#any nigerians out there with better info than google?

[lady-writes]

An explanatory comma, for a footnote within a footnote within an expansion of a drabble.

Hello I am a Nigerian American  designer tailor and seamstress. I have a lot of feelings about culture and fabric and how for me in particular they intertwine. 

This is a post about lace, and names, and art, and history, and fashion, and theft, and crimes.

I wrote a story about a woman from the black American diaspora becoming immortal and the way her first century alive changed her

I then wrote a story about that woman marrying a Jewish man and the intersection of their cultures and histories.

I made a note about a piece of Jewish wedding tradition, the chuppah, and how theirs was a lace tablecloth that was made originally by one of her enslaved and ancestors.

And then I wanted to name the fabric. I had an image in my mind of the fabric and I wanted that to translate because I knew that the cultural exchange between lace and African lace is a large one

Its easy enough to open a window and search for historical handmade African lace. That a lot of descriptors but I know what I'm looking for. then there were problems because “Africa no longer makes African Fabric”.

I could find records down to the year when a type of European lace was first named and who it was named for even. You can google lace and see hot many varieties pop up and all of them are attributed to largely European roots. None of those were my lace

I could find 7 varieties of lace being made around the world and shipped to west Africa and beyond for sale. I knew them all, I‘d worn them all. I saw thousand of pintrest results with hundred of likes and repins. I saw my lace. None of them, named my lace.

At best it was African Lace.

Lace is defined as a fine open fabric, typically one of cotton or silk, made by looping, twisting, or knitting thread in patterns and used especially for trimming garments. An academic paper (i was and am fucking determined) using this definition said that “ African Lace neither originated, nor is fabricated in Africa.” I know that’s not true I’ve seen it being stitched and dyed in the markets. If I wanted to I could make a facsimile of it myself with my 2 hands (and scissors needles thread and fabric that wouldn’t ravel for best results) That academic thesis paper is why I am writing this.

I called my mom to ask her for the name of the hand made lace, no not the mesh not the george or the guipure. The handmade one. We tossed around words, iro and buba, aso oke, adire, ankara, aso ebi, akwete. But none of those were the one and at this point I knew with out a name I was getting nowhere. She advised me to search in Yoruba, that it would bring me to more precise websites. She said she would try to remember. My Mother is 58 and speaks 4 languages fluently, she has a lot of words to go through

I went to Wikipedia, because may I could sus out other fabric types from neighboring countries, we share a lot with them in term of fabric and names and food. After all they used to be us, before colonization, I know my maternal grandmother’s tribal land was split in two, 3/4 to Ghana and the rest to Nigeria. I honestly doubt my maternal grandmother ever used those names for her home. But I don't know what she would have called it instead

Wikipedia was ok, its always fun looking at history and arts and seeing things i recognize from my parents home or my nightstand. But this time i notice the lace. It was used as trim in a slightly different style on so many garments. No name in the captions though. But holy shit it is everywhere, its a standard detail on so many gele and agbada and formal wear.

Wikipedia gave me one thing though: aran. The handmade velvet I have only ever seen on brides. That shit is hell softer than clouds moves like silk and in a traditional wedding ceremony the Bride is sent to her groom wrapped in aran and covered in as much precious coral as her family can afford (or now because we don't want the planet to die and can mass produce glass, as much weight as the woman is willing to bear on her head neck and body). It represents her personal wealth along with the backing and consent of her family. Real aran could possibly still be used this way

If i had aran, then maybe a Naija website that had aran would have the freaking lace too.

Searching aran got me a ton of Scotland and sweaters though. I found my way to an abbreviated list that I tried searching from but i only found other articles that had used it copy/paste wholesale. 

There was a promising website that looked like it had better details based on Google’s preview but the text of the article read like it had been written by a middle schooler and the promising line from google lead to a dead website.

Another google site was 3 pictures with text that I found through image search A woman was laying in the foreground, wrapped in deep red piece of checker block lace the best image I had seen thus far. the pictures caption? “ A collection of disappearing textiles,”  with countries of origin listed after, only one piece of fabric was named or even attached to a place.

 After judicious application of quote marks I found a research guide from U. Wisconsin Madison of all places (academia is back in my good graces and that the school that my dad applied and got into on his original student visa in 1981) 

A glossary of fabrics led to a breakdown on specific textiles and in there:

Heritage Aso Oke

It reads like and independent weaver retail and wholesalers site, the gallery runs on flash, the copyright is from 2012 and they have a Lagos address.

And in that gallery there are a bunch of pictures of the lace!!!! and other trim details I’ve seen a thousand times, punched edge trim and tufted fringe, I'm sure all of them have names too

I still had work to do but just seeing the woven net lace and the piecework, I actually choked up.

This was 2 almost 3 hours of my day not counting the time for me writing this.

The tradiitional West African “lace” made by the  Yoruba people is currently called ojawu ase oke, Ojawu is all I was looking for and eventually I found it. These two are from between 1880 and1900. My paternal grandfather for ref was born in 1889, exactly a century before me.

This is the legacy of invasion and colonization. This is living lost history and I hate that I wrote that phrase and its not hyperbole. My when I ask my dad about precolonial history he talks about his great grandparents (who he never would have known) as if they still had no option but leave and animal pelt. As if they were too primitive for the basic human inclinations towards art That’s the education Britain gave him, while I can use my shiny internet machine to find out little facts that make up part of the whole, like  how Nigerians had used cut pile embroidery and traded with India for beads in the 1500′s. But there’s still a glaring hole where i should be able to see what became of those (purely decorative  and made for aesthetics) beads.

This is one word in one line of a story maybe 100 people will read if I'm being incredibly generous, But that one word, the proper name of the art of making pieced lace and checkerboard lace is a cultural legacy too. Someone in West Africa once upon a time (more than 50 but less than 150) 

No one who is going to read this especially no one who reads this far is going to be capable of doing much to change the ugly nuisance nature of that. But still, try, it means a surprising amount to be able to look at a piece of you and know what to call it, to have something beyond a generic title to throw over generations of artisan culture.

I’ve bitched many times about how impossible it is to find information on my family more than 1 generation back  and my culture precolonization. those are very old gripes for me that I’ve made peace with but the frustration of seeing living breathing popular fashion that I’ve happily worn as a symbol my my family and culture and tribe and history and roots be UnNamed fuckin pissed me off. 

Because its still right here. It was on 75 percent of the images I saw featured, 10 percent more as men's trim. I can buy it at the store run by Vietnamese women 5 miles away. They sell ankara and kente too, and lately I heard them use Nigerian Pidgin, along with the English and Spanish and Vietnamese. I love it because if they sell my fabric I have a place to buy it and they have the best prices on or off the internet for Ankara by the yard or bolt.

