”, there must be a “b.”. So said a teacher once upon a time.

c. How do the cells disappear. Are they sublimated. Explore? Implode?

2. The person is a new person.

a. Then who cares how they got here. Treat them as a human.with kindness.

b. We know their past but now is when their futures diverge. Would the clone use the date it materialized as their birthday or would it share the original Kitty day or would they have something to distinguish them.

c. By the time they HAVE diverged, unless you tagged the host human source code how can we really say this one is a clone, it that one. BecUse

i. And how can you instantaneliysly brand them and have the clone cells not disintegrate. Forget eggs and hams. Does this happen at the same time or just overlapping slightly: an instantaneous event or the instantaneous consequence of the instantaneous event.

ii. If there is a “i” or there must be a “ii”.

% How does one determine whether to use a/an there. It could be “an I,” “a letter I,” “lowercase i.” It could be any of these

‰ If there is a % there must be a ‰

d. I wonder if they would want to be friends or not or feel like half-sinlings or steb siblings.

e. If one dies, does the other die. How would that even make sense if they are separate individuals. By then. Return to point 1a. Not connected by anything.

F. So looking back at the past it’s like a twin who was also you but stopped being you

g. Would I be worried about a clone of me. The reason why someone was cloning me, yes. The clone themselves, no. I wouldn’t be worried about identities theft because I wouldn’t identity thieve.

i. I better stop before I get to big i.

ii. But what if something happens to other me that makes them a criminal mastermind and then they want to be a thief. What if they’re wondering if that happens to me. If hat what if we promise not to lie? Well, I do lie sometimes so I wouldn’t believe me. But I would still believe I don’t identity thieve.

H. I think that’s all on this topic. Or tangled web.

[dirtyoldman-stories]

I open the door and invite you in, "dinner is all most done" I comment as I lead to you the kitchen

I take you jacket and set it aside and we sit for dinner against the backdrop of mountains visible outside the window as the sun sets.

Everything is set on a small sturdy table, close enough to be intimate, but with enough space to serve everything.

We dine and have a good time, and at one point the talk turns to bondage.

"It takes to long" you argue, "the ropes or the cuffs, it's not spontaneous enough"

"With minimal preparation I could have you over the table ready to fuck, and unable to move in about 60 seconds" I laugh

"ha I would like to see that!" you respond, "What kind of minimal preparation would you need?"

I get up and walk to the other room and return with a length or rope, tie the center in a large loop and about a foot away, create a second loop. and hand you the rope.

"60 seconds" I say. and you just laugh as you put the rope on the chair next to you.

"I dare you" you respond and we sit and wait.

After several moments, I take a deep breath and laugh.. Ok, maybe longer

We both laugh and dinner continues.

We finish dinner and desert, and look out side

"Want to stretch your legs" I ask as I look out side.

"A walk would be wonderful you reply"

I stand and grab you jacket, a denim jacket with buttons that fits you pretty tight.

"I love this jacket you have" as I help you put it on.

you have to wrestle with the arms as the buttons make the wrist loops tight.

"I dint think they were buttoned as you get the jacket on"

I spin you around and kiss you forehead

"It's tight and shows off your assets well" I say as I button the bottom couple of buttons for you.

as I admiring your front.

I start looking outside intently.. "Oh my god I say" as I peer into the darkness

"What" you spin around to look..

I point to a spot in the darkness, my arm over your shoulder. "right there" I bring my hand back to your shoulder so you can see

"What I don't see anything"

"it's an Ohshitheisgonnafuckme" I state.

A what you peer out the window.

I pull your jacket off your shoulders and down your arm, pinning your arms behind you, the jacket tight because of the buttons in front.

"What the hell..." you respond as my hands move down your side to you front and, flip the top button loose, then continue to push down hard and my thumbs catch under the pants and underwear, pulling them down to you ankles.

I step on the pants and underwear, grab the rope you tossed to the side and flip the loop around you head as I push you over the table, kneel under keeping the rope tight and quickly pull the rope around your knees and tie it off.

I stand next to your head, thats pinned to the table, look at my watch.

"Hmm 35 seconds.." and I pull off my belt. slide it between your arms where the coat isn't covering it and pull it taught, buckling it and securing your arms as you nearly mange to get the jacket off.

I kneel next to you

"I though you wanted to go for a walk" you ask, frustrated at the limited mobility.

" i believe I asked if you wanted to stretch your legs" I look back at you knees, "they seem pretty stretched out right now."

"What are you going to do with me now?" you ask me in a sultry voice

"Anything I want" I respond.. "actually,I'll do everything I want.."

