#and it has a hard time running on two different accounts on the same browser | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

mostlysignssomeportents · 3 years ago

Text

Facebook's alternative facts

Facebook acquired a company called Crowdtangle in 2016; it makes a social media analytics tool that the press has used to monitor subject-matter trends on Facebook, especially in the runup to the 2020 elections.

Facebook just gutted Crowtangle.

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/14/technology/facebook-data.html

Crowdtangle had operated as a semiautonomous unit within Facebook, primarily used by media companies to track the social media performance of their stories. A turning point came when the NY Times’s Kevin Roose figured out how to rank posts that included links to the real web.

Roose created a Twitter account called @FacebooksTop10 that served as a moment-to-moment leaderboard for the most popular web-links being “engaged with” on Facebook (Facebook separates “engagement” — liking and replying — from “reach” — how many people see a post).

Roose’s research revealed that far-right cranks like Ben Shapiro and Sean Hannity were dominating Facebook’s news ecosystem. These reports were most unwelcome within Facebook leadership, whose internal communications were leaked to Roose.

These leaks reveal the anxieties of top Facebook leaders — including Nick Clegg, the former UK Deputy PM who sold out his supporters, created the conditions for Brexit, and then landed a cushy, 4-million-per-year job as head of FB’s “global affairs.”

These leaders worried that objective data about Facebook users’ “engagement” would validate suspicions that the service was a far-right echo-chamber whose US users were trending to ageing conservatives, a group that advertisers are lukewarm on.

Facebook’s leaders debated what to do about this and ultimately decided to neuter Crowdtangle, replacing it with selective disclosures that put the service in a better light, choosing among several other metrics (like reach) to characterize the discourse on the platform.

Publicly, Facebook says it’s not killing Crowdtangle, but rather, integrating it into an “integrity team” — minus its leadership (on “vacation” with no defined role at the company) and key personnel (who are being scattered to other parts of the business).

Facebook’s attack on Crowdtangle is significant, especially in light of its sustained assault on independent accountability and transparency tools like Ad Observer, a project from NYU’s engineering school.

https://pluralistic.net/2020/11/20/sovkitsch/#adobserver

Ad Observer tracks paid political disinformation on the platform. Its users volunteer to install a free/open browser extension that captures the ads Facebook serves to them. These are flensed of any private information and uploaded to Ad Observatory, a public repository.

Accountability journalists and researchers use Ad Observatory to track whether Facebook is living up to its public promises to limit paid political disinformation. The project has documented many failures to uphold those promises.

In its smear campaign against Ad Observer, Facebook has insisted that the project is both dangerous (Facebook falsely claims it captures private information) and redundant, because Facebook maintains its own ad repository for researchers.

But Ad Observer has already caught multiple instances of paid political disinformation that was not included in Facebook’s repository.

Facebook has proven that it cannot be trusted to honestly reflect its own practices in its transparency efforts.

As Crowdtangle enters a decline — leadership sidelined, engineers scattered — we should interpret Facebook’s promises to replace it with its own “accountability” tools, run by the leadership faction that decried Roose’s top-10 list, in light of the Ad Observer fiasco.

After all, these leaders insisted that the problem with Roose’s list is that it measured “engagement” and not “reach” — but when the company produced its own internal “reach”-based leaderboards, they looked much the same as the “engagement” ones.

Roose agrees with FB leaders in that Facebook isn’t merely a far-right echo chamber (he says that it contains such a chamber, but that’s not the whole story). But there’s one way in which FB is firmly Trumpian: its insistence on “alternative facts.”

Trump is a bullshitter, raised in the “positive thinking” church of Norman Vincent Peale, whose gospel dictated that you could manifest new realities by insisting that they were already here — “fake it till you make it” (AKA “gaslighting”).

https://www.npr.org/2017/01/19/510628862/how-positive-thinking-helped-propel-trump-to-the-presidency

This ideology — call it gaslightism — is the fantasy that powerful people can warp reality simply by declaring it to be something else (think of the GWB official who sneered at the “reality-based community” and its skepticism over war in Iraq).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reality-based_community

It’s a common trait among wealthy narcissists. Elon Musk insists that the laws of physics will bend to his satellite internet network and allow for multiple universes’ worth of electromagnetic signalling.

He’s sure that the laws of geometry will bend to his tunnels and somehow relieve traffic congestion by adding private vehicles; that he will make massive leaps in computer science and create safe autonomous vehicles.

Trump’s insistence the virus would “disappear…like a miracle” was just the latest installment in a long history of bullshitting (“positive thinking”), including things like pretending to be his own publicist, boasting to journos about his prowess.

https://www.dailywire.com/news/audio-listen-donald-trump-pretend-be-his-own-hank-berrien

Facebook’s desire to “control the narrative” is part of this intellectual tradition, and it’s hardly the first time the company has done it.

Early in the company’s history, Zuckerberg defended his “real names” policy by saying that anyone who objected was “two-faced.”

It’s hard to overstate how deranged this is: surely Zuckerberg presents a different facet of his identity to his spouse, his kids, his shareholders, his co-workers and the press. It’s not “two faced” to talk to your boss differently from how you talk to your lover.

However, by forcing billions of Facebook users to confine themselves to a single identity, Zuckerberg does make it easier to target them with ads. This “two-faced” business is just an attempt to will a radical, sociopathic norm into existence.

This attitude permeates Facebook’s corporate conduct: remember the “pivot to video?” Facebook wanted to compete with Youtube — the number two supplier of display advertising, after FB itself — so it declared that videos were very popular on Facebook.

Not that videos would be popular — they were already popular. The company told its media and ad partners that they were missing out on a gold-rush because FB users loved watching FB videos.

Media companies literally laid off their newsrooms in order to hire video production teams based on this intelligence. The entire media- and ad-ecosystem reoriented itself around Facebook’s market intelligence.

There was just one problem. Facebook was lying. FB users weren’t watching its videos, and Facebook knew it. The company was just betting that if it convinced media companies to spend billions making videos, its users would watch them.

https://www.wired.com/story/facebook-lawsuit-pivot-to-video-mistake/

This fraud devastated the media world, first by triggering waves of layoffs of experienced journalists to make way for young video producers, then by killing or hobbling their employers and triggering another wave of mass layoffs.

Zuckerberg knows it’s not “two-faced” to show different parts of yourself to different people. Facebook knew that no one was watching FB videos. They were just betting that they could fake it until they made it — the core tenet of gaslightism.

The Crowdtangle affair is more of the same. Facebook’s US market is dominated by furious, old conservatives. The company knows it — but they also know that if they admit it, people who don’t match that description will be less likely to stay on its platform.

They know that advertisers don’t pay much to reach that audience. They know that an aging user-base will dwindle over time unless there’s a cohort coming in behind it. They think that if they suppress the true nature of their business, the nature will change.

Gaslightism is what Exxon embraced half a century ago, when it suppressed its own scientists’ conclusions that its product would render our planet unfit for human habitation. They were betting that if they just kept the news quiet, something might come up that changed it. #ExxonKnew

The wealthy and powerful have always practiced gaslightism (hence folktales like “The Emperor’s New Clothes”).

To be clear, we’re all prone to kidding ourselves with wishful thinking, but wishful thinking is different when it’s combined with unchecked power.

That’s why Thomas Jefferson argued for an anti-monopoly clause in the Bill of Rights — not because he disbelieved in smart people with good ideas, but because he disbelieved in infallible people.

Mark Zuckerberg is not an evil supergenius. He’s not a supergenius, or any kind of genius. He’s just an everyday mediocrity like you or me, someone who talked himself into thinking that he should be the czar of 3 billion lives.

https://locusmag.com/2018/07/cory-doctorow-zucks-empire-of-oily-rags/

The problem of concentrated, unaccountable, autocratic power isn’t evil supergeniuses. The problem is people no better or worse than you or me, indulging their worst impulses with no one to call bullshit on them.

Nerfing Crowdtangle and attacking Ad Obverser are just ways for Facebook to preventing journalists from calling bullshit on it — a way to further secede from the reality-based community. It’s pure gaslightism.

Image: Japanexperterna.se (modified) https://www.flickr.com/photos/japanexperterna/15251188384/

Minette Lontsie (modified) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Facebook_Headquarters.jpg

CC BY-SA: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/

Anthony Quintano (modified) https://www.flickr.com/photos/quintanomedia/41793468502

CC BY: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/

#pluralistic

54 notes · View notes

peachy-panic · 3 years ago

Text

Only Temporary: Sebastian Tate

Hello. I was completely blown away by the positive response I got on the first piece of Jaime’s story (title under construction). Thank you to everyone who had a kind word to say about it! You made me really happy I made the mildly frightening choice to post.

In the interest of acclimating to the no-rules, freedom-to-post-out-of-order structure of this community, I wanted to introduce a new piece of the puzzle this time, with a new character that will come into play later.

Also, this piece goes into a little bit of the details, but for frame of reference on the BBU-adjacent thing: this story takes place in a not-so-distant future of the BBU, where WRU has undergone some changes. I look forward to exploring this world building more as I go.

Anyway, I’m rambling again. Thanks for reading. Here it is:

WARNINGS: General BBU warnings, talk of institutionalized slavery, classism, and general terribleness of large corporations. Referenced past homophobia and rough parental relationships, briefly implied/referenced non-con.

When Sebastian reflects on the day he graduated from med school, a sort of emptiness is the memory that first bobs to the surface. Among the cheers and camera flashes in the crowd, white coats and proud smiles, what Sebastian recalls most vividly from that day is looking out into the sea of parents and families and people there to support their loved ones on one of the biggest days of their lives, and not seeing a single person that had come for him.

What should have been one of the happiest moments of his life had been quickly overshadowed by the sinking feeling that none of it mattered as much as it would have if he had someone to share it with. Like there was something so fundamentally wrong with his life, that even something as objectively good and right and decent as becoming a doctor could be dulled over into a feeling of nothingness.

Perhaps, he thinks in hindsight, that moment had been foreshadowing for the following months ahead of him.

Watching rejection after rejection pour in from his top residency programs had felt like nothing short of his own personalized nightmare. He had spent several nights in a row on the phone with Alex, his undergrad roommate and only friend, clamoring back from the edge of many a panic attack, spiraling into all-out existential dread about the future and the past and what all of it meant for him if he couldn’t land an internship, let alone a real job out of school. To his credit, Alex never gave up hope in his friend. Or at least, he did a decent job hiding it if he did. Which was probably exactly what Sebastian needed to get through that particularly dark time in his life, and a good reminder of what a solid friend he had. Even if it was a party of two.

Unfortunately, Sebastian did not have the same faith in himself.

He was able to keep up some facade of optimism as his top five were picked off one by one. Telling himself, despite his devastation, that they were a pretty far reach, anyway. Even with good academic standing, it was famously no walk in the park to land yourself at John Hopkins or Mayo as a first-year. He even maintained a brave face as his first few safety programs reached capacity and moved forward without his name on the roster.

It wasn’t until he received his final rejection letter from some internal medicine place in Bumfuck, Idaho that he felt himself slip into dangerous territory. Sebastian knew himself well enough to know his own depressive patterns by then, and he knew it was only exponential decay from there.

Rock bottom came, as it did, in the wee hours of the night, after a full bottle of wine. Alone in his small apartment, surrounded by half-packed boxes with no destination, Sebastian found himself sprawled out on the floor with his laptop hot against his thighs. He couldn’t have explained why he opted for a privacy browser, but something about it allowed him to justify the words that he typed into the search bar.

It was a new low, and one he had sworn to himself he would never stoop to. Yet there he was.

He gave himself a moment to reconsider, to back out of what was undoubtedly a morally-gray train wreck waiting to happen as his thumb hovered over the enter key. And then the alcohol decided to override his moral compass.

Facility Care is the open secret of the medical profession. It comes with its fair share of stigma, and rightfully so, but it is notoriously easy to break into and pays a decent wage.

There are two types of people who end up stooping to that kind of employment. More often than not, it consists of doctors and nurses who had their licenses revoked or suspended somewhere along the line and needed a way back in. As far as Sebastian understood, they aren’t terribly ridgid about the particulars of each circumstance. After all, in the eyes of the law, the patients they would be treating are a price tag away from being entirely expendable.

The other percentage of Facility Care workers, and the reason Sebastian found himself staring at his too-bright computer screen with a sinking feeling of dread that night, are young medical graduates who find themselves in a tough spot. It isn’t difficult to spell out the logic behind that one when you open the WRU CAREERS tab on the home page and see the bright white words printed across the top of the screen:

LOAN FORGIVENESS.

It is shamelessly predatory and aggressively capitalistic, but Sebastian supposes that particular exploitation is pretty far down on the list of transgressions for an institution of legalized slavery. A few broke and hopeless medical students were hardly going to keep the Powers That Be up at night when they were able to rest easy under the weight of hundreds of thousands of stolen lives.

The whole thing is part of the massive PR overhaul the company did a few years back. In a world that was slowly inching toward civil activism and with the accessibility of platforms like social media to hold them accountable, WRU had to adapt to survive. Adaptation, in this case, took the form of changing the barest of minimums in order to keep themselves above board — to the public eye, anyway. Anyone who dares to take a closer look at the policy changes can see that it’s bullshit.

Changing ownership conditions to a rent-by-contract basis isn’t the humanitarian move they try to paint it as. In the end, it probably just equals out to more money in the company’s pocket when they can get more return on their “investments,” and a larger chance of exploitation for the people being moved around.

Getting rid of the Romantic division is an entirely meaningless gesture when they are still loaning out human beings with no legal rights and the inability to say “no.”

And offering an open job market with good wages and healthcare options to lower class individuals is a pretty convenient way to mute the backlash.