I have 4 dresses in my closets in mock and modernized ojawu styles, machine embroidered and laser cut on net to make it affordable, Mine aren't even cut, save for one iro and buba with amazing adire work. And running through  the iro in what I can now peg as a men's style (shout out to my dad for tacitly acknowledging my queer in a language I'm only partially fluent in) traditional aso oke fabric in ivory and knot stitched and smooth as all hell, single strip and without the pulled thread detail that and edge piece would have. But there it is in my closet and now I know what to fucking call it 

The gele on my head here is modern machine made ojawu, pic from my cousins wedding before the plague times

[angrelysimpping]

It’s so rare I see someone who likes Darryl! I really loved the scenes where you get to save them. Do you have any headcanons about them or Landry? I think my favourite might be Jordan, their shower scenes are too cute 🥰

Anon you have unlocked some part of my brain that can think of something other than Whitney and Kylar and I don’t know how to thank you

Headcanons under the cut because I went a little overboard =P. TW for past abuse because, well, Darryl’s past

Darryl:

Their glasses are for reading only. They don't need them for everyday use. This is why Darryl will set them on top of their head when not using them

It would be better if they kept their glasses on a chain around their neck. Wouldn't forget where their glasses are (as often) if on a chain. Doesn't like the look of it though, thinks it makes them look too serious

Would be interested in a romantic relationship but not necessarily a sexual one. Not necessarily with the PC, but just in general

Sex is a big deal for them bc of their past. Any sexual relationship would start as a friendship then turn into romance then, maybe, into sex. Would take a long time to evolve from one to the other

Knows Briar and is not on good terms with them

Avoids going near the school at all costs. Does everything in their power to avoid Leighton. Might have actually banned Leighton from the club

Feel like Darryl would be a huge nerd. Like, could go off on a target about some minor historical fact for over an hour

Doesn't drink often. Only does when their head gets stuck in the past

Doesn't swear a lot. Even though they run a strip club that has some explicit VIP services, Darryl is saying 'dang' and 'Frick'

Will swear when their emotions run high! Knows every bad word under the sun and will use them!

Can't really do physical altercations because their fight/flight/freeze/fawn instinct is stuck on 'freeze.' Same for verbal altercations. Only enters into verbal fights on other people's behalf

Not one for physical contact unless they really trust you

Has three pet cats who are spoiled to hell

Afraid of dogs

I don't know why but I can't shake the idea that Darryl and Eden could be good friends?

Landry:

What do you mean you don't know what wi-fi is???? What do you mean you've been running a criminal operation without using the internet at all???? How?????

Doesn't know what 'a Google' is

Could be taught a few tech things but not much

You're a criminal Landry, do NOT give that random stranger your personal information

That Nigerian prince isn't real, do not give them your bank info. You have pulled almost the exact same scam on people in person 

If your password is 'password123' I’m taking your phone away until you learn how to secure it properly

7 wpm typing speed on a good day

Worked their way up to where they are. Started out stealing from houses and pickpocketing

Doesn't steal as much now, more into trading favors and selling to the black market

Knows a few very powerful people

On neutral terms with Bailey and Briar 

Micky is their child now

Very plain. Could easily be mistaken for someone else. Uses it to their advantage

When you agreed to go to this party with Avery, you did not expect to spot Landry among the guests. You almost didn’t recognize Landry at first. They're wearing nicer clothes than normal, if still on the lower end of the spectrum for a gathering like this. You make eye contact with Landry from across the room. They give you a slight nod and keep moving. Leaving Avery is not an option, not unless you're willing to face their rage later. You push Landry out of your mind and try to focus on the people Avery is talking to. It’s boring but these conversations usually don’t last too long. Avery tries to talk to as many people as possible at these parties; making connections, rubbing elbows, that whole shtick. As luck would have it, the next person Avery singles out to schmooze with is Landry. When Avery introduces Landry as 'Jesse,' you don’t bat an eye. You give Landry a shy smile that you know will earn you points with Avery, if at the expense of teasing at the pub. Maybe Landry will cut you some slack? After all, you don't say anything about how after shaking Landry's hand, Avery is wearing one less ring

[respheal]

Phishing Scams: The BTC Scare

Here’s a bit of a different thing, but I’m in the mood to ramble:

Credentials: For my dayjob, I’m the manager of system administration for a web host, in my current position after spending three years as a CentOS sysadmin. My specialty is in identifying and quarantining phishing scams, spam cannons, and hacked websites in general. I am the exim -Mrm in the darkness. I am the ps aux on the shell. I am the filter that guards the inboxes of men.

And I’m seeing this message goin’ around at the moment:

So I wanna straighten out some facts here:

The only way anyone can send a message using your tumblr account is if they have your password or if they're controlling your computer remotely (which, trust me, you’d know if they were. Remotely controlling a computer is typically pretty damn blatant, like the mouse moving or things being typed on their own). 

A virus cannot extract your tumblr password from your computer passively because your password is not stored in plaintext (i.e. unencrypted) on your computer...unless you’ve saved it in a text document or something. Don’t do that.

A virus could get your password if it’s a keylogger (that is, it records the keys you type), but that’s likely not what’s going on here

More likely, what’s going on here is a combination of previously-compromised accounts getting utilized (It’s pretty dang common for hackers to build a collection of comp’d accounts and then blast from all of them at once) or, if there are indeed links in these spam messages (which I’ve yet to see despite asking for examples to check out), this is also a phishing scam to get more compromised accounts.

For the first, basic password security:

Never use a password in more than one location unless you are okay with all of those accounts getting compromised. All of them. I have a crappy password that I use on junk/temporary services when I don’t want to bother with a good password and I know for a fact that password is compromised, so any account I use that password on is compromised from the get-go. When your password is compromised on any site, hackers can add that to their dictionaries to try out on other websites.

Rotate passwords frequently and don’t reuse old passwords.

If your password is on any of these lists, change it right now.

If your password is listed on this page, please go stand in a corner and rethink your life.

Yes, you too, Equifax. In the corner you go.

Don’t write it down. But no, you don’t have to memorize it. More on that in a bit (I don’t even know any but one of my own passwords. and that’s the password to unlock my password manager).

Don’t save your password on public computers. That feature in browsers to store your password? Fine at home because it’s stored encrypted, but never use this feature on any computer that others might use.

Password complexity is your friend. The longer the password and the more complex (special characters, combinations of letters/cases, no dictionary words), the better. Longer, however, is better than complex. If a service says your password can be 6-20 characters, make it 20.

Generating a unique complex password for every service would suck if you had to do it yourself. Instead, I recommend using a password manager. Personally I use KeePass. It stores your password database, encrypted, on your computer and works on just about everything (even smart phones). I would recommend against using a password manager that’s on the cloud (that is, not installed locally on your computer)--that just moves the database into a location that’s easier for hackers to reach.