I stand and unzip my pants in front of you face, and then drop them. My cock starting to get hard as I anticipate the fun I'll be having.

I step closer to you and you tease by turning your head away from me.

I weave my fingers through your hair, force you to look back at my and rub the tip of my cock along your lips. A moment later you respond by parting your lips and I slide myself between, along your tongue and to the back of your throat.

With a firm hand in your hair I let you tongue and lips stretch my cock to its full size. then start fucking you face.

My strokes are fast, but not hurried, deep, but not hard. Allowing you lips to caress the fill length of my shaft before I pull out letting you lick and suck on the tip, before I thrust several more times again.

I begin to thrust harder and you hear my breath quicken, a couple of quiet grunts and and several more strokes and you feel my body tense.

I thrust in and hold myself deep while I fill you with cum, then thrust again and again as I release between your lips.

Pulling out enough for you to lick and clean my cock, I catch my breath and my hand wanders down your back and between your ass and legs

I easily slide two fingers inside you.

"Look at you, you are a sloppy wet mess" and as my fingers dip further into youI steb away from your face and to your exposed ass and pussy.

My finders begin to slide in and out as I kiss and lick you thighs

Slide in and I lick your ass

slid out and my tongue caresses the outside of your pussySlide in and my thumb caresses you clit

slide out and my tongue takes over licking

kissing

suckle

tongue probing

I feel you body want to squirm and move, but the rope around the back of your neck and connected under the table to your knees is taught, your arms locked behind your back.

I get into a rhythm of licking and sucking your pussy as my thumb probes your ass. Gently rimming it, then I slide it into your pussy to wrap it in juice and slide it inside your ass.

I feel you try to push you ass into my thumb and respond by driving it deep inside you as my tongue dances along your clit.

After several more minutes I stand, keeping my thumb working in your ass, I stand and you feel my cock drive deep inside you wet pussy.

My offhand grabs you jacket, and pulls on you as I thrust in, trying to get myself deeper I start thrusting hard and fast while my thumb slowly slides in and out of your asshole.

It doesn't take you but a moment before I feel your body tense and tighten, you pussy clenches and I feel you try to thrust into me until your body shakes, and shivers, while you moan between ragged breaths. I feel a flood of juices as you cum all over my thrusting cock.

I pull out and stroke it a few times to ensure its wet and juicy and press the head into your asshole.

I feel the skin expand and wrap around the tip, hear you inhale as the cock starts to slide inside your ass.

You hear me moan as my balls touch your pussy. I hold for a second or two feeling the tight ass clench around my cock and then I start thrusting.

After several strokes I slide all the way out and rejoice my cock inside your pussy, before stretching your ass again.

you hear me breathing hard again and my hands clench you jacket and your hair.

My thrusts become a pounding drive into your ass as you feel my body edging, thought replaced by a instinctual need to get deeper.

thrust and thrust

My grunts become moans along you back

thrust and thrust

my hands now just clawing for anything to grasp and hold

I drive deep and moan loudly, as a warmth fluid fills you ass I continue to try and get deeper inside you.

until I collapse onto your back.

after a moment or two you start laughing

"Whats so funny?" I ask as I get off and start freeing you

"Ohshitheisgonnafuckme, I just got it." you responding still laughing.

[endenogatai]

From Twenty Minute VC to 20VC, Harry Stebbings launches a micro VC off the back of his popular podcast

Podcasts are becoming big business — in part because of how well they can attract and keep audience at a time when so many other media formats are finding it hard to pin down that elusive metric of engagement. Now a podcast host who has built out a popular series around the world of startup investing is leveraging that growth to build out an investment vehicle of his own. Harry Stebbings, the 24-year-old London-based creator and host of Twenty Minute VC, is launching a micro VC fund of $8.3 million. Called 20VC, the plan is to invest in US startups across various stages alongside “tier 1” co-investors.

Stebbings spends a lot of his time talking to investors and about investments, and this is his second foray into actually putting money where his mouth is. He’s also a partner at Stride.vc, a firm he co-founded with Fred Destin in 2018 (joined later by a third partner, Pia d’Iribarne). He says that 20VC is scratching a different itch. The older fund focuses on investing in the UK and France, has an inclination (but not exclusivity) towards e-commerce disruptors and earlier stages of investment.

Stebbings’ newer effort, on the other hand, focuses on the US, and is positioned within what seems to be shaping up to a typical micro fund profile. Micro funds, as the name implies, are usually not huge, but they aim to pack a punch by offering other skills in the mix with their smaller investments. The concept has been growing in popularity over the last several years. (“I don’t know anyone who isn’t involved in at least one $5 million micro fund,” one former VC said to me.)