Essentially, you can tie a system of slavery and abuse up in a bow and make it pretty on the outside, but at the end of the day, it’s still fucking slavery.

Not that he has any room to criticize now. Now that he’s one of them.

In the end, Seb tries to justify his decision a few different ways. He is, after all, more or less a young man alone in the world. The odds are stacked against him and have been for a while. With only his own two legs to stand on, the only force stronger than his internal ambition is his instinct for survival, and he’s been running on those fumes for longer than he can count.

He had lasted less than two months under his parents’ roof after he came out of the closet at eighteen. It wasn’t exactly a surprise for anyone involved; Sebastian’s parents had known about (and subsequently bottled) his… urges… since he was in high school. Probably before that, if he is being honest with himself. And Sebastian, for his part, had spent the better part of his teenage years mentally preparing for the inevitable. He can recall long, late nights he had spent crying into his pillow and the perfectly-scripted ‘coming out’ speeches he recited to his mirror when he was one-hundred percent sure his parents were asleep.

Of course, none of the preparation had been anywhere near adequate when he actually found himself wilting beneath the heat of his father’s glare, the weight of his mother’s grief.

But. He had recovered. That is the point he tries to remember when the memories sting fresh beneath his skin, even all these years later. He has more-than proven himself to be a survivor. He has worked harder than anyone he knows for every scholarship, every grant, every dollar to put himself through school. Sacrificed nights out and real relationships for night shifts at shitty diners and long weekends cramming for exams. It hadn’t been easy, but he considers it the price he had to pay for his independence. For freedom, to live the life as the person he is meant to be, despite his unfortunate odds. He spent years telling himself it would be worth it. That one day, his hard work would pay off.

He can’t stop now.

Sebastian doesn’t have the luxury of taking time off to reroute when his navigation has gone amiss. He is walking the precarious line of rapidly accruing interest and student loans and a dwindling savings account, and there is no safety net below him.

Beggars can’t be choosers, and as it turns out, beggars sometimes have to compromise their moral integrity in order to survive.

It’s only temporary.

That is the mantra that gets him through the (half-drunken) application process and the (disturbingly lax) interview process. It is a job. One job. In the medical field, though the details are up for debate, and it is real-life money for rent and food and a savings that will hopefully be sizable enough to get him where he really wanted to be. Which is… really, anywhere else.

He can do ‘temporary.’ And perhaps, some misguided part of him thinks he can do some genuine good from the inside, too. ‘Be the change you want to see’ and all that.

It is a far jump from the floor of his apartment, sloshed and exhausted and desperate, to the cold, sharp reality of walking into his place of employment on his first day of work. Ironically, it feels a lot like an echo of the emptiness from his graduation day.

‘Sterile’ doesn’t quite cover it. ‘Sterile’ is the expectation of any well-respected medical establishment, but the inside of the facility walls has been wiped clean of far more than bacteria and germs. It is completely devoid of humanity. The long corridors that connect the medical wing to the general ward are windowless and dimly lit by flickering fluorescent panels that had make his head pound for the entirety of his first week.

He is given an office, though it is a term he, himself, might use loosely, as it is more akin to what was probably a storage closet before the old prison had been converted into the state’s training headquarters. It leaves him just enough space for a small desk and two chairs. On his first day, he asks if it is okay to bring in some personal items to spruce the place up. The older, balding doctor who had been assigned to show him around merely shrugs, and Sebastian decides to take that as a yes.

The small, pink-framed photo of a six-year-old Sebastian Tate in his grandfather’s white coat and an old-school stethoscope around his neck is hardly enough to make the place cozy from the corner of his desk, but it’s a good enough reminder of why he has to make this work.

‘It’s only temporary.’

‘Be the change you want to see.’

He will do his best.

#Sebastian Tate #bbu #like bbu adjacent?#tw: human trafficking #tw: slavery #implied noncon #whump #Do No Harm: Jaime & Sebastian

54 notes · View notes

miyaniacs · 4 years ago

Text

this will be so much fun!!!

OKAY SOOO I’LL DO SOME OF MY FAVES FOR THIS ONE OKAY?

(repost bc it took too much time to write this to not show up in the tags numbers of failed attempts: 2 )

warnings: I guess slight nsfw and me being tipsy while writing this , all characters are 18+

characters: Kurro, Akaashi, Kenma, Oikawa, Bokuto, Ushijima, Iwaizumi, Osamu, Atsumu, Sakusa

masterlist

HC The boys find out their crush is a cam girl / has an onlyfans account

Kuroo

AYT NOW LISTEN

it was late at night and he couldn’t sleep so ... there is one thing he hasn't tried yet...

now he’s on some popular cam girl website and scrolling through the different cams

then he stops

this one girl seems familiar

he clicks on it and

JACKPOT ?! its YOU ??? HIS CRUSH ???!

but OMG. he had the best night of his life sweety

but still.. he will now definitely ask you out on a date tomorrow.

after seeing your beautiful body and the way you moan and move

HONEY NO ONE IS ALLOWED TO SEE THIS AGAIN

other than that he probably thinks it’s hot af that you are a cam girl

I mean Kuroo aka pornstar

he loves the fact that you the sweetheart for anyone else but could be the pornstar just for him

smug af the next day he sees you from afar

shy af the second you come over

Akaashi

HE DID NOT OPEN THIS TAB OKAY

he did tho but HE DID NOT OKAY?

OKAY!

so anyway - his browser magically opened his one website

and he just hear someone talk

he recognised the voice but - NO... this can’t be you right?

yeah jokes on him

he chocked on his on salvia when you walk in the view of the camera wearing nothing but some sexy black lingerie

GURL. BITCH THOUGHT YOU WERE A BABY?!

but now he knows you aren't

you definitely aren't

but he now wants you to be his babygirl

and he wants to look away.. but he can’t

soooooo ..... yeah. he had some fun that night

wasn’t sure how to look into your eyes the next time he saw you tho

Kenma

he did not find you

Kuroo did

and yes he immediately sent him the link with a voice memo of him basically just screaming

the said link lent to an onlyfans account

despite the fake user name, he instantly recognises the birth mark on your arm

yes the many times he watched you when you all were out with friends made him recognise this stuff

so did he pay to see the rest of the pictures and videos?

yes.

was he embarrassed?

oh hell yes.

was he still enjoying it?

yes.

is he now able to look into your eyes?

no.

Kuroo has to do all the magic to make him speak to you now - because you are, despite the account you got, still a shy bean who can’t talk to her crush

Oikawa

screams in the middle of the goddamn night

you - you just brought him chocolate a few hours ago?

and now your stripping in front of him? I mean you don't know that he's watching since you just do it in front of the cam

his little oik-oik is growing

he thought you were innocent?

will sent the link to IWA-CHAN

with a “LOOK AT MY CRUSH OMG”

after your lingerie is off and you took out a toy he sent another message

“WAIT NO DONT LOOK AT HER”

he will be all cocky tho when he sees you the next time

you walk up to him, saying a cute and shy “hello” and he’s just

“you haven’t been this shy last night”

you panic and run away which results in him panicking running after you screaming apologises

Bokuto

He is hyped

OMG

Poor Akaashi will probably know about all of this too

he has so much fun watching you online - imagining that you are here with him at this moment doing all of this just for him

which you secretly do since you’re also imagine him watching this

will open this website more often the following days then he would admit

i’m not sinning that much to actually write down the stuff that’s going on in his head

the next time he sees you

he does question if it was really you who he saw online

you are nothing like the girl he saw there

SOOOOOOO he straight up ask you

“hey y/n !!! are you (your username)” he smiles and tilts his head

you just black out

Ushijima

again poor baby

Tendou and Semi told him to visit this site - hot farmers advice

this baby thought he’d actually learn something he could tell you - his crush - since you recently TOLD HIM that you try to grow some tomatoes

but when the site finished loading

HE WAS NOT EXPECTING TO SEE YOU ON THERE

with nothing less than lingerie, an oversized plaid shirt AND a straw hat

you’re on all fours and the way you move and moan and talk to the camera

he wasn't really taking note of where his hand is wandering rn

soon after, you are now without a bra, he finds himself rock hard

the next day you tell him about your tomatoes WHICH ARE GROWING (!!!) he gets red af and just leaves

you look confused at a laughing Semi and Tendou rolling on the floor

Iwaizumi

he usually doesn’t do this stuff... but... it was some time until he got some

and he just wants you - so he doesn't want to hook up with some random girl

you’re pure and innocent and he accepts this and will wait for you too feel comfy enough so he can ask you out on a date

anyways he’s at this random website

and switches trough the channels to find someone he likes

and he chocks.

THIS CANT BE

YOU

he actually was about to text Oikawa but then stopped because Oikawa

he starred at the screen not even blinking

his hand is moving so fast

and all the things you say and the way you tease your viewers

omg

hny

he really wants to fuck some manners in you okay?!

awkward af the next day he sees you tho

yes talking about blushing IWA-CHAN

Osamu

his Laptop was broken

so he used Atsumu’s

WHO left this tab open

he let out a small scream, his normally stoic face falling

WHY ARE YOU NAKED ON HIS BROTHERS LAPTOP

now he sees that it’s an only fans

WHY IS HIS BROTHER PAYING TO SEE HIS CRUSH NAKED

but hey.. Atsumu’s not home... and he told him it’s okay to use his laptop..

a few minutes later he’s already worked up watching your beautiful body, his eyes following every movement of yours

he can’t really comprehend that you are the same girl that always comes to his shop, always stuttering and nervous while talking to him?

BUT HELL WAS HE ENJOYING IT

and those pictures of you in this maid uniform.

OH AND IS THIS CHOCOLATE ON YOUR BOOBIES

his imagination went wild

“OY i see you’re enjoying my present?” - Atsumu came back home

Atsumu

I mean it’s canon that he watches porn and is paying for some cam girls right?

so he’s looking for some now that look more like you - his crush.

someone cute and innocent

Gosh he loves it how easily you get flustered when he flirts with you

this one looks promising he thinks

and hell was it promising

it was you

surprise surprise

he was blushing for a whole minute baby

THAT ASS ?!

how tf have you hid that all the time?

SO many dirty thoughts

SOOOO MANY

will def call Osamu to his room

after he finished this lil problem down there obviously

Osamu is grossed out - he thought you are cool and now he can’t look at you the same way

Atsumu tho - wont get that much sleep that night, your body and all the thing’s he’d do to you circling in his head keeping him up

is Atsumu enjoying this way too much the next day he sees you? Obviously YES

he will walk up to you, flirting, and when he’s about to leave he adds

“How about you skip todays stream and put on a show just for me?”

Sakusa

IT. WAS. NOT. HIS. IDEA.

Ratsumu sent him a link

our poor boy thought it was about volleyball and not something so dirty

he was CLEANING HIS ROOM WHEN HE OPEND IT

with the cleaning product you suggested to him

and now he sees you on his phone also cleaning

but with - with NOTHING ON ?!

he dopes the products and sits down on his bed - he knew you are beautiful but damn.. this hits different.

you with some MR. PROPER and WINDEX

PUHHH his fantasy is running wild WILD now that he sees you.. move .. and cleaning some of your toys and well

.... he needs to change the sheets and cleans again afterwards

ok so the next day... Atsumu already told you that he knows about your dirty little secret and that he sent it Sakusa to “help you two ”

Sakusa came and looked at you disgusted “You're dirty even tho you’re cleaning? that wasn't the way you’re supposed to uses those items.” he adds

“Then make me pure again?” you return ( @tendouthighs about Sakusa) “- and show me how to properly use them”

#haikyuu headcanons #haikyuu x reader #haikyuu reactions #haikyuu requests #atsumu x reader #kuroo x reader #sakusa x reader #oikawa x reader

710 notes · View notes

emptymasks · 3 years ago

Note

When are you planning to start your streams? Can anyone come?

Okay so I'm going to make this a stream FAQ/Q&A sort of post:

"When are you planning to start your streams?"

Soon!! I was waiting a bit to see how people responded to my last post about suggested times and dates. I'll be making a post soon that will list off all the dates and what musical we will be watching each week and I'll try and tag as many people who have shown interest in wanting to join.

"Can anyone come?"

Yes! You don't have to be someone I've spoken too before, you don't have to be someone who is mutuals with me or friends with me, you can be someone who literally just found my blog yesterday. Sure I would like it if you followed me, but that's also not a rule, the link will be public and anyone can join. You can send it to your friends or family who don't have Tumblr if they want to join, I know some of my Discord friends will be coming along as well as people from Tumblr. But it should go without saying if anyone behaves awfully I will ban you from the room, but I doubt any of you will. I will say as this is open to Tumblr there is a potential for minors to be in the chat so you know don't talk about explicit NSFW things.

Where will the streams be hosted, how can I join?

I host my streams through Kosmi and if you attended my birthday stream of Tanz Der Vampire then you're familiar with it. Kosmi can be watched on PC or Mobile, and it's free and you don't even have to make an account. It's also a website not a PC app so you don't have to worry about downloading anything (there is also an app version though if you would prefer to use that, but I've always just used the website). I would, however, recommend that you do make an account. Without an account you will show up as 'anonymous' in the chat box to the side of the video and if you want to chat and there's 10 different 'anonymous' people it can get confusing. I'd recommend you set up a username before the stream starts. The room will me marked 'private' which means only people with the link can enter, and not just anyone who's browsing Kosmi.

Do I have to take part in the chat?

No! There is no pressure to chat, and if you just want to lurk and stay silent and watch that is completely fine! If I get sucked into what we're watching I may forget about the chat anyway, ha. But the chat's just there if people want to comment on what's happening, react to things, hey maybe make friends I don't know, or just ask questions if you're confused on anything.