Additionally, and if you only take away one tip from this, let it be this one:

TURN ON TWO-FACTOR AUTHENTICATION.

Doesn’t matter if you get the authorization code via SMS or an app, but two-factor authentication (aka 2FA) basically makes it so your account has a second password that resets every few seconds. Good frickin’ luck hacking that. Possible? Yes. Plausible? Pffft.

If given the option, use an app for 2FA rather than sms. It’s still way better than nothing, but app 2FA is more secure than sms 2FA because sms isn’t a fully secure system in itself. Google Authenticator and Authy are two free 2FA apps.

I would also like to say that this 2FA moment was one of the more satisfying things in my life and might never be topped:

Passwords get compromised typically in one of three ways: brute force, phished, or data breaches (from the common desk sticky note to lousy website security), or phished.

Brute force attacks are when a hacker spams a password form with thousands of different username/password combinations in the hopes that they find a working one. Depending on the commonness of the password or complexity, this could take anywhere from a few attempts and a couple seconds, to trillions of attempts and decades.

(As a point of trivia, in November/December 2016, thousands of Wordpress websites underwent brute force attacks to their login pages, wp-login.php. Wordpress, by default, had no way to secure against this, placing the onus on hosting companies or site owners to implement a solution.)

Data breaches happen when the hacker obtains a password, either by violating the physical security of a computer and its workspace (e.g. the sticky note or text document with the password on it) or by compromising a server storing passwords (encrypted or not). The notorious Equifax breach earlier this year was one of these, as was the good ol’ Ashley Madison hack.

Lastly, phishing. This is the other possibility for where these tumblr scams are coming from. Phishing is when a fake or hacked website pretends to be a legitimate website in order to trick users into entering their personal information. There are a million different flavors of phish, but it all boils down to getting tricked into putting info where it shouldn’t go. Phishing scams are commonly done over email (The “Nigerian Prince” scam is one) or by directing users to click a link that goes to a site that looks legit.

Like, seriously legit.

Source: https://www.welivesecurity.com/2017/01/27/paypal-users-targeted-sophisticated-new-phishing-campaign/

Phishers use a combination of disguise and panic to get users to enter information into malicious forms. The information gained can then be used to send out more phishing scams or spam from your own account, or even steal your identity.

When it comes to phishing, the best possible advice I can give you is to be vigilant. Avoid clicking suspicious links. Read the entire URL in your address bar to make sure you’re in the right place before filling in sensitive forms. Use two-factor authentication to make sure that your account is only accessible to you. If you come across a phishing scam, report it to the entity being faked and they can contact the right people to get it taken down.

Although you should be rotating your credentials frequently anyway *pointed look*, you can find out if you have accounts in any places that have been previously compromised here: https://haveibeenpwned.com/

Fun fact, tumblr was one of the pwn’d sites back in 2013!

Anyway, the tl;dr of all this is...

TURN ON TWO-FACTOR AUTHENTICATION.

[techyblogger]

Writing For People or For Google https://www.reddit.com/r/SEO/comments/abjt99/writing_for_people_or_for_google/

~ recent comment.. deserves to be a post.

My method is to write for people and then go in and add text decoration to make it readable and scannable. I add internal links (ranking factor) where appropriate, make short paragraphs, and of course the proper H tags.

When in doubt I always go with the hybrid approach:

Write for people, tweak for SEO.

  What to write? That is not 100% SEO driven.

One of the pieces of how to content that my boss wanted me to write was a how to guide on how to tie different types of knots. It took 2 hours of research to put that one to rest.

As soon as I saw animated knots dot com, the 10,000 YouTube videos and watched about 50 of them... I knew it was a waste. There was no way my company was going to spend any amount of money to create something bigger or better than what was already out there.

Budgets & Resources Matter

So, there are cases where SEO must come first. The research, for sure.

Spinners

I work for a company whose owner is addicted to spinners. They are written 100% for Google bot. They are ingeniously created and any human being that reads them will laugh.

I took a website recently that had 300,000 pages indexed. I deleted every single spinner on site (250,000 descriptions) and so far there’s been no change... it’s been almost 3 months!

My Theory is that it is under an algorithmic penalty and as soon as the core quality update hits again the site will improve dramatically.

[The only thing that Google did was, from an organizational chart point of view, move penguin and panda into the core algorithm.

They didn’t actually change anything. They literally dragged and dropped it under the heirarchybof Core Algorithm.

They did this because now they won’t have to say that any updates are penguin or panda. This makes it more difficult to deduce what they changed. So now they just say it was a core algorithmic update.

So, what I mean by this is that when there is a panda update which will hopefully come in the next two months, the site will improve].

Follow the rules

We test what works A/B Testing on multiple websites that have greater than a half a million pages and ranks for more than 100,000 keyword phrases in top 100 results.

We run these tests all the time and they always come back the exact same way.

First place: Manual written descriptions

Second Place: spinners with Functions

Third Place: Spinners or Nothing.

Spinners using functions are still very good because of the dynamic information being loaded on the page it changes often enough with good info. (Ratings, reviews, savings, deals, and product specifications, SKUS)

And then lastly spinners which until the last few months no one in the company knew that spinners and “ no description text” created the exact same result.

3 months later... same results.

If human beings read the spinners, it doesn’t read perfectly. We get complaints occasionally from customers saying that We hire people from overseas Who learned English from The Nigerian prince sending spam emails offering fortunes of gold.

When in doubt go with what Google says, I made the company that I work for, to date, more than $50 million more than they were going to make just in the last two years by following the rules.

My bosses hate me and the owner wants to fire me but left to his own devices he would have to fire half the company again like he did 7 years ago due to penalties by Google. There is no love there is no pat on the back there is no thank you. Because I don’t let him Break the rules, he resents me.

Sometimes making somebody follow the rules and follow best practices is the toughest job there is.

He threatenEd my job one time because I would not purchase a link from a horrible spam-filled website.

When you do the right thing there might not be any praise.... or visible benefit, like Game of Thrones, you get your head chopped off or worse, your balls.

But when it comes to writing write for people throw in some internal links, make it readable and scannable.

