#book review of 10x rule

[femalebookworm]

MC: Serafine, Jarom, Alerik, Eike

This dystopian shifters romance is book 1/4 in Cursed Shifters series. Not that long in pages, 279 of them, but its typical reading time is about 5h35m. Not that I'm complaining, but I'm a bit fucked in the head by starting this book when my kindle isn't even at 100% (it was around 8% on V-Day's afternoon when I was reading the previous book, also about magic), but at 30% with the WiFi on. And yes, I'm typing this on a tiny phone. The review is posted mainly cause I got a hand on a desktop I could use. So, yay, this is seeing the light of day! Ps: I managed to finish reading this despite my allergy attacks that often made me read the same line 10x.

Technology hungry scientists in 21st century end up discovering a dimension that supposed to have made life greater, instead what came through this veil, rift, were fae; their mere presence destroyed the very fabric of technology, and dumped the tech fanatics into a frenzy – according to their story. This story tells the events of what happens a thousand years later. Just a background story, that tech died and humans were back to Middle Ages, alongside humans and fae. The Fae King issued a prophecy of The Six, and they would rule the human world while the fae returned to their side and the rift was closed. Except, not all made back. And this is their story.

Serafine was told her whole life that her mother sold her to a tyrant for a few coins. She's hated her mother for twenty years. She's been tortured for twenty years. Until one day she's in charge of fetching an item during a storm. She never makes there, but she ends up encountering her fate. 3 of them. 3 wolf shifters. I placed them on MC, but they are only connected to it, there's no POV other than Serafine's. With the help of her to-be mates and a pure magical being, she uncovers great power. She even gets her prison, she even gets the men. She also kinda starts a war.

By the end, a friend is missing and she knows the enemy will come to shifter wolf territory soon. And then the sneak peek, and the next main 3 men will be dragons. Me love some dragons. And yes, next book is on my to-read list already. Wallet will be on the ready. So will my lotto ticket cause at this point I'll need to be loaded to afford all.

Onto the next book!

[thetop10books]

Book Review of The 10X Rule: The Only Difference Between Success and Failure

“The 10X Rule: The Only Difference Between Success and Failure” is a book written by Grant Cardone, a renowned entrepreneur and sales expert. The book provides a practical and dynamic approach to success by emphasizing the importance of setting and achieving ambitious goals. As Cardone explains in the book, there is a 10X Rule. This encourages readers to set goals ten times higher than they…

[bookreviewbabe]

Did He predict the Pandemic???

How to address unplanned circumstances when going after your goals.

The predictions of the impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on businesses and employees described here are apt!

What happens to entire classes of people who made average financial plans when faced with extended periods of very difficult economic times or decades of extended unemployment?

Grant Cardone

Sounds familiar? So I thought.

Just a few months into the Pandemic and most businesses and…

[manifestobessed]

Before the Last Chapter

Book: The 10x Rule by Grant Cardone

A very real book. I listened to the audiobook version. Read by Grant Cardone, himself. I’ve never been more overhyped. If he isn't already a motivational speaker, he definitely missed his calling. 

The 10x rule focuses on the idea that whatever you set to accomplish can’t and won’t be successfully executed if not given 110%. I put it as a very cliche and anti-climatic phrase. But in very layman’s terms, Grant Cardone lays out several well-detailed traits, habits, and common human alignments that constantly hinder the human spirit of being great

My all-time favorite chapter being the “Don’t be a little Bitch” section. (Unfortunately not titled that in the book, something about offending people says his editor.)

Overall a great awakening call for someone who’s been searching for a way to level up, thinking of diving into a new venture, or needs a kick in the ass because their motivation is winded. 

Definitely recommended for the lady who’s thinking she’s missing something in her plan to dominate. 

[allthingslinguistic]

All Things Linguistic - 2020 Highlights

2020 wasn't the year anyone was expecting, and I did much less travel than in previous years. But, while I was social distancing at home like everyone else, I did at least keep doing enjoyable linguistics things: Crash Course Linguistics videos went from early planning stages to nearly complete, Because Internet came out in paperback, and my podcast Lingthusiasm launched two other projects to contribute to the pop linguistics ecosystem: LingComm Grants and Mutual Intelligibility.

Because Internet

Because Internet, my book about internet language which hit the NYT bestseller list last year, came out in paperback this year! Links to get it in all of the formats, including how to get signed copies.

Here are some photos of the new paperback edition, same bright yellow cover, now with 10x more nice quotes from people. I also wrote an old-school reflexive blog post about what it's like to hit the final milestone in a book journey that began in 2014.

Crash Course Linguistics

I worked on these 16 fun intro linguistics videos, 10-12 minutes long each, along with a large team, including linguists Lauren Gawne and Jessi Grieser, host Taylor Behnke, the animation team at Thought Cafe, and of course the production team at Crash Course itself. Writing the scripts ended up being our first lockdown project in the spring, and then reviewing the filmed and animated episodes for accuracy a second lockdown project in the fall. The final few videos will be appearing in early 2021 -- you can watch them all at this playlist.

Preview trailer for Crash Course Linguistics

What is linguistics? Crash Course Linguistics #1

What is a word? Morphology, Crash Course Linguistics #2

Morphosyntax, Crash Course Linguistics #3

Syntax 2: Trees - Crash Course Linguistics #4

Semantics - Crash Course Linguistics #5

Pragmatics - Crash Course Linguistics #6

Sociolinguistics - Crash Course Linguistics #7

Phonetics 1: Consonants - Crash Course Linguistics #8

Phonetics 2: Vowels - Crash Course Linguistics #9

Phonology - Crash Course Linguistics #10

Psycholinguistics - Crash Course Linguistics #11

Language acquisition - Crash Course Linguistics #12

Language change and historical linguistics - Crash Course Linguistics #13

Other Writing

Wired Resident Linguist column:

Covid-19 Is History’s Biggest Translation Challenge

A Mission to Make Virtual Parties Actually Fun

Language Files videos, with Tom Scott and Molly Ruhl:

The sentences humans can understand but computers can't

Abso-b████y-lutely - Expletive Infixation

the Hidden Rules of Conversation (about Grice's Maxims)

schwa

the Bouba/Kiki experiment

the corpus statistics behind the pronunciation of "gif"

the complicated question of how many languages there are

Lingthusiasm

My fourth year of producing a podcast that's enthusiastic about linguistics with Lauren Gawne! Regular episodes:

Making machines learn language - Interview with Janelle Shane

This time it gets tense - the grammar of time

What makes a language easy? It's a hard question

The grammar of singular they - Interview with Kirby Conrod

Schwa, the most versatile English vowel

Tracing languages back before recorded history

Hey, no problem, bye! The social dance of phatics

The happy fun big adjective episode

Who you are in high school, linguistically speaking - Interview with Shivonne Gates

How translators approach a text

Climbing the sonority mountain from A to P

Small talk, big deal

And 12 bonus episodes, with thanks to our patrons for keeping the show sustainable:

What might English be like in a couple hundred years?