What if I'm late?

I'll likely start the video up to 10 minutes after the scheduled time for anyone who is just setting things up or slightly late, but I won't be hanging around for people for ages. Once the stream starts I will stop it in the intermission for 10 or so minutes for people to get snacks or drinks or toilet breaks. I'll get everyone to check in when they come back and once everyone seems to be back I'll start act 2, sorry in advance if I start act 2 and you're not back yet, it's hard to keep track of everyone if there's a fair amount of people. You can join in the stream at any time, the room will always be open and I'll be using the same room for all of the streams which means you can keep reusing the same link and the chat log from the previous nights will still be there. That also means you can peak in between streams so I'm trusting you all to not misbehave with the chat while the streams aren't running throughout the week. But yes you can still join in at any time during the stream, the room will not be closing once the video starts, I just won't be rewinding the video for you.

Kosmi is a really good website and I'd so recommend it! You can share videos in three different ways: screen sharing (but while screen-sharing internet browser keeps the volume, screen sharing programs does not) which I've used to stream Netflix shows with friends, from a URL like Youtube or Twitch or Vimeo, or directly from a file on your computer. Watch party is only one of three functions and while I've never clicked on the other two before there's a small range of games to play and console emulators.

Omg though while checking settings for the room, because I've just set it up, I realised you can also share music as well and I had the silly idea that I could have music running before the streams start for anyone who shows up early, you know like you have in cinema's before the trailers and adverts come on? (At least that's how it is in UK cinemas, they play music until the lights dim for adverts, then trailers, then lights go all the way off for the movie).

My TDV birthday stream went well and people came who I knew and some who I didn't and we all had fun! There is no pressure to talk, but if you want to everyone is normally very approachable and friendly.

#let me know if i missed any questions you have!#answeredasks #anon #european musicals #musical theatre #emptymasks musical streams #musical streams #tanz der vampire #elisabeth das musical #rudolf affaire mayerling #retj #mozart l'opera rock

34 notes · View notes

thedeviousdo · 4 years ago

Text

Chapter 2

Member/Pairing: Junmyeon x Sehun

Genre/Type: Mature, Fluff, Angst

Love was for mortals, not for a Cupid like Sehun who has spent the last several hundred years doing all he could to stay away from the thing he was born to create. All that changed the moment Junmyeon stumbled into his life.

Chapter 1 part 1 part 2

Main story Repairs

Sehun watched the glare from the water make shapes on his painting. He wondered if Junmyeon would find something in it like he would with the art at the exhibit. Probably not.

He had left Junmyeon driving off to his brother’s in a hurry, something about him being locked out of his place. They had barely made it to Junmyeon’s very impressive sleek black motorcycle before his phone was ringing. Sehun had never been a fan of them before, but he could see the appeal as Junmyeon pulled on his leather gloves with an apology and a promise to text him. It wasn’t until Junmyeon was turning the corner that Sehun realized they hadn’t exchanged numbers.

“Shit,” Sehun grumbled, looking at his painting. He would not toss it into the water this time, he had emptied the trash bin for that very reason.

Maybe he could ask Yixing for Junmyeon’s number in a day or so, somehow bring him into a conversation. The fact that Sehun was conceiving some kind of plan to see some mortal was laughable. But for the first time in a long time he was taken by surprise. Junmyeon had caught his attention and hadn’t let it go for two days now. He just wanted to see if he would feel the same way if he saw Junmyeon now as he had last night… or the night before.

It wouldn’t be a big deal to ask Yixing now, Sehun thought, looking down at his watch. It was just after noon, so it wasn’t too early to stop by. Yixing did say that he could come by anytime. Sehun took a deep breath, picturing the gallery, the walls lined in art, the stark white lobby. The familiar white noise engulfed him, and he could no longer smell the ocean air, instead picking up the scent of a well-used street. Opening his eyes, he was now standing at the doorway of Yixing’s gallery.

Peering inside, Sehun saw Yixing standing at a counter, typing away on a white laptop. He glanced around the area before becoming visible and walking inside. He gave a small wave when Yixing looked up at the sound of the door.

“Three days in a row, you’re becoming a daily occurance.” Yixing smiled as he made his way around the counter to greet Sehun.

“I won’t make it a habit,” Sehun said with a smile to match Yixing’s. “I actually--”

“Wanted to ask me about Junmyeon?”

Sehun felt his jaw drop. “What? No. Wha- how… did you know?”

Yixing laughed as he put his arm around Sehun’s shoulder. “Sehun, I was one of the longest living Cupids, give me a little credit, please.” He walked them further into the gallery until they reached his office. “What do you want to know about him?” Yixing gestured to one of the oversized cushioned chairs for Sehun to sit in.

“Do you have his number?” Sehun asked, as he took one of the seats.

“Yes, but I won’t give it to you. That’s something he should do.”

Sehun wanted to roll his eyes but resisted the urge. “How about where he works? He said he ran a library with his brothers.”

Yixing sat down across from Sehun, crossing his arms as he got comfortable. “He told you that?”

“We, um...we had a drink after he was done helping here. We talked for a little bit.”

“He told you about where he worked but didn’t give you his number. Why didn’t he?”

Sehun did roll his eyes this time, he didn’t know why Yixing was acting so protective. He offered information about Junmyeon, so why not give it to him? “He left in a hurry, and we didn’t get a chance to exchange numbers. Do you know where the library is?”

“Yes, but I won’t tell you.” Yixing smiled so large the twin rubies on the top of his cheeks flickered in the light. He held up his hands when Sehun sighed, ready to protest. “That is something he should tell you, he loves that place. I will tell you that he frequents a certain coffee shop most mornings on his way to work.” Yixing grabbed a pen and notepad from the coffee table, making a show of writing something down. “This is the name of it.”

Sehun grabbed the note. “Cloud 9 Coffee Shop.”

“It’s not far from here.”

Junmyeon cleared his search history on his browser, he didn’t need to have a reminder he had tried looking for Sehun’s account. He’d text or call him if he hadn’t rushed off to help stupid Jongdae get into his stupid apartment and left Sehun without getting his number. It wasn’t like he thought anything would happen between them, he probably dated gorgeous models or something. Still would've been nice to have his number.

“Stupid,” he mumbled.

“What’s stupid?”

Junmyeon jumped in his chair, gasping so hard his breath caught and he started coughing. “Shit, Dae, how long have you been here?”

Jongdae was bent over laughing, glasses pushed to the top of his head so he could wipe at his eyes. “Man, I wish we had cameras in here, that should’ve been recorded.”

“Ass,” Junmyeon pouted, throwing a highlighter at his brother.

Jongdae sat down at Baekhyun’s desk, swinging his feet up to rest on the edge. “To answer your question, I’ve been in here for a few minutes. You were just staring at your phone like Baek when he’s really into the book he is repairing.” He smiled, taking a sip of his sparkling water. “So, what’s stupid?”

Junmyeon shrugged. “Nothing just something I did… well, didn’t do.”

“Which was?”

“Don’t you have work to do?” Junmyeon asked, getting to his feet and grabbing his sweater off the back of his chair. He wasn’t really in the mood to hear how Jongdae would make fun of him if he answered his question.

Jongdae laughed before taking another sip of his drink. “Fine, don’t tell me, and I just got done reshelving the returns, thank you very much.”

“I’ll be back in a bit, I’m gonna take a break.” Junmyeon pulled his sweater on as he left their office, Jongdae already on his phone and yelling his goodbye.

The coffee shop wasn’t far from the library, just a few minutes walk, so he was there in no time. Junmyeon entered the familiar shop, taking a deep breath of the rich scent of coffee and chocolate. Another reason he loved the place so much: they paired different flavored small chocolates with drinks from the menu. He had tried each one more than once.

He took his usual seat in the corner near the window looking over the busy street. He could just make out the park from where he sat, patches of green grass visible. He was happy it was spring, he always enjoyed watching everything blossom.

“This seat taken?”

Junmyeon snapped his head to the side at the voice, eyes widening when he saw Sehun dressed in all black, looking like he’d just stepped off the runway, standing in front of him. “You.”

Sehun smiled. “And you.” He gestured towards the empty chair in front of Junmyeon, who nodded quickly. “Thanks, I didn’t feel like standing and drinking my coffee.”

“What are you doing here?”

He smiled again, raising his cup. “Same thing as you it seems, then again it is a coffee shop.”

Junmyeon felt his cheeks warm. He wanted to kick himself, of course Sehun would be here for coffee. He was smarter than this. “I know...I just...I’ve never seen you here before and I was just thinking about y--” Junmyeon swallowed the word with his coffee, almost spitting it out when it burned his tongue. Seriously, he couldn’t think clearly with this man around.

Sehun watched him for a few moments, letting him collect himself. “I’ve actually never been here before, figured I’d try it out. I’m glad you decided to as well.”

Junmyeon felt his stomach do a little flip at the way Sehun was looking at him. He had a small smile on his lips, obviously enjoying himself, amused as he watched Junmyeon. He just couldn’t believe Sehun was here when only minutes ago he was thinking about missing the opportunity to see him again. And now here he was, sitting here in all his handsome glory.

“Here.” Sehun pushed a small piece of paper across the table towards him. “My number. Just in case you have to run out again.”

“Oh,” Junmyeon said, taking the paper. “Sorry about the other night, I didn’t mean to leave in such a rush.”

Sehun shook his head. “It’s alright. I should've gotten your number sooner.” He could have just said his number out loud, but there was something inside of him that wanted Junmyeon to have something from him. He stopped himself from shaking his head at his own ridiculousness, being happy about this mortal folding his note and putting it into his pocket delicitley. “Did the emergency get taken care of?”

Junmyeon rolled his eyes, emergency, he still wanted to slap Jongdae’s head. “Yeah, he wasn’t locked out of his place for too long. Though he acted like his fish were going to die if he didn’t feed them that very moment.”

Sehun smiled as he watched the obvious memory play behind Junmyeon’s amused eyes. “I’m an only child, but I’d say my friend Minseok is like a brother...a very annoying older brother that likes to pester me and point out how much smarter he is.” He wasn’t lying, not that he knew of having a sibling but it didn’t stop his stomach from lurching. There were always half truths he was giving to Junmyeon.

“That’s exactly what us older brothers are supposed to do.” Junmyeon pulled out his phone, tapping a few times till he got to the picture he wanted. “This is Jongdae, and Baekhyun. Baek is more of an adopted brother, my mother became his guardian when he was 15.”

Sehun sat forward, a smile already forming on his lips as he gazed down at the picture. The three of them were sitting around a campfire, Jongdae was in a mid laugh pointing to Junmyeon who was trying to blow out a marshmallow on fire. Baekhyun was off to the side watching them as he ate his s’mores with a hint of a smile on his face. “Of all the pictures you could choose, you go with the one of you burning the Hell out of that poor marshmallow?”

Junmyeon looked down at the picture, “It’s really the perfect picture of all of us...or what we are like. Jongdae is loud and happy, while Baekhyun is a little off to the side but trying hard to not show he cares.”

“And you?” Sehun asked looking up at him under his bangs.

“I’ll always try to fix things I guess.” Junmyeon sighed as he turned his phone off and sat back in his chair. “That and I really do burn those things more often than not.”

“You paint?” Junmyeon kicked a rock out of their path as they walked through one of his favorite parks. It had little stone sculptures that the college nearby would switch out every so often from student artists.

“I try to, though I hardly ever finish anything.”

This was the third time they had met up in the last two weeks, and he was finally being more himself around Sehun, making witty comments and speaking in actual complete sentences where he wasn’t saying ‘um’ every few seconds. It helped that Sehun saw him as a friend. Once Junmyeon settled on the fact that Sehun would never be interested in him romantically, he had stopped acting like a complete buffoon around him. Sehun deserved someone who was not only as good looking as he was but also had a real direction in life, with a big shiny office and title. Not someone like Junmyeon, who spent most of his time working in a dusty library, or looking after his brothers in some way.

So he was Sehun’s friend, and he was completely and utterly fine with that. He knew Sehun was new to the city, so he didn’t have that many friends to hang out with. Junmyeon was just happy he was one of the few he chose to spend time with. Even if he was sure Sehun probably had someone he called his own, spent time differently than the way they were now. But it didn’t stop him from smiling as he looked at Sehun.He enjoyed the way Sehun viewed things, as if he has seen things happen hundreds of times. There was such a simple wisdom he seemed to have about the world, unlike Junmyeon, who constantly found something he didn’t know about in the world around him. He must look so naive to Sehun.

“Junnie?”

Junmyeon shook his thoughts away at Sehun’s recent nickname for him. “I’m sorry, what?”

“I asked if you’ve ever painted?”

“Oh no, I have a love for the arts but not a talent for them.” He laughed, thinking about his few attempts in the past. “I did one of those drinking art classes with my brothers once. It didn’t turn out that bad, but it looks better after having several drinks.”

“Maybe you were meant to pose for it and not create it then,” Sehun said softly, pushing his hands into his pants pockets and looking off in another direction.

“Hardly,” he mumbled, feeling his ears warm. They walked in silence for another few minutes till they reached the deserted parking lot where Junmyeon’s bike was. “Do you have any plans for the night?”

Sehun shook his head, shrugging his broad shoulders. “I was going to see if you’d like to join me for dinner...if you didn’t already have plans.”

Junmyeon bit his lip. He had planned on making a big pot of stew to bring Jongdae and Baekhyun at work tomorrow. Sure they could cook on their own, but he knew if he didn’t bring it, they would probably live off instant noodles for most of the week. “I actually have things out to make dinner tonight.” He watched as his answer seemed to deflate Sehun, his shoulders lowering with a slight nod. “You can come over to my place instead...um, if you wanted.”