Happy new year my brothers!

submitted by /u/lonewolf-chicago [link] [comments] January 01, 2019 at 10:43PM

[gethealthy18-blog]

Trying to Get Into Fitness & Health

New Post has been published on http://healingawerness.com/getting-healthy/trying-to-get-into-fitness-health/

Trying to Get Into Fitness & Health

A month is already passed of 2018 and you know what that means!(what?) People have already started giving up on their new year's resolutions(oh) Google claims that only 8% of people actually keep their resolutions

Which is like, the ultimate "I'm not mad just disappointed" Well I'm happy to tell YOU that I haven't dropped any of my resolutions I don't write any My family never really did resolutions Once, my dad was like "let's all write resolutions this year!" and we still didn't and then I didn't accomplish anything

For me when I want to change something I start trying to integrate it into my life right away, rather than waiting until next week, or next year, or next LIFETIME for that fresh start EVERY day is a Jaiden new year! *party horn, kazoo, as well as that annoying spinny thing* Whew! As someone who doesn't write them, and probably isn't qualified to critique the art of new year's resolutions I'm gonna toss my opinion that no one asked for into the ring! I think the main contributors to those 92% failing goals are they're too unrealistic and they're too vauge Let's stop beating around the bush and talk about the most common resolution people make Losing weight, eating healthier you know- that rabbit-hole "Lose 20 pounds by drinking this tea from a weird plant you've never heard of!" "Lose 10 pounds in 30 minutes or your pizzas free!" "Lose

your money" It's all basically just: Spongebob: -ALL RIGHT! GIVE ME THE MONEY! All those quick-fix weight-loss scams that make too good to be true claims are, just people who want your money Sure, the scale says "Hey! great job you lost seven pounds in a week!" but your body says "Yeah, but that was all just water weight, and also I don't feel very good" or AAyuasytdyafwtsfetwsfewdwtdrecwrthdrfewchtewscwszxechzewRTHJQqcfawsh3fawsqcehtgwdcerhnscfqHNSYTZRSEHNT2QD2DCTX NJYCV6FREUWQVF6ET,KDUHCQ If you want change you've got to earn it through work

There isn't an easy way out making changes in your lifestyle need to be sustainable for, life That's why they're called "Lifestyle Changes" Not "I'm gonna pay $200 for this diet shake, feel good for two weeks, lose 10 pounds! start feeling bad and give up in a month" Changes "I'm gonna start working out more" "I'm gonna start going to the gym," let's be honest with ourselves here, that's a weak excuse for a resolution "I will go on a run every other morning," "I'll lift weights 3 to 5 days a week" those are much easier to follow than, "I'll exercise more" *pSHH* get out of here with that vague crap You don't even know what you mean by that

And don't be flaky and say "oh, I missed a week, oh I'm hopeless" *sad moan of grief* NOMNOMNOMNOMNOM You're not gonna be perfect for a whole year Take a breath, chill and keep going I'm saying that to myself just as much as I am to you I've been trying to be more self-aware about when my brain just wants to turn one little mess-up into an excuse to stop something entirely I'm getting better at slowly ending that habit

I grew up doing a lot of sports Soccer, Martial Arts, Tennis, Competitive Pokémon I know my way around the gym But I dropped it all my last year of high school to focus on Youtube and art I didn't care about what I ate and combined with not moving around much I started feeling pretty crummy

So I ended up turning to what most people do when they reach a similar problem *sighs* All right, here we go *upbeat hip-hop gym music plays* Let's talk about home exercise videos Why are so many of them so fake? The weird hip-hop music and the smiles that are a bit too wide it might just be the plastic surgery, but it all makes me feel uncomfortable I get that instructors want to make exercise seem fun and all that but, ehhhhhh it feels super condescending to me How the FRIG do they do entire workouts smiling and talking and making cheesy eating pizza jokes? "All right now hold that squat -ooooh feel that burn in those quads!" "I'm smiling and articulating everything perfectly and I totally know you're panting like a dying animal over there! Don't think about that leftover pizza in the fridge!" *giggles* -"Looking at YOU Brittany!" If you're looking for good home exercise programs, I'm gonna recommend this blog I've been following for a super long time called 'Fitness Blender' Woah is that the sellout alarm?!?!? is Jaiden finally selling out?? No, turn that thing off I've never talked to Fitness Blender, they're not paying me to say this, They don't even know I exist

*groans of sadness* It's run by this nice couple (Daniel and Kelly) they're super down-to-earth and have a really healthy view on fitness and wellness You can tell they know their stuff All their exercise videos and tips are completely free, and if you want to use one of their written programs or meal plans, they're like 15 bucks *GYM HIP-HOP INTENSIFIES* and they don't have that dumb music IN THE BACKGROUND OF THE VIDEO! If you're just starting out exercise it's gonna hurt and/or suck for a bit If it doesn't you aren't gonna see changes Well okay, don't murder yourself

Be smart about it But your body is gonna complain for a while and that's good There's plenty of activities you can do! playing a sport with friends, walking your dog, a casual battle to the death -squats And respect your starting point When I first started trying to get back into working out, I was just, *gasps of exhaustion* okay, alright, got through it

TV: -"Alright, we're done with our warm up grab a quick drink of water, and we'll get right into the workout!" But just stick through the beginning, because that's literally the hardest part Raise your hand if you're sore! AHA trick question! you can't raise your arms They're jello Don't forget that exercise is only a quarter of the health journey What you eat is the biggest variable to all this life changing athlete hippy mumbo-jumbo

Eating right is like straight-up magic You feel amazing It's the closest thing to drugs that isn't drugs There's a difference between being thin, versus fit versus healthy kind of like Venn diagram style Someone could be thin, but that doesn't mean they're at all healthy

Someone could be super swollen, buff, but eat junk 24/7 and someone could be eating super healthy but not have the body of a supermodel There's a healthy range of everything I used to have a really bad relationship with eating I've talked about it before

In college I developed an eating disorder and a fear of eating food and I would go like, an entire day eating almost nothing "No Jadien!" *Slap* "you think that eating 600 calories a day is just gonna float you to all your hopes and dreams?" *M-hmm* "Nope it's just gonna give you headaches and emotional breakdowns you can trust me- I'm from the future~~~" "ALSO learn what bitcoin is and invest everything you can into it while you still can" I wish there was more information being taught on the dangers of eating disorders, Because if I knew about that whole mess 3 years ago, I would have been like "whoa!" okay? Nevermind Let's do a 180 here This ship is wack

I'm getting out of here before it controls everything in my life" You can't abuse your body and expect anything good to come from it Body: "Man I feel great! I could totally run a marathon and write an essay right now I'm so energized and my brain is so clear!" "Thanks for feeding me LITERALLY ONE GRAPE" You don't go to the gas station, pour a cup of gas into your car, and then try to drive to China

Eating less than your body needs to physically survive accomplishes nothing It might seem like it's working in the moment but honey, you've got a big storm coming Please try to end it as soon as you can I'm not at all trying to shame anyone going through rough times with their self-image I know it's a really hard thing to fight against

I was pretty far gone when I was struggling And even though I'm in a much better place now, I do still have bad days What helps me is trying to separate logical thoughts from the bad ones that fueled the irrational fears They're not here to see you succeed They're just the dumb brain versions of those tv and email scams where they're like "Hey! Give me your credit card info, social security number, and mother's maiden name and I'll give you a million dollars!" "I won't literally destroy your life, I'm just your friendly neighborhood Nigerian prince!" It's all more simple than you think