Generating a Lingthusiasm episode using a neural net

Teaching linguistics to yourself and other people

When letters have colours and time is a braid - The linguistics of synesthesia

A myriad of numbers - Counting systems across languages

Doing linguistics with kids

Tones, drums, and whistles - linguistics and music

LingComm on a budget (plus the Lingthusiasm origin story)

The quick brown pangram jumps over the lazy dog

The most esteemed honorifics episode

Crash Course Linguistics behind the scenes with Jessi Grieser

Q&A with lexicographer Emily Brewster of Merriam-Webster

We started a Lingthusiasm Discord server, a place for people who are enthusiastic about linguistics to find each other and talk! And we released new schwa-themed merch with the (admittedly aspirational these days) slogan Never Stressed.

Lingthusiasm also sponsored two other projects this year: LingComm Grants and Mutual Intelligibility.

LingComm Grants - We gave out four $500 grants to up-and-coming linguistics communications projects. Thank you again to everyone who applied, and do check out the projects of the winners of the 2020 LingComm Grants.

Mutual Intelligibility - A newsletter to connect linguistics instructors with existing linguistics resources suitable for teaching online in a bite-sized, easy-to-digest fashion, with considerable help from the editing and organizational skills of Liz McCullough.

Conferences

I did do a tiny bit of travel this year, my usual January trip to the Linguistics Society of America annual meeting (this year in New Orleans) and February trips to Comma Con (I gave a keynote about the future of language online), Social Science FooCamp, PanLex at Long Now, the Internet Archive offices (all San Fransisco Bay Area) and the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) annual meeting (Seattle).

Virtual conferences and talks:

An impromptu panel about linguistics in science fiction/fantasy at the online version of WisCon (#WisConline) with a fun group of linguists

A talk with Lauren Gawne about emoji as gesture for Abralin ao Vivo (the Brazilian Linguistics Association's online lecture series)

A panel about linguistics podcasting for Linguistics in the Pub,

A panel about translation and the juxtaposition of historical texts with modern language styles with Maria Dahvana Headley (translator of the new "bro" Beowulf edition) and Alena Smith (creator of the show Dickinson) for Slate's Future Tense.

A keynote at the Australian Educational Podcasting Conference: From mythbusting to metaphors - Learning from cross-disciplinary research to communicate complex topics better

A virtual "night owls at the hotel bar" meetup at the National Association of Science Writers conference

Media and internet crossovers

xkcd: hovertext on ok vs okay, cameo pursued by a bear, (possibly a subtweet?)

The latest set of draft emoji from Unicode include three emoji that I co-wrote the proposals for

Because Internet cameos on the official tumblr, Steak Umm, and QI twitter accounts

I late-night-wrote a parody version of "Jolene" but about vaccines ("Vaccine, Vaccine, Vaccine, Vaciiiiine / I'm begging you please go in my arm") which someone made an excellent video recording of and then it got picked up by quite a lot of media outlets

Selected media

New York Times about retronyms and the vocabulary of covid times

Wall Street Journal about how covid is changing the language of emails

The Cheese Plate Is A Technology - Interview with the Smart Bitches, Trashy Books podcast

Words of 2020! (and Metaphors, and Interfaces of the Year) on the a16z podcast

Spanish-language interview about Because Internet in Archiletras

kottke.org on Weird Internet Careers

Selected twitter threads

Books I enjoyed:

The Language Lover's Puzzle Book

A Memory Called Empire

Murderbot novel

The Tale of Genji

Romeo and/or Juliet (choose-your-own R&J)

The Victorian Internet

Love's Labours Lost

brb translating "hwaet" as "bro"

Grammar West to East

Helpful threads:

An advice thread on effective recs - how to get other people into something you love

Tips for communicating remotely during a stressful time: be gentle with yourself and each other

A thread about how our communication habits are changing

A thread about why waving is such a clever solution for bridging the awkwardness at the end of a video call

Why you don't need to do an unpaid internship (and especially you do not need to become my intern) in order to get started in lingcomm (and what you should do instead)

General fun:

A thread about why many European languages have a verb "to hamster" but English instead has "to squirrel"

Recipe of Theseus

Quarantimes days: robot vacuum cleaner, learning old english

kids setting timers and doing pretend video calls

Over-the-top adjective names for birds: the birding/linguistics crossover I've been waiting for

Long Hundred: a cursèd and entirely real Wikipedia article (thread about numbers)

it has come to my attention that the Chinese translation of Häagen-Dazs ALSO has a spurious umlaut on it

the months of the year (metric system) (an ever-increasingly bizarre thread)

How recycled woodcuts resemble modern memes

How it started / How it's going (Because Internet edition)

Welsh takes on LL Bean

things that feel bouba but are actually kiki

a cursed wordgame and the results

Selected blog posts

I celebrated my eighth blogiversary on All Things Linguistic! Here are some of my favourite posts from this year:

Linguistics jobs and other advice:

community radio outreach coordinator

wug farmer (parody)

Grad school advice post: do I need to have done a linguistics major to apply for linguistics grad school?

exhibition content manager at Planet Word

transcriptionist

dance instructor and stay-at-home mom

freelance writer (and creator of Dinosaur Comics)

speech pathologist

Practical advice for if you want to start a podcast - An advice post on Superlinguo which I co-sign (unsurprisingly, as we have a podcast together)

law student

at the American Anthropological Association

ESL teacher

developer advocate

Languages:  

These students speak perfect Spanglish -- and now they're learning to own it

Comparative evolution of Cuneiform, Egyptian, and Chinese characters

Grammatical gender in Greek and Latin is more complex than most people think

Indigenous languages of Taiwan are regaining prominence

Indigenous activists are reimagining language preservation under quarantine

New kanji for social distancing

"Language features are not neutral in the way that the calculator feature is neutral."