Sehun’s head shot up, a smile instantly on his lips. “I’d like that.”

Junmyeon smiled back. “Okay, if you want to follow me back to my pla…” His words trailed off when he saw something flash across Sehun’s face. “What is it?”

“I, uh, didn’t drive here...I-.”

“Took a cab?”

Sehun nodded quickly, “Yes a cab, I took a cab here. I can take one to your place or back to For Life to get my car.” His stomach tightened at the lie, but it wasn't like he could say he teleported here, not unless he wanted Junmyeon to run as far away as he could.

“For Life? Why is it at the marina?”

Sehun shrugged, a small smile on his lips. "That’s where my yacht is." He watched as Junmyeon gave a little snort of laughter, lips thinning as he tried to hold it in. "Something amusing?"

"Who...who just says they have a yacht? As if it’s a normal everyday thing.” Junmyeon ran a hand through his hair. He of course knew Sehun had money, he had seen the sleek sports car he had driven the last time they met up, not to mention his model-like expensive wardrobe. But he must have serious money if he owned a yacht. What was Sehun even doing hanging out with someone like him? Friendship or not, there was already a huge difference between them.

“Junnie?” Sehun asked softly, brushing his fingers against Junmyeon’s hand for a moment to get his attention. He had been watching whatever thought process was warring inside Junmyeon’s mind for several seconds now. If his eyes didn’t look a little worried, Sehun would’ve thought he looked unbelievably cute right now, his bottom lip pouting perfectly, making his chin crinkle. But Sehun could tell that whatever Junmyeon was thinking wasn’t the happiest thing, not the way his rich brown eyes seemed to have lost a little light.

Then Junmyeon shook his head, putting a smile on his face as he turned to his bike. He opened the small cargo area on the side of the bike and took out a spare helmet. “Dinner won’t cook itself, and a second pair of hands would be helpful,” Junmyeon said, handing the helmet to a stunned Sehun. “I can drive us to my place, and later I can either drive you home or you can call a cab.”

Sehun watched as Junmyeon pulled on his own helmet, taking a moment to tug the zipper up his worn jacket. “I’ve never been on a bike before?”

Junmyeon wiggled his fingers into his gloves. “Are you afraid?” He looked up when he was answered with silence. Sehun’s usual strong demeanor seemed to have disappeared, instead he looked young and uncertain as his fingers moved the helmet in his hands. It was the first time Junmyeon had seen Sehun look so small and unsure. He took a step forward, taking the helmet from Sehun’s fingers and putting into place on his head. “Just hold onto me and move along with me. I’ll tell you when we are turning so that you know to lean your body a certain way.” He smiled as Sehun bent himself lower so that Junmyeon could put the helmet on better and tighten the straps under his chin.

Junmyeon settled on the bike moments later, bringing it to life as he brought a hand out to Sehun. “I promise I won’t let anything happen to you.”

Sehun took a deep breath as he took Junmyeon’s hand, it was softer than he had expected. He quickly let go of his hand, ignoring the way his fingers tingled and took his seat behind him. He tentatively placed his hands on Junmyeon’s hips, feeling the vibration of the bike through Junmyeon’s body.

“Don’t be so stiff, you’re acting like you almost died on one of these,” Junmyeon joked as he brought Sehun’s hands around to his stomach, making Sehun lean into his back.

“Maybe I did in a past life,” Sehun retorted in Junmyeon’s ear once he was nuzzled into his back.

Junmyeon laughed as he pushed the stand up and revved the engine. “Hold on tight.”

If Junmyeon tried hard enough, he could still feel the warmth from Sehun’s hands the other night. Just the mere thought of the way it felt to have his arms around his waist was enough for Junmyeon’s stomach to start to knot. He groaned as he rolled over in his bed and buried his head into his pillow. Friends, just friends.

Sehun had clung tightly to him the whole 15 minutes it took to drive them to Junmyeon’s house, burrowing his face into the crook of his neck during every turn. Then there were the little touches here and there while Sehun had helped him make dinner. He would brush Junmyeon’s hand when taking more vegetables to cut, or place his hand on his shoulder when passing by to grab things from the fridge. Needless to say, Junmyeon hardly breathed the entire night. He had almost been relieved when Sehun insisted on calling a cab once it was time for him to head home.

He needed to get a hold of himself, not let his mind wander off the way it was now. Sehun was probably just a touchy person, he would be like that with everyone surely. Junmyeon needed to stop thinking about Sehun.

Maybe if he could decipher the looks from Sehun, or maybe if he got more from him about his life. So far he only knew the bare minimum about Sehun, he always seemed to drive the conversation away from himself. Maybe if Junmyeon knew a little more, understood Sehun a little more it wouldn’t leave his mind to wonder to him constantly.

Junmyeon closed his eyes with a deep sigh as he imagined Sehun’s dark gaze once more.

Sehun looked down at his hands, another wave of tingles tickled him from his palm to the tips of his fingers. A soft whisper sounded in his mind: Junmyeon. Junmyeon was thinking about him again. He had been since Sehun had gone home with him the other night. Not like Sehun hadn’t been doing the same.

“What is with that smile?”

Sehun turned around at the voice, finding his old friend Minseok standing in the doorway that led to the lower cabins of his yacht, his almond-shaped eyes crinkling as he gave Sehun a cheeky smile. The last time Sehun had seen Minseok was over 10 years ago, a blink of an eye in Cupid time. His hair was longer now, pitch black strands held behind his ears, a few pieces falling into his eyes. He was in white tunic and loose cream-colored linen pants, looking like he belonged on the yacht, spending the day sipping champagne.

“I wasn’t smiling,” Sehun said, dropping his hands and picking up his paintbrush again.

Minseok pushed off the doorframe and walked up to Sehun’s side, looking over the painting. “Is this why you were smiling? Whomever this is you’re painting?”

Sehun looked down at the drying paint on his canvas. He had been so lost in adding a kaleidoscope of colors to it that he never looked at what he was creating. It was obviously a portrait in the making, there was a general outline to the face but no real features yet, just a set of familiar, warm, chocolate-colored eyes.

“I, uh, it’s noone.” Sehun placed the paintbrush down on the table covered in tubes of paint. He grabbed a cloth and quickly draped it over the painting. “What are you doing here?”

Minseok watched him for a long moment before looking off to the ocean, “It’s been a bit since I saw you, and when Yixing let me know you were out here, I thought I would pop in.”

“You talked to Yixing?”

Minseok nodded with a warm smile. “I talk to him often. Just because he turned his bow in, doesn’t mean he isn’t still my brother. I’ve known him for eons, and I will for many more years to come.”

Sehun watched the happy memories pass over his friend's face. “I’m happy to hear it.”

“Glad to hear you are making friends. You need them.”

“What? I have friends,” Sehun said, crossing his arms over his chest as he turned to look down at his friend.

“Who?”

Sehun rolled his eyes. “I have you and…”

Minseok nodded, raising one finger. “That’s one, go on.”

Sehun mumbled a curse under his breath. “There’s Kyungsoo and um, Yixing?” He wanted to kick himself as what he said sounded more like a question than a statement. Minseok smiled up at him, clearly amused. Correction: he wanted to kick Minseok.

“And what about the person you sought Yixing out for?”

“Junmyeon?” he asked quickly, closing his eyes at his outburst. He really hadn’t wanted to bring him up, not when he didn’t know what Junmyeon was to him...what he was to Junmyeon. He looked down at his hands as they tingled slightly, not as strong as before but there was still a faint whisper of Junmyeon’s name in his head.

“A mortal, from what Yixing has said. You’ve never interacted with them before, other than marking them.”

Sehun shrugged, inspecting his nails. “He’s different, and I’ve only been getting to know him for a few weeks.”

Minseok nodded. “Befriending a mortal isn’t a bad thing, you know.”

Sehun startled slightly when his phone buzzed in his pocket. He swiped the screen to life, and bit his cheek to stop himself from smiling when he saw what it was. Junmyeon had texted him

, asking to meet for coffee. Sehun looked at the time on his phone. It was nearly dinner time, a little late for coffee. Sehun did smile then--Junmyeon had been thinking about him all day and had finally broken down and asked him out. He typed his reply before looking back to his friend. “Yeah, I guess I’m starting to see that it’s not such a bad thing.”

Junmyeon rubbed his stomach, he was so full he was ready to burst. Sehun had readily agreed to meet him, but instead of the rushed offer of coffee, he suggested dinner instead. Neither had anything in mind, so they opted to walk downtown to the street markets lined with food stalls. They had to have grabbed food from at least seven different stalls.

He stepped into Sehun’s side as they passed through a crowded part of the sidewalk, smiling when he felt Sehun’s hand on his back. He let himself linger in the light musk-filled embrace a moment before taking a step away. There was a look that passed over Sehun’s face when their eyes met, again he wished he knew what those looks meant. He wished for a lot of things when it came to Sehun.

“Thank you for dinner.” Junmyeon smiled, “Much better than just coffee.”

Sehun mirrored his smile with one of his own. Junmyeon cheeks were still a light shade of red from the heat of his spicy rice cakes, and seemed to shine when he smiled. Sehun had spent most of the night trying to think of things to make him keep making him smile. Which was hard because Sehun never considered himself funny. But he continued to try, he liked the way Junmyeon’s eyes would crinkle and disappear when he found something truly amusing. Or when the laugh would end in a small giggle and nose scrunching, that was Sehun’s favorite.

“You should’ve let me pay though, I am the oldest.” Junmyeon mumbled as they started walking again.

Sehun wanted to say that he was actually the eldest between them, if they wanted to get technical. But that was something he couldn’t say...something he shouldn’t say. How would he explain it? What could he possibly say to Junmyeon that wouldn’t result in him running away from him, not believing him or maybe even worse... believing him and thinking he was some kind of monster. Even if Junmyeon didn’t think he was crazy, he wouldn’t want anything to do with him after knowing what he was. Sehun was going to live… well maybe forever, he wouldn’t age or die or change like Junmyeon. Who would want to live a life with someone like that?

His heart felt heavy in his chest, as happy as he had been the past several weeks with Junmyeon and their growing relationship, he knew it wouldn’t last. But maybe he could be selfish, just a little bit longer, just once in his long life he really did something for himself. He felt their fingers touch just as a tingling sensation started in his hand. He looked over at Junmyeon to see him look quickly away, bringing his hands into his pockets. “I’ll let you pay next time.” Yes, he can be selfish just a little longer.

He watched as a small smile took up the corner of Junmyeon’s lips. The realization that he wanted nothing more than to lean in and kiss the tiny smile had Sehun stopping in his tracks. Junmyeon stopped walking a moment later, pushing out his bottom lip in a pout when he turned to look back at Sehun, noticing he wasn't beside him.

“Something wrong?” Junmyeon asked turning around fully to face Sehun properly. He stopped himself from reaching out to touch his hand when he didn’t get an answer. Sehun was looking at him with his usual unreadable dark eyes. He wasn’t sure how long they stood there on the sidewalk, or how the space between them grew smaller over that time. All of a sudden he was close enough to smell the soft musk of Sehun’s cologne once more, almost feeling his body heat. Coupled with the way Sehun was looking at him, it was making it hard for Junmyeon to think past anything that wasn’t Sehun. That wasn’t a need to be even closer to him.

There was no way Sehun was looking at him the way Junmyeon’s mind and body was making him think he was. He didn’t look down at Junmyeon’s lip right now, not at least in the way he thought he was looking at them. Even if Junmyeon didn’t lie to himself and actually admit that he wanted Sehun to be looking at him that way, to be wanting to kiss him. That there was no one else on the busy street with them at that moment. It was something he knew wasn’t happening. It was only something nice to fantasize about late at night when he was alone, but it wasn't reality. Junmyeon shook his head as he took a step back. Being that close to Sehun wasn’t helping Junmyeon from being any less of a fool for him.

“I um there’s a shop near by I wanted to look at.” Junmyeon rubbed his neck as he turned around, nearly bumping into a passing stranger. “Oh sorry” He mumbled to the stranger before starting to walk. “I um it’s Baekhyun’s birthday next month, and I wanted to get a jump start on finding a gift for him.” He gave a glance over his shoulder towards Sehun. He was looking down at his hands, a small frown on his lips. “Is that alright? I can go another time or if you just wanted to lea-.”

“Lead the way, Junnie.” Sehun cut in, looking up through his black hair, smiling after a moment when Junmyeon nodded and started walking again.

#tether me #exosnet #my fanfic #exo fanfic #sehun #junmyeon #suho #seho #exo #thank you all for being patient while I wrote this and now in the editing process #i hope you like it!!

35 notes · View notes

bearseokie · 4 years ago

Text

When We Dream (M) | mkt

pairing: soulmate! mark x fem! reader genre: drabble, soulmate! au, fluff, smut, some angst, slight horror [warnings]: mature content, detailed scenes, detailed sexual content, nightmares, mentions of murder + blood, fear, oral (receiving), distance word count: 2.4k summary: Ever dream of a stranger? As the same man seems to be within your dreams, the only link you have to finding out his identity - how he always seems to be around - is by lucid dreaming. A/N: bro i don't even know about this one, it was a fever dream (literally) and has a lot of blind spots. a continuation might be necessary? this is why i made it a drabble. it’s meant to confuse you and make you think.

got7 m.list | navi.

Darkness. That's how dreams always begin. Whether or not you fall asleep immediately, it always manages to find you. Imagination running wild. A thin thread connected to others that can deliver you to the unimaginable, and yet he was always there.

A man - whose name you hadn’t received - a face you couldn't forget.