In the case of 20VC, it hopes to get its foot into the door on deals other VCs by offering Stebbings’ own set of skills in building and scaling companies as the selling point in exchange.

Typical deal sizes will range from $100,000 to $300,000 ($250,000 is the typical check size), and although Stebbings is announcing the fund today, some 12 investments have already been made out of it (Nex Health and Spiketrap are the only two that are public so far), investing alongside Sequoia, Index, Founders Fund, a16z.

20VC’s tie to the name of the podcast is intentional. The podcast has developed a brand of its own in the world of tech, with some 200,000 subscribers and 80 million downloads to date of the twice-weekly program. And 20VC isn’t just trading on Stebbings’ own experience as an entrepreneur: it has tapped the network of people that have been on the show, or know him because of the show, to assemble LPs.

There are some 64 of them in all, including founders and current and former execs from Atlassian, Yammer (David Sacks), Plaid (William Hockney), Superhuman, Airtable, Calm, Cazoo, Zenly, Alan, Spotify (Shakil Khan) and Tray.io; GPs from Kleiner (Mamoon Hamid), Social Capital (Chamath) Thrive (Josh Kushner & Miles Grimshaw), Atomic, Founders Fund (Brian Singerman), Coatue, Index (Danny Rimer), True Ventures (Phil Black), and Beezer Clarkson, among many others. Having a popular podcast that highlights interesting investors and startups turns out to be a good way of networking to build a fund. Stebbings said that the call out was oversubscribed three times over within four weeks.

Boy VC

Stebbings’ entry into the world of investing in startups is something of a typical startup story of its own.

He came up with the idea for his podcast at a time when he was already intrigued by the world of venture capital, but was actually on the road to something else, with a place as a law scholar at Kings College in London (in the US you start law school as an undergraduate).

He says started the podcast with the idea of working on something that interested him, but more specifically to make some money. His mother has multiple sclerosis and she was having issues paying for her healthcare. Stebbings decided to start the podcast use the money it made off advertising around it to help cover his mother’s medical bills.

He was a nobody in tech, but he had a very specific plan, and a lot of smiley and positive enthusiasm, for how to get from zero to hero.

It started with finding just the right first guest, someone who had a high profile and respect but also appeared to be nice enough that if you got the approach right, you might get an agreement to be interviewed, or as Stebbings described it, “low hanging fruit.”

For Stebbings, that person, it turned out, was Guy Kawasaki. In addition to getting the interview, Stebbings also asked Kawasaki for three recommendations of people he should have on the show next, and what he should ask them. Stebbings followed that up with asking those three for their recommendations, and so on. Pyramid scheme with purpose, I guess you could say.

“I view distribution quite scientifically,” said Stebbings — who I interviewed sitting in a bedroom, although I think he normally podcasts these days sitting in a studio as pictured, above. “I’m bringing as many people as possible to help in the content creation process.”

The whole format of “20 minutes” also stemmed from a calculation Stebbings made. He told me he used to struggle with his weight and finally managed to lose some pounds using Tim Ferriss’ 4-hour Body. It got him thinking about how timing is important, and on top of that he knew that the typical commute in London was around 30 minutes, and decided that 20 minutes was a reasonable amount of time to expect someone to listen regularly. (Spoiler: most of the podcasts these days are not 20 minutes, but longer.)

Things started to shift from interesting side hustle to main hustle after he featured Arielle Zuckerberg, Mark’s sister and a tech persona in her own right (she’s currently a partner at investment firm Coatue). That podcast saw 100,000 downloads, and all signs pointed to 20 Minute VC taking off. So he quit university to focus on the podcast full time. It was four weeks into his first term.

“I decided I love VC and all of this,” he said about his choice to drop out of school. “I decided that I’d rather have my shot at this than trying to live the life I didn’t want to live. It was a big decision. I was 18 and very unemployable at the time.”

As for his mother’s medical bills, they are still being paid for by the show, he said.

“There’s advertising at the beginning and end of the show. It’s fine, not lights out, but it pays for my mother’s healthcare and that’s all I need it to do.”

The show, and Stebbings himself, have benefitted from a perfect storm of circumstances to grow.

Podcasts have been around for years, but it’s only been in recent times that they have properly taken off in popularity. Leveraging mobile phones and apps for listening, they fit naturally into our multitasking, information-hungry routines; there is a huge variety out there, a podcast for every taste; and they’ve bettered the talk radio format by being there right when you need them. Having a very predictable program in that format — Stebbings’ show has been running twice a week, every week, for five years now — is not to be underestimated.