Eat healthy when you can, fresh fruit, vegetables, whole foods, and it's okay to treat yourself every once in a while Don't say: "I'm never eating sugar for the rest of my life!" You're setting yourself up for failure there And end up pulling a James Exercise as much as little as you're ready for, and be mindful and respectful about how your body feels Little changes go a long way

Remember you're doing this for you And don't play that dumb hip-hop music while you work out (music intensifies) or I SWEAR TO HERCULES I'm gonna RUN someone over with an exercise bike! Hey! It's been a while! Sorry Anyway I don't know if you've seen yet, but the finebros made a reaction video on me I've already seen it and had a reaction, but I don't think i'll be making a I react To people react to me thing I know a lot of people wanted me to do that

I enjoyed the video They said some nice things I hope you see it, and thanks to the finebros for thinking I'm someone worth reacting to *pshhh* This video took a bit longer to get done, this year's actually gonna be pretty busy, and we got some special things in the works for you in the future I'm really trying to up the quality of videos, and not die in the process I used to be super strict on uploading every two weeks, but it's really not sustainable for my mental health, or my health in general

So the videos will just be done when they're done but I care more about the quality of videos than a certain schedule, so yeah Also I hope you liked the video stick to your resolutions, keep working towards the person you want to become, and take care of yourself I'm working on all of that stuff too

okay bye!

[allmyotps1]

darkcocosb:

empirestatesugar-deactivated201:

Invent fake facts about yourself. Create an email address specifically for sugaring and only email them there. Get the Google Voice App and create a phone number to text/call men from distinct from your own. Use a fake name for the first few dates. List the next town over as your location on your profile and never tell them the actual college that you go to — especially if it’s small! If they ask what your parents do for a living, make it up or be vague. Once you’re super comfortable with them, you can tell them “Oh my name’s actually Katherine, not Katelynn” or even give them your real phone number if you want to as I often snapchat with NASA. But he’s the only one of my SDs who knows it as Google Voice works flawlessly and the others don’t really need it.

On an opposite note, get as many details as possible about him from him or through background searching. If he tells you he’s the CEO of Apple, go to Apple’s website and confirm that. Also, invest in a Spokeo Account. Don’t be that annoying SB who begs girls to look men up for her. A lot of girls only buy the monthly plan which has a search quota so if these girls are kindly looking men up for you, that’s less POTs they can search for themselves. I think it’s like $49.95 per year and it’s well worth the money for the amount of information it gives you. You can reverse search his phone number, email, name, etc. to find out his address, income, family members — anything! I love to find their children’s names then look them up on Facebook to see how they live. Riding horses on vacation in Santorini as your cover photo? Okay, I’ll break bread with your dad tomorrow. Little Ashley’s making duck faces and wearing Abercrombie? Sorry, John, I’m actually no longer searching for an SD — best of luck!

Get as many photos as possible (5+) from a man you’re talking to so that you can reverse search them and find out company info, criminal history, or if he’s on any other sites to cross-check age, location, and other facts on the profile you first saw him on.

Before a first meet, Skype with him (for 5 to 30 minutes) to again make sure the photos he sent are of him and not some handsome model on JCrew’s website (guys on SD4M do this all the time — you’re not slick)! While you don’t want the skype date to replace the first date, it is a good way to keep and/or build up his interest and by revealing yourself in 3D and decreasing his chances of cancelling/flaking on you. New SDs in particular often get nervous by the whole process, especially if they’re married, so if he sees “Wow! She’s gorgeous/real/funny/witty/ and excited to see me Thursday!” he’ll be more at ease not only to go through with the meet, but to spend more chedda. Moreover, a Skype date can show you “Wow! He’s an asshole and begging me to slide the camera down to my boobs.” So you can know way before you spend hours on hair and make-up that the date will be a waste.

Need for discretion. If a man doesn’t tell you much about himself, his job, or his life, is using a GV number or a fake email, is going by a fake name, it does not matter at all. 9 times out of 10 I show up to POT dates knowing the results of their latest colonoscopy while they think I don’t even know their name. Focus on the steps above and let them think they’re slicker than you. Nigerian Prince never told me his real name. I knew it from 5 seconds after he emailed me, but I played along and feigned ignorance because I knew he was safe and rich and whatever other secrets he kept from me were irrelevant. After our first date, he revealed his real career, location, (still not his real name) etc. and I’d already known it all, but, like us, he was simply wary of giving too much info to the wrong person. My favorite is when a guy emails you from his real email using a fake name. “Inbox: New Email from Steve Jobs” “Hey it’s Mike!” lmfao Hey Mike! Whatever makes you comfortable enough to meet me for dinner and pay me. All this being said, sometimes a man’s “need for discretion” makes it fucking impossible to find out anything from him. In that case, I say “While I respect your need for discretion, it does not trump my need for safety and I would not feel comfortable meeting you for dinner without…(at least a skype date)(as many photos as I’ve sent you)(information about XYZ)(etc.).” If he refuses to accommodate, he’s blatantly disrespectful of your safety concerns and he’s not worth your time.

Asks for sexy photos. You really need to make sure your profile photos are serve their purpose and depict what you look like from head to toe. If you only include iPhoto face shots, that’s dandy but you need a full body shot of you in a cute outfit and I also always include a bikini shot. Nothing raunchy, just a fun day at the beach. If they’re asking for sexy photos and you already have full body shots on your profile, then kindly end it because they’re 12 year old horn dogs stuck in 45 year old bodies. But if your photos suck and they just want to confirm that you’re not Shrek, then you need to amp up your profile and oblige.

Asks your favorite position, kinkiest moment, sex history, what you’re into etc.There’s no space for immature, tacky, desperate rapid fire sex questions in the sugar bowl. At its core, sugaring is about companionship, chemistry, and fun times. If he needs a rap sheet of what you will and will not do in the bed room, then he should call up a pimp and ask for a very specific hooker. Even if you tell him this and he apologizes and stops, you still know that that’s his main incentive for joining this site so he’s probably looking for pay for play but has too much pride to admit to wanting a prostitute. If you’re fine with 4 hours a month with this man for however much you agree on, then boom! You just landed on easy money. But if you’re looking strictly for a sugar arrangement with outings, dinners, etc. then you need to move on. But be mindful that a lot of these men might be into BDSM, so if they ask specifically if you have interest in that then that’s not necessarily a red flag so much as them not wanting to waste either of your time. If you do say yes, however, and he presses you with sex questions, he’s equally guilty of the above offense.