Pompeiian graffiti

A video singing the names of the Indigenous languages of Australia

The poetic process powering real-time language translation in Namibia

The Scots Wikipedia saga

How do you sign "Black Lives Matter" in ASL?

How to tell apart various languages that use the Arabic script

A linguistic perspective: The harmful effects of responding 'All lives matter' to 'Black lives matter'

68:Hazard:Cold, a short story by Janelle Shane which does interesting things with language

Gestural theories about the origin of language

Cuneiform and not quite having enough space at the end of a line

Towards a new language of the global language crisis

Linguist fun:

Cookies decorated with IPA symbols

académie française: you can't just make up new words willy-nilly like that!!! linguists: haha language machine go brrrr

This is not a joke: a baby was named Diot Coke in 1379

Which Indo-European Subfamily are you? (Buzzfeed quiz)

the best animal species name, featuring very small frogs

Neolatinist TikTok

xkcd does dialect quizzes (a parody)

Ancient Sumerian meme dogs

A neural net writes variations on Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer

The language after "Modern" English: English_final_FINAL?

English's avoidance register in front of certain animals: W-A-L-K

Missed out on previous years? Here are the summary posts from 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, and 2019. If you’d like to get a much shorter monthly highlights newsletter via email, with all sorts of interesting internet linguistics news, you can sign up for that at gretchenmcc.substack.com.

[nablackjack865-blog]

What Does Rollover Mean In Betting

He’s been betting sports for over 20 years and is a profitable sports trader on the exchanges. View About Page. BEST PROMOTIONS 5-Fold Acca Insurance. Get a refund of up to £50 if one leg of your 5-fold. The 20% CASH bonus offer with a 5X rollover means you will receive $125 to bet with ($500 + 25% of $125). You must wager 5X your initial deposit until you can withdraw that FREE CASH BONUS. Bonus Rollover Betting Rules. Please read the following rules as they pertain to all bonuses given by BetUS.com.pa. Rollover is defined as the amount of cash action risked or won, depending on which is the lower amount on qualifying bet. A sports betting rollover requirement is simply the wagering required by a sportsbook before bettors can withdraw a bonus. Each sports betting website will have specific requirements for clearing bonuses.

How Does Rollover Work Betting

What Does Rollover Mean In Sports Betting

What Is Rollover Betting

What Does Rollover Mean In Betting Stocks

Online Bookmakers Betting Guides Bookmaker Reviews Live Football Odds

Weather you are new to sports betting or you have accounts with multiple online bookmakers, the question of the rollover is bound to come up and it will come up sooner rather than later. In this article we will explain you what is the rollover, when it comes to sports betting and what to look for when dealing with the bookmakers' rollover requirements. The question about rollover comes up as soon as you open an account with one of the top bookmakers and it's time to take advantage of the betting site's bonus offer. This is where one usually finds the rollover requirements and starts to wonder, what is rollover? The bookmakers, for some unknown reason, don't really take time to explain it. Here we will give you the answers.

How Does Rollover Work Betting

What Does Rollover Mean In Sports Betting

What Is Rollover Betting

What Does Rollover Mean In Betting Stocks

What is “rollover”? Understanding rollover is not hard t all. In simple terms, the rollover is a wagering requirement imposed by the online bookmaker and associated with a bookmaker bonus offer. It simply shows you the amount you need to bet before your bonus becomes eligible for withdrawal. It always takes the form of multiples and will be noted by the betting website on its bonus terms and conditions. Let's look at some examples and you will instantly understand how simple it really is. For example, let's say that an online bookmaker is offering £100 match bonus when you deposit £100 in your betting account and the terms and conditions state that before you can withdraw your bonus you must complete a 5x (five times) rollover the deposit plus the bonus. Now, to someone who bets online for the first time, rollover means nothing. But in the above example, it simply means that before the player could withdraw the bonus, he or she must place wagers in the total amount of £1,000. How did we get to this number? The 5x rollover on the deposit and bonus could be written simply as a mathematical equation, i.e. 5x(£100+£100)=£1,000. As you can see, understanding rollover is very simple. Most of the time (unless noted otherwise by the bookmaker), you will simply multiply the rollover by the sum of bonus and deposit. An example when you do differently is, if you get a free bet by the bookmaker, in which case you simply multiply the free bet amount by the rollover, since there is no deposit involved. Now that you know what rollover means in sports betting and how to calculate it and turn it into actual monetary value, let's make a few points. First, you must understand that when we mention wagering requirements, it simply means the amount that must be wagered, not lost. In other words, if the rollover shows that the wagering requirement is £100, it just means that you must place bets worth £100, how many bets or how many losers – it doesn't matter. For those of you who have played at online casinos, the rollover is just like the playthrough requirement the casinos put on their bonuses. And if you asked yourself why isn't the wagering requirement simply stated as £1,000 (taking our example above) instead of 5x rollover, give yourself a high-five, you are thinking. The simple truth is that most of the bookmaker bonuses are fluid and are calculated as a percentage of your deposit, rather than a fixed amount. Therefore if the book offers a 100% bonus with 5x rollover, the wagering requirement will be dependent on the amount you deposit. For example, if you deposit £50 and get £50, the amount you must bet before withdrawal will be just £500, since 5x(50+50)=500, unlike the previous example, where it is £1,000. Of course, if we are talking about a free roll, let's say £5 free bet, then the bookmaker could simply state the amount you need to wager, but most of the online bookmakers still use rollover, but more for continuity and avoiding confusion, rather than for any special reason. We have the rollover explained, but how about comparing the rollovers? How do you decide which rollover is good and which rollover is too high? Most bettors agree that any rollover 5x and under is a good bonus offer. Some bookmakers go as low as 2x rollover on their promotions, but those are hard to come by. On the other side, 10x rollover is very high and some bookmakers have the audacity to require players to complete rollovers as high as 15x, at which point it's never worth to take the bonus, the requirements are simply impossible to complete. Therefore look for five times and under.

[akshays]

Make a growth 10X faster than you think you can achieve

You can say its a self help book. The book says that you should set a target which is 10X greater than what you can achieve. Most of the people made a mistake in their life, they never set a big goal, they always doubts their ability.