Desultory settings, almost alone in another world, you took notice of him over time. At first, he was just a bystander within your dream. Walking down a sidewalk, most people were faceless due to your mind never being able to comprehend other's features. But he stood out. A gentle smile as your eyes met his brown ones, keeping on his agenda within the dream. You continued on your way, not knowing what was next. You never controlled dreams.

Too fit in your own daily life, you were drawn to dreaming - it seemed to be the one sense you inherited without having to use any effort or force. It was natural.

By the second time you saw him, your mind grew analytical. Though most dreams faded when your eyes would finally open, his face was seared into your brain. Throughout your days you believed you saw him within other people. His presence a mere mirage. Set in a myriad of daily problems, you always found yourself dreaming instantly as your body fell asleep.

This dream - in particular - was nothing less of a nightmare.

Running down a twisted hallway with nothing leading you but dim light bulbs above, you were panting. Tears rushing down your face, fear had taken over your body. Something was chasing you, but you couldn't see it. You were afraid enough to be running, scared out of your mind. Screams echoed from different sections, the building seemed like a motel built inside of a factory - another setting your mind didn't program well.

Loud, booming stomps came from behind you, making your pace speed up as you looked through the doorways of the building. One quick glance into a room, and you were met with the gored scene of a murder. The next room you saw was full of flowers, but a woman and man having intercourse. Her moans making your tears fall faster, you couldn't understand the situation. Scared to peer into another room, you kept moving forward. The hallway seemed never-ending. Rounding a corner was when your gaze met his again.

He stood much taller than you, a simple outfit on him as his light brown hair blew from the breeze that was created by you running. He held out his hands, palms in your view. You halted in front of him. Eyes filled with worry, he took your wrist, running down a different hallway. Turning to look back, you noticed he was just as scared as you.

"Where are we going?" you called out to him. With another short glance back at you, he continued to tug you behind him.

His longer legs made it hard for you to keep up, pace slowing every few seconds to reassure you were still in his grasp. Taking you through more hallways, he finally reached a door that was locked.

"Why are you set on this door?" you asked as he let your wrist go, fingers running over the top of the doorframe. He searched for a key to the padlock latched between the door and its frame, ignoring your question. Stumbling around and tossing objects, he found a small key underneath a potted plant. Turning back towards you, he took your wrist once more, placing your hand on his hip. Putting your index finger through the loop of his jeans, he watched over you.

"Do not let go of me," he spoke deeply, inserting the key into the padlock and turning it, pulling it from the latch. Opening the door, you were met with an indoor forest. With the setting being wildly different than the creepy motel-factory, your body shook. As the door shut, you were convinced the other place had vanished. "Don't let go of me." the man repeated as he yanked you forward into the leaves of the trees.

The moist area made you sweat, the man lunging through the bushes. He was convincing you that he knew where he was going, but you sustained his process as being disoriented. Rummaging through more bushes, the two of you stood at the trunk of a large tree. The tree being triple its normal size, both of you shared a curious glance, making your way up to it. Placing your hand against the bark, the man's hand moved beside yours. Hand just as warm as your own, a gasp fell from your lips when his hand made contact against your finger. Feeling his body close to yours, darkness fell over you again, the bright sunlight peeking through your lids pulling you from sleep.

You constantly asked yourself: Is he just part of the dreams? What is his purpose? How was he there again? But no clear answers ever surfaced.

Researching the meaning behind seeing the same face, the universe seemed to always derail you. No mentions of it were accounted for; you were alone on this journey.

You had to give the universe credit, though. Mother nature binding with it constantly sent you on a whirl. Your mind shallowed and allowed you to fall asleep once again, body on fire.

Laying in a pure white room, you rocked up into friction against your core. Opening your eyes, the scene was much different than the leading dreams. White curtains on the blindingly bright window, walls shell white, a large bed with a thick duvet, something moving against you as you could only moan. A tongue was pressed flat against you, your hips bucking into someone's face. You were at a loss for words as your orgasm hit you quickly, mind foggy. You couldn't tell if this was all real or not.

The duvet moved, his gaze meeting yours again. He wiped his chin, taking in a breath. Eyes brighter in the white room, you stared at him in disbelief.

"Hello." he smiled, cheeky and fresh.

"Hello." you choked out.

His lips moved to your bare torso, a confused look on your face. He was so comfortable. Unable to fight against his kisses, your head fell back against the puffed pillow. Moaning into the air, his hands ran up and down your sides, fingers gentle.

"I-I," you stuttered, his face peering up at you, keeping his eyes fixed there while his kisses continued up to your breasts.

Kisses turned to bites. A small hickey was sucked onto your breast, a moan passing through your entire body making you jolt against him. A smirk on his face, a single hand placed at your pelvis held you against the mattress. Keeping with his teasing, he seemed resolute. Lips moving everywhere, his face was fully centered above yours. Finally able to see his features in full view, you were at a loss for words.

Your heart was beating so fast, you knew he could hear it. With a bright grin, his dark eyes blinked and squinted. His cheeks rose up from the smile, soft and kind. His hair smelled like generic soap, the locks soft as you raised your hand to his head and intertwined your fingers within it. His peaceful kisses moved across your face, ending at your lips where they floated above your own. Staring down into your eyes, you watched his irises disappear behind his eyelids, lips connecting with yours. As the oxygen rushed out of your lungs, a spark was within the seam of your lips. Moving in sync, your fingers in his hair gently moved from his head, latching to the back of his neck to bring him closer.

Pulling from you, his eyes shot open, wide with fire. You looked up at him with confusion, brows raised. Never in your life had you experienced such a link to someone else, much less the rapid heartbeat of theirs mirroring your own. His touch on your skin created a heat you never felt before, the mix of feelings emanating from both of you making the room fill with tension. Fixed on each other, you sat in silence with your mind becoming conscious of the dream-like state.

"Are you real?" you asked him, his head tilting as he blinked.

"Are you real?" he mimicked your question with abashment as he sat up on his knees between your thighs.

Neither of you had an answer. Within the white room, all you could do was stare at one another. His features seemed realistic, much more than the others you've come across in your dreams. He seemed to be flesh and bone, just like you. Though you weren't awake, he felt all too real. Your breathing sped up under him, eyes shutting as you woke in your own bed, a position you've become accustomed to.

Body weak, you shook as you stood from your bed. Madness, the dreams had escalated into your reality, your core still aching from the man's touch as you were idle in the middle of your bedroom. Gathering your bearings, you walked to your desk and sat before the computer. Turning it on, you opened your browser, typing in a subtle search of "dreams". The vague study led you down a rabbit-hole, words passing your pupils as a single title caught your thoughts. Lucid dreaming.

Reading over the search, everything listed that in order to stay lucid dreaming - you have to really want it. Staying focused, you would be able to control the dream for a limited amount of time while unconscious - yet conscious. With the slim chance that you would be able to hold a full conversation with the man - to be able to retrieve answers - you agreed with yourself to try it.

Night fell over, your room calm, mind settled as you laid on your back above your covers. Muscles relaxing, breathing steady, you fell asleep within minutes. The darkness took over, everything pitch dark. Your eyes opened - but nothing was in your view.

"Do you hear me?" you called out, hoping the man would hear. Nothing sounded back, your own voice echoing in the dark space.

"Hello?" you asked, voice louder this time. "Relax and control it. Focus. Talk to me."

The darkness seemed to fade as you stood in a room. Walls of black tiles plastered about, an illuminating light behind each one. It looked as if you were in a purgatory state that your mind couldn't envision. Finally being able to see around the room, you noticed the man was now standing at a distance away from you.

"Hello," he spoke slowly, peering around the strange room as his gaze looked you up and down.

"How did you know to do this?" he questioned, eyes large as his hands moved into the pockets of his jeans, rocking on his heels.

"It's called lucid dreaming," you said quickly, moving towards him. "I don't believe our minds can create a setting currently, so let's use this time wisely."

He nodded, hair bouncing as he watched you stare back at him. His lips curled up, taking in your form. His teeth shined through with a smile, making your heart leap.

"It is you." he grinned, your head tilted to the side. "How did we find each other again?"

"Wait," you said, eyebrows furrowed. "Weren't you purposely getting into my dreams?"

"No, not quite. You were in my dream first, the sidewalk."

Your breathing stuttered. Looking down at the floor in thought, he swayed. He wasn't part of your dreams - he is separate, and you both managed to come across each other in a state of mind neither of you could comprehend.

"So, you are real?" he asked, referring to the dream in the white room. "I wasn't just dreaming of a stranger with no face. It really was you again!" he jumped, his right hand reaching out for your own as he held it, looking into your eyes.

"What does this mean?" you asked, startled. "I mean, how is this possible? I didn't think separate, cognitive minds could adjust to the same consciousness, much less same dream states."

He seemed just as confused as you, similar to your second meeting. Looking into your eyes, his brown ones seemed darker than they were in the white room. Purple marks lined under them, his face seeming tired compared to the original instances that you met. He seemed almost ill.

"Are you okay?" you asked, voice almost in a whisper.

His eyes shined in the dim lighting, grip on your hand tightening as he glanced down at the floor.

"Mark?" you spoke.

"H-How do you know my name, Y/N?" he asked, head shooting back up as he seemed lost with his own sentence.

He never mentioned his name, as you never mentioned yours either. Words were falling from your lips as if your brain knew something you didn't. "I-I don't know. You know mine, too."

His hold on your hand warmed your skin, similar to how his body heated you up in the white-roomed dream. Barely able to speak, his eyes were focused on yours. His head dipped down, lips against one another as they met your own. The spark cascaded between your matched lips. His grip on your hand seeming to go numb. You felt darkness take over for the last time. With his touch tattooed into your skin, you laid on your back. Eyes opened to your ceiling, mind wired, you breathed in.

Months passed and it felt as though Mark never let you go. From time to time - within your dreams - you could still feel his kisses. His hot skin against your own. But you never saw him. You felt alone in the world, the connection between the two of you lessened.

Sitting on a bench in your local park, the sunset was in the sky as people moved along their own path. The metal bench below you was stiff, your body standing and stretching, turning. The bright lake beside you was blinding from the little sunlight left, and as your left hand moved to block it out, a shadow was in your view.

Mark stood before you, a wide smile on his face. The purple marks under his eyes were gone. Slowly walking to you, he took your hand in his, lifting your knuckles to his lips as he placed a chaste kiss to them.

"Hello again, Y/N." he smiled. "We have a lot to discuss."

181 notes · View notes

sandeeppotdukhe2511 · 3 years ago

Text

Going Serverless: how to run your first AWS Lambda function in the cloud

A decade ago, cloud servers abstracted away physical servers. And now, “Serverless” is abstracting away cloud servers.

Technically, the servers are still there. You just don’t need to manage them anymore.

Another advantage of going serverless is that you no longer need to keep a server running all the time. The “server” suddenly appears when you need it, then disappears when you’re done with it. Now you can think in terms of functions instead of servers, and all your business logic can now live within these functions.

In the case of AWS Lambda Functions, this is called a trigger. Lambda Functions can be triggered in different ways: an HTTP request, a new document upload to S3, a scheduled Job, an AWS Kinesis data stream, or a notification from AWS Simple Notification Service (SNS).

In this tutorial, I’ll show you how to set up your own Lambda Function and, as a bonus, show you how to set up a REST API all in the AWS Cloud, while writing minimal code.

Note that the Pros and Cons of Serverless depend on your specific use case. So in this article, I’m not going to tell you whether Serverless is right for your particular application — I’m just going to show you how to use it.

First, you’ll need an AWS account. If you don’t have one yet, start by opening a free AWS account here. AWS has a free tier that’s more than enough for what you will need for this tutorial.

We’ll be writing the function isPalindrome, which checks whether a passed string is a palindrome or not.

Above is an example implementation in JavaScript. Here is the link for gist on Github.

A palindrome is a word, phrase, or sequence that reads the same backward as forward, for the sake of simplicity we will limit the function to words only.

As we can see in the snippet above, we take the string, split it, reverse it and then join it. if the string and its reverse are equal the string is a Palindrome otherwise the string is not a Palindrome.

Creating the isPalindrome Lambda Function

In this step we will be heading to the AWS Console to create the Lambda Function:

In the AWS Console go to Lambda.

And then press “Get Started Now.”

For runtime select Node.js 6.10 and then press “Blank Function.”

Skip this step and press “Next.”

For Name type in isPalindrome, for description type in a description of your new Lambda Function, or leave it blank.

As you can see in the gist above a Lambda function is just a function we are exporting as a module, in this case, named handler. The function takes three parameters: event, context and a callback function.

The callback will run when the Lambda function is done and will return a response or an error message.For the Blank Lambda blueprint response is hard-coded as the string ‘Hello from Lambda’. For this tutorial since there will be no error handling, you will just use Null. We will look closely at the event parameter in the next few slides.

Scroll down. For Role choose “Create new Role from template”, and for Role name use isPalindromeRole or any name, you like.

For Policy templates, choose “Simple Microservice” permissions.

For Memory, 128 megabytes is more than enough for our simple function.

As for the 3 second timeout, this means that — should the function not return within 3 seconds — AWS will shut it down and return an error. Three seconds is also more than enough.

Leave the rest of the advanced settings unchanged.

Press “Create function.”

Congratulations — you’ve created your first Lambda Function. To test it press “Test.”

As you can see, your Lambda Function returns the hard-coded response of “Hello from Lambda.”

Now add the code from isPalindrome.js to your Lambda Function, but instead of return result use callback(null, result). Then add a hard-coded string value of abcd on line 3 and press “Test.”

The Lambda Function should return “abcd is not a Palindrome.”

For the hard-coded string value of “racecar”, The Lambda Function returns “racecar is a Palindrome.”

