#and i know wisdom comes with time. but i implore you to do some research into the ''no true scottsman'' fallacy

[st0p-sign]

you're only 14, so i'll cut you some slack, but don't do this shit. this is not the time or place. if you want to call out bad faith practices, create your own post about it, instead of taking attention away from the issue at hand.

Absolutely evil beyond words. When asked about the murder of Nex Benedict here is how the state's senator responds, calling them filth that needs to be kept out of the state, while audience member's cheer.

These monsters not only don't care that a child was murdered because of their hatred, they outright celebrate it. Christian's are soulless monsters, when are we gonna get the chance to vote to strip their right to exist away from them, like they do to us? Why do we allow these hate filled cultists to have power in the government and spread their murderous hatred.

This is why the school never called an ambulance for Nex instead just suspending them, this is why the coroner and police are currently trying to cover up the murder, because the whole goddamn system is working exactly as they intended, accomplishing their goals of murdering us and getting away with it.

[muji-milk]

hi, can I ask you something, you don't have to answer; how did you manage to get your life together? it feels like you know what you want now and what's good for you and pursue it, and I'm really happy for you! just, like, how?

Hi! Thank you for saying I come across like that 🥺🥺 my mental health/motivation definitely has improved over the last few years 🥺 but LMao where do I start? This might be essay length sorry.

Firstly, make a note of what things are holding you back or making you unhappy. (For me it was bad skin, painful periods, bad hair and being unfit. For years, because of these things, I never wanted to participate in activities or say yes to social things.) Then think about what you can ACTUALLY DO to solve these things - for me, I treated my skin better, started the pill, grew my hair back, and joined the gym. These things now don’t hold me back, so if you have similar issues, write them down! make it clear! then find out HOW to tackle them.

Second, making lists and dividing your time. ngl I’m obsessed with lists. They help break down giant tasks/future goals into small actions. Things are TOO daunting when they are just floating around our head, and I often lose sleep thinking, so write things down and focus on the manageable steps to get there. As for dividing time, when I was at uni I promised myself to do at least 2 ‘productive things’ a day. I listed the things that qualified at ‘productive’ (a lecture, a workout, a shift at work, a study session, cooking, cleaning) then made sure to fill my week with those. Its important to go to bed feeling satisfied with your actions, so that you sleep calmly and you wake up wanting to continue the productivity. Look up the Eisenhower method when making to-do lists. Also, finding some healthy ‘down time/self care’ activities is useful. Write these when you’re in a good mood, and refer to them when you’re in a bad mood.

Career wise, I’m a graduate but I still live at home rn. I’m not too stressed about work because we are in a big FAT recession rn, and that’s not my fault. But I’ve spent a lot of time researching potential career paths. Dream careers seem miles away, but you can work backwards and find out how to get there. There are probably so many jobs you didn’t even know existed, that can set you on the right path - so I don’t just think “sigh I wish I could be a translator working abroad :(” I look at what qualifications/experience I can build up to get there. And I’m always open to having a different career! Who knows!

Having a good environment. Even through uni when I lived in very ‘meh’ student houses that didn’t inspire or relax me, the library was amazing. I would go nearly every day, because that was the best space for productivity. Wherever you live, try and make things comfortable, within reason. Move your furniture around, change colours that you don’t like, keep it TIDY. If you can’t change you environment, find another place you feel productive in, whether a public space or just a different room. If you’re a student or have work to do at home, use the pomodoro method.

Exercise, and I cannot stress this enough. I HATED gym at school. I suck at team sports. I can’t run for shit. But I believe everyone can find an activity to suit them. Weightlifting/the gym is my favourite thing now, I just had to try it to discover it. I implore you to be physically active. If you hate all sports you’ve tried, at least just go for a brisk walk sometimes. Being outside is also important. A long walk in nature is better than a few sit ups in your bedroom. Don’t think about calories/dress size - consider what makes your head feel clearer, and what makes your body feel relaxed and stretched. It also helps with sleep quality.

Lastly, always reflect on your past experiences, and be open to your future changing. When doubting yourself or feeling unsure about a next step in life, look back and see the times when stepping out of your comfort zone has benefited you. I hated customer service and cafe jobs, but I’m much more confident at speaking as a result. I graduated late because I changed my course, but I graduated with top marks and realised what I did not want to study. I wasn’t concerned with keeping up with my friends. You have to try things to find out what you want, even if that takes time and pain. Then, be open to change in the future. My plans and dreams have changed a million times, because I’ve change, and I don’t try and fulfil things I used to want. Basically let life take you new places, but know that you can direct your choices. I hate quotes like this ajsskjdslk, but ‘have the wisdom to know what you can’t change, and the confidence to change what you can’. (that should be a wall decal in my home tbh. live laugh love etc)

[minsyal]

Mutual Feelings Pt. 9, [Revali x Reader]

Summary: Smart nerdy stuff that smart nerdy people do

“Incoming!” The small metal hinges on your door shook as a heavy foot collided with the old crackling wood, only making its condition worse. The door flew open, slammed against the wall, and rattled the entire room. If the shelves and desk weren’t bolted to the wall, they would have clattered to the ground or move. Purah stood under the frame with the widest smile stretching across her face.

She was nothing but a lit firecracker. Her smile spoke words of mischief, as it always did, speaking essays and forty-minute presentations without her even having to part her lips.

You slid the papers you were working on under a leather-bound book. She wouldn’t like their contents. After all, they were full of information to the Divine Beasts controls that she didn’t know about. Controls that you added. You could imagine the look on her face if she learned that you were going behind her back to answer the Champion’s requests.

“Morning, sleepyhead.” She waltzed into the room with an energy that dumbfounded you. How she managed to stay in a perpetual state of joy was something that intrigued you, but you had no desire to live through yourself. “Brought you more super royal work! I know how much you love all that jazz.”

“You know me better than anyone.” You joked, turning your chair to face her. “What is it?”

“Oh,” she danced around you to slink toward the window. “you know! Just… some stuff.” The pile of papers in her hands didn’t seem like too much work. There were only two notebooks and maybe a dozen sheets of paper with scribbles all over them. There was one thing you took note of, the princess’s perfect cursive that seemed to glide across the page.

“Some stuff.” You repeated, quickly snatching a paper before Purah could protest. “Zelda’s work?”

“Precisely!”

“Why?” There was no way Zelda would want you messing with her work.

“Well. Big boss-man told her to focus on her powers. That means that you and I, more so you,” she quickly added, “get to finish it for her!”

“She would be furious if I so much as touched this.” You speedily put the page back on the stack that was now perched on your desk. “Are you sure we’re supposed to do this?”

“It’s not so much as finish it. Rather,” she leaned to the right and then swayed to the left, “add it to our work! It’s about the shrines and everything. You know? Science stuff.”

“Is she allowed to continue searching for shrines?”

“Probably not. That means less trips with her for you! Maybe more time to spend with,” she waggled her brows in a suggestive manner, “you know who.”

“Purah, let’s not go there.”

“Oh sweetie, you already went there! In fact, you’re way past there! You’re,” she pretended to cast a fishing hook off into the distance, “waaaaayyyy over there! And over there,” she pointed in the opposite direction, “was the point of no return.”

“You’re insufferable.”