[ruoyeming]

My Fav Books, another chaotic list

Another quarantine review fest! I know I ranked my top anime but this is seriously too hard so I’m just going to list them to avoid hours of debate. Enjoy!

1) The Skulduggery Pleasant series

This whopper of a series (now at 15 books jesus christ I didn’t know there were that many I’ve only read about twelve) has a special place in my heart. I was FULLY obsessed with it throughout my tween - and teen - years, and for a reason. This shit just butters my bread like nothing else. The story follows a young girl Valkyrie Cain (who eventually becomes a young woman through the series) and her partner in crime, a fashionable living skeleton called Skulduggery Pleasant. They’re MAGICAL DETECTIVES!!!! Bitch!!! They use elemental magic - water, earth, fire, air - to fight off magic-wielding bad guys and look good doing it. The duo is hilarious and seriously shaped my sense of humour, the dry wit and comedic writing style stuck with me and influenced my own writing style to this day! As the series progresses we get a massive cast of characters but to me they’re all memorable, likable (mostly) and well-developed so that’s not an issue. I have no fukcing clue how Derek Landy comes up with his stories because every book in the series has an absolutely wild (yet unique) plot with its own twists and turns. It gets REALLY dark and depressing at times, gory, brutal etc etc especially in the later books I have no idea why this is labeled as a kids series.

10/10 for badassery, humour, and MAD codependency issues

2) The Feverwake series

This bitch is one hell of a YA series. It’s actually only a 2 book-series which is rare, but that’s not the only thing that sets it apart from other creations of its genre. It’s hard to explain the setup without waffling so I’ll just quote the blurb of the first book: “In the former United States, sixteen-year-old Noam Álvaro wakes up in a hospital bed, the sole survivor of the viral magic that killed his family and made him a technopath. His ability to control technology attracts the attention of the minister of defense and thrusts him into the magical elite of the nation of Carolinia.

The son of undocumented immigrants, Noam has spent his life fighting for the rights of refugees fleeing magical outbreaks—refugees Carolinia routinely deports with vicious efficiency. Sensing a way to make change, Noam accepts the minister’s offer to teach him the science behind his magic, secretly planning to use it against the government. But then he meets the minister’s son—cruel, dangerous, and achingly beautiful—and the way forward becomes less clear.”

As you can tell from this, the series is heavy on its politics but in a grounded, realistic and relevant way which is different to many other YA series. Marxist theory is brought up, and you can make some pretty strong links between the books and real events. The magic also has a semi-scientific explanation which is cool and adds to the realness. Anyways this series is action packed and full of twists, plus there’s a bisexual main character and queer romance at the core!! Wig!!! Very good for moral debate - how far is it acceptable to go to protect the oppressed before you become one of the oppressors? Dark and exciting series.

10/10 queer representation and political themes.

3) Spin the Dawn

It’s probably obvious that I’m biased towards YA books but they’re just so exciting and cool! Anyways this is about a girl living in a kind of alternate universe ancient China where magic exists. Maia Tamarin is a skilled seamstress who dreams of being the Imperial Tailor, a position that can only be held by a man. She poses as her brother to go to the royal palace and enter a competition full of skilled tailors, all vying for the role of imperial tailor. She also meets Edan; a mysterious, annoying, but SEXY mage who seems to know her secret identity? Oho? IMO this would be an elevated book if Edan had been a girl but that’s just me being gay. As the final challenge Maia is tasked with making 3 dresses from the sun, moon, and stars - a mission that takes her to the ends of the world in search of these magical materials (obvs Edan goes with her and they kiss kiss fall in love). It’s a fairly classic YA plot and characters but the combination of Project Runway, Mulan, and kind of Lord of the Rings(??) vibes makes for a very entertaining read. It’s also really fun to imagine what the clothes look like, plus the romance between Maia and Edan is very cute. Second book is yet to be published but sounds lit.

10/10 magic fashion and romance (despite its heterosexuality)

4) Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe

Usually I steer clear of angsty gay stories because I’ve consumed too much of the depressing narrative which is all about suffering because of being gay, but fuuuuuuck this book is like the definition of bittersweet. Mostly bitter to be fair but it has a happy ending which was lovely after the emotional torment of the book. It’s about two teen boys - Aristotle is angry and repressed, Dante is eccentric but kind, and the two eventually form a strong friendship after meeting at the local pool. It’s kind of obvious that Ari is in denial about a few things, which leads to some real sad boi hours. There’s also a devastating moment around halfway (not sure) through with a car accident which makes the whole thing 10x heavier. Despite all this, the book has its sweet moments - parents play a big role, but not in the way they usually do in queer stories - and like I said the ending is the bandage for your broken heart. I’m not sure what it is about the writing style, maybe the way it just cuts between scenes randomly or perhaps the way the dialogue and actions are so realistic, but it’s so different to any other book I’ve read that it’s stayed in my mind for a while after reading it.

10/10 really good philosophy plus supportive parents

5) The Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue

Okay if this was a ranked list, this bad boy would be on its way to the top spot. It’s got everything: historical setting, gays, pirates, alchemy, humour, adventure, angst, character development, and some healthy second-hand embarrassment. It’s not complicated or philosophical but reading this book all in one go is like taking five shots and diving into a pool. It’s exciting and witty, but deals with darker themes like child abuse too. One of the MCs also has a disability and doesn’t treat it as something to be cured, which is a lesson our protagonist has to learn. Speaking of protagonists, Henry ‘Monty’ Montague is a great main character. He’s obnoxious, oblivious, and hedonistic yet quick-witted and passionate, and he has a good heart. Sometimes you just want to grab him by the shoulders and shake him for being such an ignorant idiot, but throughout the book he grows and learns to open his mind more (as well as becoming more humble). He’s a great example of a flawed yet likable main character. He is also a bisexual icon.

Oof forgot to even talk about the story. Monty embarks on a tour of Europe, usually taken by lads his age to get all cultured before they settle down and inherit the family company or whatever. With him are his younger sister Felicity, a girl with a brilliant mind for science who isn’t taken seriously by anyone because of her gender, and the lovely Percy, Monty’s lifelong best friend (and crush). Monty ends up stealing a very valuable object that turns the Tour into a manhunt across Europe, and drags the trio into a big ol’ conspiracy involving something that may or may not be the philosopher’s stone????