So far, the Lambda Function we created is behaving as expected.

In the next steps, I’ll show you how to trigger it and pass it a string argument using an HTTP request.

If you’ve built REST APIs from scratch before using a tool like Express.js, the snippet above should make sense to you. You first create a server, and then define all your routes one-by-one.

In this section, I’ll show you how to do the same thing using the AWS API Gateway.

Creating the API Gateway

Go to your AWS Console and press “API Gateway.”

And then press “Get Started.”

In Create new API dashboard select “New API.”

For API name, use “palindromeAPI.” For description, type in a description of your new API or just leave it blank.

Our API will be a simple one, and will only have one GET method that will be used to communicate with the Lambda Function.

In the Actions menu, select “Create Method.” A small sub-menu will appear. Go ahead and select GET, and click on the checkmark to the right.

For Integration type, select Lambda Function.

Then press “OK.”

In the GET — Method Execution screen press “Integration Request.”

For Integration type, make sure Lambda Function is selected.

For request body passthrough, select “When there are no templates defined” and then for Content-Type enter “application/json”.

In the blank space add the JSON object shown below. This JSON object defines the parameter “string” that will allow us to pass through string values to the Lambda Function using an HTTP GET request. This is similar to using req.params in Express.js.

In the next steps, we’ll look at how to pass the string value to the Lambda Function, and how to access the passed value from within the function.

The API is now ready to be deployed. In the Actions menu click “Deploy API.”

For Deployment Stage select “[New Stage]”.

And for Stage name use “prod” (which is short for “production”).

The API is now deployed, and the invoke URL will be used to communicate via HTTP request with Lambda. If you recall, in addition to a callback, Lambda takes two parameters: event and context.

To send a string value to Lambda you take your function’s invoke URL and add to it ?string=someValue and then the passed value can be accessed from within the function using event.string.

Modify code by removing the hard-coded string value and replacing it with event.string as shown below.

Now in the browser take your function’s invoke URL and add ?string=abcd to test your function via the browser.

As you can see Lambda replies that abcd is not a Palindrome. Now do the same for racecar.

If you prefer you can use Postman as well to test your new isPalindrome Lambda Function. Postman is a great tool for testing your API endpoints, you can learn more about it here.

To verify it works, here’s a Palindrome:

And here’s a non-palindrome:

Congratulations — you have just set up and deployed your own Lambda Function!

Thanks for reading!

5 notes · View notes

pugatory · 3 years ago

Text

What is Anki?

Anki is an application for making and storing enormous amounts (10,000+) of digital flashcards. (Unfortunately, I think I have more than 10,000 at this point.) Cards can include images and audio for no extra cost. It is what I used to study for all three years of optometry school and for the NBEO written exams. More FAQ below the cut.

Where can I access Anki?

Anki has 3 main modes of access:

Online at the URL https://ankiweb.net/about

Mobile apps for iOS and Android. iOS app is a one time, $25 purchase - this keeps Anki's servers running and is very worth it.

Desktop app, which is free and can be downloaded here https://apps.ankiweb.net/

What is an Anki account used for? Do I have to make one?

Anki accounts are used to sync your cards between the three modes of access (desktop, mobile and browser). You do NOT have to make an account to use Anki, but then you will only be able to use your flashcards on ONE device.

You must remember to sync your cards by pressing the "Synchronize" button on desktop or mobile. If you forget and open Anki on a different device the next day, you might end up doing the same flashcards twice in a row!

How do you make flashcards in Anki? (Short answer)

There are many tutorials for this online, so I'll spare you the screenshots (and making this post even longer than it already is). I made a separate deck for each class I was taking. In those decks, I only used two types of cards: "Basic" and "Cloze". Basic = a card with a question on one side and an answer on the other. Cloze = a card with a fill-in-the blank option.

What does a typical day using Anki look like?

Every day, Anki refreshes which flashcards you need to look at. These are called "due" cards or "reviews". This does not mean the previous day's flashcards will disappear. If you skip a day, the amount of due cards will continue to build up until the entire deck needs to be reviewed at once. The goal of Anki is to make you look at a relatively small portion of your deck every day to help strengthen your memory.

During the height of NBEO part 1 studying, I was doing 600-800 cards a day (it was not fun). During a typical quarter, it was more like 200-300 cards a day, which comes out to about 2-3 hours.

The review screen looks like this:

I usually press "good" if I got the card right. Press "Again" if you got it wrong. The keyboard shortcuts are the number keys 1 = again, 2 = hard, 3 = good, 4 = easy. Pressing the spacebar or enter key also = 'good'.

What settings did you use?

I used Anking's settings. It helped cut down my workload a lot, but I was still able to learn. You can check out his video where he goes into more detail here.

#anki

1 note · View note

laptopwikis-blog · 4 years ago

Text

7 Ways to Improve Your Computer Performance

Its inevitable that all computers will experience slower speeds at some point. As software becomes more demanding, the way in which your PC reacts to these changes can have a big impact on its performance. The operating system you have and whether you have chosen to upgrade to Windows 10 can also make a big difference.

While you can make some

upgrades to your laptop

to make it run faster, there are some improvements you can make that are more cost-effective and straightforward to do. These minor adjustments may not seem like they will speed up your computer performance, but combined they can make it possible to keep your PC functional for a number of years.

There are also several types of software available that can help you to get rid of old files while locating applications that you don’t use often and may want to uninstall. These programs can also alert you to files and software that may be the

causes for a slow computer

and may ultimately be worth deleting.Here are seven ways you can improve computer speed and its overall performance.

1. Uninstall unnecessary software

Your computer comes preloaded with a number of applications that many people won’t use but that can eat up system resources. You can usually identify these when you see a pop-up prompting you to update a program you’ve never used before.

Remove them from your computer and free up disk space

Click on the "Start" button and visit the “All apps” menu

Here you can view a list of the applications you have installed - and the ones you haven’t

Once you find the program you want to uninstall, right-click on the icon to see the "Options" menu

Or, you can right-click on Start and visit Programs and Features. Windows assistant Cortana can also be helpful because it can perform a search for “Programs” in its search box. From there, you’ll find a record of which apps you’ve used recently and which take up the most space. After surveying what’s installed, you can decide which programs can be deleted to help improve system performance.You’ll also want to know which programs are required for your computer to run properly and which can be discarded. One of the reasons these applications slow down your PC is because they often start up automatically when you boot up your computer.If you aren’t sure whether you want these applications permanently erased, you can take a more an in-depth look at the applications you want to remove within the aforementioned menus.

2. Limit the programs at startup

Along the same lines, you can also determine which applications run when your PC boots up. Windows 10 has an updated Task Manager that makes it easier to determine what you want running in the background and what you can start on your own.

To access Task Manager, press Ctrl-Shift-Esc

A box will appear that lists all the applications you have installed on your computer

It also gives you a detailed account of the amount of RAM each program uses when you start your PC

To make an adjustment, just right-click on the application you want to change to tell it not to run until commanded

You can always change the settings if you notice that a program is no longer running that impacts how you use your PC. If in doubt, you can always restart your computer and see how it runs without certain applications available at startup.

3. Add more RAM to your PC

In terms of memory usage, Windows 10 uses less RAM than previous versions, but

increasing RAM memory

has been a tried-and-true way to speed up devices for years.If you have a

convertible or detachable laptop

, you’ll likely need to settle for what came in the box. Some business and gaming laptops make it possible to add RAM, but it can still be tricky.It’s much easier to add more RAM to desktop computers, and it’s much cheaper, too. Anyone with a basic idea of the interior of a desktop tower is capable of installing more RAM in an hour or so.You can also take your computer into a professional shop to have more RAM installed. If you’re worried about potentially compromising your system or doing this incorrectly, then having an opinion from someone who knows what he or she is doing can ease your mind and make adding extra memory easy.

4. Check for spyware and viruses

It’s almost impossible not to pick up a virus at some point while browsing the web, but the new Windows Defender software has made it easier than ever to find malware that may be causing major issues on your PC. Third-party programs are also easy to install and can be just as effective in removing any spyware or viruses you may have picked up.Some applications are better than others and some can take up more space, which can then cause issues with speed. Ideally, you want to find software that is efficient and removes malware completely, but that doesn’t take up too much space on your PC.

Consider installing two types of software for computer performance monitoring. Malware cleanup programs can solve lagging or blatant issues with speed or popups. However, you should also look into applications that offer ongoing protection and run in the background. Again, keep in mind that these antivirus programs take up space, so you want to choose one that is designed not to affect performance. A little research can help you to find the software that works within your budget or with your specific type of operating system. There can be compatibility issues if you’re downloading free software, so double-check everything before installing it so you don’t run into additional performance problems.

5. Use Disk Cleanup and defragmentation

Every computer has a number of files and programs on its hard drive that haven’t been used in a while or are unnecessary. Disk Cleanup allows you to find which applications and files can be deleted from your computer, freeing up drive space for the programs you will use.It is incredibly easy to access Disk Cleanup.

From the Start button or Cortana search box, you’ll be sent to the program

A quick scan will show you the temporary files, installer applications, and web pages that you haven’t used or no longer need

From there, it will automatically delete them and clear up some space

Disk Cleanup’s effectiveness depends on how much RAM you have on your PC, which can also cause your computer to run slower than it normally would. If this is the case, it may be a good idea to install more RAM on your device.You should also schedule disk defragmentation on a semi-regular basis so you can be aware of how much hard-drive space you have. Windows has an Optimize Drives tool, which you can access from the Start button or your Cortana search box. There are also a number of third-party programs that can be helpful in clearing out files that you don’t use anymore.

6. Consider a startup SSD

When you want better performance, a startup

solid-state drive

(SSD) can go a long way toward taking some of the pressure off the processor when your computer boots up. If you tend to run a number of applications at one time or use photo and video editing software, then a startup drive can go a long way toward making these programs run smoother and load faster.While they’re most commonly installed on desktop computers, SSDs can be used on some laptop models as well. When you don’t have the option of using an internal SSD, you can always purchase an

external drive

that connects to your PC with a USB 3.0. This drive can give you the extra push you need at startup to accomplish tasks and give you a boost for apps that need more temporary memory to run properly.You can find a number of SSD options that work within your budget depending on how you use your PC. Storage review sites online can be valuable sources of information when you want to choose the right drive for your computer and you need to know that it is compatible with your operating system.

7. Take a look at your web browser

Minor adjustments can often make a difference with the speed of your PC. Something as simple as which browser you use can slow down or speed up the rate at which web pages, videos, and images load. If you have been using a certain browser and notice that there is a lag time, consider an alternative to see if the loading speeds are better.The type of browser you use is not only the thing that may be slowing down your computer when you’re using the web. If you have a full cache that has not been emptied in a while, then you’ll want to visit your settings and make sure that it’s empty.Your cache comprises what you pick up when you are visiting various websites. Many sites use cookies in order to figure out your browsing habits and the ads you may click when you visit a site will leave one too. A cache holds these files as information and if you spend a lot of time online, these files can accumulate and cause your computer to run more slowly. Fortunately, it’s an easy fix. There are two ways to do this in the more popular web browsers:

1 note · View note

robloxgameplaysblog · 4 years ago

Text

How To Download Roblox Fps Unlocker and robloxplayer.exe in 2021

Roblox has incredibly simple graphics, though, for a few reason, it also features a hard FPS cap. Most players would be ready to run the sport at higher framerates on their PC, but there isn’t an in-game choice to do so. Clever modders have come up with how for the community to extend FPS in Roblox, yet users are wondering if it’s safe to use the software. So, here’s the need-to-know on whether or not downloading and installing a Roblox FPS unlocker is safe on PC.

Is Using Roblox FPS Unlocker allowed?

Roblox may be a lot of fun, but one thing which will hold it back is that the low framerate. during a game with such simple visuals, getting low FPS in Roblox isn’t ideal for many users. The framerate can cause stutter and lag during gameplay, which may cost players the competitive edge up PvP multiplayer titles like Piggy and more.

Fortunately, employing a Roblox FPS unlocker is safe. Users that download, install, and use a bit of FPS Unlocker Roblox software aren't in peril of receiving an account ban. employing a mod to extend framerate in Roblox doesn't violate the game’s Terms of Service.

The only way that downloading a Roblox framerate unlocker would be unsafe is that if the user downloads a malicious file by mistake. the foremost popular FPS unlocker (which is safe) is out there to download here. There also are installation instructions on the page, which should help players to extend the Roblox FPS easily.

Why does one need a Roblox FPS Unlocker?

If you're playing any Online Game. you'll always need to confirm that V-Sync or Frame Limiter is disabled. that's because these two options can cause serious performance issues. When v-sync is enabled, your frames aren’t allowed to urge past 60. within the same vein, If your PC is generating quite 100 FPS, V-Sync will cap back the FPS to 60, and this process can cause serious performance issues.

Further, If you disable V-Sync in Roblox. you'll also get to experience much smoother gameplay. On top of this, you'll also recover at the sport due to no input lag. And lastly, you'll be taking full advantage of your expensive gaming monitor, which was kind of useless under v-sync enabled.

How to increase FPS in Roblox?

As mentioned earlier, Roblox doesn't accompany built-in features to permit you to modify to higher framerate settings. this suggests that you simply will got to download a third-party tool. Here are the steps to download the program and to spice up FPS in Roblox:

Step 1: Download the newest version of 'Roblox FPS Unlocker'. The tool is free and may be downloaded by clicking on the link here.

Once you're on the download page, you'll be asked to settle on between a 32-bit and 64-bit processor. If you aren’t sure, you'll get the processor details by getting to your computer’s ‘System Information’.

Step 2: The program are going to be downloaded during a zip file. Open the zip file and tap extract the files.