“All in a day’s work!”

“Don’t you have other work to be doing?”

“Nope!” She swayed on her toes, the mischievous smile never leaving her face. “So, are you and Revali like, a thing?”

“It was nice to see you, Purah.” You rose from your desk chair and began pushing her out the door. “Please, visit less.” Her feet halted in the hall. “I’ll send a card.”

“It better tell me you and Revali are dating!”

You slammed the door in her face. You could hear her giggling to herself as she left.

Shortly after meeting Keumi and learning of her situation, you traveled alone to Zora’s Domain to obtain updates on how many shines were identified in the surrounding areas from King Dorephan and Mipha. Sidon, who is Mipha’s brother, tagged along but proved to be little to no help as he was just beginning to learn how to utilize his swimming skills.

While there, you met a peculiar older gentleman who gave off an air of wisdom and vast medicinal knowledge. He was kind, quiet, and understated. Unlike the other Zora, he lived in the outskirts of the Domain. His whereabouts remained a mystery to the other Zora, and he was said to only appear when he sensed illness.

It was surprising when he set foot in the Domain seeking you.

You sat with the medicine man, listening diligently as he told you stories of his many travels throughout Hyrule. He had been everywhere you had and more. The ingredients he collected for treating illness were from all walks of the land.

“What brings you to the Domain?” He asked, folding his wrinkled hands in his lap. The two of you sat on the steps of the Domain.

“Research.” You commented.

“Just research?” He implored, eyes leaving you to look off dreamily to the sky. He closed his eyes, taking in the breeze that blew through the canyon walls. “I think you’re here for far more than that.”

“More?”

“You have someone special to you. Very special,” his gaze returned to yours, “and they’re very sick.”

“How do you know that?” You whispered, eyes going wide.

“It’s all over your face.” He smiled, “And I’m not oblivious.”  

The medicine man, Sopho, told you of a mysterious plant with an inimitable name, “Omisaato.” The enigmatic flower heavily resembled the Silent Princess, but with small differences in its shape and the introduction of golden speckling on its petals. It radiated the scent of fresh vanilla bean and only sprouted from the ground once a year in varying locations around Gerudo. Sopho told of its intense healing abilities. When brewed correctly with specific ingredients, it could cure even the most devastating diseases or genetic mutations.

He couldn’t provide you with the exact information you needed but could gift you a descent sized book that he had bought on a trip to Kara Kara. Even if there was no evidence of its existence, it was worth a try.

It could fix her. It could save her.

Though it was only a few days ago, Zelda was growing restless. She was itching to breach the walls and return to the wild where she could spend time with what she loved most. You’d find her lingering in the library for longer periods of time, watching over your shoulder as you sifted through her research notes. She’d practically be dangling from the balcony to see what you thought of her work. It was detailed, far more detailed than you had ever bothered to do. She described the make and model, how many screws and bolts she estimated they have, and where she hypothesized, they led to. With such a small entrance, it had to go down. But where? That was the looming question.

“Why don’t you just join me, instead of scare the hell out of Link?” You turned around to find her wide-eyed, either surprised you called her out or surprised that you knew she was there. With a short nod, she descended the stairs and sat down across from you at the table. Link stood a few feet behind her, looking as uncomfortable as he typically did while he followed her around like a lost dog. “Link, come on.”

He hesitantly sat down.

“My notes.” Her fingers danced across the pages that you piled together. “What are they like?”

“They’re yours,” you let out a tired laugh, “you tell me.”

Many emotions crossed her face in very few seconds. Her eyebrows drew together as she contemplated what she wanted to say next. Link was staring blankly at her, likely wondering the exact same thing as you. Zelda reached out and fixed the stack neatly, ensuring the pages corners lined up perfectly.

“Thank you.” She finally said in a quiet tone. “For saving me when we were in Hebra.”

Catching you completely off guard, you examined her expression, trying to figure out whether or not she was telling the truth. She showed no signs of dishonesty. Her eyes were glossy and large, her fingers rubbed together lightly, and her shaking leg inched the table over with each bounce.

“It’s no big deal.” You gave her a tight-lipped smile. “Guess I didn’t expect being a royal scientist meant experiencing 60 volts of electricity coursing through your veins.” With another smile, she was relaxed and smiling back. “Your notes are good. Detailed to all get out. But we haven’t been able to pinpoint whether the shrines in the different regions vary. I’d like to arrange a trip to Gerudo, sooner rather than later, to examine the shrines there.”

At the mention of traveling, she perked up. Something crossed her face that told you the conversations with her father were resurrected in her mind as she physically slumped a bit.

“We can request it to make ambassadorial relation meetings with Urbosa and for the possibility of finding another spring in the desert. He won’t question that.” You assured her.

“I’ll have it arranged at once.”

The next day you set out with Link, Zelda, and Mipha for Gerudo. Daruk and Revali had decided traveling separately would be faster and more efficient for the group as a whole. Plus, they wouldn’t even be allowed to enter the city so getting there immediately wouldn’t be called for. Zelda was much more pleasant than usual. Her attitude changed the moment you suggested the trip and a way around the King’s tightening rules for the young princess. She didn’t even question the cage you wore on your back meant to house the legendary flower.

Mipha, on the other hand, was curious as all get out. She poked and prodded at it, examining the welding techniques used. Link and Zelda led the group while you walked along side the Zora princess who swam slowly through Aquame Lake.

“What is it for?”

“I’m collecting some samples from the desert to take back and analyze at the castle. Boring stuff.” You laughed it off.

“Fascinating.” She was always so joyful. If there was a definition to innocence, it would surely be Mipha. “I’ve always wanted to do more scientific things. There’s just no time to.”

“You’ve helped me install updates to Ruta. I’d say that’s pretty scientific.” You commented. Mipha smiled, ducking beneath the water for a moment before coming back up.

“I mean with lab goggles and coats!”

“Next time I visit, I’ll make sure to bring an extra.”

“I’d enjoy that!”

[thecomicsnexus]

Make Way for Captain Thunder!

Superman #276. June, 1974. By Elliot S. Maggin, Curt Swan and Bob Oksner.

Young boy Willie Fawcett materializes in a Metropolis alleyway in time to see Superman fly overhead and asks a passerby who he is. He finds that the bus costs more than he remembers and when he arrives where he expects his usual WHAM-TV to be, he sees Galaxy Communications instead. This leads him to speculate that he may have traveled forward in time. Superman flies by again, chasing what appears to be a giant lizard and Fawcett rubs his belt buckle and yells, "Thunder!" to transform into Captain Thunder. 

Superman quickly dispatches the lizard—which is actually a complex illusion meant to distract him while thieves in a helicopter try to rob an armored car. Thunder attempts to stop them but is interrupted by Superman and the two briefly come to blows. Thunder transforms back to Fawcett while Superman chases the criminals. The boy enters the Galaxy building and ends up in the office of Clark Kent where he tells him the story of Thunder's origin. While on a camping trip with fellow orphans, Fawcett saw a white owl fly by him and followed it into a cave where he met with Merokee, a great medicine man of the Mohegan tribe who tells him that a local legend foretold his arrival. Merokee gives him a belt that will empower him with seven spiritual powers:

Tornado: power

Hare: speed

Uncas: bravery

Nature: wisdom

Diamond: toughness

Eagle: flight

Ram: tenacity

Merokee vanishes into the air, leaving Fawcett with the mission to use these powers to fight evil. During a recent battle against the Monster League of Evil (made up of a mummy, vampire, werewolf, and Frankenstein's monster-type villains), he crossed a space-and-time barrier to leave the monsters in a void but when he tried to return to his world, he somehow ended up in another world. Kent informs him that no one has any memory of Captain Thunder or the Monster League, so he offers to take the boy to police headquarters.