There is also the subject matter to consider. There has been a huge explosion in the role that technology is playing in our modern society and economy, and that has meant an audience that consists not just of those already working in the world of tech, but those with ambitions to be a part of it (like Stebbings himself), and simply a lot of enthusiasts.

Within that, venture capital has seen a veritable explosion of money, and while some believe that it’s the technical talent that fuels the startup engine, others would make a strong case for the funding that enables them to work holding that role. In any case, money has always held a lot of allure.

“VC is becoming more popular, and cool, and I think that had a lot to do with us getting to this size,” he said.

Stebbings himself is also a part of the formula. He’s not a journalist, and at a time when we seem to be seeing a lot of wariness and tension in the relationship between media and the tech industry, his position as an informal reporter and conduit of information and messaging, who remains friendly and non-combative with his guests, may see him getting a lot warmer of a reception from his target audience of guests and listeners.

Harry doesn’t seem to remember this, but I first met him several years ago, at a tech event in London, where he was working the room very smoothly, smiling and chatting and knowing enough people already that he was able to continue the momentum introducing himself and presuming familiarity with those he was just meeting for the first time. I remember being struck at the time by how young he was mingling amongst quite a lot of middle aged types.

When I recalled this and asked Stebbings if he ever felt like he’s found a place in this scene precisely for this reason — being around younger and flattering people sometimes makes older people feel less old, and possibly more important — he said he thought it was more that it’s about himself feeling natural in that environment.

“For me, it’s always about building relationships,” he said. “I was always like the 50 year old in the room when I was younger and I didn’t have many friends. I’ve made by best friends through the shows.”

Ironically, he says that these days he does get pinged by his older — that is, young and past — acquaintances who are hoping for connections to his powerful network to push whatever tech enterprise they are pursuing these days.

That’s not the only bit of irony in 20VC and Stebbings’ latest venture: the whole of his podcast was built from the ground up, funded by ads and not a penny of outside investment. It means that the lesson from Stebbings is not just how to grow and scale, but how to do so with no VC involvement at all.

That’s not the norm, however, and so this will be about bringing more along that proverbial check.

“Everyone in the valley has money, but very few have been part of an enterprise that has scaled to include contact machines and brands. I’ll have thousands of tips and lessons on scaling and customer acquisition costs. It’s about the cadence and distribution, and how ton build a brand.”

from RSSMix.com Mix ID 8204425 https://ift.tt/2WvdqYR via IFTTT

[goldeagleprice]

Soho Mint ownership explained

Bust of Matthew Boulton as it appears on an 1819 medal by G.F. Pidgeon and struck by Matthew Robinson Boulton to commemorate the 10th anniversary of his father’s death. (Image courtesy and © Chris Leather www.sohomint.info)

Numismatic myths are hard to kill. Some become so deeply entrenched in our literature and numismatic thinking they achieve a mantra-like status of “everybody knows.” This is no reason for not highlighting them in the hope of their eventual demise.

In researching a story on the Myddelton halfpenny token, I was reminded of one. It has been on public display in the shop-fronts of numismatics for decades. It is not so much a myth as a misunderstanding. It concerns the ownership of the world’s first steam-powered mint – The Soho Mint.

The mint gets brief mention in “A Guide Book to United States Coins.” In a short paragraph on the Myddelton tokens, these are described as being “struck at the Soho Mint of Boulton and Watt near Birmingham, England.” Implicit in this statement is that these two industrialists were joint owners in the Soho Mint.

This statement on the mint’s ownership is one that has been repeated countless times. It has considerable currency in webland. It is commonplace in auction catalog after auction catalog in reference to the provenance of certain coins and tokens. Yet it is wrong.

Richard Margolis highlights the error in endnote #8 of his 1999 paper on the Soho Mint’s striking of the Myddelton token: “It should be noted that Matthew Boulton was the sole owner of the Soho Mint, and on a number of occasions specified that he had no partner in the coinage business. Because of the justly famous Boulton and Watt partnership in the steam engine business, innumerable writers have referred incorrectly to the early Soho Mint as ‘Boulton and Watt’s Soho Mint.’”

Back of current Bank of England £50 showing Boulton & Watt along with the oldest surviving of their rotative steam engines, the Whitbread Engine, built in 1785. In the background is The Soho Manufactory. (Image courtesy & © Bank of England)

In this statement, Margolis neatly encapsulates how the error likely came about. Writers have conflated Boulton and Watt’s business partnership in the manufacture of steam engines with ownership of the mint in which Boulton happened to use these engines.

That conflation is perhaps understandable. Boulton’s business empire was complicated at best. Partnerships came and partnerships went. It is necessary to digest H.W. Dickinson’s book “Matthew Boulton” published in 1937 and reprinted in 1999 to get a firm handle on them all. A brief summary is given here. Both chronology and background are important.