Step 3: Double click on the extracted file to run the installation.

Step 4: If your system doesn't allow you to finish the installation, click on 'More info' and tap 'Run anyway' to proceed.

Step 5: Now, return to Roblox and launch a game. Once you're within the game, hit 'Shift+F5' to see your new FPS. you'll see that your framerate is not any longer capped at 60.

How to download robloxplayer.exe and play Roblox in 2021

Roblox may be a game with endless possibilities. Although it’s been around for a short time already, 2021 may be a great time to start out playing. First things first, players got to Download Roblox Player and install the Roblox launcher. So, here’s the way to get and play Roblox for PC in only a couple of simple steps.

How does one get robloxplayer.exe and play Roblox on PC?

Roblox may be a fun and artistic game for all ages. It’s also free, so there’s no reason to not provides it a try. the sole potential barrier to entry is deciding the way to get robloxplayer.exe and install the sport on PC, which is where the subsequent steps are available .

How to Download Robloxplayer.exe and Install ROBLOX for PC

1. Visit the robloxplayer.exe website.

2. Already have a Roblox account? Click “Log In,” then enter the account details.

Users may have to play an image matching game to verify their identity.

3. New users must create a Roblox account:

Input the date of birth.

Enter the specified username (don’t use real names).

Choose the specified password (it must be a minimum of eight characters long).

Select male or female gender (optional).

Click the “Sign Up” button.

4. After logging in, scroll down slightly and click on any of the recommended games.

5. robloxplayer.exe will automatically download.

6. Click the download file at rock bottom of the online browser.

7. If prompted, click the “Run” button.

8. Click the “OK” button once the installation is complete.

9. Return to the Roblox website and choose a game to play.

After following the above steps, users can select games from the web site and play them within Roblox on PC. There are plenty of different games to undertake, so go and have fun!

Final Verdict

In this article, I wanted to elucidate that this software is totally secure and there's no virus or such thing. I’ve seen popular captions use it, and Roblox Corp themselves have allowed players to use it. If by any means, you're facing the Roblox error code 268, then comment to us so we will able resolve these issues.

1 note · View note

imanativeofswlondondahling · 4 years ago

Text

Hidden In Plain Site (2)- Tom Holland x Reader

Word Count: 2348

A/N: This was inspired by this wonderful post by @starsholland. Without it this would not be happening. This will be a multi part fic, but I don’t know how many chapters or when it will be posted so if you’d like to be tagged let me know:) Welcome to Tom being undercover on Tumblr. Quick notes- Y/T/B = Your Tumblr Blog

Chapter One || Master List

The edit turned out better than you thought it would. You had decided to use blue and red, since they’re Spider-Man colors and it honestly suits Tom and Haz so well. You still are wondering when the picture is from since you scoured the depths of Google and Tumblr to no avail. It’s either really old, or not really posted. Either way it made an adorable edit and will look great in your edit’s tag. It’s also sparked some ideas for a friendship imagine. It’s been so long since you wrote anything, with work and family stuff weighing you down, but you can picture the outline in your head so as soon as you finish the last touches on your outline, you click open a new document and drop a few lines down to get going.

“What you working on?” Your brother calls to you from across the living room. He knows that once you’re home for the afternoon, it’s not normally work stuff, but sometimes your graphic design projects run into your post work day.

“Just some edits. Nothing too big.”

“Bringing work home?”

“Nope, just working on some extra stuff.” You type some more into the document, wanting to make sure that everything is hitting the moment right. In your browser, you pull up your tumblr and make a new post.

Ask me stuff while I work on my latest imagine. Give me a number 1-100 and I’ll give you a song from my writing playlist and a memory attached to it.

Across the ocean, Tom can’t sleep. It’s nearly 3am, but something is keeping his mind from sleeping. He should be able to sleep just fine. He isn’t working on any movies that have him worried, he doesn’t have any auditions coming up, and he doesn’t have press for a few weeks. So why can’t he get to sleep?

Lifting his phone in his hand he sees a notification from Tumblr saying that Y/T/B has posted. He swipes across and waits for the post to load. You want questions? Well, he can help with that. Plus, he’s interested in learning about what kind of music you’re interested in.

Anonymous Asked:

33?

Anonymous Asked:

86?

Anonymous Asked:

69;D

Three Anons come in right after another. You weren’t expecting that quick of a reaction. Sure you had a couple hundred followers, but you didn’t tend to get that many reactions to your posts. At least not back to back. But you’ll take it, and reply. As soon as you send the edit to that blog that asked for it.

You pull up the thread between you and tomholland2013. You click the camera button and upload the edit you had done.

Hey, here’s that edit. Hope this works for you!

Surprisingly, whoever is behind the account messages back immediately.

That looks awesome! Thanks so muchX

Hows your night going?X

More like afternoon here lol. I’m just getting some work done after getting home earlier.

How about you? Is it night there?

It’s like the middle of the night here and I can’t sleepX

If it’s middle of the night there, did you see the news?

What news?X

That Tom saved Spider-Man?! It’s been all over Tumblr since I got home from work.

It’s kind of the reason I made your edit in red and blue tbh.

I hadn’t had time to look at my dashboard to be honest. I’ve been busy with work stuff most of the afternoon.X

It wasn’t a lie. Over the past few days having talks between him, Bob and Tom trying to smooth everything over, there wasn’t much time to glance over the explosion that had happened since the original news had been released. But after clicking send on his message to Y/N, he clicks over to your main blog to see the reaction to the news. There are some general reblogs of the news announcing Spider-Man returning to the MCU but then there were also some general posts about Spider-Man and Peter Parker. Your tags are what really get to him. Some like hashtag my-baby-is-back-where-he-belongs and hashtag get-tom-drunk-more-often-if-it-saves-my-baby. He can’t help but laugh at the last one. True he hadn’t exactly been sober when he and Bob had first talked about getting Spider-Man back in the MCU, but he didn’t think that story would take the world by storm.

Going into his settings, Tom quickly updates his picture with the edit you had done for him. Honestly, it looked better than he had hoped for. You had done Spider-Man colors and if he wasn't trying to keep this blog on the down low, he would share it on his Instagram so his fans could see how talented Y/N was. As he hits save, another message comes through from you.

Do you mind if I use the edit I sent you as inspiration for an imagine?

A what?X

An imagine. It’s a specific type of fanfic. I had a great idea of one while I was working on the edit for you, but if you’re not cool with it, I’ll find a different picture.

You did all the work on it. Feel free to use it. What kind of story?X

Basically like a Tom x Reader with hints of Harrison friendship notes in it. It’s hard to explain lol

Have you written other stuff?X

I think everyone on this site dabbles in it from time to time, but yeah I’ve written a few pieces over the past few years.

Do you have a list of them?X

Sure, it’s here.

You had linked a page in your message. Apparently dabbling meant one.. Two.. three… his finger drags down the page as he counts the stories. Holy hell, you’ve written fifty stories about him, Peter Parker and even some of the other Avengers. But most of them revolve around him and x Reader, whatever that means. You had mentioned it in your message, but he wasn’t sure what it meant.

Ok, I’m new to the whole fanfic thing, so pardon my stupidity but what does x reader mean?X

It’s a self insert fic. Basically anywhere that it says Y/N or you, you put yourself into the fic. They’re one of the most popular types of fics.

Before he can reply to your message, a notification comes up saying that Y/T/B has posted a new post.

Anonymous Asked:

33?

Y/T/B/ Answered: Heather by Conan Gray. So I love this song and totally have screamed along with the chorus of this song when I’m alone at home and writing or in my car driving places (otherwise I would freak my family out). When I wrote a fic called The Smell of Your Sweater, on my master list here, I listened to this song on repeat for three days straight to be in the right mind set. Honestly I could probably listen to this song until the end of time and never get sick of it.

Tom reads over the answer and can picture someone jamming out to a song so much that they love it. He pulls open his Spotify app and pulls up the song, because he wants to feel closer to you, even though you’re time zones apart from each other. The fact that it’s afternoon where you are and nighttime where he is makes him think that you’re in the United States.

So reader insert are some of the most popular type of fics, but what are your favorite to read?X

That’s not even something that I would share on a first date lol you’ll be waiting a bit to find out.

Is sharing that you write fanfic something that you don’t talk about on a date?X

Not normally. Talking about it with tumblr friends is one thing because I link it on my blog, but what I read is a whole nother thing. It literally says so much about you with who you read, what ships you ship, and especially what kinks you look for.

KINKS? IN FANFICS?X

You haven’t read much yet have you?

Literally no. I’ve only been on tumblr since I messaged you the first time. That was the day I made my blogX

So you’ve been on for a month? And you’re deciding to get into fanfics?

No I’m thinking I should stay away from it still. It seems like virtual porn.X

It doesn’t have to have anything smutty in it. Just click on ones that say fluff or don’t say smut next to them. You can also block certain tags so they don’t come up on your dashboard. Like Starker is a popular one to be blocked for a lot of people.

I don’t think I even want to know what that is if people are blocking it who are into this porn esque writing. X

It’s not porn lol You seem to have only found smut so far. We need to find you some fluff. Maybe some Tom x Reader?

Maybe I’m just not ready for it after all.X

Does he want to read about himself? Not at all. That seems creepy. But other people write about him too. It’s not just Y/N. He decides to research this further. In the search bar he types in Tom Holland Fanfic. The first four post all say smut or NSFW so he’s not going to bother reading them, but the thing that catches his eye is the fact that they all have over 2,000 notes on them. Two thousand people have liked or reblogged about him in a sexual way? What the actual flipping hell?

Before he has the chance to flip out even more, another notification from your blog pops up.

Anonymous Asked:

86?

Y/T/B answered: Praying by Kesha. THIS WOMAN COULD MURDER ME AND I WOULD THANK HER FOR IT. Plus that chorus makes me want to write some epic breakup scene and have one of the people begging the other to feel the same as they are feeling. Oooooo maybe I feel a one shot coming up. Anyway, a memory of this song- my best friend and I blasted this song while we drove from California to Philly to visit a school. It literally got us through so many hours of that drive. Kesha is bae lets be real. Or is that not what the cool kids say?

When he sent you these asks, he thought he would get one or two sentences in response, but he’s learning so much about you from all of these asks. Maybe he would send you some non song related ones, maybe some To- Peter Parker ones to see what else you liked. Purely science based research.

If you’re not ready for it, don’t push yourself. Fanfics can be a weird mindset to put yourself in. I used them at first to distract myself from some shitty family stuff that was going on, but now I read and write them for fun too. I think I mainly read Avenger ones at first as well as some TV shows too. Plus would I be a teenage girl if I didn’t read a few Twilight fanfics back in my day?

Twilight? Like Rob-Tom makes himself type out Rob and Kristen’s full names like a fan would-ert Pattinson and Kristen Stewert Twilight?X

That one exactly. I was the generation it was aimed for and so fanfics galore were my teen years. But I’m proud to say I’m a recovered Twihard.

Glad to hear it darlingX

What about you? What were you into as a kid?

I’ve always been a fan of Spider-Man, ever since I was a kid.X

Comics or movies?

Comics. They’re the originalsX

Which Spider-Man is the best?

Is that a trick question? Obviously HollandX

Was that conceited? Maybe. But hopefully, Y/N doesn’t think so. Oh wait she has no idea-

It was a trick question. A trick question that you clearly got right.

Another notification pops up and you suddenly remember the last number that you sent Y/N. Well hopefully the number doesn’t seem like you.

Anonymous Asked:

69;D

Y/T/B Answered: Noice.

But the actual answer is Bad Religion by Frank Ocean. This song got me through my last bout of depression lol. I remember sitting on the floor of my bedroom with the lights off and just playing this song on repeat. Always open about that here. It also gets me to channel some deep emotions into some pieces that I’m working on because it reminds me of being in that dark place. I also really like the beat of this though, like how it sounds like a mix of an electric piano and an organ. So if I ever name a one shot Bad Religion, it’s probably named after this song.

Tom feels like a weight is sinking in his gut. Almost like someone slammed an anchor into the lower part of his bowl. He didn’t mean to bring up something so dark with that number. He was hoping it would actually make her laugh. So guess he will send her one more number, but this one won’t be on anonymous.

Tomholland2013 asked: 36

Huh, he must have seen all the responses you posted. Between posting and replying to him, you hadn’t gotten much work on your imagine done, but you could post once more before jumping back to your word document.

Tomholland2013 asked: 36

Y/B/N answered: The Night We Met by Lord Huron. I literally saw them in concert with my friends last month so a lot of the memories I have of them are about this. But I have a great fanfic idea for this song specifically. To not spoil it completely I’ll just leave you with three spoilers- first date, first dance, secrets spilled. It’s a work in progress.

Now it’s time to get off the internet and back to writing, or else you’re going to Tumblr your day away.

Taglist: @ serendipitous-amor @im-still-tryin-to-find-it

#tom holland fanfic #tom holland fanfiction #tom holland #tom holland x reader #tom holland x you #tom holland imagine #imanativeofswlondondahling #imanativeofswlondondahling asks #hidden in plain sight

18 notes · View notes

only2style · 4 years ago

Text

How much is your anonymity ?!

Foreword

The debate over whether real online anonymity exists continues to rage on the Internet. Some argue that there is, others - that "you will be found in any case if they really want to." If my opinion is interesting, then I tend to believe that there is real anonymity. But it costs too much (and it's not just about the money), and few are willing to pay for it.

Anonymous OS

At this point, everything is more or less clear, there are, fortunately, enough specialized operating systems - the most popular are T.A.I.L.S. and Whonix, the lesser known Subgraph OS, Kodachi and Heads. There are also "semi-anonymous" solutions, such as Parrot Security, which comes preinstalled with the Anonsurf torification plugin.