Lois Lane accompanies them to write a story on Willie. As they approach the station, Kent uses his X-ray vision to see that a jail break is in progress. In the commotion, Kent and Fawcett change into their superhero alter egos. Thunder is convinced that Superman is a villain and attempts to fight him, allowing the actual criminals to flee. The two heroes have a long fight using all of their powers to a stalemate until Superman tricks Thunder into saying the word "thunder" while pushing his hand against his belt buckle, thus transforming him back into Fawcett.

Superman explains to the child that Captain Thunder is under the influence of the Monster League. He convinces Willie to transform again while he is stuck in a headlock and Superman implores Thunder to use the wisdom of Nature to see through the mind control. He realizes that he took a slightly incorrect route to get back to his home universe and then disappears in a magical flash.

Clark meets up with Lois for dinner and tells her that Fawcett/Thunder managed to find his way home.

From DC Wikia

Ok, I know that you are thinking “WTF” right now, so I will start by giving some context to this crazy story.

As almost everyone knows by now, Captain Marvel was created by Fawcett comics and became more popular than Superman. DC didn’t like the fact that a character that looked pretty much like Superman was making money (I don’t have the numbers as to why Captain Marvel was more successful, but this was the golden age of comics, so it is safe to assume comics were very popular among american kids.

Super-hero comics declined in popularity and Fawcett decided to lose the battle to DC and stopped publishing the series. In a crazy series of events, Hoppy was sold to Charlton, that later, like Fawcett, was bought by DC, so the marvel family came together at DC. In a way.

Ironically, Captain Thunder was the original name intended for Captain Marvel, but at the time it was already taken.

In any case, DC owned the characters now and in the sixties were considering doing a revival of the series. Astute publisher competitor, Marvel Comics, decided then to copyright Captain Marvel (which, by a legal loophole, was up for grabs). Since then, comic book fans had a chronic headache trying to explain who the Captain Marvel is.

Now, I will quote the person that actually did the research about this “alternate” version, Brian Cronin:

Ultimately, DC decided to just bring the character back the same way he appeared 19 years earlier, as Captain Marvel. They just decided to title the new book Shazam!, after the magic word Billy Batson says to become Captain Marvel.

The new title debuted in early 1973.

Even though Superman appeared on the cover of Shazam! #1, he did not appear in the comic itself. The Shazam! series was set in its own separate universe (and I just don't mean in the sense that there was Earth-1, Earth-2, etc., I mean there was no reference to the multiverse in Shazam! comics). They were basically designed as a continuation of the Fawcett line of comics.

Well, in 1974, DC figured it was about time to try to think about integrating Captain Marvel into the DC Universe proper, and what better way to do so than with an appearance in the title of their foremost superhero - the same hero who graced the cover of Shazam #1 - Superman!

More precisely, Superman #276, out in the Summer of 1974.

Elliot S Maggin wrote the issue, and Curt Swan drew it, but DC decided it was too early to have them meet.

Thanks to commenter Vic Perfecto, we have this quote from Elliot S. Maggin (courtesy of the Krypton Companion):

We were trying to do the traditional Fawcet-style Captain Marvel in the Shazam! book in those days. The style of artwork was different from Superman's. The degree of suspension of disbelief in the two story threads-Shazam! as opposed to Superman-were different. I never really believed that Superman and Captain Marvel belonged in the same story and neither did Julie. The Captain Thunder story was a piece of speculation as to what Captain Marvel might be like if he lived in the "real world." I think Metropolis in the '70s was what we thought of as the real world at the time.

So instead of using Captain Marvel, what did the folks making Superman #276 do?

Well, you do what all good jazz musicians do - you improvise!!!

So Superman #276 brought us Superman vs. Captain Thunder!!!

After Shazam! ended, newly arrived at DC writer/editor, Roy Thomas had a number of proposals for a revamp of the character in the very early 80s.

Along with artist Don Newton, Thomas came up with one proposal that suggested that, since they could not call Captain Marvel Captain Marvel, they rename him Captain Thunder (just like Maggin's issue of Superman). Thomas presumably felt that it only made sense to return to the original name, if Captain Marvel was unavailable.

The twist, though, was that Thomas thought that the character should be black! Yep, an African-American Billy Batson and Captain Marvel!!

In the Comics Buyer's Guide, Thomas told the story, and (courtesy of the amazing Marvel Family website - the premiere website for Captain Marvel information!) here are some unpublished drawings of Billy and the good Captain from the proposal!!

Now to the review of the actual story...

I found the re-imagined version to be more practical, as Willie has to rub his belt at the same time he says Thunder. This would prevent him from becoming a different person by commenting on the weather.

The rest of the elements are pretty much the same, some of them with hilarious twists like the Monster league instead of the monster society.

But I felt it was lacking the innocence and magic of the original (even in Johns version you get that feeling from the original). I also like Ordway’s version, which is a bit more “modern-agey” but still very close to the golden age.

In any case this was the first and last appearance of Captain Thunder (until Flashpoint).

I give the story a score of 7.75

[i-am-made-of-memoriies]

Of Valkyrie and Frost Giants

A/N: So this is a fic I’ve been thinking about writing for ages now. After watching Infinity War (my poor, poor soul), I had a lot of inspiration. I hope you enjoy!

Putting on her most regal look, Kara walked quickly to the palace of Asgard. On her way, she saw the happy Asgardians playing in their lavish gardens, accompanied by the gentle trickle of ornate fountains; the scene before her was almost idealistically beautiful.

   Odin had requested her presence at the palace days ago, instructing her to arrive once she had done sufficient research on a certain topic. For almost a millennia, tension between Jotunheim and Asgard had been steadily increasing. What once seemed like a small dispute had been augmented into an incipient war. That was unless someone took decisive measures. Of course, many Asgardians favored the simple solution of massacring the entire race of Frost Giants, essentially wiping the problem off the face of the universe; yes, that would be ‘simple’ and require less planning and diplomatic effort, but Kara was convinced there was another way. She wasn’t naive enough to believe that the Frost Giants could be reasoned with. Many a king had attempted that and been subsequently destroyed; what Kara needed was an alternative. Something to act as a bridge between both kingdoms.

“You requested to see me?” Kara kneeled in front of Odin respectfully, her armor jingling as her knee met the marble floor.

   “I did.” Odin replied, sitting atop the throne regally. He wrinkled his eyes in a kind smile. “I believe you’ve done your research?”

   “I have.” Kara replied, standing up to meet Odin’s gaze. “I do deem it wise to besiege Jotunheim, though I don’t believe that absolute annihilation of the race is the only solution.”

   “Say we do go to war with Jotunheim,” Odin began, “if we are to emerge victorious, what will we do with the inhabitants?”