  Engraving of The Soho Manufactory from Stebbing Shaw’s “History and Antiquities of Staffordshire” published in 1801. The caption details the “Annex’d Firms” stating their owners and products: “M Boulton & Buttn. Co. – Buttons in General. M. Boulton – Medals, Roll’d Metals &c. Boulton & Smith – Buckles, latchets &c. Do. Mercantile Trade in Birmingham. M. Boulton & Plate Co. Silver & Plated Goods. Boulton Watt & Sons – Iron Foundy. & Steam Engines. M. Boulton – Mint for Govermt. Coin. J Watt & Co. Letter Copying Machines.” Boulton is given as the sole owner of the Mint. (Image courtesy Chris Leather www.sohomint.info)

  Soho Manufactory

Boulton left school in 1745 and joined his father’s manufacturing business, aged 17. He became a partner and general manager in 1749. This same year, he had the good sense to marry a distant cousin who happened to be an extremely wealthy heiress.

Copper token by Peter Kempson, 1797, depicting Matthew Boulton’s Soho Manufactory. (Image courtesy and © Chris Leather www.sohomint.info)

In 1766, he founded what would be his core business, The Soho Manufactory, in conjunction with business partner John Fothergill. It occupied a site in Soho, West Midlands, then outside Birmingham.

These were the early days of the Industrial Revolution. The new factory was one of the pioneers of mass production and assembly lines. It produced buttons, buckles, sword hilts, boxes, japanned-ware and, later, silverware, ormolu and clocks.

The products were recognized as of high quality and artistic workmanship. They were patronized by King George III. However, come 1774, Fothergill believed the business was living on the edge of bankruptcy. It had sustained losses for many years.

This was not an unusual circumstance for a Boulton business. Many teetered on the edge of a financial catastrophe curve at some time their history before Boulton turned them around to reap a handsome return.

Certainly the Manufactory was still going strong in 1781 when Boulton dissolved the partnership effective Dec. 31 and split it into two new firms in the New Year.

  James Watt

In 1767, Boulton had recognized the Manufactory needed a better power supply than the water-driven metal-rolling mill he employed. About this time, he built and installed a primitive steam engine based on the designs of Thomas Savery.

He also approached James Watt with a view to employing one of his new improved engines. Watt saw the advantages of being associated with a well-known firm such as Boulton’s, but it would be some years before the two entrepreneurs would join forces.

Conjoined busts of Boulton & Watt figure on a 37mm bronze medal by Joseph Moore and struck for James Watt & Co. (Image courtesy and © Chris Leather www.sohomint.info)

Watt was already in partnership with Dr. John Roebuck. While Watt was an undoubted genius when it came to steam, he was financially inept, as was Roebuck. In 1772, Roebuck was in serious financial difficulties. Among others, he owed Boulton £1,200. Boulton took over Roebuck’s two-thirds share in Watt’s steam engine patent in satisfaction of that debt.

Three years later, in 1775, Boulton and Watt formally entered into partnership as Boulton & Watt. The business of the new firm was to assemble steam engines at the Soho Manufactory. Boulton owned two-thirds of the business and agreed to pay any and all costs of development. Watt had a one-third stake and provided designs for steam engines while taking a £300 salary.

The eventual success of the steam engine business is commonly credited to Boulton’s business acumen, application and generosity. He certainly devoted all the capital he had to this particular project – plus all he could borrow. But Boulton also possessed extensive technical knowledge and skills. He used these both to support Watt as well as grow the business.

The first Boulton &Watt engines were simple reciprocating beam engines. They found widespread use in the mining industry, as in pumping water out of copper mines in Cornwall.

Boulton realized a far more extensive market lay in driving machinery. To this end, he urged Watt to develop an engine that produced rotary motion. Watt delivered in 1781. He had successfully converted reciprocal motion into rotary via an ingenious sun and planet gear.

The new engine was put to work in Josiah Wedgwood’s Etruria factory. Within 15 years, over 500 Boulton &Watt rotative steam engines were powering British factories.

  Private token issues were all grist to Boulton’s mill as in this gorgeous example of a 1794 Talbot, Allum & Lee cent (Fuld-4, W-8590) . Like all Boulton coin and token products, high-quality proofs were struck to provide portfolio specimens to tout for further business, as well as for sale to collectors such as Lady Dorothea Banks, wife of Sir Joseph Banks, an influential friend of Boulton. (Images courtesy www.ha.com)

  Soho Foundry

Catherine II death medal of 1796 engraved by Conrad Küchler and struck at the Soho Mint. (Image courtesy www.ha.com)

Up to this point, many of the main components for Boulton and Watt engines were produced by external suppliers. These included cylinders, piston rods, flywheels and boilers.