Issues of race, gender, and disability in historical context are really well done, and it’s an absolute banger of a book.

10/10 very exciting adventure, plus GREAT GAY ROMANCE

6) Heaven Official’s Blessing

HOOOOOO BOY. This is probably my absolute fave on this list. It’s a webnovel (originally Chinese but the full translation is online). Set in ancient china in the cultivation world (difficult as shit to explain if ur not into all of that but I’ll try), basically there’s three realms - the heavenly realm, the human/mortal realm, and the ghostly realm. If a mortal reaches a certain point (good deeds, power etc), they ascend to become a god - or if they fall far enough, they become a ghost. 

I’ll just quote the author’s description again cause I don’t have the brain cells required:

 “Eight hundred years ago, Xie Lian was the Crown Prince of the Xian Le kingdom. He was loved by his citizens and was considered the darling of the world. He ascended to the Heavens at a young age; however, due to unfortunate circumstances, was quickly banished back to the mortal realm. Years later, he ascends again–only to be banished again a few minutes after his ascension. Now, eight hundred years later, Xie Lian ascends to the Heavens for the third time as the laughing stock among all three realms. On his first task as a god thrice ascended, he meets a mysterious demon who rules the ghosts and terrifies the Heavens, yet, unbeknownst to Xie Lian, this demon king has been paying attention to him for a very, very long time.”

It’s hard to describe the enormity of this story and all the emotions it encapsulates, you really have to read it for yourself. But bitch the undying, pure, Hozier-devotion-level LOVE is by far my favourite part of this story. If you’re looking for an epic, god-tier gay romance, then this is it baby!! This story has comedy, action, and downright harrowingly depressing moments, but throughout is this achingly beautiful love between fallen god and last believer.

I don’t wanna give too much away cause there are some big ol’ plot reveals, but oooh this shit made me cry. The protagonist is MY FAVOURITE EVER I didn’t think it was possible to like a protag so much!! He’s legit my fave character! At first he seems oblivious and carefree but he’s just doing his goddamn best after all he’s been through and he’s so fukcing kind and just wants to help everyone for fuckcs sake excuse me I need to go have a breakdown.

Okay I’m back, anyway there’s a great cast of characters, even the background characters are all incredibly memorable and all given their time to shine and develop. My faves include Quan Yizhen, a rowdy himbo who just wants to fight, and Shi Qing Xuan, a friendly genderfluid god who controls the wind. Read this shit I’m not joking it’ll change your life. 

10/10 for everything

[etudaire]

A big bang of “how to” stuff

There I was again tonight forcing laughter faking smiles so I made up this long ass post for y'all!

So you a potato. Me a potato. World conquered by we potatoes. But potato need survival tips. So your brotato (get it? Bro potato?) help you out. Yay potato. Go go potato.

Study related stuff :

1. Get good grades

Catch concepts, not chapters. Your portion is most likely gonna be super vast, so it’s helpful to know a little something from every chapter rather than knowing just 50% of your syllabus.

Figure out which concepts are important and master them.

Keep all assignments completed at least 1 day before submission date. This isn’t always possible but trust me if you do this you’re guaranteeing marks for proper submission. Job done early? Proof check and add touches to enhance that essay!

Let the teachers know that you’re working hard. I actually passed math because my math teacher knew I was working super hard on my math skills. Participate in the class, gather a bunch of doubts and then dump them on your teacher when the chapter ends.

Try not to miss lectures because chances are you’ll remember that silly mnemonic your friend made up in class and get the answer correct.

Analysis of your exam type is super important. Want me to make a long ass post about it?

2. Be more productive

Having a stuydjo/bujo by your side helps hella lot.

Plan plan plan. Lists, organise lists and colour code them. Basically become Monica Geller Bing and you’re set for life.

Motivational quotes from pinterest almost make me guilty for not being productive and force me to do something.

Before starting your study session, dance around to upbeat music for like 5 minutes. You’ll see the difference I promise.

Seek out inspiration from your smart friends /tumblr friends /people you look up to by constantly reminding yourself about them. I always think of hermione granger because even randomly picturing her with books in my mind ignites that badass boss feeling complying me to study tf up.

3. Manage your time

Studyjo/bujo saves your life.

Wear a watch all the damn time, it will remind you of how much time you’re spending doing nothing. You’ll end up saving several extra minutes!

List out what you’re gonna do every hour of the day on a sticky note and refer to it when you feel lazy.

Get a super nice friend /parent /sibling who will constantly remind you to utilise your time.

Think of time as currency and pretend that it’s all a game where you need to save up as much money as you can to become a billionaire. Save up your time and become rich af.

4. Avoid procrastinating

Stduyjo/bujo again. You know the drill now.

A little bit of exercise before starting work generally works you up and sets the correct mood.

Knowing how ahead your friends are from you often makes you wanna catch up so try getting that motivation.

Set goals + rewards that actually matter to you. Maybe a face care spa day isn’t your thing but munching on a snickers bar is. Treat yo self.

Tell someone a detailed plan of what you are going to accomplish the next day. Now whenever you see that person you’ll want to prove to them that you’re doing what you promised. Or the guilt may drive you too.

Appearance related stuff :

1. Look more put together

Try the lipstick trick. There are days when you do not have the time /want to put on makeup, so just put on a lipstick that matches your outfit and you’ll automatically create an illusion of being more put together, boss af and fabulous.

Try out cheap (potato can’t afford sorry) but elegant accessories. If it’s a necklace try tucking it under the collar of your shirt and see the magic. Stick to one staple accessory that’s gonna be your trademark.

Tame that mane potato. Your hair isn’t gonna detangle itself. You gotta do it. I mean, don’t you love your hair?

Minimalistic colours rock. Some outfits never go old like flannels or white shirts or black dresses.

2. Feel beautiful

The lipstick does the trick for me.

Putting my hair in a sky high ponytail makes me feel like I’m a queen or something.

Save little compliments for yourself as reminders and when you get them you’ll feel 10x more beautiful than before.

Mind related stuff :

1. Deal with burnout/slump

Try to accomplish super tiny stuff. Break down every task into micromolecular basics.

Give yourself a ted talk. It works.

Sometimes the best way of dealing with burnout is by detoxing from the thing that caused burnout. Stay away form books and after some time you’ll actually want to study.