   “I am not sure your majesty.” Kara sighed with a hint of resignation in her voice. “Perhaps if we found something-or someone even, to act as a diplomatic bridge between the two kingdoms, the feud would be ameliorated.”

   “That is sound reasoning, Kara.” Odin said, nodding gently. “You never asked why I asked you out of all of the other Valkyries.”

   “I suppose I didn’t, your majesty.”

   “I simply drew names out of a hat.” Odin chuckled happily, “I have deep, deep trust in every single one of you.”

   Kara happily reciprocated Odin’s smile.

   Kara departed happily from the Valkyrie training grounds, surrounded by her fellow warriors. Cool night air brushed through her messy hair, cooling her sweaty body.

   “Elite female warriors my ass!” One of the Valkyries chuckled, “None of you held a candle to me today.”

   “I beg your pardon!” Kara shot back affectionately, “You see that stab wound in your arm? Wonder who gave it to you.”

   “That’s nothing!” She replied, flaunting the slightly blood-stained bandage. “I could’ve slit your neck several times if I wanted to, but I’m far too benevolent.”

   “No way.” Kara insisted. “Your sword stayed far, far away from my precious jugular vein during the entire training session. That was a pathetic lie.”

   “If I wasn’t so tired right now, I’d slit your throat to prove I could.”

   “Ah, but you’re tired. Tired because you couldn’t beat me or the other valkyries with ease. Why you ask? Because they do hold a candle to you.”

   “Shut up Kara.” The valkyrie groaned. “I’m going to get a drink. I’d invite you, but I know how much of a teetotaller you are.”

   “I’m not a teetotaller.” Kara sighed, “I’m just not a drunk. Not to mention, I’m underage.”

   “Psh, you follow that rule?” The valkyrie snorted, “Even when I was your age, I didn’t follow the rule.”

   “I’ll reiterate. You’re a drunk.”

   “I’ll see you later Kara. Calm down a bit in the meantime, will you?”

   Kara smiled to herself, making her way up to her room, located in a gilded tower. If she looked out the large window opposite the door, she had a panoramic view of Asgard’s streets. If she wanted to leave at some ungodly hour without waking the rest of the Valkyrie, she could slide out the aforementioned window and wander the moonlit square. Every aspect of Asgard was gorgeous, from the pure scenery to the locals; the situation filled Kara with ineffable warmth. Despite her happiness, the Jotunheim issue still cast a prominent shadow, always inhabiting a portion of her mind. Odin seemed to have liked her plan, or lack thereof. She had essentially just told him not to kill everybody and try to strike an alliance. The more she thought about it, the more pathetic her plan appeared. Perhaps choosing the youngest Valkyrie wasn’t the most intelligent choice on Odin’s part. Still, she stood by her idea that massacre wasn’t the way to go. So what if the rest of her plan was mere speculation, at least she had a foundation. Hopefully, Odin, with all of his wisdom could find a way of making the best of the situation, since war would occur less than six months.

   The first birthday of Odin’s son, Thor, could not come at a more inopportune time. As the current heir to the throne, his first birthday was supposed to be an extravagant event, but with war looming merely weeks away, the foreboding tension in the air took away from the celebrations. That’s not to say people weren’t happy; no, in fact, the party was a raving success as Thor displayed his health and strength even as a baby.

   Somehow Kara knew that he would have great power later in his life. A king though? She would admit, he was still a one-year-old, but he somehow didn’t scream king to her. Regardless of her thoughts, the baby was adorable and required all of her attention until the war began.

   Kara cradled the demigod in her arms as Odin delivered an elaborate and eloquent speech on how Thor would bring honor to Asgard and all of the nine realms. A bit premature, she thought, given that Odin didn’t know if he would end up like his older sister and try to kill everyone. God, Kara was lucky that she was too young to remember Hela’s reign. Some of her fellow Valkyries remembered the actual event, though only one was an actual Valkyrie at the time.

   Thor stretched his pudgy little arms and pulled gently at Kara’s hair. She smiled at the baby and poked his rotund stomach lightly, watching him giggle in joy.

   Who cares if he becomes a raging madman? She thought happily. He’s a cute-ass baby.

   Odin approached her happily, scooping the baby out of her arms. “Thank you for holding Thor.” He smiled at her, rocking the baby in his muscular arms. ”My wife, Frigga, really wants to dress him up now. I suppose I can’t stop her.”

   “I suppose you can’t, your majesty.” Kara agreed. Though she wanted to, she knew that it was a terrible idea to bring up the upcoming war at Thor’s birthday party. Luckily for her, Odin breached the topic without her prompting him.

   “The Valkyrie will not be fighting in the Jotunheim siege.” He added with strange lightheartedness.

   “Your majesty, why?” Kara implored, looking taken aback.

   “We need you in Asgard in case the siege is not victorious.” Before Kara could interject, Odin raised his hand. “Please don’t argue. It is for the safety of the kingdom.”

   Though Kara didn’t agree with Odin in the least, she nodded obediently. “I’ll spread the news to the rest of the Valkyrie. I promise not to make a fuss, but I can’t vouch for the rest of them.”

   “We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.” He brushed away her warning easily. “Now please eat, we have a surplus of food.”

   Kara nodded and made her way to the refreshments. If there was one thing she could always count on at royal parties, it would be the refreshments. A long table stretched from the wall-to-wall of the royal hall, adorned with the most lavish foods you could imagine. Full roast ducks, pigs, and chickens were in the center of the table, surrounded by every cheese imaginable. Platters of tarts and pies filled the end of the table, framing one giant, multi-tiered cake. Kara’s mouth practically began to water once she saw the table; filled with hungry joy, she grabbed a large plate and began to choose her favorite foods. After she had piled her plate high with food, she went to join some of her civilian friends, most of which she hadn’t spoken to since she was a child.

   “Kara!” Her childhood best friend Arvid exclaimed, “I haven’t seen you for ages!”

   “It really has been too long.” She agreed, giving the man a quick hug. “How have you been?”

   “I’m taking over my father’s job as a blacksmith soon, so that’s been a lot of work, but how about you?” He clapped Kara on the back. “You’re a Valkyrie now, aren’t you. I always knew you’d become some kind of warrior since you were always beating someone up as a child.”

   “Not always.” She replied, taking a hearty bite out of a chicken leg. “Only when I really needed to.”

   “Psh. Sure.” Arvid chuckled sarcastically. “I hear that we are going to war with Jotunheim in a few weeks. Tell me you’re not going to join the siege.”

   “No need to worry.” She patted the man on the back. “The Valkyrie will be protecting Asgard and it’s residents.”

   “Well that’s nice to hear. Those horrible Frost Giants. Odin should’ve just murdered them all.”

   Not wanting to incite an argument, Kara nodded diplomatically and took her leave of the royal hall, returning to the Valkyrie tower.

   The tension in the air was practically palpable as Kara made her rounds through Asgard. Odin and his soldiers had left the previous day and were still yet to return, leaving the Asgardians oblivious to the result and goings of the siege. All Kara knew was that no Frost Giants had invaded Asgard as of yet, hopefully signaling success.

   For once, no one roamed the open streets of Asgard as they were ordered to remain in their houses in case the Frost Giants triumphed.