In 1795, Boulton commenced work on a purpose-built steam engine factory, the Soho Foundry. It was sited about a mile from the Soho Manufactory at Smethwick. Here the two partners and their three sons would make and sell complete engines. It opened in 1796 as Boulton, Watt & Sons.

  Steam-powered coining

Back in 1788, Boulton had conceived the notion of using one of the new-fangled rotative steam engines to drive a coining press.

He had many reasons to do so. By no means the least was that as a considerate employer he valued his workers. He had a large workforce, and such was the state of the nation’s coinage that over the years he had often struggled to find sufficient genuine coins to meet his wage bill.

Counterfeit coins were commonplace. There was no way Boulton would allow any of his workers be paid in bad coin; these would either be refused at local shops or accepted only at discount.

For a number of years, Boulton had studied all aspects of coining. He presented evidence on the state of the national coinage to a Privy Council Committee.

Spectacular example of one of Boulton’s best-known coins: George III twopence of 1797 (S3776, KM-619) struck in two ounces of copper. Note the 2 mm-long depression to the right of the king’s nose. It indicates an early striking prior to all the kinks being ironed out of the new methodology. (Images courtesy www.ha.com)

Using the power of steam, he saw the opportunity to mass produce a high-quality, uniform coinage that would be difficult to counterfeit. Steam would be used not just to drive the coin press but in all aspects of coin production, including metal rolling and blank-cutting.

In typical Boulton fashion, once he had thought through the project and decided it was feasible, he promptly set about bringing it to fruition. He started building his new mint in 1788. It was a single-story building some 120 yards from the Soho Manufactory, more or less in Boulton’s garden, tucked in behind a menagerie, tea house, fossil room and laboratory. Its location was chosen for security, not only of the raw materials and coins but also to frustrate industrial espionage that was rife in the late 18th century. The engine house contained a single 8 h.p. Boulton & Watt double acting sun & planet engine.

All coining operations were concentrated on one site. This enabled Boulton to control all aspects of the coining operation. The mint was his baby from go to woe.

Marketing masterpiece: George III proof pattern halfpenny of 1799, ex. Boulton Family Collection. (Images courtesy www.ha.com)

The history of the Soho Mint and its coins has been detailed in a number of publications. Sufficient to comment here that, like many of Boulton’s businesses, the mint was not an initial financial success. It lost money for some years, but subsequently it became one of his more profitable enterprises.

By 1809, it had struck over 600 million coins, demonstrating the effectiveness of Boulton’s technology, much of which was his own design. Understandably, it was one of Boulton’s proudest achievements. It was responsible for changing the technology of coin manufacture throughout the world. From a being a simple coin and token factory, the mint eventually became a supplier of steam-driven presses and other coining equipment across the world.

  Proof of two early successful coins of the Soho Mint. Top: Sierra Leone Company dollar struck in silver KM-6; bottom: Madras Presidency 10 cash of 1808 in bronze KM-319, ex Boulton Family Collection. (Images courtesy www.ha.com)

The Next Generation

In 1800, both Boulton and Watt retired from their steam engine business. It was handed over to their sons: Matthew Robinson Boulton and James Watt Junior. The new company was known as Boulton, Watt & Co.

Boulton lived only nine more years. He died on Aug. 18, 1809. His mint was taken over by his son, Matthew Robinson Boulton. His home, Soho House, has become a museum.

The successful development of the Soho Mint was the subject of a 2010 Ph.D. thesis by Sue Tungate. Like Margolis, Tungate had full access to the Soho Archives. She is very clear about the mint’s ownership.

In an assessment of Richard Doty’s British Numismatic Society Special Publication No 2, 1998, “The Soho Mint and the Industrialisation of Money,” she observes, “He credits the Soho Mint to Boulton and James Watt, but in fact, it was solely Boulton’s enterprise” (p.5).

And on p.38: “The Soho Mint, which contained the first steam-powered press was run successively by Matthew Boulton from 1788-1809, Matthew Robinson Boulton between 1809-1841, and Matthew Piers Watt Boulton from 1841-1850.”

Acknowledgements: Thanks are due to Chris Leather for information and images. His website: www.sohomint.info, is a mine of information on the life and times of Matthew Boulton – and his Soho Mint.

  References:

Dickinson, H.W. 1937 (reprinted 1999). “Matthew Boulton.” Cambridge University Press, 353 pp.

Doty, R. 1998. “The Soho Mint and the Industrialisation of Money.”

British Numismatic Society Special Publication 2.