2. Study with slumps/mental illness

Step one is to finish homework /assignments. If you can concentrate on them, you’re good to go.

Do not take up a lot of load, just skimming through textbooks, reviewing notes, going over flashcards should do the trick.

If you desperately need to get shit done, just ignore the fact that you do not want to do it. It’s harsh on your mind but desperate times require desperate measures.

Avoid forcing yourself to study because you’ll not retain info like that.

Take it easy. But consistently. Maybe just one topic a day. But do not miss a day. A steady everyday practice goes long way in the future.

3. Strengthen self control

There are several apps that can help you with this, like forest. My top pick is the Tide app which has a gorgeous interface and super aesthetic timers with new pictures everyday. I shit you not every time I quit my pomodoro I feel the guilt of having killed 1000 puppies its worse and I avoid doing that at all costs.

If you study in your room, keep your phone in the kitchen for some time. Your lazy ass is less likely to get up and use the phone.

Switching the phone off before starting a study session works because I care for my phone like a baby and it feels horrible to switch it on and off and on and off.

Practice 30 minutes of digital detox everyday. You don’t have to study at that time, just stay away from everything that is technology. Read and book, eat a fruit, make a sandwich, paint, sing, dance, exercise. Study if you want. Just no gadgets.

4. Deal with stress

Yoga works. Potato body ain’t that flexible so just breathing exercises for a start is also enough.

Highly recommended : brain dump every night before sleeping can ensure that you’ll not stay up too late pondering over the meaning of your existence and world politics.

Having a hearty talk with someone you trust will also lift weight off your chest.

Pin point the cause of your stress and annihilate the problem. Slay it.

Life related stuff :

1. Drink more water

Carry a cool ass bottle of water with you every frigging where.

Make it a rule to have a drink everytime you go to the loo or you take a bath /shower.

Replace one of your daily caffeines /sugars with water. You don’t have to get rid of coffee because that’s just non potato ish, but maybe that third cup could be replaced with water.

Try a game thingy. Maybe everytime the word ‘procrastination’ pops in your mind take a drink. Wow, I’m so creative *sighs for eternities*.

2. Be more healthy

5 minute stretches right after getting up works you up.

Try one of those YouTube videos of 15 minute workouts. You can have 3 such workouts through the day and call yourself a fit potato.

Replacing one packet of junk food with nuts/fruits also works.

Everytime you hear someone say something related to money, have a banana. Random much? Nope, bananas are known to increase hormones that make you happy in your body, meaning you’ll feel full and happy. Maybe offer the person a banana too.

3. Be more happy

Eat bananas!

Take pictures of things you love, not things your followers love.

Puppies are a source of eternal joy.

Reading goofy/cheesy/romance books make you giggle and feel good in general.

Watching cheesy films or good ass romcoms works just well.

Friends was created for a reason.

Writing down what you accomplished today gives a sense of pride and satisfaction. Take that shit.

Tumblr has shitposts made basically to make you happy.

4. Find your true calling /figuring tf out what you wanna do with your life

Lists lists lists. Subjects you love, you hate, you’re good at, you suck at.

Consulting your teachers, family etc and find out what they think you’re good at. Sometimes other people can see traits of yours better than you.

Career tests rock.

You’ll figure it out in the end somehow.

And that’s about it for now folks, hope this helps. See y'all laterz~

Etudaire ♥

[hostingnewsfeed]

Stocks To Watch: Tencent Music, Starbucks And Under Armour In Focus

New Post has been published on http://rentts.org/stocks-to-watch-tencent-music-starbucks-and-under-armour-in-focus/

Stocks To Watch: Tencent Music, Starbucks And Under Armour In Focus

Welcome to Seeking Alpha’s Stocks to Watch – a preview of key events scheduled for the next week. Follow this account and turn the e-mail alert on to receive this article in your inbox every Saturday morning.

Investors are prepping for another week of volatility as concerns over the China trade deal and the impact of the U.K. Brexit withdrawal bill are sure to linger. Add in the drama of a yield curve that inverted on the short end and it’s small wonder that the Santa Claus rally is having a hard time materializing. With major indexes having now erased their gains for the year, expect to hear some noise from value investors after seeing the one-month drops in names such as Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA) -25%, Target (NYSE:TGT) -22%, Tiffany (NYSE:TIF) -22%, Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) -19%, Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) -18%, Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) -15% and Altria (NYSE:MO) -15%. On the economic front this week, new reads on producer prices, consumer prices and retail sales will be closely watched.

Notable earnings reports: It’s a very thin week for earnings reports, but companies due to spill numbers include Ascena Retail (NASDAQ:ASNA) and Stitch Fix (NASDAQ:SFIX) on December 10; American Eagle Outfitters (NYSE:AEO) and Dave & Buster’s Entertainment (NASDAQ:PLAY) on December 11; Phototronics (NASDAQ:PLAB) and Oxford Industries (NYSE:OXM) on December 12; Adobe (NASDAQ:ADBE), Costco (NASDAQ:COST) and Ciena (NASDAQ:CIEN) on December 13.

IPOs expected to price: Tencent Music Entertainment (TME) is pressing ahead with its IPO as the company looks to take advantage of the 90-day pause on tariffs between the U.S. and China. The music streaming service plans to sell 41M ADSs in the offering and selling shareholders will also unload just under 41M ADSs. Tencent Music owns three streaming music platforms in China – QQ Music, Kuguo, and Kuwo – with a count of over 700M monthly active users. Heading into the IPO, Tencent (OTCPK:TCEHY) holds a 58.1% stake in Tencent Music and Spotify (NYSE:SPOT) owned a 9.1% stake.

IPO lockup expirations: Greenpro (OTCQB:GRNQ) on December 10; US Xpress Enterprises (NYSE:USX) and Charah Solutions (NYSE:CHRA) on December 11; Avalara (NYSE:AVLR), Verrica Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:VRCA) and Puixin (NYSE:NEW) on December 12.