   Minutes turned into hours, still yielding no invasion or happy return of the Asgardian soldiers; it was a strange stalemate of feelings, the relief that Kara felt because Asgard wasn’t under attack and the worry that nagged in her mind because Odin and his soldiers were still yet to return.

   Eventually, Kara heard sounds coming from the Bifrost. As she strained her ears, she let out a sigh of relief to hear the happy, joyous voices of the Asgardian soldiers she knew so well. In the distance, she saw the lines of soldiers making their way over the shimmering rainbow bridge; thankfully, only a few of them seemed to be wounded. In the back of the victorious procession was Odin, missing an eye and cradling two bundles.

   They must be the fruits of his pillage. Kara speculated, grinning happily to herself. All she could hope for was that the Frost Giants hadn’t been wiped off the face of the universe. Whether Odin had been able to forge a bridge of camaraderie between the two realms, Kara was unsure, though she wished it so.

   She waited at the gates of Asgard for Odin, ready to congratulate him on what seemed to be a successful siege.

   “It appears that you have triumphed, your majesty.” Kara said respectfully. “Though you seem to be missing an eye.”

   “Ah, don’t worry about that.” He brushed off Kara’s concern, “And yes, we were victorious. Not only that, but we did not wipe out all of the Frost Giants. I also brought back someone I believe can forge an alliance between the two nations.”

   Kara cocked her head in confusion. Someone? She thought. I didn’t see any Frost Giants in his procession. “Who may that be?”

   Odin reached tenderly for the larger bundle in his arms, pulling away some of the blankets. “This is Loki. Laufey’s son.”

   “You brought home the rightful king?!” She exclaimed, “Will this not anger the Frost Giants? How will the poor child live in Asgard? Will he just be locked up for the rest of his life, used solely as a bargaining chip?”

   “I will raise him as my own. And if I am not mistaken, was this not your idea?”

   “I didn’t intend for you to bring back an innocent infant.” Kara muttered, looking guiltily at the child. “And why doesn’t he look like a Frost Giant. He is much too small, not to mention, he isn’t blue.”

   “I am not sure why he is so small, but his appearance seems to be a subconscious illusion. When I first picked him up, he morphed into this form; I sense strong magic in him.”

   Kara didn’t know what to think. Odin was correct though; Loki would be a brilliant bridge between the two realms if he didn’t grown up to resent Odin. Like Thor though, the baby smiled and giggled, his strangely blue eyes looking mirthfully up at Kara. “He’s very cute.” She commented, unsure of what else to say.

   Odin nodded and proceeded towards the castle, baby in arms.

   Kara walked the familiar path to the palace. Odin had requested her presence again, this time he had mentioned her watching Thor and Loki while he was out with Frigga. Honestly, Valkyrie shouldn’t be performing babysitting jobs, but in the current time of peace, there was little else to do.

   “Ah, Kara.” Odin greeted her with a friendly smile. “As you know, Frigga insists on taking me out to celebrate her birthday. Though Thor and Loki aren’t toddlers anymore, I can’t leave them alone. Would you mind watching them for me?”

   “Of course, your majesty.” Kara agreed, rising from her kneeling position. “Where are they?”

   “Thor! Loki!” Odin called. Within seconds the two children came bounding into the throne room, tripping over their feet.

   “Yes father?” Thor replied obediently while Loki stood silently in the background.

   “Your mother and I will be out today. Lady Kara here will be watching you.”

   “Mother will be gone?” Loki asked worriedly, his blue eyes widening.

   “Not for long.” Odin assured. “Only until the end of the day.”

   Loki nodded and looked to Kara.

   “I suppose we can go to the park.” Kara suggested.

   “I’d love to Lady Kara!” Thor exclaimed happily, bouncing towards the door.

   Loki followed behind his brother, showing no obvious elation.

   “Do you want to go to the park too, Loki?” Kara inquired, noticing the boy’s lack of excitement.

   He nodded and continued to follow his brother through the streets of Asgard.

   As soon as the three arrived at the sprawling green fields, adorned with tall, leafy trees, Thor sprinted off on his little legs, stumbling over every obstruction. The boy bounced on his toes and hopped over rocks that stood at his height.    

   “Brother!” He exclaimed, brandishing a large stick and swinging it like a sword. “I’m a Valkyrie!”

   Grinning at his brother, Loki made a small knife materialize in his palm. Making sure his weapon was visible he charged at his brother, ready to stab him.

   “Lady Kara, HELP!” Thor cried, running away from Loki. “He’s gonna kill me!”

   Realizing that Loki was probably down for murder, Kara sprinted in between the two boys, disarming both of them in one fluid motion. “Alright you two.” She sighed. “We need to talk.”

   Loki and Thor sat on opposite sides of a log; Thor glared at Loki while the latter smiled mischievously back.

   “First of all,” Kara started, placing her hands on her hips, “you can’t just stab your brother, Loki.”

   “I wasn’t gonna kill him.” Loki stated simply. “Mother just taught me how to make illusions.”

   “That dagger was no illusion, Loki.” Kara reprimanded. “That was the real deal.”

   “Oh.” Loki looked at his palm thoughtfully. He hadn’t intended for the dagger to be corporeal, yet it somehow was. It would have been a problem if he had stabbed his brother with it.

   “Yeah brother!” Thor whined, “You’re always trying to kill me. It’s not fair!”

   With that, Thor launched himself at his brother, knocking the smaller boy over. The two wrestled on the ground like writhing snakes, trying to land as many punches as they could.

   “Alright you two.” Kara sighed again, pulling the two off of each other. “Why don’t you play on opposite sides of the park?” She scanned the open field. “Or why don’t you play with that girl over there. She seems lonely.”

   “Okay!” Thor bounced to his feet running over to the girl.

   Loki looked at his brother’s quickly receding back and sprinted after him, quickly overtaking him in speed.

   “What’s your name?” Loki asked, practically grabbing the girl’s hand.

   She pulled her hand away and glared at Loki. “I’m Sif.” She stated simply. “And you must be Loki.”

   “I’m Thor by the way.” Thor interjected, making sure that he wasn’t left out. “Have you ever seen the Valkyries? They’re awesome. I wanna be a Valkyrie.”

   “They’re all women, you idiot.” Loki hissed, slapping his brother’s arm. “I could be a Valkyrie.” He smiled proudly at both Thor and Sif; narrowing his eyes in concentration, he morphed into a young girl. “See?”

   “No fair!” Thor whined, “That’s cheating Loki. I’m gonna tell mother!”

   “And why would she care? She’d be proud of me.”

   “That was interesting, Loki.” Sif added in his defense.

   “I wanna learn illusions too.” Thor pouted. “Actually, Loki, wanna arm-wrestle?”

   “Fine brother.” Loki capitulated, morphing back into his normal form. Secretly he knew that he would probably lose, but part of him wanted for his brother to be happy.

   The two princes rested their elbows on a rock, waiting for Sif to commence the match.

   “Begin!” She announced.

   Within seconds, Thor had pulled ahead, making Loki’s significantly smaller arm tremble. Grinning victoriously at his brother, Thor leaned forward, pushing Loki’s arm down with such force, the boy fell sprawling to the side of the rock. Letting out a guttural groan of defeat, Loki pushed himself up tenderly, massaging his arm.