Sleezy username/bad grammar. If “Hotsex69” messages you, you already know what he’s there for. He’s not a sugar daddy. He’s blatantly looking for pay for play.

Takes offense to your precautions. A lot of men will quickly realize that you both have iPhones and that your messages aren’t coming up blue. If he questions it, let him know straight up, “I’m using an app called Google Voice so that I don’t have to share my real phone number with strangers. Once I’m comfortable enough with you, I will give you my real number and you can reach me there.” 99% of guys completely get it and think “Damn, I wish I’d thought of that. She’s smart and safe and not full of shit! I can tell a lot of guys have wasted her time and I don’t want to be one, so I better step it up if I ever want the honor of using iMessage with this hottie!” The other 1% will cry like little bitches and be like “We’ve hit it off thus far! Don’t you trust me?!?” If he honestly thinks trust can be fostered after a few email messages, he’ll be equally pissy when you don’t have sex on the first date or when you reject his marriage proposal on the second date.

Insists on meeting for just drinks. 10:00pm drinks at the hotel bar so you can get drunk and then go upstairs? Um no. In a fun way, tell him you’d rather meet for dinner at this great restaurant you’re dying to try yada yada. I had this one guy come back at me with “How about we start with drinks and if we hit it off, then we can get dinner?” Lmfao why?! I literally see no incentive to that besides wanting to roofie me. If you’re that awkward and can’t be around a younger, more attractive woman without drinking then let’s drink at dinner. Have 10 glasses of wine with your food. I don’t care. But if I’m getting dolled up, I’m eating food. You are not skimping out on buying me dinner and you are not roofie-ing me and you are not getting me drunk so you can drag me back to your lair. I do too much damn cardio to drink my calories. Buy me dinner, you fuck.

Meet in a public place and STAY in a public place. Stroll in Central Park? Awesome! He wants to wander past the “DO NOT ENTER” sign and show you this ‘amazing view of the river’? Nope. Restaurants, coffee, theater — doesn’t matter as long as you’re surrounded by witnesses.

Have your own transportation to AND from a first meet. And from. And. From. AND FROM!!! Not “Oh I took a taxi here, but let me save $10 and go home with him — he was so funny and obviously legitimate!” Even if that’s true and he’s a sweetie and who he says he is, these men never need to know where you live. (Notice I did not say never should know. Doctor knows where I live and that’s fine. But he doesn’t need to.) If you ultimately decide you’re comfortable with having an SD over at your apartment, then that will come after several dates, not the first. Plus, the chase is half the fun for him. Don’t reveal all of yourself too quickly. For this same reason, never get into his car on the first date. Besides just safety reasons, you don’t want him to feel like (physically and mentally) that he has you 100%. Leave something to be desired.

Tell someone where you are and who you’re going with. If you’re close with a friend or relative who is non-judgmental, make sure they know where your date is and when you’ll be back. Otherwise, find a resource on here (I’ll gladly help you out)and text them (from your GV number) where you are going, when you get there, when you leave, and when you are home. Whenever I get in an SDs car for the first time, I always text my sugar friends his license number.

Some SBs insist on staying sober. I like to drink and I can handle it, so I do. But definitely don’t get drunk. It’s sloppy and unattractive but will also distract you from your goal of setting an allowance/arrangement in place and getting to know this man better. Plus, it will impair your judgment and prevent you from remembering the rest of these safety tips.

Doesn’t bring a gift or cash to the first date. Stop being so entitled. At this point, he owes you just as much as you owe him — nothing.

The car he drives. The $3000 allowance of a man who drives an Aston Martin is just as green as that of the man who drives a Jeep Grand Cherokee.

Offers you a ride there or back. He might genuinely want to save you the hassle of travelling. Most of these men are fathers and have that protective instinct. It’s 9pm, dark out, she’s waiting for a cab, this is nonsense, I’ll drive her. It’s not a redflag that he’s trying to be a gentleman, but either way, maintain your stance and politely decline.

Awkward behavior. Steve Jobs gave brilliant speeches, but outside of that, the dude was awkward as fuck. Nonetheless, he was richer than God. If a guy reaches to hold your hand on the first date and you don’t want him to, just say, “John, I’m having an absolute blast but I’m just not comfortable with that yet.” There’s no need to flip out and write a post saying OMG THIS GUY WAS SO CREEPY HE LIKE TRIED TO RAPE ME BLACKLIST!!!!! Doctor is the most awkward guy I’ve ever met in my entire life. Like him, many of these POTs were valedictorians of Harvard who went on to spend the next 8-12 years of their lives accumulating degrees in the dungeons of the Ivy Leagues. They lack sunlight and social skills. It’s okay. That doesn’t mean be wishy-washy when he tries to cop a feel. No. Be firm and put him in his place. If he makes you excessively uncomfortable, end the date and don’t pursue another. But if he stutters or can’t maintain eye contact or holds eye contact for too long or snorts or recites how beautiful you are or has a creepy smile, that doesn’t necessarily make him a potential serial killer.

Talks about hotel time, private time, intimate time, ‘getting away’. There will be no sex on the first date. There will be no sex on the first date. There will be NO SEX on the first date. If he thinks dinner and a few hundred dollars gets you two “alone time” at the Ritz Carlton, then send him packing. Be blunt and embarrass that loser. Literally say, “John, I’ve had a blast getting to know you thus far but I have zero interest in trading sex for lobster and a gas money. I’m a lady who is looking for a gentleman with the means to provide for her and support her. If you’re only interested in sex in exchange for money, then you’re looking for an escort, not a sugar baby, and a second date would be a waste of both of our time.” Scare the shit out of him and make him realize just how crass and pathetic he’s being. You wear the pants. He’ll straighten up very quickly, or realize that you’re right and head down to the corner of main street instead.

Cringes at the bill or what you’re ordering. If he can’t afford lobster, desert, or how many drinks you’re getting, he can’t afford you. This is an absolute no brainer. Even if he says he can afford your $3000 monthly allowance, if it means he’s going without food, laundry, or anything else just to afford it for you now, there WILL come a later when he leaves you hanging. A real SD loves to treat you and doesn’t care if you buy the bar!

Switches stories. It’s one thing from initially stating he’s in finance to getting more specific about which sector or region he works in, but if yesterday he was CEO of Apple and today he’s a professor, he’s probably full of shit. Don’t be afraid to call him out on it. “I thought you said —-?” Learn the dynamics of body language and be able to discern when someone is lying or hiding key information from you. He could very well be the manager of the local K-Mart hoping to spend as many free dates with you as possible before you catch him in his lie.

Insists on anything. If he’s choosing your meal for you, forcing you to ride home with him, or backing you into a corner in any way, ditch him. If he’s that pushy on the first date, he’ll be even more pushy on the second or on the third because you let him win this time.

Use a condom.