Analyst quiet period expirations: Vapotherm (NYSE:VAPO) and Eton Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:ETON) on December 10; Weidai (NYSE:WEI) on December 11;

Projected dividend changes (quarterly): Abbott (NYSE:ABT) to $0.30 from $0.28, AES (NYSE:AES) to $0.14 from $0.13, Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) to $1.39 from $1.32, Boeing (NYSE:BA) to $2.08 from $1.71, Franklin Resources (NYSE:BEN) to $0.25 from $0.23, Lilly (NYSE:LLY) to $0.57 from $0.5625, Realty Income (NYSE:O) to $0.221 from $0.2205, AT&T (NYSE:T) to $0.51 from $0.50, Ventas (NYSE:VTR) to $0.81 from $0.79, ABM Industries (NYSE:ABM) to $0.18 from $0.175, Balchem (NASDAQ:BCPC) to $0.46 from $0.42, SEI (NASDAQ:SEIC) to $0.32 from $0.30, Urstadt Biddle (NYSE:UBA) to $0.275 from $0.27, WD-40 (NASDAQ:WDFC) to $0.59 from $0.54.

60 Minutes: Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) CEO Elon Musk was interviewed by Leslie Stahl for the weekly news show. In a clip already released, Musk said “I don’t really want to try to adhere to some CEO template.” Musk also stated that the EV automaker would have interest in setting up shop in an old General Motors (NYSE:GM) plant if one is available.

Analyst/investor meetings: Arthur Gallagher (NYSE:AJG), Enbridge (NYSE:ENB), American Water Works (NYSE:AWK), ServiceMaster Global (NASDAQ:SERV), TreeHouse Foods (NYSE:THS) and Crown Holdings (NYSE:CCK) on December 11; Aimmune Therapeutics (NASDAQ:AIMT) and Hess (NYSE:HES) on December 12; ImmunoGen (NASDAQ:IMGN), Health Insurance (NASDAQ:HIIQ) and Danaher (NYSE:DHR) on December 13; Hartford Financial (NYSE:HIG) and Centene (NYSE:CNC) on December 14.

Spotlight on coffee: Starbucks (NASDAQ:SBUX) hosts its biannual investor day event on December 13. The meeting will occur about a month after Starbucks announced a round of corporate-level job cuts. While the company isn’t directly in the line of fire of tariffs, an escalation of the U.S.-China trade battle could end up hurting its business if Beijing slows the regulatory process or a consumer backlash pops up.

Spotlight on Under Armour: Under Armour (UA, UAA) will hold an investor meeting on December 12. CEO Kevin Plank, President, COO Patrik Frisk, CFO David Bergman and other Under Armour execs will provide an overview of the company’s long-term strategy, financial outlook and key initiatives to deliver sustainable, profitable growth and shareholder value.

Capitol Hill watch: Google (GOOG, GOOGL) CEO Sundar Pichai is due to appear before a House panel on December 11 in a hearing rescheduled from last week. Height Capital Markets expects the tough questions to be asked to Pichai by lawmakers to be just the start, not the end. The firm thinks Big Tech companies will be exposed to regulatory headline risk into 2019, even as it predicts final legislation will be tough to pass both houses. The House is also slated to vote next week on a bi-partisan measure that would punish drugmakers trying to game Medicaid’s rebate system to garner bigger profits.

FCC watch: The FCC is due to start its quadrennial review of some media ownership rules, including the issue of owning multiple stations in a single market. Companies watching the developments include Entercom (NYSE:ETM), Emmis Communications (NASDAQ:EMMS), Cumulus (NASDAQ:CMLS), Cox Radio (CXR), Clear Channel, CBS, Disney (NYSE:DIS), Beasley Broadcasting (NASDAQ:BBGI), iHeartMedia (OTCPK:IHRTQ).

Short report: Nasdaq is due to issue a new short interest report on December 11 for positions settled by November 30. Stocks with the highest level of short interest as a percentage of total float at the time of the last Nasdaq report included GNC Holdings (NYSE:GNC), Lannett Company (NYSEMKT:LCI), J.C. Penney (NYSE:JCP), Carbo Ceramics (NYSE:CRR), Carvana (NYSE:CVNA), Buckle (NYSE:BKE), Revlon (NYSE:REV), RH(NYSE:RH), Dillard’s (NYSE:DDS), Camping World (NYSE:CWH), B&G Foods (NYSE:BGS) and Pyxus International (NYSE:PYX).

M&A tidbits: Lumentum’s (NASDAQ:LITE) acquisition of Oclaro (NASDAQ:OCLR) is expected to close on December 10. Shareholders with Akebia Therapeutics (NASDAQ:AKBA) and Keryx Biopharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:KERX) vote on the merger between the two companies on December 11. A special meeting is scheduled on December 11 for shareholders of Dell Technologies (NYSE:DVMT) to vote on the Class V common stock exchange transaction. CVS Health (NYSE:CVS) has a deadline of December 14 to issue a briefing defending the Aetna (NYSE:AET) deal.

Sales updates: Franklin Resources (BEN) on December 10, TD Ameritrade (NASDAQ:AMTD) on December 11; E*Trade Financial (NASDAQ:ETFC) and Charles Schwab (NYSE:SCHW) on December 14.

More Prime Time: It’s another notch on the belt for Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) as its streaming service launches on Comcast’s (NASDAQ:CMCSA) Xfinity X1 platform.

Cyberwatch: Zix (NASDAQ:ZIXI), Calix (NYSE:CALX) and GigCapital (NYSE:GIG.U) are scheduled for one-on-one meetings at the Cowen 5th Annual Networking & Cybersecurity Summit on December 12.

Barron’s mentions: The share price drop on Caterpillar (NYSE:CAT) looks overdone, reasons Jack Hough. He notes that a midyear price increase by Caterpillar on machines helped offset higher costs related to steel and other tariffs, while booked orders are strong for 2019. Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) is also seen as being on the cheap side, with shares trading at only 10X forward earnings. That’s despite the huge upside for Applied Materials in AI chips. There’s also a deep dive on Lam Research (NASDAQ:LRCX) after the company’s bumpy road.

Sources: Nasdaq, EDGAR, Reuters, CNBC, Bloomberg

Editor’s Note: This article covers one or more microcap stocks. Please be aware of the risks associated with these stocks.

[samtheflamingomain]

take the 2nd exit

Y'know "hunt a killer"? Basically, you pay $30-50 and get a "case" to solve. Thousands of knockoffs have entered the chat in the past few years.

One player is EXIT; a game where you get a mystery, but it's a lot cheaper because they invented a fantastic system of playing, and it can also only be played once - literally. You have to cut up cards and draw on pages. But they go for $15-20 and do make for a great 3-5h.