   “I won brother!” Thor announced triumphantly, “I won!”

   “I am aware.” Loki grumbled, “But if we were to have a competition of wits, you wouldn’t stand a chance.”

   “Are you calling me dumb?!”

   “Yes, yes I am.”

   “Why you-“ Thor’s threat was interrupted by Sif jumping in between them.

   “I challenge you to an arm wrestle.” She stated, tucking her long black hair behind her ear.

   “A-are you sure?” Thor asked apprehensively.

   Sif nodded and placed her elbow on the rock, beckoning for Thor to join her.

   With an uncomfortable look in his eyes, Thor intertwined his fingers with Sif’s.

   “Begin.” Loki announced, looking at the match curiously.

Sif’s dark eyes bored into Thor’s as she pressed against his arm with an incredible amount of strength. Slowly, she added more and more weight, forcing Thor’s arm to tremble in exertion. Loki looked at the match with giddy infatuation. His brother was losing a competition of strength! Not only that, but he was also losing to a girl at least four inches shorter than him.

Kara also looked at the match with fascination. Sif held great, great promise.

Minutes passed and Sif had still not broken a sweat. She seemed to be merely testing the waters as she incrementally added more and more strength, waiting for Thor’s breaking point.

She really is quite clever. Kara mused, hoping that she’d one day consider becoming a Valkyrie. She’d fit in wonderfully.

Finally Sif leaned into her hand, sending a burst of strength and slamming Thor’s arm onto the rock.

“Wow.” Loki muttered. “She holds much more promise that you, brother.”

Mouth still agape, Thor turned towards his brother and shot him a glare. “You’re really strong.” He commended, turning back to Sif.

“Thank you.” She replied, smiling victoriously. “I’m going to be the strongest warrior one day. Even though I’m a girl.”

“What are you talking about?” Thor exclaimed incredulously, “Girls are the strongest! Have you seen the Valkyrie?! I really wanna be a Valkyrie.”

“You’ve said that at least twenty times in the past ten minutes.” Loki groaned, “You. Can’t. Be. A. Valkyrie. You’re not a girl!”

“Alright you two.” Kara sighed, gripping the boy’s shoulders. “That’s quite enough. May I speak with you for a moment, Sif?”

The girl looked suspiciously at Kara and nodded slowly. “I’m sorry for beating the prince!” She apologized quickly. “I thought he’d be… stronger.”

“Ahaha,” Kara chuckled, “I’m not mad at you for beating Thor, it’s quite the opposite really. I’m very impressed by your skill. As you get older, bring joining the Valkyrie into consideration. We can always use strong warriors like you.”

Sif smiled. “Thank you, but I don’t think I’ll become a Valkyrie.”

“No?” Kara looked back at her with a surprised look. “Why?”

“I want to join the band of warriors that fight in the battles with the king. And even though I’m a girl, I’m going to be the best!”

“Well, I believe in you.” Kara gave Sif a pat on the back. “I hope to see you around again. I’m sure the boys would love to play with you more.”

A/N: So here’s the end of the first chapter! This story is a obviously a Valkyrie still exists AU. The storyline will follow Kara’s relationship with Thor and Loki and her arguments with Odin. It will probably go through the Thor movies and beyond (hopefully), with the Avengers playing a large role in the near future. 

Please like and comment!

[kandydoucette2-blog]

A Complete Research study On Online marketing"

Social Media Sites, today, are some of the very best spots to create your Mlm organisation, if you know exactly how. A major part of success on social media sites is actually taking advantage of every one of the on call resources and records to administer market research Searching for a primary reader, developing a persona of a possible customer, investigating influencers for your campaigns and also checking out the technique of your competitions are all within your scope with purpose-built resources. Marketing is actually a crucial resource for any sort of business to succeed and while there is no best formula in accomplishing business success utilizing advertising and marketing as that only relies on the high quality final result productivity and also just how the company meets the client's satisfaction, exceling in social media sites advertising and marketing will certainly help your company. Social networking site systems can easily utilize the collective wisdom of the area to work together on a given objective, like; to increase sales, make material, engage consumer feedback, nurture a neighborhood, boost your marketing message, as well as to create colleague connections in between manufacturer-distributor-retailer-partner-customer. . If you loved this article and you also would like to obtain more info regarding yellow pages online malaysia (http://queroperderpesoagora1.info) i implore you to visit our own web page. Be actually certain to assign the proper funds to do thus if you choose to tap the services of an associate to handle specific components of your social media efforts. Besides the compensation, the only amount of money you could invest to join social media sites attempts is actually to market on social sites although at this moment though the efficiency of these advertisements is actually open to question. Viveka von Rosen, known globally as the LinkedIn Expert," writer of LinkedIn Marketing: An Hour a Day. When using social media sites advertising and marketing as a tool for your business, this is actually vital that you keep an eye on the content that is actually being published considering that this represents your service. In practically each from my keynote presentations, I cover the web content advertising and marketing goal claim. Listed below are actually 5 pointers in order to help you get even more from your online opportunity, and begin being actually successful today, certainly not tomorrow. Social media site marketing is actually set to develop into a extremely tech-focused and also detail-oriented initiative. Effectiveness with social networks and web content advertising calls for additional listening and also much less talking. Brian Carter, establishes tactics as well as constructs social advertising and marketing follower bases for business of all dimensions, and also is the author of The Like Economic condition. The absolute most prominent social media sites system tasks varied coming from posting messages, installing and submitting songs, video recordings and photos. That may appear old-fashioned for you, yet using blogging sites as an advertising and marketing device has actually been just one of the absolute most effective web marketing techniques that a ton of people still do today. Nevertheless, readership with papers is still very loyal to print-only media. Nearly fifty percent from these individuals which worked with advertising and marketing approaches with social media sites for Twelve Month or much less mentioned brand new alliances obtained. By doing this your social media promotes your members unabated research and also incorporated surprising services which they like to pay out! Immediately attach tracking codes to your social information to determine exactly what task travels involvement as well as conversion. This is possible to invest just 3 hours a week on your device and understand success. This describes the capability from the advertising as well as expertise to always keep a consumer interacted and going back as a customer repeatedly - as a result gumminess. That is actually for that reason important that you possess a tactic in place before diving in to social networking sites for your direct sales organisation. This is actually a lot over simply blasting your information thoughtlessly to all the social networks. To answer your 2nd (wonderful) inquiry, they key is actually possessing devices that integrate your web content operation along with your marketing automation procedure. Folks will definitely cease listening closely if you invest all your time on the social Web directly advertising your items as well as services. These art-world crowdcultures are the primary reason why branded information has stopped working. This infographic details 10 steps that brands need to follow in order to effectively start an influencer marketing campaign. If you attempt to hide without any picture, merely a logo design, an unfinished profile page or no explanation, the negative edge of social media sites advertising will certainly consume, folks are going to think the worst as well as they won't observe you. You will know how you can generate information and receive that content facing the best audience to drive transformations. That aids you keep an eye on talks concerning your label and items (in addition to your competitors and your sector typically) throughout all primary social networks, headlines blog posts, online forums and also web sites. In today times every mid-sized as well as top business is actually looking at social networks sites as brand-new business advertising and marketing tool that may assist in company advertising. Whatever dimension or even phase your business remains in you understand social media sites is actually a big deal in today's planet ... you could additionally understand that it can easily think that an impossible activity. Picture carrying out five or even ten other Internet Marketing Approaches enjoy this one. Individuals constantly tend to discuss one thing brand new and also amazing; hence, chat advertising or spoken communication procedure is a suitable ways to masterfully correspond with potential consumers concerning your item. Social networking site marketing is actually the process of creating information that is modified to the circumstance from each private social networking sites platform, so as to steer consumer interaction and sharing. This company is proud on its capability to stimulate newing organisations on the Social media site chart. Success in social advertising calls for an eager understanding of your core service, exact targeting, and the capability to change as results been available in. Our staff can aid you achieve your paid for social objectives regardless of your area or company. As you end up being more comfortable, tweak your approach and also attempt enhancing your spending plan. This is actually most likely the social networking system for you if your aim at market is made up from company kinds. Normal contextually proper possibilities to exchange phone numbers or even deals with inside of a social network are actually only excellent company. On my home page, I show them an OPTIN kind like one I can easily develop for them-- which has the guest to Webpage 2 where there is actually a FREE GIFT - A full Video Advertising Tactic Suggestion. Even though you find out about the same couple of social networks all the moment, that does not mean there aren't any others out there. But buyers certainly never turned up. Actually, social networking sites seems to have made companies much less substantial.