All of them are built on the same principle - complete of all system traffic, which excludes any data leaks, since either all machine traffic is wrapped in a torus (as the anon surf module does), or all traffic is cut off and selected. the applications are still wrapped in a torus (as implemented in TAILS). From this moment, as a rule, young anonymous people begin to build their anonymity on the network. And, unfortunately, they arrive at the same point, which, of course, is a fatal mistake.

Using complex financial schemes

This point is already being observed by some. Yes, many people use crypto for money laundering, but they are firmly convinced that if they accept payment for something in bitcoins or transfer the same dollars to bitcoins when withdrawing, then they already anonymize their shadow financial flows.

Bitcoins have never been anonymous and will never be anonymous. If only because any newbie, knowing the address of the wallet, can drive him into a search in the blockchain and track it until he gets tired of all the transactions in it. And also transactions on his "counterparties" - the wallets from which he received payment, and the wallets to which they were made from him. Yes, there is such a topic as mixers. But most of the sources on the net claim that the mixers make it difficult to monitor only "manually", that is, when someone is sitting and viewing the history of cats on the blockchain in a browser. They are useless for monitoring software, so they can be categorized as "slightly anonymous" VPN-like services. In fact, complex schemes, such as transferring bitcoins to Monero or ZEC with Z-addresses and the chain of transactions in these opaque crypts, use units before subsequent withdrawal.

Correct networking habits

Using an anonymous operating system has one internal problem. Gives a false sense of impunity and calmness, from which a person becomes less attentive, alert and judicious. Not realizing that online anonymity goes far beyond the network, beginners begin to make unforgivable mistakes, viewing the anonymous system as a kind of magic pill, condescension that will forgive them all sins without exception. Correct habits such as: 1. Do not download anything from the Internet. 2. After downloading something from the Internet, do not run it while connected to the Internet. 3. Visit the required minimum of sites in an anonymous session. 4. Keep track of the opening and closing timings of instant messengers and account logins. 5. Monitor the timings of network connections and network activity, for example, do not turn on the modem only while working in messengers, etc. forms in itself very few young and not very anonymous.

No broken accounts

From that moment on, everything is already quite complicated. A false sense of confidence from the technical side of the defense gives young anonymous people the hope that they can eat fish on easy, that is, twirl shadow things in the torus, and at the same time throw out their and show all kinds on Instagram, along the way their boobs comic

But the only guaranteed protection against cross-posting is when a potential adversary collects all your into a torus, and then looks for matches in clear nets - do not write anything and anywhere, except for a work account. Alternatively, when you feel like posting in a different vein, with a different style in your work account and clearance, it's a little over 100% likely to fail in the long run. Well, it is impossible to constantly write both there, and there, and nowhere it is not repeated, neither in words, nor in punctuation marks, nor in typos, nor in the number of letters per hundred and other parameters that I do not even know about.

Lack of "own" Internet

It's ridiculous to talk about the anonymity of the network, having a modem or cable Internet. Well, what kind of anonymous person are you if you have unique network systems in the form of all kinds of IP, emery and other poppy addresses ?! The basis of online anonymity is the use of ANOTHER Internet. Without this, the whole movement is like this - half a head in half shoes. Yes, you hid behind a torus. You don't shine anywhere. You are still vulnerable, so in the event of a successful attack on you or your fleet, your unique network identifiers will be leaked, which a true anonyms should not have by definition. The most popular option at the moment is Wi-Fi. Somewhere it is permissible to use a public one (for example, you have an evil antenna and you shoot at cafes half a kilometer away from you in line of sight), somewhere you break a point in a high-rise building opposite and sit through it a couple of days a week, observing all precautions. And there, and there, in principle, you will care how your devices will leak. Yes, this is also not pleasant, but you will have time for an adequate reaction like a makhorka fool. You will have time to collect the belongings and throw them out of the apartment without any problems.

Lack of GSM devices

Well, it's already pretty hard here. The modern anonyms is so attached to cellular communications that the thought of living without a tube confuses him.

Lack of personal acquaintances

Probably the hardest item to complete. Man is a social being, and even such marginal people and misanthropes as me, no, no, yes, they want to rub their tongue with a living person in the real world. However, as practice shows, this is how a huge number of cybercriminals are fired. Yes, they are all in place, hiding their activities and constantly looking around. But there is always, always there is a person whom you trust for some reason. It could be a spouse, mom, best friend you have known for 22 years. And here comes the proverb "two know, the pig knows." The relationship can go bad and this person will break you. Well, let's say you didn’t come to anyone here, but you didn’t tell anyone from your word. Still, the presence of personal acquaintances - friends, acquaintances, colleagues, neighbors with whom you communicate, still makes you vulnerable. If only because people are jealous. He can break into you, and because he is more vulnerable, less prepared for uncomfortable questions, he can break in with no intention, not bad motives. They see that you have money. They don't understand where you got them from. This is where the awkward questions and gossip starts behind your back. And only the complete absence of social connections more or less protects you both from your own gullibility and from the unnecessary suspicions of those who know you at least a little.

Conclusion

Since reading the Torah article on true online anonymity, I have never changed my mind. Yes, I think so. However, I am convinced that true anonymity goes far beyond the Internet and is expensive. So you shouldn't blindly attend all kinds of "100% anonymity courses" that tell you how to set up your browser. You should not harbor unnecessary illusions. Can you pay the price that true online anonymity demands?

#anonymity #how much #your anonymity

1 note · View note

pinterestmarketingmanager · 4 years ago

Text

Pinterest marketing strategy for 2021

Where Should You Be Focusing Your Pinterest Marketing Strategy in 2021?

Here are some areas I recommend focusing on in the New Year based on Pinterest’s recent changes and current best practices.

1.Focus On SEO (Search Engine Optimization)

Pinterest is a search engine, so the same way you would focus on SEO for your website, you need to do the same to succeed on Pinterest.

There are two easy ways you can focus on Pinterest SEO in 2021: keywords and pinning to relevant boards first.

Do Your Keyword Research!

In 2021, your Pinterest strategy needs to include keyword research.

Even with Pinterest hiding pin descriptions, they are still being used to help distribute your pins!

Your descriptions might look different across Pin formats and devices. Sometimes people will see the full description in their feed, and sometimes they’ll only see the Pin title or a few words of the description. No matter what shows in people’s feeds, know that your description is working hard behind the scenes to get your content in front of the right people.

When adding keywords, use niche-specific keywords in your profile description, name, board descriptions, and pin descriptions. Then, do Pinterest keyword research for each piece of content you share and make sure those are in your pin descriptions to target the right people.

Your pin descriptions can hold up to 500 characters with the first 50-60 characters most likely to show in people’s feeds. Without keyword stuffing, make sure the description flows as a normal sentence or paragraph would. Create a description that has the most important information first, followed by more context. Lastly, include your call to action or what you want people to do when they click on your pin.

Pin To The Most Relevant Boards First, General Boards Second

This is another trick to improve your Pinterest SEO.

To help them better understand how to categorize your content, you should pin to the most relevant boards first.

That means if you are sharing a chocolate chip cookie recipe you should share it with your “cookie recipes” board before your general lifestyle boards.

Pro tip: To find out if Pinterest is categorizing your content properly, click on your pin and scroll down. If the related content Pinterest suggests is similar to what you’re sharing then you did a good job with your keywords and distribution. If the content isn’t related, consider changes your description with better keywords, sharing it to the most relevant boards first and making sure your image and copy are related to the subject.

2. Prioritize High-Quality

As a business owner, the sole goal of Pinterest marketing is to get your content seen. However, we tend to forget Pinterest’s trying to create the best platform for its USERS, not for us marketers.

This means they are actively acting on accounts that are spamming and adding content that goes against their Community Guidelines.

As a result, it’s become even more important going into 2021 to share new (“fresh”) quality content and be aware of their Community Guidelines.

What Does Pinterest Consider Spam?

According to Pinterest’s Community Guidelines, spam includes:

Unsolicited commercial messages

Repetitive or unwanted posts

Misleading content or behavior

Attempts to artificially boost views and other metrics

Off-domain redirects, cloaking or other ways of obscuring where a pin leads

Create High-Quality Fresh Pin Designs

The quality of your pins can make a huge difference in whether users will click on them or not, and whether Pinterest will distribute them.

In mid-February 2021, Pinterest made it clear they are prioritizing fresh content.

Fresh content is new images that have not been shared on Pinterest before. That means your older pins you were recycling aren’t going to drive as much traffic to your website anymore. Instead, pins that contain new images and text overlay, whether they lead to the same URL or not, are the new best practice!

Since Pinterest announced these changes I’ve played around with new pin designs for older content and the stats are definitely showing this strategy works! Users are responding and Pinterest’s algorithm loves it!

In addition to creating fresh pins, ensure you are following Pinterest’s best practices for pin design.

Pins should be:

Vertical; 1500 x 1000 px

Contain a high-quality photo

Text overlay that provides context,

Subtle branding

The elements stand out on mobile

Pro Tip: If you’re unsure at all about Pinterest’s new best practices, Tailwind has you covered with their SmartGuide and SpamGuard features. These features help you implement the new best practices by monitoring your pinning and alerting you to any issues. You will never have to worry about pinning too much or the same content to often because Tailwind can recognize it and let you know!

Only repin quality content from sources you trust

Pinterest is definitely making an effort to squash spam accounts, however, they still exist.

When I mentioned earlier that you can end up in Pinterest jail unintentionally, it’s often because you accidentally pin something added by a spam account. You wouldn’t know it either unless you clicked on every single pin to check where it leads.

Ain’t nobody got time for that!

Pro tip: A trick I like to use is to glance at the URL on the pin before scheduling them in Tailwind. If the URL looks weird, like it doesn’t match the brand name, then I will investigate further. It’s saved me so many times.

If you follow this guideline you will likely avoid Pinterest jail forever!

3. Create Multiple Pins For Each Article

Once upon a time, you could reshare the same pin after a couple of months and it would continue to drive traffic. However, with Pinterest’s effort to make the platform more enjoyable for its users they are flagging accounts that pin the same images repetitively (meaning YOU serial pinner!).

We’re sometimes asked whether it’s beneficial to save the same Pin to the same board multiple times. We don’t recommend doing this very often. Repetitive saving can create a disruptive experience and get flagged as spam. If you’ve done this in the past, there’s no need to go back and delete old Pins.

In 2021, it’s going to be common practice to continually create several pins per article and share those across the platform and Tribes. Known as “fresh pins” these will help increase your reach on Pinterest, attract new users, and stay off Pinterest’s bad side.

The goal of all this new content is to inspire Pinners to engage with, save, and click on your Pins.

You can save time by batch scheduling those pins with Tailwind. Take advantage of their free trial and schedule 100 fresh pins right now!

How To Hide Multiple Pins In A Blog Post

I currently use Tasty Pins to manage and hide all the pins I create for a single blog post.

When I user uses the “pin it” button or schedules to Tailwind they have multiple pin options to choose from and the keyword-rich description and title are attached for them.

4. Video Pins Are Going to Gain Popularity in 2021

Video pins have been around for a while, however, they’ve really started pushing them as an option for pinners.

In fact, Pinterest ran a contest in 2019 for the best video pin. If they are running a contest to promote the feature you can bet they are looking for more video pins on the platform.

2021 is going to be the perfect time to have a video pin strategy since they aren’t as competitive yet. Pinterest is putting video pins at the top of searches meaning they will get seen more often. With few users creating video pins yours will get seen more often (for now).

Video Pin Best Practices

According to Pinterest’s creative best practices, video pins should:

Be actionable (eg. teach someone something)

Start strong with a clear hook in the first few seconds

6-15 seconds for promoted pins, otherwise any length works

Be easily understood without audio (eg. text captions)

Have a strong cover image to catch someone’s eye in their feed

Follow Pinterest SEO with keyword-rich description and title

You can easily create video pins using apps like Wave.Video, Canva, and Audiogram.

Awareness vs. Action

Personally, I’ve found video pins great for impressions (they increase your reach), however, I have not had much luck getting traffic from them.

5. Create A Seasonal Content Strategy

In 2021, take your strategy up a notch and plan your seasonal content ahead of time.

When it comes to holidays or seasonal events, people use Pinterest to plan long before they turn to other platforms. Remember to factor this timing into your Pinterest content strategy.

We recommend that you start saving seasonal content about 30-45 days in advance. Activity will keep picking up as you get closer to the big day.

Ideally, you should start sharing seasonal content 2 months before the holiday. This means in October you would have started sharing Christmas and Holiday content and in December content related to being your best self and Valentine’s Day.

If you sell products or services related to specific seasons create a content calendar specifically for Pinterest.

They make it easy to find out what’s trending each month with their Insights. Use these to help guide your content strategy.

Pro Tip: I like to go through old content on my website and create pins for them with seasonal images or colors that will attract seasonal browsers. If the content can be applied to a holiday or event, I might as well take advantage of the increase in traffic by creating fresh pins for it!

6. Hire Help – Get a Pinterest Manager To Hand Your Pinterest Marketing Strategy

Lastly, if you are truly ready to rock your Pinterest marketing in 2021, I recommend hiring someone to help with the task.

Pinterest marketing is it’s own thing, separate from social media, and takes TIME. Not only that, it takes specialized knowledge to know how to get the best results.

I understand not everybody has the time or knowledge to tackle this beast, which is why I offer my services as a Pinterest Manager.

If you would like to learn more about how I can help you and your business I recommend checking out my page and portfolio.

Check Out My Portfolio

#pinterest #pinterest marketing #social media marketing #instagram marketing #facebook marketing #marketing #business

1 note · View note