I've played 2. The first was "solve these 9 puzzles to escape the crypt you're locked in." The second was oddly much, MUCH more story-focused, and also seemed like a much more thought-out game. Sure enough, written by 2 different people.

In an EXIT, you usually get an 7-10 page journal or book to leaf through. if there's a letter you can see on any page, you can pull that "riddle" card, A-Z. If you solve the riddle - always in the form of a 3-digit number, you use a wheel to punch in the 3 numbers, and it'll give you a number, 1-30. You pull that card from the "answers" deck. Most say "nope you're wrong". Many say "you might be right. Which symbol (puzzle) are you trying to solve?" Each symbol gives you another number to draw from the "answers", either an X or steps toward the next puzzle if you're right.

It sounds confusing but it's oddly intuitive immediately. This is absolute genius game design. On the "maybe" cards, there's every single symbol. This allows the constructor to use these cards to serve as a hub of sorts, allowing them to make a game with only 30 "answer" cards for 9 puzzles.

But aside from being just a fantastic game in terms of setup and execution, I really want to focus on the story and the puzzles of this exact iteration, Murder on the Orient Express.

I can't remember much of the first game's "story" because there really wasn't one - just solve all these puzzles to escape the tomb. This time, story was 10x more important. You also get 8 suspects and 6 train compartments to examine as you "unlock" them. (There are shared compartments).

Also different from #1, #2 gives you a full 2 pages of each 8 suspects' bios and their alibis.

The last puzzle is one very different from the Egypt game. In that one, you just need to figure out the right numbers to unlock a final lock. This time, you only get one guess for the last puzzle: Which of these 8 people committed the murder? If you punch in the wrong numbers and draw a "you're wrong" card, you are explicitly told to draw the very last "riddle" card which will tell you why you're wrong and that you've lost the game. If you're right, you'll draw the correct "answer" card telling you that you are in fact correct.

We spent about 15 minutes cross-referencing the alibis. All of this, and it all came down to who was playing poker, who won, who didn't have a pair of queens, who had lipstick, and who had cigars. Well, also a billion other things. Game 1, I had about 6 lines of notes. This game had 3 pages, single-spaced, with different puzzles.

Finally, we agreed: The Countess was the killer. We only get one shot. It says so on the card. A 1/8 chance.

Well, we quickly crossed off... 3. Then eventually 2 more. Then 1 more.

I'm oddly proud of how I solved it, but it's going to sound very obvious when I tell you. The last "riddle" card tells you how to get the last 3 numbers to end the game: car #, compartment #, luggage rack # of the killer.

We had it down to 2 people. And then I realized. "If Mary and Melanie share a compartment... their numbers will be the same. It can't be either of them." We'd ruled out Mary, had to rule out Mel, and were left with The Countess. But we weren't super confident. We reviewed everything one last time before pulling the last card.

And then I saw it. We had an alcoholic who was claiming to be sober, but there was wine in his car so we called him lying, thus he could've been one of the 3 people playing poker (3 chairs, 3 glasses of whiskey). In absolutely miniscule print, on the wine in his car, "non-alcoholic, 0%".

This changes everything, but also it doesn't. It forces the Countess to be lying and we're sure, but we'd been sure before. But we went for it, with very little else in our quivers to draw.

And I pulled our last card. I showed it to Connor before viewing it myself. He doubled over. Unsure of his emotion, I immediately turned it and saw "Congratulations!" and I almost passed out in surprise and pride and relief. We'd successfully caught The Countess.

There were a few little things that neither of us could square up so we Googled it, and apparently it's one of EXIT's lowest-ranked games because... nobody gets it right. The "you one get one guess" part wasn't very popular. And while I can kind of see where the writers were trying to go, I do think that was an L. Most people aren't going to comb through it like we did. At least give us 2 tries maybe?

But I wanted to read the card you're supposed to draw if you don't get it right in one try.

You fail, but someone else solves it for you. You suck. Game over.

So honestly, I kinda get it. It's a really, really tough one. I bought it because it's considered the hardest. And we beat it.

Feel free to leave now; I'm just going to list some of my absolutely petty and miniscule gripes.

We couldn't solve puzzle 2. We had to use both "hint" cards and then the "solution" card for those who just can't solve the puzzle. And then we still just couldn't solve the puzzle.

(Take one of the 3 clocks. It has a yellow dot beside the 4, whereas all the dots next to the other numbers are black. Card shows a pen drawing between certain numbers. We draw AROUND the clock and keep getting 2-digit-ers which don't fly in the cypher. Solution? Draw a line across from 6/12/9/3 and on you've drawn a 4. Not intuitive, not how clocks work, 0/10)

But oddly enough the thing that got most players was in fact the ending. I've played nearly every Nancy Drew video game, so I'm pretty up on puzzle-solving. But rarely am I given EIGHT suspects with alibis. So again, really don't blame the haters. 8 is far too many. If you don't know how to take notes for a mystery game... you're going to be frustrated.

Luckily, I do. Square around place, circle around time, squiggle under circumstances, dotted to connect, strikes to eliminate connections... I have a system.

Through this we were easily able to see that 5 people were lying. And this is where I truly understand the frustration.

Only 2 of those lies matter (as in, will get you to the correct conclusion) and actually, if you consider one lie too hard, it will distract you. Charitably, a red herring. Honestly, bad writing.

I don't have much of a point besides "don't feel bad about not solving mysteries or escape rooms cuz sometimes the answers are ridiculous". Also, for games, prepare 4 different colored pens. You'll need 'em, I promise.

Stay Greater, Flamingos.

[nathan-challenges-life]

Book 7/30 for 2021! The 10X rule, by @grantcardone, another one of my all time favourite books. Grant is my go to for motivation and to just hear from someone successful with an awesome attitude and mindset to get stuff done. This book is filled with stories of action, principles, advice, and so much more. 100% recommend if you're interested in taking your life to the next level. 5/5. #10X #10xrule #grantcardone #book #read #review #goals #audiobook #reading #booklist #bookreview #audible #scribd #goodreads #readingchallenge #readinggoal #learn #ebook #learning (at Canberra, Australian Capital Territory) https://www.instagram.com/p/CMrkkJJHIDW/?igshid=cj975saago5i