[magnificentmktg]

New Marketing Trends You Should Be Focusing On

I talked recently with Gini Dietrich, the founder, and CEO of Arment Dietrich, a Chicago-based integrated marketing communications firm. She is the lead blogger at the PR and marketing blog Spin Sucks and is co-author Marketing in the Round. She is also co-host of Inside PR, which is a weekly podcast about communications and social media.

I wanted to ask Gini how to stay on top of any new developing marketing trends, and how to capitalize on them ahead of the competition. These are the highlights from our conversation.

   Gini Dietrich:            So, I'm going to relate a story of when I was twenty-two years old, and I had a boss who knew everything. You would ask her a question about upcoming trends, or where the industry was going, and she could tell you exactly. And I remember at the time thinking, 'How the heck does she do this? Like, I can't understand, a, how she can stay up on all of this stuff, and b, where she's getting all this information.' And it turned out that she was just reading, and I think that that's what it is, is you just have to pay attention to what you would consider the influencers are talking about. Go to conferences, read blogs, watch videos, watch your Facebook Live, pay attention to what people are talking about, not necessarily in the trending topics, but what the influencers in your industry are talking about. And you can start to see what's happening in terms of the industry you're in, or the marketing industry. You can start to see little pockets of trends because that's what people are talking about.

David Reimherr: I couldn't agree more. One thing I do is follow people like you on Twitter, but then the Twitter feeds are so much. So, I have a 'best experts' list, and you're on it. That way, I can filter through, pick the top five, ten, fifteen, twenty people, and I have my readings.

GD:     That’s great. You really have to test out new trends and see what works for you. At the beginning of last year, Peach was the new social network that everybody was talking about. We've had Ello, we, of course, had Google Plus. Snapchat's a really good example where it was a trend for a few minutes, and now Instagram seems to be taking it over, and it may not exist a year from now. So, you kind of have to just test it, and try and figure it out for yourself. Some things are going to work really well for business, some things are going to work really well personally, and some things are not going to work at all.

DR:            Do you have any pointers on how to anticipate trends before they happen? I mean I know that probably goes to 'that's how you make a billion dollars' right?

GD:            No, I think it's experience. I think it comes with wisdom, and the older you get, the wiser you get, of course. So, I think it's a couple of those things, but it's also being able to look at something and think, 'You know, this is really interesting, and I don't know how or when it's going to affect what we do…’ I'll give you a good example. Artificial intelligence. I believe artificial intelligence is going to change the job of the marketer drastically in the next five years, but I don't know exactly how yet, and so I'm really paying attention to what AI is doing in other industries. You know it certainly can replace more of the automated tasks that happen in other industries, but there are lots of automated tasks that we do, and when is it going to kind of take over, and how do our jobs evolve? So, even though I'm not going to say that that's necessarily a trend for next year, it's something that I'm definitely researching and keeping an eye on.

DR:            How would you go about deciding if a new trend is something that you should invest your time, energy, and possibly money into? Do you have any sort of benchmarks or indicators? Keeping an eye on AI is one thing, investing into it is another, right? So, any advice there how you go about it? And again, I understand there's not going to be a cookie cutter answer for everybody.

GD:            I really do think it comes down to experience. It's knowing when something is going to change your industry or shake it up. We all knew when Twitter was launched there was something about this Twitter thing, but we didn't really know what it meant, or if it could be used from a business perspective, or was it just B2B, or B2C? We didn't know, and so we sort of just tested it out, and we tried different things, and we figured out where it worked and where it doesn't, and then other social networks came into play from that perspective as well. I think it's trial and error & research. You can look at things from a global perspective like self-driving cars. If you are an Uber driver, or a cab driver, or a semi driver, that's going to affect your job. So, you look at things like that from a global perspective, and though they're not here yet, it's something that the national media is talking.

Solar roofs from Elon Musk. Even though it's going to be way too expensive right now for everybody to put a solar roof on their homes, it's something that you should be thinking about. Does that change your job based on the industry you're in?

DR:            So, what do you personally do when you spot a potential trend?

GD:            I personally dig in. Because AI is on my radar, I've been talking to friends who are in the industry. I had a conversation with Chris Penn a couple of weeks ago from Shift Communications, because IBM is a client of theirs, and I was asking him about Watson, and what that means. And he's pretty close to it, so he was able to give me some information that I don't think is necessarily out there in the world, so building relationships with influencers in your industry, building relationships with journalists at conferences, having conversations with people about the kinds of things that you think are going to affect it, it's that research phase. Right now, I think where AI does affect marketing is in the chat bots, and what Facebook Messenger is doing with chat bots and being able to order things, virtual assistance. I mean, you can have a virtual assistant who doesn't exist schedule meetings for you. It's a robot. So, I think that's right now where it's affecting the marketing industry in particular, but our clients certainly aren't ready for that, so it's just something that I'm keeping an eye on from that perspective.

DR:            When you say 'AI'. is that more the chat bots or are there other applications you see on the horizon?

GD:            It's going to span everything. My friend Chris was telling me about a girl who had a certain strain of leukemia, and her physical doctors couldn't figure out what it was. And so, they put her blood profile into Watson, the IBM Watson, and it spit out in thirty seconds a diagnosis, and it was correct. And it was something that her doctors couldn't figure out, so if it can do that, think about all the things in your job that you do the same way every day, that it can take over. If it can diagnose a certain strain of leukemia in thirty seconds, it's here. It's going to change the way that we do our jobs. And they keep talking about how the kids that are starting school right now are preparing for jobs that don't exist yet, and we don't know what they'll be, but that's because artificial intelligence will be doing so much of what exists today.