Margolis, R. 1999. “Matthew Boulton, Philip Parry Price Myddelton, and the proposed token coinage for Kentucky.” The Colonial Newsletter 39(3), pp. 1991-2024.

Tungate, S. “Matthew Boulton and The Soho Mint: copper to customer.” Ph.D. Thesis, University of Birmingham, 353 pp.

  This article was originally printed in World Coin News. >> Subscribe today.

  More Collecting Resources

• More than 600 issuing locations are represented in the Standard Catalog of World Coins, 1701-1800 .

• The 1800s were a time of change for many, including in coin production. See how coin designs grew during the time period in the Standard Catalog of World Coins, 1801-1900 .

The post Soho Mint ownership explained appeared first on Numismatic News.

[topicprinter]

TL;DR -- In prep for my first visit to SaaStr Annual, I binge-listened to all 95 podcasts and wrote down the highlights. In the original blog post we built a simple search app of the data set I created along with images of all the SaaS resources mentioned on the show. The rest of the text is below. Hope some might find it useful....Who needs a #drinkwithharry?Over the past few weeks, I tasked myself with listening to all ~32 hours of the SaaStr podcast, in preparation for the SaaStr Annual conference. Each show is an incredibly dense, 20-minute nugget on the business of SaaS. IMHO, it is totally and completely worthwhile to meander through twice-weekly.However. Powering through them all in one go was the equivalent of a Brain Blaster—more like binge-watching Planet Earth than Portlandia. Do as I say, kids, not as I do.So, what did I learn? Well, a ton. Let’s try to unpack the highlights with the Data, the Recommended Resources, the Words of Wisdom and, finally, the Personal Lessons.To the Data!As part of this journey, I put together a file that combines data from the RSS feed along with my own note-taking on each episode (typos and dirty data notwithstanding).[Note: Due to reddit formatting, here are the details of the data set]:The CSV file is available on GitHub.The Search App is inside the original post.The how-to on getting dynamic data into a static set using our cloud data pipes is in a secondary post.Fun facts:54% of episodes featured a CEO and/or Founder21% of episodes featured a VC or other InvestorThe remaining episodes (with a few exceptions) were with VP of sales, marketing or customer successOf the non-VC interviewees, there was a diversity of SaaS products on display. HR and Marketing companies were most prominent (~30%), but others ranged from security-guards-on-demand to shipping APIs to a Slack bot. It’s a big world out there.There were only two repeat guests (Jason Lemkin and John Barrows)The “60-second SaaStr” was nicknamed “the Churn” for a few early episodes. The “Good, that’s perfect, I think we’re warmed up” audio snippet appeared 43 episodes in. Were these the experiments and casualties of lean podcast methodology? We’ll never know.Recommended SaaS ResourcesThis is probably a good time to note that Harry Stebbings, the wunderkind interviewer, is a natural. In addition to tight, relevant questions, the brilliance of the show really comes down to the editing. 20 minutes is a perfect length and a huge differentiator compared to other tech and startup podcasts.One question Harry often asks (~55% of all interviews) is simply: “What are your favorite SaaS resources?” Interviewees answer with various blogs, books, podcasts, among others. I compiled each resource and grouped them by number of mentions. To make things a little easier to read, I also highlighted the books in blue:[NOTE: All the SaaS resources mentioned I grouped and, due to lazyness, just took a screenshot. Top four were SaaStr, Tomasz Tunguz blog, David Skok blog, & Mark Suster blog, but a long-tail of other interesting reads; for the full list, see the original postThere is a clearly a preference for SaaStr on these Saastr podcasts (weird!), but you clearly don’t want to miss out on Tomasz Tunguz or David Skok either. When you go to google "How to Castrate a Bull" make sure you add "business book" to your search criteria.Words of WisdomAs for actual content, where to begin? It’s an embarrassment of riches. So as not to write a novel, let me give you a taste by simply quoting from a handful of interviews (with gentle editing for clarity):Nick Mehta, Gainsight, Episode #24 on What Companies are Getting Wrong with Customer Success“#1 they think it is just about churn reduction… just the beginning of the story… it’s about upsell, expansion and most importantly about advocacy and getting your customers to be your best sales people…#2 they hire the wrong leader… maybe passionate about the customer and product, but not operationally focused…#3 they put it under another exec… part time responsibility of marketing or sales… #4 they make it all about people and heroics v. process… #5 they think about it as just the CSM team’s responsibility, when in reality that customer success team is the quarterback… but you need the whole company to rally around it.”Aaron Ross, Author, Episode 46 on the Most Common Reason Companies Struggle to Grow“Because they haven’t nailed a niche… you can have a big vision, but it means being very focused—baby steps—around the type of customer segments… who today you can find, talk to and who need you enough to buy from you… so you can double-down and grow fast.An old