If you don’t use a condom, get tested regularly together and show each other the results.

Doesn’t meet allowance. If he owes you $500 per meet and misses a meet, he needs to bring it to the next meet, or else he’s breaking the terms of the arrangement. If it’s the end of the month and he shows up without allowance, he needs to send it to you/bring it to the next meet, or else he’s breaking the terms of the arrangement. Do not let him get comfortable and think of you as a friend or girlfriend. This is a SUGAR ARRANGEMENT. Do not let him treat you like something that you’re not and get sloppy with the reason why we’re here.

Wants to meet your family. Doctor still insists on introducing me to his sisters. Eck. Whatever. But he’s never meeting any of my family. I am not your girlfriend. This is not a relationship. We have no real future together. Read this haiku. It is the anthem of the bowl.

Insists on not using a condom, trying XYZ in bed that makes you uncomfortable. As always, don’t do anything you’re uncomfortable with and let them know. A real SD will put his desires aside for your safety and comcort. If he’s being pushy in bed or otherwise, he’s not there for your best interest.

Asks about your personal life. It’s not weird for a man to want to know what classes you’re taking or what’s new in your world. He’s not being creepy or nosy, he’s just curious about what makes you tick. He shouldn’t be prying into if you have a boyfriend or anything super specific, but don’t get weirded out if he asks a lot of things about you.

Asks for sexy pics or texts suggestively. After you’re intimate together, this really is fair game to ask. As always, you need not oblige, and if you do, play it safe and don’t include your face or use SnapChat. But just because he’s thinking of sex more doesn’t mean he’s still not invested in being a sugar daddy. If it makes you uncomfortable, say so. If he’s a true SD, he’ll respect your boundaries and get over it.

Is affectionate in public. Just because he likes to hold your hand and kiss you, doesn’t mean he’s thinking of you as a girlfriend and less of an SD and forgetting your arrangement. If PDA makes you uncomfortable and you need a bit more discretion, let him know. But just because he likes your soft skin doesn’t mean he’s going to propose and leave your arrangement in the dust. He might just like your soft skin.

Hates shopping. Not surprisingly, a lot of men hate shopping, especially for women or with women or in women’s stores. So just because he’s not buying you louboutins doesn’t mean he won’t give you the money to buy them yourself.

Your token line is: “I’m not comfortable with that (yet).” Don’t be wishy-washy! If he wants to have sex and you lie and say “Oh uh I’m on my period” he’ll just ask again the next time. Instead, be honest and be firm saying you’re not comfortable with sex, riding in his car, his hand on your leg, meeting his mom, etc. etc. etc. Drop this line WHENEVER you need to say no. It sets the tone that you are the one who sets the boundaries of the relationship and that those boundaries will not be crossed. If a man ever persists against something you’ve blatantly stated makes you uncomfortable, then you know it’s time to end things.

Never let the prospect of money trump the prospect of danger.

Great post. But Steve Jobbs is never richer than God.

[nofomoartworld]

Hyperallergic: Required Reading

MVRDV has designed South Korea’s version of New York’s High Line. It is a 983-metre-long park (~3,225 feet) on a 1970s highway destined for demolition. (via Dezeen, which has more images)

Christopher Knight reviews the new Marciano Art Foundation museum in LA. He writes:

The selection is highly personal. The mission statement is freewheeling (“Through exhibiting a diverse and compelling collection … MAF aims to encourage curiosity and contemplation of art.”) The professional staff is limited, as are public hours (Thursday through Saturday and only with reservations, which are free but already booked through June).

A walk through the galleries has something of the feel of an art fair, where random juxtapositions meet a few more organized combinations. More than 90% of the art in the debut presentation was made in just the last 10 years. The art is too new to have settled yet into historical frameworks and culturally revealing patterns. The galleries are at once jumbled and tame.

This entertaining review of the Venice Biennale from the Sydney Morning Herald is worth a read:

“The first reviews of this excruciating, pretentious non-spectacle made it sound like a life-changing experience. This testifies to another psychological phenomenon: expose a group of arty people to something boring and incomprehensible and they’ll swear it was magnificent.”

“Despite its upbeat subtitle – Viva Arte Viva – the 57th Biennale will go down in history as a lump of mediocrity suspended between poles of earnestness and silliness. This year’s curator was Christine Macel, of the Centre Pompidou, and her grand scheme was to make a Biennale “designed with artists, by artists and for artists”. This sounded like a better plan than making a Biennale with plumbers or parking meter attendants or dentists, but it seemed to disguise the fact that Madame Macel was the one doing the choosing.”

Chika Okeke-Agulu thinks African art is being gentrified:

During the colonial era, bands of looters — missionaries, scholars, security forces and fortune hunters — fanned out across the continent and, by force or guile, carted away vast quantities of Africa’s artistic heritage. Many of these masterpieces of ancient and traditional African sculpture now reside in major private and public collections in the West, with little chance of ever returning to Africa.

… Recently, my 72-year-old mother was looking at a glossy catalog of Igbo sculptures from major European collections, most of which were acquired during the Nigerian-Biafran War of the late 1960s. She told me that the disappearance of similar sculptures from our hometown shrines in southeastern Nigeria, and the end of the associated festivals, was one of her most painful memories of that war.

… African collectors and those based in Africa must participate in this market, for it is more likely that their collections will stay on the continent. Fortunately, this has already started. As Africa overcomes years of dictatorships and civil wars, its fledgling democracies have seen the rise of a wealthy, cosmopolitan class interested in supporting art and culture. A few collectors and art patrons have emerged as major players in these new auctions and fairs.

Is the “cultural elite” that Trump rails against out of touch? Writing for the Financial Times, Simon Kuper has some clear thoughts:

This is where the cultural elite’s self-image diverges from the view held by its critics. Trump voters see a class that talks equality while living privilege and exuding contempt. Here are Greenpeace members who are always on planes, proclaiming their goodness instead of improving the world. Maybe if everyone shopped at Whole Foods (the upscale grocery chain nicknamed “Whole Paycheck”) the world would improve, suggests Currid-Halkett. But there’s a counterargument: if everyone shopped at Whole Foods, it would lose its status, and the cultural elite would have to shop elsewhere. These people live in places and ways that hardly anyone else can afford. The only poor people they know are their nannies. Their New Yorker subscriptions might cost just $90, but are usually premised on expensive educations.

A funny story about the time airport security discovered a scientist’s 3D printed mouse penis:

Cohn, who’s based at the University of Florida, studies genitals and urinary tracts, and how they develop in embryos. Around 1 in 250 people are born with birth defects affecting these organs, and although such changes are becoming more common, their causes are largely unclear. By studying how genitals normally develop, Cohn’s hoping to understand what happens when they take a different path. And like many scientists, he is working with mice. He recently analysed a mouse’s genitals with a high-resolution medical scanner. To show his colleagues how incredibly detailed the scans can be, he used them to print a scaled-up model, which he took with him to the conference in DC. And because the conference was just a two-day affair, Cohn didn’t bring any checked luggage. Hence: the penis in his carry-on.