DR:            Well, that's good news, at least from a business owner take on it is, there is so much talent coming into the marketplace with all these different things, which will keep the cost down. Four or five years ago, every developer coming out of college was asking for six figures, and now they're getting paid a third or half of that now, just because of simple supply and demand. But it's also good in general though, just for the world. If you have all these people who are learning this other skill set, it's nice just to have more people out there figuring stuff out and doing stuff. There's just so much talent that's coming in with those skill sets, and I totally see it. So, what about the B2B world? Anything coming up that you see? I know there's all talks of automation, and that's kind of a little bit old, isn't that crazy? But anything that you see out there that we should keep our eye on?

GD:            Yeah, I definitely would be looking at the video, because I don't think it's oversaturated by any stretch of the imagination. I also would be looking at beginning to collect cell phone numbers, so that you can do text campaigns versus email campaigns. You don't want to give up e-mail yet, but I think we're on the verge of texting campaigns becoming more efficient than e-mail.

                        I still want to see every business being smarter about their metrics, and about creating, actually tracking effectiveness, paying attention to your brand ambassadors and what they're saying

DR:            Okay, well what are some not so new trends that are somewhat still fairly recent? You talked about videos a little bit, really imploring everybody to go that direction, and I couldn't agree more. But what are some other trends that marketers and business owners should be aware of, or maybe get a refresher or reminder from you that they really need to get going with?

GD:            So, at Content Marketing World, I did a breakout session on email driven campaigns, and there were about six hundred people in there. And I was shocked at how few people actually do some sort of email marketing automation. It was shocking. It was less than one percent who were actually doing it. So, even though we're talking about email marketing, and we're talking about marketing automation, and we're talking about drip campaigns, nobody's actually doing it. And truthfully, it's not brain surgery, it's not hard to do, and you can create all sorts of campaigns where you are engaging a prospect and then a customer in their buying process, and you can give them the right kinds of content to help them make decisions either to buy the first time, or continue to buy, to upsell them, or whatever it happens to be. There are so many things that you can do, and that can all be automated.

Now, of course, there are yucky ways to do it, right? I mean I think we've all gotten emails that it's like, 'I saw you opened my email last week, and you haven't responded, so you must be stuck under a file cabinet.' That's bad email marketing. What's good email marketing is figuring out the buying process, and your marketing funnels, and pushing people through that. And it worked extraordinarily well.

DR:            And let's touch on that. I think I can answer why a lot of people haven't done it. I mean we currently are, but there are still some things that we're tweaking and figuring out to apply to other clients and stuff. But you're right, it is simple to set up. There are all kinds of platforms. First, you have all your big players out there, Pardot, Marketo, Act-on, Hubspot, that have these automation features, but now there's a lot of less expensive options, so yes, there's really no excuse to at least start to dig into it, but what I think withholds people from moving forward on it is the strategy behind it. Like you mentioned the buying cycles and all that, but like, how do I know where they are with that? I know we're kind of digging into this, but I think it's going to be very helpful for people. I know we could do an entire pod cast on this, and I probably will have someone scheduled on this, but since we're talking about it, what is your thought process on the strategy behind setting up these IP campaigns? Do you feed them a piece of content that - there's either three, five, or seven stages of the buying cycle based on who you've read up on, but even the three to seven, they all kind of apply?

                        Do you take pieces, or write pieces of content that fall under each one of the three, five, or seven stages, and then just serve those in order, and eventually ask for some sort of sign up, or call or whatever? Explain that part, because I think that will help maybe give some people some ideas on how to implement.

GD:            So, let me tell you how we do it with a new subscriber. So, you subscribe to Spin Sucks, and you automatically get an email from me that says, 'Welcome to the community. Don't be intimidated, a lot of the people who comment have been commenting for years, and so there are lots of inside jokes, and people teasing one another. We've had a wedding where the couple met in the comments on Spin Sucks, and then they met in person, and then they started dating, and they got married.' So, I tell that story in the first email. There's an email that goes out I think every other day for two weeks, and those emails are that there are certain things you have to understand to read this blog because there are certain things we talk about a lot. The peso model. Paid, shared and owned media. Influencer relations. Leadership tips. Women's equality. There are things that we talk about all the time, so I give new subscribers that information so that they're caught up to where everybody else is if they've just come in. At the end of each of those emails, I have a P.S. 'P.S, if you want to learn how to master modern PR, we have an online course. We offer it to new subscribers for about half of what we offered it when we launched it initially.'

                        It's self-study, they don't get access to me or anything like that, which, there are lots of benefits for doing it for the full price, but it's like a way scaled back version. So in those two weeks emails, there's a P.S. at the bottom of every one of those emails. We sell between six and eight of those a day.

DR:            Wow. And it's just the P.S. And that's a great point. Basically, what you're doing is, you're giving content and asking at the same time, but you're doing it in such a soft way that it's not intrusive at all, and you don't have to have a dedicated email that goes out asking for that, it's just on the P.S. And that's on the first email, second email, third email?

GD:            It's on every email. Every email.

DR:            That's a fantastic idea.

GD:            So, those go out, it's content, content, content, content, content with the P.S., and then at the end of the two weeks they get an email that's specific to that online course, and they only get that if they've not purchased. So, we've set up the automation to weed all those out. If they purchase, they don't get that, and then the very last email they get, essentially, the objective is, I have this mastermind group that's made up of PR firm owners, and I'm always looking to add new people to that. So, the very last email is, 'Occasionally I like to spend time with PR firm owners, and we get to talk about their business plans, and their strategies, and their growth objectives and all those kinds of things. If you'd like to apply to spend an hour with me for free, here's how you do it.' And then there's an application, it goes to my assistant, my assistant vets it all, and if it's somebody who looks like they would be good for the mastermind, I spend an hour talking to them on video chat, and then I determine whether or not they'd be a good fit for my group.

                        If they're not, then they just go on their merry way and continue to read Spin Sucks. If they are, then they go into a different email campaign.

DR:            So, the two weeks go by. What if they never reply?

GD:            If they never reply, they just get the blog posts.

DR:            Then it just ends. So, you don't do any driven campaigns outside of people who sign up. Correct?

GD:            We do every two months. That's the only ongoing thing they get. and it's right when they sign up.

DR:            Then it ends, and then they're out, and then they just get your content, and then if they're ever going to reach out to you, they'll reach out to you. But those are triggered on sign ups, not like a list of prospects that I've had over the years that I'm going to start to reach out to.

GD:            Yeah. It's definitely when they subscribe.

DR:            That's a great example because that's the thing. Buying, that confuses people, where they are in the stages of buying.

DR:            Gini, this was a lot of fun, as always. How can people continue to learn from you?

GD:            Spinsucks.com.

About Gini Dietrich

Gini Dietrich is the founder and CEO of Arment Dietrich, a Chicago-based integrated marketing communication firm. She also is the founder of the professional development site for PR and marketing pros, Spin Sucks Pro, and co-author of Marketing In the Round. 

Gini is the author of the PR and marketing blog, Spin Sucks, which is a 2012 Cision Top 100 Blog, the 2010 and 2011 Readers Choice Blog of the Year, a Top 42 Content Marketing Blog from Junta42, a top 10 social media blog from Social Media Examiner, and an AdAge Power 150 blog. And she is co-host of Inside PR, a weekly podcast about communications, social media, and where they all meet and intersect. 

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