story, company has a product, anyone in the world can use it and get value from it, but no one is buying it. Where are you a need to have vs. where you are a nice to have? It’s hard to have the internal discipline in the early days to say these customers can all use us, but they don’t need it so much that they’re going to buy… got to focus on these 1-2 very specific areas… maybe not sexy… but enough of a pain there that they’re going to need us and go through all the huge time and energy and effort—the more-than-you-expect-process—to evaluate us, buy us and deploy us.”Russell Glass, LinkedIn, Episode #14 on Marketing within the Customer Lifecycle“At each stage… [customers] have certain information needs… and if you can, as a marketer, help them with those information needs at the right part of the journey of that decision, that is when you are relevant… that is when you are able to transcend being marketing material and move into the information universe.”Seth Besmertnik, Conductor, Episode #79 on Weaponizing Marketing:“Your marketing can be a weapon and core competency and differentiator… [for a crowded market] what ends up discerning the difference is the marketing… are people finding you?… do they know you exist? There are a lot of great software companies that are dead on the side of the road because no one ever found their business, no one found their product and they weren’t good at sales and marketing. So having a great product is the start, but it’s not how you get across the finish line.”Mathilde Collin, Frontapp, Episode #10 on Content Marketing Strategy“We have a process, first try to release at least two posts per month… and then always try to write 1/3 on market we’re in… 1/3 on our journey… and 1/3 about specific use case for customers”Peter Reinhardt, Segment, Episode #80 on Turning Up Product Market Fit to Eleven“[Early on] we managed to convince ourselves that pretty meager levels of customer excitement meant product market fit, which I think is an easy thing to do… I think customers have more dynamic range in their response to a product than most people realize… “oh that seems helpful”… 7 or 8 out of 10… but when you really hit a pain point, the customer’s dynamic range goes up to 11… and their response is totally different… like holy shit, can I get access to it today? I need to call this other person on my team who has been talking about this forever, how ’bout I introduce you? and you’re like “woah, woah” it doesn’t even exist yet, slow down… I think the customer’s dynamic range is much broader than we realized and so we never actually hit that 11 and just convinced ourselves that 7 out of 10 was product-market fit.”Ryan Smith, Qualtrics, Episode #83 on Necessity of Managing Runway“Rome wasn’t built in a day… it’s going to take time, if you can keep your options from a funding or partner standpoint to actually give you a long enough runway, entrepreneurs will figure it out. The problem is when they put a stopwatch on their back… every bet that we’ve made has taken a little longer than we anticipated… you don’t want to limit yourself to one point in time… you gotta play the long game.”Leo Widrich, Buffer, Episode #89 on an Embarrassing MVP“The quote… that you should be embarrassed by your first version gets misinterpreted a lot… you shouldn’t be embarrassed because it completely breaks or is unusable… that’s the wrong type of embarrassment… the type that is good is the embarrassment of richness… like, kinda embarrassed because it’s only this one feature and you wish you had done three more… it is complete unto itself… not the base layer of the cake, but, instead, a cupcake.”Personal Lessons LearnedIf there is one thing I’ve personally learned throughout this process, it’s that the 2x speed on a podcast app is probably the greatest invention of all time.But, as far as SaaS goes, I think what you receive through drowning in all this content is a solid understanding of the conventional wisdom of running a SaaS business, from early days to scale. Things like:Hire athletes in the beginning, specialize later.Initial product market fit is when you have 10 unaffiliated paying customersSales and Customer Success need to be working in tandem, given the necessity of retention in SaaSDon’t spend money on sales until you have a repeatable processFocus early on a single personaGet people to pay you earlyMore mojitos, fasterAnother cool thing about this binge-mission, should one accept it, is that you’ll certainly find a few tidbits that speak directly to your situation. For instance, I almost fell out of my chair when Harry Glaser of Periscope Data (Episode #30) was asked about greenfield opportunities in SaaS and then went on to lay out the problem that our startup, Flex.io, is trying to tackle:“I think one thing we see that maybe other folks don’t see there’s a lot of back end data munging and processing and kinda unsexy data things going on that are really being done with a collection of hacky python scripts right now… copying data from place to place, transforming data, storing data, all that stuff is being done by people writing scripts on the side… so I think there is a big opportunity there…”Let’s hope so, Harry!…Well, I hope this proved to be a useful summary for you, dear reader. May your SaaS companies flourish and may your mojito glasses never be empty! Hope to see you at SaaStr Annual.edit: formatting