Carey Dunne talked to chemtrail conspiracy theorists in California and discovered some interesting things:

In early January, Tammi felt cautiously optimistic about how the Trump administration would affect organic farmers. Born in Canada, Tammi isn’t a US citizen, but given the option to vote – despite thinking Trump is “a prick” – she “probably would’ve picked him”. Given her environmentalism and hippie-dippy aesthetic, this shocked me.

While teaching me how to candy grapefruit peels, Tammi explained her optimism: Todd, her dairy farmer neighbor, claimed that “Trump promised to end chemtrails”.

Curious where Todd might’ve found this information, I Googled “Trump chemtrails”. It turned up a dubious news report from 16 January, which featured what looked like a screenshot of a tweet by Donald Trump: “My very first executive order will END the chemtrailing across America. #MAGA,” it read.

At first I couldn’t tell if the site was satirical, or whether the tweet was really authored by Trump – it wouldn’t have been the most outrageous missive from the man who once supported the “birther” theory.

Another Google search clarified that the tweet was impersonated. But if I’d encountered it as a middle-aged farmer worried about toxic clouds and untrained in spotting fake news, I probably would’ve told my friends that the president-elect had promised to end chemtrailing.

Photographer Erik Johansson’s surreal “Full Moon Service” is pretty captivating, and PetaPixel has some info about how it was made:

(via Petapixel)

This Baltimore demolish crew tore down the wrong building (story at Gizmodo):

RELATED? Jared Kushner has a questionable real estate business in Baltimore.

This is just funny:

Trump: Why do you keep saying "the power of Christ compels you" and hitting me with water?

Pope: Testing a theory. http://pic.twitter.com/V0jnONuFsP

— Crutnacker (@Crutnacker) May 24, 2017

FiveThirtyEight calculates the odds of Trump being impeached:

All that work … and I’m still not going to give you a precise number for how likely Trump is to lose his job. That’s because this is a thought experiment and not a mathematical model. I do think I owe you a range, however. I’m pretty sure I’d sell Trump-leaves-office-early stock (whether because of removal from office or other reasons) at even money (50 percent), and I’m pretty sure I’d buy it at 3-to-1 against (25 percent). I could be convinced by almost any number within that range.

We have reached peak latte:

Lattes Inside Avocados Are Now A Real Thing For Some Godforsaken Reason https://t.co/7xHT1glQRb http://pic.twitter.com/xNYoVaZvvl

— BuzzFeed Food (@BuzzFeedFood) May 19, 2017

Required Reading is published every Sunday morning ET, and is comprised of a short list of art-related links to long-form articles, videos, blog posts, or photo essays worth a second look.

The post Required Reading appeared first on Hyperallergic.

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[luv-engineering]

2.0 out of 5 stars Thoughts after Owning it for a Few Years

4.0 out of 5 stars A great book with just one glaring ommision A very well put together book with lots of useful information. However there is one area that it is glaringly lacking in information. The author states there isn't room for a dairy animal and suggests pigs instead, but they completely overlook the Nigerian Dwarf dairy goats. Two Nigerian Dwarf dairy does take up less space than the pigs, and even some urban areas area starting to allow them as "pets". A good Nigerian milk doe can give 1/2-3/4 of a gallon of very rich milk daily. Just be sure to buy from someone that breeds them for milking and not someone that just breeds them as pets.Nigerians also get along well with chickens, and can share the same yard space as long as there is separate sleeping and feeding quarters for the chickens. And keeping 3-4 hens with your goats will keep the fly population down to nearly non-existent levels. So the back portion of your lot could be a single large pen, rather than two small ones, thus saving on the amount of fencing needed. A typical garden shed can be divided up to provide housing and feed storage for both goats and chickens, again saving on the cost (and space) of building separate structures. Go to Amazon

2.0 out of 5 stars Not worth purchasing. I checked this out of the library before buying, and I'm so glad I did.The premise of this book is exciting. I love the cover illustration, and first few pages have great illustrations of how much you can produce on different sized lots. However, the rest of the book is a simply a rehashed encyclopedia of information that is incredibly frustrating to read. There is no "story" here -- no personal anecdotes, no interviews with people who have done this, no journalistic writing. Since that's not the chosen direction of this book, I can accept that. But without an interesting story, I was hoping for really solid, detailed, concrete information about how to eventually accomplish the goal of turning one's yard into a homestead. I didn't get that either.The information in this book is almost trivial -- there is a lot of it, and it's well organized, but nothing goes into enough detail to actually be useful. For example, the section on raising chickens provides a vague overview of what is required to keep chickens, then several pages on chicken breeds, but not quite enough information to actually *choose* a breed, then goes into a bunch of detail about how to determine the age of an egg, how to cook an egg, but no information on how to actually care for chickens. There is a section on butchering, which basically tells you to find someone who knows how to butcher a chicken. There is a rough diagram of a fancy chicken coop for 3 chickens, but no discussion of the pros and cons of different kinds of coops, or how to house more than 3 chickens.Eventually, I realized I can get more information on any subject in this book by doing a Google search.Read more › Go to Amazon

1.0 out of 5 stars Out-dated and innacurate Like most of the people who buy this book, I'm interested in urban farming and the DIY ethos. So I found this book really exciting for the breadth of topics it covered. How to select a breed of beef cow? Goat? Chicken? Cool! But as I read through some of the sections covering topics I know about I was surprised how out-dated and incomplete they were, which makes me suspicious that the rest of this book is equally poorly researched. I've been a homebrewer for 5 years, and I grow wine grapes at home. The home-brew beer recipies in this book are from 1989, and are based around buying pre-made beer kits from Coopers or Muntons. Some of the ingredients listed are archane: "Laaglander malt extract" good luck finding it, Laaglander went out of business nearly a decade ago, or "Russian Malt beverage concentrate" whatever that is, you don't need it to make good homebrew. The wine grapes section is terribly out of date as well. The American hybrid grapes she recommends were the best varieties availible 20 years go (DeChanuc, Baco, Foch) leaving out newer varieties that are much better (Traminette, Marquette, Corot Noir). She refers to Baco, Foch, and Chardonel as European varieties which they aren't. (there's a great book on growing a back-yard vineyard if you search for that phrase) It may seem like I'm nit-picking, but it leaves me to wonder what careless mistakes are in the sections I don't know anything about? How out-of date are the other varietal recommendations? I get the impression that she culled all of this info from old books and has little experience of her own.I'm returning my copy. Go to Amazon